Glossary of religious and spiritual terms
Words and phrases
starting with the letters "Ti" to "Tra"
See the preceeding list for words beginning with Ta to Th
and the following list for words beginning with Tri to Tz
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Tikkun olam: A Jewish term usually translated as "repairing
the world." First used by Isaac Luria, a Cabbalist from the 16th
century. It describes the obligation of a Jews to do good works, promoting
peace, understanding, and help for the hungry, homeless and oppressed.
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Tithe: The practice of donating 10% of one's income to the church. "Triple
Tithing" is also used; it consists of 13% of one's income, donated according to a
specified schedule.
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Tolerance, General: The willingness to grant to other people
equal rights and freedom from persecution and oppression, irrespective
of their gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, language,
nationality, language, ability status, marital status, etc.
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Tolerance, Religious: This very important term
unfortunately has multiple, very different, meanings.
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Conservative Christians often believe that it involves the belief:
- That all religions are the same, and/or
- That all religions are equally true, and/or
- That all religions are simply different paths to God.
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Others define religious tolerance as:
- Valuing the human right of other people to freely hold religious
beliefs which are different from your own, without oppression or
persecution, and the right to change their religion at any time. This is the meaning that we use in this web
site.
With such different definitions for the same term, dialog between
conservative Christians and others on this topic is almost impossible.
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Tongues, speaking in: See glossolilia.
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Torah: From the Hebrew word for
"teaching" or "law." The Torah,
(a.k.a. Pentateuch, or the Law) are the first 5 books of the Hebrew
Scriptures (Old Testament): Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and
Deuteronomy. Most conservative Christians and Jews believe that they were written
mainly or entirely by Moses. There is a near consensus among other
theologians that they were written and edited by many
persons or groups of persons over a period of many centuries.
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Total inability: Alternative description of the first
of the The Five Points of
Calvinism: the belief that it is
impossible for the ordinary "natural" human to understand the Gospel's
message. They are spiritually helpless. First, God must first decide to
intervene in the form of the third personality within the Trinity, the
Holy Spirit. Otherwise, the person is lost.
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Total depravity: This is the first
of the The Five Points of
Calvinism: the belief that as a result of
Adam and Eve's disobedience to God -- the Fall of Man -- sin has extended
to all parts of every person's being: "his thinking, his emotions and
his will."
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Touch for health: See Therapeutic Touch.
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Touch therapy: See Therapeutic Touch.
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Tractarianism: Synonym for Anglo
Catholicism.
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Tradition: a term used by Neopagans to indicate the group that
is being referred to. It is analogous to "denomination" in Christianity.
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Traditional marriage: The union of one man and one women to the
exclusion of all others, freely entered into. Most of the
eight family and marriage types mentioned in the
Bible do not represent natural marriage. The term is typically used by
individuals and groups opposed to same-sex marriage
who wish to keep marriage as a special privilege offered only to
opposite-sex couples.
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Traditionalism: In a religious sense:
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The belief that, after death, unsaved people
will be tormented for all eternity of time in Hell
without hope of mercy or relief. This contrasts with:
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Annihilationism
(a.k.a. conditionalism and conditional immortality) which teaches that these individuals spend only an
interval of time being tortured in Hell; they are then exterminated
and cease to exist, and
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Universalism which teaches that all will be saved and attain Heaven.
- The belief that one is unable to learn fundamental metaphysical, moral or religious truths through the use of reason. It is must be an act of faith based on revelation.
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Traditionalism: the concept that deity is remote from the world and the rest of
the universe.
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Transcendence: Being beyond the limits of all human experience
and knowledge.
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Transference of the Holy Spirit: The concept that a person can transfer or impart a
blessing to another person, often by physical contact, as in the laying on
of hands. In some Christian denominations, it is believed that one Christian
can transfer either demons or the Holy Spirit to another person by the
laying on of hands.
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Transferability of sin: A
concept, supported by numerous biblical examples, in which the responsibility
and punishment for sinful
actions of one person can be ethically transferred to an innocent person. This
is one of the foundational themes taught throughout the Bible, but one that is
rarely acknowledged today. A
logical corollary of the transferability of sin is that the innocent person can be punished for the
behavior that they did not commit. This concept, considered immoral by all world religions,
naturally leads to the idea of collective responsibility.
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Transfiguration:
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In Christianity, this refers to the transfiguration of Jesus as
described in three of the gospels: Mark
9:2-13, Matthew
17:1-13, and Luke
9:28-36. Jesus climbed Mount Tabor with three of his
disciples, and was joined by Moses and Elija. All three appeared
clothed in dazzling white. Luke records how God's voice came from
the cloud, saying "This is my chosen Son; listen to him."
1
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In the Harry Potter series of books for
children, transfiguration refers to the use of magic to change the
appearance of an object - e.g. from a toothpick to a needle.
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Transgender: An individual whose
feelings of gender identity do not match the gender that they were assigned at birth. Some
feel that they are female trapped in a male body, or vice-versa. Therapy has
had little or no success in trying to harmonize the persons perceived and biological
genders.
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Transhumanism: This is not a religious or ethical term. We have
included it only because some people might confuse it with
Humanism. Transhumanism is "...an international
intellectual and cultural movement supporting the use of new sciences and
technologies to enhance human mental and physical abilities. They hope to
eventually eliminate disease, aging and death." 2 Potential technologies include virtual reality, gene therapy, space colonization, autonomous robotics, molecular manufacturing, etc.
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Transmigration of the Soul: The Hindu belief that at death, a person's soul is reborn
into another living entity. Often, this is a new human. But if the
individual has accumulated a negative balance of Karma,
they may return as an animal. This term is often confused with
Reincarnation.
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Transphobia: Any attitude, action or
institutional structure which systematically treats an individual or group
of individuals differently because of their gender
identity or their perceived gender identity. See also colorism, homophobia, racism, religism, sexism, shadeism, and transphobia for other forms of bigotry. The most common forms of transphobia in
North America is discrimination against transgender persons and transsexuals in
employment, accommodation, ordination, church membership, and church leadership. A secondary meaning of transphobia is fear or loathing of persons with a
specific gender identity.
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Transsexual: An individual who is severely distressed by a
conflict between their assigned birth gender, and their personal feelings of
their actual gender. There is no standardized definition of "transsexual;"
however it is often used to refer to a transgender persons who is planning
or has gone through gender reassignment surgery and hormone treatment.
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Transubstantiation: The belief, held by Roman Catholics, that
during the Lord's Supper, the Holy Spirit transforms the wafer and wine into the actual body
and blood -- and sometimes the soul and divinity -- of Jesus without changing the wafer's color, shape, size, texture, or any other physical property.
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See the preceeding list for words beginning with Ta to Th
and the following list for words beginning with Tri to Tz
References used: The following information sources were used to prepare and update the above
essay. The hyperlinks are not necessarily still active today.
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"Transfiguration," at: http://www.nd.edu/
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"Transhumanism," Wikipedia, at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/
Copyright © 1996 to 2016by Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Originally published on: 1996-MAR-11
Last update: 2016-DEC-26
Author: B.A. Robinson 
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