JC Religious Education key terms

God's free self-communication to humanity, made known through creation, history, and above all through Jesus Christ, inviting people into a relationship of faith and love.

The living transmission of the Gospel in the Church from the apostles onward, carried in teaching, worship, and witness, and distinct from yet inseparable from written Scripture.

The whole content of revelation entrusted to the Church, comprising Scripture and Tradition, preserved and interpreted by the teaching office of the Church across generations.

The teaching authority of the Church exercised by bishops in union with the pope, which authentically interprets Scripture and Tradition and guards the faithful from doctrinal error.

The Holy Spirit's action on the human authors of the Bible, so that their writings truly convey what God intends to teach, without removing their own styles and perspectives.

The authoritative list of books the Church recognises as inspired and normative, comprising the Old and New Testaments, closed in the early centuries of the Church.

The disciplined interpretation of biblical texts using literary, historical, and theological methods, attentive to genre, context, and the unity of the whole canon.

Reading persons, events, or institutions of the Old Testament as patterns that prefigure and are fulfilled in Christ and the Church, such as the Exodus foreshadowing baptism.

A binding relationship God establishes with a people, involving promises and obligations, progressively renewed with Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, and fulfilled in Christ.

The central Christian doctrine that one God exists as three distinct persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, sharing one divine nature in perfect unity and mutual love.

The union in Jesus Christ of a complete divine nature and a complete human nature in the one person of the Word, without confusion, change, division, or separation.

The eternal Son of God taking on human flesh and becoming truly human in Jesus of Nazareth, born of the Virgin Mary, so that humanity might share in divine life.

The mutual indwelling and interpenetration of the three divine persons, each wholly in the others, expressing the unity of the Trinity as a communion of love.

The teaching that every human being is created in the image of God, grounding innate dignity, relationality, and responsibility, a likeness restored and perfected in Christ.

The doctrine that God brought the universe into being out of nothing, without pre-existing material, affirming both God's freedom and the goodness of all created things.

God's continuing care and governance of creation, guiding all things toward their appointed end without eliminating genuine human freedom and responsibility.

The attempt to reconcile belief in a good and all-powerful God with the reality of evil and suffering, often answered through free will, solidarity, and the cross.

The passion, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ, the saving event at the heart of the Gospel and the source of grace celebrated in the sacraments.

The reconciliation between God and humanity accomplished through Christ's life, death, and resurrection, understood variously as victory, sacrifice, satisfaction, and self-giving love.

God's gracious act of making a sinner righteous and restoring friendship with him, received through faith and expressed in a transformed life of love and obedience.

The habitual gift of God's own life dwelling in the soul, making a person holy and pleasing to God, and distinct from the transient helps called actual graces.

An efficacious sign of grace instituted by Christ and entrusted to the Church, through which divine life is given and worship of God is offered.

The sacrament of Christ's body and blood under the forms of bread and wine, the source and summit of Christian life, celebrated as thanksgiving, memorial, and real presence.

The change by which the whole substance of bread and wine becomes the body and blood of Christ, while the appearances of bread and wine remain unchanged.

The spiritual solidarity of all the faithful, on earth, in purgatory, and in glory, who share in Christ's life and can assist one another through prayer and merit.

The moral order written in human reason and conscience, knowable apart from revelation, directing people toward genuine goods and away from what destroys human flourishing.

The interior judgement of reason by which a person recognises the moral quality of an act and is called to choose good and avoid evil; it must be formed and respected.

The sum of social conditions that allow individuals and groups to reach their fulfilment, including respect for persons, social well-being, peace, and accessible goods.

The principle that decisions should be made at the lowest competent level of society, with higher bodies intervening only when smaller communities cannot fulfil their responsibilities.

The moral commitment to stand with others, especially the poor and vulnerable, recognising that all people belong to one human family and share responsibility for one another.

The moral priority given to the needs of the poor and marginalised in personal and social decisions, following Christ's own identification with the least among us.

The conviction that human life is a gift from God with inviolable dignity from conception to natural death, forbidding direct killing of the innocent.

A traditional practice of prayerful reading of Scripture, moving through reading, meditation, prayer, and contemplation, to encounter God in the text.

A simple, receptive form of prayer in which attention rests on God without many words or images, often described as a silent gaze of love.

Prayer of petition offered on behalf of others, asking God for particular gifts or help, and a mark of a heart open to the needs of the wider world.

The annual cycle of seasons and feasts, from Advent through Christmas, Lent, Easter, and Ordinary Time, that unfolds the mystery of Christ in worship.

The effort to restore visible unity among Christians, through dialogue, common prayer, and cooperation, in obedience to Christ's prayer that all may be one.

Respectful conversation and cooperation between members of different religious traditions, seeking mutual understanding, shared values, and the common good.

The social reality of multiple religious traditions coexisting in one society, raising questions about truth, tolerance, and how believers relate to one another.

The decline of religious influence in public life and institutions, alongside the privatisation of belief, a key feature of contemporary Western culture.

The process by which the Gospel takes root in a particular culture, expressing Christian faith in local language, symbols, and customs without compromising its substance.