Gemara (ge·MA·ra). The part of the Talmud which consists of commentary about the Mishna developed by scholars known as Amoriam.

gender (GEN·der). Gender is a cultural concept in reference to the clustering of specific behavioral traits, usually considered masculine (athletic, competitive, hansom, sexually potent, strong) or feminine (beautiful, nurturing, pretty, soft, sweet), defined by culture and attached to each sex by a society. These traits, however, are not unique to one sex or the other. Men and women share these characteristics which come together in each person in combinations of varying degree. Each trait or characteristic has a range of weak to strong elements, that is, being athletic is a matter of degree as is being competitive, soft, sweet, and the like. Gender, therefore, is largely a matter of the number and intensity of culturally defined masculine and feminine characteristics exhibited by an individual as perceived by another. See also gender role, sex and sexual preference.

gender role (GEN·der role). The behaviors considered appropriate for one sex or the other in a sociocultural system.

gene (geen). One of many discrete units of heredity information located on the chromosomes and consisting of DNA. 

gene flow (geen flo). The gain or loss of alleles from a population due to immigration or immigration of fertile individuals, or the transfer of gametes, between populations.

gene pool (geen pool). The total aggregate of genes in a population at any one time. 

genetic drift (ge·NET·ic drift). A variation in the gene pool, a change in allele frequency, in a small population due to chance.

general revelation (GEN·er·al REV·e·LA·tion). In Christian theology, the knowledge which humans can acquire about God by contemplating the rational world of nature, history, and human life in general.

genome (GE·nome). The complete complement of an organism’s genes; an organisms genetic material.

Gentile (GEN·tile). A stranger or foreigner. During the first century, as understood by Jews, a Gentile or a goi or goy (GO·ee) was literally a tribe, nation or people, or any person not a party to the Mosaic Covenant. For the ancient Church of God a Gentile was any person not a party to the New Covenant including the Essenes, Pharisees, Sadducees, other Jews, and non-Jews. For the apostles the Jews of their day had become Gentiles (goyim) as they had rejected the Messiah and the New Covenant and were strangers in the sense they were not parties to the New Covenant. The Greek equivalent is ethnos (ETH·nos) from which the English word ethnology comes.

Gentile Christians (GEN·tile CHRIS·tians). Christians of Gentile descent.

genocide (GEN·o·cide). The deliberate and systematic extermination of an ethnic, national or racial group.

genre (GEN·re). The class or category of a writing, e.g., gospel, letter, poetry, prophecy, apocalyptic, narrative, parable, wisdom, and the like.

glacis (GLA·cis). A plastered sloping bank, usually the plastered front of a fortification wall to make an attack more difficult by exposing the attackers to fire.

God-fearers (gor·FEAR·ers). Gentiles who kept the Law of Mosses, but had not undergone ritual circumcision.

Gnostics (GNOS·tics). A series of religious sects predominant in the second and third centuries which derived their principles from combining various Judaic, Chaldean, and Oriental concepts into a philosophy attempting to solve the problems of the origin of the universe and its destiny. The following is a representative list of Gnostic sects:

Adamites	Cerinthians	Encraties	Manicheans	Peratikoi
Basalidians	Clementines	Entychites	Marcionites	Sethites
Cainites	Docetists	Madeaens	Naassenes	Simonians
Carpocratians	Elkasaites	Montanists	Ophites	Valentinians

Great Council (great COUN·cil). Another name for the Sanhedrin.

Great Separation (great SEP·a·RA·tion). The second major period in the history of the church, the Period of the Great Separation CE 135-390, characterized by persecution and the division of Gentile Christians from Judeo-Christians.

Great White Throne (great white throne JUDG·ment). In early Christian theology the period of time when a massive general resurrection of humanity from the dead to face divine judgment (Revelation 20:11-12)

graffito (graf·FI·to), plural graffiti (graf·FI·ti). In archaeology an ancient drawing or writing scratched on rocks, plaster, and the like. Compare with epigraphs.

Greco-Roman Christianity (GRE·co-RO·man chris·TI·anity). The Gentile Christianity of the Greek fathers, e.g., Origin, Eusebius of Caesarea, and Latin fathers, e.g., Ambrose, Jerome influenced by the language and thought of Greco-Roman culture, which became known as Orthodox.

Gregorian calendar (gre·GO·ri·an CAL·en·dar). The Gregorian calendar, which serves as the most common calendar in use in the western world, has its basis in the solar year. A normal Gregorian year contains 365 days, but one orbit of the earth takes an extra 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 46 seconds to complete every year (Zinberg 1963:29). If nothing were done to compensate for this extra 1/4 day every year, every 120 years the seasons would have shifted by one month. To adjust for this extra time accumulation the Julian calendar, adopted by Julius Caesar, added a 29th day to February every fourth year because a partial day could not be added every year. This extended the year to 366 days every four years, commonly known as a leap year. The Julian calendar also divided the year into 12 months that varied between 28 and 31 days.

grid squares (grid squares). See squares.

guffah (GUF·fah). Rubber debris baskets known by the Arabic name guffah, flexible containers made from strips of rubber fastened together and equipped with two rubber handles bolted to opposite sides of the rim, for the deposit of dirt and debris. These have been largely replaced by plastic buckets.

gymnasium (gym·NA·si·um). A place to exercise from the Greek word gumnos or gymnos) meaning naked, stripped, bare, nude, uncovered or with meager or inadequate clothing. By implication a place where one trains or exercises while naked, bare or nude.