"I have a passion for the gospel of Jesus Christ, a love for the people of God, and an ache for the brokenness of the world," declares Mark S. Hanson, newly elected presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Here he sets forth his vision for the church-a church faithful to the Scriptures and its tradition, yet changing to meet the new challenges of our diverse, fragmented world. Bishop Hanson issues an urgent call to mission marked by witnessing, worshiping, engaging, equipping, inviting, connecting, changing, and praying. The book invites congregations, pastors, and lay leaders into a "holy conversation" to envision the future of the church and its mission.

In Heretics, Gilbert K. Chesterton rails against what he sees as wrong with society. He points out how society has gone astray and how life and spiritually could be brought back into focus. It is foolish, generally speaking, for a philosopher to set fire to another philosopher in Smithfield Market because they do not agree in their theory of the universe. That was done very frequently in the last decadence of the Middle Ages, and it failed altogether in its object. But there is one thing that is infinitely more absurd and unpractical than burning a man for his philosophy. This is the habit of saying that his philosophy does not matter, and this is done universally in the twentieth century, in the decadence of the great revolutionary period.- G. K. Chesterton

The contributors to this volume address the key institutions of the first and second Church, considering the development of rituals and sacraments, and the development of Church leadership, and of the Church itself. The first part of the book looks at the offices of the Church - the Apostolate and the development of other religious authorities - as well as the notion of Apostolic Tradition. The second part looks at the sacraments, with in-depth consideration of the Eucharist, and of Baptismal texts from the early Church. The essays are of interest to scholars researching the development of the early Church and of Church rituals and practices.

Giordano Bruno (1548-1600) was a philosopher in his own right. However, he was famous through the centuries due to his execution as a heretic. His pronouncements against teachings of the Catholic Church, his defence of the cosmology of Nicholas Copernicus, and his provocative personality, all this made him a paradigmatic figure of modernity. Bruno's way of philosophizing is not looking for outright solutions but rather for the depth of the problems; he knows his predecessors and their strategies as well as their weaknesses, which he exposes satirically. This introduction helps to identify the original thought of Bruno who proudly said about himself: "Philosophy is my profession " His major achievements concern the creativity of the human mind studied through the theory of memory, the infinity of the world, and the discovery of atomism for modernity. He never held a permanent office within or without the academic world. Therefore, the way of thinking of this "Knight Errant of Philosophy" will be presented along the stations of his journey through Western Europe.

Making an important addition to the highly Britain-dominated field of imperial studies, this book shows that, like numerous other evangelicals operating throughout the colonized world at this time, Danish missionaries invested remarkable resources in the education of different categories children in both India and Denmark.

"Are church structures divinely-willed, and consequently both permanent and irreversible? Can Christians modify the polity of their church like they do with that of civil society? What would be the role of the office of oversight in a Christian church democratically organized? What would its relationship with specialized authorities within the community be? Building on a remarkable number of specialist studies in exegesis, church history, political philosophy, canon law, and ecclesiology, this book convincingly fulfils three goals. First, it encourages Christians to determine the political outlook of their faith community. Secondly, it provides some fundamental criteria for judging the ethical value of church structures, on the basis of Bernard Lonergans cognitional theory and with the help of recent insights from contemporary political philosophy. Thirdly, it outlines a largely novel and groundbreaking understanding of a democratic church. In the process, it engages with some of the most difficult ecclesiological issues faced by most Christian churches."

The Tudors are England's most notorious royal family. But, as Leanda de Lisle's gripping new history reveals, they are a family still more extraordinary than the one we thought we knew. The Tudor canon typically starts with the Battle of Bosworth in 1485, before speeding on to Henry VIII and the Reformation. But this leaves out the family's obscure Welsh origins, the ordinary man known as Owen Tudor who would fall (literally) into a Queen's lap--and later her bed. It passes by the courage of Margaret Beaufort, the pregnant thirteen-year-old girl who would help found the Tudor dynasty, and the childhood and painful exile of her son, the future Henry VII. It ignores the fact that the Tudors were shaped by their past--those parts they wished to remember and those they wished to forget. By creating a full family portrait set against the background of this past, de Lisle enables us to see the Tudor dynasty in its own terms, and presents new perspectives and revelations on key figures and events. De Lisle discovers a family dominated by remarkable women doing everything possible to secure its future; shows why the princes in the Tower had to vanish; and reexamines the bloodiness of Mary's reign, Elizabeth's fraught relationships with her cousins, and the true significance of previously overlooked figures. Throughout the Tudor story, Leanda de Lisle emphasizes the supreme importance of achieving peace and stability in a violent and uncertain world, and of protecting and securing the bloodline. Tudor is bristling with religious and political intrigue but at heart is a thrilling story of one family's determined and flamboyant ambition.

Edessa was celebrated for the legend of the exchange of letters between its king and Jesus, and was venerated as the first kingdom to accept Christianity. The story of its community, administered by Rome, Byzantium, Arabs, Crusades, and Turks, reflects the vicissitudes of Mesopotamian history.

The Churches of Christ and Christian Churches comprise two of the principle fellowships to evolve from the American Restoration Movement-a movement fueled by the desire to abolish denominational borders and boundaries that have long divided the Christian community in hopes of building a brotherhood inclusive of all genuine followers of Jesus Christ. Nearly two centuries later, however, many within these two fellowships have abandoned the work of restoration and the hope of a united Christian fellowship. In Restoring the Restoration Movement, authors N.R. Kehn and Scott Bayles, with clever insight and a conversational tone, take a look "under the hood" at many of the doctrines that have divided the Churches of Christ and Christian Churches from each other and from mainstream evangelical Christianity in general-all in hopes of returning to the on-going work of restoration and to the original ideals of the Restoration Movement and true Biblical Christianity. N.R. Kehn has been a longtime member of Churches of Christ. With a secular degree in Network Administration and ongoing education in Software Engineering, Nathan combines impeccable logic with diligent Bible study. He currently serves in various capacities at the Florissant Church of Christ in Saint Louis, MO, where he also resides with his two sons, Nathan II and D.W. Scott Bayles is a graduate of Freed-Hardeman University and has preached for numerous Churches of Christ within the United States and abroad. He is also the author of The Greatest Commands: Learning to Love like Jesus. Currently, he serves as the preaching minister for First Christian Church of Rosiclare, IL, where he lives with his wife and two children.