Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Wandering Jew, in legend

(Encyclopedia)Wandering Jew, in literary and popular legend, a Jew who mocked or mistreated Jesus while he was on his way to the cross and who was condemned therefore to a life of wandering on earth until Judgment ...

Song of Solomon

(Encyclopedia)Song of Solomon, Song of Songs, or Canticles, book of the Bible, 22d in the order of the Authorized Version. Although traditionally ascribed to King Solomon, many scholars date it as late as the 3d c...

Belgian horse

(Encyclopedia)Belgian horse, one of the largest breeds of draft horses of pure European descent. It has a long history, antedating the Christian era, but became especially popular during the Middle Ages. In the 15t...

Balkenende, Jan Peter

(Encyclopedia)Balkenende, Jan Peter yän pāətûr bälˈkənĕndə [key], 1956–, Dutch political leader, prime minister of the Netherlands (2002–10), b. Kapelle. He attended the Free Univ. of Amsterdam, earnin...

Radičová, Iveta

(Encyclopedia)Radičová, Iveta, 1956–, Slovakian political leader, b. Bratislava. A sociologist, she graduated from the Univ. of Bratislava (B.A., 1979; Ph.D., 1981), later teaching at Comenius Univ. and doing r...

Smith, Gipsy

(Encyclopedia)Smith, Gipsy, 1860–1947, English evangelist, originally named Rodney Smith, b. Wanstead. His father, a Romani (Gypsy), was also an evangelist. When Rodney was still a youth he became a member of Gen...

New Testament

(Encyclopedia)New Testament, the distinctively Christian portion of the Bible, consisting of 27 books of varying lengths dating from the earliest Christian period. The seven epistles whose authorship by St. Paul is...

Beirut

(Encyclopedia)Beirut bāro͞otˈ [key], Arab. Bayrut, Fr. Beyrouth, city (1996 est. pop. 1,200,000), W Lebanon, capital of Lebanon, on the Mediterranean Sea, at the foot of the Lebanon Mts. Beirut is an important p...

Eggleston, Edward

(Encyclopedia)Eggleston, Edward, 1837–1902, American author, Methodist clergyman, b. Vevay, Ind., educated in frontier schools. Before 1870 he was a Bible agent, a farm worker, a circuit rider in Minnesota and In...

Didache

(Encyclopedia)Didache dĭdˈəkē [key] [Gr.,=teaching], early Christian work written in Greek, called also The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles. Dates for its composition suggested by scholars have ranged from a.d....