Francis Gastrell (1662 1725) served as Bishop of Chester from 1714 until his death. During this time, he compiled historical notes on his diocese from a range of medieval and contemporary sources. His survey contains detailed information on parishes, including their sizes, populations and economies. The notes also provide invaluable data on administrative matters such as the development of the towns within the diocese, notably including records of acts of charity and records of the grammar schools and their governors, finances and statutes. This 1990 publication, prepared by L. A. S. Butler, is the first printed edition of the notes relating to the Yorkshire parishes that had been transferred within the archdeaconry of Richmond to the bishopric of Chester. With full editorial apparatus, and thorough indexes of persons, clergy and places, this work stands as an important resource for church, social and local historians.

Originally published in 1922 as part of the Cambridge Plain Texts series, this volume contains the full preface for Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity, the seminal work by Anglican theologian Richard Hooker (1554-1600). An editorial introduction is also included. This book will be of value to anyone with an interest in Hooker and the development of Anglicanism.

Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Finalist Interest in and awareness of the demand for social justice as an outworking of the Christian faith is growing. But it is not new. For five hundred years, Latina/o culture and identity have been shaped by their challenges to the religious, socio-economic, and political status quo, whether in opposition to Spanish colonialism, Latin American dictatorships, US imperialism in Central America, the oppression of farmworkers, or the current exploitation of undocumented immigrants. Christianity has played a significant role in that movement at every stage. Robert Chao Romero, the son of a Mexican father and a Chinese immigrant mother, explores the history and theology of what he terms the "Brown Church." Romero considers how this movement has responded to these and other injustices throughout its history by appealing to the belief that God's vision for redemption includes not only heavenly promises but also the transformation of every aspect of our lives and the world. Walking through this history of activism and faith, readers will discover that Latina/o Christians have a heart after God's own.

The Scottish twin sisters Agnes Lewis (1843 1926) and Margaret Gibson (1843 1920) between them spoke modern Greek, Arabic, Hebrew, Persian and Syriac, and were pioneering biblical scholars and explorers at a time when women rarely ventured to foreign lands. The sisters made several journeys to the Monastery of St Catherine on Mount Sinai, and their first two visits there are described in this 1893 publication. Using her sister's journals, Margaret Gibson tells how Agnes discovered a version of the Gospels in Syriac from the fifth century CE. This text is immensely important, being an example of the New Testament written in the eastern branch of Aramaic, the language that Jesus himself spoke. Meanwhile, Margaret Gibson studied other manuscripts in the library and photographed them; the sisters later transcribed and published many of these. Controversy over the circumstances of the discovery led to Margaret publishing this account in 1893.

First published in 1896, this work by Agnes Bensley (d. 1900), wife of the Orientalist and biblical scholar Robert Bensly (1831 93), describes the journey undertaken by a party of scholars to St Catherine's Monastery on Mount Sinai in 1893. In the previous year, sisters Agnes Smith Lewis and Margaret Dunlop Gibson had discovered the Sinai Palimpsest, the earliest-known Syriac version of the Gospels. The purpose of the Bensly's mission was to aid them in transcribing and deciphering the Palimpsest. Beginning with the party's arrival in Cairo, the book describes the preparation for the trip, their journey across the desert, and life in the monastery. However, relations between the members of the party deteriorated; Gibson and Lewis wrote their own accounts of the expedition (also available in this series), and Mrs Bensly's narrative is defensive of the role of her husband, who died days after their return to England.

Read the Introduction.

Few issues arouse as much passionate debate as the relationship between church and state. Political parties and coalitions have long jockeyed for position in the battle to either keep the two separate, or to unify them in one nation indivisible from God. While the battle has been raging in the political arena, figures from academia, the media, and myriad other vantage points, have commented on the context and constitutionality of laws governing religious expression.

In Law and Religion, Stephen M. Feldman brings together the many perspectives that have shaped policy on this important national issue. In giving voice to the political left and right, as well as to cultural, philosophical, sociological and historical perspectives, the book serves as an even-handed treatment of an issue all too often clouded by biases. Contributors ranging from Stanley Fish to Richard John Neuhaus explore issues extending from religious morality and religious freedom, to fundamentalism, the separation of church and state, religion and public schooling, and liberal political theory. Comprehensive in scope, Law and Religion will stand as an important reference for anyone seeking to further understand this complex and highly emotional topic.

Among followers of Jesus, great is often the enemy of good. The drive to be great---to be a success by the standards of the world---often crowds out the qualities of goodness, virtue, and faithfulness that should define the central focus of Christian leadership. In the culture of today s church, successful leadership is often judged by what works, while persistent faithfulness takes a back seat. If a ministry doesn t produce results, it is dropped. If people don t respond, we move on. This pursuit of greatness exerts a crushing pressure on the local church and creates a consuming anxiety in its leaders. In their pursuit of this warped vision of greatness, church leaders end up embracing a leadership narrative that runs counter to the sacrificial call of the gospel story. When church leaders focus on faithfulness to God and the gospel, however, it s always a kingdom-win---regardless of the visible results of their ministry. John the Baptist modeled this kind of leadership. As John s disciples crossed the Jordan River to follow after Jesus, John freely released them to a greater calling than following him. Speaking of Jesus, John said: He must increase, but I must decrease. Joyfully satisfied to have been faithful to his calling, John knew that the size and scope of his ministry would be determined by the will of the Father, not his own will. Following the example of John the Baptist and with a careful look at the teaching of Scripture, Tim Suttle dares church leaders to risk failure by chasing the vision God has given them---no matter how small it might seem---instead of pursuing the broad path of pragmatism that leads to fame and numerical success."

"This book is extremely valuable. Shupe et al. have done an excellent job...highly recommended; it is a must-read."--"Criminal Justice Review"

""Bad Pastors" raises all the good questions and provides many hypothetical answers, and for these reasons alone it should be read by all sociologists of religion with an interest in wrongdoings."
--"Sociology of Religion"

Child-molesting priests, embezzled church treasures, philandering ministers and rabbis, even church-endorsed pyramid schemes that defraud gullible parishioners of millions of dollars: for the past decade, clergy misconduct has seemed continually to be in the news.

Is there something about religious organizations that fosters such misbehavior? Bad Pastors presents a range of new perspectives and solidly grounded data on pastoral abuse, investigating sexual misconduct, financial improprieties, and political and personal abuse of authority. Rather than focusing on individuals who misbehave, the volume investigates whether the foundation for clergy malfeasance is inherent in religious organizations themselves, stemming from hierarchies of power in which trusted leaders have the ability to define reality, control behavior, and even offer or withhold the promise of immortality. Arguing that such phenomena arise out of organizational structures, the contributors do not focus on one particular religion, but rather treat these incidents from an interfaith perspective.

Bad Pastors moves beyond individual case studies to consider a broad range of issues surrounding clergy misconduct, from violence against women to the role of charisma and abuse of power in new religious movements. Highlighting similarities between otherforms of abuse, such as domestic violence, the volume helps us to conceptualize and understand clergy misconduct in new ways.

Dallas Theological Seminary is often viewed as a bastion of conservative evangelicalism, marked by an unswerving devotion to theological positions of fundamentalism, biblical inerrancy, and dispensational premillennialism. An Uncommon Union, the first book-length history of Dallas Theological Seminary, written by a graduate and veteran faculty member of DTS, provides a necessary corrective to such a simplistic assessment. Using the tenures of the school's five presidents as the backbone for his narrative, John D. Hannah reveals the tensions that DTS has experienced in its eighty-plus years of existence. Each successive president of DTS brought his own unique style and perceptions to the school, even as he dealt with the changing religious and cultural milieu that swirled around it. Hannah argues that, rather than being a monolithic institution, Dallas Theological Seminary is a unique blend of differing heritages and of opposing traditions, a place that defies easy categorization. A keenly insightful and thoughtful work, An Uncommon Union illuminates the path charted by the leaders of a prominent American seminary in a rapidly changing world. All readers interested in the history and future of evangelicalism, regardless of their theological persuasion, will benefit from this book.

Religion and politics have often been called taboo topics for polite dinner conversation, but in political campaigns and religious services, the two often mix. This book looks at how religious worship remains embedded with inherent political messages and behaviors, showing that conflicts between church and state exist not just in the public arena, but in each sanctuary and house of worship. To explore this religious-political tension, the book first examines more obvious examples of worship as political action, such as when candidates speak during church services or when political parties hold prayer services at party events. The initial analysis acts as a foundation for the idea of worship serving a political purpose, and is followed by analysis of non-partisan and less obvious political worship services. Religious sacraments (such as baptism, confirmation, communion/mass, and confession) function as key moments in which religious participants pledge allegiance to a power that resides outside Washington, D.C. or statehouses, thus highlighting the alternative political messages and space carved out through worship.

The twin sisters Agnes Lewis (1843-1926) and Margaret Gibson (1843-1920) were pioneering biblical scholars who became experts in a number of ancient languages. Travelling widely in the Middle East, they made several significant discoveries, including one of the earliest manuscripts of the four gospels in Syriac, the language believed to have been spoken by Jesus himself. Previously published in the Horae Semitica series, this second fascicule contains Gibson's English translation of the Didascalia Apostolorum. Traditionally attributed to the apostles, the text is a treatise on Church law and doctrine, and the volume includes additional material supplied by Gibson from a variety of sources. Covering topics including church organisation, charity and forgiveness, Gibson described the Didascalia as a 'potent instrument' used to gain the 'unquestioning obedience of the Christian people'. An early precursor to the Apostolic Constitutions, this text is of considerable significance to ecclesiastical history.

This book examines and critiques secular modes of self-writing in Ethiopia that put considerable emphasis on the enactment of national/ethnic identity leading to an equivocal situation wherein the ethos that binds people has been greatly eroded. Its analysis demonstrates that such modes of thought are flawed not only on the notion of the human subject, but also inappropriately position the religious or the theological. The book argues that a theological turn generates theological resources for a social horizon of hope - for the apotheosis of the bond of togetherness - which risks thinking politics in an altogether different way beyond the ethno-national logic. This, as the author argues, paves the way for the possibility of a new political subject and the reinvention of politics.

This easy-to-use, non-biased resource guide to all the major denominations in the US includes a summary of doctrinal beliefs, and is perfect for the new believer or the long-time Christian.

Biblical Representations of Moab: A Kenyan Postcolonial Reading employs critical theories on colonial, anticolonial, and postcolonial ethnicity and African cultural hermeneutics to examine the overlap of politics, ethnicity, nationality, economics, and religion in contemporary Kenya and to utilize those critical tools to illuminate the Hebrew Bible narratives concerning the Moabites. This book can be used by teachers and students of contemporary methods in Hebrew Bible studies, postcolonial studies, Africana studies, African biblical hermeneutics, political science, gender studies, history, philosophy, international studies, religion and peace studies, African affairs, and ethnic/racial conflict and resolution studies. It would also be of immense value to clergy and lay leaders engaged in interfaith or interethnic/racial dialogue.

The book examines deep shifts in the religious life of Russia and the post-Soviet world as a whole. The author uses combined methods of history, sociology and anthropology to grasp transformations in various aspects of the religious field, such as changes in ritual practices, the emergence of a hierarchical pluralism of religions, and a new prominence of religion in national identity discourse. He deals with the Russian Church's new internal diversity in reinventing its ancient tradition and Eastern Orthodoxy's dense and tense negotiation with the State, secular society and Western liberal globalism. The volume contains academic papers, some of them co-authored with other scholars, published by the author elsewhere within the last fifteen years.

This book is the first to explore the religious dimension of President George H. W. Bush. Also, the author re-conceptualizes the common use of civil religion in order to understand more fully the religious dimension of Bush's presidency, and thus argues for the need to highlight the religious rhetoric of President George H.W. Bush as a public theology, or more specifically, a presidential public theology.

In Anglicanism Reimagined Andrew Shanks challenges all who are tempted to erect boundaries around their faith. Far more important than dogma and metaphysics, he argues, is the need to be open to all, and to engage with people who hold views at odds with our own. He shows how a commitment to this ideal can create fresh energy and new ways forward for the Church.

If you want to know where and how the church is going to grow, think local and global. Think glocal. Glocal is Bob Roberts' term for the seamless connectedness between the local and global. That connection is affecting the church in ways that never could have been imagined in the first-century church, or even the twentieth-century church. And it's creating unprecedented opportunities for individuals and churches-for you and your church-to live out their faith in real time across the world. Glocalization offers a vision of the unprecedented changes of our times and how they are impacting the church. Discover how these changes will transform the way churches define their mission and how Christians relate to one another and to the world. This provocative book turns the traditional mission-agency model upside down and shows how transformed people and churches can make a glocal (global and local) impact. Glocalization offers an exciting vision for churches and individuals who want to reach this changing world for Christ.

La lectura de esta interesante obra le proporcionara todo el material que necesita para saber como realizar en cualquier lugar del mundo lo mismo que el Espiritu Santo ha logrado en Seul a traves del autor."

A valuable resource for enhancing liturgical understanding. What is the point of the Lectionary? What are the problems and opportunities that it presents to those who use it? What are its strengths and weaknesses as an aid to worship? How can it be used and communicated most effectively today? These are among the key questions Thomas O'Loughlin addresses in this stimulating and much needed liturgical guide to the design, history, theology, and purposes of the Lectionary.

Dr Marchant has produced a systematic account of Church courts as they were re-moulded to serve the Protestant Church in England after the Elizabethan Settlement, and at a time when they were still one of the principal responsibilities of bishops and archdeacons. Responding to the challenge of the times, these courts displayed a vitality and adaptability which has often been unrecognized. This study is based on a detailed account of the courts in the diocese of York, but the author measures the individuality of the northern courts by constant reference to the typical southern diocese of Norwich. There is a full description of the lawyers and the ecclesiastical 'civil service', the amount and nature of the business transacted by the courts, the internal administration of the Church and the sources of its administrative law.

"These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also." - Acts 17:6 That was the startled cry, circa 50 AD, from a hastily assembled mob in Thessalonica. Paul and Silas had been arrested for preaching the gospel. They were viewed as revolutionaries, dangerous men who were upsetting the status quo and inciting riots. But they were just two ordinary men, walking in the power of God, sharing a simple message of his love and grace. It's been a while since we've seen the likes of this. If you ever find church boring or you believe something is missing from our churches today, you aren't alone. Mark Buchanan believes there is a visible gap between the life Jesus offered to us and the life we're living, between the church Jesus envisioned and the church we see today. When Jesus announced that the Kingdom was at hand, this can't be what he meant. Instead of counting everything loss to be found in Christ, we've made it our priority to be safe instead of dangerous, nice instead of holy. Author and pastor Mark Buchanan believes that we need to recover a simple idea: that God meant his church to be both good news and bad news, an aroma and a stench - a disruptive force to whoever or whatever opposes the Kingdom of God and a healing, liberating power to those who seek it.