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Friends, Religious Society of

(Encyclopedia)Friends, Religious Society of, religious body originating in England in the middle of the 17th cent. under George Fox. The members are commonly called Quakers, originally a term of derision. The org...

Friends Service Council

(Encyclopedia)Friends Service Council (FSC), standing committee est. 1927 by the Religious Society of Friends that was responsible for the overseas work of Quakers from Great Britain and Ireland. Devoted to Quaker ...

American Friends Service Committee

(Encyclopedia)American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), organization est. 1917 by the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) that provides social services and information to the public in an attempt to promote int...

Harmony Society

(Encyclopedia)Harmony Society, religious society founded by German Separatists under the leadership of George Rapp. The Harmonists (or Rappites) held property in common and subscribed to the austere doctrines of th...

Jesus, Society of

(Encyclopedia)Jesus, Society of, religious order of the Roman Catholic Church. Its members are called Jesuits. St. Ignatius of Loyola, its founder, named it Compañia de Jesús [Span.,=(military) company of Jesus];...

Amana Church Society

(Encyclopedia)Amana Church Society əmănˈə [key], corporate name of a group of seven small villages in E central Iowa, clustered around the Iowa River NW of Iowa City; settled 1855 by members of the Ebenezer Soc...

revival, religious

(Encyclopedia)revival, religious, renewal of attention to religious faith and service in a church or community, usually following a period of comparative inactivity and frequently marked by intense fervor. As appli...

Cincinnati, Society of the

(Encyclopedia)Cincinnati, Society of the [Lat. pl. of Cincinnatus], organization formed (1783) by officers of the Continental Army just before their disbanding after the American Revolution. The organization, with ...

secret society

(Encyclopedia)secret society, organization of initiated persons whose members, purposes, and rituals are kept secret. Human groups throughout history have maintained secret societies. The ceremonies of initiation i...

Royal Society

(Encyclopedia)Royal Society, oldest scientific organization in Great Britain and one of the oldest in Europe. It was founded in 1660 by a group of learned men in London who met to promote scientific discussion, par...