Christianity Terms and Vocabulary List in English

Some friends asked me about Christian and Islamic terms and vocabulary list. So, I tried to put together a list for those. 


ABBA:  Aramaic term for "father" used by Jesus in addressing God.  A personal, intimate, friendly, loving term.  Denoting the relationship of the believer to Father God.

ATONEMENT doctrine of how humans are forgiven, redeemed, and reconciled to God through the death of Christ.

AUGUSTINE:  leading theologian (354-430) in the early Christian church.  Bishop of Hippo.

BAPTISM: initiation ritual, commanded by Christ.  Initiation into the Christian church, through the washing of water; either through immersion or sprinkling.

CHRIST.  Greek title meaning "anointed one" from the Hebrew meaning "messiah."  Applied to Jesus of Nazareth by his followers.

CHRISTOLOGY:  doctrine about the nature and role of Christ.

CHURCH:  Ecclesia those who are call out from the world.  Know as the living body of Christ in the world.  

CONSTANTINE:  Roman emperor who legalized and promoted Christianity.

ESCHATOLOGY:  doctrine about the last things: the end of the world, judgment day, consummation of God's plan.

GNOSTICISM: movements in the Hellenistic world that emphasized a special secret knowledge about God and world.  Usually identified created matter as evil.  The world was created by a demi-god, not the pure God of light.  

INCARNATION: Belief that God became incarnate - came "down" from heaven, in the form of the person known as Jesus. Fully God and fully man.

LAST SUPPER/LORD'S SUPPER a.k.a. Eucharist (showing forth), Holy Communion, Mass.  Ritual observance to commemorate the atoning death of Jesus Christ.  Elements - those things ingested in the ceremony: Bread represents body, wine represents blood.    

MESSIAH:  End-time kind, descended from King David, expected to redeem Israel, whom Christians identified as Jesus.

MILLENNIALISM:  Belief in a 1,000 year rule of grace, instituted by God, through Jesus.  Will come near to the end times.  Pre-millennial and Post-millennial ideas.  Pre-millennialism:  Christ will return after drastically deteriorating human history, and establish the kingdom, reign for 1,000, evil will return and then the end of the world and Judgment Day.   Post-millennialism: There will be a time of great peace, issued in by Christians, and then Christ will return, reign, and then the end of the world and Judgment Day. 

OLD TESTAMENT:  Christian designation for the Hebrew scriptures.

ORTHODOX CHURCH:  term referring to the historic Eastern Christian churches, including the Greek, Russian, Armenian and other traditions.

PARABLE:  Stories told by Jesus.  Jesus used everyday events as themes for stories with a spiritual underlying meaning.  Definition "Earthly story with a heavenly meaning."

PLAN OF SALVATION:  Christian idea of God's design for the salvation of the world foretold through prophets and accomplished through Jesus Christ.

PROTESTANTISM:  Broad designation of Christianity for the main churches of the Reformation.

REFORMATION:  Reform movements in the Christian church, especially the reform of the European church through Luther and Calvin.

RESURRECTION Rising from the dead; Christ's resurrection as the first fruits of the resurrection of all, in Christian belief.

ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH:  the historic Western church, as it has continued under the leadership of the pope, the bishop of Rome.

SACRAMENT: Derived from the Latin oath of allegiance - Sacramentum. Describes rites instituted by Jesus. Signifies "an outward and visible form of an inward and spiritual grace."

THEOLOGY thinking about God and God's work.

TRINITY:  Christian doctrine that God is revealed in three "persons" - Father, Son and Holy Spirit