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Christianity
Article Free Pass- Introduction
- The church and its history
- The essence and identity of Christianity
- The history of Christianity
- The primitive church
- The internal development of the early Christian Church
- Relations between Christianity and the Roman government and the Hellenistic culture
- The early liturgy, the calendar, and the arts
- The alliance between church and empire
- Theological controversies of the 4th and 5th centuries
- Liturgy and the arts after Constantine
- Political relations between East and West
- Literature and art of the “Dark Ages”
- Missions and monasticism
- The Photian schism and the great East–West schism
- From the schism to the Reformation
- Christianity from the 16th to the 20th century
- Contemporary Christianity
- Christian doctrine
- The nature and functions of doctrine
- Scripture and tradition: the apostolic witness
- Evangelism: the first teaching about the God of Jesus Christ
- Catechesis: instructing candidates for baptism
- Liturgy: the school and feast of faith
- Ethics: obeying the truth
- Aversion of heresy: the establishment of orthodoxy
- Apologetics: defending the faith
- Restatement: respecting language and knowledge
- Inculturation: respecting places and peoples
- Dogma: the most authoritative teaching
- Consensus: patterns of agreement
- Theology: loving God with the mind
- Symbolics: creeds and confessions
- Development: the maturation of understanding
- Schism: division over substantial matters
- Controversy: fighting over the faith
- Ecumenism: speaking the truth in love
- God the Father
- God the Son
- God the Holy Spirit
- The Holy Trinity
- Anthropology
- What it is to be human
- The human as a creature
- The human as the image of God
- Human redemption
- The problem of suffering
- The resurrection of the body
- Progressive human perfection
- The “new man”: The human being in the light of Christ
- The “reborn human”
- Human liberation
- Joy in human existence
- The charismatic believer
- Christian perfection
- Fellow humans as the present Christ
- The church
- Church tradition
- Eschatology
- Expectations of the Kingdom of God in early Christianity
- Expectations of the Kingdom of God in the medieval and Reformation periods
- Expectations of the Kingdom of God in the post-Reformation period
- The role of imminent expectation in missions and emigrations
- Eschatological expectations and secularization
- Concepts of life after death
- Aspects of the Christian religion
- Christian philosophy
- Christian mysticism
- Christian myth and legend
- The Christian community and the world
- The relationships of Christianity
- Christian missions
- Ecumenism
- Christianity and world religions
- Related
- Contributors & Bibliography
- Year in Review Links
- Introduction
- The church and its history
- The essence and identity of Christianity
- The history of Christianity
- The primitive church
- The internal development of the early Christian Church
- Relations between Christianity and the Roman government and the Hellenistic culture
- The early liturgy, the calendar, and the arts
- The alliance between church and empire
- Theological controversies of the 4th and 5th centuries
- Liturgy and the arts after Constantine
- Political relations between East and West
- Literature and art of the “Dark Ages”
- Missions and monasticism
- The Photian schism and the great East–West schism
- From the schism to the Reformation
- Christianity from the 16th to the 20th century
- Contemporary Christianity
- Christian doctrine
- The nature and functions of doctrine
- Scripture and tradition: the apostolic witness
- Evangelism: the first teaching about the God of Jesus Christ
- Catechesis: instructing candidates for baptism
- Liturgy: the school and feast of faith
- Ethics: obeying the truth
- Aversion of heresy: the establishment of orthodoxy
- Apologetics: defending the faith
- Restatement: respecting language and knowledge
- Inculturation: respecting places and peoples
- Dogma: the most authoritative teaching
- Consensus: patterns of agreement
- Theology: loving God with the mind
- Symbolics: creeds and confessions
- Development: the maturation of understanding
- Schism: division over substantial matters
- Controversy: fighting over the faith
- Ecumenism: speaking the truth in love
- God the Father
- God the Son
- God the Holy Spirit
- The Holy Trinity
- Anthropology
- What it is to be human
- The human as a creature
- The human as the image of God
- Human redemption
- The problem of suffering
- The resurrection of the body
- Progressive human perfection
- The “new man”: The human being in the light of Christ
- The “reborn human”
- Human liberation
- Joy in human existence
- The charismatic believer
- Christian perfection
- Fellow humans as the present Christ
- The church
- Church tradition
- Eschatology
- Expectations of the Kingdom of God in early Christianity
- Expectations of the Kingdom of God in the medieval and Reformation periods
- Expectations of the Kingdom of God in the post-Reformation period
- The role of imminent expectation in missions and emigrations
- Eschatological expectations and secularization
- Concepts of life after death
- Aspects of the Christian religion
- Christian philosophy
- Christian mysticism
- Christian myth and legend
- The Christian community and the world
- The relationships of Christianity
- Christian missions
- Ecumenism
- Christianity and world religions
- Related
- Contributors & Bibliography
- Year in Review Links
Liturgy
The central focus of the liturgy of the early church was the Eucharist, which was interpreted as a fellowship meal with the resurrected Christ. Most expressions of Judaism at the time of Christ were dominated by an intense expectation, appropriated by the early Christian church, of the Kingdom of God, which would be inaugurated by the Messiah–Son of man. At the centre of Jesus’ preaching on the Kingdom of God is the promise that the blessed would “eat bread” with the exalted Messiah–Son of man (Luke 13:29). The Lord himself would serve the community of the Kingdom at the messianic meal (Luke 12:37 ff.), which bears the features of a wedding banquet. The basic mood in the community gathered about him is thus one of nuptial joy over the inauguration of the promised end time. The supper that Jesus celebrated with his disciples “on the night when he was betrayed” (1 Corinthians 11:23) inaugurated the heavenly meal that will be continued in the Kingdom of God, as Jesus indicated when he declared “I shall not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.” (Matthew 26:29)
The death of Jesus at first bewildered his community in the face of his promise, but the appearances of the risen Christ confirmed their expectations about the messianic Kingdom. These appearances influenced the expectations about the messianic meal and the continuation of fellowship with the Son of man in the meal. Faith in the Resurrection and an expectation of the continuation of the fellowship meal with the exalted Son of man are two basic elements of the Eucharist that have been a part of the liturgy from the beginnings of the church. In meeting the risen Christ in the eucharistic meal the community sees all the glowing expectations of salvation confirmed.
The Christian community experiences a continuation of the appearances of the Resurrected One in the eucharistic meal. Thus, many liturgical forms developed, all of which served to enhance the meal’s mystery. In the liturgical creations of the 1st to the 6th century, diversity rather than uniformity was a commanding feature of the development of worship forms. This diversity is preserved in the Clementine liturgy (Antioch), the Liturgy of St. James of the church of Jerusalem, the liturgy of St. Mark in Egypt, the Roman mass, and others. The eucharistic mystery developed from a simple form, as depicted in the 2nd-century Didachē, to the fully developed liturgies of the 5th and 6th centuries in both the East and the West.
In the 6th century two types of liturgies were fixed by canon law in the Eastern Orthodox Church: the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom (originally the liturgy of Constantinople) and the Liturgy of St. Basil (originally the liturgy of the Cappadocian monasteries). The Liturgy of St. Basil, however, is celebrated only 10 times during the year, whereas the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom is celebrated most other times. In addition to these liturgies is the so-called Liturgy of the Preconsecrated Offerings, attributed to Pope Gregory I. In this liturgy no consecration of the eucharistic offering occurs—because the eucharistic offerings used have been consecrated on the previous Sunday—and it is celebrated on weekday mornings during Lent as well as from Monday to Wednesday during Holy Week.
The period of liturgical improvisation apparently was concluded earlier in the Latin West than in the East. The liturgy of the ancient Latin Church is textually available only since the 6th century. Though the Gallic liturgies are essentially closer to the Eastern liturgies, the liturgy of Rome followed a special development. From the middle of the 4th century, the Roman mass was celebrated in Latin rather than in Greek, which had been the earlier practice. The fixing of the Roman mass by canon law is congruent with the historical impulse of the Roman Catholic Church to follow the ancient Roman pattern of rendering sacred observance in legal forms and with stipulated regularities.
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People
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(German theologian and church historian)"/>
(German theologian and church historian)"/> Adolf von Harnack (German theologian and church historian)
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al-Ḥākim (Fāṭimid caliph)
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(Flemish theologian)"/>
(Flemish theologian)"/> Cornelius Otto Jansen (Flemish theologian)
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(king of Scotland)"/>
(king of Scotland)"/> David I (king of Scotland)
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(Dutch humanist and scholar)"/>
(Dutch humanist and scholar)"/> Desiderius Erasmus (Dutch humanist and scholar)
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Elaine Pagels (American scholar)
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(German theologian)"/>
(German theologian)"/> Ernst Troeltsch (German theologian)
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(German theologian)"/>
(German theologian)"/> Ferdinand Christian Baur (German theologian)
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(king of Denmark)"/>
(king of Denmark)"/> Harald I (king of Denmark)
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(Bohemian religious leader)"/>
(Bohemian religious leader)"/> Jan Hus (Bohemian religious leader)
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(Czech philosopher)"/>
(Czech philosopher)"/> Jerome Of Prague (Czech philosopher)
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Jesus Christ
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(English philosopher)"/>
(English philosopher)"/> John Locke (English philosopher)
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John Toland (British author)
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(Mohawk chief)"/>
(Mohawk chief)"/> Joseph Brant (Mohawk chief)
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(Spanish architect)"/>
(Spanish architect)"/> Juan de Herrera (Spanish architect)
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Keshab Chunder Sen (Hindu philosopher and social reformer)
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(German religious philosopher)"/>
(German religious philosopher)"/> Martin Buber (German religious philosopher)
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Martin E. Marty (American historian of religion)
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(mother of Jesus)"/>
(mother of Jesus)"/> Mary (mother of Jesus)
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Mary Hannah Fulton (American physician and missionary)
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Matthias Flacius Illyricus (European religious reformer)
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Michael Psellus (Byzantine philosopher, theologian, and statesman)
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(Italian artist)"/>
(Italian artist)"/> Michelozzo (Italian artist)
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Mieszko I (duke and prince of Poland)
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Minh Mang (emperor of Vietnam)
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(Danish bishop and poet)"/>
(Danish bishop and poet)"/> N.F.S. Grundtvig (Danish bishop and poet)
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(German religious leader)"/>
(German religious leader)"/> Nikolaus Ludwig, count von Zinzendorf (German religious leader)
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Nikolay Aleksandrovich Berdyayev (Russian philosopher)
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Olaf I Tryggvason (king of Norway)
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Olaf II Haraldsson (king of Norway)
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Pelagius (Christian theologian)
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(American theologian)"/>
(American theologian)"/> Philip Schaff (American theologian)
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(French philosopher)"/>
(French philosopher)"/> Pierre Bayle (French philosopher)
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Pseudo-Dionysius The Areopagite (Syrian author)
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(German theologian, scientist, and philosopher)"/>
(German theologian, scientist, and philosopher)"/> Saint Albertus Magnus (German theologian, scientist, and philosopher)
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(Russian painter)"/>
(Russian painter)"/> Saint Andrey Rublyov (Russian painter)
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(Christian bishop and theologian)"/>
(Christian bishop and theologian)"/> Saint Augustine (Christian bishop and theologian)
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(Anglo-Saxon historian)"/>
(Anglo-Saxon historian)"/> Saint Bede the Venerable (Anglo-Saxon historian)
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(Christian Apostle)"/>
(Christian Apostle)"/> Saint Paul, the Apostle (Christian Apostle)
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Saint Theophilus of Alexandria (Egyptian theologian)
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Sir Sigmund Sternberg (British philanthropist and entrepreneur)
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(Danish philosopher)"/>
(Danish philosopher)"/> Søren Kierkegaard (Danish philosopher)
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(king of Hungary)"/>
(king of Hungary)"/> Stephen I (king of Hungary)
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(American missionary and educator)"/>
(American missionary and educator)"/> Susan Lincoln Tolman Mills (American missionary and educator)
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Theōdūrus Abū Qurrah (Syrian bishop)
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Tu Duc (emperor of Vietnam)
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(grand prince of Kiev)"/>
(grand prince of Kiev)"/> Vladimir I (grand prince of Kiev)
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(prince of Bohemia)"/>
(prince of Bohemia)"/> Wenceslas I (prince of Bohemia)
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(British missionary)"/>
(British missionary)"/> William Carey (British missionary)
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Places
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Armageddon (biblical place)
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(ancient city, Israel)"/>
(ancient city, Israel)"/> Caesarea (ancient city, Israel)
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(Ireland)"/>
(Ireland)"/> Clonmacnoise (Ireland)
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(Spain)"/>
(Spain)"/> El Escorial (Spain)
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Le Temple (prison, Paris, France)
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(monasteries, Greece)"/>
(monasteries, Greece)"/> Metéora (monasteries, Greece)
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(mosque, Córdoba, Spain)"/>
(mosque, Córdoba, Spain)"/> Mosque-Cathedral of Córdoba (mosque, Córdoba, Spain)
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(mountain, Greece)"/>
(mountain, Greece)"/> Mount Athos (mountain, Greece)
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(ridge, Jerusalem)"/>
(ridge, Jerusalem)"/> Mount of Olives (ridge, Jerusalem)
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(Italy)"/>
(Italy)"/> Rome (Italy)
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(monastery and church, Assisi, Italy)"/>
(monastery and church, Assisi, Italy)"/> San Francesco (monastery and church, Assisi, Italy)
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School of Alexandria (institution, Alexandria, Egypt)
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(ecclesiastical state, Europe)"/>
(ecclesiastical state, Europe)"/> Vatican City (ecclesiastical state, Europe)
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(Scotland, United Kingdom)"/>
(Scotland, United Kingdom)"/> Whithorn (Scotland, United Kingdom)
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Topics
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(Christianity)"/>
(Christianity)"/> Annunciation (Christianity)
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apocrypha (biblical literature)
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apologetics (Christianity)
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(Christianity)"/>
(Christianity)"/> Apostle (Christianity)
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(Christianity)"/>
(Christianity)"/> Ascension (Christianity)
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(Christianity)"/>
(Christianity)"/> Assumption (Christianity)
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(Christianity)"/>
(Christianity)"/> baptism (Christianity)
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(denomination)"/>
(denomination)"/> Baptist (denomination)
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(biblical literature)"/>
(biblical literature)"/> Beatitude (biblical literature)
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(sacred text)"/>
(sacred text)"/> Bible (sacred text)
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biblical literature
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canon law (religion)
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catechism (religious manual)
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(liturgical vessel)"/>
(liturgical vessel)"/> chalice (liturgical vessel)
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(doctrine of Christ)"/>
(doctrine of Christ)"/> Christology (doctrine of Christ)
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church (Christianity)
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Church Father (Christianity)
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church year (Christianity)
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city mission (Christianity)
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confirmation (Christianity)
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creationism
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(religious symbol)"/>
(religious symbol)"/> cross (religious symbol)
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(Christianity)"/>
(Christianity)"/> ecumenism (Christianity)
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gospel music
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heresy
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(Jesus Christ)"/>
(Jesus Christ)"/> Incarnation (Jesus Christ)
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justification (Christianity)
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kerygma and catechesis (Christian theology)
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Kingdom of God (Christianity)
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Kirishitan (religion)
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(Christianity)"/>
(Christianity)"/> Last Supper (Christianity)
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(philosophy and theology)"/>
(philosophy and theology)"/> logos (philosophy and theology)
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Lord’s Prayer (Christianity)
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(theology)"/>
(theology)"/> Mariology (theology)
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ministry (Christianity)
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moral theology
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(biblical literature)"/>
(biblical literature)"/> New Testament (biblical literature)
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oratorio (music)
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(religion)"/>
(religion)"/> ordination (religion)
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original sin (theology)
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Passion music (vocal music)
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patristic literature (Christianity)
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(Christianity)"/>
(Christianity)"/> Protestantism (Christianity)
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Religionsgeschichtliche Schule (biblical criticism)
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Roman Catholicism
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Second Coming (Christianity)
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Sunday school
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theological liberalism (religion)
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tithe (almsgiving)
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