General Reference 8

The Wilderness, the Nation, and the Electronic Era: American Christianity and Religious Communication 1620-2000: An Annotated Bibliography contains over 2,400 annotations of books, book chapters, es……続きを見る

A great deal has been written about the history of witchcraft, but much of what has been written is unreliable, exaggerated, or inaccurate. This problem is especially acute in regard to modern witch……続きを見る

The decline of institutionalized religion in the increasingly secularized West has been offset by the contemporary spiritual development understood in the form of emerging New Age movements. This re……続きを見る

It is much harder to define a religious movement than it is to define a religion or denomination. That applies especially when that movement almost defies definition as the Holiness Movement does. T……続きを見る

Conflicts over homosexuality and gay rights threaten to break apart denominations, if not North American society. These heated theological and political debates have, as well, obscured the fact that……続きを見る

The two original volumes of the Encyclopedia of Catholic Social Thought, Social Science, and Social Policy were published in 2007. Those two volumes included 848 entries from nearly 300 contributors……続きを見る

Pietism is increasingly recognized as the most important movement in Protestant Christianity since the Reformation of the sixteenth century. Simply put, early Protestant reformers were concerned wit……続きを見る

One of Japan's major religions, Shinto has no doctrines and there are no sacred texts from which religious authority can be derived. It does not have an identifiable historical founder, and it has s……続きを見る

There is both unity and variety in the Islamic world. Muslims are not a homogeneous people who can be explained solely by their normative texts: the Koran and the Sunnah. Muslims differ vastly in th……続きを見る

This collection gives the reader a taste of the thousands of stories one can find in the treasure house of rabbinic literature. Some of these stories are humorous, some mysteriuos, some tense with d……続きを見る

The New Testament is filled with stories of Jesus eating with peopleーfrom extravagant wedding banquets to simple meals of loaves and fishes. The Food and Feasts of Jesus offers a new perspective on……続きを見る

Covering the Millerite movement of the 1830s and 1840s, sabbatarian Adventism prior to organization of the denomination, and the Seventh-day Adventist Church since its organization in 1861-63, this ……続きを見る

New religious movements-commonly known as cults-are defined as organizations that have arisen within the last 200 years. Most treatments of these movements have typically resorted to sensationalism ……続きを見る

Members of the Church of England until the mid-16th century, the Puritans thought the Church had become too political and needed to be "purified." While many Puritans believed the Church was capable……続きを見る

With more than 3,000 entries and cross-references on the history, main figures, institutions, theory, and literary works associated with Islam's mystical tradition, Sufism, this dictionary brings to……続きを見る

During the first century, Saint Mark brought Christianity to Egypt and in so doing, formed the basis for the Coptic Orthodox Church. Today, Copts, members of the Coptic Church, compromise the larges……続きを見る

As its name implies, the Reformed tradition grew out of the 16th century Protestant Reformation. The Reformed churches consider themselves to be the Catholic Church reformed. The movement originated……続きを見る

The free exercise of conscience is under threat in the United States. Already the conservative bloc of the Supreme Court is reversing the progress of religious liberty that had been steadily advanci……続きを見る

Anglicanism arguably originated in 1534 when Parliament passed the Act of Supremacy, which transferred papal power over the Church of England to the king. Today, approximately 550 dioceses are locat……続きを見る

Small though it may be, Unitarian Universalism has had a big impact not only on its members but also on the world around it. Rejecting the constraints of other Christian denominations, it sought tol……続きを見る

Jesus of Nazareth is arguably the most famous and influential human being who has ever lived on earth. In the Historical Dictionary of Jesus, author Daniel J. Harrington delves into the ancient lite……続きを見る

There are several eras in the history of Christianity radical forms of the tradition are obvious: the early church of the first five centuries, the medieval era, the age of reform, the early modern ……続きを見る

The Druzes are one of the smallest, least studied, and most esoteric religious communities in the Middle East. This is because the Druze teachings remain inaccessible not only to outsiders but also ……続きを見る

The Protestant Reformation of the 16th century has traditionally been viewed as marking the onset of modernity in Europe. It finally broke up the federal Christendom of the middle ages, under the le……続きを見る

Calvinism is named after 16th century Reformer, John Calvin whose overall theology is contained in his Institutes of the Christian Religion (1559). Calvin's theology and ecclesiology provided the fo……続きを見る

Nearly all religious traditions have reserved a special place for sacred music. Whether it is music accompanying a ritual or purely for devotional purposes, music composed for entire congregations o……続きを見る

In 2003, Methodists celebrated the 300th anniversary of the birth of their founder, John Wesley. Today, there are more than 300 Methodist denominations in 140 nations. Covering the activities of thi……続きを見る

With about one billion members, the Catholic Church is one of the world’s largest religious bodies, and its history is crucially linked to global events. In the Historical Dictionary of Catholicism,……続きを見る

With 110 million members worldwide, Baptists are surpassed only by Roman Catholic and Orthodox groups as the largest segment of Christians. The term "Baptist" has its origins with the Anabaptists, t……続きを見る

In the early 21st century, Buddhism has become ubiquitous in America and other western nations, moving beyond the original bodhi tree in India to become a major global religion. During its journey w……続きを見る