This work focuses on a rarely noted side of the Protestant reformer John Calvin: the theologian as a man appreciative of the details of God's creation, an admirer of those who investigate nature, and a leader that accepted their discoveries and conclusions. John Calvin and the Natural World explores the content of Calvin's scientific outlook by reviewing his views on the structure of the cosmos; the nature of matter and motion; weather; the age, shape, place, and history of the Earth; and the behaviors and characteristics of animals, plants, the human body, and disease. Also drawn out, are the classical, biblical, and medieval influences on Calvin's ideas about nature. Professor Davis A. Young concludes the work with a discussion of Calvin's attitudes, practices, and ideas with respect to science in comparison to how these ideas are carried out in the contemporary church. Professor Young surmises that the judicious application of Calvin's principle of accommodation would help the church to deal in a more thoughtful and balanced way in respect to science and nature, and to defuse some of the rancorous debates surrounding the age of the Earth, flood geology, and evolution.

In this provocative study, David W. Hall argues that Calvinism had a greater influence on America's founders than contemporary scholars, and perhaps even the founders themselves, have understood. Calvinism's insistence that human rulers tend to err played a significant role in the founders' prescription of limited government and fed the distinctly American philosophy in which political freedom for citizens is held as the highest value. Hall's timely work countervails many scholars' doubt in the intellectual efficacy of religion by showing that religious teachings have led to such progressive ideals as American democracy and freedom.

This work explores the conflicts within colonial American Presbyterianism, providing a new explanation for the schism of the Presbyterian Church in 1741. Because of the nature of the conflict, the struggle for the soul of the church provides a rich case study in which to explore the broader transformation of patterns of thought and social structures in the middle colonies.

What explains the rapid growth of state power in early modern Europe? While most scholars have pointed to the impact of military or capitalist revolutions, Philip S. Gorski argues instead for the importance of a disciplinary revolution unleashed by the Reformation. By refining and diffusing a variety of disciplinary techniques and strategies, such as communal surveillance, control through incarceration and bureaucratic office-holding, Calvin and his followers created an infrastructure of religious governance and social control that served as a model for the rest of Europe -and the world. Gorski shows, for instance, how Calvinist-inspired social discipline contributed to the governance and pacification of Dutch society and to the rationalization and centralization of the Prussian state. He also compares religious and social disciplining as practiced by Calvinists, Lutherans and Catholics and finds that Calvinists took the disciplinary revolution much farther and faster, which helps explain the greater political strength of the Calvinist states. Written with clarity and vigour, "The Disciplinary Revolution" should be seen as a major work in European history, political science, social theory and religion.

First published in 1905, "The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism" is one of the most renowned and controversial works of modern social science. It is a brilliant book that studies the psychological conditions which made possible the development of capitalist civilisation. The book analyses the connection between the spread of Calvinism and a new attitude towards the pursuit of wealth in post-Reformation Europe and England, and attitude which permitted, encouraged - even sanctified - the human quest for prosperity.

This new edition has been translated and introduced by internationally acclaimed Weberian scholar Stephen Kalberg. With a precise and nuanced rendering of Weber's style and arguments, Kalberg clarifies the various twists and turns of Weber's complex lines of reasoning. Kalberg's introduction examines the controversy surrounding the book and summarizes major aspects of Weber's analysis. A glossary of major terms is included to make this the clearest, most readable edition of this classic text yet available.

2020 Book Award Winner, The Gospel Coalition (History & Biography) 2020 For the Church Book Award Dutch Calvinist theologian Herman Bavinck, a significant voice in the development of Protestant theology, remains relevant many years after his death. His four-volume Reformed Dogmatics is one of the most important theological works of the twentieth century. James Eglinton is widely considered to be at the forefront of contemporary interest in Bavinck's life and thought. After spending considerable time in the Netherlands researching Bavinck, Eglinton brings to light a wealth of new insights and previously unpublished documents to offer a definitive biography of this renowned Reformed thinker. The book follows the course of Bavinck's life in a period of dramatic social change, identifying him as an orthodox Calvinist challenged with finding his feet in late modern culture. Based on extensive archival research, this critical biography presents numerous significant and previously ignored or unknown aspects of Bavinck's person and life story. A black-and-white photo insert is included. This volume complements other Baker Academic offerings on Bavinck's theology and ethics, which together have sold 90,000 copies.

In this revelatory account of the people who founded the New England colonies, historian David D. Hall compares the reforms they enacted with those attempted in England during the period of the English Revolution. Bringing with them a deep fear of arbitrary, unlimited authority, these settlers based their churches on the participation of laypeople and insisted on "consent" as a premise of all civil governance. Puritans also transformed civil and criminal law and the workings of courts with the intention of establishing equity. In this political and social history of the five New England colonies, Hall provides a masterful re-evaluation of the earliest moments of New England's history, revealing the colonists to be the most effective and daring reformers of their day.

Rutherford played a major role as a reformer at the Westminster Assembly and was also a crucial figure in the establishment of Presbyterianism for Scotland in 1689. Rutherford's 'Lex Rex' heavily influenced John Locke and in turn, the framers of the US Constitution and Declaration of Independence. Thus Jefferson, Franklin, Madison and Hamilton discussed and formulated their work in the light of the work and opinions of Samuel Rutherford. Several biographies have been written to eulogise Samuel Rutherford but little has been done to consider the man and his work critically. Kingsley Rendell uses Rutherford's writings and contemporary material to present a comprehensive picture of him from his student days to his death in 1661. Usually described as a model preacher and pastor, Rendell shows he had an even greater ability as an apologist and propagandist.

Addressing such questions as "Are You Saved, or Are You Presbyterian?" and "Is the Bible the Literal Word of God or Just a Long, Boring Book?" this is an easy-to-understand, slightly irreverent appraoch to theology and the kind of theological musings that many youth and others have today. "Bring Presbyterian in the Bible Belt Today" helps Presbyterian young people articulate their faith and respond to these questions from a mainline point of view.

Many students of our national character would agree that, for better or worse, the Puritan tradition had an enormous effect on the assumptions and aspirations of today's Americans. This book tells the story, largely through the participants' own words, of the emergence of that tradition. It provides a broad range of primary documents--religious, political, social, legal, familial, and economic--for an understanding of Puritanism in early New England. Originally published in 1972, it is reissued here with a new introduction and two new documents: extracts from Anne Hutchinson's trial and from John Winthrop's "Experiencia."

The Puritan author, Morgan Llwyd, is an important figure of seventeenth-century Wales. This scholarly work deals specifically with the theological credo underlying Llwyd's work, and makes a cogent case for his standpoint that, although Llwyd used original ways to express Calvinist doctrine, he was very much an orthodox Calvinist. This is a detailed study of Llwyd's system of thought, and the author succeeds in illuminating complex aspects of Llwyd's work.

This study examines the influence of John Calvin in ethics eschatology and education, as well as those influences that affected him. It examines his writings to determine if his vision made him an innovator. The research searched for reforms in the areas of ethics, curriculum, understanding of the teaching office, and universal education. It also looked at philosophy, economics, and labor. A belief in the after life and end times was an ethical motivation for Calvin and education was a means by which the people that he worked with and wrote to could understand how they should live and why they should live like that. Thus, there is an important connection among ethics, eschatology and education. All people were to work to their potential at their job because in doing their job they would honor God. Teachers were especially important. Those who taught would affect the quality of education. Calvin worked to provide teacher training and support. He believed that all occupations could be a special calling from God and education was a means to prepare the young person for his or her calling. Schools existed in Geneva before Calvin arrived in 1536; however, they did not function in the way that Calvin would have liked. Calvin provided the elementary students with a needed text when he prepared a catechism. The students had written material that they could read and study and a systematic presentation of the basic doctrines of the Christian faith. Calvin also wanted more appropriate facilities in which the students could learn. Although his organization of the schools improved the atmosphere for learning, the building of the Academy was his dream and became his major educational achievement in the city of Geneva. Because16th century students needed to be prepared for the new world, there was a need for curriculum change. The students were required to read many of the prominent Greek and Roman authors in the ancient languages but the student learned theology, Hebrew, poetry, dialectic and rhetoric, physics, and mathematics as well. Calvin wished to graduate a well rounded scholar who could take his or her place in society. In this way the citizens of Geneva and all those of the Reformed belief would be better prepared for life on earth and the after life.

This book investigates the Mission of the Reformed Church in America sent to Arabia in 1889 to preach the Gospel, and which operated in the Persian Gulf until 1973. It also explores the various cultural encounters between missionaries and Muslims, and discusses conversion and the place of Islam in the Protestant eschatology. It maintains that John G. Lansing from the New Brunswick Theological Seminary, New Jersey, who founded the Arabian Mission, deliberately dedicated the Mission to "direct Muslim evangelism". In terms of premillennialism, Lansing "moved" Islam into the very centre of the theological discourse, and presented the evangelization of Muslims as critical for Christ's Second Coming. This made the Arabian Mission unique among the American Protestant Missions, and placed the Church and missionaries between religious pluralism and the obligations of the Great Commission.