'Theology Of The Reformers' will intrigue and inform all those who are concerned both with the church in the time of the Reformation and the church in the modern era.

    This book describes the early Christians and their preoccupations. It follows the reflection and controversy these notions generated among Christian writers. It is intended for classicists and medievalists.

    The classic and ground-breaking work in Christology, with extensive new introduction, evaluating the most recent developments in current scholarship.

    Volume 1 contains Introduction and Domains with Greek terms arranged and discussed according to 93 semantic domains. Volume 2 contains three indices: Greek, English, and biblical references.

    Robert E. Webber and Rodney Clapp examine the dilemma so many Christians face--what to do if you are an enthusiast for neither the New Right nor the Old Left but still take seriously the church's social and political responsibility. 'People of the Truth' offers a biblical solution to this perplexing question. The authors show how American Christians have come to depend on the nation, rather than the church, as their primary instrument of social change and communal influence. They call for the church to move beyond the dead end of civil religion to affirm the authentic role of the worshiping community in effecting social change. The church should dare to lay down its life, the authors write, to give up its ill-begotten political leverage; to turn aside from success and stop counting heads (or dollars); to stand at the side of forgotten poor and oppressed; to be a sign and a witness of humanity's insufficiency and God's all-sufficiency. Drawing upon the works of many esteemed theologians and historians, the authors trace the growth of Christianity and offer a fresh apporach to the history of the church in the world. They reveal how the church's identity and vision have become confused, how they can be recovered, and how Christians--by living out their distinctive story as a worshiping community--can heal society's ills. 'People of the Truth' provides concrete examples of how the church, by realigning itself with its Christ-centered mandate, can effectively respond to such urgent problems as poverty, drug abuse, violence, pornography, AIDS, and the ever-present threat of nuclear war. Here is at once a summons and a guide for the church to become in fact what it has always been ideally: the only people charged with proclaiming this Christ . . . a people of the truth.

    + 244 pp. with 176 illus. (most in color), 4to.

    Provides information on the history, doctrines, and practices of Pentacostalism and related movements.

    She uses literary theory to explain how the Bible actually functions in sermons and other discourse. Emphasizing the critical problem of any appeal to the "text itself," the book demonstrates that the authority of fundamentalism is ultimately an authority of the text and of the interpreter, equally. Without the Bible, the preacher is powerless, but without the preacher's interpretations, the text loses its binding authority.The book examines principles of interpretation with extensive reference to such literary theorists as E. D. Hirsch, Stanley Fish, and Edward Said. The sensitive juxtaposition of fundamentalism and literary criticism not only opens a new window on fundamentalists, but also provides insights that will unsettle partisans of other persuasions.

    As he says, "An intellectual autobiography in the format of a 'philosophical dictionary' permits the self-indulgence of employing the seeming objectivity of some eighty-two entries, arranged in the impersonal sequence of alphabetical order, to express a completely personal set of prejudices."Among the large topics addressed in this volume are the Bible, Faith, Grace, Reformation and Renaissance, and Sin. Among the towering figures of religion and theology are Dante, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Erasmus, Gibbon, Martin Luther, Paul the Apostle, and Schleiermacher. Among the technical topics analyzed are Apocatastasis, Christian Creeds, the term "Ecumenical," Eschatology, Patristics, and the Trinity. "The Melody of Theology" belongs on the bookshelf of anyone who wants to study a history and tradition that precede us and will continue after us, and also of the reader who would like to make the acquaintance of a subtle analytic mind and a generous open heart.

    Volume 1 covers the Early Church, Volume 2 covers the Medieval Church, and Volumes 3 through 5 cover the Modern Church. Sheldon gives extensive attention to the post-Reformation period.