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Ethiopian Eunuch
The Ethiopian eunuch is a figure in the New Testament of the Bible. The story of his conversion to Christianity at the preaching of Philip the Evangelist is recounted in Acts 8. He is a foundational figure of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. Biblical narrative Philip the Evangelist was told by an angel to go to the road from Jerusalem to Gaza, and there he encountered the Ethiopian eunuch, the treasurer of Candace, Queen of the Ethiopians (, "Candace" was the Meroitic term for "queen" or possibly "royal woman"). The eunuch had been to Jerusalem to worship and was returning home. Sitting in his chariot, he was reading the Book of Isaiah, specifically . Philip asked the Ethiopian, "Do you understand what you are reading?" He said he did not ("How can I understand unless I have a teacher to teach me?"), and asked Philip to explain the text to him. Philip told him the Gospel of Jesus, and the Ethiopian asked to be baptized. They went down into a water source, traditionally ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Religious Conversion
Religious conversion is the adoption of a set of beliefs identified with one particular religious denomination to the exclusion of others. Thus "religious conversion" would describe the abandoning of adherence to one denomination and affiliating with another. This might be from one to another denomination within the same religion, for example, from Protestant Christianity to Roman Catholicism or from Shia Islam, Shi'a Islam to Sunni Islam. In some cases, religious conversion "marks a transformation of religious identity and is symbolized by special rituals". People convert to a different religion for various reasons, including active conversion by free choice due to a change in beliefs, secondary conversion, deathbed conversion, conversion for convenience, marital conversion, and forced conversion. Religious conversion can also be driven by practical considerations. Historically, people have converted to evade taxes, to escape military service or to gain political representation ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gnostic
Gnosticism (from Ancient Greek: , romanized: ''gnōstikós'', Koine Greek: �nostiˈkos 'having knowledge') is a collection of religious ideas and systems that coalesced in the late 1st century AD among early Christian sects. These diverse groups emphasized personal spiritual knowledge ('' gnosis'') above the proto-orthodox teachings, traditions, and authority of religious institutions. Generally, in Gnosticism, the Monad is the supreme God who emanates divine beings; one, Sophia, creates the flawed demiurge who makes the material world, trapping souls until they regain divine knowledge. Consequently, Gnostics considered material existence flawed or evil, and held the principal element of salvation to be direct knowledge of the hidden divinity, attained via mystical or esoteric insight. Many Gnostic texts deal not in concepts of sin and repentance, but with illusion and enlightenment. Gnosticism likely originated in the late first and early second centuries around Alex ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Adversus Haereses
''Adversus Haereses'' is the commonly used Latin title for a book by the Church Father Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyon in Gaul (now France). It is also often cited as ''Against Heresies'' or ''On the Detection and Overthrow of the So-Called Gnosis''. It is a five-volume work against Gnosticism and other Christian heresies, written around 180 CE. It is sometimes confused with: *''Panarion'' (medicine-chest), also a work in opposition to heresies, written in the 4th century by Epiphanius of Salamis. *''Adversus omnes haereses,'' an appendix to the work ''De praescriptionem haereticorum'' by Tertullian Tertullian (; ; 155 – 220 AD) was a prolific Early Christianity, early Christian author from Roman Carthage, Carthage in the Africa (Roman province), Roman province of Africa. He was the first Christian author to produce an extensive co ..., who lived c. 160–c. 225. Most scholars believe that the appendix is not by Tertullian but was added later; it is therefore attributed ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Irenaeus
Irenaeus ( or ; ; ) was a Greeks, Greek bishop noted for his role in guiding and expanding Christianity, Christian communities in the southern regions of present-day France and, more widely, for the development of Christian theology by opposing Gnostic interpretations of Christian Scripture and defining proto-orthodoxy. Originating from Smyrna, he had seen and heard the preaching of Polycarp, who in turn was said to have heard John the Evangelist. Chosen as Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Lyon, Bishop of Lugdunum, now Lyon, Irenaeus wrote his best-known work ''Against Heresies (Irenaeus), Against Heresies'' around 180 as a refutation of gnosticism, in particular that of Valentinus (Gnostic), Valentinus. To counter the doctrines of the gnostic sects claiming Sophia (gnosticism), secret wisdom, he offered three pillars of orthodoxy: the Bible, scriptures, the Apostolic Tradition, tradition said to be handed down from the apostles, and the teaching of the apostles' Apostolic succ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Church Father
The Church Fathers, Early Church Fathers, Christian Fathers, or Fathers of the Church were ancient and influential Christian theologians and writers who established the intellectual and doctrinal foundations of Christianity. The historical period in which they worked became known as the Patristic Era and spans approximately from the late 1st to mid-8th centuries, flourishing in particular during the 4th and 5th centuries, when Christianity was in the process of establishing itself as the state church of the Roman Empire. For many denominations of Christianity, the writings of the Ante-Nicene Fathers, Nicene Fathers and Post-Nicene Fathers are included in Sacred Tradition. As such, in traditional dogmatic theology, authors considered Church Fathers are treated as authoritative for the establishment of doctrine. The academic field of patristics, the study of the Church Fathers, has extended the scope of the term, and there is no definitive list. Some, such as Origen and Ter ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit, otherwise known as the Holy Ghost, is a concept within the Abrahamic religions. In Judaism, the Holy Spirit is understood as the divine quality or force of God manifesting in the world, particularly in acts of prophecy, creation and guidance. In Nicene Christianity, this conception expanded in meaning to represent the third person of the Trinity, co-equal and co-eternal with God the Father and God the Son. In Islam, the Holy Spirit acts as an agent of divine action or communication. In the Baha’i Faith, the Holy Spirit is seen as the intermediary between God and man and "the outpouring grace of God and the effulgent rays that emanate from His Manifestation". Comparative religion The Hebrew Bible contains the term " spirit of God" (') which by Jews is interpreted in the sense of the might of a unitary God. This interpretation is different from the Nicene Christian conception of the Holy Spirit as one person of the Trinity. The Christian concept ten ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Acts Of The Apostles
The Acts of the Apostles (, ''Práxeis Apostólōn''; ) is the fifth book of the New Testament; it tells of the founding of the Christian Church and the spread of The gospel, its message to the Roman Empire. Acts and the Gospel of Luke make up a two-part work, Luke–Acts, by the same anonymous author. Traditionally, the author is believed to be Luke the Evangelist, a doctor who travelled with Paul the Apostle. It is usually dated to around 80–90 AD, although some scholars suggest 110–120 AD.Tyson, Joseph B., (April 2011)"When and Why Was the Acts of the Apostles Written?" in: The Bible and Interpretation: "...A growing number of scholars prefer a late date for the composition of Acts, i.e., c. 110–120 CE. Three factors support such a date. First, Acts seems to be unknown before the last half of the second century. Second, compelling arguments can be made that the author of Acts was acquainted with some materials written by Josephus, who completed his Antiquities of the J ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alexandrian Text-type
In textual criticism of the New Testament, the Alexandrian text-type is one of the main text types. It is the text type favored by the majority of modern textual critics and it is the basis for most modern (after 1900) Bible translations. Over 5,800 New Testament manuscripts have been classified into four groups by text type. Besides the Alexandrian, the other types are the Western, Caesarean, and Byzantine. Compared to these later text types, Alexandrian readings tend to be abrupt, use fewer words, show greater variation among the Synoptic Gospels, and have readings that are considered difficult. That is to say, later scribes tended to polish scripture and improve its literary style. Glosses would occasionally be added as verses during the process of copying a Bible by hand. From the ninth century onward, most surviving manuscripts are of the Byzantine type. The King James Version and other Reformation-era Bibles are translated from the ''Textus Receptus'', a Greek text created b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Textual Criticism
Textual criticism is a branch of textual scholarship, philology, and literary criticism that is concerned with the identification of textual variants, or different versions, of either manuscripts (mss) or of printed books. Such texts may range in dates from the earliest writing in cuneiform, impressed on clay, for example, to multiple unpublished versions of a 21st-century author's work. Historically, scribes who were paid to copy documents may have been literate, but many were simply copyists, mimicking the shapes of letters without necessarily understanding what they meant. This means that unintentional alterations were common when copying manuscripts by hand. Intentional alterations may have been made as well, for example, the censoring of printed work for political, religious or cultural reasons. The objective of the textual critic's work is to provide a better understanding of the creation and historical transmission of the text and its variants. This understanding may ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
List Of Bible Verses Not Included In Modern Translations
New Testament verses not included in modern English translations are verses of the New Testament that exist in older English translations (primarily the New King James Version), but do not appear or have been relegated to footnotes in later versions. Scholars have generally regarded these verses as later additions to the original text. Although many lists of missing verses specifically name the New International Version as the version that omits them, these same verses are missing from the main text (and mostly relegated to footnotes) in the Revised Version of 1881 (RV), the American Standard Version of 1901, the Revised Standard Version of 1947 (RSV), the Today's English Version (the Good News Bible) of 1966, and several others. Lists of "missing" verses and phrases go back to the Revised Version and to the Revised Standard Version, without waiting for the appearance of the NIV (1973). Some of these lists of "missing verses" specifically mention "sixteen verses" – although th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
