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Books > Christianity > Protestantism & Protestant Churches > Calvinist, Reformed & Presbyterian Churches
"With our American Philosophy and Religion series, Applewood
reissues many primary sources published throughout American
history. Through these books, scholars, interpreters, students, and
non-academics alike can see the thoughts and beliefs of Americans
who came before us."
GOD'S WILL, MAN'S WILL, AND FREE WILL Is it possible for a creature
to have a free will and to continually exercise that will in
complete conformity to the will of God? Yes Are the creatures who
thus conform their wills continually to the will of God in
servitude? Are they slaves? Yes If God plans, fore-determines and
predestinates each and every deed of a man's life, powerfully
controlling all circumstances, all persons, even all forces of
whatever variety and magnitude that affects his life, can that one
be free? Yes In this little book the large subject of God's Will,
Man's Will, and Free will is keenly examined by five different
authors who make use of the Holy Scriptures to answer the multitude
of questions, and of objections to what is written HORATIUS BONAR
notes three things about men without Christ: 1. Their souls are not
at rest. 2. Their conscience is not at work. And, 3. They do not
tremble at the Word of God. The Lord has spoken. There is no room
to question when His voice is heard. JONATHAN EDWARDS notes that
God is the Supreme Orderer of all things, but that His ordering of
all things (His orderings of the heart and fixing the steps of a
man - Proverbs 16:1, 9) does not interfere with a man's ability to
choose. C. H. SPURGEON notes that men will not come to Christ that
they might have LIFE because they are dead in trespasses and sin.
Can there be a soul that will not become wiser from these
discussions? Edwards (1703-1758) is by far the best known American
theologian. After graduating from and teaching at Yale University,
he began a very fruitful ministry at Northampton, MA. The church
was the scene of the explosive revival of 1734, 35, and burned
fiercely for Godunder Edwards for several years. Edwards then went
to pastor the lowly Indians. But at last he was called to be the
first president of Princeton University, where he served only 5
weeks, dying of smallpox. C. H. Spurgeon (1834-1892) was not only
the famed preacher for whom The Metropolitan Tabernacle was built,
but he wrote a host of books, published a magazine, was a
colporteur, was an expositor, etc. Horatius Bonar (1809-1899) was a
Presbyterian minister in Scotland and the author of many excellent
books of much practical value. Jay P. Green, Sr. (1918-) is
Translator and Editor of The Interlinear Hebrew-Greek-English Bible
and the translator of the Modern King James Version of the Holy
Bible, The Teenage Version of the Holy Bible, and the Literal
translation of the Holy Bible. He has written numerous books on
textual criticism.
Bringing together a rich range of primary sources - images,
liturgies, sermons, letters, eyewitness accounts, and Genevan
consistory records - this book examines worship as it was taught
and practiced in John Calvin's Geneva. Several of these primary
sources are translated into English for the first time, offering
new resources for studying Calvin and his context. Karin Maag uses
Geneva as a case study for investigating the theology and practice
of worship in the Reformation era. Covering the period from 1541 to
1564, the year of Calvin's death, Lifting Hearts to the Lord
captures both Calvin's signal contribution to Reformation worship
and the voices of ordinary Genevans as they navigated - and
debated, even fought about - the changes in worship resulting from
the Reformation.
An unprecedented history of the entire Huguenot experience in
France, from hopeful beginnings to tragic diaspora Following the
Reformation, a growing number of radical Protestants came together
to live and worship in Catholic France. These Huguenots survived
persecution and armed conflict to win-however briefly-freedom of
worship, civil rights, and unique status as a protected minority.
But in 1685, the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes abolished all
Huguenot rights, and more than 200,000 of the radical Calvinists
were forced to flee across Europe, some even farther. In this
capstone work, Geoffrey Treasure tells the full story of the
Huguenots' rise, survival, and fall in France over the course of a
century and a half. He explores what it was like to be a Huguenot
living in a "state within a state," weaving stories of ordinary
citizens together with those of statesmen, feudal magnates, leaders
of the Catholic revival, Henry of Navarre, Catherine de' Medici,
Louis XIV, and many others. Treasure describes the Huguenots'
disciplined community, their faith and courage, their rich
achievements, and their unique place within Protestantism and
European history. The Huguenot exodus represented a crucial turning
point in European history, Treasure contends, and he addresses the
significance of the Huguenot story-the story of a minority group
with the power to resist and endure in one of early modern Europe's
strongest nations.
Cotton Mather (1663-1728) was America's most famous pastor and
scholar at the beginning of the eighteenth century. People today
generally associate him with the infamous Salem witch trials, but
that picture has mostly come down to us from one unreliable,
antagonistic source. This biography by Rick Kennedy, based largely
on new research by an international team of scholars, corrects
misconceptions of Cotton Mather and focuses on the way he tried to
promote, socially and intellectually, a biblical lifestyle. As
older Puritan hopes in New England were giving way to a broader and
shallower Protestantism, Mather led a populist, Bible-oriented
movement that embraced the new century -- the beginning of a
dynamic evangelical tradition that eventually became a major force
in American culture.
What is the enduring impact of Presbyterianism on what it means to
be Scottish? Presbyterianism has shaped Scotland and its impact on
the world. Behind its beliefs lie some distinctive practices of
governance which endure even when belief fades. These practices
place a particular emphasis on the detailed recording of decisions
and what we can term a 'systemic' form of accountability. This book
examines the emergence and consolidation of such practices in the
18th century Church of Scotland. Using extensive archival research
and detailed local case studies, it contrasts them to what is
termed a 'personal' form of accountability in England in the same
period. The wider impact of the systemic approach to governance and
accountability, especially in the United States of America, is
explored, as is the enduring impact on Scottish identity. This book
offers a fresh perspective on the Presbyterian legacy in
contemporary Scottish historiography, at the same time as informing
current debates on national identity. It has a novel focus on
religion as social practice, as opposed to belief or organization.
It has a strong focus on Scotland, but in the context of Britain.
It offers extensive archival work in the Church of Scotland
records, with an emphasis on form as well as content. It provides a
different focus on the Church of Scotland in the 18th century. It
offers a detailed focus on local practice in the context of
national debates.
Lloyd Geering, a minister and professor in the Presbyterian Church
in New Zealand, was tried for heresy in 1967 followng his article
"What Does the Resurrection Mean?". Found innocent, he became the
foundation professor of religion at Victoria University. This is a
reflective and honest account of his personal journey. In
"Wrestling With God" Geering writes movingly of the interior and
family life that form the backdrop to his controversial public
life.
Set against the background of post-revolution Scottish
ecclesiastical politics, this book addresses the hitherto largely
neglected religious dimension to the debates on Anglo-Scottish
Union. Focusing predominantly on the period between April 1706 and
January 1707, the book examines the attitudes and reactions of
Presbyterians to the treaty and challenges many of the widely held
assumptions about the role of the church and other groups during
the debate. The focal point of the Kirk's response was the
Commission of the General Assembly. Through the extensive use of
church records and other primary sources the work of the commission
in pursuit of church security through its debates, committees and
addresses, is discussed at length. The book also examines the
church and groups like the Cameronians and Hebronites in relation
to the parliamentary debate, the pursuit of alternatives to
incorporation, popular protest, addressing and armed resistance.
The first single-volume history of Reformed Protestantism from its
sixteenth-century origins to the present This briskly told history
of Reformed Protestantism takes these churches through their entire
500-year history-from sixteenth-century Zurich and Geneva to modern
locations as far flung as Seoul and Sao Paulo. D. G. Hart explores
specifically the social and political developments that enabled
Calvinism to establish a global presence. Hart's approach features
significant episodes in the institutional history of Calvinism that
are responsible for its contemporary profile. He traces the
political and religious circumstances that first created space for
Reformed churches in Europe and later contributed to Calvinism's
expansion around the world. He discusses the effects of the
American and French Revolutions on ecclesiastical establishments as
well as nineteenth- and twentieth-century communions, particularly
in Scotland, the Netherlands, the United States, and Germany, that
directly challenged church dependence on the state. Raising
important questions about secularization, religious freedom,
privatization of faith, and the place of religion in public life,
this book will appeal not only to readers with interests in the
history of religion but also in the role of religion in political
and social life today.
In 1768, John Witherspoon, Presbyterian leader of the evangelical
Popular party faction in the Scottish Kirk, became the College of
New Jersey's sixth president. At Princeton, he mentored
constitutional architect James Madison; as a New Jersey delegate to
the Continental Congress, he was the only clergyman to sign the
Declaration of Independence. Although Witherspoon is often thought
to be the chief conduit of moral sense philosophy in America,
Mailer's comprehensive analysis of this founding father's writings
demonstrates the resilience of his evangelical beliefs.
Witherspoon's Presbyterian evangelicalism competed with, combined
with, and even superseded the civic influence of Scottish
Enlightenment thought in the British Atlantic world. John
Witherspoon's American Revolution examines the connection between
patriot discourse and long-standing debates--already central to the
1707 Act of Union-about the relationship among piety, moral
philosophy, and political unionism. In Witherspoon's mind,
Americans became different from other British subjects because more
of them had been awakened to the sin they shared with all people.
Paradoxically, acute consciousness of their moral depravity
legitimized their move to independence by making it a concerted
moral action urged by the Holy Spirit. Mailer's exploration of
Witherspoon's thought and influence suggests that, for the founders
in his circle, civic virtue rested on personal religious awakening.
Abraham Kuyper was, by any standard, one of the most extraordinary
figures in modern Christian history. He was a Dutch Reformed
minister, a gifted theologian, a prolific journalist, the leader of
a political party, the cofounder of the Free University of
Amsterdam (where he was professor of theology), a member of the
Dutch Parliament, and eventually prime minister of the Netherlands.
Kuyper's remarkable legacy lives on today in the tradition of Dutch
Calvinism that he developed. As his writings become more widely
available, this tradition continues to find new adherents attracted
by his comprehensive vision of Christian faith. But what defines
the Kuyperian tradition? Renowned South African theologian and
philosopher Craig Bartholomew has written the first systematic
introduction to this tradition. Drawing on Kuyper's entire corpus,
Bartholomew has identified the key themes and ideas that define
this tradition, including worldview, sphere sovereignty, creation
and redemption, the public square, and mission. He also goes beyond
Kuyper to show how later thinkers developed these ideas. They
include, among others, Herman Bavinck, J. H. Bavinck, Gerrit C.
Berkouwer, and Herman Dooyeweerd. Widely known but little read,
Kuyper is now receiving the global recognition that his fertile and
influential thought deserves. Contours of the Kuyperian Tradition
is an indispensable guide to one of the most significant schools of
thought in the modern age.
Concepts of predestination and reprobation were central issues in
the Protestant Reformation, especially within Calvinist churches,
and thus have often been studied primarily in the historical
context of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. In Versions of
Election: From Langland and Aquinas to Calvin and Milton, David
Aers takes a longer view of these key issues in Christian theology.
With meticulous attention to the texts of medieval and early modern
theologians, poets, and popular writers, this book argues that we
can understand the full complexity of the history of various
teachings on the doctrine of election only through a detailed
diachronic study that takes account of multiple periods and
disciplines. Throughout this wide-ranging study, Aers examines how
various versions of predestination and reprobation emerge and
re-emerge in Christian tradition from the Middle Ages through the
seventeenth century. Starting with incisive readings of medieval
works by figures such as William Langland, Thomas Aquinas, and
Robert Holcot, and continuing on to a nuanced consideration of
texts by Protestant thinkers and writers, including John Calvin,
Arthur Dent, William Twisse, and John Milton (among others), Aers
traces the twisting and unpredictable history of prominent versions
of predestination and reprobation across the divide of the
Reformation and through a wide variety of genres. In so doing, Aers
offers not only a detailed study of election but also important
insights into how Christian tradition is made, unmade, and remade.
Versions of Election is an original, cross-disciplinary study that
touches upon the fields of literature, theology, ethics, and
politics, and makes important contributions to the study of both
medieval and early modern intellectual and literary history. It
will appeal to academics in these fields, as well as clergy and
other educated readers from a wide variety of denominations.
Between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries, many thousands of
Protestants fled religious persecution in France and the Low
Countries. They became one of the most influential immigrant
communities in the countries where they settled, and many families
in modern-day Britain will find a Huguenot connection in their
past. Kathy Chater's authoritative handbook offers an accessible
introduction to Huguenot history and to the many sources that
researchers can use to uncover the Huguenot ancestry they may not
have realized they had. She traces the history of the Huguenots;
their experience of persecution, and their flight to Britain, North
America, the West Indies and South Africa, concentrating on the
Huguenot communities that settled in England, Ireland, Scotland and
the Channel Islands. Her work is also an invaluable guide to the
various sources researchers can turn to in order to track their
Huguenot ancestors, for she describes the wide range of records
that is available in local, regional and national archives, as well
as through the internet and overseas.Her expert overview is
essential reading for anyone studying their Huguenot ancestry or
immigrant history in Britain.
The definitive biography of John Knox, a leader of the Protestant
Reformation in sixteenth-century Scotland "Never before has there
been such a thoroughly and sympathetically critical treatment of
the 16th-century Scottish reformer's thought and times. . . . A joy
to read and a book to value."-Sean Michael Lucas, Gospel Coalition
Based in large part on previously unavailable sources, including
the recently discovered papers of John Knox's close friend and
colleague Christopher Goodman, this biography challenges the
traditionally held stereotype of the founder of the Presbyterian
denomination as a strident and misogynist religious reformer whose
influence rarely extended beyond Scotland. Instead, Jane Dawson
maintains that Knox relied heavily on the support of his "godly
sisters" and conferred as well as argued with Mary, Queen of Scots.
He was a proud member of the European community of Reformed
Churches and deeply involved in the religious Reformations within
England, Ireland, France, Switzerland, and the Holy Roman Empire.
Casting a surprising new light on the public and private personas
of a highly complex, difficult, and hugely compelling individual,
Dawson's fascinating study offers a vivid, fully rounded portrait
of this renowned Scottish preacher and prophet who had a seismic
impact on religion and society.
This new edition of the Christian classic includes an introduction
from Sinclair Ferguson From the introduction: Thomas Boston never
sought a prominent congregation or pulpit. He knew that, at the end
of the day, the only thing that makes a pulpit lastingly prominent
is the manner in which God's word is preached from it in the power
and presence of the Holy Spirit. The Beauties of Boston is a book
that has been treasured by many Christians in past generations. It
is full of rich gospel truth and health-giving spiritual
prescriptions. Part of its 'beauty' is that while a big book it is
not really a long book, but a series of smaller and manageable
passages that will - as The Marrow of Modern Divinity did for
Boston himself - stimulate thought, enhance understanding of the
gospel, point us to Christ, and strengthen both mind and spirit in
the knowledge and service of God. Thomas Boston was born at Duns in
Berwickshire in 1676. After studying in Edinburgh, he was licensed
to preach by the Presbytery of Duns and Chirnside in 1697. Shortly
afterwards, he published his first book, A Soliloquy on The Art of
Man-fishing, based on the words of Jesus in Matthew 4:19, 'Follow
me and I will make you fishers of men.' In 1699, he became the
minister of the small congregation in a village called Simprin,
located quite close to his birthplace. He was there until 1707 when
he became minister in Ettrick, and he would serve there until his
death in 1732. The collected writings of Boston are found in twelve
volumes, and from them the selections in The Beauties of Boston
were selected by the editor. Boston's best-known book is Human
Nature in Its Fourfold State. It was published in his lifetime, as
were two others books by him: a Collection of Sermons and an
edition of the Marrow of Modern Divinity which he annotated. After
his death, several volumes of his writings were published,
including his View of the Covenant of Works and of Grace, The
Christian Life, A Body of Divinity, and The Crook in The Lot.
This lively book not only unpacks the history of Christianity, but
also explains how church history is created and organized.
Different from traditional church history textbooks, the book: Has
a global emphasis, rather than an exclusively Euro-American one;
Explains the discipline of church history in addition to the
content; Is readable, engaging, and inviting to new students; Makes
church history accessible rather than stressing obscure dates and
names. Conceptually, this book is revolutionary. The story of
Christianity is never complete: it only expands. By allowing fresh
players into the story, broadening our perspective to include
women, the working class, heretics, and priests outside mainstream
"orthodoxy," we become open to new ways of understanding. And these
new perspectives enhance our comprehension of the endlessly
surprising story of Christianity's past.
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