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Matthew, Gospel according to

(Encyclopedia)Matthew, Gospel according to, 1st book of the New Testament. Scholars conjecture that it was written for the church at Antioch toward the end of the 1st cent. Traditonally regarded as the earliest Gos...

John, three epistles of the New Testament

(Encyclopedia)John, three letters of the New Testament. Traditionally, they are ascribed to John son of Zebedee, the disciple of Jesus. All three letters probably date to the end of the 1st cent. a.d., and may have...

Early Christian art and architecture

(Encyclopedia)Early Christian art and architecture, works of art exhibiting Christian themes and structures designed for Christian worship created relatively soon after the death of Jesus. Most date from the 4th to...

Epstein, Sir Jacob

(Encyclopedia)Epstein, Sir Jacob ĕpˈstīn [key], 1880–1959, sculptor, b. New York City. He studied with Rodin in Paris and later worked chiefly in England. In revolt against the ornate and the pretty in art, Ep...

Lloyd Webber, Andrew

(Encyclopedia)Lloyd Webber, Andrew, 1948–, British theatrical composer. A member of a successful musical family, he began composing musicals as a teenager; Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (1968) was ...

Rouault, Georges

(Encyclopedia)Rouault, Georges zhôrzh ro͞o-ōˈ [key], 1871–1958, French expressionist artist. First apprenticed to a stained-glass maker, Rouault studied after 1891 under Gustave Moreau. He exhibited several p...

Schillebeeckx, Edward Cornelius Florentius

(Encyclopedia)Schillebeeckx, Edward Cornelius Florentius skĭlˈəbāks [key], 1914–2009, Belgian Roman Catholic theologian, b. Antwerp. He entered the Dominican order in 1934 and was ordained in 1941. After stud...

church, aggregation of Christian believers

(Encyclopedia)church [probably Gr.,=divine], aggregation of Christian believers. The traditional belief has the church the community of believers, living and dead, headed by Jesus, who founded it in the apostles. T...

Ophites

(Encyclopedia)Ophites ōˈfīts [key] [Gr.,=believers in the serpent], group of Gnostic sects notorious for extreme cultism and inverted morality. Certain of these sects were known as Naasseni. Almost all that is k...

Real Presence

(Encyclopedia)Real Presence, expression of the belief among certain Christians, especially Roman Catholics and some Anglicans, that the actual presence of the body and blood of Jesus is in the Eucharist. Saints Ign...