LEXICON- DEFINITIONS & INTERPRETATIONS (PART-6)

Bahaismiran:

Celtic Church:

The Christian Church in parts of Britain before the arrival of St Augustine form Rome in 596-7. Its early history is uncertain, but it was sufficiently organized to send delegates to the Synod of Arles (314). The Celtic Christians resisted the Roman Christianity of Augustine, and although agreement was reached, e.g. over the date of Easter at the Synod of Whitby (664), the conformity to Roman practice was not accepted everywhere. Celtic Christianity is marked by a kind of heroic devotion, with a simplicity of prayer and art. It was strongly ascetical, and emphasized the importance of anamchairdeas, soul-friend, and of the anamchara, soul-friend, for counsel in the spiritual life. Many prayers (e.g.: Loricae, breastplate prayers, as of the one attributed to St.Patric) have survived and are in increasingly common use today.

Rationalism:

In epistemology, rationalism is the view that \"regards reason as the chief source and test of knowledge\" or \"any view appealing to reason as a source of knowledge or justification\". More formally, rationalism is defined as a methodology or a theory \"in which the criterion of the truth is not sensory but intellectual and deductive\". Rationalists believe reality has an intrinsically logical structure. Because of this, rationalists argue that certain truths exist and that the intellect can directly grasp these truths. That is to say, rationalists assert that certain rational principles exist in logic, mathematics, ethics, and metaphysics that are so fundamentally true that denying them causes one to fall into contradiction. Rationalists have such a high confidence in reason that proof and physical evidence are unnecessary to ascertain truth – in other words, \"there are significant ways in which our concepts and knowledge are gained independently of sense experience\". Because of this belief, empiricism is one of rationalism\'s greatest rivals.

Different degrees of emphasis on this method or theory lead to a range of rationalist standpoints, from the moderate position \"that reason has precedence over other ways of acquiring knowledge\" to the more extreme position that reason is \"the unique path to knowledge\". Given a pre-modern understanding of reason, rationalism is identical to philosophy, the Socratic life of inquiry, or the Zetetic (skeptical) clear interpretation of authority (open to the underlying or essential cause of things as they appear to our sense of certainty). In recent decades, Leo Strauss sought to revive \"Classical Political Rationalism\" as a discipline that understands the task of reasoning, not as foundational, but as maieutic. Rationalism should not be confused with rationality, nor with rationalization.

In politics, Rationalism, since the Enlightenment, historically emphasized a \"politics of reason\" centered upon rational choice, utilitarianism, secularism, and irreligion^[6] – the latter aspect\'s antitheism later ameliorated by utilitarian adoption of pluralistic rationalist methods practicable regardless of religious or irreligious ideology.

In this regard, the philosopher John Cottingham noted how rationalism, a methodology, became socially conflated with atheism, a worldview: In the past, particularly in the 17th and 18th centuries, the term \'rationalist\' was often used to refer to free thinkers of an anti-clerical and anti-religious outlook, and for a time the word acquired a distinctly pejorative force (thus in 1670 Sanderson spoke disparagingly of \'a mere rationalist, that is to say in plain English an atheist of the late edition...\'). The use of the label \'rationalist\' to characterize a world outlook which has no place for the supernatural is becoming less popular today; terms like \'humanist\' or \'materialist\' seem largely to have taken its place. But the old usage still survives.

Reformation:

The movement for reform in the Christian Church in the west, in the early 16^th century. This was arguably the greatest crisis in Christendom before the challenges of the present time. Modern scholarship no longer seeks to spell out the causes of a reformation movement in simplistic terms, and it is very important to think of reformations in the plural. In some quarter critiques of Roman papal orthodoxy and the catholic status quo were referred to as the search for a new divinity: and when the original protesters gained a following, they were known eventually as protestans. Orthodoxy in the late medieval parish was dominated by what has aptly been described as the mechanics of ritualized religion, which put faith into nonverbal language. This was deeply affected and called in question by the invention of the printing press.

Prominent in the critical appraisal of the debate, with its distance from pastoral involvement, was Desiderius Erasmus (C. 1466-1536). He sought a textual basis for faith. His colloquies popularized the need for Church reform in head and members. In his aim to secure religious, moral and social reform, he anticipated much of the programme later adopted by Luther (1483-1546), and by the Swiss and other protestant theologians. His influence was also felt through the Catholic Church, not least in his work on the New Testament, writing a critical exposition of the received text. He wanted lay people to read the Bible. In this he was helped by the invention of printing. But it was for others to work out what the pastoral and theological consequences would be of accurate, widely available Bibles, especially when translated into the vernacular.

The lead from university to parish was made by Luther. He is usually remembered for his poutburst against the selling of indulgences, and for his challenge to Johann Tetzel (C. 1465-1519), Lather’s understanding of justification by faith alone he held out as a re-discovery of the gospel. Moving away from “Augustine, he understood justification as the instantaneous realization that sinners are forgiven and made righteous by the work of the crucified Christ. By imputation, fallen humanity had been reconciled in Christ to God the creator. The unmerited grace of the Almighty is conveyed to sinners because of the atoning work of Christ on the Cross. Lather’s stand as a reformer is far clears in the Christocentric emphasis of the Heidelberg Disputation (Apr. 1518), with its theology of the Cross, its contrast of “law” and “gospel”, and its departure from scholasticism, than in the notoriety he gained by circulating “Ninety-five Theses” (Oct. 1517) in order to debate the indulgence controversy.

Nothing in W. Christendom was quite the same again. Already threatened with excommunication (Exsurge Domine gave Luther sixty days to recant), to Edict of Worms (May 1521) outlawed him and placed him under ban for seeking to disseminate errors and depart form the Christian way. He was served by another of the key factors in the reformations: the lay ruler of his country, Friedrich, Elector of Ernestine Saxony (from 1486 to 1525), smuggled him into exile. Kidnapped, he was taken to Wartburg, and there, in a seclusion which he called “my Patmos”, he worked out the full implications of his stand, with profound consequences. In two tracts of 1520, he had already sought to cruit both secular authority and sympathetic clergy. A third, the celebrated treatise of the Liberty of a Christian Man (1520), commended the new faith to those who would know Christ. With the aid of Melanchthon (1497-1560), he masterminded a visitation of Saxon churches, and by his Catechisms (1529) he sought to instruct ‘common people’. Embattled in controversy with both radicals and ‘holy Rome’, he proved a natural leader and poster.

Romanticism:

(also the Romantic era or the Romantic period) was an artistic, literary, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe toward the end of the 18th century and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate period from 1800 to 1850. It was partly a reaction to the Industrial Revolution, the aristocratic social and political norms of the Age of Enlightenment, and the scientific rationalization of nature. It was embodied most strongly in the visual arts, music, and literature, but had a major impact on historiography, education, and the natural sciences. It had a significant and complex effect on politics, and while for much of the Romantic period it was associated with liberalism and radicalism, its long-term effect on the growth of nationalism was perhaps more significant.

The movement emphasized intense emotion as an authentic source of aesthetic experience, placing new emphasis on such emotions as apprehension, horror and terror, and awe—especially that which is experienced in confronting the new aesthetic categories of the sublimity and beauty of nature. It considered folk art and ancient custom to be noble statuses, but also valued spontaneity, as in the musical impromptu. In contrast to the rational and Classicist ideal models, Romanticism revived medievalism and elements of art and narrative perceived to be authentically medieval in an attempt to escape population growth, urban sprawl, and industrialism.

Although the movement was rooted in the German Sturm und Drang movement, which preferred intuition and emotion to the rationalism of the Enlightenment, the events and ideologies of the French Revolution were also proximate factors. Romanticism assigned a high value to the achievements of \"heroic\" individualists and artists, whose examples, it maintained, would raise the quality of society. It also promoted the individual imagination as a critical authority allowed of freedom from classical notions of form in art. There was a strong recourse to historical and natural inevitability, a Zeitgeist, in the representation of its ideas. In the second half of the 19th century, Realism was offered as a polar opposite to Romanticism.^[7] The decline of Romanticism during this time was associated with multiple processes, including social and political changes and the spread of nationalism.

Sikhism:

The religion and life-way of those who are Sikhs. The word Sikh means: a learner, a disciple. Sikhs are those who believe in one God (IK Onkar) and the disciples of the Guru. In Indian usage, guru can apply to any religious teacher or guide, but for Sikhs it is restricted to God as Sat Guru (true teacher), the ten Gurus (listed under Guru) from Guru Nanak (b. 1469 CE) to Guru Gobind Singh known as Sikhs accept initiation with amrit, according to the rahit maryada which gives detailed requirements. Together Sihks make up the panth in which it is believed that the guidance of the bGuru is also present, but in a more limited way. Fully committed and initiated Sikhs belong to the Khalsat. There are c.14 million Sikhs in India, four-fifths in Panjab. In a wide diaspora, the largest community (c. 3000,000) is in the UK.

Sikhism began in the context of the Muslim-Hindu confrontation in N. India, when some (e.g. kabir) were seeking reconciling truth. It was a time also of vivid and moving devotion to God (bhakti), all of which (especially the Vaisnavites) was influential on Guru Nanak, though even more so was his own profound experience of God. He did not attempt to merge Hinduism and Islam, but simply insisted on the worship of the True name (Nam), God who can be found within controversies of existing religions. God does not become present in the world (in contrast to Hindu understanding of avatara), but makes his will and his way known. In discerning this, meditation (nam simaran) on Sabda (sound) is of paramount importance, especially through repetition of the Name, or on the hymns of the Guru Granth Sahib. Karma and Samsara are accepted:the way to release or liberation is to move one’s life against one’s own wilful and disordered inclination (haumi) into alignment with the will (hukam) of God. This is only possible because of the help of God, the equivalent of grace, decribed in many words, c.g: Kirpa, nadir, Prasad. Those who do so pass through stages (khand): dharam Kahnd (living knowledge); saram khand (effort or joy); karam khand (effort or joy); sach khand (bliss beyond words and beyond rebirth, merging with the devine as a drop in an ocean or as a spark in a flame). Sikhs remain grihasth (house holders), in contrast to the four asramas of the Hindus, for whom grhastha is only one stage, to be followed by progressive renuniciation.

Under the first four Gurus, there was no conflict with the surrounding majority religions, but marks of identity were further developed e.g: Skh days in the religious calendar. Under Ram Das, the tank of nectar, Amritsar was built, leading to the harimandir (Golden Temple), the center of Sikh identity. Always more at ease in general with Hindus, Sikhs found tensions with Muslims and the bMughal emperors increasing; this led to the forming of the Khalsa is the community of Sikhs who have received Khande-di-pahul, and are distinguished by the Five Ks. Various reform movements emerged, notably that of Dyal Das (1783-1855) whose Niran Karis (the formless) resisted the use of images, even of the Gurus; Sain Sahib (d. 1862) whose NAmdharis attached all reversion to Hinduism and held that a continuing Guru is necessary; and Sant Nirankari Mandal (the Universal Brotherhood, not to be confused with the Nirakaris), which has modifies traditional practices and was banned or boycotted by the Akal Takht in 1978. In response to Christian missionaries, some gratitude Sikh assistance during the Mutiny and reinforced their spiritual independence. Partly from the encouragement, the Akali movement emerged, which secured the return of gurdwaras to Sikh control and remains committed to Sikh autonomy in the Punjab (Khalistan)

Star of David:

The Star of David (✡), known in Hebrew as the Shield of David is a generally recognized symbol of Jewish identity and Judaism. Its shape is that of a hexagram, the compound of two equilateral triangles.

During the 19th century the symbol began to proliferate amongst the Jewish communities of Eastern Europe, ultimately being used amongst the Jewish communities in the Pale of Settlement. A significant motivating factor was the desire to imitate the influence of the Christian cross. The earliest Jewish usage of the symbol was inherited from medieval Arabic literature by Kabbalists for use in talismanic protective amulets (segulot) where it was known as a Seal of Solomon