The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (1143 page)

BOOK: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions
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Ja
gamas
(Li
g
yat officiants)
:
see
LI
G
YAT
.
Janissaries
(Turk.,
yeni cheri
, ‘new troops’). Corps of highly trained Muslim soldiers who were raised from the
devshirme
, Balkan boys who, by levy, were compelled to become Muslims. They existed from the 14th cent. (8th cent. AH) to the 19th (13th).
Janna
(garden)
:
Jansenism
.
A Christian religious movement of 17th- and 18th-cent. France which drew its inspiration from the
Augustinus
(1640) of Cornelius Jansen (1585–1638). This study of St
Augustine's
doctrine of
grace
adopted his most rigid views, and was accused of reiterating the teaching of
Calvin
and of Baius. Jansen's views were propagated by Saint-Cyran, from 1635 the spiritual director of Mère Angélique
Arnauld
, abbess of Port-Royal near Paris, and he also had a considerable influence on Angélique's youngest brother Antoine, encouraging him to write his attack on the practice of frequent
communion
(1642). While emphasis on
predestination
, the fewness of the number of the elect, and the perfect state necessary to receive the
sacraments
, remained central, Jansenist teaching became associated with
Gallicanism
, and it attacked the
casuistry
of the
Jesuits
. It gained notable support from
Pascal
and Quesnel.

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