Word for religious supernatural?
The term supernatural often refers to things like ghosts, magic powers or special abilities, or a general sort of "magic".
I was wondering if there is a specific word for the supernatural within a religious (esp. Christian) context - things like possession and exorcism, the devil, demons and angels, miracles, magic rituals etc.
E.g.
The movie involved themes of the supernatural
But replacing supernatural with something more specific to the religious context.
EDIT: the Exorcist series of movies is probably the quintessential example of this theme in action.
Solution 1:
mysteries (one word) or Sacred mysteries (two words, but an unambiguous term). The OP asks for a single word. Mysteries is not satisfactory for the purpose defined by the OP, because it could mean, e.g., murder mysteries. Sacred mysteries are defined by Wikipedia as:
The term sacred mysteries generally denotes the area of supernatural phenomena associated with a divinity or a religious ideology. The term has two senses, which often overlap:
1.Religious beliefs, rituals or practices which are kept secret from non-believers, or lower levels of believers, who have not had an initiation into the higher levels of belief (the concealed knowledge may be called esoteric).
2.Beliefs of the religion which are public knowledge but cannot be easily explained by normal rational or scientific means.
There were many pre-Christian religious mystery cults or religions, such as the Eleusinian mysteries and Mithraism.
The OP asks specifically about the supernatural in the Christian context.
In the Roman Catholic Church the First Vatican Council [1868] re-affirmed the existence of mysteries as a doctrine of Catholic faith as follows: "If any one say that in Divine Revelation there are contained no mysteries properly so called (vera et proprie dicta mysteria), but that through reason rightly developed (per rationem rite excultam) all the dogmas of faith can be understood and demonstrated from natural principles: let him be anathema" (Sess. III, De fide et ratione, can. i). The position, if not the terminology, of other Christian churches is essentially the same
Addendum
I am catching up on my reading, and just saw the article in The Economist, Talking in Tongues, which is about religious language and whether it should modernize and keep up with language as currently spoken. The article concludes:
A language of sacred mystery could be seen as a sign of [a special status of religious faith] —or as an admission that letting the faithful interrogate the doctrine in plain language can be a dangerous thing. (Emphasis added.)
Solution 2:
The term mysticism often carries a religious tone. And Christian mysticism would get you the closest in meaning.
The various definitions of mystic from Merriam-Webster cover quite a bit of your intended meaning:
- mystical 1a
- of or relating to mysteries or esoteric rites : occult
- of or relating to mysticism or mystics
- a : mysterious
- b : obscure, enigmatic
- c : inducing a feeling of awe or wonder
- d : having magical properties