In this entry, the Christian theology of prayer will be approached as a reflection on prayer practices. Prayer is a communicative act by which one or more human beings address themselves to God, in the awareness that God already has established the divine-human relationship. Christianity is a...
Purgatory is a place, state, or stage in the Christian afterlife where, after death, the soul is purged of minor, unexpiated sin so that it can be fit for heaven. ‘Purgatory’ derives from the Latin purgare (to purge) and hence as the noun purgatorium it is a place of purgation and purific...
The patriarchs – Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (or Israel) – are the ancestors of the Jewish people, and their stories are recounted in the book of Genesis (chapters 12–50), covering a span of three hundred years (c. 2000–1700 BCE). God forged an irrevocable bond with them – the covenant of t...