Talmud (תַּלְמוּד)

Hebrew. “Oral law”. A record of rabbinic discussions relating to Jewish civil and ceremonial law, ethics, customs and history. It consists of two elements, i.e. the Mishnah (משנה), the oldest written compendium of Judaism's Oral Law composed in c. 200 AD; and the Gemara (גמרא), written in c. 500 AD and which debates the Mishnah and expounds broadly on the Tanakh.

Tanakh (תַּנַךְ)

Name for the Hebrew Bible. The name is an acronym formed from the initial Hebrew letters of the three traditional books that form their Scriptures, i.e. the Torah, Nevi'im and Khetuvim (“Teaching, Prophets and Writings”).

Tertullian

Anglicised name of Tertullianus.

Tertullianus

Early ecclesiastical writer and apologist from the 2nd and 3rd centuries (ca.160 – ca.220), fully known as Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus. He was born in Carthage, as the son of a Roman centurion in the proconsular service. Based on his use of legal analogies, he has been thought to be a lawyer, though this might be anchored in a misidentification of him with the jurist Tertullianus, who is quoted in the Pandects. He knew both Greek and Latin, and was the first to write Christian Latin literature. He converted to Christianity around middle age, probably no later than the year 197 AD and it is thought that he became a priest of the Church of Carthage, most likely around 200 AD, though in his extant writings, he never describes himself as being ordained in the Church and seems to place himself among the laity. After the year 206, he joined the Montanist sect, later labeled a heresy by orthodox Christianity, and definitively separated from the mainstream church, somewhere between 211 and 213 AD. After writing more polemically and virulently  against the Church than even against heathen and persecutors, he separated from the Montanists and founded a sect of his own. Its followers, known as the Tertullianists, were later reconciled to the Catholic Church by Aurelius Augustine. His name is anglicised as Tertullian.

Theodosius the Great

Theodosius I, Roman emperor from 379 to 395 AD, was the last emperor to rule over both the eastern and western halves of the Roman Empire. He is renowned for making Nicene Christianity the official state religion through the Edict of Thessalonica in 380 AD, suppressing pagan practices, and enforcing religious orthodoxy. Militarily, he defended the empire against Gothic, Hunnic, and other barbarian invasions, notably securing victory at the Battle of the Frigidus in 394 AD. His reign stabilized the empire politically and administratively, relying on federate barbarian troops while maintaining imperial authority. Theodosius’ policies and religious reforms profoundly shaped the future of the Roman Empire and the establishment of Christianity in Europe.

Theology

Term meaning “discourse on God”. It derives from the Greek word Theologia (θεολογία), which itself is a compound word of Theos (θεός) meaning “God” and logos (λόγος) meaning “word”. In the pre-Christian Era, the Greek philosopher Aristotle already used the term in reference to metaphysics, a branch of philosophy that included discourses on Greek mythology and the nature of the divine, i.e. analysis of the gods and of cosmology. Later early Christian writers and apologists started to use the term for Biblical and especially Christian Theology, in order to define the study of God and in a wider sense also the study of the religious faith in general. Although technically, the term can also refer to religions other than Christianity, it is however nowadays mostly used for Christian and Biblical Theology. This is in line with Christ as the Word (Logos) of God (Theos), as is clearly described in John 1:1 “In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God”.

Tiberius

Name of the second Roman Emperor, who was born on 16 November 42 BC as Tiberius Claudius Nero. He became Emperor of Rome in 14 AD, the death of Octavian Augustus. He was the oldest son of Livia Drusilla, the wife of Augustus, and Tiberius Claudius Nero, whom she had divorced, to remarry Augustus in 39 BC. Augustus, who lacked a male heir, adopted Tiberius as his stepson, in 4 AD. He had first adopted his younger stepson Drusus, but he had died in 9 BC after falling from his horse. Tiberius would later marry a daughter of Augustus from an earlier marriage, i.e. Julia the Elder. Being a Claudian (son of Tiberius Claudius Nero) by birth and becoming a Julian (son of Octavian Augustus, also known as Julius Caesar Octavianus) after his adoption, he was the first emperor of both families, thus beginning a new dynasty that would be known as the Julio-Claudian dynasty and would last for another forty years. He was fully known as Tiberius Julius Caesar Augustus. Jesus of Nazareth lived during Tiberius' reign and was executed under the authority of Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea. Whether Tiberius had heard of Jesus, or knew about His crucifixion is a matter of speculation. Surely, word about Jesus and His miracles spread rapidly throughout the Roman Empire, even to the Imperial Palace on Palatine Hill, but in 26 AD Tiberius had retired to his palace on the Island of Capri, leaving administration largely in the hands of some unscrupulous prefects of the Praetorian Guards, which soon led to all sorts of corruption in Rome. Meanwhile, there were many rumours about Tiberius involving sexual perversity, cruelty and paranoia. He died on 16 March 37 AD, being very unpopular. In the Bible, Tiberius is mentioned by name only in Luke 3:1, where it is recorded that John the Baptist started his public ministry in the 15th year of his reign. But many other episodes also refer to Tiberius, e.g. the tribute money referred to in Matthew 22:19 and Mark 12:15 is generally thought to be a silver denarius of Tiberius. Tiberias, the “city of Tiberius” situated on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee, is named after him.

Tigris (תִּגְרִיס, Τίγρης)

Name of a river mentioned in the Hebrew Bible as one of the four rivers flowing out of the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2:14). It is described as running east of Assyria, distinguishing it from the Pishon, Gihon, and Euphrates, and has historically been identified with the modern Tigris River in Mesopotamia, flowing through present-day Turkey and Iraq. In biblical geography, the Tigris defines part of the fertile crescent region and plays a role in the Eden narrative as a source of water nourishing the primordial garden. Its inclusion in the Eden account highlights the connection between the biblical conception of paradise and real-world rivers of Mesopotamia, emphasizing abundance, life, and sustenance. Later Jewish and Christian traditions sometimes reference the Tigris symbolically as part of God’s ordered creation and the ancient world of early human civilization.

Torah (תּוֹרָה)

Hebrew. “Teaching” or “instruction”. It is the first of three sections in the Tanakh and the most sacred writing of the Jews. It is sometimes referred to as the Law and also known as the Five Books of Moses, called Pentateuch, from the Greek word Pentateuchos (Πεντάτευχος), meaning “Five Books”. These five books are the first five books of the Hebrew Scriptures and the Christian Old Testament, and are named after the first words of their texts, i.e. Be-reshit (בְּרֵאשִׁית), Shemot (שמות), Vayikra (ויקרא), Bamidbar (במדבר) and Devarim (דברים), in Greek called Genesis (Γένεσις), Exodos (Έξοδος), Leviticon (Λευιτικόν), Arithmoi (Αριθμοί) and Deuteronomion (Δευτερονόμιον), and in English known as Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.

Tree of Knowledge

The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, which was placed the middle of the Garden of Eden and from which God directly forbade to eat from its fruit. However, through the cunning temptation of the serpent Adam and Eve violated the commandment of God and were expelled from the garden of God. The fruit of the Tree of Knowledge is in iconography often depicted as being an apple, though this is not specifically mentioned in the Bible. The Vulgate, the Latin version of the Bible, translated the Hebrew word for “fruit” by the Latin word pomum, which in Latin also means “apple”, hence the confusion.

Triumphal Entry

The event in the New Testament, described in Matt. 21:1–11; Mark 11:1–11; Luke 19:28–44; and John 12:12–19, when Jesus Christ entered Jerusalem riding a donkey, an event commemorated on Palm Sunday. According to the Gospels, crowds welcomed Him with palm branches and cries of “Hosanna!”, recognizing Him as the Messiah and King. This event fulfilled Old Testament prophecy, notably Zechariah 9:9, which foretells that the Messiah would come “riding on a donkey,” symbolizing a kingship of peace rather than military conquest. The Triumphal Entry marks the beginning of Holy Week, leading to Jesus’ Passion, crucifixion, and resurrection, and it occupies a central place in Christian liturgy and artistic representation. The donkey itself, a humble beast of burden, carries profound allegorical significance. Many donkeys bear a distinctive cross-shaped marking on their back, formed by the intersection of a dorsal stripe along the spine and a shoulder stripe crossing the forelegs. As a lowly beast of burden, the donkey reflects Jesus’ humility in taking upon Himself the sins of the world. Just as the donkey bears its load meekly, Jesus humbles Himself to carry His cross and the weight of humanity’s sins. For this reason, donkeys with this cross-shaped marking are sometimes called Jerusalem donkeys, underscoring their symbolic connection to Christ’s sacrificial entry into the city.

Tyndale

See William Tyndale.