The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (1792 page)
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Parker, Matthew
(1504–75)
. Archbishop of Canterbury from 1559. His main objective as archbishop was to preserve the Elizabethan religious settlement which sought to safeguard Protestantism while retaining some of the moderation placed on it by the experience of the past. He sought to find the proper doctrinal and historical basis for the Church of England, and to this end he accumulated a library with many Anglo-Saxon and medieval manuscripts (which can be seen in Corpus Christi College, Cambridge).
. Archbishop of Canterbury from 1559. His main objective as archbishop was to preserve the Elizabethan religious settlement which sought to safeguard Protestantism while retaining some of the moderation placed on it by the experience of the past. He sought to find the proper doctrinal and historical basis for the Church of England, and to this end he accumulated a library with many Anglo-Saxon and medieval manuscripts (which can be seen in Corpus Christi College, Cambridge).
Parliament of Religions
:
:
Parochet
or parokhet
.
or parokhet
.
The curtain that separated the ‘holy place’ in the sanctuary from the
Holy of Holies
(Exodus 26. 31–3). Nowadays the term is used by the
Ashkenazim
to refer to the curtain hanging before the
Ark
in the
synagogue
.
Holy of Holies
(Exodus 26. 31–3). Nowadays the term is used by the
Ashkenazim
to refer to the curtain hanging before the
Ark
in the
synagogue
.
Parousia
(Gk., ‘presence’ or ‘arrival’). The final establishing of the Kingdom of God, associated with the coming of the Lord (God, often identified with
Christ
, hence the ‘Second Coming’) to judge the living and the dead. Belief in an imminent parousia was widespread in the earliest church (cf. 1 Corinthians 16. 22) but quickly faded (2 Peter 3. 3–10). It has been revived from time to time in various Christian and
extra
-Christian circles (
Adventists
), often accompanied by belief in a
millennium
, or thousand-year reign of Christ on earth.
Christ
, hence the ‘Second Coming’) to judge the living and the dead. Belief in an imminent parousia was widespread in the earliest church (cf. 1 Corinthians 16. 22) but quickly faded (2 Peter 3. 3–10). It has been revived from time to time in various Christian and
extra
-Christian circles (
Adventists
), often accompanied by belief in a
millennium
, or thousand-year reign of Christ on earth.
Parsis
.
.
Zoroastrians
who (in the 8th cent. CE), in unknown numbers, decided to leave their Iranian homeland in the face of ever greater Muslim oppression and seek a new land of religious freedom. The story of that migration is contained in the text the
Qissa
(or
Tale
)
of Sanjan
(see S. H. Hodivala,
Studies in Parsi History
, 1920). The
Qissa
was written in 1600 by a Parsi priest on the basis of oral tradition.
The generally accepted date of the Parsi settlement on the western coast of India is 937 CE. Little is known of their history for the next 700 years. With the arrival of the European trading powers in the 17th cent., especially the British, they prospered as middle men in trade. As a result they grew also in political importance; e.g. they were at the heart of the Indian National Congress from its inception in 1885 until the radical takeover in 1907.
The transformation of the community from a tiny obscure group into a major force in Indian life has inevitably had its effect on their religion. Although daily prayers are still said at home, many of the important moments of worship are now located in a place set apart for that purpose. Large
baugs
, public places, were set up for splendid functions for initiations, weddings, and public religious feasts (
gahambars
). There was, in short, a considerable degree of institutionalization of community religion.
There were also significant developments in faith. At the end of the 19th cent., many Parsis, like a number of Westernized Hindus, sought to legitimate traditional practices in terms of
Theosophy
and the occult interpretations that the Western-originated movement propounded. When Theosophy became more closely associated with Hinduism and the Independence movement, then a Zoroastrian occult movement grew, Ilm-i Kshnoom (Path of Knowledge). Instead of turning to the Tibetan Masters invoked by Theosophists, Khshnoomists follow the teaching of Behramshah Shroff who claimed to have been given his esoteric message by a secret race of Zoroastrian masters in Iran. This movement shares the Theosophical ideals of vegetarianism and teetotalism, the doctrine of rebirth, the belief in the occult power of prayers recited in the sacred language, and in a personal aura. Thus in the 19th cent. Parsi doctrine became polarized between the Liberal Protestants and the Orthodox who have inclined more towards the occult. There are now
c.
60,000 Parsis in India. Numbers in Karachi have dropped from
c.
5,000 in the 1950s to 2,000 in the 1990s.
An unknown number, but a substantial proportion, of the Parsi population has migrated, first to Britain (initially in the 19th cent., but more particularly from the 1960s,
c.
3,000), then America and Canada, also from the 1960s (
c.
7,000), and from the 1980s to Australia (
c.
1,000).
who (in the 8th cent. CE), in unknown numbers, decided to leave their Iranian homeland in the face of ever greater Muslim oppression and seek a new land of religious freedom. The story of that migration is contained in the text the
Qissa
(or
Tale
)
of Sanjan
(see S. H. Hodivala,
Studies in Parsi History
, 1920). The
Qissa
was written in 1600 by a Parsi priest on the basis of oral tradition.
The generally accepted date of the Parsi settlement on the western coast of India is 937 CE. Little is known of their history for the next 700 years. With the arrival of the European trading powers in the 17th cent., especially the British, they prospered as middle men in trade. As a result they grew also in political importance; e.g. they were at the heart of the Indian National Congress from its inception in 1885 until the radical takeover in 1907.
The transformation of the community from a tiny obscure group into a major force in Indian life has inevitably had its effect on their religion. Although daily prayers are still said at home, many of the important moments of worship are now located in a place set apart for that purpose. Large
baugs
, public places, were set up for splendid functions for initiations, weddings, and public religious feasts (
gahambars
). There was, in short, a considerable degree of institutionalization of community religion.
There were also significant developments in faith. At the end of the 19th cent., many Parsis, like a number of Westernized Hindus, sought to legitimate traditional practices in terms of
Theosophy
and the occult interpretations that the Western-originated movement propounded. When Theosophy became more closely associated with Hinduism and the Independence movement, then a Zoroastrian occult movement grew, Ilm-i Kshnoom (Path of Knowledge). Instead of turning to the Tibetan Masters invoked by Theosophists, Khshnoomists follow the teaching of Behramshah Shroff who claimed to have been given his esoteric message by a secret race of Zoroastrian masters in Iran. This movement shares the Theosophical ideals of vegetarianism and teetotalism, the doctrine of rebirth, the belief in the occult power of prayers recited in the sacred language, and in a personal aura. Thus in the 19th cent. Parsi doctrine became polarized between the Liberal Protestants and the Orthodox who have inclined more towards the occult. There are now
c.
60,000 Parsis in India. Numbers in Karachi have dropped from
c.
5,000 in the 1950s to 2,000 in the 1990s.
An unknown number, but a substantial proportion, of the Parsi population has migrated, first to Britain (initially in the 19th cent., but more particularly from the 1960s,
c.
3,000), then America and Canada, also from the 1960s (
c.
7,000), and from the 1980s to Australia (
c.
1,000).
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