Core Glossary
Core Glossary
translation_memory.json is the enforced glossary for every Phase 2 translation in this curriculum. This document summarizes its shape and the principles behind it; see the Glossary Risk Groups for the full per-term entries.
Composition
The glossary currently holds 47 terms spanning all four risk tiers, drawn from the doctrines identified in Doctrine Analysis and grounded in the cultural risks identified in Culture Analysis. Every term entry records:
- The approved Korean translation (Hangul) and Revised Romanization transliteration
- The doctrine risk tier (Critical/High/Medium/Low)
- Explicitly rejected alternatives, with reasons tied to Korean shamanism, Confucian social ethics, folk astrology, or denominational (Catholic/Protestant) variation as appropriate
- Notes explaining any non-obvious translation choice, including honorific-grammar requirements where relevant
Governing principles
- Established usage over invention — where the Korean Revised Version already has a settled rendering (하나님, 예수, 주님, 그리스도), this glossary follows it rather than proposing an alternative.
- Explicit rejection, not silent avoidance — every Critical-risk term records why the tempting alternative is wrong and which specific practice it comes from (a shamanistic ritual, a Confucian rite, a folk-astrology system), so a translator or reviewer understands the reasoning rather than just following a rule.
- Version-controlled and append-only in Phase 2 — if a new term is discovered during document translation, it is added to translation memory and the version number incremented, never silently improvised per-document (see the AI Translation Requirements’ Translation Memory Load and Enforcement Instructions).
Relationship to the Doctrine Risk Registry
Every glossary term’s doctrine field links back to an entry in doctrine_risk_registry.json, so a term’s risk tier is always traceable to the specific doctrine it protects — the glossary enforces vocabulary, the doctrine registry explains why that vocabulary matters.
Critical Risk Terms
Father
Approved rendering: 아버지
Transliteration: abeoji
Doctrine: Adoption into God’s Family
Rejected alternatives: 제사를 받는 조상
CRITICAL: Korea’s rigorous Confucian filial piety (효, hyo) tradition and ancestor-memorial rites (제사, jesa) historically created the sharpest doctrinal collision in Korean church history — 18th-19th century Korean Catholic converts were persecuted and martyred specifically for refusing to perform jesa rites toward deceased parents/ancestors as idolatrous. ‘Father’ language must be taught with awareness of this history: God the Father is not a venerated ancestor requiring ongoing ritual offerings from descendants (the direction of care in jesa), but a Father who cares for his children, and exclusive loyalty to him does not equate to abandoning filial love, though it does exclude ancestor-rite worship.
God
Approved rendering: 하나님
Transliteration: Hananim
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Rejected alternatives: 하느님, 천주, 산신령
CRITICAL: this package standardizes on 하나님 (Protestant usage, popularized through the late-19th-century Korean Bible translation tradition, built on 하나 ‘one’ plus the honorific 님, emphasizing explicit monotheism). NEVER substitute 하느님 (Haneunim), the Catholic and general-secular term, more etymologically neutral toward Korea’s pre-Christian folk sky-god concept tied to the Dangun founding myth (Hwanin, the heavenly father-god); this package uses 하나님 not because 하느님 is wrong but for Protestant curriculum consistency and its built-in monotheistic emphasis. NEVER use 천주 (Cheonju, ‘Lord of Heaven,’ the Korean Catholic term parallel to Chinese 天主). NEVER use 산신령 (a mountain spirit-deity from Korean shamanism/folk religion) or treat 하나님 as one of many spirits (신, sin) in the shamanistic pantheon.
Grace
Approved rendering: 은혜
Transliteration: eunhye
Doctrine: Grace
Rejected alternatives: 복, 은덕, 기복신앙식 은혜
CRITICAL: this is the central Korean risk term. Korean Christianity has a well-documented, self-critical history around 기복신앙 (gibok sinang, ‘fortune-seeking faith’), where prayer for material blessing/success can slide into a shamanistic transactional pattern continuous with the mudang’s gut ritual (an offering made, a ritual performed, a blessing granted) rather than gospel-centered faith. NEVER use 복 (bok, fortune) alone as a synonym for grace. NEVER use 은덕 (eundeok, a Confucian hierarchical benevolent-favor-from-a-superior, which implies reciprocal obligation). 은혜 must always be taught as unearned, unconditional favor, explicitly not a reciprocal exchange for offerings or ritual performance.
Holy Spirit
Approved rendering: 성령
Transliteration: seongnyeong
Doctrine: Sanctification
Rejected alternatives: 신령, 귀신, 무당이 부르는 영
CRITICAL: always use the compound 성령; NEVER use 신령 (sillyeong, a generic ‘divine spirit’) or 신 (sin) alone, both central to Korean shamanism (무속신앙), where a mudang channels or is possessed by spirits during a gut ritual. NEVER frame the Spirit’s filling/empowering of a believer using language that echoes shamanistic spirit-possession. 성령 is the personal third Person of the Trinity, not one spirit-being sought or channeled among Korea’s active folk spirit-world.
Imputed Righteousness
Approved rendering: 의로 여기심
Transliteration: uiro yeogisim
Doctrine: Justification by Faith
Rejected alternatives: 의리로 얻은 의, 도를 닦아 얻은 의
CRITICAL: righteousness credited by God, NOT earned through relational loyalty (의리) or spiritual cultivation (도를 닦음). Must retain the forensic ‘reckoned/counted’ sense, resisting collapse into the loyalty-ethics sense of 의 flagged under righteousness.
Jesus
Approved rendering: 예수
Transliteration: Yesu
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
Standard KRV transliteration.
Justification
Approved rendering: 의롭다 하심
Transliteration: uiropda hasim
Doctrine: Salvation
Rejected alternatives: 도를 닦아 얻은 의
CRITICAL: established KRV compound, a forensic declaration (‘being made/declared righteous’), not a process. NEVER use 도를 닦아 얻은 의 (‘righteousness obtained through cultivating the Way,’ a Buddhist/folk-religious self-cultivation framing) — this imports an earned-attainment framework opposite to justification by faith.
Power Of God
Approved rendering: 능력
Transliteration: neungnyeok
Doctrine: Power of God for Salvation
Rejected alternatives: 영력, 굿의 힘
CRITICAL: Korean shamanism (무속신앙) is fundamentally organized around a mudang’s claimed spiritual power (영력, yeongnyeok) to heal, exorcise, and grant fortune through gut ritual. Korean charismatic Christianity (notably its large Pentecostal tradition) emphasizes 능력 language heavily; both Korean church leaders and outside observers have long noted the risk of ‘power’ ministry sliding into a shamanistic power-seeking pattern rather than the specific gospel power of Romans 1:16 (God’s power for salvation from sin). Must always be taught as God’s power to save from sin, not generalized this-worldly healing/blessing power sought the way one would seek a mudang’s power.
Salvation
Approved rendering: 구원
Transliteration: guwon
Doctrine: Salvation
Rejected alternatives: 해탈, 윤회에서 벗어남
CRITICAL: NEVER use 해탈 (haetal, Buddhist liberation from samsara) or describe salvation as 윤회에서 벗어남 (‘escaping the cycle of rebirth’). 구원 = deliverance from sin’s guilt through Christ, received by faith in this life, reconciliation with a personal God — not escape from an impersonal suffering-cycle.
High Risk Terms
Abba
Approved rendering: 아빠
Transliteration: appa
Doctrine: Adoption into God’s Family
Aramaic term of intimacy preserved in Romans 8:15 (아바 아버지). Korean 아빠 (appa, informal ‘dad’) closely parallels the Aramaic’s intimate register, making this an unusually natural-fitting transliteration/near-cognate pairing.
Adoption
Approved rendering: 양자
Transliteration: yangja
Doctrine: Adoption into God’s Family
Rejected alternatives: 제사를 위한 양자
Traditional Korean adoption (양자, historically adopting a male heir when no biological son existed) was primarily instrumental — its central purpose was continuing the family’s Confucian ancestor-memorial rites (제사, jesa), not primarily relational belonging. Biblical adoption brings a believer INTO God’s family for relationship and full inheritance; teaching must clarify this is not a rite-continuation duty but a relational gift.
Called
Approved rendering: 부르심을 받은
Transliteration: bureusim-eul badeun
Doctrine: Divine Calling
Rejected alternatives: 팔자에 정해진, 운명적으로
NEVER use 팔자에 정해진 (‘fixed by one’s birth-chart/fate,’ referencing the still-common Korean folk-astrology practice of saju-paljja, Four Pillars of Destiny). God’s call in Romans is a personal, relational summons, not a fate calculable from one’s birth data.
Calling
Approved rendering: 부르심
Transliteration: bureusim
Doctrine: Divine Calling
Rejected alternatives: 운명, 팔자
NEVER use 운명 (unmyeong, impersonal fate) or 팔자 (paljja, one’s fixed life-lot per birth-chart astrology). God’s calling is a personal summons from a personal God.
Faith
Approved rendering: 믿음
Transliteration: mideum
Doctrine: Faith
Rejected alternatives: 미신적 믿음, 사주팔자를 믿는 것
Personal trust placed in Christ specifically. Distinguish from generic superstitious belief (미신) and from confidence placed in fortune-telling/astrology (사주팔자를 믿는 것), both still commonly practiced even among nominally Christian Koreans.
Gentiles
Approved rendering: 이방인
Transliteration: ibangin
Doctrine: Unity of Jews and Gentiles
Rejected alternatives: 외국인 (단일민족 의미로)
Avoid framing through Korea’s historically powerful ethnic-nationalist self-conception of 단일민족 (danil minjok, ‘a single, homogeneous ethnic nation’), which risks reinforcing an ethnic-insider/foreigner (외국인) reading rather than the specific redemptive-historical Jew/non-Jew category Romans addresses.
Holy
Approved rendering: 거룩한
Transliteration: georokan
Doctrine: Sanctification
Rejected alternatives: 부정을 씻은, 정결한 (무속 의미)
Set apart for God, morally pure. Distinguish from shamanistic ritual purification (부정을 씻다, ‘washing away ritual impurity/misfortune,’ performed in a gut ceremony), which addresses ritual pollution rather than moral character before a holy God.
Incarnation
Approved rendering: 성육신
Transliteration: seongyuksin
Doctrine: Incarnation
Rejected alternatives: 화신, 환생
Established Korean theological term (‘holy flesh-becoming’). NEVER use 화신 (hwasin), a Buddhist avatar/incarnation-of-a-buddha concept describing a provisional, repeatable manifestation. The incarnation is the eternal Son’s permanent, unique taking of human nature.
Law
Approved rendering: 율법
Transliteration: yulbeop
Doctrine: Fulfillment of Prophecy
Rejected alternatives: 예, 법률
The Mosaic Law. NEVER equate with 예 (ye, the Confucian ritual-propriety/etiquette code that shaped rigorous Joseon-dynasty social conduct) or reduce to 법률 (secular/civil law). God’s law is moral revelation, not a social-etiquette code.
Obedience Of Faith
Approved rendering: 믿음의 순종
Transliteration: mideum-ui sunjong
Doctrine: Obedience of Faith
Rejected alternatives: 효를 위한 순종, 삼종지도식 순종
Romans 1:5 and 16:26. Korea’s historically rigorous Confucian hierarchical-obedience ethics (including the traditional, now-rejected ‘three obediences’ doctrine prescribing a woman’s obedience to father, husband, then son) risk reducing obedience of faith to hierarchical social-status compliance rather than a Spirit-produced response to grace.
Providence
Approved rendering: 섭리
Transliteration: seomni
Doctrine: Providence
Rejected alternatives: 팔자, 운명
NEVER use 팔자 (paljja, one’s fixed fate per birth-chart astrology, from the still-common saju-paljja folk-astrology system) or 운명 (unmyeong, impersonal destiny). God’s providence is his personal, purposive governance for his people’s good (Romans 8:28), not a fixed astrological fate.
Righteousness
Approved rendering: 의
Transliteration: ui
Doctrine: Salvation
Rejected alternatives: 의리, 도덕
의 also anchors 의리 (uiri), a Korean ethical concept of loyalty and faithfulness in relationships prominent in Korean social ethics and popular culture (e.g. gangster-loyalty film tropes). Biblical righteousness in Romans is right standing before God received through faith, not social loyalty or honor-code faithfulness earned and displayed toward other people. Always flag with a distinguishing note in justification contexts.
Saints
Approved rendering: 성도
Transliteration: seongdo
Doctrine: Sainthood
Rejected alternatives: 신선, 도인
NEVER use 신선 (sinseon, a Daoist immortal/transcendent being) or 도인 (doin, an accomplished spiritual master who has attained the Way). 성도 applies corporately to all ordinary believers (Romans 1:7), not an elevated spiritual-achiever class.
Sanctification
Approved rendering: 성화
Transliteration: seonghwa
Doctrine: Sanctification
Rejected alternatives: 수행, 도 닦기
The Spirit’s ongoing work in a believer already justified by faith. Distinguish from 수행 (ascetic spiritual discipline) and 도 닦기 (‘cultivating the Way,’ a common Korean Buddhist/folk-religious self-improvement phrase).
Seed Of David
Approved rendering: 다윗의 혈통
Transliteration: Dawit-ui hyeoltong
Doctrine: Davidic Covenant
Romans 1:3; conveys physical lineage and OT covenant fulfillment.
Sin
Approved rendering: 죄
Transliteration: joe
Doctrine: Universal Human Accountability
Rejected alternatives: 액운, 체면 손상
Distinguish from 액운 (aegun, bad luck/misfortune attributed to fate or spiritual causes in folk belief) and from 체면 손상 (loss of face/social standing, 체면 chemyeon being a strong Korean social concept). Sin is a moral offense against a personal God, not primarily bad luck or social embarrassment.
Son Of God
Approved rendering: 하나님의 아들
Transliteration: Hananim-ui adeul
Doctrine: Sonship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: 환웅식 하늘의 아들
Korea’s own founding myth (the Dangun legend) tells of Hwanung, described as the son of the heavenly god Hwanin, descending to found Korea’s first kingdom — a real but comparatively low-intensity echo (mythological/legendary rather than a living state ideology, unlike historic Chinese or pre-1946 Japanese imperial-divinity doctrines). Full phrase 하나님의 아들 required; avoid any framing that assimilates Christ’s Sonship to this founding-myth pattern of a heaven-descended founder-son.
Spiritual Gifts
Approved rendering: 은사
Transliteration: eunsa
Doctrine: Spiritual Gifts
Rejected alternatives: 영력, 무당의 능력
Established term, prominent in Korean Pentecostal/charismatic church life. NEVER frame as 영력 (yeongnyeok, a shaman’s spirit-power) or compare to a mudang’s ritual abilities. Spirit-given enablements for building up the church, sought and exercised for the church’s benefit, not as a power display.
Medium Risk Terms
Church
Approved rendering: 교회
Transliteration: gyohoe
Doctrine: Church as God’s People
Rejected alternatives: 당집, 절
Established term. NEVER use 당집 (dangjip, a village shrine for shamanistic spirit-worship) or 절 (a Buddhist temple).
David
Approved rendering: 다윗
Transliteration: Dawit
Doctrine: Davidic Covenant
Standard KRV proper name form.
Election
Approved rendering: 선택
Transliteration: seontaek
Doctrine: Effectual Calling
Rejected alternatives: 팔자, 운
Avoid 팔자 (birth-chart-determined fate) or 운 (luck/fortune). Also avoid letting 선택 read as merely a competitive, merit-based ‘selection’ as in Korea’s intensely competitive exam/hiring culture — God’s election is a sovereign, gracious, unmerited choice, not a passed test.
Glory
Approved rendering: 영광
Transliteration: yeonggwang
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Rejected alternatives: 명예, 출세
Avoid collapsing into 명예 (secular honor/reputation) or 출세 (chulse, career/social success), both prominent in Korea’s intensely status-and-achievement-conscious culture.
Gospel
Approved rendering: 복음
Transliteration: bogeum
Doctrine: Gospel
Rejected alternatives: 좋은 소식, 굿뉴스
Established KRV term, literally ‘blessing-news’ (福音). Because 복 (bok, fortune/blessing) is the same root at the center of Korean shamanistic fortune-seeking faith (기복신앙, gibok sinang), teaching must make explicit the gospel announces salvation through Christ, not a forecast of material fortune.
Intercession
Approved rendering: 중보기도
Transliteration: jungbo gido
Doctrine: Prayer and Intercession
Rejected alternatives: 굿을 통한 중재
Prayer on behalf of others addressed directly to God through Christ. Distinguish from a mudang’s ritual mediation between the living and spirits performed during a gut ceremony.
Israel
Approved rendering: 이스라엘
Transliteration: Iseurael
Doctrine: Unity of Jews and Gentiles
Proper name; established form.
Lord
Approved rendering: 주님
Transliteration: junim
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: 주인님
Established term with required honorific suffix 님 (nim). Romans 10:9’s confession ‘Jesus is Lord’ = 예수는 주님이시다. Avoid 주인님 (‘master/owner,’ an employer-employee or property-ownership framing). Risk here is primarily correct honorific-grammar application rather than concept-collision.
Messiah
Approved rendering: 그리스도
Transliteration: Geuriseudo
Doctrine: Messianic Promise
Rejected alternatives: 미륵
그리스도 (transliteration of ‘Christos’) is the KRV standard, used consistently. Unlike Japan, Korea’s high existing Christian literacy means biblical illiteracy is a smaller concern here; still avoid conflating with 미륵 (Mireuk, Maitreya, the future Buddha of Korean Buddhist eschatology, historically invoked by Korean folk-millenarian movements).
Mission
Approved rendering: 선교
Transliteration: seongyo
Doctrine: Mission to the Nations
Korea is now one of the world’s largest missionary-sending nations per capita; unlike the foreign-stigma risk found in some other Asian contexts, the risk flavor here is closer to an inverse concern — a success-and-growth-oriented, numbers-driven missions culture that some Korean church leaders themselves have flagged as a caution. Teaching should emphasize gospel motivation over achievement metrics.
Peace
Approved rendering: 화평
Transliteration: hwapyeong
Doctrine: Peace with God
Rejected alternatives: 평안 (일반적 안녕)
KRV uses 화평 for the relational peace-with-God sense in Romans 5:1, distinct from the more general well-being greeting sense of 평안 (pyeongan). Clarify this is peace secured through justification, not general well-wishing.
Prophecy
Approved rendering: 예언
Transliteration: yeeon
Doctrine: Fulfillment of Prophecy
Rejected alternatives: 점, 사주팔자 예측
God-inspired declaration; distinguish from 점 (fortune-telling divination) and from 사주팔자 (saju-paljja) astrological prediction, both widely practiced in Korean folk culture.
Prophet
Approved rendering: 선지자
Transliteration: seonjija
Doctrine: Inspiration of Scripture
Rejected alternatives: 점쟁이, 무당
God’s spokesperson; distinguish from 점쟁이 (jeomjaengi, a fortune-teller) and from a mudang shaman who claims to speak for spirits, both still commonly consulted in Korean folk practice.
Resurrection
Approved rendering: 부활
Transliteration: buhwal
Doctrine: Resurrection of Christ
Rejected alternatives: 환생, 윤회
NEVER use 환생 (hwansaeng, rebirth) or 윤회 (yunhoe, the reincarnation cycle). Given Korea’s long-established, dominant Christian vocabulary tradition, 부활 carries comparatively less day-to-day collision risk than in less Christianized contexts in this pipeline, though the doctrinal distinction from Buddhist rebirth concepts must still be maintained.
Low Risk Terms
Apostle
Approved rendering: 사도
Transliteration: sado
Doctrine: Apostleship
Rejected alternatives: 무당, 도사
Established term; no significant collision. Avoid any framing suggesting a shamanistic spiritual-intermediary role (무당, mudang) or a Daoist-style spiritual master (도사, dosa).
Covenant
Approved rendering: 언약
Transliteration: eonyak
Doctrine: Davidic Covenant
Rejected alternatives: 계약
Korean Christian usage already maintains a clean structural distinction unavailable in some of this pipeline’s other languages: 언약 (relational, divinely initiated covenant) is kept distinct from 계약 (gyeyak, an ordinary secular/commercial contract). This is a genuine strength of the existing Korean Bible tradition — the risk of collapsing covenant into contract, live in Japanese, is largely pre-solved here by vocabulary choice alone.
Exhort
Approved rendering: 권면하다
Transliteration: gwonmyeonhada
Doctrine: Mutual Edification
Standard term for encouraging fellow believers. No significant risk.
Fellowship
Approved rendering: 교제
Transliteration: gyoje
Doctrine: Christian Fellowship
Shared participation in Christ. Established term; no significant risk.
Kingdom Of God
Approved rendering: 하나님의 나라
Transliteration: Hananim-ui nara
Doctrine: Kingdom Mission
Unlike some other languages in this pipeline, Korea has no live competing state ideology claiming a ‘divine kingdom’ framing (no equivalent of a Mandate-of-Heaven dynasty system or a divine-emperor doctrine), so the political-collision risk is comparatively low. Established term for God’s sovereign spiritual reign.
Thanksgiving
Approved rendering: 감사
Transliteration: gamsa
Doctrine: Thanksgiving
Standard term. No significant risk.
Referenced passages