Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Niebuhr, Reinhold rīnˈhōld nēˈbo͝or [key], 1892–1971, American religious and social thinker, b. Wright City, Mo. A graduate of Yale Divinity School, he served (1915–28) as pastor of Bethel E...

(Encyclopedia) Robinson, Edwin Arlington, 1869–1935, American poet, b. Head Tide, Maine, attended Harvard (1891–93). At his death, many critics considered Robinson the greatest poet in the United States. He is n...

(Encyclopedia) sphinx sfĭngks [key], mythical beast of ancient Egypt, frequently symbolizing the pharaoh as an incarnation of the sun god Ra. The sphinx was represented in sculpture usually in a recumbent position ...

(Encyclopedia) Magor-missabib māˈgôr-mĭsˈəbĭb [key], in the Bible, name given by Jeremiah to the man who put him in the stocks. ...

(Encyclopedia) Dives dīˈvēz [key] [Lat.,=rich], traditional name of the unnamed rich man of the parable in the Gospel of St. Luke. ...

(Encyclopedia) Heleb hēˈlĕb [key], in the Bible, mighty man. An alternate form is Heled. He may be the captain Heldai in First Chronicles. ...

(Encyclopedia) elf, in Germanic mythology, a type of fairy. Usually represented as tiny people, elves are said to dwell in forests, in the sea, and in the air. Although they can be friendly to man, they are more fre...

(Encyclopedia) Derby, James Stanley, 7th earl of därˈbē [key], 1607–51, English nobleman. He sat in the House of Commons (1625–28), took his seat in the House of Lords as Baron Strange (succeeding his father ...

(Encyclopedia) Blanco Fombona, Rufino ro͞ofēˈnō blängˈkō fōmbōˈnä [key], 1874–1944, Venezuelan poet, essayist, and novelist, one of the leaders of modernismo. Active in Venezuelan political affairs, he ...

(Encyclopedia) Cambridge Platonists, group of English philosophers, centered at Cambridge in the latter half of the 17th cent. In reaction to the mechanical philosophy of Thomas Hobbes this school revived certain Pl...