Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Colossians

(Encyclopedia)Colossians kəlŏshˈənz [key], New Testament letter. It was written to the Christians of Colossae and Laodicea, ostensibly by Paul while he was in prison, presumably in Rome (c.a.d. 60). Its writing...

Corigliano, John Paul

(Encyclopedia)Corigliano, John Paul kôrˌĭlyänˈō, kərĭgˌlē-änˈō [key], 1938–, American composer, b. New York City. The son of New York Philharmonic first violinist and concertmaster John Corigliano, h...

Gluck, Christoph Willibald von

(Encyclopedia)Gluck, Christoph Willibald von krĭsˈtôf vĭlˈēbält fən glo͝ok [key], 1714–87, German-born operatic composer. Gluck revolutionized opera by establishing lyrical tragedy as a unified vital art...

epic

(Encyclopedia)epic, long, exalted narrative poem, usually on a serious subject, centered on a heroic figure. The earliest epics, known as primary, or original, epics, were shaped from the legends of an age when a n...

Ward, William George

(Encyclopedia)Ward, William George, 1812–82, English Roman Catholic apologist, educated at Oxford. He became (1834) a fellow at Balliol College, Oxford, and was ordained in the Church of England. At first a Broad...

Arakcheyev, Aleksey Andreyevich

(Encyclopedia)Arakcheyev, Aleksey Andreyevich əlĭksyāˈ əndrāˈyəvĭch äräkchāˈyĕf [key], 1769–1834, Russian general, adviser to Czar Alexander I. An exacting officer, he helped organize the bodyguard ...

Bourget, Paul

(Encyclopedia)Bourget, Paul pôl bo͞orzhāˈ [key], 1852–1935, French novelist. His early novels were naturalistic, but Le Disciple (1889, tr. 1901), a tale of the destruction of a pupil who applies his master's...

Painlevé, Paul

(Encyclopedia)Painlevé, Paul pōl păNləvāˈ [key], 1863–1933, French statesman and mathematician. A mathematical prodigy when a child, he entered on a career devoted to science. He was a professor at the Sorb...

Simon, Paul

(Encyclopedia)Simon, Paul, 1941–, American singer, songwriter, and guitarist, b. Newark, N.J. A polished and intelligent folk-rock lyricist and performer, he first gained fame as half of Simon and Garfunkel (with...

Farmer, Paul

(Encyclopedia)Farmer, Paul (Paul Edward Farmer), 1959–2022; American infectious disease doctor and medical anthropologist, b. North Adams, Mass., M.D. and Ph.D. Har...
 

Browse by Subject