Deborah

1. Name of the wife of Lappidoth. She was a prophetess of Ephraim, as well as the fourth and only female judge of pre-monarchic Israel, who judged Israel and incited Barak to fight against Sisera, the Captain of Jabin, king of Hazor (רחָצ). In Hebrew known as Devorah, meaning “bee”.

2. Name of the nurse of Rebekah, who accompanied her from the house of Bethuel. In Hebrew known as Devorah.

Devorah (דְּבוֹרָה)

Hebrew. “Bee”. Hebrew name for Deborah. Collectively, her Hebrew name may refer to a swarm of bees and may thus be understood as a noun of unity.

Desiderius Erasmus

Latin-Greek. “Desire desired”. A Dutch Catholic theologian and Christian humanist, who is fully known as Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus, i.e. “of Rotterdam”, where he was born somewhere between 1466 and 1469, his birthday being October 27. In the Low Countries of the 15th century it had become a customary trend to Latinize ones name, usually to reveal a pretension of higher learning and often including ones place of origin. With no regulatory body to control this, anyone could alter his or her name at free will, often dropping ones family name for a humanist tag. Erasmus initially chose the Latinized scholarly name Herasmus Rotterdammensis, which he later changed into Erasmus Roterodamus. Deisderius comes from the Latin noun desiderium, the latter word is derived from the Greek adjective erásmios (ἐράσμιος). He lived during the Reformation and rather than jumping on the Protestant bandwagon, he remained loyal to the Catholic Church, which he committed himself to reform from within, continuously criticizing certain Christian popular beliefs, abuses and practices of that period. By attacking the Church's abuse of power and lack of discipline among its clergy, whilst not siding with the Protestants, he soon fell between two stools, disappointing and angering both sides. He died in Basel in 1536, the same year as his contemporary William Tyndale.

Deuterocanonical Books

Books that the Catholic Church, as well as the Eastern, Ethiopian and Oriental Orthodox Churches include in the Old Testament, but which are not in the Jewish Tanakh. Traditionally Protestant Christians do not include these books in the Bible.

Diet of Speyer

A series of imperial assemblies of the Holy Roman Empire held in the city of Speyer (now in Germany) during the 16th century, most notably those in 1526 and 1529, which played key roles in the Protestant Reformation. At the 1526 Diet, the emperor, Charles V, allowed each prince to enforce religious reform in his own territory temporarily, effectively tolerating Lutheran practices. At the 1529 Diet, the emperor reversed this decision, seeking to restrict the spread of Protestantism. In response, several Lutheran princes and representatives issued a formal protest (protestatio), asserting their right to maintain the reforms in their territories. This act of protest gave rise to the term “Protestant” and marked a defining moment in the history of the Reformation.