Glossary

Terms starting with T — browse A–Z or jump to the blog.

Terms — T

43 terms

Glossary
Tabernacle

The tabernacle is the sacred receptacle in a Catholic church in which the consecrated Eucharist is reserved — making the church a place of Christ's real, abiding presence for adoration, prayer, and Communion for the sick and dying.
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Teaching Office

The Teaching Office of the Church, or Magisterium, is the authority given by Christ to the Pope and bishops to authentically interpret the Word of God.
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Teleological Argument

A proof for God's existence based on the perceived design in nature.
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Temperance

Temperance is the cardinal virtue that moderates the attraction of pleasures and balances the use of created goods — ordering natural desires by reason rather than suppressing them or surrendering to them.
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Temple

The Temple is God's dwelling-place in Jerusalem — the center of Israel's worship — which Jesus identified with himself and which the Church fulfills as the new temple of the Holy Spirit.
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Temptation

Temptation is an attraction — either from outside oneself or from within — to act contrary to right reason and the commandments of God.
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Temptation of Jesus

The Temptation of Jesus was his forty-day desert trial by Satan — three temptations that he refused with Scripture, recapitulating Israel's desert failure and succeeding where Adam fell.
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Ten Commandments

The Ten Commandments, or Decalogue, are the fundamental moral laws given by God to Moses on Mount Sinai, summarizing our duties to God and neighbor.
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Testament

A testament is a covenant or binding agreement. In Scripture, it refers to the two main divisions of the Bible corresponding to the Old and New Covenants.
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The Cenacle

The Upper Room in Jerusalem where the Last Supper was celebrated and where the Holy Spirit descended at Pentecost.
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The Church Fathers

The Church Fathers were the influential theologians and bishops of the early centuries of the Church whose teachings helped to define Christian doctrine.
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The Deuterocanon

The seven books of the Old Testament found in the Catholic Bible but not in the Hebrew canon.
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The Empty Tomb

The tomb of Joseph of Arimathea where Jesus was buried and from which He rose on the third day.
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The Final Judgment

The definitive judgment of all humanity by Christ at the end of time.
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The Garden of Eden

The biblical paradise where God placed the first humans, Adam and Eve.
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The Great Commission

The command given by the Risen Christ to His Apostles to preach the Gospel and baptize all nations.
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The Holy of Holies

The innermost sanctuary of the Tabernacle and Temple where God's presence dwelt above the Ark of the Covenant.
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The Mount of Olives

The mountain east of Jerusalem where Jesus prayed, ascended into heaven, and will return in glory.
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The Resurrection

The bodily rising of Jesus Christ from the dead on the third day.
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The Road to Damascus

The route where Saul of Tarsus experienced a life-changing encounter with the Risen Christ.
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The Sea of Galilee

The freshwater lake in northern Israel where much of Jesus' public ministry took place.
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The See of Peter

The chair (cathedra) of St. Peter, representing the authority and office of the Pope in Rome.
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The Temple of Jerusalem

The center of Jewish worship and sacrifice where God's presence dwelt among His people.
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The Twelve Apostles

The Twelve Apostles were the men chosen by Jesus to be His closest companions and the foundation of His Church.
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The Vulgate

The Latin translation of the Bible made by St. Jerome in the 4th century.
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The Word of God (Logos)

Logos — the Word of God — is John's title for the eternal second Person of the Trinity who became flesh in the Incarnation: 'In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God.'
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Theodicy

The vindication of divine goodness in view of the existence of evil.
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Theological Virtues

The theological virtues — Faith, Hope, and Charity — are God's gifts that orient the soul directly toward God and are the foundation of all Christian moral life.
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Theology

Theology is the rigorous study of God and his revelation, traditionally defined as 'faith seeking understanding.'
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Theophany

A theophany is a visible manifestation of God to humankind, such as the burning bush or the cloud on Mount Sinai.
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Theotokos

Theotokos — 'Mother of God' — is Mary's formal title defined at the Council of Ephesus (431 AD), affirming that she is the mother of the one divine Person of Jesus Christ.
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Thomas the Apostle

Thomas the Apostle refused to believe in the Resurrection without proof — then, encountering the risen Christ, made the most explicit act of faith in the Gospels: 'My Lord and my God!'
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Time (Theology of Time)

In Catholic theology, time is a created reality that unfolds God's saving plan, ordered toward eternity and sanctified by the Incarnation.
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Tobit

Tobit is a deuterocanonical book about a righteous Jewish exile whose family story teaches the value of almsgiving, prayer, fasting, the ministry of angels, and God's Providence in suffering.
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Torah

Torah is the Hebrew word for 'law' or 'instruction' and refers to the first five books of the Old Testament — Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy — which form the foundation of God's revealed law to Israel.
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Tower of Babel

The Tower of Babel is the account of humanity's prideful attempt to reach God — resulting in the confusion of languages and the scattering of peoples, reversed at Pentecost.
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Transcendence and Immanence

Transcendence means God infinitely surpasses all creation; immanence means he is intimately present within it. Catholic theology holds both in tension — God is beyond all things and close to all things simultaneously.
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Transfiguration

The Transfiguration is the mountain event in which Christ's divine glory was revealed to Peter, James, and John — a foretaste of the Kingdom and confirmation of his identity before the Passion.
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Transubstantiation

Transubstantiation is the complete change of bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ at the Consecration of Mass — while the appearances of bread and wine remain.
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Triduum

The Easter Triduum is the three-day liturgical celebration of Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday through Easter Sunday — the heart of the entire liturgical year.
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Trinity

The Holy Trinity is the central mystery of Christian faith: one God in three distinct, equal, and eternal Persons — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
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Twelve Tribes of Israel

The twelve tribes of Israel — descended from Jacob's twelve sons — are the foundation of God's covenant people in the Old Testament and a type of the twelve Apostles who form the new Israel.
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Typology

Typology is the reading of Old Testament persons, events, and things as 'types' — prefigurations that God built into history to point toward their fulfillment in Jesus Christ.