Alms: Money, clothes, food, and other things given to poor people (Merriam-Webster, 2014)
Baptism: An act, experience, or ordeal by which one is purified, sanctified, or initiated (Merriam-Webster, 2014)
Deity: A god or goddess (Merriam-Webster, 2014)
Eucharist: A Christian sacrament in which consecrated bread and wine are consumed as memorials of Jesus Christ’s death (Merriam-Webster, 2014)
Karma: The force created by a person’s actions that is believed in Hinduism and Buddhism to determine what that person’s next life will be like (Merriam-Webster, 2014)
Monotheism: Belief that there is one God (Merriam-Webster, 2014)
Polytheism: Belief that there is more than one God (Merriam-Webster, 2014)
Reincarnation: A rebirth of a soul in a new human body (Merriam-Webster, 2014)
Religion:
- An organized system of beliefs, ceremonies, and rules used to worship a god or a group of gods (Merriam-Webster, 2014).
- Usually assumed to be organized, traditional, and communal (Ammerman, 2013)
- Objective, external, ritual, and organizational in nature. Generally takes place in group setting and guides an individual’s behavior (Hyman & Handal, 2006).
Sacrament: A Christian rite that is believed to have been established by Jesus Christ (Merriam-Webster, 2014)
Sacred: Worthy of religious worship, very holy (Merriam-Webster, 2014)
Salvation: The deliverance from the power and effects of sin (Merriam-Webster, 2014)
Spirituality:
- An internal, subjective, and divine experience or relationship with a higher power (Hyman & Handal, 2006).
- Spirituality has also been defined as an individual’s internal orientation toward a transcendent reality that binds all things into a unitive harmony (Dy-Liacco, Piedmont, Murray-Swank, Rodgerson, & Sherman, 2009).
- Usually assumed to individualized and improvised (Ammerman, 2013)
Theology: The study of religious faith, practice, and experience
Transcendent:Extending beyond the limits of ordinary experience
Worship: An act of expressing reverence for a divine being or supernatural power