The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (2209 page)

 
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see
DEVIL
.

 
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Shaiva
,
Shaivism, etc
.
(major tradition of Hindu practice and devotion to
iva):

see
AIVISM
.

 
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Shakers
.

Popular name for the United Society for Believers in Christ's Second Appearing. The
sect
was founded by Ann Lee (1736–84). She was converted to the Shaking Quakers (so-called because of their trembling and ritualistic dancing) in 1758. She then, as Mother Ann, received revelations that she was the female counterpart of Christ, and that she was to take the small group that had begun to form around her to the New World to await the millennium (see
MILLENNIALISM
). The community was to be strictly
celibate
and was to hold all things in common. By about 1840, they had reached around 6,000 in number, in twenty communities, but have now virtually disappeared: the ‘Mother Church’ at Mount Lebanon in New York was sold in 1947, and membership was declared closed in 1965. Nevertheless, there is a small continuing community in Maine.

 
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(Jap., ‘the teaching of
k(yamuni)’). A term for what in the West is called ‘Buddhism’. Other such terms include
Shakumon
, ‘Buddha's gate’, and
Shakushi no oshie
, ‘
kyamuni's teaching’.