Glossary of religious and spiritual terms
(Starting with "W")
By
Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance,
Toronto, Canada
http://www.religioustolerance.org/glossary.htm
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Walpurgasnacht:
A synonym for Beltane, a Celtic holy day celebrated
on APR-30. |
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Waldenses:
An early schismatic group that broke away from
the Roman Catholic church. Their history is in
doubt; they may have existed as early as the eight
century CE. They were viciously
persecuted by the Roman Catholic Church from 1209
until 1690. They held many of the beliefs later
promoted by Martin Luther and other Protestant
reformers. |
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Warlock:
An old-English term for oath breaker. Conservative
Christians and the media often refer to male Witches/Wiccans
as Warlocks. The term is not used by Witches,
Wiccans or other Neopagans. |
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Watchtower
Bible and Tract Society: The organization
founded by Charles Taze Russell which publishes
the Watchtower and Awake! magazines,
and whose followers are called Jehovah's Witnesses
-- a high-demand Protestant Christian denomination. |
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Westminster
Standards: The Westminster Confession of
Faith, the Larger Catechism, and the
Shorter Catechisms were written by the
Westminster Assembly of Divines from 1643
to 1648. They form the theological basis for the
Presbyterian and, with some changes, the Congregational
denominations. The Baptist Confession of
1689 was largely based on the Westminster standards. |
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Wicca:
a Neo-pagan
polytheistic religion with roots in pre-Christian,
pre-Celtic Europe. Wiccans follow the Wiccan
Rede: "do whatever you wish, as long
as you harm nobody, including yourself".
Power, manipulation and control of others strictly
prohibited. Their drug usage usually confined
to wine. Rare ritual sexual activity is practiced,
but only in private between a committed adult
couple. Wiccans do not proselytize. Most Wiccans
are solitary practitioners; some form democratically
organized covens, typically of 5 or more people.
The minimum age for training or initiation is
usually 18. Conservative usage: evil occultic
practice based on a lust for power, manipulation
and control. Rigid ritual practice; heavy illegal
drug usage and sexual activity; organize into
covens of 13 members each; practice shape shifting
(human to animal). Active recruiters, particularly
of young people. |
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Wiccan:
a follower of Wicca |
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Widdershins:
The counter-clockwise direction. The term is often
used in describing Neopagan rituals. |
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Will:
One of the basic functions of the human soul;
the other is understanding. |
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Witch:
a follower of Witchcraft.
It has so many conflicting meanings that it should
be used with great care (or perhaps never at all)
in public, in order to avoid confusion. 18 common
meanings are:
- A Gothic Satanist; a worshiper
of Satan who, during the late Middle Ages
and Renaissance, was believed to use black
magic to harm others, by involving the aid
of Satan and his demons. They didn't exist
then and don't exist now.
- A Wiccan; a follower of Wicca,
a recently created, benign, Neopagan religion
which is largely based on the some of the
symbols, deities, seasonal days of celebration
of an ancient European Celtic religion. Wiccans
are prohibited from using magic to harm others;
they do not believe in the existence of Satan
or demons.
- A woman of such incredible
beauty that she bewitches others.
- A woman of incredible ugliness;
a hag.
- A person who practices benign
Magick to influence the world through rituals.
- A magician with unusual knowledge
who can apparently perform miracles during
ceremonial magic rituals.
- In ancient Native American
usage and the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament):
an evil person who secretly uses evil sorcery
(black magic) to intentionally harm others.
- In the Christian Scriptures
(New Testament): a criminal who murders people
by administering poisons.
- A follower of modern-day
Religious Satanism.
They recognizing Satan as a virile pre-Christian,
pagan principle, but do not believe in his
existence as a living entity.
- A member of an underground,
evil religious group who worship Satan who
engage in ritual abuse,
murder and sometimes cannibalism -- largely
involving children. During the 1980s and
early 1990s, many North Americans believed
that this group exists; some still do, although
hard evidence is lacking.
- A wizard who inhabits an
alternative world of fantasy and magic, filled
with good and evil people with magical powers,
flying broomsticks, invisibility cloaks, dragons,
talking animals, magical quills, etc. e.g.
Harry Potter™
books.
- A person, usually a woman,
who was born with supernatural abilities and
is capable of performing miracles by waving
a wand, wiggling their nose, etc. This
is often seen in TV programs, like Bewitched
or Charmed. They don't exist either.
- Followers of a group of Caribbean
religions which combine elements of tribal
African religions with Christianity; e.g.
Santeria and Vodun.
- In some African Aboriginal
religions, a person who unknowingly has supernatural
powers capable of hurting others. Witch
doctors attempt to counteract these evil
energies.
- An expert, as in: "She
is a witch of a writer."
- A person who uses a forked
stick or other instrument to locate sources
of underground material -- typically water.
- A woman who is not submissive
to her husband.
- A general "snarl"
word for a nasty, vicious person, typically
female.
- A follower of any religion
other than Christianity (e.g. of Buddhism,
Islam, Hinduism, Native American Spirituality,
etc.).
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Note: The first and
second definitions are mutually exclusive; the third
and fourth definitions are also mutually exclusive.
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Witchcraft:
a religion or practice
followed by a Witch. It has so many meanings that
it should be used with great care (or perhaps
never at all) in order to avoid confusion. |
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Womanism,
Womanist: "Womanist and womanism are
populist and poetic synonyms for black feminist
and black feminism." 4,5 |
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Womym:
A synonym, often used by feminists, for the
word "woman," . "Woman" comes
from the Old English term "wif-man."
Womym was coined recently. |
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Word:
In common usage, a unit of language that can
be combined with other words to create phrases
and sentences. In Christianity, the Bible is frequently
referred to as "God's word." Yeshua
of Nazareth (Jesus Christ), the second person
of the Trinity, is often referred to as the Word,
as in John 1:1. |
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Word
of Faith movement: (a.k.a. Health & Wealth
Gospel, Positive Confession, Name it and Claim
it, and Faith-formula). A group of conservative
Protestant para-church ministries that 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.
3 |
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Word
of God: An expression used primarily by conservative
Protestants to refer to the text of the Holy Bible.
It assumes that God inspired the authors of the
Bible to write either inerrant
text (free of errors) and/or infallible
text (fully trustworthy. i.e. it does not
deceive the reader into falsehood.) |
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Word
of Knowledge: A belief or instruction that
a Christian believes comes directly from the Holy
Spirit. This is found almost exclusively among
Charismatic and Pentecostal Christians. |
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Word
of Wisdom: A code of health that Mormons beileve
was given by God to their founder, Joseph Smith
on 1833-FEB-27. |
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World
Council of Churches: An umbrella group formed
in 1948. They promote inter-faith dialog and ecumenical
cooperation among mainline and liberal Christian
denominations. |
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World
view (a.k.a. worldview): "...a
set of presuppositions (assumptions which may
be true, partially true or entirely false) which
we hold (consciously or subconsciously, consistently
or inconsistently) about the basic make-up of
our world." 1 See also
biblical worldview |
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Worship:
In a religious sense, the act of expressing
reverence to a deity or supernatural entity. |
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Wrath,
God's: God's judgment on sinners, fueled by
his anger, hatred, revulsion and indignation of
sin. In the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament)
there are many descriptions of mass
murders and genocides either created or ordered
by God. Author Martyn Lloyd-Jones found that the
Hebrew Scriptures contains 20 words which describe
God's wrath, and that they are used 580 times.
In the Christian Scriptures (New Testament) the
topic is discussed in detail in Romans 1:18 and
in the Book of Revelation. Author Cairns comments:
"...the full power of the wrath of God
has never yet been manifested on earth - not in
the deluge, or in the destruction of Sodom, or
in any other judgment. The full fury of God's
anger will be seen when 'the great day of his
wrath is come' and the ungodly feel the indescribable
torment of 'the wrath of the Lamb' Revelation
6:16-17." 2 Martin
Luther felt that the wrath of God, as described
in Revelation, was incompatible with the loving
God that Jesus referred to as "Abba"
during his prayers. When Luther translated the
Bible into German, he downgraded Revelation, by
placing it in an appendix. |
References:
- James Sire, "The Universe Next Door: A basic worldview catalog" Intervarsity Press, (3rd edition, 1997)
He discusses, from a conservative Christian viewpoint, such worldviews as theism, deism, naturalism,
nihilism, Marxism, postmodernism and the New Age.
Read reviews or order this book safely from Amazon.com online book store
- Alan Cairns, "Dictionary of Theological Terms," Ambassador-Emerald
Int., (1998), Page 446 & 447.
- "A critical look at the 'Word of Faith' ministries," Ministry
Watch Reflections, 2003-OCT, at:
http://www.ministrywatch.com/ This is a PDF
file.
- From Alice Walker, "In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens: Womanist Prose,"
(1983).
- Amy Richards, "What is Feminism," at:
http://www.ou.edu/
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