The Encyclopedia of Christianity: J-O

This third volume of the Eerdmans Encyclopedia of Christianity series continues to provide extensive, detailed entries on the major movements, documents, denominations and people within the Western Christian tradition. From ""Jacob"" to ""Oxford Movement,"" the entries are presented alphabetically. Some entries are not surprising--both Martin Luther and Martin Luther King Jr., are here, as well as Soren Kierkegaard, Reinhold Niebuhr and Origen, as well as several biblical books. Others are more surprising: there are entries on the Kimbanguist Church (a fast-growing prophetic Christian movement in the Democratic Republic of the Congo) and ""laicization"" (a kind of official defrocking of a Roman Catholic priest). Of special interest are the entries on the various nations where Christianity has established a foothold. The basic emphasis throughout the encyclopedia is on Roman Catholicism and Protestantism, with about 15 pages devoted to Orthodoxy.