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 Glossary of religious and spiritual termsWords & phrases starting
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 | Peccability: The concept that Jesus Christ could have sinned
if he had wanted to.
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| Pedobaptism: The practice of baptizing an infant. Most
conservative Protestant denominations defer baptism until later in
life when a person becomes born again.
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| Pedophile: From two Greek words: ''pedo"
means "child;" and "philia" means "love for." This is a word whose meaning is changing. In the
past, it referred to an adult who is sexually attracted to pre-pubescent
children -- often those who fall into a specific age range, like 5 or 6. Currently, it is evolving to mean a person who sexually molests
pre-pubescent children. See hebephile.
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| Pelagianism: A concept proposed by Pelagious (circa 356 to circa 418)
who denied the existence of original sin inherited from Adam. He taught that
a soul created by god cannot inherit sin from an ancestor. Thus humans are
born morally
neutral. They
can fall into habits of sin but can overcome sin through mental effort. He
promoted adult baptism in place of infant baptism. His
beliefs were declared heretical by the Christian movement.
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| Penance: A Roman Catholic sacrament in which sins are forgiven by a
priest.
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| Pentacle: a five pointed star inside a circle -- most
commonly used by Wiccans and other Neopagans. Some
Satanists invert
the pentacle so that one point is downwards and two upwards; they
often
add a goat's head to the inverted pentacle.
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| Pentagram: a five pointed star. Wiccans and other
Neopagans
are the main North American groups who use a pentagram as a religious
symbol. They orient the star with one point upwards, two downwards. The points of the star are often interpreted to refer to
earth, air, water, fire and spirit. Satanists,
who are numerically much smaller group than Wiccans, sometimes use an
inverted pentagram.
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| Pentateuch: See Torah
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| Pentecost: From the Greek word "pentecoste" which means the
50th day.
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| Pentecostals: those Christian individuals, churches
and denominations who believe in the Holy Spirit Baptism, a second manifestation of
the power God of which follows an individual's conversion to Christianity. It is evidenced
by glossolilia, or "speaking in tongues".
Services are highly emotional. There are about 50 Pentecostal denominations in North America,
including the Assemblies
of God, Church of God in Christ, Association of Vineyard
Churches, the Full
Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship, United Pentecostal Church
International, Church of God in Christ and the Pentecostal
World Conference. This is the fastest growing
family of denominations in Christianity. Its roots can be traced to
the National Holiness Movement which came into being after the
Civil War, and to the Baptist, Methodist denominations. Most
denominations allow women to become at least junior pastors. Jim
Bakker, Benny Hinn, Jimmy Swaggart and Pat Robertson are among the most
famous Pentecostal leaders. BeliefNet estimated that there are about
24 million Pentecostal followers in the U.S. in early 2001.
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People of the Book:
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| Perfectionism: The belief that a person can attain a state of
sinlesslessness.
|
| Perseverance of the Saints: This is the fifth of the five points of
Calvinism: It is the belief that whoever is saved and will remain saved forever. "Once saved, always saved."
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Personhood: Possessing the status of a human individual. A human ovum is generally understood to be a form of human life because most people consider it alive and it certainly contains human DNA. So too, for a spermatozoon. But neither is normally considered a person. Meanwhile, a newborn human baby is almost universally accepted as being a person. (Some aboriginals in a few areas of the world only consider a newborn to reach human personhood when she or he receives a name). Unfortunately, there is no consensus about when personhood begins. Different people have argued it is achieved at conception, at implantation in the womb, when the heartbeat can first be heard, when the embryo loses its gill slits and tail, when it first looks vaguely human, at quickening, at sentience when the fetus' higher brain functions are first activated, when it is viable, when the umbilical cord is cut, when it is breathing on its own, etc. Many people believe that the processes that start at conception and end with the newborn breathing independently should not be intentionally interrupted once personhood is attained. Thus people's belief about the timing of the beginning of personhood is a key question in presentations, discussions, dialogues, and debates about the morality of abortion. Many people regard the conflicts involving abortion and the unrelated conflicts over marriage equality to be the two most important religious struggle in the U.S. |
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Perspicuous: Writing that is written in a
style that is clear, unambiguous, easy to understand, and not subject to
interpretation.
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| Pesach: Hebrew term for Passover. It celebrates the escape from
slavery in Egypt.
|
| Pesher: Hebrew term for interpretation. The term refers to a
system of interpretation of scripture which views scripture as written in
two levels: a surface meaning for the general public, and a deeper,
concealed level for Hebrew specialists.
|
| Pharisees: From the Hebrew word perushim which means separatists. A Jewish religious party composed of the synagogue
rabbis and their followers. They formed one of about two dozen Jewish
religious groups during the 1st century CE.
|
| Phylacteries (a.k.a. Tefillin): Small black leather boxes worn by
Orthodox Jewish males on their forehead head and non-dominant arm at weekday
morning prayer. They contain passages from the Torah.
|
| Physico-theology: A 17th and 18th century approach to the belief
in God derived from observations of physics in nature. William Derhamwrote a
book with the same name in 1711. He said: "Let us ransack all the globe, let
us with the greatest accuracy inspect every part thereof...pry into them
with all our microscopes and most exquisite instruments, till we find them
to bear testimony to their infinite workman."
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Pietism: "...a religious reawakening in the Lutheran and Reformed
churches in Germany and the Anglican church in England during the 17th and
18th centuries. Pietism stresses conversion and a personal experience of
salvation, Bible study, devotional life, evangelical witness and a
continuous openness to new light. There is also an emphasis on Christian
social responsibility..." 2
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Pilgrimage: A long journey or search of great moral significance. Sometimes, it is a journey to a shrine of personal significance. Pilgrims -- individuals who engage in a pilgrimage -- are found in many different religions. 3 |
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Pluralism: In a religious sense, the term
has two quite different meanings:
Unfortunately, it is sometimes not obvious from the context which
definition an author or speaker is using. This makes dialog on pluralism
rather difficult. More
details. |
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Plurality: In a religious sense:
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Pneumatology: The study of spiritual beings and phenomena. Within
Christianity, the theological study of the Holy Spirit -- one
person within the Christian Trinity. |
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Pogrom: From the Russian word for "devastation." Christian attacks on Jews, generally in Europe and
Russia. Unlike the Holocaust, they were sporadic not systematic. They lasted for
centuries. |
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Polemics: A systematic defense of a
religious belief system from attacks from within the same religion. See Apologetics. |
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Politically correct: Treating other people's religion, culture,
etc. with sensitivity. Normally used as a term of denigration. |
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Polyamory: Consensual relationships in which participants have emotionally intimate, sexual relationships within groups of three or more people, where at least one person in the group has more than one emotionally intimate, sexual relationship at a time and where all members of the group formally or informally adopt the principles that: men and women have equal rights in establishing the configurations of the groups; no gender has privileges with respect to intimate relationships that the other gender lacks;
and no sexual orientation is regarded as superior to any other. 4 Unlike most forms of polygamy, polyamory is consensula and egalitarian: "No arranged marriages. No social isolation. No indoctrination. No threats. No dependence. No child marriage. No particular religion." 5 |
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Polyandry: The extremely rare practice in which a woman is
married to
more than one husband. |
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Polydiabolism: A belief that multiple devils exist. |
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Polygamy: An umbrella term encompassing both polyandry and
polygyny. |
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Polygyny: The practice whereby a man has more than one wife.
This was seen in many places in the Bible. It is still practiced in
predominately Muslim countries where a man can generally be married to
up to four wives -- but only if he can treat them equally. This is seen in many Western U.S. states
among some fundamentalist Mormon denominations. It is legal -- sort of
-- in British Columbia, Canada. |
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Polytheist: one who believes in the existence of more than one deity.
A polytheist often
believes in both Gods and Goddesses. Often confused with "henotheist." |
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Porajmos (a.k.a. Porrajmos): Romani word for "the Devouring." The systematic
extermination of about 400,000 Roma (a.k.a. Gypsies) during World War II
by the Nazi German regime. The total Nazi extermination program, totaled
ten to fourteen million humans, included Jews, Roma, Russians, Poles,
other Slavs, homosexuals, Jehovah's Witnessesetc. . |
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Positive Confession: (a.k.a. Word of Faith movement, Health &
Wealth Gospel, 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. 1 |
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Positive Discrimination: Giving special
privileges to a historically disadvantaged group -- often defined by race.
Preferential access to education offered to African Americans in the U.S.,
and reservation of a minimum quota of civil service jobs for Dalits (the
untouchable caste) in India are two examples. Sometimes, legislation that
guarantees equal treatment of persons of all sexual orientations is
incorrectly described as giving special privileges to homosexuals. |
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Positivism: The philosophical system created by August
Comte (1798'1857) in France. The only truths are those that can conclude by
direct observation or by experimentation. It lowers theology, religious
revelation and metaphysics to the level of mere speculation. |
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Post Conservatism: Within Evangelical Christianity, this is a
loosely defined reform movement that may include such topics as an open
concept of God, major changes to the doctrines of revelation and the
authority of the Bible, an end to strict roles for men and women, and an
inclusive belief of salvation that includes people who have no knowledge of
Christ. |
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Postmillennialism: (aka Post-millennialism): The belief that we are now living in the
Millennium period. After this is over, Jesus will return to earth and conduct
the final judgment. This was the near universal belief system of Protestants
during the 17th and 18th century. It has since
been replaced by Pre-millennialism among conservative Christians. |
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Post Modernism: (a.k.a. Postmodernism): The term means different things to different people. Some use it as a general purpose "snarl" word to attack all religiously liberal thought. Others define it as a belief that there are no absolute social/religious/cultural truths. Relative truths exist, but they are only valid for a given culture at a given time. Other traditions, religions, eras, races, genders, cultures, and groups believe/believed in other, often conflicting, truths. All of these alternative "truths" are valid, at least to the group that follows them. Postmodernism has been adopted by some liberal Christians, but is regarded as a serious error by all or essentially all conservative Christians who firmly believe that absolute truths exist. |
See elsewhere for terms starting with the letters "PA" or "PR to PY"
References and comments:
- "A critical look at the 'Word of Faith' ministries," Ministry
Watch Reflections, 2003-OCT, at:
http://www.ministrywatch.com/ This is a PDF file. You may require software to read it. Software can be obtained free from:
- Wayne Sutton, "Frequently Asked Questions," Church of the Brethren, at: http://www.cob-net.org/
- Adapted from the Wikipedia definition of "Pilgrimate" at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
- Adapted from the Polyamory Advocacy Association, a Canadian group. See: http://www.courts.gov.bc.ca/
- "The Poly Majority, "Canadian Polyamory Advocacy Association," at: http://polyadvocacy.ca/
- David G. Bromley, "The Politics of Religious Apostasy: The Role of Apostates in the Transformation of Religious Movements (Religion in the Age of Transformation
Copyright © 1996 to 2017 by Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Originally published on: 1996-MAR-11
Last update: 2017-JUN-25
Author: B.A. Robinson
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