Book Excerpt
TERMS USED TO REFER TO WHETHER AN ASSERTION is dependent on experience (a posteriori) or independent of experience (a priori). For example, if one observes creation and sees it it an organized pattern, it might be concluded a posteriori (i.e., on the basis of observing creation) that God exists as its cause. However, if God's existence can be proved on some basis prior to sense experience, then the existence of God is argued a priori.
SPEAKS OF GOD MAKING HIMSELF KNOWN to humans in words and ways suitable for the finite human mind to comprehend. The most significant example in which God accomodates himself to humankind is found in the coming of Jesus Christ--deity taking human form. See also incarnation.
SO CALLED BECAUSE OF ITS ORIGIN IN THE CITY OF ALEXANDRIA (Egypt), this Christian center of scholarship was led first by Clement of Alexandria in A.D. 190 and then by *Origen in A.D. 202. The Alexandrian school was influenced by the philosophy of Plato and understaood the task of biblical interpretation as seeking out its literal, moral and allegorical senses. In other words, the Alexandrian theologians taught that although the Bible was literally true, its correct interpretation lay in the moral or allegorical senses more than in the literal sense. See alos antiochene school.
A MEDIEVAL MONK, PHILOSOPHER AND THEOLOGIAN who eventually became the archbishop of Canterbury, England. Anselm is best known for his formulation of the *ontological argument for the existence of God, as well as his *satisfaction theory of the atonement. Anselm also sought to understand the reasons that God had to become human in Christ and give himself as a sacrifice for sin. Anselm understood the task of theology as fides quaerens intellectum (faith seeking understanding).
THE IDEA (POPULARIZED BY JOHN HENRY NEWMAN in nineteenth-century Britain) that the *Anglican Church represented a middle way between Roman Catholicism and the modernizing elements (both *liberal and *evangelical) of Protestantism.
THE VARIOUS GROUPS AND CHURCHES ASSOCIATED WITH, spawned by of that look for their genesis in John Wesley (the founder of *Methodism) and his theology. These include the various Methodist churches, the *Holiness Movement and *Pentecostalism. Wesley's theology attempted to balance the doctrine of *justification by faith with an emphasis on the Spirit's ongoing process of *sanctification in the life of the believer. Wesleyans are often known for certain doctrines, including entire sanctification and the second blessing. Wesleyans tend to be *Arminian as opposed to *Calvinist in their understanding of the dynamic of personal *salvation.
THE FREE, SUBJECTIVE AND HOLY RESPONSE OF GOD to sin and to the evil and wickedness exhibited by creatures in opposition to God.
THE LEADER OF THE SWISS REFORMATION, Zwingli is often numbered with Luther and Calvin as one of the most influential Protestant Reformers. A strict adherent to the biblical text, Zwingli rejected Luther's position of *consubstantiation in regard to the presence of Christ in the *Eucharist, arguing instead for a *memorialist view. Zwingli inspired but later broke with the developing *Anabaptist movement.
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