bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Lalibala (Lalibela)
Authors: Haile Getatchew
Published: January 2012

The hamlet of Lalibala (or Lalibela) in the Lasta mountains, in the north central province of Wallo, Ethiopia (at 12°02′N by 39°2′E, altitude: 8,500 ft.), is famed for 11 monolithic churches hewn directly out of mountainsides. Most of these monumental churches, which some historians call the eighth wonder of the world, were built during the Middle Ages by the Zagwe dynasty. In the 9th century (the date is uncertain), Marara or Marra Takla Haymanot overthrew King Del Na′d of the Aksumite dynasty and moved the center of the Ethiopian kingdom from the city of Aksum to Adafa, his home, and thereby founded the Zagwe dynasty. For the new dynasty, establishing a holy place that would overshadow both the holy places of the Christian Middle East and the holy city of Aksum became a priority. Imraha, who overthrew Ta(n)ta Wedem, Marara's successor, took the first step by building Yemrhanna Krestos, a church concealed in a nearby cave that was meant to rival the cathedral of Aksum. (Yemrhanna Krestos, “May Christ guide us,” is Semitization or Ge′ez version of the Cushitic name Imraha.) Imraha's hagiography states that beams for the church's foundation were brought all the way from Egypt. The Zagwes then renamed the city Roha, the Arabic name of the city of Edessa in Syria; and renamed the river that runs through the hamlet Jordan.
L
aski (or à
L
asco),
J
ohn (1499–1560)
Authors: McAlhaney Timothy M.
Published: January 2012

Little is known of the early life of John Laski (or John à Lasco). His uncle, a prominent church leader, took an interest in him and enrolled him and his brother Jerome at the University of Bologna to study law (1514–1517). In 1517, after leaving Bologna, Laski was made canon of the collegiate church at Leczyca, coadjutor to the Dean of Gniezno, canon of Cracow and of Plock, and was ordained priest in 1521, at which time he was also promoted to Dean of Gniezno.
Latin American Catholicism
Authors: Klaiber Jeffrey
Published: January 2012

Catholicism arrived with the first explorers and conquerors in Latin America. First Columbus in the Caribbean and later both Cortez in Mexico and Pizarro in Peru were accompanied by chaplains. The majority of the first missionaries belonged to the older religious orders: Dominicans, Franciscans, Augustinians, and Mercedarians. Key to understanding this process is the concept of royal patronage, by which the kings of Spain and Portugal were recognized by the pope as “patrons” of the church. In a series of agreements, these kings were commissioned to establish the church in all newly conquered lands. They had the power to name bishops, collect tithes to support the church, and allow new missionaries to go to the New World. Conquest and evangelization — cross and sword — were closely intertwined.
Latin Kingdom ofJerusalem
Authors: Holt Andrew
Published: January 2012

As the site of Christ's death, burial, and resurrection, Jerusalem was of enormous religious and historical significance for medieval European Christians. Indeed, reports of the abuse of the Christian residents of Jerusalem and the desecration of holy places within the city were cited extensively by preachers of the First Crusade to spur their listeners to take crusading vows. Such preaching was so effective that, for many, the ultimate goal of the First Crusade was the restoration of Jerusalem to Christian control, in this case, under Latin Christian governance. In 1099 the armies of the First Crusade accomplished this goal when they successfully captured the city from Muslim forces after a lengthy siege. The response in the West, upon hearing the news, bordered on euphoric.
L
atourette,
K
enneth
S
cott (1884–1968)
Authors: Fischer Benjamin
Published: January 2012

Born in Oregon City to a middle‐class Baptist family, Latourette was early on encouraged in the two pursuits that characterized his life: faith and learning. As an Orientalist, missiologist, and historian of Christianity's expansion, he became, according to Norwegian missiologist O. G. Myklebust (1955: 13), “the greatest missionary scholar that America has produced.”
L
aubach,
F
rank
C
harles (1884–1970)
Authors: Schwanda Tom
Published: January 2012

Sometimes called the “apostle of literacy” or the “apostle of compassion,” Frank Laubach was an American evangelical missionary and world literacy champion who traveled the globe tirelessly. What Jan Comenius, the father of modern education, sought to offer to the 17th century through renewing the methods of education, Laubach did for literacy in the 20th century. Both were spiritual leaders and therein was the primary motivation for their educational and literary efforts.
L
avigerie,
C
harles
M
artial
A
llemand (1825–1892)
Authors: Carney J. J.
Published: January 2012

Charles Lavigerie was born into a republican, anticlerical Gascon family in 1825, so his early milieu was not a typical cradle for a Catholic priestly vocation in 19th century France. Over‐coming the opposition of his parents, Lavigerie entered the prominent Paris seminary of St. Sulpice and was ordained in 1849. Fascinated with the ancient catechumenate, Lavigerie spent much of the 1850s teaching church history at the Sorbonne. His interest in Eastern Christian traditions developed further with his appointment in 1860 as director of the Oeuvre des Écoles d'Orient, an organization dedicated to supporting Latin religious communities working among Maronite Christians in the Holy Land. A two‐year appointment as French auditor of the Roman Rota followed, establishing him as an important bridge figure between the Gallican and Ultramontane wings of the French Catholic Church. Named Bishop of Nancy in 1863, Lavigerie developed a reputation for both administrative competence and authoritarian high‐handedness, characteristics that would continue to mark him in later years.
Law and Christianity
Authors: Laing Jacqueline
Published: January 2012

It would be misleading to assume that “law” relates solely to prescriptions governing the behavior of human individuals. The term has a far wider sense. It can also refer to a standard or rule that binds things or events. This sense of the term covers the laws of thephysicalas well as themoralsciences. There is a distinction to be drawn between scientific laws of nature and moral laws. Regularities in natural occurrences are often regarded as laws of nature even though what we ordinarily think of as laws are those rules that govern human behavior. We speak, for example, of the “law” of gravity and of Newton's, Einstein's, and Kepler's laws. In so doing we emphasize the regularity and binding nature implicit in each of their formulas. The thought that there are laws of the natural sciences as well as moral laws has traditionally been seen as implying a creator and regulator of all things, and an eternal source of these laws. Equally it raises the disputed question of the place of miracles, or those suspensions of regularities, in the natural scheme of things. In the same way, sacred scripture speaks of Divine Wisdom as directing all actions and movements. The Psalms say, “He hath made a decree and it shall not pass away” (Psalms 148:6). Creatures both rational and non‐rational alike are subject to the power of divine reason. In Proverbs it is said, “He compassed the sea with its bounds, and set a law to the waters, that they should not pass their limits” (Proverbs 8:29). Law then may be thought to govern natural events as well as human societies. The laws of science, according to scripture, derive from that eternal source of all things. Laws govern nature as understood scientifically. The law that governs both physical and moral laws and is identified in sacred scripture is often spoken of as the eternal law. It is vital to understand that this law, intelligible to humans using reason and described too in scripture, embraces both physical nature as well as rational agents. To limit law to that binding rational agents alone is inappropriately to adumbrate law's binding force and wrongly adopt a humanistic and subjectivized vision of law. It is this broader understanding of law that allows us to observe the law that existed from eternity in the mind of God. When we understand God as the lawgiver and see the fullness of the universe, the earth, sun, stars and planets, of men and angels, of all things visible and invisible, a community under the authority of the lawgiver and source of all things who is God, we are better able to understand the power, dominion, and authority of God. This fuller understanding of law allows us also to make sense of the divinity and incarnation of Christ as witnessed by the Holy Gospel according to St John: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God” (John 1:1).
Christian Leadership
Authors: Kaak Paul
Published: January 2012

A study of Christian leadership must traverse a field of thought that is vast and widely interpreted. Frequently throughout history, “Christian leadership” was decidedly not “Christian” in its motivation, manner, or accomplishments. Christian leadership was lacking, for example, in the “grand inquisitors” of the Spanish Inquisition or when the German state church supported Hitler's Third Reich. In his “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” Martin Luther King confronts the lack of proactive leadership on the part of the white Alabama clergymen who criticized the direct action of King and other Christian protestors.
Lent
Authors: Johnson R. Kevin
Published: January 2012

The liturgical season of Lent begins on Ash Wednesday and concludes on Holy Saturday (or in the Roman Catholic church, on Maundy Thursday). Lent, meaning “spring” or the “season of lengthening days,” is the period of 40 days when Christians pray, fast, and prepare to commemorate the Passion of the Christ. The 40 days are symbolic of the time that Jesus spent in the wilderness being tempted by Satan. Each of the six Sundays in Lent is considered a feast day and is not included in the season. Because of the penitential nature of the season, alleluias are not allowed in the liturgy during Lent. Christians are called to a Holy Lent each year and many choose to fast or to give up another regular activity in order to substitute these with prayer and reflection. In many denominations, Lent is a time of preparation for new converts to receive the sacrament of Baptism on the Eve prior to Easter.
Liberal/Conservative Dichotomy in
A
merican Christianity
Authors: Marty Martin E.
Published: January 2012

Christianity in the United States is anything but a united whole. Jews, Muslims, and advocates of other religions or no religion may look from a distance at Christianity and speak of it as one faith, in the awareness that there may be basic distinctions within it, such as that between Protestants and Catholics. Yet they will see from listings in telephone books or church advertisements in newspapers what the
Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches
– which lists well over 200 denominations – indicates: that the “whole” of Christianity is divided into hundreds of denominational parts.
L
iguori,
A
lphonsus (1696–1787)
Authors: Coulter Michael
Published: January 2012

Alphonsus Liguori was born and raised in Naples and is considered a great teacher and promoter of Catholic theology. He founded an important religious order, while living a life of austerity and service.
Limbo
Authors: Beiting Christopher J.
Published: January 2012

From the Latin
limbus
meaning “border” or “edge” (as of a garment), the term “limbo” is used by Christian theologians to describe a state or place in the afterlife for souls in special categories who merited neither salvation nor damnation. The term is usually used in two senses:
limbus patrum
, or limbo of the fathers, wherein reposed the saints of the Old Testament until Christ's harrowing of hell opened heaven for them; and
limbus puerorum
, or limbo of children, wherein reposed infants who died without baptism. While Christian theologians have largely been in agreement about the former understanding of limbo, the latter has proved controversial.
Lindisfarne Gospels
Authors: Gallagher Robert L.
Published: January 2012

The manuscript known as the Lindisfarne Gospels was written and decorated at Lindisfarne, England (around 715–720) in honor of Bishop Cuthbert (634–687) by the monk, Eadfrith. The book is Jerome's Vulgate version of the Gospels preceded by his prefaces and Canon tables. Written in Latin calligraphy with a complex rhythmic labyrinth of ornamentation, each Gospel was introduced by authorship prologues, chapter summaries, and instructions for feast day readings. A gloss was added by Alder at Chesterle‐Street when translating the work into Old English in the mid 10th century.
Literature, Early
Authors: Bigalke Ron J.
Published: January 2012

Christianity began as a call to discipleship. Although Jesus Christ was obviously literate (cf. Matt 4:4, 7, 10; Luke 2:41–52; 4:14–21; John 8:1–11), he did not submit any writings during his earthly ministry. Jesus did instruct his disciples that after his departing the Holy Spirit would guide them into all truth, and would work within them bringing to remembrance his words and deeds, including the meaning of them (John 14:26). Until that time, it does not appear that the disciples even recorded some of his words and deeds, but it is certain that a verbal proclamation (kerygma) preceded the written proclamation (i.e. the New Testament). The New Testament indicates that there was a fundamental content to thiskerygma: the Old Testament prophecies concerning Christ; the life and ministry of Jesus; his death and resurrection; his post‐resurrection appearing and ascension; and the return of Jesus Christ in glory and power as Judge of the living and the dead (Acts 2:16–36; 10:36–43; 1 Cor. 15:1–8; cf. Mark 1:14–15; Acts 20:35; 1 Cor. 7:10; 1 Thess. 4:15).
Literature, Medieval
Authors: Jeffrey David Lyle
Published: January 2012

“What has Athens to do with Jerusalem?” Tertullian's famous question (from
De Praescriptione Haereticorum
) has sometimes been quoted as if to characterize the early Christians as somewhat philistine, suspicious of art and learning. There is a similar passage in St. Jerome's letter to Estochium (
Epist
. 22.29–30), and every student of later antiquity is familiar with it; it relates the troubled dream of this great 4th century scholar in which “the Judge of all” accuses him of being not a Christian but a Ciceronian. At the headwaters of Anglo‐Saxon literature in the late 8th century we hear the theme again, adapted now by Alcuin, likewise a formidable scholar, admonishing the monks of Lindisfarne: “Quid Hineldus cum Christo?” (“What has Ingeld to do with Christ?”
Epist
. 169). Though the alien attraction which concerns Alcuin is Anglo‐Saxon pagan poetry and for Tertullian and Jerome the literary legacy of Greece and pre‐Christian Rome, the point is evidently the same: a grave risk of theological impurity attends upon dalliance with pagan authors.
Little Gidding
Authors: Gray Patrick
Published: January 2012

Little Gidding is a village in Huntingdonshire, England and the site of a 17th century Anglican experiment in communal living. Nicholas Ferrar left parliament and founded the community in 1625. He was ordained to the diaconate the following year and oversaw Little Gidding, which consisted of about 40 relatives, until his death in 1637. The austere rule according to which the lay community lived consisted of work and prayer, based on the Book of Common Prayer. Groups took turns reciting extracts from the Psalms and Gospels every hour between 6 a.m. and 8 p.m. for a quarter of an hour, with smaller groups keeping vigil from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. Their works included care for the sick and poor and operating a school for children. Manuscript illustration and expert bookbinding were among their other activities.
Liturgies
Authors: Maschke Timothy
Published: January 2012

Liturgies are the form or pattern of worship which Christians utilize to receive God's blessings and express their faith‐filled thanksgiving. “Liturgy” (Greek
leitourgia
) combines the Greek words for “people” (laity) and “work” (energy) to denote “the work of the people.” In secular Greek, a liturgy was a public obligation in the form of taxation or political service. Christians adapted this word to express their gratitude for God's grace‐filled free gift of salvation in Christ. Roman Catholics refer to the Eucharist (Mass) as well as other rites and services associated with worship, such as the daily office, as liturgy. Eastern Orthodox communions use the word only for the Eucharist. Protestant liturgical churches — particularly Episcopal and Lutheran — use the term to refer to their Sunday services, chiefly Holy Communion.
L
ivingstone,
D
avid (1813–1873)
Authors: Bruce James E.
Published: January 2012

David Livingstone, a Scottish medical doctor, missionary, and explorer, was already an international celebrity when
New York Herald
reporter and adventurer Henry Morton Stanley (1841–1904) searched for him in the jungles of Africa. When he found Livingstone, Stanley purportedly quipped, “Dr. Livingstone, I presume?” — a phrase that has perhaps become more famous than the man himself.
Laying on of Hands
Authors: Fatokun Samson Adetunji
Published: January 2012

In biblical Christianity, the culture of laying on of hands has its origin in the Old Testament scripture for such purposes as parental bestowal of inheritance rights, conferment or transfer of authority and installation into offices, and substitution sacrificial rites. In Genesis 48:14–20, for instance, Jacob laid his hands on the two sons of Joseph for blessings and bestowal of inheritance rights; in Numbers 27:18–23, in strict compliance with divine injunction, Moses made Joshua stand before Eleazar the priest and all the congregation of Israel, and laid his hands on him — thus transferring his leadership authority to him and commissioning him as his successor to take Israel to the promised land (cf. Deut. 34:9). Similarly, in the ritual prescriptions for sin offering, hands are to be laid upon the head of the sacrificial animal used as a substitute for sin (see such passages as Exod. 29:10, 15, 19; Lev. 1:4; 3:2, 8, 13; 4:4, 15, 24, 29, 33; 8:14, 18, 22; 16:21). In Numbers 8:10–11, hands were laid upon the Levites by the elders of the tribes of Israel to set them apart as the representatives of the nation in the service of God as a substitution for all the firstborn of the other tribes (vv. 16–19). The ritual of laying on of hands in the Old Testament also features in the rituals surrounding the execution of a blasphemer — witnesses are to lay hands on such a fellow as a substitution of their innocence for his or her guilt, after which the whole congregation are to participate in the stoning of the offender to free the land from guilt (Lev. 24:13–16 cf. Deut. 13:9; 17:7).
L
loyd‐
J
ones,
D
avid
M
artyn (1899–1981)
Authors: Bruce James E.
Published: January 2012

David Martyn Lloyd‐Jones, a famous evangelical preacher, was born in Cardiff, Wales, but moved to London in 1914. He practiced medicine for a short time, from 1921 to 1927, before returning to Wales to be a minister.
Lordship Salvation
Authors: Bigalke Ron J.
Published: January 2012

Lordship salvation is prevalent terminology for a current controversy that seems to have begun in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Everett F. Harrison and John R. W. Stott first debated the issue in the September 1959 issue of
Eternity
magazine. Three positions have since been defended: pro‐lordship, non‐lordship, and anti‐lordship. The term “lordship salvation” is a connotation that insinuates much confusion, and is a source of discomfort for those who have engaged in the debate. Those who affirm a pro‐lordship view believe faith and obedience are the result of God's effective (efficacious) grace; this view would be better understood as the “effective‐grace” position. Pro‐lordship advocates argue that faith alone justifies, but not the faith which is alone (
la fides justificat, sed non fides quae est sola
). The kind (or quality) of faith that is the means of justification results in obedience since the existence of spiritual life (regeneration) is assumed. Charles C. Ryrie defended the non‐lordship position (“non‐effective‐grace”) in a chapter of his book,
Balancing the Christian Life
(1969), which compared the pro‐lordship position to the Galatian legalism (Gal 1:6–9). Non‐lordship advocates argue that obedience should be a consequence of justification and is essential for perseverance in complete discipleship. A necessary corollary of the non‐lordship position is belief that a true Christian can remain in a state of carnality (sin). In defense of the pro‐lordship view, John F. MacArthur responded with his work,
The Gospel According to Jesus
(1988), to which Ryrie responded in 1989 with
So Great Salvation
. In defense of the anti‐lordship view (“Free Grace”), Zane Hodges entered the debate the same year. MacArthur responded a second time in 1993 (and also provided clarifications). Numerous other advocates of the three positions have since responded. The “Free Grace” movement best represents the terminology desired of those affirming anti‐lordship. Anti‐lordship advocates affirm the possibility of being a Christian yet such an individual by their works may deny Jesus Christ (cf. Titus 1:16).
Lourdes, Apparitions At
Authors: Hayes Patrick J.
Published: January 2012

According to the records, Bernadette Soubirous, age 14, shepherdess, began to receive 18 visions of what she described as a girl dressed in white on February 11, 1858. The apparitions at Massabieille, near the river Gave de Pau which flows by the city of Lourdes, would continue until July 16. The vision would identify herself: “I am the Immaculate Conception.” The visions of Mary Immaculate were not shared with her companions, whom Bernadette at first had believed saw the same sight. But the visions belonged to her alone, though they would quickly be rent from her control. Successive investigations of her truthfulness in relating the accounts gradually moved from dubiousness to belief. Local townspeople, civil, and ecclesiastical authorities all made the visions an object of their concern, drawing hundreds and then thousands — both for spiritual and economic reasons. Nearly four years after the experience, Bernadette's visions were authenticated by the local Bishop of Tarbes, Bertrand‐Sévère Laurence. Bernadette Soubirous entered the Sisters of Charity at Nevers and died on Easter Day, 1879, aged 35. One of the miracles used for her canonization (1939) was the incorruptibility of her body postmortem. Within a decade after her visions ceased, local officials approved massive railroad construction projects in anticipation of making Lourdes a shrine and a major pilgrimage destination. The “chapel” which the Virgin asked for has become an elaborate complex in order to accommodate as many sick pilgrims as possible, many of which are bedridden. Today the Lourdes shrine gathers around 5 million pilgrims annually. There have been 67 thoroughly documented miraculous cures related to the shrine's baths, which are fed by natural springs. These cures are given approbation by the local bishop and are considered inexplicable by the Medical Bureau of the Sanctuary and the International Medical Committee of Lourdes.
Love
Authors: Vacek Edward
Published: January 2012

When asked which of the 613 Jewish Commandments was the greatest, Jesus responded by naming two (Deut. 6:5; Lev. 19:18). The first is to love God completely; the second is to love the neighbor as oneself (Matt. 22:37–40). Throughout history and still today, this double demand has not secured a commonly accepted meaning. Four fundamental areas receive widely divergent interpretations: the nature, the kinds, the objects, and the subjects of love.
L
ucado,
M
ax (
b
. 1955)
Authors: Brenneman Todd M.
Published: January 2012

Inspirational author and minister. Max Lucado grew up in the West Texas town of Andrews as the youngest of four children. He attended college at Abilene Christian University, a school affiliated with the Churches of Christ (spiritual descendants of Alexander Campbell). Originally planning to be a lawyer or to become involved in politics, Lucado decided to go into missions. After a graduate degree, Lucado prepared to be a missionary by working in ministry for two years in Miami. During his time there, Lucado developed columns for the church bulletin that eventually became his first book,
On the Anvil
.
Lutheran Churches
Authors: Schmidt Alvin J.
Published: January 2012

As different countries in Europe became Lutheran during and after the Reformation, numerous church buildings that once were Catholic became Lutheran churches. The physical structure of these churches for the most part reflected the Gothic architectural design, although most of the smaller churches did not have the splendor of the large Gothic cathedrals. But similar to the Gothic cathedrals, these churches commonly had a narthex, a nave, a center aisle (symbolizing the virtual shaft of the cross), a transept (symbolizing the horizontal arm of the cross), sanctuary (also known as chancel), altar, stained‐glass windows, and a steeple(s), usually capped with a cross(es). Most of these features, except for the large stained‐glass windows, were also part of the Romanesque church architecture that preceded the Gothic churches. Retaining the architecture of formerly Catholic churches was not problematic to Lutherans, for similar to Luther, they never questioned or rejected the use of Christian symbols, such as the cross, crucifixes, or altars.
Lutheranism
Authors: Schmidt Alvin J.
Published: January 2012

On October 31, 1517, an Augustinian monk named Martin Luther, according to tradition, nailed to the door of All Saints Church (also known as the Castle Church) 95 Theses that he argued needed to be discussed and debated by professors at the university in Wittenberg. The Theses questioned the biblical basis of church authorities selling indulgences to people to obtain the forgiveness of their sins.
M
acDonald,
G
eorge (1824–1905)
Authors: Johnson Kirstin Jeffrey
Published: January 2012

Born in Huntly, Aberdeenshire, in Scotland, to farmer and mill‐owner George and Helen (MacKay) MacDonald, George MacDonald was the author of approximately 50 volumes comprising poetry, fairy tales, novels, short stories, sermons, essays, hymns, translated poetry, and literary criticism. Best recognized today for his fiction, both for adults and children, he is considered a patriarch of modern Fantasy — but one of his many interfacing genres. Nineteenth‐century critics claimed that his presentation of God as loving and longing Father, within fiction, was revolutionary. His explorations of the theological role of the imagination, implicit throughout but carefully articulated in “The Imagination and Its Functions,” profoundly influenced G. K. Chesterton, C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, and Dorothy Sayers.
M
achen,
J
ohn
G
resham (1881–1937)
Authors: Buss Dietrich Gotthilf
Published: January 2012

An American Presbyterian theologian and professor of New Testament at Princeton Seminary, J. Gresham Machen was an eloquent defender of the evangelical position in the Modernist–Conservative controversy of the 1920s and 1930s. Machen was born on July 28, 1881 in Baltimore, Maryland into a family that had Southern roots. His father, Arthur Machen, was a prominent lawyer who taught John a love for the classics; his mother, Mary Gresham, was rooted in “Old School” Presbyterian theology and early taught John the love of Scripture and the Westminster Catechism. Machen attended a private academy and received a classical education that included Latin and Greek.
M
acquarrie,
J
ohn (1919–2007)
Authors: Carrigan Henry L.
Published: January 2012

One of the leading theologians of the 20th century, John Macquarrie developed a Christian existentialist theology that integrated the principles of Martin Heidegger's philosophy into traditional categories of Christian systematic theology. Although he taught at both Union Theological Seminary in New York and Oxford University, his experiences in the local church parish and as a chaplain in World War II convinced him of the deeply human anxieties, doubts, and needs that motivated most people's religious questions. Macquarrie pursued such questions throughout his career, even up through the publication of his last book.
Majority World Missions
Authors: Rance DeLonn
Published: January 2012

Missionary activity is no longer predominately the domain of Western Christianity. Increasing numbers of missionaries are being commissioned and sent out from churches in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Oceania. As this movement has emerged and evolved, missiologist have referred to it as third world missions, two‐thirds world missions, non‐Western missions, emerging missions, and missions from the global south. “Majority world” is apropos of the majority of the world's land mass, population, ethnolinguistic groups, unevangelized people and Christians are found in these regions.
Mandaeans
Authors: Childers J. W.
Published: January 2012

Ethnic community from southern Iraq and southwestern Iran, today numbering possibly as many as about 30,000–40,000, though estimates vary significantly. Designated
subba
(“baptizers”) by their Arab neighbors, Mandaeans are distinguished by a religion that bears strong affinities with Judaism, a kind of monotheistic dualism with roots that go back at least into the 3rd century, by which time it appears that a group of Mandaeans had migrated westward from the Jordan valley to the rivers and canals of their present ancestral locale. The name
mandaiia
is normally taken to relate to the term
madda
/
manda
, i.e. “knowledge,” corresponding to Greek
gnosis
. However, it may instead refer to the
mandi
, a temple space consecrated for traditional rituals, or perhaps even to the principal redeemer figure, Manda d‐Hiia (“Knowledge of Life”).
Mar Thoma Church
Authors: Schirrmacher Thomas
Published: January 2012

“Mar Thoma Church” is the term used to refer to the Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church which consists of 1 million members in India. A theologically reformed but structurally episcopal and oriental offshoot of the St. Thomas Christians, it gained its present identity between 1830 and 1889. Its roots date back to a Reformation movement started by a teacher and priest of the Syrian Orthodox Church, Palakunnathu Abraham Malpan in the 19th century. However, the Mar Thoma Church sees the history of the Thomas Christians as its own history. It is one of several groups of St. Thomas Christians tracing their origins to St. Thomas the Apostle who, according to tradition, came to India in
ad
52. Their bishops see themselves in the line of apostolic succession that leads back to St. Thomas, with bishop lists going back through the centuries. Milestones of the parenting church, the Syrian Orthodox Church, were the Synod of Diamper (1599), the Coonan Cross Oath (1653), Mavelikara Synod (1836), and the Synod of Mulanthuruthy (1876).
M
arcion of
S
inope (Early 2
nd
Century)
Authors: Williams D. H.
Published: January 2012

Of all the heterodox figures that flourished in the 2nd and 3rd centuries, Marcion's views were attacked the most frequently and extensively. Hegesippus, Justin Martyr, and Theophilus of Antioch wrote the earliest known refutations, but none survive. Major works against Marcion consist of Tertullian's five volume treatise (c.200) and Ephrem of Nisibis in Syriac‐speaking communities (4th century), but care is given to repudiating Marcionism by Irenaeus (late 2nd century), Hippolytus, Clement of Alexandria, and Origen (3rd century). Brief prologues to three gospels and most of Paul's letters have been discovered in various editions of the Old Latin Bible that may date as early as the 2nd century. Altogether, these serve as a solemn testimony to the widespread reception that Marcionism had in churches throughout the east and west. Unfortunately, none of Marcion's own writings have come down to us, which hampers our ability to know exactly what he taught and why. Our knowledge about Marcion and what became Marcionism is a project of reconstruction.
Marcionism
Authors: Hartog Paul
Published: January 2012

Marcionism originated in the teachings of Marcion of Sinope, who was expelled from the church in Rome around 144
ce
. Since Marcion's
Antitheses
are no longer extant, scholars have attempted to reconstruct his doctrines via his opponents. Marcion argued that the rigidly just and vengeful God of the Hebrew Scriptures should be distinguished from the true, “alien” God, the loving Father of Jesus Christ. Marcion also rejected the Jewish Scriptures, which he considered to be cruel and crude and thus intellectually scandalous. He further argued that Jesus was not the prophesied Jewish Messiah and that Paul was the only apostle to have truly understood the new salvation found in Jesus, but even Paul's writings had been altered. The marcionite canon included a redacted edition of the Gospel of Luke and ten emended Pauline epistles. While Marcionism entailed an aversion to the material world, it lacked the elaborate, speculative myths and emphasis upon secret knowledge that characterized gnosticisms. According to Tertullian, Marcion espoused a form of docetism and denied a future resurrection of the body. Marcionism was usually characterized by a rigorous asceticism and a willingness to suffer persecution and even martyrdom. Marcionism developed a well‐organized ecclesiastical structure, enabling it to become a formidable alternative to the mainstream church. Justin Martyr claimed that Marcionism had already spread among “many people of every nation” (
Apology
, 1.26). Some of Marcion's followers developed their theologies in new and variant directions. For example, Apelles claimed that there was only one god, while others spoke of three divine principles: good, just, and evil. Marcionism survived in the west into the 4th century, and it continued in the east even longer. As late as the 5th century, Orthodox Church members were urged to use caution while traveling, lest they unintentionally enter and participate in a Marcionite assembly. The Trullan Synod at Constantinople (622
ce
) regulated the reception of Marcionites into the Orthodox Church. So‐called “Marcionite” prologues to the Pauline epistles appear in numerous Vulgate manuscripts, but their exact origin is disputed.
Maronites
Authors: Dekki Christopher George
Published: January 2012

The history of the Maronite Church and its people has been one of constant struggle. Lebanese Maronites, with their insatiable desire for independence from the Arab world, have constantly been at odds with their neighbors both within the Levant and throughout the Middle East. Even in the early days of the Maronite Church, religious leaders and their flocks have gone to great lengths to embrace the West. As modern Middle Eastern Catholics attempt to resist Rome's attempts at Latinizing them, the Maronites stand alone as being content with Eastern Catholicism's subservience to the Roman papacy. Much like the humble Syrian hermit whose teachings and way of life led to the creation of this church, its people continue to choose to isolate themselves from their immediate surroundings.
M
arshall,
P
eter (1902–1949)
Authors: Streett R. Alan
Published: January 2012

Peter Marshall was a Presbyterian minister and Chaplain of the United States Senate. Born in Coatbridge (near Glasgow), Scotland, on May 27, 1902, Marshall was reared in a poverty‐stricken coal‐mining community by his mother and stepfather. From an early age Peter enjoyed reading stories about missionaries and decided that one day he would be a missionary to China. To meet the educational requirements, he enrolled in evening classes while working in the mines by day, but his progress was slow. In 1927, when he was about to give up hope, a cousin offered to pay Peter's way to America, where he could receive proper ministerial training.
M
artini,
S
imone (1284–1344)
Authors: Kurian George Thomas
Published: January 2012

Siennese painter, the most distinguished after Duccio. His earliest dated work is a large fresco in the town hall at Sienna of the
Maestà
(1315 and 1321), a Madonna and child enthroned in the midst of saints. Later Simone went to Assisi where he painted a chapel in the lower church with scenes from the
Life of St. Martin
. The frescoes are characterized by sinuous lines and vivid naturalism. In 1324 Simone married the sister of the painter Lippo Memmi, who became his partner. Both signed the
Annunciation
(1333), an altarpiece. A later work is a polyptych with separate panels containing the
Annunciation
,
Crucifixion
, and
Deposition
, as well as the
Entry into Jerusalem
and
Entombment
. In 1401 Simone went to Avignon and remained there until his death. At Avignon he painted
Christ Returning to his Parents after Disputing in the Temple
. Two frescoes in the Cathedral of Notre‐Dame des Doms in Avignon,
Christ in Majesty with the Angels
and
Virgin and Child with Angels
, were commissions from the papal court but now survive only as underpaintings. Martini was one of the main sources of the International Gothic.
Martyrdom
Authors: Rushing Scott
Published: January 2012

The word “martyr” is derived from the Greek word
marturia
, meaning “witness.”
Marturia
is a legal word that implies observation and attestation in the Greek courts. Within Christian usage, martyrs were those persons whose deaths witnessed to Christ as Lord, while the label of “confessor” was given to those who had confessed Christ but not been punished by death.
Martyrs and Martyrology
Authors: Culpepper Scott
Published: January 2012

Tales of the martyrs, faithful Christians who sealed their witness in blood, have inspired the Christian church since its inception. The Greek term
martys
literally means “one who bears witness.” The term generally denoted the act of giving testimony at a legal proceeding. While all early Christians were called to bear witness of Christ, the term
martys
or martyr gradually became specifically applied to those who paid the ultimate earthly price for that witness. The stories describing those deaths were widely circulated, creating a “cult of the martyrs” in which the deeds of these witnesses were recounted to inspire devotion in others. Both the Latin and Greek churches produced martyrologies detailing the deaths of prominent saints and listing their feast days. In the 16th century, Protestants began to collect martyr stories and publish them as martyrologies. Protestant martyrologies were often as much attempts to tie a particular Christian theological tradition to the early church as they were conduits of inspiration for the faithful. These story collections had a typical style and focus that created a new, distinct genre of Christian literature.
Material Belief
Authors: Morgan David
Published: January 2012

Christianity has generally been understood as a system of beliefs. From the perspective of doctrines and dogmas, wrought by intense argument that has defined the contentious line distinguishing orthodoxy and heterodoxy, that is certainly what it is. But that very history, so much a history of the body, opens onto a broader world of belief. As a lived matrix of practices, Christianity is what people do and feel, and this domain of behavior, intuitions, and inclinations is invested in the things that believers display, exchange, or venerate. Belief has a larger register than propositions to which one assents, important and relevant as these are. An inclusive history of Christian belief is one that integrates creed and body since the body of belief, properly speaking, is word and flesh bound together in a history of suffering and ecstasy, nurture and community, controversy and sacrifice. This essay offers an account of the history of Christian materiality from the apostolic age to the present, focusing on what operate as various and sometimes rival material economies of belief.
Material Elements of the Sacraments
Authors: Lang David P.
Published: January 2012

A sacrament, according to traditional Catholic theology, consists of two intrinsic aspects: a “formal” structure of audible words (with visible gestures) and a “material” factor organized by the form (on which the form operates). Since God employs the sacraments as channels or instruments for bestowing invisible grace on the spiritual soul, it is appropriate for the embodied human condition that these external rites signify what they effect (and, conversely, effect what they signify). Hence, not just any material element is suitable for this role in a given sacrament; only certain special matter is fittingly conjoined with a form to symbolize what is occurring. Consider particular examples illustrating these general principles.
Mather,Cotton (1663–1728)
Authors: Baker Dwight P.
Published: January 2012

Cotton Mather, Congregational minister and a leading Puritan intellectual in Massachusetts Bay Colony, through his public ministry and voluminous writings helped to shape the emerging temper of the New England mind.
Maundy Thursday
Authors: Schmidt Alvin J.
Published: January 2012

Maundy Thursday is a Christian holy day that occurs the day before Good Friday. The name “Maundy” is commonly regarded as having come from the Latin statement
Maundatum novum do vobis
, which Jesus said to his disciples the night he instituted the Lord's Supper, which was also the night before his crucifixion, when he told them, “a new commandment [
mandatum
] I give to you …” (John 13:34), that they were to love one another.
Mc
Gavran
,
Donald
Anderson
(1897–1990)
Authors: Proffitt Thurber D.
Published: January 2012

Born of Anglo‐American Missionary parents in Victorian British India and educated in the United States, Donald Anderson McGavran was a third‐generation missionary with the United Church Missionary Society of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), an American denomination. A disciple of Methodist bishop J. W. Pickett, McGavran is best known for Church Growth theory, the homogeneous unit principle, and the Institute for Church Growth and School of Intercultural Studies at Fuller Theological Seminary, California.
M
echthild of
M
agdeburg,
S
aint (c.1207–c.1282)
Authors: Harrison Anna
Published: January 2012

Mechthild of Magdeburg is the author of
The Flowing Light of the Godhead
, the first collection of visionary writings to be composed in the German vernacular. Comprised of seven sections written over the course of approximately three decades,
The Flowing Light
was probably composed in Low German. A complete version survives in a 14th century Middle High German manuscript.
Media and Communications, Christian
Authors: Horsfield Peter
Published: January 2012

The study of Christianity and media flowed from the study of mass media that began in the US in the 1920s. Media and Christianity were understood as separate domains of knowledge and function, so early studies focused largely on analyzing media content from a Christian perspective and evaluating the effectiveness of media for evangelism or social change.
Medieval Church, the
Authors: Lilliback Peter
Published: January 2012

The medieval period of church history focuses on the growth, theology, and practice of the church in Europe during the vast period beginning around
ad
600 and concluding shortly after
ad
1500. But just what exactly makes this period the “middle ages” as implied by the word “medieval”? Is it because it comes between the vast learning of the classical Greek and Roman world and the renewal of classical studies in the Renaissance? Or is it because it comes between the high water mark of Patristic Theology and the renewal of original biblical language studies that marked the humanists of the Reformation Age?
M
endel,
G
regor (1822–1884)
Authors: Watts Thomas D.
Published: January 2012

Gregor Mendel was an Augustinian priest and monk, and noted biologist. In 1843, he entered the Augustinian Order at St. Thomas Monastery in Brünn (now Brno in the Czech Republic) and was ordained a priest in 1847. The Augustinians had been established in Moravia since 1350, and St. Thomas Monastery was renowned as a center of learning. Mendel later wrote that his preference for the natural sciences developed in this stimulating setting, for the monastery had a mineralogical collection, a herbarium, a botanical garden, and other resources that provided a fertile environment for experiments and research.
M
ennonite Churches
Authors: Stoltzfus Philip
Published: January 2012

Mennonite churches represent a worldwide family of Christian communities tracing their roots back to the 16th century Anabaptist movement. As early modern advocates of Christian voluntarism and separation of church and state, Mennonites have come to be identified with the distinctive practices of believer's baptism, discipleship, nonviolence, simple living, community life and mutual aid, and service to the world through disaster relief, international development, and peace and justice work. The most significant concentration of Mennonites is found in North America (451,000 baptized members), with the largest denominational bodies (reorganized in 2000–2002) being Mennonite Church USA and Mennonite Church Canada. Other groups and designations signaling an organic connection to the Mennonite tradition include the Amish, Hutterites, Mennonite Brethren, Brethren in Christ, Missionary Church, Doopsgezinden (Netherlands), Täufer (in German scholarship), and Anabaptists (an increasingly common identifier for contemporary Mennonites).
M
essiah
Authors: Köstenberger Andreas J.
Published: January 2012

The term “messiah” (Hebrew,
mashiah
) means “the anointed one.” The Greek translation equivalent, found about 45 times in the Septuagint and over 500 times in the New Testament, is
Christos
, “Christ” (originally an adjective, “anointed,” from the verb
chriō
, “to smear with ointment or oil”). The transliterated form
Messias
, from the Aramaic

m
e
shiha

, is attested in the New Testament as well (John 1:42; 4:25), which suggests that in 1st century Judaism “messiah” had become a technical term. “Anointed” designates the special ceremony of installing an individual in an exalted position, most notably that of king or ruler (1 Sam. 9:15–16; 10:1; 16:3, 12–13; 2 Sam. 2:4; 5:3; 1 Kings 1:34, 45; 2 Kings 9:3, 6; 11:12; 23:30).
M
iller,
W
illiam (1782–1849)
Authors: Hasel Frank M.
Published: January 2012

William Miller was a Baptist lay preacher who played an instrumental role during the so‐called Second Great Awakening or Great Revival. He has been called “the most famous millenarian in American history” (Sandeen 1970: 50), and is credited with the beginning of the Adventist movement of the 1830s and 1840s in North America. Among his direct spiritual heirs are several major religious denominations, including
Seventh‐day Adventists
and
Advent Christians
.
Mingdao, Wang (1900–1991)
Authors: Harvey Thomas Alan
Published: January 2012

Wang Mingdao is recognized as one of the most influential Chinese church leaders of the 20th century. After leaving his position as a teacher in Presbyterian college in Baoding owing to conflicts with missionaries over Christian Pacifism and believer's baptism, Wang entered a period of self‐imposed isolation and intense self‐study of the Bible. Emerging in 1923 he began preaching in churches throughout Northern China. By 1927 his preaching tours had spread throughout China. One of China's first mass evangelists, his sermons held large audiences spellbound. His preaching was practical and powerful and he was willing to criticize foreign missionaries as well as modernists and Protestant liberals who questioned the historical veracity and authority of Scripture.