The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (2516 page)

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

Tosefta
.

A collection of works by the Jewish
tannaim
. The Tosefta parallels and supplements the
Mishnah
. It dates from
c.
2nd cent. CE, and has the same six orders as the Mishnah.

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

see
NARA BUDDHISM
.

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

Totemism
.

The practices and beliefs relating to the identification of a totem object. The word totem is taken from the Ojibwa of Canada, the word
dotem/oteman
signifying, ‘he is a relative of mine’. Ojibwa clans are named after animal species, so that the totem idea expresses membership of the same exogamic group. However, the word ‘totem’ was applied, far more loosely, to animals, plants, or other objects associated with a social or kinship group, often regarded by the group as sacred. Totemism thus became the cornerstone of far-reaching theories of religion, e.g.,
Durkheim
and
Freud
. However, totemism is neither an institution nor a religion, but is rather a classificatory device which mediates between conceptions of the natural world and social categories and relations. It is a mode of thought in which relations are established through totemic emblems of such a kind that a single, unified cosmos is envisaged and established.

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

(Lat., ‘everything’ + ‘at the same time’), a synonym for
eternity
, derived from
Boethius
.

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

see
A
KARA
.