The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (1684 page)

 
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Neo-Taoism
:

see
HSÜAN-HSÜEH
.

 
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Neo-Thomism
.

The application and development of the work of Thomas
Aquinas
. Somewhat improperly, ‘Neo-Thomism’ is used to refer to the revival of interest in Aquinas in the 16th and 17th cents., which was inspired by the writings of
Cajetan
(see also
THOMISM
). More accurately, Neo-Thomism refers to the revival after
Vatican I
reinforced by
Leo XIII
. One approach has been to emphasize the opinions of Aquinas' commentators, explicating and systematizing these. Another (and more influential) has been to abandon
scholastic
method in favour of reformulating Aquinas' thought in more discursive and historical ways. Notable exponents of this latter approach have been J.
Maritain
and E.
Gilson
. Both approaches have shared Aquinas' point of departure that reason can know
that
God is, but that revelation is needed to know
what
God is. The term ‘neo-Thomism’ is also sometimes applied to those who are more usually known as Transcendental Thomists. Notable exponents of neo-Thomism in this sense have been B. Lonergan and K.
Rahner
.

 
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see
ARK (3)
;
ETERNAL LIGHT
.

 
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(Heb., ‘additional soul’). Popular Jewish belief that each Jew is given an additional soul for the duration of the
Sabbath
.

 
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Nestorianism
.

The Christian
heresy
that within the incarnate
Christ
there were two separate persons, the one divine, the other human. It is named for Nestorius (d.
c.
451), patriarch of Constantinople from 428, who rejected the title
Theotokos
(‘God-bearer’) for the Virgin
Mary
as suggesting
Apollinarianism
.
The so-called Nestorian Church is the ancient church of the Persian empire, now most properly called the
Church
of the East.

 
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