The lives of Christian churches are shaped by doctrinal theology. That is, they are shaped by practices in which ideas about God and God's ways with the world are developed, discussed and deployed. This book explores those practices, and asks why they matter for communities seeking to follow Jesus. Taking the example of the Church of England, this book highlights the embodied, affective and located reality of all doctrinal practices - and the biases and exclusions that mar them. It argues that doctrinal theology can in principle help the church know God better, even though doctrinal theologians do not know God better than their fellow believers. It claims that it can help the church to hear in Scripture challenges to its life, including to its doctrinal theology. It suggests that doctrinal disagreement is inevitable, but that a better quality of doctrinal disagreement is possible. And, finally, it argues that, by encouraging attention to voices that have previously been ignored, doctrinal theology can foster the ongoing discovery of God's surprising work.

A radical new interpretation of the political and intellectual history of Puritan Massachusetts, The Making of an American Thinking Class envisions the Bay colony as a seventeenth century one-party state, where congregations served as ideological 'cells' and authority was restricted to an educated elite of ministers and magistrates. From there Staloff offers a broadened conception of the interstices of political, social, and intellectual authority in Puritan Massachusetts and beyond, arguing that ideologies, as well as ideological politics, are produced by self-conscious, and often class-conscious, thinkers.

Does Martin Luther have anything to say to us today? Nearly five hundred years after the beginning of the Reformation, Hans-Martin Barth explores that question in this comprehensive and critical evaluation of Luthers theology. Rich in its extent and in its many facets, Barths didactically well-planned work begins with clarifications about obsolete and outdated images of Luther that could obstruct access to the Reformer. The second part covers the whole of Martin Luther's theology. Having divided Luther's theology into twelve subsections, Barth ends each one of these with an honest and frank assessment of what today can be salvaged and what's got to go. In the final section he gives his summation: an honestly critical appropriation of Luthers theology can still be existentially inspiring and globally relevant for the twenty-first century.

THE INSTANTLY ICONIC NO. 1 BESTSELLER 'Devotees of Midsomer Murders and Agatha Christie's Miss Marple stories will feel most at home here' Guardian 'I've been waiting for a novel with vicars, rude old ladies, murder and sausage dogs... et voila!' Dawn French 'Cosy crime with a cutting edge' Telegraph 'Whodunnit fans can give praise and rejoice' Ian Rankin 'Charming and funny' Observer Even better than I knew it would be' India Knight 'Quintessentially English' Sunday Express 'An absolute joy' Adam Kay ''Wry, tongue-in cheek and whimsical' Daily Mail 'Glorious' Robert Webb 'Beautifully written, charming, funny, intelligent and mordant too' Sunday Times 'Pitch perfect' Philip Pullman 'A cunning whodunnit' Daily Express Canon Daniel Clement is Rector of Champton, where he lives alongside his widowed mother - opinionated, fearless, ever-so-slightly annoying Audrey - and his two dachshunds, Cosmo and Hilda. When Daniel announces a plan to install a lavatory in the church, the parish is suddenly (and unexpectedly) divided: as lines are drawn, long-buried secrets come dangerously close to destroying the apparent calm of the village. And then Anthony Bowness - cousin to Bernard de Floures, patron of Champton - is found dead at the back of the church. As the police moves in and the bodies start piling up, Daniel is the only one who can try and keep his community together... and catch a killer.

This is an introduction to the thought of one of the most fascinating theologians and at the same time most controversial church leaders of our time. In contemporary theology, the work of Rowan Williams is virtually without parallel for its extraordinary diversity and complexity. His writings span the genres of poetry, history, literary criticism, spirituality, theology, ethics, and philosophy - yet this diverse body of work is apparently not unified by any overarching system or agenda. Indeed, one of the hallmarks of Williams' thought is a vigorous refusal of completeness and systematic closure. Nevertheless, this book will argue that the complex body of Williams' work is held together by a specific theological construal both of Christian language and of the church's founding event.

This volume describes many of the greatest and most engaging Canons in the history of the Church of England. With a wealth of amusing detail and anecdote, as well as a skilful marshalling of the essential facts, he brings the Canons alive, and considers their significance in the social and ecclesiastical history of their times. Tracing the course of the dramatic change in the fortunes of the English cathedrals and in turn the lives of the most interesting and significant Canons who were in office, Trevor Beeson provides readers with an interesting and undemanding introduction to two centuries of Church history with these portraits of quite remarkable men. Including characters from St Paul's Cathedral, Westminster, Canterbury, York, Ely, Chester, Bristol, Manchester, Winchester and Oxford there are stories to delight readers from around the UK. About the Author Trevor Beeson was Canon of Westminster Abbey before becoming Dean of Winchester where he raised GBP7 million to restore the cathedral fabric and open a visitor centre. His previous books have all been bestsellers on the SCM list and have been serialised in the national press.

C.S. Lewis, himself a layperson in the Church of England, has exercised an unprecedentedly wide influence on the faithful of Anglican, Roman Catholic, Evangelical and other churches, all of whom tend naturally to claim him as one of their own. One of the reasons for this diverse appropriation is the elusiveness of the church in the sense both of his own denomination and of the wider subject of ecclesiology in Lewis writings. The essays contained in this volume critically examine the place, character and role of the Church in Lewis life. The result is a detailed and scintillating picture of the interactions of one of the most distinctive voices in twentieth-century theology with the contemporaneous development of the Church of England, with key concepts in ecclesiology, and with interdenominational matters.

Since the 1830s, Holiness and Pentecostal movements have had a significant influence on many Christian churches, and they have been a central force in producing what is known today as World Christianity. This book demonstrates the advantages of analyzing them in relation to one another. The Salvation Army, the Church of the Nazarene, the Wesleyan Church, and the Free Methodist Church identify strongly with the Holiness Movement. The Assemblies of God and the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World identify just as strongly with the Pentecostal Movement. Complicating matters, denominations such as the Church of God (Cleveland), the International Holiness Pentecostal Church, and the Church of God in Christ have harmonized Holiness and Pentecostalism. This book, the first in the new series Studies in the Holiness and Pentecostal Movements, examines these complex relationships in a multidisciplinary fashion. Building on previous scholarship, the contributors provide new ways of understanding the relationships, influences, and circulation of ideas among these movements in the United States, the United Kingdom, India, and Southeast and East Asia. In addition to the editors, the contributors are Kimberly Ervin Alexander, Insik Choi, Robert A. Danielson, Chris E. W. Green, Henry H. Knight III, Frank D. Macchia, Luther Oconer, Cheryl J. Sanders, and Daniel Woods.

What's wrong with Calvinism? Since the Reformation, Calvinism has dominated much of evangelical thought. It has been so well established that many Christians simply assume it to be the truest expression of Christian doctrine. But Calvinism has some serious biblical and theological weaknesses that unsettle laypeople, pastors and scholars alike. God is sovereign. All evangelical Christians--whether Arminians or Calvinists--have no doubt about this fundamental truth. But how does God express his sovereignty? Is God a master puppeteer, pulling our strings? Or has he graciously given his children freedom to respond to his love? In this eminently readable book, Jerry L. Walls and Joseph R. Dongell explore the flaws of Calvinist theology.Why I Am Not a Calvinist is a must-read for all who struggle with the limitations of this dominant perspective within evangelical theology.