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Epic of Gilgamesh
Mesopotamian literary tradition whose standard Tablet XI contains Utnapishtim’s flood.
Compare specified witnesses; flood narratives do not share every detail
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Literary motif
Recurring narrative element whose presence alone does not establish dependence.
Placement at the bank differs from release into the current; no scene is reconstructed
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Dating texts
Distinguishing narrated time, composition and surviving copy.
The protagonist does not date the story; the copy does not identify its first formulation
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Parallelomania
Exaggerating parallels into insufficiently supported dependence.
A working tool for this study, not an automatic test or universally weighted checklist
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Independent development
Similar elements arising without historical transmission between them.
Alternatives can overlap; this diagram does not document a particular narrative’s route
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Shared tradition
Inherited material reaching several texts without direct dependence between them.
Structural continuity proves neither a copied Ugaritic tablet nor a deity-to-angel identity
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Literary dependence
A relationship explaining a text’s composition through another text.
Relationship, source, direction and route can have different levels of support
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Literary borrowing
Use of material from an earlier text or tradition in a new work.
Alternatives can overlap; this diagram does not document a particular narrative’s route
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Bi-lā kayf
Affirming attribute language without specifying modality or creaturely likeness.
Different interpretive patterns, not a fixed one-method-per-school table
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Kalām
Islamic traditions of doctrinal reasoning with diverse approaches to attributes and transcendence.
Different interpretive patterns, not a fixed one-method-per-school table
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Christian incarnation
The Word becoming flesh; distinct from every divine body or sensible manifestation.
Positions in specific texts, not a consensus of early or later Christianity; no portraits depicted
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Negative theology
Speaking of God through negating limitations while resisting comprehension of essence.
Different methods may coexist; they cannot all be reduced to one metaphor or delegation
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Divine anthropomorphism
Human bodily or emotional descriptions of God; not alone proof of corporeal essence.
Analyzing a phrase differs from reconstructing divine corporeality; words provide different kinds of evidence
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Divine simplicity
Metaphysical noncomposition, not simply belief in one God.
Three distinct axes, not one historical transition or a doctrine shared by every school
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Divine incorporeality
Denial of a material divine body; distinct from image prohibition and simplicity.
Three distinct axes, not one historical transition or a doctrine shared by every school
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Neoplatonism
Modern label for later Platonic traditions associated with Plotinus, centuries after Philo.
Modern simplification of some Plotinian dependencies, not a spatial map or Christian Trinity. This third-century CE school postdates Philo
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Divine immutability
Inquiry into divine change, distinguished from fidelity and impassibility.
Modern conceptual distinction; connecting the levels requires argument, and terminology alone does not deny love or providence
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Allegorical exegesis
Reading narrative elements for further meanings; not inherently abolition of literal practice.
Modern diagram of Philo’s approach, not a rule for every Jewish reader. Migration of Abraham rejects neglecting laws because of symbolic interpretation. [11][12]
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Unmoved mover
Aristotelian principle explaining eternal motion without its own transition from potentiality to actuality.
Modern comparison of explanatory principles, not three names for the same god. Plato’s ordering does not establish creation from nothing; Aristotle’s mover is not automatically the biblical God. [6][7][13]
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Demiurge
Maker or organizer of the world in the Timaeus; not automatically a creator from nothing.
Modern comparison of explanatory principles, not three names for the same god. Plato’s ordering does not establish creation from nothing; Aristotle’s mover is not automatically the biblical God. [6][7][13]
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Hanif
Quranic description of Abraham linked to submission and rejection of association.
Modern summary of passages about heavenly beings and Abraham, not depictions or an independent Abrahamic biography. Roles and surviving names do not establish a particular ancient god’s conversion into an angel. [9][10][11][27][23]
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Intercession
Mediation subject in the cited Quranic texts to permission and approval, not divine independence.
Modern comparison of intermediary arguments with the permission condition. Neither denial of all intercession nor a complete history of interpretation. [18][19][25][9]
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Rabb
Title of lordship, ownership or care by context; applied to God in Lord of worlds.
Word functions in Quranic witnesses, not an etymological tree or four gods. Modern explanatory diagram; Allah’s possible derivation is a separate issue. [15][16][17][25]
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Raḥmānān
Divine designation rḥmnn in late Sabaic inscriptions before Islam.
Modern diagram of the Raḥmānān designation and settings, based on the passages read from Kjær. Not an inscription image or claim of uniform belief
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Al-Raḥmān
Quranic divine designation co-referring with Allah.
Word functions in Quranic witnesses, not an etymological tree or four gods. Modern explanatory diagram; Allah’s possible derivation is a separate issue. [15][16][17][25]
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Filioque
Later western Latin addition concerning the Spirit’s procession, absent from the expanded Greek creed.
Modern diagram of debate, showing arguments, politics and worship together. No claim that one decision immediately made all Christians agree
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Modalism
Label for positions opponents argued erased Father/Son/Spirit distinction.
Modern diagram of debate, showing arguments, politics and worship together. No claim that one decision immediately made all Christians agree
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First Council of Nicaea
Council convened by Constantine in 325, a major stage that did not immediately end dispute.
Modern timeline of witnesses and formulations, not one birth date for belief or immediate consensus. It distinguishes 381 from the expanded creed’s attestation in 451
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Nicene Creed
Creed associated with the 325 council, distinct from the expanded form associated with 381.
Modern comparison of transmitted texts, not a tablet or original council minutes. The expanded form is ecclesially attributed to 381 and clearly displayed in Chalcedon’s 451 documentation
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Homoousios — consubstantial
Term in the 325 creed relating the Son’s substance to the Father, debated in reception.
Modern illustrated glossary of later technical usage. Meanings changed between authors; modern psychological person is no automatic equivalent of ancient hypostasis. The diagram does not depict the divine being
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Hypostasis
Term later used for distinguishing Father, Son and Spirit within one divinity.
Modern illustrated glossary of later technical usage. Meanings changed between authors; modern psychological person is no automatic equivalent of ancient hypostasis. The diagram does not depict the divine being
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Ousia — essence
Greek term for essence or nature, with meanings changing between authors.
Modern illustrated glossary of later technical usage. Meanings changed between authors; modern psychological person is no automatic equivalent of ancient hypostasis. The diagram does not depict the divine being
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Logos
Greek word for word or discourse, used in John’s language of God and incarnation.
Modern comparison of distinct witnesses. Threefold language and Christ’s status do not alone supply fourth-century terminology, and one text does not date every practice
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Trinity
Christian formulation of divine unity and Father/Son/Spirit distinction, with a history of debate.
Modern timeline of witnesses and formulations, not one birth date for belief or immediate consensus. It distinguishes 381 from the expanded creed’s attestation in 451
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Apocalyptic literature
Writing disclosing hidden heavenly and historical knowledge, not every catastrophe.
Modern analytical tool. Resemblance alone does not prove Iranian borrowing: dating, contact, distinctive pattern, mechanism, alternatives and direction must be tested
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First Enoch
Layered collection of Jewish writings about heaven, evil and judgment.
Modern comparison of different witnesses, not an archaeological afterlife map or three identical beliefs. Daniel retains “many”; Josephus’s account differs from bodily resurrection
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Essenes
Group described by outside authors; a Qumran link is likely, not identity with all scrolls.
Modern comparison of an ancient outside author’s account. Josephus uses Greek philosophical language; this is neither the groups’ own manifesto nor an account of all Jews
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Sadducees
Jewish group without a surviving doctrinal library of its own; known through others.
Modern comparison of an ancient outside author’s account. Josephus uses Greek philosophical language; this is neither the groups’ own manifesto nor an account of all Jews
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Pharisees
Jewish group known through ancient testimony about law and human destiny.
Modern comparison of an ancient outside author’s account. Josephus uses Greek philosophical language; this is neither the groups’ own manifesto nor an account of all Jews
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Second Temple Judaism
Diverse Jewish traditions under Persian, Hellenistic and Roman rule, not one creed.
Qumran remains in a modern photograph. They provide a setting for the scrolls, not a portrait of every Jewish group or proof of an Essene identification. This is not a temple or heavenly-world reconstruction
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