The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (1812 page)

P’eng-tzu
.

Mythological figure in China, representing long life. In religious Taoism, he is said to have introduced
fang-chung shu
(sexual exchange of power) for that purpose.

 
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Penitence, Ten Days of
.

The period of ten days from
Rosh ha-Shanah
to Yom Kippur in the Jewish
Calendar
. According to tradition, individuals are judged at the
New Year
(1 Tishri) and the judgement is announced on the
Day of Atonement
. Clemency can be obtained through sincere repentance during the Ten Days of Penitence.

 
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see
SELI
OT
.

 
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(1644–1718).
Quaker
leader and founder of Pennsylvania. Frequently imprisoned for his writings, he used his confinements to produce further apologetic works, notably
No Cross No Crown
(1669), and assisted the Quaker pursuit of religious and political freedom by obtaining from Charles II a charter for Pennsylvania. His later years were saddened by ill health, poverty, and imprisonment.

 
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(Gk.,
penta
, ‘five’, +
teuchos
, ‘book’). The first five books of the Hebrew
Bible
, also known as
Torah
(for Hebrew names see each book):
Genesis
,
Exodus
,
Leviticus
,
Numbers
, and
Deuteronomy
. The Pentateuch contains the history of the Jewish people from the creation of the world until the death of
Moses
. Traditionally it was believed to be a single document revealed by God to Moses and written down by him. According to the ‘documentary hypothesis’, it is composed of four major sources: J (Jahwistic) which uses in Genesis the
tetragrammaton
as the divine name; E (Elohistic) which refers to God as
Elohim
until Exodus; P, the
Priestly
source; and D, the
Deuteronomic
. J and E, which have been combined by a later editor are thought to have been written during the period of the united kingdom (i.e. 10th cent. BCE), while Deuteronomy was produced in the 7th cent., and the Priestly source is dated to the time of
Ezra
and
Nehemiah
. However, the precision of these claims has more recently come under attack. Greater emphasis is placed on kinship and sanctuary traditions which have been more deliberately and creatively drawn together. The entire Pentateuch is divided into fifty-four sections (
Sedarot
) and one section is read each week in the
synagogue
, concluding on Shemini Atzeret. The text is written on a
Scroll
which is dressed and kept in the Synagogue
Ark
. The Pentateuch, as the written law of the Jewish people and the ultimate source of the
oral Law
, is often known as the Torah, and thus the Scroll as the Torah Scroll.

 
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