Church History
Showing 101–150 of 472 results
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Larger Hope : Universal Salvation From The Reformation To The Nineteenth Ce
$31.00Add to cartThis book aims to uncover and explore the ideas of notable people in the story of Christian universalism from the time of the Reformation until the end of the nineteenth century. It is a story that is largely unknown in both the church and the academy, and the characters that populate it have for the most part passed into obscurity. With carefully located bore holes drilled to release the long-hidden theologies of key people and texts, the volume seeks to display and historically situate the roots, shapes, and diversity of Christian universalism. Here we discover a diverse and motley crew of mystics and scholars, social prophets and end-time sectarians, evangelicals and liberals, orthodox and heretics, Calvinists and Arminians, Puritans, Pietists, and a host of others. The story crisscrosses Continental Europe, Britain, and America, and its reverberations remain with us to this day.
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John Henry Newman And His Age
$47.00Add to cartMany books exist devoted to the life, thought, and writings of Blessed John Henry Newman, the premier Catholic theologian in nineteenth-century England. His influence has been enormous, perhaps especially on Vatican II (1962-65). This book is a Newman primer, and not only a primer about Newman himself, but also about his time and place in church history. It attends to the papacy during his lifetime, his companions and friends, some of his peers at Oxford University, the First Vatican Council (1869-70), as well as some of his writing and theology. It should be especially helpful to an interested reader who has no particular background in nineteenth-century church history or in Newman himself.
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5 Events That Made Christianity
$14.99Add to cartWith characteristic style, John Pritchard takes us on pilgrimage to the Holy Land, as he unpacks the five great events that made Christianity – Christmas, Good Friday, Easter, Ascension and Pentecost. We explore: “What happened?” “What did it mean?” “What does it mean for us?” Absorbing, immediate and full of stories, this volume offers deeply considered theology, brilliantly communicated to connect with life as we actually experience it.
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Lion Of Judah
$16.99Add to cartIf Jesus is a Jew, why is there a wedge between Christianity and Judaism?
If Jews and Christians both believe in the same God, why is there such division? Why is history littered with deathly accounts of this division, from the early Jewish persecution of Christians to the Crusades’ slaughtering of Jews?
The Lion of Judah unpacks the roots of this division, showing how jealousy, theology, the law, and the integration of Gentile believers into what was once a predominantly Jewish early church contributed to the schism. It then goes on to reveal how Jesus magnificently fulfilled every word in the Bible. Readers will discover why the Lion of Judah is the rightful Lord and King of all people-Jews, Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, Sikhs, atheists, and the rest of creation.
This book will help Christians understand the history of Christianity and Judaism, get into greater alignment with God’s plan of redemption, be better equipped to share the gospel with Jewish people, and become more sensitive to and appreciative of their Hebraic heritage.
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Foxes Book Of Martyrs
$19.99Add to cartIn 1563, John Foxe published an account of the life of Christian martyrs, beginning with Stephen, the first to die for the cause of Christ, and ending with the most recent martyrs of his day–Protestants killed during Bloody Mary’s reign. He knew that dangers lay in forgetting the martyrs–in being insensitive to their struggles. They faced torture and death in their fight of faith, willing to stand for their beliefs and the Word of God regardless of the price. The faithfulness of such historical figures as John Wycliffe, John Huss, Martin Luther, William Tyndale, and so many others has given us our rich Christian heritage. Their courage and dedication inspire us to live for Christ today.
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Swords And Plowshares
$24.99Add to cartEvangelicals are warmongering nationalists–right?
Many assume that evangelicals have always shared the ideology and approach of the Moral Majority. But the truth is much more complex. Historically, evangelical rank and file have not held to one position about war; instead, they are strewn across the spectrum from love of peace to glorying in war.
Timothy Padgett presents evangelicals in their own words. And in so doing he complicates our common perceptions of evangelical attitudes towards war and peace. Evangelical leaders regularly wrote about the temporal and eternal implications of war from World War II to the Vietnam War. Padgett allows us to see firsthand how these evangelicals actually spoke about war and love of country.
Instead of blind ideologues we meet concerned people of conviction struggling to reconcile the demands of a world in turmoil with the rule of the Prince of peace.
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7 Books That Rocked The Church
$19.95Add to cart7 Books That Rocked the Church, by Daniel Crane, explores controversial books throughout history that the Christian church has famously disavowed–and asks the question why?
Engagingly written and thoughtfully researched, this book explores what the “fuss” was all about with books ranging in date from the second century after Christ to more contemporary authors. Books by Karl Marx, Charles Darwin, Galileo Galilei, and many others profoundly upset the church by calling into question foundational Christian doctrines or beliefs. Most of the books discussed here were banned at some time by Christian authorities.
The author’s aim is to challenge Christians to respond critically but open-mindedly to books that oppose a Christian worldview. Readers of 7 Books That Rocked the Church will come away better equipped to answer the charge that the church is intolerant of competing ideas. They will also develop the ability to interact with new and possibly dangerous ideas that comport with Jesus’ admonition to be wise as serpents but gentle as doves. This book also includes discussion questions for further study.
1. Valentinus the Gnostic: Who Doesn’t Love a Conspiracy Theory? (Think The DaVinci Code by Dan Brown)
2. Galileo Galilei: A Scandal of Religion, Science, and Politics
3. Voltaire’s Candide, Enlightenment Rationalism, and the Church’s Thin Skin
4. Darwin’s Origin of Species: The Many Faces of Evolutionary Theory
5. Marx’s Communist Manifesto: The Red Bull of the Masses
6. Sigmund Freud’s Ego
7. Joseph Campbell: Christianity as an (Almost) Enlightened Myth (A book that strongly influenced George Lucas’s Star Wars films)
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Disputed Teaching Of Vatican 2
$43.99Add to cartThe Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) radically shook up many centuries of tradition in the Roman Catholic Church. This book by Thomas Guarino, a noted expert on the sources and methods of Catholic doctrine, investigates whether Vatican II’s highly contested teachings on religious freedom, ecumenism, and the Virgin Mary represented a harmonious development of-or a rupture with-Catholic tradition.
Guarino’s careful explanations of such significant terms as continuity, discontinuity, analogy, reversal, reform, and development greatly enhance and clarify his discussion. No other book on Vatican II so clearly elucidates the essential theological principles for determining whether-and to what extent-a conciliar teaching is in continuity or discontinuity with antecedent tradition.
Readers from all faith traditions who care about the logic of continuity and change in Christian teaching will benefit from this masterful case study.
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Protestant Reformation Of The Church And The World
$55.00Add to cartFrom a distinguished assembly of twelve internationally acclaimed scholars comes this rich, interdisciplinary study that explores the Protestant Reformation and its resultant effects on the church as well as the world.
The Reformation extended from the church to revolutionize art, music, literature, architecture, and aesthetics and transformed economics, trade, and banking; these transformations shifted power away from the church to the state as they unleashed radical new campaigns for freedom, equality, democracy, and constitutional order.
Each contributor to this volume draws on distinctive methods and themes in an effort to understand the Reformation on its own complex terms, as well as to reconstruct its teachings and warnings for our day.
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Rapture And Revelation 3rd Edition
$11.95Add to cartThe world is a mess. Something is desperately wrong in many families and common ground hides wherever common sense went. There’s an end to business as usual in this world and it’s here. Not the literal last day, but the last times. This book won’t tell you what to believe, but will challenge you to get real about why you believe what you do.
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2 Ways : The Early Christian Vision Of Discipleship From The Didache And Th
$8.00Add to cartHow did earliest Christians receive and understand the teaching of Jesus and the apostles? These writings, among the earliest used in training new disciples, show a clear, vibrant, practical faith concerned with all aspects of discipleship in daily life–vocation, morality, family life, social justice, the sacraments, prophesy, citizenship, and leadership.
For the most part, these writings have remained buried in academia, analyzed by scholars but seldom used for building up the church community. Now, at a time when Christians of every persuasion are seeking clarity by returning to the roots of their faith, these simple, direct teachings shed light on what it means to be a follower of Christ in any time or place.
The Didache, an anonymous work composed in the late first century AD, was lost for centuries before being rediscovered in 1873. The Shepherd was written by a former slave named Hermas in the second century AD or possibly even earlier.
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Rise Of Evangelicalism
$40.00Add to cartAcknowledgments
Abbreviations And Short Titles
Introduction
1. Landscapes: Political, Ecclesiastical, Spiritual
2. Antecedents, Stirrings
3. Revival, 1734-1738
4. Revival, Fragmentation, Consolidation, 1738-1745
5. Explanations
6. Development, 1745-1770
7. Diversification, 1770-1795
8. In The World
9. True Religion
Afterword
Select Bibliography
IndexAdditional Info
The word evangelical is widely used and widely misunderstood.Where did evangelicals come from?
What motivated them?
How did their influence become so widespread throughout the world during the eighteenth century?In this paper edition of this inaugural book in a series that charts the course of English-speaking evangelicalism over the last 300 years, Mark Noll offers a multinational narrative of the origin, development and rapid diffusion of evangelical movements in their first two generations. Theology, hymnody, gender, warfare, politics and science are all taken into consideration. But the focus is on the landmark individuals, events and organizations that shaped the story of the beginnings of this vibrant Christian movement.
The revivals in Britain and North America in the mid-eighteenth century proved to be foundational in the development of the movement, its ethos, beliefs and subsequent direction. In these revivals, the core commitments of evangelicals were formed that continue to this day. In this volume you will find the fascinating story of their formation, their strengths and their weaknesses, but always their dynamism.
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Katharina And Martin Luther (Reprinted)
$16.99Add to cartTheir revolutionary marriage was arguably one of the most scandalous and intriguing in history. Yet five centuries later, we still know little about Martin and Katharina Luther’s life as husband and wife. Until now. Against all odds, the unlikely union worked, over time blossoming into the most tender of love stories. This unique biography tells the riveting story of two extraordinary people and their extraordinary relationship, offering refreshing insights into Christian history and illuminating the Luthers’ profound impact on the institution of marriage, the effects of which still reverberate today. By the time they turn the last page, readers will have a deeper understanding of Luther as a husband and father and will come to love and admire Katharina, a woman who, in spite of her pivotal role, has been largely forgotten by history.
Together, this legendary couple experienced joy and grief, triumph and travail. This book brings their private lives and their love story into the spotlight and offers powerful insights into our own twenty-first-century understanding of marriage.
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Covenantal Priesthood : A Narrative Of Community For Baptist Churches
$39.99Add to cartThis work in practical theology begins with an exploration of the psychosocial issues at play in Australian Baptist churches as communities. Many of those who attend such churches, and those like them in Britain and North America, often find a warm sense of welcome and belonging. What follows builds on this positive subjective experience through the lens of Christian community framed by the rich scriptural narrative of covenantal priesthood. Such corporate priesthood, as demonstrated by our early Baptist forebears, comes to joint expression in worship and sharing God’s blessing with his world, and affirms the mutual priestly service of covenanted church community.
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For The Gospels Sake
$48.99Add to cartInformed take on the amazing growth of a very unusual missionary organization
The two-sided mission organization comprising Wycliffe Bible Translators and the Summer Institute of Linguistics is a paradox that begs explanation. The scientific Summer Institute of Linguistics has worked in many countries around the world to translate the New Testament, develop unwritten languages, and educate indigenous communities. At the same time, Wycliffe Bible Translators has been one of the largest, fastest growing, and most controversial evangelical Christian movements during the last century.
In this wide-ranging study Boone Aldridge-a religious historian and twenty-year insider at WBT-SIL-looks back at the organization’s early years, from its inception in 1934 to the death of its visionary founder, William Cameron Townsend, in 1982. He situates the iconic institution within the evolving landscape of mid-twentieth-century evangelicalism, examines its complex and occasionally confusing strategies and policies, and investigates the factors that led, despite persistent criticism from many sides, to its remarkable rise to prominence.
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Christian Peace Experiment
$53.00Add to cartThis book examines part of the development of the Bruderhof community, which emerged in Germany in 1920. Community members sought to model their life on the New Testament. This included sharing goods. The community became part of the Hutterite movement, with its origins in sixteenth-century Anabaptism. After the rise to power of the Nazi regime, the Bruderhof became a target and the community was forcibly dissolved. Members who escaped from Germany and travelled to England were welcomed as refugees from persecution and a community was established in the Cotswolds. In the period 1933 to 1942, when the Bruderhof’s witness was advancing in Britain, its members were in touch with many individuals and movements. This book covers the Bruderhof’s connections with (among others) the Fellowship of Reconciliation, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the Peace Pledge Union, the social work of Muriel and Doris Lester in East London, Jewish refugee groups, and artistic pioneers like Eric Gill. As significant numbers of British people joined the Bruderhof, its farming, publishing and arts and crafts activities extended considerably. But with the outbreak of the Second World War, German members came to be regarded with suspicion and British members became unpopular locally because they were pacifists. Although the Bruderhof was defended in Parliament, notably by Lady Astor, it seemed that German members would be interned as enemy aliens. The consequence was that by 1942 over 300 community members had left England. With Mennonite assistance, they began to forge a new life in South America. This book traces a remarkable Christian peace experiment being undertaken in a time of great political upheaval.
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Faith In A Pluralist Age
$42.00Add to cartMost academics agree with Peter Berger that pluralism theory appears more accurate than secularization theory in accounting for the societal changes that accompany modernization. Yet Berger’s earlier book Many Altars of Modernity gives limited attention to the implications of the pluralist paradigm for religious discourse, in particular for evangelicals. According to Berger–who wrote the first chapter in this book–while pluralism leads to less certainty about faith and creates “”secular spaces,”” it also, more positively, clarifies the importance of trust in God, highlights the nature of religious institutions as voluntary associations rather than birth rights, and challenges Christians to know what they believe in. Subsequent chapters respond to the first. Four responses are theoretical (e.g., challenging the concept of secular spaces, exploring social constructionism) and four are contextual (e.g., describing anti-pluralist forces in India, challenging feminists to pluralism, examining women’s responses to pluralism, and exploring values in Brazil and China). The ideas are easily accessible to the lay reader and are intended to initiate a much-needed conversation about the implications of pluralist theory. We conclude that pluralism is challenging for Christian faith but, as Peter Berger says, in most ways it is “”good for you.””
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Defenders Of The Faith
$11.99Add to cartThis title, released in association with Essential Christian, will accompany a set of seminars for Spring Harvest 2018 under the overall theme of ‘Only the Brave’. The church has been under attack from its inception, but certain struggles seemed to threaten its very existence. In this inspiring book, Dr Matthew Knell celebrates some of these key figures who have kept the church alive in the midst of great adversity, exploring three major periods of persecution from the early church to the present day. This fascinating journey begins with Irenaeus of Lyon, who battled courageously against the theological threat of Gnosticism, followed by Basil of Caesarea, who defended the church from attacks on its spirituality. The book concludes with the modern Chinese church, many members of which have been attacked and even martyred for their faith. Using the examples of these defenders and many others, Dr Knell inspires readers to stand firm in the face of adversity as the global church continues to experience persecution.
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Christian Peace Experiment
$33.00Add to cartThis book examines part of the development of the Bruderhof community, which emerged in Germany in 1920. Community members sought to model their life on the New Testament. This included sharing goods. The community became part of the Hutterite movement, with its origins in sixteenth-century Anabaptism. After the rise to power of the Nazi regime, the Bruderhof became a target and the community was forcibly dissolved. Members who escaped from Germany and travelled to England were welcomed as refugees from persecution and a community was established in the Cotswolds. In the period 1933 to 1942, when the Bruderhof’s witness was advancing in Britain, its members were in touch with many individuals and movements. This book covers the Bruderhof’s connections with (among others) the Fellowship of Reconciliation, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the Peace Pledge Union, the social work of Muriel and Doris Lester in East London, Jewish refugee groups, and artistic pioneers like Eric Gill. As significant numbers of British people joined the Bruderhof, its farming, publishing and arts and crafts activities extended considerably. But with the outbreak of the Second World War, German members came to be regarded with suspicion and British members became unpopular locally because they were pacifists. Although the Bruderhof was defended in Parliament, notably by Lady Astor, it seemed that German members would be interned as enemy aliens. The consequence was that by 1942 over 300 community members had left England. With Mennonite assistance, they began to forge a new life in South America. This book traces a remarkable Christian peace experiment being undertaken in a time of great political upheaval.
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Tried By Fire
$19.99Add to cartA major narrative history of Christianity’s first thousand years by acclaimed educator and #1 New York Times bestselling author William J. Bennett. Now in trade paper.
Full of larger-than-life characters, stunning acts of bravery, and heart-rending sacrifice, Tried by Fire narrates the rise and expansion of Christianity from an obscure regional sect to the established faith of the world’s greatest empire with influence extending from India to Ireland, Scandinavia to Ethiopia, and all points in between. William J. Bennett explores the riveting lives of saints and sinners, paupers and kings, merchants and monks who together-and against all odds-changed the world forever. To tell their story, Bennett follows them through the controversies and trials of their time. Challenged by official persecution, heresy, and schism, they held steadfast to the truth of Christ. Strengthened by poets, preachers, and theologians, they advanced in devotion and love. In this moving and accessible narrative, Tried by Fire speaks across centuries to offer insight into the people and events that shaped the faith that continues to shape our lives today.
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Christianity At The Crossroads
$32.00Add to cartChristianity in the twenty-first century is a global phenomenon. But in the second century, its future was not at all certain.
Initially Christianity possessed little social or cultural influence and found itself fighting for its life. While apostolic tradition was emerging as a “rule of faith,” factions contested the nature of the gospel, and pagan philosophers found its claims scandalous. And while its pathway was tenuous, Christianity was forming structures of leadership and worship, and a core of apostolic texts was emerging as authoritative. But it was the challenges, obstacles, and transitions faced by Christians in the second century that, in many ways, would determine the future of the church for the next two millennia. It was a time when Christianity stood at a crossroads.
Michael Kruger’s introductory survey examines how Christianity took root in the second century, how it battled to stay true to the vision of the apostles, and how it developed in ways that would shape both the church and Western culture over the next two thousand years. Christianity at the Crossroads provides an accessible and informative look at the complex and foundational issues faced by an infant church still trying to determine its identity. The church’s response to the issues of heresy and orthodoxy, the development of the canon, and the transmission of the Christian Scriptures not only determined its survival, but determined the kind of church it would be for generations to come.
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John Wesley : Optimist Of Grace
$44.00Add to cartJohn Wesley was an Anglican priest and major leader in the eighteenth-century Evangelical awakening whose theology and practice continues to influence the church today. This book tells how his own search for a heart renewed in love ultimately led him to a fresh vision of the way of salvation, one that is centered on sanctification, empowered by the Holy Spirit, and available to all. Transcending the theological dichotomies of his day, Wesley developed a distinctive Protestant tradition that continues to shape Methodist and Holiness Christians, and has had a significant impact on Pentecostalism. It was Wesley’s optimism of grace that gave his Methodists and generations to come a vibrant hope that hearts and lives, churches, and the world at large can all be changed by the power of God’s amazing love.
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Studies In Hellenistic Religions
$49.00Add to cartThis selection of essays by Luther Martin brings together studies from throughout his career–both early as well as more recent–in the various areas of Graeco-Roman religions, including mystery cults, Judaism, Christianity, and Gnosticism. It is hoped that these studies, which represent spatial, communal, and cognitive approaches to the study of ancient religions might be of interest to those concerned with the structures and dynamics of religions past in general, as well as to scholars who might, with more recent historical research, confirm, evaluate, extend, or refute the hypotheses offered here, for that is the way scholars work and by which scholarship proceeds.
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Studies In Hellenistic Religions
$74.00Add to cartThis selection of essays by Luther Martin brings together studies from throughout his career–both early as well as more recent–in the various areas of Graeco-Roman religions, including mystery cults, Judaism, Christianity, and Gnosticism. It is hoped that these studies, which represent spatial, communal, and cognitive approaches to the study of ancient religions might be of interest to those concerned with the structures and dynamics of religions past in general, as well as to scholars who might, with more recent historical research, confirm, evaluate, extend, or refute the hypotheses offered here, for that is the way scholars work and by which scholarship proceeds.
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Post Christendom 2nd Edition
$55.00Add to cartWestern societies are experiencing a series of disorientating culture shifts. Uncertain where we are heading, observers use “”post”” words to signal that familiar landmarks are disappearing, but we cannot yet discern the shape of what is emerging. One of the most significant shifts, “”post-Christendom,”” raises many questions about the mission and role of the church in this strange new world. What does it mean to be one of many minorities in a culture that the church no longer dominates? How do followers of Jesus engage in mission from the margins? What do we bring with us as precious resources from the fading Christendom era, and what do we lay down as baggage that will weigh us down on our journey into post-Christendom? Post-Christendom identifies the challenges and opportunities of this unsettling but exciting time. Stuart Murray presents an overview of the formation and development of the Christendom system, examines the legacies this has left, and highlights the questions that the Christian community needs to consider in this period of cultural transition.
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Remembering The Reformation
$37.00Add to cartIn 1517, Martin Luther set off what has been called, at least since the nineteenth century, the Protestant Reformation. Can Christians of differing traditions commemorate the upcoming 500th anniversary of this event together? How do we understand and assess the Reformation today? What calls for celebration? What calls for repentance? Can the Reformation anniversary be an occasion for greater mutual understanding among Catholics, Orthodox, and Protestants? At the 2015 Pro Ecclesia annual conference for clergy and laity, meeting at the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC, an array of scholars–Catholic and Orthodox, Evangelical Lutheran and American Evangelical as well as Methodist–addressed this topic. The aim of this book is not only to collect these diverse Catholic and Evangelical perspectives but also to provide resources for all Christians, including pastors and scholars, to think and argue about the roads we have taken since 1517–as we also learn to pray with Jesus Christ “”that all may be one”” (John 17:21).
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Thinking With The Church
$48.00Add to cartOver the centuries, Baptists have labored to follow Christ in faithful devotion and service. More recently, they have occasionally partnered with fellow Christians from other traditions in these efforts while learning from each other along the way. In Thinking With the Church, Derek Hatch argues that Baptists need to follow the same pattern when it comes to their theological reflection, engaging the wisdom of all Christian pilgrims across time. This will require a new theological method–ressourcement–that embraces Baptists’ place within the Great Tradition of the Christian faith. Such work will not abandon long-held Baptist convictions but offers resources for renewing Baptists’ theological vision as they participate in the fullness of the mystical body of Christ.
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Jesus Followers In The Roman Empire
$33.99Add to cartWhen Jesus of Nazareth began proclaiming the kingdom of God early in the first century, he likely had no intention of starting a new religion, especially one that included former pagans. Yet a new religion did eventually develop–one that not only included non-Jews but was soon dominated by them. How did this happen?
Jesus Followers in the Roman Empire by Paul Duff offers an accessible and informed account of Christian origins, beginning with the teaching of Jesus and moving to the end of the first century. Duff’s narrative shows how the rural Jewish movement led by Jesus developed into a largely non-Jewish phenomenon permeating urban centers of the Roman Empire.
Paying special attention to social, cultural, and religious contexts–as well as to early Christian ideas about idolatry, marriage, family, slavery, and ethnicity– Jesus Followers in the Roman Empire will help readers cultivate a deeper understanding of the identity, beliefs, and practices of early Christ-believers.
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Popes And Feminists
$16.00Add to cartBefore the time of the Reformation, in the eyes of the Roman Catholic Church, a wife or mother was not a holy vocation. The only spiritual calling for women was to be found in a convent. The Reformers confronted the bad theology which lead to this (and other worse abuses, like priest-patronized brothels) and returned to the Bible to develop a theology of vocation that began to free women to be “holy” no matter their occupation. But today, modern feminist claims about vocation have more in common with the pre-Reformation popes than anything else — except feminists have replaced the nunnery with the hallowed corporate workplace. Christian women wondering about their place in society and comparing feminism with the Bible should start with the teaching of the Reformers and the lives of many exceptional women of the Reformation.
Part history and part contemporary reflection, Popes and Feminists argues that women today have some of the same choices facing them as women in the sixteenth century. In this fascinating book, published on the five hundredth anniversary of the Protestant Reformation, Elise Crapuchettes shows how the Reformation changed the lives of Christian women as it turned them away from trying to earn their salvation in the convent towards a joyful, liberating view of vocation and work. And that changed their families and the world.
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Martin Luther And The Seven Sacraments
$30.00Add to cartThis introduction to Luther’s sacramental theology explores the medieval church’s understanding of the seven sacraments, the Protestant rationale for keeping or eliminating each sacrament, and implications for contemporary theology and worship.
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Rise And Fall Of The Incomparable Liturgy
$32.99Add to cartMost histories of Church of England liturgy, for good reason, begin in the 1530s, and centre on the 1549 and 1552 Books of Common Prayer. That is important for initial doctrinal changes, and the establishment of the liturgical text, However, both liturgies were extremely short-lived, and the real history of the Book of Common Prayer as the Liturgy of the Church of England begins with the Elizabethan Settlement, 1559, and a long tenure of the enacted Elizabethan liturgy. The only revision of any note was that of 1662, and this revision lasted without serious challenge until the 19th century, and without legal alternative until the twentieth century. This study therefore concentrates on 1559 until the Report of the Royal Commission in 1906 which paved the way for liturgical revision.
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Rediscovering Paul : An Introduction To His World Letters And Theology
$50.00Add to cartIntroduction: The Challenges Of Rediscovering Paul
1. Rediscovering Paul In His World
2. The Christophany
3. Paul, The Letter Writer
4. The Itinerant Paul: Galatians
5. The Itinerant Paul: The Thessalonian Letters
6. The Itinerant Paul: The Corinthian Letters
7. The Itinerant Paul: Romans
8. The Imprisoned Paul
9. The Pastoral Paul
10. Paul’s Theology And Spirituality
11. Paul’s Legacy
12. Paul’s Letters To Our Churches
Maps
Glossary
Bibliography
Author Index
Subject Index
Scripture IndexAdditional Info
For some of us, the apostle Paul is intimidating, like a distant and difficult uncle. We’re told he’s pretty important. We’ve even read some of the good parts of his letters. But he can come across as prickly and unpredictable. Not someone you’d like to hang out with at a coffee shop on a rainy day. He’d make a scene, evangelize the barista, and arouse looks across the room. For a mid-morning latte, we’d prefer Jesus over Paul.But Paul is actually the guy who-from Ephesus to Athens-was the talk of the marketplace, the raconteur of the Parthenon. He knew everyone, founded emerging churches, and held his own against the intellectuals of his day. Maybe it’s time to give Paul a break, let go of some stereotypes, and try to get to know him on his own terms.
If you’re willing to give Paul a try, Rediscovering Paul is your reliable guide. This is a book that reacquaints us with Paul, as if for the first time-arrested by Christ on the Damascus Road, holding forth in the marketplace of Corinth, working with a secretary in framing his letter to the Romans, or dealing with the messiness of emerging churches from Ephesus to Rome.
Drawing on the best of contemporary scholarship, and with language shaped by teaching and conversing with today’s students, Rediscovering Paul is a textbook that has passed the test. Now in an expanded edition, it’s better than ever. There are fresh discussions of Paul’s letter writing and how those letters were received in the churches, new considerations of pseudonymity and the authenticity of Paul’s letters, and updated coverage of recent developments in interpreting Paul. In addition, the “So What?” feature-much loved by students-has been expanded. For considering the full range of issues, from Paul’s conversion and call to his ongoing impact on church and culture, this second edition of Rediscovering Paul comes enthusiastically recommended.
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Pietist Option : Hope For The Renewal Of Christ
$23.00Add to cartIntroduction: “Come Back To Jesus”
Part I: Christianity In The Early Twenty-First Century
1. What’s Wrong?
2. Hoping For Better TimesPart II: Proposals For Renewal
3. A More Extensive Listening To The Word Of God
4. The Common Priesthood For The Common Good
5. Christianity As Life
6. The Irenic Spirit: Unity, Mission, And Witness
7. Whole-Person, Whole-Life Formation
8. Proclaiming The Good NewsBenediction: “Like A Tree Planted By Water”
Appendix: Learn More About Pietism
Study Guide
Notes
Name Index
Scripture IndexAdditional Info
Historian Mark Noll has written that historic Pietism “breathed a badly needed vitality” into post-Reformation Europe. Now the time has come for Pietism to revitalize Christianity in post-Christendom America.In The Pietist Option, Christopher Gehrz, a historian of Pietism, and Mark Pattie, a pastor in the Pietist tradition, show how Pietism holds great promise for the church-and the world-today. Modeled after Philipp Spener’s 1675 classic, Pia Desideria, this timely book makes a case for the vitality of Pietism in our day.
Taking a hard look at American evangelicalism and why it needs renewal, Gehrz and Pattie explore the resources that Pietism can provide the church of the twenty-first century. This concise and winsome volume serves as a practical guide to the Pietist ethos for life and ministry, pointing us toward the renewal so many long for.
The Pietist Option introduces Pietism to those who don’t know it-and reintroduces it to those who perceive it as an outdated and inward-focused spirituality, a nitpicking divisiveness, or an anti-intellectual withdrawal. With its emphasis on our walk with Jesus and its vibrant hope for a better future, Pietism connects decisively with the ideas and issues of our day. Here is a revitalizing option for all who desire to be faithful and fruitful in God’s mission.
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Plough Quarterly Number 14 ReFormation The Church We Need Now
$10.00Add to cartOn the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, this issue of Plough Quarterly explores the reformation the church needs today.
This year’s five-hundredth anniversary of the Reformation comes just as Christianity is undergoing what may prove to be its biggest recalibration since the fourth century. Christendom, the system in which Christianity shaped Western laws and society as the majority religion, has been shaky since the Enlightenment. Now it’s in its death throes, felled by secularization, consumerism, and the sexual revolution. For better or worse, Christians must learn to be a minority. There’s no better time than now to recall Karl Barth’s dictum: the church must always be reformed. What is the re-formed church we need now?
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Hitting The Holy Road
$22.99Add to cartIn the face of climate change and other environmental trends, it is easy to be pessimistic about the future. Philosophers, film-makers, environmentalists, politicians and even senior scientists increasingly resort to apocalyptic rhetoric to warn us that a so-called “perfect storm’ of factors are coming together in a way that threatens the future of life on earth. Do these dire predictions amount to nothing more than ideological scaremongering, perhaps hyped-up for political or personal ends? Or are there good reasons for thinking that we may indeed be facing a crisis unprecedented in its scale and in the severity of its effects?Jonathan Moo and Robert White encourage us to assess the evidence for ourselves. Their own conclusion is that there is in fact plenty of cause for concern. Climate change, they suggest, is potentially the most far-reaching threat that our planet faces in the coming decades, but only the most publicized. There is a wide range of much more obvious, interrelated and damaging impacts that an ever-growing number of people, consuming more and more, are having on the planet upon which we all depend.Yet if the Christian gospel fundamentally reorientates us in our relationship with God and his world, then there ought to be something radically distinctive about our attitude and approach to such threats. Moo and White therefore reflect on just what difference the Bible’s vision of the future of all of creation makes to how we live now and respond to the challenges facing life on earth.
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Presbyterian Experience In The United States
$35.00Add to cartThis book introduces readers to the Presbyterian movement in the United States as told by those who lived through and contributed to its history. William Yoo has drawn together essential documents from the colonial period to the present that illustrate and illumine U.S. Presbyterianism across diversities of race, ethnicity, geography, gender, age, and theological position. Readers will follow the church’s journey from modest origins as a Scots-Irish immigrant church to prominence on the national stage, from early revivals and tent meetings to large-scale theological debates, from defense of slavery and racial intolerance to the pursuit of social justice and racial reconciliation, and from retreat into theologically narrow enclaves to active engagement with national and international politics and culture. Yoo weaves together a coherent and compelling narrative using the voices of those who sought a faithfully Presbyterian witness to the gospel. Arranged both chronologically and thematically with historical maps and photos, this book provides a lively and accessible vista into the making and shaping of Presbyterianism in the United States.
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Right Here Right Now
$15.99Add to cartChristians have always practiced mindfulness. Yet, from the popular landscape of mindfulness movement, you’d never know that. Where is the Christian voice in this fast-growing movement? Many Christians practice mindfulness outside of church and believe it does not belong to our faith tradition. This book reveals the Christian roots of mindfulness and the actual practices that, when reclaimed, deepen the life of faith and the power of our mission of love in the world. When we understand how radical it is to live in God’s presence right here, right now, our lives are transformed toward mercy, justice and abundant life. In her new book, Amy Oden shows how the practice of Christian mindfulness begins with the teachings of Jesus and continues throughout Christian history. It also includes step-by-step instructions for the practice of Christian mindfulness today. Pastors and leaders will find this book useful on the ground as they curate current culture and guide Christians in spiritual practices.
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95 The Ideas That Birthed The Reformation
$18.99Add to cartIn 1517, an unknown Augustinian monk, informed by his growing belief that salvation is by faith alone, published and distributed a stark criticism of papal abuses in the Catholic Church. In doing so, Martin Luther lit the spark for what would become the Protestant Reformation.
What became known as the “95 Theses” was a series of statements expressing concern with corruption within the Church, primarily the selling of “indulgences” to the people as a means covering them from their sins.
For the 500th anniversary of Luther’s revolutionary writing, Whitaker House is combining each thesis with an excerpt from one of his later works to provide a convenient way to understand the ideas and concepts that became the seeds of the Protestant Reformation.
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Azusa Street Mission And Revival
$16.99Add to cartIn Azusa Street Mission and Revival, Cecil M. Robeck, Jr. brings to bear expertise from decades of focused study in church history to reveal the captivating story of the Apostolic Faith Mission in Los Angeles, which became known as the Azusa Street Mission.
From humble beginnings with few resources, this small uniquely diverse and inclusive congregation led by William J. Seymour ignited a fire that quickly grew into a blaze and spread across the world giving rise to the global Pentecostal movement. Sifting through newspaper reports and other written accounts of the time as well as the mission’s own publications, and through personal interaction with some of those blessed to stand very near to the fire that began at the mission, Cecil M. Robeck, Jr. relates not only the historical significance of the revival but also captures the movement of the Holy Spirit that changed the face of modern Christianity.
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Pentecost To Present Book 3
$20.99Add to cartWithout knowing the Holy Spirit’s work in history, we cannot possibly understand what He is doing today, much less prepare for what He will do.
In this third and final installment, the reader will learn how Charles Parham founded the modern Pentecostal baptism with speaking in tongues, how Evan Roberts gained worldwide attention through the 1904-05 Welsh revival, and how William Seymour spearheaded an international Pentecostal movement from Azusa Street in Los Angeles in 1906. The reader will learn how Pentecostalism spawned new denominations, national and international ministries, global renewal movements, and inspired innovators to take modern revivalism to a whole new level. Then when Pentecostalism penetrated American Middle-class Protestantism, many observers began speaking of a “third force” in Christianity. Meanwhile, revolutionary changes in the Catholic Church opened the door for the Catholic Charismatic Renewal. Then, just as the charismatic movement was beginning to subside in America, it went global, as charismatic mega churches, Bible schools, and television networks took the message of renewal to the world. The twenty-first century has witnessed a dramatic shift in Christianity to the Southern Hemisphere fueled, in part, by the global rise of Pentecostalism, with many new movements on the horizon.
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Christology Of The Family
$14.99Add to cartChristology of the Family is about learning to care for one another as Christ cares for us. The heart of the gospel is centered on the caring love of God. The incarnation, atonement, Word of God, the sacraments, and the church itself, would not exist without God’s redemptive care for each of us. The calling of a disciple is to care, and it comes straight from the heart of God through the work of the Holy Spirit, who gifts us in ways to care for the lost, the suffering, and the brokenhearted. The family has been affected by our culture of entertainment and immediacy. The result has been that it has lost sight of its primary purpose to care for one another as the Good Shepherd cares for His sheep.
The Christian family needs to reclaim the heart of the gospel and create new disciples, not just church members. The pastoral care community has to be trained in listening and in reflecting theologically from practical experience. All disciples are to be caregivers, whether at home with family, at work, or in the church. The job of the church and the family is to train, support, and guide them.
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From Conflict To Communion
$21.99Add to cartOver the last fifty years, Lutherans and Roman Catholics have engaged in profound theological dialogue leading to increasingly close ties between two church bodies that have historically been divided. From Conflict to Communion contains the report produced by the Lutheran-Roman Catholic Commission on Unity along with an accompanying study guide and liturgical material suitable for a joint Catholic-Lutheran worship service.
This book presents the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation as an opportunity for deeper communion between Roman Catholics and Lutherans and for celebration of their common witness to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Including a timely new introduction by William G. Rusch, this will be a valued re-source not only for Lutheran and Catholic theologians but also for people around the world who seek greater unity in the church.
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Peril And Promise Of Christian Liberty
$38.99Add to cartHow do Christians determine when to obey God even if that means disobeying other people? In this book W. Bradford Littlejohn addresses that question as he unpacks the magisterial political-theological work of Richard Hooker, a leading figure in the sixteenth-century English Reformation.
Littlejohn shows how Martin Luther and other Reformers considered Christian liberty to be compatible with considerable civil authority over the church, but he also analyzes the ambiguities and tensions of that relationship and how it helped provoke the Puritan movement. The heart of the book examines how, according to Richard Hooker, certain forms of Puritan legalism posed a much greater threat to Christian liberty than did meddling monarchs. In expounding Hooker’s remarkable attempt to offer a balanced synthesis of liberty and authority in church, state, and conscience, Littlejohn draws out pertinent implications for Christian liberty and politics today.
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Destroyer Of The Gods Early Christian Distinctiveness In The Roman World
$24.99Add to cart“Silly,” “stupid,” “irrational,” “simple.” “Wicked,” “hateful,” “obstinate,” “anti-social.” “Extravagant,” “perverse.” The Roman world rendered harsh judgments upon early Christianity–including branding Christianity “new.” Novelty was no Roman religious virtue.
Nevertheless, as Larry W. Hurtado shows in Destroyer of the gods, Christianity thrived despite its new and distinctive features and opposition to them. Unlike nearly all other religious groups, Christianity utterly rejected the traditional gods of the Roman world. Christianity also offered a new and different kind of religious identity, one not based on ethnicity. Christianity was distinctively a “bookish” religion, with the production, copying, distribution, and reading of texts as central to its faith, even preferring a distinctive book-form, the codex. Christianity insisted that its adherents behave differently: unlike the simple ritual observances characteristic of the pagan religious environment, embracing Christian faith meant a behavioral transformation, with particular and novel ethical demands for men. Unquestionably, to the Roman world, Christianity was both new and different, and, to a good many, it threatened social and religious conventions of the day.
In the rejection of the gods and in the centrality of texts, early Christianity obviously reflected commitments inherited from its Jewish origins. But these particular features were no longer identified with Jewish ethnicity and early Christianity quickly became aggressively trans-ethnic–a novel kind of religious movement. Its ethical teaching, too, bore some resemblance to the philosophers of the day, yet in contrast with these great teachers and their small circles of dedicated students, early Christianity laid its hard demands upon all adherents from the moment of conversion, producing a novel social project.
Christianity’s novelty was no badge of honor. Called atheists and suspected of political subversion, Christians earned Roman disdain and suspicion in equal amounts. Yet, as Destroyer of the gods demonstrates, in an irony of history the very features of early Christianity that rendered it distinctive and objectionable in Roman eyes have now become so commonplace in Western culture as to go unnoticed. Christianity helped destroy one world and create another. -
Theologies Of The American Revivalists
$35.00Add to cartAbbreviations
Introduction
1. Moderate Evangelical Revival Theology In The First Great Awakening
2. First Great Awakening Alternatives: The Revival Theologies Of Andrew Croswell And Jonathan Edwards
3. Revival Theology In The New Divinity Movement
4. Congregationalist And New School Presbyterian Revival Theology In The Second Great Awakening
5. Methodist Revival Theology In The Second Great Awakening
6. Revival Theologies Among Early American Baptists
7. The New Measures Revival Theology Of Charles Finney
8. Two Responses To Modern Revival Theology: Princeton Seminary And The Restoration MovementConclusion
Bibliography
General Index
Scripture IndexAdditional Info
For centuries, revivals-and the conversions they inspire-have played a significant role in American evangelicalism. Often unnoticed or unconsidered, however, are the particular theologies underlying these revivals and conversions to faith. With that in mind, church historian Robert Caldwell traces the fascinating story of American revival theologies from the First Great Awakening through the Second Great Awakening, from roughly 1740 to 1840. As he uncovers this aspect of American religious history, Caldwell offers a reconsideration of the theologies of figures such as George Whitefield, Jonathan Edwards, John Wesley, Joseph Bellamy, Samuel Hopkins, and Charles Finney. His scope also includes movements, such as New Divinity theology, Taylorism, Baptist revival theology, Princeton theology, and the Restorationist movement. With this study, we gain fresh insight into what it meant to become a Christian during the age of America’s great awakenings. -
Lovin On Jesus
$33.99Add to cartLovin’ on Jesus: A Concise History of Contemporary Worship is a compact-but thorough-history of changes in North American Protestant worship that occurred in the second half of the twentieth century and that came to be known as “contemporary worship.” This scholarly but accessible work reveals a fascinating and complex lineage, which led to the worship forms that are now so common in many Christian worship services across the globe. Authors Lim and Ruth uncover the rise of this term itself in the early 1990s as the pivot point in the phenomenon’s history. They show how “contemporary worship” has multiple points of origin, and how new ways of worship developed along many different lines. The authors trace the rise of the term in the early 1990s, pointing to a new phase in its history: promotion and adoption by mainline congregations. The book documents this phase, as well as the earlier phases, with original source material including personal interviews. Lovin’ on Jesus also tells the story of the ongoing evolution of contemporary worship both within and beyond mainline congregations. It is important to note that the story of contemporary worship includes not only music, but also its other features.
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Evangelicals : The Struggle To Shape America
$22.00Add to cartIn The Evangelicals: the Struggle to Shape America, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Frances FitzGerald tells the powerful, dramatic story of the Evangelical movement in America, describing the profound ways in which evangelicals have shaped our nation, our culture, and our politics. Covering
FitzGerald’s sweeping and authoritative account of Evangelicalism provides a groundbreaking work of American history, piecing together this centuries-long story for the first time. Spanning from the Puritan era to the 2016 presidential election, FitzGerald covers the initial establishment of evangelicalism as a populist rebellion against the established Protestant churches; the split between modernists and traditionalists after the Civil War; the emergence of the fundamentalist-modernist conflict and subsequent national culture wars; and the rising Christian right of Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, and James Dobson that helped turn the South into a Republican stronghold. She also describes how a new generation of evangelicals is challenging the Christian right by preaching social justice and the common good.
While white evangelical constitute 25 percent of American voters and are splintering and dwindling in numbers, FitzGerald believes evangelicalism has been and will continue to be important for years to come. This story, brilliantly and colorfully told in The Evangelicals, is a vital part of how the country came to be what it is.
