Glossary of Religious Movements Terms

• Alphabetic Listing of Dictionary Pages
• Search the Dictionary
• About Irving Hexham
• Visit Hexham's NuRelWeb Page
• Visit Hexham's Religious Pilgrim's Page
• Search For a Specific Group's Profile Page on This Site

The study of religious movements can be at once rewarding and frustrating. It is almost always rewarding because it opens our minds to the seemingly limitless ways that humankind seeks to understand the world and relate to the source of life. It can also be frustrating because the adventure of learning about new religions often takes us down paths with many unfamiliar names and concepts that need to be grasped to assure comprehension.

Irving Hexham has taught introductory courses in Religious Studies for more that two decades. Early in his career he understood the need to help students find practical means to access definitions of key concepts. What began as class handouts became in 1994 A Concise Dictionary of Religion.

Professor Hexham made his Dictionary available on his own web page in 1998. Now, through his kindness, and the generous assistance of the Electronic Text Center at the University of Virginia, the Concise Dictionary of Religion is now available in an enhanced form to facilitate its use.

You can use the search engine on this site for quick reference to more than four thousand definitions of concepts and identifications of names, groups, places and important dates in the history of religious movements. You will find the glossary of terms is extensively cross-referenced, and each of the cross referenced terms is accessible with a single click.