Aceldama
In the New Testament, a field near Jerusalem purchased with the blood money given to Judas for his betrayal of Jesus, the Potter's field.
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 ...
Apostle
From the Greek apostolos, meaning one who is sent and enjoys the authority of the agent who instructs him. There was already a Jewish functionary, called a shaliach, who was trusted with the ...
Cainites
A Gnostic sect which, regarding the God of the OT as responsible for the evil in the world, exalted those who withstood him, e.g. Cain.
Docetism
In the early Church a tendency, rather than a formulated doctrine, which considered the humanity and sufferings of the earthly Christ as apparent rather than real. In some forms it held that Christ ...
Dorothy L. Sayers
(1893–1957)British writer, known especially for her detective novels.Dorothy Sayers was born at Oxford, where her father was headmaster of Christ Church Choir School. She was educated at the ...
Easter
The most important and oldest festival of the Christian Church, celebrating the resurrection of Christ and held (in the Western Church) between 21 March and 25 April, on the first Sunday after the ...
effigies
Sculptured representation of a figure, normally shown clothed or in armour, lying on its back on a tomb-chest.Crossley (1921);Esdaile (1946);W. Papworth (1852)
elder
According to legend, Judas Iscariot hanged himself on an elder, and the tree, which is associated with witches, is sometimes believed to be unlucky. Pliny's Natural History, on the other hand, says ...
eleven
The word is recorded from Old English (in form endleofon), and comes from the base of one + a second element, probably expressing the sense ‘left over’ and occurring also in twelve. The phrase the ...
Jack o' Lent
In Tudor and Jacobean London, this was the name for gaunt puppets made of straw, rags, and herring skins, personifying the Lenten fast, which boys set up on Ash Wednesday and pelted with heavy ...
James
The normal English form of the Latin Jacobus, which represents one form of the Hebrew name transliterated into English as Jacob. In English versions of the Bible the form ‘Jacob’ is retained in the ...
Kaqchikel
Maya population inhabiting Guatemala's central highlands region. Eclipsed by only the K'iche' and the Mam, they constitute Guatemala's third largest Maya group. There are currently slightly more than ...
kiss
Kiss and tell recount one's sexual exploits, especially to the media regarding a famous person; in US politics from the mid 1970s, the revealing of confidential information gained through any close ...
Letter Of Jude
The letter of Jude was written to an unknown church or group of churches to combat the danger posed by certain charismatic teachers who were preaching and practicing moral libertinism. ...
Maccabees
The celebrated Jewish family which fostered armed opposition to the introduction of pagan cult into the Temple at Jerusalem by Antiochus Epiphanes. The revolt began in 168 bc at Modin, where ...
Maximón
The rum-gulping, cigar-puffing Mesoamerican deity Maximón may be the most enigmatic and controversial of the gods. Interpretations range from Maya identifications, such as a relationship to the uayeb ...
Nine Worthies
‘Three Paynims, three Jews, and three Christian men’, namely Hector of Troy, Alexander the Great, and Julius Caesar; Joshua, David, and Judas Maccabaeus; Arthur, Charlemagne, and Godefroi de Bouillon ...
origin stories
For centuries, there have been folktales which set out to explain how a custom began, why a place-name was given, how some feature of the landscape was formed, why an animal, bird, or plant has ...
red hair
Traditional ideas about red-haired people are not complimentary. Physically, they are said to sweat easily, bleed copiously, have a strong foxy smell, and such bad breath that they can raise blisters ...
