The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (2304 page)

see
CONVERSION
.

 
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see ‘
ABD AL-QADIR AL-J
L
;
AL-JUNAID
;
S
F
S
.

 
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Sobornost'
.

A Russian word derived from the Slavonic
soborny
, which translates ‘catholic’ in the
creed
, and related to the word for a council (
sobor
). Its etymological root is the verb
sbrat
', ‘to gather together’, and since its use in
Khomiakov's
The One Church
(1850), the term, understood to mean ‘togetherness’, has been used to characterize the
Orthodox
understanding of the unity of the
Church
, an organic unity of free persons brought about by the
Holy Spirit
, in contrast to the authoritarianism of
Roman Catholicism
and the individualism of
Protestantism
.

 
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Societies, Chinese religious
.

An important feature of the Chinese religious tradition. They have been particularly important for those without a secure place in the family and clan system. Such communities have usually been organized around religious ideals and symbols, sometimes including special revelations, in writing or through oral media. The state has often been suspicious of them because of their liminal social position and deviant loyalties, and sometimes with good reason, since many rebellions were inspired and led by such groups. The Taoist-led Yellow Turban rebellion in the Han (see
CHANG CHÜEH
), the nationalistic White Lotus revolt (see
WHITE LOTUS SOCIETY
) which helped to overthrow Mongolian rule and restore a Chinese ruler to the throne at the outset of the Ming, the millenarian
Eight Trigrams
uprising in N. China in 1813, and the
T'ai-p'ing
rebellion later in the same century, are only four of the most prominent examples. The Societies may be Taoist or Buddhist, but most are deliberately syncretistic.
Many Chinese religious societies, however, have been smaller than these, and without explicit political goals or reformist militancy. They have remained locally organized at the village level; others have joined in regional and national federations, though in most cases the degree of central control is minimal. See also
SECRET SOCIETIES
.