Reformed Church in America, Protestant denomination founded in colonial times by settlers from the Netherlands and formerly known as the Dutch Reformed Church. The Reformed Church in Holland e...

Moon, Sun Myung, 1920–, Korean religious leader. He was an engineering student and dock worker before founding (1954) the Unification Church with a doctrine loosely based on Christianity as in...

Ecumenical movement, name given to the movement aimed at the unification of the Protestant churches of the world and ultimately of all Christians.During and after the Reformation Protestantism...

Söderblom, Nathan, 1866–1931, Swedish churchman, primate of the Lutheran Church of Sweden, archbishop of Uppsala. He was professor of the history of religion and from 1914 to 1931 vice chancel...

Antonelli, Giacomo, 1806–76, Italian cardinal and statesman of the Roman Catholic Church, adviser to Pope Pius IX. He received the red hat of the cardinalate in 1847, presided over the council...

Cult, ritual observances involved in worship of, or communication with, the supernatural or its symbolic representations. A cult includes the totality of ideas, activities, and practices assoc...

Lutheranism, branch of Protestantism that arose as a result of the Reformation, whose religious faith is based on the principles of Martin Luther, although he opposed such a designation. When ...

Mennonites, descendants of the Dutch and Swiss evangelical Anabaptists of the 16th cent. While each congregation is at liberty to decide independently on its form of worship and other matters,...

Moscow or Muscovy, grand duchy of, state existing in W central Russia from the late 14th to mid-16th cent., with the city of Moscow as its nucleus. Its formation and eventual ascendancy over o...

Plotinus, 205–270, Neoplatonist philosopher. A native of Egypt, perhaps of Roman descent, he went to Alexandria c.232 to devote himself to philosophy. For 10 years he was a dedicated disciple ...