Edexcel GCSE Religious Studies A key terms

The five groups of physical and mental processes that make up a person’s experience: material form, feeling, perception, mental formations and consciousness.

The five central practices of Sunni Islam: Shahadah, Salah, Zakah, Sawm and Hajj.

A marriage imposed on someone without their free consent.

Choosing not to seek revenge or continue blaming someone for a wrong they have committed.

Worship that follows an established order of readings, prayers and actions; also called liturgical worship.

A prayer with established words, which can be repeated privately or said together during worship.

Four major Twelver Shi’a Hadith collections: al-Kafi, Man la yahduruh al-faqih, Tahdhib al-ahkam and al-Istibsar.

The ability to make choices rather than having every decision determined or imposed.

A painting made by applying pigment to fresh plaster, so that the image becomes part of the plaster as it dries.

The teaching that Jesus brings the Law of Moses and the Prophets to their intended purpose rather than simply abolishing them.

The Church’s prayers and ceremonies for someone who has died, expressing faith in Christ’s resurrection, praying for the deceased and supporting mourners.

‘Branches of religion’: the name given to the practices of Shi’a Islam, including the Ten Obligatory Acts.

The understanding that the full establishment of God’s rule still lies ahead, bringing the fulfilment of salvation and eternal life.

‘The Garden of Eden’: a term used in Jewish teachings for the peace and closeness to God experienced by righteous souls after death.

The goddess associated with the River Ganges, which many Hindus revere as a sacred, life-giving river.

A state or realm of punishment or purification after death. Some Jews understand it as temporary, while other interpretations describe a lasting fate for the utterly wicked.

Rabbinic discussion and analysis of the Mishnah, forming the other part of the Talmud.

Unfair treatment of someone because of their gender.

The belief that men and women have equal worth and dignity. Christians disagree about whether this requires identical authority and roles within the family.

A judgement about someone based on their gender rather than their individual qualities, often involving assumptions of superiority or inferiority.

God making himself known through what is available to everyone, particularly creation and human reason.

The first book of the Bible, in the Old Testament; its opening chapters contain accounts of creation and humanity’s disobedience.

A person who is not Jewish.

A flight of steps leading down to a river. Some ghats are used for bathing, while cremation ghats are used for funeral rites.

Explaining something by appealing to God because a natural explanation is not yet known. Critics argue that this reasoning becomes weaker when scientific explanations are discovered.

God’s purposes and intentions, which Christians seek to follow.

A Tibetan Buddhist temple or monastery combining spaces for devotion, meditation and learning.

In Nichiren Buddhist practice, chanting Nam Myoho Renge Kyo and reciting passages from the Lotus Sutra.