Glossary I

Glossary - I

icon: image or likeness; painting, statue, or other visual representation of the sacred.

iconoclasm: opposition to the use of religious images; Islam, for example, is iconoclastic with regard to depicting Allah or Muhammad.

immediate: experience or knowledge received directly or intuitively without the mediating role of rational, discursive thought.

imminent: about to happen; near; of this world as opposed to transcendent.

indigenous: native; already existing locally rather than imported from abroad.

individuation: for Jung, the important coming together of the complementary conscious and unconscious aspects of the self.

ineffable: beyond words and description; inexpressible because words are inadequate or because uttering a name or description is forbidden.

insider: term used in Religious Studies to refer to adherents of a particular religious tradition.

intelligent design: a revamped form of creationism that argues the universe provides evidence of a guiding intelligent entity more consistent with a divine designer than with the natural selection of evolution.

irreducibility: refers to a reluctance or inability to simplify something out of concern for losing an essential quality, or distorting it beyond meaningful recognition in order to fit a model.

Islam: beliefs and practices based on the message transmitted by the prophet Muhammad and preserved in the Quran; characterized by strict monotheism.

SCHOLARLY APPROACHES

TO THE STUDY

AND TEACHING OF RELIGION