The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (499 page)

BOOK: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions
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Canticle
.
A song or prayer from the Bible (other than a
Psalm
) used in Christian worship. The Canticle of the Sun is a hymn of praise to God revealed in nature, composed by St
Francis
, probably in 1225.
Cantillation
.
The musical reading of the Jewish Bible,
Talmud
, or other liturgical passages. There is no scholarly agreement over the cantillation of Jewish liturgy.
Cantonists
.
Jewish children conscripted into the Russian army between 1827 and 1856. The children were snatched from their homes to fulfil the government quota.
Cantor
(Heb.,
azzan
). One trained to lead the Jewish
synagogue
prayer service.
Cao Dai
(Vietnamese, ‘supreme palace’ or ‘altar’, and now the name for the supreme God). Syncretist religious and nationalist movement arising in the Mekong delta of Vietnam from spirit seances giving a new ‘third revelation’ through a civil servant, Ngo Van Chieu, in 1919. The first and second revelations had produced
Confucianism
,
Taoism
, Spirit worship,
Buddhism
, and
Christianity
, but Cao Dai would now unite and complete them. In 1923, a businessman, Le Van Trung, began to develop Cao Dai as a strong organization on the
Roman Catholic
model under a pope, although this later split into several sects.

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