This is a comprehensive handbook on Methodist history, theology and practice. Part of a series projected by T&T Clark/Continuum, this volume is a handbook on Methodism containing an introduction, dictionary of key terms, and concentrates on key themes, methodology, and research problems for those interested in studying the origins and development of the history and theology of world Methodism. The literature describing the history and development of Methodism has been growing as scholars and general readers have become aware of its importance as a world church with approximately 40,000,000 members in 300 Methodist denominations in 140 nations. The tercentenary celebrations of the births of its founders, John and Charles Wesley, in 2003 and 2007 provided an additional focus on the evolution of the movement which became a church. The book will research questions, problems, and resources for further study.

Gift and Promise shows that the theology of the Augsburg Confession is as much a gift to the world today as it Was when first presented in 1530. Building on a book started by Ed Schroeder (three chapters are presented in the first part), nine of his students present the theology of the Augsburg Confession in language that makes it accessible to those without a scholarly background, including pastors, students, and lay people interested in Lutheran history and theology. Gift and Promise establishes the theological "hub" of the Augsburg Confession- what the Confession itself calls the "central teaching of the Christian faith" -in the doctrine of justification by faith alone. That hub is traced to its source in Luther's theology of the cross. Each chapter presents how that central hub is articulated in the articles of faith that comprise the Ausgburg Confession. Lucid, powerful, and insightful, the expositions in this volume are written by expert theologians, historians, and scholars who aim to present the crucial and practical message of the Christian life in the Augsburg Confession for all.

This book features a new perspective on a French religious diaspora. In ""From a Far Country"", Catharine Randall examines Huguenots and their less-known cousins the Camisards, offering a fresh perspective on the important role these French Protestants played in settling the New World. The Camisard religion was marked by more ecstatic expression than that of the Huguenots, not unlike differences between Pentecostals and Protestants. Both groups were persecuted and emigrated in large numbers, becoming participants in the broad circulation of ideas that characterized the seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Atlantic world. Randall vividly portrays this French Protestant diaspora through the lives of three figures: Gabriel Bernon, who led a Huguenot exodus to Massachusetts and moved among the commercial elite; Ezechiel Carre, a Camisard who influenced Cotton Mather's theology; and Elie Neau, a Camisard-influenced writer and escaped galley slave who established North America's first school for blacks. Like other French Protestants, these men were adaptable in their religious views, a quality Randall points out as quintessentially American. In anthropological terms they acted as code shifters who manipulated multiple cultures. While this malleability ensured that French Protestant culture would not survive in externally recognizable terms in the Americas, Randall shows that the culture's impact was nonetheless considerable.

Missiologists and mission-oriented folks have been invited to reflect on topics that touch on the transforming power of God's Spirit. This series of essays has been produced as one way of celebrating the fascinating, missional career of Dr. Eugene Bunkowske, long-time missionary to Africa, long-time linguist and Bible translator, long-time seminary professor, life-long sharer of the Good News of Jesus the Christ. This volume offers plenty of "meat" to engage the serious student of missions - but also a number of "gems" that will enlighten any Christian with a commitment to outreach or an interest in the church's mission. Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod readers will be especially interested in some of the pieces, though any student of Sacred Scripture will benefit from many of the essays.

Mormonism and the Emotions: An Analysis of LDS Scriptural Texts is an introductory Latterday Saint (LDS) theology of emotion that is both canonically based and scientifically informed. It highlights three widely accepted characteristics of emotion that emerge from scientific perspectives-namely, the necessity of cognition for its emergence, the personal responsibility attached to its manifestations, and its instrumentality in facilitating various processes of human development and experience. In analyzing the basic theological structure of Mormonism and its unique canonical texts the objective is to determine the extent to which LDS theology is compatible with this three-fold definition of emotion. At this basic level of explanation, the conclusion is that science and Mormon theology undoubtedly share a common perspective. The textual investigation focuses on unique Mormon scriptures and on their descriptions of six common emotions: hope, fear, joy, sorrow, love, and hate. For each of these emotional phenomena the extensive report of textual references consistently confirms an implied presence of the outlined three-fold model of emotion. Thus, the evidence points to the presence of an underlying folk model of emotion in the text that broadly matches scientific definitions. Additionally, the theological examination is enlarged with a particular focus on the Mormon theology of atonement, which is shown to play a significant role in LDS understandings of emotions. A broad exploration of such areas as epistemology, cosmology, soteriology, and the theological anthropology of Mormonism further contextualizes the analysis and roots it in the LDS theological worldview.

This title provides an upper-level introduction to the doctrine of justification which triggered the Reformation and is still high up on the agenda in Ecumenical dialogue. The core of the book is an historical survey of the doctrine of justification as it has developed within the Western church - a somewhat simplified version of McGrath's Justitia Dei, but with a more outspoken assessment of the various moves that are taken at various stages in the discussion. Attention will is paid to the context or prevailing world view in which such a doctrine is deemed significant. Although the focus is on a number of principal theologians there are some reference to their peers or followers. Only at the end the Pauline texts are examined. The conclusion considers what part a doctrine of justification can have within a modern worldview in which the concept of divine judgement has generally been marginalised. Continuum's Guides for the Perplexed are clear, concise and accessible introductions to thinkers, writers and subjects that students and readers can find especially challenging - or indeed downright bewildering. Concentrating specifically on what it is that makes the subject difficult to grasp, these books explain and explore key themes and ideas, guiding the reader towards a thorough understanding of demanding material.

As the story goes, an itinerant preacher once visited the Bluegrass region and proclaimed heaven to be "a mere Kentucky of a place." The Commonwealth's first Baptists certainly thought so as they began settling the region a decade before statehood. By 1785 a group of pioneering preachers formed the Elkhorn Association, widely regarded as the oldest Baptist association west of the Alleghenies. Often portrayed in the historiography as the vanguard of a new frontier democracy, the Elkhorn Association, on closer inspection, reveals itself to be far more complex. In A Mere Kentucky of a Place, Keith Harper argues that the association's Baptist ministers were neither full-fledged frontier egalitarians nor radical religionists but simply a people in transition. These ministers formed their identities in the crucible of the early national period, challenged by competing impulses, including their religious convictions, Jeffersonian Republicanism, and a rigid honor code-with mixed results. With a keen eye for human interest, Harper brings familiar historical figures such as John Gano and Elijah Craig to life as he analyzes leadership in the Elkhorn Association during the early republic. Mining the wealth of documents left by the association, Harper details the self-aware struggle of these leaders to achieve economic wealth, status, and full social and cultural acceptance, demonstrating that the Elkhorn Association holds a unique place in the story of Baptists in the "New Eden" of Kentucky. Ideal for course adoption in religious studies and students of Kentucky history, this readable work is sure to become a standard source on the history of religion on the Kentucky frontier.

This innovative volume provides an interdisciplinary, theoretically innovative answer to an enduring question for Pentecostal/charismatic Christianities: how do women lead churches? This study fills this lacuna by examining the leadership and legacy of two architects of the Pentecostal movement - Maria Woodworth-Etter and Aimee Semple McPherson.