AQA GCSE Religious Studies A key terms

A truth about God that Christians believe is revealed by God but cannot be fully understood through human reason alone.

A person who seeks direct experience or awareness of God or ultimate reality, often through prayer or meditation.

The name of God; remembering Naam keeps a Sikh’s attention directed towards God.

The Sikh name-giving ceremony, which celebrates a child’s birth and welcomes the child into the religious community.

Remembrance of God through repeating or reflecting on the divine name; closely related to nam japna.

A religious street procession in which the Guru Granth Sahib is carried respectfully and participants sing sacred hymns.

The Shi'a obligatory act of discouraging others from doing what is wrong according to Islam.

Remembering and meditating on God's name.

Remembering and meditating on God’s name.

A costly aromatic substance used in the ointment that the woman poured on Jesus’ head at Bethany.

The legal minimum hourly wage for eligible workers aged 21 and over in the UK.

Suffering caused by natural events or processes rather than deliberate human wrongdoing, such as earthquakes or disease.

Planning births by tracking fertility and avoiding sexual intercourse during fertile times, without artificial contraceptives.

An approach to morality based on the belief that human nature and its purposes provide guidance about right and wrong. In Catholic teaching, this natural order comes from God.

Something found in nature that people can use, such as water, timber, minerals, coal, oil or natural gas.

The process in which organisms with advantageous inherited characteristics are more likely to survive, reproduce and pass those characteristics to their offspring.

A miracle involving power over the natural world, such as Jesus stilling a storm.

A person towards whom someone has a responsibility to show love and care; Christians understand this responsibility as extending beyond friends or their own community.

A Japanese Pure Land Buddhist practice of contemplating and reciting the name of Amitabha Buddha.

The ‘eternal light’ in a synagogue, kept burning to represent God’s continuing presence.

The Prophets: the section of the Tenakh containing accounts of Israelite history and prophetic teachings.

Liberation through extinguishing greed, hate and ignorance; understood as peace and freedom from suffering and the cycle of rebirth. Nirvana is the Sanskrit form of the term.

A statement of Christian belief affirming, among other teachings, that Jesus is truly God and became human.

The occasion during Ramadan when Muslims believe Muhammad received the first revelation of the Qur'an.

Brahman understood without limiting qualities or a particular form, beyond time and space.

The cessation of suffering through the ending of craving; the Third Noble Truth.

In Buddhism, liberation from craving, suffering and the cycle of birth, death and rebirth.