Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

169 results found

James, Saint (St. James the Less)

(Encyclopedia)James, Saint, in the Bible, one of the Twelve Apostles, called St. James the Less or St. James the Little. He was the son of Alphaeus; his mother, Mary, was one of those at the cross and tomb. The Wes...

Mayer, Johann Tobias

(Encyclopedia)Mayer, Johann Tobias yōˈhän tōbēˈäs mīˈər [key], 1723–62, German mathematician and astronomer. In 1751 he became professor of economics and mathematics at the Univ. of Göttingen, and in 1...

nominalism

(Encyclopedia)nominalism, in philosophy, a theory of the relation between universals and particulars. Nominalism gained its name in the Middle Ages, when it was contrasted with realism. The problem arises because i...

Snow, Lorenzo

(Encyclopedia)Snow, Lorenzo, 1814–1901, American Mormon leader, b. Mantua, Ohio, studied at Oberlin College. Entering the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (1836), Snow became an apostle in 1849. Upon h...

Simon, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Simon, Saint sīˈmən [key], in the New Testament, one of the Twelve Apostles. In the Gospels he is called the Canaanite or Cananaean or Zelotes, synonymous terms referring probably to association wi...

apostle

(Encyclopedia)apostle əpŏsˈəl [key] [Gr.,=envoy], one of the prime missionaries of Christianity. The apostles of the first rank are saints Peter, Andrew, James (the Greater), John, Thomas, James (the Less), Jud...

Cobb, Lee J.

(Encyclopedia)Cobb, Lee J., 1911–76, American actor, b. New York City. He first performed with the Pasadena (Calif.) Playhouse in 1929 and made his Broadway debut in Crime and Punishment (1935). Cobb created the ...

Jude, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Jude, Saint, or Saint Judas [Jude is an English form to distinguish him from Judas Iscariot], in the New Testament, one of the Twelve Apostles, also called Thaddaeus. He is thought to have been the so...

Wolpe, Stefan

(Encyclopedia)Wolpe, Stefan shtĕfˈän vôlˈpə [key], 1902–72, German–American composer. Of Jewish ancestry, he went to live in Palestine in 1933, but settled in the United States in 1938. Wolpe wrote severa...

livery companies

(Encyclopedia)livery companies, London trade guilds incorporated by royal charter, deriving their name from the assumption of distinctive dress (livery) by their members. Edward III granted the first charters in th...

Browse by Subject