The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (2694 page)
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Wig, wearing of:
Wilberforce, William
(1759–1833)
.
Evangelical
Anglican
and reformer. Born in Hull, he became MP for the city in 1780. He later took the county seat for Yorkshire and worked tirelessly in Parliament for the abolition of the slave-trade. His
Practical View of the Prevailing Religious System of Professed Christians
(1797) exposed the nominal Christianity of many in ‘the Higher and Middle Classes’ and became a religious best-seller for forty years. He is recognized in the Lesser Festivals of the Church of England, 29 July.
.
Evangelical
Anglican
and reformer. Born in Hull, he became MP for the city in 1780. He later took the county seat for Yorkshire and worked tirelessly in Parliament for the abolition of the slave-trade. His
Practical View of the Prevailing Religious System of Professed Christians
(1797) exposed the nominal Christianity of many in ‘the Higher and Middle Classes’ and became a religious best-seller for forty years. He is recognized in the Lesser Festivals of the Church of England, 29 July.
Wild ass of Mesopotamia
(name for last Umayyad caliph):
(name for last Umayyad caliph):
Wilfrid, St
(634–709)
. English
bishop
. As abbot of Ripon, he introduced the Benedictine rule, and at the Synod of Whitby (664) he helped to secure the Roman (against the
Celtic
) dating of
Easter
(see also
HILDA
). He is remembered as a cosmopolitan churchman and proponent of closer relations between the English Church and Rome. Feast day, 12 Oct.
. English
bishop
. As abbot of Ripon, he introduced the Benedictine rule, and at the Synod of Whitby (664) he helped to secure the Roman (against the
Celtic
) dating of
Easter
(see also
HILDA
). He is remembered as a cosmopolitan churchman and proponent of closer relations between the English Church and Rome. Feast day, 12 Oct.
William of Ockham
or William of Occam
or William of Occam
(14th cent.).
Christian philosopher. He studied at Oxford but, since he did not complete his master's degree, he remained an inceptor, hence his nickname, Inceptor Venerabilis. He began to write logic and commentaries, especially on Aristotle's
Physics
. Here he argued against prevalent views which allowed the intellect to constitute individuals as universals, never perceiving them directly as such, but knowing them to be so by reflection. To Ockham, individuals alone are real, as they are and as they can be observed; and what can be known is the individual, not some unperceivable universal. In this insistence on observation, he has been regarded as the forerunner of Bacon, Newton, and
Descartes
. His name has been given to the principle of ontological economy (popularly known as
‘Occam's razor’
),
entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem
(
‘entities ought not to be multiplied beyond necessity’
), i.e. that in accounting for phenomena, one should not posit more (especially by way of cause or reality) than is necessary to give a satisfactory or true explanation; and as such it might seem to call in question the propriety of invoking God to account for anything. The principle is derived from Aristotle, and is referred to by Grosseteste as
lex parsimoniae
, but the words do not occur in the surviving works of Ockham.
Christian philosopher. He studied at Oxford but, since he did not complete his master's degree, he remained an inceptor, hence his nickname, Inceptor Venerabilis. He began to write logic and commentaries, especially on Aristotle's
Physics
. Here he argued against prevalent views which allowed the intellect to constitute individuals as universals, never perceiving them directly as such, but knowing them to be so by reflection. To Ockham, individuals alone are real, as they are and as they can be observed; and what can be known is the individual, not some unperceivable universal. In this insistence on observation, he has been regarded as the forerunner of Bacon, Newton, and
Descartes
. His name has been given to the principle of ontological economy (popularly known as
‘Occam's razor’
),
entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem
(
‘entities ought not to be multiplied beyond necessity’
), i.e. that in accounting for phenomena, one should not posit more (especially by way of cause or reality) than is necessary to give a satisfactory or true explanation; and as such it might seem to call in question the propriety of invoking God to account for anything. The principle is derived from Aristotle, and is referred to by Grosseteste as
lex parsimoniae
, but the words do not occur in the surviving works of Ockham.
William of St-Thierry
(
c.
1085–1148)
. Christian theologian and mystical writer. Born at Liège and probably educated at Laon, he became a
Benedictine
and
c.
1120 was appointed Abbot of St-Thierry, near Reims. He had long been a friend of
St Bernard
of Clairvaux, whose life he wrote, but did not join the
Cistercians
until 1135, owing to Bernard's resistance. In his writings he shows wide reading of the Fathers, Greek as well as Latin, and (especially in his
Golden Letter
) develops an understanding of the soul's knowledge of God through love which lays bare and fosters a kind of kinship with God.
c.
1085–1148)
. Christian theologian and mystical writer. Born at Liège and probably educated at Laon, he became a
Benedictine
and
c.
1120 was appointed Abbot of St-Thierry, near Reims. He had long been a friend of
St Bernard
of Clairvaux, whose life he wrote, but did not join the
Cistercians
until 1135, owing to Bernard's resistance. In his writings he shows wide reading of the Fathers, Greek as well as Latin, and (especially in his
Golden Letter
) develops an understanding of the soul's knowledge of God through love which lays bare and fosters a kind of kinship with God.
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