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John, Saint

(Encyclopedia)John, Saint, one of the Twelve Apostles, traditional author of the fourth Gospel, three letters, and the Book of Revelation (see John, Gospel according to Saint; John, letters; Revelation); it is high...

Frederick William IV

(Encyclopedia)Frederick William IV, 1795–1861, king of Prussia (1840–61), son and successor of Frederick William III. A romanticist and a mystic, he conceived vague schemes of reform based on a revival of the m...

Erastus, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Erastus, Thomas, 1524–83, Swiss Protestant theologian, a physician, whose original name was Lüber, Lieber, or Liebler. As a follower of Huldreich Zwingli, he supported the Swiss leader's view of th...

divination

(Encyclopedia)divination, practice of foreseeing future events or obtaining secret knowledge through communication with divine sources and through omens, oracles, signs, and portents. It is based on the belief in r...

Cortona, Pietro Berrettini da

(Encyclopedia)Cortona, Pietro Berrettini da pyāˈtrō bār-rĕt-tēˈnē dä kōrtôˈnä [key], 1596–1669, Italian baroque painter and architect, b. Cortona. The Barberini family commissioned him to paint fresc...

church, aggregation of Christian believers

(Encyclopedia)church [probably Gr.,=divine], aggregation of Christian believers. The traditional belief has the church the community of believers, living and dead, headed by Jesus, who founded it in the apostles. T...

Chalcedon, Council of

(Encyclopedia)Chalcedon, Council of, fourth ecumenical council, convened in 451 by Pulcheria and Marcian, empress and emperor of the East, to settle the scandal of the Robber Synod and to discuss Eutychianism (see ...

Shekinah

(Encyclopedia)Shekinah shēkīˈnə [key] [Heb.,=dwelling, presence], in Judaism, term used in the Targum (Aramaic translation of the Hebrew Bible) and elsewhere to indicate the manifestation of the presence of God...

Sara

(Encyclopedia)Sara or Sarah, in the Bible, wife of Abraham and mother of Isaac. With Rebecca, Rachel, and Leah, she was one of the four Hebrew matriarchs. Her name was originally Sarai [Heb.,=princess]. She was chi...

Baruch, book of the Septuagint and of the Apocrypha

(Encyclopedia)Baruch, early Jewish book included in the Septuagint, but not included in the Hebrew Bible and placed in the Apocrypha in the Authorized Version. It is named for a Jewish prince Baruch (fl. 600 b.c.),...