Acrostic

Form of poetry in which the first letters of the stanzas follow an order, either of the alphabet or the spelling of a name (see, e.g., Ps 25).

Aggada

(Heb.) Narrative midrash, a non-canonical rabbinic tale on a biblical theme.

Allegory

Reading of Scripture that substitutes abstractions for the literal referents. (In Hebrew the equivalent term is remez, "hint.")

Anagogy

Or "mystical meaning." Reading of Scripture that construes it as referring to a world to come. (In Hebrew the equivalent term is sod, "secret.")

Androcentrism

Feminist term for cultural systems and structures organized from a male point of view and assumed to be "natural," because its source in male power and authority is concealed.

Antisemitism

Hatred of the Jews. The term was coined in 1879 by the Austrian journalist Wilhelm Marr to elevate hatred into doctrine.

Apocrypha

(Gr., "hidden things.") A collection of writings, mostly from the end of the biblical period, excluded from the Jewish canon but accepted as Scripture by the early Church.

Apodictic law

Aramaic

Semitic language related to Hebrew—much as French or Italian is related to Latin—and spoken widely throughout the ancient Near East from the eighth century B.C.E.

Canon

(Gr., "measuring rod.") Normative collection of Scripture, held to be revealed by God and serving as the basis of religious authority. Among Jews, Catholics, and Protestants, the canons differ in books included and in order.

Casuistic law

According to scholars, one of the two types of biblical law. (The other type is apodictic law.) Casuistic laws specify a case—hence their name—and are framed in the conditional if-then or when-then mode (see Exod 21.18–19).

Covenant formulary

The sequence of steps by which a suzerainty treaty is formulated. There are six: (1) the preamble or titulary, in which the suzerain identifies himself; (2) the historical prologue or antecedent, in which the past relationship between the parties is spelled out; (3) the stipulations, the specific demands which are placed upon the vassal in order to secure his fidelity; (4) the deposition, stating where the text is to be deposited (e.g. a temple) and how it is to be attested (e.g. periodically recited); (5) the list of witnesses, the gods before whom the oath is sworn; and (6) blessings and curses, promising what will befall the vassal if he keeps (or breaks) the treaty.

Cult

(Lat., cultus.) System of forms and ceremonies used in worship.

Derash

(Heb.) Applied meaning; homily.

Deuteronomic history

Also called the D strand. Scholarly hypothesis, first proposed by Martin Noth (1943), that the books of Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings make up a single historical work written by the same person or group of persons during the Babylonian exile. On this hypothesis, Deut 1–3 or 4 constitute the introduction to the historical work, while Deut 5–7 introduce the Deuteronomic law.

Documentary hypothesis

Scholarly argument disputing the traditional claim that the Pentateuch was authored by Moses and holding instead that it was originally composed as at least four separate documents and later redacted (Lat., "reduced to order"). The four documentary strands are labeled J for its use of the tetragrammaton Yhvh (spelled with a J in German); E for its use of Elohim; P for the priestly literature; and D for the Deuteronomic history.

Exegesis

(Gr.) Exposition of a biblical passage.

Fourfold interpretation

Form of medieval interpretation, which posits that the biblical text consists of "levels" of meaning—peshat or literal sense, remez ("hint") or allegory, derash or homily, and sod ("secret") or anagogy. In Jewish mystical tradition, these are reduced to a mnemonic—PaRDeS, Hebrew for "paradise."

Gender

Originally a grammatical term; adapted by feminist critics and scholars to distinguish socially constructed traits and values from sex (in the biological sense of reproduction and differentiation).

Gnosticism

(Gr., gnosis, "secret knowledge.") Religious movement of the second century C.E. emphasizing the redemptive power of esoteric knowledge, which is said to be acquired neither by learning nor experience but by direct revelation from God. The Christian church—its doctrine, symbols, canon, structure, and authority—developed largely in reaction to Gnosticism. See Hans Jonas, The Gnostic Religion: The Message of the Alien God and the Beginnings of Christianity.

Hermeneutics

Study of the principles of biblical interpretation.

Hermeneutics of suspicion

Term coined in the 1970s by the French philosopher Paul Ricoeur for a method of interpretation which assumes that the literal or surface-level meaning of a text (including the Bible) is an effort to conceal the political interests which are served by the text. The purpose of interpretation is to strip off the concealment, unmasking those interests.

Homily

Same as derash. Reading of Scripture that applies it to current moral concerns.

King James Version

Abbreviated KJV. Also known as the Authorized Version. English translation of the Hebrew and Greek Scriptures authorized by Britain’s King James I in 1604 and completed by six companies of 47 translators in 1611.

Liberation theology

Christian movement founded in the early 1970s by Peruvian theologian Gustavo Gutierrez. Holding that the church must be the agent of liberation—political, economic, social, sexual, racial—it emphasizes the religious needs of the poor, oppressed, and marginalized.

Marcionite heresy

The Gnostic view, dating from the second century C.E., that the God of the "Old Testament," a god of anger and justice, is distinguishable from the loving and merciful God of the "New." According to this view, the true God resists human knowledge and bears no relation at all to the created universe. He sent his son Jesus Christ to redeem humanity from the material world and lead it to a new home. And since "Christ redeemed us" (Gal 3.13), his death was not, as in orthodox theology, an atonement for sin, but rather a legal action which nullified the "old covenant" and cancelled the creator god’s claims upon humanity. Thus any effort to integrate the Jewish with the Christian bible is doomed to frustration. Declared a heresy by the Roman Church in 144, the view is still widely—if vulgarly—held.

Masoretic text

Text of the Hebrew Scriptures standardized around 100 C.E. and preserved and handed down by the Jews ever since. The name derives from the Masoretes, a medieval school of Jewish biblical scholars who regularized transmission of the text by developing a sophisticated system of annotation and punctuation.

Megillah

(Heb., "scroll." Plural: megillot.) Term for five shorter books of the Bible—Shir Hashirim or Song of Songs, Ruth, Ekha or Lamentations, Kohelet or Eccelesiastes, and Esther—each of which fits on a single scroll and is chanted on a different Jewish holiday.

Midrash

(Heb. Plural: midrashim.) Traditional form of Jewish biblical interpretation that seeks to fill in textual gaps. Narrative interpretation is called aggada, while legal interpretation is called halakhah.

New Jewish Version

Abbreviated NJV. Thoroughly new English translation commissioned by the (U.S.) Jewish Publication Society in 1955. Its Torah appeared in 1962, the complete Tanakh in 1985.

Parity treaty

In the ancient near East, a treaty between political equals (A treaty between unequals is a suzerainty treaty.)

Patriarchy

(Gr., from pater, "father," and archein, "to rule.") Form of social organization in which males hold power.

Pentateuch

(Gr.) First five books of the Hebrew Scriptures; also known as the five books of Moses (Heb., Humash) or Torah.

Peshat

(Heb.) Plain sense.

Prooftext

Biblical passage advanced to corroborate a theological argument.

Prophecy

A biblical mode of knowledge founded upon the premise (or claim) that the words were spoken by God, as the medieval philosopher Gersonides put it, "prior to [the prophets’] coming to be."

Rabbis, the

Generic term, dating from the first century C.E., for Jewish scholars whose approach to religion and the Bible was enshrined in the Talmud and, with significant modifications, has survived in modern Judaism. Also known as the Pharisees, a term of questionable origin possibly meaning "specifiers" or "explainers."

Reformation

Division in the Western church beginning early in the sixteenth century and leading to the foundation of Protestantism. Although the medieval church had come under attack for corruption, the revolt fomented primarily by Luther and Calvin was theological in focus, criticizing Roman Catholic doctrine on redemption and grace. It emphasized the principles of sola fide and sola scriptura.

Revelation

(1) In Judaism and Christianity, the communication of God’s word, originally thought to be sensibly perceptible. "[T]he theophanies in which God appears to, and communicates with, the patriarchs or distinguished individuals, and above all the prophets, are not included in this concept. . . . It is not the experiences of the senses of sight, touch, or taste that constitute authority, but exclusively those within the sphere of hearing" (Gershom Scholem, On Jews and Judaism in Crisis [New York: Schocken, 1976], p. 265). (2) In theological discourse more generally, an event that so captures the imagination of a faith community that its self-understanding is altered forever (H. Richard Niebuhr, The Meaning of Revelation [New York: Macmillan, 1946], p. 93).

Revised Standard Version

Abbreviated RSV. Modern English revision of the KJV authorized by the (U.S.) National Council of Churches in 1937 and published in its entirety in 1952.

Septuagint

(Gr., "seventy.") Abbreviated LXX. Translation of the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek, starting in the third century B.C.E. and requiring over a century to complete. It was the Bible of early Christians. The name derives from a legend that seventy Jewish elders were commissioned separately to do the translation, and yet their finished translations agreed in every detail.

Sola fide

(Lat., "faith alone.") Luther’s reassertion of the Pauline doctrine that Christians are justified, not by their actions (or "works"), but solely by confession of faith in the Christ.

Sola scriptura

(Lat., "scripture alone.") Luther’s doctrine that the Bible is the sole source of Christian practice and theology, unmediated by ecclesiastical authority.

Suzerainty treaty

In the ancient near East, a treaty between political unequals, the suzerain or paramount ruler and the vassal or subservient power. (A treaty between equals is a parity treaty.) The purpose of suzerainty treaties, originating in the Hittite Empire of the Late Bronze Age (ca. 1500–1200 B.C.E.), was to guarantee that a smaller state remained the faithful ally of the empire and did not pursue an independent foreign policy. Starting with Elias Bickerman in 1951, scholars have compared the resemblance of biblical literature to these suzerainty treaties, which share a common structure known as the covenant formulary.

Tanakh

Jewish acronym for the Hebrew Scriptures, derived from Torah (or Pentatech), Neviim (prophets), and Ketuvim (writings).

Talmud

Multivolume compendium of Jewish legal discussion and biblical exegesis, combining most of the Mishnah (for "repeated study") with the Gemara (literally, "completion"), the latter being a commentary upon the former. The Mishnah was compiled in the first years of the third century C.E. and includes the views of the Tannaim, the succession of rabbis from Hillel to Yehudah Hanasi (Judah the Prince), a stretch of some two centuries. The Gemara contains the views of the Amoraim (literally, the "bearers"). There are two Talmuds, the Yerushalmi (compiled in the land of Israel in the fourth and early fifth centuries C.E.) and the Bavli (compiled in Babylon in the fifth and early sixth centuries C.E.), although both contain much earlier material. Usually, the singular term Talmud refers to the Bavli, four times larger than the Yerushalmi and historically the more influential of the two.

Targum

(Aram., "interpretation.") Translation or paraphrase of the Hebrew Scriptures into Aramaic.

Theodicy

(Literally, "divine justice.") Doctrine seeking to explain why God allows evil to exist in the world.

Theophany

Toldah

(Heb., "generation." Plural.: toldot.) Biblical term for genealogy; a subgenre of biblical narrative (see, e.g., Ruth 4.18-23; Matt 1).

Torah

(Heb., "teaching." Plural: torot.) Biblical term to describe statute(s) or procedure(s). In later books, the term may designate the Pentateuch. In postbiblical Hebrew, the term refers to (1) the Pentateuch (in this sense it was translated into Greek as nomos, appearing in the New Testament phrase "the Law and the Prophets"); (2) more loosely, the Bible as a whole; (3) more loosely still, Jewish learning.

Typology

Reading of Scripture that takes it to foreshadow or represent later events.

Vulgate

Translation of the Hebrew Scriptures into Latin by St. Jerome (died 419/420), accepted throughout Christendom as the "common version" (hence its name) by the eighth century.

Wisdom

(Heb., Hokhmah.) A largely post-prophetic genre of biblical literature, although sayings of the wise are included as early as the Joseph story, in which truth-claims are founded upon practical experience rather than prophecy.