This page is a glossary of key words discussed in Theology 101. The words are ordered by chapter. The number in parentheses at the beginning of each entry indicates the chapter in which the word was first discussed.
- (19) Impassible: Incapable of suffering
- (19) Salvation: The definitive application of Christ’s redemptive work to the individual, which is manifested in the attainment of the Beatific Vision.
- (18) None
- (17) Docetism: The heresy stating that the human nature of Jesus was merely a disguise
- (17) Adoptionism: The heresy stating that Jesus was merely a human being adopted by God
- (17) Arianism: The heresy stating that Jesus was a creature with divine powers
- (16) Redemption: The act by which the human race was redeemed (i.e., “bought back”) by the “ransom” paid by Jesus through His Passion and Death; the expiation of Adam’s infinite debt to divine justice.
- (16) Reconciliation: The healing of the breach between God and man that occurred as a result of Jesus’ redemptive act
- (16) Justification: The application of the redemptive act of Jesus to individual persons
- (16) Perpetual Virginity: The fact that the mother of Jesus was a virgin before the birth of Jesus (ante partum), that her virginity was maintained during the birth of Jesus (in partu; He did not pass through the birth canal), that she continued to live a virginal life after the birth of Jesus (post partum)
- (16) Immaculate Conception: The fact that in the conception of the Virgin Mary, the transmission of original sin was prevented such that she was never tainted by the moral effects of Adam’s sin
- (15) Absolute Primitives: The peoples who are the most ancient of the human race, or the contemporary peoples who are the most geographically isolated of the human race. The fundamental elements of their religion are remarkably consistent with teaching of the Apostles.
- (15) Fullness of Time: The moment of the Incarnation, per Galatians 4:4.
- (15) Prophecy: The moral teaching spoken by a prophet that occasionally included the foretelling of future events, but usually in terms that were obscure at the time of the foretelling.
- (15) Prophesy: In the Jewish tradition, the act of speaking out against moral aberrations.
- (14) Original Sin: The state of the soul in which it lacks original justice and, therefore, original holiness. By way of reproduction, Adam passes on to his descendants flesh that lacks original justice which is the condition for original holiness.
- (14) Original holiness: The state of sanctifying grace possessed by Adam and Eve before they sinned
- (14) Original justice: The state of harmony, consisting of integrity and its four attendant freedoms, that was possessed by Adam and Eve before they sinned
- (13) Angel: A created rational spirit
- (13) Beatific Vision: Direct and conscious contact of God by which He is known without intervening ideas or concepts.
- (13) Beatitude: A state of perpetual supernatural blessedness. Beatitude consists in the possession of the Beatific Vision.
- (13) Reprobation: A state of perpetual obstinance toward God
- (13) Conscience: The intellect’s faculty of moral judgment
- (13) Freedom: (1) Absence of coercion; (2) fullness of being
- (13) Integrity: Perfect harmony of body and soul whereby the body is ruled by the soul without rebellion of any sort.
- (13) Concupiscence: Inordinate desire for that which pleases the senses or gratifies the will
- (13) Sanctifying Grace: The principle of supernatural life, which enables one to experience the Beatific Vision in the next life.
- (12) Soul: The life principle of living material beings. It is the soul that enlivens a material being. Man’s soul is a spirit and is, thus, immortal. The souls of other materials beings are material and are, thus, subject to destruction.
- (12) Abstraction: The ability to see the universal in a particular class of beings having multiple varieties. For example, our concept of “dog” is not that of a particular dog; rather, it is the recognition of the characteristics that are common to dogs in general. The process of abstraction produces the universal as a concept.
- (12) Providence: The dispositions by which God guides His creation toward perfection
- (11) Spirit: A non-material being. Spirit lacks the properties of matter and, for this reason, is not subject to substantial change (i.e., a change in substance). Spirit can be rational, as in the case of God, angels and human souls, or non-rational, as in the case of thoughts, ideas and concepts.
- (11) Imprint: The resemblance that a being necessarily has to its maker
- (11) Likeness: The resemblance that a being has to its maker by direct intent of the maker
- (11) Aeviternity: The substantial permanence of finite spirit, combined with its ability to undergo accidental change (i.e., changes in operation, qualities, and relations)
- (10) Emanationism: The belief that the universe necessarily emanates from God and, thus, always has been and always will be.
- (10) Glory: The theological counterpart of philosophical beauty; beauty is to finite existence what glory is to infinite existence
- (10) Illusionism: The belief that the material world is an immaterial product of the senses
- (9) Theology: Pertains to the mystery of God’s inmost life within the Blessed Trinity
- (9) Economy: Pertains to all the works by which God reveals himself and communicates his life
- (9) Appropriation: The attribution of an external operation of the Blessed Trinity to a specific person of the Blessed Trinity
- (8) Substance: A being that subsists, that is, a being that exists in and of itself
- (8) Accident: A being that can only exist in some other being
- (7) Sonship: The origin of a living thing from another living thing, by communication of substance unto likeness of nature
- (7) Generation: The manner by which the Son proceeds from the Father
- (7) Spiration: The manner by which the Holy Spirit proceeds (is breathed forth) from the Father and the Son
- (6) Person: An individual substance of a rational nature; that by which a rational being is who it is; the center of moral attribution for all that a rational being does; person commands
- (6) Nature: The principle by which a being is what it is; the set of characteristics common to any particular class of beings; the center of operation and experience for all that a being does or experiences; nature executes the commands of person
- (5) Incarnation: The absolutely unique union of two natures, the human and the divine, in the second person of the Blessed Trinity by the power of the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary
- (5) Pedagogy: Teaching method
- (5) Hypostatic Union: The substantial union (i.e., union of substances) of the divine and human natures in the person (hypostasis) of Jesus Christ, the second person of the Blessed Trinity
- (4) Eternity: A state of being that lies outside of time; Boethius’ “tota simul” or “all at once; eternity is exclusive to infinite spirit
- (4) Transcendent: Utterly beyond; (with respect to God): Existing above, beyond or outside of creation
- (4) Immanent: Within; (with respect to God) Having a presence within creation
- (4) Time: The measure of change; time is exclusive to material beings
- (4) Immensity: Immeasurability; God’s total transcendence of space is His immensity.
- (4) Infinity: Without limit; unbounded
- (4) Deism: The belief that God created a self-sustaining world that doesn’t need His attention after having been set in motion
- (4) Pantheism: The belief that the world is identical with God and that God is an impersonal being
- (3) Person: An individual substance of a rational nature
- (3) Personality: The element of a being by which the being is a person
- (3) Anthropomorphism: The application of human characteristics to that which is not human
- (3) Contingent: Dependent on some other thing or things
- (3) Perfection: A state of being in which something is what it was intended to be (e.g., intelligence, life, maturity, beauty)
- (3) Existence: That by which a being is and is known to be
- (2) Imagination: The “picture-making” tool of the intellect by which things perceivable through the five senses are presented to the intellect
- (2) Unimaginable: The imagination’s word of rejection
- (2) Inconceivable: The intellect’s word of rejection
- (2) Ignorance: A lack of knowledge about some subject
- (2) Mystery: A reality that we will never be able to understand fully
- (1) Intellect: The faculty of a rational spirit by which it is capable of obtaining knowledge
- (1) Will: The faculty of a rational spirit by which it is capable of loving persons
- (1) Omnipotence: Unlimited power
- (1) Nothing: The absence of every created thing
Theology and Sanity 