Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

conscientious objector

(Encyclopedia)conscientious objector, person who, on the grounds of conscience, resists the authority of the state to compel military service. Such resistance, emerging in time of war, may be based on membership in...

Barclay, Robert

(Encyclopedia)Barclay, Robert, 1648–90, Scottish apologist for the Society of Friends (Quakers). He wrote many controversial works but is best known for his great treatise An Apology for the True Christian Divini...

evangelist

(Encyclopedia)evangelist ĭvănˈjəlĭst [key] [Gr.,=Gospel], title given to saints Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, the authors of the four Gospels. The four evangelists are often symbolized respectively by a man, ...

Amana Church Society

(Encyclopedia)Amana Church Society əmănˈə [key], corporate name of a group of seven small villages in E central Iowa, clustered around the Iowa River NW of Iowa City; settled 1855 by members of the Ebenezer Soc...

Greek-letter society

(Encyclopedia)Greek-letter society: see fraternity. ...

American Philosophical Society

(Encyclopedia)American Philosophical Society, first scientific society in America, founded (1743) in Philadelphia. It was an outgrowth of the Junto formed (1727) by Benjamin Franklin. Franklin was the first secreta...

American Colonization Society

(Encyclopedia)American Colonization Society, organized Dec., 1816–Jan., 1817, at Washington, D.C., to transport free blacks from the United States and settle them in Africa. The freeing of many slaves, principall...

American Geographical Society

(Encyclopedia)American Geographical Society (AGS), oldest geographical society in the United States, founded 1852 in New York City. Its purpose is to advance the science of geography through discussion and publicat...

John Birch Society

(Encyclopedia)John Birch Society, ultraconservative, anti-Communist organization in the United States. It was founded in Dec., 1958, by manufacturer Robert Welch, headquartered in Belmont, Mass., and named after Jo...

Audubon Society, National

(Encyclopedia)Audubon Society, National, one of the oldest and best-known U.S. environmental organizations; founded 1886 by George Cird Grinnell and named for John James Audubon. The nonprofit organization, which h...