Habiru (8): Riffraff who harassed the Caananites around the 14th century B.C. May have been Hebrews, but probably not. Appear in the Amarna Letters from the archives of Pharaoh Akh-en-Aton.
Hackney Phalanx (99) : High-church Anglican group based in the parish of Hackney. Members supported many philanthropic causes; Society for the Promoting Christian Knowledge, Christian education, church building.
Hagia Eirene (79) : One of the first of the imperial churches in Constantinople.
Hagia Sophia (79) : Church of Holy Wisdom, built under Justinian, the supreme architectural achievement of the Byzantine civilization. Half-Way Covenant (101): Originally, the Puritans who emigrated to America had an ideal that only those who showed tangible evidence of full conversion were allowed to be baptized of partake in communion. Over time, to accommodate children of the faithful and others, this condition was relaxed. This practice was scorned as a half-way covenant.
Adolf von Harnack (111): (1851-1930) German theologian - in his lectures, "The Essence of Christianity," he taught that biblical scholarship could discover the "true" Jesus, who has become obscured by Church doctrine as well as the biases of the original Gospel writers. Also believed that Jesus did not proclaim a religion about himself, but about God the Father.
Charles Hartshorne (120): (1897-) Student of Whitehead who carried on with his process philosophy.
Heart (36): The place in which decisions for action take place. Hegel's thesis-antithesis-synthesis (109): Reality is found not through arguing over differences, but through synthesis. In the dialectic, a thesis and it's opposite, or antithesis, must be transcended to create a synthesis.
Martin Heidegger (115): Secular philosopher and existentialist who heavily influenced Bultman. Heidegger said that when we come to terms with the absurdity of the universe, and the finiteness of our existence, we can either choose an inauthentic existence, surrounding ourselves with material goods and hurting others in the process, or we can choose an authentic existence, living in a self-giving way to others and accepting our finiteness.
Friedrich Heiler (124): Lutheran theologian who wrote the classic work, 'Prayer'. We learn about prayer by praying. When prayer is subjected to philosophical criticism or limited by scientific strictures, it is impoverished by being made subservient to a law foreign to its nature.
Hellenism (38): Greek culture. Associated with the idea that the world is rational and contains constant, changeless patterns. Helvetic Confession (the first and second) (92) : Written by Heinrich Bullinger. Statements of faith, a blend of Zwinglian and Lutheran teachings.
Henotheism (9): Belief that there may be many gods, but I only have one.
Lord Herbert of Cherbury (98) : (1583-1648) First formulator of Deism. Published "De Veritate", and extolled the five fundamental truths of "natural" religion; a supreme Being, worship of the supreme Being, virtuous living is the chief part of divine worship, sins may be expiated by repentance, and in the next life our deeds will be rewarded or punished.
Heresy (106): Opposite of orthodoxy. A theology contaminated with the distortions and half-truths of our culture, substituting cultural truths for the revealed truth of Christ.
Hermeneutical context (113): The interpretation of scripture (hermeneutics) is always affected by the context in which it is interpreted. There is no such thing as exegesis without prior assumptions.
Hermeneutics (2): Interpretation of scripture in the sense of interpreting what the text says to modern audiences.
Herod the Great (43): ( ruled 37-4 B.C.) Re-united Judeah and Galilee. Rebuilt the temple, slaughtered the innocents.
Herod Antipas (43): ( ruled 4 B.C.-39 A.D.) Ruler of Galilee after Herod the Great. Judeah was under direct Roman rule.
John Hick (118): Twentieth century author of "Evil and the God of Love", in which he makes the point that without evil, there can be no good. There is suffering in the world, and evil, but these give rise to all of the positive human characteristics of honesty, courage, self-sacrifice, etc.
John Hines (103): Presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church in the 1960's. He urged the church to witness against racial inequality.
Historie (58): Scientific, or factual history.
William Ernest Hocking (128): Harvard professor under whose leadership the 1932 report "Rethinking Missions" was produced. This report called for contextualizing Christianity in the mission ministries.
Charles Hodge (113): (1797-1878) A leader in the rise of American fundamentalism, in the latter part of the nineteenth century. He was at Princeton Theological Seminary. Promoted the doctrine of divine inspiration for scripture, and by implication, the infallibility of scripture. (114): (1797-1878) Tried to require all officials of the Grand Assembly in the Northern Presbyterian church to adhere to the tenents of fundamentalism. A. A. Hodge (114): (1823-1886) Tried to require all officials of the Grand Assembly in the Northern Presbyterian church to adhere to the tenents of fundamentalism. J.C. Hoekendijk (127): Twentieth century Dutch theologian, and apologetic for Calvinism. Believes that church growth will take place when and where God wills. Our responsibility is not to plan or promote such growth. If we do, we become preoccupied with institutional structures and congregational needs.
The Holy Club (100): Group at Oxford led by John Wesley about 1729. They were a group of four students who spent three or four evenings each week together, discussing the classics. They also visited prisoners and the sick.
The Homogeneous Principle (127): Evangelism works best within homogeneous units of a society in which people share a common culture and consciousness. It is impeded when people have to cross linguistic, racial, ethnic, or social barriers.
Homoousios (82) : Greek, homo - having the same, ousios - essence or essential being. Consubstantial.
Hubris (4): Gk, Overreaching pride.
The Case of Richard Hunne (93) : Sued a clergyman under the praemunire statutes. Was arrested, his house searched, and Wycliffite documents were found, leading to a heresy charge. Murdered while being held in the Bishop's prison. Fanned the flames of anti-clerical feelings.
John Huss (87) : (1369-1415) Bohemian reformer with views similar to Wyclif. Burned at the stake.
Anne Hutchinson (101): (1590?-1643) Outspoken against the Massachusetts order. Denied the role of works totally, to the point of being accused of antinomianism, or denying moral law. Banished from the colony.
Hypostasis (82) : Greek. The concrete expression or realization of a class of thing. "Paul" is a hypostasis of human-kind. Latin persona.