Religious Term Abbreviations
78 abbreviations · part of Religious Abbreviations
Abbreviations for calendar eras such as AD, BC, CE and BCE, Bible translations and ancient manuscripts, Christian denominations, creeds and devotional phrases, and honorifics used in Islamic and Jewish writing. Entries explain each term's origin, how it is placed and punctuated under AP and Chicago style, and how it is used within its own tradition.
| Abbreviation | Stands for | Description |
|---|---|---|
| ACNA | Anglican Church in North America | Conservative Anglican denomination formed in 2009 by congregations and dioceses that left the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada, mainly over… |
| AD | Anno Domini (in the year of the Lord) | Label for years counted from the traditional year of Jesus' birth in the Western calendar, as in AD 1066. |
| AH | Anno Hegirae (in the year of the Hijra) | Label for years in the Islamic lunar calendar, counted from the Hijra, the Prophet Muhammad's migration from Mecca to Medina in AD 622. |
| AM | Anno Mundi (in the year of the world) | Calendar era counting years from the supposed creation of the world, used in the Hebrew calendar, which places creation in 3761 BC. |
| AMDG | Ad maiorem Dei gloriam (for the greater glory of God) | Latin motto of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), adopted from the writings of St. |
| AME | African Methodist Episcopal Church | First independent Protestant denomination founded by Black Americans, established in 1816 by Richard Allen and other leaders in Philadelphia after discrimination in… |
| AMP | Amplified Bible | English translation first published in 1965 by the Lockman Foundation and Zondervan that expands key words with bracketed alternatives and explanations to convey shades… |
| AS | Alayhi as-salam (peace be upon him) | Arabic honorific used after the names of prophets other than Muhammad, such as Ibrahim (Abraham), Musa (Moses) and Isa (Jesus), and after angels such as Jibril (Gabriel). |
| ASV | American Standard Version | Literal English revision of the King James Version published in 1901, the American counterpart of the British Revised Version, notable for rendering God's name as… |
| BC | Before Christ | Label for years before the start of the Anno Domini era, counted backward so that larger numbers are earlier, as in 44 BC for the assassination of Julius Caesar. |
| BCE | Before the Common Era | Religiously neutral equivalent of BC, used in scholarship, museums, textbooks and Jewish writing for years before 1 CE, as in 586 BCE for the Babylonian destruction of… |
| BCP | Book of Common Prayer | Prayer book containing the services, prayers and psalms of the Church of England and other Anglican churches, first compiled by Archbishop Thomas Cranmer in 1549. |
| BH | Baruch Hashem (Blessed is God) | Hebrew expression of gratitude, literally "blessed is the Name", used in conversation by observant Jews, as in answering "How are you?" with "Baruch Hashem". |
| BHS | Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia | Standard critical edition of the Hebrew Bible used by scholars and translators, published between 1967 and 1977 by the German Bible Society. |
| BSD | B'siyata Dishmaya (with the help of Heaven) | Aramaic phrase, abbreviated BS"D in Hebrew letters, written at the top of letters, notes, schoolwork and documents by many observant Jews to acknowledge reliance on God. |
| CCC | Catechism of the Catholic Church | Official summary of Catholic doctrine, promulgated by Pope John Paul II in 1992, with the English translation published in 1994. |
| CCD | Confraternity of Christian Doctrine | Catholic association for teaching the faith, founded in Rome in the 16th century, whose name in the United States became shorthand for parish religious education… |
| CE | Common Era | Religiously neutral label for the same years as AD, used in academic, scientific, Jewish and interfaith writing, as in 2026 CE. |
| CEB | Common English Bible | Translation published in 2011 by a consortium of mainline Protestant publishers, including those of the Methodist, Presbyterian, Episcopal, Disciples of Christ and… |
| CEV | Contemporary English Version | Translation published by the American Bible Society in 1995, written to be read aloud and easily understood by children and new readers, avoiding complex sentences and… |
| COGIC | Church of God in Christ | Largest Pentecostal denomination in the United States and a predominantly African American church, founded in 1897 by Charles Harrison Mason and headquartered in… |
| CSB | Christian Standard Bible | English translation published in 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers, part of Lifeway, which is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention. |
| D&C | Doctrine and Covenants | Book of scripture of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, containing revelations mostly received by Joseph Smith and organized into 138 sections plus two… |
| D.V. | Deo volente (God willing) | Adds a note of piety and contingency to a stated plan, meaning the event will happen if God allows. |
| DRB | Douay–Rheims Bible | English Catholic translation from the Latin Vulgate made by exiles at the English College, with the New Testament published at Rheims in 1582 and the Old Testament at… |
| DSS | Dead Sea Scrolls | Collection of ancient Jewish manuscripts discovered between 1947 and 1956 in caves near Qumran by the Dead Sea, dating from about the third century BC to the first… |
| ELCA | Evangelical Lutheran Church in America | Largest Lutheran denomination in the United States, formed in 1988 by merging three Lutheran churches and headquartered in Chicago. |
| ESV | English Standard Version | Essentially literal English translation published by Crossway in 2001, based on a revision of the 1971 Revised Standard Version. |
| GNT | Good News Translation | Plain-English Bible translation by the American Bible Society, first issued as the New Testament "Good News for Modern Man" in 1966 and as the full Bible in 1976. |
| HCSB | Holman Christian Standard Bible | English translation published by Holman Bible Publishers, with the New Testament in 1999 and the full Bible in 2004, known for using "Yahweh" in some Old Testament… |
| IHS | Christogram for the name of Jesus | Monogram formed from the first three letters of the Greek name of Jesus (iota, eta, sigma), widely carved on altars, vestments, church doors and communion wafers. |
| INRI | Iesus Nazarenus Rex Iudaeorum (Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews) | Initials of the Latin inscription that, according to John 19:19–20, Pontius Pilate had placed above Jesus on the cross, written in Hebrew, Greek and Latin. |
| ISKCON | International Society for Krishna Consciousness | Hindu devotional organization, widely known as the Hare Krishna movement, founded in New York City in 1966 by A. |
| JB | Jerusalem Bible | Catholic English translation published in 1966, based on the French La Bible de Jérusalem produced by the Dominican École Biblique in Jerusalem. |
| JW | Jehovah's Witnesses | Christian restorationist movement that grew out of the Bible Student movement started by Charles Taze Russell in the 1870s and took its current name in 1931. |
| KJV | King James Version | English translation of the Bible commissioned by King James I at the Hampton Court Conference of 1604 and published in 1611 by a team of about 50 scholars. |
| LCMS | Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod | Conservative American Lutheran denomination, organized in 1847 by German immigrants and headquartered in the St. |
| LDS | Latter-day Saints | Common abbreviation for members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, founded by Joseph Smith in New York in 1830 and headquartered in Salt Lake City. |
| LXX | Septuagint | Ancient Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, begun in Alexandria in the third century BC, which was the Bible of most early Christians and remains the Old Testament… |
| MSG | Message | Shortens "message," as noun or verb: "got your msg," "msg me later." Common in texts, gaming chat and app notifications where space is tight. |
| MT | Masoretic Text | Authoritative Hebrew text of the Jewish Bible, copied and annotated with vowel points, accents and marginal notes by scholars called Masoretes between about the 7th and… |
| NA28 | Nestle-Aland Novum Testamentum Graece, 28th edition | Standard critical edition of the Greek New Testament, published in 2012 by the German Bible Society, presenting the text most scholars consider closest to the originals… |
| NAB | New American Bible | Catholic English translation completed in 1970 under the sponsorship of the US bishops, the first American Catholic Bible translated from the original languages rather… |
| NABRE | New American Bible Revised Edition | Revision of the New American Bible published in 2011, with a new translation of the Old Testament, and the edition posted on the website of the US Conference of… |
| NASB | New American Standard Bible | Highly literal English translation produced by the Lockman Foundation, with the New Testament released in 1963 and the full Bible in 1971. |
| NET | New English Translation | Translation first published in 2005 by Biblical Studies Press, known for more than 60,000 translators' notes explaining choices and textual issues, and designed from… |
| NIV | New International Version | Modern English Bible translation produced by an international, interdenominational committee of evangelical scholars, with the New Testament published in 1973 and the… |
| NJB | New Jerusalem Bible | Catholic English translation published in 1985, revising the Jerusalem Bible to follow the second French edition of La Bible de Jérusalem more closely. |
| NJPS | New Jewish Publication Society Tanakh | English translation of the Hebrew Bible by the Jewish Publication Society, completed in 1985 after nearly three decades of work and based on the Masoretic Text. |
| NKJV | New King James Version | Update of the King James Version published by Thomas Nelson, with the New Testament in 1979 and the full Bible in 1982, that modernizes vocabulary and replaces "thee"… |
| NLT | New Living Translation | Dynamic-equivalence English translation published by Tyndale House in 1996, created by about 90 scholars as a full translation that replaced Kenneth Taylor's… |
| NRSV | New Revised Standard Version | English translation published in 1989 under the National Council of Churches, widely used in mainline Protestant churches, Catholic and ecumenical scholarship and… |
| NRSVue | New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition | Revision of the NRSV completed in 2021 under the Society of Biblical Literature, incorporating newer manuscript evidence, including Dead Sea Scrolls readings, and… |
| NT | New Testament | Second part of the Christian Bible, made up of 27 books: four Gospels, Acts, 21 letters and Revelation, written in Greek in the first century AD. |
| OBM | Of blessed memory | English honorific placed after the name of a deceased person in Jewish writing, translating the Hebrew Z"L. |
| OCA | Orthodox Church in America | Eastern Orthodox church whose roots go back to Russian missionaries who arrived in Alaska in 1794, granted self-governance (autocephaly) by the Moscow Patriarchate in… |
| OCIA | Order of Christian Initiation of Adults | Name used for the Catholic adult initiation process under a newer English translation of the ritual, replacing the long-familiar RCIA in American parishes. |
| OT | Old Testament | First part of the Christian Bible, corresponding to the Hebrew Bible, with 39 books in Protestant Bibles, 46 in Catholic Bibles and more in Eastern Orthodox Bibles. |
| PBUH | Peace be upon him | English honorific written or spoken by Muslims after the name of the Prophet Muhammad, and often after other prophets, as a sign of respect. |
| PCUSA | Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) | Largest Presbyterian denomination in the United States, formed in 1983 by reuniting northern and southern Presbyterian churches divided since the Civil War. |
| R.I.P. | Requiescat in pace (may he or she rest in peace) | Expresses a wish for the eternal rest of someone who has died, traditionally carved on gravestones and spoken in Christian prayers for the dead. |
| RA | Radiyallahu anhu (may God be pleased with him) | Arabic honorific used mainly by Sunni Muslims after the names of the Companions of the Prophet Muhammad, such as Abu Bakr and Umar. |
| RCC | Roman Catholic Church | Largest Christian church in the world, with about 1.4 billion members, led by the pope in Rome and organized in dioceses under bishops. |
| RCIA | Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults | Catholic process by which unbaptized adults, and often baptized Christians seeking full communion, are prepared over months of instruction and rituals for baptism… |
| RSV | Revised Standard Version | English translation sponsored by the National Council of Churches, with the New Testament in 1946 and the full Bible in 1952, revising the American Standard Version in… |
| RV | Revised Version | British revision of the King James Version, with the New Testament published in 1881 and the Old Testament in 1885, the first officially authorized revision of the KJV… |
| SAW | Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam (God's blessings and peace be upon him) | Arabic honorific written after the name of the Prophet Muhammad, abbreviated SAW or SAWS, and sometimes as the single Arabic ligature ﷺ. |
| SBC | Southern Baptist Convention | Largest Protestant denomination in the United States, founded in Augusta, Georgia, in 1845 after a split with northern Baptists over slavery. |
| SDA | Seventh-day Adventist | Protestant denomination formally organized in 1863 in Battle Creek, Michigan, known for observing Saturday as the Sabbath, expecting Christ's imminent return and… |
| SWT | Subhanahu wa ta'ala (glorified and exalted is He) | Arabic phrase written or spoken by Muslims after the name of God (Allah) to express reverence. |
| TLB | The Living Bible | Paraphrase of the Bible by Kenneth N. |
| TR | Textus Receptus | Family of printed Greek New Testament editions beginning with Erasmus in 1516 and including Stephanus (1550) and Beza, which underlie the King James Version. |
| UCC | United Church of Christ | Mainline Protestant denomination formed in 1957 by uniting the Congregational Christian Churches and the Evangelical and Reformed Church. |
| UMC | United Methodist Church | Mainline Protestant denomination formed in 1968 by merging the Methodist Church with the Evangelical United Brethren Church, with members in the US, Africa, Europe and… |
| VBS | Vacation Bible School | Summer program run by churches, usually for a week, in which children take part in Bible stories, songs, crafts, games and snacks organized around a yearly theme. |
| WCF | Westminster Confession of Faith | Reformed statement of faith completed in 1646 by the Westminster Assembly of English and Scottish theologians, which remains the doctrinal standard for many… |
| WWJD | What would Jesus do? | Question used as a motto by evangelical Christians to encourage moral decisions modeled on Jesus' example. |
| ZL | Zikhrono livrakha (may his memory be a blessing) | Hebrew honorific, usually written Z"L, placed after the name of a deceased person, as in "my grandfather, Abraham Cohen Z"L". |