Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Traherne, Thomas trəhûrnˈ [key], 1636?–1674, English poet and prose writer, one of the metaphysical poets. He was schooled at Brasenose College, Oxford, and was chaplain to the Lord Keeper from 1...

(Encyclopedia) trickster, a mythic figure common among Native North Americans, South Americans, and Africans. Usually male but occasionally female or disguised in female form, he is notorious for exaggerated biologi...

(Encyclopedia) Scriabin, Aleksandr Nikolayevich əlyĭksänˈdər nyēkəlīˈəvĭch skrēäbēnˈ, skrēäˈbĭn [key], 1872–1915, Russian composer and pianist. The name is sometimes spelled Skriabin or Skryabin...

(Encyclopedia) Day, Clarence Shepard, 1874–1935, American essayist, b. New York City, grad. Yale, 1896. His biographical sketches of his parents, God and My Father (1932), Life with Father (1935), and Life with Mo...

(Encyclopedia) Greek religion, religious beliefs and practices of the ancient inhabitants of the region of Greece. The civil strife that followed the classical period (from c.500 b.c.) placed the old gods on trial...

(Encyclopedia) Hilkiah hĭlkīˈə [key], in the Bible. 1 High priest under King Josiah and a leader in his revival of religion. 2 Father of Jeremiah. 3 Father of Eliakim (2.) 4 Merarite Levites. 5 Father of Gemaria...

(Encyclopedia) parody, mocking imitation in verse or prose of a literary work. The following poem by Robert Southey was parodied by Lewis Carroll: “You are old, Father William,” the young man cried; “The few l...

(Encyclopedia) atonement, the reconciliation, or “at-one-ment,” of sinful humanity with God. In Judaism both the Bible and rabbinical thought reflect the belief that God's chosen people must be pure to remain in...

(Encyclopedia) Christian Science, religion founded upon principles of divine healing and laws expressed in the acts and sayings of Jesus, as discovered and set forth by Mary Baker Eddy and practiced by the Church of...

(Encyclopedia) coronation, ceremony of crowning and anointing a sovereign on his or her accession to the throne. Although a public ceremony inaugurating a new king or chief had long existed, a new religious service ...