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liberation theology

(Encyclopedia)liberation theology, belief that the Christian Gospel demands “a preferential option for the poor,” and that the church should be involved in the struggle for economic and political justice in the...

Bangorian Controversy

(Encyclopedia)Bangorian Controversy băng-gôˈrēən [key], religious dispute in the Church of England during the early part of the reign of George I. Benjamin Hoadly, bishop of Bangor, Wales, delivered a sermon (...

Bessarion

(Encyclopedia)Bessarion bĕsârˈēən [key], 1395?–1472, Byzantine humanist, cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He was a leading figure at the Council of Ferrara-Florence, which he attended as metropolitan o...

Beecher, Lyman

(Encyclopedia)Beecher, Lyman, 1775–1863, American Presbyterian clergyman, b. New Haven, Conn., grad. Yale, 1797. In 1799 he became pastor at East Hampton, N.Y. While serving (1810–26) in the Congregational Chur...

Seventh-Day Baptists

(Encyclopedia)Seventh-Day Baptists, Protestant church holding the same doctrines as other Calvinistic Baptists but observing the seventh day of the week as the Sabbath. In the Reformation in England the observance ...

Pius X, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Pius X, Saint, 1835–1914, pope (1903–14), an Italian named Giuseppe Sarto, b. near Treviso; successor of Leo XIII and predecessor of Benedict XV. Ordained in 1858, he became bishop of Mantua (1884...

Copts

(Encyclopedia)Copts kŏpts [key], the native Christian minority of Egypt; estimates of the number of Copts in Egypt range from 5% to 17% of the population. Copts are not ethnically distinct from other Egyptians; th...

Russian literature

(Encyclopedia)Russian literature, literary works mainly produced in the historic area of Russia, written in its earliest days in Church Slavonic and after the 17th cent. in the Russian language. During World War ...

Magnificat

(Encyclopedia)Magnificat măgnĭfˈĭkăt [key] [Lat.,=magnifies], song of the Virgin Mary, beginning “Magnificat anima mea Dominum” [my soul doth magnify the Lord], from Luke 1.46–55. It is the daily vesper ...

Terry, Sir Richard Runciman

(Encyclopedia)Terry, Sir Richard Runciman, 1865–1938, English organist and musicologist. He was organist and choir director (1901–24) of Westminster Cathedral. Terry studied and made collections of early Englis...