Christianity Books

Book SynopsisManchuria entered the twentieth century as a neglected backwater of the dying Qing dynasty, and within a few short years became the focus of intense international rivalry to control its resources and shape its people. This book examines the place of religion in the development of Manchuria from the late nineteenth century to the collapse of the Japanese Empire in 1945. Religion was at the forefront in this period of intense competition, not just between armies but also among different models of legal, commercial, social and spiritual development, each of which imagining a very specific role for religion in the new society. Debates over religion in Manchuria extended far beyond the region, and shaped the personality of religion that we see today. This book is an ambitious contribution to the field of Asian history and to the understanding of the global meaning and practice of the role of religion.Trade Review'Few scholars in the world can match DuBois' knowledge of the modern religious and political histories of China and Japan. In this book he applies that knowledge to Manchuria, a state whose history has already revolutionized global historical thinking about relations between tradition and modernity, the national and the cosmopolitan. An impressive new contribution to scholarship on the politics of religion.' Kiri Paramore, Leiden University, author of Japanese Confucianism: A Cultural History'In this exhilarating and original study of early twentieth-century Manchuria in global context, Thomas DuBois paints a lively picture of the politics and history of spiritual governance in a time and place that seems far removed from our own - but isn't as far as you might think. From an original and provocative account of the Boxer Uprising, to the politics of knowledge generation in Japanese and East Asian social science circles, to the designation of certain groups as 'religious bandits' in the Japanese owned Shengjing Times, to the politics of religious freedom and Protestant and Catholic mission in Japanese colonial Manchukuo, to the emergence of philanthropy as a civic sphere distinct from religion by groups such as the Daoyuan and the World Red Swastika Society, this book never quits. A fascinating, fun and indispensable read for anyone interested in the shifting and entangled fields of spirituality, sovereignty, empire, nationalism, and law.' Elizabeth Shakman Hurd, Northwestern UniversityTable of ContentsIntroduction; 1. Foundations of religion in society in Manchuria; 2. From the blood of the martyrs; 3. The mind of empire; 4. Piety in print; 5. The laws of men; 6. A charitable view; 7. Manchukuo's filial sons; 8. May God bless Manchukuo; Conclusion; Appendices; Bibliography.

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Book SynopsisThe Great Christian Jurists series comprises a library of national volumes of detailed biographies of leading jurists, judges and practitioners, assessing the impact of their Christian faith on the professional output of the individuals studied. Little has previously been written about the faith of the great judges who framed and developed the English common law over centuries, but this unique volume explores how their beliefs were reflected in their judicial functions. This comparative study, embracing ten centuries of English law, draws some remarkable conclusions as to how Christianity shaped the views of lawyers and judges. Adopting a long historical perspective, this volume also explores the lives of judges whose practice in or conception of law helped to shape the Church, its law or the articulation of its doctrine.Trade Review'The scope is wide, reaching from the thirteenth century (Henry of Bratton) to the twentieth (Lord Denning), and the chapters are of consistently high quality. Thus the volume is no mere biographical collection, but a unique contribution for the way it explores the complicated interactions between faith and practice, ecclesiastical law and common law, and recurring questions about the boundaries between civil and ecclesial jurisdictions. … In sum, this is an excellent start for the Great Christian Jurists series, and it has set a high bar for subsequent volumes.' Journal of Markets and Morality'This book deserves wide readership not only by researchers but for its general historical interest. Each essay is discrete and can be enjoyed separately or as part of the whole.' Sheila Cameron, Church Times'Great Christian Jurists presents a fascinating diversity in the interaction between faith and law, dependent among other things on the person's character and temperament, as well as the relevant historical context. Perhaps, therefore, the key lesson of the book is that the relationship between Christianity and law in a person's life is a complex one, not susceptible of one single authorized mode of expression. Faith can be expressed in more than one legitimate way and it would be inappropriate to attempt to contrive a single model or blueprint. The volume succeeds in providing a helpful overview of the life and contributions made by leading Christian jurists, and makes a welcome contribution to the Cambridge Studies in Law and Christianity series.' Benjamin B. Saunders, Reading ReligionTable of Contents1. Introduction R. H. Helmholz and Mark Hill, QC; 2. Henry of Bratton (alias Bracton) Nicholas Vincent; 3. William Lyndwood R. H. Helmholz; 4. Christopher St German: religion, conscience and law Ian Williams; 5. Sir Edward Coke: faith, law and the search for stability in reformation England David Chan Smith; 6. Richard Hooker: priest and jurist Norman Doe; 7. The integrative Christian jurisprudence of John Selden Harold Berman and John Witte; 8. Matthew Hale as Theologian and natural law theorist David S. Sytsma; 9. Lord Mansfield: the reasonableness of Religion Norman S. Poser; 10. William Blackstone's Anglicanism Wilf Prest; 11. Lord Kenyon: preaching from the bench James Oldham; 12. Stephen Lushington Stephen M. Waddams; 13. Roundell Palmer, Earl of Selborne Charlotte Smith; 14. F. W. Maitland: faithful dissenter Russell Sandberg; 15. A passion for justice: Lord Denning, Christianity and the law Andrew Phang.

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Book SynopsisIn the thirteenth century, sculptures of Synagoga and Ecclesia - paired female personifications of the Synagogue defeated and the Church triumphant - became a favoured motif on cathedral faÃades in France and Germany. Throughout the preceding centuries, the Jews of northern Europe prospered financially and intellectually, a trend that ran counter to the long-standing Christian conception of Jews as relics of the prehistory of the Church. In this book, Nina Rowe examines the sculptures as defining elements in the urban Jewish-Christian encounter. She locates the roots of the Synagoga-Ecclesia motif in antiquity and explores the theme's public manifestations at the cathedrals of Reims, Bamberg, and Strasbourg, considering each example in relation to local politics and culture. Ultimately, she demonstrates that royal and ecclesiastical policies to restrain the religious, social, and economic lives of Jews in the early thirteenth century found a material analog in lovely renderings of a doTrade Review'Rowe's approach to her work is impressively versatile, drawing historical, textual, and material evidence into synthesis with formal and stylistic observations to walk the line attentively between the worm's-eye and the bird's-eye view of her subject. The breadth and soundness of the resulting book will interest a wide range of scholars in fields from art history and Jewish studies to theology, anthropology and beyond. The Jew, the Cathedral and the Medieval City … represents a masterful scholarly accomplishment and a signal contribution to medieval studies.' The Medieval Review'Rowe's study represents a valuable contribution to the corpus of scholarship on Jewish-Christian interaction, medieval urban history and Gothic art. Scholars and students alike will want to familiarize themselves with Rowe's arguments and imitate her interpretative methodologies.' German History'The Jew, the Cathedral and the Medieval City is an excellent example of a study on the border between history and art history. … Rowe's work … sheds new light on the Synagoga-Ecclesia theme through a probing study of the political and ecclesiastical milieux that generated the monumental ensembles at three important cathedrals: Reims, Bamberg and Strasbourg.' Bulletin monumental'Rowe's book is one of very few studies of German Gothic sculpture in English; that alone makes it a significant contribution. … What makes Rowe's study novel is her integration of the images into the social and political circumstances of their production and consumption, above all, those that involved the resident clergy's interactions with and attitudes toward Jews. The Art Bulletin'Nina Rowe has succeeded in providing scholars with a provocative foray into the difficult problem of the relationship of artistic evidence to the lived realities of social and political life. Often she is forced to speculate, but she is always forthright about the limitations of her evidence. Not everyone will agree with all her conclusions, but no one working in the general area of her concerns can afford to ignore them. SpeculumTable of ContentsIntroduction: the Jew, the cathedral and the city; Part I. Imagining Jews and Judaism in Life and Art: 1. The Jew in a Christian world: denunciation and restraint in the age of cathedrals; 2. Ecclesia and Synagoga: the life of a motif; Part II. Art and Life on the Ecclesiastical Stage - Three Case Studies: Introduction to Part II: nature, antiquity and sculpture in the early thirteenth century; 3. Reims: 'our Jews' and the royal sphere; 4. Bamberg: the empire, the Jews and earthly order; 5. Strasbourg: clerics, burghers and Jews in the medieval city; Epilogue: the afterlife of an image.

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Book SynopsisThe Western tradition has always cherished the family as an essential foundation of a just and orderly society, and thus accorded it special legal and religious protection. Christianity embraced this teaching from the start, and many of the basics of Western family law were shaped by the Christian theologies of nature, sacrament, and covenant. This volume introduces readers to the enduring and evolving Christian norms and teachings on betrothals and weddings; marriage and divorce; women''s and children''s rights; marital property and inheritance; and human sexuality and intimate relationships. The chapters are authoritatively written but accessible to college and graduate students and scholars, as well as clergy and laity. While alert to the hot button issues of sexual liberty today, the contributing authors let the historical figures speak for themselves about what Christianity has and can contribute to the protection and guidance of our most intimate association.Trade Review'The authors and editors seek to provide both legal and historical frameworks for the development of family law, stressing the relationship between Christian teachings and various topics. Most are experts on the personages discussed, frequently noting that their contributions are taken from larger works. Almost every chapter reveals new insights, and sometimes the figures themselves are novel (at least to this reader), even though their thoughts may creep into the modern discourse on the family. The editors seek to balance the various divisions in contemporary Christianity and largely succeed. They also include a variety of disciplines.' Margaret F. Brinig, Journal of Church and StateTable of ContentsIntroduction John Witte, Jr and Gary S. Hauk; 1. Moses, the Prophets, and the Rabbis Elliot N. Dorff; 2. Jesus and St. Paul Gary S. Hauk; 3. Emperor Constantine Judith Evans Grubbs; 4. St. Augustine of Hippo David G. Hunter; 5. St. John Chrysostom Vigen Guroian; 6. Emperor Justinian Peter Sarris; 7. Theodore Balsamon John McGuckin; 8. Gratian Anders Winroth; 9. Peter Lombard Giulio Silano; 10. Popes Alexander III and Innocent III Charles Donahue; 11. St. Thomas Aquinas Philip L. Reynolds; 12. Martin Luther Steven Ozment and John Witte, Jr; 13. John Calvin Barbara Pitkin; 14. King Henry VIII Henry Ansgar Kelly; 15. Thomas Sanchez Rafael Domingo; 16. John Selden Jason P. Rosenblatt; 17. Mary Wollstonecraft Eileen Hunt Botting; 18. Abraham Kuyper James D. Bratt; 19. Emil Brunner Don S. Browning and John Witte, Jr; 20. Popes Leo XIII and Pius XI Russell Hittinger; 21. Pope Paul VI Steven J. Pope; 22. Pope John Paul II Robert P. George and Gerard V. Bradley; 23. Paul Evdokimov Michael Plekon; 24. Derrick Sherwin Bailey Mark D. Jordan; 25. Jean Bethke Elshtain M. Christian Green.

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Book SynopsisArgues that Augustine's dialogues betray a sophisticated pedagogical method combining strategies for 'un-learning' and self-reflection with a willingness to proceed via provisional answers. By shifting the focus from doctrinal content to questions of method, it seeks to reframe scholarly discussions of Augustine's earliest surviving body of works.Table of ContentsIntroduction: back to the drawing board; 1. The pursuit of wisdom: Contra Academicos; 2. From Plato to Augustine; 3. The measure of happiness: De beata vita; 4. God's classroom: De ordine and De Musica; 5. An advanced course: Soliloquia + De immortalitate animae; 6. Philosophy and kathartic virtue: De quantitate animae; 7. Piety, pride and the problem of evil: De libero arbitrio; Conclusion: Augustine and the academy today.

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Book SynopsisThis Companion volume offers a sweeping survey of the Bible as a work of literature and its impact on Western writing. Underscoring the sophistication of the biblical writers'' thinking in diverse areas of thought, it demonstrates how the Bible relates to many types of knowledge and its immense contribution to education through the ages. The volume emphasizes selected texts chosen from different books of the Bible and from later Western writers inspired by it. Individual essays, each written specially for this book, examine topics such as the gruesome wonders of apocalyptic texts, the erotic content of the Song of Songs, and Jesus'' and Paul''s language and reasoning, as well as Shakespeare''s reflections on repentance inKing Lear, Milton''s genius in writingParadise Lost, the social necessity of individual virtue in Shelley''s poetry, and the mythic status of Melville''sMoby Dickin the United States and the Western world in general.Trade Review'… a wide-ranging volume, which will undoubtedly stimulate further discussion concerning the relation of the Bible to literature.' Eryl W. Davies, Journal for the Study of the Old TestamentTable of ContentsList of contributors; List of abbreviations; 1. Literature of the Ancient Near East and the Bible Steve A. Wiggins; 2. The primary narrative (Genesis through 2 Kings) Thomas L. Brodie; 3. Reading biblical literature from a legal and political perspective Geoffrey P. Miller; 4. Biblical law and literature Calum Carmichael; 5. Kings, prophets, and judges Graeme Auld; 6. Prophetic literature Victor H. Matthews; 7. Wisdom literature James Crenshaw; 8. The Gospels Jeannine K. Brown; 9. Paul's Letters Todd D. Still; 10. Apocalyptic literature Meghan Henning; 11. Shakespeare's King Lear and the Bible William J. Kennedy; 12. The Bible and John Milton's Paradise Lost Gordon Teskey; 13. The Bible, Shelley, and English Romanticism Jonathan Fortier; 14. Herman Melville and the Bible Ruth Blair; 15. The Song of Songs and two biblical readings Emily O. Gravett; Index

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Book SynopsisBecause of its provocative thesis and mutli-disciplinary approach, this book will be of interest to historians, theologians, philosophers, and sociologists of religion. Key subject areas include atheism and non-religion, Protestant fundamentalism, science and religion, the theological origins of the modern world, and the effects of postmodernity.Table of Contents1. The unfinished reformation; 2. Things fall apart; 3. An inductive theology; 4. The secret sympathy; 5. A house divided.

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Book SynopsisThe Great Christian Jurists series comprises a library of national volumes of detailed biographies of leading jurists, judges and practitioners, assessing the impact of their Christian faith on the professional output of the individuals studied. Spanish legal culture, developed during the Spanish Golden Age, has had a significant influence on the legal norms and institutions that emerged in Europe and in Latin America. This volume examines the lives of twenty key personalities in Spanish legal history, in particular how their Christian faith was a factor in molding the evolution of law. Each chapter discusses a jurist within his or her intellectual and political context. All chapters have been written by distinguished legal scholars from Spain and around the world. This diversity of international and methodological perspectives gives the volume its unique character; it will appeal to scholars, lawyers, and students interested in the interplay between religion and law.Table of ContentsIntroduction Rafael Domingo and Javier Martínez-Torrón; 1. Isidore of Seville Philip Reynolds; 2. Raymond of Penyafort José Miguel Viejo-Ximénez; 3. Alfonso X Joseph F. O'Callaghan; 4. Francisco de Vitoria Andreas Wagner; 5. Bartolomé de Las Casas Kenneth Pennington; 6. Martín de Azpilcueta Wim Decok; 7 Domingo de Soto Benjamin Hill; 8. Fernando Vázquez de Menchaca Salvador Rus; 9. Diego de Covarrubias y Leiva Richard Helmholz; 10 Luis de Molina Kirk R. MacGregor; 11. Francisco Suárez Henrik Lagerlung; 12. Tomás Sánchez Rafael Domingo; 13. Juan Solórzano Pereira Matthew C. Mirow; 14. Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos Jan-Henrik Witthaus; 15. Francisco Martínez Marina Aniceto Massferrer; 16. Juan Donoso Cortés Jose María Beneyto; 17. Concepción Arenal Paloma Durán y Lalaguna; 18. Manuel Alonso Martínez Carlos Petit; 19. Álvaro d'Ors Rafael Domingo; 20. Pedro Lombardía Alberto de la Hera and Javier Martínez-Torrón.

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Book SynopsisEarly German Romanticism sought to respond to a comprehensive sense of spiritual crisis that characterised the late eighteenth century. The study demonstrates how the Romantics sought to bring together the new post-Kantian idealist philosophy with the inheritance of the realist Platonic-Christian tradition. With idealism they continued to champion the individual, while from Platonism they took the notion that all reality, including the self, participated in absolute being. This insight was expressed, not in the language of theology or philosophy, but through aesthetics, which recognised the potentiality of all creation, including artistic creation, to disclose the divine. In explicating the religious vision of Romanticism, this study offers a new historical appreciation of the movement, and furthermore demonstrates its importance for our understanding of religion today.Trade Review'Hampton's book is very bold but very needed. It is an attempt at a comprehensive interpretation of early German romanticism, one that strives to recreate its central concerns and ideals and to do justice to them. Hampton's interpretation is a timely attempt to find the via media between the one-sided idealist and realist, transcendent and secular, interpretations of early romanticism. It is one of the strengths of his interpretation that it puts Platonism in the very heart of Early German Romanticism, which is exactly where it belongs. This is a very valuable contribution to the growing literature on the subject, one that avoids and corrects the trendy reductivist interpretations current today.' Frederick Beiser, University of Syracuse'Deftly argued and wide-ranging, Hampton's new book is a breakthrough in our understanding of what may well have been the most exciting fifteen years in German literary and intellectual history. The compelling readings of Herder, Moritz, Jacobi, Fichte, Schiller, Novalis, Schlegel, and Hölderlin, offered here are further enriched by the author's impressive grasp of Romanticism's philosophical and theological backstory. Hampton makes a compelling case for a Romantic dialectic circumscribed less by Spinoza and Fichte than by the participatory ontology of a Christian realism whose deep Platonic roots have long been under-appreciated. In tracing early Romanticism's development of 'a new language of transcendence in an age that had come to think in terms of immanence', Hampton has given us a startlingly original appraisal of a period when questions of transcendence were shaping, perhaps for the last time in European thought, the project of cultural and social self-understanding.' Thomas Pfau, Duke University, North Carolina'In this superb study, Alexander J. B. Hampton develops much further the radically new scholarly understanding of German Romanticism as a critically realist qualification of idealist concerns. He shows that it was nothing less than a novel, aesthetic and anti-totalising recovery of the Platonic Christian tradition. He has hereby transcended both post-Kantian and postmodern readings of this remarkable body of thought, whose relevance for today cannot be exaggerated.' Catherine Pickstock, University of Cambridge'Proceeding from the provocative claim that early German Romanticism was impelled by a 'need to create a new language for religion', Hampton's new study offers an original, erudite, and closely argued alternative to the established (and opposed) accounts of the movement in terms of Fichtean subjectivism or Spinozist monism. In Hampton's interpretation, Romanticism sought neither to secularise religion in an immanent form nor to reassert old theological orthodoxies but rather to reconceive transcendence in the language of aesthetics and with the assistance of concepts from the Christian Platonist tradition. Not the least of the book's virtues is its placement of Jacobi, Herder, and Karl Philipp Moritz - who, like the Romantics Friedrich Schlegel, Hölderlin, and Novalis, resist easy classification as philosophical or literary figures - firmly in the genealogy of early German Romanticism.' Nicholas Halmi, University of Oxford, author of The Genealogy of the Romantic Symbol'This is an impressive achievement, which anchors its claims in a wealth of resources from and about early German Romanticism. Hampton's re-evaluation of the significance of the Romantic movement goes beyond the conflicting ideas of it as either a form of Fichtean idealism or of Spinozist pantheism. Instead, the movement is seen as engaged in a re-articulation of metaphysical and religious concerns through a synthesis of post-Kantian idealism and Platonic realism that gives a decisive role to art. The book offers a persuasively unorthodox presentation of one of the most remarkable moments of modern philosophical history, linking it to new ways of understanding religion in contemporary thought.' Andrew Bowie, Professor Emeritus of Philosophy and German, Royal Holloway, University of London, author of Aesthetics and Subjectivity: From Kant to Nietzsche, Introduction to German Philosophy: From Kant to Habermas'The persisting power and relevance of the Romantic vision in contemporary thought and culture should not be ignored. In this remarkable book, Hampton is able to draw upon some of the lesser known figures of German Romanticism to great effect. Adroit and accomplished, it is a far sighted and discerning work.' Douglas Hedley, University of Cambridge'This splendid book brings together what belongs together. The early Romantic tradition cannot be understood without its Platonic roots. Hampton's study takes up what German-language scholarship on the tradition has tended to neglect. The result is a book that is an eye-opening achievement which will become an essential resource for the study of religion and modernity.' Jörg Lauster, Chair of Dogmatics, Philosophy of Religion, and Ecumenism, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Germany'The main thesis of Hampton's book is compelling … Hampton does a great service to the history of this period by explaining exactly how disputes over Spinoza and Fichte indelibly shaped a new generation of philosophers, artists, and poets in their mission to rearticulate the terms of a viable modern religiosity.' Evan Kuehn, Reading ReligionTable of ContentsPart I. Romantic Religion: Transcendence for an Age of Immanence: 1. The romantic vocation; 2. Realism, idealism and the transcendentals; 3. Re-contextualising romanticism: the problem of subjectivity; 4. Re-contextualising romanticism: the question of Religion; Part II. Give Me a Place to Stand: The Absolute at the Turn of the Nineteenth Century: 5. The immanent absolute: Spinoza and Fichte; 6. Jacobi and the transcendence of the absolute; 7. Herder and the immanent presence of the transcendent absolute; 8. Moritz and the aesthetics of the absolute; Part III. Romantic Religion: The Transcendent Absolute: 9. Platonism and the transcendent absolute; 10. Schlegel: the poetic search for an unknown God; 11. Holderlin: becoming and dissolution in the absolute; 12. Novalis: the desire to be at home in the world; Part IV. Our Romantic Future.

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Book SynopsisPost-war British culture was initially dominated by religious-led sexual austerity and, from the sixties, by secular liberalism. Using five case studies of local licensing and a sixth on the BBC, conservative Christians are exposed here as the nation''s censors, fighting effectively for purity on stage, screen and in public places. The Anglican-led Public Morality Council was astonishingly successful in restraining sex in London''s media in the fifties, but a brazen sexualised culture thrived amongst the millions of tourists to Blackpool, whilst Glasgow and the Isle of Lewis were gripped by conservatism. But come the late 1960s, tourists took Blackpool''s sexual liberalism home, whilst progressive Humanism burrowed into Parliament and the BBC to secularise moral reform and the national narrative. Using extensive archival research, Callum G. Brown adopts a secular gaze to show how conservative Christians lost the battle for the nation''s moral culture.Trade Review'Grounded in meticulous archival research, Callum G. Brown's insightful historical explication is a vital contribution to understanding the how and why of contemporary non-religion. Brown expertly demonstrates why it is important for all of us interested in non-religion to pay careful attention to the historical forces that shape the present.' Lori G. Beaman, University of Ottawa'A fascinating examination of how the resurgent religious culture of 1950s Britain was undermined by the intellectual, political and social shifts of the 1960s and 1970s. Deeply researched, and written with the author's customary verve, Brown's regional approach offers an important challenge to London-centric narratives of permissiveness.' Adrian Bingham, University of Sheffield'This work admirably illuminates both the miasmatic conservative Christian moral vigilantism that pervasively afflicted the 'long 1950s', and its collapse. It makes a powerful case for looking beyond narratives that centre London and 'the establishment' to explore regional differences and localised initiatives in social change.' Lesley Hall, author of Sex, Gender and Social Change in Britain since 1880'This rollicking survey of the defeat of a formidable Christian social, cultural and moral hegemony by sex, drugs, rock and roll and TV satire fundamentally reappraises religious change in Sixties Britain. A daring and devastating sortie on the scholarly consensus.' Alana Harris, King's College London'For twenty years Brown has set the international agenda for histories of secularisation. He now breaks new ground by highlighting the rising influence of Humanists in the 1960s and 70s, through campaigning and especially through television. Well-researched, forcefully argued and highly readable, the book will stimulate a lively debate.' Hugh McLeod, University of Birmingham'Brown's work is a meticulously researched meditation on the entanglements between sex and religion … this book will provoke lively debate among historians of modern Britain.' David Geiringer, Journal of British Studies'… The battle for Christian Britain makes a valuable contribution to questioning and rethinking the ways in which historians research and write about the religious and sexual transformations of the period. Its most significant contribution is likely to be in provoking further discussion and debate on these issues.' Laura Ramsay, Journal of Ecclesiastical HistoryTable of ContentsPart I. The Battle in Context: 1. Introduction; Part II. The Heyday of Christian Vigilance 1945–1965: 2. Moral vigilance; 3. Licensing at the front line: London and Blackpool; 4. Licensing in the provinces: Sheffield, Glasgow and Lewis; 5. Battle at the Beeb part I; Part III. The Sixties Crisis and its Legacy, 1965–1980: 6. The privatisation of moral vigilance; 7. The sixties liberalisation of licensing; 8. The Humanist challenge; 9. Battle at the Beeb part II; Part IV. Conclusion: 10. The birth of civilised Britain.

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Book SynopsisMost of the Tales and Sayings of the Desert Fathers (Apophthegms) have survived in Greek and most of them are now available in English, almost 2500 in number. A further six hundred items in six languages have been available in French for some time, but often in second- and even third-hand translations. These have now been newly translated directly from the original languages by scholars skilled in those languages and are presented, alongside an Introduction and brief notes, to the English reader who wishes to know more of those men and some women who rejected ''the world'' and went to live in the desert regions of Egypt and elsewhere in the fourth to seventh centuries.Table of ContentsPreface Samuel Rubenson; 1. Introduction John Wortley; 2. Sayings preserved in Greek John Wortley; 3. Sayings preserved in Latin John Wortley; 4. Sayings preserved in Syriac Robert Kitchen; 5. Sayings preserved in Armenian Robert W. Thomson; 6. Sayings preserved in Coptic Tim Vivian; 7. Sayings preserved in Ethiopic (Ge'ez) Witold Witakowski.

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Book SynopsisSolomon''s image as a wise king and the founder of Jerusalem Temple has become a fixture of Jewish, Christian, and Islamic literature. Yet, there are essential differences between the portraits of Solomon that are presented in the Hebrew Bible. In this volume, Isaac Kalimi explores these differences, which reflect divergent historical contexts, theological and didactic concepts, stylistic and literary techniques, and compositional methods among the biblical historians. He highlights the uniqueness of each portrayal of Solomon - his character, birth, early life, ascension, and temple-building - through a close comparison of the early and late biblical historiographies. Whereas the authors of Samuel-Kings stay closely to their sources and offer an apology for Solomon''s kingship, including its more questionable aspects, the Chronicler freely rewrites his sources in order to present the life of Solomon as he wished it to be. The volume will serve scholars and students seeking to understanTrade Review'Writing and Rewriting the Story of Solomon in Ancient Israel takes on much more than the subject implied by its title. This volume principally addresses history, presenting Isaac Kalimi's views about 'what actually happened' … Kalimi offers well-reasoned work on the biblical texts, and his examinations of the archaeological and epigraphical data is a delightful bonus. No one who is seriously interested in the texts about King Solomon should overlook this volume.' John W. Herbst, Reading Religion'This detailed study offers comprehensive literary and historical-critical reading of, for the most part, the biblical texts which deal with the reign and person of Solomon … [Kalimi] provides a detailed account of the differences between these sources and the reasons for them and covers extensively the various theoretical positions which have developed over the last century … Excellent study …' A. G. Hunter, Journal for the Study of the Old TestamentTable of ContentsPart I. Introduction, Sources and Historical Background: 1. An introduction; 2. Sources – epigraphical, archaeological, and biblical; 3. Challenging recent dismissals of the United Monarchy; 4. Solomon's Kingdom – historical evaluation and case studies; Part II. Solomon's Birth, Rise, and Temple-Building: Literary and Historiographical Observations: 5. Solomon's birth story and its setting in 2 Samuel 10-12 – redaction history versus compositional unity; 6. Love of God and apologia for a king – Solomon as the Lord's beloved king in biblical text and ancient Near Eastern contexts; 7. Solomon's birth and names in Second temple period literature; 8. Solomon's pre-monarchic life in biblical historiography; 9. Solomon's physical appearance and leadership in biblical historiography; 10. Solomon's succession to the throne – history and contrasting historiographies; 11. The coronation of Solomon, David's testament and its implementation; 12. 'Why is the city in an uproar?' – Solomon's coronation story in its biblical context; 13. Solomon's temple-building and its divine approval in the early and late biblical historiographies; 14. Writing and rewriting the story of Solomon.

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Book SynopsisThis Companion provides a comprehensive overview of American Catholicism''s historical development and distinctive features. The essays - all specially commissioned for this volume - highlight the inner diversity of American Catholicism and trace the impact of American Catholics on all aspects of society, including education, social welfare, politics, and intellectual life. The volume also addresses topics of contemporary concern, such as gender and sexuality, arts and culture, social activism, and the experiences of Black, Latinx, Asian-American, and cultural Catholics. Taken together, the essays in this Companion provide context for understanding American Catholicism as it is currently experienced, and help to situate present-day developments and debates within their longer trajectory.Trade Review'… an outstanding overview of the US's distinctive Catholic history … Recommended.' R. A. Boisclair, Choice ConnectTable of ContentsPart I. Historical Overview: 1. American Catholicism's early foundations Maura Jane Farrelly; 2. The immigrant church, 1820-1908 Steven M. Avella; 3. The Catholic century James M. O'Toole; Part II. Catholic Life and Culture: 4. Catholic worship Katharine E. Harmon; 5. Catholic intellectual life William L. Portier; 6. Catholic education James T. Carroll; 7. Social welfare and social reform Mary Elizabeth Brown; 8. Women religious Mary Beth Fraser Connolly; 9. Catholics and politics Lawrence J. McAndrews; 10. Arts and culture Debra Campbell; 11. Anti-Catholicism in the United States Mark Massa, SJ; 12. Gender and sexuality James P. McCartin; 13. American Catholics in a global context Angelyn Dries; Part III. Many Faces of Catholicism: 14. American Catholic laywomen and feminism Paula M. Kane; 15. Black Catholics Cecilia A. Moore; 16. Latinx Catholicism Lauren Guerra and Brett C. Hoover; 17. Asian American Catholics Robert E. Carbonneau; 18. Cultural Catholicism Tom Beaudoin; Conclusion: 19. US Catholicism in the twenty-first century Mary L. Gautier.

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Book SynopsisThese accessible translations of papal documents from Late Antiquity offer a new understanding of attitudes towards key religious issues within canon law. Most papal documents were responses to questions from bishops, and not initiated from Rome. Papal Jurisprudence, c.400 reveals what bishops were asking, and why the replies mattered.Trade Review'The history of the papacy in the early Middle Ages is plagued with conflicting scholarly interpretations of its role, importance, and doctrines. David L. d'Avray has written a masterfully lucid analysis of the first papal letters, papal authority and institutions, and the problems the bishops of Rome faced as they strove to create a universal set of norms for the church.' Ken Pennington, Catholic University of America'It is a superb book.' Kenneth Pennington, Speculum: A Journal of Medieval Studies'­… d'Avray's book provides important insights for scholars and students of the medieval Church. It shows the importance of the fifth century as a formative period, when papal jurisprudence took shape as the result of the exchange of letters between popes and bishops.' Barbara Bombi, English Historical ReviewTable of ContentsAcknowledgements; Abbreviations; Manuscript sigla; 1. Introduction; 2. State of research: Caspar and after; 3. Texts and manuscripts; 4. Rituals and liturgy; 5. Status hierarchy; 6. Hierarchy of authority; 7. Celibacy; 8. 'Bigamy'; 9. Marriage; 10. Monks and the secular clergy; 11. Heretics: Novatians, Bonosians, and Photinians; 12. Heretics: in the shadow of St Augustine; 13. Penance; Epilogue; Bibliography; Index.

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Book SynopsisIs the human mind uniquely nonphysical or even spiritual, such that divine intentions can meet physical realities? As scholars in science and religion have spent decades attempting to identify a ''causal joint'' between God and the natural world, human consciousness has been often privileged as just such a locus of divine-human interaction. However, this intuitively dualistic move is both out of step with contemporary science and theologically insufficient. By discarding the God-nature model implied by contemporary noninterventionist divine action theories, one is freed up to explore theological and metaphysical alternatives for understanding divine action in the mind. Sarah Lane Ritchie suggests that a theologically robust theistic naturalism offers a more compelling vision of divine action in the mind. By affirming that to be fully natural is to be involved with God''s active presence, one may affirm divine action not only in the human mind, but throughout the natural world.Trade Review'This book is an excellent survey of the divine action field, with a polemical edge. I found it very helpful in addressing head-on some issues which I have found faintly disquieting for decades. I recommend this book to anyone with an interest in science and faith.' Peter Haslehurst, Anabaptism TodayTable of ContentsPart I. Divine Action and the 'Hard Problem of Consciousness': 1. Introduction; 2. Contemporary divine action theories and the causal joint; 3. Divine action and mind: Philip Clayton's emergentist thesis; 4. The philosophy and science of the mind; 5. Physicalist approaches to consciousness; Part II. The Theological Turn: Divine Action in the Naturalised Mind: 6. Naturalism(s) and the theological turn in divine action; 7. Theistic naturalism part one: Thomistic divine action; 8. Theistic naturalism part two: panentheistic naturalism; 9. Theistic naturalism part three: a pneumatological assist; 10. Conclusion; Bibliography; Index.

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Book SynopsisThe malign figure of the Antichrist endures in modern culture, whether religious or secular; and the spectral shadow he has cast over the ages continues to exert a strong and powerful fascination. Philip C. Almond tells the story of the son of Satan from his early beginnings to the present day, and explores this false Messiah in theology, literature and the history of ideas. Discussing the origins of the malevolent being who at different times was cursed as Belial, Nero or Damien, the author reveals how Christianity in both East and West has imagined this incarnation of absolute evil destined to appear at the end of time. For the better part of the last two thousand years, Almond suggests, the human battle between right and wrong has been envisaged as a mighty cosmic duel between good and its opposite, culminating in an epic final showdown between Christ and his deadly arch-nemesis.Trade Review'An ambitious untangling of a host of different traditions and stories - all super-heated by religious controversy - The Antichrist succeeds triumphantly in reducing them to calm intelligibility. This is a major feat, not only of scholarship, but also of reflection, planning and writing.' Marion Gibson, University of Exeter, and author of Rediscovering Renaissance Witchcraft and of Witchcraft: The Basics'Philip Almond's remarkable new book - a companion piece to his earlier work on the Devil - is clearly and vividly written. Giving full attention to previous ideas about the Antichrist, the author looks at the subject differently and originally in a way that meshes the topical and the chronological. The book is an advance both in theological and popular understanding, and I recommend it warmly.' Jeffrey Burton Russell, University of California, Santa Barbara, and author of Lucifer: The Devil in the Middle Ages and of A History of Heaven: The Singing Silence'This entertaining romp through the subject leads Mr Almond down many obscure paths, peopled by cobwebbed theologians such as Irenaeus and Hippolytus, and deep into the weirdest thickets of medieval fantasy-weaving. He has fun - 'Sexy Beast' is his heading on a section about the Antichrist visions, peculiarly like ink blots, of Hildegard of Bingen - but does not forget that a modern reader also needs to know why the Antichrist was important.' Ann Wroe, The Economist'What makes this biography really thought-provoking is Almond's easy demonstration of how ideas actually percolate and embed over time, and how, paradoxically, the greater the distance we travel from actual facts, the greater our sense of confidence in - and identification with - spurious thought systems becomes.' Nicola Barker, The Spectator'This engaging, often entertaining, and lavishly illustrated book may well be the last word on the subject …' John Saxbee, Church Times'This is a great work of scholarship, impressive in its breadth at the same time that it is clear and succinct in its presentation.' Rodrigo Galiza, Andrews University Seminary Studies'This engaging, often entertaining, and lavishly illustrated book may well be the last word on the subject.' The Rt Revd Dr John Saxbee, Church Times'… Almond's intellectual biography makes comprehensible for the modern reader the complex and obscure world of prophetic scripture interpretation, and that is a massive accomplishment.' Gary K. Waiteu, Journal of Ecclesiastical History'Almond has a flair for presenting complex histories with clarity and wit, and the result here is an engaging narrative well-suited to the perspective of the 2020s.' Sean L. Field, Scottish Journal of TheologyTable of ContentsPrologue; 1. The Origins of the Antichrist Tradition; 2. The Story Begins; 3. The Antichrist, East and West; 4. Antichrists, Present and Future; 5. Of Prophets, Priests, and Kings; 6. The Antichrist Divided; 7. Antichrists – Papal, Philosophical, Imperial; Epilogue: A Brief Meditation on History.

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Book SynopsisEphrem, one of the earliest Syriac Christian writers, lived on the eastern outskirts of the Roman Empire during the fourth century. Although he wrote polemical works against Jews and pagans, and identified with post-Nicene Christianity, his writings are also replete with parallels with Jewish traditions and he is the leading figure in an ongoing debate about the Jewish character of Syriac Christianity. This book focuses on early ideas about betrothal, marriage, and sexual relations, including their theological and legal implications, and positions Ephrem at a precise intersection between his Semitic origin and his Christian commitment. Alongside his adoption of customs and legal stances drawn from his Greco-Roman and Christian surroundings, Ephrem sometimes reveals unique legal concepts which are closer to early Palestinian, sectarian positions than to the Roman or Jewish worlds. The book therefore explains naturalistic legal thought in Christian literature and sheds light on the rise of Syriac Christianity.Table of ContentsIntroduction; 1. Creating a primary bond: what is betrothal?; 2. During betrothal: is premarital cohabitation an option?; 3. Creating a marital bond: can rape determine marital status?; 4. Breaking a marital bond: what do fornication and adultery do?; 5. Discussion and conclusions.

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Book SynopsisAlthough the archaeological evidence indicates a prosperous and thrivingGalileein the early first century CE, the Gospel texts suggest a society under stress, where the rich were flourishing at the expense of the poor. In this multi-disciplinary study, Rosemary Margaret Luff contributes to current debates concerning the pressures on early first-century Palestinian Jews, particularly with reference to socio-economic and religious issues. She examines Jesus within his Jewish environment in order to understand why he rose to prominence when he did, and what motivated him to persevere with his mission. Luff''s study includes six carefully-constructed essays that examine Early Christian texts against the wider background of late Second Temple Judaic literature,together with the material evidence ofGalilee and Judea (Jerusalem). Synthesizinga wide range of archaeological and textual data for the first time, she offers new insights into the depth of social discontent and its role in the rise of Christianity.Trade Review'The book is especially helpful in recording archaeological evidence that counters reconstructions of Jesus's Galilee based on sociological modeling.' A.-J. Levine, Choice'… it is by far the best study of what bones and other archaeological evidence for human and animal disease can tell us about the early 1st-century context of the Gospels yet published. The book deserves to be widely read by archaeologists, ancient historians and religious studies scholars for this alone, let alone its other contributions. However, the principal feature of the volume is that it contributes to situating the study of the early 1st-century 'Holy Land' firmly within the mainstream archaeology of the Roman provinces.' Ken Dark, Journal of Anglo-Israel Archaeological SocietyTable of ContentsIntroduction; Part I. Memories of Jesus: The Textual Evidence: 1. Discontent in early first-century Galilee and Judea; 2. Jesus, the Temple, and the chief priests; 3. The character and Legacy of Jesus; Part II. Jesus in Context: The Archaeological Evidence: 4. Jewish identities and the distribution of ethnic indicators; 5. Health hazards in first-century Palestine; 6. Status, power, and wealth; Conclusion.

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Book SynopsisPilgrim shrines were places of healing, holiness, and truth in early modern France. By analyzing the creation of these pilgrim shrines as natural, legendary, and historic places whose authority provided a new foundation for post-Reformation Catholic life, Virginia Reinburg examines the impact of the Reformation and religious wars on French society and the French landscape. Divided into two parts, Part I offers detailed studies of the shrines of Sainte-Reine, Notre-Dame du Puy, Notre-Dame de Garaison, and Notre-Dame de Betharram, showing how nature, antiquity, and images inspired enthusiasm among pilgrims. These chapters also show that the category of ''pilgrim'' included a wide variety of motivations, beliefs, and acts. Part II recounts how shrine chaplains authored books employing history, myth, and archives in an attempt to prove that the shrines were authentic, and to show that the truths they exemplified were beyond dispute.Trade Review'Virginia Reinburg provides a profoundly empathetic yet incisive reading of the ways in which communities which had suffered so much during the French religious wars managed to defend and refurbish their archives of faith. This is a masterpiece of the historian's craft: both utterly compelling and deeply moving.' Simon Ditchfield, University of York'Virginia Reinburg's study of shrines in early modern France paints them into the landscape of healing powers, mythic origins, and local forces. Her well-documented case studies tell the story of the powerful wellsprings of belief that the Protestant Reformation had contested, but that Catholic revival successfully reinvigorated.' Mark Greengrass, University of Sheffield'Storied Places masterfully illuminates the important role that pilgrimage shrines played in the Catholic renewal that took place in the wake of France's Wars of Religion. As Virginia Reinburg persuasively demonstrates, the apparitions and miracles reported at these shrines, marrying grace to nature, re-affirmed Catholic truths in places where the church and its truths had been most contested. Reinburg's nuanced examination of the shrines as products of both place and story makes a strikingly original contribution to our understanding of early modern religious culture.' Barbara Diefendorf, Boston University'Storied Places is a compelling investigation of how pilgrimage shrines were remade, materially and mentally, in the wake of the French Wars of Religion. Bringing the histories of text and territory, authority and archive, into creative dialogue, Virginia Reinburg offers fresh insight into how early modern Catholicism overcame the challenges of iconoclasm, discord, and doubt. Her book persuasively recasts our understanding of the relationship between sacred landscapes and religious truth in the Counter-Reformation world.' Alexandra Walsham, University of Cambridge'What happened to pilgrimage, that quintessential medieval activity of Catholic worship, after the advent of the Reformation and the shock of Protestant iconoclasm? Reinburg traces the renewal and growth of pilgrim shrines in early modern France, emphasizing their relations to the natural world, their ancient but sometimes mythic origins, and their powers to heal and inspire. … Those sites that survived the violence of the religious wars faced a new challenge, as writers strove to counter doubts about religious truth with assertions of these shrines' antiquity and authenticity. The 'shrine books' that resulted combined myth, history, and archives to counter iconoclasm, oblivion, and doubt. The works and their authors employed print culture to convince those shaken by religious turmoil that the Catholic Church possessed the one true faith.' L. C. Attreed, Choice'The author helps her readers to understand the impact of the religious wars on Catholic survivors. Reinburg thoughtfully highlights the ordeal Catholic communities faced and their efforts to avoid confronting trauma in future generations by creating and recreating shrines. She convincingly asserts that the rebuilding of structures and communities was a way for Catholics to tell a story of their history that was coherent and could overlook the religious wars … What makes Reinburg's book so engaging is its multifaceted approach to telling the history of the shrines and the regions she studies.' Susan E. Dinan, H-France Review'This is an excellent book which merits a wide readership. It displays deep scholarship, sophisticated use of a wide range of sources including site visits - which are illustrated - and it is written with clarity and gracefulness. It is a seminal essay, which makes one reflect on spirituality and landscape in new ways.' Elizabeth Tingle, The Journal of Ecclesiastical History'… an illuminating exploration of how the appeal of significant shrines was constructed and maintained, with insights as well into what the experience of visiting these places as a pilgrim might have been like.' Philip Benedict, Journal of Modern HistoryTable of ContentsIntroduction; Part I. Legendary Locations: 1. An antique land: Sainte-Reine in Burgundy; 2. Pilgrims and nature in the Pyrenees; 3. Notre-Dame du Puy: image, pilgrimage, and the religious wars; Part II. Text, Territory, and Truth: 4. Histories and archives of faith; 5. In the beginning: origins, legends, and fables; Conclusion; Bibliography; Index.

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Book SynopsisThe Second Vatican Council was the most significant event in the history of Roman Catholicism since the Protestant Reformation. Unfortunately, the enormous amount of documentation produced by the council has proven daunting to many. This Companion helps the reader better grasp the abiding significance of this council for Catholicism today.Trade Review'The splendid Companion engages readers in the lively process of ­understanding and interpreting Vatican II in its time, and applying it for our times.' Hilmar M. Pabel, The TabletTable of ContentsPart I. Vatican II in context: 1. Church life in the first half of the twentieth century Mark R. Francis; 2. Theological renewal in the first half of the twentieth century Gabriel Flynn; 3. Papal leadership in the first half of the twentieth century: resistance and renewal Karim Schelkens; 4. The council as ecclesial process Massimo Faggioli; 5. The role of non-voting participants in the preparation and conduct of the council Peter De Mey; 6. Conciliar hermeneutics Ormond Rush; Part II. Conciliar themes and reception: 7. The pilgrim church: An ongoing journey of ecclesial renewal and reform Gerard Mannion; 8. The church in mission Stephen Bevans; 9. Revelation Richard Gaillardetz; 10. Liturgy David Turnbloom; 11. The word and spirit co-instituting the church Brian Flanagan; 12. The Christian faithful Amanda Osheim; 13. Leadership and governance in the church Thomas Rausch; 14. Ministry in the church Richard Lennan; 15. Professed religious life Gemma Simmonds; 16. Ecumenism Susan K. Wood; 17. The church and other religions Edmund Kee-Fook Chia; 18. The renewal of moral theology James Keenan; Appendix: resources for the study of Vatican II Catherine Clifford.

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Book SynopsisThis book will be of interest to college faculty and advanced students interested in the relationship between religion and science, particularly at Christian colleges and seminaries. Its value is to offer an innovative Christian theological approach to the daunting problem that Darwinian animal suffering poses to belief in God.Table of Contents1. Facing the Darwinian problem of evil; 2. Darwinian evil and anti-theistic arguments; 3. Ways around the problem: Neo-Cartesian theory and skeptical theism; 4. Making a 'case for God' (a Causa Dei); 5. Animal suffering and the fall: Lapsarian theodicy; 6. Narrow is the way of world making: only way theodicy; 7. God-justifying beauty: aesthetic theodicy; 8. Suffering 'for no reason': job and the Darwinian problem; 9. Darwinian Kenōsis and 'divine selection'; 10. Animals in heaven: the defeat of Darwinian evils.

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Book SynopsisTracing the Gospel text from script to illustration to recitation, this study looks at how illuminated manuscripts operated within ritual and architecture. Focusing on a group of richly illuminated lectionaries from the late eleventh century, the book articulates how the process of textual recitation produced marginalia and miniatures that reflected and subverted the manner in which the Gospel was read and simultaneously imagined by readers and listeners alike. This unique approach to manuscript illumination points to images that slowly unfolded in the mind of its listeners as they imagined the text being recited, as meaning carefully changed and built as the text proceeded. By examining this process within specific acoustic architectural spaces and the sonic conditions of medieval chant, the volume brings together the concerns of sound studies, liturgical studies, and art history to demonstrate how images, texts, and recitations played with the environment of the Middle Byzantine church.Table of ContentsIntroduction; Part I. The Lectionary: Image and Text: 1. Beginnings and Initials: Text, Image, and Sound; 2. Miniatures and Marginalia: A Visual Grammar and Syntax; 3. Faltering Images: Iconography between Reading, Error, and Confusion; Part II. The Liturgy: Sound and Architecture: 4. The Reading of the Lectionary: Recitation, Inspiration, and Embodiment; 5. The Sound of the Lectionary: Chant, Architecture, and Salvation; 6. Polyvalent Images: Iconography between Image, Space, and Sound; Epilogue.

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Book SynopsisMedieval theology had an important influence on later philosophy which is visible in the empiricisms of Russell, Carnap, and Quine. Other thinkers, including McDowell, Kripke, and Dennett, show how we can overcome the distorting effects of that theological ecosystem on our accounts of the nature of reality and our relationship to it. In a different philosophical tradition, Hegel uses a secularized version of Christianity to argue for a kind of human knowledge that overcomes the influences of late-medieval voluntarism, and some twentieth-century thinkers, including Benjamin and Derrida, instead defend a Jewish-influenced notion of the religious sublime. Frank B. Farrell analyzes and connects philosophers of different eras and traditions to show that modern philosophy has developed its practices on a terrain marked out by earlier theological and religious ideas, and considers how different philosophers have both embraced, and tried to escape from, those deep-seated patterns of thought.Trade Review'This wide-ranging and fascinating book should be required reading for anyone who is interested in placing twentieth-century philosophy in intellectual history, not just the history of philosophy.' John McDowell, University of PittsburghTable of ContentsAcknowledgments; Introduction: the thinning out of the world; 1. Empiricism and theology; 2. John McDowell: rejecting the defensive move inward; 3. Aristotle redivivus: on Saul Kripke; 4. Hegel, theology, and Pippin's reading of Hegel; 5. Walter Benjamin: incarnation or radical incommensurability?; 6. Rolling back the Protestant Reformation: Wittgenstein and Dennett; 7. McDowell (II): active and passive faculties and the theological framework; 8. Derrida, the religion of the sublime, and the messianic; 9. Literature today and the sublime absence of aesthetic experience; 10. Where do we go from here?; Bibliography; Index.

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Book SynopsisThe aesthetics of everyday life, as reflected in art museums and galleries throughout the western world, is the result of a profound shift in aesthetic perception that occurred during the Renaissance and Reformation. In this book, William A. Dyrness examines intellectual developments in late Medieval Europe, which turned attention away from a narrow range liturgical art and practices and towards a celebration of God''s presence in creation and in history. Though threatened by the human tendency to self-assertion, he shows how a new focus on God''s creative and recreative action in the world gave time and history a new seriousness, and engendered a broad spectrum of aesthetic potential. Focusing in particular on the writings of Luther and Calvin, Dyrness demonstrates how the reformers'' conceptual and theological frameworks pertaining to the role of the arts influenced the rise of realistic theater, lyric poetry, landscape painting, and architecture in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.Trade Review'… the book is loaded with excellent references … [This book] … an invaluable resource for theologians, church historians, art historians, cultural critics, and liturgical scholars.' Michael N. Jagessar, Canadian Journal of Netherlandic StudiesTable of Contents1. Introduction: the medieval context of the Reformation; 2. Like and presence in Holbein, Luther and Cranach; 3. John Calvin: creation, drama and time; 4. Calvin, language and the rise of literary culture; 5. Portraits and dramatic culture in sixteenth century England; 6. The emerging aesthetics of early modern England: a new world with echoes of the past; 7. The new visual culture of reformed Holland and France; 8. Epilogue: the cultural afterlife of Protestant aesthetics.

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Book SynopsisAnthony Keddie investigates the changing dynamics of class and power at a critical place and time in the history of Judaism and Christianity - Palestine during its earliest phases of incorporation into the Roman Empire (63 BCE70 CE). He identifies institutions pertaining to civic administration, taxation, agricultural tenancy, and the Jerusalem Temple as sources of an unequal distribution of economic, political, and ideological power. Through careful analysis of a wide range of literary, documentary, epigraphic, and archaeological evidence, including the most recent discoveries, Keddie complicates conventional understandings of class relations as either antagonistic or harmonious. He demonstrates how elites facilitated institutional changes that repositioned non-elites within new, and sometimes more precarious, relations with privileged classes, but did not typically worsen their economic conditions. These socioeconomic shifts did, however, instigate changing class dispositions. JudaeaTrade Review'Anthony Keddie's study of class and power in first century Judea brings refreshing realism to the study of a period that is often viewed through the lens of the history of ideas. At the same time, he appreciates that texts do not simply reflect economic realities, but are constructive attempts to shape the changing ideologies of class. An excellent contribution to the study of the matrix of the Christian movement.' John J. Collins, Yale University, Connecticut'Were Jesus' movement and the First Jewish Revolt consequences of increased income inequality and the exploitation of the lower classes in Roman Palestine? Through a detailed analysis of literary sources and archaeological evidence, Keddie convincingly argues against this view, concluding that changes to class distinctions under Roman rule occurred only gradually, and with a mixed impact on non-elites. Keddie's book is required reading for anyone seeking to understand the socio-economic circumstances under which Jesus' movement emerged.' Jodi Magness, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill'This book is invaluable for situating the New Testament stories in the context of a real world. The 70 page bibliography is also a fingerlickin' resource.' Henry Wansbrough, Church Times'… a valuable reference for scholars and graduate students.' Michael Kochenash, Religious Studies ReviewTable of Contents1. Urban development and the new elites; 2. Land tenancy and agricultural labor: 'the land is mine'; 3. Taxation: render unto Caesar and the local elites; 4. Economy of the sacred; 5. Material culture from table to grave; Conclusion; Appendix A. Herodian rulers; Appendix B. High priests during the Early Roman period; Appendix C. Palmyra duties (137 CE).

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Book SynopsisA comprehensive, introductory-level textbook for anyone who wants to learn the Aramaic of the Old Testament, and other related dialects (including Dead Sea Scrolls). Includes inductive lessons for students, which introduce primary texts from the start.Table of Contents1. Introduction: Aramaic and its dialects; 2. Orthography; 3. Phonology; 4 . Nouns and adjectives; 5. Pronouns; 6. Noun phrases; 7. Numerals and other quantifiers; 8. Adjective phrases; 9. Prepositions; 10. Verbs: derivation and inflection; 11. Tense, aspect, and mood in the verbal system; 12. Verb types: valence, voice, and aktionsart; 13. Adverbs; 14. Clauses; 15. Clause combining: combination; 16. Clause combining: subordination; 17. Discourse markers; 18. Reading guide for Biblical Aramaic and Related Dialects.

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Book SynopsisJames Joyce was educated almost exclusively by the Jesuits; this education and these priests make their appearance across Joyce''s oeuvre. This dynamic has never been properly explicated or rigorously explored. Using Joyce''s religious education and psychoanalytic theories of depression and paranoia, this book opens radical new possibilities for reading Joyce''s fiction. It takes readers through some of the canon''s most well-read texts and produces bold, fresh new readings. By placing these readings in light of Jesuit religious practice - in particular, the Spiritual Exercises all Jesuit priests and many students undergo - the book shows how Joyce''s deepest concerns about truth, literature, and love were shaped by these religious practices and texts. Joyce worked out his answers to these questions in his own texts, largely by forcing his readers to encounter, and perhaps answer, those questions themselves. Reading Joyce is a challenge not only in terms of interpretation but of experience - the confusion, boredom, and even paranoia readers feel when making their way through these texts.Trade Review'Michael Mayo's lucidly written, patiently reasoned James Joyce and the Jesuits argues that 'Joyce's work addresses itself to particular crises of belief and representation generated by Ignatius of Loyola' in his Spiritual Exercises (1522–1524)… Mayo leaves us with a highly compelling conceptual framework: one that others might well profit from and apply further in their own engagements with the frustrations and enigmas of Joyce's art, and also its playfulness.' James Joyce Broadsheet, No. 123Table of Contents1. Introduction; 2. The disturbed mind; 3. Beyond the Uncle Charles Principle; 4. The labour of reading: Joyce with Klein; 5. Kleinian Aesthetics; 6. Discernment and indifference; 7. It was pitch dark almost; 8. Substantiation; 9. Conclusion: The transference; Bibliography; Index.

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Book SynopsisIn Biblical Theology, Ben Witherington, III, examines the theology of the Old and New Testaments as a totality. Going beyond an account of carefully crafted Old and New Testament theologies, he demonstrates the ideas that make the Bible a sacred book with a unified theology. Witherington brings a distinctive methodology to this study. Taking a constructive approach, he first examines the foundations of the writers'' symbolic universe - what they thought and presupposed about God - and how they revealed those thoughts through the narratives of the Old and New Testaments. He also shows how the historical contexts and intellectual worlds of the Old and New Testaments conditioned their narratives, and, in the process, created a large coherent Biblical world view, one that progressively reveals the character and action of God. Thus, the Yahweh of the Old Testament, the Son in the Gospels, and the Father, Son, and Spirit in the New Testament writings are viewed as persons who are part of theTrade Review'Anyone who has thought about how to write a biblical theology will agree that it is a daunting task. There is no one obvious methodology that can begin to do justice to the complex unity and variegated diversity of all sixty-six books of the Bible. It is no wonder that very few biblical scholars have either the competence or the audacity to attempt such a task. Ben Witherington, III, has plenty of both. His whole career as a teacher and writer, wide-ranging in both activities, has prepared him for it, and he relishes the work of moving back and forth between detailed exegesis and big ideas. Rather than trying to sum up how he tackles the task, let me say just that the book is full of refreshing surprises. Highly Recommended! Richard Bauckham, St Andrews University, Scotland'Biblical Theology is a magisterial work, the sort of book that could only have been written by a first-class scholar after decades of reading and reflection, of inquiry and scholarship. In turn, it will stand for decades more as a benchmark in its field.' Philip Jenkins, Baylor University'Biblical Theology argues that to undertake a real biblical theology we must let each Testament speak on its own terms and keep track of the progress and newness of how God revealed his program. Examining texts in context and showing both their message and the distinctions in how themes merge, there is a compelling argument that the two Testaments do converge. This study will suggest the myriad of ways this can be seen while interacting with a host of other key Old Testament and New Testament studies. This is solid resource worth careful study and reflection.' Darrell L. Bock, Dallas Theological Seminary'Biblical theology, an expression used by many in irresponsible and careless ways, needs to be defined: Biblical Theology does that. Biblical theology needs to be demonstrated theme after theme in passage after passage in a manner that respects the Bible's big narrative; Biblical Theology does this, too. And biblical theology, if it is responsible to the deep traditions of the church, must square with classic Christian creeds, and this book does that too. Ben Witherington, III's book will become a standard text for decades, not only for its content but its responsible respect for Bible and creed.' Scot McKnight, Northern Seminary'In Biblical Theology, Ben Witherington, III shares with us the fruits of his many decades of deep reflection on the Bible's 'symbolic universe, its narrative thought world, and its theologizing proper'. Writing a biblical theology is a daunting task to be undertaken only by those who have been engaged in the study of the Bible both on the macro and the micro level, and Witherington fits the bill having writing many important monographs and commentaries that in-form his present work. I found myself challenged, informed and enriched by his thinking and recommend this book to all who want to grow in their knowledge of Scripture.' Tremper Longman, III, Westmont CollegeTable of Contents1. A method to the madness; 2. The God of the Burning Bush; 3. The God of Golgotha; 4. The God of the Burning Heart; 5. The stars align in constellations - the storied world of the Bible: Part One; 6. The stars align in constellations - the storied world of the Bible: Part Two; 7. The passion play and its sequels without equal; 8. Covenanting and theologizing after the fall and before the incarnation; 9. Covenanting and theologizing after the incarnation and before pentecost; 10. New covenanting in the eschatological age of the spirit; 11. The election results; 12. Where the reformation went wrong; 13. Faith in the final future - the New Creation; 14. The threefold cord - theology, ethics, and praxis; 15. And so? A cautionary conclusion; Appendix A: Biblical theology and New Testament theology - a dialogue with Francis Watson; Appendix B: The death of sin in the death of Jesus: atonement theology.

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Book SynopsisHistorians of the English legal profession have written comparatively little about the lawyers who served in the courts of the Church. This volume fills a gap; it investigates the law by which they were governed and discusses their careers in legal practice. Using sources drawn from the Roman and canon laws and also from manuscripts found in local archives, R. H. Helmholz brings together previously published work and new evidence about the professional careers of these men. His book covers the careers of many lesser known ecclesiastical lawyers, dealing with their education in law, their reaction to the coming of the Reformation, and their relationship with English common lawyers on the eve of the Civil War. Making connections with the European ius commune, this volume will be of special interest to English and Continental legal historians, as well as to students of the relationship between law and religion.Trade Review'This valuable book by one of our most eminent legal historians is the product of fifty years engagement with the history of the Church courts in England. It not only provides new insights into the careers of eighteen very different ecclesiastical lawyers over seven centuries but also (in the first half) prepares the way with an accessible and authoritative history of their profession.' John H. Baker, Downing Professor Emeritus of the Laws of England, University of Cambridge'The Profession of Ecclesiastical Lawyers: An Historical Introduction is an important contribution to the literature on the history of the legal profession by the leading scholar of canon law. It combines a thorough and insightful analysis of the development, education, and regulation of a somewhat neglected segment of the English legal profession with a view of the profession through the activities of its practitioners.' Jonathan Rose, Willard H. Pedrick Distinguished Research Scholar Emeritus, Arizona State University'No one knows the history of ecclesiastical law in the British Isles better than R. H. Helmholz. This volume provides a unique and authoritative overview of the training and practice of English ecclesiastical lawyers, together with biographical portraits of some twenty leading practitioners brought to life with skill and energy. Drenched with fresh and fascinating insights, this is a mighty work of scholarship.' Mark Hill, Inner Temple, London'The Profession of Ecclesiastical Lawyers is an illuminating work from one of the leading historians of canon law, and it has value for both a specialist and a general audience.' Jennifer McNabb, Reviews in HistoryTable of ContentsPart I. The Profession Described: Introduction; 1. Law of the legal profession: advocates and proctors; 2. The education of ecclesiastical lawyers; 3. Ecclesiastical lawyers and the Protestant Reformation; 4. English ecclesiastical lawyers and the courts before the coming of the Civil War; Part II. The Profession Illustrated: 5. Roger of Worcester (d. 1179); 6. Gilbert Foliot (d. 1187); 7. William of Drogheda (d. 1245); 8. John de Burgh (d. 1398); 9. Adam Usk (d. 1430); 10. Richard Rudhale (d. 1476); 11. Daniel Dun (d. 1617); 12. Clement Colmore (d. 1619); 13. Arthur Duck (d. 1648); 14. William Somner (d. 1669); 15. Richard Zouche (d. 1661); 16. Leoline Jenkins (d. 1685); 17. Hugh Davis (d. 1694); 18. George Lee (d. 1758); 19. Thomas Bever (d. 1791); 20. Francis Dickins (d. 1755); 21. Arthur Browne (d. 1805); 22. Henry Charles Coote (d. 1865).

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Book SynopsisBefore the late sixteenth century, the churches of Florence were internally divided by monumental screens that separated the laity in the nave from the clergy in the choir precinct. Enabling both separation and mediation, these screens were impressive artistic structures that controlled social interactions, facilitated liturgical performances, and variably framed or obscured religious ritual and imagery.In the 1560s and 70s, screens were routinely destroyed in a period of religious reforms, irreversibly transforming the function, meaning, and spatial dynamics of the church interior. In this volume, Joanne Allen explores the widespread presence of screens and their role in Florentine social and religious life prior to the Counter-Reformation. She presents unpublished documentation and new reconstructions of screens and the choir precincts which they delimited. Elucidating issues such as gender, patronage, and class, her study makes these vanished structures comprehensible and deepens our understanding of the impact of religious reform on church architecture.Trade Review'… This is an excellent, wonderfully researched, and deeply interesting book. I look forward to its publication, and am sure that it will be widely read, frequently cited, and have a major impact in the field.' Caroline Bruzelius, Duke University'There is no question that this is a major contribution and will remain an indispensable resource for a long time to come.' Marcia Hall, Temple University'Joanne Allen's book is a key contribution to a burgeoning field: study of the crucial role played by screens and choir enclosures - now almost entirely lost - in articulating the space, functioning, and furnishing of medieval and early modern churches. Allen meets the challenge of reconstructing stories of installation, relocation, and removal across several centuries. The result is a meticulous and richly illustrated study that transforms our understanding of the evolution of the Florentine church interior.' Joanna Cannon, Courtauld Institute of ArtTable of ContentsIntroduction; 1. Accessing the Italian church interior; 2. Transforming churches in fifteenth-century Florence; 3. Transforming churches in sixteenth-century Florence; 4. Community and access in the Mendicant church: Santa Maria del Carmine; 5. Patronage and place in monastic churches: Santa Trinita and San Pancrazio; 6. Gender and Ceremony in The Nuns' church: San Pier Maggiore; 7. Behavior and reform in the civic oratory: Orsanmichele; 8. Duke Cosimo I de' Medici, religious reform, and the Florentine church interior.

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Book SynopsisEven though the brokenness of the world may seem overwhelming, anyone with the courage to follow their passion and become a light--in their homes, communities, and churches--can bring real change. And when we all embrace our God-given gifts as changemakers, a better world is within our grasp.

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Book SynopsisOffers an abridged edition of William Paley's seminal work, "A View of the Evidence of Christianity", which was required reading at Cambridge University until the twentieth century.

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Book SynopsisJudas: the most famous traitor in all of human history. But who was he really - and what does he mean for us today?Trade Review"Pick of the paperbacks'A cultural overview of Judas the mythical figure. -- Christopher Hart * The Sunday Times *Well-paced and engaging, * The Daily Telegraph *This engrossing book about the 2,000-year-old traitor manages to be fun as well as sometimes profound. * The Week *It's still a hotly debated topic. Stanford... has condensed the discussion into an accessible guide. * Sunday Herald *A fantastic book.. With a hint of quirk. * Together Magazine *A completely fascinating book, well written for lay people who want to understand more of how Judas Iscariot has been viewed through the ages. * Preach Magazine *

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Book SynopsisGod''s presence permeates our lives and activities, reverberating throughout all he has created. As we open our lives to that presence, we hear the truth of the gospel spoken to our hearts: the kingdom of God has come to us. Chris Webb, an Anglican priest and retreat house director, wants us all to enter into that kingdom and to experience its freedom. Written with verve, depth, and uncontainable joy, God-Soaked Life invites us to live in the reality of God''s presence in our everyday lives. It''s an invitation into the community of God''s people, into fearless honesty about our own weaknesses and failures, into the daily experience of God through silence, Scripture and prayer, and into a new life of love and service in the broken world around us. God''s kingdom is not far away, a remote and future promise. It is here, now.Trade ReviewA pleasure to handle and read... Chris Webb writes with a positivity that I found appealing. - Church TimesWebb writes beautifully... The evidence of Webb's deep spirituality, wisdom and knowledge is apparent throughout, grounding the reader in spiritual truths. - Premier Christianity

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Book SynopsisA Little Moment of Kindness helps young children explore what it means to be kind to themselves and those around them.   Even at such a young age, children are learning to interact with other people in their lives, be it friends, grandparents or siblings. All the time they are observing how we treat each other, so the need to emphasise the kindness and patience is as valuable as it is necessary. This beautifully illustrated book helps children think about what kindness means and it value in the world. Each illustration is placed alongside an inspirational thought which allows room for reflection and encouragement for children. Trade ReviewThese beautifully illustrated books by Jenny Meldrum are designed to be read with children at bedtime or throughout the day. * Woman Alive *These beautifully illustrated books help young children to enjoy the experience of slowing down, valuing stillness and spending time in the company of family members and God. Each illustration is placed alongside an inspirational thought which allows room for reflection and encouragement. Jenny Meldrum has always encouraged her children to explore the truths and wonders of God for themselves. She believes in a loving and deeply relational God, and this is a great inspiration behind the Little Moments series. * Families First *

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Book Synopsis'Stephen Cottrell writes about Christ as if he were here now. As if redemption were possible for all of us, as if the void that threatens to engulf us all could be filled by a personal relationship with Christ in the present. He is a compelling writer.' - Russell Brand Inspired by a conversation with a barista who asked him why he became a priest, this is the Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell's extended answer to that question - as well as the letter he'd like to write to a divided country that no longer sees the relevance or value of the Christian narrative. Archbishop Stephen is a much-admired voice within the church, but in this book he writes for a more general audience, and those who might call themselves spiritual seekers - as well as anyone who is concerned about the life and unity of the UK. A short, beautiful book, this is at once both contemplative and deeply practical, which will speak to both Christians and those on the edges of faith.'A deeply thoughtful exposition of faith's transformative power, Dear England gave me hope, not only for the future of Christianity, but for a changed world too.' - David Lammy MPTrade ReviewIt was written partly in response to a question from a barista at Paddington station about why he became a priest, and partly as a letter to a divided and uncertain country that no longer sees the relevance of Christianity. * Observer *The Archbishop has written a heartfelt and appealing apologetic. The question that it poses, however (as he freely admits), is whether this letter will reach those to whom it is addressed - which is arguably also the most pressing challenge for a socially distanced Church in its approach to England. We can only hope so, for the sake of both. * Church Times *But it is very much a tome of our times, with multiple references to Brexit and the Covid pandemic, and how these events should make us rethink our attitudes. * The Telegraph *Stephen Cottrell writes about Christ as if He were here now. As if redemption were possible for all of us, as if the void that threatens to engulf us all could be filled by a personal relationship with Christ in the present. He is a compelling writer. * Russell Brand *A deeply thoughtful exposition of faith's transformative power, Dear England gave me hope, not only for the future of Christianity, but for a changed world too. * David Lammy MP *In this gentle and accessible book, the Archbishop of York takes the reader by the hand to explore big questions of faith, meaning and belonging. In doing so he explores with clarity and insight the changes we face, refreshing both those of us for whom our faith has become perhaps jaded and tired, as well as those of no faith at all. At the same time he invites us all to think again about our purpose and belief - and in so doing provides a route map for our increasingly uncertain future. * Dame Julia Unwin, Chair of Future of Civil Society *Here's a refreshing, candid, unabashed and, mercifully, jargon-free letter to all of us. The faith that Stephen Cottrell shares in this book is not shrink-wrapped in the usual churchy clingfilm, but unwrapped and open, exposed to current events, to politics, to the 'thousand natural shocks' we all feel in our daily living, and the faith he commends here is all the more robust, and all the more approachable for that exposure. Dear England will be helpful not only to the half-attracted, half-repelled enquirers to whom it is addressed, but also to all those believers who would like help in giving an account of the hope that is in them. * Revd Malcolm Guite, Girton College, Cambridge *

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Book SynopsisThroughout its history, the Roman Catholic Church continues to have a complex and evolving relationship with the political societies and governments of our world. One of the foremost expressions of this relationship is in the form of the teachings and social and political engagements of Catholic bishops and other ordained. Despite the Churchs universalism, these manifestations of Catholic authority are mediated by local societal context and thus take on different character in different places. Chapter One intends to reconstruct, for the first time, and with the help of unpublished documents taken from the historical archive of the Conservatory, the history of this prestigious Roman institution, focusing on the innovations introduced in its educational-assistance program in the course of the late XIX century, during the Fascist period and after World War II. Chapter Two sets out to address the concept of collusion, forged by Roger Griffin and Emilio Gentile within the field of the Politic History, arguing that it needs to be adjusted to work properly in the field of the History of Religions. Chapter Three explores the relationship between ordained Catholic leadership and political society through an examination of recent political controversy in four countries: the Republic of Ireland, the Philippines, the United States, and Canada. Chapter Four examines the effects of Catholic parishes influence on church members political opinions in Hong Kong using Paul Djupe and Christopher Gilberts theory of church-centred influence on political behaviour.

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