This title provides an upper-level introduction to the doctrine of justification which triggered the Reformation and is still high up on the agenda in Ecumenical dialogue. The core of the book is an historical survey of the doctrine of justification as it has developed within the Western church - a somewhat simplified version of McGrath's Justitia Dei, but with a more outspoken assessment of the various moves that are taken at various stages in the discussion. Attention will is paid to the context or prevailing world view in which such a doctrine is deemed significant. Although the focus is on a number of principal theologians there are some reference to their peers or followers. Only at the end the Pauline texts are examined. The conclusion considers what part a doctrine of justification can have within a modern worldview in which the concept of divine judgement has generally been marginalised. Continuum's Guides for the Perplexed are clear, concise and accessible introductions to thinkers, writers and subjects that students and readers can find especially challenging - or indeed downright bewildering. Concentrating specifically on what it is that makes the subject difficult to grasp, these books explain and explore key themes and ideas, guiding the reader towards a thorough understanding of demanding material.

This title presents theology of biblical interpretation, treating both topics in light of their relationship to the triune God and the economy of redemption. "Trinity, Revelation, and Reading (TRR)" is a theological introduction to the Bible and biblical interpretation. The overarching thesis is that neither the Bible nor biblical hermeneutics can be understood or practiced properly apart from an appreciation of their relationship to the triune God and his gracious economy of redemption. Scott Swain treats the role of the Word in the saving economy of the triune God, the role and status of Scripture as the Word of God, the nature of biblical reading as a covenantal enterprise, as well as a host of other related topics. These topics are addressed by way of a constructive appropriation, or ressourcement, of many of the themes of patristic theology and early Protestant divinity (esp. Reformed Orthodoxy), while building upon the work of important contemporary theologians as well (e.g., Karl Barth, John Webster, Kevin Vanhoozer). The ultimate goal of this study is that readers will appreciate better the ways in which biblical interpretation is an aspect of their covenantal engagement with the triune God.

This precious book contains all the sermons, articles and book reviews on this vital subject by one of the most brilliant theologians America has ever produced. Sinclair Ferguson, author and pastor, said, "I commend these pages, as one who has continually been helped by their contents. It is a treasure to be enjoyed again and again." Joel Beeke added, ""These sermons, articles, and book reviews, collected from Warfield's writings, show the genuine stamp of Reformed experiential piety that rested on the great 19th-century Princeton theologians. The sermons on the leading and sealing of the Spirit are themselves worth the price of the book. Would you like guidance in learning how to live more closely to Christ, how to walk more by faith through the Spirit, and how to wrestle at the throne of grace? Read this book prayerfully, both for clarity of mind and warmth of soul with regard to the person and ministry of the blessed Spirit. Let Warfield be your spiritual mentor in the great things of God."

Traditionally known as le Refuge, the Huguenot diaspora is one of the most important dispersions of a religious minority in early modern Europe. This migration led to the exodus of nearly two hundred thousand Protestants out of France in 1685 at the time of the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. Memory and Identity offers a comparative perspective on this event and its repercussions by an international group of historians. This collection is the first look at the Huguenot diaspora in a broad Atlantic context rather than as a narrowly European or Colonial American phenomenon and sheds new light on the Protestant experience both in and outside of France. The volume explains why some Huguenots chose to emigrate instead of being assimilated by the dominant Catholic group, while others recanted their faith and remained in France. Revealing how minority status at home affected the creation of refugee communities outside France, scholars trace the Huguenots' eventual integration into different host societies. Comparing Huguenot diasporic experiences on both sides of the Atlantic, essays focus on Britain, Germany, the Netherlands, British North America, the French Caribbean, New France, and Dutch South Africa. Finally, several essays study the long-term impact of the Revocation and of le Refuge in examining nineteenth-century Huguenot memory in France and in the diaspora and the maintenance of a Huguenot identity.

John Calvin (1509-1564) was one of the main Protestant Reformers of the sixteenth century. His thought spread worldwide, and today he is still looked to for theological insights and as a guide to Christian faith by millions of people. In this book, one of the world's leading Calvin scholars, Willem van 't Spijker, provides a compact guide to Calvin's life and the main elements of his thought. Van 't Spijker bases this work on the best contemporary scholarship. By tracing Calvin's influence, he shows both the development of Calvin's thought and the ways in which it was important in his time and later. This book will be an excellent introduction to Calvin's life and thought for both beginning students and those already acquainted with Calvin's work.

Based on the correspondence of missionaries in the field, this book offers valuable insight unto understanding Protestant attitudes toward the American Indians in the nineteenth century. By focusing upon the work of the Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S., the book portrays a major Protestant denomination's evangelical program to take the Indian from heathenism to gospel light. From its founding in 1837 the board sent over 450 missionaries to at least nineteen diverse and widely separated Indian tribes, with a goal of uplifting them into the Protestant tradition of Christian civilization. These zealous men and women sent back thousands of detailed and often highly personal letters from the Indian field, and this book is based primarily upon that store of correspondence. Seeking to fill the need for critical case studies of individual missionary organizations, this book depicts the missionaries as cultural revolutionaries in the deepest human sense. Moved by a nearly absolute ethnocentrism, they denounced almost every aspect of tribal culture. Among the Indians they found virtually nothing worth incorporating into the codes of Christian civilization. Yet these missionaries resisted racial explanations for what they saw as Indian failings and retained a conviction that individual tribal members were both eligible for eternal salvation and capable of attaining citizenship in the United States. In this book the author places the work of the Board of Foreign Missions in a historical context and presents the goals, methods, backgrounds and motivations of the missionaries. He also examines the cluster of ideas which constituted the Presbyterian definition for Christian civilization.

Este libro del Dr. Salatiel P. Lopez nos introduce en el pensamiento de Juan Calvino de una forma profunda y amena; dandonos a entender que Calvino, al igual que el resto de nosotros, "somos afectados por fuerzas y circunstancias historicas que influyen sobre nuestro desarrollo personal, intelectual y espiritual de manera significativa. Ademas de aquellas caracteristicas individuales que nos distinguen de las otras personas, y ademas de aquellos factores providenciales singulares en que Dios opera de manera especifica en nuestras vidas, recibimos el impacto y la influencia de factores, circunstancias y personajes de la epoca en que vivimos, y que contribuyen a moldear nuestra existencia, nuestro caracter y nuestra manera de pensar." This book by Dr. Salatiel P. Lopez introduces us to the thought of Juan Calvino in a deep and enjoyable manner. It makes the reader understand that all of us, like Calvin, "are affected by forces and historical circumstances that influence our personal, intellectual and spiritual development in a meaningful way. In addition to those individual characteristics that distinguish us from other people, and in addition to those singular providential factors that God works in a specific way in our lives, we receive the impact and influence of factors, circumstances and people of the era in which we live. And these elements contribute to mold our existence, our character, and our way of thinking."

As Presbyterians, Lutherans, Methodists, Disciples of Christ, and other predominantly European-centered Christian denominations of North America seek to respond as a faith community to the increasingly dynamic ethnic and cultural diversity within our society, this book offers a sobering yet valuable perspective. By understanding the ministry of Christian evangelism as a construct that speaks of the power of divine transformation (personal and communal) and the embrace of a way of life, this work argues for a multi-variant approach that values the philosophical aspects of cultural differences, which are effective and faithful models of Christian evangelism. An analysis of key missiological concepts, such as mission histories, ethno-theologies, worldview, culture, ethnic cohesion, and contextualization is appropriated to illuminate the theological voices and evangelical practices of a specific people, or ethnicity, shaped by a journey of spiritual faith. While the numerical significance of self-identified African-American Presbyterians may appear small, their synergistic encounter of human identity and religious faith, historical experience in the church, and the impact of their evangelical presence provide an excellent case study for discerning the twenty-first-century challenges of evangelism. This thorough study of history, theology, organizational structures, methods, and techniques will serve as a valuable tool in evaluating the impact of the faith journey of African-American Presbyterians and its challenges for today and the future.

Este libro es un intento de articular el contenido de una cosmovisin bblica y su significado para nuestras vidas a medida que buscamos ser obedientes a las Escrituras. Las ideas que componen esta cosmovisin provienen de una larga tradicin de reflexin cristiana sobre las Escrituras y sobre una perspectiva global acerca del mundo. Son parte de una tradicin arraigada en las Escrituras mismas. Ha tenido como sus representantes ms prominentes a los padres de la iglesia Ireneo y Agustn, y a los reformadores Tyndale y Calvino. A esta cosmovisin de formacin escritural se le conoce a veces como "reformacional" porque alude a la Reforma protestante, la que descubri con frescura la enseanza bblica concerniente a la profundidad y al alcance del pecado y de la redencin. El deseo de vivir slo por medio de la Escritura, en vez de hacerlo colocndola al lado de la tradicin, es el sello de los reformadores. Seguimos sus pasos al hacer este nfasis y al desear una continua reforma, al desear ser re-formados por las Escrituras continuamente (ver Hch. 17:11, Ro. 12:2), en vez de vivir segn tradiciones que no han sido examinadas.

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.

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.

When the Reverend Mark Allison Matthews died in February 1940, thousands of mourners gathered at a Seattle church to pay their final respects. The Southern-born Presbyterian came to Seattle in 1902. He quickly established himself as a city leader and began building a congregation that was eventually among the nation's largest, with nearly 10,000 members. Throughout his career, he advocated Social Christianity, a blend of progressive reform and Christian values, as a blueprint for building a morally righteous community.

In telling Matthews's story, Dale Soden presents Matthews's multiple facets: a Southern-born, fundamentalist proponent of the Social Gospel; a national leader during the tumultuous years of schism within the American Presbyterian church; a social reformer who established day-care centers, kindergartens, night classes, and soup kitchens; a colorful figure who engaged in highly public and heated disputes with elected officials. Much of the controversy that surrounded Matthews centered on the proper relationship between church and state -- an issue that is still hotly debated.

In this classic work of American religious history, Robert Middlekauff traces the evolution of Puritan thought and theology in America from its origins in New England through the early eighteenth century. He focuses on three generations of intellectual ministers - Richard, Increase, and Cotton Mather - in order to challenge the traditional telling of the secularization of Puritanism, a story of faith transformed by reason, science, and business. Delving into the Mathers' private papers and unpublished writings as well as their sermons and published works, Middlekauff describes a Puritan theory of religious experience that is more creative, complex, and uncompromising than traditional accounts have allowed. At the same time, he portrays changing ideas and patterns of behavior that reveal much about the first hundred years of American life.

Calvinist missionaries.

If you think that sounds like an oxymoron, you're not alone. Yet a close look at John Calvin's life, writings, and successors reveals a passion for the spread of the gospel and the salvation of sinners.

From training pastors at his Genevan Academy to sending missionaries to the jungles of Brazil, Calvin consistently sought to encourage and equip Christians to take the good news of salvation to the very ends of the earth. In this carefully researched book, Michael Haykin and Jeffrey Robinson clear away longstanding stereotypes related to the Reformed tradition and Calvin's theological heirs, highlighting the Reformer's neglected missional vision and legacy.