Glossary of religious and spiritual terms
Words and phrases |
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Tabernacle: From the Latin word "tabernaculum" which means a
tent.
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Talit, tallit: A Jewish blue-and-white-striped prayer shawl worn
by married Jewish men in Orthodox synagogues and any adult Jew in
Conservative synagogues. | ||||||||
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Talmud: From the Hebrew word for "teaching." A body of Jewish
oral law and tradition assembled in written form. It is composed of two parts:
The Mishna, which is a rabbinic commentary on the Torah, and the
Gemara, a commentary on the Mishna. It exists in two versions: The more
important is the Babylonian Talmud, completed about 500 CE. The Palestinian
Talmud was completed circa 400 CE. | ||||||||
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Tanakh (a.k.a. TaNaK, Tenakh, Tenak, Tanach, & Mikra): The Jewish Bible, a.k.a. the Jewish Scriptures. The
word Tanakh is derived from the letters of the Hebrew names of its three
components: Torah (a.k.a. Pentateuch), the Books of Genesis,
Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy; the Nevi'im (a.k.a.
Prophets); and the Ketuvim (Writings). "Mikra" is a Hebrew word meaning "that which is read." | ||||||||
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Taoism: This religion of about 20
million followers was founded by Lao-Tse (604-531 BCE), a contemporary
of Confucius, and author of Tao-te-Ching. Taoism
started as a combination of psychology and philosophy but evolved into
a state religion in 440 CE At that time Lao-Tse became popularly
venerated as a deity. Taoism, along with Buddhism and Confucianism,
became the three great religions of China. Much of Taoism has been destroyed since the Communist victory in 1949; it survives mainly in
Taiwan. | ||||||||
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Tawheed: An Muslim word derived from the Arabic word "Wahhada"
which means to join, unite, or combine. In Islam the word refers to Allah
(God) and has many shades of meaning, including that God is without partner,
a unity, the sole creator and sustainer of the universe, without rival to
whom all worship must be directed. | ||||||||
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Tefillin (a.k.a. phylacteries): Small black leather boxes worn by
Orthodox Jewish males on their forehead and non-dominant arm at weekday
morning prayer. They contain passages from the Torah. | ||||||||
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Teleological: A system of morality in which
the proper choice among two or more options is based on their practical
consequences. Whichever choice has the best (or least worse) outcome is
the moral decision. Antonym is deontological. | ||||||||
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Temple: The term used by Buddhists, Hindus and others to refer to
their house of worship. The center for Jewish worship prior to 70 CE was the
Temple in Jerusalem. Recently, many Jews use "temple" to refer to the
synagogue. | ||||||||
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Ten Commandments: A
set of about 19 different commands and prohibitions which are intended
to govern basic human behavior. Three versions appear in the Hebrew
Scriptures (Old Testament) at: Exodus 20:2-17, Exodus 34:12-26, and
Deuteronomy 5:6-21. | ||||||||
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Tenet: an opinion, principle, dogma, belief, or doctrine that is
accepted as true, generally by a faith group. | ||||||||
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Territorial Spirits: Many aboriginal religions, and some
Evangelical, Pentecostal and Charismatic Christian groups, teach that
supernatural forces are associated with a town, city, state, country or
other geographic region. Christian groups who believe in these spirits often
teach that believers have to aggressively engage in spiritual warfare to
defeat these spirits before Christian evangelism can proceed in the area
ruled by the spirit. | ||||||||
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Terrorism: The use of extreme violence or the threat of
violence by states, groups or individuals to generate fear in individuals
and thus manipulate their behavior. Currently, most terrorism is either drug or
religion based. Some define the term widely to include topics like
spanking of children or the teaching of an
eternity of torture in Hell as forms of
physical or spiritual terrorism. | ||||||||
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Teshuvot: A Jewish legal opinion. | ||||||||
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Tetragram, Tetragrammaton: (From the Greek "tetra" (four) and
"gramma" (letter). It consists of four Hebrew letters: Yod, He, Waw and
He, transliterated as YHWH, JHVH or JHWH -- the name of God in the Hebrew
language. Often translated as "Lord" or mistranslated as "Jehovah" in
English versions of the
Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament). It could never have pronounced as "Jehovah."
"Yahweh" is
probably a more accurate vocalization. Historically, within Judaism, the
name of God was neither spoken nor written. 1 | ||||||||
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Textual criticism: A study of biblical text, attempting to
identify the words of the original autograph copy and eliminate later
forgeries, spelling errors, etc. | ||||||||
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Textualism: the belief that a biblical passage's ordinary meaning
should govern its interpretation, rather than study of the intent of the
author, the culture at the time the passage was written, etc. The term is often used in the courts as a synonym for originalism. | ||||||||
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Theist: A person who believes in the existence of a personal God who is active in the universe. Sometimes used to include persons who believe in the existence of multiple deities, but who worship only one. Sometimes, a prefix is used to restrict the meaning to one specific belief system. Examples are:
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Theistic Evolution: The belief
that new species of animals develop from existing species over a very
long interval of time, in response to the guidance, supervision, control, and
intervention of a deity. | ||||||||
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Theocracy: From the Greek words: "Theos" (God) and "cratein"
(to rule). A government in which the church and state are
unified. Such a union is generally has disastrous effects on human rights,
particularly for women, persons with a minority sexual orientation, persons with a minority gender identity, and various other minorities.
This form of government is common among Muslim countries. | ||||||||
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Theodicy: From the Greek words "Theos" (God) and "dike" (justice). It refers to the attempts to harmonize the goodness of God with the existence of evil in the world. Bart D. Ehrman, in the introducion to his book: " God's Problem" defines the term as:
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Theological anthropology: The study of humanity from the standpoint
of people's relationships with God. | ||||||||
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Theology: From the Greek words meaning "study of deity." The study of religion. | ||||||||
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Theology of displacement: A synonym for "supercessionism:" the concept that Christianity replaced Judaism because God
unilaterally abrogated his Old Testament covenant with the Jewish people. | ||||||||
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Theophagy: The practice of eating the body of a god. This procedure
has ancient roots. It is performed symbolically in most Protestant communion
services. However, Roman Catholics believe that both the wine and wafer
consumed during Mass are the "real presence" of the body, blood, soul and
divinity of Jesus. | ||||||||
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Theophany: "Theophany" means "to make known" or "to reveal."
It is usually used to refer to a direct communication from God to one or
more humans. Eastern Orthodox Christians observe a holy day by this name; it
recalls the baptism of Yeshua of Nazareth, allegedly on JAN-06 according to
the Julian Calendar. Eastern
Christians believe that Jesus' divinity was reveled at his baptism. The Western church celebrates the Epiphany
on JAN-06. | ||||||||
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Theosis: (a.k.a. deification, divinization, participation in God) The concept that Christians can become participants in the life of
God, while not sharing in God's essence. The precise definition varies among Christian denominations and theologians. This is based, in part, on
2 Peter 1:4: "Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature..."
2 | ||||||||
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Therapeutic Touch: A holistic health
practice in which the practitioner moves their hands above the patients
body, and balances or release the natural energy of the latter's body. This
is said to facilitating healing. A high school student once conducted a series
of experiments for a science project, that proved that therapists cannot
measure body energy fields. This appears to destroy the credibility of
this therapeutic technique. | ||||||||
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Therevada: A Buddhist term in Sanskrit that means the school or way
of the elders. It recognizes the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold
Path. Because it emphasizes personal liberation over collective liberation,
it is sometimes referred to as the Hinayana or "Lesser Vehicle" school of
Buddhism -- a derogatory term. It is found in Sri Lanka and throughout Southern
Asia. |
See the following lists for words beginning with Ti to Tra and Tri to Tz
References used:
The following information source was used to prepare and update the above essay. The hyperlink is not necessarily still active today.
- "The Meaning of the Tetragrammaton," at: http://www.eliyah.com/tetragrm.html
- R.V. Rakestraw, "Becoming like God: An Evangelical Doctrine of Theosis," at: http://www.bethel.edu/
Copyright © 1996 to 2018 by Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Originally placed online on: 1996-MAR-11
Latest update: 2018-MAY-03
Author: B.A. Robinson
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