Christianity in China - The Missionary Period. During the 1840s, Western missionaries spread Christianity rapidly through the foreign occupied coastal cities; the Taiping Rebellion was connected in its origins to the missionary activity. British and American denominations, such as the British Methodist Church, continued to send missionaries until they were prevented from doing so following the establishment of the People's Republic of China. Protestant missionaries played an extremely important role in introducin ...

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Christianity in China, Christianity in China - History, Christianity in China - Earliest period, Christianity in China - Medieval period, Christianity in China - Post-Reformation, Christianity in China - Modern Age, Christianity in China - The Missionary Period, Christianity in China - First Protestant Missionaries, Christianity in China - Catholic Missionary Efforts, Christianity in China - Church education, Christianity in China - Japanese Occupation, Christianity in China - Christianity in the contemporary PRC, Christianity in China - Official Christian Organizations, Christianity in China - House Churches, Christianity in China - Contemporary Trends, Christianity in China - International visitors and Christianity, Christianity in China - Demographics/Geography, Christianity in China - Orthodox Christianity in China, Christianity in China - Names for Christianity and God, Christianity in China - Names for Christianity, Christianity in China - Names for God

Read more here: » Christianity in China: Encyclopedia II - Christianity in China - Modern Age

Today, the Chinese language typically divides Christians into two groups, members of Jidu jiao, (literally, Christianity) Protestantism, and members of Tianzhu jiao (literally "Lord of Heaven" religion), Catholicism (see Protestantism in China and Catholicism in China.) Christianity in China - Official Christian Organizations. Since loosening of restrictions on religion after the 1970s, Christianity has grown significantly within the People's Republic. It is still, however, tightly con ...

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Christianity in China, Christianity in China - History, Christianity in China - Earliest period, Christianity in China - Medieval period, Christianity in China - Post-Reformation, Christianity in China - Modern Age, Christianity in China - The Missionary Period, Christianity in China - First Protestant Missionaries, Christianity in China - Catholic Missionary Efforts, Christianity in China - Church education, Christianity in China - Japanese Occupation, Christianity in China - Christianity in the contemporary PRC, Christianity in China - Official Christian Organizations, Christianity in China - House Churches, Christianity in China - Contemporary Trends, Christianity in China - International visitors and Christianity, Christianity in China - Demographics/Geography, Christianity in China - Orthodox Christianity in China, Christianity in China - Names for Christianity and God, Christianity in China - Names for Christianity, Christianity in China - Names for God

Read more here: » Christianity in China: Encyclopedia II - Christianity in China - Christianity in the contemporary PRC

Union with God, to which Christians hold that Jesus invited man, requires not just faith, but correct practice of faith. This is found in the Scriptures (1 Cor 11:2, 2 Thes 2:15) and the Church Fathers, and is linked with the term praxis in Orthodox theology. [1] In the context of Orthodoxy, praxis is mentioned opposite theology, in the sense of theory and practice, [2] and is a word that means, globally, all that Orthodox See also:

Praxis Orthodox, Praxis Orthodox - Orthodox praxis, Praxis Orthodox - Corresponding terminology in western traditions, Praxis Orthodox - Footnotes and references

Read more here: » Praxis Orthodox: Encyclopedia II - Praxis Orthodox - Orthodox praxis

In the Soviet Union, within the first decade after the Revolution of 1917, the Bolsheviks generally scorned and suspected the educated as potential traitors to the cause of the proletariat. Whereas the core of the Communist Party was well-educated, the people who became local activists and officials in government and industry often lacked education and disdained those who had it. Lenin once called the intelligentsia, particularly those who opposed him, "rotten" and "shit". The boast, roughly translated as "we haven’t completed any academies" ( ...

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Anti-intellectualism, Anti-intellectualism - Causes, Anti-intellectualism - Religion, Anti-intellectualism - Corporate culture, Anti-intellectualism - Educational system, Anti-intellectualism - Populism, Anti-intellectualism - Anti-intellectualism in the United States, Anti-intellectualism - 19th Century culture, Anti-intellectualism - Right-wing currents, Anti-intellectualism - Left-wing currents, Anti-intellectualism - Economic factors, Anti-intellectualism - In American political discourse, Anti-intellectualism - Anti-intellectualism in the former Soviet Union, Anti-intellectualism - Anti-intellectualism in Asia - Maoist China and Cambodia, Anti-intellectualism - Anti-intellectualism in the classical world, Anti-intellectualism - A loaded term?

Read more here: » Anti-intellectualism: Encyclopedia II - Anti-intellectualism - Anti-intellectualism in the former Soviet Union

Vishishtadvaita: (Sanskrit) "Qualified nondualism."

Best known as the term used by Ramanuja (ca 1017-1137) to name his Vaishnava Vedanta philosophy, which is nondualistic in that the ultimate truth or reality is one, not two, and souls are in fact part of God. And it is "qualified" in that souls are fully one with God, but not identical. Thus there is a full union which is somewhat shy of total merger. Siva Vishishtadvaita was the term chosen by Bhaskara (ca 950) to name his philosophy.

See: Siva Advaita, Vedanta.

(See also: Vishishtadvaita, Hinduism, Body Mind and Soul)

Vishishtadvaita: (Sanskrit) "Qualified nondualism." Best

known as the term used by Ramanuja (ca 1017-1137) to

name his Vaishnava Vedanta philosophy, which is

nondualistic in that the ultimate truth or reality is one, not

two, and souls are in fact part of God. And it is

"qualified" in that souls are fully one with God, but not

identical. Thus there is a full union which is somewhat

shy of total merger. Siva Vishishtadvaita was the term

chosen by Bhaskara (ca 950) to name his philosophy.

See:

Siva Advaita, Vedanta.

(See also: Vishishtadvaita, Hinduism, Body Mind and Soul)

Parasiva: (Sanskrit) "Transcendent Siva."

The Self God, Siva in His first perfection, Absolute Reality. God Siva as That which is beyond the grasp of consciousness, transcends time, form and space and defies description. To merge with Him in mystic union is the goal of all incarnated souls, the reason for their living on this planet, and the deepest meaning of their experiences. Attainment of this is called Self Realization or nirvikalpa samadhi.

See: samadhi, Siva.

(See also: Parasiva, Hinduism, Body Mind and Soul)

Not surprisingly, intellectuals commonly use allegations of anti-intellectualism as a charge against their critics. Critics of certain intellectuals in turn argue that "anti-intellectualism" is itself a loaded term. The term 'intellectual' implies knowledge, wisdom, and intelligence, and thus to be called 'anti-intellectual' can often be perceived as meaning one favours ignorance or stupidity. Sometimes criticism of intellectuals can take the form of a specific critique of an intellectual's specific field of study or theory. Not all ' ...

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Anti-intellectualism, Anti-intellectualism - Causes, Anti-intellectualism - Religion, Anti-intellectualism - Corporate culture, Anti-intellectualism - Educational system, Anti-intellectualism - Populism, Anti-intellectualism - Anti-intellectualism in the United States, Anti-intellectualism - 19th Century culture, Anti-intellectualism - Right-wing currents, Anti-intellectualism - Left-wing currents, Anti-intellectualism - Economic factors, Anti-intellectualism - In American political discourse, Anti-intellectualism - Anti-intellectualism in the former Soviet Union, Anti-intellectualism - Anti-intellectualism in Asia - Maoist China and Cambodia, Anti-intellectualism - Anti-intellectualism in the classical world, Anti-intellectualism - A loaded term?

Read more here: » Anti-intellectualism: Encyclopedia II - Anti-intellectualism - A loaded term?

Beltaine - May 1

Beltaine is the fertility sabbat. It celebrates live above all. This is the final planting time. This is the time when the Goddess and the God mate to spread fertility all over the earth. On this day, many Pagans celebrate the marriage of Goddess and God, and the sexual union of the God with the Goddess, who will later be reborn as her son. Beltaine is a very sexual sabbat, as well as being joyous and carefree. It is a time for feasting, rejoicing, frivolity, and celebration. It is the time to look forward and is a yearly reenactment of the primal joy all creatures and plants of the earth feel. It is a time to celebrate the final ending of the long winter.

(See also: Beltaine, Pagan Holidays, Paganism, Pagan, Pagan Dictionary)

In Maoist China during the Cultural Revolution, a revolutionary transformation of all aspects of life, including education, was attempted. University education in particular was moved away from the generation of highly specialized experts, who were seen as constituting a self-interested class divorced from the rest of society, and into the service of the masses. Training programs were accelerated and connected to the practical needs of productive work and socialist development. Some universities were closed for several years during the trans ...

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Anti-intellectualism, Anti-intellectualism - Causes, Anti-intellectualism - Religion, Anti-intellectualism - Corporate culture, Anti-intellectualism - Educational system, Anti-intellectualism - Populism, Anti-intellectualism - Anti-intellectualism in the United States, Anti-intellectualism - 19th Century culture, Anti-intellectualism - Right-wing currents, Anti-intellectualism - Left-wing currents, Anti-intellectualism - Economic factors, Anti-intellectualism - In American political discourse, Anti-intellectualism - Anti-intellectualism in the former Soviet Union, Anti-intellectualism - Anti-intellectualism in Asia - Maoist China and Cambodia, Anti-intellectualism - Anti-intellectualism in the classical world, Anti-intellectualism - A loaded term?

Read more here: » Anti-intellectualism: Encyclopedia II - Anti-intellectualism - Anti-intellectualism in Asia - Maoist China and Cambodia

The Roman statesman Cato the Elder's public career displayed many traits that today would be considered anti-intellectual. He vehemently opposed the introduction of Greek cultural ideals and models into the Roman republic, believing them to be subversive of traditional plainspokenness and rugged military values. He urged the Roman Senate to pass its decree against the newly imported Bacchanalian mysteries, which it did in the Senatus consultum de Bacchanalibus in 186 BC. He urged the deportation of three Athenian philosophers, Carnead ...

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Anti-intellectualism, Anti-intellectualism - Causes, Anti-intellectualism - Religion, Anti-intellectualism - Corporate culture, Anti-intellectualism - Educational system, Anti-intellectualism - Populism, Anti-intellectualism - Anti-intellectualism in the United States, Anti-intellectualism - 19th Century culture, Anti-intellectualism - Right-wing currents, Anti-intellectualism - Left-wing currents, Anti-intellectualism - Economic factors, Anti-intellectualism - In American political discourse, Anti-intellectualism - Anti-intellectualism in the former Soviet Union, Anti-intellectualism - Anti-intellectualism in Asia - Maoist China and Cambodia, Anti-intellectualism - Anti-intellectualism in the classical world, Anti-intellectualism - A loaded term?

Read more here: » Anti-intellectualism: Encyclopedia II - Anti-intellectualism - Anti-intellectualism in the classical world

GREAT RITE: Symbolic sexual union (also sacred marriage) of the Goddess and God that is enacted at Beltane in many traditions, and other Sabbats in other traditions. It symbolizes the primal act of creation from which all life comes.

(See also: GREAT RITE, Paganism, Pagan, Pagan Dictionary)

Anti-intellectualism - 19th Century culture. 19th century popular culture is important in the history of American anti-intellectualism. At the time when the vast majority of the population was involved in manual labor, and most of the population was rural and engaged in agriculture, bookish education, which at the time focused on classics, was seen to have little value. It should be noted that Americans of the era were generally very literate and, in fact, read Shakespeare much more than their present-day counter ...

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Anti-intellectualism, Anti-intellectualism - Causes, Anti-intellectualism - Religion, Anti-intellectualism - Corporate culture, Anti-intellectualism - Educational system, Anti-intellectualism - Populism, Anti-intellectualism - Anti-intellectualism in the United States, Anti-intellectualism - 19th Century culture, Anti-intellectualism - Right-wing currents, Anti-intellectualism - Left-wing currents, Anti-intellectualism - Economic factors, Anti-intellectualism - In American political discourse, Anti-intellectualism - Anti-intellectualism in the former Soviet Union, Anti-intellectualism - Anti-intellectualism in Asia - Maoist China and Cambodia, Anti-intellectualism - Anti-intellectualism in the classical world, Anti-intellectualism - A loaded term?

Read more here: » Anti-intellectualism: Encyclopedia II - Anti-intellectualism - Anti-intellectualism in the United States

Anti-intellectual beliefs can come from a variety of sources. These include: Anti-intellectualism - Religion. Although most religions have rich intellectual traditions, many often rely on arguments from authorities that are not indepedently verifiable, along with a somewhat common tendency to reject secular critical traditions. Evangelical or fundamentalist forms of religious beliefs can be a source of anti-intellectual statements, though not all such groups are anti-intellectual and many pride themselves ...

See also:

Anti-intellectualism, Anti-intellectualism - Causes, Anti-intellectualism - Religion, Anti-intellectualism - Corporate culture, Anti-intellectualism - Educational system, Anti-intellectualism - Populism, Anti-intellectualism - Anti-intellectualism in the United States, Anti-intellectualism - 19th Century culture, Anti-intellectualism - Right-wing currents, Anti-intellectualism - Left-wing currents, Anti-intellectualism - Economic factors, Anti-intellectualism - In American political discourse, Anti-intellectualism - Anti-intellectualism in the former Soviet Union, Anti-intellectualism - Anti-intellectualism in Asia - Maoist China and Cambodia, Anti-intellectualism - Anti-intellectualism in the classical world, Anti-intellectualism - A loaded term?

Read more here: » Anti-intellectualism: Encyclopedia II - Anti-intellectualism - Causes

DIONYSIAN: In religious studies, describes "lunar- or nature-oriented" religions that emphasize the ecstatic and emotional aspects, and the liberating of the psyche from the limitations of mundane consciousness, to enable union with the "group mind", or collective consciousness of the group (named for Dionysus, the Greek God of wine and Ecstasy).

(See also: DIONYSIAN, Pagan Organisations, Paganism, Pagan Dictionary, Wicca, )

DIONYSIAN: In religious studies, describes "lunar- or nature-oriented" religions that emphasize the ecstatic and emotional aspects, and the liberating of the psyche from the limitations of mundane consciousness, to enable union with the "group mind", or collective consciousness of the group (named for Dionysus, the Greek God of wine and Ecstasy).

(See also: DIONYSIAN, Magickal Traditions, Magickal Paths, Paganism, Pagan Dictionary)

There are four distinct schools of Unitarian thought: 'Biblical Unitarianism'—God is one being Who consists of one person—the Father. Jesus is Messiah and Son of God, but not God Himself; the Son may be a pre-existent being (Arianism), the result of the union between the divine Logos and the human being Jesus (Servetism), or Jesus after being filled with the Holy Spirit (Socinianism). Biblical Unitarianism remains as the only or main theology among Unitarians in Transylvania, Hungary, France, and several countries in Africa. ...

See also:

Unitarianism, Unitarianism - Forms of Unitarianism, Unitarianism - History, Unitarianism - Early origins, Unitarianism - Poland, Unitarianism - Transylvania and Hungary, Unitarianism - England, Unitarianism - Scotland, Unitarianism - Ireland, Unitarianism - United States, Unitarianism - Germany, Unitarianism - Denmark, Unitarianism - Spain, Unitarianism - Impact and opposition

Read more here: » Unitarianism: Encyclopedia II - Unitarianism - Forms of Unitarianism

yoga:

yoga. (a) Union of the individual self or Atma with the Supreme Being or Universal Self; act of yoking. (b) A spiritual discipline or exercise aimed at control of the senses. (c) Science of divine communion. No single definition of the word yoga suffices. Patanjali's Yoga-sutras define yoga as a series of eight spiritual steps leading to union with God. This is different from the eight steps given in the section titled "The eightfold path of yoga" of Prasanthi Vahini.

(See also: yoga, Hinduism, Hinduism Dictionary, Sanskrit Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul)

LEGBHA

African (Dahomey, Yoruba.). When the Sun-God Damballah touched the penises of Leghba's four sons,they ejaculated the logoi spermatikoi into the heavens, whence the philosophers received reason and wisdom.

Papa Legbha is the god of the knotted stick (phallus), the strongest God of the Voodoo religion. He is the guardian of the crossroads and opener of the way for the other gods to follow, and the last son of the Creator God and equated in the New World with the Devil. He appears as a ragged old man with a crutch, pack on back and pipe in mouth. Leghba desires the human race in a lustful way and every voodoo magician, at some point, experiences a desire for sexual union with Leghba, whereupon, if he is accepted, the supplicant enters an initiation into the deepest mysteries of all.

(Note: Readers who wish to know more about Voodoo, should read Bertiaux's "Voodoo-Gnostic Workbook" and those who are familiar with computer games, will find Gabriel Knight - Sins of the Fathers (which is set in New Orleans) very instructive.

(See also: LEGBHA, Magick, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary, Body Mind and Soul, )

GREAT RITE - the symbolic sexual union (also sacred marriage) of the Goddess and God which is enacted at Bealtine in most traditions and at other Sabbats in many others. It symbolizes the primal act of creation from which all life comes. The sexual union is symbolized by ritually placing the athame, a phallic symbol, inside the chalice or cauldron, a womb symbol. (CMM)

(See also: GREAT RITE, Wiccan Pagan, Paganism, Pagan Dictionary)

prayer (metaphysical healing): Any attempt to express sentiments to a supernatural focus of worship or veneration. The general categories of prayer are thanksgiving and petitionary prayer.

Forms of Christian prayer include:

(a)   private prayer, which is solitary and/or meditative;

(b)  liturgical prayer, wherein a priest or leader prays ceremonially for countless persons and spirits;

(c)   vocal prayer, characterized by holy utterances;

(d)  mental prayer, the turning of one's mind and heart to God;

(e)   mystical prayer, whose goal is mystical union with God; and

(f)   prophetic prayer, which is often public and extemporary.

(See also: Prayer, Body Mind and Soul, Alternative Health, Alternative Health Dictionary)

bhakti yoga: n (Sanskrit) "Union through devotion." Bhakti yoga is the practice of devotional disciplines, worship, prayer, chanting and singing with the aim of awakening love in the heart and opening oneself to God's grace. Bhakti may be directed toward God, Gods or one's spiritual preceptor.

Bhakti yoga seeks communion and ever closer rapport with the Divine, developing qualities that make communion possible, such as love, selflessness and purity. Saint Sambandar described bhakti as religion's essence and the surest means to divine union and liberation. He advised heartfelt worship, unstinting devotion and complete surrender to God in humble, committed service. From the beginning practice of bhakti to advanced devotion, called prapatti, self-effacement is an intricate part of Hindu, even all Indian, culture.

Bhakti yoga is embodied in Patanjali's Yoga Darshana in the second limb, niyamas (observances), as devotion (Ishvarapranidhana). Bhakti yoga is practiced in many Hindu schools, and highly developed in Vaishnavism as a spiritual path in itself, leading to perfection and liberation. In Saiva Siddhanta, its cultivation is the primary focus during the kriya pada (stage of worship).

See: bhakti yoga, prapatti, sacrifice, surrender, yajna.

(See also: Bhakti yoga, Hinduism, Body Mind and Soul)