With the Lord's Prayer, the Apostles' Creed, and the Ten Commandments as his outline, Albert Winn offers plain talk about the basics of Christian faith. From these familiar sources which constitute the backbone of Luther's Catechism, Calvin's Catechism, and the Heidelberg Catechism, Winn fashions a primer to help renew faith. His book initiates a realm of Christian learning that remains important for a lifetime.

In this volume, six prominent writers from different disciplines strive to analyze the Presbyterian predicament and to offer solutions. The authors each approach this theme from a different angle, resulting in a varied and highly informative look at the state of the Presbyterian Church.

Through its examination of American Presbyterianism, the Presbyterian Presence series illuminates patterns of change in mainstream Protestantism and American religious and cultural life in the twentieth century.

The coherence of this volume arises from the way in which John Calvin serves as the centering focus of various disciplines and scholarly approaches that touch on the life of the church. Its five sections convey a wide range of interests among the contributors: Calvin and his times, theology, ecclesiology, interpretation of Holy Scripture, and worship and preaching.

"Presbyterians and Pensions" traces the historical development of the modern Board of Pensions of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and its predecessor organizations from colonial times to the present. It is a critical work that examines the Board of Pensions in its broad historical, social, economic, and theological context. Utilizing the case study approach, the authors show how a major Protestant denomination produced its present retirement and protection program for church employees. This is an insightful historical presentation of a vital part of the church's mission and provides very interesting and critical reading for those interested in the history of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

John Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion is a defining book of the Reformation and a pillar of Protestant theology. First published in Latin in 1536 and in Calvin's native French in 1541, the Institutes argues for the majesty of God and for justification by faith alone. The book decisively shaped Calvinism as a major religious and intellectual force in Europe and throughout the world. Here, Bruce Gordon provides an essential biography of Calvin's influential and enduring theological masterpiece, tracing the diverse ways it has been read and interpreted from Calvin's time to today. Gordon explores the origins and character of the Institutes, looking closely at its theological and historical roots, and explaining how it evolved through numerous editions to become a complete summary of Reformation doctrine. He shows how the development of the book reflected the evolving thought of Calvin, who instilled in the work a restlessness that reflected his understanding of the Christian life as a journey to God. Following Calvin's death in 1564, the Institutes continued to be reprinted, reedited, and reworked through the centuries. Gordon describes how it has been used in radically different ways, such as in South Africa, where it was invoked both to defend and attack the horror of apartheid. He examines its vexed relationship with the historical Calvin--a figure both revered and despised--and charts its robust and contentious reception history, taking readers from the Puritans and Voltaire to YouTube, the novels of Marilynne Robinson, and to China and Africa, where the Institutes continues to find new audiences today.

Through text and photographs, Donald Saunders explores the history of the Rumple Presbyterian Church, Blowing Rock, NC, as well as its members from the Blowing Rock community.

A concise and readable study for laypersons and clergy alike, this book is indispensable for all informed people in many different confessional communities. With the passion of one who not only observes but believes, John Leith touches on all aspects of Reformed history, theology, polity, liturgy, and Christian culture with a balance of enthusiasm and critical judgment that always rings true.

This volume, demonstrating the main elements of Calvin's doctrine as they appear in his many commentaries on the books of the Old and New Testaments, speaks with singular power to the ordinary reader today. Included are more than two hundred selections under headings ranging from the Bible, knowledge of God, and the church. Introductory selections from Calvin's own writings also are provided.

Long recognized for the quality of its translations, introductions, explanatory notes, and indexes, the Library of Christian Classics provides scholars and students with modern English translations of some of the most significant Christian theological texts in history. Through these works--each written prior to the end of the sixteenth century--contemporary readers are able to engage the ideas that have shaped Christian theology and the church through the centuries.

For centuries, countless Christians have turned to the Westminster Standards for insights into the Christian faith. These renowned documents--first published in the middle of the 17th century--are still considered by many to be some of the most beautifully written summaries of the Bible's teaching ever produced.

Church historian John Fesko walks readers through the background and theology of the Westminster Confession, the Larger Catechism, and the Shorter Catechism, helpfully situating them within their original context.

Organized according to the major categories of systematic theology, this book utilizes quotations from other key works from the same time period to shed light on the history and significance of these influential documents.

This original look at the French Reformation pits immovable object--the French appellate courts or parlements--against irresistible force--the most dynamic forms of the Protestant Reformation. Without the slightest hesitation, the high courts of Renaissance France opposed these religious innovators. By 1540, the French monarchy had largely removed the prosecution of heresy from ecclesiastical courts and handed it to the parlements. Heresy trials and executions escalated dramatically. But within twenty years, the irresistible force had overcome the immovable object: the prosecution of Protestant heresy, by then unworkable, was abandoned by French appellate courts.

Until now no one has investigated systematically the judicial history of the French Reformation. William Monter has examined the myriad encounters between Protestants and judges in French parlements, extracting information from abundant but unindexed registers of official criminal decisions both in Paris and in provincial capitals, and identifying more than 425 prisoners condemned to death for heresy by French courts between 1523 and 1560. He notes the ways in which Protestants resisted the French judicial system even before the religious wars, and sets their story within the context of heresy prosecutions elsewhere in Reformation Europe, and within the long-term history of French criminal justice.

The Oxford Handbook of Reformed Theology looks back to past resources that have informed Reformed theology and surveys present conversations among those engaged in Reformed theology today. First, the volume offers accounts of the major historical contexts of reformed theology, the various relationships (ancient and modern) which it maintains and from which it derives. Recent research has shown the intricate ties between the patristic and medieval heritage of the church and the work of the reformed movement in the sixteenth century. The past century has also witnessed an explosion of reformed theology outside the Western world, prompting a need for attention not only to these global voices but also to the unique (and contingent) history of reformed theology in the West (hence reflecting on its relationship to intellectual developments like scholastic method or the critical approaches of modern biblical studies). Second, the volume assesses some of the classic, representative texts of the reformed tradition, observing also their reception history. The reformed movement is not dominated by a single figure, but it does contain a host of paradigmatic texts that demonstrate the range and vitality of reformed thought on politics, piety, biblical commentary, dogmatic reflection, and social engagement. Third, the volume turns to key doctrines and topics that continue to receive attention by reformed theologians today. Contributors who are themselves making cutting edge contributions to constructive theology today reflect on the state of the question and offer their own proposals regarding a host of doctrinal topics and themes.

Puritans did not find a life free from tyranny in the New World-they created it there. Massachusetts emerged a republic as they hammered out a vision of popular participation and limited government in church and state, spurred by Plymouth Pilgrims. Godly Republicanism underscores how pathbreaking yet rooted in puritanism's history the project was. Michael Winship takes us first to England, where he uncovers the roots of the puritans' republican ideals in the aspirations and struggles of Elizabethan Presbyterians. Faced with the twin tyrannies of Catholicism and the crown, Presbyterians turned to the ancient New Testament churches for guidance. What they discovered there-whether it existed or not-was a republican structure that suggested better models for governing than monarchy. The puritans took their ideals to Massachusetts, but they did not forge their godly republic alone. In this book, for the first time, the separatists' contentious, creative interaction with the puritans is given its due. Winship looks at the emergence of separatism and puritanism from shared origins in Elizabethan England, considers their split, and narrates the story of their reunion in Massachusetts. Out of the encounter between the separatist Plymouth Pilgrims and the puritans of Massachusetts Bay arose Massachusetts Congregationalism.

Student-friendly intro to one of America's most fascinating theological minds. Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758) has long been recognized as one of the preeminent thinkers in the early Enlightenment and a major figure in the history of American Christianity. In this accessible one-volume text, leading Edwards experts Oliver Crisp and Kyle Strobel introduce readers to the formi-dable mind of Jonathan Edwards as they survey key theological and philosophical themes in his thought, including his doctrine of the Trinity, his philosophical theology of God and creation, and his understanding of the atonement and salvation. More than two centuries after his death, theologians and historians alike are finding the larger-than-life Edwards more interesting than ever. Crisp and Strobel's concise yet comprehensive guide will help new students of this influential eighteenth-century revivalist preacher begin to understand why.

A daily Luther breviary for pastors and laity, for use in college, seminary, and university, and for reading at home; the book is suitable for Christian believers, inquirers, as well as for those interested in studying Reformation history. Martin Luther did not bequeath to us a system of theological thought, but his sermons, poetry, letters, and essays are all written with specific situations in mind. This book takes the same approach in dealing with topics. Twelve topics, spread over the months of the year, introduce the reader to Luther's theology. The selected readings from the Wittenberg reformer are translated into modern English and explained in everyday language. The passages from his writings have been selected with an eye to the Christian year and its festivals; at the same time they describe the nature and consequences of Luther's reformational insights. With the added benefit of a commentary on the selected Luther texts as well as on the art work for each month, this book promises to be not only a helpful and entertaining companion for the journey through the church year, but also a compendium of Luther's theology.

Eight Irish-American historians explore the changing transatlantic character of Ulster Presbyterianism in the 18th and 19th centuries. - Mark G. Spencer (Brock U), Peter Gilmore (Carnegie Mellon U), Katherine Brown (Mary Baldwin College) & David A. Wilson (U Toronto) examine the role of Ulster Presbyterians in the United Irish movement on both sides of the Atlantic - Patrick Griffin (Ohio U) compares and contrasts the Whiskey Rebellion of 1794 in Pennsylvania with the Defender movement in Ireland - Kerby Miller (U Missouri) analyzes class conflict and the origins of Unionist hegemony in early 19th-century Ulster - Kevin James (Guelph U) explores the social underpinnings and political consequences of the Ulster Revival of 1859 - David W. Miller (Carnegie Mellon U) provides a broad-ranging assessment of evangelical traditions in Scotland, Ulster and the United States

From current day sectarianism to the Free Church, religion has had a dominant effect upon society in Scotland for centuries. In this topical and thought-provoking book, Callum Brown examines the role of religion in the making of modern Scottish society. Tackling important contemporary themes such as the role of the Kirk in national identity and the growth of secularisation, he explains the history of Catholicism, Presbyterianism and Episcopalism over the last 250 years in an accessible and readable way.