Beauty, Edify, Escape
Eschatology, Ethereal, Etiology

Word Definitions and Meaning

ver. : 07 April 2008

What is : beauty, edify, epistemology,
escape, eschatology, ethereal, etiology ?

What Is Beauty ?

Beauty : [Old French biaute < Latin bellus (pretty), influenced by Latin beatus (happy, blessed).] You don't define beauty; you behold it. Beauty takes us somewhere -- higher, lower, but most importantly, truer and more whole. It's a vibe, but more; a reality, but also a glimpse of what is beyond. In doing so, beauty is a revealing work of the Holy Spirit. Beauty is a cover for the fake and an expression of the real, the half that's true in many things that are half-true. Beauty is better at communicating than naked fact or plain image, yet there is a beauty in logic and in abstract thought-as-an-art. There is the beauty of a life well-lived and a relationship well-loved. There is, most of all, the Creator of Beauty, who takes an ugly blood-dripped cross and makes it worthy of jewelry and art. If we follow this Creator, ought we not also bring at least a touch of beauty into whatever we do, especially as a body of believers? The Ultimate Artist gave us the divine gift of making beauty.

You can also check the dictionary.

What is 'to edify' ?

to edify :

(1) to cause someone to become more like Ed (whomever Ed is). For a related phenomenon, see Mort-ification.

(2) [ < Latin aedes (structure, temple)] To build; to fortify, strengthen. When something 'edifies', it makes other things stronger or better or wiser or more mature. If spiritual gifts are given to 'edify' others, then the gifts are to be used to strengthen other peoples' faith, or make them wiser in the faith, or help them to better live out their faith, or to make them more effective in their ministry. If the gifts do not build people up in this manner, then the gift is not being used to 'edify', and it is not being used the way the Spirit wants it used. The Spirit calls on you to do this for one another ( Romans 14:19; 1 Corinthians 14:12-16). Edification is the process of being built up or made better. (See also Acts 20:32; Ephesians 4:29; James 4:1-6, and other 'one another' passages.)

What Is Epistemology ?

epistemology [ < Greek : episteme (knowledge) + logos (word, theory, study)] The philosophy of the ways, grounds, and scope of how we know and understand. Epistemology looks at what makes up the knowledge-base of our way of viewing the world.

What Is Escape ?

escape [ < Old North French escaper, < Vulgar Latin excappare (to get out of one's cape) < cappa (cape, cloak)] To get away from, break loose, avoid capture. Relted words include aversion, avoidance, or evasion. Also, to elude, flee, dodge, or deke.

When used in matters of faith, the meaning of escape is much the same as in psychology and self-help. There are some things which may cause pain or loss, but which are ours to face up to. Things like truth, responsibility, and our own death. Because they are often painful, we'll go to great lengths to escape having to face them; we run away, dump them on someone else, or dope ourselves into artificial bliss. But it catches up with us, and becomes all the more painful because of the attempt to escape. God usually gives little nuggets of joy or reward to those who take their part in such things instead of making their escape. Indeed, sometimes the only way past is through; when that is true, escape becomes ruin.

You can also check the dictionary.

What Is Eschatology ?

eschatology [ < Greek eskhatos (the last). Akin to English 'extreme'.] The study of matters relating to the end times.

Eschatology includes talk, theology, and ideas about resurrection, heaven and hell, what the Kingdom of God is like in its fullness, and the meaning of eternal life or death. It's an almost-total mystery to all Christians, even if they think it to be otherwise. Even Jesus Himself claimed no special knowledge of when or how, even though He described some things about it. With so little data from God, the only kind of language which can even begin to take on the task is that of the imagination, the making of vigorous images to catch the feel and pulse and fuzzy shape of it. Godly imagination led to apocalyptic writings like Daniel, Ezekiel, and Revelation. People speak of eschatology with terms such as the Rapture, the Millenium, the Reapers, Armageddon, the Bowls of Wrath, the Bottomless Pit, the Horsemen, the Final Trumpets, the Remnant, the Great Getting-Up Morning, the Judgement Day, the Lake of Fire, the Death of Time, and the New Jerusalem.

As long as we know we don't know, it's fine to explore the End, even exciting. The moment any of us claim to know for sure, we lie, and that's not fine with God. The wise Christian trusts the God who rose Jesus, the God who is with them in this life, to stay with them when this life is done. There are signs, however faint, of the Kingdom in the life we live now, kicking at the walls like a baby in the womb, out of sight but very much there and about to burst forth. The gathered believers, acting together, are an outpost of this Kingdom in our world today. So we are to live from the Kingdom, and trust it will come in full through God's power, someday soon. Beyond that, we're free to speculate, dream, and envision (in keeping with the Kingdom), but not to know.

You can also check the dictionary.
Or, more on matters of eschatology and last things.

What Is Ethereal ?

ethereal [ < Greek aithêr (upper air) ] lacking in material/stuff; outer-space-ish; otherworldly.

Making something seem ethereal is a wonderful effect in music or drama. Christians recognize and value the ethereal, but treasure and value far more when the spirituality that is otherwise 'ethereal' comes to life in the material world we live in -- when it is 'incarnated'.

You can also check the dictionary.

What Is Etiology ?

Etiology : [ < Greek aitia (cause, beginning) + -logia (study of)].

Etiology is about finding the beginnings or origins of something, and to understand how and why it began. The word is usually used nowadays about the origins of diseases, especially the kind which mutate into something deadly, such as HIV or the flu. In other fields, an etiology is often passed on by way of a story, which may or may not be entirely "factual" but lets you know key core truths. (Such a story is what's usually meant by scholars when they say 'myth'.) Most organizations (such as religions, denominations, nations, clubs, sports) have such stories about their beginnings. Movements, even though they are much less organized, also have their etiologies; two of the most gripping for me are those of the US Civil Rights movement and of Alcoholics Anonymous. The Bible has many etiologies in it, most obviously Genesis chapter 1, the beginning of all beginnings. But notice that it's followed by Genesis 2:1-3, an etiological story about the start of the sabbath, and how and why to do it. The Gospels and Acts tell us how believers in Christ were first trained, given something to bear witness to, and gathered throughout the central and eastern Mediterranean. Everything develops and changes from that start. Knowing and understanding something's origins is the most important way to keep tuned in to what the whole thing was about in the first place. Not knowing is a sure way to lose its vision and identity.

You can also check the dictionary.