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Stott, John Robert Walmsley

(Encyclopedia)Stott, John Robert Walmsley, 1921–2011, Anglican clergyman influential in 20th-century evangelical Christianity, b. London. He attended college and theological school at Cambridge and was ordained i...

hell

(Encyclopedia)hell, in Western monotheistic religions, eternal abode of souls damned by the judgment of God. The souls in hell are deprived forever of the sight of God. The punishment of hell is generally analogize...

Pisemsky, Aleksey Feofilaktovich

(Encyclopedia)Pisemsky, Aleksey Feofilaktovich əlyĭksyāˈ fāˌəfēläkˈtəvĭch pēˈsyĭmskē [key], 1821–81, Russian novelist and playwright. In his realistic descriptions of country life he portrayed the...

metempsychosis

(Encyclopedia)metempsychosis: see transmigration of souls. ...

midsummer day and midsummer night

(Encyclopedia)midsummer day and midsummer night, names given to the feast of the nativity of St. John the Baptist (June 24) and the preceding night (St. John's Eve, June 23). Because midsummer is about the time of ...

Saint Bartholomew's Day, massacre of

(Encyclopedia)Saint Bartholomew's Day, massacre of, murder of French Protestants, or Huguenots, that began in Paris on Aug. 24, 1572. It was preceded, on Aug. 22, by an attempt, ordered by Catherine de' Medici, on ...

Kołakowski, Leszek

(Encyclopedia)Kołakowski, Leszek lĕshˈĕk kôˌwəkôfˈskē [key], 1927–2009, Polish philosopher, b. Radom, Ph.D Univ. of Warsaw, 1953. A Marxist revisionist and a critic of the Eastern European Communism he ...

Fortunate Isles

(Encyclopedia)Fortunate Isles or Isles of the Blest, in classical and Celtic legend, islands in the Western Ocean. There the souls of favored mortals were received by the gods and lived happily in a paradise. Belie...

Ashura

(Encyclopedia)Ashura, holy day in Islam, the 10th day of the month of Muharram. It commemorates the day Noah left the ark and the day Moses was saved by God from the Egyptians, and is a voluntary day of fasting for...

holiday

(Encyclopedia)holiday [altered from holy day], day set aside for the commemoration of an important event. Holidays are often accompanied by public ceremonies, such as parades and carnivals, and by religious observa...