0.1 Glossary  (Page 4/5)

Mitzvot – The 613 rules observed by observant Jews.

Modernity – The era starting at roughly the seventeenth century, with a specific set of concomitant presuppositions, attitudes and so on.

Monarchy – Power concentrated in one person.

Monastery – Building in which monks live.

Monism – The belief that everything is part of one great reality, of a single Whole. .

Monotheism – Belief in one god.

Muslim – A follower of Islam. Also: a synonym for "Islamic".

Mysticism – The experience of unity with what is taken to be ultimate reality or divinity.

Myth – A type of sacred story, mainly about the origins or the end of time, or key events in time.

National religions – Religions that are united by language and culture. They are specific to a national group and are not found outside the boundaries of their particular country or area.

Nirvana – In Buddhism, release from suffering; the highest goal of Buddhist practice.

Norm – A standard, rule, prescription.

Normative definition of religion – A definition that tries to distinguish "good" from "bad" religion.

Normative source – A source used in religion, acting as a norm for belief and action.

Oligarchy – Power concentrated in a few persons.

Organised religion – Religion in which identifiable organisations and institutions have been established to which people can belong, as opposed to one's private religious beliefs and practices.

Patriarchy – A society which is ruled by the father or the eldest male. By extension it also refers to societies in which men are dominant to the detriment of women.

Perennial – Occurring through time in all religions.

Phenomenology – A methodology in which the researcher is primarily interested in finding out what adherents themselves think of their religion.

Pluralism – The situation of members of many religions living in the same area.

Polytheism – Belief in many gods.

Positivistic research – An approach to research in which it is assumed that that the world is a fixed reality outside of people and this reality can be measured.

Postmodernity – The era which, according to many interpreters, may be in the process of replacing modernity, with a specific set of concomitant presuppositions, attitudes and so on.

Protestant Reformation: The schism in Catholicism that began with Martin Luther and John Calvin in the early sixteenth century

Puritans: A group of religious reformers in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries who wanted to “purify” the Church of England by ridding it of practices associated with the Catholic Church and advocating greater purity of doctrine and worship.

Qu'ran (or Koran) – The Muslim holy scriptures, containing the pronouncements of the Prophet Muhammad, believed by Muslims to be divinely inspired.

Reincarnation – The belief that beings are born into a next life over and over again.

Religion – A comprehensive and fundamental orientation in the world. This usually contains ideas of the ultimate nature of things and of divinity, transmitted in sacred traditions, requiring social and personal commitment, and expressed in rituals and morality. It includes, but is not restricted to organised forms of religions, world views, belief systems and indigenous knowledge systems.