The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (2485 page)

Thirty-Nine Articles
.

The articles of faith, designed in the 16th cent., to elucidate the particular tenets of the
Church of England
, in contrast to the Catholic and reformed churches of the Continent. They were curtailed by Convocation in 1563 from the Forty-Two Articles of 1553, and were approved finally in 1571. They are commonly printed at the end of the
Book of Common Prayer
. The Articles are in no sense a creed, but only statements of the
Anglican
position on dogmatic questions of the 16th cent.

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

see
DV
TRI
ADVARA-LAK
ANA
.

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

Thomas, St
.

One of the twelve
apostles
. According to John 20. 25–8 he doubted Jesus' resurrection until Jesus appeared to him and invited him to touch his wounds. In later tradition, the
Acts of Thomas
, a 3rd-cent., ascetical, and probably
gnostic
work, recounts Thomas's missionary work in India. The
Syrian
‘Christians of St Thomas’ in Kerala, S. India (along with some Western scholars) strongly defend this tradition as explaining the origin of their church. Feast day: 3 July in the Roman Catholic and Syrian Churches; 21 Dec. in the Church of England; 6 Oct. in the Greek Church.
The
Gospel of Thomas
is a Coptic document consisting of 114 secret sayings of Jesus to his disciples. This work is not to be confused with the
Infancy Gospel of Thomas
, a collection of miracle stories about the child Jesus.

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

(
c.
1380–1471).
Christian ascetical writer. His teaching, which was deeply influenced by the
devotio moderna
(see
GROOTE
, GEERT), stresses the importance of an inward devotion of love and obedience to Christ, which finds classic expression in the
Imitation of Christ
, of which he is probably the author.

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search