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Books > Religion & Spirituality > Christianity > Protestantism & Protestant Churches > General
The priesthood of all believers is a core Protestant belief. But
what does it actually mean? Uche Anizor and Hank Voss set the
record straight in this concise treatment of a doctrine that lies
at the center of church life and Christian spirituality. The
authors look at the priesthood of all believers in terms of the
biblical witness, the contribution of Martin Luther and the
doctrine of the Trinity. They place this concept in the context of
the canonical description of Israel and the church as a royal
priesthood that responds to God in witness and service to the
world. Representing Christ is much more than a piece of Reformation
history. It shows that the priesthood of all believers is
interwoven with the practical, spiritual and missional life of the
church.
Contingent Citizens features fourteen essays that track changes in
the ways Americans have perceived the Latter-day Saints since the
1830s. From presidential politics, to political violence, to the
definition of marriage, to the meaning of sexual equality-the
editors and contributors place Mormons in larger American histories
of territorial expansion, religious mission, Constitutional
interpretation, and state formation. These essays also show that
the political support of the Latter-day Saints has proven, at
critical junctures, valuable to other political groups. The
willingness of Americans to accept Latter-day Saints as full
participants in the United States political system has ranged over
time and been impelled by political expediency, granting Mormons in
the United States an ambiguous status, contingent on changing
political needs and perceptions. Contributors: Matthew C. Godfrey,
Church History Library; Amy S. Greenberg, Penn State University; J.
B. Haws, Brigham Young University; Adam Jortner, Auburn University;
Matthew Mason, Brigham Young University; Patrick Q. Mason,
Claremont Graduate University; Benjamin E. Park, Sam Houston State
University; Thomas Richards, Jr., Springside Chestnut Hill Academy;
Natalie Rose, Michigan State University; Stephen Eliot Smith,
University of Otago; Rachel St. John, University of California
Davis
A major new account of the most intensely creative years of
Luther's career The Making of Martin Luther takes a provocative
look at the intellectual emergence of one of the most original and
influential minds of the sixteenth century. Richard Rex traces how,
in a concentrated burst of creative energy in the few years
surrounding his excommunication by Pope Leo X in 1521, this
lecturer at an obscure German university developed a startling new
interpretation of the Christian faith that brought to an end the
dominance of the Catholic Church in Europe. Lucidly argued and
elegantly written, The Making of Martin Luther is a splendid work
of intellectual history that renders Luther's earthshaking yet
sometimes challenging ideas accessible to a new generation of
readers.
In 1521, the Catholic Church declared war on Martin Luther. The
German monk had already been excommunicated the year before, after
nailing his Ninety-Five Theses,which accused the Church of rampant
corruption,to the door of a Saxon church. Now, the Holy Roman
Emperor Charles V called for Luther to be apprehended and punished
as a notorious heretic." The edict was akin to a death sentence: If
Luther was caught, he would almost inevitably be burned at the
stake, his fragile movement crushed, and the nascent Protestant
Reformation strangled in its cradle.In Luther's Fortress ,
acclaimed historian James Reston, Jr. describes this crucial but
little-known episode in Luther's life and reveals its pivotal role
in Christian history. Realizing the danger to their leader,
Luther's followers spirited him away to Wartburg Castle, deep in
central Germany. There he hid for the next ten months, as his
fate,and that of the Reformation,hung in the balance. Yet instead
of cowering in fear, Luther spent his time at Wartburg
strengthening his movement and refining his theology in ways that
would guarantee the survival of Protestantism. He devoted himself
to biblical study and spiritual contemplation he fought both his
papist critics and his own inner demons (and, legend has it, the
devil himself) and he held together his fractious and increasingly
radicalized reform movement from afar. During this time Luther also
crystallized some of his most significant ideas about Christianity
and translated the New Testament into German,an accomplishment
that, perhaps more than any other, solidified his legacy and spread
his bold new religious philosophy across Europe.Drawing on Luther's
correspondence, notes, and other writings, Luther's Fortress
presents an earthy, gripping portrait of the Reformation's
architect at this transformational moment, revealing him at his
most productive, courageous, and profound.
A comprehensive study of the connection between Calvinist missions
and Dutch imperial expansion during the early modern period "A tour
de force offering the reader the best study of global Calvinism in
the realms of the Dutch East India Company."-Ronnie Po-Chia Hsia,
editor, Calvinism and Religious Toleration in the Dutch Golden Age
Calvinism went global in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries,
as close to a thousand Dutch Reformed ministers, along with
hundreds of lay chaplains, attached themselves to the Dutch East
India and West India companies. Across Asia, Africa, and the
Americas where the trading companies set up operation, Dutch
ministers sought to convert "pagans," "Moors," Jews, and Catholics
and to spread the cultural influence of Protestant Christianity. As
Dutch ministers labored under the auspices of the trading
companies, the missionary project coalesced, sometimes grudgingly
but often readily, with empire building and mercantile capitalism.
Simultaneously, Calvinism became entangled with societies around
the world as encounters with indigenous societies shaped the
development of European religious and intellectual history. Though
historians have traditionally treated the Protestant and European
expansion as unrelated developments, the global reach of Dutch
Calvinism offers a unique opportunity to understand the
intermingling of a Protestant faith, commerce, and empire.
Helmut Thielicke was one of the most read and most listened to
theologians of the twentieth century. Like few others, he
repeatedly came down from the ivory tower of academic religion in
order to build bridges between the church and the world. In his
autobiography, written in 1983, Thielicke sets forth his memoirs
from a long and full life. His narrative is filled with deeply
thoughtful reflections about the poignancy of life, told with a
delightful humour that invites us into every story and encounter.
Thielicke also introduces us to the figures he counted among his
friends and acquaintances: Karl Barth, Konrad Adenauer, Dietrich
Bonhoeffer, Dwight Eisenhower, Helmut Kohl and Jimmy Carter.
Thielicke was a witness to many of the most significant events of
our century; his life history is interwoven with the imperial era,
the Weimar Republic, the rise of the Third Reich, a divided
Germany, and the tumultuous 1960s. From the perspective of this
single life we are afforded a broad and clear vision of the moments
that have shaped the generation leading us into the twenty-first
century.
Scholar and pastor Matthew Barrett retraces the historical and
biblical roots of the doctrine that Scripture alone is the final
and decisive authority for God's people. God's Word Alone is a
decisive defense of the Bible as the inspired and inerrant Word of
God. Revitalizing one of the five great declarations of the
Reformation-sola Scriptura-Barrett: Analyzes what the idea of sola
Scriptura is and what it entails, clarifying why the doctrine is
truth and why it's so essential to Christianity. Surveys the
development of this theme in the Reformation and traces the crisis
that followed resulting in a shift away from the authority of
Scripture. Shows that we need to recover a robust doctrine of
Scripture's authority in the face of today's challenges and why a
solid doctrinal foundation built on God's Word is the best hope for
the future of the church. This book is an exploration of the past
in order to better understand our present and the importance of
reviving this indispensable doctrine for the Christian faith and
church today. -THE FIVE SOLAS- Historians and theologians have long
recognized that at the heart of the sixteenth-century Protestant
Reformation were five declarations, often referred to as the
"solas." These five statements summarize much of what the
Reformation was about, and they distinguish Protestantism from
other expressions of the Christian faith: that they place ultimate
and final authority in the Scriptures, acknowledge the work of
Christ alone as sufficient for redemption, recognize that salvation
is by grace alone through faith alone, and seek to do all things
for God's glory. The Five Solas Series is more than a simple
rehashing of these statements, but instead expounds upon the
biblical reasoning behind them, leading to a more profound
theological vision of our lives and callings as Christians and
churches.
Explains the laws of the Church of Scotland, Scottish Episcopalian
Church and the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland Solicitors and
counsel in Scotland receive little training in the information
systems of the Churches in Scotland. This makes it difficult for
them to advise on church law or appear in ecclesiastical courts,
tribunals or commissions. Following well-received seminars on the
Church of Scotland's legal system in 2007, and with additional
contributions from the Scottish Episcopal Church and the Roman
Catholic Church, this book was specially written to fill this gap.
It includes chapters on the various Churches' polity, processes and
judicial procedures, including the Church of Scotland's Judicial
Commission and disciplinary processes. Key Features A welcome
reference for those who work and hold positions of responsibility
within Churches, for those preparing for ministry or legal
practice, and for practitioners called upon to appear before Church
courts Contributions written by senior office-bearers of the
General Assembly explain the law and practice of the Church of
Scotland Includes a full description of the systems of the Scottish
Episcopal Church With a valuable note from the Roman Catholic
Church
The religion of Orange politics offers an in-depth anthropological
account of the Orange Order in Scotland. Based on ethnographic
research collected before, during, and after the Scottish
independence referendum, Joseph Webster details how Scotland's
largest Protestant-only fraternity shapes the lives of its members
and the communities in which they live. Within this
Masonic-inspired 'society with secrets', Scottish Orangemen learn
how transform themselves and their fellow brethren into what they
regard to be ideal British citizens. It is from this ethnographic
context - framed by ritual initiations, loyalist marches, fraternal
drinking, and constitutional campaigning - that the key questions
of the book emerge: What is the relationship between fraternal love
and sectarian hate? Can religiously motivated bigotry and exclusion
be part of human experiences of 'The Good?' What does it mean to
claim that one's religious community is utterly exceptional - a
literal 'race apart'? -- .
Once a vibrant part of religious life for many Pennsylvania Germans
in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Fraktur manuscripts
today are primarily studied for their decorative qualities. The
Word in the Wilderness takes a different view, probing these
documents for what they tell us about the lived religious
experiences of the Protestant communities that made and used them
and opening avenues for reinterpretation of this well-known, if
little understood, set of cultural artifacts. The resplendent
illuminated religious manuscripts commonly known as Fraktur have
captivated collectors and scholars for generations. Yet fundamental
questions about their cultural origins, purpose, and historical
significance remain. Alexander Lawrence Ames addresses these by
placing Fraktur manuscripts within a "Pietist paradigm," grounded
in an understanding of how their makers viewed "the Word," or
scripture. His analysis combines a sweeping overview of Protestant
Christian religious movements in Europe and early America with
close analysis of key Pennsylvania devotional manuscripts,
revealing novel insights into the religious utility of calligraphy,
manuscript illumination, and devotional reading as Protestant
spiritual enterprises. Situating the manuscripts in the context of
transatlantic religious history, early American spirituality,
material culture studies, and the history of book and manuscript
production, Ames challenges long-held approaches to Pennsylvania
German studies and urges scholars to engage with these texts and
with their makers and users on their own terms. Featuring dozens of
illustrations, this lively, engaging book will appeal to Fraktur
scholars and enthusiasts, historians of early America, and anyone
interested in the material culture and spiritual practices of the
German-speaking residents of Pennsylvania.
At the dawn of the twentieth century, while Lima's aristocrats
hotly debated the future of a nation filled with "Indians,"
thousands of Aymara and Quechua Indians left the pews of the
Catholic Church and were baptized into Seventh-day Adventism. One
of the most staggering Christian phenomena of our time, the mass
conversion from Catholicism to various forms of Protestantism in
Latin America was so successful that Catholic contemporaries became
extremely anxious on noticing that parts of the Indigenous
population in the Andean plateau had joined a Protestant church. In
Sacrifice and Regeneration Yael Mabat focuses on the extraordinary
success of Seventh-day Adventism in the Andean highlands at the
beginning of the twentieth century and sheds light on the
historical trajectories of Protestantism in Latin America. By
approaching the religious conversion among Indigenous populations
in the Andes as a multifaceted and dynamic interaction between
converts, missionaries, and their social settings and networks,
Mabat demonstrates how the religious and spiritual needs of
converts also brought salvation to the missionaries. Conversion had
important ramifications on the way social, political, and economic
institutions on the local and national level functioned. At the
same time, socioeconomic currents had both short-term and long-term
impacts on idiosyncratic religious practices and beliefs that both
accelerated and impeded religious change. Mabat's innovative
historical perspective on religious transformation allows us to
better comprehend the complex and often contradictory way in which
Protestantism took shape in Latin America.
Thomas Green examines the Scottish Reformation from a new
perspective - the legal system and lawyers. For the leading lawyers
of the day, the Scottish Reformation presented a constitutional and
jurisdictional crisis of the first order. In the face of such a
challenge moderate judges, lawyers and officers of state sought to
restore order in a time of revolution by retaining much of the
medieval legacy of Catholic law and order in Scotland. Green covers
the Wars of the Congregation, the Reformation Parliament, the
legitimacy of the Scottish government from 1558 to 1561, the courts
of the early Church of Scotland and the legal significance of Mary
Stewart's personal reign. He also considers neglected aspects of
the Reformation, including the roles of the Court of Session and of
the Court of the Commissaries of Edinburgh.
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