The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (741 page)

 
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Eshin S
zu
(Japanese monk)
:

see
GENSHIN
.

 
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Esoteric Buddhism
:

see
MIKKY
;
SHINGON
;

 
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Essenes
.

Jewish sect, of a communal kind, active during the later part of the period of the second
Temple
. The name was taken by
Philo
(
Hypothetica
11. 1–18,
Every Good Man is Free
12. 75–13. 91) to mean ‘holy ones’, but others have suggested ‘silent ones’, ‘healers’, or ‘pious ones’. In addition to Philo, the sect is known about from
Josephus
(
War
2. 119–61,
Antiquities
18. 18–22,
Life
2. 9–11), Pliny (
Natural History
5. 73), and
Eusebius
. Its beliefs and practices bear some resemblance to those described in the sectarian documents found at Qumran (see
DEAD SEA SCROLLS
), but it is too simple to identify the two: a more probable relationship is that they are variations on a theme, not least because of transient membership between the two.

 
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est
.

An acronym for Erhard Seminar Training. Established by Werner Erhard in 1971, seminars provide ‘a sixty-hour educational experience which creates an opportunity for people to realize their potential to transform the quality of their lives’. The Centres Network, as Erhard's organization is now called, aims to eradicate hunger (The World Hunger Project), transform what it is to work, and in general make a difference to social life.

 
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Established Church
.

Any Church recognized by state law as the official religion of a country. An example is the
Church of England
.

 
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