Covering a vast geographical and chronological span, and bringing new and exciting material to light, The Reformation and the Visual Arts provides a unique overvie of religious images and iconoclasm, starting with the consequences of the Byzantine image controversy and ending with the Eastern Orthodox churches of the nineteenth century. The author argues that the image question played a large role in the divisions within European Protestantism and was intricately connected with the Eucharist controversy. He analyses the positions of the major Protestant reformers - Luther, Zwingli, Calvin and Karlstadt - on the legitimacy of religious paintings and investigates iconoclasm both as a form of religious and political protest and as a complex set of mock-revolutionary rites and denigration rituals. The book also contains new research on relations between Protestant iconoclasm and the extreme icon-worship of the Eastern Orthodox churches, and provides a brief discussion of Eastern protestantizing sects, especially in Russia.

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Today's Protestant churches are often rent by disagreement and dissent over the office of bishop, the roles of the ordained, and myriad forms of lay ministry. Timothy Wengert's new work overturns many of the "pious myths" about these matters to probe the core conviction of Martin Luther, Philip Melanchthon, and the early Reform about public ministry. Theirs was an original vision of Christian ministry, revolutionary for its time. It jettisoned the lay/clerical distinction and brought "new authority and purpose to the public office in Christ's church," says Wengert. After resurrecting that initial context, Wengert traces the diminution and distortion of this foundational vision through the centuries. He shows that many of the modern fights over public ministry are simply wrong-headed, and he then draws striking and helpful conclusions about the rich assets and forms of service in the single public office of ministry today.

Evangelical Protestantism in Ulster is the most influential and historically significant sector of Christianity in Northern Ireland. It is often associated only with the controversial figure of Ian Paisley, but this book includes fresh analysis of a spectrum of Evangelical opinion. Covering the period from Partition in 1921 to the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, Patrick Mitchel explores why and how Evangelical Christians are deeply divided over politics, national identity, and the current Peace Process. The result is an original and significant study that provides an invaluable guide to understanding both the past and contemporary mindset of Ulster Protestantism.

This is a detailed and scholarly account of religious belief and conflict in the strategically important province of Inner Austria between 1580 and 1630. Dr Pörtner analyses the aims, achievements, and shortcomings of the Habsburgs' confessional crusade in Styria, showing how although the progress of Protestantization was reversed, the Counter-Reformation left an ambivalent legacy to the modern Austrian state.

A textbook of Luther's political writings presented with careful attention to historical context, peer reveiwed by top scholars in the fields of political science and Reformation studies.

"This clear guide will help you understand what is distinctive about Protestant perspectives on who the Holy Spirit is and what the Holy Spirit does in our lives."After an introduction that broadly compares Protestant views on the Holy Spirit with Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox models, the understandings of importan theologians and figures in Protestant tradition are explored:

Martin Luther
The Anabaptists (Meno Simons, Balthasar Hubmaier, Conrad Grebe, Jacob Hutter)
John Wesley
Friedrich Schleiermacher
Abraham Kuyper
Karl Barth
And then living theologians such as Jurgen Moltmann, Wolfhart Pannenberg, Clark Pinnock, and Michael Welker.

A Companion to German Pietism offers an introduction to recent Pietism scholarship on both sides of the Atlantic, in German, Dutch, and English. The focus is upon early modern German Pietism, a movement that arose in the late 17th century German Empire within both Reformed and Lutheran traditions. It introduced a new paradigm to German Protestantism that included personal renewal, new birth, women-dominated conventicles, and millennialism. The "Introduction" offers a concise overview of modern research into German Pietism. The Companion is then organized according to the different worlds of Pietist existence-intellectual, devotional, literary-cultural, and social-political.

The experience of the King's church in early America was shaped by the unfolding imperial policies of the English government after 1675. London-based civil and ecclesiastical officials supervised the extension and development of the church overseas. The recruitment, appointment and financial support of the ministers were guided by London officials. Transplanted to the New World without the traditional hierarchical structure of the church - no bishop served in the colonies during the colonial period at the time of the American Revolution - it was neither an English-American nor American-English church, yet it modified in a distinctive manner. instrument of imperial policy and an examination of: unfolding imperial policies of the Committee of Trade and Plantations that aided and supported the extension of the King's church overseas; the civil and ecclesiastical agencies and leaders that developed and implemented the policies for the development and supervision of the church in the American colonies; the financial support of the King's church in America; and the impact of the American Revolution on the King's church.

This book offers an historical and comparative profile of classical pentecostal movements in Brazil and the United States in view of their migratory beginnings and transnational expansion. Pentecostalism's inception in the early twentieth century, particularly in its global South permutations, was defined by its grassroots character. In contrast to the top-down, hierarchical structure typical of Western forms of Christianity, the emergence of Latin American Pentecostalism embodied stability from the bottom up-among the common people. While the rise to prominence of the Assemblies of God in Brazil, the Western hemisphere's largest (non-Catholic) denomination, demanded structure akin to mainline contexts, classical pentecostals such as the Christian Congregation movement cling to their grassroots identity. Comparing the migratory and missional flow of movements with similar European and US roots, this book considers the prospects for classical Brazilian pentecostals with an eye on the problems of church growth and polity, gender, politics, and ethnic identity.

During the fifteen-year period between 1974 and 1989 the Lausanne Movement produced a number of key mission documents that have been gathered in this important anthology. Beginning with the "Lausanne Covenant" and ending with the "Manila Manifesto," these vital mission documents have so far been available only as "Lausanne Occasional Papers." Now they are available in book form. Each of the documents is presented here with its historical integrity intact. The only new additions to the collection itself are a historical introduction by John R. W. Stott and a foreword by Billy Graham-both important pieces of writing in themselves.

This book highlights the expansion of the influential Pentecostal Hillsong Church global megachurch network from Australia across global cities. Ethnographic research in Amsterdam and New York City shows that global cities harbor nodes in transnational religious networks in which media play a crucial role. By taking a lived religion approach, media is regarded as integral part of everyday practices of interaction, expression and consumption of religion. Key question raised is how processes of mediatization shape, alter and challenge this thriving cosmopolitan expression of Pentecostalism. Current debates in the study of religion are addressed: religious belonging and community in global cities; the interrelation between media technology, religious practices and beliefs; religion, media and social engagement in global cities; media and emerging modes of religious leadership and authority. In this empirical study, pressing societal issues like institutional responses to sexual abuse of children, views on gender roles, misogyny and mediated constructions of femininity are discussed.

Approximately 2,500 Anabaptists were martyred in sixteenth- and early seventeenth-century Europe. Their surviving brethren compiled stories of those who suffered and died for the faith into martyr books. The most historically and culturally significant of these, The Bloody Theater-more commonly known as Martyrs Mirror-was assembled by the Dutch Mennonite minister Thieleman van Braght and published in 1660. Today, next to the Bible, it is the single most important text to Anabaptists-Amish, Mennonites, and Hutterites. In some Anabaptist communities, it is passed to new generations as a wedding or graduation gift. David L. Weaver-Zercher combines the fascinating history of Martyrs Mirror with a detailed analysis of Anabaptist life, religion, and martyrdom. He traces the publication, use, and dissemination of this key martyrology across nearly four centuries and explains why it holds sacred status in contemporary Amish and Mennonite households. Even today, the words and deeds of these martyred Christians are referenced in sermons, Sunday school lessons, and history books. Weaver-Zercher argues that Martyrs Mirror was designed to teach believers how to live a proper Christian life. In van Braght's view, accounts of the martyrs helped to remind readers of the things that mattered, thus inspiring them to greater faithfulness. Martyrs Mirror remains a tool of revival, offering new life to the communities and people who read it by revitalizing Anabaptist ideals and values. Meticulously researched and illustrated with sketches from early publications of Martyrs Mirror, Weaver-Zercher's ambitious history weaves together the existing scholarship on this iconic text in an accessible and engaging way.

The cultural conflict that increasingly divides American society is particularly evident within Protestant Christianity. Liberals and evangelicals clash in bitter competition for the future of their respective subcultures. In this book, James Wellman examines this conflict as it is played out in the American Northwest.
Drawing on an in-depth study of twenty-four of the area's fastest-growing evangelical churches and ten vital liberal Protestant congregations, Wellman captures the leading trends of each group and their interaction with the wider American culture. He finds a remarkable depth of disagreement between the two groups on almost every front.
Where evangelicals are willing to draw sharp lines on gay marriage and abortion, liberals complain about evangelical self-righteousness and disregard for personal freedoms. Liberals prefer the moral power of inclusiveness, while evangelicals frame their moral stances as part of a metaphysical struggle between good and evil. The entrepreneurial nature of evangelicalism translates into support of laissez-faire capitalism and democratic political advocacy. Liberals view both policies with varying degrees of apprehension. Such differences are significant on a national scale, with implications for the future of American Protestantism in particular and American culture in general.
Both groups act in good faith and with good intentions, and each maintains a moral core that furthers its own identity, ideology, ritual, mission, and politics. In some situations, they share similar attitudes despite having different beliefs. Attending church services and interviewing senior pastors, lay leaders and new members, Wellman is able toprovide new insights into the convenient categories of "liberal" and "evangelical," the nature of the conflict, and the myriad ways both groups affect and are affected by American culture.

While much has been written on the connections between Lollardy and the Reformation, this collection of essays is the first detailed and satisfactory interpretation of many aspects of the problem. Margaret Aston shows how Protestant Reformers derived encouragement from their predecessors, while interpreting Lollards in the light of their own faith.
This highly readable book makes an important contribution to the history of the Reformation, bringing to life the men and women of a movement interesting for its own sake and for the light it sheds on the religious and intellectual history of the period.

This book presents a theological and missiological argument for pentecostals to engage more forcefully in higher education by expanding and renewing their commitment toward operating their own colleges and universities. The volume's first part describes past and present developments within higher education, highlighting strengths and weaknesses of both pentecostal and (post)secular institutions. The second part highlights the future potential of pentecostal higher education, which is enriched by a Spirit-empowered and mission-minded spirituality that focuses on forming the hearts, heads, and hands of students. Pentecostals increasingly desire to influence all spheres of society, an endeavor that could be amplified through a strengthened engagement in higher education, particularly one that encompasses a variety of institutions, including a pentecostal research university. In developing such an argument, this research is both comprehensive and compelling, inviting pentecostals to make a missional difference in the knowledge-based economies that will characterize the twenty-first century.