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Gray, Stephen

(Encyclopedia)Gray, Stephen, 1666–1736, English physicist. Gray, a dyer by trade, cultivated science as a hobby. In 1696 he published an account of a magnifying glass that interested the Royal Society and from th...

Corpus Christi, in Christianity

(Encyclopedia)Corpus Christi [Lat.,=body of Christ], feast of the Western Church, observed on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday (or on the following Sunday). The feast, which celebrates the founding of the sacramen...

Pacher, Michael

(Encyclopedia)Pacher, Michael mĭkhˈäĕl päˈkhər [key], c.1435–1498, German religious painter and probably a wood carver, a native of the Tyrol. He painted figures reminiscent of the art of Mantegna, whose w...

Foakes-Jackson, Frederick John

(Encyclopedia)Foakes-Jackson, Frederick John, 1855–1941, English theologian and church historian. A fellow of Jesus College, Cambridge, from 1886, he was lecturer there from 1882 and dean from 1895 to 1916. From ...

Mahdi

(Encyclopedia)Mahdi mäˈdē [key] [Arab.,=he who is divinely guided], in Sunni Islam, the restorer of the faith. He will appear at the end of time to restore justice on earth and establish universal Islam. The Mah...

Tatian

(Encyclopedia)Tatian tāˈshən [key], 2d cent., Christian apologist. Probably born in Syria, he was a pupil of Justin Martyr. After his master's death, he left Christianity, becoming an Encratitic Gnostic—i.e., ...

Siloam

(Encyclopedia)Siloam sīlōˈəm [key], pool, SW corner of Jerusalem in the Kidron valley, mentioned in the Bible. A nearby 1,700-foot-long (518 m) tunnel, dating from the time of Hezekiah, diverted water underneat...

Simeon

(Encyclopedia)Simeon or Symeon both: sĭmˈēŏn [key], in the Bible. 1 Second son of Jacob and Leah and ancestor of the southernmost tribe of Israel. He and his tribe are seldom mentioned individually. 2 Devout ma...

McCourt, Frank

(Encyclopedia)McCourt, Frank, 1930–2009, Irish-American memoirist, b. Brooklyn, N.Y. When McCourt was four his immigrant family returned to Ireland. He dropped out of school at 13 and had saved enough by 19 to re...

Latrobe, John Hazlehurst Boneval

(Encyclopedia)Latrobe, John Hazlehurst Boneval, 1803–91, American philanthropist, b. Philadelphia; son of Benjamin H. Latrobe. He studied law, and from 1828 until his death he was regularly retained as counsel fo...