"Conceptually well organized, stylistically clear, intellectually thoughtful, and pedagogically useful."

- Thomas Head, Speculum

"For its humane and learned approach to its enormous canvas, as well as for the cogency with which it penetrates at speed to the essentials of a vanished historical epoch, this History of the Church in the Middle Ages deserves a very wide audience indeed."

- Barrie Dobson, English Historical Review

"To have written a scholarly and very readable history of the Western Church over a millennium is a remarkable tour de force, for which Donald Logan is to be warmly congratulated."

- C.H Lawrence, The Tablet

"A feat of historical synthesis, most confident in its telling of the coming of Christianity. Books like Logan's are needed more than ever before."

- Miri Rubin, TLS

In this fascinating survey, F. Donald Logan introduces the reader to the Christian church, from the conversion of the Celtic and Germanic peoples to the discovery of the New World. He reveals how the church unified the people of Western Europe as they worshipped with the same ceremonies and used Latin as the language of civilized communication. From remote, rural parish to magnificent urban cathedral, A History of the Church in the Middle Ages explores the role of the church as a central element in determining a thousand years of history.

This new edition brings the book right up to date with recent scholarship, and includes an expanded introduction exploring the interaction of other faiths - particularly Judaism and Islam - with the Christian church.

Originally published in 1970, this book represents a unique study of beliefs and ritual practices in a pagan religion, and of the processes by which a transformation to Christianity took place. Christianity came to the major islands of Polynesia nearly two centuries ago, and within a couple of generations, the traditional pagan religion had disappeared. Only a few remote islands such as Tikopia preserved their ancient cults. Over eighty years ago, the author first observed and took part in these pagan rites, and on later visits he studied the change from paganism to Christian faith. Unique in its rich documentation, this book presents a systematic account of the traditional beliefs in gods and spirits and of the way in which these were fused with the social and political structure. The causes and dramatic results of the conversion to Christianity are then described, ending with an examination of the religious situation at the time of the book's original publication. The book is both a contribution to anthropology and a case study in religious history. It completes the major series of studies of Tikopia society for which the author is famous. It gives the first full account of a Polynesian religious system in a state of change.

This volume examines the Melkite church from the Arab invasion of Syria in 634 until 969. The Melkite Patriarchates were established in Antioch, Jerusalem and Alexandria and, following the Arab campaigns in Syria and Egypt, they all came under the new Muslim state. Over the next decades the Melkite church underwent a process of gradual marginalization, moving from the privileged position of the state confession to becoming one of the religious minorities of the Caliphate. This transition took place in the context of theological and political interactions with the Byzantine Empire, the Patriarchate of Constantinople, the Papacy and, over time, with the reborn Roman Empire in the West. Exploring the various processes within the Melkite church this volume also examines Caliphate-Byzantine interactions, the cultural and religious influences of Constantinople, the synthesis of Greek, Arab and Syriac elements, the process of Arabization of communities, and Melkite relations with distant Rome.

This book explores the political dimension of Pope Francis' theology from a variety of perspectives and makes a unique contribution to the ongoing historiography of his pontificate. It defines the concept of political theology when applied to Pope Francis' discourse and reflects on the portrayal of him as the voice of Latin America, a great reformer and a revolutionary. The chapters offer a thorough investigation of core texts and key moments in Pope Francis' papacy (2013-), focusing in particular on their relation to canon theory, liberation theology, the rise of populism, and gender issues. As well as documenting some of the continuities between the ideas of Pope Francis and his predecessor Benedict XVI, the author asks what the Argentinian pontiff has brought from Latin America and considers the Latin American dimension to what has become known as the 'Francis effect'. Overall, the book demonstrates how the Pope's words and actions constitute a powerful political theology disseminated from a unique religious and institutional position. It will be of interest to scholars of theology, religion, and politics, particularly those with a focus on world Catholicism, political theology, and church history.

Mini-set C:Philosophy & Religion re-issues 4 volumes originally published between 1924 and 1973 and examines the ancient religions of Persia as well as Christianity in Persia. For institutional purchases for e-book sets please contact [email protected] (customers in the UK, Europe and Rest of World)

The KJV Compact Reference Bible offers the literary beauty of the King James Version in a hand-sized volume that features Thomas Nelson’s KJV Comfort Print, an exclusive font that was designed to be the easiest to read at any size. This edition is perfect for those who like to carry their Bibles with them throughout the day. With book introductions, extensive cross-references, a beautiful layout, and the words of Christ in red, this Bible packs a lot into a small package. Presentation page allows you to personalize this special gift by recording a memory or note Bible book introductions provide an overview and context for each book Words of Christ in red quickly identify Jesus’ teachings and statements End-of-column cross-references help you find related passages quickly and easily Miracles and parables of Jesus calls out important events during Jesus’ earthly ministry Bible reading plan guiding you through the entire Bible in a year Concordance for finding a word’s occurrences throughout the Bible Full-color maps show the layout of Israel and other biblical locations for better context Satin ribbon marker make it easy to navigate and keep track of where you were reading Portable personal-size format makes this Bible a perfect travel companion wherever you go Durable and flexible Smyth-sewn binding allows the Bible to lay flat wherever you are reading Clear and readable 7-point KJV Comfort Print In 1611 the King James Bible was published and authorized by the monarch of England and Scotland. Today, more than 400 years since its initial publication, the KJV is considered one of the most influential and beautiful works of the English language and continues to be the favorite translation for millions of Christians worldwide.

Our current image of the Christian population of al-Andalus after AD711 reflects the way history has been written. The Christians almost disappeared from the historical record as the historians of the conquering Muslims concentrated on the glories of the Ummayads.This book reconsiders, through their own words, the fate of the Christians of al-Andalus. The texts discusses two chronicles in Latin on the fate of Hispania, the problematic accounts of Christian martyrs in Cordoba, a Muslim historian's account of how his Christian ancestors survived the conquest and other texts reflecting the acculturation of Christians into Islamic society.

Fifty Key Thinkers on Religion is an accessible guide to the most important and widely studied theorists on religion of the last 300 years. Arranged chronologically, the book explores the lives, works and ideas of key writers across a truly interdisciplinary range, from sociologists to psychologists.

Thinkers covered include:

• Friedrich Nietzsche
• James Frazer
• Sigmund Freud
• Emile Durkheim
• Ludwig Wittgenstein
• Mary Douglas
• Talal Asad
• S ren Kierkegaard

Providing an indispensable one volume map of our understanding of religion in the west, the book is fully cross-referenced throughout and provides authoritative guides to important primary and secondary texts for students wishing to take their studies further.

Far from being ineffectual onlookers, through the YMCA in particular the churches provided a heroic service to the British soldier in the First World War. The record of the British churches in the First World War is still mired in caricature and controversy. While most of the historiography on the British churches and the British soldier of the First World War centres on army chaplains, the critical work of civilian religious welfare organisations has been largely ignored. This volume represents an account of the work of the Young Men's Christian Association with the British army in France, Belgium and occupied Germany from 1915-1919. Barclay Baron, the author of these memoirs and letters, was a committed Anglican layman who was dedicated to the cause of Christian social work throughout his adult life. Before 1914 he played a prominent role in the development of the Oxford Bermondsey Mission and, after the war and his work for the YMCA, he became a major figure in the Toc H movement. The story that Baron tells through his memoirs and letters is as salutary asit is unfamiliar; far from being ineffectual onlookers, through the YMCA in particular the churches provided a ubiquitous, unstinting and even heroic service to the British soldier in the months and years of the First World War.

In The Darkening Age, Catherine Nixey tells the little-known - and deeply shocking - story of how a militant religion deliberately tried to extinguish the teachings of the Classical world, ushering in unquestioning adherence to the 'one true faith'.

The Roman Empire had been generous in embracing and absorbing new creeds. But with the coming of Christianity, everything changed. This new faith, despite preaching peace, was violent, ruthless and intolerant. And once it became the religion of empire, its zealous adherents set about the destruction of the old gods. Their altars were upturned, their temples demolished and their statues hacked to pieces. Books, including great works of philosophy and science, were consigned to the pyre. It was an annihilation.

2015 Book Award for Excellence in Missiology, American Society of Missiology Named an Outstanding Mission Book of 2015, International Bulletin of Mission Research In 1900 many assumed the twentieth century would be a Christian century because Western "Christian empires" ruled most of the world. What happened instead is that Christianity in the West declined dramatically, the empires collapsed, and Christianity's center moved to Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Pacific. How did this happen so quickly? Respected scholar and teacher Scott Sunquist surveys the most recent century of Christian history, highlighting epochal changes in global Christianity. He also suggests lessons we can learn from this remarkable global Christian reversal. Ideal for an introduction to Christianity or a church history course, this book includes a foreword by Mark Noll.

Through a multidisciplinary collection of case studies, this book explores the effects of the digital age on medieval and early modern studies. Divided into two parts, the book examines how people, medieval and modern, engage with medieval media and technology through an exploration of the theory underpinning audience interactions with historical materials in the past and the real-world engagement of a twenty-first century audience with medieval and early modern studies through the multimodal lens of a vast digital landscape. Each case study reveals the diversity of medieval media and technology and challenges readers to consider new types of literacy competencies as scholarly, rigorous methods of engaging in pre-modern investigations of materiality. Essays in the first section engage in the examination of medieval media, mediation, and technology from a theoretical framework, while the second section explores how digitization, smart-technologies, digital mapping, and the internet have shaped medieval and early modern studies today. The book will be of interest to students in undergraduate or graduate intermediate or advanced courses as well as scholars, in medieval studies, art history, architectural history, medieval history, literary history, and religious history.

An affectionate but meticulously researched history of one of the most beautiful and best-loved corners of England - Crosthwaite Parish, nestling deep within the mountains and valleys of the Lake District. 'A unique contribution to English history' Hunter Davies 'A delightful, refreshingly written book, attentive to social detail and telling the only story that matters - history' Simon Jenkins 'A wonderful book' Margaret Drabble 'A completely fresh perspective on the Lakes and Lake Poets... I hugely enjoyed it' Andrew Marr Bounded by the peaks of Scafell, Skiddaw and Helvellyn, and embracing such well-known landmarks as Borrowdale, Derwentwater and Keswick, it lies within the heart of the Lake Poets' landscape and its rugged terrain excites passion in all those who know it. The Parish also boasts a remarkable history. Its 90 square miles were governed, from medieval times, by eighteen annually chosen 'customary tenants'; ancestors of the people who later prompted Wordsworth's portrayal of the area as 'a perfect Republic of Shepherds and agriculturalists'. His fellow poet Robert Southey lived within the Parish for forty years, was an active parishioner and rests in St Kentigern's churchyard. Here he is given his rightful position as a Lake Poet. In the nineteenth century, the Victorian state killed off the old parish system, sweeping away the egalitarian rule of the Eighteen Men. But a degree of redemption was at hand. Canon Rawnsley, vicar of Crosthwaite from 1883, pledged to defend the Lake District for future generations. So the Parish was at the heart of the creation of the National Trust and blazed a trail for a wider movement to preserve the English landscape. Writing with a historian's rigour and bearing aloft the banner of the Lake District statesmen, Philippa Harrison has produced a magisterial and fascinating record of a parish with a unique social, cultural and aesthetic resonance in English history.

This is the first ever full-scale biography of John Cennick, who was an outstandingly successful eighteenth-century preacher. He was the first layman to be used as a Methodist preacher by John Wesley and was a significant contributor to the success of Methodism in the Bristol area, especially Kingswood. Charles Wesley encouraged him to also become a hymnwriter, editing his early hymns. Cennick then became the right-hand man of the Calvinist Methodist, George Whitefield, becoming not only 'the apostle of Wiltshire' but the main leader of the work of that branch of Methodism in London and a close friend of the Welsh evangelist Howell Harris. Upset by the dissensions within Methodism, he became first a member and then an ordained deacon within the Moravian Church and their chief evangelist - working across parts of England and Wales, but mainly in northern Ireland, where he established fifteen chapels, over forty religious societies and over two hundred preaching places. It is estimated that between 1739 and his early death at the age of just 35 in 1755 he preached on between eight and nine thousand occasions, sometimes in the face of appalling mob violence.His story - and why John Wesley sought to erase his contribution - provides a real insight into the religious revival initiated by the Methodists and Moravians.

Byzantinists entered the study of emotion with Henry Maguire's ground-breaking article on sorrow, published in 1977. Since then, classicists and western medievalists have developed new ways of understanding how emotional communities work and where the ancients' concepts of emotion differ from our own, and Byzantinists have begun to consider emotions other than sorrow. It is time to look at what is distinctive about Byzantine emotion. This volume is the first to look at the constellation of Byzantine emotions. Originating at an international colloquium at Dumbarton Oaks, these papers address issues such as power, gender, rhetoric, or asceticism in Byzantine society through the lens of a single emotion or cluster of emotions. Contributors focus not only on the construction of emotions with respect to perception and cognition but also explore how emotions were communicated and exchanged across broad (multi)linguistic, political and social boundaries. Priorities are twofold: to arrive at an understanding of what the Byzantines thought of as emotions and to comprehend how theory shaped their appraisal of reality. Managing Emotion in Byzantium will appeal to researchers and students alike interested in Byzantine perceptions of emotion, Byzantine Culture, and medieval perceptions of emotion.

In The People's Zion, Joel Cabrita tells the transatlantic story of Southern Africa's largest popular religious movement, Zionism. It began in Zion City, a utopian community established in 1900 just north of Chicago. The Zionist church, which promoted faith healing, drew tens of thousands of marginalized Americans from across racial and class divides. It also sent missionaries abroad, particularly to Southern Africa, where its uplifting spiritualism and pan-racialism resonated with urban working-class whites and blacks. Circulated throughout Southern Africa by Zion City's missionaries and literature, Zionism thrived among white and black workers drawn to Johannesburg by the discovery of gold. As in Chicago, these early devotees of faith healing hoped for a color-blind society in which they could acquire equal status and purpose amid demoralizing social and economic circumstances. Defying segregation and later apartheid, black and white Zionists formed a uniquely cosmopolitan community that played a key role in remaking the racial politics of modern Southern Africa. Connecting cities, regions, and societies usually considered in isolation, Cabrita shows how Zionists on either side of the Atlantic used the democratic resources of evangelical Christianity to stake out a place of belonging within rapidly-changing societies. In doing so, they laid claim to nothing less than the Kingdom of God. Today, the number of American Zionists is small, but thousands of independent Zionist churches counting millions of members still dot the Southern African landscape.

'Timely and important' THE TIMES 'Considered and nuanced ... A must-read' The Rt Hon. Sajid Javid MP 'Compelling and moving' Tom Holland, author of Dominion __________________ Islam is the fastest-growing faith community in Britain. Domes and minarets are redefining the skylines of towns and cities as mosques become an increasingly prominent feature. Yet while Britain has prided itself on being a global home of cosmopolitanism and modern civilisation, its deep-rooted relationship with Islam - unique in history - is complex, threatened by rising hostility and hatred, intolerance and ignorance. There is much media debate about embracing diversity in our communities, but what does integration look like on the ground, in places like Dewsbury, Glasgow, Belfast and London? How are Muslims, young and old, reconciling progressive values - of gender equality, individualism, the rule of law and free speech - with literalist interpretations of their faith? And how is this tension, away from the public gaze, unfolding inside mosques today? Ed Husain takes his search for answers into the heart of Britain's Muslim communities. Travelling the length and breadth of the country, Husain joins men and women in their prayers, conversations, meals, plans, pains, joys, triumphs and adversities. He tells their stories here in an open and honest account that brings the daily reality of British Muslim life sharply into focus - a struggle of identity and belonging, caught between tradition and modernity, East and West, revelation and reason.

America has passed a tipping point. A majority of Americans now say that truth is up to the individual and that ultimate truth cannot be known. Learning to "speak our own truths" was supposed to lead to dignity and harmony. Instead, our society struggles with unprecedented levels of social conflict, purposelessness, and loss of identity. And still, the "Truth versus truths" tension continues to grow. Is all hope lost? In this inspiring book, Dr. Jeff Myers tells the fascinating stories of Jesus-followers who lived for Truth and transformed their world in times of crisis. These inspiring figures led the way in human dignity, science, art, medicine, education, politics, justice, and even the idea of meaningful work. No matter what is going on around us, the truth is worth fighting for. If you long for a positive, restorative role in our own chaotic era, it's time to discover how truth changes everything.

The essays in this volume deal with three fundamental problems in Islamic civilization; the growth among Muslims of a consciousness of belonging to a culture; the unity of Muslim civilization as expressed in literature, political thought, attitude to science and urban structure; and the interaction of Islam with other civilizations.

In his recent book How Jesus Became God: The Exaltation of a Jewish Preacher From Galilee historian Bart Ehrman explores a claim that resides at the heart of the Christian faith--- that Jesus of Nazareth was, and is, God. According to Ehrman, though, this is not what the earliest disciples believed, nor what Jesus claimed about himself. The first response book to this latest challenge to Christianity from Ehrman, How God Became Jesus features the work of five internationally recognized biblical scholars. While subjecting his claims to critical scrutiny, they offer a better, historically informed account of why the Galilean preacher from Nazareth came to be hailed as the Lord Jesus Christ. Namely, they contend, the exalted place of Jesus in belief and worship is clearly evident in the earliest Christian sources, shortly following his death, and was not simply the invention of the church centuries later."

In Jesus and John Wayne, a seventy-five-year history of American evangelicalism, Kristin Kobes Du Mez demolishes the myth that white evangelicals "held their noses" in voting for Donald Trump. Revealing the role of popular culture in evangelicalism, Du Mez shows how evangelicals have worked for decades to replace the Jesus of the Gospels with an idol of rugged masculinity and Christian nationalism in the mould of Ronald Reagan, Mel Gibson and above all, John Wayne. As Du Mez observes, the beliefs at the heart of white evangelicalism today preceded Trump and will outlast him.

This book is an exploration of the ideals and values of the ascetic and monastic life, as expressed through clothes. Clothes are often seen as an extension of us as humans, a determinant of who we are and how we experience and interact with the world. In this way, they can play a significant role in the embodied and material aspects of religious practice. The focus of this book is on clothing and garments among ancient monastics and ascetics in Egypt, but with a broader outlook to the general meaning and function of clothes in religion. The garments of the Egyptian ascetics and monastics are important because they belong to a period of transition in the history of Christianity and very much represent this way of living. This study combines a cognitive perspective on clothes with an attempt to grasp the embodied experiences of being clothed, as well as viewing clothes as potential actors. Using sources such as travelogues, biographies, letters, contracts, images, and garments from monastic burials, the role of clothes is brought into conversation with material religion more generally. This unique study builds links between ancient and contemporary uses of religious clothing. It will, therefore, be of interest to any scholar of religious studies, religious history, religion in antiquity, and material religion.

We don’t talk a lot about sin these days. But maybe we should. The Puritans sure did—because they understood sin’s deceptive power and wanted to root it out of their lives. Shouldn’t we want the same?

Though many books have been written on the “doctrine of sin,” few are as practical and applicable as this one. In Knowing Sin, Mark Jones puts his expertise in the Puritans to work by distilling the vast wisdom of our Christian forebears into a single volume that summarizes their thought on this vital subject. The result isn’t a theological tome to sit on your shelf and gather dust, but a surprisingly relevant book to keep by your bedside and refer to again and again.

You’ll come to understand topics like:

• Sin’s Origin
• Sin’s Grief
• Sin’s Thoughts
• Sin’s Temptations
• Sin’s Misery
• Sin’s Secrecy
• and of course . . . Sin’s Defeat!

None of us is free from the struggle with sin. The question isn’t whether we’re sinful, it’s what we’re doing about it. Thanks be to God, there is a path to overcoming sin. And the first step on that path to victory is knowing what we’re up against. Start Knowing Sin today!

This book offers a new perspective on the often-overlooked lives of lay women in the English Roman Catholic Church. It explores how over a century ago in England some exceptional Catholic lay women – Margaret Fletcher, Maude Petre, Radclyffe Hall, and Mabel Batten - negotiated non-traditional family lives and were actively practicing their faith, while not adhering to perceived structures of femininity, power, and sexuality. Focusing on c. 1880-1930, a time of dynamism and change in both England and the Church, these remarkable women represent a rethinking of what it meant to be a lay women in the English Roman Catholic Church. Their pious transgressions demonstrate the multiplicity of ways lay women powerfully asserted aspects of their faith while contravening boundaries traditionally assumed for them in an ostensibly patriarchal religion. In fact, the Church could be a place for expressions of unconventional religiosity and reinterpretations of womanhood and domesticity. Connecting together the lives of these women for the first time, this work fills a lacuna in the scholarship of modern Catholic and gender history. Drawing from private collections and numerous archives, it illustrates the surprising range of modes of Lived Catholicism and devotion to faith. Students and scholars of Catholicism, gender, and LGBTQIA+ studies will find significant merit in a book that assigns lay women a more prominent role in the English Catholic Church and offers examples of the flexibility of Roman Catholicism.