| A | B |
|---|
| Abraham | he believed in monotheism; after God told him to leave his home in Mesopotamia, he traveled to Canaan where his descendents the Hebrews lived for many years |
| Canaan | a land on the Mediterranean Sea where the Hebrews settled |
| pharaoh | a leader of Egypt |
| Moses | he led the Hebrews out of slavery in Egypt |
| Exodus | the journey of the Hebrews out of Egypt |
| Ten Commandments | a code of moral laws that God gave to Moses on two stone tablets |
| Diaspora | the scattering of Jews outside of Israel and Judah |
| monotheism | belief in one God |
| justice | in terms of Judaism, kindness and fairness in dealing with other people |
| righteousness | doing what is proper |
| Mosaic law | a system of laws that guide many areas of Jews’ daily lives |
| principle | basic belief, rule, or law |
| Torah | the most sacred text of Judaism; the first of three parts of the Hebrew Bible |
| synagogue | Jewish house of worship |
| prophets | people who are said to receive messages from God to be taught to others |
| rabbis | religious teachers |
| Talmud | a set of laws, commentaries, stories, and folklore important to Judaism |
| Hanukkah | a Jewish holiday that celebrates an event when lamp oil miraculously lasted for eight days |
| Passover | a Jewish holiday that honors the Exodus |
| seder | a Passover meal |
| High Holy Days | the two most sacred Jewish holidays, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur |
| Rosh Hashanah | Jewish New Year; a High Holy Day |
| Yom Kippur | Day of Atonement; a High Holy Day |
| Messiah | a great leader the ancient Jews predicted would come to restore the greatness of Israel; Christians believe that this was Jesus |
| Bible | the holy book of Christianity |
| Old Testament | the first part of the Bible; it is largely the same as the Hebrew Bible |
| New Testament | the second part of the Bible; it is an account of the life and teachings of Jesus and of the early history of Christianity |
| Bethlehem | a small town where Jesus was born |
| crucifixion | a type of execution in which a person was nailed to a cross |
| Resurrection | Jesus’s rise from the dead three days after he was crucified |
| disciples | followers |
| Easter | a Christian holiday that celebrates the Resurrection |
| Christmas | a Christian holiday that celebrates the birth of Jesus |
| miracle | an event that cannot normally be performed by a human, such as when Jesus fed a crowd with a few loaves of bread and a few fish |
| parables | stories that teach lessons about how people should live |
| Jesus’ message | Jesus taught people to love God and other people, even enemies and about salvation |
| salvation | the rescue of people from sin; Jesus taught that people who were saved from sin would enter God’s kingdom when they died |
| denomination | a group of people who hold mostly the same beliefs |
| Sermon on the Mount | a speech by Jesus in which he said that people who love God will be blessed |
| Apostles | twelve men whom Jesus chose to receive special teaching |
| Gospels | accounts of Jesus’s life and teachings; there are four in the New Testament by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John |
| Paul | a man who converted to Christianity and traveled widely to spread Christian teachings |
| Trinity | a central Christian belief that God is made up of three persons, God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit |
| persecution | the act of harassing or punishing, especially for religious beliefs; some Roman leaders arrested and killed Christians who refused to worship the gods of Rome |
| Pope | the bishop of Rome; now the head of the Roman Catholic Church |
| Constantine | a Roman emperor who became a Christian; this helped spread Christianity |
| Arabia | a region in Southwest Asia with hot and dry air and limited water |
| oasis | a wet, fertile area in a desert |
| nomad | traveler; in Arabia, they lived in tents and raised animals |
| sedentary | settled; in Arabia, some people settled in oases which became towns along trade routes |
| Muhammad | a man from Mecca who founded Islam |
| Mecca | the birthplace of Muhammad |
| Muslims | people who follow Islam |
| Qur’an | the holy book of Islam that contains the collected messages that Muhammad received from God |
| Allah | “the God” in Arabic |
| Medina | a city Muhammad and his followers moved to; “the prophet’s city” |
| hegira | journey; Muhammad’s departure from Mecca, which marks the first year of the Islamic calendar |
| mosque | building for Muslim prayer |
| explicit | fully revealed without vagueness; for example, the Qur’an specifically tells Muslims how to prepare for worship and that they are not allowed to eat pork or drink alcohol |
| implicit | understood though not clearly put into words; for example, the Qur’an implies that slavery should be abolished |
| jihad | the inner struggle people go through in their effort to obey God and behave according to Islamic ways; it has also been translated to “holy war” |
| Sunnah | refers to the way Muhammad lived, which provides a model for the duties and the way of life expected of Muslims |
| Five Pillars of Islam | five acts of worship required of all Muslims |
| statement of faith | one of the Five Pillars of Islam in which Muslims state that there is only one God and Muhammad is his prophet |
| Ramadan | holy month; Muslims fast during this time |
| hajj | a pilgrimage to Mecca that Muslims should complete at least once in their lives |
| Kaaba | in Mecca, Islam’s most sacred place; it is a structure with a black stone inside it; according to Islamic tradition |
| Shariah | Islamic law based on the Qur’an and the Sunnah as well as human reason |
| Sunni | a branch of Islam that forms the majority of the world’s Muslims |
| Shia | a branch of Islam; although the smaller branch, countries with large populations of this branch include Iran, Iraq, and Yemen; adherents are called Shi'ites |
| religions | sets of beliefs that try to answer questions about human existence, such as, who are we, how did we get here, what do we do with ourselves now that we are here, and what happens to us when we die? |
