AQA GCSE Religious Studies A key terms

A harvesting tool with a curved blade and a short handle, used to cut ripe crops.

The founder of Buddhism, who left a sheltered life of luxury to seek an answer to suffering and became the Buddha.

A Jewish prayer book containing the prayers and their order for daily worship and other occasions.

A remarkable act which points to divine power and confirms the message being proclaimed.

An act, thought or attitude that goes against God’s will.

The covenant between God and the Israelites at Mount Sinai, mediated by Moses, through which the people undertook to obey God’s commandments.

A name meaning ‘lion’, used by many Sikh men to express shared Sikh identity rather than inherited caste status.

A family in which one parent raises a child or children.

A person who sins, meaning that they act against God’s will. In this passage, ‘sinners’ also identifies people regarded by the critics as outside respectable religious society.

People regarded as disobeying God’s law or living in a morally unacceptable way. In Mark, the label also helps explain why some people were socially rejected.

An ethical approach which judges actions by what is most loving in the particular circumstances, rather than simply applying fixed rules.

The main Sunni beliefs: Allah, angels, holy books, prophets, the Day of Judgement and predestination.

Generosity, morality, patience, energy, meditation and wisdom: qualities cultivated on the Bodhisattva path.

An ethical action motivated by qualities such as compassion, understanding or generosity, which tends towards happiness rather than suffering.

A Tibetan funeral practice in which the dead body is offered to vultures.

Enabling people to participate in society and access opportunities rather than being excluded because of circumstances such as poverty, caste or gender.

Unfair treatment of a person or group, or an unfair arrangement within society.

Fair treatment of people and efforts to address unjust inequalities in society.

Movement of individuals or families up or down the social or economic ladder.

A Catholic organisation that tackles poverty and disadvantage through practical assistance, friendship, prayer and mutual support, helping people regardless of their beliefs or background.

A title identifying Jesus with the promised descendant of King David and expressing belief that he is the Messiah.

A title expressing Jesus’ unique relationship with God and, for Christians, his divine identity and authority.

A title Jesus uses for himself; in Mark 8:38, it identifies him as the one who will come in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.

The spiritual aspect of a person which many believers understand as capable of surviving physical death.

The spiritual inner space in which the divine can be encountered. This belief allows worship wherever a person is, rather than only in a sacred building.

A direct disclosure of the divine to a particular person or group, for example through a vision or a message received by a prophet.

The belief that Christ is present spiritually in the Eucharist without the bread and wine literally becoming his body and blood.