1. (See anthropocentric)
2. Jewish/ Christian: The tendency in the Bible, to portray God in ways that make him appear human (with human body parts and emotions, for example).

1. Hindu (ritual): Moving a camphor light clockwise in front of a deity.
2. Hindu (ritual): Waving lighted lamps, incense sticks or camphor during worship.

1. Christian: The bishop of an especially important see, usually with jurisdiction over a larger ecclesiastical province.
2. Christian (Roman Catholic): A bishop who runs the largest diocese in a particular area. Indiana's only archbishop oversees the Indianapolis Archdiocese.

1. Christian (Roman Catholic): A priest with special responsibility over a large area of a diocese for the training and management of other priests.
2. Christian (Anglican): A priest who supervises deacons within a diocese as a representative of its bishop.

1. Buddhist (Zen): One free from the ten fetters to freedom.
2. Buddhist (Zen): A term used both to criticise an individual who practices only for self benefit and to praise an accomplished adept.
3. Buddhist (Zen): One of the Ten Names of a Buddha.

1. Hindu (Indian): Used to describe migrants from Persia who moved into the Indus valley in the second millennium BCE.
2. Christian Caucasians from Northern Europe.
3. White, Anglo-Saxon, Germanic peoples; a subset of Caucasians.
4. New Age : The fifth Root Race leading to human beings.
5. Term used by Adolph Hitler to describe the racial origins of the German peoples.
6. Pertaining to the Indo-European language family, often used in juxtaposition with the term Semitic.

1. Common usage: Tribal or group solidarity.
2. Muslim (American black): A group of 10 -40 men who band together in defence against hostile conduct.
3. Muslim: A term used by Ibn Khaldun in his theory of state formation in North Africa.

1. Arabic: "authenticity"
2. Buddhist: =Turning of the Wheel of Teaching. Observance of the day when Gautama Buddha made his first public proclamation to five ascetics.

1. General usage: =Ascent to heaven. Jesus and Muhammad are two religious figures who are said to have ascended.
2. Christian: A term usually restricted to recognition of the bodily assumption of the resurrected Jesus Christ into the heavens as described in the Acts of the Apostles; comparable in a general sense to the assumption of Elijah, of Mary and of Muhammad. In the Christian calendar, Ascension Day (when Jesus ascended) is celebrated on the fifth Thursday after Easter.
3. Baha'i: Refers to Ascension of Abdu'l-Baha, the celebration of the rising of his spirit to the heavenly dwelling place.
4. Baha'i: Refers to Ascension of Baha'u'llah, the founder. Observed by prayers and reading.

1. Muslim: Celebrated by a one day fast recognizing the Creation, Noah's departure from the ark, and the saving of Moses from Pharaoh.
2. Muslim (Shi'ite): The 10th day of the month of Muharram, when rituals are held commemorating the death of Muhammad's grandson, Husayn.

1. Common usage: One who kills for political reasons or purposes.
2. Muslim (Shi'ite): Refers to Nizari (Ismaili Shi'ites) of Persia and Syria during medieval times who used assassination as a weapon against the Seljuks and other Sunni rulers between 1092 and 1256..

1. Christian: The drawing up into heaven of the body of a holy person, used particularly of the Virgin Mary, but also recounted in the cases of Elijah, Muhammad and Moses. The term ascension is more commonly used for Jesus Christ, but in either case, bodily remains are presumed not to remain on earth.
2. Christian (Roman Catholic): Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary commemorates the belief that Mary was assumed body and soul into heaven at the end of her earthly life.

1. Buddhist: A bodhisattiva regarded as the God of mercy in Mahyana Buddhist tradition.
2. Buddhist (Nepalese): A bodhisattiva known as the compassionate Machhendra.

1. Hindu: The incarnation of a deity (on earth); used especially to describe the human or other forms taken by Vishnu, especially as Lord Krishna.
2. Hindu: An incarnation of God.
3. Hindu: God coming down to earth in any life form.
4. Common usage: An "alternate personality".
5. Common usage: The personification of a principle, worldview or specific perspective on life, usually in the "form" of a famous personality or celebrity.

1. Hindu: A key term found in the Upanisads.
2. Buddhist (Zen): Human attachment to greed, anger, and delusion.

1. Muslim (Shi'ite/Iran): The title held by the highest dignitaries in the Shi'a religious hierarchy drawn from the ranks of outstanding mujtahids.
2. Muslim (Shi'ite): A clergyman (male) who has reached the third level of Shi'ite higher education, is recognized as a mujtahid and is over 40.

B

1. Hindu (holiday): First day of the Hindu (solar) year.
2. Sikh (holiday): Commemorates the founding of the Khalsa.

1. Pagan: Fertility God associated with reproduction; a creative force; generally represented as a man with horns on his head or as a goat or ram..
2. Christian (Roman Catholic): = Devil.
3. Secret Society (Knights Templar): Stone head at the center of a ritual.

1. Christian: Speaking in tongues (unknown languages) as inspired by the Holy Spirit.
2. Christian (Assemblies of God USA): Number 7 of the Statements of Faith: All believers are entitled to and should ardently expect and earnestly seek the promise of the Father, the baptism in the Holy Ghost and fire, according to the command of our Lord Jesus Christ. This was the normal experience of all in the early Christian Church. With it comes the enduement of power for life and service, the bestowment of the gifts and their uses in the work of the ministry. This experience is distinct from and subsequent to the experience of the new birth. With the baptism in the Holy Ghost come such experiences as: an overflowing fullness of the Spirit, a deepened reverence for God, an intensified consecration to God and dedication to His work, and a more active love for Christ, for His Word and for the lost.” [from Our Statement of Fundamental Truths}

1. Muslim: The distinctive spiritual power believed to reside in holy places and persons.
2. Muslim (Shi'ite: Sufi): "The spiritual presence and influence which is, at once 'supernatural' and flowing with the arteries of the cosmos." (Seyyeid Hossein Nasr, Ideals and Realities of Islam, Boston: Beacon Press, 1973: 179.)
3. Muslim A blessedness that can be passed on from a wali to his followers.

1. Common usage: The political party of deposed (2003) Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.
2. Common usage: A major Arab Socialist political party founded in Syria about 19xx.

1. Muslim: One of the names of God is Al-Batin.
2. Muslim: The inward aspect of divine revelation.

1. Common usage: Type of floor covering.
2. Common usage: Native inhabitants of mountainous regions of western North Africa.

1. Hindu: Devotion.
2. Hindu: Emotional, devotional love of God.

1. Muslim: Heresy.
2. Muslim: Deviation from tradition.
3. Muslim: A belief or practice not found in the Sunna that is not acceptable to traditionalists.

1. Baha'i / Birth of the Bab (holiday): Honors the founder of the Babi religion, forerunner to Baha'u'llah and the Baha'i faith.
2. Baha'i / Birth of Baha'u'llah (holiday): Celebration of the birth of Baha'u'llah.
3. Sikh / Birth of Guru Nanak Dev Ji (holiday): Honors the birthdate of the founder of the Sikh faith.

1. Christian: A cleric with authority over subordinant clerics.
2. Christian (Roman Catholic): A cleric who runs a diocese.
3. Christian (Anglican): Priest in charge of a diocese; person with cathedra in the cathedral.

1. Buddhist: The pipal tree (Ficus religiosa) under which Gautama Buddha achieved enlightenment, and any tree so worshipped.
2. Buddhist / Bodhi Day (holiday): celebration of the time when Prince Gautama took his place under the Bodhi tree, vowing to remain there until he attained supreme enlightenment.

1. Buddhist: The saintly ideal of Mahayana Buddhism.
2. Buddhist: A Buddha-to-be who postpones entry into nirvana in order to labor for the salvation of all living things.
3. Buddhist (Zen): As praise, it is for selfless spiritual practice, as criticism for insufficient attention for one's own practice.

1. Renaissance Italy: The painter whose given name was Sandro Filipepi; born 1444.
2. Priory of Sion: Grand Master.

1. English scientist: b. 1627, d. 1691.Youngest son of Earl of Cork. Member, Royal Academy of Science; friend of Newton, Isaac and John Locke.
2. Priory of Sion: Grand Master.

1. Hindu: God of creation.
2. Hindu: The impersonal God who is seen as total reality in the Upanishads.
3. Hindu: The term for the ultimate principle of the cosmos; the abstract, impersonal Absolute.
4. Hindu: One of the three Great Gods of Hinduism. Brahma, Shiva (Siva) and Vishnu (Visnu) form the divine triad, within which Brahma is assigned the function of creator. He often is portrayed with four faces, embracing the four points of the compass, and with four arms in which he holds the Vedas. Brahma is considered above and beyond worship.

1. Hindu: Highest level in caste system; “sprung from the mouth of Brahma”.
2. Hindu: The highest caste, originally that of priests.

1. Common usage: The elite (eg. "Boston Brahmin")
2. Hindu: Vedic priests.
3. Members of the first, most prestigious caste in Indian society.

C

1. Jewish: General term for mystical elements in Judaism.
2. Jewish: An esoteric tradition of mysticism whose central document is the Zohar and whose distinctive idea is the Sefirot.
3. Jewish: A mystical movement begun in medieval times that seeks to allegorize scripture and unlock both its secret directions for daily life and its descriptions of the emanations of God.

1. [xxxx]
2. Christian Identity : The son of Satan and Eve; the father of the Jews. See Christian Identity.

1. Common usage: Accounting of time based on the motion of the earth around the sun. Years have 365 or 366 days divided into 12 months that have no relationship to the motion of the moon. Weeks group days in sets of 7.
2. Common usage (Europe/Americas): Solar calendar (example: Gregorian) designed to maintain synchrony with the tropical year.
3. Common usage (some Muslim-majority countries): Lunar calendar follows the lunar phase cycle without regard for the tropical year.
4. Common usage (Israel; historic China): Lunisolar calendar has a sequence of months based on the lunar phase cycle; but every few years a whole month is intercalated to bring the calendar back in phase with the tropical year.
5. Christian: Two main versions have existed in recent times: The Julian calendar and the Gregorian calendar. The difference between them lies in the way they approximate the length of the tropical year and their rules for calculating Easter
6. Muslim: Accounting of time based on the motion of the moon (the year has no connection with the motion of the earth around the sun). The year is divided by lunar phases, so its 355 days do not correspond to the time it takes the earth to make one revolution around the sun. In order to match it with the solar year, intercalation (10 days of concatenation called nasi are added). The months are (1) Muharram, (2) Safar, (3) Rabi-al-Awwal, (4) Rabi-al-Thani, (5) Jumada-al-Oola, (6) Jumada-al-Akhir, (7) Rajab, (8) Sha'ban, (9) Ramadan, (10) Shawwal, (11) Zul-Hijja, (12) Zul-Qa'da.
7. Hindu: Solar calendar; The months are Chaitra, Vaishaaka, Jyeshta, Aashaadha, Sraavana, Bhaadrapada, Aaswayuja, Kaartika, Maargasira, Pushya, Magha and Phaalguna.
8. Hebrew: Its years are linked to the motion of the earth around the sun, and its months are linked to the motion of the moon.

• Julian calendar: Introduced by Julius Caesar in 45 BCE. It was in common use until the 1500s, when it was supplanted by he Gregorian calendar. A few countries (notably Greece and Russia) used it into the 1900s, and the Orthodox church in Russia still uses it, as do some other Orthodox churches. In the Julian calendar, the tropical year is approximated as 365 1/4 days = 365.25 days. This gives an error of 1 day in approximately 128 years. The approximation 365 1/4 is achieved by having 1 leap year every 4 years.
• Gregorian calendar: the one commonly used today. It was proposed by Aloysius Lilius, a physician from Naples, and adopted by Pope Gregory XIII in accordance with instructions from the Council of Trent (1545-1563) to correct for errors in the older Julian Calendar. It was decreed by Pope Gregory XIII in a papal bull on 24 February 1582. This bull is named "Inter Gravissimas" after its first two words. In the Gregorian calendar, the tropical year is approximated as 365 97/400 days = 365.2425 days. Thus it takes approximately 3300 years for the tropical year to shift one day with respect to the Gregorian calendar. The approximation 365 97/400 is achieved by having 97 leap years every 400 years.

1. Muslim: Successor to and representative of Muhammad.
2. Muslim: A title implying continuation of Muhammad's leadership of the Muslim community, but without direct divine revelation.

1. A rule or list, in particular, a list of scriptures regarded as authoritative (the sacred canon)
2. Christian: A set of ecclesiastical rules (canon law).
3. An authoritative list of works accepted as Holy Scripture.
4. Christian (Roman Catholic): The most solemn portion of the Mass including the consecration of the bread and wine.
5. Christian: As an ecclesiastical title it refers to a member of clergy on the regular staff of a cathedral.
6. Christian (Roman Catholic): An ecclesiastical member of a chapter or body of clerics living according to rule, and presided over by one of their number.

1. Scientologist: A general term for a person being treated or helped.
2. Scientologist: The entire accumulation of upsets, pain, failures, etc., residing in a preclear’s reactive mind.
   

1. Scientologist: The improvements and resurgences a person experiences from auditing.
2. Scientologist: Any case betterment according to the preclear.

1. Common usage: A short manual of critical beliefs.
2. Christian: A list of essential doctrines memorized by the faithful or those who seek confirmation in the faith.

1. Christian: Universal or worldwide, as in "one holy catholic and apostolic church".
2. Christian: When capitalized, Catholic usually refers to the Roman Catholic Church, headed by the Pope.
3. Christian: Roman Catholic, Greek Catholic, Byzantine Catholic [incomplete]

1. Common usage (noun): One's core beliefs, one's true self. "...[T]he greatest journey one can ever take is to the centre of one's being." [Susan Howatch, Mystical Paths (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1992): 191]
2. Common usage (verb): The process of finding/validating one's core beliefs.

1. French nobleman; Connetable de Bourbon, duke of Châtelleraut, Constable of France; viceroy of Milan; b. 1490, d. 1527.
2. Priory of Sion: Grand Master.
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1. French nobleman: b. 1744.
2. Priory of Sion: Grand Master.

1. Definition: The Greek word for Messiah.
2. Christian: [xxxx]
3. New Age: One of the four co-equal deities of the Process Church of the Final Judgement.

1. Common usage: 25 December.
2. Christian (holiday): 25 December or 6 January.
3. Christian: A season of the liturgical year following Advent and preceding Epiphany.
4. Christian / Christmas Day: 25 December or 6 January.
5. Christian / Christmas eve: 24 December or 5 January.
6. Christian (Eastern Orthodox) / Christmas Fast: Fasting period in preparation for the celebration of Christmas.

1. Christian: Teachings concerning the person of Jesus Christ.
2. Christian: Doctrine concerning the person of Christ; that he is one person with two natures, truly God and truly man.

1. Common usage: Building used for worship.
2. Christian: The Body of Christ.
3. Christian: An agency of God for evangelizing the world.
4. Christian: Community of believers worldwide.
5. Christian: A specific local gathering of Christians; therefore, a building used for Christian worship.
6. Christian (Assemblies of God USA): According to Number 10 in the Statement of Fundamental Truth, the church is “to be a channel of God’s purpose to build a body of saints being perfected in the image of his Son.”

1. French artist; born 1889.
2. Priory of Sion: Grand Master.

1. Christian: The bread and wine consumed during Jesus' last supper with his disciples
2. Christian: In contemporary Christian practice, the exact meaning and symbolism varies, as does the form -- from wine and wafer to water and Wonder bread.
3. Christian ritual: The memorial meal of bread and wine which celebrates the sacrifice of Jesus.
4. Christian ritual: The act of a believer receiving the consecrated bread and wine from clergy.
5. Christian: The giving the body and blood of Christ to his church through the bread and wine.
6. Christian: The fellowship of all Christians in heaven and on earth.:"the communion of saints".
7. Christian: Can refer to a specific Christian church or family of churches.
8. Christian: To be in communion with a church indicates mutual aceptance of the sacraments and ministry by an individual or group.

1. Christian / Conversion of St. Peter (=Confession of St Peter): Recognition of the words of St Peter when he responded to a question by Jesus and described him as the long awaited messiah.
2. Christian / Conversion of St. Paul (holiday): Observance of the experience of the Paul when he was confronted by a vision of Jesus while on his way to Damascus.

1. Prayer.
2. Christian: The loving awareness of God (the essence of prayer in Christian tradition). It involves no discursive thought.

1. A solemn compact pledging the partners to mutual rights and duties.
2. A promise between God and a category or group of people (= keeping God's law).
3. Jewish: An important Hebrew biblical motif and the central metaphor of Judaism. It is understood that Israel is bound to God for all generations by a covenant whose terms were revealed to Moses on Mount Sinai in the form of the Torah.
4. Christian: The New Covenant includes Jesus' death as payment for human sins.

1. A list of basic beliefs stated as theological propositions.
2. Christian: A short statement of faith in the Christian church, the most important of which are the Apostles' Creed and the Nicene Creed.

1. Classical method of capital punishment used in the Roman Empire in which the condemned are fastened to a cross until death.
2. Christian: According to Biblical accounts, the way Jesus was executed under Roman authority.

1. Muslim (common usage): Non-Muslim country.
2. Muslim: Territories not under Muslim political control where jihads take place.

1. Muslim (common usage): Muslim country.
2. Muslim: Territories under Muslim control, but sometimes used to describe those areas with Muslim majorities. Beyond the Dar al-Islam is the Dar al-Harb.

1. Muslim: Religious outreach, proselytizing "by example".
2. Muslim: Missionary work among non-Muslims.
3. Muslim: "Invitation to Islam".
4. Muslim (Shi'ite): Agents of the Imam who spread the doctrines of Isma'ilism.

1. Muslim / Day of Hajj (holiday): Observance of the revelation to Mohammed on Mount Arafat.
2. Baha'i / Day of the Covenant (holiday): Celebration of the covenant given in the last will and testament of Baha'u'llah.

1. French composer; born 1862.
2. Priory of Sion: Grand Master.

E

1. Taoist: One of the Five Elements that make up the basis of physical and spiritual reality. Associated with spleen, stomach, (the season of ) Indian summer, sweet, yellow, Saturn and (the location) center.
2. [more to come]

1. Christian: The celebration of the death and resurrection of Jesus in (approximately) 30 CE.
2. Christian: The first Sunday after the first full moon after vernal equinox.
3. Christian: The first Sunday after the official full moon on or after the official vernal equinox. The official vernal equinox is always 21 March. The official full moon may differ from the astronomical full moon by one or two days.
4. Christian: Jesus was crucified immediately before the Jewish Passover. Celebration of Passover started on the 14th or 15th day of the (spring) month of Nisan. Jewish months start when the moon is new, therefore the 14th or 15th day of the month must be immediately after a full moon. It was therefore decided to make Easter Sunday the first Sunday after the first full moon after vernal equinox.
5. Christian: Some countries have used the astronomical full moon instead of the official one when calculating Easter. This was the case, for example, of the German Protestant states from 1700-1776, in Sweden in 1740-1844 and in Denmark in the 1700s.

• Paschal Moon: The full moon that precedes Easter.

1. Muslim (Ottoman): A literate man, usually from an urban area.
2. Muslim (Ottoman): A term of respect and subservience used for a civilian bureaucrat, an official in a religious instutition, a military officer.

1. A phantom, apparition, chimera, phantasma.
2. An image of an ideal.
3. A disposition available through intuition.

• Right understanding.
• Right thinking (or, right thoughts).
• Right speech.
• Right conduct (or, right action).
• Right livelihood (or, right means of livelihood).
• Right endeavor (or, right effort).
• Right mindfulness.
• Right meditation (or, right concentration).

1. Christian: The day marking the manifestation of the Christ at Jesus' baptism in the River Jordan.
2. Christian (Hispanic tradition): The day on which the Three Kings visited Jesus in Bethlehem.
3. Christian: The day after 12th Night; the end of the Christmas season.
4. Christian (Protestant): The name of the liturgical season between Christmas and Lent.
5. Christian (Eastern Orthodox): Linked with the blessing of water for baptism.
6. Christian (Roman Catholic, Protestant): Linked with the legend of the showing of Jesus to the three magi or “wise men”; celebrated 6 January.
7. epiphany website1, epiphany website2, epiphany website3.

1. Scientific knowledge by which one knows the causes of things and the laws that govern them.
2. Aristotelian: Scientific knowledge is the chief intellectual virtue. Those with the most wisdom embody the ideal combination of episteme and nous.

1. Common usage: Letters.
2. Christian: The letters from St. Paul to Christian communities as included in the New Testament.

1. Vernal equinox: The day (near 20 March) when the sun passes the equator moving from the southern to the northern hemisphere. Day and night have approximately the same length.
2. Autumnal equinox: The day (near 22 September)when the sun passes the equator moving from the northern to the southern hemisphere. Day and night have approximately the same length.

1. Beliefs and doctrines concerning the end of the world.
2. Jewish/Christian: Any account of the end or goal or ultimate end of human history.
3. Beliefs and doctrines concerning the end of history.
4. Christian: Beliefs and doctrines concerning the events predicted in the Book of Revelations: the final events (death, judgment, heaven and hell).

1. Living a flourishing life capable of realizing the full range of possibilities for rational beings.
2. Aristotilian: Happiness (as a human goal).

1. Christian: "Proclaiming the Gospel".
2. Christian (contemporary): A word used to describe groups of Protestants who concentrate on sharing the Gospel, especially those emphasizing such teachings as the infallibility of the Bible, justification by faith, and personal conversion.
3. Christian: In German-speaking lands, the term is an alternative name for Lutheranism.

1. Christian: Proselytizing.
2. Christian: The spreading of the Gospel.

F

1. Muslim (common usage): Legal expert; one who is considered learned in fiqh.
2. Muslim: A specialist in shari'a, particularly its derivative details.

1. Muslim: Legal opinion or decision, issued by a recognized Islamic authority.
2. Muslim: A formal legal opinion issued by a mufti in response to a query on a point of religious law from a Muslim, whether a governor or a member of the public. The opinion is advisory only and does not bind a judge's final decision.

1. Christian / Feast of the Holy Apostles: Recognizes the martyrdom of Saints Peter and Paul.
2. Christian (Eastern Orthodox) / Feast of St Basil: Commemorates St. Basil the Great, who wrote the Eucharist liturgy which bears his name.
3. Christian (esp. Mexican Roman Catholic) / Feast of our Lady of Guadalupe: Honors the appearance of Mary near Mexico City in 1531.
   
4. Zoroastrian / Feast of Mithra: Festival focusing on Mithra as the angel of light.
5. Jewish / Feast of Tabernacles
6. Christian (Eastern Orthodox) / Feast of the Theophany: Celebrates the revelation of the Holy Trinity in the baptism of Jesus.
7. Christian / Feast of the Visitation: Remembrance of Mary and her cousin Elizabeth to whom the news of Jesus' coming was given.

1. Chinese: Earth divination or geomancy.
2. Traditionally, the Chinese practice of determining auspicious sites for buildings and graves, in accordance with the natural forces and currents of the landscape.
3. Taoist: One of the sacred sciences.
4. The ancient science of living in harmony with the earth through an understanding of the subtle influences of every aspect of surroundings, including landscape and buildings.
5. In contemporary usage: The art of placement (of objects in an environment); creating balance, harmony and prosperity in one's environment.
6. In contemporary usage: The three basic principles are:
• Everything is alive (endowed with living energy known as ch'i)
• Everything is connected (in a web of life).
• Everything is changing (growth and movement produce constant change).

1. Spanish Nobleman: Count of Guastalla; b. 1507, d. 1557 or 1575.
2. Priory of Sion: Grand Master.