In this lucid and readable study, Michael Mullet explains the historical importance of a man and a movement whose influence are still felt in the modern world. The pamphlet locates John Calvin in the context of early 16th-century France and then charts his emergence as an influential theologian and civic religious leader in the 'second generation' of reformers following Luther. After exploring the main lines of Calvin's theology, set out in the Institutes, the central section deals with the difficult process by which his authority was imposed on, or accepted by, Geneva. Finally, the long-term impact of John Calvin is evaluated, including the hypothesis that Calvinism has assisted the economic development of Europe.

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This first complete history of Dr Williams's Trust and Library, deriving from the will of the nonconformist minister Daniel Williams (c.1643-1716) reveals rare examples of private philanthropy and dissenting enterprise. The library contains the fullest collection of material relating to English Protestant Dissent. Opening in the City of London in 1730, it moved to Bloomsbury in the 1860s. Williams and his first trustees had a vision for Protestant Dissent which included maintaining connections with Protestants overseas. The charities espoused by the trust extended that vision by funding an Irish preacher, founding schools in Wales, sending missionaries to native Americans, and giving support to Harvard College. By the mid-eighteenth century, the trustees had embraced unitarian beliefs and had established several charities and enlarged the unique collection of books, manuscripts and portraits known as Dr Williams's Library. The manuscript and rare book collection offers material from the sixteenth to the twentieth centuries, with strengths in the early modern period, including the papers of Richard Baxter, Roger Morrice, and Owen Stockton. The eighteenth-century archive includes the correspondence of the scientist and theologian Joseph Priestley. The library also holds several collections of importance for women's history and English literature. The story of the trust and library reveals a rare example of private philanthropy over more than three centuries, and a case study in dissenting enterprise. Alan Argent illuminates key themes in the history of nonconformity; the changing status of non-established religions; the voluntary principle; philanthropy; and a lively concern for society as a whole.

This edition brings together for the first time key texts representing the writings of the medieval English mystics. The texts have been newly edited from early manuscripts, and are supplemented with textual and explanatory notes and a glossary. The book focuses on five major authors, Richard Rolle, Walter Hilton, the anonymous author of The Cloud of Unknowing, Dame Julian of Norwich, and Margery Kempe. Shorter works are presented whole, where possible, and accompanied by extracts from the mystics' longer works; extracts from contemporary translations into English are also included to illustrate the reception of European mystical texts in later medieval England. Overall, this volume makes accessible some of the finest writing by English contemplatives and visionaries of the Middle Ages.

A fundamental part of understanding one's ancestors is knowing when they were born, how long they lived, and when they died. Here in The Genesis Genealogies lies that crucial core information about the forebears of Christianity. Rev. Abraham Park has meticulously analyzed the information in The Book of Genesis. Taking the explicit date references in Genesis and performing math calculations forward and backward in time, he builds a complete chronological Biblical timeline from Adam to the Exodus, including the duration of construction of Noah's ark. With this Bible study of the cornerstone text of The Old Testament, we can more deeply understand the layers of meanings that Genesis offers. The Genesis Genealogies is a must-have for every Church Library. This title is part of The History of Redemption series which includes: Book 1: The Genesis Genealogies Book 2: The Covenant of the Torch Book 3: The Unquenchable Lamp of the Covenant Book 4: God's Profound and Mysterious Providence Book 5: The Promise of the Eternal Covenant

Over the past half century, there has been a proliferation of scholarship on the great American theologian Jonathan Edwards. However, the vast majority of this output confines itself to the details of his work. With some welcome exceptions, the forest has often been missed for the trees. In this ground breaking study William Schweitzer presents a new reading of Edwards: He starts with the question what is distinctive in Edwards' theology? The answer comes in Edwards' insight into Trinitarian life. God is eternally communicative of his knowledge, love, and joy among the Three Persons of the Trinity, and this divine communicativeness was for Edwards the explanation for why God created the universe. More specifically, however, Edwards believed that God's communication carries with it the Trinitarian hallmark of "harmony." This hallmark is not always east to discern, even for the regenerate. Edwards' lifelong projectGCoas demonstrated by the common purpose of all three unfinished "Great Works"GCowas to interpret the harmony found in and among the several media of revelation.

This volume contains the first modern critical editions of Concilium (1525) and Rychsztag (1526), two vernacular verse dialogues by the Zurich-based Zwinglian author Utz Eckstein, together with translations of both into English prose. These works are of interest not just for their literary qualities (which differ markedly from those conventionally associated with 'Reformation dialogues'), but also because of what they reveal about Zwingli's theological and socio-political priorities in the mid-1520s. Along with many other aspects of the contemporary Swiss context, these features are examined in an introduction and in extensive elucidatory notes. An underlying thread of the authors' interpretation is that, for all their evident desire to express and establish Evangelical perspectives, the Concilium and Rychsztag make imaginative and constructive use of specifically Swiss traditions of dialogue, which were expressed, for example, both in the consultative decision-making processes of rural communities and in the increasingly influential procedures of the formalized urban disputation.

Nathaniel Taylor was arguably the most influential and the most frequently misrepresented American theologian of his generation. While he claimed to be an Edwardsian Calvinist, very few people believed him. This book attempts to understand how Taylor and his associates could have counted themselves Edwardsians. In the process, it explores what it meant to be an Edwardsian minister and intellectual in the 19th century.

The Open Body emerges from a conference held at Harvard Divinity School in April 2011. The essays in this book reflect on ecclesiology in the Anglican tradition, that is, they debate whether and how humans should gather as a "church" in the name of Christ. While the prompt for this collection of essays is the contemporary crisis in the Anglican Communion regarding homosexuality and church governance, this book provides a capacious re-interpretation and re-imagination of the central metaphor of Christian community, namely "the Body of Christ". By suggesting that the Body of Christ is "open", the authors are insisting that while the recent controversy within the Anglican Communion should prompt and even influence theological reflection on Christian community, it should not define or determine it. In other words, the controversy is regarded as an "opening" or an opportunity to imagine and to examine the past, present, and future of the Church, both of the Anglican Communion and of the entire Body of Christ. Some of the essays begin their reappraisal by looking backward and offering creative theological retrievals from the early Church; some essays offer fresh perspectives on the recent Anglican past and present; others examine the present ecclesiology from a comparative, interreligious perspective; and still others are keen to anticipate and influence the possible future(s) of the Body of Christ.

The role of architecture within the French Reformed tradition has been of recent scholarly interest, seen in the work of Helene Guicharnaud, Catharine Randall, Andrew Spicer, and others. Few, however, have investigated in depth the relationship between Reformed theology and architectural forms. In The Visual Theology of the Huguenots, Randal Carter Working explores the roots of Reformed aesthetics, set against the background of late medieval church architecture. Indicating how demonstrably important the work of Serlio is in the spreading of the ideas of Vitruvius, Working explains the influence of classical Roman building on French Reformed architecture. He follows this with an examination of five important Huguenot architects: Philibert de l'Orme, Bernard Palissy, Jacques-Androuet du Cerceau, Salomon de Brosse, and Jacques Perret. The distinct language of Huguenot architecture is revealed by his comparative analysis of three churches: St Pierre in Geneva, a medieval church overhauled by the Reformers; St Gervais-St Protais, a Parisian Catholic church whose facade was completed by the French Reformed architect Salomon de Brosse; and the temple at Charenton, a structure also designed and built by de Brosse. These three buildings demonstrate how the contribution of Huguenot architecture gave expression to Reformed theological ideas and helped bring about the renewal of classicism in France.

Elsie Chamberlain was a leading figure in British broadcasting and religious life. She was a pioneer in many areas: the first woman chaplain to the armed forces; the first nonconformist minister to marry an Anglican clergyman; the first woman producer in the religious broadcasting department of the BBC and the first woman to present the daily service on the radio. Her broadcasting accustomed many listeners to the idea of a woman leading public worship. And she became the first woman to occupy the chair of the Congregational Union of England and Wales and almost certainly the first woman anywhere in the world to head a major denomination. Elsie Chamberlain is the first full biography and a critical appreciation of this exceptional woman. Using original church and BBC archive sources, the book tells the story of a woman who did more than any other to change the way Christian women ministers are viewed.

Barbara Pitkin traces the way in which Calvin's exegetical labours contributed to his understanding of faith. Through detailed analysis of Calvin's interpretation of selected biblical passages, this study shows how his views evolved. Pitkin describes the gradual development of the mature Calvin's view that faith exhibits a twofold character -- saving faith and providential faith -- that corresponds to the twofold aspect its object -- Christ as both the incarnate and eternal Son of God.

John Owen was a leading theologian in 17th-century England. As vice-chancellor of Oxford University, he was a man of immense intellectual and cultural significance. Through his association with Oliver Cromwell in particular, he exercised considerable influence on central government, and became the premier religious statesman of the Interregnum. The restoration of the monarchy pushed Owen into dissent, criminalizing his religious practice and inspiring his writings in defense of high Calvinism and religious toleration. But Owen transcended his many experiences of defeat, and his claims to quietism were frequently undermined by rumors of his involvement in anti-government conspiracies. Crawford Gribben's biography documents Owen's interactions with the intellectual and print cultures of his social, political and religious environments; its narrative is structured around Owen's own publications. In contrast to the current scholarly consensus, this book emphasizes Owen's importance as a controversial theologian deeply involved with his social and political environment. Far from personifying the Reformed tradition, he helped to undermine it, offering an individualist account of Christian faith which downplayed the significance of the Church's means of grace. His work contributed to the formation of the new religious movement known as evangelicalism, where his influence still can be seen today.

Presbyterianism emerged during the sixteenth-century Protestant Reformation. It spread from the British Isles to North America in the early eighteenth century. During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Presbyterian denominations grew throughout the world. Today, there are an estimated 35 million Presbyterians in dozens of countries. The Oxford Handbook of Presbyterianism provides a state of the art reference tool written by leading scholars in the fields of religious studies and history. These thirty five articles cover major facets of Presbyterian history, theological beliefs, worship practices, ecclesiastical forms and structures, as well as important ethical, political, and educational issues. Eschewing parochial and sectarian triumphalism, prominent scholars address their particular topics objectively and judiciously.

Few great men have been so consistently misunderstood as Calvin and the eminent Swiss man of letters, Emanuel Stickelberger, throws a vivid light upon both the man and his times. Stickelberger sees the pale, frail man of Geneva against the background of the tumultuous times in which he lived. His iron will, constant struggle with ill health, utter dedication to his task, almost super-human capacity for work and indifference to financial reward, are all arrestingly portrayed. Stickelberger paints his portrait with a remarkable economy of words and with a fine sense of drama. The result is a vivid and fascinating study of a man and an epoch, that holds the reader's attention from the first page to the last.

The fascinating story of America's oldest thriving heritage language. Winner of the Dale W. Brown Book Award by the Young Center for Anabaptists and Pietist Studies at Elizabethtown College While most world languages spoken by minority populations are in serious danger of becoming extinct, Pennsylvania Dutch is thriving. In fact, the number of Pennsylvania Dutch speakers is growing exponentially, although it is spoken by less than one-tenth of one percent of the United States population and has remained for the most part an oral vernacular without official recognition or support. A true sociolinguistic wonder, Pennsylvania Dutch has been spoken continuously since the late eighteenth century despite having never been "refreshed" by later waves of immigration from abroad. In this probing study, Mark L. Louden, himself a fluent speaker of Pennsylvania Dutch, provides readers with a close look at the place of the language in the life and culture of two major subgroups of speakers: the "Fancy Dutch," whose ancestors were affiliated mainly with Lutheran and German Reformed churches, and traditional Anabaptist sectarians known as the "Plain people"-the Old Order Amish and Mennonites. Drawing on scholarly literature, three decades of fieldwork, and ample historical documents-most of which have never before been made accessible to English-speaking readers-this is the first book to offer a comprehensive look at this unlikely linguistic success story.

From a small group of devout Puritan settlers, the USA ultimately became the richest, most powerful Empire in the history of the world. Yet it is now in a process of implosion and decay. This book, inspired by Frankfurt School Critical Theory, offers a unique historical, cultural and characterological analysis of American national character and its underlying psychodynamics.

'Send Back the Money!' is a thorough and gripping examination of a fascinating and forgotten aspect of Scottish and American relations and Church history. A seminal period of Abolition activity is exposed by Iain Whyte through a study of the fiery 'Send back the Money!' campaign named after 'the hue and cry of the day' that encapsulated the argument that divided families, communities, and the Free Church itself. This examination of the Free Church's involvement with American Presbyterianism in the nineteenth century reveals the ethical furore caused by a Church wishing to emancipate itself from the religious and civil domination supported by the established religion of the state. The Free Church therefore found an affinity with those oppressed elsewhere, but subsequently found itself financially supported by the Southern slave states of America. Whyte sensitively handles this inherent contradiction in the political, ecclesiastical, and theological institutions, while informing the reader of the roles of charismatic characters such as Robert Burns, Thomas Chalmers and Frederick Douglass. These key individuals shaped contemporary culture with action, great oratory, and rhetoric. The author adroitly draws parallels from the twentieth century onwards, bringing the reader to a fuller understanding of the historic and topical issues within global Christianity, and the contentious topic of slavery. 'Send back the Money!' throws light upon nineteenth-century culture, British and American Abolitionists, and ecclesiastical politics, and is written in a clear and engaging style.

John Knox has suffered in this century from that trick of the popular imagination that seizes on one aspect of a historical figure and elevates it into the whole man. At one time he was the foremost Scottish genius, but in our day there have been those who would have us believe that he was a ranter, an iconoclast and perhaps a hypocrite. The Author of this classic biography has sought to find the truth between these two extremes. He shows us Knox against the disturbed currents of the Continent, where mediaeval Christendom was at an end and no new order had yet emerged from the chaos of creeds and philosophies. No man could stem these currents, but John Knox in his own country gave them a direction. He became, if not the leader, at least the inciter of a revolution. He set his mark indelibly on history, and not only that of his native land; his influence upon the English court was considerable, but he also became a figure of European significance. "No grander figure can be found, in the entire history of the Reformation in this island, than that of John Knox" wrote the historian Froude. The Author has given us a balanced assessment of the life and times of this remarkable man.

This book examines the beliefs, practices and arguments surrounding the ritual of infant baptism and the raising of children in Geneva during the period of John Calvin's tenure as leader of the Reformed Church, 1536-1564. It focuses particularly on the years from 1541 onward, after Calvin's return to Geneva and the formation of the Consistory. The work is based on sources housed primarily in the Genevan State Archives, including the registers of the Consistory and the City Council. While the time period of the study may be limited, the approach is broad, encompassing issues of theology, church ritual and practices, the histories of family and children, and the power struggles involved in transforming not simply a church institution but the entire community surrounding it. The overarching argument presented is that the ordinances and practices surrounding baptism present a framework for relations among child, parents, godparents, church and city. The design of the baptismal ceremony, including liturgy, participants and location, provided a blueprint of the reformers' vision of a well ordered community. To comprehend fully the development and spread of Calvinism, it is necessary to understand the context of its origins and how the ideas of Calvin and his Reformed colleagues were received in Geneva before they were disseminated throughout Europe and the world. In a broad sense this project explores the tensions among church leaders, city authorities, parents, relatives and neighbours regarding the upbringing of children in Reformed Geneva. More specifically, it studies the practice of infant baptism as manifested in the baptism ceremony in Geneva, the ongoing practices of Catholic baptism in neighbouring areas, and the similarities and tensions between these two rituals.