A
The symbol employed in textual criticism for a MS of the New Testament in Greek written on parchment in Egypt (Alexandria? Hence known as the Codex Alexandrinus) in the 5th cent. A few leaves ...
A
(Gk., alpha).First letter of the Greek alphabet, combined with the last, Ω (omega), to refer to God as the beginning and the end, the all-encompassing.
A
Symbol of emptiness (śūnyatā) and of the undifferentiated source of appearance in Zen Buddhism. In Japanese esoteric Buddhism (mikkyō), aji, the first sound in the Sanskrit alphabet, contains the ...
Aa Gym
Abdullah Gymnastiar (b.1962) is an Indonesianpreacher popularly known as Aa (elder brother) Gym. Despite minimal orthodox religious education, Gymnastiar attained national fame through his adept use ...
Aaron ben Elijah
(?1328–69).Karaite Jewish philosopher and exegete. His greatest work was the trilogy Ez Hayyim (Tree of Life), Gan Eden (Garden of Eden), and Keter Torah (Crown of the Law).
Aaron ben Jacob ha-Kohen of Lunel
(13th/14th cent. ce).French Jewish Talmudist. His most famous work, Orhot Ḥayyim (Ways of Life), was a compilation of Jewish law which was widely quoted.
Aaron ben Moses Ben Asher
Early 10th cent. ce).Jewish biblical scholar. A contemporary of Saadiah Gaon, he was well known as a masorete (see MASORAH). Although a Karaite, his vocalization of the scriptures carried ...
Aaron Burr
(1756–1836)US Democratic Republican statesman. After losing the presidential election to Jefferson in 1800, Burr was elected Vice-President. He was defeated in the contest for the governorship of New ...
Aaron of Baghdad
(mid-9th cent. ce).A Babylonian Jewish scholar who lived in Italy and is regarded as a link between the Babylonian academies and W. Jewish culture. He is described by Eleazar ...
Aaron Roth
Mystical teacher and Hasidic master (1894–1944). Roth was born in Ungvar, Hungary. He studied the Talmud under Rabbi Isaiah Silverstein and Moses Forhand and came under the influence of various ...
Aaronides
Descendants of Aaron and members of the Israelite priesthood. According to Numbers 18. 1–7, there is a clear distinction between members of the house of Levi and the direct descendants ...
abacus
An ancient device for performing arithmetic calculations by sliding beads along rods or in grooves. Despite the spread of electronic calculators and computers, the abacus is still widely used in the ...
Abaddon
A name for the Devil (Revelation 9:11) or for hell. Recorded from late Middle English, Abaddon comes via Greek from Hebrew ‘destruction’. Its use for ‘hell’ derives from Milton's Paradise Regained ...
Abandonment
An important stage of the universal hero myth or monomyth is that of the abandonment of the infant hero to the elements. Sargon, Moses, Oedipus, Siegfried, and Karna are only ...
Abangan
(Javaneśe, ‘brown coloured’).Javanese who are culturally (rather than observantly) Muslim. They have come under increasing pressure from observant Muslims (santri) to conform, but remain resistant to ...
Ábartach
[Ir., feat-performing one].In the Fenian Cycle he is the son of the King of the Tír Tairngire [Land of Promise] and father of the unnamed beloved of the warrior Cáel. He first appears in narrative as ...
Abasi Throws an Ax into a Latrine
(Efik/Nigeria)The Efik, who originally lived with other Ibibio groups at Idua, a town near the Oron area, migrated during the first half of the seventeenth century because of a quarrel concerning an ...
Abassi
AfricaThe zealous god of the Efik. Although on the advice of his wife Atai, the sky god Abassi let a human couple settle upon the earth, he greatly feared that they might not only become his equals, ...
Abba
In the New Testament, God as father; in the Syrian Orthodox and Coptic Churches, a title given to bishops and patriarchs. The word comes via Greek from Aramaic abbā ‘father’.
