An Episcopal Dictionary of the Church

Shekinah

The term comes from a Hebrew word which means “to dwell.” It refers to the visible dwelling of God among the people of God on earth. It does not appear in the Bible as such but comes from Jewish tradition during the period of the Second Temple, i.e., after 515 B.C. The same phenomenon appears in the Bible as the glory of God, which is particularly associated with the Tabernacle (Ex 40:34-35) and the Temple (1 Kgs 8:10-11) in the OT, and with the Incarnation (Jn 1:14) in the NT.

Glossary definitions provided courtesy of Church Publishing Incorporated, New York, NY,(All Rights reserved) from “An Episcopal Dictionary of the Church, A User Friendly Reference for Episcopalians,” Don S. Armentrout and Robert Boak Slocum, editors.