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Complementarianism: A belief by mostly conservative Jews, Christians and Muslims that God intends women to hold very different but complementiary roles from men within marriage, employment, and faith groups. In practice, the principle often relegates women to positions of little power. | ||||||||
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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. It is considered a highly derogatory term by most
Jews. | ||||||||
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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. | ||||||||
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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. | ||||||||
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Concupiscence: From the Latin word "concupiscentia:" the natural
inclination or innate tendency of humans to perform evil deeds. | ||||||||
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Conditionalism (a.k.a.Conditional immortality): Synonyms for
annihilationism -- the concept that the inhabitants
of Hell will not be tortured forever, but will be exterminated. | ||||||||
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Confessing Church: The Roman Catholic Church and most Evangelical
(i.e. Protestant) denominations cooperated extensively with Hitler and the German
Nazis during the 1930s and early 1940s. However the "Pastors'
Emergency League" founded by Detrich Bonhoeffer, Pastor Niemoller, and other
ministers opposed the Nazi's aryanization of German Christianity. The League
grew into the Confessing Church. Many of its leaders were executed by the Nazis. | ||||||||
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Confessionalism: As a religious term, it means that each member
of a faith group is expected to adhere fully to the group's entire belief
system. No dissent is allowed. The Amish might be
regarded as a good example of confessionalism. Those congregations
affiliated with the Unitarian Universalist Association
might be regarded as an opposite extreme; they respect, encourage, and expect
diversity of belief. | ||||||||
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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 Confucius (551-479 BCE) | ||||||||
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Congregation: This word is another of those religious terms with
multiple meanings. It can refer to:
The term can also refer to an assembly of senior members at a university. | ||||||||
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Conservative: Within Christianity, this is one wing of the
religion, composed of Fundamentalists, other Evangelicals, Pentecostals,
Charismatics, and members of most independent churches. Other wings of
Christianity include mainline Christianity, liberal Christianity, Roman
Catholicism, Anglican Communion(s), and Eastern Orthodoxy. Conservative Judaism
was organized as a reaction to Reform Judaism, the largest of the three main
wings of the religion. | ||||||||
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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. | ||||||||
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Consubstantiation: The belief that the bread and
body of Jesus during communion form one substance, and that the wine and blood
of Jesus similarly form one substance. This is often falsely attributed to
Martin Luther. | ||||||||
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Contemplation: In a religious sense, the practice of
meditation on spiritual matters. | ||||||||
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Contemplative prayer: This is an ancient Christian practice that
was suppressed by the Roman Catholic Church during the Middle Ages and is
rejected by many conservative Protestants today. It consists of wordless
form of prayer in which one simply exists in the presence of the Holy
Spirit. Some Christians believe that the Holy Spirit lives in each baptized
Christian; others believe that he exists indwells every saved person. | ||||||||
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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. | ||||||||
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Continuationism: The belief that tongues,
prophecy, healing, and other special gifts enjoyed by believers in the early Christian
movement have continued to the present time. Antonym: cessationism. | ||||||||
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Conversion: the act of changing one's beliefs from one religion to
another or from one faith group to another within the same religion. It is be a
capital offense in some predominately Muslim lands to convert from Islam to another
religion. | ||||||||
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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.
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Conversos (a.k.a. New Christians): A group of Jews in Spain who
converted to Roman Catholicism in order to escape brutal violence and
oppression during the 14th and 15th century. | ||||||||
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Corpus Christi:
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Cosmogeny: beliefs about the origin of the universe. While
over 95% of scientists and many other 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. | ||||||||
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Cosmogony: (From the Greek: "cosmo" meaning universe; "gony"
meaning origin): A religious or scientific model of the origin of the
universe. The most common models in North America involve the "big bang" and creation
of the universe by God. | ||||||||
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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. | ||||||||
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Cosmophobia: (From the Greek: "cosmo" meaning universe; "phobia"
meaning fear). David Morrison at the NASA Lunar Science Institute coined the term in 2009. He defined it as: "an unreasoning fear of the cosmos." | ||||||||
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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. During the first centuries of
the Christian movement, there was no single leader in charge, so disputes
had to be settled by councils. | ||||||||
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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. | ||||||||
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Counter reformation: A reform movement within the Roman
Catholic church taken shortly after -- an in response to -- the Protestant Reformation. | ||||||||
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Coven: a local group of Wiccans or other Neo-pagans.
During the "burning times" when Christian groups were tracking down and
exterminating heretics, 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. | ||||||||
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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. | ||||||||
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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. | ||||||||
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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. | ||||||||
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Criticism: When referring to the Bible, this refers to a method
of analyzing its text:
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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. | ||||||||
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Crucicentrism: Making the
substitutionary
atonement by Christ on the cross central to a Christian belief
system. | ||||||||
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Crucifix: A religious symbol representing Jesus nailed to the
cross. Most crucifixes lack accuracy because they portray a partly
clothed man nailed through his palms. The Romans crucified people
naked, with their wrists nailed (or their arms tied) to the crossbar. Another
possible inaccuracy relates to the shape of the cross. It is not clear
whether Jesus was executed on a Roman cross -- as essentially all crucifixes
show -- or on a cross in the form of a capital "T," or on a vertical stake.
Also, for reasons of efficiency, the distance from the victim's feet to
ground level was small. | ||||||||
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Cruciform: an object in the form of a cross. The term is often
used to describe buildings and jewelry. | ||||||||
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Crucifixion: A method of carrying out the death penalty which
involved physical abuse of the victim, stripping him/her of all clothing,
tying or nailing the arms and legs to a cross or stake, and abandoning
the victim 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 within the Roman Empire to execute either slaves or rebels. | ||||||||
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Crypto-jew: A person who adheres to Judaism while publicly
professing to be of another faith. This was most often seen in countries
where Judaism was under oppression, like Nazi Germany during the mid 20th
century, or in Spain during the 14th & 15th century. | ||||||||
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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. | ||||||||
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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. An even better
practice is to refer to a religious group by its name:
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Cult apologist: Derogatory term used to refer to:
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Cult Awareness Network (CAN): Originally, an anti-cult group which targeted new religious movements. CAN was forced into bankruptcy because of their criminal activities linking the parents of members of new religious movements with kidnappers and re-programmers. In an ironic twist, their name and other assets were purchased by the Foundation for Religious Freedom, which teaches tolerance of other faith groups. | ||||||||
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Curate: In the Anglican communion, an assistant pastor. | ||||||||
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Cybersuicide: Suicides or suicide attempts triggered or otherwise influenced by websites on the Internet. |
References used:
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Rowland Sherrill is chair of Religious Studies at Indiana University, Purdue University, Indianapolis, IN. The quote appears in Web Sage Publishing, at: http://websage.us/
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Alan Cairns, "Dictionary of Theological Terms," Ambassador-Emerald Int, (1998), Page 101.
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Daniel D. Hotchkiss, "The History of the Flaming Chalice," Pamphlet by the Unitarian Universalism Association. A modified text is at: http://www.uua.org/
- "Christianism," Wikipedia, as on 2011-NOV-21, at: http://en.wikipedia.org/
Copyright © 1996 to 2019 by Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Originally written on: 1996-MAR-11
Last update and review: 2019-JUL-06
Author: B.A. Robinson
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