The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (753 page)

 
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Exempla of the Rabbis
.

A medieval manuscript containing more than 300 Jewish stories, as edifying examples of admirable conduct.

 
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Exilarch
.

Lay head of the Babylon Jewish community. The first clear evidence of the existence of the exilarch dates back to the 2nd cent. CE. The office of exilarch (Aramaic
resh galuta
) was hereditary; its holder was traditionally a member of the house of
David
. He was recognized by the royal court as chief representative of the Jews. By the 13th cent., however, most of the powers of the exilarch had been transferred to the
academies
.

 
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Exile, Babylonian
.

Exile of the Jews in Babylon in the 6th cent. BCE. From this experience and history derives the phrase, ‘a Babylonian exile’, to describe other periods of exile from a home circumstance. See also
DIASPORA
and
GALUT
.

 
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Existentialism
.

A disparate trend concentrated mainly in the second quarter of the 20th cent. but with roots in 19th-cent. European thought, especially in the writings of S.
Kierkegaard
, F.
Dostoevsky
, and F.
Nietzsche
. Existentialism is more a pervasive ‘mood’ than a united movement or ‘school’ of thought. However, recurrent features are:

(i) deep suspicion of the claims of permanent systems or traditional ideologies, whether religious, metaphysical, or political;
(ii) contempt for most academic philosophy as superficial and irrelevant to basic human needs and central human concerns;
(iii) concern for the human condition as determined by the ever-present threat of death and ultimate meaninglessness;
(iv) conception of human nature as unfixed and unfinished;
(v) life as a series of ambiguous possibilities; and,
(vi) disengagement from public issues and focus on the solitary individual and the decisions s/he is required to make in ‘the moment’

.

 
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Exodus
.

The Jewish liberation from
slavery
in Egypt. The story of the Exodus is contained in a series of narratives in the book of Exodus. It became the epitome of God's power to rescue his people.

 
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