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Agobard
(c.769–840), Abp. of Lyons from 816. He was a versatile scholar. He attacked the excessive veneration of images, trial by ordeal, and belief in witchcraft. He also wrote against the Adoptionist views ...
Anne Hutchinson
(1591–1643),emigrated from England to Massachusetts (1634), where her vigorous intellect soon led her to hold informal weekly meetings of women, in which she discussed the sermons of the previous ...
Anthropology of religion
In the co-ordinating of anthropology as a discipline in the later 19th cent., the study was concerned with what were thought to be ‘primitive’ religions, i.e. those which were believed ...
articles of faith
(ikkarim, Heb., ‘roots’).Formulations of Jewish belief. These are not as important as are creeds in Christianity, since every person born of a Jewish mother is automatically a Jew irrespective ...
baptism customs
Baptism was held to be essential to salvation in the Middle Ages and was therefore performed as soon as possible after birth. After the Reformation the Book of Common Prayer ...
Bookstores
In cities and university towns, especially where there is an active women's community, one can usually find women's bookstores. Owned and operated by women, these businesses feature books written by ...
burning
Burning alive was a penalty for certain criminal offences in late Roman and early Germanic law and was subsequently adopted in most W. European penal codes. The burning of convicted heretics was a ...
candle
Candles of wax or tallow took the place of lamps used in various Jewish rituals such as the Sabbath lights; in the Havdalah ceremony; and the Hanukkah lights. A synagogue had to be well lit and pious ...
capital punishment
Was formerly of central importance in all European criminal justice systems. Although the history of capital punishment in Scotland has been little studied, it is clear that hanging was the standard ...
Celtic influence
The folklore of regions where Celtic languages are spoken (or were until recently) is particularly abundant and well documented; this is true of Ireland, the Scottish Highlands, Wales, and Cornwall. ...
clairvoyance
Extra-sensory visual perception of objects or events, a conjectural paranormal phenomenon. When the objects or events are far away it is also called remote viewing. Compare clairaudience, ...
counterspells
Some traditional measures against witchcraft were general defences, e.g. horseshoes, hagstones, various plants hung at the door, the sign of the cross, a bent coin laid in the churn, etc. But if a ...
crime and punishment
Canada might not be a notorious world leader in crime, but it has definitely been a world leader in punishment. It was one of the first countries to build a ...
cunning men, women
From the medieval period almost to the present day, there have been people who were employed by others to practise magical skills on their behalf, and were paid in money or small gifts, thus usefully ...
Curing and Healing
From the beginning of the written record and probably even before then, Mesoamericans have been accustomed to choosing from among many means of preventing, diagnosing, and healing diseases. ...
curses
A curse expresses a wish that evil may befall a person or persons. Several different types can be distinguished, according to setting, motive, and condition. The most direct curses are maledictions ...
devil
The word diabolos is used in the LXX to translate Hebrew Satan, and ‘devil’ is an English alternative used in the NT (e.g. in the temptation narrative, Matt. 4: 1) as an equivalent of ‘Satan’. The ...
divination
Art of knowing that which cannot be known by empirical or rational means. The Quran condemns practices connected with pagan cults, and divination is officially abrogated in Islam, but many Islamic ...
evil eye
Popular belief that a person can glance or stare at someone else's favorite possession and, if envious of the other person's good fortune, hurt, damage, or destroy it.
familiar
A demon (also called a familiar spirit) supposedly attending and obeying a witch, often said to assume the form of an animal.
