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Note:
Conservative Christian faith groups often define terms
very differently than other faith groups and secular
movements. The former are shown in italics
in the below lists of words.
Cabala
(also spelled Cabalah,
Caballa, Caballah, Cabbala, Cabbalah, Cabballa,
Cabballah, and various spellings starting with
the letters K or Q): A Jewish
mystical tradition with roots in Palestine during
the 1st century CE and which developed during
the 12th century. It uses occultic (hidden) knowledge
to interpret the Torah. In the early 21st century,
it is enjoying a surge in popularity.
Caliph:
Muslim term for community leader.
Calvinism:
A system of Christian belief laid down by John
Calvin. It emphasizes predestination -- that certain
people are fated to be saved and others are selected
by God to be not saved and spend eternity in Hell.
The selection is not done on the basis of any
action that they have performed during their life
on earth.
Canon:
The Canon of Scripture in Christianity
refers to the set of books selected from among
the books of the Hebrew Scriptures, the dozens
of gospels, and many dozens of epistles, to form
the Bible. Some canons contain just the 39 books
of the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament) and 27
books in the Christian Scriptures (New Testament).
Other canons include the Apocrypha. Some liberal
theologians have recommended that the canon be
opened for additional writings.
Canon
law: A term used primarily within the Roman
Catholic church to refer to a collection of church
laws.
Canonization:
The process by which a Christian becomes a
saint.
Cardinal:
Bishops in the Roman Catholic church who advise
the pope. They meet as a group to elect a new
pope when needed.
Catechism:
From the Greek "katecheo" -- to sound
aloud. A training program to educate a person
in the fundamentals of Christianity. It is often
organized in a question and answer format.
Catholic:
This came from the Greek word Katholikos which
means "throughout the whole" or "universal."
This implies a world-wide faith, rather than a
local one. The Nicene Creed, recited in the churches
of many Christian denominations, speaks of "one
holy catholic and apostolic church."
Many faith groups refer to themselves as Catholic:
the Roman Catholic Church, centered in the Vatican;
Anglo-Catholics (within the Anglican Communion);
and Evangelical Catholics (among Lutherans).
Catholic
Charismatic Renewal: The acceptance of
certain Pentecostal beliefs and practices within
the Roman Catholic church. This has also happened
within Protestant denominations, where it is generally
referred to as Charismatic Movement.
Celibate,
Celibacy: This is a word in transition. In
the past, it has simply meant to be unmarried.
More recently, it has evolved to mean the act
of sexual abstinence. We recommend that the word
never be used, unless it is carefully pre-defined.
We recommend "unmarried" and
"sexually inactive" or "a
virgin" as preferred, unambiguous terms.
Celibrant:
A minister or priest -- or in some denominations,
a member of the laity -- who leads a worship service
which includes communion.
Cessationism:
The belief that tongues,
and other special gifts enjoyed by believers in
the early Christian movement faded in the early
fourth century CE, and are thus not present today.
Chakra:
This is a term used in some traditions in Buddhism
and the New Age to refer to seven points of energy
concentration throughout a persons central nervous
system -- their in their brain and along their
spine.
Chalice:
A special drinking cup used in some Christian
communion services to hold wine. Among Wiccans
and other Neopagans, it is a goblet used to hold
either a beverage or water for ritual use.
Channeling:
A practice common among New Agers in which the
spirit of a master teacher is contacted in order
to receive guidance and knowledge.
Charismatic
movement: The adoption of certain Pentecostal
beliefs and practices within Protestant denominations.
The same phenomenon has occurred within the Roman
Catholic Church where it is called the Catholic
Charismatic Renewal.
Chiliasm:
The belief that Yeshua of Nazareth (Jesus
Christ) will reign on Earth for 1,000 years.
Chiromancy:
The prediction of a person's past and future through
palm reading.
Christ:
From a Greek word meaning to rub down an athlete
with lineament. It refers to a Hebrew word (Messiah
in English) that means "an anointed one,"
e.g. a king of Israel or a prophet. Jesus' real
name was Yeshua of Nazareth.
Christadelphianism:
A small Christian religious group with non-traditional
beliefs. They teach that Jesus was a created being,
that the Holy Spirit is a power or energy rather
than the third personality in the Trinity. They
deny the traditional concepts of
heaven and hell
Christian:
This term was derived indirectly from the Greek
word for Messiah. It has many
meanings:
-
Census
offices consider any person or group to
be Christian if they devoutly, seriously
regards themselves to be Christian. Thus,
Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons, Roman Catholic,
and members of the Unification Church are
Christians. Many groups, particularly conservative
Christians, regard many of these denominations
as "cults"
and not part of Christianity.
-
Webster's
New World Dictionary: "A person
believing in Jesus as the Christ, or in
the religion based upon the teachings of
Jesus."
-
Concise
Oxford Dictionary: "Person believing
in, professing or belonging to the religion
of Christ." (They don't define
exactly what the religion of Christ is,
or which of the thousands of denominations
and sects represent this religion.)
-
Evangelical/Fundamentalist
usage: often used to refer only to fellow
conservative Christian faith groups or to
"saved" individuals.
Christian
evidences: A branch of Apologetics
that deals with attempts to prove that Christianity
and/or the Bible is true. Much effort is expended
by conservative Christians to prove that creation,
the great flood, the tower of Babel, virgin birth,
resurrection, Exodus, attack on Canaan etc. happened
exactly as explained in the Bible. Their expectation
is that no evidence from archaeology, geology,
cosmology, astronomy or any other science will
disprove the inerrancy
of the Bible.
Christian
Identity: A small, racist, radical group within
Christianity which has adopted a belief similar
to that of British Israelism. They teach that
the ten lost tribes of Israel became the Anglo-Saxon
race. Many Identity groups teach that Eve engaged
in sexual relations with the serpent in the Garden
of Eden, and that the Jews were the product of
that union.
Christian
Science: A Christian denomination
founded in 1879 in Boston, MA, by Mary Baker Eddy.
It promotes spiritual healing, that sickness and
matter is not real, and that one should avoid
medical help. The life expectancy of Christian
Scientists appears to be significantly shorter
than for the general population.
Christology:
The study of the personality, attributes and/or
life of Yeshua of Nazareth, a.k.a. Jesus Christ.
The term is derived from two Greek words, for
"messiah" and "formal
study."
Christmas:
This is held on DEC-25, the nominal date of
the birth of Yeshua of Nazareth, after whose life
the Christian religion is patterned. The western
church uses the Gregorian calendar and the eastern
church uses the Julian calendar. So Christmas
is celebrated on two different days.
Chupah:
A Jewish wedding canopy which represents the home
that the groom is expected to maintain.
Church:
The Greek word ekklesia (to call out) in the Bible
is generally translated as "church."
It may refer to all those, living or dead, who
are Christians. it may refer to a specific Christian
group in a specific area.
Circumcision
of Jesus: A Christian holy day held in remembrance
of Jesus' circumcision.
Civil
religion: A set of religious beliefs shared
by most citizens about "the sacred nature,
the sacred ideals, the sacred character, and sacred
meanings of their country – its blessedness by
God, and its special place and role in the world
and in human history." 1
The term was created by Rousseau in his writing
"On the Social Contract" 1762.
Coming,
second: (a.k.a. Parousia): The belief
that Jesus will descend to earth as described
in the biblical
book Revelation, leading a massive
army. As the 21st century approached,
approximately one in four American adults believed
that this would happen during their lifetime.
Communion:
-
A
Christian ritual, sometimes called the Eucharist,
or Mass, or Lord's supper.
-
A
group of believers or a group of denominations.
The Anglican Communion, for example,
is a group of national churches who share
many beliefs and practices in common.
Communion:
The sharing of bread and wine (or a wine substitute)
during a Christian service. At the time of the
early church, only baptized Christians were allowed
to be present during communion. When Pagans started
to spread the rumor that cannibalism was involved,
this part of the service was opened to the public.
Alternative names for communion are: Eucharist,
Divine Liturgy, Last Supper.
Comparative
religion: The study of world religions to
determine their points of similarity and differences.
In practice, this is difficult to do on an impartial
basis. Students often consider their own branch
of their own religion to be "true,"
and all other branches of their religion, and
all other religions to be "false."
Completed
Jews: A term used by conservative Christians
to refer to Jews who have embraced Messianic Judaism
-- a blend of Jewish tradition and ceremonies
with Fundamentalist theological beliefs about
Jesus Christ and the Trinity.
Concestor:
An animal species, typically long extinct,
which is the ancestor to two later-evolved species.
For example, according to the theory of evolution,
the concestor shared by humans and chimpanzees
lived about six million years ago. There are 40
concestors between humans and the first life forms
which lived about 3.8 billion years ago.
Concreated
holiness: This is the belief that when God
created Adam, that Adam's will was created holy.
His natural inclination was thus to behave in
a holy manner.
Confucianism:
An indigenous system of thought which originated
in China about 500 BCE.
It is considered by some to be a religion, by
others a humanistic philosophy. Founded by Confusious
(551-479 BCE)
Conservative:
Within Christianity, this is one wing of the religion,
composed of Fundamentalists, other Evangelicals,
Pentecostals, Charismatics, and members of most
independent churches. The term contrasts with
mainline and liberal Christians.
Consubstantiality:
The belief that Jesus is of the same substance
(homoousion in Greek) as God the Father. This
belief was promoted by those who taught that God,
Son and Holy Spirit formed a Trinity. Opposing
them was Arius who regarded this as a Pagan polytheistic
concept. He taught that Jesus was of similar substance
(homoiousion in Greek) to God the Father. The
difference of one letter (o,i) caused a great
deal of angry debate in the church; the two sides
were evenly matched. Constantine applied political
pressure to have homoousion accepted at the Council
of Nicea. This has been the teachings of almost
all Christian faith groups ever since.
Consubstantiation:
The belief, as taught by Martin Luther, that the
elements during communion are actually bread and
wine which coexist with the body and blood of
Jesus.
Contemplation:
In a religious sense, the practice of meditation
on spiritual matters.
Contextualization:
A method of analyzing the Bible which attempts
to differentiate between the meaning of the text
and "the cultural and historical context
in which it is given." 2
The result is that when one tries to interpret
the meaning of a biblical passage in terms of
today's culture, the meaning of the text may have
to change. For example, in Genesis 9:1. humans
are urged to be fruitful and multiply. That made
sense in days when there were so many childhood
diseases, and warfare. The opposite command --
to limit one's fertility -- might make more sense
today.
Conversion:
the act of changing one's beliefs from one religion
to another.
Conversionism:
the belief that lives of all humans need to be
changed by way of a "born
again" decision in which they
repent of their sins and accept Jesus as Lord
and Savior.
Corpus
Christi: ARoman Catholic holy day
which commemorates the Eucharist - a ritual in
which they believe that a wafer and wine become
the actual body and blood of Jesus Christ.
Cosmogeny:
beliefs about the origin of the universe. While
95% of scientists and most North American adults
believe that the world and the rest of the universe
is billions of years old, many conservative Christians
believe in a universe less than 10,000 years of
age.
Cosmogony:
(From the Greek: "cosmo" meaning universe;
"gony" meaning origin): A religious
or scientific model of the origin of the universe.
The two most common models in North America are
creation science, theistic evolution and naturalistic
evolution.
Cosmology:
(From the Greek: "cosmo" meaning universe;
"logos" meaning study). Beliefs about
the structure of the universe. Many religious
texts have a pre-scientific view of the makeup
of the earth, the solar system and the rest of
the universe.
Council,
ecumenical: A series of meetings of the bishops
of the Christian Church to settle doctrinal and
organizational matters, in which the decisions
were accepted by the entire Church.
Counter
cult movement (CCM): A group made up mainly
of Fundamentalist and other Evangelical Protestant
organizations which opposes and criticizes new
religious movements (NRMs) because of the latter's
unorthodox and/or novel theological beliefs.
More details.
Counter
reformation: A reform movement within the
Roman Catholic church taken shortly after -- an
in response to -- the Protestant Reformation.
Coven:
a local group of Wiccans
or other Neo-pagans. During the "burning
times" when Christian groups were tracking
down and exterminating Witches, it was believed
that each coven held 13 members. This was and
is not true; covens can be of any size, but are
most often perhaps about a half-dozen.
Covenant:
"Berith" in Hebrew and "diatheke"
in Greek: An agreement between two persons which
are obligatory on both parties. Most commonly
used to refer to various covenants between God
and the Hebrews. Jews believe that these covenants
are permanent; some Christians believe that God
unilaterally abrogated them and selected Christians
to be the new chosen people.
Covenant
Theology: A Christian concept which teaches
the unity of the Hebrew Scriptures and Christian
Scriptures (Old and New Testament). The covenants
of the Hebrew Scriptures are not done away with
the arrival of Christ on Earth; they are still
binding on humans today. Ancient Jews were not
saved by animal sacrifice. Such rituals were only
symbolic of Jesus' self-sacrifice. See also New
Covenant Theology.
Creed:
Fropm the Latin word "credere"
-- to believe. A short statement of religious
belief, usually motivated by a desire to emphasize
church teaching as opposed to a heresy. There
are a number of creeds
within the Christian religion: the
Apostles creed, Nicene creed are the most popular.
However, the former is little used in Eastern
Orthodox churches.
Criticism:
When referring to the Bible, this refers to a
method of analyzing its text:
-
Lower
criticism is the analysis of the text in
order to understand its meaning and detect
any forgeries, mistranslations, etc.
-
Higher
criticism is an attempt to determine when
the passage was written, who wrote it, where
it was written, what their purpose was,
whether it was imported into the Bible from
another source, etc. One example of the
results of higher criticism is the
documentary hypothesis
concerning the authorship of the first five
books in the Hebrew Scripture, which most
mainline and liberal theologians accept.
Cross,
sign of: A movement, commonly used among Roman
Catholics, in which the right hand touches the
forehead, chest, left shoulder, and right shoulder
in sequence. Orthodox believers cross themselves
from right to left.
Crucifix:
A religious symbol representing Jesus nailed to
the cross. Most crucifixes lack accuracy because
they portray a partly clothed man nailed through
the palms. The Romans crucified people naked,
with their wrists nailed (or their arms tied)
to the crossbar.
Crucifixion:
A method of carrying out the death penalty which
involved physical abuse of the victim, stripping
him of all clothing, tying or nailing his arms
and legs to a cross or stake, and abandoning him
to die. The corpse was often partly eaten by scavengers.
The body was generally denied a proper burial;
it was tossed on a garbage heap. Crucifixion was
widely used by Romans to execute slaves or rebels.
Crystals:
These are materials which have their
molecules arranged in a specific, highly ordered
internal pattern. This pattern is reflected in
the crystal's external structure which typically
has symmetrical surfaces. Many common substances,
from salt to sugar, and from diamonds to quartz,
form crystals. They can be shaped so that they
will vibrate at a specific frequency and are widely
used in radio communications and computing devices.
Many New
Agers, Wiccans,
and other Neopagans
and others believe that crystals possess healing
energy.
Cult:
From the Latin word "cultus" -- meaning
worship. Cult is a word with many
religious meanings (and some secular
as well) which should be used with great care
to avoid misunderstanding. We recommend the neutral
term "new religious movement"
be used in its place. Even better is to refer
to a religious group by its name:
Traditional
theological usage: a style of worship
and its associated rituals. It can be applied
to any faith group.
Sociological
usage: a small religious group that exists
in a state of tension with the predominant
religion; e.g. Christianity in Pakistan.
General
religious usage: a small, recently created
religious group; not a variant of an established
religion. Often headed by a single charismatic
leader.
Evangelical
usage: a religious group that considers
themselves to be Christian but which denies
one or more historical beliefs of Protestant
Christianity.
Anti-cult
movement usage: a small, evil
religious group, often with a single charismatic
leader, who engage in deceptive recruiting,
brainwashing and other mind control techniques
Popular
belief: A doomsday, dangerous, destructive
religious movement whose members risk their
life to belong.
Cult
apologist: Derogatory term used to refer to:
-
Academics
who investigate new religious movements
and often report that they are harmless.
Cult
Awareness Network: Originally, an anti-cult
group which targeted new religious movements.
They were forced into bankruptcy because of their
criminal activities linking the parents of members
of new religious movements with kidnappers and
re-programmers. Their assets were purchased by
the Foundation for Religious Freedom, which
teaches tolerance of other faith groups.
Curate:
In the Anglican communion, an assistant pastor.
References:
Rowland Sherrill, chair of Religious
Studies at Indiana University, Purdue University,
Indianapolis, IN. Quoted in: Bruce Murray, "With
'God on our side'? How American 'Civil Religion'
permeates society and manifests itself in public
life," FacsNet at:
http://www.facsnet.org/issues/faith/sherrill_indy.php
Alan Cairns, "Dictionary
of Theological Terms," Ambassador-Emerald
Int, (1998), Page 101.
