Communion or holy communion—also called the Eucharist, or the Lord’s supper—is the central rite of the Christian community in which the faithful partake as a community of the sanctified bread and wine. By extension, communion is often used to refer to a family of churches that understand or observe this rite in the same way and are, thus, in communion with one another.

In the Christian tradition, confession is the public or private acknowledgment of sin, which is said to separate human beings from God and from one another.

The congregational form of Protestant Christianity has traditionally affirmed the autonomy and authority of the local congregation in calling and ordaining its ministers and organizing its affairs. In the 17th century, the English Puritans introduced congregational polity into North America. The heirs of this polity today include the United Church of Christ (UCC).

A convent is a religious association and residential home of a religious order, particularly an order of women or nuns; the term is commonly used in both the Christian and Buddhist traditions.

The Coptic Church is the ancient and still vibrant church of Egypt, an autonomous Christian church which dates its origins to Mark the Evangelist in the 1st century. It continues to be led today by a patriarch called a Pope; its liturgical life is conducted in both the ancient Coptic language and Arabic.

A covenant (or brit) is a mutual promise or compact between two parties. In the Jewish and Christian traditions, covenant is of deep significance in describing the mutual relationship of God and the people of faith. The major covenants in Jewish scriptures are God’s covenant with Abraham (Genesis 15) and the Sinai/Moses covenant (Exodus 19-24) between God and Israel. For Jews, the covenant is an eternal bond between God and the people of Israel grounded in God’s gracious and steadfast concern, and calling for obedience to the divine commandments (mitzvot) and instruction (torah). Christians often describe the Christ event as constituting a “new covenant” of God made with the followers of Jesus. Since the time of the early church until the present, this theological claim sometimes has been used to justify violence and discrimination against the Jewish people.

Crèche—“crib” in French—is the Christmas season display of the birth-scene of Jesus. It may be simple or elaborate, but always includes the parents, Joseph and Mary, and the crib—a manger for the feeding of cattle in a stable. In some folk traditions, the representation of the baby Jesus is added to the crib only on Christmas Eve.

The cross is the central symbol of the Christian faith, pointing to the significance for the church of the whole Christ event: the life and teachings, the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

St. Martin de Porres (1579-1639) was born as the illegitimate son of a Spanish father and a Preuvian Indian woman. He became a Dominican monk and devoted himself to the poor. He was canonized as a saint in 1962, more than three hundred years after his death.

A deacon is a minister of the church, ordinarily a preliminary rank of clergy below a fully ordained minister or priest.

Deism is a belief system that upholds the existence of a God using rational (rather than supernatural) grounds.

The Deist movement, beginning in late 17th-century Europe, set forth a belief in one Supreme Being and a natural, moral law common to all people. The movement influenced some American revolutionary leaders such as Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin.

The fifth book of the Humash or Five Books of Moses, Deuteronomy (or Dvarim in Hebrew, meaning ‘Words’) is composed of the final speech of Moses’ life, followed by the narration of his death. Deuteronomy contains many retellings of events and laws that appear earlier in the Torah, most notably the Ten Commandments.

A diocese is an administrative unit of the Christian Church, presided over by a bishop.

The Divine Liturgy is the Eucharist, the communal sharing of sanctified bread and wine, as it is practiced in the Eastern Orthodox churches.

Easter is the festive holy day of the Christian tradition on which the church celebrates the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and victory of life over death.

Episcopal refers to any church in which authority is vested in a bishop (Greek episkopos). More particularly it refers to the Episcopal Church in America, which developed from the Church of England after the American Revolution.

Eucharist, meaning “thanksgiving,” names the central rite of the Christian tradition in which Christians share the sanctified bread and wine, giving thanks to God, as Jesus did in sharing such a meal with his disciples. This rite is also called holy communion, the Lord’s supper.

The Greek word euangelion means “good news” and an evangelist is one who proclaims and shares the good news of Christ. Evangelism is the preaching and witnessing to that good news. Evangelicals are Christians who emphasize the personal experience of God’s grace and salvation in their lives and the affirm the divinely inspired message of scripture. While much of the history of American Christianity has been evangelical in this sense, the term today denotes a broadly conservative group of churches emphasizing the divinity and authority of scripture, and the importance of mission and evangelism.

Excommunication is a form of church censure, barring a Christian from participating in the holy communion, thus barring that person from the fellowship of the church.

The Christian Franciscan religious order, distinctive for its adherence to a vow of poverty, was founded by St. Francis of Assisi in 1209.

In the Christian tradition a friar is a member, literally a “brother,” of a monastic order, especially a mendicant or begging order not confined to a monastery.

Fundamentalism is an early 20th century American Christian movement often seen as a conservative response to the influence of the Enlightenment, new Biblical scholarship, and the claims of modern science. It stressed five points of faith it called the “fundamentals,” beginning with the literal “inerrancy” of the Bible. The term fundamentalism is often used more widely to describe dogmatic forms of religious belief.

The first book of the Humash or Five Books of Moses, Genesis (or Bereishit, meaning ‘In the Beginning’) details the Jewish understanding of the creation of the universe, from the seven days of creation, through the Garden of Eden, ending with the events of Joseph and his brothers in Egypt (the fathers of the Twelve Tribes).

Good Friday—the Friday before Easter—is the day observed by the Christian church as the day of Christ’s crucifixion. Christians keep this day in many ways: with prayer, fasting, or the veneration of the cross.

Gospel means “Good News” and refers to the central message of the Christian tradition: the good news of Christ’s life and message of redemption. Gospel refers more specifically to the four books that tell the story of the Christ event and became part of the New Testament. There are other gospel accounts that were not included in the canon of the New Testament.

The Holy Spirit is the Christian term used to describe the dynamic presence of God. Christians symbolize this presence as breath, fire, and dove, all expressing the mystery and freedom of God’s presence. The Holy Spirit is one of the three aspects or “persons” (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) which together express the ultimacy and intimacy of the supreme God.

Holy Thursday is the Thursday of Holy Week, the week before Easter. It is the day on which Jesus is said to have shared a final meal with his disciples before he was betrayed to the Roman authorities who arrested him. It is also called Maundy Thursday, from the new commandment (mandatum) Jesus gave his disciples on that day: to love one another as he had loved them.

Holy Week is the week preceding Easter in which the whole drama of the Christian story is recalled, from Christ’s triumphant entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday to his crucifixion on Good Friday and his resurrection on Easter Sunday.

The Hutterites are a Christian community of Anabaptists origins who acknowledge only the baptism of believers, not infants, and hold property in common. Founded in the 16th century in Moravia (Germany) by Jacob Hutter (d. 1536), they continue to live in self-sufficient communities in the U.S.