Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

incarnation

(Encyclopedia)incarnation, the assumption of human form by a god, an idea common in religion. In early times the idea was expressed in the belief that certain living men, often kings or priests, were divine incarna...

Huguenots

(Encyclopedia)Huguenots hyo͞oˈgənŏts [key], French Protestants, followers of John Calvin. The term is derived from the German Eidgenossen, meaning sworn companions or confederates. In the reign of King Louis ...

Knox, John

(Encyclopedia)Knox, John, 1514?–1572, Scottish religious reformer, founder of Scottish Presbyterianism. In 1557 the Scottish Protestant nobles signed their First Covenant, banding together to form the group kn...

Ishtar

(Encyclopedia)Ishtar ĭshˈtär [key], ancient fertility deity, the most widely worshiped goddess in Babylonian and Assyrian religion. She was worshiped under various names and forms. Most important as a mother god...

Burghers

(Encyclopedia)Burghers bûrˈgərz [key], in the 18th cent., a party of the Secession Church of Scotland, resulting from one of the “breaches” in the history of Presbyterianism. To qualify as a burgess in certa...

Aesir

(Encyclopedia)Aesir ĕˈsər [key]: see Germanic religion. ...

encyclical

(Encyclopedia)encyclical, originally, a pastoral letter sent out by a bishop, now a solemn papal letter, meant to inform the whole church on some particular matter of importance. Benedict XIV circulated the first k...

Goytisolo, Juan

(Encyclopedia)Goytisolo, Juan (Juan Goytisolo Gay) hwän goitēsōˈlō [key], 1931–2017, Spanish writer, b. Barcelona. Goytisolo is considered among the foremost novelists who wrote in Spanish in the late 20th c...