The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (546 page)

BOOK: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions
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Christus Victor
.
Christ as victor: Christian belief that Jesus as Christ overcame all powers of evil and the devil.
Chronicles, Book of
(Heb.,
divre ha-yamim
). Historical book (now generally divided into two books) in the Hebrew
Bible
. The Gk. title is
Paraleipomena
(‘things left over’,
sc.
from Samuel and Kings), but the work is more of a
midrash
on those books, having affinities with Ezra and Nehemiah.
Chronology
:
Chrysostom, John, St
(
c.
347–407).
Bishop of Constantinople and
Doctor of the Church
. He served as priest at Antioch from 386, where his great powers of oratory (the name Chrysostom means ‘golden-mouthed’, more often expressed as ‘golden-tongued’, whence ‘silvertongued Smith’, of the 16th-cent. preacher Henry Smith) were directed against moral and paganizing lapses in the nominally Christian city. Feast day in the W., 13 Sept.; in the E., 13 Nov.
The Liturgy of St Chrysostom has been, since the 13th cent., the
eucharistic
liturgy in general use in the Orthodox Church, except on the few days for which that of
Basil
is prescribed.
Chthonian religion
(Gk.,
chthon
, ‘earth’). Religions and religious practices which are concerned with the gods and goddesses or life forces of the earth—in contrast to Olympian religion, which has to do with the gods and goddesses on high.
Chu
.
Korean for
mantra
.
Ch’üan-chen tao
(Chin., ‘way of realizing truth’). A major form of religious Taoism also known as Pure Yang (
chung-yang
) and Golden Lotus (
chin-lien
). The school was founded by Wang Ch’un-yang (1112–70 CE). The objective for every disciple is to realize Tao in experience, by understanding his own nature and mind in relation to Tao. To this end he drew on classic sources (e.g.
Prajñ
p
ramit
S
tra
, outer
alchemy
and inner
nei-tan
), but also on sources outside the Taoist tradition, especially
Zen Buddhism
, and to some extent
Confucianism
. His system is thus eclectic. Of several movements derived from Ch’üan-chen tao, the most important (or at least enduring) has been Lungmen, the Dragon Gate school, with its monastery at
Pai-yün kuan
.

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