The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (362 page)

BOOK: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions
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Ben Asher, Aaron ben Moses
(called Abu Sa‘id
;
early 10th cent. CE).
Jewish biblical scholar. A contemporary of Saadiah
Gaon
, he was well known as a masorete (see
MASORAH
). Although a
Karaite
, his vocalization of the scriptures carried enormous prestige. His
Sefer Dikdukei ha-Te'amim
(Book of the Decreed Grammar) laid the basics of Hebrew grammar.
Ben Asher, Jacob
(author of Jewish law text)
:
Bene Berith
(Jewish charitable organization)
:
Benedicite
(Lat., ‘bless ye’). The song of praise beginning ‘O all ye works of the Lord, bless ye the Lord’. It forms part of the
Song of the Three Children
.
Benedict, St
(
c.
480–
c.
550).
Christian monastic leader. Little is known of his life. He withdrew from the world to live in a cave at Subiaco in
c.
500, where a community grew up around him. He moved with a small number of monks
c.
525 to Monte Cassino, where he remained and composed his Rule—although he does not seem to have intended to found an order. Feast day in W., 11 July; in E., 14 Mar.
The
Rule of St Benedict
is a fundamental rule of W. Christian monasticism. The opening chapters seem to have been based on the anonymous
Rule of the Master
emanating from a smaller monastery in SE Italy;
Basil
,
Pachomius
, and
Augustine
were also influential. It consists of seventy-three terse chapters, dealing with both spiritual matters and questions of organization, liturgy, and discipline. Stability and obedience are paramount.
Benedict XV
(1854–1922).
Pope
from 3 Sept. 1914. His pontificate was dominated by the First World War: the first of Benedict's twelve
encyclicals
dealt with peace, and he was deeply distressed by the failure of his 1917 peace initiative. He speeded the publication of the first code of
canon
law, and worked for an understanding between the
Holy
See and the kingdom of Italy.

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