In Binding Earth and Heaven, Gary Shepherd and Gordon Shepherd use early nineteenth-century Mormonism as a case study to examine questions about how new religious movements may, as rare exceptions, survive and even eventually become successful in spite of intense opposition. Initial scorn and contempt for Mormonism--the fledgling creation of the young Joseph Smith--quickly elevated to mob violence as both Smith's innovative teachings and converted followers proliferated, resulting in the widely held perception that the Mormons constituted a social menace. This book examines how Mormonism attracted and maintained the loyalty of increasing numbers of people despite mounting hostilities and severe hardships.

The book focuses on the unique Mormon ritual (and accompanying doctrinal underpinnings) of "patriarchal blessings." Patriarchal blessings were an innovative adaptation of the Old Testament practice of fathers making quasi-legal pronouncements over the heads of their sons--a way of verbally conferring rights, promises, admonition, and guidance to heirs. Binding Earth and Heaven shows how the organizational complexities of this practice contributed to strengthening and sustaining member faith and fealty, thereby bolstering the continuity and development of Mormonism.

Este libro es una (re)lectura critica de la ficcionalizacion de la geomancia en el Pantagruel y Tiers Livre de Francois Rabelais y los Suenos y discursos de Francisco de Quevedo. La autora enfoca el fenomeno geomantico desde una perspectiva tanto filologica como de la historia intelectual. La primera parte del estudio esta dedicada a la tradicion geomantica en Occidente, en especial a los manuales impresos altomodernos, mientras que la segunda aborda la censura de este arte adivinatorio por parte de la tratadistica antisupersticiosa contemporanea. La tercera y ultima parte expone en que medida Rabelais y Quevedo se apropian de ambas tradiciones, transformandolas esteticamente y, muchas veces, en virtud de los mismos modelos y principios literarios.

Salzburg ist das alteste, seit 798 bestehende Erzbistum im Deutschen Sprachraum. Dieses Nachschlagewerk enthalt die Lebensbilder aller Salzburger Bischoefe (seit 696), der erzbischoeflichen Landesherren, der Erzbischoefe und Weihbischoefe mit einem kurzen Abriss zur Salzburger Kirchengeschichte von den Anfangen bis zur Gegenwart. Chronologische Listen aller Generalvikare, Wappen und Wappenzeichen sowie auch Schriften-, Quellen- und Literaturverzeichnis dienen der Vollstandigkeit und erganzen das biographische Lexikon.

"Philip Doddridge is best known today for his book The Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul, and perhaps by some for his Family Expositor, which is an extensive commentary on and paraphrase of the New Testament. He also served as principal of an important ministerial academy for non-conforming churches. However, one part of Doddridge's legacy that has been sorely neglected in recent years is his hymns. This book contains 375 of Doddridge's hymns, which provide poetic reflection on Old Testament texts, New Testament texts, and various occasions pertaining to Christians and the church. It also includes a timeline of Doddridge's life, a number of helpful indexes, and various compatible hymn tunes.

Table of Contents:

Introduction

Hymns Founded on Old Testament Texts

Hymns Founded on New Testament Texts

Hymns for Particular Occasions

Table of Hymns by First Line

Index Hymns by Context

Appendix I: Key Dates in Doddridge's Life

Appendix II: Doddridge's Hymns Listed By Metre and

The Middle English Glossed Prose Psalter is a fourteenth-century anonymous interlinear Latin-to-Middle English glossed prose translation of the Book of Psalms, eleven canticles, and the Athanasian Creed. One by one, each verse is written in Latin with an accompanying Middle English translation immediately following. Over one third of the Latin verses of the psalms and canticles in the four surviving manuscripts contain short, sometimes conspicuously Christian, glosses. This edition uses Cambridge, Magdalene College, MS Pepys 2498 as the base manuscript and includes variant Middle English readings from the other three manuscripts. The Middle English Glossed Prose Psalter includes an edition of the glossed Latin as well as an edition of all of a French exemplar from Paris, Bibliotheque Nationale, MS fonds francais 6260, a fifteenth-century copy of an earlier French text that appears to have influenced the Middle English translators. The edition is in two volumes, and contains a full introduction that includes an analysis of the language of the manuscripts by Jeremy J. Smith. In addition it contains commentaries on the Middle English, Latin, and French texts, three appendices, a select glossary, and bibliography.

Contrary to our perception of the centrality of the churches in English life in the nineteenth century, the disappointing results of the 1851 Religious Census led religious leaders to seek a variety of ways to increase religious allegiance as the century progressed. The apparent apathy and lack of interest in formal religion on the part of the working classes was particularly galling, and the various denominations tried hard to attract them through evangelical missions as well as social and charitable ventures which sometimes competed with religious concerns, to the latter's detriment. This book traces the motivations, concerns and efforts of the churches, particularly in the period between 1870 and 1920, and the ambivalent responses of ordinary people. The Education Act of 1870 led to the churches losing their hold on the education of the young, a consequence foreseen by many church leaders, but unable to be prevented. By 1920 it was apparent that the churches' optimism regarding an increased role with a war-weary population would not be fulfilled. The focus is on the city of Leeds, representative of the industrialised urban areas with burgeoning populations which proved to be such a challenge to the churches, at the same time stimulating them to ever-greater efforts.

How does a student of missiology learn about contemporary scholarship in the field? How does a scholar or librarian select books on a limited budget for purchase? Publishers sell only their own books in catalogues, journals publish book reviews but only of selected titles after some delay, or print lists of books received but without information on their contents or usefulness. Many times bibliographies must be the primary resource. The International Mission Bibliography is the key to finding the most important works on missiology published from 1960-2000. This massive work includes the research of more than 30 sub-editors in a number of mission-related disciplines, including history, theology, social aspects, education, evangelism, spirituality, and political life, and includes sections on Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe, and Oceania. Complete publication details and ISBNs are given for each entry. This sixteen-year project has culminated in one of the most comprehensive and major reference works to be found on missions.

Poverty and dependence constitute the two sides of the same coin. Both can be seen as a result of the 'terrors of nature' or the 'horrors of history.' They are obstacles to maturity and personal responsibility; they rob their victims of their sense of inner worth and dignity. And they instill in them the unhealthy feelings of inferiority and inner worthlessness that lead to greater poverty of the mind and powerlessness. This book is a study in Christian social ethics within the context of communio ecclesiology. It deals with the entrenched systems of domination that create and maintain material poverty and systemic dependence on the part of the Churches in Africa. The image of the umbilical cord depicts this form of life-or-death dependence on external structures and resources. Having identified the 'terrors of nature' and the 'horrors of history' responsible for the African predicaments that result in acute poverty and shameless dependence, this study sees the principles of the social order in their diverse understandings as the criteria capable of effectively blazing the trail of Self-reliance for the Churches in Africa.

This study of Santa Maria del Gualdo Mazzocca, a Benedictine priory, and then abbey, directly dependent upon the papacy, offers a remarkable glimpse into the nature of monastic life in the middle ages.

This book demonstrates through methodological reflections and carefully chosen case studies a new way to conduct study of religion. It focuses on how social actors negotiate what counts as "religion" and how discourses on religion are part of the way in which contemporary societies organise themselves. The present volume draws on examples from judicial processes, media discourses, and scholarly debates related to Wiccans, Druids, and Jedi knights, among others. By analysing discourses on religion and building on, rather than rejecting, genealogical critiques of religion, Teemu Taira argues that the study of religion can be constructive and socially relevant.

Frankfurt/M., Berlin, Bern, Bruxelles, New York, Oxford, Wien. Studies in the Intercultural History of Christianity. Vol. 125. Edited by Richard Friedli, Jan A. B. Jongeneel, Klaus Koschorke, Theo Sundermeier and Werner Ustorf When German missiologists started to re-import their dream of a dominant Christianity to central Europe, there were more similarities between the missionary and the national socialist utopias than the post-war consensus would like to admit. Fascism to many missiologists became the desired breaking point of modernity, a revival of the Volk's deep emotions and a breakthrough of the archaic spirituality they had long been waiting for. Upon this tide they wanted to sail and conquer new territories for Christ. This study, therefore, will address the issue of mission and Nazism primarily in the light of the struggle of Christianity for a place or a home within and vis-a-vis the culture of the West as it was approaching the end of modernity. Contents: Christian missionary thinking in its broad historical context - Explicitly missionary but non-Christian movements in Germany at the time (Hitler's missiology and Hauer's neopaganism) - Attempts in the US, in Britain and the wider ecumenical movement (William Hocking, Joe Oldham, the Oxford conference of 1937) at rethinking Christianity.