Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

pulpit

(Encyclopedia)pulpit, in churches, elevated platform with low enclosing sides, used for preaching the sermon. In the earliest churches the episcopal throne served this purpose. The boxlike elevated ambo of early me...

Agen

(Encyclopedia)Agen äzhäNˈ [key], town, capital of Lot-et-Garonne dept., SW France, on the Garonne River, in Guienne. It is an agricultural marketplace in the center of a fruit-growing ...

Chadwick, Owen

(Encyclopedia)Chadwick, Owen, 1916–2015, British religious historian and educator, b. Bromley, grad. St. John's College, Cambridge (1938, 1939), ordained Anglican priest (1941). He held several positions at Cambr...

Bowery, the

(Encyclopedia)Bowery, the bouˈərē, –ˈrē [key] [Dutch Bouwerie=farm], section of lower Manhattan, New York City. The Bowery, the street that gives the area its name, was once a road to the farm of New Amsterd...

Covenanters

(Encyclopedia)Covenanters kəvənănˈtərz [key], in Scottish history, groups of Presbyterians bound by oath to sustain each other in the defense of their religion. The first formal Covenant was signed in 1557, si...

Schleswig, city, Germany

(Encyclopedia)Schleswig, city (1994 pop. 26,857), Schleswig-Holstein, N Germany, on the Schlei, an inlet of the Baltic Sea. The city's economy is based on the production of food products and leather and on fishing....

Wharton, Francis

(Encyclopedia)Wharton, Francis, 1820–89, American clergyman and lawyer, b. Philadelphia, grad. Yale, 1839. Admitted to the Pennsylvania bar in 1843, he became an authority on criminal law and wrote A Treatise on ...

Protestantism

(Encyclopedia)Protestantism, form of Christian faith and practice that originated with the principles of the Reformation. The term is derived from the Protestatio delivered by a minority of delegates against the (1...

Lea, Henry Charles

(Encyclopedia)Lea, Henry Charles lē [key], 1825–1909, U.S. historian, b. Philadelphia. He was associated with the family publishing business for many years, but his real interest was in historical work. Working ...

Merle d'Aubigné, Jean Henri

(Encyclopedia)Merle d'Aubigné, Jean Henri zhäN äNrēˈ mĕrl dōbēnyāˈ [key], 1794–1872, Swiss ecclesiastical historian and Protestant preacher. After studying theology at Geneva and in Berlin, he was pasto...