The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (1012 page)

Holy
.

Term brought to prominence in the history of religions by N.
Söderblom
and R.
Otto
. For Söderblom, the distinction between the Holy and the Profane (cf.
Sacred and Profane
) is the fundamental category of all religion. Otto saw the apprehension of the Holy through the operation of the religious
a priori
as the root of all religion: just as there must be
a priori
conditions which make possible such forms of human judgement as the scientific, the moral, and the aesthetic (and these different categories of judgement cannot be converted into each other, but give rise to different communities of human discourse), so, in Otto's view, there must be a priori conditions which give rise to the category of religious judgement, the human sense, different from the moral or the aesthetic sense, of a
mysterium tremendum fascinans et augustum
, an awe-inspiring depth of mysterious otherness, which attracts and yet terrifies. This is the
numinous
. See also
HOLINESS
.

 
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Holy fools
.

Figures who subvert prevailing orthodoxy and orthopraxis in order to point to the truth which lies beyond immediate conformity. The holy fool endeavours to express the insistence of all religions that detachment from the standards of the world is the
sine qua non
of advance into truth. Holy fools are also an important part of the reversals which are characteristic of the liminal stage of
rites
of passage. Thus the Lord of Misrule (also known as the Abbot of Misrule) was elected in medieval Christianity to preside over Christmas festivities, often at the Feast of Fools. This was held at the New Year, and was so insistent in its reversals that it was repeatedly attacked by the official Church, but the traditional insights linger on in the figure of the clown.

 
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Holy Ghost
(third person of the Holy Trinity)
:

see
HOLY SPIRIT
.

 
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Holy Innocents
.

The children of Bethlehem who, according to Matthew 2. 16–18, were slaughtered by the order of King
Herod
the Great in a vain attempt to kill the infant Jesus. They are commemorated as martyrs on 28 Dec.

 
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Holy Office
.

The Roman
congregation
established in connection with the
Inquisition
by Pope Paul III in 1542 as the final court of appeal in trials of
heresy
. In 1965
Paul VI
reformed it and changed its name to ‘The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith’.

 
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Holy of Holies
.

Inner sanctum of the
Jerusalem
Temple
. It was entered only once a year, by the
high priest
on Yom Kippur (
Day of Atonment
).

 
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