The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (728 page)

 
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Emanation(s)
.

Expressions of power or wisdom from a higher being, making connection between an uninvolved or uncontaminated source, and imperfect (because contingent) appearance. Emanations are characteristically
gnostic
, and appear strongly in the
Neoplatonic
system of
Plotinus
. They appear with idiosyncratic genius in the poetry of
Blake
. Under Neoplatonic influence, they are paramount in the
sefirot
of
kabbalistic
Judaism. In Tibetan Buddhism (
Tibetan religion
), an emanation expresses either the profound influence of, or complete projection from, a higher being. The
Dalai Lama
is said to be an ‘emanation’ of the
bodhisattva
Avalokite
vara
.

 
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Emancipation, Jewish
.

Liberation from legal restrictions and political and social disabilities. Jewish emancipation depended on the political and social conditions of a particular country. Despite political emancipation, manifestations of
anti-Semitism
have continued to occur. Campaigns for emancipation (as opposed to simply waiting for it to happen) were often fuelled by a perception of the dangers of
assimilation
.

 
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(OE,
ymbren
). Four groups of three days (Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday) in the W. church year, fast days ‘around’ or ‘about’ four seasons, Advent (mid-Dec.),
Lent
(
Ash
Wednesday),
Pentecost
, and Holy Cross Day (14 Sept.), kept as days of fasting and abstinence. They are now associated, as days of preparation, with
ordination
.

 
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Emden, Jacob
,
pen-name Yavez

(
1697–1776).
Jewish
halakhist
and
kabbalist
. Emden was an indefatigable campaigner against the followers of
Shabbetai Zevi
, and his most famous controversy was against Jonathan
Eybeschuetz
, whom he accused of secret Shabbateanism. From this, Emden went on to criticize and question the antiquity of some passages of the
Zohar
.

 
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Emei
(mountain in China)
:

see
PILGRIMAGE
.

 
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