“Windows To Spirituality”
Pentateuch Pentateuch, in Greek pentateuchos, is the name of the first five books of the Old Testament. Name Though it is not certain whether the word originally was an adjective, qualifying the omitted noun biblos, or a substantive, its literal meaning “five cases” appears to refer to the sheaths or boxes in which...
Tree Of The Knowledge Of Good And Evil The tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Biblical Hebrew: עֵ֕ץ הַדַּ֖עַת ט֥וֹב וָרָֽע ʿêṣ had-daʿaṯ ṭōwḇ wā-rāʿ) is one of two specific trees in the story of the Garden of Eden in Genesis 2–3, along with the Tree of Life. Main article: Biblical and...
List Of Christian Denominations This article covers List Of Christian Denominations. A Christian denomination is a distinct religious body within Christianity, identified by traits such as a name, organization, and doctrine. Individual bodies, however, may use alternative terms to describe themselves, such as church, convention, assembly, house, union, network, or...
Catechism Of The Catholic Church The Catechism of the Catholic Church (Catechismus Catholicae Ecclesiae; commonly called the Catechism or the CCC) is a catechism promulgated for the Catholic Church by Pope John Paul II in 1992. It sums up, in book form, the beliefs of the Catholic faithful. A catechism (“to teach orally”) is a summary or exposition of doctrine and serves as...
Fideism Fideism is an epistemological theory which maintains that faith is independent of reason, or that reason and faith are hostile to each other and faith is superior at arriving at particular truths (see natural theology). The word fideism comes from fides, the Latin word for faith, and literally means “faith-ism“. Theologians and philosophers have responded in various ways to the...
Five Solae The five solae (Anglicized to five solas) of the Protestant Reformation are a foundational set of principles held by theologians and clergy to be central to the doctrine of salvation as taught by the Reformed branches of Protestantism. Each sola represents a key belief in the Lutheran and Reformed traditions in...
Apophatic Theology Apophatic theology, also known as negative theology, is a form of theological thinking and religious practice which attempts to approach God, the Divine, by negation, to speak only in terms of what may not be said about the perfect goodness that is God. It forms a pair together with cataphatic theology, which...
Deathbed Confession A deathbed confession is an admittance or confession when someone is nearing death, or on their “death bed”. This confession may help alleviate any guilt, regrets, secrets, or sins the dying person may have had in their life. These confessions can occur because the dying want to live...
![[De Rouwdagen] De treurdagen (The mourning days) by Jan Voerman, ca 1884](https://slife.org/wp-content/uploads/WLANL_-_MicheleLovesArt_-_Joods_Historisch_Museum_-_Schilderij_Voerman_1111-520x380.jpg)
613 Commandments The Jewish tradition that there are 613 commandments (תרי״ג מצוות, romanized: taryag mitzvot) or mitzvot in the Torah (also known as the Law of Moses) began in the 3rd century CE, when Rabbi Simlai mentioned it in a sermon that is recorded in Talmud Makkot 23b. Although there have been a lot of attempts...
Yom Kippur Yom Kippur (יוֹם כִּיפּוּר, or יום הכיפורים), also known as the Day of Atonement, is the holiest day of the year in Judaism. Its central themes are atonement and repentance. Jews traditionally observe this holy day with an approximate 25-hour period of fasting and intensive prayer, often spending most of...
Rosh Hashanah Rosh Hashanah (רֹאשׁ הַשָּׁנָה), literally meaning “head [of] the year”, is the Jewish New Year. The biblical name for this holiday is Yom Teruah (יוֹם תְּרוּעָה), literally “day of shouting or blasting”. It is the first of the Jewish High Holy Days (יָמִים נוֹרָאִים Yamim Nora’im. “Days of Awe”) specified by Leviticus 23:23–32 that occur...
Jewish Ethnic Divisions Jewish ethnic divisions refer to a number of distinctive communities within the world’s ethnically Jewish population. Although considered one single self-identifying ethnicity, there are distinctive ethnic subdivisions among Jews, most of which are primarily the result of geographic branching from an originating Israelite population, mixing with local...
Eastern Orthodox Church The Eastern Orthodox Church, also called the Orthodox Church, is the second-largest Christian church, with approximately 260 million baptized members. It operates as a communion of autocephalous churches, each governed by its bishops via local synods. The church has no central doctrinal or governmental authority analogous to the head of the Roman Catholic Church—the Pope—but...
Nicene Christianity Nicene Christianity is a set of Christian doctrinal traditions which reflect the Nicene Creed, which was formulated at the First Council of Nicaea in AD 325 and amended at the First Council of Constantinople in AD 381. History Main articles: First Council of Nicaea, Church Fathers, Nicene Creed,...
Visions Of Jesus And Mary Since the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ on Calvary, a number of people have claimed to have had visions of Jesus Christ and Mary personal conversations with him. Some people make similar claims regarding his mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary. Discussions about the authenticity of these visions have...
Torah Reading Torah reading (קריאת התורה, K’riat haTorah, “Reading [of] the Torah“; Kriyas haToire) is a Jewish religious tradition that involves the public reading of a set of passages from a Torah scroll. The term often refers to the entire ceremony of removing the scroll (or scrolls) from the Torah ark,...
Synagogue A synagogue (from Ancient Greek συναγωγή, synagogē, ‘assembly’; Hebrew: בית כנסת bet knesset, ‘house of assembly’, or בית תפילה bet tefila, “house of prayer”; Yiddish: שול shul, Ladino: אשנוגה esnoga, ‘bright as fire’, or קהל kahal) is a Jewish or Samaritan house of worship. Synagogues have a large place for prayer (the main sanctuary) and may also have smaller...
Chinese Mythology Chinese mythology (中國神話; Zhōngguó shénhuà) is a mythology that has been passed down in oral form or recorded in literature in the geographic area now known as “China”. Chinese mythology includes many varied myths from regional and cultural traditions. Chinese mythology is far from monolithic, not being an...
Chinese Buddhism Chinese Buddhism or Han Buddhism has shaped Chinese culture in a wide variety of areas including art, politics, literature, philosophy, medicine and material culture. The translation of a large body of Indian Buddhist scriptures into Chinese and the inclusion of these translations together with works composed in China into a...
Tian Tian (天; Tiān) is one of the oldest Chinese terms for heaven and a key concept in Chinese mythology, philosophy, and religion. During the Shang dynasty (17–11th centuries BCE), the Chinese referred to their supreme god as Shàngdì (上帝, “Lord on High”) or Dì (帝,”Lord”). During the following Zhou dynasty, Tiān became synonymous with this...
