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Tabernacle:
From the Latin word "tabernaculum"
which means a tent.
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A
tent in which the Jews carried the Ark of
the Covenant during the Exodus. |
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A
Mormon temple. |
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An
early Methodist chapel. |
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A
locked box on a Roman Catholic altar where
the Host is stored. |
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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): The Jewish Bible, a.k.a. the
Jewish Scriptures. The word Tanakh is derived
from the letters of the names of its three components:
Torah (a.k.a. Pentateuch), the Books of
Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronony;
the Nevi'im (a.k.a. Prophets); and the
Ketuvim (Writings). |
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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 was 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
head 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 Evangeical, 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. |
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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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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. |
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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, 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 and various
minorities. This form of government is common
among Muslim countries. |
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Theodicy:
From the Greek words "Theos"
(God) and "dike" (justice). Attempts
to harmonize the goodness of God with the existence
of evil in the world. |
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Theological
anthropology: The study of humanity from the
standpoint of our relationship 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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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-6
according to the Julian Calendar. Eastern
Christians believe that Jesus' divinity was reveled
at his baptism. The Western church celebrates
the Epiphany on JAN-6. |
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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 balance
or release the natural energy of the latter's
body. This is said to facilitating healing. A
high school student 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. |
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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. Conservative
Christians often believe that it involves the
belief:
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That
all religions are the same, and/or |
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That
all religions are equally true, and/or |
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That
all religions are simply different paths
to God. |
Others define religioustolerance
as:
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Valuing
the human right of other people to freely
hold religious beliefs which are different
from your own, without oppression or persecution. 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:
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 annihilationism
(a.k.a. conditionalism and conditional immortality)
which teach that these individuals spend only
an interval of time being tortured in Hell; they
are then exterminated and cease to exist. |
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Tradionalism:
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 sinful actions
of one person can be ethically transferred to
an innocent person. This is one of the foundational
themes taught in the Bible, but one that is rarely
acknowledged today. A logical corollary of the
transferability of sin is that the innocent person
can then be punished for the sins of the guilty.
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
gender identity, outward appearance, expression
and/or anatomy does not fit into conventional
expectations of male or female." |
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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."
4 |
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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 bad balance of Karma,
they may return as an animal. This term is often
confused with Reincarnation.
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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 own gender. |
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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
of Jesus. |
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Tribulation:
A period of seven years of great misery and death,
which is described in Revelation 14:9-16. |
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Trichotomy:
The belief that a person is composed of three
parts: body, soul and spirit. |
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Trickster:
Within Native American spirituality, a trickster
is a mythical hero who teaches culture, proper
behavior and provides sustenance to the tribe. |
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Tridentine:
Latin for "of Trent:" A Roman Catholic
term pertaining to the Council of Trent, 1545
to 1563 CE. |
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Trinity:
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The
Christian belief
that deity is simultaneously a unity and
is composed of three persons: Father, Son
and Holy Spirit. As the ancient Athanasian
Creed is worded, the Trinity is "one
God" and "three persons...
and yet they are not three Gods, but one
God." Extensive debate about the
nature of God and of Jesus occurred during
the early centuries of the Church until
this concept was forced on the church by
Constantine. |
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The
Hindu belief
that Brahman is simultaneously visualized
as a unity, and as a trinity composed of:
Brahma the Creator, Vishnu, (Krishna) the
Preserver, and Shiva the destroyer. |
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The
belief among many Neopagans
that the Goddess exists as a trinity, composed
of Maiden, Mother and Crone, representing
energy and sexuality, fertility and wisdom. |
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Trinity,
Economic: Christian concepts of how God has
revealed himself to humanity. |
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Trinity,
Ontological: Christian concepts of how the
three persons in the Trinity relate to each other. |
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Tritheism:
The belief in the existence of three deities.
This is one form of polytheism. A small minority
of Christians believe that God, Jesus and the
Holy Spirit are three different entities, or that
God and Jesus are separate and the Holy Spirit
is a type of force. |
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Two
Covenant theory: See dual
covenant theory |
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Two
Spirited: An North American Aboriginal term
that covers lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgendered
persons. |
