Parts of the Mishnah, a compilation of oral law, date back to earliest Jewish history.
The Mishnah was completed by about A.D. 200.
The Talmud, which records academic discussion and judicial thought, consists of two parts: the Mishnah and the Gemara, a commentary on the Mishna.
The Palestinian Talmud was completed by about A.D. 400; the Babylonian Talmud was finished by A.D. 750.
Brahman is, in Hinduism, the great power of the universe, or “world spirit.” In the Upanishads, it also refers to a person’s spirit. A Brahmin is a member of the priesthood, or varna, in the Hindu social system.
The canonical hours are times of day set aside for prayer. As specified by church regulations, the divisions of the day are: matins, lauds, prime, terce, sext, none, vespers, and compline.
The Bug Bible was the name given to Coverdale’s Bible of 1535 because it translated Psalm 91:5 as “Thou shalt not nede to be afrayed for eny bugges by night.” The more common translation for the same Hebrew word (for example, in the King James Version) is “terror.”
Muslims start their calendar from Friday, July 16, A.D. 622. This was the day that Muhammad and his early followers made their hijrah, or emigration, from Mecca to Medina. They were forced to leave Mecca because of opposition to Muhammad’s teachings.
The Jewish spiritual movement was founded by Israel ben Eliezer, now better known as the Ba’al Shem Tov (Master of the Good Name). He was a healer and holy man who lived in the Ukraine (c. 1700-1760).
Peter, one of Jesus’ 12 apostles, was the first bishop of the Christian church in Rome, the office now referred to as the papacy. After Peter’s execution by the Romans in A.D. 67, Linus became bishop of Rome. Anacletus (also known as Cletus) succeeded him in about A.D. 76.