Glossary
Plain definitions of terms used throughout the book. Where a term is contested, the definition aims to describe it fairly rather than to settle the debate.
Adiaphora
Literally "indifferent things." Matters on which Scripture does not bind the conscience and faithful Christians may differ — distinct from the essentials of the faith. See Heresy & Discernment.
Already / not yet
The biblical tension that the Kingdom of God has already arrived in Jesus and is not yet fully consummated. We live in the overlap of the ages. See The Kingdom of God.
Bearing false witness
Lying about or misrepresenting another person — forbidden by the ninth commandment. In the digital age it includes spreading unverified claims, slander, and conspiracy. See Truth, Misinformation & the Digital Age.
Christian nationalism
An ideology that fuses Christian identity with national identity, seeking to privilege one religious-cultural group as a nation's rightful owners and often defining the nation against an out-group. Distinguished from ordinary patriotism and critiqued in Nationalism, Kingdom & Dominion.
Common good
The conditions that allow all members of a community to flourish. A central idea in Catholic social teaching and broader Christian ethics. See Human Rights.
Common grace
God's goodness shown to all people — sustaining the world and enabling truth, beauty, and good even outside the Church. See Beauty, the Arts & Imagination.
Complementarianism
The view that women and men have equal worth but are called to some distinct, complementary roles, with certain church and home leadership offices reserved for men. Contrast egalitarianism. See Women, Men & Ministry.
Covenant
A binding, relational promise — the form of God's commitment to his people, and the biblical pattern for marriage. More than a contract; a bond of steadfast love. See Marriage, Family & Singleness.
Creed
A short, authoritative summary of Christian belief. The Apostles' Creed and Nicene Creed summarize the essentials confessed across the Church. See Heresy & Discernment and Resources.
Cultural mandate
The calling, given at creation, for humanity to fill the earth and cultivate it — to develop the potential of God's world through work, family, art, and culture. Closely tied to "dominion" rightly understood.
Disinformation
Falsehood spread deliberately to deceive or manipulate (as distinct from misinformation, which is shared without knowing it is false). See Truth, Misinformation & the Digital Age.
Dominion
In Genesis 1:28, the human vocation to rule creation — defined by Genesis 2:15 as serving and keeping it. Properly understood as stewardship, not exploitation. See Creation, Stewardship & Dominion.
Dominionism
A modern political project holding that Christians are called to take control of civil government and the major institutions of society. Distinct from the biblical creation mandate and critiqued in Nationalism, Kingdom & Dominion.
Ecumenism
The pursuit of greater unity and cooperation among Christian churches and traditions, ideally in both truth and love. See The Unity & Division of the Church.
Egalitarianism
The view that the Spirit gives gifts and callings without regard to gender, so women may serve in every role, including church leadership. Contrast complementarianism. See Women, Men & Ministry.
Eschatology
The study of "last things" — Christ's return, resurrection, judgment, and the renewal of all things. How one reads eschatology shapes one's view of the Kingdom's "already/not yet."
Euthanasia
The intentional ending of a person's life to relieve suffering (and assisted suicide, helping someone end their own life). Distinguished from allowing a natural death by declining futile treatment. See Life & Death.
Evangelism
Sharing the good news of Jesus — by invitation, in word and deed, with gentleness and respect — never by coercion or manipulation. See Mission & Evangelism in a Post-Christian Age.
Formation
The lifelong shaping of a person's loves and character — toward Christ through worship and practice, or by the culture's "liturgies" by default. See Worship, Formation & the Consumer Church.
Freedom of conscience
The conviction that faith and belief cannot be coerced and must be freely held — the root of religious liberty for all people. See Religious Liberty, Persecution & Pluralism.
Heresy
The denial of a core, gospel-defining, creedal truth of the Christian faith — not mere error or disagreement on disputable matters. See Heresy & Discernment.
Idolatry
Giving to something created — a nation, a leader, wealth, technology, even good gifts — the ultimate loyalty and trust that belong to God alone. A recurring theme across the book.
Imago Dei
Latin for "image of God." The teaching that every human being reflects God and bears an inviolable, God-given dignity. The foundation of the book's view of human worth. See Made in the Image of God.
Just war
The tradition holding that force may be used only as a last resort and under strict moral criteria (just cause, legitimate authority, right intention, proportionality, protection of non-combatants) — meant to restrain war, not to justify it. See War, Peace & the Use of Force.
Kingdom of God
God's reign in Christ — already present and not yet complete — which transcends and judges every nation and cannot be identified with any human power. See The Kingdom of God.
Lament
Honest grief and complaint brought to God — modeled in roughly a third of the Psalms and on Jesus' lips at the cross. A faithful way to be truthful about pain. See Suffering, Mental Health & Lament.
Liturgy
The pattern or form of worship; more broadly, any repeated practice that shapes what we love — including the secular "liturgies" of screen and store. See Worship, Formation & the Consumer Church.
Mammon
An Aramaic word for wealth or money, used by Jesus to personify riches as a rival master to God ("you cannot serve both God and Mammon"). See Wealth, Poverty & the Common Good.
Martyr
From the Greek for witness — one who suffers or dies rather than renounce their faith. The persecuted Church continues this witness today. See Religious Liberty, Persecution & Pluralism.
Mission (missio Dei)
Latin for the mission of God — the conviction that mission is first God's own work of redeeming the world, into which the Church is sent. See Mission & Evangelism in a Post-Christian Age.
Nationalism
An ideology that elevates national (and often ethnic or religious) identity to an ultimate loyalty. Contrasted with ordinary patriotism, a limited and healthy love of one's country. See Nationalism, Kingdom & Dominion.
Orthodoxy
"Right belief." The faith confessed by the whole Church across time, summarized in the historic creeds. See Heresy & Discernment.
Pacifism / nonviolence
The conviction that following Jesus means renouncing lethal force and witnessing to peace — held by the early Church and the historic peace churches. See War, Peace & the Use of Force.
Palliative care
Medical and personal care that relieves pain and supports the dying without seeking to hasten death — the Christian alternative to euthanasia. See Life & Death.
Partiality
Favoritism — judging or valuing people by race, wealth, or status. Scripture names it as sin, because God himself shows no partiality. See The Neighbor.
Patriotism
Love of one's country, people, and heritage — a good and ordinary affection when held under God and open to self-criticism. Distinct from nationalism.
Peacemaking
The active pursuit of reconciliation and just peace — blessed by Jesus as a mark of God's children — distinct from mere passivity or the absence of conflict. See War, Peace & the Use of Force.
Pluralism
A society in which many faiths and worldviews coexist. Christians engage it with both conviction and civility, defending freedom for all people. See Religious Liberty, Persecution & Pluralism.
Prosperity gospel
The teaching that faith reliably produces material wealth and health. Critiqued in this book as a distortion that makes God a means to riches and implies the poor lack faith. See Wealth, Poverty & the Common Good.
Reconciliation
The restoration of broken relationship — between God and humanity, and between estranged people — which the New Testament entrusts to the Church as a "ministry of reconciliation." See The Neighbor.
Restorative justice
An approach to justice that aims to repair harm — making victims whole and restoring offenders and community — rather than only inflicting punishment. See Crime, Prisons & Restorative Justice.
Resurrection
The bodily raising of the dead to new life — Christ's own as the firstfruits, and the future hope of all who are his, in a renewed creation. See Death, Grief & Christian Hope.
Retributive justice
An approach to justice focused on punishment proportional to the offense. Scripture holds genuine accountability together with mercy and restoration. See Crime, Prisons & Restorative Justice.
Safeguarding
The concrete practices — training, screening, transparent reporting, and care for victims — by which communities protect children and vulnerable people from abuse. See The Rights & Protection of Children and Power, Abuse & Accountability.
Sabbath / Jubilee
Biblical rhythms of rest and release — for people, for the land, and for the indebted — that limit exploitation and witness to God's ownership of all things. See Creation, Stewardship & Dominion.
Sanctity of life
The conviction that every human life bears God's image and inviolable dignity from conception to natural death. See Life & Death.
Schism
A formal split in the Church over matters that do not warrant it — distinguished from the healthy diversity of the one body. See The Unity & Division of the Church.
Scientism
The philosophical claim that science is the only path to real knowledge — itself a faith-claim science cannot prove, and distinct from science itself. See Science, Faith & Wonder.
Solidarity
The commitment to stand with others, especially the vulnerable, recognizing that we belong to one another. A key principle of Christian social ethics.
Stewardship
Caring for what belongs to another and giving an account for it. The biblical posture toward creation, resources, power, and gifts.
Stranger (sojourner)
The foreigner or migrant living among God's people. Scripture repeatedly commands love and justice for the stranger, recalling that Israel was once enslaved in a foreign land. See The Neighbor.
Subsidiarity
The principle that matters should be handled by the smallest or most local competent authority — families and communities first — with larger bodies assisting rather than absorbing them.
Theodicy
The attempt to understand how a good and all-powerful God can permit suffering and evil. Approached in Scripture with both reasoning and deep humility (as in Job). See Suffering, Mental Health & Lament.
Theonomy
The view that the civil laws of the Old Testament should, in some form, govern modern societies. A minority position, mentioned in discussions of dominionism and political theology; not endorsed here.
Transhumanism
The belief that humanity can and should use technology to transcend its biological limits — including aging and death. Examined critically in Technology, AI & the Human Person.
Two kingdoms
The view that God rules the civil realm and the Church in distinct ways, so that the two should not be collapsed into each other. One of several Christian political theologies. See Nationalism, Kingdom & Dominion.
Vocation
From the Latin for calling — the conviction that all honest work and every station of life can be a calling from God to serve him and neighbor, not only "religious" work. See Work, Rest & Sabbath.