The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (1841 page)

 
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Political theology
.

A Christian concern to explore the implications of theology for political life and thought. The term has an uneasy history, being associated, for example, with the endorsement by Carl Schmitt of Hitler and the rise of German nationalism. However, the term is now usually associated with the work of Johann Baptist Metz (who sometimes uses the phrase ‘the new political theology’) and Dorothee Sölle. In contrast to what it takes to be the traditional concentration of theology on the individual and on personal holiness, allowing the support of virtually any political system or party (or none), Metz sees ‘the deprivatising of theology as the primary critical task of political theology’.
Orthopraxy
becomes the mark of true discipleship more than the traditional orthodoxy. The connections with
liberation theology
are clear.

 
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(
c.
69–
c.
155).
Christian bishop of Smyrna in Asia Minor. His
Letter to the Philippians
is preserved, as well as one of
Ignatius'
letters addressed to him. According to the contemporary
Martyrdom of Polycarp
he was arrested during a pagan festival and, on his refusing to recant his faith, burnt to death. Feast day, 23 Feb.

 
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Polygamy
.

Marriage in which a person may have more than one spouse at the same time (in contrast to monogamy). Polygyny is the marriage of a man to more than one wife, polyandry the marriage of a woman to more than one husband. Polyandry is relatively rare (e.g. the Nayar and Toda of India), polygyny more common, especially in Africa. In Islam, marriage to more than one wife is allowed (see
MARRIAGE
), but in general, religions have moved toward monogamy or have endorsed it from the start. The
Lambeth Conference
of 1888 declared polygamy to be ‘inconsistent with the law of Christians’, but the Conference of 1988 allowed baptism to those who undertook not to enter into further (polygynous) marriages, and it asked that the consent of the local Anglican community should be sought (resolution 26).
African Instituted Churches
are divided on the issue.

 
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(fl. 632–46).
The Korean monk credited with introducing S
n (Ch'an/Zen) to Korea. P
mnang studied S
n under Tao-hsin (580–651), fourth patriarch of the Ch'an sect in China, during the reign of King S
nd
k (632–46), and transmitted his lineage to the kingdom of Silla. Among his disciples was Sinhaeng (d. 779) who introduced Northern Ch'an to Korea.