Spanning the continents, three internationally respected theologians demonstrate how the thought and legacy of Martin Luther can serve in an ecumenical and interfaith context as a resource for a radical critique of global economics and culture. Lutheran Christianity originated in its own era of economic and cultural crisis. One of the great misinterpretations of Martin Luther has considered his heritage as fundamentally reactionary, seeking to preserve the political status quo. Instead, set free by the biblical message of liberation, this book wields Luther's theology to engage the reality of poverty, hunger, oppression, and ecological degradation caused by an imperial capitalism as the most urgent theological issues in the contemporary world. The volume demonstrates the liberating possibilities of theology done out of a biblical and Lutheran perspective for the economic and cultural crises facing the church in the present century.

TIMOTHY DWIGHT, DD, LL.D., grandson of Jonathan Edwards the elder, was born at Northampton, Massachusetts, May 14, 1752, and was graduated at Yale College at a very early age in 1769. These sermons are his Magnum Opus as he lays out the Doctrinal and Practical Truths of Holy Scripture. Volume One contains 38 sermons dealing with the Existence, Attributes, Decrees, and Works of God. Buried for more than 135 years it is high time that this brilliant and godly man were able to speak again to our needy generation.

This is the first comprehensive study of Gangraena, an intemperate anti-sectarian polemic written by a London Presbyterian Thomas Edwards and published in three parts in 1646. These books, which bitterly opposed any moves to religious toleration, were the most notorious and widely debated texts in a Revolution in which print was crucial to political moblization. They have been equally important to later scholars who have continued the lively debate over the value of Gangraena as a source for the ideas and movements its author condemned. This study includes a thorough assessment of the usefulness of Edwards's work as a historical source, but goes beyond this to provide a wide-ranging discussion of the importance of Gangraena in its own right as a lively work of propaganda, crucial to Presbyterian campaigning in the mid-1640s. Contemporary and later readings of this complex text are traced through a variety of methods, literary and historical, with discussions of printed responses, annotations and citation. Hughes's work thus provides a vivid and convincing picture of revolutionary London and a reappraisal of the nature of 1640s Presbyterianism, too often dismissed as conservative. Drawing on the newer histories of the book and of reading, Hughes explores the influence of Edwards's distasteful but compelling book.

Timothy Dwight (1752-1817) was the grandson of Jonathan Edwards. He was both brilliant and godly. This is the first volume in his Magnum Opus: THEOLOGY: EXPLAINED & DEFENDED in a Series of Sermons. "Dwight's theological sermons are worthy of careful study. Their clear, scriptural guidelines and experiential warmth promote practical Christianity. Read with discernment, they will still feed the soul today and challenge us to godly living in Christ Jesus." Joel R. Beeke, Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary Volume One contains 38 sermons on the Existence, Attributes, Decrees and Works of God. Each sermon stands complete in itself, but they together exalt the glory of God in a way intended to humble and bless. Volume Two contains sermons 39-86 with the main focus on Christ our Mediator, and the Doctrines of Justification and Regeneration.

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 advancements of scholarship on Karl Barth, and a constructive contribution to the theology of prayer.

The French Revolution was the scene of much intellectual and social upheaval. Its impact touched a wide range of subjects: the relationship of the church to the state, social relationships, science, literature, fashion, philosophy and theology. Although the French Revolution's momentum was felt across Europe and North America, it met a particularly interesting response in the Netherlands, at that time the scene of a burgeoning neo-Calvinist movement. In that context, the likes of Groen van Prinsterer, Abraham Kuyper and Herman Bavinck responded to the French Revolution's ideals and influence in a variety of intellectual and practical ways.This book approaches that Dutch response from a range of historical and theological perspectives, and in so doing explores the relationship between the French Revolution and the development of neo-Calvinism. Beginning with historical portraits of Bavinck and Kuyper in relation to the Revolution, the perspectives offered also include, amongst others, the place of multilingualism in neo-Calvinism and the Revolution, neo-Calvinist and Revolutionary approaches to fashion, a dialogue between Kuyperian theology and Kieslowski's Three Colours trilogy, and a contemporary neo-Calvinist critique of French laicite. This book forms part of a wider Project neo-Calvinism supported by the Theologische Universiteit Kampen and the VU University Amsterdam.

Covenant: A Vital Element of Reformed Theology provides a multi-disciplinary reflection on the theme of the covenant, from historical, biblical-theological and systematic-theological perspectives. The interaction between exegesis and dogmatics in the volume reveals the potential and relevance of this biblical motif. It proves to be vital in building bridges between God's revelation in the past and the actual question of how to live with him today.

In 1786, the Reverend James MacGregor (1759-1830) was dispatched across the North Atlantic to establish a dissenting Presbyterian church in Pictou, Nova Scotia. The decision dismayed MacGregor, who had hoped for a post in the Scottish Highlands. Yet it led to a remarkable career in what was still the backwoods of colonial North America. Industrious and erudite, MacGregor established the progressive Pictou Academy, opposed slavery, and promoted scientific education, agriculture, and industry. Poet and translator, fluent in nine languages, he encouraged the preservation of the Gaelic language and promoted Scottish culture in Nova Scotia. Highland Shepherd finally bestows on MacGregor the recognition that he so richly deserves. Alan Wilson brings MacGregor and his surroundings to life, detailing his numerous achievements and establishing his importance to the social, religious, and intellectual history of the Maritimes.

Drawing on material from a range of genres, with extensive reference to manuscript collections, Richard Snoddy offers a detailed study of James Usshers applied soteriology. After locating Ussher in the ecclesiastical context of seventeenth-century Ireland and England, Snoddy examines his teaching on the doctrines of atonement, justification, sanctification, and assurance. He considers their interconnection in Usshers thought, particularly the manner in which a general atonement functions as the ground of justification and the extent to which it functions as the ground of assurance. The book documents Usshers change of mind on a number of important issues, especially how, from holding to a limited atonement and an assurance that is of the essence of faith, he moved to belief in a general atonement and an assurance obtained through experimental piety. Within the framework of one widely accepted scholarly paradigm he appears to move from one logically inconsistent position to another, but his thought contains an inner logic that questions the explanatory power of that paradigm. This insightful study sheds new light on the diversity of seventeenth-century Reformed theology in the British Isles.

Korea has had a miraculous history of Christian church growth. But it came at a price of much suffering, death, persecution, and hardship. Korean Church history of modern times has been intertwined with American history, such as involving World War 2, and American church politics, such as the Fundamentalist Debate of early 1900s. In this biography of a key figure in Korean Church history, Rev. Sang-Dong Han (the founder of the Korean Presbyterian Church in Korea, Koshin, denomination), Rev. Koon Sik Shim, a personal friend of Rev. Sang-Dong Han and person who also experienced various stages of Korean history as "a living witness" recounts the life and work of Rev. Sang-Dong Han. This book is a "must have" for all those who are interested in Korean history and learning how it relates to American and world church history.

From its inception the Christian Church thought of worship and prayer in Trinitarian terms. At the heart of this Trinitarian concept lay the doctrine of the priesthood of Christ, which in its liturgical expression, presented Christ not merely as the object of prayer, but also as its mediator - prayers were directed to the Father through Christ.;The author traces the idea of the priesthood of Christ, and its effects on Christian worship and prayer, to its origins with the earliest Christians and through the Arian and Apollinarian debates. He then focuses on the Reformed tradition, and the influences of John Calvin, John Knox, John Craig, John McLeod Campbell, William Milligan, Theodore Beza, William Perkins, federal theology and the Westminster tradition, through to the present day.;The book is a history of an important doctrine, but it also shows in a remarkable way how the doctrinal struggles within the church have been reflected in the actual worshipping life of the church and how they continue to be reflected today.;Redding concludes with a number of key affirmations for a reformed understanding of prayer and also a critique of some modern tendencies and practices in the church.

This valuable contribution to the debate about the relation of religion to the modern city fills an important gap in the historiography of early nineteenth-century religious life. It is a pioneering study of local churches in the urban environment. Based on extensive archival research of churches in Manchester and London in the years 1810-60, it considers the work and thought of ministers who held to a high Calvinistic form of theology. Exploration of this little studied and often derided grouping reveals that their role in the religious and social life of these cities was highly active and responsive, and merits serious reappraisal.

A penetrating study of Calvin's Institutes and an illumination of Calvin's theology as a whole.This work, by one of the world's pre-eminent Calvin scholars, has long been regarded as a work of the greatest importance. Professor de Kroon is a leading Reformation historian and historian of doctrine. His knowledge of Protestant and Catholic theology in the Reformation era is unparalleled.For all scholars and student of Calvin's theology.