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peyotism

(Encyclopedia)peyotism, religion of some Native North Americans in which the hallucinogenic peyote button is used as the sacramental food. It is the most widespread indigenous contemporary Native American religion....

Persius

(Encyclopedia)Persius or Aulus Persius Flaccus pûrˈshēəs; ôlˈəs, flăkˈəs [key], a.d. 34–a.d. 62, Roman satirical poet, b. Etruria. A member of a distinguished family, he went to Rome in boyhood, was edu...

Wyclif, John

(Encyclopedia)Wyclif, Wycliffe, Wickliffe, or Wiclif, John all: wĭkˈlĭf [key], c.1328–1384, English religious reformer. A Yorkshireman by birth, Wyclif studied and taught theology and philosophy at Oxford. He ...

Gujral, Inder Kumar

(Encyclopedia)Gujral, Inder Kumar, 1919–2012, Indian political leader, prime minister of India (1997–98), b. Jhelum, British India (now in Pakistan). Active in the Indian independence movement, he was a member ...

Geiger, Abraham

(Encyclopedia)Geiger, Abraham gīˈgər [key], 1810–74, German rabbi, Semitic scholar and Orientalist, theologian, and foremost exponent of the Reform movement in Judaism. When he received his doctorate (1833) fr...

Muggleton, Lodowicke

(Encyclopedia)Muggleton, Lodowicke, 1609–98, English religious leader, a journeyman tailor. With his cousin John Reeve, also a tailor, he founded a new sect, whose adherents were known as Muggletonians. In 1652, ...

Novatian

(Encyclopedia)Novatian nōvāˈshən [key], fl. 250, Roman priest, antipope (from 251), and theologian. He opposed the election of St. Cornelius as pope and set himself up instead. He gained followers throughout th...

Marbury v. Madison

(Encyclopedia)Marbury v. Madison, case decided in 1803 by the U.S. Supreme Court. William Marbury had been commissioned justice of the peace in the District of Columbia by President John Adams in the “midnight ap...

Maurice, Frederick Denison

(Encyclopedia)Maurice, Frederick Denison, 1805–72, English clergyman and social reformer. He was brought up a Unitarian but became an Anglican. He studied law at Cambridge and was a founder of the Apostles' Club....

Assemblies of God

(Encyclopedia)Assemblies of God, a large group of churches comprising the second largest Pentecostal organization in the United States, founded at Hot Springs, Ark., in Apr., 1914. In doctrine the Assemblies of God...