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Books > Humanities > Religion & beliefs > Christianity > Protestantism & Protestant Churches > General
Award of Merit, 2019 Christianity Today Book Awards
(History/Biography) More than forty years ago, conservative
Christianity emerged as a major force in American political life.
Since then the movement has been analyzed and over-analyzed,
declared triumphant and, more than once, given up for dead. But
because outside observers have maintained a near-relentless focus
on domestic politics, the most transformative development over the
last several decades-the explosive growth of Christianity in the
global south-has gone unrecognized by the wider public, even as it
has transformed evangelical life, both in the US and abroad. The
Kingdom of God Has No Borders offers a daring new perspective on
conservative Christianity by shifting the lens to focus on the
world outside US borders. Melani McAlister offers a sweeping
narrative of the last fifty years of evangelical history, weaving a
fascinating tale that upends much of what we know-or think we
know-about American evangelicals. She takes us to the Congo in the
1960s, where Christians were enmeshed in a complicated interplay of
missionary zeal, Cold War politics, racial hierarchy, and
anti-colonial struggle. She shows us how evangelical efforts to
convert non-Christians have placed them in direct conflict with
Islam at flash points across the globe. And she examines how
Christian leaders have fought to stem the tide of HIV/AIDS in
Africa while at the same time supporting harsh repression of LGBTQ
communities. Through these and other stories, McAlister focuses on
the many ways in which looking at evangelicals abroad complicates
conventional ideas about evangelicalism. We can't truly understand
how conservative Christians see themselves and their place in the
world unless we look beyond our shores.
Sustainability Science is an interdisciplinary, problem-driven
field that seeks to address fundamental questions on
human-environment interactions. Reconstructing Sustainability
Science repositions sustainability science as a "science of design"
that is, a normative science of what ought to be in order to
achieve certain goals rather than a science of what is. It provides
an essential understanding of the complex relationship between
science, social change and the normative dimensions of
sustainability.
Drawing upon interviews of 30 prominent sustainability
scientists, the book first gives an in-depth, empirical discussion
and analysis of the three main questions regarding the development
of sustainability science: how researchers in the emerging field of
sustainability science are attempting to define sustainability,
establish research agendas, and link the knowledge they produce to
societal action. This study is paired with a thorough content
analysis of the sustainability science literature in which the
boundaries and tensions between emerging research pathways and
decision-making for sustainability are explored. The second part
aims to reformulate the sustainability science research agenda and
its relationship to decision-making and social action. The book
includes case studies of innovative sustainability research centres
that act as examples of how a science of design can be constructed.
The book concludes with a grounded discussion of the implications
for building sustainability research and education programs, and
training the next generation of sustainability scientists and
practitioners.
This timely book gives students, researchers and practitioners
an invaluable analysis of the emergence of sustainability science,
and both the opportunities and barriers faced by scientific efforts
to contribute to social action.
"
What does the practice of religion look like in Latin American
today? In this book, which examines religious practice in three
Latin American cities- Lima, Peru; Cordoba, Argentina; and
Montevideo, Uruguay- Gustavo Morello reveals the influence of
modernity on average citizens' cultural practices. Technological
development, the dynamics of capitalism, the specialization of
spheres of knowledge- all these aspects of modernity were thought
to diminish the importance of religion. Yet, Morello argues, if we
look at religion as ordinary Latin Americans practice it, we
discover that modernity has not diminished religion, but
transformed it, creating what Morello calls "enchanted modernity."
In Latin America, there is more religion than secularists expect,
but of a different kind than religious leaders would wish. Morello
explores how urban, contemporary Latin Americans, both believers
and non-believers, from different social classes and religious
affiliations, experience transcendence in everyday life. Using
semi-structured interviews with 254 individuals in three cities
with shifting religious landscapes and different cultural
histories, Morello highlights the diversity within Latin America,
exploring societies that are understudied and examining a broad
array of religious traditions: "nones" (agnostics, non-affiliated,
atheist), Catholics, Evangelicals (including mainstream
Protestants, Pentecostals, neo-Evangelicals), and other traditions
(including Jews, Muslims, Mormons, African-derived traditions, and
Buddhists). Morello emphasizes elements, nuances, and dynamics that
have previously been overlooked and that can enrich the study of
religion other non-western societies. The book seeks to contribute
to a critical theory of contemporary religion- one that is not
centered in the North Atlantic world and that takes seriously the
voices of the Latin American people.
The Oxford History of Protestant Dissenting Traditions, Volume I
traces the emergence of Anglophone Protestant Dissent in the
post-Reformation era between the Act of Uniformity (1559) and the
Act of Toleration (1689). It reassesses the relationship between
establishment and Dissent, emphasising that Presbyterians and
Congregationalists were serious contenders in the struggle for
religious hegemony. Under Elizabeth I and the early Stuarts,
separatists were few in number, and Dissent was largely contained
within the Church of England, as nonconformists sought to reform
the national Church from within. During the English Revolution
(1640-60), Puritan reformers seized control of the state but
splintered into rival factions with competing programmes of
ecclesiastical reform. Only after the Restoration, following the
ejection of two thousand Puritan clergy from the Church, did most
Puritans become Dissenters, often with great reluctance. Dissent
was not the inevitable terminus of Puritanism, but the contingent
and unintended consequence of the Puritan drive for further
reformation. The story of Dissent is thus bound up with the contest
for the established Church, not simply a heroic tale of persecuted
minorities contending for religious toleration. Nevertheless, in
the half century after 1640, religious pluralism became a fact of
English life, as denominations formed and toleration was widely
advocated. The volume explores how Presbyterians,
Congregationalists, Baptists, and Quakers began to forge distinct
identities as the four major denominational traditions of English
Dissent. It tracks the proliferation of Anglophone Protestant
Dissent beyond England-in Wales, Scotland, Ireland, the Dutch
Republic, New England, Pennsylvania, and the Caribbean. And it
presents the latest research on the culture of Dissenting
congregations, including their relations with the parish, their
worship, preaching, gender relations, and lay experience.
Use this proven strategy for outreach in conjunction with The
Faith-Sharing Congregation by Swanson and Clement and Faith-Sharing
New Testament with Psalms (Cokesbury).
A quarter-century after its first publication, "A Shopkeeper's Millennium remains a landmark work--brilliant both as a new interpretation of the intimate connections among politics, economy, and religion during the Second Great Awakening, and as a surprising portrait of a rapidly growing frontier city. The religious revival that transformed America in the 1820s, making it the most militantly Protestant nation on earth and spawning reform movements dedicated to temperance and to the abolition of slavery, had an especially powerful effect in Rochester, New York. Paul E. Johnson explores the reasons for the revival's spectacular success there, suggesting important links between its moral accounting and the city's new industrial world. In a new preface, he reassesses his evidence and his conclusions in this major work.
"This is a wonderful anthology . Its texts not only span the whole
of Luther's reforming career, but also cover the theological,
political, and social issues that mattered most to him and his age.
Best of all, the original integrity of the texts remains
perceptible, even when abridged. This valuable collection will be a
great teaching tool and also a most useful resource for anyone
interested in Luther or the Protestant Reformation." -Carlos Eire,
Yale University, author of Reformations: The Early Modern World,
1450-1650 (Yale University Press) CONTENTS: Thematic Table of
Contents General Introduction 1. Preface to the Complete Edition of
the Latin Writings (1545) 2. Disputation on the Power of
Indulgences (The Ninety-Five Theses) (1517) 3. Sermon on Indulgence
and Grace (1518) 4. Disputation Held at Heidelberg (1518) 5. To the
Christian Nobility of the German Nation (1520) 6. The Babylonian
Captivity of the Church (1520) 7. On the Freedom of a Christian
(1520) 8. Preface to the New Testament (1522) 9. Preface to the
Epistle of St. Paul to the Romans (1522) 10. On Married Life (1522)
11. On Secular Authority: To What Extent It Must Be Obeyed (1523)
12. That Jesus Christ Was Born a Jew (1523) 13. Against the
Heavenly Prophets Concerning Images and the Sacrament (1525) 14.
Against the Robbing and Murdering Hordes of Peasants (1525) 15. The
Bondage of the Will (1525) 16. The German Mass and Order of Divine
Service (1526) 17. How Christians Should Regard Moses (1527) 18.
Concerning Rebaptism (1528) 19. Hymns (pre-1529) 20. On the War
against the Turks (1529) 21. The Small Catechism (1529) 22.
Commentary on St. Paul's Epistle to the Galatians (1535) 23. The
Schmalkald Articles (1537) 24. Letter to Landgrave Philipp of Hesse
(1539) 25. On the Jews and Their Lies (1543) Suggestions for
Further Reading Index
Volume 4 of The Annotated Luther series presents an array of
Luther's writings related to pastoral work. Luther's famous
lnvocavit Sermons and other selected sermons show a forthright and
lively preacher. Hymn texts reveal Luther's grasp of hymnody as a
tool for conveying and expressing faith. His Small Catechism as
well as several pieces on prayer, including his Personal Prayer
Book and A Simple Way to Pray, show his engagement in the basic
task of teaching the faith. Luther's prefaces to his own writings
contain personal reflections on his reforming work. Also in this
volume are his commentary on The Magnificat, selected letters, and
shorter pieces that display his pastoral responses to particular
situations: Sermon on Preparing to Die, Whether One May Flee from a
Deadly Plague, and Comfort for Women Who Have Had a Miscarriage.
Each volume in The Annotated Luther series contains new
introductions, annotations, illustrations, and notes to help shed
light on Luther's context and interpret his writings for today. The
translations of Luther's writings include updates of Luther's
Works, American Edition or entirely new translations of Luther's
German or Latin writings.
In this fascinating book Kathleen M. McIntyre traces intra-village
conflicts stemming from Protestant conversion in southern Mexico
and successfully demonstrates that both Protestants and Catholics
deployed cultural identity as self-defense in clashes over local
power and authority. McIntyre's study approaches religious
competition through an examination of disputes over tequio
(collective work projects) and cargo (civil-religious hierarchy)
participation. By framing her study between the Mexican Revolution
of 1910 and the Zapatista uprising of 1994, she demonstrates the
ways Protestant conversion fueled regional and national discussions
over the state's conceptualization of indigenous citizenship and
the parameters of local autonomy. The book's timely scholarship is
an important addition to the growing literature on transnational
religious movements, gender, and indigenous identity in Latin
America.
Benjamin Franklin grew up in a devout Protestant family with
limited prospects for wealth and fame. By hard work, limitless
curiosity, native intelligence, and luck (what he called
"providence"), Franklin became one of Philadelphia's most prominent
leaders, a world recognized scientist, and the United States'
leading diplomat during the War for Independence. Along the way,
Franklin embodied the Protestant ethics and cultural habits he
learned and observed as a youth in Puritan Boston. Benjamin
Franklin: Cultural Protestant follows Franklin's remarkable career
through the lens of the trends and innovations that the Protestant
Reformation started (both directly and indirectly) almost two
centuries earlier. His work as a printer, civic reformer,
institution builder, scientist, inventer, writer, self-help
dispenser, politician, and statesmen was deeply rooted in the
culture and outlook that Protestantism nurtured. Through its
alternatives to medieval church and society, Protestants built
societies and instilled habits of character and mind that allowed
figures such as Franklin to build the life that he did. Through it
all, Franklin could not assent to all of Protestantism's doctrines
or observe its worship, but for most of his life he acknowledged
his debt to his creator, revelled in the natural world guided by
providence, and conducted himself in a way (imperfectly) to merit
divine approval. In this biography, D. G. Hart recognizes Franklin
as a cultural or non-observant Protestant, someone who thought of
himself as a Presbyterian, ordered his life as other Protestants
did, sometimes went to worship services, read his Bible, and
prayed, but could not go all the way and join a church.
From the beginning of his career, Swiss theologian Karl Barth
(1886-1968) was often in conflict with the spirit of his times.
While during the First World War German poets and philosophers
became intoxicated by the experience of community and
transcendence, Barth fought against all attempts to locate the
divine in culture or individual sentiment. This freed him for a
deep worldly engagement: he was known as "the red pastor," was the
primary author of the founding document of the Confessing Church,
the Barmen Theological Declaration, and after 1945 protested the
rearmament of the Federal Republic of Germany. Christiane Tietz
compellingly explores the interactions between Barth's personal and
political biography and his theology. Numerous newly-available
documents offer insight into the lesser-known sides of Barth such
as his long-term three-way relationship with his wife Nelly and his
colleague Charlotte von Kirschbaum. This is an evocative portrait
of a theologian who described himself as "God's cheerful partisan,"
who was honored as a prophet and a genial spirit, was feared as a
critic, and shaped the theology of an entire century as no other
thinker.
Inspired by the ideas of the Dutch theologian Jacob Arminius,
Arminianism was the subject of important theological controversies
in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and still today
remains an important position within Protestant thought. What
became known as Arminian theology was held by people across a wide
swath of geographical and ecclesial positions. This theological
movement was in part a reaction to the Reformed doctrine of
predestination and was founded on the assertion that God's
sovereignty and human free will are compatible. More broadly, it
was an attempt to articulate a holistic view of God and salvation
that is grounded in Scripture and Christian tradition as well as
adequate to the challenges of life. First developed in European,
British, and American contexts, the movement engaged with a wide
range of intellectual challenges. While standing together in their
common rejection of several key planks of Reformed theology,
supporters of Arminianism took varying positions on other matters.
Some were broadly committed to catholic and creedal theology, while
others were more open to theological revision. Some were concerned
primarily with practical matters, while others were engaged in
system-building as they sought to articulate and defend an
over-arching vision of God and the world. The story of Arminian
development is complex, yet essential for a proper understanding of
the history of Protestant theology. The historical development of
Arminian theology, however, is not well known. In After Arminius,
Thomas H. McCall and Keith D. Stanglin offer a thorough historical
introduction to Arminian theology, providing an account that will
be useful to scholars and students of ecclesiastical history and
modern Christian thought.
Starting a new organization is risky business. And churches are no
exception. Many new Protestant churches are established without
denominational support and, therefore, have many of the same
vulnerabilities other startups must overcome. Millions of Americans
are leaving churches, half of all churches do not add any new
members, and thousands of churches shutter their doors each year.
These numbers suggest that American religion is not a growth
industry. On the other hand, more than 1000 new churches are
started in any given year. What moves people who might otherwise be
satisfied working for churches to take on the riskier role of
starting one? In Church Planters, sociologist Richard Pitt uses
more than 125 in-depth interviews with church planters to
understand their motivations. Pitt's work endeavors to uncover
themes in their sometimes miraculous, sometimes mundane answers to
the question: "why take on these risks?" He examines how they
approach common entrepreneurial challenges in ways that reduce
uncertainty and lead them to believe they will be successful. By
combining the evocative stories of church planters with insights
from research on commercial and social entrepreneurship, Pitt
explains how these religion entrepreneurs come to believe their
organizational goals must be accomplished, that they can be
accomplished, and that they will be accomplished.
A "contemplative" ethnographic study of a Benedictine monastery in
Vermont known for its folk-inspired music. Far from being a
long-silent echo of medieval religion, modern monastery music is
instead a resounding, living illustration of the role of music in
religious life. Benedictine monks gather for communal prayer
upwards of five times per day, every day. Their prayers, called the
Divine Office, are almost entirely sung. Benedictines are famous
for Gregorian Chant, but the original folk-inspired music of the
monks of Weston Priory in Vermont is among the most familiar in
post-Vatican II American Catholicism. Using the ethnomusicological
methods of fieldwork and taking inspiration from the monks' own way
of encountering the world, this book offers a contemplative
engagement with music, prayer, and everyday life. The rich
narrative evokes the rhythms of learning among Benedictines to show
how monastic ways of being, knowing, and musicking resonate with
humanistic inquiry and the pursuit of knowledge and understanding.
Support for this publication was provided by the Howard Hanson
Institute for American Music of the Eastman School of Music at the
University of Rochester.
The German pastor and theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer's life and
theology played a significant role in the church and theological
struggles against apartheid in South Africa. The essays in this
book align itself with this historical trajectory, but especially
address the question of Bonhoeffer's possible message and
continuing legacy after the transition to democracy in South
Africa. The essays argue that Bonhoeffer's work and witness still
provides rich resources for a theological engagement with more
contemporary challenges. In the process, it rethinks Bonhoeffer's
understanding of time, the body, life together, responsibility, and
being human.
John Wesley (1703-1791), leader of British Methodism, was one of
the most prolific literary figures of the eighteenth century,
responsible for creating and disseminating a massive corpus of
religious literature and for instigating a sophisticated programme
of reading, writing and publishing within his Methodist Societies.
John Wesley, Practical Divinity and the Defence of Literature takes
the influential genre of practical divinity as a framework for
understanding Wesley's role as an author, editor and critic of
popular religious writing. It asks why he advocated the literary
arts as a valid aspect of his evangelical theology, and how his
Christian poetics impacted upon the religious experience of his
followers.
A major new account of the most intensely creative years of
Luther's career The Making of Martin Luther takes a provocative
look at the intellectual emergence of one of the most original and
influential minds of the sixteenth century. Richard Rex traces how,
in a concentrated burst of creative energy in the few years
surrounding his excommunication by Pope Leo X in 1521, this
lecturer at an obscure German university developed a startling new
interpretation of the Christian faith that brought to an end the
dominance of the Catholic Church in Europe. Lucidly argued and
elegantly written, The Making of Martin Luther is a splendid work
of intellectual history that renders Luther's earthshaking yet
sometimes challenging ideas accessible to a new generation of
readers.
Sanctification is a central theme in the theology of both John and
Charles Wesley. However, while John's theology of sanctification
has received much scholarly attention, significantly less has been
paid to Charles' views on the subject. This book redresses this
imbalance by using Charles' many poetic texts as a window into his
rich theological thought on sanctification, particularly uncovering
the role of resignation in the development of his views on this key
doctrine. In this analysis of Charles' theology of sanctification,
the centrality he accorded to resignation is uncovered to show a
positive attribute involving acts of intention, desire and offering
to God. The book begins by putting Charles' position in the context
of contemporary theology, and then shows how he differed in
attitude from his brother John. It then discusses in depth how his
hymns use the concept of resignation, both in relation to Jesus
Christ and the believer. It concludes this analysis by identifying
the ways in which Charles understood the relationship between
resignation and sanctification; namely, that resignation is a lens
through which Charles views holiness. The final chapter considers
the implications of these conclusions for a twenty-first century
theological and spiritual context, and asks whether resignation is
still a concept which can be used today. This book breaks new
ground in the understanding of Charles Wesley's personal theology.
As such, it will be of significant interest to scholars of
Methodism and the Wesleys as well as those working in theology,
spirituality, and the history of religion.
A New Interpretation of Protestantism and Its Impact on the
World
The radical idea that individuals could interpret the Bible for
themselves spawned a revolution that is still being played out on
the world stage today. This innovation lies at the heart of
Protestantism's remarkable instability and adaptability.
World-renowned scholar Alister McGrath sheds new light on the
fascinating figures and movements that continue to inspire debate
and division across the full spectrum of Protestant churches and
communities worldwide.
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