The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (565 page)

Conscience
:

see
ETHICS
(
CHRISTIANITY
).

 
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(Lat.,
cum
, ‘with’, +
sacrum
, ‘sacred’: i.e. making connection with the sacred). In Christianity:

(i) the act in the
eucharist
through which the elements become Christ's body and blood;
(ii) the
ordination
of bishops; and
(iii) the dedication of altars, churches, and eucharistic vessels.

In a more general sense, consecration is the act or ritual which invests objects, places, or people with religious significance, often by way of power and holiness.

 
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Conservative Evangelicals
.

Evangelical
Christians whose view of the
Bible
is ‘conservative’, i.e. who either reject critical study of the Bible or else hold that such study confirms its authority and historical accuracy. See also
FUNDAMENTALISM
.

 
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Conservative Judaism
.

A progressive movement within mainstream Judaism. Conservative (originally ‘Historical’) Jews acknowledge that certain changes in the Jewish way of life are inevitable since the Enlightenment, but that the traditional forms of Judaism are valid; thus changes in religious practice should only be made with great reluctance. The movement arose in both Europe and the USA in the late 19th cent. Its Jewish Theological Seminary has become an institution of great academic eminence over the years. None the less, the Conservative movement's rulings on divorce, the ordination of women, the celebration of the second day of festivals, and
conversion
have not been accepted by the Orthodox.

 
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Judaism
Official organization of the French Jewish Community. Its constitution was drafted at the Assembly of Jewish Notables called by the Emperor Napoleon in 1806, whose purpose was to integrate Jews as ‘useful citizens’.
Christianity
Any of certain ecclesiastical courts (the consistory being the room in which Roman emperors administered justice). In the Roman Catholic Church, the consistory is the assembly of
cardinals
convoked by the pope and conducted in his presence. It may be public (e.g. to appoint new cardinals) or private to consider Church business. In the Church of England the consistory court is the bishop's diocesan court.

 
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(1414–17). Convened at the insistence of the Emperor Sigismund to end the
Great Schism
, to reform the
Church
, and combat heresy. There were three rival
popes
: the council asserted its superiority to the papal office, the three rivals all resigned or were deposed, and in 1417 Martin V was elected pope. Among measures to promote reform, the council enacted that there should be regular General Councils. In these ways the council was important in the history of conciliarism (see
ANTIPOPE
).

 
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