Council of Nicea: An assembly of Catholic bishops that met in 325. It rejected Arianism, which claimed that Jesus was not fully divine. Instead, it taught that Jesus was “begotten”, not created. The Council of Nicea is the First Ecumenical Council of the Church.
Cult-etiology: A traditional story that explains the origin and founding of a particular form of worship and serves to legitimize it.
Day of Atonement: One of the principal liturgical feasts of Israel, held annually on the tenth day of the seventh month (Lev 16:1-34). It is known today in Hebrew as Yom Kippur. In ancient Israel, its purpose was twofold: to cleanse the sanctuary from ritual impurity and to atone for the sins of the priests and people accumulated throughout the preceding year. The latter is linked with the rite of the scapegoat, by which the sins of Israel were “offloaded” onto a goat that symbolically bore them away into the wilderness (Lev 16:20-22). Christians see in Jesus’ death the accomplishment for mankind of what the Day of Atonement represents.
Day of preparation: The day before the Jewish Passover (Jn 19:14). The Passover lambs were slaughtered on this day so they could be consumed in the evening Passover meal. Pope Benedict follows most scholars in identifying the afternoon of Good Friday as the vigil of the Passover. Thus, Jesus was crucified as “the Lamb of God” on the afternoon when Passover lambs were being slaughtered in the Temple.
Didascalia Apostolorum: A Christian treatise the title of which means the “teaching of the apostles”, dating from the third century and preserved mainly in Syriac. The document places the Last Supper and arrest of Jesus on Tuesday evening of Holy Week rather than on the traditional Thursday evening.
Dodd, Charles H.: British Protestant New Testament scholar (1884-1973) who espoused a “realized eschatology”, the idea that the kingdom of God is a present reality. Dodd’s best-known work is The Interpretation of the Fourth Gospel (1953). Pope Benedict agrees with Dodd’s support for the historic authenticity of Jesus’ exchange with Pilate regarding Jesus’ kingly identity.
Ecce homo: Latin form of the words meaning “Behold the Man!” spoken by Pontius Pilate (Jn 19:5). Pilate’s declaration came as he displayed the scourged Christ before the hostile mob.
Ecclesiology: The branch of theology concerned with the nature of the Church.
Ecumenical council: A special assembly of the bishops of the universal Church, together with the bishop of Rome (the Pope), to address doctrinal and pastoral matters. There have been twenty-one ecumenical councils, according to the reckoning generally accepted in the Catholic Church.
Ecumenism: The effort to promote unity among Christians.
Eschatological discourse: Name given to Jesus’ discourse recorded in Matthew 24:3-24; Mark 13:3-37; and Luke 21:5-36. It is called “eschatological” because it refers to the divine judgment to come upon a disobedient Jerusalem (which came with the destruction of the Temple in A.D. 70) and because it anticipates the final judgment at the end of the world. Pope Benedict stresses three key elements of Jesus’ discourse: the destruction of the Temple, the times of the Gentiles, and prophecy and apocalyptic teaching.
Eschatology: The branch of theology concerned with the “last things” (Greek, eschatos, “last [things]”) or the final destiny of man and the world.
Epiphanius of Salamis: Fourth-century Church Father and bishop known for his staunch defense of orthodox Christian belief against various heresies. Pope Benedict quotes Epiphanius’ explanation for the Christians’ flight to Pella beyond the Jordan before the siege of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. According to Epiphanius, Christians fled because they recalled Jesus’ warning to abandon the city before its destruction.
Essenes: A Jewish ascetical sect that existed in Palestine from the second century B.C. to the first Jewish revolt and fall of Jerusalem, ca. A.D. 66-70. Essenes probably made up the community at Qumran, with which the Dead Sea Scrolls are associated, although the sect also had members who lived elsewhere. The Essenes were critical of the religious establishment in Jerusalem, and they regarded the worship at the Temple as corrupt. They also anticipated an eschatological “showdown” between “the sons of light” (themselves) and “the sons of darkness”, the enemies of God’s righteous people.
Eternal life: Term used by Jesus to refer to the kind of life man may graciously come to possess in relationship with God, who is life. Eternal life begins in this life through a person’s knowing God and entering into communion with him through Jesus Christ.
Evangelist: An author of one of the four Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
Exegesis: The process of interpreting what a text means.
Exegete: An expert who interprets the meaning of a text.
Exemplum: Latin term meaning “example”. It appears in the Vulgate translation of John 13:15, where Jesus, having washed the feet of his disciples, urges them to follow his example of humble service to others.
Exitus—Reditus: Latin terms meaning “departure” and “return”. Originally exitus-reditus referred to a construct of the Neoplatonist philosopher Plotinus (ca. 205-270), who envisioned man’s emanation (or creation) from the divine as a fall into the bondage of the material order and his return as a struggle to free himself from matter. Pope Benedict contrasts this scheme with the evangelist’s remark that Jesus “had come from God and was going to God” (Jn 13:3). Christ’s descent in the Incarnation affirms the goodness of material creation, just as his bodily ascension indicates that matter is destined for the presence of God.
Factum est: Part of a phrase used in the Latin translation of John 1:14. The whole passage runs: “Verbum caro factum est et habitavit in nobis”, meaning: “The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.”
Feast of Tabernacles: Also called the Feast of Booths, a biblical pilgrimage feast lasting seven days. Participants built temporary dwellings to recall the temporary dwellings the Israelites used in their forty-year sojourn in the desert after the Exodus (see Lev 23:33-36; Deut 16:13-15). Jesus gave his “rivers of living water” discourse (Jn 7:38) in the context of this feast (Jn 7:2, 37). Pope Benedict also connects the shout of “Hosanna”, used by the priests at the feast, with the exclamation of the pilgrims accompanying Jesus into Jerusalem (Mt 21:9; Mk 11:9-10; Jn 12:13).
Feast of Unleavened Bread: A week-long Jewish festival celebrated in conjunction with the springtime Passover (Lev 23:4-8; Ezek 45:21). It commemorates the haste with which Israel escaped from Egypt, and no leavened bread was to be eaten throughout the seven days of the feast (Ex 12:14-20). Preparation was made on the eve of Passover by a ritual removal of leaven from every Israelite home (cf. 1 Cor 5:7). The Feast of Unleavened Bread forms part of the historical backdrop for the Last Supper (Mt 26:17; Mk 14:12; Lk 22:7-8).
Feuillet, André: Prominent French biblical scholar (1909-1998) whose work The Priesthood of Christ and His Ministers deeply informs Pope Benedict’s interpretation of John 17: 1-26. In particular, Feuillet’s thesis that the high-priestly prayer of Jesus is modeled on the Day of Atonement liturgy generates rich theological reflections for the Pope that underscore the sacrificial dimensions of the Lord’s Passion.
Fourth Gospel: The Gospel of John.
Gnilka, Joachim: Contemporary Scripture scholar writing in German (b. 1928).
Hallel Psalms: Psalms 113-118 and 136, which Jewish tradition prescribed for recitation at the yearly Passover. Pope Benedict suggests these may be the hymns sung by Jesus and the Apostles at the conclusion of the Last Supper (Mk 14:26). Insofar as these are psalms of thanksgiving for Israel’s deliverance from Egypt, they also anticipate the new Passover deliverance that Jesus accomplishes through his death and Resurrection.
Heidegger, Martin: German philosopher (1889-1976) who focused on the meaning of being. Heidegger greatly influenced major thinkers such as Jacques Derrida, Hans-Georg Gadamer, Leo Strauss, Jean-Paul Sartre, Hannah Arendt, and Karl Rahner, among many others. Bultmann assimilated Heidegger’s philosophy in his eschatology, which allowed Bultmann to try to explain Christian faith in an e
schatological context of standing ready for the challenge of the Gospel.
Hellenists: Mentioned in Acts 6:1 as a community of Jewish believers from the Diaspora who had resettled in Jerusalem. Their name is an indication that Greek was their first language rather than Hebrew or Aramaic. The first Christian martyr, Saint Stephen, is the best known of the Hellenists (Acts 6:5; 7:54-60).
Hengel, Martin: German scholar of religion (1926-2009) who focused on Christian and Jewish religions from 200 B.C. to A.D. 200. His scholarship undermines the influential position of Rudolf Bultmann that the sources of the Gospel of John are Gnostic rather than Jewish.
Hermeneutics: The branch of study concerned with principles of interpretation. Originally, the term was applied to interpreting the Bible. Later it came to apply in general to methods of interpretation.
High priest: The chief religious representative of biblical Israel. He served as the primary mediator between God, to whom he interceded for the people with prayers and sacrifices, and the Israelite community, for whom he acquired blessings. In the New Testament period, the high priest was also the acting head of the Jewish Sanhedrin. The Gospels refer by name to two high priests: Caiaphas, who occupied the office from A.D. 18 to 36 (Mt 26:57; Jn 11:49), and Annas, who had formerly held the position but was deposed by the Romans in A.D. 15 (Jn 18:13, 24).
High-priestly prayer: Traditional designation for Jesus’ impassioned prayer to the Father in John 17:1-26. Pope Benedict draws attention to four of its themes: the nature of eternal life, the sanctification of disciples in truth, the revelation of the Father’s name, and the unity of believers.
Historical-critical method: Broad term for a modern method of understanding biblical texts by drawing exclusively on the findings of the human sciences, including history, linguistics, philology, comparative literature, textual criticism, and archaeology. The method seeks primarily to know the meaning of a text as originally written and received. It does not presuppose the divine inspiration of the Bible or the truth of theology. Pope Benedict affirms the value of this method but cautions against its exclusive use or the unqualified acceptance of certain presuppositions of some of its users.
Historical Jesus: Either Jesus insofar as historians have been able to reconstruct him or Jesus as he really was in history. The distinction between the two senses of the term is based on the idea that historical scholarship cannot discover everything about a person. Often the term “Jesus of history” is used to refer to “Jesus as he really was in history”. In this case, there would be a difference between the historical Jesus and the Jesus of history. Some scholars posit an opposition between “the historical Jesus”, understood as “Jesus as he really existed”, and the Christ of faith—Jesus as proclaimed by the Bible and the Church. Pope Benedict rejects the idea that “Jesus as he really was” is different from the Christ of faith. At the same time, Benedict acknowledges the limits of what historical methods alone can tell us about Jesus.
Historicity: Historical reality. That is, the degree to which something really happened as reported. Benedict insists on the historicity of the key Gospel events.
Hosanna: Hebrew term meaning “Save, we ask”. Originally, it invoked the God of Israel’s aid (Ps 118:25), and the Jewish liturgy of the Feast of Tabernacles used the term. “Hosanna” came to be used as an acclamation of praise as well as a supplication for God’s saving help through the Messiah. The crowd used it to greet Jesus as he solemnly entered Jerusalem during the final week of his earthly life (Mt 21:9; Mk 11:9-10; Jn 12:13). The expression revealed the crowd’s hope in Jesus as the Messiah. After Jesus’ cleansing of the Temple, children in the Temple use the word to express their homage of Jesus as the Messiah (Mt 21:15).
Hour of Jesus: Term used in the Gospels, especially in John’s Gospel, to refer to the time identified with Jesus’ suffering, death, and Resurrection. Jesus refers to his “hour” as the time in which he, the Son of Man, is exalted and glorified (Jn 12:23; 17:1). He associates it with his departure from earthly existence to be with the Father (Jn 13:1), which entails Jesus’ gift of himself out of love. Since Jesus’ suffering and death are brought about by the forces of evil, Jesus’ “hour” is also the time or “hour” of his enemies (Mt 26:45; Mk 14:41; Lk 22:53), who unwittingly contribute to Jesus’ triumph.
Immanence: God’s presence in creation, including his presence among his people. The fullness of God’s immanence is found in Jesus Christ, who is “God-with-us”. By the Incarnation, death, and Resurrection of the God-man, Jesus Christ, believers are united with God in the Holy Spirit to form the Church. The mission of the Church involves the transformation of the whole of creation through Jesus Christ. In this way, divine immanence is complemented by divine transcendence, which means that God transcends or exists outside of or beyond his creation.
Ipsissima verba of Jesus: Latin phrase meaning “the very words of Jesus”. It refers to words Jesus himself spoke. The complementary expression is ipsissima vox of Jesus, which means “the very voice of Jesus”. The latter refers to words that express Jesus’ ideas or meaning, rather than his exact words.
Jaubert, Annie: French scholar (1912-1980) best known for a theory accounting for the apparent discrepancies between the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) and the Gospel of John regarding whether the Last Supper took place on the evening of the Passover sacrifices or before it. According to Jaubert’s theory, two different liturgical calendars were followed, one associated with the Essenes and the Qumran community, which placed the first day of Passover on Wednesday, and one recognized by the Jewish authorities, which placed the first day of Passover on Friday. Jesus and his disciples, on this view, participated in the Passover meal at the Last Supper according to the first calendar, on Tuesday night; while the Jewish authorities observed the Passover according to the second calendar, on Friday. Pope Benedict sympathetically summarizes Jaubert’s theory without embracing it.
Jeremias, Joachim: German Lutheran Scripture scholar (1900-1979). He took a positive view of scholarship’s ability to know the historical truth about Jesus. Jeremias taught the significance of Jesus’ understanding of God as his Father, expressed by Jesus’ use of the term “Abba”. Jeremias also authored an important study of the eucharistic words of Jesus spoken during the Last Supper.
Jewish War: Sometimes also called the Jewish-Roman War or the First Jewish-Roman War, the term refers to the conflict between Jewish nationalists and the Roman authority in Palestine (ca. A.D. 66-70). The Roman legions under the general Titus crushed the rebellion and destroyed Jerusalem, its Temple, and the remaining rebel strongholds. The Jewish historian Flavius Josephus recounted the story of the conflict in The Jewish War. Jesus prophesied the Temple’s destruction (Lk 20:5-6) and Jerusalem’s conquest (Lk 20:21).
Josephus, Flavius: Jewish historian (A.D. 37—ca. A.D. 100) who recorded the events of the Jewish War and the destruction of Jerusalem by the Roman armies.
Jungmann, J. A.: Austrian theologian (1889-1975) best known for his work in liturgy and catechetics. He was a theological expert at the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) and one of the architects of its Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy. Pope Benedict refers to Jungmann’s view that the Mass is the sacramental memorial of Jesus’ sacrificial death, not a celebration of the Last Supper as such.
Kattenbusch, Ferdinand: German Protestant theologian (1851-1935) perhaps best known for his book on the Apostles’ Creed. Pope Benedict refers sympathetically to Kattenbusch’s thesis that Jesus’ words of institution at the Last Supper constitute the act of founding the Church.
Maranatha: An Aramaic expression meaning “Our Lord, come!” or possibly “Our Lord has come.” It is found transliterated into Greek in 1 Corinthians 16:22. The early Christians used the expression in the Eucharistic liturgy, to emphasis Jesus’ presence with his people. They also used it in supplication for, or in anticipation of, the second coming of Jesus.
Maximus the Confessor: Church Father and Byzantine theologian (A.D. 580-662)
known best for his outspoken opposition to monothelitism, a heresy that claimed Christ had a divine will but not a human will. According to Maximus, Jesus’ agony in Gethsemane is inexplicable unless he possessed a human will that could yield itself to the Father’s will. Though exiled and tortured for his insistence on this point, Maximus was eventually vindicated by the Sixth Ecumenical Council (Constantinople III, 680), which defined that the incarnate Son had two wills, one human and one divine. Pope Benedict draws upon the insights of Maximus in his treatment of Jesus’ prayer in Gethsemane.
Meier, John P.: A biblical scholar and Catholic priest. He is perhaps best known for his historical-critical multivolume work on the historical Jesus called A Marginal Jew. The premise of his critical work is that he proceeds using a critical method the results of which he maintains might produce agreement about Jesus of Nazareth’s identity and intentions among critical Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, and agnostic scholars.
Melchisedek: The king of Salem identified in Genesis 14:18 as “priest of God Most High” to whom Abram offers a tithe. The Letter to the Hebrews, citing Psalm 110:4, speaks of Christ as belonging to the priesthood according to “the order of Melchizedek” (Heb 7:17). Pope Benedict, following the Jesuit biblical scholar Albert Cardinal Vanhoye, stresses Jesus’ obedient “yes” in the Garden of Gethsemane to the Father’s will as “consecrating” Jesus as a priest “according to the order of Melchisedek”, as opposed to the priesthood possessed by descendants of Aaron.
Messori, Vittorio: Contemporary Italian journalist and author of a book on the Passion and death of Jesus Christ called Patì sotto Ponzio Pilato? (He suffered under Pontius Pilate?). Pope Benedict refers to Messori’s thesis that Jesus acted according to the Law when he cleansed the Jerusalem Temple.
Mittelstaedt, Alexander: Author of an important study in German, Lukas als Historiker, that maintains that both the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles were written before the fall of Jerusalem in A.D. 70.
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