The Encyclopedia of World Religions

26 S apostles

the 12; according to the N EW T ESTAMENT ( see B IBLE , BIBLICAL LITERATURE ), G OD chose Matthias to take his place (A CTS OF THE A POSTLES 1.15–26). The word apostle, however, does not refer only to the 12 disciples. P AUL , the early mission ary to the non-Jews of the Roman Empire, calls himself an apostle. He also calls James, the brother of Jesus and one of the most important leaders of the Jewish Christians in J ERUSALEM , an apostle. Other writers refer to other persons as apostles. Taken most broadly, apostles are the most promi nent leaders of the earliest Christian communities, regardless of whether or not they were among the original 12. Aquinas, Thomas ( c. 1224–1274) the most important Christian theologian of the European Middle Ages Thomas was the son of an Italian count. He became a Dominican friar ( see D OMINICANS ) and devoted his life to teaching and writing THEOLOGY . His greatest book was the Summa Theologica (1266–73), “the summary of all theology.” In Thomas’s day western Europeans were just discovering the ideas of the Greek philosopher Aristotle (384–322 B . C . E .). Thomas found these ideas very attractive. He insisted that truth was one, because G OD was one. Therefore, he argued, what human reason said was true could not be opposed to what God’s revelation said was true. The two were compatible. But human reason could not discover everything. Therefore, God fin ished what reason began by revealing the fullness of truth. Thomas included God’s existence among the truths that reason could discover. In fact, he pro vided several classic proofs for the existence of God ( see G OD , THE EXISTENCE OF ). He also felt that although all human beings had a natural sense of right and wrong, reason alone could not discover truths such as the INCARNATION of God in J ESUS and the triune character of God ( see T RINITY ). Eventu Apostles’ Creed See CREEDS .

enter public life. More broadly, Apollo was a god of order and justice. As such, the Greeks routinely consulted him when they were thinking of estab lishing colonies. In addition, Apollo was associated with herding, music, and prophecy. It has been popular to suggest that Apollo was a god of the sun. That view was common among Hellenistic and Roman writers. (Hellenistic literature is Greek literature after Alexander the Great [d. 323 B . C . E .]) But Apollo’s connections with the sun always played a very minor role in his worship. Apollo had two important sanctuaries. The first was the sacred island of Delos in the Aegean Sea; the ancient Greeks said that Apollo and his sister A RTEMIS were born there. The second was the sanctuary at Delphi in central Greece, the site of a famous oracle, that is, a means of consulting the god. Apollo shared the sanctuary at Delphi with the god Dionysos. At Delphi, individuals or communi ties would put questions to the Sybil, a priestess of Apollo. According to legend, she would breathe vapors, enter a trance, and provide an answer. Then Apollo’s priests would communicate the answer in the form of ambiguous poetry. A famous example is the oracle given to Croesus: “If you go to battle, you will destroy a great kingdom.” Encouraged by these words, Croesus attacked Persia—and lost his kingdom. Scholarly research suggests that the procedures and responses at Delphi were actually more mundane. Questioners manipulated black and white beans, and the god supposedly used them to reveal yes and no answers. Europeans and North Americans commonly see Apollo as a god of enlightenment and reason. A good example is the German philosopher, Fried rich Nietzsche (1844–1900). This image of Apollo derives largely from Hellenistic and Roman myth writers. Nevertheless, many see this Apollo as embodying distinctively Greek characteristics. apostles From a Greek word meaning “sent out”; the earliest leaders of the Christian church. The word apostle often refers to the 12 special dis ciples whom J ESUS “sent out” into the world. Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Jesus, was originally one of