- Iconography
- The expression of religious principles or doctrines using pictorial or symbolic images or icons; icons may serve as visual metaphors; a faith which favours this type of expression is called 'iconic'.
- Image of God
- Phrase deriving from Genesis 1:26-7; God created humankind in his own image. See Chapter 1.
- Immanuel
- (sometimes spelled Emmanuel) The figure in Isaiah's prophecy (chapter 7), which means "God is with us". See Chapter 10.
- Incense
- A component in rituals of worship; spices burned on an altar or in a censer to make a sweet smelling smoke.
- Intertestamental period
- The period in which early Judaism developed, between about 400 B.C.E. (the traditional end date for the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible) and the first century C.E. (the composition of the Christian New Testament); the Jewish intertestamental literature includes the Apocrypha (mostly preserved in Greek) and the Pseudepigrapha (works from this period ascribed to ancient authors like Enoch, the ancestors, and Moses).
- Invocation
- The forumla used at the beginning of many psalms that appeals to God and asks him to listen. See Chapter 14.
- Isaac
- The son of Abraham and Sarah who inherited the ancestral promises; he married Rebekah and was the father of Esau and Jacob. See Chapter 2.
- Isaiah
- A prophet in Jerusalem in the eighth century B.C.E.; also, the prophetic book which contains the words of Isaiah of Jerusalem, Second Isaiah, and Third Isaiah.
- Isaiah of Jerusalem
- See Isaiah See Chapter 10 Introduction, Chapter 10 First Isaiah.
- Ishmael
- The son of Abraham and Hagar; he was not the son of the promise; he and his mother were expelled by Sarah and Abraham. See Chapter 2.
- Israel
- A secondary name for Jacob; the name of the ten northern tribes who formed the "kingdom of Israel" (alternatives are "Ephraim" and "Samaria"), destroyed in 721 B.C.E.; also used as the name of the Twelve Tribes and for the whole territory occupied by the Israelites, Canaan; historically, Jews have continued to regard themselves as the true continuation of the ancient Israelite national-religious community; in modern times, it also refers to the political state of Israel; Christians came to consider themselves to be the "true" Israel, thus also a continuation of the ancient traditions. See Biblical Story, Introduction.
- Israeli, Israelis
- Modern term designating citizens of the modern state of Israel; to be distinguished from Israelites. See Introduction.
- Israelite
- (from "sons of Israel") Primarily the inhabitants of the ancient state of Israel, but also used of the Hebrews from the time of Moses to the monarchy. See Introduction.