Acts of the Apostles
A New Testament book immediately following the Gospels and relating the history of the early Church, and in particular the missionary journeys of St Paul and others.
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.
Artapanus
(2d cent. bce), Jewish writer from Egypt about whom very little is known and of whose work, On the Jews, only a few abridged fragments survive. These fragments deal with ...
Azariah de Rossi
Italian scholar, physician, and historian (c.1511–c.1578). Rossi is chiefly renowned for his Meor Eynayim, a study of aspects of Jewish history in which the author, a typical Renaissance man, used ...
Books of Esdras
Either of two books of the Apocrypha. The first is mainly a compilation from Chronicles, Nehemiah, and Ezra; the second is a record of angelic revelation.
Books of Maccabees
Four Books, so called after the hero of the first two, Judas Maccabaeus, are found in some MSS of the Septuagint. The first three are included in the Canon of the E. Church, and the first two in that ...
Books of Samuel
The eighth book of the Hebrew scriptures. Originally a single work, it was subdivided in the Septuagint and Vulgate (which has four Books of Kings).
Caiaphas
The Jewish High Priest before whom Christ was tried (Mt. 26:3, etc.), and at whose instigation He was condemned (Jn. 11:49 ff.). He was appointed High Priest c.18 and deposed in 37. He was son-in-law ...
chronicles
A written record of events presented in order of time, and updated regularly over a prolonged period. The chroniclers of the Middle Ages, from the compilers of King Alfred's Anglo-Saxon Chronicle ...
circumcision
Though circumcision had long been in use as a religious rite among the Jews, it was abandoned at an early date by nearly the whole Church. In St Paul's Epistles ‘the circumcision’ is used ...
cistern
1 Reservoir for storage of water, especially a tank in a high part of a building feeding taps.2 Vessel in which to bathe.3 Pond in a garden.4 Water-tank where grain is soaked in malting.
Community Organization
The authors review the history of community organization, both within and outside social work, describe the various sociological and social psychological theories that inform organizing approaches, ...
crucifixion
The execution of a person by nailing or binding them to a cross; practised by the ancient Greeks and Romans, and considered particularly ignominious; the Crucifixion, the killing of Jesus Christ in ...
Dead Sea Scrolls
A collection of Hebrew and Aramaic manuscripts, the first of which were found in 1947 by shepherds in a cave near the north-western shore of the Dead Sea. They belonged to the library of the Jewish ...
Dicaearchus
Of Messana,Greek polymath and prolific writer, pupil of Aristotle and contemporary of Theophrastus and Aristoxenus: fl. c.320–300 bc. Fragments only survive of his works, but they show a remarkable ...
Doctrine of Addai
A Syriac writing which describes how King Abgar was brought into contact with Christ and Addai was sent from Edessa to convert him. In its present form it dates from the early 5th cent. and ...
Duke of Milan
A tragedy by Massinger, printed 1623. It is based on the story of Herod and Marianne as told by Josephus. The play relates the unsuccessful efforts of Francisco, the favourite of Lodovico Sforza, ...
Elder
In Israelite society, heads of families; collectively they form the leadership of the tribe (Josh. 9: 11), or, under the monarchy, of the ruling class (2 Sam. 3: 17). Eldership was never the title of ...
Eleazar L. Sukenik
(1889–1953), Israeli archaeologist and epigrapher, remembered as the first scholar to recognize the great antiquity of the Judean Desert manuscripts. Born in Białystok, Lithuania, Sukenik immigrated ...
Elkesaites
A Jewish sect which arose c.ad 116 in Mesopotamia; they took their name from the ‘Book of Elkesai’ which claimed to contain revelations given to Elkesai (‘hidden power’) by an angel whose height was ...
