John Knox spent his life with a sword in one hand and a Bible in the other and he wasn't afraid to use either. He began his theological life as a body guard to George Wishart - and it was when that young man was put to death by the religious authorities that John Knox was finally persuaded of the need to awaken his country from the death of injustice and spiritual poverty that afflicted it. He was never built for a quiet life and when he ran from one danger, he often found himself headed straight for another. Escaping from the authorities brought him straight into a castle siege and from there he ended up as a galley slave on a French frigate. No wonder he appreciated liberty when he had felt the grasp of slavery's chains and the cut of the enemy's whip. But his thirst for true freedom came from his longing for God's Word to be preached. John knew that true liberty only came from being in service to God and his Kingdom. Many stood against him and they still do today... but he gave much to his country and to his God and the church and Scotland owe John Knox - they owe him thanks as they owe the God he served thanks for calling such men to be his preachers.

This superb collection of Samuel Rutherford's letters includes a biographical account of his life, together with a copious arrangement of notes and an appendix. As one of Scotland's foremost theologians and authors in the 17th century, Samuel Rutherford was a gifted and busy wordsmith. Throughout a career spanning decades, he wrote a series of valued books on both religious topics and Presbyterianism in the political sphere. A lively and engaged thinker, Rutherford's life and thoughts offers a good portrayal of the evolution in both church and state in his era. Although most known for his ideas on constitutionalism and on military principles, Samuel Rutherford in the day-to-day lived for ordinary men and women believers who frequented his church in Kirkcudbrightshire, Galloway. He would often pay visits to the sick, correspond with their families, and offer emotional comfort and reassurance in times of difficulty.

Ashley Cocksworth presents Karl Barth as a theologian who not only produces a strong and vibrant theology of prayer, but also grounds theology itself in the practice of prayer. Prayer and theology are revealed to be integrally related in Barth's understanding of the dogmatic task. Cocksworth provides careful analysis of a range of key texts in Barth's thought in which the theme of prayer emerges with particular interest. He analyzes: Barth's writings on the Sabbath and uncovers an unexpected theology of contemplative prayer; the doctrine of creation of the Church Dogmatics and explores its prioritization of petitionary prayer; and the ethics of the doctrine of reconciliation in which a 'turn to invocation' is charted and the final 'resting place' of Barth's theology of prayer is found. Through the theme of prayer fundamental questions are asked about the relation of human agency to divine agency as conceived by Barth, and new insights are offered into his understandings of the nature and task of theology, pneumatology, sin, baptism, religion, and sanctification. The result is a rich engagement with Barth's theology of prayer, an advancement of scholarship on Karl Barth, and a constructive contribution to the theology of prayer.