Key terms & definitions

A protein-rich food made from the harvested and purified biomass of a fungus.

A fatty, electrically insulating layer around an axon or dendron that increases the speed of impulse transmission.

A fatty insulating layer around a nerve fibre that speeds up electrical impulse transmission.

A fatty insulating covering around some nerve fibres that helps electrical impulses travel faster.

The killing of hundreds of Vietnamese civilians by American soldiers at My Lai on 16 March 1968.

A defect of vision in which light from a distant object is focused in front of the retina, making distant objects appear blurred.

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

The invitation after the consecration at Mass to which the congregation responds by proclaiming Christ’s saving death and resurrection.

A medieval religious play acting out Bible stories in the people’s own language, often forming part of a cycle produced and paid for by a town’s craft guilds.

A religious play presenting biblical stories, especially associated with medieval cycles covering events from creation to the Last Judgement.

A person who poses as an ordinary customer and reports on their experience so a business can assess its service.

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

An experience of deep spiritual insight or closeness to God, sometimes described as union with God.

A traditional story involving gods, heroes or extraordinary events, which could be retold in different versions.

A religious narrative that expresses deep truths about God, humanity or the world through its story and imagery.

Bowles and Gintis’s argument that the belief that everyone succeeds through ability and effort disguises unequal opportunities and makes class inequality appear deserved.

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, a civil rights organisation that supported legal challenges to racial discrimination.

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

Remembering and reciting God’s name as an expression of devotion.

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 Babylonian historical record written in cuneiform on a clay tablet. It records Astyages’ defeat, his troops’ rebellion and Cyrus’ capture of Ecbatana.

The self or soul, whose selfish desires must be disciplined in Sufi spiritual practice.

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.

The Muslim duty to discourage wrongdoing and bad actions; also written as Nahi Anil Munkar.

A member of a Nahuatl-speaking indigenous people of central Mexico. Nahua peoples were not a single united political group.

The language spoken by the Mexica, the people at the centre of the Aztec Empire.

The duty to discourage others from doing what is wrong according to Islamic teaching.

A female divine spirit associated with fresh water, such as a river or spring.