ONE HUNDRED FIFTY KEY TERMS IN THE STUDY OF RELIGION

 

The following is a list of major terms in the study of religion which are in varying degrees found in the philosophy of religion. It is helpful to distinguish three specific disciplines: (1) religious studies, (2) philosophical theology, and (3) philosophy of religion. First, the academic area of religious studies examines the rituals, sacred texts, and social functions of specific religious communities, such as Christianity, Islam, or Buddhism. Second, philosophical theology uses philosophical methods to examine claims within these specific religions, such as the Christian doctrine of the incarnation. Third, the philosophy of religion seeks to examine more general concepts and claims about religion using philosophical methods. For example, it evaluates arguments for God's existence, the coherence of divine attributes, and the rational status of religious belief. While in theory the philosophy of religion does not need to make reference to specific religions, it sometimes falls back on them as examples. The religious studies terms here are among the most important for this purpose in the philosophy of religion.

 

A. Belief in God (William Rowe's definitions)

• Theistic God: the concept of a being which is (1) purely spiritual, (2) all good, (3) all knowing, and (4) all powerful.

• Theism:

a) Narrow: belief in the existence of the theistic God.

b) Broad: Belief in the existence of some divine being other than the theistic God.

• Atheism:

a) Narrow: disbelief in theistic God.

b) Broad: disbelief the existence of any divine being whatever.

• Agnosticism

a) Narrow: neither belief nor disbelief in the existence of the theistic God.

b) Broad: neither belief nor disbelief in the existence of any divine being whatever.

• Naturalism: the view that only natural causes exist.

 

B. Knowledge and belief claims about the proposition "God Exists"

• Knowledge claims (epistemic)

◦ Epistemic‑strong: claims to know the proposition "God exists" is true or false.

◦ Epistemic‑modest: believes the proposition "God exists" but denies having knowledge.

◦ Epistemic‑suspensive: holds that the proposition "God exists" is unknowable in principle.

• Belief claims (doxastic)

◦ Doxastic‑positive: believes the proposition "God exists".

◦ Doxastic‑negative: disbelieves the proposition "God exists".

◦ Doxastic‑neutral: neither believes nor disbelieves the proposition "God Exists".

 

C. Types of Theism

• Monotheism: belief in one god, but not necessarily the theistic God.

• Polytheism: belief in a multiplicity of gods.

• Deism: monotheistic belief in a god who set the universe in motion and thereafter left it alone.

• Henotheism: polytheistic belief that each nation or country has its own god.

• Theological Dualism: polytheistic belief in two conflicting deities, one good and the other evil.

• Theological Monism: all reality is ultimately one religious substance or principle.

• Polytheistic Monism: belief in many gods understood as manifestations or aspects of one ultimate divine reality.

• Pantheism: theologically monistic belief that God is identical with nature as a whole.

• Panentheism: theologically monistic belief that God includes the world but also transcends it.

 

D. Divine Attributes

• Transcendence: God is beyond the world.

• Immanence: God is present within the world.

• Omnipotence: God is all powerful.

• Omniscience: God is all knowing.

• Omnibenevolence: God is all good.

• Omnipresent: God is everywhere.

• Aseity: God exists from himself and depends on nothing else.

• Eternity: God has no beginning or end.

• Simplicity: God has no parts; God's attributes are unified.

• Immutability: God does not change.

• Impassibility: God is not subject to suffering or emotional fluctuation.

• Incorporeality: God is not a physical being.

• Personhood: God possesses personal characteristics such as intellect, will, and the capacity to communicate with humans.

• Omniprovidence: God governs or sustains the world.

• Omnitemporality: God exists at all times (as opposed to timelessness).

• Timelessness: God exists outside time.

 

E. Revelation

• Special revelation: divine revelation to humans which is (a) specific in content, and (b) for a specific audience (such as the Bible or the Koran).

• General Revelation: divine revelation to humans which is (a) general in content, and (b) for a general audience.

• Theology: the human attempt to understand revelation.

• Dogmatic Theology: the human attempt to understand special revelation.

• Natural theology: the human attempt to understand general revelation.

• Miracle: a divinely caused event that violates laws of nature.

• Inspiration: divine influence on the writing of scripture.

• Illumination: divine aid in understanding revelation.

• Prophecy: divine message delivered through a human agent.

• Divination: practices aimed at discerning divine will or knowledge through signs, omens, or ritual techniques.

• Canon: the authoritative set of sacred texts.

• Hermeneutics: principles for interpreting scripture.

• Exegesis: critical interpretation of a biblical text.

 

F. Approaches to Religious Belief

• Religious experience: direct or indirect awareness of the divine.

• Mysticism: experiencing a union with divine nature through ecstatic contemplation.

• Faith: trust or commitment beyond evidence.

• Fideism: theistic belief solely on the grounds of faith.

• Rationalism: theistic belief from rational grounds.

• Traditionary belief: belief inherited from parents, culture, or community without personal evaluation.

• Testimonial belief: belief based on the testimony of trusted authorities (scripture, clergy, teachers).

• Pragmatic belief: belief adopted because it is practically beneficial (Jamesian approach).

• Existential belief: belief arising from personal needs for meaning, purpose, or moral grounding.

• Voluntarist belief: belief chosen as an act of will rather than evidence.

 

G. Philosophy of Religion Issues and Concepts

• Philosophy of Religion: critical study of religious concepts and beliefs.

• Divine Attributes: analysis of God's nature and properties.

• Faith vs. Reason: the relation between trust and evidence.

• Arguments for God's Existence: philosophical proofs for a divine being.

• Arguments against God's Existence: philosophical objections to theism.

• Problem of Evil: conflict between evil and an all‑good, all‑powerful God.

• Religious Pluralism: how multiple religions relate to truth.

• Religious Language: meaning and interpretation of God‑talk.

• Divine Hiddenness: why God is not more evident.

• Miracles: possibility and credibility of supernatural events.

• Free Will and Divine Foreknowledge: compatibility of freedom and omniscience.

• Religious Epistemology: justification of religious belief.

• Religious Experience: evidential value of encounters with the divine.

• Revelation: nature and authority of divine communication.

• Science and Religion: relationship between scientific and religious explanations.

• Afterlife: philosophical issues about survival after death.

• Psychological explanations of religion: religion explained through human psychology or social structures.

 

H. Indigenous Religious Concepts

• Indigenous religion: local, orally transmitted traditions tied to a specific people and land, centered on relationships with ancestors, spirits, and the natural world.

• Animism: the belief that the world is filled with persons, only some of whom are human; mountains, rivers, animals, or objects may have agency, intention, or spirit.

• Spirit beings: non‑human persons (ancestors, nature spirits, local deities) who interact with humans and the environment.

• Nature spirits: spirits associated with features of the natural world (forests, rivers, animals, weather).

• Ancestral spirits: deceased family or clan members who continue to influence the living.

• Shamanism: a religious practice in which a specialist mediates between the human world and the spirit world through trance, ritual, or spirit‑journeys.

• Totemism: belief that a group has a special spiritual relationship with a particular animal, plant, or natural object.

• Mana: an impersonal spiritual force or power that can inhabit people, objects, or places.

• Taboo: a spiritually charged prohibition whose violation brings danger or impurity.

 

I. Judeo‑Christian Religious Studies Terms

• Trinity: doctrine that God is one essence in three persons.

• Theophany: visible manifestation of God.

• Torah: foundational Jewish law and teaching.

• Pentateuch: first five books of the Hebrew Bible.

• Septuagint: ancient Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures.

• Covenant: binding relationship between God and a people.

• Messiah: anointed figure expected to bring deliverance.

• Imago Dei: the belief that humans are created in God's image.

• Sin: moral wrongdoing or estrangement from God.

• Original sin: inherited human tendency toward sin.

• Incarnation: belief that God became human in Jesus.

• Christology: study of the person and nature of Christ.

• Atonement: theories explaining how Christ's death reconciles humanity to God.

• Soteriology: study of salvation and how it is achieved.

• Grace: unearned divine favor or assistance.

• Justification: how a person is made right with God.

• Sanctification: the process of becoming holy or spiritually mature.

• Pneumatology: study of the Holy Spirit.

• Ecclesiology: study of the church.

• Liturgy: structured public worship.

• Sacrament: ritual act understood as conveying divine grace.

• Synoptic Gospels: Matthew, Mark, and Luke, which share common structure.

• Apocalyptic literature: symbolic writings about cosmic conflict and divine intervention.

• Parousia: the anticipated second coming of Christ.

• Eschatology: study of the end times, final judgment, and ultimate destiny.

 

J. Islamic Philosophical and Theological Terms

• Allah: the Arabic proper name for the one, absolute, and indivisible God.

• Tawhid: the doctrine of the absolute oneness and uniqueness of God, forming the core of Islamic theology.

• Shirk: the sin of idolatry or assigning partners to God, which is the ultimate theological error.

• Qur'an: the foundational sacred text, believed to be the literal, uncorrupted word of God revealed to Muhammad.

• Hadith: recorded traditions of the sayings and actions of Muhammad, serving as a secondary source of law and theology.

• Kalam: speculative Islamic theology that utilizes dialectical reasoning to defend religious dogmas.

• Falsafa: Islamic philosophy, heavily influenced by Aristotelian and Neoplatonic thought.

• Sharia: the divine law governing religious, moral, and social duties derived from the Qur'an and Hadith.

• Sufism: the mystical, contemplative dimension of Islam focused on the direct, internal experience of the divine.

• Fitrah: the innate human disposition or natural tendency to believe in and seek the divine.

 

K. Hindu Philosophical and Theological Terms

• Brahman: the ultimate, unchanging, and absolute metaphysical reality that underlies all existence.

• Atman: the true, immortal self or individual soul, distinct from the physical body and ego.

• Maya: the cosmic illusion or creative power that conceals the true nature of reality, causing individuals to perceive duality.

• Karma: the moral law of cause and effect, wherein every action produces an equivalent cosmic reaction.

• Samsara: the continuous, painful cycle of birth, death, and rebirth driven by karma and ignorance.

• Moksha: liberation from the cycle of samsara, achieved through spiritual realization and the cessation of ego.

• Dharma: the cosmic, moral, and social order, including individual duties and ethical righteousness.

• Advaita Vedanta: a non-dualistic school of philosophy teaching that Atman and Brahman are ultimately identical.

• Ishvara: the concept of a personal supreme lord or deity, used to conceptualize Brahman with attributes.

• Avatar: the earthly incarnation or descent of a deity, usually Vishnu, to restore cosmic order.

 

L. Buddhist Philosophical and Theological Terms

• Anatta (Anatman): the doctrine of non-self; the view that there is no permanent, unchanging soul or essence in individuals.

• Anicca: the principle of impermanence; the metaphysical view that all conditioned things are in a constant state of flux.

• Dukkha: the fundamental condition of suffering, unsatisfactoriness, or friction inherent in samsaric existence.

• Nirvana: the ultimate goal of Buddhist practice, characterized by the cessation of desire, suffering, and the cycle of rebirth.

• Sunyata: the doctrine of emptiness; the view that all things are devoid of independent, intrinsic existence and are interdependent.

• Arhat: a perfected person who has attained individual nirvana and is liberated from rebirth.

• Bodhisattva: an enlightened being who postpones their own final nirvana out of compassion to help liberate all other sentient beings.

• Skandhas: the five aggregates (form, sensation, perception, mental formations, consciousness) that falsely give rise to the illusion of a permanent self.

• The Middle Way: the philosophical path of moderation between extreme asceticism and sensory indulgence, avoiding eternalist and nihilist views.

• Zen (Chan): a school of Mahayana Buddhism that emphasizes direct insight through meditation and experiential realization over scriptural study.