APHG 5-2 Vocab: Key Terms in Religion & Belief Systems

Ethnic Religion

A religion identified with a particular ethnic group and largely exclusive to it. Such a religion does not seek converts

Universalizing Religion

A religion that claims global truth and applicability, regardless of ethnicity or culture group, and seeks the conversion of all humankind via proselytizing

Tribal Religion

An ethnic religion tied to a small localized, preindustrial culture group

Religion

A personal or institutionalized system of worship and of faith in the sacred and divine

Toponym

A place or geographic feature name

Shamanism

A set of beliefs and practices in some tribal religions based on belief in a hidden world of gods, ancestral spirits, and demons responsive only to a shaman or interceding priest

Sacred Places

Location with special significance to a religious group, and often attracting pilgrimages or worship rituals. Sacred places are often natural features or religious structures directly connected with a deity or associated with significant events in the history of a particular religion

Polytheism

Belief in or worship of more than one god

Animism

A belief that natural objects may be the abode of dead people, spirits, or gods who occasionally give the objects the appearance of life

Monotheism

The belief that there is but a single god