[Suppafly]

>In this case I doubt many people have heard the word "synoptic" in any other context. That makes it a rather meaningless word.

This and that's sorta what I found interesting, most people don't realize a word they've only heard in the context of religion actually has a definition outside of, and predating, that context and that definition more or less explains the religious usage.

[da_chicken]

I know when I first heard it, my mind went to "canopic jars". Canopic is from Canopus, a name from Greek mythology. I mean, who's to say that there wasn't a guy or place named Synoptus? The Nicene Creed is named after the Council of Nicea, which took place in the city of the same name.

The fact that synopsis is a Greek word makes it even harder to discern because a lot of names and terms of early Christianity are Greek, just as much as Latin names and terms come along later. I don't think it's a religious thing at all. I think it's going to be common to anything that has a lot of terminology that is rooted in a foreign language and culture.