Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Socinianism sōsĭˈnēənĭzəm [key], anti-Trinitarian religious movement organized in Poland in the 16th cent. by Faustus Socinus. Antecedents of the movement were such Italian humanist reformers a...

(Encyclopedia) Beecher, Henry Ward, 1813–87, American Congregational preacher, orator, and lecturer, b. Litchfield, Conn.; son of Lyman Beecher and brother of Harriet Beecher Stowe. He graduated from Amherst in 18...

(Encyclopedia) Satanism. The cult of Satan, or Satan worship, is in part a survival of the ancient worship of demons and in part a revolt against Christianity or the church. It rose about the 12th cent. in Europe an...

(Encyclopedia) New Thought, popular philosophical movement with religious implications; it affirms “the creative power of constructive thinking.” A successor of New England transcendentalism, New Thought grew ou...

(Encyclopedia) Ohrid both: ŏˈkrĭdə [key], town (1981 est. pop, 64,200), North Macedonia, on a rock above Lake Ohrid, on the Albanian border. North Macedonia's chief resort, it is a tourist and commercial center,...

(Encyclopedia) Mosul mōˈsəl, mōso͞olˈ [key], Arab. al Mawsil, city (1987 pop. 664,221), provincial capital, N Iraq, on the Tigris River, opposite the ruins of Nineveh. It is the largest city in N Iraq and the ...

(Encyclopedia) hell, in Western monotheistic religions, eternal abode of souls damned by the judgment of God. The souls in hell are deprived forever of the sight of God. The punishment of hell is generally analogize...

(Encyclopedia) Besant, Annie bĕzˈant [key], 1847–1933, English social reformer and theosophist, b. Annie Wood. She steadily grew away from Christianity and in 1873 separated from her husband, a Protestant clergy...

(Encyclopedia) Muhammad II or Mehmet II (Muhammad the Conqueror), 1429–81, Ottoman sultan (1451–81), son and successor of Murad II. He is considered the true founder of the Ottoman Empire (Turkey). He completed ...

(Encyclopedia) resurrection rĕzˌərĕkˈshən [key] [Lat.,=rising again], arising again from death to life. The emergence of Jesus from the tomb to live on earth again for 40 days as told in the Gospels has been f...