Evangelical

Dictionary

of Theology

Second edition

Edited by

Walter A. Elwell

© 1984, 2001 by Baker Book House Company

Published by Baker Academic

a division of Baker Publishing Group

P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516–6287

www.bakeracademic.com

Fifth printing, September 2007

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, 2nd edition / Walter A. Elwell, editor

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index

ISBN 10: 0-8010-2075-1

ISBN 978-0-8010-2075-9

1. Theology—Dictionaries. I. Elwell, Walter A.

BR95.E87 2001

230.2—dc21

2001272311

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

Preface to the Second Edition

The positive reception accorded the first edition of the EDT was a source of deep satisfaction and thanksgiving to God on the part of the many people who had contributed to it. The goal that Baker Book House had set was to construct a one-volume reference work on theology that was both up to date and academically accurate, yet accessible to the average layperson. The success that the EDT enjoyed was testimony that that goal had largely been reached. However, no work of this sort is entirely free of shortcomings and certain limitations, some of which were unavoidable, but some of which were due to human oversight. Our reviewers were good enough to point some of these out to us and some of them we found on our own—and some we were able to correct during the various printings of the original edition. However, in time we came to realize that a full-blown revision would eventually be called for and work on that began about six years ago. The process of revision has been every bit as demanding as the production of the original volume, and, I might add, every bit as informative and enjoyable. Obviously, it is the authors who deserve the lion’s share of the credit for the excellence of the work that was done and I gladly offer them my sincerest thanks. This is not to overlook the immense amount of effort that everyone at Baker put into this revision. Special thanks go to Rebecca Cooper, David Aiken, Brian Brunsting, Barb Malda, Jan Arroyo, Helen Kelly, Laura Weller, Margie Hailstone, Jarl Waggoner, and Matt Donnelly, along with Allan Fisher, Jim Weaver, and Cindy Ingrum.

The process of revision took us through the entire volume and consisted of the following things: We added about 215 new articles and deleted about 100 that were deemed no longer relevant for the current day. One major change was the decision to include living theologians, such as ...