Glossary of religious terms
(Starting with "H")
By
B.A. Robinson,
Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance,
Canada
http://www.religioustolerance.org/glossary.htm
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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.
Hades:
A Greek term generally translated "Hell"
in the King James Version of the Bible. Beliefs
about Hades are divided:
| - |
Some
Christians believe that Hades is a place
where the spirits of unsaved persons and
of believers who died before the ascension
of Christ temporarily reside until the day
of judgment. Then, the unsaved will be thrown
into the lake of fire; the believers will
attain heaven. |
| - |
Others
believe that Hades and Sheol are Hell where
the unsaved are tortured for all eternity. |
|
| Hadith:
Sayings and practices of Mohammed. They were collected
after his death. |
| Hajj:
A pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia
which every Muslim is expected to perform at least
once during their lifetime, if they are physically
and financially able. |
| Hajji:
A Muslim who has performed a Hajj. The term is
used as a pejorative by U.S. troops in Iraq. |
| Halacha:
Jewish law, derived from the 613 laws of Moses
in the Hebrew Scriptures. |
| Halal:
A set of Islamic dietary laws which regulate the
preparation of food. |
| Hallelujah:
A shout or song of praise to God. "Hallel"
means "praise." "Jah"
is an abbreviation of "YWVH."
It appears in many places throughout the last
third of the book of Psalms. It is occasionally
used as a first name, most commonly for girls. |
Halloween:
| - |
Secular
meaning: an annual children's celebration
on the evening of each OCT-31. Children
dress up in costumes and go to homes in
their neighborhood to collect candy. |
| - |
Pagan
meaning: Wiccans and other Neopagans
celebrate the major Sabbat of Samhain on
this day. It is the end of the Wiccan year,
marking the transition between the warm
and the cold season. |
| - |
Christian
meaning: All Hallow's Eve, a Roman Catholic
observance of the night before All Saints'
Day. |
| - |
Satanic
meaning: One of three major seasonal
days of celebration - the other two being
Walpurgisnacht (APR-30) and the member's
birthday. |
|
| Handfasting:
A Neopagan wedding. Some religious traditions
assign it a length of a year and a day. It can
be registered with the government as a marriage
if the priest/priestess performing the handfasting
is registered to perform weddings. |
| Haram
(a.k.a. haraam): An Islamic term for a forbidden
action. |
| Harg:
A stone altar in Norse Heathenism. |
| Health
& Wealth Gospel: (a.k.a. Word of Faith
movement, Positive Confession, Name it and Claim
it, and Faith-formula). A group of conservative
Protestant para-church ministries which focus
on "anointed" ministers and the health,
wealth, and success of their viewers and donors.
MinistryWatch estimates that their total income
is in excess of a half billion dollars annually.
2 |
| Heathen:
Originally people of the heath or moor. Originally,
it was a Christian term to denigrate followers
of the old, pre-Christian Religion. Followers
of Asatru and other ancient reconstructed aboriginal
religions have embraced the term. |
Heaven:
| - |
In
the Old Testament, Heaven referred to the
region where God lived. It was above the
firmament which was believed to be a solid
covering located a few hundred feet above
the earth. |
| - |
In
Christianity and Islam it is the abode of
God, the Father's House, where selected
individuals go after death to be with God.
Faith groups differ in their belief about
who will attain heaven after death. |
|
| Hebephile:
This is a word whose meaning is changing. In the
past, it referred to an adult who is sexually
attracted to post-pubescent person under the age
of 18. Currently, it is evolving to mean a person
who sexually molests post-pubescent persons under
the age of 18. See pedophile.
|
| Hell:
one of two destinations for an individual after
death in the Christian,
Muslim
and some other religions. Various groups within
Christianity believe that a person goes there
because of their beliefs or their actions, or
some combination of beliefs and actions. Up to
the early part of the 20th century,
Hell was generally believed to be a place of eternal
punishment and torment. Lately, more groups describe
it as a simple isolation from God. Liberal religious
groups generally treat biblical passages on Hell
as symbolic. See also Universalism.
In the King James Version of the Bible, the Hebrew
word sheol and Greek word hades
(two very different concepts) are both generally
translated as Hell. |
| Hellenism:
A general term referring to the influence
that Greek Pagan culture had on other societies
in ancient times. Judaism was profoundly influenced
by Hellenism after the conquest of Palestine by
the Greeks in the second century BCE. |
Henotheism.
belief in many deities of which only one is the
supreme deity. This may involve:
| - |
One
chief God and multiple gods and goddesses
of lesser power and importance. Ancient
Greek and Roman religions were of this type. |
| - |
One
supreme God, and multiple gods and goddesses
who are all simply manifestations or aspects
of the supreme God. Hinduism
is one example; they recognize Brahman as
the single deity. Some Wiccans
believe in a single deity about which they
know little. They call the deity "The
One" or "The All."
They recognize the God and Goddess as the
male and female aspects of that supreme
deity. |
| - |
One
supreme God who rules over a country, and
many other gods and goddesses who have similar
jurisdiction over other territories. Liberal
theologians believe that the ancient Israelites
were henotheists; they worshipped Jehovah
as the supreme God over Israel, but recognized
the existence of Baal and other deities
who ruled over other tribes. |
|
| Heptateuch:
A pair of Greek words for "seven" and
"container." It refers to the first
seven books of the Hebrew Scriptures - the Penteteuch
and the books of Joshua and Judges. Some theologians
believe that these books should be considered
as a unit because they believe that the books
were composed from the same literary sources. |
| Heresy:
beliefs that are forbidden by the policy-deciding
body of a faith group. Heresy is a relative term,
because one group's heresy is frequently another
group's required belief or dogma, and vice-versa.
Consider, for example, the criteria for salvation
as
taught by three Christian groups: the
Roman Catholic Church, the Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), and Fundamentalist
protestants. One group's required belief may also
be the same group's condemned past heresy (and
vice-versa). Heresies are inevitable in religion
because there does not appear to be any mechanism
by which religious disagreements can be resolved - either through reason or by assessing
the will of God. |
| Heresiologist:
An individual who studies heresies. |
| Heresiology:
The study of heresies. |
| Heretic:
a person who believes in one or more heresies. |
| Hermeneutics:
The word was derived from the Pagan Greek myth
of Hermes. A study of methods used to interpreting
the Bible. |
| Hermeticism:
A Pagan religion that started in Egypt in the
2nd or 3rd century BCE.
Its followers believed that its beliefs were revealed
to their founder Hermes by his divine father.
They taught that a person on earth is a mortal
god and that God is an immortal man. It was one
of the main competitors to early Christianity.
Some religious historians trace certain Mormon
beliefs to Hermeticism. |
| Heterosexism:
"....An an ideological system that denies,
denigrates, and stigmatizes any non-heterosexual
form of behavior, identity, relationship, or community.
Heterosexism is reflected by personal assumptions
that everyone in the world is, or should be, heterosexual." |
| Heterosexual:
A person who is sexually attracted only to
members of the opposite sex. Conservative Christian
definition: a person who is sexually active with
members of the opposite sex, and not with members
of the same sex." |
| Hexateuch:
A theological term for the first six books of
the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament): The Torah
(Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy)
and the book of Joshua. |
| Higher
criticism: The study of a section of the Bible
to determine who wrote it, when it was written,
its literary structure and its meaning. |
| Hijab:
A scarf that many Muslim women use to cover their
hair. |
| Hijrah:
The flight of Muhammad and fellow believers from
Mecca to Medina in 622 CE. The Islamic calendar
dates from this time. |
| Hinduism:
The third largest religion in the world, after
Christianity and Islam. It is a henotheistic faith
which exists in many hundreds of variations. It
has about 750 million followers and is largely
concentrated in India and Sri Lanka. Hinduism
does not have a single founder, a specific theological
system, a single system of morality, or a central
religious organization. It consists of "thousands
of different religious groups that have evolved
in India since 1500 BCE." 2 |
| Holistic
health, holistic medicine: Medical care involving
the treatment of the whole person - body, spirit
and mind. Many holistic techniques have never
had their efficacy or safety evaluated.
|
| Holocaust:
From the Greek: "holos" (completely)
and "kaustos" (burned sacrificial offering).
When capitalized, the term usually refers to the
Shoah, (a.k.a. Shoa and Sho'ah) the killing of
five to seven million of European Jews by the
Nazi government during World War II. Sometimes
used to refer to the total Nazi extermination
program, which included Jews, Roma (a.k.a Gypsies),
Russians, Poles, other Slavs, homosexuals,
Jehovah's
Witnesses, etc. totaling ten to fourteen
million humans. The Roma refer to the event as
the Porajmos (devouring). |
| Holy
Spirit (a.k.a. Holy Ghost): The third person
in the Christian Trinity. Some faith groups consider
him to be an active force. Historically, Christianity
has taught that the Holy Spirit is a person,
along with God the Father, and Yeshua of Nazareth
(Jesus Christ). |
| Homeopathy:
An alternative treatment of disease involving
the consumption of natural materials that simulate
the symptoms of the disease. These materials are
first diluted in pure water to such an extent
that there are generally no molecules of the original
material left. The efficacy of this treatment
is rejected by most medical experts. It has the
potential of causing harm, because individuals
may seek a cure through homeopathy, and ignore
the potential for a cure from a physician. The
latter generally involve medication and/or treatments
whose efficacy and safety have been proven. |
| Homophobia:
Any attitude, action or institutional structure
which systematically treats an individual or group
of individuals differently because of their sexual
orientation. See also sexism,
racism,
and religism.
The most common forms of homophobia in North America
is discrimination against homosexuals and bisexuals
in employment, accommodation, ordination, church
membership, and freedom to marry. However, it
occasionally is manifested against heterosexuals.
A secondary meaning is the belief that persons
of one sexual orientation - normally heterosexuality - is inherently superior to persons who have
other orientations. A tertiary meaning is fear
or loathing of persons with a specific sexual
orientation. |
Homosexual:
This term has at least two conflicting meanings:
| - |
It
is sometimes used to refer to sexual
feelings - what a person is: Gays,
lesbians, sociologists, psychologists, researchers
into human sexuality, members of liberal
and some mainline faith groups normally
define this as: One of three normal and
natural sexual orientations experienced
by adults, involving an
exclusive, permanent,
and unchosen attraction to members
of the same gender. It is probably set up
by a person's genetic coding, and enabled
by some unknown event in the environment
in early childhood. |
| - |
Usage
by Evangelical/Fundamentalist and some mainline
faith groups: A form of sexual
behavior - what a person does:
A perverted, abnormal and unnatural attraction
to members of the same gender, hated by
God, that can be
changed through prayer
and counseling. It is caused
by bad parenting or sexual molestation during
childhood. It is chosen during teenage years,
and is extremely addictive. Homosexuals
can be attracted to members of the same
gender only, or to persons of both genders. |
|
| Houris:
A Muslim
belief that beautiful, virgin women
who present in Paradise (Heaven) |
| Hudud:
Punishments within Islam for spiritual or religious
crimes. |
| Humanism:
A term with a variety of meanings, ranging from
a study of the humanities (languages, literature,
philosophy, history, etc.) to secular humanism
(see below). |
| Humanism,
Secular:
a non-theistic philosophy which promotes man as
the measure of all things. It had its roots in
the rationalism of the 18th Century and the free
thought movement of the 19th Century. |
| Hyper-Calvinism:
The belief by some followers of Calvinism
that a person has no responsibility for their
own salvation; it is all up to God to choose who
will be saved and be destined to live eternity
in Heaven, and who will not be saved and will
spend eternity being tortured in Hell. |
| Hypnotism,
hypnosis: A therapeutic technique in which
the patient is placed in a trance. This places
the patient in an extremely suggestive state in
which false
memories can be created. |
| Hypostatic
union: The concept that Yeshua of Nazareth
(Jesus Christ) has two natures: one fully divine
and one fully human. This is the belief system - one of many - about the nature of Jesus that
was adopted by the early Christian church and
has remained the majority belief. |
References:
- American
Medical Student Association,
at:
http://www.amsa.org/
- "A
critical look at the 'Word of Faith' ministries,"
Ministry Watch Reflections, 2003-OCT, at:
http://www.ministrywatch.com/
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