The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (1126 page)

BOOK: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions
8.95Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
Jacobson, Israel
(1768–1828).
Pioneer of
Reform Judaism
. Jacobson worked for the emancipation of the Jews of the German states and was an enthusiastic supporter of Napoleon's Assembly of Jewish Notables. Jacobson himself summoned a similar assembly in Westphalia in 1808 and was instrumental in the founding of the first Reform
synagogues
both in Westphalia and Berlin.
Jacopone da Todi
(
c.
1230–1306).
Franciscan
poet. A lawyer of a somewhat worldly life, he was converted after the death of his wife. He became a Franciscan laybrother in 1278, joining the ‘Spirituals’ who sought to live according to the original rigour of the rule. He is famed for his deeply emotional devotional poems (
Laude
), in Latin and the Umbrian dialect, which became very popular (amongst them, probably, the
Stabat Mater
).
Ja
a-sam
dhi
(Skt., ‘insentient’ + ‘sam
dhi’). A defective condition in Hinduism, parasitic on two important goals: ja
a, the highest state of yogin concentration, and
sam
dhi
, the highest state of contemplation. But the two together refer to something more like ‘dreamless sleep’, a state of suspended consciousness.
Jade Emperor
(Deity in Chinese folk religion)
:

Other books

Places, Please!: Becoming a Jersey Boy by Sullivan, Daniel Robert
More Than Courage by Harold Coyle
Twilight's Eternal Embrace by Nutt, Karen Michelle
Conquerors' Pride by Timothy Zahn
Caraliza by Joel Blaine Kirkpatrick
Guardian of Night by Tony Daniel
Dead Dreams by Emma Right