Theologist's definitions
Arminianism, which takes its name from Jacobus Arminius (Jakob Harmensen), is a moderate theological revision of Calvinism that limits the significance of Predestination. Arminius (1560 - 1609) was a Dutch Reformed theologian who studied at Leiden and Geneva. He became a professor at Leiden in 1603 and spent the rest of his life defending against strict Calvinists his position that God's sovereignty and human free will are compatible. He sought without success revision of the Dutch Reformed (Belgic) Confession; nevertheless, he was very influential in Dutch Protestantism.
A Remonstrance in 1610 gave the name Remonstrants to the Arminian party. They were condemned by the Synod of Dort (1618 - 19), but later received toleration. English revisionist theology of the 17th century was called Arminian, although possibly without direct influence from Holland. John Wesley accepted the term for his theological position and published The Arminian Magazine. The tension between the Arminian and Calvinist positions in theology became quiescent until Karl Barth sparked its revival in the 20th century.
by Theologist May 2, 2005
Get the arminianismmug. In Christian belief, one of the three Theological Virtues (Faith, Hope, and Love) bestowed by God's grace upon the believer.
"And now these remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love." - I Corinthians 3:13
by Theologist February 25, 2007
Get the Lovemug. 'Tis my SUPREME HONOR to be the first to write a definition...er, brief biography...of C.S. Lewis on urbandictionary.
Clive Staples Lewis (1898 - 1963) - Better known as "Jack" Lewis by his circle of friends the Inklings (which included J.R.R. Tolkien, among others) and his family, C.S. Lewis was described by those who knew him best as "a man in love with the imagination". Fellow and Tutor in English at Magdalen College, Oxford University (1925-1954) and later Professor of Medieval and Renaissance English at Cambridge University (1954-1963), Lewis devoted his life to being influential on the world through his intellectual/literary pursuits. He authored the prolific Chronicles of Narnia children's fantasy series, The Space Trilogy(a science fiction series), Till We Have Faces(a modern telling of the Psyche myth), theology-based fictions such as The Screwtape Letters, The Great Divorce, and The Pilgrim's Regress, and now time-honored works on Christian reflection such as Mere Christianity, The Abolition of Man, The Problem of Pain, Miracles, The Four Loves, Reflections on the Psalms, and A Grief Observed. Though he considered himself "only a layman" of the Anglican Church, Lewis wrote with the theological know-how and incisive wit of a man with years of seminary education. Though he passed away on the same day as President Kennedy and is now asleep in the Lord, every year Lewis continues to deeply influence millions who discover the joy of reading his works for the first time.
Clive Staples Lewis (1898 - 1963) - Better known as "Jack" Lewis by his circle of friends the Inklings (which included J.R.R. Tolkien, among others) and his family, C.S. Lewis was described by those who knew him best as "a man in love with the imagination". Fellow and Tutor in English at Magdalen College, Oxford University (1925-1954) and later Professor of Medieval and Renaissance English at Cambridge University (1954-1963), Lewis devoted his life to being influential on the world through his intellectual/literary pursuits. He authored the prolific Chronicles of Narnia children's fantasy series, The Space Trilogy(a science fiction series), Till We Have Faces(a modern telling of the Psyche myth), theology-based fictions such as The Screwtape Letters, The Great Divorce, and The Pilgrim's Regress, and now time-honored works on Christian reflection such as Mere Christianity, The Abolition of Man, The Problem of Pain, Miracles, The Four Loves, Reflections on the Psalms, and A Grief Observed. Though he considered himself "only a layman" of the Anglican Church, Lewis wrote with the theological know-how and incisive wit of a man with years of seminary education. Though he passed away on the same day as President Kennedy and is now asleep in the Lord, every year Lewis continues to deeply influence millions who discover the joy of reading his works for the first time.
"Can a mortal ask questions which God finds unanswerable? Quite easily, I should think. All nonsense questions are unanswerable. How many hours are in a mile? Is yellow square or round? Probably half the questions we ask -- half the great theological and metaphysical problems -- are like that."
- A Grief Observed
- A Grief Observed
by Theologist May 3, 2005
Get the C.S. Lewismug. In Christian belief, one of the three Theological Virtues(Faith, Hope, and Love) bestowed by God's grace upon the believer.
And now these remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love. - I Corinthians 3:13
by Theologist May 2, 2005
Get the faithmug. A conscious, willful decision to act disinterestedly for the benefit of someone wholly other than oneself. In certain theological worldviews, especially Christianity, love takes the form of self-sacrifice and self-giving, even for those to whom one is not chemically, emotionally, nor genetically predisposed to care for(the non-family member, those to whom no sexual attraction is felt, the ugly, the outcast, the societal reject, the unloveable, even the undeserving of love). In Christian theology love occupies such a prominent place that Love is not simply conceived of as a powerful yet impersonal force, but a Person (or, rather, Relationship of Persons), as Christians assert that God Himself not only loves, but IS Love. This is powerfully expressed in the passage from Paul's first letter to the Corinthians, which attributes personal characteristics to Love (defined as "charity"), and in the Nicene doctrine of the Holy Trinity, envisioning the Holy Spirit as the Person that 'proceedeth' out of the love relationship between the Father and the Son.
Not to be confused with being "in love", which is purely a temporary neuro-chemical state triggered by the close physical proximity or thoughts of a particular person of the opposite, or same, sex, often linked, directly or indirectly, to the biological imperative to copulate. Such a state can be so powerful to the person experiencing it that it may lead one to actually believe that being "in love" is indeed magical or spiritually transcendent, when such a phenomenon requires no metaphysical explanations.
by Theologist February 25, 2007
Get the lovemug. Something that is much underrated in our society. Friendship is actually a form of love (here I'm not talking exclusively about erotic love). It's not a lesser form of love than erotic love, only a different form of love. In fact, the ancient Greeks had a word, "phileos", more or less equating to fraternal/brotherly love (friendship). Friendship seems to have no observable biological necessity(unlike parental love, necessary for humans to grow, and erotic love, necessary for humans to reproduce), and not much of a marketable appeal (as opposed to the millions/billions of dollars worth of things sold to people trying to better their marriages or parenting skills), yet without such a form of love as friendship our societies would be unbearably dull and alienated from one another. One can love their friends as well as their "significant other", just not in the same way (the difference here is quality, not necessarily quantity).
Friendships are not monogamous by necessity. Two people in a friendship don't need to exclude other people from their relationship. A friendship can best be thought of as two people side by side looking forward toward a common goal. It's an odd form of love in which people develop a relationship without relationship as a goal. Scientific achievements have come out of tight-knit friendships (Watson and Crick), as have works of literary genius (J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis), as well as victories in wars (due to the tight camaraderie and mutual trust of soldiers).
by Theologist April 15, 2006
Get the friendshipmug. (Latin: "creation from nothing")
The Judeo-Christian doctrine which acknowledges ABSOLUTE creation. This dogma, which distinguishes Judaism and Christianity (and perhaps Islam) from all other religious cosmologies about the "beginnings", holds that a transcendent, eternal, uncreated, self-existent God created everything that is the natural universe(and every angelic spirit) out of nothing. It differs from the Hindu idea that God created the universe out of Him/Her/Itself and from the ancient quasi-pantheistic Greek idea that creation "emanated" from God/the gods. The concept of absolute creation is extremely difficult to grasp(perhaps impossible), since it assumes that God "invented" or "thought up" matter, time, and energy and set them in motion by His own will(that is, He had NOTHING with which to create, but really created entirely NEW things which were not already pre-existent). The Church has held to this dogma(NOT a particular VERSION of this dogma, i.e. young earth creationism, old earth creationism, theistic evolution) which has never been directly challenged (and seems to even be supported) by modern science, since most physicists agree that the universe had a beginning.
The Judeo-Christian doctrine which acknowledges ABSOLUTE creation. This dogma, which distinguishes Judaism and Christianity (and perhaps Islam) from all other religious cosmologies about the "beginnings", holds that a transcendent, eternal, uncreated, self-existent God created everything that is the natural universe(and every angelic spirit) out of nothing. It differs from the Hindu idea that God created the universe out of Him/Her/Itself and from the ancient quasi-pantheistic Greek idea that creation "emanated" from God/the gods. The concept of absolute creation is extremely difficult to grasp(perhaps impossible), since it assumes that God "invented" or "thought up" matter, time, and energy and set them in motion by His own will(that is, He had NOTHING with which to create, but really created entirely NEW things which were not already pre-existent). The Church has held to this dogma(NOT a particular VERSION of this dogma, i.e. young earth creationism, old earth creationism, theistic evolution) which has never been directly challenged (and seems to even be supported) by modern science, since most physicists agree that the universe had a beginning.
Whether a Christian accepts a 15-billion-year-old universe or a 6,000-year-old universe as found in a historical/scientific interpretation of the first chapters of Genesis, ALL believers are agreed on the doctrine of creatio ex nihilo.
by Theologist May 4, 2005
Get the creatio ex nihilomug.