Glossary

We received a rather interesting assignment for our Fundamental Theology class. Since we're learning a whole new vocabulary, and since many of us will be working in and for the Church, it would be helpful to have a good definition of many of the terms that might be unfamiliar to the average person in the pew. In particular it would be helpful to have a handy definition that doesn't involve terminology that is too technical. We want to help bring people closer to Christ, not confuse them.

So, our assignment was to, as we were doing all of our class reading, note any terms that were either unfamiliar to us or were familiar, but seemed to have a specific meaning when used in a theological setting. Once we had accumulated at least 30 words, we were to assemble a little glossary. I picked out 35. Many of them were familiar to me, but in many cases I didn't have a good definition on the tip of my tongue so I thought this would be a good opportunity to get one.

Now that I've completed my glossary, I'd like to share some of them with you over the next few days. (Keep in mind I haven't gotten a grade on this assignment yet, so I may have them all wrong.) Perhaps you're really smart and already know all the words. But, perhaps you'll learn something new...!

Here's the first word:
Canon:


No, not that kind of cannon... Let's try this again:

Canon: A canon is an approved list which is established to provide authentic guidance. It is used most frequently to identify the collection of books designated by the Church to legitimately constitute the Old and New Testaments.