| A | B |
|---|
| Monotheism | the belief that there is only one God, as found in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam |
| Polytheism | the worship of or belief in more than one deity, especially several deities |
| Henotheism | the worship of one god while acknowledging the existence of other gods |
| Pantheism | the belief that God and the material world are one and the same thing and that God is present in everything |
| Mesopotamia | The land between two rivers |
| Covenant | In Old Testament theology, compact between God and his worshipers. |
| Moses | Lead the Jews out of Egypt in an Exodus; received the 10 Commandments from God |
| Abraham | The father of Judaism; was willing to sacrifice his son to God |
| Genesis | The first book of the Jewish Bible and the Christian Old Testament and contains creation stories |
| Messiah | somebody regarded as a savior. In Christianity, Jesus Christ is regarded as the Messiah prophesied in the Hebrew Bible |
| Exile | unwilling absence from a home country or place of residence, whether enforced by a government or court as a punishment, or self-imposed for political or religious reasons |
| Zionism | a worldwide movement, originating in the 19th century, that sought to establish and develop a Jewish nation in Palestine. Since 1948 its function has been to support the state of Israel. |
| Anti-Semitism | policies, views, or actions that harm or discriminate against Jews |
| Shoah | Holocaust; usually used in ha-shoah, the Holocaust |
| Diaspora | the Jewish communities living outside either the present-day state of Israel or the ancient biblical kingdom of Israel |
| Samsara | in Hinduism, the endless cycle of birth, life, death, and rebirth |
| Moksha | in Hinduism, the spiritual goal of release from reincarnation |
| Brahma | in Hinduism, the god of knowledge and understanding, regarded as the protector of the world and in later tradition called the creator |
| Shiva | in Hinduism, an important deity, worshipped as the god of destruction |
| Avatar | in Hinduism, an important deity, worshipped as the god of destruction |
| Arjuna | a major character in the Mahabharata. Krishna, serving as his charioteer, explains Hindu doctrine to him. |
| Veda | Hindu sacred texts. Any or all of the collections of Aryan hymns, originally transmitted orally, but written down in sacred books from the 6th century bc |
| Aryans | somebody who spoke the hypothetical parent language of Indo-European languages |
| Caste | the Hindu system of organizing society into hereditary classes |
| Puja | in Hinduism, daily devotion, ceremonial worship |
| Yoga | a Hindu discipline that promotes spiritual unity with a supreme being through a system of postures and rituals |
| Sannyasin | Hindu Holy Man; in Hinduism, a Brahmin who has reached the fourth and final stage of life |
| Vishnu | in Hinduism, a god called the Preserver. His avatar was Krishna |
| Bhagavad Gita | One of the three holiest scriptures of Hinduism. The Bhagavad Gita is a part of the Mahabharata |
| Siddharta Gautauma | The birth name of the Buddah |
| Nirvana | in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism, the attainment of enlightenment and freeing of the spiritual self from attachment to worldly things, ending the cycle of birth and rebirt |
| Mahayana | the branch of Buddhism that includes Tibetan, Chinese, and Zen Buddhism, |
| Zen | a major school of Buddhism originating in 12th-century China that emphasizes enlightenment through meditation and insight |
| Dharma in Hinduism | somebody's duty to behave according to strict religious and social codes, or the righteousness earned by performing religious and social duties |
| Dharma in Buddhism | the truth about the way things are and will always be in the universe or in nature, especially when contained in scripture |
| Karma | in Hindu and Buddhist philosophy, the quality of somebody's current and future lives as determined by that person's behavior in this and in previous lives |
| Atonement | the making of reparation for a sin or a mistake |
| Christ | according to the Bible, a savior who will come to deliver God's chosen people |
| Pope | The leader of the Roman Catholic Church |
| Ekklesia | The Roman Catholic Church |
| Episkopos | A bishop |
| Calvinism | the religious doctrine of John Calvin, which maintains that salvation comes through faith in God, and also that God has already chosen those who will believe and be saved |
| Martin Luther | German theologian and religious reformer, who initiated the Protestant Reformation |
| Yathrib (Medina) | city in western Saudi Arabia, located in the Al ?ij?z (Hejaz) region. Called Madinah al-munawwara (Medina the Radiant) i |
| Mecca | city in western Saudi Arabia, located in the Al ?ij?z (Hejaz) region, near Jiddah. Mecca is the birthplace of the prophet Muhammad (the founder of Islam), the center of pilgrimage for Muslims, and the focal point of their daily prayers. |
| Koran/Quran | the holy book of Islam. For Muslims it is the very word of Allah, the absolute God of Islamic faith, and was revealed to the prophet Muhammad |
| Allah | in Islam, the name of God |
| Zakat | a tax that goes to charity, obligatory for all Muslims, set traditionally at 2.5 percent of somebody's annual income and capital |
| Hajj | the pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, that is a principal religious obligation of adult Muslims |
| Sufism | a Muslim mystic |
| Whirling Dervishes | a member of an ascetic Muslim religious group known for very energetic whirling |
| Sunni | the largest branch of Islam, which believes in the traditions of the Sunna and accepts the first four caliphs as rightful successors to Muhammad. |
| Shiite | a follower of the Shia branch of Islam, which considers Ali, the cousin of Muhammad, and his descendants as Muhammad's true successors. |
