Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

purification

(Encyclopedia)purification, in religion, the ceremonial removal of what the religion deems unclean. The usual agents of purification are water (as in baptism), bodily alteration (as in circumcision), and fire. The ...

Tappan, Arthur

(Encyclopedia)Tappan, Arthur tăpˈən [key], 1786–1865, American abolitionist, b. Northampton, Mass. He made a fortune in the dry-goods business in New York City and with his brother and partner Lewis Tappan gav...

Williams, John, English missionary

(Encyclopedia)Williams, John, 1796–1839, English missionary, called the Apostle of Polynesia. Under the London Missionary Society he went (1817) to the Society Islands. He discovered Rarotonga in 1823 and founded...

Inge, William Ralph

(Encyclopedia)Inge, William Ralph ĭng [key], 1860–1954, Anglican prelate and author. He was fellow of King's College, Cambridge (1886–88), fellow and tutor of Hertford College, Oxford (1889–1904), and vicar ...

Judaea

(Encyclopedia)Judaea or Judea both: jo͞odēˈə [key] [Lat. from Judah], region, Greco-Roman name for S Palestine. It varied in size in different periods. In the time of Jesus it was both part of the province of S...

Palm Sunday

(Encyclopedia)Palm Sunday, in the Christian calendar, the Sunday before Easter, sixth and last Sunday in Lent, and the first day of Holy Week. It recalls the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem riding upon an ass, when h...

Hall, Granville Stanley

(Encyclopedia)Hall, Granville Stanley, 1844–1924, American psychologist and educator, b. Ashfield, Mass., grad. Williams, 1867. G. Stanley Hall taught at Antioch and Harvard, studied experimental psychology in Ge...

Maceió

(Encyclopedia)Maceió məsāôˈ [key], city (1991 pop. 629,041), capital of Alagoas state, E Brazil, on a narrow strip of land between a lagoon and the Atlantic Ocean. Its port is at Jaraguá. Industries include s...

predella

(Encyclopedia)predella prĕdĕlˈlä [key], Italian term for a painted panel, usually small, belonging to a series of panels at the bottom of an altarpiece. The form was used mainly in Italy from the 13th to the 16...

Brenz, Johannes

(Encyclopedia)Brenz, Johannes yōhänˈəs brĕnz [key], c.1522–67, German Protestant reformer. After coming under the influence of Johannes Oecolampadius and Martin Luther, Brenz stopped celebrating Mass (1523) ...