The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (1986 page)

Reformed Ogboni Fraternity
.

A Nigerian equivalent to a Masonic lodge, deriving mainly from the efforts of an educated Yoruba Anglican clergyman, J. A. T. Ogunbiyi, who had been chaplain to the Masonic lodges in Lagos. In 1914 he established a Christian Ogboni Society, both as a Yoruba version of Christianity modelled on the traditional Ogboni secret society, and as an alternative to imported freemasonry.

 
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see
BEZA, THEODORE
.

 
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see
REFORMATION
.

 
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Reform Judaism
.

A modern post-Enlightenment interpretation of Judaism. Initially there was an attempt to make Judaism more relevant by abbreviating the traditional
liturgy
and introducing choral singing and prayers in the vernacular (see
JACOBSON, I.
). As a result of various
rabbinical conferences
in the middle years of the 19th cent., many aspects of the liturgy were reformed, but these changes were justified by reference to the
Talmud
and the Codes (see
CODIFICATIONS OF LAW
). In Great Britain, the Reform movement initially distinguished between the Bible and the Talmud, regarding only the former as authoritative. Subsequently it became more traditional, and a more radical movement, entitled ‘Liberal Judaism’, was founded in 1901. In Germany, reform liturgies became widespread, but the congregations generally remained theologically conservative. In the USA, the reform platform was established at Pittsburgh in 1885.
This position was modified in Columbus in 1937, and the Reform movement has since abandoned its anti-
Zionist
stance. Reform congregations are united in the World Union for Progressive Judaism, and rabbis are trained at the
Hebrew
Union College in the USA and the Leo Baeck College in the UK. Reform Judaism has no official status in Israel (though it has a few congregations and
kibbutzim
), because only Orthodox rabbis are recognized; and the Orthodox repudiate such Reform innovations as the ordination (
semikhah
) of women as rabbis. See also
CONSERVATIVE JUDAISM
;
RECONSTRUCTIONISM
.

 
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Refuge
.

Characteristic attitude of Buddhists, summarized in the Three Refuges, a formula repeated three times:
Buddha
sara
a
gacch
mi
,
Dhamma
sara
a
gacch
mi
,
Sa
gham sara
a
gacch
mi
: I take refuge in the
Buddha
, the
dharma
, and the
sa
gha
. See
THREE JEWELS
(
triratna
).