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What is Demonology?
To the ancient Greeks daimones (demons) were superhuman beings, intermediate between men and gods, inhabiting an intermediate region between heaven and earth . The poet Hesiod held that men of the mythical Golden Age were turned into daimones after...
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What is Monotheism?
Monotheism, in religion, is the belief in one God. The equivalent term in philosophy is theism. Monotheism is opposed to atheism, belief in no God, and to polytheism, belief in many gods. It differs from pantheism, the belief that God is inseparable...
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What is Pantheism?
Derived from the Greek words pan (meaning 'everything') and theos (meaning 'god'), pantheism is the belief that God and the universe are identical. The term "pantheism" was first used by the British deist John Toland in 1705. Pantheism has greatly influenced literature and art, especially the...
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What is Blasphemy?
Blasphemy is considered as a religious offense, consists of scornful, disrespectful, or insulting words or actions directed against God. In its gravest form, blasphemy is a deliberate, intentional attack on the honor or holiness of God. Blasphemy is...
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What is a Blessing?
Blessing is a formula by which a person or object is pronounced holy or by which God's favor is asked. The term "benediction" is often used synonymously with blessing, or to refer to the short blessing that concludes a religious service. Blessings...
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Theories of the Origin of Religion
The origin of religion has been a primary concern of the following sciences: comparative philology, sociology, and psychology.
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What is Numerology?
Numerology is the occult study of the meaning of numbers. It is often used to uncover secret events or to forecast the future. When so used, numerology is a form of divination, or fortune-telling. It also may be combined with other divinatory...
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What is Ismailism?
Ismailis are a sect of Shiite Muslims, who are in turn divided into a number of sub-sects. The name originates from a controversy in 765 A.D. about the legitimate successor to Jaafar al-Sadiq, who was sixth in the list of Shiite imams, or spiritual...
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Who is the Aga Khan?
Aga Khan is the title of the imam, or spiritual leader, of the Ismaili sect of Shiite Muslims, which is estimated to have 20 million adherents in Africa and Asia. The title is hereditary, based on a claim of direct descent from Mohammed's daughter...
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What is Christian Science?
Christian Science, religious teaching which emphasises the Christian ministry of healing. Spiritual healing in its broadest sense, which includes regeneration of mind, character, and body, is understood by Christian Scientists to be just as...
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Vatican Council
There are to two ecumenical, or general, councils of the Roman Catholic Church. They are called Vatican councils because they were held in Vatican City, the Pope's headquarters in Rome. The first Vatican council, opened by Pope Pius IX in 1869,...
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Where is Vatican City?
Vatican City is an independent state in Rome, Italy, that is ruled by the Pope and serves as the headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church. Vatican City occupies a triangular area of 108.7 acres (44 hectares) on and near the Vatican Hill, on the...
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Who was Mary Baker Eddy?
Mary Baker Eddy, (1821-1910), US discoverer and founder of Christian Science. Born to Congregational parents at Bow, New Hampshire, USA, she devoted much of her early life to study and writing, as well as to a search for health in the various...
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What is a Zombi?
Zombi or Zombie is a a term, originally from West Africa, with several meanings. In Dahomey and the Congo zumbi or zombi means "god" or "fetish"; in Haiti and Louisiana the related deity is a python or other snake. A "conjure man" of the Haitian...
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What is Disestablishment?
Disestablishment is the withdrawal from a church of rights, privileges, or patronage accorded to it by the state. Churches that hold a privileged position in a state are usually referred to as established churches. Historically, established...
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What is Penance?
Penance is an inward feeling of sorrow and an outward act through which a person makes amends for his sins. In the Roman Catholic Church, penance is a sacrament administered by a priest in which the repentant person is forgiven the guilt of his sins...
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What is the Hagiographa?
Hagiographa is the third division of the Old Testament, known in Hebrew as the Ketubim, meaning "holy writings," which is also the meaning of the Greek name. They were presumably the last group of books included in the canon. In Luke 24:44 the three...
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What is an Apostate?
Apostasy is rejection of faith, usually of the Christian religion. An apostate is one who, having accepted the faith, consciously abandons it.
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What is Hagiography?
Hagiography is generally defined as a segment of Christian church history concerned with the lives and veneration of the saints. Lives of the saints generally reflect the concept of history current at the time they were written. In addition to...
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What is Emanation?
Emanation, according to certain religious and philosophical thinkers, is the way in which things that exist derive from some higher source.
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Who was Brigham Young?
Brigham Young was a American religious leader and colonizer. Born Whitingham, Vt., June 1, 1801. Died Salt Lake City, Utah, Aug. 29, 1877. Young was a foremost leader of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, popularly called Mormons. In...
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Who are Adventists?
Belief in the nearness of the Second Coming of Christ is the essential and distinctive tenet of Adventists. By this definition, Adventists are found in large numbers in most Christian denominations, especially in those that may be classified as...
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Who are Gog and Magog?
Gog and Magog are a great power who, according to Biblical prophecy, will sweep down to destroy Israel "at the end of days." Ezekiel 38-39 describes Gog "of the land of Magog, chief prince of Mesech and Tubal," who will lead a mighty host of nations...
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What is the Holy Grail?
The Holy Grail, in medieval legend, a sacred and miraculous vessel. It is variously identified as a vessel used by Jesus at the Last Supper or as the chalice in which Joseph of Arimathea caught the blood of Christ after the Crucifixion. According to...
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What is Quietism?
Quietism is a tendency in religious devotion rather than any specific system of religion or mysticism.
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Who are the Assemblies of God?
The Assemblies of God is a religious body in the United States, organized in a constitutional convention at Hot Springs, Ark., April 2-12, 1914. It is one of the largest of the Protestant groups commonly designated "Pentecostal." In the mid-1960's...
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Who are the Druze?
Druze is a member of a religious sect, related to the Ismaili Muslims, living in the mountains of Syria, Lebanon, and Israel. The Druzes (also Druses) number about 200,000. The sect originated in the time of al-Hakim, the 6th imam of the Fatimid...
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What is Karma Marga?
Karma Marga, in Hinduism the way to Self-realisation through selfless action. The disciple surrenders his life to brahman (also called God), the Source of the manifest world; he acts in the consciousness that God is the doer, God the thinker and God...
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What is Kabala?
Kabala, or Kabbalah, is a historical and literary term usually associated with Jewish mysticism. The term can be translated as "tradition."
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Who is Gabriel?
Gabriel an archangel in Jewish, Christian, and Moslem traditions. In the New Testament, Gabriel announces to Mary the future birth of Christ (Luke 1:26). In the Muslim religion "Jibril" (Gabriel) is believed to have dictated the Koran to Mohammed.
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What is an Evangelical?
This term was originally claimed as a right by all Protestants, in that their beliefs were derived entirely from the Bible. In the course of time, however, its use and meaning have varied greatly. It has been especially applied to the school which...
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What is a Priest?
A priest is a religious leader who conducts formal worship, especially the offering of sacrifices. In the earliest and most simple societies such functions were generally carried out by the father of the family and the shaman, or religious and often...
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What is a Clairvoyant?
Clairvoyance is the subclass of extrasensory perception (ESP) in which an individual perceives an object or event by some means other than the usual senses. The typical laboratory test of clairvoyance is card guessing. Cards are well shuffled and...
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What is a Stigmata?
Stigmata are the signs of the wounds Jesus sustained in his crucifixion or the pain associated with such wounds that have appeared in some of his followers who have had ecstatic experiences. The word "stigmata" is derived from a Greek word meaning...
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What is Heresy?
Originally "heresy" was a neutral term used to describe a school or religious party like the Pharisees (Acts 15:5, 26:5). It is derived from the Greek word hairesis, meaning "choice." Among early Christians die term soon took on the negative meaning...
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What is a Martyr?
A martyr is one who dies for his religion or suffers for any great cause. Many martyrs are executed for political treason when their religion conflicts with that of the state. Most martyrs freely choose their course of action. Martyrs figure in many...
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What is Mysticism?
Mysticism is the doctrine that a person can experience direct awareness of ultimate reality or a sense of oneness with all things. Mystical awareness is considered to be an intuitive spiritual ecstasy that lies beyond both sense experience and the...
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What is the Book Of The Dead?
The Book of the Dead is collection of magic spells, written on papyrus, usually illustrated with vignettes, and buried with the dead in ancient Egypt. Knowledge of these spells was considered essential for happiness after death, although the idea...
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What is the Book of Mormon?
The Book of Mormon is one of the four standard works that are accepted as scripture by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as well as by several other churches. First published in 1830 by Joseph Smith, the founder of the Mormon Church,...
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What is Atheism?
Atheism, denial of the existence of a god. A sect is very apt to charge its opponents with atheism merely because their doctrines are not understood. Thus Xenophanes, who rejected the gods of the popular Greek religion, incurred the charge of...
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What is Theism?
Theism is generally equated with monotheism as the belief in one God who is personal and moral, who has created and sustains the universe, and who demands an unqualified response. The primary definition is derived from the concept of God in the...
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Who are Jehovah's Witnesses?
Jehovah's Witnesses is a society of Christians who all share personally in promoting study of the Bible and spreading their beliefs. Witnesses believe their founder to be Jehovah, who has had his witnesses on earth since Abel. The modern...
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What is Scientology?
Scientology is a quasi-scientific and religious discipline that claims to be both "the study of knowledge in its fullest sense" and "an applied religious philosophy". The Church of Scientology depends on the second claim, but in the early days of...
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What is Gnosticism?
Gnosticism is an ancient religious movement whose members claimed to have a secret knowledge of the means to salvation. The word comes from the Greek gnosis, meaning knowledge. Gnosticism flourished in the early Christian centuries. It borrowed...
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What is Taoism?
Taoism is a Chinese philosophy and religion that, with Confucianism and, later, Buddhism, has had a major influence on Chinese civilization. Taoism developed along with Confucianism during the Warring States period, from the 5th to the 3d centuries...
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What is Confucianism?
Confucianism is the ethical and social system based on the teachings of Confucius and his followers. Its ideals have been central to the culture of China for more than 2,000 years. Confucianism, like Taoism, developed in reaction to the social...
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What is the Koran?
As the bible of Islam, the Koran is the scripture of some 300 million Moslems (1949). Its claim to distinction among the sacred books of mankind rests upon the nature of its doctrinal core and its relation to the Prophet Mohammed, the formation of...