Theological Foundations FINAL EXAM STUDY GUIDE

Comprehensive practice vocabulary flashcards for THEO 111 Final Exam based on Spring 2026 course material.

Ignatius of Loyola

The founder of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) whose conversion occurred after a cannonball wound led him to reflect on his life purpose.

Spiritual Exercises

A structured program of prayer, reflection, and discernment developed by Ignatius and used for over $500+$ years.

Finding God in All Things

The core Ignatian insight that God is present in all dimensions of life, including work, nature, relationships, and daily experience.

Cura Personalis

Care for the whole person, encompassing intellectual, spiritual, emotional, and physical dimensions.

Discernment

The Ignatian practice of reading interior movements to make significant life decisions.

Consolation

An interior movement where a person feels drawn toward God, others, and life.

Desolation

An interior movement characterized by withdrawal, self-centeredness, and darkness.

Contemplative in Action

One of the four pillars of Jesuit spirituality that balances prayerful reflection with active service in the world.

Incarnational Way

A Jesuit pillar that involves looking at the world as a place where God is embodied and active.

Freedom and Detachment

A Jesuit pillar focused on seeking internal liberty to better serve God and others.

Men and Women for Others

A phrase coined by Arrupe stating that the purpose of education is service to the world rather than personal success alone.

Service of Faith and Promotion of Justice

According to Kolvenbach, these two elements are inseparable hallmarks of Jesuit education.

Learned Ministry

A hallmark of Jesuit education defined by Nicolas as depth of thought rather than surface-level information.

Theology

Faith seeking understanding, which involves asking difficult questions about God, meaning, and humanity.

The Four Sources of Theology

The multi-faceted basis for theological reflection: Scripture, Tradition, Reason, and Experience.

Ultimate Concern

Tillich's definition of faith as whatever a person organizes their deepest life around.

Human Quest

Volf's concept that everyone is searching for meaning and flourishing, with theology acting as a navigation tool.

Soul (Thomas Moore)

The deep quality of everyday life characterized by depth, value, and relatedness, rather than just a religious concept.

Loss of Soul

A modern condition evidenced by symptoms such as depression, addiction, obsession, and meaninglessness.

Honoring Symptoms

Thomas Moore’s approach of listening to struggles as voices of the soul rather than problems to fix.

Religion and the Unconscious

The idea that religion provides symbols and rituals that give the unconscious mind a necessary language.

Jung's Soul Insight

The psychological theory that the soul craves meaning and transcendence, and will find darker substitutes if denied.

Will to Meaning

Frankl’s assertion that humans are driven by a need for purpose, even in the midst of extreme suffering.

Mystical Experience (Solle)

Sacred encounters that ordinary people experience through suffering, love, and solidarity.

Howard Thurman

Thinker who argued that commitment, community, and spiritual discipline are foundations for wholeness and justice.

Religion (General Definition)

A community's shared beliefs, practices, and stories regarding ultimate reality and how to live.

Creed

One of the three mechanics of religion referring to what the community believes.

Code

One of the three mechanics of religion referring to how the community acts and its ethical standards.

Ceremony

One of the three mechanics of religion referring to how the community worships together.

Religious Critics

Thinkers like Freud, Marx, and Nietzsche who examined the potential for religion to be corrupted by power or fear.

Life-Giving vs. Life-Denying

The evaluative question used to determine if a religion frees people or controls them.

Marcus Borg

A theologian who portrays Jesus as a social prophet, teacher of wisdom, and historical revolutionary.

Earlier Paradigm

A framework seeing the gospels through biblical literalism and focusing on personal salvation and doctrine.

Emerging Paradigm

Borg's framework viewing the gospels as products of early Christian communities focused on transformation and justice.

Kingdom of God (Borg)

The central message of Jesus involving the embodiment of God's justice in the present world.

Domination System

Borg's term for social structures that maintain inequality through power, violence, and ideology.

Roman Imperial Rule

A component of the Domination System in Jesus' time characterized by power and violence.

Temple-State Economic System

The economic layer of the historical Domination System that Jesus challenged by healing and eating with outcasts.

Purity Codes

Social and religious rules during Jesus' time used to exclude the poor, sick, and women from society.

The Cross (Analytical Meaning)

The response of the Domination System to Jesus' challenge, used as execution to warn others.

Borg's Resurrection

The theological claim that the Domination System did not have the last word and that life and justice ultimately win.

The Broad Way

The conventional social path organized around honor, status, and conformity to the Domination System.

The Narrow Way

The path of transformation organized around compassion, justice, and solidarity with the excluded.

Faith Memory

The description of the Gospels as stories shaped by the community's experience of the risen Jesus, rather than news reports.

Historical Context of Jesus

The setting shaped by Jewish wisdom tradition, prophets, Psalms, and the crisis of Roman imperial occupation.

Mainline Protestant Approach

Welcomes critical and historical methods, viewing Scripture as primary but interpreted through reason and community.

Roman Catholic Approach

Holds Scripture and Tradition as co-equal sources, guided by official Church teaching (Magisterium).

Fundamentalist Protestant Approach

Views the Bible as the inerrant, literally true Word of God and rejects historical criticism.

Catholic Fundamentalism

Resists Vatican $II$ reforms and applies infallibility rigidly to all Church statements and hierarchy.

Evangelicalism

A movement emphasizing biblical authority, conversion ('born again'), the cross, and active witness.

Literalism

A method that reads text at face value and ignores historical and cultural context.

Source Criticism

A biblical method that asks what earlier written sources an author utilized, such as the two creation accounts in Genesis.

Redaction Criticism

A method analyzing how editors shaped and arranged biblical texts for specific theological reasons.

Biblical Themes

Recurring concepts across both testaments such as Creation, Covenant, Community, and Liberation.

Social Location

The combination of factors like race, gender, and class that shape how one experiences God and the world.

Feminist Theology

Theology that challenges male-dominated images of God and questions if Christianity has subordinated women.

Black Liberation Theology

Theology reading the Gospel through the experience of slavery and racism, asserting God is on the side of the oppressed.

Womanist Theology

Theology centering the experiences of Black women facing the triple burden of racism, sexism, and classism.

Latin American Liberation Theology

Theology emphasizing that God belongs especially to those who suffer most in society.

Preferential Option for the Poor

The liberation theology principle that God has a special concern for those in positions of suffering.

Radical Love (Cheng)

The central concept that God’s love crosses and erases all boundaries that separate people from each other and God.

Queer (Theological Definition)

A term describing anything that transgresses or dissolves fixed boundaries and categories.

Five Aspects of Radical Love

Cheng defines these as self-loving, other-loving, erotic, transgressive, and transformative love.

Clobber Passages

Handful of biblical texts often used to argue against LGBTQ+ inclusion, such as Leviticus $18/20$ and Romans $1$.

Natural Law (Catholic Tradition)

The view that same-sex relationships cannot fulfill the procreative purpose essential to sexuality.

Laudato Si’

Pope Francis's document diagnosing the environmental crisis and calling for care for 'Our Common Home'.

Throwaway Culture

The tendency to treat both the planet and people as disposable without concern for the future.

Rapidification

The phenomenon where the pace of modern change outruns humanity's moral and spiritual capacity to respond.

Technocratic Paradigm

The modern belief that all problems can be solved strictly through technology and the market.

Anthropocentrism

The root cause of environmental crisis where humans are placed at the center as masters rather than stewards.

Integral Ecology

The Pope’s principle that care for the environment and care for human beings cannot be separated.

Ecological Conversion

A genuine change of heart and lifestyle required to love and protect the Earth.

Religious Pluralism

The engagement with diverse religions, categorized by Creed, Code, and Ceremony, toward global responsibility.

Dukkha

The Buddhist First Noble Truth stating that life involves suffering.

Four Noble Truths

The Buddhist Creed: ($1$) life is suffering, ($2$) cause is craving, ($3$) suffering can end, ($4$) the path is the Eightfold Path.

Pratityasamutpada

The Buddhist teaching of interdependence; the idea that everything arises in relation to everything else.

Three Jewels

The core of Buddhism: Buddha (teacher), Dharma (teaching), and Sangha (community).

Anicca

The Buddhist concept of impermanence.

Anatta

The Buddhist concept of 'no-self'.

Ahimsa

The ethical principle of non-violence toward all sentient beings in Buddhism and Hinduism.

Karuna

The Buddhist virtue of compassion, described as the active desire to relieve others' suffering.

Metta

The Buddhist virtue of loving-kindness toward all.

Right Livelihood

Part of the Eightfold Path that instructs followers to avoid occupations that harm living beings.

Engaged Buddhism

A movement applying Buddhist ethics to social justice, war, poverty, and ecological issues.

Allah

The one God in Islam, characterized by absolute oneness (Tawhid).

Iman

The Five Pillars of Faith in Islam: belief in Allah, angels, prophets, scriptures, and Judgment Day.

Shahada

The declaration of faith: 'There is no God but Allah and Muhammad is His messenger.'

Tawhid

The absolute oneness of God, implying the unity and interconnectedness of all creation.

Khalifa

The Islamic concept of humans as stewards or trustees of the Earth, accountable to God.

Zakat

Obligatory almsgiving in Islam involving giving $2.503923485093485093485093485093485093485093485093485093485 imes 10^{-2}$ of wealth to the poor.

Salat

The Five Pillars practice of five daily prayers facing toward Mecca.

Sawm

Fasting during the month of Ramadan to cultivate solidarity with the hungry.

Hajj

The global pilgrimage to Mecca that dissolves racial and class distinctions among pilgrims.

Sharia

Islamic law covering family, finance, diet, and ethics.

Haram

Forbidden actions in Islam, including interest-based banking and exploitation.

Halal

Permitted actions in Islam, including just business and caring for the poor.

Adl

The Islamic ethic of justice demanding fairness in economic and social life.

James Martin

Author of 'A Jesuit’s Guide to Almost Everything' explaining how Ignatian spirituality is practical for modern life.

Monica Hellwig

Thinker who argues that Ignatian spirituality is accessible for modern social engagement.

Paul Tillich

Theologian who broadened theology by defining faith as one's 'ultimate concern'.