College Vocabulary · Grade 12 · Week 2
20 words for the week · pairs with Composition lesson 1.2.
Reading: the Composition lesson 1.2, "From Question to Claim," and this week's literature book, The Republic, selected (Plato, Jowett tr.), the section for Week 2 (public-domain text, Project Gutenberg).
Theme of the week: God hides treasures in His world to be searched out, and a good thesis question is a royal invitation to search. "It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honour of kings is to search out a matter." (Proverbs 25:2).
Rhythm: 4 words a day, Monday to Friday. Each day: read the entry aloud, copy the quoted sentence into the writing notebook, and write one sentence of your own. Friday: learn the last 4 words, then take the quiz.
Sources: ★ = quoted exactly from this week's reading (the lesson or the literature book) · ✝ = KJV (1769 text), quoted exactly · ◆ = quoted exactly from another work on the approved booklists (public-domain text) · ✎ = original example sentence
Part of speech: noun
Definition: The explanation of things by their purpose or end rather than their cause; the study of design in nature.
Context (original sentence): Aristotle's teleology holds that an acorn exists in order to become an oak.
Root:Greek telos, end + logos, study.
Part of speech: noun
Definition: The branch of philosophy that studies the nature of being and existence.
Context (original sentence): Anselm's argument for God begins not with nature but with ontology, the idea of a being than which none greater can be conceived.
Root:Greek on (ont-), being + logos, study.
Part of speech: noun
Definition: The branch of philosophy concerned with the nature, sources, and limits of knowledge.
Context (original sentence): The question "How do I know that I know?" belongs to epistemology.
Root:Greek episteme, knowledge + logos, study.
Part of speech: noun
Definition: The theory that all knowledge is derived from sense experience.
Context (original sentence): Locke's empiricism compared the newborn mind to a blank slate.
Root:Greek empeiria, experience.
Part of speech: noun
Definition: The view that the self is all that can be known to exist; extreme self-absorption.
Context (original sentence): His solipsism was so complete that he spoke of other people as characters in his own dream.
Root:Latin solus, alone + ipse, self.
Part of speech: noun
Definition: A defense of the goodness of God in view of the existence of evil.
Context (original sentence): The Book of Job offers no tidy theodicy; God answers Job with questions of His own.
Root:Greek theos, God + dike, justice (coined by Leibniz, 1710).
Part of speech: noun
Definition: The part of theology concerned with death, judgment, and the last things.
Context (original sentence): Medieval eschatology filled cathedral doorways with carvings of the Last Judgment.
Root:Greek eschatos, last + logos, study.
Part of speech: noun
Definition: The theory and methodology of interpretation, especially of Scripture and literary texts.
Context (original sentence): Good hermeneutics asks first what a passage meant to its original readers.
Root:Greek hermeneuein, to interpret.
Part of speech: noun
Definition: Reasoned arguments in defense of a doctrine, especially of the Christian faith.
From the reading: "I never read a line of Christian apologetics." (Orthodoxy)
Root:Greek apologia, a speech in defense.
Part of speech: noun
Definition: Religious instruction given to prepare a person for full membership in the church, often by question and answer.
Context (original sentence): Weekly catechesis prepared the children to recite the Creed and the Commandments.
Root:Greek katechein, to instruct orally (literally, to sound down).
Part of speech: noun
Definition: The art of preaching or writing sermons.
Context (original sentence): In his homiletics class the young minister learned to build a sermon around a single text.
Root:Greek homilein, to converse.
Part of speech: noun
Definition: The doctrine of salvation.
Context (original sentence): The Reformers' soteriology centered on justification by faith.
Root:Greek soteria, salvation + logos, study.
Part of speech: noun
Definition: The quality of being present throughout the created world; indwelling.
From the reading: "It is just here that Buddhism is on the side of modern pantheism and immanence." (Orthodoxy)
Root:Latin immanere, to remain in.
Part of speech: noun
Definition: The quality of being too great or extreme to be expressed in words.
Context (original sentence): Mystics often write of the ineffability of their visions.
Root:Latin ineffabilis, unutterable.
Part of speech: noun
Definition: A visible manifestation of God to humans.
Context (original sentence): The burning bush is the first great theophany in the Book of Exodus.
Root:Greek theos, God + phainein, to show.
Part of speech: adjective
Definition: Relating to public worship, especially its prescribed forms.
From the reading: "In this Coventry play we have nearly all the ingredients--foreign, liturgical, or homely English--of the composite miracle play brought together." (The Wakefield Second Shepherds' Play)
Root:Greek leitourgia, public service, worship.
Part of speech: adjective
Definition: Expressing sorrow for sin; relating to penance.
From the reading: "Wherefore dost thou in penitential fasting Waste and consume the beauty of thy youth." (Poems of Longfellow)
Root:Latin paenitentia, repentance.
Part of speech: adjective
Definition: Occurring at a favorable time; opportune, as though arranged by divine providence.
From the reading: "I am not superstitious, but I consider the Commodore’s interview with that whale as providential." (Moby-Dick)
Root:Latin providentia, foresight.
Part of speech: adjective
Definition: Having a strong religious or spiritual quality; indicating the presence of the divine.
Context (original sentence): The silence of the great cathedral at dawn had a numinous quality.
Root:Latin numen, divine will or presence.
Part of speech: noun
Definition: The writing of the lives of saints; also, a biography that idealizes its subject.
Context (original sentence): The official biography was pure hagiography, mentioning none of the general's failures.
Root:Greek hagios, holy + graphein, to write.
Part A. Words in context (2 points each). Choose the meaning of the word as used in the sentence.
1. "It is just here that Buddhism is on the side of modern pantheism and immanence." Here immanence most nearly means
A) The quality of being present throughout the created world B) The theory and methodology of interpretation, especially of Scripture and literary texts C) The branch of philosophy that studies the nature of being and existence D) The part of theology concerned with death, judgment, and the last things
2. "The official biography was pure hagiography, mentioning none of the general's failures." Here hagiography most nearly means
A) The branch of philosophy concerned with the nature, sources, and limits of knowledge B) Having a strong religious or spiritual quality C) Expressing sorrow for sin D) The writing of the lives of saints
3. "In his homiletics class the young minister learned to build a sermon around a single text." Here homiletics most nearly means
A) The art of preaching or writing sermons B) The writing of the lives of saints C) The theory that all knowledge is derived from sense experience D) Having a strong religious or spiritual quality
4. "The Reformers' soteriology centered on justification by faith." Here soteriology most nearly means
A) The branch of philosophy that studies the nature of being and existence B) The part of theology concerned with death, judgment, and the last things C) The branch of philosophy concerned with the nature, sources, and limits of knowledge D) The doctrine of salvation
Part B. Sentence completion (1 point each). Each sentence comes from this week's entries; supply the word in the form used there. Word bank: apologetics, theophany, epistemology, teleology, numinous, solipsism, hermeneutics, theodicy, providential, empiricism
5. The silence of the great cathedral at dawn had a ______ quality.
6. The burning bush is the first great ______ in the Book of Exodus.
7. Locke's ______ compared the newborn mind to a blank slate.
8. Good ______ asks first what a passage meant to its original readers.
9. The question "How do I know that I know?" belongs to ______.
10. "I never read a line of Christian ______."
11. Aristotle's ______ holds that an acorn exists in order to become an oak.
12. The Book of Job offers no tidy ______; God answers Job with questions of His own.
Part C. Synonyms and antonyms (1 point each).
13. Synonym of penitential: (contrite / teleology / numinous)
14. Synonym of ontology: (metaphysics / soteriology / catechesis)
15. Synonym of eschatology: (doctrine of last things / immanence / theophany)
16. Antonym of ineffability: (hagiography / expressibility / liturgical)
Part D. Analytical sentence (6 points). In two or three sentences, make a claim about this week's reading, quote it once, and use at least three of these words correctly: providential, solipsism, liturgical.
1. A 2. D 3. A 4. D
5. numinous 6. theophany 7. empiricism 8. hermeneutics 9. epistemology 10. apologetics 11. teleology 12. theodicy (distractors: providential, solipsism)
13. contrite 14. metaphysics 15. doctrine of last things 16. expressibility
Part D scoring: 2 for a clear claim, 2 for an accurate quotation, 2 for three week words used correctly. (8 + 8 + 4 + 6 = 26.)