| 1.AGNOSTIC |
a thinker who disclaims any
knowledge of God. The agnostic does not deny God but denies
the possibility of knowing him. |
| 2.APOCALYPTIC |
pertaining to a revelation;
foretelling imminent disaster and total destruction. Apocalypse
refers to the last books of the New Testament. |
| 3.APOCRYPHAL |
of questionable authority and
authenticity; false or counterfeit. The Apocrypha includes
the 14 books of the Septuagint found in the Vulgate but
considered uncanonical by the Protestant because they are
not part of the Hebrew Scriptures. |
| 4.APOSTATE |
one who forsakes his faith
or principles |
| 5.APOTHEOSIS |
deification; an exalted or
glorified ideal. |
| 6.BENEDICTION |
a blessing, an invocation of
divine blessing, usually at the end of a religious service.
A newly married man is called a benedict, suggesting that
marriage brings to a bachelor many blessings. |
| 7.BLASPHEMY |
any irreverent or impious act
or utterance |
| 8.DEIST |
believer in the existence of
God as the creator of the universe who after setting it
in motion abandoned it, assumed no control over life, exerted
no influence on natural phenomenon, and gave no supernatural
revelation. Deism is a natural religion based on human reason
and morality. |
| 9.INFIDEL |
a person who does not believe
in any religion; among Christians or Muslims, one who does
not accept their particular beliefs. This word infidelity
denotes unfaithfulness to moral or martial obligations.
|
| 10.MANTRA |
a mystical formula of invocation
or incantation in Hinduism and Buddhism. The word comes
from mens, the Latin meaning mind and the
ancient Sanskrit word for scared counsel
or formula |
| 11.ONTOLOGY |
the branch of philosophy dealing
with the nature of being |
| 12.PANTHEISM |
the doctrine that the universe,
conceived of as a whole, is God. |
| 13.SACRILEGIOUS |
disrespectful or irreverent
toward anything regarded as sacred. The term is derived
from the Latin sacrilegium, “one who steals sacred things,”
which of course is one form of sacrilege. |
| 14.SYNCRETISM |
the attempt or tendency to
combine or reconcile differing beliefs, as in philosophy
or religion. It comes from the Greek syn (together) and
kret (Cretain) and refers to the uniting of Cretan cities
against a common enemy. |
| 15.THEODICY |
a vindication of divine justice
in the face of the existence of evil. Theodicee was the
title of a work by Leibnitz in 1710. The word combines the
Greek roots for god and judgment
|
