Encyclopedic Dictionary of Bible and Theology

Pothier, Remi a French theologian, was born at Rheims in 1727. After entering the service of the Church he was successively curate of Betheniville and canon of Laon. At the outbreak of the Revolution he retired to Belgium. After his return to his native country he did not again discharge any sacerdotal functions. He entertained … Continue reading “Pothier, Remi”

Potentiality See Dynamis. Fuente: The Dictionary of Philosophy

Potential is opposed to actual. This antithesis is a fundamental doctrine of the Peripatetic philosophy. Aristotle saith that divided they (i.e. bodies) be in infinitum potentially, but actually not (Holland’s Plutarch, p. 667). Anaximander’s infinite was nothing else but an infinite chaos of matter, in which were either actually or potentially contained all manner of … Continue reading “Potential”

Potentate The word occurs only in the designation of God in 1Ti 6:15, the blessed and only Potentate (), the King of kings, and Lord of lords. This is the only instance in the NT in which the word is applied to God. It occurs with tolerable frequency in this sense in the apocryphal books, … Continue reading “Potentate”

Potent, Cross in heraldry, a cross crutch-shaped at each extremity. It is also called a Jerusalem cross, from its occurrence in the insignia of the Christian kingdom of Jerusalem, which are, Argent a cross potent between four crosslets. This coat is remarkable as being a departure from the usual heraldic rule which prohibits the placing … Continue reading “Potent, Cross”

Potency (Scholastic) Potency is opposed to act as asserted of being. It means the capacity of being or of being thus. Prime matter (q.v.) is pure potency, indetermined in regard to actual corporeal being. Any change or development or, generally, becoming presupposes a corresponding potency. Some potencies belong to the nature of a thing, others … Continue reading “Potency”

Potawatomi Indians An important tribe of Algonquin linguistic stock, closely related dialectically to the Ojibwa and Ottawa, and living when first known to the French (about 1640) on and about the islands at the mouth of Green Bay, Lake Michigan, having recently been driven from their homes in the lower peninsula by the Iroquoian tribes … Continue reading “Potawatomi Indians”

Potamo (, a Greek philosopher of the Alexandrian school, lived in the 3rd century of the Christian era, and was a native of Alexandria. According to Suidas, under and , he was a contemporary of the emperor Augustus; but Porphyry, in his life of Plotinus, states positively that Plotinus delighted in listening to Potamo’s exposition … Continue reading “Potamo”

Potamius an ecclesiastic of Spanish birth, flourished as bishop of Lisbon in the middle of the 4th century; and if the first of the pieces mentioned below be genuine, he must, in the early part of his career, have been a champion of the Catholic faith. Subsequently, however, he was a zealous Arian, and it … Continue reading “Potamius”

Potamiana a Christian martyr in the time of Severus, in the beginning of the 3rd century, was a slave of rare personal beauty; but for not reciprocating the passion of her master she was given up as a Christian to the prefect of Egypt. She was scourged; and, unmoved by threats, was led to the … Continue reading “Potamiana”