MATSEC IM Religious Knowledge key terms

God's free self-communication to humanity, especially through Israel's history and definitively in Jesus Christ, handed on in Scripture and Tradition and received in faith by the Church.

The action of the Holy Spirit by which the human authors of Scripture wrote what God intended to communicate, so that the Bible is truly God's word in human language and literary forms.

The closed list of books the Church recognises as inspired and normative; Catholics accept 46 Old Testament and 27 New Testament books, including the deuterocanonical writings.

Old Testament books such as Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach and 1–2 Maccabees, accepted by the Catholic Church as inspired but absent from most Protestant Bibles, which call them Apocrypha.

The Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures made in the centuries before Christ, widely used by the New Testament writers and by the early Church; its name means 'seventy'.

The kind of writing a biblical text uses - narrative, law, prophecy, psalm, gospel, letter, parable or apocalyptic - which guides how its meaning should be read and interpreted.

The disciplined study of a biblical text's language, historical setting, literary structure and theological message, so that interpretation rests on evidence rather than on personal impression alone.

The theory of how texts are interpreted, asking what principles and presuppositions a reader brings; in theology it concerns reading Scripture within the Church's faith and today's culture.

The deeper meaning God intended in a biblical text, beyond what its human author consciously foresaw, which becomes visible in the light of later revelation and the Church's reading.

Reading Old Testament persons and events - the Exodus, the Passover lamb, David, Jonah - as prefiguring Christ and the Church, on the principle that the New Testament fulfils the Old.

A binding relationship God establishes with his people, as with Noah, Abraham, Moses and David, and renews in Christ; it carries promises, obligations and a shared identity.

A short comparison drawn from everyday life, used by Jesus to reveal the nature of God's kingdom and to invite a response, often unsettling the expectations of the hearer.

A symbolic, visionary genre, found in Daniel and Revelation, that uses beasts, numbers and cosmic conflict to assure a persecuted community that God will finally vindicate the faithful.

Matthew, Mark and Luke, so called because they can be set side by side and compared; their shared material and differences raise the question of sources and order of composition.

A hypothetical collection of sayings of Jesus, mostly absent from Mark, proposed to explain material shared by Matthew and Luke; no copy survives and its existence is inferred, not proven.

A method that identifies the small units of oral tradition behind the Gospels - sayings, controversy stories, miracle accounts - and studies the situation in which each was first transmitted.

German for 'setting in life': the concrete situation in a community, such as worship, preaching or legal dispute, in which a biblical text or tradition took shape and was used.

The central Christian belief that the one God exists as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, three distinct persons sharing one divine nature, equal in majesty and co-eternal.

The belief that the eternal Son of God took human nature and became truly man in Jesus of Nazareth, without ceasing to be divine, uniting divinity and humanity in one person.

The teaching, defined at Chalcedon in 451, that in Christ one divine person subsists in two complete natures, divine and human, without confusion, change, division or separation.

The branch of theology that asks who Jesus Christ is and what his person and work mean, considering titles such as Messiah, Son of God, Lord and Suffering Servant.

Hebrew for 'anointed one', the expected royal deliverer from David's line; Christians identify Jesus as the Christ, while reinterpreting messiahship in the light of his cross and resurrection.

The doctrine of salvation: how human beings are rescued from sin and death, why Christ's life, death and resurrection save, and how that saving work reaches the believer.

The reconciliation between God and humanity achieved through Christ; theologians explain it with images of sacrifice, victory over evil, satisfaction and representative obedience.

The state of estrangement and weakness into which every person is born, arising from humanity's first rejection of God; it is not a personal guilt but a condition needing redemption.

God's undeserved favour and enabling presence, given freely in Christ and through the sacraments, which heals human freedom and empowers love rather than overriding it.

Being made right with God through faith in Christ and the gift of the Spirit; Catholic teaching sees it as real inner renewal, not merely a legal verdict covering an unchanged heart.

Teaching about the last things: death, judgement, heaven, hell and the resurrection of the body, together with the final coming of God's kingdom and the renewal of creation.

God's sovereign rule of justice, mercy and peace, announced by Jesus as already beginning in his ministry and still awaited in fullness at the end of history.

The saving event of Christ's passion, death, resurrection and ascension, celebrated in the liturgy and entered by believers through baptism and the Eucharist.

The living transmission of the Gospel in the Church through preaching, worship, witness and teaching, which together with Scripture forms one deposit of faith handed down from the apostles.

The teaching office of the bishops in communion with the Pope, entrusted with guarding and interpreting the word of God authentically; its authority is exercised in service of revelation, not above it.

The unbroken handing on of the apostles' ministry through the laying on of hands in episcopal ordination, understood as a sign of continuity in faith and mission.

A gathering of bishops from the whole Church whose solemn definitions on faith and discipline are received as authoritative, such as Nicaea, Chalcedon and Vatican II.

The profession of faith formulated at Nicaea in 325 and completed at Constantinople in 381, confessing the Trinity and the Incarnation; it is recited at Sunday Mass.

The 451 council that defined Christ as one person in two natures, divine and human, rejecting both the denial of his full humanity and the merging of his two natures.

The sixteenth-century movement of protest and reform, associated with Luther and Calvin, which split Western Christianity and prompted the Catholic reforms of the Council of Trent.

The Catholic renewal following the Reformation, expressed in the Council of Trent, new religious orders, seminary formation and reformed worship, and in renewed missionary activity worldwide.

An efficacious sign of grace instituted by Christ and entrusted to the Church, through which divine life is given; the seven are Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist, Penance, Anointing, Orders and Marriage.

The first sacrament, celebrated with water and the Trinitarian formula, which incorporates a person into Christ and the Church, forgives sin and confers a new identity as God's child.

The sacrament of Christ's body and blood, celebrated as thanksgiving and memorial of his Passover; under the signs of bread and wine the faithful receive his real presence and are made one body.

The Catholic term for the change by which the whole substance of bread and wine becomes Christ's body and blood while the appearances remain; it expresses real presence, not symbolism.

The yearly cycle of seasons - Advent, Christmas, Lent, Easter, Ordinary Time - with its readings and feasts, which unfolds the whole mystery of Christ in worship.

The moral order knowable by human reason reflecting on human nature and its goods, which grounds ethics accessible to believers and non-believers alike and underlies Catholic social teaching.

A person's inner judgement of what is right and wrong here and now; it must be informed and followed, and Catholic teaching stresses both its dignity and its need for formation.

The belief that every person has incomparable worth because they are made in God's image and called to communion, a dignity not earned by ability, status or usefulness.

The sum of social conditions that allow people and communities to flourish and reach fulfilment; it includes respect for persons, social well-being, peace and access to basic goods.

The virtue of committed responsibility for one another, treating other peoples and nations as neighbours; it opposes indifference and demands action for justice, especially for the vulnerable.

The principle that decisions should be taken at the lowest level capable of handling them, so that larger bodies support rather than absorb families, local groups and communities.

The Gospel priority of love for those who are materially or socially deprived, which shapes Christian judgement about economic and political choices without excluding anyone from God's care.

A free choice against God's will and the true good, damaging the sinner, the community and creation; Catholic teaching distinguishes mortal from venial sin by matter, knowledge and consent.

The effort to restore unity among Christians divided since the Reformation and earlier schisms, through dialogue, common prayer and cooperation, while respecting genuine differences.

Respectful conversation and cooperation between Christians and followers of other religions, seeking mutual understanding, shared ethical action and deeper knowledge of one another's beliefs.

The 1965 declaration of the Second Vatican Council on the Church's relation to non-Christian religions, affirming respect for what is true and holy in them and rejecting antisemitism.

The process by which the Gospel takes root in a particular culture, expressing Christian faith through local language, music, art and customs without losing its essential content.

Devotional practices of ordinary believers, such as processions and patron-saint feasts, which express faith vividly and are especially visible in Maltese parish life.