Throughout the history of the Christian church, it has been generally held that the Bible - both the Old Testament and the New Testament - were divinely inspired. The principle of Accommodation allows for both the ability of the Bible to communicate objective spiritual truths about the nature of God, as well as the ability of the human authors to act as God's means by which this is to be communicated to mankind. While it is true that the authors themselves were limited and prone to mistakes, Accommodation allows for the perfect and truthful God to work in and through his human agents ...

See also:

Accommodation religion, Accommodation religion - In the Bible and in human language, Accommodation religion - Illumination, Accommodation religion - In the Person and work of Jesus Christ, Accommodation religion - In the Person and work of the Holy Spirit, Accommodation religion - In the sacraments, Accommodation religion - Protestantism, Accommodation religion - In the preaching of the Gospel

Read more here: » Accommodation religion: Encyclopedia II - Accommodation religion - In the Bible and in human language

Lares (Latin). These were of three kinds: Lares familiares, the guardians and invisible presidents of the family circle; Lares parvi, small idols used for divinations and augury: and Lares prestites, which were supposed to maintain order among the others.

The Lares are the manes or ghosts of disembodied people. Apuleius says that the tumulary in scription, To the gods manes who lived, meant that the Soul had been transformed in a Lemure ; and adds that though "the human Soul is a demon that our languages may name genius", and "is an immortal god though in a certain sense she is born at the same time as the man in whom she is, yet we may say that she dies in the same way that she is born".

Which means in plainer language that Lares and Lemures are simply the shells cast off by the EGO, the high spiritual and immortal Soul, whose shell, and also its astral reflection, the animal Soul, die, whereas the higher Soul prevails throughout eternity.

(See also: Lares, Theosophy, Spirituality, Body mind and Soul, Spiritual Dictionary, )

In Islam, "predestination" is the usual English language rendering of a belief that Muslims call al-qada wa al-qadar in Arabic. The phrase means "the divine decree and the predestination"; al-qadar derives from a root that means to measure out. The phrase reflects a Muslim doctrine that God has measured out and foreordained the span of every person's life, and their lot of good or ill fortune. When referring to the future, Muslims frequently qualify any predictions of what will come to pass with the phrase insh ...

See also:

Predestination, Predestination - Contrasted with other kinds of determinism, Predestination - Distinguished from preordination, Predestination - Predestination and omniscience, Predestination - Predestination in Christianity, Predestination - Various Views on Christian Predestination, Predestination - Bible reference, Predestination - Jewish views, Predestination - Islamic views, Predestination - Islam and Christianity

Read more here: » Predestination: Encyclopedia II - Predestination - Islamic views

He grew up near Mount Holyoke College, in South Hadley, Massachusetts, where his father, Valentine Giamatti, founded the departments of Italian and Spanish languages and literatures. He also collected translations of Dante's Divine Comedy. His mother, Mary Claybaugh Walton, was the daughter of Helen (Davidson) Walton and Bartlett Walton, who attended Andover and Harvard College. His paternal grandfather, Angelo Giammattei (so spelled) emigrated from Italy through Ellis Island in about 1900. Bart graduated from South Hadley High School, and while President ...

See also:

A. Bartlett Giamatti, A. Bartlett Giamatti - Personal life, A. Bartlett Giamatti - Yale, A. Bartlett Giamatti - Baseball, A. Bartlett Giamatti - Works

Read more here: » A. Bartlett Giamatti: Encyclopedia II - A. Bartlett Giamatti - Personal life

A Theosophical definition of Theosophy :

Theosophy

A compound Greek word: theos, a "divine being," a "god"; sophia, "wisdom"; hence divine wisdom. Theosophy is the majestic wisdom-religion of the archaic ages and is as old as thinking man. It was delivered to the first human protoplasts, the first thinking human beings on this earth, by highly intelligent spiritual entities from superior spheres. This ancient doctrine, this esoteric system, has been passed down from guardians to guardians to guardians through innumerable generations until our own time. Furthermore, portions of this original and majestic system have been given out at various periods of time to various races in various parts of the world by those guardians when humanity stood in need of such extension and elaboration of spiritual and intellectual thought.

Theosophy is not a syncretistic philosophy-religion-science, a system of thought or belief which has been put together piecemeal and consisting of parts or portions taken by some great mind from other various religions or philosophies. This idea is false. On the contrary, theosophy is that single system or systematic formulation of the facts of visible and invisible nature which, as expressed through the illuminated human mind, takes the apparently separate forms of science and of philosophy and of religion. We may likewise describe theosophy to be the formulation in human language of the nature, structure, origin, destiny, and operations of the kosmical universe and of the multitudes of beings which infill it.

It might be added that theosophy, in the language of H. P. Blavatsky (Theosophical Glossary, p. 328), is "the sub-stratum and basis of all the world-religions and philosophies, taught and practiced by a few elect ever since man became a thinking being. In its practical bearing, Theosophy is purely divine ethics; the definitions in dictionaries are pure nonsense, based on religious prejudice and ignorance." (See also Universal Brotherhood)

See also: Theosophy, Mysticism, Body Mind and Soul)

At present, there are 8 main faculties, in which 73 schools, departments or academic programmes are accommodated, at the University offering 53 full-time undergraduate programmes and 2 part-time degree programmes leading to bachelor's honours degrees. Faculty of Arts Department of Anthropology Department of Chinese Language and Literature Department of Cultural and Religious Studies The Divinity School of Chung Chi College Department of English The English Languag ...

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Chinese University of Hong Kong, Chinese University of Hong Kong - Overview, Chinese University of Hong Kong - Administration, Chinese University of Hong Kong - Demographics, Chinese University of Hong Kong - Academic Units, Chinese University of Hong Kong - Undergraduate Honours Degree Programmes, Chinese University of Hong Kong - Taught Postgraduate Programmes, Chinese University of Hong Kong - Research Postgraduate Programmes, Chinese University of Hong Kong - Library, Chinese University of Hong Kong - Student Accommodation, Chinese University of Hong Kong - Student Organizations, Chinese University of Hong Kong - Notable CUHK Alumni, Chinese University of Hong Kong - External link

Read more here: » Chinese University of Hong Kong: Encyclopedia II - Chinese University of Hong Kong - Academic Units

If one abstracts from the symbolic associations of the rose and the cross, which have been visioned by many since ancient epochs, it is known that three treatises or manifestos which gave rise to this movement were published in the German language between 1614 and 1616: 1614: Fama Fraternitatis 1615: Confessio Fraternitatis 1616: Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz Between 1614 and 1620, about 400 manuscripts and books were publi ...

See also:

Rosicrucian, Rosicrucian - Origins, Rosicrucian - History, Rosicrucian - Influence on Freemasonry, Rosicrucian - Rose Cross: Alchemy and Divine Sciences of Healing & of the Stars, Rosicrucian - The Manifestos, Rosicrucian - Modern groups, Rosicrucian - Esoteric Christianity groups vs. Para-Masonic groups, Rosicrucian - List of 'Para-Masonic' groups, Rosicrucian - List of 'Esoteric Christianity' groups, Rosicrucian - Reference literature

Read more here: » Rosicrucian: Encyclopedia II - Rosicrucian - The Manifestos

Senzar The name given to the ancient mystery-language unknown to modern philologists, that was known to all initiates of the inhabited and civilized world; the secret sacerdotal language or mystery-speech of the adepts of whatever class belonging to or owing allegiance to the chief esoteric brotherhood, "still used and studied unto this day in the secret communities of the Eastern adepts, and called by them -- according to the locality -- Zend-zar and Brahma or Deva-Bashya" (BCW 4:518n).

In this language, besides its common use as a universal means of intercommunication, were written the secret works preserving the history of the archaic continents and races, as well as prophecies of the future. It was used in the secret commentaries and stanzas forming the basis for The Secret Doctrine, wherein they are called the Stanzas of Dzyan or the Book of Dzyan.

"Tradition says, that it was taken down in Senzar, the secret sacerdotal tongue, from the words of the Divine Beings, who dictated it to the sons of Light, in Central Asia, at the very beginning of the 5th (our) race; for there was a time when its language (the Sen-zar) was known to the Initiates of every nation, when the forefathers of the Toltec understood it as easily as the inhabitants of lost Atlantis, who inherited it, in their turn, from the sages of the 3rd Race, the Manushis, who learnt it direct from the Devas of the 2nd and 1st Races" (SD 1:xliii).

As to the mode of writing this mystery-speech, "The sacerdotal language (Senzar), besides an alphabet of its own, may be rendered in several modes of writing in cypher characters, which partake more of the nature of ideographs than of syllables" (VS vii).

(See also: Senzar, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

The following names are present in the 2004 Slovak calendar. They represent only names common in Slovakia and Not names from other Slavic Nations. The following etymological roots can be identified in the names by a modern Slovak language speaker: blah, blaž – happiness, wealth, wellbeing boh, bož – god, divine bol – pain (this is most probably a misleading "folk-etymology", at least in what concerns the Boleslav name - the bole part here does not root from bol ...

See also:

List of Slavic given names, List of Slavic given names - Names used in Slovakia, List of Slavic given names - Male and female, List of Slavic given names - Mostly male, List of Slavic given names - Mostly female

Read more here: » List of Slavic given names: Encyclopedia II - List of Slavic given names - Names used in Slovakia

Ancient Egyptian religion was a polytheistic system that saw the world as in conflict between forces of order and chaos. The Pharaoh, representative of order on Earth, was seen as divine and descended of the falcon god Horus. There was a strong cult of resurrection in the next life centered around the god Osiris. Coptic Christianity became popular in the Roman and Byzantine periods, and Egypt was indeed one of the strongest early Christian communities. Today, Chris ...

See also:

Culture of Egypt, Culture of Egypt - Language, Culture of Egypt - Literature, Culture of Egypt - Religion, Culture of Egypt - Visual art, Culture of Egypt - Egyptian art in antiquity, Culture of Egypt - Egyptian art in modern times, Culture of Egypt - Science, Culture of Egypt - Ptolemy, Culture of Egypt - Eratosthenes, Culture of Egypt - Library of Alexandria, Culture of Egypt - Ahmed Hasan Zewail, Culture of Egypt - Egyptology, Culture of Egypt - Music and dance, Culture of Egypt - Cuisine

Read more here: » Culture of Egypt: Encyclopedia II - Culture of Egypt - Religion

ARCHETYPE –

1. Archetypes are universal symbols defined by Funk & Wagnall as a "standard pattern" or a "prototype". Archetypal symbol speaks to all of us in the ecumenical language of the subconscious. They are the images which cloud our dreams, they are the inherent power of our deities and they are the machinery which makes all forms of divination possible. Archetypal images are used heavily throughout path working for this is the only language our subconscious (sometimes called our super-conscious or deep mind) can understand, utilize and with which it can communicate back to our conscious minds. (CMM)

"basic type for form"

2. an ideal pattern or form to which all things of a certain type conform (Plato)

3. unrepresentable, unconscious, preexistent from in the psyche that can nevertheless express itself personally or collectively in forms conditioned by the times (Jung, from Greek) (NAD)

(See also: ARCHETYPE, Wiccan Pagan, Paganism, Pagan Dictionary)

Transubstantiation The doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church that the bread and wine of the Eucharist or Communion are miraculously transmuted into the veritable (literal) body and blood of Jesus, due to a literal interpretation of figurative language used by Jesus. It is not mere consecration of the elements -- bread and wine -- though in what the difference consists it is hard to define.

See also BREAD AND WINE

The ancients had their own views about such things, as in the Bacchic rites of Greece and Rome in which bread and water or wine were considered to be mystically -- not veritable and actual -- symbols of certain of the mysteries of the divinity they revered.

(See also: Transubstantiation, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body mind and Soul)

Augustus was deified soon after his death, and both his borrowed surname, Caesar, and his title Augustus became the permanent titles of the rulers of Rome for the next 400 years, and were still in use at Constantinople fourteen centuries after his death. In many languages, caesar became the word for emperor, as in German (Kaiser), in Dutch (keizer), and in Russian (tsar). The cult of the Divine Augustus continued until the state religion of the Empire was changed to Christianity in the 4th century. C ...

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Augustus, Augustus - Early life, Augustus - Rise to power, Augustus - Octavian becomes Augustus: the creation of the Principate, Augustus - The First Settlement, Augustus - The Second Settlement, Augustus - Reign, Augustus - Succession, Augustus - Augustus's legacy, Augustus - Augustus in popular culture, Augustus - Notes, Augustus - Select Bibliography

Read more here: » Augustus: Encyclopedia II - Augustus - Augustus's legacy

Mayanists have bestowed the name tzolkin (or tzolk'in, in the revised orthography which is now preferred) on the Maya version of the Mesoamerican 260-day calendar. The word was coined based on the Yucatec language, with an intended meaning of "count of days". The actual names of this calendar as used by the pre-Columbian Maya are not known. The Aztec calendar equivalent was called by them t ...

See also:

Maya calendar, Maya calendar - General overview, Maya calendar - Maya concepts of time, Maya calendar - Tzolk'in, Maya calendar - Divination, Maya calendar - Origin of the Tzolkin, Maya calendar - Haab, Maya calendar - Wayeb, Maya calendar - Calendar Round, Maya calendar - Long Count, Maya calendar - Calculating Long Count dates, Maya calendar - Calculating the Tzolkin date portion, Maya calendar - Calculating the Haab date portion, Maya calendar - End of the world?, Maya calendar - Venus cycle

Read more here: » Maya calendar: Encyclopedia II - Maya calendar - Tzolk'in

In the Japanese language, Kamikaze (Japanese:神風), usually translated as "Divine wind" (kami is the word for "God", and kaze for "wind"), came into being as the name of a legendary typhoon said to have saved Japan from a Mongol invasion fleet in 1281. In Japan, the word kamikaze is used mainly to designate this typhoon. In Japanese, the exact term used for units carrying out these suicide attacks during World War II is tokubetsu kōgeki tai (特別攻撃隊), which literally means "special attack unit ...

See also:

Kamikaze, Kamikaze - Origin of the word Kamikaze, Kamikaze - World War II, Kamikaze - Background, Kamikaze - The first kamikaze unit, Kamikaze - The first attacks, Kamikaze - The main wave of kamikaze attacks, Kamikaze - Use of the tactic for air raid defence, Kamikaze - Effects, Kamikaze - Traditions and Folklore, Kamikaze - Books, Kamikaze - External reference

Read more here: » Kamikaze: Encyclopedia II - Kamikaze - Origin of the word Kamikaze

There were many different cultures in the Ancient Near East with different languages, different cultures, different religions, and differing mythologies. The religion of Ancient Mesopotamians (Sumer, Akkad, Assyria, Elam) is treated under Mesopotamian mythology. For the religion of Ancient Egypt, see Egyptian mythology. The early Hittite religion bore traits descended from Proto-Indo-European religion, but the later Hittite religions becomes more and more assimilated to Assyria. The religion of the ancient Minoans. Ancient Greek religion, Greek Mythology. The Myster ...

See also:

Religions of the Ancient Near East, Religions of the Ancient Near East - Overview, Religions of the Ancient Near East - Ancient Near East Pagan Cultures, Religions of the Ancient Near East - Common threads, Religions of the Ancient Near East - Purification and cleansing, Religions of the Ancient Near East - Offerings sacrifices and libations, Religions of the Ancient Near East - Large pantheons, Religions of the Ancient Near East - Religions tied to governments, Religions of the Ancient Near East - Forms of Divination, Religions of the Ancient Near East - Magic incantations charms and amulets, Religions of the Ancient Near East - Neopagan movements

Read more here: » Religions of the Ancient Near East: Encyclopedia II - Religions of the Ancient Near East - Overview

Many of the great epics of European literature include episodes that occur in Hell. In the Roman poet Virgil's Latin epic, the Aeneid, Aeneas descends into Dis (the underworld) to visit his father's spirit. The underworld is only vaguely described, with one unexplored path leading to the punishments of Tartarus, while the other leads through Erebus and the Elysian Fields. In his Divina commedia ('Divine comedy'; set in the year 1300), Dante Alighieri employed the conceit of taking Virgil as his guide through Inferno (and ...

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Hell, Hell - Origins, Hell - Religious accounts, Hell - Rabbinic Judaism, Hell - Ancient Greek religion, Hell - Christianity, Hell - Islam, Hell - Chinese and Japanese religions, Hell - Hinduism, Hell - Buddhism, Hell - Bahá'í Faith, Hell - Taoism, Hell - Hell in Literature, Hell - Hell in entertainment and other popular culture, Hell - Non-religious context, Hell - Euphemistic ways of saying hell, Hell - Language edits, Hell - Places named Hell

Read more here: » Hell: Encyclopedia II - Hell - Hell in Literature

Devanagari (Sanskrit) "Divine city writing," the alphabetic script of Aryan India, in which the Sanskrit language is usually written. The Devanagari alphabet and the art of writing it were kept secret for ages, and the dvijas (twice-born) and the dikshitas (initiates) alone were originally permitted to use this literary art.

In India, as in many other countries which have been the seat of archaic civilizations, sacred and secret records were committed to the tablets of the mind, rather than to material tablets. Alone the priesthood invariably had, in addition to the mnemonic records, an ideographic or syllabic script which was used when considered convenient or necessary, mainly for intercommunication between themselves and brother-initiates speaking other tongues.

This applied to ideographic characters which can be read with equal facility by those acquainted with them, whatever their spoken mother-tongue may be, and to written characters imbodying an archaic or sacred language, as was the case with the ancient Sanskrit. This is the main reason why these ancient peoples have so few allusions -- and sometimes no allusions at all -- to writing; in the civilizations of those far past times writing was not found to be a need and was kept as a sacred art for the temple scribes.

"Devanagari is as old as the Vedas, and held so sacred that the Brahmans, first under penalty of death, and later on, of eternal ostracism, were not even allowed to mention it to profane ears, much less to make known the existence of their secret temple libraries" (Five Years of Theosophy 360).

"Real Devanagari -- non-phonetic characters -- meant formerly the outward symbols, so to say, the signs used in the inter-communication between gods and initiated mortals. Hence their great sacredness and the silence maintained throughout the Vedic and the Brahmanical periods about any object concerned with, or referring to, reading and writing. It was the language of the gods" (ibid. 423).

The Devanagari characters as first used among initiates and privileged men were symbolic and ideographic in form. But these outlines by use gradually lost their mere picture-form, or idea-suggesting power, and through constant use and rapid writing continuously lost more and more of the details of the picture, until they finally became merely conventional signs or letters of the alphabet. The word devanagari is synonymous with the Hermetic and Hieratic Neter-Khari (divine speech) of the Egyptians.

(See also: Devanagari, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Occultism, Occultism Dictionary)

Belief in the Qur'an's direct, uncorrupted divine origin is considered fundamental to Islam by most Muslims. This of course entails believing that the Qur'an has neither errors nor inconsistencies. "This is the Book; in it is guidance sure, without doubt, to those who fear Allah" (Surat al-Baqarah, verse 2) Yusuf Ali. However, there are instances where some verses presuppose that a given practice is allowed, while others forbid it. These are interpreted by most Muslim scholars in the light of the relativ ...

See also:

Qur'an, Qur'an - Format of the Qur'an, Qur'an - The Qur'an for reading and recitation, Qur'an - The language of the Qur'an, Qur'an - Translation of the Qur'an, Qur'an - Stylistic attributes, Qur'an - The beginnings of the suras, Qur'an - The temporal order of Quranic verses, Qur'an - Similarities between Quran & Bible, Qur'an - Origin and development of the Qur'an, Qur'an - According to Islamic scholars, Qur'an - According to non-Muslim scholars, Qur'an - Interpretation of the Qur'an, Qur'an - 'Created' vs. 'uncreated' Qur'an, Qur'an - Qur'an recitation, Qur'an - Schools of recitation, Qur'an - The Qur'an and Islamic culture, Qur'an - Writing and printing the Qur'an, Qur'an - Literature

Read more here: » Qur'an: Encyclopedia II - Qur'an - The temporal order of Quranic verses

The most widespread varieties of Muslim theology consider the Qur'an to be eternal and uncreated. Given that Muslims believe that Biblical figures such as Moses and Jesus all preached the same message as Islam, the doctrine of an unchanging, uncreated revelation implies that contradictions between the statements of the earlier divine revelations (the Torah and then the Bible), and the final revelation from God, the Qur'an, m ...

See also:

Qur'an, Qur'an - Format of the Qur'an, Qur'an - The Qur'an for reading and recitation, Qur'an - The language of the Qur'an, Qur'an - Translation of the Qur'an, Qur'an - Stylistic attributes, Qur'an - The beginnings of the suras, Qur'an - The temporal order of Quranic verses, Qur'an - Similarities between Quran & Bible, Qur'an - Origin and development of the Qur'an, Qur'an - According to Islamic scholars, Qur'an - According to non-Muslim scholars, Qur'an - Interpretation of the Qur'an, Qur'an - 'Created' vs. 'uncreated' Qur'an, Qur'an - Qur'an recitation, Qur'an - Schools of recitation, Qur'an - The Qur'an and Islamic culture, Qur'an - Writing and printing the Qur'an, Qur'an - Literature

Read more here: » Qur'an: Encyclopedia II - Qur'an - 'Created' vs. 'uncreated' Qur'an

Belief in the Qur'an's direct, uncorrupted divine origin is considered fundamental to Islam by most Muslims. This of course entails believing that the Qur'an has neither errors nor inconsistencies. "This is the Book; in it is guidance sure, without doubt, to those who fear Allah" (Surat al-Baqarah, verse 2) Yusuf Ali. However, there are instances where some verses presuppose that a given practice is allowed, while others forbid it. These are interpreted by most Muslim scholars in the light of the relativ ...

See also:

Qur'an, Qur'an - Format of the Qur'an, Qur'an - The Qur'an for reading and recitation, Qur'an - The language of the Qur'an, Qur'an - Translation of the Qur'an, Qur'an - Stylistic attributes, Qur'an - The beginnings of the suras, Qur'an - The temporal order of Qur'anic verses, Qur'an - Similarities between the Qur'an and the Bible, Qur'an - Origin and development of the Qur'an, Qur'an - According to Islamic scholars, Qur'an - According to non-Muslim scholars, Qur'an - Interpretation of the Qur'an, Qur'an - 'Created' vs. 'uncreated' Qur'an, Qur'an - Qur'an recitation, Qur'an - Schools of recitation, Qur'an - The Qur'an and Islamic culture, Qur'an - Writing and printing the Qur'an

Read more here: » Qur'an: Encyclopedia II - Qur'an - The temporal order of Qur'anic verses

The most widespread varieties of Muslim theology consider the Qur'an to be eternal and uncreated. Given that Muslims believe that Biblical figures such as Moses and Jesus all preached the same message as Islam, the doctrine of an unchanging, uncreated revelation implies that contradictions between the statements of the earlier divine revelations (the Torah and then the Bible), and the final revelation from God, the Qur'an, m ...

See also:

Qur'an, Qur'an - Format of the Qur'an, Qur'an - The Qur'an for reading and recitation, Qur'an - The language of the Qur'an, Qur'an - Translation of the Qur'an, Qur'an - Stylistic attributes, Qur'an - The beginnings of the suras, Qur'an - The temporal order of Qur'anic verses, Qur'an - Similarities between the Qur'an and the Bible, Qur'an - Origin and development of the Qur'an, Qur'an - According to Islamic scholars, Qur'an - According to non-Muslim scholars, Qur'an - Interpretation of the Qur'an, Qur'an - 'Created' vs. 'uncreated' Qur'an, Qur'an - Qur'an recitation, Qur'an - Schools of recitation, Qur'an - The Qur'an and Islamic culture, Qur'an - Writing and printing the Qur'an

Read more here: » Qur'an: Encyclopedia II - Qur'an - 'Created' vs. 'uncreated' Qur'an