Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Baha'i bähäˈē, –hīˈ, bə– [key], religion founded by Baha Ullah (born Mirza Huseyn Ali Nuri) and promulgated by his eldest son, Abdul Baha (1844–1921). It is a doctrinal outgrowth of Babis...

(Encyclopedia) Zeus zo͞os [key], in Greek religion and mythology, son and successor of Kronos as supreme god. His mother, Rhea, immediately after his birth concealed him from Kronos, who, because he was fated to be...

(Encyclopedia) Papagos, Alexander päˈpägôs [key], 1883–1955, Greek soldier and political leader. Commissioned an officer in the Greek army in 1906, he rose rapidly through the ranks. In 1935 he became minister...

(Encyclopedia) Ibn Tufayl ĭˈbən to͞ofālˈ [key], d. 1185/86?, 12th-century Spanish-Arab philosopher and physician, b. near Granada. His chief work was a philosophical romance, Hayy ibn Yaqzan, describing the de...

(Encyclopedia) Tiele, Cornelis Petrus kôrnāˈlĭs pāˈtrəs tēˈlə [key], 1830–1902, Dutch theologian and author of a number of valuable works on the history of religion. Important is his Outlines of the Hist...

(Encyclopedia) Thomson, Sir John Arthur, 1861–1933, Scottish naturalist and writer. From 1899 to 1930 he was Regius professor of natural history at the Univ. of Aberdeen. In 1924 he lectured at Union Theological S...

(Encyclopedia) Thwing, Charles Franklin twĭng [key], 1853–1937, American educator and Congregational clergyman, b. New Sharon, Maine, grad. Harvard, 1876, and Andover Theological Seminary, 1879. Until 1890 he ser...

(Encyclopedia)  CE5 Red iris, Iris fulva iris, common name for members of the genus Iris of the Iridaceae, a family of perennial herbs that includes the crocuses, freesias, and gladioli. The family is characteriz...

(Encyclopedia) purification, in religion, the ceremonial removal of what the religion deems unclean. The usual agents of purification are water (as in baptism), bodily alteration (as in circumcision), and fire. The ...

(Encyclopedia) symbol, sign representing something that has an independent existence. The most important use of symbols is in language. To say so, however, does not solve the perennial philosophical questions as to ...