Martyn Lloyd- Jones: The First Forty Years (I982) and The Fight of Faith (I990). Since those dates, the life of Dr Lloyd-Jones has been the subject of comment and assessment in many publications and these have been taken into account. The main purpose of this further biography, however, is to put Dr Lloyd-Jones' life before another generation in more accessible form. The big story is all here. When Lloyd-Jones left medicine, he intended only to be an evangelist in a mission hall in South Wales. No one was more surprised than he in being called to a ministry which would eventually affect churches across the world. How this happened is here explained, but the theme is the person described by F. F. Bruce: 'a thoroughly humble man. He was a man of prayer, a powerful evangelist, an expository preacher of rare quality, in the fullest sense a servant of the Word of God.' Behind that theme a greater one emerges. In ML- J's own words: 'My whole life experiences are proof of the sovereignty of God and his direct interference in the lives of men. I cannot help believing what I believe. I would be a madman to believe anything else-the guiding hand of God! It is an astonishment to me. '

    During this time, Tommy recorded first-hand accounts of the miracles that they had witnessed… and even performed themselves!These testimonies have been shared around the world, and the results have been amazing: Miraculous healings, supernatural phenomena, and impossible situations being turned around by a wonder-working God.As you read about the miracles that God performed during this great move of His Spirit, your faith will be stirred to:Encourage others that God’s healing power has not passed awayBelieve for the miraculous in your lifeRelease supernatural breakthrough to people who need a touch from GodPrepare to experience a fresh outpouring of God’s Spirit… today !

    Kruger to pick apart modern scholarship's dominant view that the New Testament is a late creation of the church imposed on books originally written for another purpose. Calling into question this commonly held "extrinsic" view, Kruger here tackles the five most prevalent objections to the classic understanding of a quickly emerging, self-authenticating collection of authoritative scriptures. Already a noted author on the subject of the New Testament canon, Kruger addresses foundational and paradigmatic assumptions of the extrinsic model as he provides powerful rebuttals and further support for the classic, "intrinsic" view. This framework recognizes the canon as the product of internal forces evolving out of the historical essence of Christianity, not a development retroactively imposed by the church upon books written hundreds of years before. Unlike many books written on the emergence of the New Testament canon that ask "when?" or "how?" Kruger focuses this work on the "why?"--exposing weaknesses in the five major tenets of the extrinsic model as he goes. WhileThe Question of Canon scrutinizes today's popular scholastic view, it also offers an alternative concept to lay a better empirical foundation for biblical canon studies.

    Of course, everyone knows that, and yet it is amazing how often people jump straight into God-talk without examining what sort of animals are doing the talking – human animals, bodies run by desires, dependent, storytelling, animals, time-laden and place-sensitive. This introduction to the Christian faith starts from the assumption that as we become more aware of dimensions of being human that we in fact know already, so the life of faith which God births within us will become richer andeasier to explore and to live.Book Two - God, not one of the godsIt can be difficult to find our way into the texts of the Scriptures because of the linguistic and cultural issues that separate us from the ancient world. We can feel as if we’ve stumbled into the middle of a heated conversation without knowing who the parties are or what they’re so worked up about. Here we approach handling the texts in a more relaxed way so as to get on the inside of some of the issues that the sacred authors were wrestling with. In short, we will be starting to read the Scriptures through the eyes of the Forgiving Victim, just as St. Luke teaches us to do. Our hope is that you will find biblical scholarship to be less frightening than it might seem and you will have acquired a bit more confidence to dabble for yourselves in these biblical texts without being scared of them.Book Three - The difference Jesus makesHere we try to catch some glimpses of the Master as we watch Jesus interpret the Scriptures to his own people. We look at what it means to find ourselves in the presence of the Forgiving Victim. Jesus’ protagonism causes the solid ground to shift beneath us as we become untied from the more destructive ways in which the “social other” runs us. Our old identity slowly falls away so that we can begin to tell new, more truthful stories about ourselves. As you read we hope you will discover for yourself some hints of how being forgiven enables our participation in a new unity; we will begin to discover a “social other” that is good for us, and find that we are no longer depending on keeping ourselves apart and needing others to be our fall guys. As we inhabit the texts of the New Testament we find ourselves called out to form a new people receiving our sense of self and our belonging from the Forgiving Victim in our midst.Book Four - Unexpected InsidersAt this point in our journey we are discovering new dimensions of how we are insiders within a great shift: old patterns of belonging are being undone from within; we can no longer so easily form identities over and against victims because the Forgiving Victim has called us into a new space. As we work through our desire and our belonging, what will the new shape of community take, one in which there are no longer insiders and outsiders, only those who are being inducted into a human story in which death does not have the final say? And how will we respond to the challenges that flow from this?

    Lawson shows the convictions and practices that fed Luthers pulpit boldness. It all began with his deep commitment to the Word of God, through which he had come to his freeing understanding of justification by faith alone. Luther was outspoken in the pulpit because he was so deeply devoted to Scripture, seeing it as inspired, inerrant, clear, sufficient, and supremely authoritative. For these reasons, he believed that the preaching of the Word was to be at the heart of the churchs worship.

    Consequently, it has also been an age of revolutions in theology, as Christians attempt to make sense of their faith in light of the cultural upheavals around them, what Walter Lippman once called the acids of modernity. Modern theology is the result of this struggle to think responsibly about God within the modern cultural ethos. In this major revision and expansion of the classic 20th Century Theology (1992), co-authored with Stanley J. Grenz, Roger Olson widens the scope of the story to include a fuller account of modernity, more material on the nineteenth century and an engagement with postmodernity. More importantly, the entire narrative is now recast in terms of how theologians have accommodated or rejected the Enlightenment and scientific revolutions. With that question in mind, Olson guides us on the epic journey of modern theology, from the liberal reconstruction of theology that originated with Friedrich Schleiermacher to the postliberal and postmodern deconstruction of modern theology that continues today. The Journey of Modern Theology is vintage Olson: eminently readable, panoramic in scope, at once original and balanced, and marked throughout by a passionate concern for the church's faithfulness to the gospel of Jesus Christ. This will no doubt become another standard text in historical theology.

    But is what we've been taught about them or their harvest feast what actually happened? And if not, what difference does it make?Through the captivating story of the birth of this quintessentially American holiday, veteran historian Tracy McKenzie helps us to better understand the tale of America's origins--and for Christians, to grasp the significance of this story and those like it. McKenzie avoids both idolizing and demonizing the Pilgrims, and calls us to love and learn from our flawed yet fascinating forebears.The First Thanksgiving is narrative history at its best, and promises to be an indispensable guide to the interplay of historical thinking and Christian reflection on the meaning of the past for the present.

    . ." or "Ashes to ashes, dust to dust," we may not know that they originated with The Book of Common Prayer, which first appeared in 1549. Like the words of the King James Bible and Shakespeare, the language of this prayer book has saturated English culture and letters. Here Alan Jacobs tells its story. Jacobs shows how The Book of Common Prayer--from its beginnings as a means of social and political control in the England of Henry VIII to its worldwide presence today--became a venerable work whose cadences express the heart of religious life for many. The book's chief maker, Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, created it as the authoritative manual of Christian worship throughout England. But as Jacobs recounts, the book has had a variable and dramatic career in the complicated history of English church politics, and has been the focus of celebrations, protests, and even jail terms. As time passed, new forms of the book were made to suit the many English-speaking nations: first in Scotland, then in the new United States, and eventually wherever the British Empire extended its arm. Over time, Cranmer's book was adapted for different preferences and purposes. Jacobs vividly demonstrates how one book became many--and how it has shaped the devotional lives of men and women across the globe.

    The Bonhoeffer Reader brings the best English translation to readers, students, and scholars and provides a ready-made introduction to the thought of this essential thinker

    Even in the church, Christians are asking, "Is this what church is supposed to be?" Many Christians sense deep down that there is supposed to be something more, but are unsure of what that something is. These longings can be fulfilled only by discovering God's true intent for His people. The mandate for our generation is to recover a vision for the church that comes from correctly reading Scripture. King Jesus Claims His Church presents a stirring, bold vision for the church that is both biblical and timely.

    Well-known as a writer, speaker, unlicensed historian and general information-monger, Nick Page combines in-depth research, historical analysis and cutting-edge guesswork to explore how on earth the Christian church has survived all that 2,000 years of heroes, villains and misfits could throw at it (mostly from the inside) to remain one of the most influential forces in the world today. 'I was predestined to read this.' - John Calvin. 'I felt my heart strangely warmed. Or it could have been indigestion.' - John Wesley.

    The annual Lenten pilgrimage to dozens of Rome's most striking churches is a sacred tradition dating back almost two millennia, to the earliest days of Christianity. Along this historic spiritual pathway, today's pilgrims confront the mysteries of the Christian faith through a program of biblical and early Christian readings amplified by some of the greatest art and architecture of western civilization. In Roman Pilgrimage, bestselling theologian and papal biographer George Weigel, art historian Elizabeth Lev, and photographer Stephen Weigel lead readers through this unique religious and aesthetic journey with magnificent photographs and revealing commentaries on the pilgrimage's liturgies, art, and architecture. Through reflections on each day's readings about faith and doubt, heroism and weakness, self-examination and conversion, sin and grace, Rome's familiar sites take on a new resonance. And along that same historical path, typically unexplored treasures-artifacts of ancient history and hidden artistic wonders-appear in their original luster, revealing new dimensions of one of the world's most intriguing and multi-layered cities. A compelling guide to the Eternal City, the Lenten Season, and the itinerary of conversion that is Christian life throughout the year, Roman Pilgrimage reminds readers that the imitation of Christ through faith, hope, and love is the template of all true discipleship, as the exquisite beauty of the Roman station churches invites reflection on the deepest truths of Christianity.

    * The original footnotes are hyperlinked for easy reference.* All Annotated Classics books are beautifully designed for easy reading and navigation on e-Readers and mobile devices.OVERVIEWJosephus fought the Romans in the First Jewish-Roman War as a Jewish military leader in Galilee. After the the Romans invaded, killing thousands, Josephus and one of his soldiers surrendered to the Roman forces. He became a prisoner and provided the Romans with intelligence on the ongoing revolt. He appears to have played some role as a negotiator with the defenders of Jerusalem in 70. In 71, he arrived in Rome in the entourage of Titus, becoming a Roman citizen. It was while in Rome, and under Flavian patronage, that Josephus wrote all of his works.The works of Josephus were studied for nearly 2,000 years by scholars, pastors, students, and everybody interested in history. Josephus writes in enlightened and provocative style. He offers information about individuals, groups, customs and geographical places. His writings provide a significant, extra-biblical account of the Maccabees, the Hasmonean dynasty and the rise of Herod the Great. He makes references to the Sadducees, Jewish High Priests of the time, Pharisees and Essenes, the Herodian Temple, the Zealots, and to such figures as Pontius Pilate, Herod the Great, Agrippa I and Agrippa II, John the Baptist, James the brother of Jesus. The Josephus' books provide the most important contemporary reference to Jesus Christ.The updated translations of Josephus' works by William Whiston are easy to read and are essential to understanding of the first century Jerusalem, the time of Christ and the New Testament.CONTENTS:1. Wars of the Jews or Jewish War or the History of the Destruction of Jerusalem (c. 75)2. Antiquities of the Jews or Jewish Antiquities (c. 94)3. Against Apion or Flavius Josephus Against Apion (c. 97)4. The Life of Flavius Josephus or Autobiography of Flavius Josephus (c. 99)5. Josephus' Discourse to the Greeks Concerning Hades (erroneously attributed to Josephus, now believed to be the work of Hippolytus of Rome)

    A few years later, with Things Hidden Since the Foundation of the World, Girard made it clear that his basic insights derived of all places from the Bible. Those insights are finally escaping the confines of academia, and coming to the awareness of a broader, theologically minded public. Many people are beginning to find in Girard answers to troublesome questions such as: Is God violent? Is there a necessary relationship between violence and religion? Why are there so many violent stories in the Bible? Why did Jesus have to die? Are we living in the end times? In clear, understandable prose, Compassion or Apocalypse shows how the Girardian perspective answers such questions, making Girard s mimetic theory and its application to biblical interpretation available to those who have little or no familiarity with Girard s work. To read the Bible from a Girardian point of view is to discover the radical message of God s nonviolent love in its historical wrestling with human violence, and its immanent confrontation with the gathering human apocalypse.

    The authors investigated a rich body of documentary evidence found in various museums, archives and churches surrounding sacred objects believed to have been preserved since Jesus' lifetime, exploring and collaborating with historians and scientists in their attempt to verify the relics' authenticity. They reach their conclusions not so much on the basis of faith as on the evidence supplied by historical sources and expert scientific opinion.The relics associated with the Passion - the suffering, death and burial of Christ - have long proved something of an enigma for the scientific community. Relics investigated, and photographed, for this glorious volume include: the Cross, nails, crown of thorns, pillar of scourging, Christ's tunic, the Veil of Manoppello, the Sudarium of Oviedo, the famous Shroud of Turin burial cloth and more.

    Dean Stroud pays special attention to the role that language played in the battle over the German soul, pointing out the use of Christian language in opposition to Nazi rhetoric.The second part of the book presents thirteen well-translated sermons by various select preachers, including Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Karl Barth, Rudolf Bultmann, and others not as well known but no less courageous. A running commentary offers cultural and historical insights, and each sermon is preceded by a short biography of the preacher.

    Augustine’s most influential work. In the context of what begins as a lengthy critique of classic Roman religion and a defense of Christianity, Augustine touches upon numerous topics, including the role of grace, the original state of humanity, the possibility of waging a just war, the ideal form of government, and the nature of heaven and hell. But his major concern is the difference between the City of God and the City of Man – one built on love of God, the other on love of self. One cannot but be moved and impressed by the author’s breadth of interest and penetrating intelligence. For all those who are interested in the greatest classics of Christian antiquity, The City of God is indispensible. This long-awaited translation by William Babcock is published in two volumes, with an introduction and annotation that make Augustine’s monumental work approachable. Books 1-10 are Augustine’s critique of Rome, of paganism, and of ancient philosophy.

    Mitch Pacwa? Being able to travel with him from the comfort of your home as the holy sites come to life through the pages of this book. With stunning images and thoughtful commentary, The Holy Land: An Armchair Pilgrimage is more than your typical travel guide. It also contains:A short commentary on each site, explaining its importance in salvation historyA meditation for you to consider, encouraging questions such as, “ What can I learn from this place? Why does it matter to me?” Prayers that Fr. Mitch uses on his annual pilgrimages, focusing on a personal faith response to the spiritual events commemorated at each site.Travel with Fr. Mitch to the sites of all twenty mysteries of the rosary, as well as other significant spots in the history of Israel and in the life of Jesus. Whether you’ ve been to the Holy Land, plan to travel there one day, or prefer to stay in your armchair, this classic book will be a beautiful addition to your library.

    In this historic work, John Owen challenges his readers how one should know and regard the nature and the power of sin and temptation in the life of the believer, so it has been and still is impactful for many believers.

    This book provides the historical research and the reasoning in outline form, to be read beginning to end, browsed one chapter at a time, or referenced when presenting and defending the argument to others. The claim that science was "stillborn" in other cultures and "born" of Christianity is more than a claim that man saw order in the world.Jaki's historical research specifically considers the theological history of science and the effect of ancient religious mindsets on the development of science. This story is about how faith in divine revelation caused a departure from ancient worldviews of an eternally cycling universe and led to the breakthrough that was necessary for the Scientific Revolution to occur. This departure, this breakthrough, this birth, was not based on observation or experiment but on faith in the Christian Creed.Table of ContentsAcknowledgementsForewordIntroductionWho Was Fr. Jaki?Chapter 1 – “Science”Why Does This Definition Matter?Chapter 2 – “Was Born”Stillbirths in Ancient CulturesEgyptChinaIndiaBabylonGreeceArabiaThe Biblical WombThe ProphetsThe PsalmsWisdom LiteratureEarly ChristianityThe Christian WestAdelard of BathThierry of ChartresRobert GrossetesteWilliam of AuvergneSt. Albertus MagnusSt. Thomas AquinasRoger BaconSiger of BrabantÉtienne TempierJean BuridanChapter 3 - “Of Christianity”Chapter 4 – CriticsChapter 5 – What Now?Bibliography

    The authors shed light on centuries of confusion surrounding subjects that are seldom addressed in modern sermons and Bible studies. Using the ancient Hebrew language and culture, the authors clarify many of the Bible’s so-called “mysteries” and help the reader uncover the treasures of foundational truths that have been “lost in translation.” Topics include: -Who is the Bride of Messiah?-Is there a difference between covenant and testament?-How does the rainbow reflect God’s plan for mankind?-What is the difference between devils, demons, and the Nephilim? Join us on an exciting adventure to rediscover the treasures still buried within the pages of The Book that reveal the pathway to the heart of God.

    John Behr sets Irenaeus both within his own context of the second century, a fundamental period for the formation of Christian identity, elaborating the distinctionbetween orthodoxy and heresy and expounding a comprehensive theological vision, and also within our own contemporary context, in which these issues are very much alive again. Against the commonly-held position that 'orthodoxy' was established by excluding others, the 'heretics', Behr argues that itwas the self-chosen separation of the heretics that provided the occasion for those who remained together to clarify the lineaments of their faith in a church that was catholic by virtue of embracing different voices in a symphony of many voices and whose chief architect was Irenaeus, who, as befitshis name, urged peace and toleration.The first chapter explores Irenaeus' background in Asia Minor, as a disciple of Polycarp of Smyrna, his activity in Gaul, and his involvement with the Christian communities in Rome. The theological and institutional significance of his interventions is made clear by tracing the coalescence of theinitially fractionated communities in Rome into a united body over the first two centuries.The second chapter provides a full examination of Irenaeus' surviving writings, concentrating especially on the literary and rhetorical structure of his five books Against the Heresies, his 'refutation and overthrowal' of his opponents in the first two books, and his establishing a framework forarticulating orthodoxy.The final chapter explores the theological vision of Irenaeus itself, on its own terms rather than the categories of later dogmatic theology, grounded in an apostolic reading of Scripture and presenting a vibrant and vigorous account of the diachronic and synchronic economy or plan of God, seenthrough the work of Christ which reveals how the Hands of God have been at work from the beginning, fashioning the creature, made from mud and animated with a breath of life, into his own image and likeness, vivified by the Holy Spirit, to become a 'living human being, the glory of God'.

    Father Spyridon travels to the heart of that experience to discover the wisdom and spirituality of Orthodox Christianity.

    Benedict was not interested in fame, power, or legacy. He was only interested in living the Christian life to the fullest and helping those around him to do the same. The rest is history—and the work of Providence. St. Benedict is regarded as the Father of the Benedictine Order of both religious men and women that follow his Rule, a key principle of which is ora et labora—pray and work. Today, many people wear holy medals of St. Benedict, invoking his intercession for protection against the powers of evil. Not only consecrated religious but also many lay people find inspiration in his call to balance, discipline, and prayer. Historically, St. Benedict helped bridge the early Church with the medieval period by standing on the shoulders of the fathers of the monastic tradition and bringing that tradition solidly into a new era.

    The men's menacing spears were pulled back over their shoulders, ready to thrust at Sam at any moment. From the grim look on their faces, the men seemed intent on killing someone. The spiritual needs of the Muslim world, long neglected by Christian missionaries, came to the world's attention again when Samuel Zwemerdedicated himself to the advancement of the gospel in Arabia. It was a tremendous task, but a pledge the young American kept despite opposition, difficulty, and death.Zwemer founded the Arabian Mission in Bahrain to serve Muslims throughmedical care, Christian literature, and the preachingof the gospel. With a heart on fire for Muslim people, he was relentless in sharing a vision worldwide, calling many to action. Zwemer'slegacy of opening a long-closed dooris a challenge for Christians today, inspiringusto love and respect Muslims and to proclaim Jesus' name in the homeland of Islam.

    More than merely a biography it covers his life, ministry and also provides an indepth survey of his theology.

    And a few fishermen, a tax collector, and a motley group of believers set out to change the world. In fact, they succeeded.In 16th century Europe, the Anabaptists preaching in cities by night, on back streets, and in secret corners behind rail fences set out to do the very thing the apostles had done. They, too, turned the world of their day upside down. What was the secret of their strength? In this book, Hoover explains what gave the Anabaptists their incredible spiritual strength.Was their secret a return to the Bible? No, they were far more than Biblicists. Was it a return to apostolic tradition? No, they were far more than keepers of tradition. Fundamentalism and traditionalism have never held Christianity together nor made it work.The “secret of the kingdom of God” is stunningly simple. With two words Christ revealed it to His disciples. Upon comprehending it, His disciples came to a sudden knowledge of the will of God, of the whole Bible, and of the right way to live.This book is more than an Anabaptist history; it is a challenge to all Christ-followers to put the teachings of Jesus into practice and to be part of a Kingdom movement that transcends the man-made boundaries of denomination.NOTE: The Kindle version of "The Secret of the Strength" does NOT contain the images you will find in the print version. As well, due to formatting difficulties, the footnotes of the original have all been removed. (Most of these simply cite the historical documents from which quotes are taken.) These changes, however, do not detract from the text itself. Free .PDF versions of "The Secret of the Strength," which include both photos and citations, are available from various Internet sources.

    This ambitious history tells the fascinating story of the cult of the saints from its origins in the second-century days of the Christian martyrs to the Protestant Reformation. Robert Bartlett examines all of the most important aspects of the saints--including miracles, relics, pilgrimages, shrines, and the saints' role in the calendar, literature, and art.The book explores the central role played by the bodies and body parts of saints, and the special treatment these relics received. From the routes, dangers, and rewards of pilgrimage, to the saints' impact on everyday life, Bartlett's account is an unmatched examination of an important and intriguing part of the religious life of the past--as well as the present.

    From his crucial role in the Great Awakening to his inspiring a renewal movement within the Church of England, Wesley's historical significance is undeniable and his legacy still challenges us today, regardless of our denominational affiliation or theological perspective. Offering an approachable introduction to Wesley's life and writings, Fred Sanders invites us to learn from Wesley's reliance on the Spirit, passion for holiness, and zeal for the gospel in this winsome portrait of an extraordinary Christian leader.Part of the Theologians on the Christian Life series.

    Written in simple but stirring terms, this true story of the intrepid Jesuit's adventures and hardships among the Algonquins, Hurons, and Mohawks is as thrilling as any fiction.

    Moreover, even our neighbors visit the local fortuneteller, read the horoscope page in the newspaper, and attend s ances that seek to reach departed friends, lovers, and family members. Consequently, as we begin a journey into faraway places, we may soon find they are not as far away as we may have expected. from Chapter 3I Am Not Afraid is Rev. Dr. Robert Bennett's fascinating first-hand account of the spiritual warfare found within the Lutheran Church of Madagascar. Is spiritual warfare something new to the Church? Bennett reviews what the Bible, Church Fathers, and contemporary Lutheran leaders have to say.Part One includes recent conversations dealing with spiritual warfare, an introduction into the Malagasy Lutheran Church, and the traditional Malagasy worldview. These are the stories of those who have been rescued from the darkness of sin and brought into the light of the Gospel.Part Two looks to the Bible and the Church for explanation and historical perspective on the spiritual warfare found in the Malagasy Lutheran Church. Is it something only found in the time of Jesus and the apostles? What has the Church said in the past about such activities? Bennett explores the views of Martin Luther and other Lutheran leaders, and finally provides some helpful contemporary material and resources for dealing with spiritual warfare in today's context.Includes a glossary of key terms, transcripts of personal interviews, bibliography, Scripture index, and subject index.

    Wigglesworth DevotionalBuild your faith every day of the year!This yearlong devotional is a collection of golden nuggets of truth from Smith Wigglesworth’s greatest sermons and teaching.Sit at the feet of a true general of the faith, who not only taught about the supernatural Christian life, but lived it out in integrity and power.In fact, Wigglesworth’s relationship with the Holy Spirit and demonstrations of power were so significant that he became one of the key pioneers of the Pentecostal movement and paved the way for the Charismatic renewal.By taking this yearlong journey, you will:• Build your faith in God’s supernatural power and learn how to exercise it •Unlock the keys to walking in signs, wonders and Kingdom authority •Experience the fullness of the Holy Spirit in your lifeGet ready to increase your intimacy with the Holy Spirit and learn the secrets to releasing His power in your everyday life.

    In this new biography, Christiane Tietz masterfully portrays the interconnectedness of Bonhoeffers life and thought, theology and politics, discipleship, witness, and resistance, tracing the path from his childhood to his imprisonment and execution.Brief, lucid, and accessible, Tietzs new account brings Bonhoeffers story and work to life in a vivid retelling, unfolding his important and widely read texts in the process. The volume also includes previously unseen pictures.

    Coffmansituates this narrative within larger trends in American religion and society. Under the editorship of Charles Clayton Morrison from 1908-1947, the magazine spoke out about many of the most pressing social and political issues of the time, from child labor and women's suffrage to war, racism, andthe internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. It published such luminaries as Jane Addams, Reinhold Niebuhr, and Martin Luther King Jr. and jostled with the Nation, the New Republic, and Commonweal, as it sought to enlarge its readership and solidify its position as the voice of liberalProtestantism. But by the 1950s, internal strife between liberals and neo-orthodox and the rising challenge of Billy Graham's evangelicalism would shatter the illusion of Protestant consensus. The coalition of highly educated, theologically and politically liberal Protestants associated with themagazine made a strong case for their own status as shepherds of the American soul but failed to attract a popular following that matched their intellectual and cultural clout.Elegantly written and persuasively argued, The Christian Century and the Rise of the Protestant Mainline takes readers inside one of the most important religious magazines of the modern era.

    

    This material has been collected specifically for use among Reformation Montana churches, but it has been made available for all Baptists of life-faith.

    These modern siblings meet Benjamin, a shepherd boy from Biblical times whose grandfather heard the message of the angels at the birth of Jesus. When this foursome becomes surrounded by hungry wolves, Benjamin has much to teach the siblings about shepherding.

    While WilliamTyndale employed it to describe one of two goats chosen by lot to escape the Day of Atonement sacrifices with its life, the expression was soon far more widely used to name victims of false accusation and unwarranted punishment. As such, the scapegoat figures prominently in contemporary theories of violence, from its elevation by Frazer to a ritual category in his ethnological opus The Golden Bough to its pivotal roles in projects as seemingly at odds as Jacques Derrida’s deconstruction of Western metaphysics and René Girard’s theory of cultural origins. A copiously researched and groundbreaking investigation of the expression in such wide use today, Flesh Becomes Word follows the scapegoat from its origins in Mesopotamian ritual across centuries of typological reflection on the meaning of Jesus’ death, to its first informal uses in the pornographic and plague literature of the 1600s, and finally into the modern era, where the word takes recognizable shape in the context of the New English Quaker persecution and proto-feminist diatribe at the close of the seventeenth century. The historical circumstances of its lexical formation prove rich in implications for current theories of the scapegoat and the making of the modern world alike.

    This is the story of how a preaching classroom became a place of resistance in Germany in 1932–33 -- a story that has not been told in its fullness. In that emergency situation, Barth took his students back to the fundamental questions about what preaching is and what it is for, returning again and again to the affirmation of the Godness of God, the only ground of resistance to ideological captivity.No other text has so interpreted Barth's "Exercises in Sermon Preparation" in relation to their theological, political, ecclesiastical, academic, and rhetorical context.

    Taylor Marshall makes the case for the literal historical truth of the traditional date of the birth of Jesus of Nazareth on December 25th. TABLE OF CONTENTSCHRIST ON CHRISTMAS 1THE FULLNESS OF TIME 5APPARITION OF MARY TO CAESAR 15THE BIRTH YEAR OF CHRIST 19WAS CHRIST BORN ON DECEMBER 25? 25WISE MEN RECOGNIZE THE JEWISH KING 35KING HEROD AS ROME’S ANTI-MESSIAH 38CONCLUSION 45

    Each volume consists of a Call to Worship, Opening Prayer, Call to Confession, Prayer of Confession, and Declaration of Forgiveness, with Years A-C including additional elements (A Prayer in Preparation for Worship, The Offering, Prayer of Dedication, and a Blessing) suitable for Presbyterian, Reformed, and other Protestant worship. Each of these practical volumes is intended for use by pastors, liturgists, and other planners and leaders of worship.

    Based on the life of Saint Modomnoc, this children's book brings the past alive in its retelling of the history of The Church of the Beekeeper in Ireland.

    Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1850 edition. Excerpt: ... GENERAL PREFACE. It would be presumption to enter upon any commendation of John Owen as an author and divine. His works will continue to gather round them the respect and admiration of the Church of Christ, so long as reverence is cherished for the Christian faith. They have defects, which it is impossible to disguise. His style in general is deficient in grace and vivacity. His mode of discussing a subject is often tedious and prolix. Whatever amount of imaginative power his mind possessed, it seems to have been little cultivated and developed; and his chief excellence as an author, it must be admitted, consists "non in flosculis verborum, --sed in pondere rerum." In the department of Biblical criticism, he himself disclaimed any pretensions to extensive learning. That science had made slender progress in his day, and the necessity for a careful revision of the text of Scripture, as well as the abundance of the materials which providentially existed for the accomplishment of the task, were scarcely known. We feel the less surprise that he should have committed himself to a strain of animadversion, full of prejudice and misapprehension, on the principles asserted in the Prolegomena and Appendix to Walton's Polyglott, when it is remembered that, after the lapse of half a century, and with all his eminent scholarship and erudition, Whitby, on the criticism of the sacred text, was not a step in advance of the Puritan divine. With all this abatement on the praise which is due to Owen, his signal merits as an author have shed lustre on his name. He was great in the higher attributes of erudition; for he excelled, if not in the learning that is conversant about dates, and facts, and words, most assuredly in the learning of thought; and his...

    Her 1852 novel "Uncle Tom's Cabin" converted readers by the thousands to the anti-slavery movement and served notice that slavery's days were numbered. Overnight Stowe became a celebrity, but to defenders of slavery she was the devil in petticoats.Most writing about Stowe treats her as a literary figure and social reformer while underplaying her Christian faith. But Nancy Koester's biography treats Stowe's faith as central to her life -- both her public fight against slavery and her own struggle through deep personal grief to find a gracious God.

    There are over 100 million Pentecostals in Africa. In Latin America, Pentecostalism now vies with Catholicism for the soul of the continent, and some of the largest pentecostal congregations in the world are in South Korea.In To the Ends of the Earth, Allan Heaton Anderson explores the historical and theological factors behind the phenomenal growth of global Pentecostalism. Anderson argues that its spread is so dramatic because it is an "ends of the earth" movement--pentecostals believe that they are called to be witnesses for Jesus Christ to the furthest reaches of the globe. His wide-ranging account examines such topics as the Azusa Street revival in Los Angeles, the role of the first missionaries in China, India, and Africa, Pentecostalism's incredible diversity due to its deep local roots, and the central role of women in the movement. He describes more recent developments such as the creation of new independent churches, megachurches, and the "health and wealth" gospel, and he explores the increasing involvement of pentecostals in public and political affairs across the globe. Why is this movement so popular? Anderson points to such features as the emphasis on the Spirit, the "born-again" experience, incessant evangelism, healing and deliverance, cultural flexibility, a place-to-feel-at-home, religious continuity, an egalitarian community, and meeting material needs--all of which contribute to Pentecostalism's remarkable appeal.Exploring more than a century of history and ranging across most of the globe, Anderson illuminates the spectacular rise of global Pentecostalism and shows how it changed the face of Christianity worldwide.

    George Fox, credited as leading the movement, had an experience of 1647 in which he felt he could hear Christ directly and inwardly without the mediation of text or minister. Convinced of the authenticity of this experience and its universalapplication, Fox preached a spirituality in which potentially all were ministers, all part of a priesthood of believers, a church leveled before the leadership of God. Quakers are a fascinating religious group both in their original peculiarity and in the variety of reinterpretations of the faithsince. The way they have interacted with wider society is a basic but often unknown part of British and American history. This handbook charts their history and the history of their expression as a religious community.This volume provides an indispensable reference work for the study of Quakerism. It is global in its perspectives and interdisciplinary in its approach whilst offering the reader a clear narrative through the academic debates. In addition to an in-depth survey of historical readings of Quakerism, the handbook provides a treatment of the group's key theological premises and its links with wider Christian thinking. Quakerism's distinctive ecclesiastical forms and practices are analyzed, and its social, economic, political, and ethical outcomes examined. Each of the 37 chapters considersbroader religious, social, and cultural contexts and provides suggestions for further reading and the volume concludes with an extensive bibliography to aid further research.

    949 to 1022 ce) is considered a saint by the Orthodox Church and revered as one of its most influential spiritual thinkers. But in his own time a cloud of controversy surrounded him and the suspicion of heresy tainted his reputation long afterward.The Life was written more than thirty years after Symeon's death by his disciple and apologist the theologian Niketas Stethatos, who also edited all of Symeon's spiritual writings. An unusually valuable piece of Byzantine hagiography, it not only presents compelling descriptions of Symeon's visions, mystical inspiration, and role as a monastic founder, but also provides vivid glimpses into the often bitter and unpleasantly conflicted politics of monasticism and the construction of sanctity and orthodoxy at the zenith of the medieval Byzantine Empire. Although the many volumes of Symeon's spiritual writings are now readily available in English, the present translation makes the Life accessible to English readers for the first time. It is based on an authoritative edition of the Greek.

    Many have given up on faith of any kind, finding it shallow and unsatisfying. But still we yearn for more. We hope for our children's futures. We long for lives that are meaningful, even eternal. Grappling with his own questions, Jim Belcher set out on a quest to see how the Christian faith faces the challenges of the modern world and answers the cries of the human soul. Seeking renewal after a draining season of life, he and his family spent a year traveling through Europe, exploring the faith that has shaped civilizations throughout the centuries. They rediscovered key figures, places and events in the history of Christianity, from C. S. Lewis's life at Oxford to Dietrich Bonhoeffer's death in a concentration camp. Through the experiences of William Wilberforce, Vincent Van Gogh, Corrie ten Boom and others, Belcher saw glimpses of insight, beauty and courage that transcended human limitations. He found himself surprised by joy and compelled by faith. Whether you are giving up on Christianity or encountering it for the first time, you are invited to come along on this pilgrimage. Even if you are unsure of the destination, the journey itself may take you far deeper than you could ever imagine. FROM THE AUTHOR The story of In Search of Deep Faith by Jim Belcher After almost 20 years pastoring two congregations, raising four children and finishing my first book, I was tired and worn down?out of gas. I needed to make a change, to find a way to regain my passion for my calling. While I was exhausted, my wife and I were also worried about our four children and whether they were developing a strong enough faith to last a lifetime. Were they being more influenced by the culture around them?the media, materialism and friends?than by the story of Christianity and its reality in their lives? Then we hit on an idea. What if we traveled on a pilgrimage for a year to England and Europe, and studied and experienced the biographies and places of some of the great heroes of the faith?people like C.S Lewis, Sheldon Vanauken, William Wilberforce, Corrie ten Boom, Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Maria Von Trapp. Maybe this could get my passion back for my calling and at the same time help my children develop a deeper faith?a faith that shaped their imaginations and identities and futures. So we left the comforts of Orange County, Ca and moved to Oxford, England. We didn't have any definite plans but upon arriving we discovered that a pilgrimage has three components: to rediscover our roots, to understand that life is a journey and to know our ultimate destination. These three ideas became our inspiration, shaping the themes we pursued, revealing the heroes we studied, and steering us across time and place. And as the pilgrimage unfolded, day by day, month by month, what we learned and experienced over the year would startle us and surprise us and change us forever. In Search of Deep Faith is the record of this pilgrimage, an unfolding drama marked by suspense and intrigue. I hope you will take the journey with us and go deeper into the faith than you could ever imagine.

    James Dunn is one of the major voices urging that more consideration needs to be given to the oral use and transmission of the Jesus tradition as a major factor in giving the Synoptic tradition its enduring character.

    Alan Streett exposes half-truths about the kingdom that many believers have unwittingly accepted. He contrasts these with the testimony of Scripture:Jesus inaugurated the kingdom of God on the earth—it has already begun. As ambassadors of the kingdom, we are to fulfill our responsibilities and enjoy its benefits here and now.Salvation does not culminate with the soul escaping the body and living forever in heaven. Our bodies will eventually be transformed, and we will live with God on a restored earth.The church is like an embassy of heaven in a foreign country. In their life together, believers demonstrate kingdom realities to the world.Readers will find hope and direction in this fresh presentation of the historic teaching on the kingdom.

    Alec Ryrie provides the first comprehensive account of what it actually meant to live a Protestant life in England and Scotland between 1530 and 1640, drawing on a rich mixture of contemporary devotional works, sermons, diaries, biographies, and autobiographies to uncover the lived experience of early modern Protestantism.Beginning from the surprisingly urgent, multifaceted emotions of Protestantism, Ryrie explores practices of prayer, of family and public worship, and of reading and writing, tracking them through the life course from childhood through conversion and vocation to the deathbed. He examines what Protestant piety drew from its Catholic predecessors and contemporaries, and grounds that piety in material realities such as posture, food, and tears.This perspective shows us what it meant to be Protestant in the British Reformations: a meeting of intensity (a religion which sought authentic feeling above all, and which dreaded hypocrisy and hard-heartedness) with dynamism (a progressive religion, relentlessly pursuing sanctification and dreading idleness). That combination, for good or ill, gave the Protestant experience its particular quality of restless, creative zeal.The Protestant devotional experience also shows us that this was a broad-based religion: for all the differences across time, between two countries, between men and women, and between puritans and conformists, this was recognisably a unified culture, in which common experiences and practices cut across supposed divides. Alec Ryrie shows us Protestantism, not as the preachers on all sides imagined it, but as it was really lived.

    When we met, we both knew we were kindred spirits, cut from the same cloth. As I've gotten to know Christ over the years, I've come to value what the Father has put within him to release to the nations of the earth regarding prayer and the arts. So should you. As one who has a mandate from the Lord to raise up an army of artists, I'm excited to wholeheartedly recommend Christ's "An Army Arising". Matt Tommey Executive Director/Founder, The Worship Studio Author of "Unlocking the Heart of the Artist" & "Crafting Your Brand" An Army Arising is about this moment in history, and God's secret weapon to change the world. Today is the moment of the story, and artists are the best equipped to seize this moment. In the past seven years there has been an emerging renaissance movement in the church. God is raising up arts ministries and artists in a new way. An Army Arising includes a study of the artist in the Bible, a review of how Christian doctrine impacts the arts, and practical tools for artists and creative people to be warrior artists. In 2006 Christ John Otto experienced several months of extraordinary encounters with God that became the nucleus of his ministry, Belonging House. During that season he received a clear call from God to "raise up an army of artists to build Jesus a throne in the earth." For the past seven years Belonging House has prayed, pondered, and preached those words. This book is the result of the past seven years. An Army Arising distills all we have learned about the call of God to the artist.

    offers a convincing reconstruction of Julian's life in the social, cultural, political and religious milieu of fourteenth-century Norwich, along with a comprehensive commentary on her Revelations - rendered here in a new and faithful translation from the Middle English.

    The preliminary material investigates Polycarpian traditions andreconstructs an outline of his life. The introductory studies for both Philippians and the Martyrdom discuss text and manuscript traditions, date and place of composition, historical setting, literary genre and style, unity and integrity, purpose and themes, theology, and post-compositioninfluence. The volume also explores communal self-definition, moral formation, and the transmission of traditions, including the use of documents now found in the New Testament. The commentary proceeds passage by passage, but also includes lengthy discussions of critical issues and keyinterpretive questions. The investigations survey the current status of relevant scholarship and contain balanced discussions of controversial topics and scholarly debates.

    While he is still well-known among our French-speaking brothers, most English-speaking evangelicals have scarcely heard of him. In God's providence Constance Walker 'stumbled' upon a dusty, seemingly obscure volume from 1856 containing Monod's death-bed meditations. She found these meditations to be filled with life and peace and often joy, even as the speaker was suffering from intense, unremitting pain. Beyond that, the messages displayed a beautiful balance between logic and feeling, between appeals to the head and to the heart. Monod set out a lofty standard for the Christian life, while managing to make that standard winsomely appealing. Monod was called 'the voice of the Awakening'. His impact was enormous, as he labored to awaken the nominal Christians of his era to a living, vibrant, personal faith in Jesus Christ and as he challenged those who had such faith to live more wholeheartedly for their Savior. The richness of his classic, romantic prose is only matched by the richness of his thought and the depth of his love for his Savior.

    Remarkably, the memoir she created that year survives today, as do more than two thousand additional pages she composed over the following three decades. Sarah Osborn's World is the first book to mine this remarkable woman’s prolific personal and spiritual record. Catherine Brekus recovers the largely forgotten story of Sarah Osborn's life as one of the most charismatic female religious leaders of her time, while also connecting her captivating story to the rising evangelical movement in eighteenth-century America.A schoolteacher in Rhode Island, a wife, and a mother, Sarah Osborn led a remarkable revival in the 1760s that brought hundreds of people, including many slaves, to her house each week. Her extensive written record—encompassing issues ranging from the desire to be "born again" to a suspicion of capitalism—provides a unique vantage point from which to view the emergence of evangelicalism. Brekus sets Sarah Osborn's experience in the context of her revivalist era and expands our understanding of the birth of the evangelical movement—a movement that transformed Protestantism in the decades before the American Revolution.

    Its object is to trace out their story and record it for a memorial to all generations. The world has written at large the history of its sleeping multitudes, it becomes the Church of Christ to record the simpler, briefer annals of its awakened ones. Doubtless, their record is on high, written more imperishably than the world can ever accomplish for its sons, yet still it is well for earth to have a record of those of whom the world was not worthy.Their story is as full of interest as it is of importance. The waking up of each soul would be matter enough for a history, its various shakings and startings up, ere it was fully aroused; the word or the stroke that effected the work; the time, the way in which it became awake for eternity and for God, as well as its new course of light after it awoke — all these are fraught with an interest to which nothing of time or earth can ever once be compared. And then, when the voice of God awakes not one, but thousands, it may be in a day; when whole villages and districts seem as if arising and putting on new life — how intensely, how unutterably interesting! At such a crisis it seems as if the world itself were actually beginning to awake — as if the shock that had broken the slumbers of so many were about to shake the whole world together. Yet alas! the tokens of life soon vanish. The half-awakened sleepers sink back into deeper slumber, and the startled world lies down in still more sad and desperate security.The history of the Church is full of these awakenings, some on a larger and some on a smaller scale. Indeed, such narratives as those with which this work abounds form the true history of the Church, if we are to take our ideas of this from the inspired Church-history given us in the Acts of the Apostles. Many a wondrous scene has been witnessed from the day of Pentecost downwards to our own day, and what volume better deserves the attention and study of the believer than that which contains the record of these outpourings of the Spirit? Besides the interest that cleaves to them there is much to be learned from them by the Church. To see how God has been working, and to mark the means and instruments by which he has carried on his work, cannot fail to be profitable and quickening. It makes us sensible of our own shortcomings, and it points out the way by which the blessing may be secured."

    The Dance between God and Humanity brings together thirty-one articles written by Bruce Waltke, reformed evangelical professor of Old Testament and Hebrew, on fascinating topics in biblical theology including: Studying the Psalms devotionally The text and canon of the Old Testament Preaching Proverbs Biblical authority Doing theology for the people of God Evangelical spirituality Old Testament texts about human reproduction Reflections on retirement The role of women in the Bible And much more!

    But what has often not been sufficiently attended to is the fact that he carried out his theological and philosophicallabours as a part of his vocation as a Dominican friar, dedicated to a life of preaching and the care of souls. Fererick Christian Bauerschmidt places Aquinas's thought within the context of that vocation, and argues that his views on issues of God, creation, Christology, soteriology, and theChristian life are both shaped by and in service to the distinctive goals of the Dominicans. What Aquinas says concerning both matters of faith and matters of reason, as well as his understanding of the relationship between the two, are illuminated by the particular Dominican call to serve Godthrough handing on to others through preaching and teaching the fruits of one's own theological reflection.

    His straightforward, honest, and biblical preaching brought the gospel of Jesus Christ to thousands upon thousands of his countrymen. Through thirty years of ministry, his voice was the clearest and most influential in England for the great truths of the Reformation and set the standards for generations of English-speaking preachers to follow. His faith in Christ while facing death at the stake continues to inspire Christians nearly five centuries later.

    Relying on both social science and theology, Finn then turns to the implications of this history for economic life today. Throughout, the book invites the reader to engage the sources and to develop an answer to the volumes basic question.

    H. Bavinck Reader gathers together a choice selection of Bavinck's significant writings that are essential for understanding his theology of missions, his approach to world religions, and his religious psychology. His treatment of religious consciousness and Christian faith expands on the brief treatment of it in his own work The Church Between Temple and Mosque. The concluding chapters show how Bavinck's theoretical reflection on religious consciousness was rooted in his close observation during his years as a missionary in Indonesia.Offering a constructive way forward, Bavinck affirms both the particularity of salvation in Christ and the universality of the Christian hope. A substantial introduction enhances the book with the most thorough biographical sketch of Bavinck available.]]>

    No doubt we sometimes feel this way. This book on the man from Yale by Brian Najapfour will help remedy the problem of prayerlessness. For that reason alone I am grateful for this enjoyable read on the prayer life of Jonathan Edwards.” —Dr. Mark Jones, Minister of Faith Presbyterian Church (PCA), Vancouver, British Columbia and Research Associate, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa ______________________________“Brian Najapfour weaves together a beautiful tapestry of theology and piety, of doctrine and devotion, from the life, sermons and writings of Jonathan Edwards. You’ll end up knowing much more about this godly man; but, if you follow his example, you’ll end up knowing even more about God.” —Dr. David P. Murray, Professor of Old Testament and Practical Theology, Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary _________________________“Historically informed and contemporarily relevant, Jonathan Edwards: His Doctrine of & Devotion to Prayer equips one in the life of prayer.” —Dr. Adriaan C. Neele, Associate Editor and Director of the Jonathan Edwards Center, Yale University Divinity School

    They recognize that he authored one of the most popular hymns of all time, Amazing Grace . The other thing they sometimes know is that he was a slaveship captain before he wrote that hymn. Those facts are true, but there is a great deal more to his story!

    When Elector Frederick III (1515–1576) commissioned the preparation of a manual for instructing the youth and guiding the pastors and teachers of his domain, he could not have imagined the profound effect it would have on future generations of Christians. The most widely used, most influential Reformation catechism, the “Heidelberger” shines forth the blessed truths of the gospel in 129 questions and answers, beginning with the memorable, ever-enduring subject of our “only comfort in life and in death.”In A Faith Worth Teaching , edited by Jon Payne and Sebastian Heck, an array of faithful pastor-scholars celebrate the Heidelberg Catechism on its 450th anniversary with a collection of essays on its dynamic history, rich theology, and fruit-bearing practice that will be an encouragement to pastors and laypersons alike. Table of Contents: Foreword: the Heidelberg Catechism: the Secret of its Success - Herman J. Selderhuis Part 1: The History and Background of the Heidelberg Catechism 1. The History and People Behind the Heidelberg Catechism - Lyle D. Bierma 2. The Heidelberg Catechism in the United States - D. G. Hart Part 2: The Heidelberg Catechism and the Means of Grace 3. Holding Firmly to the Heidelberger: The Validity and Relevance of Catechism Preaching - Joel R. Beeke 4. Preaching the Catechism Today - Joel R. Beeke 5. “Washed from All My Sins”: The Doctrine of Baptism in the Heidelberg Catechism - Sebastian Heck 6. “As Certainly As I See and Taste”: The Lord’s Supper and the Heidelberg Catechism – Jon D. Payne Part 3: Christian Doctrine and the Heidelberg Catechism 7. Gathered, Protected, and Preserved: The Church in the Heidelberg Catechism - Michael S. Horton 8. Grace and Gratitude: Justification and Sanctification in the Heidelberg Catechism - Cornelis P. Venema 9. The Christology of the Heidelberg catechism - Mark Jones 10. “Prophet, Doctor Jesus”: the Son of God as “Our High Priest and Teacher” in the Heidelberg Catechism - Victor E. d’Assonville 11. The Spirit-Filled Catechism: The Heidelberg Catechism and the Holy Spirit - Daniel R. Hyde Part 4: The Heidelberg Catechism As Catechetical Tool 12. The Heidelberg Catechism Among the Reformed Catechisms - W. Robert Godfrey 13. The Heidelberg Catechism: A Catechetical Tool - Willem Verboom 14. Scholasticism in the Heidelberg Catechism? - Willem van ’t Spijker

    This issue was a primary cause of the division between the two Churches and the events that followed the schism of 1054: the sack of Constantinople by the crusaders in 1204, the appointment by Pope Innocent III of a Latin patriarch of Constantinople, and the establishment of Uniatism as a method and model of union. Always a topic in ecumenical dialogue, the issue of primacy has appeared to be an insurmountable obstacle to the realization of full unity between Roman Catholicism and the Orthodox Christianity.In this timely and comprehensive work, Maximos Vgenopoulos analyzes the response of major Orthodox thinkers to the Catholic understanding of the primary of the pope over the last two centuries, showing the strengths and weaknesses of these positions. Covering a broad range of primary and secondary sources and thinkers, Vgenopoulos approaches the issue of primacy with an open and ecumenical manner that looks forward to a way of resolving this most divisive issue between the two Churches. For the first time here the thought of Greek and Russian Orthodox theologians regarding primacy is brought together systematically and compared to demonstrate the emergence of a coherent view of primacy in accordance with the canonical principles of the Orthodox Church. In looking at crucial Greek-language sources Vgenopoulos makes a unique contribution by providing an account of the debate on primacy within the Greek Orthodox Church.Primacy in the Church from Vatican I to Vatican II is an invaluable resource on the official dialogue taking place between the Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church today. This important book will be of broad interest to historians, theologians, seminarians, and all those interested in Orthodox-Catholic relations.

    

    Unlike any of these other guides, in the present work an entire church subject to Islamic persecution sought the counsel of its sole Eastern sister church that was free from Muslim conquest. This pastoral guide for a church under Islam sets forth a pattern meant for a patriarchate to apply in addressing issues arising in a society under the domination of an alien religion that regarded itself as superior by nature.In addition to the main issue, the twelfth-century document has a number of interesting features relevant for Church history, including its record of ancient Christian practices regarding liturgy, fasting, preparation for the Eucharist, burial of the dead, deaconesses, and the internal life of Arabic Christians living in what would become modern Egypt, Palestine, Lebanon, and Syria. The translation as well as its annotations and introductory history represent a time capsule of the Church's history in the aftermath of the Muslim conquests of the Middle East and just before the taking of Constantinople in 1204 by the Latin Crusaders.-Patrick Viscuso's Guide for a Church under Islām makes a welcome contribution not just to the history of canon law, but perhaps more importantly to the history of Christianity under Islām, a much-neglected area of Church history that increases in relevance to modern Church life with every passing day in the early decades of the twenty-first century.---Sidney H. GriffithThe Catholic University of America

    But America has been the fertile seed bed for what William James famously called "varieties of religious experience." These experiences cover a wide spectrum from classic mysticism to revivalist conversion to a contemporary pursuit of spirituality. A Sense of the Heart traces the nature of religious experience from the colonial era to the present, defining its nature while describing common and distinct approaches in the work of various writers and practitioners. A Sense of the Heart offers a historical review of representative types of religious experience, the nature of such experiences and its impact on the American religious and cultural context as evident in awakenings, controversies, denominations, and new religious communities.

    Few events in the history of the modern Catholic Church have been as far-reaching as the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965). And few have been as controversial. No one denies great changes have come about since the close of the Council. Have the changes been all good, all bad, or a mixture of both? To what extent were the changes, for good or ill, the result of the Council itself?Critics on both the theological left and theological right see the Council as a radical break with the past. Some people on the theological left claim the spirit of Vatican II supports their rejection of many firmly established Catholic beliefs and practices. Some on the theological right accuse the Council of abandoning certain fundamental Catholic tenets in the name of updating the Church.The popes of the Council--John XXII and Paul VI--and their successors-- John Paul I, John Paul II and Benedict XVI, who also participated in the Council--have insisted that the Council itself was the work of the Holy Spirit. They have aggressively criticized misinterpretations and distortions of it. They insist that the Council be understood in fundamental continuity with the Church's Tradition, even while deepening the Church's self-understand and calling for authentic reforms and renewal of Catholic life.Readers can learn for themselves what the Second Vatican Council taught using this highly-accessible collection of its basic texts.This book uses the Catholic Truth Society translation and features: -The Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium-The Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium-The Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation, Dei Verbum -The Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World,Gaudium et SpesFour major aspects of the Church's life--the Sacred Liturgy, the mystery of the Church herself, the Word of God, and the Church in the world as it is today--are explored. No 21st century Catholic should be without these four foundational texts in this superb translation and high-quality edition. Plus, the collection includes an introductory essay by Pope Benedict XVI explaining how best to understand the Second Vatican Council in the history of the Church.

    Paine in 1832 presents to the English speaking world, it’s single greatest piece of written literature known to the English tongue as the King James Bible. It was the King James Bible that produced the two greatest awakenings on two separate continents. The King James Bible is still the preferred choice of English speaking people. When you read the preface or introduction to a new translation and you will see that the critical attitude of the translators is rather unlike that of the translators of the King James Version. In the “Epistle Dedicatory” to their work, which is still printed at the front of some editions, the translators of the Authorized Version stated: “We are poor instruments to make God’s holy Truth to be yet more and more known unto the people.”Read the biographies of the men who translated the King James Version, "The Learned Men".

    The present volume mirrors the increasing specialization of Old Testament studies, including the Hebrew and Greek Bibles, and reflects rich research activity that has unfolded over the last four decades in Pentateuch theory, Septuagint scholarship, Qumran studies and early Jewish exegesis of biblical texts. The second half of the volume discusses the period running from the New Testament to 600, including chapters on the Coptic, Syriac and Latin bibles, the 'Gnostic' use of the scriptures, pagan engagement with the Bible, the use of the Bible in Christian councils and in popular and non-literary culture. A fascinating in-depth account of the reception of the Bible in the earliest period of its history.

    The importance of the monastic movement in the Persian Empire, during the time of the composition and redaction of the Babylonian Talmud, fostered a literary connection between the two religious populations. The shared literary elements in the literatures of these two elite religious communities sheds new light on the surprisingly inclusive nature of the Talmudic corpora and on the non-polemical nature of elite Jewish-Christian literary relations in late antique Persia.

    Another Great Pure Gold Classic for Your Personal Library

    This collection of insights from leading scholars makes accessible a discussion often elusive to those not already conversant in the categories of European philosophy.

    Interest in the wide assortment of texts not included in the Bible has remained strong ever since. Although much has been written and said on the subject, misunderstandings still abound. Tony Burke's Secret Scriptures Revealed dismantles the many myths and misconceptions about the Christian Apocrypha and straightforwardly answers common questions like these: Where did the apocryphal texts come from and who wrote them? Why were they not included in the Bible? Is reading these texts harmful to personal faith? The book describes and explains numerous fascinating apocryphal stories, including many that are not well known. Instead of dismissing or smearing the Christian Apocrypha, Burke shows how these texts can help us better understand early Christian communities and the canonical Bible.

    It finds Modernist interest in the aesthetic peculiarity of icons significant, and essential for re-evaluating their relationship to non-representational art. Drawing on classical Greek art criticism, Byzantine ekphraseis and hymnography, and the theologies of St. Maximus the Confessor, St. Symeon the New Theologian and St. Gregory Palamas, the author argues that the ancient Greek concept of enargeia best conveys the expression of theophany and theosis in art. The qualities that define enargeia - inherent liveliness, expressive autonomy and self-subsisting form - are identified in exemplary Greek and Russian icons and considered in the context of the hesychastic theology that lies at the heart of Orthodox Christianity. An Orthodox aesthetics is thus outlined that recognizes the transcendent being of art and is open to dialogue with diverse pictorial and iconographic traditions. An examination of Ch'an (Zen) art theory and a comparison of icons with paintings by Wassily Kandinsky, Pablo Picasso, Mark Rothko and Marc Chagall, and by Japanese artists influenced by Zen Buddhism, reveal intriguing points of convergence and difference. The reader will find in these pages reasons to reconcile Modernism with the Christian image and Orthodox tradition with creative form in art.

    In this book, Simon Webb presents a complete version of the Letter, together with a detailed assessment of both the the Letter and Fox’s journey to Barbados.‘The title makes the book sound like an Enid Blyton book, the latest of George’s adventures around the world. Such a series would be a fine idea if it is written in the same vivid way as this little book by Simon Webb’Claire Marie White in The Friend

    His theological vision--the neopatristic synthesis--became the main paradigm of Orthodox theology and the golden standard of Eastern Orthodox identity in the West. Focusing onFlorovsky's European period (1920-1948), this study analyzes how Florovsky's evolving interpretation of Russian religious thought, particularly Vladimir Solovyov and Sergius Bulgakov, informed his approach to patristic sources. Paul Gavrilyuk offers a new reading of Florovsky's neopatristictheology, by closely considering its ontological, epistemological, and ecclesiological foundations.It is common to contrast Florovsky's neopatristic theology with the modernist religious philosophies of Pavel Florensky, Sergius Bulgakov, and other representatives of the Russian Religious Renaissance. Gavrilyuk argues that the standard narrative of twentieth-century Orthodox theology, based onthis polarization, must be reconsidered. The author demonstrates Florovsky's critical appropriation of the main themes of the Russian Religious Renaissance, including theological antinomies, the meaning of history, and the nature of personhood. The distinctive features of Florovsky's neopatristictheology--Christological focus, ecclesial experience, personalism, and Christian Hellenism--are best understood against the background of the main problematic of the Renaissance. Specifically, it is shown that Bulgakov's sophiology provided a polemical subtext for Florovsky's theology ofcreation. It is argued that the use of the patristic norm in application to modern Russian theology represents Florovsky's theological signature.Drawing on unpublished archival material and correspondence, this study sheds new light on such aspects of Florovsky's career as his family background, his participation in the Eurasian movement, his dissertation on Alexander Herzen, his lectures on Vladimir Solovyov, and his involvement inBulgakov's Brotherhood of St Sophia.

    This is certainly true when one considers the extent to which southern culture is dominated by evangelical rhetoric and ideas. However, in Alabama onenon-evangelical group has played a significant role in shaping the state’s history. J. Barry Vaughn explains that, although the Episcopal Church has always been a small fraction (around 1 percent) of Alabama’s population, an inordinately high proportion, close to 10 percent, of Alabama’s significant leaders have belonged to this denomination. Many of these leaders came to the Episcopal Church from other denominations because they were attracted to the church’s wide degree of doctrinal latitude and laissez-faire attitude toward human frailty.Vaughn argues that the church was able to attract many of the state’s governors, congressmen, and legislators by positioning itself as the church of conservative political elites in the state--the planters before the Civil War, the “Bourbons” after the Civil War, and the “Big Mules” during industrialization. He begins this narrative by explaining how Anglicanism came to Alabama and then highlights how Episcopal bishops and congregation members alike took active roles in key historic movements including the Civil War, Reconstruction, and the Civil Rights Movement. Bishops, Bourbons, and Big Mules closes with Vaughn’s own predictions about the fate of the Episcopal Church in twenty-first-century Alabama.

    Volume one traces the history of the Christian Church from the time of the apostles to the twelfth century. Jones includes helpful chronological tables of the kings, princes as well as the Popes, and emperors. Volume two starts at the time of the reformer Peter Waldo, A. D. 1160, and continues through the days of Wycliffe into the fourteenth century, and to the end of the seventeenth century. At the end there is an 80 page appendix of letters from Waldensian clergy members. Even during the world’s midnight, when the dark cloud of papal superstition was spread in blackness over the moral sky of the civilized nations, here and there a star was seen, bright, beautiful and peculiar, pouring celestial splendor upon the surrounding gloom. When Popery was the world’s despot—when, with all deceivableness of unrighteousness, the Man of Sin had ascended to the throne of universal dominion—when Rome, under the Pontiff’s more than under the Caesars, was the mistress of the world—when the Pope had successfully maintained his right to dispose of sceptres and croziers, kingdoms and continents, according to his sovereign and arbitrary pleasure—when the kings and the chief captains of earth were his sycophants and serving men—even then there were multitudes of the meek and humble followers of our Savior who defied his power and refused to acknowledge his supremacy. And in this, history is the verification of prophecy. The same inspired seer that foretells the rise and reign of the Roman Anti-Christ, also predicts the persecutions and privations of those who, during the night of his dominion, should suffer for the witness of Jesus and the word of God. The church of God, though cast down, was never destroyed. The gates of hell never prevailed against it. God reserved myriads to himself who would not bow the knee to the Pope of Rome—who would not become his slaves and receive his mark upon their foreheads and in their hands. The papal church reeled intoxicated with their blood, but she never subdued them. They were horribly persecuted, and driven into the caves and dens of the earth, but they were never conquered. In the recesses of the wilderness and in the clefts of the mountains, they worshipped God in spirit and in truth, uncontaminated by surrounding corruptions and unterrified by the frowns of power. Eminent among these witnesses for the truth in times of general apostacy, stand the Waldenses. They first appear prominent in history in the twelfth century. Long before that, no doubt, in the valleys of the Alps, they had maintained the true religion, having retreated from the corruptions and persecutions of the Roman church.

    

    They considered seriously the implications of right theology on both growth in grace and holiness and the spiritual comfort of believers. Keenly aware of this vital link between theology and practice, they drew up the Canons of Dort in a manner that astutely rebutted from Scripture the Arminian Remonstrants, point by point, arguing the veracity of the doctrines of predestination, particular atonement, total depravity, effectual grace and the perseverance of the saints-the five points that have come to be known as ''the doctrines of grace." Matthew Barrett opens a window on the synod's deliberations with the Remonstrants and examines the main emphases of the canons, with special attention on their relationship to biblical piety and spirituality. For example, the doctrine of predestination is shown from Scripture to establish not just God's electing grace but assurance of salvation-comforting believers that the God who saved them will preserve them to the very end. As Dr. Barrett examines the Canons of Dort it becomes clear why they are so important. Indeed, the piety and godliness that saturates these seventeenth-century canons shows they are as relevant for the church today as they were then. Wow! I really like this book. Matthew Barrett has given us history, theology, ministerial counsel and impetus to true piety in this treatment of the Synod and Canons of Dort. The brief but vibrant historical accounts are informative, his guidance in some thick theological discussion is expert, and his focus on piety leads us to the true purpose of all theology the production of a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. Dr. Barrett s continual insistence on the necessity of monergism for a truly biblical grasp of the character of salvation from beginning to end is a much needed emphasis for contemporary evangelicalism. The appendices provide valuable source material. This is an excellent account of a vitally important subject. Tom J. Nettles, Professor of Historical Theology, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, Kentucky Matthew Barrett offers a wonderfully simple and direct exposition of one of the more misunderstood confessions of faith. The Canons of Dort are often vilified, but under closer examination Barrett demonstrates that they are biblical and pastoral and a potent tonic for a flagging faith. Tolle et lege, take up and read! J.V. Fesko Academic Dean, Professor of Systematic and Historical Theology, Westminster Seminary California By breathing new life into historic events, documents and people, Matthew makes them speak to our culture, our churches and our hearts. David P. Murray Professor of Old Testament and Practical Theology, Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary, Grand Rapids, Michigan By reducing the discussion of Calvinism and the doctrines of grace to the simplified acrostic T-U-L-I-P, I m afraid we have generated far more heat than light. A book that looks deeply within, behind and around the five points of Calvinism is long overdue. Whether you find yourself saying Yea or Nay to the five points, we all need to say thank you to Dr. Barrett for his delightful, informative and light-generating book. Stephen J. Nichols Research Professor of Christianity and Culture, Lancaster Bible College, Lancaster, Pennsylvania

    Yet many of Anselm's solutions to those timeless problems of how to deal with other people and how to speak about God are fresh even today, nine hundred years after he lived. Simonetta's book is a very fine introduction for children to Anselm, his world, and his role in it." Dr. Samu Niskanen, research fellow in history at Helsinki University and author of a new critical edition of Anselm's correspondence "It's delightful to see that an increasing number of Christian authors are bringing strong Christians in history to life in short biographies for young people. This short biography of Anselm of Canterbury is a good example of this wonderful trend. Young readers will become familiar with a man whom sadly few have ever heard of but who should be remembered for his witness of God's work." Tom Garfield, superintendent, Logos School, Moscow, Idaho

    It is no accident that the Inquisition followed quickly on the heels of the Crusades, just as it is no coincidence that the Crusades as well as the Inquisition have been greatly misunderstood over the centuries, with popular historians focusing on and, indeed, exaggerating the "atrocities" committed by Christian armies and Inquisitors. Recent research has reversed many of these misconceptions, and the results will be enlightening to anyone curious about this much-disputed period in Christian history. In this unique book, which combines discussion of both events and shows how they are related, Fr. John Vidmar, OP, offers a magisterial synthesis of the latest research and brings his own extensive knowledge as a historian of this era to provide an accessible, eminently readable book that will be indispensable to students and average readers alike.

    Judah and Jerusalem were wholly his creation, and though the united kingdom of Israel founded by him and Saul together soon fell to pieces, the recollection of it nevertheless continued in all time to be proudly cherished by the whole body of the people. His personal character has been often treated with undue disparagement. For this we must chiefly blame his canonization by the later Jewish tradition which made a Levitical saint of him and a pious hymn-writer.

    Mid-late 20th century liturgical scholarship, upon which the liturgical reforms of the Second Vatican Council were predicated and implemented, no longer stands unquestioned. The liturgical and ecclesial springtime the reforms of Paul VI were expected to facilitate has failed to emerge, leaving many questions as to their wisdom and value.Quo vadis Catholic liturgy? This Companion brings together a variety of scholars who consider this question at the beginning of the 21st century in the light of advances in liturgical scholarship, decades of post-Vatican II experience and the critical re-examination in the West of the question of the liturgy promoted by Benedict XVI. The contributors, each eminent in their field, have distinct takes on how to answer this question, but each makes a significant contribution to contemporary debate, making this Companion an essential reference for the study of Western Catholic liturgy in history and in the light of contemporary scholarship and debate.

    Eugene Webb explores the sources of that divide, looking at how the Eastern and Western Christian worlds drifted apart due both to the different ways they interpreted their symbols and to the different roles political power played in their histories. Previous studies have focused on historical events or on the history of theological ideas. In Search of the Triune God delves deeper by exploring how the Christian East and the Christian West have conceived the relation between symbol and experience.Webb demonstrates that whereas for Western Christianity discussion of the doctrine of the Trinity has tended toward speculation about the internal structure of the Godhead, in the Eastern tradition the symbolism of the Triune God has always been closely connected to religious experience. In their approaches to theology, Western Christianity has tended toward a speculative theology, and Eastern Christianity toward a mystical theology.This difference of focus has led to a large range of fundamental differences in many areas not only of theology but also of religious life. Webb traces the history of the pertinent symbols (God as Father, Son of God, Spirit of God, Messiah, King, etc.) from the Hebrew Bible and New Testament through patristic thinkers and the councils that eventually defined orthodoxy. In addition, he shows how the symbols, interpreted through the different cultural lenses of the East and the West, gradually took on meanings that became the material of very different worldviews, especially as the respective histories of the Eastern and Western Christian worlds led them into different kinds of entanglement with ambition and power.Through this incisive exploration, Webb offers a dramatic and provocative new picture of the history of Christianity.

    The empire confronted bubonic plague, civil war, famine, and catastrophic Persian invasions. Meanwhile, Andrew, archbishop of Caesarea, was tasked with writing what would become the first Greek patristic commentary on the Apocalypse and the single most influential commentary on any biblical book. Andrew preserved existing Eastern Apocalypse interpretation and applied his own exegetical skills to create a commentary that remains fresh and remarkably contemporary.

    It brings alive a passionate argument over the holiness of the Name of God which shook the Tsarist and Balkan world on the eve of the first world war. Better than any other chronicler of the tragedy that came to a head in the main monastic stronghold of the Christian East, he combines a clear view of the theological stakes with a keen sense of the politics, both secular and ecclesiastical, which determined the outcome. Dykstra also manages to situate the Imperial Russian quarrel over sacred names in the broader sweep of the history of monotheism." - Bruce Clark, Writer on religion and public policy, The Economist, www.economist.com

    The allegation fostered tensions between Christians and Jews that would explode into violence across Germany and Austria. And pilgrimage shrines were built on the sites where supposed desecrations had led to miracles or to anti-Semitic persecutions. Exploring the legends, cult forms, imagery, and architecture of these host-miracle shrines, Pilgrimage and Pogrom reveals how they not only reflected but also actively shaped Christian anti-Judaism in the two centuries before the Reformation. Mitchell B. Merback studies surviving relics and eucharistic cult statues, painted miracle cycles and altarpieces, propaganda broadsheets, and more in an effort to explore how accusation and legend were transformed into propaganda and memory. Merback shows how persecution and violence became interdependent with normative aspects of Christian piety, from pilgrimage to prayers for the dead, infusing them with the ideals of crusade. Valiantly reconstructing the cult environments created for these sacred places, Pilgrimage and Pogrom is an illuminating look at Christian-Jewish relations in premodern Europe.

    Most Christians have never heard of most of these early Christians, except for a few persons like Tertullian and Justin Martyr. As a result, when most Christians today run across names like Irenaeus or Cyprian, they have no idea of who these people are. So that the names don't all run together, the orthodox early Christians are divided into three groups: 1. The apologists and other writers2. The church leaders3. Famous martyrsThe book also provides information on some of the prominent heretics of the pre-Nicene church.42 pp.

    Ever since the early Church, Christian thinkers had conceived of their peace separate from the peace of the world, guarded by the sacraments and shared only grudgingly with powers and principalities. To kingdoms and communities they had allowed attenuated versions of this peace, modes of accommodation and domination that had tranquility as the goal. After 1000, reformers in the papal curia and monks and canons in the intellectual circles of northern France began to reimagine the Church as an engine of true peace, whose task it was eventually to absorb all peoples through progressive acts of revolutionary peacemaking. Peace as they envisioned it became a mandate for reform through conflict, coercion, and insurrection. And the pursuit of mere tranquility appeared dangerous, and even diabolical.As Malegam shows, within western Christendom's major centers of intellectual activity and political thought, the clergy competed over the meaning and monopolization of the term peace, contrasting it with what one canon lawyer called the sleep of Behemoth, a diabolical false peace of lassitude and complacency, one that produced unsuitable forms of community and friendship that must be overturned at all costs. Out of this contest over the meaning and ownership of true peace, Malegam concludes, medieval thinkers developed theologies that shaped secular political theory in the later Middle Ages. The Sleep of Behemoth traces this radical experiment in redefining the meaning of peace from the papal courts of Rome and the schools of Laon, Liege, and Paris to its gradual spread across the continent and its impact on such developments as the rise of papal monarchism; the growth of urban, communal self-government; and the emergence of secular and mystical scholasticism.

    After locating Ussher in the ecclesiastical context of seventeenth-century Ireland and England, Snoddy examines histeaching on the doctrines of atonement, justification, sanctification, and assurance. He considers their interconnection in Ussher's thought, particularly the manner in which a general atonement functions as the ground of justification and the extent to which it functions as the ground of assurance.The book documents Ussher's change of mind on a number of important issues, especially how, from holding to a limited atonement and an assurance that is of the essence of faith, he moved to belief in a general atonement and an assurance obtained through experimental piety. Within the framework ofone widely accepted scholarly paradigm he appears to move from one logically inconsistent position to another, but his thought contains an inner logic that questions the explanatory power of that paradigm. This insightful study sheds new light on the diversity of seventeenth-century Reformedtheology in the British Isles.