RELIGIOUS STUDIES KEYWORDS

Key stage 3 Keywords

YeaR 8 BIBLE – The holy Book of the christian church. ‘the bible is a very special book for all christians as they believe that the Bible is the Word of God.’

Evangelist One of the writers of the Gospel who spreads good news about Jesus.

‘There are four evangelists, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. The evangelists all told the story of Jesus, his life, death and resurrection.’

Year 9 Creation - The universe as created by God.

‘The story about the creation of the world can be found in the book of Genesis.’

Commandment - A divine law of God One of the commandments states, ‘honour your father and your mother’.

Year 10 Assumption - Feast celebrating Our Lady going to heaven body and soul.

‘ ‘Our Lady was assumed into heaven’

Annunciation – feast celebrating the angel Gabriel coming to ask Our Lady to be the Mother of Jesus

‘The annunciation is celebrated on 25 th March, when we remember the angel telling Mary she was going to be the mother of Jesus.’

Year 11 Christ – The leader promised by god to the Jews. The word literally means ‘Anointed one’ in Greek; the Hebrew equivalent is Messiah. Christians believe Jesus to be the Christ.

Peter said to Jesus, ‘You are the Christ.’

Messiah – the person whom god will send to save humanity, believed by Christians to be Jesus (the annointed One). Hebrew form of the word ‘Christ.’

‘Some people referred to the Messiah as son of David.’

Year 12 Sacrament – A sacred sign showing an inward grace, that God is really present in a special way.

‘There are seven sacraments in the Catholic church,’

Celibacy- the obligation to abstain from sexual relationships; part of the vows taken by people entering religious life.

‘Roman Catholic Priests take a vow of celibacy.’

Year 13 Apology- A justification or defence of beliefs.

Many scholars believe that ‘Acts’ was written as an apology for Paul’s defence

Glossolalia- Commonly called ‘speaking in tongues’; unintelligible utterances ‘There is considerable debate over the nature of glossolalia in the New Testament.’

Monasticism- A religious practice which involves the rejection of worldly pursuits, a single-minded seeking of God, a devotion to the spiritual life and a pursuit of christian perfection. ‘Monasticism entered Ireland in the sixth century.’

Hagiography: Writing about saints ‘Hagiography is not a history. The author is not concerned to establish a correct chronology. He is not interested in assembling and examining evidence and coming to a conclusion which takes the evidence into account.’

Year 14 Covenant: (Bible) an agreement between God and his people in which god makes certain promises and requires certain behaviour from them in return. ‘Covenants were not ratified with a signature. They were ratified in blood.’

Idolatry: worshipping false Gods ‘Idolatry was rife in the city.’

Peregrination: Pilgrim for Christ ‘Peregrination is going on a pilgrimage for Christ. One who does this would be called a peregrine.’

Episcopacy: Relating to bishops and the system of church government whereby the church was divided into dioceses which were overseen by a bishop. ‘In the fifth century the church was Episcopal in nature i.e. divided into dioceses and ruled by bishops.’