Abel
In the Bible, the younger son of Adam and Eve, murdered by his jealous brother Cain, after Abel's offering to God of a lamb was accepted by God, while Cain's sheaves were rejected.
Abimelech
(date uncertain, 19th–16th cents. bce).King of Gerar, whom both Abraham and Isaac tried to deceive by presenting their wives as their sisters (Genesis 20, 26. 1–11). He also appears ...
Abraham's Bosom
(Heb., be-heiko shel Avraham).An expression indicating the location of righteous souls. It led to the famous ‘malapropism’ of the Hostess in Shakespeare's Henry V: ‘Nay, sure he's [Falstaff] not ...
ʿAkeda
(Heb., ‘Binding’ (of Isaac).The story of Abraham's intended sacrifice of Isaac, told in Genesis 22. In Jewish thought, this incident is regarded as the supreme example of obedience to ...
Akkadian mythology
King Sargon I of Akkad captured the southern region of Mesopotamia from the Sumerians sometime between 2390 and 2330 b.c.e., establishing a capital, Agade (Akkad), near Kish. The Akkadians adapted ...
Allah
The name of God among Muslims (and Arab Christians). The name comes from Arabic 'allāh, contraction of al-'ilāh ‘the god’.
altar
The table in a Christian church at which the bread and wine are consecrated in communion services; a table or flat-topped block used as the focus for a religious ritual, especially for making ...
Amraphel
The leader of an alliance of five kings who defeated a coalition of four rebels in the Dead Sea area (Gen. 14). The identification, once popular, that this Amraphel was the famous Hammurabi of ...
ancestors
A person from whom someone is descended (a progenitor), a foreparent (forefather or foremother); usually more remote in the lineage than a grandparent. In succession law, a person from whom an estate ...
Andrei Rublev
(b ?c.1360; d Moscow, 1430).The most famous of Russian icon painters. The 600th anniversary of his birth was celebrated by Soviet Russia in 1960, but the date is not firmly documented and there is ...
angel
Hermes was the messenger of Zeus. Iris was ascribed the same function; for Plato the two are the divine angeloi. By the 3rd cent. ad, angels played a large part in Judaism and Christianity, and they ...
Apocalypse
The complete final destruction of the world, especially as described in the biblical book of Revelation. The word is recorded from Old English, and comes ultimately, via Old French and ecclesiastical ...
Apocalypse of Abraham
An apocryphal writing, perhaps dating from the 1st cent. ad. It describes Abraham's conversion from idolatry and a series of visions seen by him in the heavens. It shows Christian influence, but the ...
apocalyptic
A modern term which summarizes the OT hope of a future salvation at the end of the current experience of national humiliation and suffering. Apocalyptic thought therefore takes the form of ...
apocalyptic literature
The word ‘apocalypse’ means a ‘revelation’ or ‘unveiling’, so an apocalyptic book claims to reveal things which are normally hidden or to reveal the future. The Jewish Apocalyptic books belong ...
aqeda
A term used by rabbis for the elaborate theological development of the Genesis story of the sacrifice of Isaac (Gen. 22: 1–19) with a doctrine of atonement comparable with that of the NT. The ...
Aram
Aram is a name of both places and persons. As a place name it refers usually to Aram‐Damascus (Map 1:Z2), a powerful Aramean state in southern Syria during the early ...
Art and the Bible.
Early Art. Stories from the Bible had become the subject of a developed narrative art by the middle of the third century CE in the synagogue discovered at Dura‐Europos, where ...
Baha'i
A monotheistic religion founded in the 19th century as a development of Babism, emphasizing the essential oneness of humankind and of all religions and seeking world peace.
Beersheba
The most southerly place of Israel, notable for its wells and therefore suitable for pasturing sheep. There are notes in Genesis that the ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob stayed there (Gen. 22: ...
