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 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 Polish translation
- The doctrine risk tier (Critical/High/Medium/Low)
- Explicitly rejected alternatives, with reasons specific to the Polak-katolik national-identity fusion, Marian devotion, or Tridentine Catholic doctrine as relevant
- Notes explaining any non-obvious translation choice
Governing principles
- Established usage over invention — where Biblia Tysiąclecia already has a settled rendering (Ewangelia, zbawienie, łaska, Duch Święty), this glossary follows it rather than proposing an alternative.
- Explicit disambiguation, not silent avoidance — because Polish national and religious identity are so deeply fused, every Critical-risk term records why the shared word risks collapsing personal faith into inherited cultural identity (see Comparative Theology), 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.
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 and its cultural-doctrinal freight, the doctrine registry explains why that vocabulary matters.
Critical Risk Terms
Calling
Approved rendering: powołanie
Doctrine: Divine Calling
Rejected alternatives: powołanie kapłańskie lub zakonne wyłącznie
CRITICAL: ‘powołanie’ in Polish Catholic culture is overwhelmingly associated with a call to the priesthood or consecrated religious life (powołanie kapłańskie, powołanie zakonne), a vocabulary intensified by John Paul II’s frequent public emphasis on vocations and by Poland’s historically high numbers of priestly and religious vocations. Romans’ universal calling of every believer must be clearly distinguished from this narrow, elevated sense; pair with explicit context every time.
Faith
Approved rendering: wiara
Doctrine: Faith
Rejected alternatives: wiara jako tożsamość narodowa i kulturowa (‘Polak-katolik’), wiara odziedziczona automatycznie przez chrzest i Pierwszą Komunię
CRITICAL: in Poland, Catholic identity has historically been fused with national identity (the ‘Polak-katolik’ — ‘Pole-Catholic’ — stereotype), reinforced by the Church’s historic role resisting partition, Nazi occupation, and communist rule, and by the towering cultural figure of Pope John Paul II. ‘Wiara’ in Romans must be taught as personal trust in Christ, not inherited national-religious identity or a status conferred automatically through the cultural rites of baptism and First Communion (Pierwsza Komunia), which nearly every Polish child undergoes regardless of personal faith.
Father
Approved rendering: Ojciec
Doctrine: Adoption into God’s Family
God as personal Father; standard and unambiguous.
God
Approved rendering: Bóg
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Standard and unambiguous.
Holy Spirit
Approved rendering: Duch Święty
Doctrine: Sanctification
Standard and unambiguous personal third Person of the Trinity.
Imputed Righteousness
Approved rendering: poczytana sprawiedliwość
Doctrine: Justification by Faith
Rejected alternatives: sprawiedliwość wlana (kategoria trydencka)
CRITICAL: as in other historically Catholic Language Packages in this pipeline, Reformation theology holds righteousness is credited/imputed by faith (Romans 4); the Council of Trent teaches infused righteousness cooperated with through merit and the sacraments. ‘Sprawiedliwość wlana’ is explicitly rejected as a substitute for ‘poczytana sprawiedliwość’ in this glossary.
Intercession
Approved rendering: wstawiennictwo
Doctrine: Prayer and Intercession
Rejected alternatives: wstawiennictwo wyłącznie świętych i Maryi jako niezbędnych pośredników
CRITICAL: Marian devotion in Poland is exceptionally intense, centered on the Black Madonna of Częstochowa (Jasna Góra), the national shrine, and reinforced by John Paul II’s personal Marian consecration (‘Totus Tuus’). Romans 8:26-27, 34 describe the Spirit and Christ interceding directly; this curriculum should not argue against requesting others’ prayers, but must not let ‘wstawiennictwo’ default to Marian or saintly mediation as the primary or necessary model of intercession before God.
Jesus
Approved rendering: Jezus
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
Standard across all Polish Bible traditions; no variant-form risk.
Justification
Approved rendering: usprawiedliwienie
Doctrine: Salvation
Rejected alternatives: stopniowe uświęcenie zamiast deklaracji prawnej
CRITICAL: as in other historically Catholic contexts, the Council of Trent’s teaching of infused, merit-cooperated righteousness stands in tension with the Reformation’s forensic ‘declared righteous’ reading reflected in Polish Protestant Bibles. Preserve Romans 3-5’s forensic sense without collapsing it into gradual sacramental transformation alone.
Lord
Approved rendering: Pan
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
CRITICAL: Romans 10:9’s confession requires exclusive, supreme lordship.
Messiah
Approved rendering: Mesjasz
Doctrine: Messianic Promise
CRITICAL: the unique, Old Testament-promised Anointed One fulfilled exclusively in Jesus.
Righteousness
Approved rendering: sprawiedliwość
Doctrine: Salvation
Rejected alternatives: sprawiedliwość zdobyta przez zasługi i praktyki religijne
CRITICAL: right standing before God granted through faith, not merit accumulated through religious practice or ritual observance.
Saints
Approved rendering: święci
Doctrine: Sainthood
Rejected alternatives: święci kanonizowani, czczeni i proszeni o wstawiennictwo
CRITICAL: Poland’s Catholic culture gives canonized sainthood exceptional prominence — Pope John Paul II canonized more saints than any pope in history, including nationally venerated Polish saints such as Maksymilian Kolbe and Faustyna Kowalska. Romans 1:7 calls every believer ‘święty’; this must be paired with an explicit note distinguishing corporate sainthood from canonized, venerated saints in every occurrence.
Salvation
Approved rendering: zbawienie
Doctrine: Salvation
Rejected alternatives: zbawienie zapewnione automatycznie przez chrzest, sakramenty i przynależność narodowo-religijną
CRITICAL: reconciliation with God received by faith, not a status assumed automatically through sacramental participation (baptism, First Communion, confession) or through belonging to a historically Catholic nation. Popular piety in Poland can treat zbawienie as the default outcome of being a practicing, or even nominal, Polish Catholic; Romans’ argument for salvation received personally by faith must be taught explicitly against this assumption.
Son Of God
Approved rendering: Syn Boży
Doctrine: Sonship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: syn Boży w sensie ogólnym, stosowanym do każdego wierzącego
CRITICAL: full phrase required. Unique, eternal, divine Sonship, distinct from the adoptive ‘dzieci Boże’ language Romans 8 applies to believers.
High Risk Terms
Covenant
Approved rendering: przymierze
Doctrine: Davidic Covenant
Rejected alternatives: umowa prawna
Relational covenant bond, not a mere legal contract; standard and unambiguous across Polish Bible traditions.
Election
Approved rendering: wybranie
Doctrine: Effectual Calling
Rejected alternatives: przeznaczenie, los
God’s sovereign personal choice; avoid fatalistic ‘przeznaczenie/los’ framing. Note that Catholic theology’s own synergistic instincts (grace and free will cooperating) create some tension with strict monergistic readings of Romans 9 found in Reformed Protestant traditions.
Gospel
Approved rendering: Ewangelia
Doctrine: Gospel
Standard term shared by Catholic (Biblia Tysiąclecia) and Protestant (Biblia Gdańska, Biblia Warszawska) Polish Bibles. Must be taught as the specific proclamation of salvation through Christ, not conflated with the four Gospel books alone or a generic uplifting message.
Grace
Approved rendering: łaska
Doctrine: Grace
Rejected alternatives: łaska otrzymywana głównie przez zasługi i praktyki sakramentalne
As in other Catholic-majority contexts, historic catechesis frames łaska as infused and increased through sacramental participation and merit. Romans’ emphasis on unmerited favor received by faith alone (4:4-5; 11:5-6) must be preserved without softening toward a merit-cooperation reading.
Incarnation
Approved rendering: wcielenie
Doctrine: Incarnation
Standard, unambiguous term shared across Polish Catholic and Protestant Bibles; primary risk is catechetical narrowing to the Christmas nativity scene (szopka) rather than the full doctrine of the Son’s permanent assumption of human nature.
Law
Approved rendering: Prawo
Doctrine: Fulfillment of Prophecy
The Mosaic law/Torah; standard and unambiguous.
Obedience Of Faith
Approved rendering: posłuszeństwo wiary
Doctrine: Obedience of Faith
Rejected alternatives: posłuszeństwo nakazom kościelnym i praktykom religijnym
Romans 1:5 and 16:26. Obedience flowing from faith, not compliance with church precepts, holy days of obligation, or ritual practice, which risk becoming the default referent of religious obedience in Polish Catholic culture.
Resurrection
Approved rendering: zmartwychwstanie
Doctrine: Resurrection of Christ
Standard, unambiguous term with no rival-religion confusion. Polish Catholic culture reinforces bodily resurrection strongly through Easter (Wielkanoc) observance, though Christmas (Boże Narodzenie) carries comparatively greater cultural weight in Poland than Easter does in Orthodox cultures, worth noting for catechetical balance.
Sanctification
Approved rendering: uświęcenie
Doctrine: Sanctification
Rejected alternatives: oczyszczenie pokutne, w tym poprzez czyściec
The Spirit’s ongoing work of making believers holy in this life; must not collapse into the Catholic penitential/purgatorial framework (czyściec, indulgences) in which holiness is completed through purification after death.
Medium Risk Terms
Abba
Approved rendering: Abba
Doctrine: Adoption into God’s Family
Aramaic term of intimacy preserved in Romans 8:15, paired with ‘Ojcze’ following standard Polish Bible precedent.
Adoption
Approved rendering: usynowienie
Doctrine: Adoption into God’s Family
Full son-status with complete inheritance rights; lexically unambiguous.
Called
Approved rendering: powołany
Doctrine: Divine Calling
Context-sensitive: Romans 1:1 (called to apostleship), 1:7 (called to be saints), 8:28-30 (effectual calling).
Church
Approved rendering: kościół
Doctrine: Church as God’s People
Rejected alternatives: Kościół jako jedyna prawowita instytucja hierarchiczna
Distinguish Romans 16’s local gathered congregation from the capitalized institutional sense (‘Kościół’) central to Polish Catholic ecclesiology and national life.
Gentiles
Approved rendering: poganie
Doctrine: Unity of Jews and Gentiles
Unlike English ‘Gentiles,’ which is religiously neutral, the standard Polish rendering ‘poganie’ literally means ‘pagans,’ carrying a stronger negative charge than the Greek ethnē or English ‘Gentiles.’ Ensure the negative connotation does not overstate the text where the more neutral sense ‘nations’ (narody) is intended.
Glory
Approved rendering: chwała
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
God’s radiant honor and presence; standard usage.
Holy
Approved rendering: święty
Doctrine: Sanctification
Set apart for God and morally pure; applies to all believers.
Kingdom Of God
Approved rendering: królestwo Boże
Doctrine: Kingdom Mission
God’s sovereign reign, not a political state or the institutional church.
Mission
Approved rendering: misja
Doctrine: Mission to the Nations
Standard term.
Peace
Approved rendering: pokój
Doctrine: Peace with God
Relational peace with God through justification, not merely inner calm.
Power Of God
Approved rendering: moc Boża
Doctrine: Power of God for Salvation
Standard, unambiguous rendering.
Providence
Approved rendering: opatrzność Boża
Doctrine: Providence
Rejected alternatives: los, przeznaczenie
God’s personal, purposive governance; avoid fatalistic ‘los/przeznaczenie’ framing.
Seed Of David
Approved rendering: potomek Dawida
Doctrine: Davidic Covenant
Romans 1:3; conveys physical lineage and covenant fulfillment.
Sin
Approved rendering: grzech
Doctrine: Universal Human Accountability
Rejected alternatives: drobne przewinienie (minimizing euphemism)
Moral transgression before a personal God; avoid minimizing euphemisms. Note the familiar Catholic mortal/venial sin framework (grzech śmiertelny / grzech powszedni) should not be read as contradicting Romans’ emphasis on universal accountability before God.
Spiritual Gifts
Approved rendering: dary duchowe
Doctrine: Spiritual Gifts
Spirit-given enablements for the church; low syncretism risk, though should be distinguished from folk-Catholic visionary piety associated with certain shrines and private revelations, sometimes popularly described in similar ‘gift’ language.
Low Risk Terms
Apostle
Approved rendering: apostoł
Doctrine: Apostleship
Established, unambiguous term.
David
Approved rendering: Dawid
Doctrine: Davidic Covenant
Standard proper name.
Exhort
Approved rendering: napominać
Doctrine: Mutual Edification
Standard term.
Fellowship
Approved rendering: wspólnota
Doctrine: Christian Fellowship
Rejected alternatives: świętych obcowanie (specific creedal formula)
Use ‘wspólnota’ for Romans’ general fellowship sense; avoid conflating with the specific creedal phrase ‘świętych obcowanie’ (communion of saints).
Israel
Approved rendering: Izrael
Doctrine: Unity of Jews and Gentiles
Standard proper name.
Prophecy
Approved rendering: proroctwo
Doctrine: Fulfillment of Prophecy
God-inspired declaration; standard term.
Prophet
Approved rendering: prorok
Doctrine: Inspiration of Scripture
God’s spokesperson; standard term.
Thanksgiving
Approved rendering: dziękczynienie
Doctrine: Thanksgiving
Standard term. No significant risk.
Referenced passages