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Harris, Thomas Lake

(Encyclopedia)Harris, Thomas Lake, 1823–1906, American Christian mystic. Born in England, he was brought to the United States as a child. In 1845 he was called to the pulpit of the Fourth Universalist Society, in...

Holy Spirit

(Encyclopedia)Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost [ghost, i.e., spirit, a translation of Gr. pneuma=breath, air], in Christian doctrine, the third person of the Trinity. The Holy Spirit is sometimes defined as the aspect of ...

Freitas do Amaral, Diogo

(Encyclopedia)Freitas do Amaral, Diogo dēōˈgō frāˈtäs do͞o ämärälˈ [key], 1941–2020, Portuguese political leader. A law professor at the Univ. of Lisbon, he was a founder (1974) and leader (1974–82,...

Griffenfeld, Peder Schumacher, Count

(Encyclopedia)Griffenfeld, Peder Schumacher, Count pāˈᵺər sho͞oˈmäkhər, grĭfˈənfĕlt [key], 1635–99, Danish politician. The son of a merchant, he became (1665) secretary to Frederick III. In 1665 Grif...

Lactantius, Lucius Caelius Firmianus

(Encyclopedia)Lactantius, Lucius Caelius Firmianus lo͞oˈshəs sēˈlēəs fûrmēāˈnəs lăktănˈshəs [key], c.260–a.d. 340, Christian author and apologist, b. Africa. He taught rhetoric at Diocletian's sch...

Bernstorff, Johann Hartwig Ernst

(Encyclopedia)Bernstorff, Johann Hartwig Ernst bĕrnsˈtôrf [key], 1712–72, Danish politician, of German (Hanoverian) origin. As minister of foreign affairs (1751–70) under Frederick V and Christian VII, he s...

Tertullian

(Encyclopedia)Tertullian (Quintus Septimus Florens Tertullianus) tûrtŭlˈyən [key], c.160–c.230, Roman theologian and Christian apologist, b. Carthage. He was the son of a centurion and was well educated, espe...

World Council of Churches

(Encyclopedia)World Council of Churches, an international, interdenominational organization of most major Protestant, Anglican, and Eastern Orthodox Christian churches; founded in Amsterdam in 1948, its headquarter...

Adventists

(Encyclopedia)Adventists ădˈvĕnˌtĭsts [key] [advent, Lat.,=coming], members of a group of related religious denominations whose distinctive doctrine centers in their belief concerning the imminent second comin...

Augustine, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Augustine, Saint ôˈgəstēn, –tĭn; ôgŭsˈtĭn [key], Lat. Aurelius Augustinus, 354–430, one of the Latin Fathers of the Church and a Doctor of the Church, bishop of Hippo (near present-day An...