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Tay Ninh

(Encyclopedia)Tay Ninh tā nĭn [key], city, S Vietnam, NW of Ho Chi Minh City. It is the center of the Cao Dai, a politically active religious group that was suppressed by South Vietnamese forces after an armed in...

Tebéssa

(Encyclopedia)Tébessa təbĕsˈə [key], ancient Theveste, town (1998 pop. 153,246), NE Algeria, in the Atlas Mts. The town is an important agricultural market and is noted for its silk embroidery and carpets. The...

Sebastian, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Sebastian, Saint, fl. 3d cent.?, Roman martyr. Little is known of his life. According to tradition he was an officer of the Praetorian guards much favored by Emperor Diocletian, who did not know that ...

Williams, Rowan Douglas

(Encyclopedia)Williams, Rowan Douglas, 1950–, archbishop of Canterbury (2002–12), b. Swansea, Wales; grad. Christ's College, Cambridge (B.A., 1971; M.A., 1975), Wadham College, Oxford (D.Phil., 1975). Ordained ...

Sancho III, king of Navarre

(Encyclopedia)Sancho III or Sancho the Great sänˈchō [key], c.970–1035, king of Navarre (1000–1035). Having inherited the kingdom of Navarre, which included Aragón, he launched an annexation campaign that m...

Reuchlin, Johann

(Encyclopedia)Reuchlin, Johann yōˈhän roikhˈlən [key], 1455–1522, German humanist and lawyer, a scholar of Greek and Hebrew, b. Baden. He taught jurisprudence at Tübingen. In 1492 he began the study of Hebr...

missions

(Encyclopedia)missions, term generally applied to organizations formed for the purpose of extending religious teaching, whether at home or abroad. It also indicates the stations or the fields where such teaching is...

Constantine I, Roman emperor

(Encyclopedia)Constantine I or Constantine the Great kŏnˈstəntēn, –tīn [key], 288?–337, Roman emperor, b. Naissus (present-day Niš, Serbia). He was the son of Constantius I and Helena and was named in ful...

Ebionites

(Encyclopedia)Ebionites ēˈbēənītsˌ, ĕbˈē– [key] [Aramaic,=poor], Jewish-Christian sect of rural ancient Palestine, of the first centuries after Jesus. There were two groups, according to Origen. The Juda...

Alexander of Hales

(Encyclopedia)Alexander of Hales, d. 1245, English scholastic philosopher, called the Unanswerable Doctor by his fellow scholastics. He was a Franciscan and a lecturer at the Univ. of Paris. His Summa universae the...