Bücher der Reihe Historical Dictionaries of Religions, Philosophies, and Movements Series

In the early 21st century, Buddhism has become ubiquitous in America and other western nations, moving beyond the original bodhi tree in India to become a major global religion. During its journey westward, it has changed, adapted to new cultures, and offered spiritual help to many people looking for answers to the problems of life. It is being studied in institutions of higher education, being practice by many people, and having its literature translated and published. The Historical Dictionary of Buddhism covers and clarifies Buddhist concepts, significant figures, movements, schools, places, activities, and periods. This is done through a chronology, an introductory essay, a bibliography, and over 700 cross-referenced dictionary entries.

Historical Dictionary of Ethics, Second Edition contains a chronology, an introduction, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has more than 600 cross-referenced entries on the important terms, concepts, theories, and thinkers from all areas and eras of the history of ethics.

This one-volume encyclopedia of logic introduces the central concepts of the field in a series of brief, non-technical, cross-referenced dictionary entries. The 352 alphabetically arranged entries give a clear, basic introduction to a very broad range of logical topics.

This second edition covers the history of Greek philosophy through a chronology, an introductory essay, a glossary, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 1500 cross-referenced entries on important philosophers, concepts, issues, and events.

Witchcraft has proven an important, if difficult, historical subject to investigate and interpret over the last four decades or so. Modern historical research into witchcraft began as an attempt to tease out the worldview of ordinary people in 16th- and 17th-century England, but it quickly expanded to encompass the history of witchcraft in most cultures and societies that have existed with scholarly studies now extending back to the time of earliest law code that punished sorcery, the Babylonian Code of Hammurabi (1792-1750 B.C.E.), and forward to the last witchcraft cases in England, those of Helen Duncan and Jane Yorke, tried in 1944. There has also been a significant amount of interest in the development of the modern religion of witchcraft, or Wicca, as various forms of neo-paganism continue to attract adherents.The second edition of Historical Dictionary of Witchcraft covers the history of the Witchcraft from 1750 B.C.E. though the modern day. This is done through a chronology, an introductory essay, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 300 cross-referenced entries on witch hunts, witchcraft trials, and related practices around the world. This book is an excellent access point for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about the history of witchcraft.

Organized labor is about the collective efforts of employees to improve their economic, social, and political position. It can be studied from many different points of viewhistorical, economic, sociological, or legalbut it is fundamentally about the struggle for human rights and social justice. As a rule, organized labor has tried to make the world a fairer place. Even though it has only ever covered a minority of employees in most countries, its effects on their political, economic, and social systems have been generally positive. History shows that when organized labor is repressed, the whole society suffers and is made less just.The Historical Dictionary of Organized Labor looks at the history of organized labor to see where it came from and where it has been. This is done through a chronology, an introductory essay, appendixes, a glossary of terms, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 400 cross-referenced entries on most countries, international as well as national labor organizations, major labor unions, leaders, and other aspects of organized labor such as changes in the composition of its membership. This book is an excellent access point for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about organized labor.

There are several eras in the history of Christianity radical forms of the tradition are obvious: the early church of the first five centuries, the medieval era, the age of reform, the early modern era, and the contemporary era. Radical Christian activity and experience may reflect either a primary or a derived level of spirituality. New converts may join a sect or movement with radical characteristics; or they may become dissatisfied with their initial Christian experiences and desire a different or deeper Christian spirituality, usually closely parallel to that seen in the New Testament.The Historical Dictionary of Radical Christianity covers the history of this movement and includes an introductory essay and a bibliography. The dictionary section has over 400 cross-referenced entries. The dictionary entries selected reflect the leading groups, movements, and sects from each major era of Christian history. Especially in the contemporary period, the great proliferation of radical thinkers and groups has necessitated a selection process with those selected exhibiting sustained group activity, possessing an identifiable following, and demonstrating a significant cultural impact. This book is an excellent access point for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about Radical Christianity.

The Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) is small by anyone's definition, with only about 300,000 members worldwide, but its impact has been widely felt. Unlike other historical dictionaries, the authors present a series of worldwide essays on Quaker theology, history, and practice as well as the lives of individuals who have made this faith their life. The entries prove the variety among Friends today and also gives a clear sense of unity despite their diverse membership and their periodic disagreements and divisions.

New religious movementscommonly known as cultsare defined as organizations that have arisen within the last 200 years. Most treatments of these movements have typically resorted to sensationalism rather than objectivity, and New religious movements tend to receive negative media publicity. Despite their unfavorable portrayal in popular culture, however, new religious movements are a global phenomenon and much remains to be studied about these movements.In this newly updated second edition of the Historical Dictionary of New Religious Movements, George D. Chryssides traces the rise and development of new religious movements throughout the world. An updated introduction summarizes the phenomenon of new religious movements and lays out the changes to the dictionary since the 2001 edition, while the main body of the dictionary consists of close to 600 cross-referenced entries on key figures, ideas, themes, and places related to various new religious movements. An index organizes the information in the dictionary, and a comprehensive bibliography leads the researcher to further sources. This book is an excellent access point for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about new religious movements.

With about one billion members, the Catholic Church is one of the world's largest religious bodies, and its history is crucially linked to global events. In the Historical Dictionary of Catholicism, author William J. Collinge provides the reader with a comprehensive introduction to the theology, doctrines, and worship of the religion. He covers the entire Catholic tradition from the time of Jesus to the present, including the periods before the present division of Christianity into Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Protestant. Collinge has also included entries on heretical, schismatic, and dissident movements within Catholicism, and he covers the relation of Catholicism to other Christian traditions, to the major non-Christian religions, and to Western cultural and philosophical traditions.The second edition of the Historical Dictionary of Catholicism has been updated to reflect recent developments in the Catholic Church, most notably the death of Pope John Paul II and his succession by Pope Benedict XVI. An updated introduction precedes the main body of the dictionary, which contains more than 500 alphabetical, cross-referenced entries covering persons, organizations, places, events, titles, and concepts. The entries are followed by several appendixes on popes, ecumenical councils, the documents of Vatican Council II, major papal encyclicals, and Catholic prayers, and a comprehensive bibliography provides the researcher with further readings. The second edition of the Historical Dictionary of Catholicism is an ideal access point for students, researchers, or anyone interested in the history of the Catholic Church.

Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) is one of the most important early modern thinkers. Though Hobbes is best known for Leviathan (1651) and the theory of absolute sovereignty, his works discuss virtually all the major problems of philosophy as well as science and mathematics, and contain the translations of classical texts like Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War, a verse church history, and various essays. Hobbes spent most of his adult life in the service of the influential Cavendish family.The Historical Dictionary of Hobbess Philosophy offers a comprehensive guide to the many facets of Hobbess work. Through its chronology, introductory essay, bibliography, and hundreds of cross-referenced dictionary entries on concepts, people, works, and technical terms, Hobbess impact on philosophy and related fields is made accessible to the reader in this must-have reference. Intended as a reference to learn about particular aspects of Hobbes, it also serves as a quick guide to check information and find the relevant secondary literature on Hobbes. It is an excellent access point for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about Thomas Hobbes.

Calvinism is named after 16th century Reformer, John Calvin whose overall theology is contained in his Institutes of the Christian Religion (1559). Calvins theology and ecclesiology provided the foundation upon which the Reformed Churches of Europe were built. It was a comprehensive and carefully expounded alternative to the doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church and was designed to expose their weaknesses and present a view of the Christian Faith that was a reformed version of the old faith.The Historical Dictionary of Calvinism relates the history of its founder John Calvin, the Reformed Church, and the impact that Calvinism has had in the modern world along with an account of modern and contemporary developments within the religious, political, and social culture it has created. This is done through a chronology, an introductory essay, an extensive bibliography, and over 300 cross-referenced dictionary entries on concepts, significant figures, places, activities, and periods. This book is an excellent access point for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about Calvinism.

This historical dictionary examines the development of Lutheranism from its inception in the 16th century to its place as one of the largest and most influential Protestant churches in the modern world. It covers the basic theological convictions of the Lutheran tradition and their interpretation through the centuries; eminent Lutherans from the sixteenth through the twentieth centuries; the broad social and cultural impact of Lutheranism; Lutheran participation in the great religious and intellectual movements of the last four centuries; and portrayals of the members of the world-wide family of Lutheran churches. Truly a reference book for a wide audience and an informative tool for theological scholars and teachers.

Metaphysics is what Aristotle described as 'the First Philosophy' or 'first science,' a comprehensive inquiry into the ultimate nature of reality. As such, metaphysics consists of a systematic study of the more general categories of being and of the more general ways of relating entities. The Historical Dictionary of Metaphysics focuses on metaphysics in Western philosophy, the metaphysical tradition that developed under the influence of Greek philosophy, and especially Plato and Aristotle. It offers a comprehensive guide to the many facets of metaphysics through a chronology, an introductory essay, a bibliography, and over 300 cross-referenced dictionary entries on concepts, people, works, and technical terms. This volume is an invaluable resource for student and scholar alike.

The Protestant Reformation of the 16th century has traditionally been viewed as marking the onset of modernity in Europe. It finally broke up the federal Christendom of the middle ages, under the leadership of the papacy and substituted for it a continent of autonomous and national states, independent of Rome. The Historical Dictionary of the Reformation and Counter-Reformation provides a comprehensive account of two chains of events_the Protestant Reformation and the Catholic Counter-Reformation_that have left an enduring imprint on Europe, America, and the world at large. This is done through a chronology, an introductory essay, a bibliography, and over 300 cross-referenced dictionary entries on persons, places, countries, institutions, doctrines, ideas, and events.

The Historical Dictionary of Marxism includes a chronology, introductory essay, and extensive bibliography. The dictionary provides over 500 cross-referenced entries on important personalities, political parties and movements, and major communist or ex-communist countries. This book is an excellent access point for students and researchers.

'There cannot be a God because if there were one, I could not believe that I was not He.' _Friedrich Nietzsche Few philosophers have been as popular, prolific, and controversial as Friedrich Nietzsche, who has left his imprint not only on philosophy but on all the arts. Whether it is his concept of the Ybermensch or his nihilistic view of the world, Nietzsche's writings have aroused enormous interest, as well as anathema, in scholars for centuries. The second edition of the Historical Dictionary of Nietzscheanism helps bring the many ideas and concepts developed by the 19th Century philosopher together in one single volume reference. This is accomplished through the use of a chronology, a glossary, a bibliography, and hundreds of cross-referenced dictionary entries on his major writings, his contemporaries, and his successors.

Aesthetics is not a 'factual' discipline; there are no aesthetic facts. The word itself is derived from the Greek word for 'feeling' and the discipline arises because of the need to find a place for the passions within epistemology_the branch of philosophy that investigates our beliefs. Aesthetics is more than just the study of beauty; it is a study of that which appeals to our senses, most often in connection with the classification, analysis, appreciation, and understanding of art. The Historical Dictionary of Aesthetics covers its history from Classical Greece to the present, including entries on non-western aesthetics. The book contains a chronology, a list of acronyms and abbreviations, an introductory essay, a bibliography, and hundreds of cross-referenced dictionary entries on the main concepts, terminology, important persons (philosophers, critics, and artists), and the rules and criteria we apply in making judgments on art. By providing concise information on aesthetics, this dictionary is not only accessible to students, but it provides details and facts to specialists in the field.

Watkin provides a contextual introduction to Kierkegaard's 19th century world of Copenhagen, a chronology of events and key figures in his life, as well as definitions of the key systems of his thought_theology, existentialism, literature, and psychology. The extensive bibliographical section covers secondary literature and electronic materials of help to researchers. The appendix includes detailed information on his writings, along with a list of his pseudonyms. This book is useful not only as a guide for experienced scholars, but also as an introduction to new students of Kierkegaard's Philosophy.

Descartes is perhaps most closely associated with the title, “the Father of Modern Philosophy.” Generations of students have been introduced to the study of philosophy through a consideration of his Meditations on First Philosophy. His contributions to natural science is shown by the fact that his physics, as promulgated by the Cartesians, played a central role in the debates after his death over Isaac Newton’s theory of gravitation. Descartes also made major contributions to the field of analytic geometry; we still speak today of “Cartesian coordinates” and the “Cartesian product.” This second edition of Historical Dictionary of Descartes and Cartesian Philosophy covers the history through a chronology, an introductory essay, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 300 cross-referenced entries on various concepts in Descartes’ philosophy, science, and mathematics, as well as biographical entries about the intellectual setting for Descartes’ philosophy and its reception, both with Cartesians and anti-Cartesians. This book is an excellent access point for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about Descartes.

Not so long ago hardly anything was said of the Lesbian Liberation Movement and the Gay Liberation Movement, indeed, the terms gay and lesbian were not even used if some other expression could be found. Today, by contrast, hardly a day passes when something important does not occur, and is carried by the major media and disseminated on more personal levels through blogs and the social media. If anything, there is perhaps too much ';news' and not enough ';information.' Obviously, a book like this cannot keep up with the news, but it can do something equally important when it comes to information, by reminding us of the past and what has been going and just how fast events are moving. The Historical Dictionary of the Lesbian and Gay Liberation Movements covers the history of this movement through a cross-referenced dictionary with over 1000 entries on specific countries and regions, influential historical figures, laws that criminalized same-sex sexuality, various historical terms that have been used to refer to aspects of same-sex love, and contemporary events and legal decisions. Including a comprehensive chronology and bibliography, this book is an excellent access point for students, researchers, and anyone interested in learning more about the struggle for equality.

This second edition of Historical Dictionary of Shamanism contains a chronology, an introduction, and extensive bibliography. The dictionary contains over 500 cross-referenced dictionary entries on individuals, groups, practices and cultures that have been called "shamanic". This book is an excellent access point for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about Shamanism.

The history of sexuality is central to social history, the history of ideas, the realization or repression of human rights, and other areas of focus. This is also true about those who have had, or do have, what could be called minority sexualities. Same-sex attraction has generally been a minority sexuality; it has been the object of tremendous repression and vociferous complaint but also one of praise by talented poets and philosophers. The Historical Dictionary of Homosexuality provides a comprehensive survey of same-sex relations from ancient China and Greece to the contemporary world. It covers the gay rights movement from its origins in 19th century Europe to the nascent global network today. Philosophic treatments, such as natural law and queer theory, along with legal issues and court decisions are included. Global in its coverage of the variety of same-sex relations, their legal treatment, and social norms concerning same-sex attraction, this reference includes a chronology, an introductory essay, a bibliography, and cross-referenced dictionary entries on specific countries and regions, influential historical figures, laws that criminalized same-sex sexuality, various historical terms that have been used to refer to aspects of same-sex love, and contemporary events and legal decisions.

This dictionary is a reference manual presenting the key concepts, activities, groups, people, and overlapping domains of the contemporary spirituality known as New Age.

This second edition of Historical Dictionary of Sufism contains a chronology, an introduction, glossay, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 1,000 cross-referenced entries on important personalities, major historical figures and movements, practices, economy, foreign relations, religion, and culture. This book is an excellent access point for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about Sufism.

This third edition of Historical Dictionary of Sikhism covers its history through a chronology, an introductory essay, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary has over 1000 cross-referenced entries on key persons, organizations, the principles, precepts and practices of the religion as well as the history, culture and social arrangements.

In the second edition of the Historical Dictionary of the Holiness Movement, important new developments in the Holiness Movement¿such as the widely discussed "Holiness Manifesto"¿are thoroughly discussed, and the content has also been expanded to include information on figures from Asia and Africa to reflect the continued growth of the Holiness Movement. With a chronology, an introductory essay, a bibliography, and over 400 cross-referenced dictionary entries, this reference has information that cannot be found elsewhere.

The second edition of Historical Dictionary of the Civil Rights Movement is a guide to the history of the African-American struggle for equal rights in the United States. This dictionary has over 500 cross-referenced entries on important personalities, significant legal cases, local struggles, forgotten heroes, and prominent women in the Movement.

This third edition of Historical Dictionary of the Welfare State covers the history through a chronology, an introductory essay, appendixes, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 400 hundred cross-referenced entries that focus on the definitions and concepts that are the most relevant, long lasting, and important concepts.