christianity crossword

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Across
  1. 2. A means by which Christians attempt to interact with God, either in silence or aloud, and either alone or in a group. The Lord’s Prayer is an example of a set prayer that many Christians say in order to attempt a connection with God.
  2. 3. The holy book for Christianity, made up of the Old and New Testaments. The Old Testament is found in Judaism and Islam in various formats, whereas the New Testament focuses on the life and works of Jesus, and various letters (or Epistles) written by early Christians about the new Christian faith.
  3. 7. The belief that, when a person dies, the immaterial soul will continue to exist, either within or outside of a body.
  4. 8. From the Greek for ‘thanksgiving’, it is another word for Holy Communion or mass, the central practice of most Christian worship, involving the eating of bread (and, for some Christians, the drinking of wine).
  5. 10. The Greek word for 'unconditional love', and the basis for the Golden Rule for Christians, and of Jesus' sacrificial crucifixion.
  6. 12. Also known as inter-denominational dialogue, this refers to different denominations of Christians trying to find common ground and unity.
  7. 14. The belief that the Bible is inerrant and contains the exact truth of God. Fundamentalist Christians will, for example, be against homosexuality due to its outlawing in the book of Leviticus, which must be the infallible word of God.
  8. 16. The title given to leaders of some Protestant Christian denominations who tend to be less liturgical in their worship.
  9. 17. account of the life of Jesus Christ, meaning ‘good news’. In the (canonical) Bible, there are four gospels, three of which are similar and known as the synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke).
  10. 21. One of the letters in the New Testament from a writer to one of the early groups of ‘Christians’ with guidance on how to live in line with the new teachings of Jesus.
  11. 22. God becoming flesh’, for Christians this refers to the birth of Jesus as the incarnation of God, being both fully divine and fully human.
  12. 23. Literally this means ‘anointed one’, referring to the idea of the Messiah being a king (even today the monarch of the United Kingdom is anointed when they are crowned king or queen). For Jews, the Messiah will be a king and/or warrior figure who will usher in a new Messianic Age. For Christians, Jesus was the anticipated Messiah (the chosen one of God), and they now await his return or second coming.
  13. 25. A way of reading the Bible as the exact words of God, rather than symbolically as a more representative or analogical text.
Down
  1. 1. The belief that God created the world according to the accounts in Genesis. Progressive creationism (also known as old earth creationism) is the belief that the ‘days’ in the first Genesis account might refer to ‘epochs’ and not 24 hour segments of time.
  2. 4. Martin Luther, a prominent figure in the Protestant Reformation, who whilst a Catholic monk wrote ‘The 95 Theses’ which outlined his criticisms of the Roman Catholic Church’s practices (for example, around the selling of indulgences) and nailed these to the castle church in Wittenberg.
  3. 5. spelt with a small ‘c’, catholic means universal, and can refer to the worldwide church. With a capital ‘C’, Catholic refers to an adherent to Roman Catholicism, or the adjective used to describe Roman Catholic practice and doctrine.
  4. 6. A means of reading the Bible in a non-literal way, or in other words that the Bible is not to be taken as absolutely factual, but rather that Christians should read the Bible for the deeper meaning hidden within its texts and stories.
  5. 9. A branch of Christianity, for example Anglicanism, Roman Catholicism, or the various Orthodox churches.
  6. 11. the religion based on the person and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, or its beliefs and practices.
  7. 13. The study of the ‘end times’, or of the end of the world, which Christians believe will occur, and which is depicted in the book of Revelation (also known as the book of the Apocalypse).
  8. 15. All powerful’, Christians believe that God is omnipotent, for example he was able to create all of creation from nothing (or ex nihilo) as recounted in the Book of Genesis.
  9. 18. The belief, prevalent in Process Theology, that God is not fully omnipotent, but rather is confined by the laws of the universe and must act in accordance with them.
  10. 19. The rite of initiation for Christians, in which water is used to symbolise the washing away of sin and to welcome the person into the Christian church.
  11. 20. One of the seven sacraments for Roman Catholics (and some Anglo-Catholics, or Church of England Christians who use the seven sacraments as part of their worship), where a Christian will tell the priest their sins, will receive advice and/or a penance (something to do to make amends). The priest will usually absolve their sins by pronouncing absolution.
  12. 24. ex nihilo The Latin for ‘creation from nothing’, referring to the belief that God created the universe from nothing as an act of omnipotence and grace (love).
  13. 26. The form in which Christians worship, usually in a Church, and which can follow a set structure and wording.