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Antichrist
(Encyclopedia)Antichrist ănˈtĭkrīst [key], in Christian belief, a person who will represent on earth the powers of evil by opposing the Christ, glorifying himself, and causing many to leave the faith. He will b...Avestan
(Encyclopedia)Avestan əvĕsˈtən [key], language belonging to the Iranian group of the Indo-Iranian subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages. One of the earliest forms of the Iranian languages to surviv...Magi
(Encyclopedia)Magi māˈjī [key], priestly caste of ancient Persia. Probably Median in origin, they were, according to Herodotus, a tribe rather than a priestly family. Zoroaster is thought to have been a Magus. S...Ardashir I
(Encyclopedia)Ardashir I ärdäshērˈ [key] [another form of Artaxerxes], d. 240, king of Persia (226?–240). He overthrew the last Parthian king, Artabanus IV, entered Ctesiphon, and reunited Persia out of the c...sun worship
(Encyclopedia)sun worship. Deification and adoration of the sun occurred primarily in agrarian societies. When man became a farmer, and thus dependent upon daily and seasonal changes of weather, he often turned to ...Parsis
(Encyclopedia)Parsis or Parsees both: pärˈsēz, pärsēzˈ [key], religious community of India, practicing Zoroastrianism. The Parsis (numbering about 75,000) are concentrated in Maharashtra and Gujarat states, e...monotheism
(Encyclopedia)monotheism mŏnˈəthēĭzəm [key] [Gr.,=belief in one God], in religion, a belief in one personal god. In practice, monotheistic religion tends to stress the existence of one personal god that unifi...evil
(Encyclopedia)evil, antithesis of good. The philosophical problem of evil is most simply stated in the question, why does evil exist in the world? Death, disease, and sin are often included in the problem. Traditio...immortality
(Encyclopedia)immortality, attribute of deathlessness ascribed to the soul in many religions and philosophies. Forthright belief in immortality of the body is rare. Immortality of the soul is a cardinal tenet of Is...asceticism
(Encyclopedia)asceticism əsĕtˈĭsĭzəm [key], rejection of bodily pleasures through sustained self-denial and self-mortification, with the objective of strengthening spiritual life. Asceticism has been common i...Browse by Subject
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