Before Queen Anne's reign had even begun, rival factions in both Church and State were jostling for position in her court. Attempting to follow a moderate course, the new monarch and her advisors had to be constantly wary of the attempts of extremists on both sides to gain the upper hand. The result was a see-saw period of alternating influence that has fascinated historians and political commentators. In this engaging new study, Barry Levis shows that although both parties claimed to be in support of the Church, their real aim was advancing their respective political positions. Uniting close analysis of Queen Anne's changing policies towards dissenters, occasional conformity and church appointments with studies of the careers of several prominent churchmen and politicians, Levis paints a gripping picture of competing religious values and political ambitions. Most significantly, he shows that, far from being restricted to the church and political elites, these conflicts were to have a cascading influence on the division of the country long after the Queen's reign ended.

The Christian Community is a unique church organisation in the modern world. It values the rhythm and ritual of the sacraments (such as baptism and holy communion), and has re-established them in a form which tries to meet the deepest needs of searching souls. At the same time, it proclaims the right of individuals to form their own beliefs, rather than what the church tells them. It therefore offers something quite particular and vital for the future of Christianity. This book looks back to the founding of The Christian Community in 1922, following inspiration from Rudolf Steiner, and especially its beginnings in English-speaking countries. It includes accounts of the key personalities who brought the organisation into existence, such as Friedrich Rittelmeyer and Emil Bock, as well as the priests and leaders who pioneered it in Britain, North America, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand, including Alfred Heidenreich, Oliver Matthews, Verner Hegg, Heinz Maurer, Julian Sleigh, Eileen Hersey, Michael Tapp and many more.

What is the relationship between evangelical Christianity and democracy in America? In Good News for Common Goods, sociologist Wes Markofski explores how multicultural evangelicals across the United States are addressing race, poverty, inequality, politics, and religious and cultural difference in America's increasingly plural and polarized public arena. Based on extensive original research on multicultural evangelicals active in faith-based community organizing, community development, political advocacy, and public service organizations across the country-including over 90 in-depth interviews with racially diverse evangelical and non-evangelical activists, community leaders, and neighborhood residents-Markofski shows how the varieties of public religion practiced by evangelical Christians are not always bad news for non-evangelicals, people of color, and those advancing ethical democracy in the United States. Markofski argues that multicultural evangelicals can and do work with others across race, class, religious, and political lines to achieve common good solutions to public problems, and that they can do so without abandoning their own distinctive convictions and identities or demanding that others do so. Just as ethical democracy calls for a more reflexive evangelicalism, it also calls for a more reflexive secularism and progressivism.

Plans and programs for special days including: Bible Day. Children's Day, Christmas, Easter, missionary material, Mother's Day, Thanksgiving Day, Valentine's Day, welcomes and responses and women's work.

This first-ever interdisciplinary study of woman as prophet shows that, in these troubling times, ordinary women-especially Christian women-need to function as prophets by proclaiming, in word and deed, the indispensability of lovingly seeking the welfare of others. More specifically, social science shows that the person-centered love prophesied by women prophets is able to meet interpersonal challenges within the home and world, while philosophy and theology establish that women are able to excel as prophets due to the virtuous dispositions inculcated by femininity, the choice to be caring, a God-centered spirituality, and a pro-life humanitarian/personalist feminism that welcomes male collaborators. Facilitating the ability of Christian women to prophesy love are Baptismal graces, Thomistic virtues, and a much needed prophetic Marian ecclesiology based on what John Paul II calls the "prophetism of femininity." These interdisciplinary findings provide an essential resource for educators and students of humanity, the theology of women, and evangelization. These findings emerge, first, from an investigation into the cognitive and ontological underpinnings of what John Paul II called the "feminine genius." A second set of findings emerges from exploring the prophetic dimensions of the feminine genius, secular feminism's need to adopt the insights of Christianity, and the ability of femininity's prophetism to recast both femininity and feminism as Marian prophecies. A third set of findings arises from analyzing the spirituality of women prophets within the Christian tradition by considering the conditions necessary for prophesying, explicating requisite Thomistic virtues, and delving into the spirituality of Hildegard, Catherine of Siena, Julian of Norwich, and Teresa of Avila. A fourth set of findings arises from innovative studies of polarization, secularization, lust, romantic love, the conditions whereby mothers with careers can flourish, and the ability of nuns to combat racism in a small Midwestern town. Overall, these interdisciplinary investigations explicate the theology of women and show that women who prophesy love, either in the order of grace or nature, can help heal lives, families, and culture.

2020 For the Church Book Award This brief, accessible invitation to the historic creeds and confessions makes a biblical and historical case for their necessity and shows why they are essential for Christian faith and practice today. J. V. Fesko, a leading Reformed theologian with a broad readership in the academy and the church, demonstrates that creeds are not just any human documents but biblically commended resources for the well-being of the church, as long as they remain subordinate to biblical authority. He also explains how the current skepticism and even hostility toward creeds and confessions came about.

Christians can be adept at drawing lines, determining what it means to be "a good Christian" and judging those who stray out of bounds. Other times they erase all the lines in favor of a vague and inoffensive faith. Both impulses can come from positive intentions, but either can lead to stunted spiritual life and harmful relationships. Is there another option? The late missionary anthropologist Paul Hiebert famously drew on mathematical theory to deploy the concepts of "bounded," "fuzzy," and "centered" sets to shed light on the nature of Christian community. Now, with Centered-Set Church, Mark D. Baker provides a unique manual for understanding and applying Hiebert's vision. Drawing on his extensive experience in church, mission, parachurch, and higher education settings, along with interviews and stories gleaned from scores of firsthand interviews, Baker delivers practical guidance for any group that seeks to be truly centered on Jesus. Baker shows how Scripture presents an alternative to either obsessing over boundaries or simply erasing them. Centered churches are able to affirm their beliefs and live out their values without such bitter fruit as gracelessness, shame, and self-righteousness on the one hand, or aimless "whateverism" on the other. While addressing possible concerns and barriers to the centered approach, Baker invites leaders to imagine centered alternatives in such practical areas of ministry as discipleship, church membership, leadership requirements, and evangelism. Centered-Set Church charts new paths to grow in authentic freedom and dynamic movement toward the true center: Jesus himself.

Secular assumptions are being introduced piecemeal into our way of life. From the Millennium Dome (what exactly was it celebrating?) to the restrictions on the wearing of crosses and abolition of nativity plays, Christianity is being marginalised. Christian social initiatives at local levels are now so severely restricted that several Christian bodies issue guidelines on handling local council prejudice. There is a widespread if illdefined sense that a valuable heritage is slipping away.

Yet the Bible and Prayer Book are seminal for our language and literature; Christian social action predated the modern welfare state; our laws are based on Christian ethical systems. Christians should push back, re-engaging with politicians and opinion formers. Christians must be salt and light. Introverted Christianity must give way to engagement with the world, not defensively but with confidence and hope. It is time for a proper debate about the place of faith in modern Britain.

Why should you join a church?

Becoming a member of a church is an important, and often neglected, part of the Christian life. Yet the trend these days is one of shunning the practice of organized religion and showing a distaste or fear of commitment, especially of institutions.

Jonathan Leeman addresses these issues with a straightforward explanation of what church membership is and why it's important. Giving the local church its proper due, Leeman has built a compelling case for committing to the local body.

Worship of the triune God has always stood at the center of the Christian life. That was certainly the case during the sixteenth-century Reformation as well. Yet in the midst of tremendous social and theological upheaval, the church had to renew its understanding of what it means to worship God. In this volume, which serves as a companion to IVP Academic's Reformation Commentary on Scripture series, Reformation scholar Karin Maag takes readers inside the worshiping life of the church during this era. Drawing from sources across theological traditions, she explores several aspects of the church's worship, including what it was like to attend church, reforms in preaching, the function of prayer, how Christians experienced the sacraments, and the roles of both visual art and music in worship. With Maag as your guide, you can go to church-with the Reformers.

Recent studies on the development of early Christianity emphasize the fragmentation of the late ancient world while paying less attention to a distinctive feature of the Christianity of this time which is its inter-connectivity. Both local and trans-regional networks of interaction contributed to the expansion of Christianity in this age of fragmentation. This volume investigates a specific aspect of this inter-connectivity in the area of the Mediterranean by focusing on the formation and operation of episcopal networks. The rise of the bishop as a major figure of authority resulted in an increase in long-distance communication among church elites coming from different geographical areas and belonging to distinct ecclesiastical and theological traditions. Locally, the bishops in their roles as teachers, defenders of faith, patrons etc. were expected to interact with individuals of diverse social background who formed their congregations and with secular authorities. Consequently, this volume explores the nature and quality of various types of episcopal relationships in Late Antiquity attempting to understand how they were established, cultivated and put to use across cultural, linguistic, social and geographical boundaries.

What is the church? Why are there so many different expressions of church throughout time and space, and what ties them all together? Ecclesiology-the doctrine of the church-has risen to the center of theological interest in recent decades. In this text, theologian Veli-Matti Karkkainen provides a wide-ranging survey of the rich field of ecclesiology in the midst of rapid developments and new horizons. Drawing on Karkkainen's international experience and comprehensive research on the church, this revised and expanded edition is thoroughly updated to incorporate recent literature and trends. This unique primer not only orients readers to biblical, historical, and contemporary ecclesiologies but also highlights contextual and global perspectives and includes an entirely new section on interfaith comparative theology. An Introduction to Ecclesiology surveys major theological traditions, including Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Reformed, and Pentecostal ecclesiological insights from Latin American, Africa, and Asia distinct perspectives from women, African Americans, and recent trends in the United States key elements of the church such as mission, governance, worship, and sacraments interreligious comparison with Jewish, Islamic, Hindu, and Buddhist communities As the church today encounters challenges and opportunities related to rapid growth in the Majority World, new congregational forms, ecumenical movements, interfaith relations, and more, Christians need a robust ecclesiology that makes room for both unity and diversity. In An Introduction to Ecclesiology students, pastors, and laypeople will find an essential resource for understanding how the church can live out its calling as Christ's community on earth.

"Gnosticism" has become a problematic category in the study of early Christianity. It obscures diversity, invites essentialist generalisations, and is a legacy of ancient heresiology. However, simply to conclude with "diversity" is unsatisfying, and new efforts to discern coherence and to synthesise need to be made. The present work seeks to make a fresh start by concentrating on Irenaeus' report on a specific group called the "Gnostics" and on his claim that Valentinus and his followers were inspired by their ideas. Following this lead, an attempt is made to trace the continuity of ideas from this group to Valentinianism. The study concludes that there is more continuity than has previously been recognised. Irenaeus' "Gnostics" emerge as the predecessors not only of Valentinianism, but also of Sethianism. They represent an early, philosophically inspired form of Christ religion that arose independently of the New Testament canon. Christology is essential and provides the basis for the myth of Sophia. The book is relevant for all students of Christian origins and the early history of the Church.

"An engaging, sophisticated yet accessible, account of the Orthodox Church-its self-understanding, theology, sacramental life, and history. . . . One of the best introductions available."-John Behr, author of The Mystery of Christ An insider's account of the Eastern Orthodox Church, from its beginning in the era of Jesus and the Apostles to the modern age "Lucid. . . . Engrossing . . . [A] thorough history."-Publishers Weekly In this lively and intimate account of the Eastern Orthodox Church, John McGuckin tackles the question "What is the Church?" His answer is a clear, historically and theologically rooted portrait of what the Church is for Orthodox Christianity and how it differs from Western Christians' expectations. McGuckin explores the lived faith of generations, including sketches of some of the most important theological themes and individual personalities of the ancient and modern Church. He interweaves a personal approach throughout, offering to readers the experience of what it is like to enter an Orthodox church and witness its liturgy. In this astute and insightful book, he grapples with the reasons why many Western historians and societies have overlooked Orthodox Christianity and provides an important introduction to the Orthodox Church and the Eastern Christian World.

Expanding Scriptures: Lost and Found is the second book in the Wisdom Series. Don MacGregor considers what could be added to the Bible from rediscoveries of recent years, supports a new role for Mary Magdalene and looks at how it can all be reframed within the Perennial Wisdom teachings.

Christian Tourist Attractions, Mythmaking, and Identity Formation examines a sampling of contemporary Christian tourist attractions that position visitors as the inheritors of ancient, sacred traditions and make claims about the truth of the historical narratives that they promote. Rather than approaching these attractions as sacred expressions of religious experience or as uncontested accounts of history, the book applies recent work on mythmaking and identity formation to argue that these presentations of the past function as strategic discourses that serve material concerns in the present. From an approach informed by social and materialist theories of religion, the volume draws upon a variety of methodological approaches that enable readers to understand the often-bewildering array of objects, claims, demands, and activities (not to mention the seemingly endless array of gifts and personal items available for purchase) that appear at attractions including Ark Encounter, the Creation Museum, the Holy Land Experience, Bible Walk Museum, Christian Zionist tours of Israel, and the recently opened Museum of the Bible. Discourse analysis, practice theory, rhetorical criticism, and embodied theories of cognition help make sense not only of the Christian tourist attractions under examination but also of the ways that "religion" is entangled with contemporary social, political, and economic interests more broadly.

Narrates the story of the Christian tradition and its global heritage over two millennia

The Bible is meant to be read in the church, by the church, as the church. Although the practice of reading Scripture has often become separated from its ecclesial context, theologian Derek Taylor argues that it rightly belongs to the disciplines of the community of faith. He finds a leading example of this approach in the theology of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who regarded the reading of Scripture as an inherently communal exercise of discipleship. In conversation with other theologians, including John Webster, Robert Jenson, and Stanley Hauerwas, Taylor contends that Bonhoeffer's approach to Scripture can engender the practices and habits of a faithful hermeneutical community. Today, as in Bonhoeffer's time, the church is called to take up and read. Featuring new monographs with cutting-edge research, New Explorations in Theology provides a platform for constructive, creative work in the areas of systematic, historical, philosophical, biblical, and practical theology.

Hundreds of thousands of professors claim Christian as their primary identity, and teaching as their primary vocational responsibility. Yet, in the contemporary university the intersection of these two identities often is a source of fear, misunderstanding, and moral confusion. How does being a Christian change one's teaching? Indeed, should it? Inspired by George Marsden's 1997 book The Outrageous Idea of Christian Scholarship, this book draws on a survey of more than 2,300 Christian professors from 48 different institutions in North America, to reveal a wide range of thinking about faith-informed teaching. Placing these empirical findings alongside the wider scholarly conversation about the role of identity-informed teaching, Perry L. Glanzer and Nathan F. Alleman argue that their Christian identity can and should inform professors' teaching in the contemporary pluralistic university. The authors provide a nuanced alternative to those who advocate for restraining the influence of one's extra-professional identity and those who, in the name of authenticity, promote the full integration of one's primary identity into the classroom. The book charts new ground regarding how professors think about Christian teaching specifically, as well as how they should approach identity-informed teaching more generally.