Religious Terminology Glossary

 

Agnosticism

• The doctrine that certainty about first principles or absolute truth is unattainable and that only perceptual phenomena are objects of exact knowledge.
• The belief that there can be no proof either that God exists or that God does not exist.

Animism

• The belief in the existence of individual spirits that inhabit natural objects and phenomena.
• The belief in the existence of spiritual beings that are separable or separate from bodies.

• The hypothesis holding that an immaterial force animates the universe.

Apocalypticism

• Any doctrine concerning the end of the temporal world, esp. one based on the supposed prophetic passages in the Revelation of St. John the Divine.
• The millennial doctrine of the Second Advent and personal reign of Jesus Christ on earth.

Apologetics

• The branch of theology concerned with the defense or proof of Christianity.

Atheism

• Disbelief in or denial of the existence of God or gods.
• The doctrine that there is no God or gods.

Deism

• The belief, based solely on reason, in a God who created the universe and then abandoned it, assuming no control over life, exerting no influence on natural phenomena, and giving no supernatural revelation.  *The "hands-off" approach, that God created everything to fall into place when it should.

Empiricism

• The view that experience, especially of the senses, is the only source of knowledge.

Euhemerism

• The theory of Euhemerus that the mythologies of various gods arose out of the deification of dead heroes.
• The theory that mythology is derived from history.

Existentialism

• A philosophy that emphasizes the uniqueness and isolation of the individual experience in a hostile or indifferent universe, regards human existence as unexplainable, and stresses freedom of choice and responsibility for the consequences of one's acts.

Fideism

• Reliance on faith alone rather than scientific reasoning or philosophy in questions of religion.

Functionalism

• The doctrine that the function of an object should determine its design and materials.
• A doctrine stressing purpose, practicality, and utility.
• The doctrine in the philosophy of mind according to which mental states are defined by their causes and effects.

Henotheism

• Belief in one god without denying the existence of others.

Historicism

• A theory that events are determined or influenced by conditions and inherent processes beyond the control of humans.
• A theory that stresses the significant influence of history as a criterion of value.
• The view that historical periods should be studied without imposing anachronistic categories of evaluation.

Humanism

• A system of thought that rejects religious beliefs and centers on humans and their values, capacities, and worth.

Idealism

• Any system or theory that maintains that the real is of the nature of thought or that the object of external perception consists of ideas.
• The tendency to represent things in an ideal form, or as they might or should be rather than as they are, with emphasis on values.

Materialism

• The theory that physical matter is the only reality and that everything, including thought, feeling, mind, and will, can be explained in terms of matter and physical phenomena.

Millenarianism

• Belief in the Christian doctrine of the millennium mentioned in the Book of Revelations.

Monism

• The view in metaphysics that reality is a unified whole and that all existing things can be ascribed to or described by a single concept or system.
• The doctrine that mind and matter are formed from, or reducible to, the same ultimate substance or principle of being.

Monotheism

• The doctrine or belief that there is only one God.

Naturalism

• The system of thought holding that all phenomena can be explained in terms of natural causes and laws.
• The doctrine that all religious truths are derived from nature and natural causes and not from revelation.

Numinous

• Of, pertaining to, or like a numen; spiritual or supernatural.
• Surpassing comprehension or understanding; mysterious.

Pantheism

• The doctrine that God is the transcendent reality of which the material universe and human beings are only manifestations: it involves a denial of God's personality and expresses a tendency to identify God and nature.
• Any religious belief or philosophical doctrine that identifies God with the universe.

Polytheism

• The worship of or belief in more than one god.

Primordialism

• Devotion to, or persistence in, conditions of the primordial state.

Rationalism

• The theory that the exercise of reason, rather than experience, authority, or spiritual revelation, provides the primary basis for knowledge.

Reductionism

• The theory that every complex phenomenon, esp. in biology or psychology, can be explained by analyzing the simplest, most basic physical mechanisms that are in operation during the phenomenon.

Relativism

• Any theory holding that criteria of judgment are relative, varying with individuals and their environments.

Religion

• Belief in and reverence for a supernatural power or powers regarded as creator and governor of the universe.
• A personal or institutionalized system grounded in such belief and worship.
• The life or condition of a person in a religious order.
• A set of beliefs, values, and practices based on the teachings of a spiritual leader.
• A cause, principle, or activity pursued with zeal or conscientious devotion.

Skepticism

• The doctrine that absolute knowledge is impossible, either in a particular domain or in general.
• A methodology based on an assumption of doubt with the aim of acquiring approximate or relative certainty.

Theism

• The belief in one God as the creator and ruler of the universe, without rejection of revelation (distinguished from Deism).
• Belief in the existence of a god or gods (opposed to Atheism).

 

Definitions used are from www.Dictionary.com