The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (2558 page)

(1858–1925)
. Pioneer Japanese Protestant Christian leader. Uemura was a member of the original Yokohama Band. A characteristic of early Japanese Protestantism was the formation of ‘bands’ of young Christians, the best-known other bands being the Sapporo Band, from which came
Uchimura Kanz
, and the Kumamoto Band, from which came Niijima J
. Enduring great privation in order to continue his education under American missionaries, Uemura never graduated formally from any school but read widely.
In 1890 he began publication of the bimonthly magazine
Nihon Hy
ron
. His first important theological work,
Shinri Ippan
(Universal Truth), was published in 1884. He participated as a leader of growing importance in the organizational development of the
Nihon Kirisuto Ky
kai
(The United Church of Christ in Japan).
Uemura showed his independence of spirit when he published a statement in support of
Uchimura Kanz
, after the famous disloyalty incident in 1891. Uemura was the first to propose the ordination of women as elders in the
Nihon Kirisuto Ky
kai
and in spite of opposition was able to secure the adoption of this policy, perhaps the first instance of the ordination of women as elders in the history of the Presbyterian-Reformed tradition anywhere in the world.

 
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(
Ras Shamra
). Ancient city of the Middle East. Archaeological excavations, especially of the Ugaritic texts, at Ugarit have had an important effect on biblical studies: the city is not mentioned in the Bible, but its social structure in the Late Bronze Age casts light on
Canaanite
culture and religion.

 
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(1055–1101)
. Korean Buddhist monk.
ich’
n founded the Ch'
nt’ae (T’ien-t’ai) sect in Korea in the year 1097 and, in addition, laboured to bring about a reconciliation between the ‘doctrinal school’ (
kyojong
) and the ‘meditational school’ (
s
njong
). He compiled a catalogue of scriptural commentaries and treatises, altogether 1,010 titles in 4,740 fascicles, and, on the basis of this work, endeavoured to publish supplements to the Korean Buddhist canon existing at that time.