The ESV Church History Study Bible is designed to help believers in all seasons of life understand the Bible-featuring 20,000 study notes from church history's most prominent figures.

'Waiting on the Spirit of Promise' is a study of the life and ministry of Abraham Cheare (1626-1668), containing selections from Cheare's works, and rescuing an important seventeenth-century English Baptist from obscurity. Cheare has been overshadowed by other more celebrated Baptist contemporaries, but as the pastor of the Particular Baptist work in Plymouth, Devon, Cheare played a key role in the advance of the Baptist cause in the West Country in the 1650s. His 'Sighs for Sion' is an excellent illustration of early Baptist piety. With the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660, Cheare, like many other Dissenters, suffered arrest for his refusal to give up preaching. Cheare's prison writings reveal both a sturdy faith in God and a deep-seated piety. Despite the fact that he was incarcerated in a series of "nasty prisons", Cheare used this time of suffering to deepen his walk with God and so provide a model for his congregation of Christian integrity and joy in the midst of trial. To the very end of his life, Cheare eagerly awaited further outpourings of the Spirit of Promise upon the Church and looked forward to that day when his Lord Jesus would make all things right.

The year 2013 welcomes a major anniversary: 450 years of the Heidelberg Catechism. This Protestant confessional was written in Heidelberg in 1563 on behalf of Frederick III, Elector Palatine, and spread over the world when it was approved on the Synod of Dort in 1619. Since then, the Heidelberg Catechism has shaped the spiritual and political life and became a symbol of change and departure from the old in Europe, America, and Asia. To this day, the Heidelberg Catechism is one of the most influential catechisms of the Reformed Church and is in everyday use by more than 20 million people worldwide. The Palatinate Museum Heidelberg (KMH), State Palaces and Gardens Baden-Wurttemberg (SSG), the foundation Refo500, and the Johannes A Lasco Library (JALB) will celebrate the anniversary of the Heidelberg Catechism together with several events. The heart of the activities is a joint exhibition presented by KMH and SSG in two locations in Heidelberg, an exhibition at Palace Het Loo in Apeldoorn, as well as this companion to the exhibition that is realized by Refo500. In addition, the Johannes A Lasco Library supported this project with a conference in March 2011; the conference papers are also included. In this volume, well-known specialists in the field present how the Heidelberg Catechism spread and influenced culture, education, and ecclesiastical life. Together with over 700 photographs depicting objects in the exhibition, as well as illustrating the contributions, Power of Faith: 450 Years of the Heidelberg Catechism is an incomparable testament to the history of the Heidelberg Catechism, as well as its continued use today - a fitting tribute to this important anniversary.

While Baptists through the years have been certain that "war is hell", they have not always been able to agree on how to respond to it. This book traces much of this troubled relationship from the days of Baptist origins with close ties to pacifist Anabaptists to the responses of Baptists in America to the Vietnam War. Essays also include discussions of the English Baptist Andrew Fuller's response to the threat of Napoleon, how Baptists in America dealt with the War of 1812, the support of Canadian Baptists for Britain's war in Sudan and Abyssinia in the 1880s, the decisive effect of the First World War on Canada's T.T. Shields, the response of Australian Baptists to the Second World War, and how Russian Baptists dealt with the Cold War. These chapters provide important analyses of Baptist reactions to various manifestations of one of society's most intractable problems.

Classics of Reformed Spirituality series Samuel Pearce, a young eighteenth-century English pastor, was described by his friend and biographer Andrew Fuller as "another Brainerd"-a reference to the celebrated American missionary David Brainerd. Pastor of Cannon Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, England, during the tumultuous 1790s, and a close friend of pioneer missionary William Carey, Pearce played a key role in the early days of the Baptist Missionary Society. In the providence of God he died at just thirty-three years of age, but in the eyes of many of his contemporaries, he seemed to have condensed a lifetime of holy and joyful ministry into a single decade. His marriage to Sarah Hopkins was one of deep love and mutual respect and she joined him in his passion for the salvation of sinners, both at home and abroad. Through excerpts from Samuel and Sarah's letters and writings, we are given a window into their rich spiritual life and living piety.

The aim of Odgaard Mollers book is threefold: The first main section seeks to clarify how and why Jesus is presented in the pre-1968 writings of the Danish theologian and philosopher K.E. Logstrup (1905-1981). Throughout his work, Logstrups main focus has been a rehabilitation of the insight that life is something definite, because it is created. Here, Jesus primarily plays a methodological/strategic role as the one confirming and giving witness to Logstrups interpretation of created life in a given time of his authorship. When faith in creation is formulated polemically against another interpretation of life, Jesus serves as Logstrups ally in this discussion. In the second main section, this examination is extrapolated to include a discussion with Bultmann and two of his students in order to clarify the character of his Christology, not least whether -- or in what way -- this can be characterised as implicit Christology. Finally, in the light of Ricoeurs hermeneutic philosophy of religion, the third main section considers the systematic-theological validity of this picture of Jesus. The overall conclusion can be summed up in this way: The main line in Logstrups work goes from created life to the human being Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus incarnates created life; therefore he is the true human being. This close connection between (created) Life and (true) Human Being is the kernel in Logstrups thought. This makes his perception of Jesus and his Christology distinctive, original and specifically Logstrupian.

Friendship is a need that touches the deepest parts of the human soul. This is especially true in ministry. It is a need that is not simply rooted in enjoyment and companionship, but in the necessity to care well of one's soul and survive a long-term ministry. This book seeks to persuade every modern pastor of the essential need of friendship. And not just any friendship, but a close, personal, intimate, and sacrificial pastor-to-pastor friendship that regularly turns each other's gaze to Jesus. Friends and pastors, Michael Haykin, Brian Croft and James Carroll examine portraits of friendship in scripture and church history, before exhorting readers to modern pastoral friendships. Contents Foreword by Austin Walker Introduction Part 1: Looking Back 1. Portraits of Friendships in Scripture 2. A Pastoral Friendship (1): Basil of Caesarea and Eusebius of Samosata (4th Century) 3. A Pastoral Friendship (2): Benjamin Francis and Joshua Thomas (18th Century) Part 2: Looking Ahead 4. The Command for Friendship 5. The Blessings of Friendship 6. The Challenges of Friendship 7. Modern Exhortations to Pastoral Friendship Conclusion