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Haggai

(Encyclopedia)Haggai hăgˈāī [key], prophetic book of the Bible. Dated 520 b.c., it is a collection of five oracles addressed to Jews, newly returned from the Babylonian exile. The prophet summons the people to ...

national bank

(Encyclopedia)national bank, in the United States, financial institution of a class authorized by Congress in acts of 1863 and 1864. The acts were intended to provide a way of marketing the large bond issues made n...

Nehemiah, book of the Bible

(Encyclopedia)Nehemiah, originally combined with Ezra to form a single book in the Hebrew canon. In the Septuagint, Ezra and Nehemiah are combined as Second Esdras. The book narrates the return to Jerusalem of Nehe...

Bain, Alexander

(Encyclopedia)Bain, Alexander, 1818–1903, Scottish philosopher and psychologist. He was educated at Marischal College, Aberdeen, where he later taught for three years. He taught one year (1845) at Anderson's Univ...

Weil, Simone

(Encyclopedia)Weil, Simone sēmônˈ vīl [key], 1909–43, French philosopher and mystic. After receiving her baccalauréat with honors at 15, she studied philosophy for four years, then entered (1928) the prestig...

Diocletian

(Encyclopedia)Diocletian (Caius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus) dīˈəklēˈshən [key], 245–313, Roman emperor (284–305), b. near Salona, Dalmatia (the modern Split, Croatia). Of humble birth, he obtained hig...

Coomaraswamy, Ananda Kentish

(Encyclopedia)Coomaraswamy, Ananda Kentish äˌnəndäˈ kĕnˈtĭsh ko͝omäˌrəswäˈmē [key], 1877–1947, art historian, b. Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). Raised in London by an English mother, he returned to Ceylon...

Gaudí i Cornet, Antonio

(Encyclopedia)Gaudí i Cornet, Antonio äntôˈnyō goudēˈ ē kōrˈnĕt [key], 1852–1926, Spanish architect. Working mainly in Barcelona, he created startling new architectural forms that paralleled the stylis...

Judith

(Encyclopedia)Judith [Heb.,=Jewess], early Jewish book included in the Septuagint, but not included in the Hebrew Bible, and placed in the Apocrypha of Protestant Bibles. It recounts an attack on the Jews by an arm...

Jackson, Shirley

(Encyclopedia)Jackson, Shirley, 1916–65, American writer, b. San Francisco. She is best known for her stories and novels of horror and the occult, rendered more terrifying because they are set against realistic, ...