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Shakti

(Encyclopedia)Shakti shŭkˈtē [key] [Skt.,=power], in Hinduism, name given to the female consorts of male deities. The Shakti personifies the dynamic, manifesting energy that creates the universe, while the male ...

Barnes, Barnabe

(Encyclopedia)Barnes, Barnabe, 1569?–1609, English poet. His major work is Parthenophil and Parthenophe (1593), a collection of sonnets, madrigals, elegies, and odes. He also wrote A Divine Century of Spiritual S...

Ghose, Aurobindo

(Encyclopedia)Ghose, Aurobindo ôrōbĭnˈdō gōsh [key], 1872–1950, Indian nationalist leader and mystic philosopher. Born in Bengal, he was sent to England and lived there for 14 years, completing his educatio...

Ahad Ha-am

(Encyclopedia)Ahad Ha-am äkhädˈ hä-äm [key] [Heb.,=One of the People], 1856–1927, Jewish thinker and Zionist leader, b. Ukraine. Originally named Asher Ginzberg, he adopted his pen name when he published his...

Simon Magus

(Encyclopedia)Simon Magus māˈgəs [key], Samaritan sorcerer who attempted to buy spiritual power from the apostles. From this comes the term simony. He is mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles. He was said to hav...

idol

(Encyclopedia)idol, an object, frequently an image, which is worshiped as a deity. Idols are usually found in human or animal form and may be treated as though alive; they are fed, bathed, anointed, crowned, and so...

Lipton, Seymour

(Encyclopedia)Lipton, Seymour, 1903–86, American sculptor, b. New York City. Self-taught as a sculptor, Lipton worked directly in sheet metals and molten alloys, creating organically twisting forms with richly br...

Knox, Ronald

(Encyclopedia)Knox, Ronald, 1888–1957, English theologian and author. He attended Eton and then Balliol College, Oxford, and in 1910 was ordained as an Anglican minister. Doctrinal preferences, however, led to hi...

White, William Hale

(Encyclopedia)White, William Hale, pseud. Mark Rutherford, 1831–1913, English novelist. He studied to become a clergyman, but instead became (1854) a clerk in the admiralty, rising in 1879 to assistant director o...

John of the Cross, Saint

(Encyclopedia)John of the Cross, Saint, Span. Juan de la Cruz, 1542–91, Spanish mystic and poet, Doctor of the Church. His name was originally Juan de Yepes. He was a founder of the Discalced Carmelites and a clo...