Introduction to Western Religions and Judaism Vocabulary

Vocabulary practice flashcards covering key terms, historical categories, and narrative concepts from the lecture on the introduction to Western religions, Jewishness, and Judaism.

Abrahamic traditions

The three Western religious traditions—Judaism, Christianity, and Islam—that emerge from roughly the same region and are connected to a common narrative character named Abraham.

CE

Common Era; the standard academic labeling used for dates instead of AD (ano domino).

BCE

Before the Common Era; the academic category used for dates prior to the Common Era.

Sacred history

The rendering of past events focusing on what happened means for religious practitioners and their ongoing relationship with God.

Archaeology

The study of old things dug out of the ground left behind by humans, which helps clarify geographical markers and ideas in religious studies.

Jewishness

An ethnicity, cultural identity, or group memory into which a person can be born, distinguished from practicing the religion of Judaism.

Judaism

The religious faith and practice distinct from cultural Jewishness, though closely intertwined with Jewish cultural identity.

Ethnoreligious identity

An identity category describing a community or heritage that is combination of both ethnic (cultural) and religious dimensions.

Religiosity

A category in the study of religious culture used to measure how a person expresses religious identity, such as through attendance, beliefs, or ritual participation.

Demographics

Literally meaning writing about people (from Greek demos for people), referring to the study and mapping of human populations and identity.

Israel

A term referring to the modern political nation state, which in ancient Hebrew texts literally means 'one who struggles with God' and was given as a name to Jacob.

Hebrew

A term originating from early Mesopotamian background meaning 'outsider', applied to the narrative people and now primarily describing the language of Jewish texts.

Jew

A term derived from the root word Judah, an ancient tribal and geographical label, now describing members of the Jewish ethnoreligious community.

Semitic

A term derived from the name Shem, used to describe people, languages, and cultures rooted in Mesopotamia and the Ancient Near East.

ANE

Scholarly shorthand for the Ancient Near East, encompassing Mesopotamia and surrounding areas.

Abram

The original name of the narrative patriarch in the Hebrew Bible, meaning 'exalted father'.

Abraham

The renamed narrative character meaning 'father of many', who enters into a covenant with God that forms the baseline for Judaism.

Covenant

A binding contract or agreement established between God and a person or family, such as God's deal with Abraham and his children.

Prophet

An ancient Semitic word describing someone who speaks the things of God or conveys what God wants people to hear.

Exodus

A word derived from Greek and Latin roots meaning 'to come out', describing the delivery of the children of Israel out of slavery in Egypt.

Y H W H

The sacred four-letter divine name of God (Yudhei, Bavhei in Hebrew; Yahweh in English) revealed to Moses at the burning bush.

Adonai

The respectful substitute word spoken in synagogues in place of pronouncing the sacred divine name Yahweh.

10 Words

The Hebrew name for the 10 Commandments, representing the core of the Hebrew canon written directly by Yahweh.

Tanakh

The canonical collection of texts comprising the Hebrew Bible.

Passover

The annual spring ritual celebrating the event where death passed over the covenant households marked with sacred animal blood during the Exodus from Egypt.

Tabernacle

An English translation meaning 'tent', referring to the portable structure that housed the ark containing the stones of the 10 Words.

Sabbath

The weekly day of rest in Judaism, observed on Saturday from sundown Friday night to sundown Saturday night.