Glossary of key terms
Baptism – The initiation ceremony into the Christian faith. Different traditions do things slightly differently, but it always involves water and being baptised in the name of the Trinity. You can be any age.
Bishop – The ordained leader of a diocese – he or she may have assistant bishops known as suffragans.
Confirmation – A ceremony conducted by a Bishop at which those who were baptised when they were younger can now make their promises for themselves.
Conservative evangelical –
Creed – A statement of Christian faith that the congregation say together at the main Sunday service. There are several authorised creeds.
Deacon – There are three levels of ordained ministry in the Church of England – the first and foundational order is the deacon. Deacons often go on to be ordained priests but some recognise a calling to the distinctive diaconate and have a very particular ministry.
Diocese – The Church of England is divided into 42 dioceses, each led by its own bishop. The diocese is an ecclesiastical district defined by geographical area and is itself broken down into parishes.
Disciple – a follower of Jesus Christ. There were twelve named disciples but many others too. It comes from the root word, discipline. Christians today are also disciples.
Evangelical Christians –
Festival – Christian festivals are those periods or seasons of worship that come around each year to mark key moments or stories in Christian history. Two key festivals are Christmas and Easter but there are a number of others. They are occasions for worship, sometimes for celebration, but also for ‘passing on’ or learning about the faith.
Gehenna –
Gentiles – all those who are not of the Jewish faith. St Paul was known as the Apostle to the Gentiles
Gospels – the first four books of the New Testament (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John) each telling the story of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus but from different perspectives.
Holy Communion – one of the names given to the central act of worship in the vast majority of Christian traditions. The name given often tells you something about the tradition. The names are Holy Communion, the Eucharist, Mass or the Lord’s Supper.
Holy Spirit – the Holy Spirit is the third person of The Trinity with God the Father and God the Son. The Holy Spirit is often presented as feminine. The Holy Spirit came to the disciples that first Pentecost and is associated with fire and energy – it is the presence of God moving in the world.
Holy Week – the seven days between Palm Sunday and Easter Day, incorporating the last week of Jesus’ life, the Last Supper, his death and resurrection
Homily – a short sermon, perhaps one given at a funeral or wedding or during a weekday service.
Incarnation – this literally means to inhabit a body (carnal being to do with the body). In Christian theology it is the term given to the most important aspect of faith – the belief that Jesus Christ is God incarnate; God in human form who came to earth that first Christmas.
Intercessions – prayers that focus on the needs of others and of the world.
Language Game – a term used by Ludwig Wittgenstein to argue that human beings understand each other only by how they use language in communities. For example, we cannot know that other people see ‘green’ as we do because we cannot see through their eyes – but we can agree that we will mean the same thing when we use the word green – hence the language game.
Literalism – at its extreme it is the idea that when reading Scripture one can read without reference to metaphor, genre or historical context. An example would be reading Genesis and taking it to mean exactly what it says – that God made the world in six days. Non-literalists would argue that ‘days’ means ‘periods of time’, or that Genesis is written as a poem and poems are not written to be interpreted literally.
Liberation Theology – a Christian movement that began in Latin America in the 60s and 70s and which says that addressing issues of social justice is fundamental to the Gospel.
Liturgy – the formal shape given to communal worship including often, but not always, the Eucharist, prayers, singing, saying the Creed together. If you are given a booklet on coming into church it is this liturgy which will be in it for you to follow. Not all churches follow a formal liturgy.
Living in Love and Faith – the process of consultation still being undertaken by the Church of England to come to a prayerful and considered view on human relationships and sexuality in a way that can be reflected in its doctrine and liturgy, especially in relation to gay love and marriage.
Monotheism – the belief that God is One. Christianity is a monotheistic religion.
Old and New Testament – there are 66 books in the Bible; the first 39 are in the Old Testament and the next 27 are in the New Testament. From a Christian perspective the Old Testament tells the story from Creation up to the birth of Jesus; the New Testament tells the story of Jesus and the early Church, including the teachings of Paul and other key writers.
Omnibenevolent – God is all-good
Omnipotent – God is all-powerful
Omnipresent – God is present in all time and space
Omniscient – God is all-knowing
Orthodoxy – the acceptance and defence of traditional views on doctrine and belief. Doxy comes from the Greek word doxa meaning belief or opinion
Ontological – the branch of philosophy that relates to understanding claims about the nature of being and of our existence. A person with an ontological view of ordination believes something profound and irreversible happens to the candidate at the moment of the ordination/laying on of hands. Thus to them the priestly role is not just a ‘role’ but changes the person for ever.
Parable – a story using familiar ideas and images which help the listener to understand the deeper meaning the story-teller is trying to get across. Jesus used lots of parables – for example, the Good Samaritan which is possibly the most famous one.
Paradox – a truth which seems to exist in a contradiction or which seems contradictory but makes a much deeper sense. Christianity is full of such paradoxes and in this way it defeats human logic. An example would be that Jesus, God incarnate, came and lived a life of poverty or that he died a criminal’s death.
Parish – each diocese (see above) is made up of a number of smaller geographical parishes – each parish is (typically) under the care of a priest – known as the parish priest.
Priest – this is the second level of ordained ministry. Most deacons go on to be ordained priests – this gives them the authority to carry out a sacramental ministry which includes celebrating the Eucharist and blessing God’s people.
Psalms – a series of poems originally put to music within the Old Testament. Some but not all were written by King David of David and Goliath renown.
Sacrament – understood to mean making tangible the otherwise intangible presence and grace of God. Communion is considered a sacrament.
Suffragan Bishop – an assistant Bishop who helps to care for a diocese.
Theodicy – the study of seeking to understand and to explain how evil and suffering can exist in the world when we believe in a God who is all-powerful and all-loving.
Theology – the study of God and of the divine and the history of the divine in all its forms
Torah – the name given to the first five books of the Old Testament in Judaism. As a Jew, Jesus would have been very familiar with these books. Also called the Pentateuch.
Transubstantiation – the predominantly Catholic idea that during the prayer of Consecration the bread and wine become intrinsically the body and blood of Christ
Trinity – a fundamental part of all Christian doctrine. That God is three persons in one or, put more simply, that there are three aspects to God’s nature – God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
Ultimate questions –
Universalism – there are some variations on the precise meaning of this depending on views of what happens to the soul after death, but in essence it means that all people will find their way back to God.
