In the early 1560s Frederick III (1516-76), Elector Palatine desired that his subjects be led to a 'devout knowledge and fear of the Almighty and his holy Word of salvation'. He commissioned a group of theologians and ministers to compose a catechetical summary of biblical truth that could be committed to memory and be an encouragement to personal faith and growth in Christ. The final version was approved by the Synod in Heidelberg (1563), the city lending its name to the catechism.

The Heidelberg Catechism follows the pattern of the Epistle to the Romans. It opens with the question 'What is your only comfort in life and in death?', and then examines the realities of human sin and misery (Rom. 1-3:20); salvation in Christ, including faith and repentance (Rom. 3:21-11:36); and the Christian life of thankful obedience in response to God's grace in Christ (Rom. 12-16). The catechism stands as a faithful testimony to the ancient Christian faith in its scripturally derived shape and content, and further expressed in its exposition and application of the Apostles' Creed, the sacraments of baptism and the Lord's Supper, the Ten Commandments, and the Lord's Prayer. FROM THE FOREWORD BY WILLIAM VANDOODEWAARD

John Wesley's most representative collection on Christian Perfection. ' Now let this perfection appear in its native form, and who can speak one word against it? Will any dare to speak against loving the Lord our God with all our heart, and our neighbor as ourselves? Against a renewal of heart, not only in part, but in the whole image of God? Who is he that will open his mouth against being cleansed from all pollution both of flesh and spirit; or against having all the mind that was in Christ, and walking in all things as Christ walked? What man, who calls himself a Christian, has the hardiness to object to the devoting, not a part, but all our soul, body, and substance to God?'

The definitive exploration of C.S. Lewis's philosophical thought, and its connection with his theological and literary work Arguably one of the most influential writers of the twentieth century, C.S. Lewis is widely hailed as a literary giant, his seven-volume Chronicles of Narnia having sold over 65 million copies in print worldwide. A prolific author and scholar whose intellectual contributions transcend the realm of children's fantasy literature, Lewis is commonly read and studied as a significant theological figure in his own right. What is often overlooked is that Lewis first loved and was academically trained in philosophy. In this newest addition to the Blackwell Great Minds series, well-known philosopher and Lewis authority Stewart Goetz discusses Lewis's philosophical thought and illustrates how it informs his theological and literary work. Drawing from Lewis's published writing and private correspondence, including unpublished materials, C.S. Lewis is the first book to develop a cohesive and holistic understanding of Lewis as a philosopher. In this groundbreaking project, Goetz explores how Lewis's views on topics of lasting interest such as happiness, morality, the soul, human freedom, reason, and imagination shape his understanding of myth and his use of it in his own stories, establishing new connections between Lewis's philosophical convictions and his wider body of published work. Written in a scholarly yet accessible style, this short, engaging book makes a significant contribution to Lewis scholarship while remaining suitable for readers who have only read his stories, offering new insight into the intellectual life of this figure of enduring popular interest.

Hegel broke open the deadliest assumptions of Western thought by conceiving being as becoming and consciousness as the social-subjective relation of spirit to itself, yet his white Eurocentric conceits were grotesquely inflated even by the standards of his time. With In a Post-Hegelian Spirit , Gary Dorrien emphasizes both sides of this Hegelian legacy, contending that it takes a great deal of digging and refuting to recover the parts of Hegel that still matter for religious thought. By distilling his signature argument about the role of post-Kantian idealism in modern Christian thought, Dorrien fashions a liberationist form of religious idealism: a post-Hegelian religious philosophy that is simultaneously both Hegelianaas it expounds a fluid, holistic, open, intersubjective, ambiguous, tragic, and reconciliatory idea of revelationaand post-Hegelian, as it rejects the deep-seated flaws in Hegel's thought. Dorrien mines Kant, Schleiermacher, and Hegel as the foundation of his argument about intellectual intuition and the creative power of subjectivity. After analyzing critiques of Hegel by SA,ren Kierkegaard, Karl Marx, Karl Barth, and Emmanuel Levinas, Dorrien contends that though these monumental figures were penetrating in their assessments, they appear one-sided compared to Hegel. In a Post-Hegelian Spirit furtherengages with the personal idealist tradition founded by Borden Parker Bowne, the process tradition founded by Alfred North Whitehead, and the daring cultural contributions of Paul Tillich, W. E. B. Du Bois, Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosemary Radford Ruether, David Tracy, Peter Hodgson, Edward Farley, Catherine Keller, and Monica Coleman. Dispelling common interpretations that Hegel's theology simply fashioned a closed system, Dorrien argues instead that Hegel can be interpreted legitimately in six different ways and is best interpreted as a philosopher of love who developed a Christian theodicy of love divine. Hegel expounded a process theodicy of God salvaging what can be salvaged from history, even as his tragic sense of the carnage of history cuts deep, lingering at Calvary.

A multicultural conference has convened. Everything is in place, and the participants arrive brimming with goodwill and even better intentions. Surely this time...! But, no. Halfway through the meetings, communication grinds to a halt, and people retreat to the safety of their own groups. What happened? And how can we keep it from happening again? Those are the questions this book proposes to answer.

The Science of the Soul challenges long-standing notions of Puritan provincialism as antithetical to the Enlightenment. Sarah Rivett demonstrates that, instead, empiricism and natural philosophy combined with Puritanism to transform the scope of religious activity in colonial New England from the 1630s to the Great Awakening of the 1740s. In an unprecedented move, Puritan ministers from Thomas Shepard and John Eliot to Cotton Mather and Jonathan Edwards studied the human soul using the same systematic methods that philosophers applied to the study of nature. In particular, they considered the testimonies of tortured adolescent girls at the center of the Salem witch trials, Native American converts, and dying women as a source of material insight into the divine. Conversions and deathbed speeches were thus scrutinized for evidence of grace in a way that bridged the material and the spiritual, the visible and the invisible, the worldly and the divine. In this way, the ""science of the soul"" was as much a part of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century natural philosophy as it was part of post-Reformation theology. Rivett's account restores the unity of religion and science in the early modern world and highlights the role and importance of both to transatlantic circuits of knowledge formation. | The Science of the Soul challenges long-standing notions of Puritan provincialism as antithetical to the Enlightenment. Sarah Rivett demonstrates that, instead, empiricism and natural philosophy combined with Puritanism to transform the scope of religious activity in colonial New England from the 1630s to the Great Awakening of the 1740s.

In this fascinating historical and cultural biography, writer and broadcaster Peter Stanford deconstructs that most vilified of Bible characters: Judas Iscariot, who famously betrayed Jesus with a kiss. Beginning with the gospel accounts, Peter explores two thousand years of cultural and theological history to investigate how the very name Judas came to be synonymous with betrayal and, ultimately, human evil. But as Peter points out, there has long been a counter-current of thought that suggests that Judas might in fact have been victim of a terrible injustice: central to Jesus' mission was his death and resurrection, and for there to have been a death, there had to be a betrayal. This thankless role fell to Judas; should we in fact be grateful to him for his role in the divine drama of salvation? 'You'll have to decide,' as Bob Dylan sang in the sixties, 'Whether Judas Iscariot had God on his side'. An essential but doomed character in the Passion narrative, and thus the entire story of Christianity, Judas and the betrayal he symbolises continue to play out in much larger cultural histories, speaking as he does to our deepest fears about friendship, betrayal and the problem of evil. Judas: the ultimate traitor, or the ultimate scapegoat? This is a compelling portrait of Christianity's most troubling and mysterious character.

The acclaimed author of "Cold Noses at the Pearly Gates" investigates pets' afterlife--for the truth about their existence in Heaven--in a moving, inspirational, and comforting message of hope.

Jesus was human, like you and me. If the gospel is true, he still is. Christians worldwide believe that Jesus is God. But this belief wasn't the starting point for Jesus' earliest followers. While Jesus' humanity was a given for the disciples, his divinity was a truth they grew into believing-it was a journey of faith. As Christians today, we are also called into a faith journey-this time, to rediscover Jesus' humanity. Yes, we believe that Jesus is God, but do we truly believe that Jesus is human? And if so, how does that transform our own experience of being human? Through eye-opening yet down-to-earth reflections, Jesus Journey invites you to encounter Jesus again-as if for the first time-by experiencing his breathing, heart-beating, body-and-blood, crying-and-laughing humanity. Join Bible teacher and storyteller Trent Sheppard as he shines new light on the vibrant humanity of the historical Jesus through an up-close look at Jesus' relationships with Mary and Joseph, with the God he called Abba, with his closest friends and followers, and how, ultimately, his crucifixion and resurrection finally and forever redefine what we mean by the word God. Come encounter the human who radically transforms our view of God. Come encounter the God who forever changes what it means to be human.

With a strong emphasis on the scriptural basis for each doctrine---what the whole Bible teaches us today about a particular topic; clear writing, with technical terms kept to a minimum; and a contemporary approach, emphasizing how each doctrine should be understood and applied by present-day Christians, Making Sense of the Bible is required reading for understanding the relevant passages of Scripture. Topics include Canon of Scripture: the list of all books that belong in the Bible; Authority of Scripture: all words in Scripture are God s words because that is what the Bible claims for itself; Clarity of Scripture: the Bible is written so that its teachings are able to be understood by all who read it; Necessity of Scripture: the Bible is necessary for knowledge of the gospel; and Sufficiency of Scripture: Scripture contains all the words of God he intended his people to have. Written in a friendly tone, appealing to the emotions and the spirit as well as the intellect, Making Sense of the Bible helps readers overcome wrong ideas, make better decisions on new questions, and grow as Christians."

There is an increased interest in spirituality in our world lately. People have a deep hunger and thirst towards something that transcends them.In Spiritual Formation, Maddix and LeClerc provide a definition of Christian spiritual formation within the Wesleyan paradigm and how faithful disciples can grow in their relationship with Jesus Christ. In simple terms, this book explains that Spiritual formation refers to the transformation of people into, what C.S. Lewis calls, 'little Christs.' The book focuses on how people can grow in Christlikeness by participating in reading of Scripture, the means of grace, the sacraments, and spiritual disciplines. It also provides guidance in matter of self-care, spiritual direction, and mentoring, while displaying practical guidelines for adolescents, families, and college students.

The church engages in mission as it is formed and transformed by the triune God whose nature is missional. If the church is not motivated by foundational, theological convictions, the church can blindly run toward 'cool' trends instead of focusing on God's purposes. In Missio Dei, the authors guide their readers through reflections on a biblical and theological understanding of God's mission, while pointing out ways in which we can participate in the mission of God.Missio Dei contains essays by several church leaders, including Ron Benefiel, Thomas A. Noble, Douglas S. Hardy, and Roger L. Hahn. Edited by Keith Schwanz and Joseph Coleson, this book reveals a clear understanding of what it means to be the missional church and participants in the Missio Dei.

With clear writing---technical terms kept to a minimum---and a contemporary approach, emphasizing how each doctrine should be understood and applied by present-day Christians, Making Sense of Who God is explores the existence of God through inner knowledge and evidence found in Scripture and in nature. Topics include but are not limited to Traditional Proofs for God s Existence: covering cosmological, teleological, ontological, and moral evidence of the Creator; The Trinity: the three distinct persons each equal to the whole being of God; Creation: including the assertion that, when all the facts are understood, there will be no final conflicts between Scripture and natural science; and God s Providence: the Creator s continued involvement with all created things and human actions that make a difference within God s providence. Written in a friendly tone, appealing to the emotions and the spirit as well as the intellect, Making Sense of Who God is helps readers overcome wrong ideas, make better decisions on new questions, and grow as Christians."

The Apostolic Fathers represents the best and latest in German-language scholarship on the Apostolic Fathers--now available in this exclusive English edition. Crafted by an expert team of scholars, The Apostolic Fathers offers introductions to the works comprising this early Christian corpus, fully equipped with cutting-edge discussion of important topics including theological profiles, intertextuality, intellectual milieus, and anti-Jewish polemics. The foreword by Wilhelm Pratscher and closing chapter by Jorg Ulrich cap off this learned handling of the Fathers, locating them within the history of scholarship, even while pointing the way for new avenues of study.

A collection of texts and essays focused on how the work of Christianity is affected by other religious traditions.

How can Christians relate to people of other religious traditions, or even non-believers whose lives truly embody the unconditional divine love given to all at creation? This question is urgent in the world of the twenty-first century, a world beset with many serious problems and marked by a wide variety of religious traditions that present differing claims.

This book explores how we as Christians relate to and engage religious "Others" in constructive ways as we carry out our tasks of mission and ministry to the world. The first part of this book includes texts, beginning with the New Testament and working through the early church Fathers to theologians of today, that indicate ways forward. The essays in the second part of The Gospel among the Nations explore ways of living together in ministry that broaden and deepen our understanding of other traditions and help us to become more firmly rooted in our own lives as Christians living in a world of many traditions.

In 1988 Virginia Fabella from the Philippines and Mercy Amba Oduyoye from Ghana coedited With Passion and Compassion: Third world Women Doing Theology, based on the work of the Women's Commission of the Ecumenical Association of Third World Theologians (EATWOT). The book has been widely used as an important resource for understanding women's liberation theologies, in Africa, Asia, and Latin America emerging out of women's struggles for justice in church and society. More than twenty years have passed and it is time to bring out a new collection of essays to signal newer developments and to include emerging voices.

Divided into four partsContext and Theology; Scripture; Christology; and Body, Sexuality, and Spiritualitythese carefully selected essays paint a vivid picture of theological developments among indigenous women and other women living in the global South who face poverty, violence, and war and yet find abundant hope through their faith.

Marx, Mill, Hegel, Nietzsche, Kierkegaard, Emerson, Darwin, Freud and Weber brought to the nineteenth century new realms of thought, which still continue to wield substantial influence today. As a result, the study of history, science, psychology, philosophy, sociology and religion have never been the same. These heirs to rationalism began to explore the full range of human experience--which became a matter of philosophical and theological interest, and even authority. Romanticism flourished in the arts and literature as Idealism, Transcendentalism, Pragmatism and other movements developed. All had a profound effect on religion and how it was viewed. In this second of three volumes which survey the dynamic interplay of Christianity and Western thought from the earliest centuries through the twentieth century, Steve Wilkens and Alan Padgett tell the story of the monumental changes of the nineteenth century.

With clear writing---technical terms kept to a minimum---and a contemporary approach, emphasizing how each doctrine should be understood and applied by present-day Christians, Making Sense of Salvation explores God s common grace to redeem those who will be saved, and to demonstrate his goodness, mercy, justice, and glory. Topics include but are not limited to the order of salvation---from God s choice of people to be saved to the chosen people receiving a resurrection body; effective calling---the act of God the father speaking through the human proclamation of the gospel to summons people to himself in saving faith; regeneration---a secret act of God in which he imparts new spiritual life to us; and glorification---when Christ returns and raises from the dead the bodies of all believers for all time who have died. Written in a friendly tone, appealing to the emotions and the spirit as well as the intellect, Making Sense of Salvation helps readers overcome wrong ideas, make better decisions on new questions, and grow as Christians."

A bishop is not only a spiritual shepherd but a teacher. In Being Catholic Archbishop Pilarczyk teaches in clear, concise language the basic beliefs and practices of Catholics and what shapes a Catholic's thinking. The book discusses: How We Believe: Believing Catholic is a matter of knowing, understanding and responding to a story--the true story of God's love for us. It offers "the fundamentals that have to be there if thinking and practicing Catholic are going to have any appeal or make any sense." How We Practice: Reflections on the behaviors that express our faith and our membership in the church, such as going to Mass, receiving the sacraments and raising children Catholic. How We Think: A series of thoughtful, pastoral and heartfelt reflections on all aspects of our lives in the world, seen through the eyes of one deeply faithful to the tradition and teachings of the church.

It is by means of worship that man recognizes his absolute dependence upon God, comes into His presence, and gains practical knowledge of His goodness and sovereign majesty.
Father Marie-Dominique Philippe, founder of the Congregation of St. John and one of the twentieth century s most profound theological and pastoral minds, takes us back to the First Commandment, back to the primacy of worship, in You Shall Worship One God. For only by recognizing the singular importance of worship, of making ourselves an offering of love before God, can we hope to fulfill the other commandments and develop a deep and lasting spiritual life.
Divine revelation, says Father Philippe, presents true worship to us in the form of sacrifice. The Old Testament stories in which goods and lives are offered to God, and the holocausts and oblations of the Jewish Temple, train God s people to express their love and fidelity and penitence through sacrifice. In so doing they also prefigure and prepare us for the Passion of Our Lord on Calvary, the perfect and lasting sacrifice that completes and gives meaning to all the others. Christ s offering of Himself is at root a sacrifice of filial worship, glorifying the Father in the truest way possible and thereby effecting the greatest spiritual fruits.
You Shall Worship One God is a fascinating study of the development of sacrificial worship throughout salvation history, a rich meditation on the mystery of the Cross, and a necessary reminder to our busy world that the heart of Christianity is found not in service to our fellow man, but in recognizing the Lord s supreme majesty before all. Such worship is essential to salvation, says Father Philippe, for it makes us die to ourselves in order to proclaim that God is first.

New from Saint Benedict Press.

Change is in the air and it may entail a radically different way of looking at life. The most common word to describe this change is 'postmodernism.' Postmodern and Wesleyan? is both an exploration and an internal dialogue. Essays written by differing voices explore various dimensions of postmodernism as they relate to theology, church, practices, communities, and missions. Each section includes a critical response by a respected Wesleyan leader to the ideas expressed. Dr. Leonard Sweet concludes each section with comments to continue the conversation. This important conversation piece invites churches, pastors, and laity to explore together how the Christian faith might shape both the present and the future. By providing a forum for engaging issues, both important and difficult, Postmodern and Wesleyan? offers a voice to some of the most creative thinkers in the movement and a help to Christians deciding the direction they must go in order to share the good news of God's love.