Puritanism was a reform movement that originally sought to “purify” the Church of England after the English Reformation. Eventually Puritanism focused on purification of both individuals and society through the reform of church and state according to biblical principles. The Puritans held to a covenantal theology and the conviction that Scripture was authoritative for personal behavior and church organization (Stanley J. Grenz, David Guretzki, and Cherith Fee Nordling. Pocket Dictionary of Theological Terms).

Pietism is a Bible-oriented, experiential approach to Christian life that emphasizes personal appropriation of faith and a lifestyle of holiness as more important than the formal structures of theology (doctrine) and church order (Stanley J. Grenz, David Guretzki, and Cherith Fee Nordling. Pocket Dictionary of Theological Terms).

Phenomenology is a philosophical movement of the twentieth century associated with Edmund Husserl and his followers. Phenomenology initially focused on epistemology, that is, how we gain knowledge of essences or the essential features of the world (abstract properties) on the basis of our perceptions of concrete realities (particular instances of those properties). Phenomenologists later turned their attention to the essences of human mental acts (Stanley J. Grenz, David Guretzki, and Cherith Fee Nordling. Pocket Dictionary of Theological Terms).

Originally the culmination of the OT Feast of Weeks, the church celebrates Pentecost as the anniversary of the coming of the Holy Spirit on the disciples fifty days after Jesus’ resurrection. Pentecostalism is a movement that began in the early twentieth century that emphasizes a postconversion “baptism in the Holy Spirit” for all believers, with glossolalia (speaking in tongues) as the initial evidence of such baptism (Stanley J. Grenz, David Guretzki, and Cherith Fee Nordling. Pocket Dictionary of Theological Terms).

Orthodoxy is defined as “right praise” or “right belief ” (as opposed to heresy). Being orthodox implies being characterized by consistency in belief and worship with the Christian faith (in the Catholic tradition, consistency with the church) as witnessed to in Scripture, the early Christian writers and the official teachings, creeds and liturgy of the church. Orthodoxy is sometimes used in a narrower sense to refer to the Eastern Orthodox tradition (Stanley J. Grenz, David Guretzki, and Cherith Fee Nordling. Pocket Dictionary of Theological Terms).

Ordinance is defined literally as an authoritative decree or law. Certain free-church groups (such as the Baptists) refer to baptism and the Lord’s Supper as ordinances rather than sacraments. In so doing they highlight the voluntary nature of these rites as having been ordained (commanded) by Christ (Stanley J. Grenz, David Guretzki, and Cherith Fee Nordling. Pocket Dictionary of Theological Terms).

Ontology is the branch of metaphysics concerned with the nature of being. To speak of something as ontological is to refer to its essential nature, as opposed to its epistemological aspects. Ontology, therefore, focuses on being and essence, in contrast to epistemology, which speaks about how humans come to know something (Stanley J. Grenz, David Guretzki, and Cherith Fee Nordling. Pocket Dictionary of Theological Terms).

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