The term originates from the Greek words theos (meaning God) and logos (meaning word, reason, or study). Therefore, it is the human effort to understand and articulate the meaning of faith, spirituality, and existence.
Even if you don't possess a faith, it's only by trying to studying the effects of the Christian faith on human history, ethics and culture that you will start to understand our contemporary world.
In a biblical context, this refers to a profound inner peace and tranquillity rooted in faith, surrender, and trust in God's sovereignty. It indicates a calmness of spirit that transcends human understanding, even in the midst of life's challenges.
In a science fiction context, it's the name of the spacecraft that appears in Joss Whedon's Firefly TV series and related works.
If you want an interesting discussion, ask me which one of these three I most need in my life.
It was the first science fiction production to be written especially for a British adult television audience, and was transmitted live from BBC's studios at Alexandra Palace. Only two episodes survive in the archives, the other four were not recorded during their live broadcast.
A lovely word, with a whole string of lovely synonyms: hogwash, bunk, balderdash, malarkey, and codswallop.
The term actually originated from America in the mid-19th century and was derived from the Dutch word poppekak, which means “doll’s excrement”.
It is also the name of a premium brand of gourmet candied popcorn sold in North America (often featuring almonds and pecans).
The prefix omni means “all”.
God the Father is usually associated with omnipotence, omniscience, and omnipresence, so this can be paraphrased by saying that God is “all-powerful, all-knowing, and everywhere present.”
The product was trademarked by the chemical company DuPont in 1938. They went through an extensive process to generate names for its new product.
A persistent urban legend exists that the name is derived from an amalgamation of the cities of "New York" and "London"; however, that's simply isn't true. No organisation in London was ever involved in the research and production of nylon.
I love this particular word. Being a slang term, it has had so many spellings that it’s kind of difficult to keep track. in 1851, the word was included in Henry Mayhew’s book London Labour and the London Poor as monekeer. It was recorded in the Sydney Slang Dictionary in Australia in 1881 as monniker, and there is strong evidence of its use in the States not long after.
The implication is that it was a London term, which spread around the globe as people migrated. One proposal as to its evolution is that the word started out as the Middle English word ekename (an ancient term which later evolved into the word nickname) and that was converted into moniker by backslang.
Old Testament references to a huge sea monster called Leviathan are thought to have been inspired by ancient myth. Leviathan appears in the Book of Isaiah and Book of Psalms as a sea serpent that is killed by God and then given as food to creatures in the wilderness, and it is also mentioned in the Book of Job.
Since the 1300s, the word began to be used (both capitalised and capitalised) for enormous sea creatures both imagined and real—and it was used as a synonym for the whale countless times in Herman Melville’s classic Moby-Dick, as in “ere the Pequod’s weedy hull rolls side by side with the barnacled hulls of the leviathan.”
Today, the word can be used for anything large and powerful, from ships to corporations.
Kindness in a Christian context is not just a feeling but is a way of living. It is closely related to the virtue of compassion.
The word comes from an early translation in English of the name Jagannath. During the mid-19th century, some European travellers were observing the Hindu festival of Ratha Yatra in Puri, India. During this a procession of massive wooden chariots (called temple cars) carrying a statue of the deity were pulled through the streets. These chariots were incredibly heavy and nearly impossible to steer or stop quickly once in motion, Reports emerged that people deliberately allowed themselves to be crushed beneath the vehicle's wheels as a sacrifice. It's now thought these reports were an exaggeration or misinterpretation of actual events, but the false reports spread throughout Europe and America.
In the latter half of the 20th Century the term juggernaut was frequently used in the United Kingdom to describe any large heavy truck or articulated lorry (thought to be just as unstoppable)
The term is more commonly used nowadays for any form of powerful force or movement, thought by many to be unstoppable.
Finally, Marvel Comics fans will remember the Juggernaut (Cain Marko), a character created by writer Stan Lee and artist/co-writer Jack Kirby to fight the X-Men. He possessed superhuman strength and durability, and was virtually immune to most physical attacks; his helmet also protected him from mental attacks.
It's a concept used in science fiction that enables faster-than-light (FTL) interstellar travel. Ships by-pass the speed of light (a universal constant) by travelling through an alternate, higher dimension where the distances are vastly shorter.
In Star Trek they use a different method of FTL travel. Starships form a subspace bubble that envelops the vessel, distorting the local spacetime continuum and moving the ship through their own warp bubble
Yeah, both methods are convenient plot devices used in science fiction. Otherwise, most stories would involve years spent travelling between star systems. :)
Charles Dickens referred to such a location in 'Bleak House' (1853). In the novel, his character John Jarndyce famously retires to his "growlery" whenever he is in a bad mood or needs to escape the chaos of the household. I think we've all been there ...
It's quite an old term, as we tend to refer to such a room as a den, a shed or perhaps even the home office—a small, personal sanctuary reserved strictly for a bit of peace and quiet.
A little bit of physics, now! It is generally accepted (backed up by Einstein's relativity theory) that the fourth dimension is time. Thus, in order to confirm an exact point, you need 3 coordinates for where (length, width, depth) and 1 coordinate for when (time).
The idea of making time the fourth dimension began with Jean le Rond d'Alembert's Dimensions, published in 1754 in the Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers. Yes, I had to look that one up. :)
Simply put, exegesis is not about discovering what we think a scripture text means (or what we may want it to mean) but what the biblical author actually meant. It’s all about intentionality.
This will mean you need to dig into the historical context, the original language, and the author's intent in order to let the text speak for itself.
The word comes from the Latin word doctrina, which simply means "teaching." It can be seen as a framework for understanding particular beliefs.
In The Salvation Army (my church), there is a Handbook of Doctrine which can be downloaded and studied. The Handbook details the 11 Articles of Faith which since 1878 have been the basis of The Salvation Army’s witness to the Christian gospel. Such a document equips anyone to distinguish between truth and incorrect teachings.
There's nothing worse that following something blindly. Always question, always struggle to understand, always seek to apply this to your own life.
2 Timothy 3:16-17 (NIV)
16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
Finally, Marvel Comics fans will of course know that cosmic radiation (the leftover energy from the Big Bang) was responsible for the creation of the Fantastic Four.
It's a relatively modern term, dating back to the 1990's. It essentially describes taking steps to counteract someone's efforts to always be in the same place as you (i.e., to stop them from stalking you!)
It's important to respect people's need for privacy.
Perhaps now that I have retired, I'll be able to find a few minutes to complete this challenge for 2026. Didn't quite get this done last year (sorry!). There's a few examples of previous years to be found in my blog history if you feel so inclined to check it out.
The challenge to myself is to blog every day for 26 straight days in August on one particular topic - one for each letter of the alphabet. To make it easy for myself I'm going back to safe territory by coming up a list of terrific words, all of which tells you a little something about me. Remember, it pays to increase your word power!
Enjoy!
Julian was a medieval English Catholic mystic, who lived in the 14th Century. Her writings, now known as Revelations of Divine Love, are the earliest surviving English-language works ever attributed to a woman.
Her birth name isn't known. Her recorded name is taken from St. Julian's Church in Norwich where she lived as an anchoress for most of her life (a woman who locks herself away to be closer to God).
Christian optimism, as Julian expressed it, is the conviction that divine love has the final word. Do you believe that?
The ultimate aim of Football is to score more goals that your opposition. However, scoring multiple goals by one player brings with it a whole series of terms.And you know how much I like to delve into such words!
If a player scores two goals in a game:
The term used is the word brace, a noun which comes from Middle English and Anglo-French. It originates from hunting terminology, where it was used to describe a pair of hunted animals (such as birds or hares) caught in a single trip.
If a prayer scores three goals in a game:
The word for this is hat-trick which actually is a term coming from British cricket. In that sport, when a player retired three batsmen with three consecutive balls, the club usually gave him a new hat to honour his accomplishment. Traditionally, a football player who scores a hat-trick is allowed to keep the match ball as a memento.
A little bit of Googling brings forward some other goal terms used (although of course these are increasingly rare):
4 goals by one player is a haul,
5 goals by one player is a glut,
6 goals by one player is a double hat-trick,
7 goals by one player is a haul-trick.
Ephesians 4:32 (NIV)
Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.
James 1:5 (NIV)
If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.
Proverbs 4:7 (NIV)
The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding.
Proverbs 3:5-6 (NIV)
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.
