Encyclopedia of Christianity Online

1. OT “Tabernacle” is a rendering of ʾōhel môʿēd, “the tent of meeting.” We find it in Exod. 33:7–11; Num. 11:14–17, 24b–30; 12:4–5a, 6–8, 10, traditions that were inserted into the Yahwist source (Pentateuch) and likely were pre-Deuteronomistic. This tent-sanctuary stood outside the camp and was a place of revelation at which Yahweh declared his will after the theophany at Sinai, so that those who received the Spirit became prophets. In Deut. 31:14–15 it was also the place at which Joshua became Moses’ successor. It later came to be located by the Deuteronomist at Shiloh (Josh. 18:1; 19:51…

The concept of taboo (Tongan tabu) holds a high place in Polynesian religious systems. Without experiences of tabu, we have no suitable word for translation. “Forbidden” or “holy” might seem to work, but they do not fit properly; it is closer to the unholy, violation of which causes shock. A look at the original meaning of tabu is helpful. In Polynesia, tabu was and is transferred by touch and harms those who are weaker. For this reason the people avoid stronger taboo and protect the weak from their taboos. Special tabu, necessary for sowing seed, building boats, burials, and so fort…

1. Name and Origin The Chinese Taiping Rebellion rested on a vision of its originator, Hung Hsiu-ch’üan (Hong Xiuquan, 1814–64), in the year 1837. The term t’ai-p’ing (great peace) adopted a utopian ideal (Utopia) that went back to the third century b.c. In the vision an “old man” charged Hung to chase out the “demons” from earth and heaven who had caused human beings to forget their Creator. The finding of a book containing Bible verses and evangelical tracts verified for him the genuineness of the vision. Putting his mission into action, Hung in 1842 initiated the God Worshipers…

Overview The Republic of China (ROC) on the Island of Taiwan (formerly Formosa), once the stronghold of the Kuomintang (KMT, or Nationalist Party), has evolved into a democracy with an elected president, national and local legislatures, and elected national, provincial, county, city, and town officials. Since 2000 the head of state has been Chen Shui-bian, a member of the Democratic Progressive Party. Administratively, Taiwan is divided into 18 counties, five municipalities (Chiayi, Hsinchu, Keelung, Taichung, and Tainan), and two “special municipalities” …

The founder and first prior of the ecumenical community of Taizé was Roger Schutz (1915–2005), ¶ born in Switzerland as the son of a Reformed pastor. After studying theology, he bought a house in 1940 in Taizé, near Cluny in Burgundy, started regular worship there (Hours, Canonical), and took in refugees. The first Protestant brothers joined him in 1942, the first Roman Catholics in 1969. In 2005 the community included more than 100 brothers, Roman Catholic, Anglican, and Protestant. Entry into Taizé involves vows binding one to community life (Monasticism) and celibacy. F…

1. General Situation The Republic of Tajikistan, in central Asia, has its longest border with Afghanistan to the south. It also borders China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the north, and Uzbekistan to the west. The Pamirs and the Tian Shan Mountains dominate the country, with more than half its territory lying above 3,000 m. (10,000 ft.). Only 6 percent of its land is arable. Economically, it is the poorest member of the Commonwealth of Independent States. Ethnically, about 65 percent of the population are Tajiks, speaking an eastern dialect of Persian. One-quarter of the p…

1. Origin The Talmud (Heb. lmd, “learn, teach”), strictly talmûd tôrâ, “study/teaching of the Torah,” is the main work of rabbinic literature. It consists of the Mishnah (the earliest authoritative rendering of Jewish oral laws, mostly in Hebrew) and the Gemara ¶ (Aram. gemar, “study, complete,” a rabbinic commentary on the Mishnah, largely in Aramaic). As rabbinic learning (Rabbi, Rabbinism) developed differently in its two geographic centers, the teaching tradition gave rise to two different versions of the Talmud. The Palestinian Talmud (PT, ofte…

1. General Situation The United Republic of Tanzania, on the coast of East Africa, is primarily an agrarian country; approximately 70 percent of the population is rural. Tanzania has a spectacular landscape of mainly three physiographic regions: the islands and the coastal plains to the east; the inland, saucer-shaped plateau; and the highlands. Mount Kilimanjaro (highest peak: 5,895 m. / 19,341 ft.), in the northeast corner of the country, is the highest point in Africa. Present-day Tanzania was formed by the union of two sovereign states: Tanganyika, which achieved i…

1. Taoism Taoism (often “Daoism,” reflecting the modern pinyin method of transliterating Chinese), the indigenous higher religion of China, has traditionally been divided into a “philosophical” and a “religious” aspect but is better understood as consisting of three strands: literati, communal, and self-cultivating. 1.1. Literati Taoists Literati Taoists are members of the educated el…

1. Roman Catholic As it now exists, the Roman Catholic doctrine of the church teaching office is a mixture of early and medieval elements given a distinctive profile by Reformation controversies and influenced especially by modern secular absolutism. It can be regarded as neither free from contradictions nor as uncontested. 1.1. History In its doctrine of the teaching office, a dogmatic exposition of Scripture enables the Roman Catholic Churc…

1. Social Sciences 1.1. Technology is and has always been part of human culture. The first tools appeared between two and three million years ago. Toolmaking devices ¶ were developed some 15,000 years ago in the Neolithic period, after the end of the last Ice Age. Some cultures then used…

See God, Arguments for the Existence of

1. Nature and Origins of Teleology in Classical Philosophy Teleology, from Gk. telos (end, aim, goal) and logos (science, study), refers to the systematic reflection upon purpose and purposive activity in the universe; it is most commonly used to refer to observable design or purpose in the universe. In Plato’s (427–347 …

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1. Religious History…

1. The Temple Society is a small Christian fellowship that was apocalyptic at first but then became interested in social and international reforms. It stands for a Christianity free of dogma; its main concern is setting up the kingdom of God on earth by creating a Christian outlook and a Christian society (first focused on Palestine) under the symbol of the temple (§2; see Eph. 2:21). 2. The society was founded by a Württemberg Pietist (Pietism 2.7), theolo…

William Temple (1881–1944) was one of the most distinguished archbishops of Canterbury of the past millennium. He was the first churchman since the Reformation to be a national leader and a world figure. His main distinction was that of a Christian leader and statesman, especially in the areas of social concern, the ecumenical movement, and Christian thought. He was a superb popular preacher and teacher. Although he published 37 books, he was more a thinker than a scholar; in the 20th century he put Christianity on the map for many. Temple was born in the Bishop’s Palace in Exeter and lived most of his life, at the heart of the English establishment, in episcopal palaces. After schooling at Rugby he studied classics, literature, and philosophy at Balliol College, Oxford, where he was influenced by the ide…

1. Term The Reformation shaped the use of the German term Anfechtung, which is often translated as Eng. “temptation.” There is no clear equivalent …

See Decalogue

Teresa of Ávila (1515–82, also known as St. Teresa of Jesús, Teresa of Ahumada, and Teresa of the Cross) was a Spanish mystic, a Carmelite nun, and a reformer of orders (Religious Orders and Congregations 1). Teresa came from a family of conversos (her grandfather was converted from Judaism to Christian faith in 1485) who purchased their title of nobility. According to her autobiography, Vida, or Libro de las misericordias del Señor (1565, Book of the mercies of the Lord), Teresa, as a child in 1522, wanted to flee to the Moors with her brother Rodrigo in order to suffer martyrdom at their hands. In 1531 she entered the Augustinian convent Santa Maria de Gracia in Ávila but the next year returned to her parents’ home. In November 1535 she secretly entered the Carmelite Monastery of the Incarnation in Ávila, whose 180 nuns were not cloistered. After the mishandling of a heart and chest affliction in 1539, Teresa was in a coma for four days, from which she only very slowly recovered. She learned from books about the elevation of the soul to God, while she often felt a lack of understanding from her father confessors of the Franci…