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Spirituality and Religion Glossary

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

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