The D Document (2): Deuteronomist, mostly Deuteronomy, "discovered" in the temple under Josiah in 621 B.C. Written about 650 BC.
Mary Daly (122): Contemporary radical lesbian feminist. Argues that Christianity cannot be reformed, and argues for ancient feminist religions.
Dead Sea Scrolls (41): Scrolls discovered in caves near the Dead Sea beginning in 1947. Written by a desert community (Qumran) of Essenes between 0 and 70 AD. The "Death of God" Theologians (103): Thomas Altizer, William Hamilton, Gabriel Vahanian, and Paul Van Buren. Challenged the old, anthropomorphic image of God, in various ways. All decried the influence of secular values on the preaching of the gospel.
Decades (92) : Heinrich Bullinger; were required reading for the clergy during Elizabeth's reign. A collection of sermons. Deutero-Isaiah (34): Writer of Isaiah 45-55, about 100 years after Isaiah's death.
Deism (3): Entirely transcendent God - God as divine clockmaker, and irrelevant to everyday life. (98) : Belief in God as the great watchmaker. A system that accepted that God had created the physical universe, but then stepped back and allowed it to run according to its own laws. Proscribes God interfering in everyday affairs by supernatural means.
Demythologizing (58): Process of recovering historie from geschichte, stripping away the myth.
Descent of Man (98) : Published in 1871 by Charles Darwin. Successor to "On the Origin of Species" that dealt with the origin of Man. "Man is descended from some lowly-organized form, (and cannot be regarded as) the work of a separate act of creation." Diaspora / Dispersion (35): Jews who were scattered abroad.
Diatessaron (58): Greek - by means of four. An abridged conglomeration of all four gospels, produced in the latter half of the second century by Tatian.
Diatribe Style (63): Written as a dialogue, question and answer.
Didache (46): Greek "Teaching". This is the practical results of the kerygma. Given that I accept the kerygma as true, I need to be taught the response to it. Didache follows kerygma. (80) : Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, discovered in the late 1800's, dated to between 60 and 120 AD. Describes an early Eucharist, Church regulations, etc.
Dionysius the Areopagite (86) : Author of "On the Divine Names", "On Mystical Theology", "On the Celestial Hierarchy", and "On the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy". Fifth or Sixth century. Inspired most devotional revivals in the Middle Ages.
Dioscorus (82) : Bishop of Alexandria. Presided at the Robber Synod. Theology summed up as "two natures before the union, one afterwards." Disruption of 1843 (99) : Controversy in Scotland over whether or not the state should have power over the Church in ecclesiastical matters came to a head in 1843, the Free Church of Scotland was formed with about a third of the ministers of the Church of Scotland.
Doctrinal Statements (6): Characteristic of the 'P' writer. Stories that illustrate God's purpose and man's relationship to God.
Doctrine (99) : The particular principles of the Church, as taught and advocated.
Documentary Hypothesis (2): Theory that four separate sources of tradition underlie the Pentateuch. First version of this hypothesis was proposed in 1685 by a French priest, Fr. Simon. C.H. Dodd (58):Wrote on the central importance of kerygma as the driving force behind the very existence of the gospels. Kingdom of God has already come and is breaking into history.
Church Dogmatics (115): Twelve volume set of books by Karl Barth describing his theology. An attempt to explain the meaning of scripture in the life of faith.
Peter Dominic (86) : (1171-1221) Founder of the "Order of Preachers", the Dominicans. Their only aim is the saving of souls. They were unique in adding to the contemplative life, itinerant preaching and scholastics.
Donatists (83) : Believed that sacraments required the minister to be undefiled by mortal sin to be valid. Also believed that the Church was holy due to the virtue of its members.
Dualism (3): Idea that the world is made up of the material and the spiritual, with the material forming the basis for evil.
John Foster Dulles (103): (1888-1959) Secretary of State, 1953-59. In the 1930's and early forties, a friend of Reinhold Niebuhr, he called on America to be humble and remember no nation can consider itself chosen. Faced with the post-war communist threat, he reversed himself and called for Americans to consider themselves God's elect.
Duty (4): That which is accepted as being right, as something that ought to be done, and thus obeyed on that basis, not out of fear.