Concise dictionary of Religion. 2012.
GOD — although many people claim that all RELIGIONS share the idea of God, in fact only CHRISTIANITY, ISLAM and JUDAISM have a similar understanding of the term. This understanding probably comes from a common source rooted in the religion of… … Concise dictionary of Religion
PROBLEM OF EVIL — the TRADITIONAL PHILOSOPHIC and practical problem which asks how an all knowing and all powerful GOD, who is both the CREATOR of the UNIVERSE and by definition GOOD, can allow SUFFERING and EVIL. It concerns the basic human problem of MEANING… … Concise dictionary of Religion
HELL — an old English term used to translate the HEBREW terms SHE OL and GEHENNA. In most religions Hell or the Hells is the place of the dammed. In the YOGIC religions, however, escape from Hell is ultimately possible through eventual REBIRTH. In… … Concise dictionary of Religion
HISTORY — the study of the past. As an academic discipline, history emerged in the late nineteenth century although great historians have reoccurred in Western civilization since the early Greeks. The ABRAMIC RELIGIONS are essentially historical and… … Concise dictionary of Religion
SUICIDE — most RELIGIONS discourage people from taking their own lives and the act is uncompromisingly condemned in the ABRAMIC RELIGIONS. Classical HINDUISM also opposed the practice but JAINISM and some FORMS of BUDDHISM allow for RITUAL suicide while … Concise dictionary of Religion
INFINITE — without limits or external boundaries. In ABRAMIC religions this truly applies to GOD alone … Concise dictionary of Religion
MERCY — one of the great virtues in the ABRAMIC RELIGIONS which is often seen to be in tension with the justice of GOD … Concise dictionary of Religion
NEW AGE MOVEMENT — a movement which arose in the 1970s and gained notoriety in the 1980s that promotes a MYSTICAL OCCULTISM based on a synthesis of YOGIC and ABRAMIC RELIGIONS and PHILOSOPHIES. It began as a self conscious movement with the publication of the… … Concise dictionary of Religion
TRADITIONAL RELIGION — those religions, usually of relatively small and isolated SOCIAL GROUPS, which rely upon ORAL TRADITIONS and follow a pattern established over generations without major or conscious input from the great world religions of the ABRAMIC and YOGIC … Concise dictionary of Religion
CHRISTIAN SCIENCE — The Church of Christ Scientist founded by Mary BAKER EDDY (1821 1910), who believed she had been healed after a severe injury in 1866. She dedicated her life to promoting a form of healing based on ideas taken from CHRISTIANITY, HINDUISM and… … Concise dictionary of Religion
