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.
Abelites
A small African sect which originated in the diocese of Hippo and is known only from St Augustine (De Haer. 87). Admitting marriage and, indeed, holding it to be obligatory ...
Acts of the Martyrs
The most reliable accounts of early Christian martyrdoms are those (few) which follow the official reports of the trials. The so-called ‘Passions’ were written by Christian authors and based on ...
Adamites
A small early Christian sect who aimed at returning to primitive innocence by the practice of nudity.
Aerius
(4th cent.), presbyter of Pontus. He was originally an associate of Eustathius, Bp. of Sebaste, but later they quarrelled. He taught that the observance of Easter was a Jewish superstition; that ...
age
The duration of time a person has lived. Age is conventionally defined from the time of birth, which counts as zero, and is measured in completed years of life. For some purposes, age is measured ...
agentes in rebus
The detested frumentarii (see postal service) were abolished by Diocletian, but were soon replaced by ‘agents’ perhaps purposely ill-defined, who likewise served as couriers between the court ...
Alaric
[Na]Visigoth leader who in ad 395 led a migration of his people into Greece and devastated the Balkans. The eastern government encouraged him to turn his attention westwards and he invaded Italy in ...
Albert Camus
(1913–60),French novelist, dramatist and essayist, whose works defined and contributed to the philosophical concept of the ‘absurd’ (see Absurd, Theatre of The).
Alfred the Great
(849–99)King of Wessex (871–99). Alfred's military resistance saved south‐west England from Viking occupation. He negotiated the treaty giving the Danelaw to the Norsemen (886). A great reformer, he ...
Algeria
Algeria is now much more peaceful, but its democracy is fragile and still vulnerable to occasional terrorismAlgeria has a narrow coastal plain which is regularly broken by parts of the Atlas range of ...
Alleluia
This Lat. form of Hebrew exclamation, meaning ‘Praise Jehovah’, was added to certain of the responds of the RC Church, suitably joyful mus. to be grafted on to traditional plainsong and, in time, ...
Ambrosiaster
The name given since 1690 to the author of a set of Latin commentaries on the 13 Epp. of St Paul, ascribed in all the manuscripts but one, and by most medieval authors, to St Ambrose. This ascription ...
ancient scholarship
GreekIn one sense of the term, scholarship began when literature became a central element of education and the prescribed texts had to be explained and interpreted to pupils in a class. An early ...
Ancren(e) Riwle
An early 13th-cent. ‘Rule’ or ‘Guide for Anchoresses’, written in English. It was originally composed for three well-born sisters and later revised by the author for a larger group of recluses. The ...
Anglo-Saxon Church
The Church in England from the end of the 6th cent. to the Norman Conquest (1066). In 597 the Roman mission of St Augustine landed in Thanet in the south and sees were quickly set up at Canterbury, ...
Antichrist
A great personal opponent of Christ, expected by the early Church to appear before the end of the world. The name is recorded from Old English and comes via Old French or ecclesiastical Latin from ...
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 ...
apologetics
In theology, the attempt to show that a faith is either provable by reason, or at least consistent with reason. More generally, the attempts to defend a doctrine.
Archbishop of Canterbury
1 Based on Henry Chicheley (Chichele) (c. 1362–1443), his speech ‘proving’ King Harry's title to the French Crown (Henry V 1.2) is taken largely from Holinshed.2 See Cranmer, Thomas.[...]
