1.
Alabama
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Alabama is a state in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, Alabama is the 30th-most extensive and the 24th-most populous of the U. S. states. At nearly 1,500 miles, Alabama has one of the nations longest navigable inland waterways, Alabama is nicknamed the Yellowhammer State, after the state bird. Alabama is also known as the Heart of Dixie and the Cotton State, the state tree is the longleaf pine, and the state flower is the camellia. The largest city by population is Birmingham, which has long been the most industrialized city, the oldest city is Mobile, founded by French colonists in 1702 as the capital of French Louisiana. From the American Civil War until World War II, Alabama, like many states in the southern U. S. suffered economic hardship, like other southern states, Alabama legislators disenfranchised African Americans and many poor whites at the turn of the century. Following World War II, Alabama grew as the economy changed from one primarily based on agriculture to one with diversified interests. The state economy in the 21st century is based on management, automotive, finance, manufacturing, aerospace, mineral extraction, healthcare, education, retail, in the Alabama language, the word for a person of Alabama lineage is Albaamo. The word Alabama is believed to have come from the Alabama language, the words spelling varies significantly among historical sources. As early as 1702, the French called the tribe the Alibamon, other spellings of the name have included Alibamu, Alabamo, Albama, Alebamon, Alibama, Alibamou, Alabamu, Allibamou. Sources disagree on the words meaning, some scholars suggest the word comes from the Choctaw alba and amo. The meaning may have been clearers of the thicket or herb gatherers, the state has numerous place names of Native American origin. However, there are no correspondingly similar words in the Alabama language, an 1842 article in the Jacksonville Republican proposed it meant Here We Rest. This notion was popularized in the 1850s through the writings of Alexander Beaufort Meek, experts in the Muskogean languages have not found any evidence to support such a translation. Indigenous peoples of varying cultures lived in the area for thousands of years before the advent of European colonization, trade with the northeastern tribes by the Ohio River began during the Burial Mound Period and continued until European contact. The agrarian Mississippian culture covered most of the state from 1000 to 1600 AD, with one of its major centers built at what is now the Moundville Archaeological Site in Moundville, Alabama. This is the second-largest complex of the classic Middle Mississippian era, after Cahokia in present-day Illinois, Analysis of artifacts from archaeological excavations at Moundville were the basis of scholars formulating the characteristics of the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex. Contrary to popular belief, the SECC appears to have no links to Mesoamerican culture
2.
Los Angeles
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Los Angeles, officially the City of Los Angeles and often known by its initials L. A. is the cultural, financial, and commercial center of Southern California. With a census-estimated 2015 population of 3,971,883, it is the second-most populous city in the United States, Los Angeles is also the seat of Los Angeles County, the most populated county in the United States. The citys inhabitants are referred to as Angelenos, historically home to the Chumash and Tongva, Los Angeles was claimed by Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo for Spain in 1542 along with the rest of what would become Alta California. The city was founded on September 4,1781, by Spanish governor Felipe de Neve. It became a part of Mexico in 1821 following the Mexican War of Independence, in 1848, at the end of the Mexican–American War, Los Angeles and the rest of California were purchased as part of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, thereby becoming part of the United States. Los Angeles was incorporated as a municipality on April 4,1850, the discovery of oil in the 1890s brought rapid growth to the city. The completion of the Los Angeles Aqueduct in 1913, delivering water from Eastern California, nicknamed the City of Angels, Los Angeles is known for its Mediterranean climate, ethnic diversity, and sprawling metropolis. Los Angeles also has an economy in culture, media, fashion, science, sports, technology, education, medicine. A global city, it has been ranked 6th in the Global Cities Index, the city is home to renowned institutions covering a broad range of professional and cultural fields, and is one of the most substantial economic engines within the United States. The Los Angeles combined statistical area has a gross metropolitan product of $831 billion, making it the third-largest in the world, after the Greater Tokyo and New York metropolitan areas. The city has hosted the Summer Olympic Games in 1932 and 1984 and is bidding to host the 2024 Summer Olympics and thus become the second city after London to have hosted the Games three times. The Los Angeles area also hosted the 1994 FIFA mens World Cup final match as well as the 1999 FIFA womens World Cup final match, the mens event was watched on television by over 700 million people worldwide. The Los Angeles coastal area was first settled by the Tongva, a Gabrielino settlement in the area was called iyáangẚ, meaning poison oak place. Gaspar de Portolà and Franciscan missionary Juan Crespí, reached the present site of Los Angeles on August 2,1769, in 1771, Franciscan friar Junípero Serra directed the building of the Mission San Gabriel Arcángel, the first mission in the area. The Queen of the Angels is an honorific of the Virgin Mary, two-thirds of the settlers were mestizo or mulatto with a mixture of African, indigenous and European ancestry. The settlement remained a small town for decades, but by 1820. Today, the pueblo is commemorated in the district of Los Angeles Pueblo Plaza and Olvera Street. New Spain achieved its independence from the Spanish Empire in 1821, during Mexican rule, Governor Pío Pico made Los Angeles Alta Californias regional capital
3.
Francis of Assisi
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Saint Francis of Assisi, born Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone, informally named as Francesco, was an Italian Roman Catholic friar and preacher. He founded the mens Order of Friars Minor, the women’s Order of Saint Clare, the Third Order of Saint Francis, Francis is one of the most venerated religious figures in history. Pope Gregory IX canonized Francis on 16 July 1228, along with Saint Catherine of Siena, he was designated Patron saint of Italy. In 1219, he went to Egypt in an attempt to convert the Sultan to put an end to the conflict of the Crusades, by this point, the Franciscan Order had grown to such an extent that its primitive organizational structure was no longer sufficient. He returned to Italy to organize the Order, once his community was authorized by the Pope, he withdrew increasingly from external affairs. Francis is also known for his love of the Eucharist, in 1223, Francis arranged for the first Christmas live nativity scene. He died during the hours of 3 October 1226, while listening to a reading he had requested of Psalm 142. Pietro was in France on business when Francis was born in Assisi, upon his return to Assisi, Pietro took to calling his son Francesco, possibly in honor of his commercial success and enthusiasm for all things French. Since the child was renamed in infancy, the change can hardly have had anything to do with his aptitude for learning French, as some have thought. While going off to war in 1202, Francis had a vision that directed him back to Assisi, in 1205, Francis left for Apulia to enlist in the army of Walter III, Count of Brienne. Francis lived the high-spirited life typical of a young man. In 1201, he joined an expedition against Perugia and was taken as a prisoner at Collestrada. It is possible that his conversion was a gradual process rooted in this experience. Upon his return to Assisi in 1203, Francis returned to his carefree life, in 1204, a serious illness led him to a spiritual crisis. A strange vision made him return to Assisi, deepening his ecclesiastical awakening, on a pilgrimage to Rome, he joined the poor in begging at St. Peters Basilica, an experience that moved him to live in poverty. Francis returned home, began preaching on the streets, and soon gathered followers and his Order was authorized by Pope Innocent III in 1210. He then founded the Order of Poor Clares, which became a religious order for women. As a youth, Francesco became a devotee of troubadours and was fascinated with all things Transalpine, in this account, he was selling cloth and velvet in the marketplace on behalf of his father when a beggar came to him and asked for alms
4.
Evangelism
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Evangelism is the preaching of the gospel or the practice of proselytizing a particular doctrine or set of beliefs to others with the intention of converting others to the Christian faith. Some Christian traditions consider evangelists to be in a leadership position, Christian groups who actively encourage evangelism are sometimes known as evangelistic or evangelist. The scriptures do not use the word evangelism, but evangelist is used in Acts 21,8, Ephesians 4,11, and 2 Timothy 4,5. The word evangelist comes from the Koine Greek word εὐαγγέλιον via Latinised evangelium as used in the titles of the Four Gospels, authored by Matthew, Mark, Luke. The Greek word εὐαγγέλιον originally meant a reward given to the messenger for good news, the verb form of euangelion, occurs rarely in older Greek literature outside the New Testament, making its meaning more difficult to ascertain. Parallel texts of the Gospels of Luke and Mark reveal a relationship between the verb euangelizo and a Greek verb kerusso, which means to proclaim. While evangelism is usually regarded as converting non-Christians to Christianity, this is not always the proper usage of the word, if converting to Christianity includes services or material benefits, evangelism is called proselytism. Different denominations follow different theological interpretations which reflect upon the point of who is doing the actual conversion, calvinists, for example, believe the soul is converted only if the Holy Spirit is effective in the act. Catholic missionary work in Russia is commonly seen as evangelism, not proselytism and it is entrance into the gift of communion with Christ. In recent history, certain Bible passages have been used to promote evangelism, breaking from tradition and going beyond television and radio a wide range of methods have been developed to reach people not inclined to attend traditional events in churches or revival meetings. Dramas such as Heavens Gates, Hells Flames have gained popularity since the 1980s. These dramas typically depict characters who die and learn whether they will go to heaven or hell. The child evangelism movement is a Christian evangelism movement that originated in the 20th century and it focuses on the 4/14 Window which centers on evangelizing children between the ages of 4 and 14 years old. Other entertainment-based Christian evangelism events include comedy, live theater and music, the Christian music industry has also played a significant role in modern evangelism. Evangelists such as Reinhard Bonnke conduct mass evangelistic crusades around the world, sometimes, the regular minister of a church is called a preacher in a way that other groups would typically use the term pastor. The evangelist in some churches is one that travels from town to town and from church to church, many Christians of various theological perspectives would call themselves evangelists because they are spreaders of the gospel. Many churches believe one of their functions is to function as evangelists to spread the evangelist belief that Jesus is savior of humanity. The title of evangelist is often associated with those who lead large meetings like those of Billy Graham, Luis Palau, pérez possibly in tents or existing church buildings, or those who address the public in street corner preaching, which targets listeners who happen to pass nearby
5.
Religion
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Religions have sacred histories and narratives, which may be preserved in sacred scriptures, and symbols and holy places, that aim mostly to give a meaning to life. Religions may contain symbolic stories, which are said by followers to be true, that have the side purpose of explaining the origin of life. Traditionally, faith, in addition to reason, has considered a source of religious beliefs. There are an estimated 10,000 distinct religions worldwide, about 84% of the worlds population is affiliated with one of the five largest religions, namely Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism or forms of folk religion. With the onset of the modernisation of and the revolution in the western world. The religiously unaffiliated demographic include those who do not identify with any religion, atheists. While the religiously unaffiliated have grown globally, many of the religiously unaffiliated still have various religious beliefs, about 16% of the worlds population is religiously unaffiliated. The study of religion encompasses a variety of academic disciplines, including theology, comparative religion. Theories of religion offer various explanations for the origins and workings of religion, Religion is derived from the Latin religiō, the ultimate origins of which are obscure. One possible interpretation traced to Cicero, connects lego read, i. e. re with lego in the sense of choose, go over again or consider carefully. The medieval usage alternates with order in designating bonded communities like those of monastic orders, we hear of the religion of the Golden Fleece, of a knight of the religion of Avys. In the ancient and medieval world, the etymological Latin root religio was understood as a virtue of worship, never as doctrine, practice. In the Quran, the Arabic word din is often translated as religion in modern translations and it was in the 19th century that the terms Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, and Confucianism first emerged. Max Müller characterized many other cultures around the world, including Egypt, Persia, what is called ancient religion today, they would have only called law. Some languages have words that can be translated as religion, but they may use them in a different way. For example, the Sanskrit word dharma, sometimes translated as religion, throughout classical South Asia, the study of law consisted of concepts such as penance through piety and ceremonial as well as practical traditions. Medieval Japan at first had a union between imperial law and universal or Buddha law, but these later became independent sources of power. There is no equivalent of religion in Hebrew, and Judaism does not distinguish clearly between religious, national, racial, or ethnic identities
6.
Proselytism
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Proselytism /ˈprɒsəlᵻˌtɪzəm/ is the act of attempting to convert people to another religion or opinion. The word proselytize is derived from the Greek language prefix προσ-, historically in the Koine Greek Septuagint and New Testament, the word proselyte denoted a gentile who was considering conversion to Judaism. Proselytism is illegal in some countries, in the writings of the Baháí Faith, the endeavour to attract people to the religion is strongly emphasized. The process of attracting people to the religion is referred to as teaching, the term proselytism is given the connotation of aggressively teaching the religion to others, and is prohibited. Every Baháí has the obligation of teaching their religion, as it is seen as the path toward bringing peace and justice to the world. Some Baháís move to countries or cities where there are a small number of Baháís to help spread the religion. Some other Baháís move from place to place in a process called travel teaching, when moving or travelling to other countries Baháís are encouraged to integrate into their new society and apply Baháís principles in living and working with their neighbours. In total, however, only a minority of Baháís are directly teaching their religion to others. Despite this, religion has grown at least twice as fast as the population of almost every UN region over the last century, at the same time he stated that Baháís should exercise moderation, tact and wisdom and not be too aggressive in their teaching. In sharing their faith with others, Baháís are cautioned to make sure the person they are proposing to teach is open to hearing what they have to say, in most countries becoming a Baháí is a simple matter of filling out a card stating a declaration of belief. This includes acknowledgement of Baháullah as the messenger of God for this age, awareness and acceptance of his teachings and it does not involve negating ones previous beliefs, due to the Baháí belief in progressive revelation. The Acts of the Apostles and other sources contain several accounts of early Christians following this directive by engaging in individual conversations, evangelical Christians often use the term witnessing to mean discussing ones faith with another person with the intent of proselytism. Most self-described Christian groups have organizations devoted to work which in whole or in part includes proselytism of the non-religious. However the boundary varies from group to group, the Catholic Church claims that it is supporting the existing Catholic community within Russia and is not proselytizing. In 1993 the Balamand declaration on proselytism was released between the Roman Catholic Church and Orthodox Churches, even today Buddhism is a growing religion in the West. The role of the bhantes and bhikkus monks for the spread of the message of Buddha, some adherents of Nichiren Buddhism actively proselytise referred to as Shakubuku. Hinduism, also known as Sanatana Dharma, is one of the worlds oldest continuously practiced religions, there is a trend in certain areas of India to stop any apostasy from Hindu faith through social ostracism by fundamentalist Hindu political groups, and the reconverts are usually accepted back. Similarly in recent times any converts from Hinduism to Islam have converted basically to avail polygamy which, however, conversion just for the purpose of polygamy is not permissible by Indian law
7.
Evangelicalism
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Its origins are usually traced back to English Methodism, the Moravian Church, and German Lutheran Pietism. While all these phenomena contributed greatly, John Wesley and other early Methodists were at the root of sparking this new movement during the First Great Awakening, today, Evangelicals are found across many Protestant branches, as well as in various denominations not subsumed to a specific branch. Among leaders and major figures of the Evangelical Protestant movement were John Wesley, George Whitefield, Jonathan Edwards, Billy Graham, Harold John Ockenga, John Stott and Martyn Lloyd-Jones. The movement gained momentum during the 18th and 19th centuries with the Great Awakenings in the United Kingdom. The Americas, Africa, and Asia are home to the majority of Evangelicals, United States has the largest concentration of Evangelicals in the world, its community forms a quarter of the population, is politically important and based mostly in the Bible Belt. In the United Kingdom, Evangelicals are mostly represented in the Methodist Church, Baptist communities, Evangelicalism, a major part of popular Protestantism, is among the most dynamic religious movements in the contemporary world, alongside resurgent Islam. While on the rise globally, the world is particularly influenced by its spread. The first published use of evangelical in English came in 1531 when William Tyndale wrote He exhorteth them to proceed constantly in the evangelical truth. One year later Sir Thomas More produced the earliest recorded use in reference to a theological distinction when he spoke of Tyndale his evangelical brother Barns, during the Reformation, Protestant theologians embraced the label as referring to gospel truth. Martin Luther referred to the evangelische Kirche to distinguish Protestants from Catholics in the Roman Catholic Church, into the 21st century, evangelical has continued in use as a synonym for Protestant in continental Europe, and elsewhere. This usage is reflected in the names of Protestant denominations such as the Evangelical Church in Germany, the term may also occur outside any religious context to characterize a generic missionary, reforming, or redeeming impulse or purpose. For example, the Times Literary Supplement refers to the rise, one influential definition of Evangelicalism has been proposed by historian David Bebbington. Conversionism, or belief in the necessity of being again, has been a constant theme of Evangelicalism since its beginnings. To Evangelicals, the message of the gospel is justification by faith in Christ and repentance, or turning away. Conversion differentiates the Christian from the non-Christian, and the change in life it leads to is marked by both a rejection of sin and a corresponding personal holiness of life. A conversion experience can be emotional, including grief and sorrow for sin followed by great relief at receiving forgiveness, the stress on conversion is further differentiated from other forms of Protestantism by the belief that an assurance of salvation will accompany conversion. Among Evangelicals, individuals have testified to both sudden and gradual conversions, biblicism is reverence for the Bible and a high regard for biblical authority. All Evangelicals believe in inspiration, though they disagree over how this inspiration should be defined
8.
Protestantism
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Protestantism is a form of Christianity which originated with the Reformation, a movement against what its followers considered to be errors in the Roman Catholic Church. It is one of the three divisions of Christendom, together with Roman Catholicism and Orthodoxy. The term derives from the letter of protestation from German Lutheran princes in 1529 against an edict of the Diet of Speyer condemning the teachings of Martin Luther as heretical. Although there were earlier breaks from or attempts to reform the Roman Catholic Church—notably by Peter Waldo, John Wycliffe, Protestants reject the notion of papal supremacy and deny the Roman Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation, but disagree among themselves regarding the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. The Five solae summarize the reformers basic differences in theological beliefs, in the 16th century, Lutheranism spread from Germany into Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, the Baltic states, and Iceland. Reformed churches were founded in Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands, Scotland, Switzerland and France by such reformers as John Calvin, Huldrych Zwingli, the political separation of the Church of England from Rome under King Henry VIII brought England and Wales into this broad Reformation movement. Protestants developed their own culture, which made major contributions in education, the humanities and sciences, the political and social order, the economy and the arts, some Protestant denominations do have a worldwide scope and distribution of membership, while others are confined to a single country. A majority of Protestants are members of a handful of families, Adventism, Anglicanism, Baptist churches, Reformed churches, Lutheranism, Methodism. Nondenominational, evangelical, charismatic, independent and other churches are on the rise, and constitute a significant part of Protestant Christianity. Six princes of the Holy Roman Empire and rulers of fourteen Imperial Free Cities, the edict reversed concessions made to the Lutherans with the approval of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V three years earlier. During the Reformation, the term was used outside of the German politics. The word evangelical, which refers to the gospel, was more widely used for those involved in the religious movement. Nowadays, this word is still preferred among some of the historical Protestant denominations in the Lutheran and Calvinist traditions in Europe, above all the term is used by Protestant bodies in the German-speaking area, such as the EKD. In continental Europe, an Evangelical is either a Lutheran or a Calvinist, the German word evangelisch means Protestant, and is different from the German evangelikal, which refers to churches shaped by Evangelicalism. The English word evangelical usually refers to Evangelical Protestant churches, and it traces its roots back to the Puritans in England, where Evangelicalism originated, and then was brought to the United States. Protestantism as a term is now used in contradistinction to the other major Christian traditions, i. e. Roman Catholicism. Initially, Protestant became a term to mean any adherent to the Reformation movement in Germany and was taken up by Lutherans. Even though Martin Luther himself insisted on Christian or Evangelical as the only acceptable names for individuals who professed Christ, French and Swiss Protestants preferred the word reformed, which became a popular, neutral and alternative name for Calvinists
9.
Christianity
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Christianity is a Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ, who serves as the focal point for the religion. It is the worlds largest religion, with over 2.4 billion followers, or 33% of the global population, Christians believe that Jesus is the Son of God and the savior of humanity whose coming as the Messiah was prophesied in the Old Testament. Christian theology is summarized in creeds such as the Apostles Creed and his incarnation, earthly ministry, crucifixion, and resurrection are often referred to as the gospel, meaning good news. The term gospel also refers to accounts of Jesuss life and teaching, four of which—Matthew, Mark, Luke. Christianity is an Abrahamic religion that began as a Second Temple Judaic sect in the mid-1st century, following the Age of Discovery, Christianity spread to the Americas, Australasia, sub-Saharan Africa, and the rest of the world through missionary work and colonization. Christianity has played a prominent role in the shaping of Western civilization, throughout its history, Christianity has weathered schisms and theological disputes that have resulted in many distinct churches and denominations. Worldwide, the three largest branches of Christianity are the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, and the denominations of Protestantism. There are many important differences of interpretation and opinion of the Bible, concise doctrinal statements or confessions of religious beliefs are known as creeds. They began as baptismal formulae and were expanded during the Christological controversies of the 4th and 5th centuries to become statements of faith. Many evangelical Protestants reject creeds as definitive statements of faith, even agreeing with some or all of the substance of the creeds. The Baptists have been non-creedal in that they have not sought to establish binding authoritative confessions of faith on one another. Also rejecting creeds are groups with roots in the Restoration Movement, such as the Christian Church, the Evangelical Christian Church in Canada, the Apostles Creed is the most widely accepted statement of the articles of Christian faith. It is also used by Presbyterians, Methodists, and Congregationalists and this particular creed was developed between the 2nd and 9th centuries. Its central doctrines are those of the Trinity and God the Creator, each of the doctrines found in this creed can be traced to statements current in the apostolic period. The creed was used as a summary of Christian doctrine for baptismal candidates in the churches of Rome. Most Christians accept the use of creeds, and subscribe to at least one of the mentioned above. The central tenet of Christianity is the belief in Jesus as the Son of God, Christians believe that Jesus, as the Messiah, was anointed by God as savior of humanity, and hold that Jesus coming was the fulfillment of messianic prophecies of the Old Testament. The Christian concept of the Messiah differs significantly from the contemporary Jewish concept, Jesus, having become fully human, suffered the pains and temptations of a mortal man, but did not sin
10.
Methodism
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Methodism, or the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity which derive their inspiration from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and Johns brother Charles Wesley were also significant leaders in the movement and it originated as a revival within the 18th century Church of England and became a separate Church after Wesleys death. Because of vigorous missionary work, the movement spread throughout the British Empire, Wesleys theology focused on sanctification and the effect of faith on the character of a Christian. Distinguishing Methodist doctrines include an assurance of salvation, imparted righteousness, the possibility of perfection in love, the works of piety and the primacy of Scripture. Most Methodists teach that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, died for all of humanity and that salvation is available for all, in theology and this teaching rejects the Calvinist position that God has pre-ordained the salvation of a select group of people. However, Whitefield and several others were considered Calvinistic Methodists and held to the latter position, Methodism emphasises charity and support for the sick, the poor and the afflicted through the works of mercy. These ideals are put into practice by the establishment of hospitals, orphanages, soup kitchens and schools to follow Christs command to spread the gospel, the movement has a wide variety of forms of worship, ranging from high church to low church in liturgical usage. Denominations that descend from the British Methodist tradition are generally less ritualistic, Methodism is known for its rich musical tradition and Charles Wesley was instrumental in writing much of the hymnody of the Methodist Church. In Britain, the Methodist Church had an effect in the early decades of the making of the working class. In the United States, it became the religion of many slaves who later formed black churches in the Methodist tradition. The Methodist revival began with a group of men, including John Wesley and his younger brother Charles, the Wesley brothers founded the Holy Club at the University of Oxford, where John was a fellow and later a lecturer at Lincoln College. The club met weekly and they set about living a holy life. They were accustomed to receiving Communion every week, fasting regularly, abstaining from most forms of amusement and luxury and frequently visited the sick, the fellowship were branded as Methodist by their fellow students because of the way they used rule and method to go about their religious affairs. John, who was leader of the club, took the attempted mockery, unsuccessful in their work, the brothers returned to England conscious of their lack of genuine Christian faith. They looked for help to Peter Boehler and other members of the Moravian Church, at a Moravian service in Aldersgate on 24 May 1738, John experienced what has come to be called his evangelical conversion, when he felt his heart strangely warmed. Charles had reported an experience an few days previously. Considered a pivotal moment, Daniel L. John Wesley came under the influence of the Dutch theologian Jacobus Arminius, Arminius had rejected the Calvinist teaching that God had pre-ordained an elect number of people to eternal bliss while others perished eternally. Conversely, George Whitefield, Howell Harris, and Selina Hastings, George Whitefield, returning from his own mission in Georgia, joined the Wesley brothers in what was rapidly to become a national crusade
11.
John Wesley
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John Wesley was an Anglican cleric and theologian who, with his brother Charles and fellow cleric George Whitefield, founded Methodism. Educated at Charterhouse School and Christ Church, Oxford, Wesley was elected a fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford in 1726, after an unsuccessful ministry of two years at Savannah in the Georgia Colony, Wesley returned to London and joined a religious society led by Moravian Christians. On 24 May 1738 he experienced what has come to be called his evangelical conversion and he subsequently departed from the Moravians, beginning his own ministry. A key step in the development of Wesleys ministry was, like Whitefield, to travel, in contrast to Whitefields Calvinism, Wesley embraced the Arminian doctrines that dominated the Church of England at the time. Moving across Great Britain and Ireland, he helped form and organise small Christian groups that developed intensive and personal accountability, discipleship, most importantly, he appointed itinerant, unordained evangelists to travel and preach as he did and to care for these groups of people. Under Wesleys direction, Methodists became leaders in social issues of the day, including prison reform. Although he was not a theologian, Wesley argued for the notion of Christian perfection and against Calvinism—and, in particular. He held that, in life, Christians could achieve a state where the love of God reigned supreme in their hearts. Throughout his life, Wesley remained within the established Church of England, in 2002, he was placed at number 50 in the BBCs poll of the 100 Greatest Britons. John Wesley was born in 1703 in Epworth,23 miles north-west of Lincoln, as the child of Samuel Wesley. Samuel Wesley was a graduate of the University of Oxford and a poet who and he married Susanna, the twenty-fifth child of Samuel Annesley, a dissenting minister, in 1689. Ultimately, she bore nineteen children, of nine lived beyond infancy. She and Samuel Wesley had become members of the Church of England as young adults, as in many families at the time, Wesleys parents gave their children their early education. Each child, including the girls, was taught to read as soon as they could walk and talk and they were expected to become proficient in Latin and Greek and to have learned major portions of the New Testament by heart. Susanna Wesley examined each child before the meal and before evening prayers. Children were not allowed to eat meals and were interviewed singularly by their mother one evening each week for the purpose of intensive spiritual instruction. In 1714, at age 11, Wesley was sent to the Charterhouse School in London, apart from his disciplined upbringing, a rectory fire which occurred on 9 February 1709, when Wesley was five years old, left an indelible impression. Some time after 11,00 p. m. the rectory roof caught on fire, with stairs aflame and the roof about to collapse, Wesley was lifted out of a window by a parishioner standing on another man’s shoulders
12.
George Whitefield
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George Whitefield, also spelled George Whitfield, was an English Anglican cleric who was one of the founders of Methodism and the evangelical movement. Born in Gloucester, he matriculated at Pembroke College at the University of Oxford in 1732, there he joined the Holy Club and was introduced to the Wesley brothers, John and Charles, who he would work closely with in his later ministry. Whitefield was ordained after receiving his BA and he immediately began preaching, but he did not settle as the minister of any parish. Rather he became an itinerant preacher and evangelist, in 1740, Whitefield traveled to America, where he preached a series of revivals that came to be known as the Great Awakening. His methods were controversial and he engaged in debates and disputes with other clergymen. Whitefield received widespread recognition during his ministry, he preached at least 18,000 times to perhaps 10 million listeners in Great Britain, Whitefield could enthrall large audiences through a potent combination of drama, religious rhetoric, and imperial pride. Whitefield was born on 27 December 1714 at the Bell Inn, Southgate Street, Whitefield was the fifth son of Thomas Whitefield and Elizabeth Edwards who kept an inn at Gloucester. He was educated at the Crypt School, Gloucester, and Pembroke College, because business at the inn had become poor, Whitefield did not have the means to pay for his tuition. He was a part of the Holy Club at the University with the Wesley brothers, John, an illness, as well as Henry Scougals The Life of God in the Soul of Man, influenced him to turn to the Church. Following a religious conversion, he became passionate for preaching his new-found faith, the Bishop of Gloucester ordained him a deacon. Whitefield preached his first sermon at St Mary de Crypt Church in his town of Gloucester. He had earlier become the leader of the Holy Club at Oxford when the Wesley brothers departed for Georgia, in 1738 he went to Savannah, Georgia, in the American colonies, as parish priest. While there he decided that one of the needs of the area was an orphan house. He decided this would be his lifes work and he returned to England to raise funds, as well as to receive priests orders. While preparing for his return, he preached to large congregations, at the suggestion of friends he preached to the miners of Kingswood, outside Bristol, in the open air. Because he was returning to Georgia he invited John Wesley to take over his Bristol congregations, Whitefield accepted the Church of Englands doctrine of predestination and disagreed with the Wesley brothers views on the doctrine of the atonement, Arminianism. As a result, Whitefield did what his friends hoped he would not do—hand over the ministry to John Wesley. Whitefield formed and was the president of the first Methodist conference, the society meeting at the second Kingswood School at Kingswood, a town on the eastern edge of Bristol, was eventually also named Whitefields Tabernacle
13.
Bible
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The Bible is a collection of sacred texts or scriptures that Jews and Christians consider to be a product of divine inspiration and a record of the relationship between God and humans. Many different authors contributed to the Bible, what is regarded as canonical text differs depending on traditions and groups, a number of Bible canons have evolved, with overlapping and diverging contents. The Christian Old Testament overlaps with the Hebrew Bible and the Greek Septuagint, the New Testament is a collection of writings by early Christians, believed to be mostly Jewish disciples of Christ, written in first-century Koine Greek. These early Christian Greek writings consist of narratives, letters, among Christian denominations there is some disagreement about the contents of the canon, primarily the Apocrypha, a list of works that are regarded with varying levels of respect. Attitudes towards the Bible also differ amongst Christian groups and this concept arose during the Protestant Reformation, and many denominations today support the use of the Bible as the only source of Christian teaching. With estimated total sales of over 5 billion copies, the Bible is widely considered to be the book of all time. It has estimated sales of 100 million copies, and has been a major influence on literature and history, especially in the West. The English word Bible is from the Latin biblia, from the word in Medieval Latin and Late Latin. Medieval Latin biblia is short for biblia sacra holy book, while biblia in Greek and it gradually came to be regarded as a feminine singular noun in medieval Latin, and so the word was loaned as a singular into the vernaculars of Western Europe. Latin biblia sacra holy books translates Greek τὰ βιβλία τὰ ἅγια ta biblia ta hagia, the word βιβλίον itself had the literal meaning of paper or scroll and came to be used as the ordinary word for book. It is the diminutive of βύβλος byblos, Egyptian papyrus, possibly so called from the name of the Phoenician sea port Byblos from whence Egyptian papyrus was exported to Greece, the Greek ta biblia was an expression Hellenistic Jews used to describe their sacred books. Christian use of the term can be traced to c.223 CE, bruce notes that Chrysostom appears to be the first writer to use the Greek phrase ta biblia to describe both the Old and New Testaments together. The division of the Hebrew Bible into verses is based on the sof passuk cantillation mark used by the 10th-century Masoretes to record the verse divisions used in oral traditions. The oldest extant copy of a complete Bible is an early 4th-century parchment book preserved in the Vatican Library, the oldest copy of the Tanakh in Hebrew and Aramaic dates from the 10th century CE. The oldest copy of a complete Latin Bible is the Codex Amiatinus and he states that it is not a magical book, nor was it literally written by God and passed to mankind. In Christian Bibles, the New Testament Gospels were derived from traditions in the second half of the first century CE. Riches says that, Scholars have attempted to reconstruct something of the history of the oral traditions behind the Gospels, the period of transmission is short, less than 40 years passed between the death of Jesus and the writing of Marks Gospel. This means that there was time for oral traditions to assume fixed form
14.
Jesus
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In Christology, the Person of Christ refers to the study of the human and divine natures of Jesus Christ as they co-exist within one person. There is no discussion in the New Testament regarding the dual nature of the Person of Christ as both divine and human. Hence, since the days of Christianity theologians have debated various approaches to the understanding of these natures. In the period following the Apostolic Age, specific beliefs such as Arianism and Docetism were criticized. On the other end of the spectrum, Docetism argued that Jesus physical body was an illusion, docetic teachings were attacked by St. Ignatius of Antioch and were eventually abandoned by proto-orthodox Christians. However, after the First Council of Nicaea in 325 the Logos, historically in the Alexandrian school of christology, Jesus Christ is the eternal Logos paradoxically humanized in history, a divine Person who became enfleshed, uniting himself to the human nature. The views of these schools can be summarized as follows, Alexandria, Antioch, Logos assumes a specific human being The First Council of Ephesus in 431 debated a number of views regarding the Person of Christ. At the same gathering the council debated the doctrines of monophysitism or miaphysitism. The council rejected Nestorianism and adopted the term hypostatic union, referring to divine, the language used in the 431 declaration was further refined at the 451 Council of Chalcedon. However, the Chalcedon creed was not accepted by all Christians, because Saint Augustine died in 430 he did not participate in the Council of Ephesus in 431 or Chalcedon in 451, but his ideas had some impact on both councils. On the other hand, the major theological figure of the Middle Ages. The Third Council of Constantinople in 680 held that both divine and human wills exist in Jesus, with the divine will having precedence, leading and guiding the human will. John Calvin maintained that there was no element in the Person of Christ which could be separated from the person of The Word. Calvin also emphasized the importance of the Work of Christ in any attempt at understanding the Person of Christ, the study of the Person of Christ continued into the 20th century, with modern theologians such as Karl Rahner and Hans von Balthasar. Balthasar argued that the union of the human and divine natures of Christ was achieved not by the absorption of human attributes, thus in his view the divine nature of Christ was not affected by the human attributes and remained forever divine
15.
Sermon on the Mount
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The Sermon on the Mount is a collection of sayings and teachings credited to Jesus, which emphasizes his moral teaching found in the Gospel of Matthew. It is the first of the Five Discourses of Matthew and takes place early in the Ministry of Jesus after he has been baptized by John the Baptist. The Sermon is the longest continuous section of Jesus speaking found in the New Testament and it includes some of the best known teachings of Jesus, such as the Beatitudes, and the widely recited Lords Prayer. To most believers in Jesus, the Sermon on the Mount contains the central tenets of Christian discipleship, the Sermon on the Mount is the longest piece of teaching from Jesus in the New Testament, and occupies chapters 5,6 and 7 of the Gospel of Matthew. The Sermon has been one of the most widely quoted elements of the Canonical Gospels and this is the first of the Five Discourses of Matthew, the other four being Matthew 10, Matthew 13, Matthew 18 and the Olivet discourse in Matthew 24. The Sermon is set early in the Ministry of Jesus, after he has been baptized by John the Baptist in chapter 3 of Matthews Gospel and gathered his first disciples in chapter 4. Before this episode, Jesus had been all about Galilee preaching, as in Matthew 4,23, the setting for the sermon is given in Matthew 5, 1-2. Jesus sees the multitudes, goes up into the mountain, is followed by his disciples, the sermon is brought to its close by Matthew 8,1, which reports that Jesus came down from the mountain followed by great multitudes. These describe the character of the people of the Kingdom of Heaven, the Greek word most versions of the Gospel render as blessed, can also be translated happy. In Matthew, there are eight blessings, while in Luke there are four, in almost all cases the phrases used in the Beatitudes are familiar from an Old Testament context, but in the sermon Jesus gives them new meaning. Together, the Beatitudes present a new set of ideals that focus on love and humility rather than force and exaction, they echo the highest ideals of Jesus teachings on spirituality and compassion. In Christian teachings, the Works of Mercy, which have corporal and spiritual components, have resonated with the theme of the Beatitude for mercy and these teachings emphasize that these acts of mercy provide both temporal and spiritual benefits. Matthew 5, 13–16 presents the metaphors of salt and light and this completes the profile of Gods people presented in the beatitudes, and acts as the introduction to the next section. There are two parts in this section, using the salt of the earth and Light of the World to refer to the disciples – implying their value. Elsewhere, in John 8,12, Jesus applies Light of the World to himself, Matthew 5,22 KJV The longest discourse in the Sermon is Matthew 5, 17–48, traditionally referred to as the Antitheses or Matthews Antitheses though Gundry disputes that title. In the discourse, Jesus fulfills and reinterprets the Old Covenant and in particular its Ten Commandments, for example, he advises turning the other cheek, and to love your enemies, in contrast to taking an eye for an eye. In Matthew 6 Jesus condemns doing what would normally be good works simply for recognition and not from the heart, such as those of alms, prayer, and fasting. The discourse goes on to condemn the superficiality of materialism and call the disciples not to worry about material needs, within the discourse on ostentation, Matthew presents an example of correct prayer
16.
Book of Jonah
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The Book of Jonah is one of the Prophets in the Bible. It tells of a Hebrew prophet named Jonah son of Amittai who is sent by God to prophesy the destruction of Nineveh, set in the reign of Jeroboam II, it was probably written in the post-exilic period, some time between the late 5th to early 4th century BC. The story has an interpretive history and has become well-known through popular childrens stories. In Judaism it is the Haftarah, read during the afternoon of Yom Kippur in order to instill reflection on Gods willingness to forgive those who repent, unlike the other Prophets, the book of Jonah is almost entirely narrative, with the exception of the psalm in chapter 2. The actual prophetic word against Nineveh is given only in passing through the narrative, as with any good narrative, the story of Jonah has a setting, characters, a plot, and themes. It also relies heavily on such devices as irony. The book calls Nineveh a “great city, ” referring to its size, assyria often opposed Israel and eventually took the Israelites captive in 722–721 BC. The Assyrian oppression against the Israelites can be seen in the prophecies of Nahum. The story of Jonah is a drama between a man and an active God. Jonah, whose name literally means dove, is introduced to the reader in the very first verse, while many other prophets had heroic names, Jonahs name carries with it an element of passivity. Jonahs passive character is contrasted with the main character, Yahweh. While Jonah falls, God lifts up, the character of God in the story is progressively revealed through the use of irony. In the first part of the book, God is depicted as relentless and wrathful, in the part of the book, He is revealed to be truly loving. The other characters of the include the sailors in chapter 1. These characters are also contrasted to Jonahs passivity, while Jonah sleeps in the hull, the sailors pray and try to save the ship from the storm. While Jonah passively finds himself forced to act under the Divine Will, the plot centers on a conflict between Jonah and God. God calls Jonah to proclaim judgment to Nineveh, but Jonah resists and attempts to flee and he goes to Joppa and boards a ship bound for Tarshish. God calls up a storm at sea, and, at Jonahs insistence
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God
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In monotheism, God is conceived of as the Supreme Being and principal object of faith. The concept of God as described by most theologians includes the attributes of omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence, divine simplicity, many theologians also describe God as being omnibenevolent and all loving. Furthermore, some religions attribute only a purely grammatical gender to God, incorporeity and corporeity of God are related to conceptions of transcendence and immanence of God, with positions of synthesis such as the immanent transcendence of Chinese theology. God has been conceived as personal or impersonal. In theism, God is the creator and sustainer of the universe, while in deism, God is the creator, in pantheism, God is the universe itself. In atheism, God is not believed to exist, while God is deemed unknown or unknowable within the context of agnosticism, God has also been conceived as the source of all moral obligation, and the greatest conceivable existent. Many notable philosophers have developed arguments for and against the existence of God, there are many names for God, and different names are attached to different cultural ideas about Gods identity and attributes. In the ancient Egyptian era of Atenism, possibly the earliest recorded monotheistic religion, this deity was called Aten, premised on being the one true Supreme Being and creator of the universe. In the Hebrew Bible and Judaism, He Who Is, I Am that I Am, in the Christian doctrine of the Trinity, God, consubstantial in three persons, is called the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. In Judaism, it is common to refer to God by the titular names Elohim or Adonai, in Islam, the name Allah is used, while Muslims also have a multitude of titular names for God. In Hinduism, Brahman is often considered a concept of God. In Chinese religion, God is conceived as the progenitor of the universe, intrinsic to it, other religions have names for God, for instance, Baha in the Baháí Faith, Waheguru in Sikhism, and Ahura Mazda in Zoroastrianism. The earliest written form of the Germanic word God comes from the 6th-century Christian Codex Argenteus, the English word itself is derived from the Proto-Germanic * ǥuđan. The reconstructed Proto-Indo-European form * ǵhu-tó-m was likely based on the root * ǵhau-, in the English language, the capitalized form of God continues to represent a distinction between monotheistic God and gods in polytheism. The same holds for Hebrew El, but in Judaism, God is also given a proper name, in many translations of the Bible, when the word LORD is in all capitals, it signifies that the word represents the tetragrammaton. Allāh is the Arabic term with no plural used by Muslims and Arabic speaking Christians and Jews meaning The God, Ahura Mazda is the name for God used in Zoroastrianism. Mazda, or rather the Avestan stem-form Mazdā-, nominative Mazdå and it is generally taken to be the proper name of the spirit, and like its Sanskrit cognate medhā, means intelligence or wisdom. Both the Avestan and Sanskrit words reflect Proto-Indo-Iranian *mazdhā-, from Proto-Indo-European mn̩sdʰeh1, literally meaning placing ones mind, Waheguru is a term most often used in Sikhism to refer to God
18.
Nineveh
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Nineveh was an ancient Assyrian city of Upper Mesopotamia, located on the outskirts of Mosul in modern-day northern Iraq. It is on the bank of the Tigris River, and was the capital of the Neo-Assyrian Empire. It is also a name for the half of Mosul which lies on the eastern bank of the Tigris in the modern day. Its ruins are across the river from the major city of Mosul. The two main tells, or mound-ruins, within the walls are Kouyunjik, the Northern Palace, large amounts of Assyrian sculpture and other artifacts have been excavated and are now located in museums around the world. Site remains suffered in the 2010s from the occupation of the area by ISIS, Iraqi forces recaptured the area in January 2017. The English placename Nineveh comes from Latin Ninive and Septuagint Greek Nineuḗ under influence of the Biblical Hebrew Nīnewēh, the original meaning of the name is unclear but may have referred to a patron goddess. The cuneiform for Ninâ is a fish within a house and this may have simply intended Place of Fish or may have indicated a goddess associated with fish or the Tigris, possibly originally of Hurrian origin. The city was said to be devoted to the Ishtar of Nineveh. The city was known as Ninii or Ni in Ancient Egyptian, Ninuwa in Mari, Ninawa in Aramaic, ܢܸܢܘܵܐ in Syriac. Nabī Yūnus is the Arabic for Prophet Jonah, Kouyunjik was, according to Layard, a Turkish name, and it was known as Armousheeah by the Arabs, and is thought to have some connection with the Kara Koyunlu dynasty. This whole extensive space is now one immense area of ruins overlaid in parts by new suburbs of the city of Mosul, Nineveh was one of the oldest and greatest cities in antiquity. The area was settled as early as 6000 BC and, by 3000 BC, had become an important religious center for the Mesopotamian goddess Ishtar, the early city was constructed on a fault line and, consequently, suffered damage from a number of earthquakes. One such event destroyed the first temple of Ishtar, which was rebuilt in 2260 BC by the Akkadian king Manishtushu. Texts from the Hellenistic period later offered an eponymous Ninus as the founder of Nineveh, the regional influence of Nineveh became particularly pronounced during the archaeological period known as Ninevite 5, or Ninevite V. This period is defined primarily by the pottery that is found widely throughout northern Mesopotamia. Also, for the northern Mesopotamian region, the Early Jezirah chronology has been developed by archaeologists, according to this regional chronology, Ninevite 5 is equivalent to the Early Jezirah I–II period. Ninevite 5 was preceded by the Late Uruk period, Ninevite 5 pottery is roughly contemporary to the Early Transcaucasian culture ware, and the Jemdet Nasr ware
19.
Paul the Apostle
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Paul the Apostle, commonly known as Saint Paul, and also known by his native name Saul of Tarsus was an apostle who taught the gospel of the Christ to the first century world. He is generally considered one of the most important figures of the Apostolic Age, in the mid-30s to the mid-50s AD, he founded several churches in Asia Minor and Europe. Paul took advantage of his status as both a Jew and a Roman citizen to minister to both Jewish and Roman audiences, according to writings in the New Testament, Paul was dedicated to the persecution of the early disciples of Jesus in the area of Jerusalem. He was struck blind but, after three days, his sight was restored by Ananias of Damascus, and Paul began to preach that Jesus of Nazareth is the Jewish Messiah, approximately half of the book of Acts deals with Pauls life and works. Fourteen of the books in the New Testament have traditionally been attributed to Paul. Seven of the epistles are undisputed by scholars as being authentic, Pauline authorship of the Epistle to the Hebrews is not asserted in the Epistle itself and was already doubted in the 2nd and 3rd centuries. It was almost unquestioningly accepted from the 5th to the 16th centuries that Paul was the author of Hebrews, but that view is now almost universally rejected by scholars. The other six are believed by scholars to have come from followers writing in his name. Other scholars argue that the idea of an author for the disputed epistles raises many problems. Today, Pauls epistles continue to be roots of the theology, worship, and pastoral life in the Catholic and Protestant traditions of the West. Augustine of Hippo developed Pauls idea that salvation is based on faith, martin Luthers interpretation of Pauls writings influenced Luthers doctrine of sola fide. The main source for information about Pauls life is the material found in his epistles, however, the epistles contain little information about Pauls past. The book of Acts recounts more information but leaves several parts of Pauls life out of its narrative, such as his probable, some scholars believe Acts also contradicts Pauls epistles on multiple accounts, in particular concerning the frequency of Pauls visits to the church in Jerusalem. It has been assumed that Sauls name was changed when he converted from Judaism to Christianity. His Jewish name was Saul, perhaps after the biblical King Saul, a fellow Benjamite, according to the Book of Acts, he inherited Roman citizenship from his father. As a Roman citizen, he bore the Latin name of Paul—in biblical Greek, Παῦλος. It was quite usual for the Jews of that time to have two names, one Hebrew, the other Latin or Greek. Jesus called him Saul, Saul in the Hebrew tongue in the book of Acts, later, in a vision to Ananias of Damascus, the Lord referred to him as Saul, of Tarsus
20.
Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry
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The Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry is a Protestant apologetics organization in the United States founded in 1995. The president of the organization is Matthew J. Slick, who alongside as many as thirty staff members contribute to the CARM website, the group is registered as a 5013 organization, and it is located in Meridian, Idaho. In November 1995, Slick compiled his sermons and notes together onto computer, by 2000, Slick claimed his website was receiving 14,000 visits per week. He created a Christian Apologetics Notebook presentation in a three-ring binder format, according to Slick he has sold over 3,000 copies of the Christian Apologetics Notebook. In 2002, Slick self-published this material, titled Right Answers for Wrong Beliefs and he also compiled the website for sale in CD-ROM format. CARM offers several online dictionaries, including a dictionary which is compiled by Matt Slick and others. The organizations stated motivation is to equip Christians with good information on doctrine, in 2004, CARM made available a free dictionary called the Dictionary of Theology for the Palm OS system. CARM is a conservative Christian ministry and their aim is to promote and defend Christian beliefs, and worship Jesus Christ. The organizations statement of faith lays out a number of their affirmations, such as Biblical infallibilism, Christian monotheism, trinitarianism, and the deity of Christ. The organizations founder and president, Matt Slick, describes his beliefs in terms, adding that he is a five-point Calvinist. As well, again like the Countercult in print, the Countercult on the Net is intended as a force to supply Christians with apologetic resources for their own encounters with NRM members. Rather than a library, it is rather like those few shelves of a conservative seminary library that are devoted to Cults. The difference, of course, is that library is open to the public. He cites CARM as an example of the library function-and its inherent problems with the accuracy of information presented about new religious movements on the Internet. Slick issued a response to Cowans article. In his book Bearing false witness, bromley notes, though the Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry is a very impressive counter-cult Web site, it is by and large the sole project of one man with a Master of Divinity degree. In her book Voices of Diversity, Multi-Culturalism in America, Mary C, sengstock cites Slicks essay Are Roman Catholics Christian. It is worth studying, whatever ones faith, Christian Parenting Today notes that the website of CARM provides lists, definitions, and descriptions of cults, to assist parents and children with identifying controversial groups and movements
21.
Micah Armstrong
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Micah Armstrong, also known as Brother Micah, is an American evangelist who preaches publicly at universities. He began his campus ministries full-time in 2006, however he visited campuses in his time as early as 2004. Armstrong travels with his wife Elizabeth preaching in circuits mostly in the eastern and southern parts of the United States, Armstrong uses outrageous statements to spark heated discussions. According to Jay Reeves of the Associated Press, Armstrong holds a near mythic status on college campuses across the eastern United States, in December 1,2013, Jesse Morrells OpenAirOutreach. com, published a documentary film on Armstrongs personal life and preaching. Armstrong speaks out against sex outside of the context of marriage, drugs, rock and roll, masturbation, smoking. He calls himself a homophobe and performs a song entitled, The Homo Song and he refers to “real Muslims as terrorists. On the subject of women, Armstrong has said, Women have two places, In front of the sink and behind the vacuum. He believes that you can lose your salvation and you must work to maintain your salvation, Armstrongs preaching is criticized within some Christian circles. Brother Micah and Sister Elizabeth frequently preach against homosexuality, masturbation, Armstrong calls male critics who challenge his preaching on homosexuality sodomites, and has said that sorority girls put whorehouses out of business by giving away free sex
22.
William Booth
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William Booth was a British Methodist preacher who founded The Salvation Army and became its first General. In 2002, Booth was named among the 100 Greatest Britons in a BBC poll, William Booth was born in Sneinton, Nottingham, the second son of five children born to Samuel Booth and his second wife, Mary Moss. Booths father was relatively wealthy by the standards of the time, but during Williams childhood, in 1842, Samuel Booth, who could no longer afford his sons school fees, apprenticed the 13-year-old William Booth to a pawnbroker. Samuel Booth died on 23 September 1842, two years into his apprenticeship Booth was converted to Methodism. He then read extensively and trained himself in writing and in speech, Booth was encouraged to be an evangelist primarily through his best friend, Will Sansom. When his apprenticeship ended in 1848, Booth was unemployed and spent a year looking in vain for work, in 1849, Booth reluctantly left his family and moved to London, where he again found work with a pawnbroker. In 1851, Booth joined the Reformers, and on 10 April 1852, his 23rd birthday, he left pawnbroking, just over a month after he started full-time preaching, on 15 May 1852, William Booth became formally engaged to Catherine Mumford. Interested in the Congregationalist approach, Booth consulted David Thomas at Stockwell about the ministry, through Thomas, he met John Campbell and then James William Massie. The recommendation was training under Rev. John Frost, but Booth disliked Frosts school, in November 1853, he was invited to become the Reformers minister at Spalding, in Lincolnshire. He married Catherine Mumford on 16 July 1855 at Stockwell Green Congregational Church in London, soon he was barred from campaigning in Methodist congregations, so he became an independent evangelist. He taught that this belief would manifest itself in a life of love for God, in 1865 Booth was in the East End of London, preaching to crowds of people in the streets. Outside the Blind Beggar public house some missioners heard him speak, the tent was set up on an old Quaker burial ground on Mile End Waste in Whitechapel. The first of these meetings was held on 2 July 1865, to the poor and destitute of Londons East End, Booth brought the good news of Jesus Christ and his love for all. The Christian Revival Society was later renamed The Christian Mission, evening meetings were held in an old warehouse where urchins threw stones and fireworks through the window. Outposts were eventually established and in time attracted converts, yet the results were discouraging, the Christian Mission was just one of about 500 charitable and religious groups trying to help the poor and needy in Londons East End. The name The Salvation Army developed from an incident in May 1878, William Booth was dictating a letter to his secretary George Scott Railton and said, We are a volunteer army. Bramwell Booth heard his father and said, Volunteer, Im no volunteer, Railton was instructed to cross out the word volunteer and substitute the word salvation. The Salvation Army was modelled after the military, with its own flag and its own music, often with Christian words to popular, Booth and the other soldiers in Gods Army would wear the Armys own uniform, putting on the armour, for meetings and ministry work
23.
Dwight L. Moody
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Dwight Lyman Moody, also known as D. L. Dwight Moody was born in Northfield, Massachusetts, to a large family. His father, Edwin J. Moody, a farmer and stonemason, died at the age of 41. They had five sons and a daughter before Dwights birth, with twins, a boy and his mother struggled to support the family, but even with her best effort, some of her children had to be sent off to work for their room and board. Dwight too was sent off, where he received cornmeal, porridge and he complained to his mother, but when she found out that he got all that he wanted to eat, she sent him back. Even during that time she continued to send them to church, together with his eight siblings he was raised in the Unitarian church. His oldest brother ran away and was not heard from by the family many years later. When Moody turned 17, he moved to Boston to work in a shoe store. One of the requirements was that Moody attend the Congregational Church of Mount Vernon where Dr. Edward Norris Kirk served as the pastor. In April 1855 Moody was then converted to evangelical Christianity when his Sunday school teacher, Edward Kimball and his conversion sparked the start of his career as an evangelist. However, his first application for membership, in May 1855, was rejected. He was not received as a member until May 4,1856. The first meeting I ever saw him at was in an old shanty that had been abandoned by a saloon-keeper. Mr. Moody had got the place to hold the meetings in at night, I thought, If the Lord can ever use such an instrument as that for His honor and glory, it will astonish me. As a result of his tireless labor, within a year the attendance at his school was 650. It became so known that the just-elected President Lincoln visited. Moody could not conscientiously enlist in the Union Army during the Civil War, on August 28,1862, he married Emma C. Revell, with whom he had a daughter, Emma Reynolds Moody, the growing Sunday School congregation needed a permanent home, so Moody started a church in Chicago, the Illinois Street Church. In June 1871 at an International Sunday School Convention in Indianapolis, Dwight Moody met Ira D. Sankey, up to then a single-gospel-singer, with whom he soon began to cooperate and collaborate
24.
Brother Jed
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George Edward Jed Smock, Jr. better known as Brother Jed, is an American evangelist whose open-air preaching ministry is concentrated on college campuses. He has preached at major universities in all fifty US states, as an itinerant preacher, he usually only spends a few days on each campus, visiting the northern campuses in the fall and spring and the southern campuses in the winter months. In 2004 he relocated to Columbia, Missouri where he preached at the University of Missouri. In the summer of 2013 he relocated his ministry and residence to his hometown of Terre Haute, Brother Jed draws from many experiences in his early life while preaching. His self-described lifestyle of drunkenness, dissipation, and debauchery began while he was a freshman in high school, older friends exposed him to alcohol, which became a regular part of his life. Smock began attending Indiana State University in 1960, studying social studies, by his second year he had established himself as the heaviest drinker in the fraternity. Smock states in his autobiography that, despite his lifestyle, he graduated near the top of his class, Smock served as a history professor for one year at the University of Wisconsin–La Crosse. He converted to Christianity after being preached to by an Arab carrying a cross in Morocco, in 2004 the group moved its operations from Newark, Ohio to Columbia, Missouri, where he often preached at the University of Missouri on Speakers Circle. Smock began preaching to students at Indiana University in 1974, and was joined by a University of Florida student soon after she had seen him preach in 1978, Smock formed Campus Ministry USA, a para-church organization, in 1984. Brother Jed left Columbia for Indiana in 2013 and his family was documented for a pilot TV series while preaching in Indiana. Brother Jed frequents Eastern Illinois University, Jed married Cynthia D. Lasseter Smock. They have five daughters, all of whom have accompanied them on their travels, Smock and his wife Cindy use a distinctive preaching style, termed confrontational evangelism in the subtitle of his autobiography. This controversial variant of evangelism is shared by some street and campus preachers, in his autobiography Smock refers to his college evangelical group as The Destroyers, but this name is not presently being used on his website. Smock is a member of the United Methodist Church, although his actions, views, College newspapers have reported some of his statements, I dont know how the whorehouses in this town stay open — all of you sorority girls are giving it away for free. And Who are you, Bob Marley and he often shouts, A masturbator today is a homosexual tomorrow. As a result of his aggressive, rude and confrontational style of preaching, smocks behavior and beliefs are not accepted in some Christian circles, and some view his beliefs as cultish. Besides issues relating to language with immodest sexual references, Smock claims to be sinless. He identifies himself with the teachings of Pelagius, a heretical British monk who denied moral inability, evangelical Christians and Roman Catholics uniformly consider Pelagianism to be a heresy
25.
Charles Spurgeon
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Charles Haddon Spurgeon was an English Particular Baptist preacher. Spurgeon remains highly influential among Christians of various denominations, among whom he is known as the Prince of Preachers and he also famously denied being a Protestant, and held to the view of Baptist Successionism. Spurgeon was the pastor of the congregation of the New Park Street Chapel in London for 38 years and he was part of several controversies with the Baptist Union of Great Britain and later he left the denomination over doctrinal convictions. In 1867, he started a charity organisation which is now called Spurgeons and he also founded Spurgeons College, which was named after him posthumously. Spurgeon was an author of many types of works including sermons, an autobiography, commentaries, books on prayer, devotionals, magazines, poetry, hymns. Many sermons were transcribed as he spoke and were translated into many languages during his lifetime, Spurgeon produced powerful sermons of penetrating thought and precise exposition. His oratory skills held his listeners spellbound in the Metropolitan Tabernacle, born in Kelvedon, Essex, Spurgeons conversion from nominal Anglicanism came on 6 January 1850, at age 15. The text that moved him was Isaiah 45,22 – Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth, for I am God, later that year on 4 April 1850, he was admitted to the church at Newmarket. His baptism followed on 3 May in the river Lark, at Isleham, later that same year he moved to Cambridge, where he later became a Sunday school teacher. He preached his first sermon in the winter of 1850–51 in a cottage at Teversham while filling in for a friend, from the beginning of his ministry his style and ability were considered to be far above average. In the same year, he was installed as pastor of the small Baptist church at Waterbeach, Cambridgeshire, where he published his first literary work and this was the largest Baptist congregation in London at the time, although it had dwindled in numbers for several years. Within a few months of Spurgeons arrival at Park Street, his ability as a preacher made him famous, the following year the first of his sermons in the New Park Street Pulpit was published. Spurgeons sermons were published in printed form every week and had a high circulation, by the time of his death in 1892, he had preached nearly 3,600 sermons and published 49 volumes of commentaries, sayings, anecdotes, illustrations and devotions. Immediately following his fame was criticism, the first attack in the press appeared in the Earthen Vessel in January 1855. His preaching, although not revolutionary in substance, was a plain-spoken and direct appeal to the people, critical attacks from the media persisted throughout his life. The congregation quickly outgrew their building, and moved to Exeter Hall, in these venues Spurgeon frequently preached to audiences numbering more than 10,000. At 22, Spurgeon was the most popular preacher of the day, on 8 January 1856, Spurgeon married Susannah, daughter of Robert Thompson of Falcon Square, London, by whom he had twin sons, Charles and Thomas born on 20 September 1856. At the end of year, tragedy struck on 19 October 1856
26.
George Wishart
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George Wishart was a Scottish religious reformer and Protestant martyr. He belonged to a branch of the Wisharts of Pitarrow near Fordoun. He may have graduated M. A. probably at Kings College, Aberdeen and he taught the New Testament in Greek as schoolmaster at Montrose in Angus, until investigated for heresy by the Bishop of Brechin in 1538. He fled to England, where a charge was brought against him at Bristol in the following year by Thomas Cromwell. Under examination by Archbishop Thomas Cranmer he recanted some utterances, in 1539 or 1540 he may have visited Germany and Switzerland, but by 1542 he had entered Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, where he studied and taught. In 1543 he returned to Scotland, in the train of a Scottish embassy which had come to London to consider the treaty of marriage between Prince Edward and the infant Mary, Queen of Scots and he returned to Montrose, where again he taught Scripture. He may have been the Scottish man called Wishart acting as a messenger to England for Alexander Crichton of Brunstane in a 1544 plot against Cardinal David Beaton, some historians such as Alphons Bellesheim and Richard Watson Dixon have accepted this identification, others are sceptical. Other possibilities include a George Wishart, Baillie of Dundee, who allied himself with Beatons murderers and his career as an itinerant preacher began in 1544, from when he traveled Scotland from east to west. The story has told by his disciple John Knox. He went from place to place, in danger of his life, denouncing the errors of the Papacy, thence he was handed over to Beaton, who had a show trial, with John Lauder prosecuting Wishart. He was hanged on a gibbet and his body burned at St Andrews on 1 March 1546, foxe and Knox attribute to him a prophecy of the death of the Cardinal, who was assassinated on 29 May following, partly in revenge for Wisharts death. Wisharts preaching in 1544–45 helped popularize the teachings of Calvin and Zwingli in Scotland and he translated into English the first Helvetic Confession of Faith in 1536. He proclaimed that the true Church was where the Word of God was faithfully preached, the Martyrs Memorial at St Andrews was erected to the honour of George Wishart, Patrick Hamilton, and other martyrs of the Reformation era. There is a house at Saint Kentigern College in Auckland, New Zealand, dundees East Port, the remains of a gateway in the towns walls, is known as the Wishart Arch. The Arch is the surviving portion of the towns walls. However this story has been described as probably-mythical and the structure is thought to have built around 1590. Patrick Hamilton John Ogilvie This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh, ed. Wishart. London, Smith, Elder & Co. pp. 248–251, hay Fleming, Martyrs and Confessors of St Andrews, Cramonds Truth about Wishart
27.
The New York Times
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The New York Times is an American daily newspaper, founded and continuously published in New York City since September 18,1851, by The New York Times Company. The New York Times has won 119 Pulitzer Prizes, more than any other newspaper, the papers print version in 2013 had the second-largest circulation, behind The Wall Street Journal, and the largest circulation among the metropolitan newspapers in the US. The New York Times is ranked 18th in the world by circulation, following industry trends, its weekday circulation had fallen in 2009 to fewer than one million. Nicknamed The Gray Lady, The New York Times has long been regarded within the industry as a newspaper of record. The New York Times international version, formerly the International Herald Tribune, is now called the New York Times International Edition, the papers motto, All the News Thats Fit to Print, appears in the upper left-hand corner of the front page. On Sunday, The New York Times is supplemented by the Sunday Review, The New York Times Book Review, The New York Times Magazine and T, some other early investors of the company were Edwin B. Morgan and Edward B. We do not believe that everything in Society is either right or exactly wrong, —what is good we desire to preserve and improve, —what is evil, to exterminate. In 1852, the started a western division, The Times of California that arrived whenever a mail boat got to California. However, when local California newspapers came into prominence, the effort failed, the newspaper shortened its name to The New-York Times in 1857. It dropped the hyphen in the city name in the 1890s, One of the earliest public controversies it was involved with was the Mortara Affair, the subject of twenty editorials it published alone. At Newspaper Row, across from City Hall, Henry Raymond, owner and editor of The New York Times, averted the rioters with Gatling guns, in 1869, Raymond died, and George Jones took over as publisher. Tweed offered The New York Times five million dollars to not publish the story, in the 1880s, The New York Times transitioned gradually from editorially supporting Republican Party candidates to becoming more politically independent and analytical. In 1884, the paper supported Democrat Grover Cleveland in his first presidential campaign, while this move cost The New York Times readership among its more progressive and Republican readers, the paper eventually regained most of its lost ground within a few years. However, the newspaper was financially crippled by the Panic of 1893, the paper slowly acquired a reputation for even-handedness and accurate modern reporting, especially by the 1890s under the guidance of Ochs. Under Ochs guidance, continuing and expanding upon the Henry Raymond tradition, The New York Times achieved international scope, circulation, in 1910, the first air delivery of The New York Times to Philadelphia began. The New York Times first trans-Atlantic delivery by air to London occurred in 1919 by dirigible, airplane Edition was sent by plane to Chicago so it could be in the hands of Republican convention delegates by evening. In the 1940s, the extended its breadth and reach. The crossword began appearing regularly in 1942, and the section in 1946
28.
Wayback Machine
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The Internet Archive launched the Wayback Machine in October 2001. It was set up by Brewster Kahle and Bruce Gilliat, and is maintained with content from Alexa Internet, the service enables users to see archived versions of web pages across time, which the archive calls a three dimensional index. Since 1996, the Wayback Machine has been archiving cached pages of websites onto its large cluster of Linux nodes and it revisits sites every few weeks or months and archives a new version. Sites can also be captured on the fly by visitors who enter the sites URL into a search box, the intent is to capture and archive content that otherwise would be lost whenever a site is changed or closed down. The overall vision of the machines creators is to archive the entire Internet, the name Wayback Machine was chosen as a reference to the WABAC machine, a time-traveling device used by the characters Mr. Peabody and Sherman in The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show, an animated cartoon. These crawlers also respect the robots exclusion standard for websites whose owners opt for them not to appear in search results or be cached, to overcome inconsistencies in partially cached websites, Archive-It. Information had been kept on digital tape for five years, with Kahle occasionally allowing researchers, when the archive reached its fifth anniversary, it was unveiled and opened to the public in a ceremony at the University of California, Berkeley. Snapshots usually become more than six months after they are archived or, in some cases, even later. The frequency of snapshots is variable, so not all tracked website updates are recorded, Sometimes there are intervals of several weeks or years between snapshots. After August 2008 sites had to be listed on the Open Directory in order to be included. As of 2009, the Wayback Machine contained approximately three petabytes of data and was growing at a rate of 100 terabytes each month, the growth rate reported in 2003 was 12 terabytes/month, the data is stored on PetaBox rack systems manufactured by Capricorn Technologies. In 2009, the Internet Archive migrated its customized storage architecture to Sun Open Storage, in 2011 a new, improved version of the Wayback Machine, with an updated interface and fresher index of archived content, was made available for public testing. The index driving the classic Wayback Machine only has a bit of material past 2008. In January 2013, the company announced a ground-breaking milestone of 240 billion URLs, in October 2013, the company announced the Save a Page feature which allows any Internet user to archive the contents of a URL. This became a threat of abuse by the service for hosting malicious binaries, as of December 2014, the Wayback Machine contained almost nine petabytes of data and was growing at a rate of about 20 terabytes each week. Between October 2013 and March 2015 the websites global Alexa rank changed from 162 to 208, in a 2009 case, Netbula, LLC v. Chordiant Software Inc. defendant Chordiant filed a motion to compel Netbula to disable the robots. Netbula objected to the motion on the ground that defendants were asking to alter Netbulas website, in an October 2004 case, Telewizja Polska USA, Inc. v. Echostar Satellite, No.02 C3293,65 Fed. 673, a litigant attempted to use the Wayback Machine archives as a source of admissible evidence, Telewizja Polska is the provider of TVP Polonia and EchoStar operates the Dish Network
29.
Gleaner Company
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The Gleaner Company Ltd. is a newspaper publishing enterprise in Jamaica. Established in 1834 by Joshua and Jacob De Cordova, the primary product is The Gleaner. It also publishes a Sunday paper, the Sunday Gleaner, Overseas weekly editions are published in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. The company is headquartered in Kingston, Jamaica, the Gleaner Company Limited is a Jamaica-based newspaper company. The principal activities of the Company and its subsidiaries are the publication and printing of newspapers and radio broadcasting. there were approximately 417 direct employees. In addition to direct employees, the Company’s business depends on contractors and vendors who are business people trading in their own right. Then there are also motor contractors, rural agents, space writers, correspondents, in total, some 4,000 people in Jamaica are involved in the Gleaners operations. The Gleaner commenced publication in the year 1834 and it was founded by two brothers, Jacob and Joshua de Cordova. In 1898 it became a registered company and is listed on the Jamaica Stock Exchange. From 1834 until mid-1969, the Gleaner Company was situated at locations on Harbour Street, principally at 148–156 Harbour Street. Continued growth prompted the company to erect the present building at 7 North Street and it was completed in 1969 and blessed by religious leaders in the community on 26 May of that year. By Monday,14 July of the year, the company conducted its business entirely on the new premises. The Gleaner is published Monday through Saturday, the Gleaner, a morning broadsheet, is the flagship of the group, containing news, views, sports and in-depth reporting. The Flair Magazine is designed to address topics of concerns to women, the Financial Gleaner is for the business and financial community. Youthlink is a magazine addressing educational and other issues of concerns to the youth, the Sunday Gleaner, first published in 1939, is a weekend paper reaching twice as many readers as the daily paper. The Star is an afternoon tabloid, the people paper, it provides investigative reports, news, special columns, and stories. The Weekend Star, first published in 1951, reviews of Jamaican music, dance, theatre, track and Pools is for the horse-racing fraternity. It features computer-calculated tips for each race, the Childrens Own is published each week during the academic term
30.
King James Version
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The King James Version, also known as Authorized Version or simply King James Bible, is an English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England begun in 1604 and completed in 1611. The books of the King James Version include the 39 books of the Old Testament, a section containing 14 books of the Apocrypha. It was first printed by the Kings Printer Robert Barker and was the translation into English approved by the English Church authorities. The first had been the Great Bible, commissioned in the reign of King Henry VIII, the translation is noted for its majesty of style, and has been described as one of the most important books in English culture. The translation was done by 47 scholars, all of whom were members of the Church of England. In common with most other translations of the period, the New Testament was translated from Greek, the Old Testament from Hebrew and Aramaic, and the Apocrypha from Greek and Latin. In the Book of Common Prayer, the text of the Authorized Version replaced the text of the Great Bible for Epistle and Gospel readings, over the course of the 18th century, the Authorized Version supplanted the Latin Vulgate as the standard version of scripture for English-speaking scholars. Today the unqualified title King James Version usually indicates that this Oxford standard text is meant, the title page carries the words Appointed to be read in Churches, and F. F. For many years it was not to give the translation any specific name. In his Leviathan of 1651, Thomas Hobbes referred to it as the English Translation made in the beginning of the Reign of King James. Similarly, a History of England, whose edition was published in 1775, writes merely that new translation of the Bible, viz. that now in Use, was begun in 1607. King Jamess Bible is used as the name for the 1611 translation in Charles Butlers Horae Biblicae and this name was also found as King James Bible, for example in a book review from 1811. The phrase King Jamess Bible is used as far back as 1715, the use of Authorized Version or Authorised Version, capitalized and used as a name, is found as early as 1814. For some time before this, descriptive phrases such as our present, and only publicly authorised version, our Authorised version, the Oxford English Dictionary records a usage in 1824. In Britain, the 1611 translation is known as the Authorised Version today. As early as 1814, we find King James version, evidently a descriptive phrase, the King James Version is found, unequivocally used as a name, in a letter from 1855. The next year King James Bible, with no possessive, appears as a name in a Scottish source, in the United States, the 1611 translation is generally known as the King James Version today. The followers of John Wycliffe undertook the first complete English translations of the Christian scriptures in the 14th century and these translations were banned in 1409 due to their association with the Lollards
