A historical account of how leading evangelicals in the late nineteenth century fused a passion for evangelism with social service, cultural engagement and political activism.

In histories of American Presbyterianism, the southern branch of the New School Church has received little attention despite its importance to church history as a whole. This new study provides a complete account of the southern church, tracing the events and controversies that led to schism, the founding of the United Synod, and eventual reunification with the Old School, South. The author begins by reviewing the causes of the original and Old School-New School schism of 1837-1838 and the circumstances that gradually deepened the separation between the northern and southern wings of the New School. The emergence of United Synod of the South and its activities in the antebellum period and during the Civil War are considered next. The author concludes with a discussion of the final union with the Southern Presbyterian Church in 1864 and assesses the reasons why the southern New School/United Synod failed to grow and reach the potential of other Presbyterian churches of that day.

Lesslie Newbigin was a figure of patristic proportions in the twentieth-century history of the Church. In this intellectual and spiritual biography Geoffrey Wainwright displays the theological character of his subject's multifarious engagement in the search for Christian unity, the practice of evangelism and the strategy of mission, the compassionate service of society, and the responsible statement of the scriptural and traditional faith amid the complexities of late modern culture. Himself a distinguished ecumenist and theologian, Geoffrey Wainwright draws on thirty-five years of personal and literary acquaintance with his subject and on a thorough examination of the Newbigin archives in crafting this rich and varied portrait of an outstanding figure in the ecumenical movement.

This edited book offers an engaging portrait into a vital, religious movement inside this southern Africa country. It tells the story of a community of faith that is often overlooked in the region. The authors include leading scholars of religion, theology, and politics from Botswana and Zimbabwe. The insights they present will help readers understand the place of Pentecostal Christianity in this land of many religions. The chapters detail a history of the movement from its inception to the present. Chapters focus on specific Pentecostal churches, general doctrine of the movement, and the movement's contribution to the country. The writing is deeply informed and features deep historical, theological, and sociological analysis throughout. Readers will also learn about the socio-political and economic relevance of the faith in Zimbabwe as well as the theoretical and methodological implications raised by the Pentecostalisation of society. The volume will serve as a resource book both for teaching and for those doing research on various aspects of the Zimbabwean society past, present, and future. It will be a good resource for those in schools and university and college departments of religious studies, theology, history, politics, sociology, social anthropology, and related studies. Over and above academic and research readers, the book will also be very useful to government policy makers, non-governmental organizations, and civic societies who have the Church as an important stakeholder.

With its exalted emotionality, Pentecostalism is a widespread religious movement in Latin America and Africa. It is a blend of Methodism and African religious culture which arouses the passions of the poorest Brazilian masses. Pentecostal conversion is experienced as a sudden break which radically transforms the life of these sectors of the population. Pentecostalism is an Utopia of equality, love and emotion, which is staged during the worship service. However, it is also characterized by authoritarian features. Pentecostalism is slowly eroding the foundation of Western political categories.

Andrew Fuller (1754-1815) was the leading Baptist theologian of his era, though his works are just now being made available in a critical edition. Strictures on Sandemanianism is the fourth volume in The Works of Andrew Fuller. In this treatise, Fuller critiqued Sandemanianism, a form of Restorationism that first emerged in Scotland in the eighteenth century and was influencing the Scotch Baptists of Fuller's day. Fuller's biggest concern was the Sandemanian belief that saving faith is merely intellectual assent to the gospel. Fuller believed this "intellectualist" view of faith undermined evangelical spirituality. Strictures on Sandemanianism became a leading evangelical critique of Sandemanian views. This critical edition will introduce scholars to this important work and shed light on evangelical debates about the faith, justification, and sanctification during the latter half of the "long" eighteenth century (ca. 1750 to 1815).

Anglican theology has been a hotbed of debate about the issue of authority since the Reformation. What do we really appeal to when attempting to decide matters of doctrine, worship, ministry or ethics? The debate is very much alive today, between Evangelical, Liberal and Catholic Anglicans around the world. This proposed book focuses on the understanding of authority in Anglican theology. It looks at the way that Anglican theologians, in the past and today, have developed their theories of authority in relation to burning issues. Avis critiques them in a continuous dialogue or running commentary and set them in an ecumenical context, comparing Anglican positions with Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox and Protestant ones. In each area - Bible, tradition, reason, experience -he sets out a new understanding of authority in a constructive and persuasive way, moving to a series of overall conclusions and recommendations. The sharp critiques of various positions will help to make it the subject of discussion and debate.

The unique character of Rudolf Bultmann's thought has been missed by many traditional studies that cast him in exegetical or hermeneutic frameworks. His methods of source criticism and his concept of 'demythologizing'have led some to reject his thought in toto, otherstolabel him as a subjectivist. Tim Labron steps out of such traditional studies by reading Bultmann as a unique scholar and leading to the keys that unlockthe distinct character of Bultmann's thought, namely, John 1,14 and the principle of justification by faith.Bultmann uses them in aparallel function - to burn the traditional subject-object hierarchies and self-made foundationsto the ground. Labron shows the implications this hadfor theology, religious studies and philosophy.

The conventional picture of Benjamin Jowett (1817-93) is of the outstanding educator, the famous master of Balliol College, Oxford, whose pupils were extremely influential in the public life of Britain in the second half of the nineteenth century. However, he is also recognized as a theologian since he contributed an essay 'On the Interpretation of Scripture' to Essays and Reviews, a collection published in 1860; the book's liberalism aroused great controversy, and it was eventually synodically condemned in 1864. It has been thought that having got into trouble over his essay, Jowett abandoned theology and became a purely secular figure. This book attempts to identify the ideas which caused Jowett to develop his theology, the thinkers who influenced him and how his own religious ideas evolved. It argues that, after the Essays and Reviews controversy, he deliberately chose to disseminate those ideas through the college of which he became master. It also shows how he influenced other religious thinkers and theologians of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, arguing that he was more important in the history of English theology than is usually recognized.

This is a collection of essays from some of the most important contemporary theologians engaging critically with Colin Gunton's work. In "The Theology of Colin E. Gunton", a number of contemporary theologians from across the world critically engage with the work of this influential British theologian. Gunton's handling of the gospel of Jesus Christ is celebrated, key doctrines critically examined, and his contribution to the ongoing theological task carefully evaluated. Contributors address key issues at the centre of Gunton's understanding of the Christian gospel, thereby enabling readers to appreciate how Gunton's fundamental analysis of the relation between God, creation and Jesus Christ impacts the church's ongoing task of faithful theological enquiry. In this volume of essays, contributors explore Gunton's constructive thinking on a range of doctrinal topics, as well as critically analyze Gunton's theological method and use of the Christian tradition. As such, this collection of essays provides the Christian theological community with its first wide-ranging and carefully argued examination into the influential work of Colin E. Gunton.

Theodore Parker, a great orator of the mid-19th century, was a Unitarian clergyman who directed much of his oratory towards ecclesiastical and social reform. Parker challenged slavery and other social ills. As a volume in the Great American Orators series, the focus is on Parker's oratory and its effect on theology and the social structures of the mid-19th century. Biographical information pertains to those aspects of Parker's life that influenced and shaped his elocution and ideas. Parker's rhetoric and rhetorical techniques are examined. Three of Parker's important speeches are included, each with an introduction that places it in its proper context.

This study will appeal to students of rhetoric, theology, and mid-nineteenth-century American religious history. The book is divided into two sections. The first concentrates on Parker's life, his role as an abolitionist, social reformer, and public order. Part Two scrutinizes three of Parker's most famous discourses. The author establishes Parker's place among mid-19th-century preachers.

Hans W. Frei (1922-1988) was one of the most influential American theologians of his generation. Early in his career he drew attention to the importance of biblical narratives; he helped make Karl Barth once again a creative voice in contemporary theology; and he served as a model of what his colleague, George Lindbeck, has called "postliberal theology." This volume collects ten of Frei's lectures and essays, many of them never before published. Addressing audiences of theologians, biblical scholars, and literary critics, Frei explores the implications of his work for hermeneutics and Christology, and discusses Barth, Schleiermacher, and his own teacher, H. Richard Niebuhr. William Placher has provided an introduction to Frei's life and work, and the volume ends with an essay by George Hunsinger on Frei's significance for theology today. This collection provides an unrivaled introduction to Frei's work.

Night time signifies many things. Apart from the rest and refreshment that sleep brings, the night is a time for gazing at the stars, dreaming and loving. For some it means keeping vigil as they tend the very young, or the sick. For others, it means working so that others may rest peacefully. For most people, there are occasions when the night brings no relief: when we are worried or afraid, trouble never looms larger than in the early sleepless hours. Yet such times can lead to a richer experience of intercession, meditation and contemplation. These experiences of the night are universal and have inspired poetry, prayers, lullabies, songs and stories down the ages. This wide-ranging collection is the perfect bedside companion and will help soothe us to sleep, dispel night time fears and attune us to the gifts and opportunities that each new day brings.

A half century after its founding in London in 1844, the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) became the first NGO to effectively push a modernization agenda around the globe. Soon followed by a sister organization, the Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA), founded in 1855, the Y-movement defined its global mission in 1889. Although their agendas have been characterized as predominantly religious, both the YMCA and YWCA were also known for their new vision of a global civil society and became major agents in the world-wide dissemination of modern "Western" bodies of knowledge. The YMCA's and YWCA's "secular" social work was partly rooted in the Anglo-American notions of the "social gospel" that became popular during the 1890s. The Christian lay organizations' vision of a "Protestant Modernity" increasingly globalized their "secular" social work that transformed notions of science, humanitarianism, sports, urban citizenship, agriculture, and gender relations. Spreading Protestant Modernity shows how the YMCA and YWCA became crucial in circulating various forms of knowledge and practices that were related to this vision, and how their work was coopted by governments and rival NGOs eager to achieve similar ends. The studies assembled in this collection explore the influence of the YMCA's and YWCA's work on highly diverse societies in South, Southeast, and East Asia, North America, Africa, and Eastern Europe. Focusing on two of the most prominent representative groups within the Protestant youth, social service, and missionary societies (the so-called "Protestant International"), the book provides new insights into the evolution of global civil society in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and its multifarious, seemingly secular, legacies for today's world. Spreading Protestant Modernity offers a compelling read for those interested in global history, the history of colonialism and decolonization, the history of Protestant internationalism, and the trajectories of global civil society. While each study is based on rigorous scholarship, the discussion and analyses are in accessible language that allows everyone from undergraduate students to advanced academics to appreciate the Y-movement's role in social transformations across the world.