The Jewish Annotated New Testament (173 page)

GLOSSARY

A

Aaron
According to the Bible, the first high priest, brother of Moses and a Levite (Ex 4.14); he was regarded as the progenitor of all later priests.

Abaddon
(Heb “place of destruction”) the realm of the dead, a synonym of
Sheol
(Job 26.6; Prov 15.11; Ps 88.10–12; Rev 9.11).

Abba
(Aram “father”) the word Jesus (Mk 14.36) and, following him, the early church (Rom 8.15; Gal 4.6) used, consistent with Jewish tradition, to address God.

Abraham
the first
patriarch
(Gen 17), to whom the covenant of circumcision was given (Gen 17.10–14); the ancestor, with his wife Sarah, of the people Israel. The NT presents him as an archetype of the faithful one (Heb 11.8–12), through whom the Gentiles are blessed (Gal 3.6–9), and the spiritual ancestor of the faithful Israelites and of the followers of Jesus (Rom 9.6–18).

acropolis
(Gk “height of the city”) fortified upper area of a Greek city.

Acts of Paul and Thecla
second-century Christian novel recounting the story of Thecla, a young Greek woman who follows Paul’s exhortations to celibacy and who proclaims the gospel. The work describes Paul as small, bald, bowlegged, with a prominent nose and single eyebrow, but noble and full of grace (3), a description that influenced later representations.

Acts of Peter
an apocryphal account (probably late second century) of Peter’s deeds and martyrdom. It is the source of the well-known story in which Peter encounters Jesus and asks him, “Where are you going?” (Lat
quo vadis?
). Jesus’ response, “I am going to Rome to be crucified,” prompts Peter to return to Rome and to his death.

AD
abbreviation of the Latin
Anno Domini
[“in the year of our Lord”]; see
CE
.

Adar
the twelfth and final month (February–March) in the Jewish year. To align the lunar calendar with the solar year, a leap year, in which there are two months of Adar, occurs seven times every nineteen-year cycle.

adelphoi
(Gk “brothers”; sing.,
adelphos
) a word that can mean either biological brothers or companions. In the former case, the NRSV translates “brothers” (e.g., Mk 3.31); in the latter, “believers” (Acts 1.15), “friends” (Acts 3.17), or “brothers and sisters” (Rom 1.13).

Adonai
(Heb “my Lord”) a title that in Jewish worship is generally substituted for the
tetragrammaton
, YHWH.

agapē
(Gk “love”) the term for love used by Jesus’ followers (e.g., Jn 13.35) in distinction to
eros
and
philia
.

aggadah
(or “haggadah,” likely from Heb
huggad
, “things said” or “what is told”) non-legal portions of rabbinic writings (see
halakhah
) especially concerned the moral meaning of scripture and with elaborating on the stories in the Bible.

Akedah
(Heb “the binding [of Isaac]”) See Gen 22. This passage is read during synagogue worship on Rosh Hashanah.

Akiva
(ca. 50–135 CE) rabbi and
tanna
martyred in the Hadrianic persecutions connected to the
Bar Kochba
revolt (132–135). He played an instrumental role in assembling the
Oral Torah
.

Alexandrinus
(so-called because it was brought to Constantinople from Alexandria) a fifth century
codex
containing most of the Septuagint and the NT.

Aleinu
synagogue prayer that begins
aleinu leshabech la’adon ha-kol
, “it is our duty to praise the Lord of all,” the conclusion of regular services. It contains the phrase “to You [God] every knee must bend, every tongue vow loyalty” (cf. Phil 2.10–11).

aliyah
(Heb “ascent”) both pilgrimage or emigration to the land of Israel; or the honor of “ascending” to recite the blessings before and after a Torah reading in synagogue worship.

allegory
an extended comparison that directly describes one reality while indirectly describing another (see, e.g., the “Song of the Vineyard” in Isa 5; the parable of the sower in Mt 13.1–8,18–23).

alleluia
see
hallelujah
.

amen
(Heb “may it be so”) word signifying assent; based on biblical precedent (e.g., Deut 27.15; Ps 106.48) it became the standard response to prayers in the synagogue and the church.

Amidah
(Heb “standing”) the main post-biblical prayer in Jewish worship. Also called the
Shemonah Esrei
(eighteen [blessings]), and
Tefillah
(“prayer”). On regular weekdays (not Shabbat or festivals), it now consists of nineteen blessings.

amora
(pl.
amoraim
; adj.
amoraic
) (Aram “speaker”) rabbinic teacher of the Talmudic period (third century CE onward).

anathema
(Gk “devoted to evil,” “accursed”) solemn pronouncement condemning a person, thing, or idea as false or evil.

anoint
to touch or rub with oil as a sign that the person or thing was dedicated to God. Kings (1 Kings 1.39) and priests (Lev 8.30) were anointed, as were the bodies of those who had died (Lk 26.53).

antichrist
originally a term for false teachers and given in the plural (1 Jn 2.18,22; 4.3; 2 Jn 7), the term comes to indicate in the post-NT period an
eschatological
figure who opposes God.

antitheses
Designation for the rhetorical form “You have heard that it was said … but I say to you” (see Mt 5.21–48).

anti-type
something or someone who is prefigured in an earlier event or person. See
typology
.

aphorism
short, memorable saying.

apocalypse
(Gk
apokalypsis
, “uncovering, revelation”) literary genre in which a heavenly being communicates to a human the divine plan for history, the arrangement of the supernatural order, and/or eschatological warnings (see, e.g., Dan 7–12; Mk 13; Revelation).

Apocrypha
see
deuterocanonical
.

Apocryphal Acts
early post-NT Christian writings, often with novelistic flavor and a stress on celibacy, which narrate activities of various apostles such as Peter, Paul, and Thomas.

apologetics
a defense or proof of Christianity.

apologia
(Gk “explanation”) a defense of one’s actions or beliefs, usually in a formal speech or document.

apostle
(Gk “one who is sent”) a delegate or representative. In the NT, an apostle was one who had known Jesus and could witness to the resurrection (Acts 1.21–22) or a messenger called by God (1 Cor 12.28; Rom 16.7).

Apostles’ Creed
a statement of belief (second to fourth centuries) still recited by many Christian denominations.

apotheosis
the elevation of a person to the rank of a god.

Aramaic
a Semitic language used widely in the Near East during the Persian period (sixth to fourth centuries BCE), though it developed earlier. It became the language of Jews in Israel and the eastern
diaspora
, including Jesus and his early followers.

Aramaism
the reproduction in another language of phraseology characteristic of Aramaic: “Son of man” (Gk
huios tou anthropou
) may be derived from Daniel’s
bar enash
(7.13).

aretology
(Gk “words about virtue”) a general recounting the deeds of a hero.

Aristeas, Letter of
a second century BCE Greek document purporting to describe the translation of the Septuagint for the king of Egypt.

ark (for the Torah)
a box or cabinet, typically of wood, in which the Torah scrolls are stored at the front of the synagogue.

Armageddon
traditional site of the final battle between good and evil (Rev 16.6), possibly derived from “Megiddo,” a battle site in Israel’s history (Judg 5.19; 2 Kings 9.27).

ascension
(Lat “going up”) an account in which a human being goes or is taken into the divine realm. According to Lk 24.51, Jesus ascends soon after his resurrection; Acts 1.1–9 places his ascension forty days later.

asceticism
(Gk “training”) self-denial or self-punishment for religious purposes.

avodah
(Heb “service”) the sacred service in the Temple (see e.g., Lev 16.2–34), extended to mean the worship of God through prayer.

Avot
(Heb “fathers”) a tractate in the
Mishnah
containing sayings of rabbis (also known as
Pirkei Avot
or the
Ethics of the Fathers
).

B

Babylon
Mesopotamian empire that destroyed the First Temple in 586. It became a stand-in for any tyrannical empire and is a synonym for Rome in the book of Revelation.

Babylonian exile
the forced relocation of some of the population of Judah after the Babylonian conquest in 597–586 BCE. The exile ended with the permitted return to the land under Cyrus of Persia (beginning 538).

Babylonian Talmud
also called the
Bavli
. This Talmud, mostly reflecting traditions of the rabbis in Babylon through the fifth century CE, is a commentary on several Mishnaic tractates. In Judaism, it is more authoritative than the
Jerusalem Talmud
. See
Talmud
.

baptism
immersion in water, a practice found throughout Mediterranean antiquity for ritual purification. John the Baptist (Mk 1.4) may have been derived his practice from Jewish purification ritual (Lev 15.18). Paul’s connection of baptism with the death and resurrection of Christ (Rom 6.1–14) changed its meaning from purification to initiation into a new community and new identity.

Bar Kochba
(Aram “son of a star”) sobriquet of Shimon Bar Kosiba (d. 135 CE), leader of the unsuccessful second Jewish revolt against Rome; he was proclaimed the messiah by
Akiva
.

bar mitzvah
(Aram “son of commandment”) a Jewish male who at age 13 takes on adult responsibility for performing the
mitzvoth
. The ritual marking this adult role (also called a Bar Mitzvah) well post-dates the NT.

bat qol
(Heb lit. “daughter of [the] voice,” “echo”) rabbinic term for a heavenly voice and likely the idea behind the voice at Jesus’
baptism
and
transfiguration
.

Bavli
see
Babylonian Talmud
.

BCE
Before the Common Era, an alternative to BC (“before Christ”).

beatitudes
(from Lat
beatus
, “blessed”) the series of Jesus’ pronouncements in Mt 5.3–11 beginning with
makarioi
, “blessed” or “fortunate”; cf. the Heb
ashrei
(e.g., Ps 144.15).

Beelzebul
(also Baalzebul, Baalzebub, Beelzebub) ruler of the demons (Mt 12.24–27). The name derives from the Heb
Baalzebul
, “exalted lord,” a title of the Phoenician god (2 Kings 1.2–18), transformed into the derogatory Baalzebub, “lord of flies.”