Baals (18): Canaanite fertility gods.
The Letter of Barnabas (80) : A homily from around 100 AD, that notes that Christianity is a renewal of Israel and creation. Baptism is the sacrament of renewal.
Karl Barth (111): (1886-1968) Swiss theologian who focused on the bankruptcy of the modern world. The modern world had not unlocked the secret of infinite progress towards peace and love, but rather had brought us efficient and cruel methods of destruction and a willingness to use them. (115): (1886-1968) Theologian who revolutionized theological thinking after World War I and gave rise to the Neo-Reformation or Neo-Orthodox theology.
Basileia (59): (Greek - kingdom) From the Hebrew, reign, dominion, or sovereignty. (122): Greek for kingdom. Used by Schussler Fiorenza as a gender neutral term for "the basileia of God".
Bat Qol (60): Heavenly voice, for example, at Jesus' baptism.
Bernard of Clairvaux (86) : (1091-1153) Revived the Cistercian order, and established 300 abbeys while alive. "What are the four degrees of love? First, we love ourselves for our own sake ... [second] we begin to seek God for our own sakes ... [third] we love God, not for our own sake, but for himself ... [fourth] we love ourselves only for the sake of God."
The Biblical Commission in Rome (112): Established in 1902 in Rome by Pope Leo XIII. The encyclical Divino afflante spiritu of 1943 grew out of its work. The Bishop's Book (93) : (1537) "The Godly and Pious Institution of a Christian Man", the second declaration of Anglican doctrine. Roman Catholic, but anti-Papist. Some Lutheran influence.
Blessed (36): Happiness derived from sureness of purpose - from the Hebrew verb to go straight, to advance.
Ernst Block (121): (1885-1977) Marxist philosopher who influenced theologian Jurgen Moltmann.
Maurice Blondel (114): (1861-1949) French theologian and modernist. Tried to construct a Catholic theology dealt with social concerns.
Bishop Jacques Benigne Bossuet (117): (1627-1704) An early prophet of the decline of the church's influence and importance. He saw "a pride that can suffer no legitimate authority, willful giddiness, temerity that halts at nothing".
Thomas Bray (101): (1656-1730) Founded the SPCK (Society for the Propagation of Christian Knowledge) in 1699 primarily to publish and distribute books. Then, in 1701 he founded the SPG (Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts), primarily for sending and support C of E clergy in the colonies.
Charles Augustus Briggs (111): (1841-1913) Pioneer of modern biblical scholarship in the United States. He was defrocked by the Presbyterian church for heretical views, and was later ordained in the Episcopal Church.
Martin Buber (124): (1878-1965) Jewish scholar. Believed that our relationship with God was one of give and take, of mutuality. God is sovereign, but He also embraces the claims and complaints of His people.
Heinrich Bullinger (92) : (1504-1575) Picked up leadership of Zwingli's cause. Chief author of the First and Second Helvetic Confessions. Collected sermons, "Decades," heavily influenced the English church. With Calvin, reconciled Zwinglian and Calvinist theologies in the Zurich Consensus.
Rudolf Bultmann (58): Historie and Geschichte. "We can now know almost nothing concerning the life and personality of Jesus, since the early Christian sources show no interest in either." (115): Theologian who went beyond Barth, by applying existentialism to theology and calling for a de-mythologizing of the New Testament.
Bishop Joseph Butler (110): (1692-1752) Taught that not only the regularity of nature represented God's handiwork, but that our conscience was the creation of God and operates with the same certainty as the laws of nature.