This is the first republication of Volume 3 of a rare three volume set of books favoring polygamy. In 1781, when this book was first published, the Reverend Martin Madan was the most famous clergyman in all the world. His Chapel at the Lock Hospital was renowned for its Sunday night concerts and his hymnal was full of majestic songs of worship. He was the most prolific living composer of sacred music and had long been the standard bearer for the Evangelicals. Madan's pen had always been free of mercenary interests since he'd been blessed with a great inheritance and yet this rich man had spent the last thirty-five years of his life ministering to the least beloved of society, the disease ridden prostitutes of the Lock Hospital. The front cover features a portrait of Lock Hospital as it appeared in the 18th century. It was built with funds raised by Martin Madan. Madan was godfather to the famed hymn writer, Charles Wesley and was himself the most prolific hymn composer of his day. This is Volume 3 - In Print Again for the First Time in over 228 years.

In The Destiny of Man, Nikolai Berdyaev sketches the plan of a new ethics. This new ethics will be knowledge not only of good and evil, but also of the tragedy which is constantly present in moral experience and complicates all of man's moral judgments. It will emphasize the crucial importance of the personality and of human freedom. The new ethics will interpret moral life as a creative activity; it will be an ethics of free creativeness, an ethics that combines freedom, compassion, and creativeness.

Mark Ellingsen dares you to go ahead and sin bravely In this refreshing and unique book, he challenges the religious legalism pervasive throughout American evangelicalism today and encourages a new understanding of what it means to be both a Christian and a human being. Equipped with the joyful, rebellious vision of Martin Luther, father of the Protestant reformation, and the latest in neuroscientific research, Ellingsen offers a new approach for healthy living - one opposed to the duty-oriented, selfish and stifling conception of faith that has gained such a strong foothold in contemporary American culture. It is an approach that fully embraces the active role that God's grace plays in each person's life and the fun and freedom one gains from it.

Beginning with the first theological analysis of Rick Warren's brand of Christianity, this book exposes the burdens and narcissism that purpose-driven and duty-bound living encourages, and includes the purveyors of the Prosperity Gospel, taught by such influential preachers like Joel Osteen, in his critique. Ellingsen writes that brave sinners, aware of God's grace in their lives, instead say "no" to narcissism and "yes" to healthy risk-taking that gets beyond selfish desires to the desire to help one another. When people sin bravely, acknowledging that everything done is done in sin with God's saving grace acting upon them, people can learn to recognize God. This awareness leads to freedom and joy, since the pressure is now removed to do and be good. In addition, total dependence on God entails a self-forgetfulness that leads to happiness. The more boldly someone acknowledges their sin, in failing to take credit for the good they have done, the more focused on God the individual becomes. Correspondingly, this self-forgetful lifestyle is a promising counter-cultural alternative to the cultural narcissism, which so dominate in many segments of contemporary American society. This book demonstrates both how and why brave sinning leads to joy, and in so doing offers readers practical advice on living this way.

Ellingsen also cites recent neurobiological findings showing that when people forget themselves in order to focus on bigger projects, the pleasure centers of the brain are stimulated and people become happier and more content. It is this joyous risk-taking that he suggests brings people closer together, closer to God, and closer to a better understanding of themselves. Sin Bravely dares to be that joyful alternative to the purpose driven life.

This book addresses a current, frontline issue in the perennial exchange between science and religion. Jersild surveys the contemporary scene in genetic research and the visionary goals of a number of scientists concerning the human future. He focuses on human identity - "Who Are We?" - as the critical question, first addressing our biological origins in light of evolution and presenting a holistic understanding of human nature. He then turns to the world of biotechnology and the tension between human limitations and human potential in light of prospective genetic enhancements. The implications of genetic engineering, the impact of pharmacology, and the human desire for perfection and immortality all enter into a volatile mix of ideas and aspirations concerning the human future. Jersild brings a Christian perspective to these developments in spelling out a responsible stance.

Description: Evangelicals in nineteenth-century America had a headquarters at Princeton. Charles Hodge never expected that a former student of Princeton and his own replacement during his hiatus in Europe, John W. Nevin, would lead the German Reformed Church's seminary in a new, and in his mind, destructive direction. The two, along with their institutions, would clash over philosophy and religion, producing some of the best historical theology ever written in the United States. The clash was broad, influencing everything from hermeneutics to liturgy, but at its core was the philosophical antagonism of Princeton's Scottish common-sense perspective and the German speculative method employed by Mercersburg. Both Princeton and Mercersburg were the cautious and critical beneficiaries of a century of European Protestant science, philosophy, and theology, and they were intent on adapting that legacy to the American religious context. For Princeton, much of the new European thought was suspect. In contrast, Mercersburg embraced a great deal of what the Continent offered. Princeton followed a conservative path, never straying far from the foundation established by Locke. They enshrined an evangelical perspective that would become a bedrock for conservative Protestants to this day. In contrast, Nevin and the Mercersburg school were swayed by the advances in theological science made by Germany's mediating school of theology. They embraced a churchy idealism called ""evangelical catholicism"" and emphatically warned that the direction of Princeton and with it Protestant American religion and politics, would grow increasingly subjective, thus divided and absorbed with individual salvation. They cautioned against the spirit of the growing evangelical bias toward personal religion as it led to sectarian disunity and they warned evangelicals not to confuse numerical success with spiritual success. In contrast, Princeton was alarmed at the direction of European philosophy and theology and they resisted Mercersburg with what today continues to be the fundamental teachings of evangelical theology. Princeton's appeal was in its common-sense philosophical moorings, which drew rapidly industrializing America into its arms. Mercersburg countered with a philosophically defended, churchly idealism based on a speculative philosophy that effectively critiqued what many to this day find divisive and dangerous about America's current Religious Right. Endorsements: ""German idealism, as set forth by such as Hegel, is reflected in a speculative theology, expressed as a ""mediating"" theology. In this, a more reconciliatory view of the relationship between God and His Creation is proposed in opposition to the traditional orthodox view that clearly separates the two. In America, traditional theologians, more influenced by British Empiricism, viewed such ""mediation"" as a direct violation of simple ""common sense."" This traditional ""common sense"" religion, reaching back to John Witherspoon, being more evangelical than speculative in nature, has both then and now, dominated theological studies. However, just prior to the Civil War, Princeton University, as the academic center of this tradition, found its hegemony challenged by a small group of speculative ""mediation"" theologians from the Mercersberg Academy, a small school in central Pennsylvania. It was not long before Princeton took critical notice of their innovative teachings, and something on the order of a minor heresy trial ensued, with all of its irritated arguments and condemnations. We are indebted to Linden DeBie who has admirably presented, in a clear, concise, and scholarly manner, not only the philosophical nature and origin of this neglected debate, but has allowed us to appreciate its enduring theological significance."" --Lawrence S. Stepelevich, PhD Professor Emeritus, Philosophy, Villanova University President (1994-1996), The Hegel Society of America Editor (1977-1996), The Owl of

Homosexuality continues to be a much debated subject in church and society. Many people use the Bible to form their opinions on gay marriage, gays in the church, etc. In Out of Order, Dr. Wold thoroughly examines the biblical references to homosexuality while at the same time explaining the nature of same-sex relations in the ancient Near East. The author states: "What is needed in the current debate regarding the Bible and homosexuality is a spirit of reconciliation rather than condemnation or confrontation on the part of all who address this issue."

Contending that the rejection of God and spirituality is the root cause of our deepest social ills, White offers a personal vision for the future from the perspective of one who has tasted both the pleasures and perils of superstar celebrity status. 8-page photo insert.