Christianity Books

Book SynopsisThe content of the book reconsiders the relation between visibility and transcendence. The focus is especially on the contribution to this issue from the theological tradition in protestant Europe between the 16th and the 21st Centuries. In the book a thematically broad field is covered embracing more than five centuries and a plurality of methods drawn from theology, philosophy, and the history and theory of art.

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Book SynopsisVolume 1 includes the original Acta Authentica of the synod, here published for the first time. Following the Acta Authentica, the corresponding acts, as first published in the Acta Synodi Nationalis - Dordrechti Habitae (Leiden, 1620), are reprinted; these published Acta were a significantly revised version, for stylistic and political purposes, of the original Acta Authentica. Also included are the Acta Contracta, a topical summary of the Acta Authentica, and the minutes of the meetings of the state delegates, who represented the Dutch government at the synod; neither of these has been previously published. This volume begins with a general introduction to the Synod of Dordt and its context, an introduction to the Acta Authentica, the published Acta and Acta Contracta, and an introduction to the role of the state delegates and the minutes of their meetings.

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Book SynopsisThis volume contains the papers of the international RefoRC conference on 'Reformed Majorities and Minorities in Early Modern Europe' as it was organized by the Johannes a Lasco Bibliothek, Emden in cooperation with the Faculty of 'Artes Liberales' of the University of Warsaw. The conference took place 10-12 April 2013 in Emden and was part of the research project 'Doctrina et Tolerantia' directed by the Johannes a Lasco Bibliothek. The contributions in this volume deal with the question how the relation between doctrine and toleration was dealt with in territories with a Reformed majority. Did the refugee-experience of the Reformed make them tolerant or militant? How did official policy relate to everyday practice? Were there different opinions on this issue within the Reformed tradition? The answers to these questions give more insights into the diversity of international Calvinism and the way theory was put into practice.

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Book SynopsisAt the occasion of the 450th anniversary of the Heidelberg Catechism, an international conference on the spirituality of the Heidelberg Catechism was held at the Theological University Apeldoorn, 21-22 June 2013. This publication offers the plenary papers presented, and a selection of the short papers. While the papers center on the Catechism's spirituality, a wide range of topics is covered, from both historical and theological perspectives. These topics include: the roles of Ursinus and Olevianus, controverse theologians, anabaptist spirituality, comparisons with Calvin's Genevan Catechism and the later Synopsis of Purer Theology. Also, the distinct spirituality of faith, regeneration, the trinity, the law and prayer in the Heidelberg Catechism are scrutinized, besides the idea of mystical union and the art of dying and living. Three contributions reflect on the controversy on the Eucharist which has stamped the Heidelberg Catechism. From a practical-theological perspective, the preaching and teaching of the Catechism are discussed, as well as the mode of gospel presentation and the permanent character of catechetical instruction. So, this volume offers a broad range of scholarly perspectives on the Catechism. Its spirituality is famous for the first question and answer, on the only comfort in life and death: That I am not my own, but belong body and soul, in life and in death to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ.""

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Book SynopsisAlthough termed the little Genesis, the Book of Jubilees is significantly engaged with Exodus. It reworks key Exodus narratives, develops modules of Exodus law, and highlights Exodus motifs. The most fundamental connection to Exodus is the grounding of the two narrational structures of Jubilees in the scenario of Moses receiving a revelation on Mt. Sinai. In the frame an anonymous narrator develops the Mt. Sinai setting of the work. In the body an angel employs that setting as the present-time pivot for a retrospect that moves backward and forward in time.Focusing on the intersection of structure and content, the study explores the relationship between the retrospective design of the angel narration and the exegesis. The approach is a literary one that treats Jubilees as a unitary text that may reflect the work of a single author or of a final editor. The analysis draws particular attention to manipulations of temporal and textual perspective that transform Exodus narratives, facilitate the hermeneutical elaborations of Exodus law, and effect cohesion in the revelation that is the Book of Jubilees.Halpern-Amarus study makes a significant contribution to our understanding of biblical interpretation in Second Temple Judaism. For example, the reading of the Jubilees narrative of the exodus as a revelation of how God uses His heavenly forces, i.e., Mastema and his demons as well as the angels of the presence, on behalf of Israel, has implications for the understanding of strategies that temper dualism in Second Temple Judaism.

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Book SynopsisThe role played by artistic, literary, historical and theological representations in the establishment of the European Reformation has attracted scholarly attention over the years. While they were generally regarded as a significant means of conveying the evangelical message, particularly in a society with a low average literacy rate, this scholarly consensus was then seriously challenged by objecting that their meaning must have remained opaque to those who couldnâ t read and interpret their sometimes multilayered imagery and their verbal and figurative messages. This volume, which publishes some of the papers delivered at the Fourth Reformation Research Consortium Conference held in Bologna, May 15thâ 17th, 2014, is an attempt to examine the visual intelligibility of the European Reformation by a comparative, multiconfessional and multidisciplinary analysis of examples taken from both the Catholic and the Protestant world in the Early Modern and Modern Era, with particular reference to the figurative arts, but also to history and theology. All the case studies included here examine their peculiar subjects with regard to their religious and artistic contexts, in order to understand their historical significance in a new fashion, combining approaches from political history, history of arts, historiography, anthropology, philosophy and theology. Thus, the volume offers a very rich outline of how visual culture and representation through arts was embodied in very different cultural portraits and images.

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Book SynopsisWho was Jacob Latomus? What did he write in the series of lectures to which Luther penned an answer in 1521, an answer which is now so central to many interpretations of the great reformer? And how is the reading of that answer affected when it is preceded by an interpretation of what Latomus wrote? The study goes through the most important parts of Latomus' treatise against Luther (1521). The aim is to identify Latomus' theological convictions and thus to pin down who and what Luther was up against. The second and major part of the book is a reading of Luther's pamphlet against Latomus (1521). Parallels are drawn with Latomus' theology in order to facilitate as much as possible an appreciation of the differences between the two.The comparison between the two theologians shows that they speak completely different languages and that their viewpoints do not square at all. Basically their ways depart in their understanding of God's word and how it is communicated to man. This generates two ways of perceiving the matter of theology, and of speaking theologically -- and prevents mutual understanding. Latomus cannot understand Luther's view of the autonomy of God's word and the special character of proclamation, and hence a theology which is incompatible with natural reason. Even though he accepts a division between a natural and a supernatural rationality, and thus admits that natural reason has a limit, he grants the very same natural reason an important role in the ascent of cognition towards revelation. Everything else - such as Luther's theology - is a dehumanisation of the human being. Luther, on the other hand, regards Latomus' theology as a result of the impulse in sinful man towards ruling and controlling the word of God with his own inadequate natural abilities. In Luther's eyes that proclamation of Christ, which in the shape of a human being comes to man in contradiction of everything human, here disappears in the twinkling of an eye.

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Book SynopsisThe aim of the present conference volume is to study the interrelationship of literary and material approaches to historical investigation of gender. Paradigmatically the significance and meaning of gender and sexuality is explored in the context of private and public, religious and secular spaces. Historical, cultural, and social norms (and deviations) of daily life are examined through the lens of textual, archaeological, and art historical investigations to interpret relics of ancient Israelite, Jewish, and Christian communities from the Iron Age through Late Antiquity. Scholars from varied disciplines such as biblical and classical archaeology, epigraphy, Old and New Testament exegesis and religious studies assembled to engage in a dialogue involving both texts and material culture.

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Book SynopsisIn her study Chaoluan Kao offers a comprehensive investigation of popular piety at the time of the European Reformations through the study of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Protestant prayerbooks. It pursues a historical-contextual approach to spirituality by integrating social and religious history in order to yield a deeper understanding of both the history of Christian piety and of church history in general. The study explores seven prayerbooks by German authors and seventeen English prayerbooks from the Reformation and post-Reformation as well as from Lutheran, Anglican, and Puritan traditions, examining them as spiritual texts with social and theological significance that helped disseminate popular understandings of Protestant piety. Early Protestant piety required intellectual engagement, emphasized a faithful and heartfelt attitude in approaching God, and urged regular exercise in prayer and reading. Early Protestant prayerbooks modeled for their readers a Protestant piety that was a fervent spiritual practice solidly grounded in the social context and connections of its practitioners. Through those books, Reformation could be understood as redefining the meanings of people's spiritual lives and re-discovering of a pious life. In a broader sense, they functioned as a channel of historical and spiritual transition, which not only tells us the transformation and transmission of Reformation historically but also signifies the development of Christian spirituality. The social-historical study of the prayerbooks furthers our understanding of continuity, change, and inter-confessional influence in the Christian piety of early modern Europe.

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Book SynopsisThis study considers sixteenth century evangelicals vision of a godly commonwealth within the broader context of political, religious, social, and intellectual changes in Tudor England. Using the clergyman and bestselling author, Thomas Becon (1512-1567), as a case study, Brian L. Hanson argues that evangelical views of the commonwealth were situation-dependent rather than uniform, fluctuating from individual to individual. His study examines the ways commonwealth rhetoric was used by evangelicals and how that rhetoric developed and changed. While this study draws from English Reformation historiography by acknowledging the chronology of reform, it engages with interdisciplinary texts on poverty, gender, and the economy in order to demonstrate the intersection of commonwealth rhetoric with Renaissance humanism. Furthermore, the experience of exile and the languages of prophecy and companionship directly influenced commonwealth rhetoric and dictated the priorities, vocabulary, and political expression of the evangelicals. As sixteenth-century England vacillated in its religious direction and priorities, the evangelicals were faced with a political conundrum and the tension between obedience and lawful disobedience. There was ultimately a fundamental disagreement on the nature and criteria of obedience. Hansons study makes a further contribution to the emerging conversation about English commonwealth politics by examining the important issues of obedience and disobedience within the evangelical community. A correct assessment of the issues surrounding the relationship between evangelicals and the commonwealth government will lead to a rediscovery of both the complexities of evangelical commonwealth rhetoric and the tension between the biblical command to submit to civil authorities and the injunction to obey God rather than man.

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Book SynopsisThis volume brings together contributions from the ongoing conversation among New Testament scholars from the Nordic Countries, namely Denmark, Iceland, Finland, Norway, and Sweden. The aim is to challenge the New Testament texts and their interpretations but also to be challenged by these texts and interpretation (ie: how to read, interpret and contextualise the impact of these texts, and how to conceptualise the power and authority attributed to them). As neighbours in peripheral Europe, partly sharing language and history, scholars of this region also aim to participatie in the broader international discourse. The fact that their common academic language is English begs the question whether many of the current essays could have been written in different settings, since they do not explicitly reflect on contextual issues. Or is this the case? What characterises that part of the world are social democracies with relatively high standards of living, a strong protestant past but an increasing multicultural population, public welfare systems, and gender equality. Public universities still have money and can prioritize mobility and internationalisation.

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Book SynopsisThe doctrines of covenant, faith, and the order of salvation are crucial components of early modern Reformed soteriology. In seventeenth-century England, these three major doctrines of Reformed theology, which had been taken over undeveloped from the Reformers, took a mature shape, but aroused controversies among diverse Protestant groups. Modern historical scholarship on Reformed orthodoxy has produced little significant research that deals with these doctrines synthetically. This examination explores the broader role of faith in relation to these two significant doctrines for salvation in the early modern Reformed theology, with specific reference to the thought of Thomas Goodwin. To this end, Hyo-Nam Kim examines Goodwins life to review his religious experience and to understand his socio-theological context. Goodwins soteriology was sharpened by his battles on two fronts: The first is the threat of Arminian, Neonomian, and Socinian soteriologies that tended to place meritorious value on faith and on human acts. The second is the Antinomian errors that undervalued faith and human responsibility. Goodwin regarded faith as a key concept for his soteriology. Faith plays a central role in the covenant theology not only because a lack of faith was the immediate cause of breaking the covenant of works, but because saving faith was ordained in the covenant of redemption, and actually functions in the covenant of grace, as the instrument and a condition for the recovery of the relationship of mankind with God. Examination of Goodwins ordo salutis provides specific insight into the place and function of faith in the covenant of grace since each element of an ordo salutis refers to the blessings prepared for the elect to be finally saved. Together with the role of faith in Goodwins covenant theology, therefore, the reconstruction of Goodwins ordo salutis and the close examination of the role of faith in each blessing confirm that although faith may be said to be both an instrument and a condition for salvation, faith is the perfect instrument both for making salvation totally Gods gracious work, and for showing that the elect are not passive objects in the covenant.

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Book SynopsisThis volume invites scholars of the Catholic and Protestant Reformations to incorporate recent advances in transnational and transregional history into their own field of research, as it seeks to unravel how cross-border movements shaped reformations in early modern Europe. Covering a geographical space that ranges from Scandinavia to Spain and from England to Hungary, the chapters in this volume apply a transregional perspective to a vast array of topics, such as the history of theological discussion, knowledge transfer, pastoral care, visual allegory, ecclesiastical organization, confessional relations, religious exile, and university politics.The volume starts by showing in a first part how transfer and exchange beyond territorial circumscriptions or proto-national identifications shaped many sixteenth-century reformations. The second part of this volume is devoted to the acceleration of cultural transfer that resulted from the newly-invented printing press, by translation as well as transmission of texts and images. The third and final part of this volume examines the importance of mobility and migration in causing transregional reformations. Focusing on the process of 'crossing borders' in peripheries and borderlands, all chapters contribute to the de-centering of religious reform in early modern Europe. Rather than princes and urban governments steering religion, the early modern reformations emerge as events shaped by authors and translators, publishers and booksellers, students and professors, exiles and refugees, and clergy and (female) members of religious orders crossing borders in Europe, a continent composed of fractured states and regions.

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Book SynopsisAt the twilight of the Weimar Republic, politicians, scientists, and theologians were engaged in debates surrounding the so-called Jewish Question. When the Nazi Party came to power in 1933, these discussions took on a new sense of urgency and poignancy. As state measures against Jews unfolded, theological conceptions of the meaning of Israel and Judaism began to impact living, breathing Jewish persons. In this study, Ryan Tafilowski traces the thought of the Lutheran theologian Paul Althaus (1888-1966), who once greeted the rise of Hitler as a gift and miracle of God, as he negotiated the Jewish Question and its meaning for his understanding of Germanness across the Weimar Republic, the Nazi years, and the post-war period. In particular, the study uncovers the paradoxical categories Althaus used to interpret the ongoing theological significance of the Jewish people, whom he considered both an imminent threat to German ethnic identity and yet a mysterious cipher by which Germans might decode their own spiritual destiny in world history. Sketching the peculiar contours of Althaus theology of Israel, this study offers a fresh interpretation of the Erlangen Opinion on the Aryan Paragraph, which is an important artifact not only of the Kirchenkampf, but also of the complex and ambivalent history of Christian antisemitism. By bringing Althaus into conversation with some of the most influential theologians of the twentieth century -- from Karl Barth and Emil Brunner to Rudolf Bultmann and Dietrich Bonhoeffer -- Tafilowski broadens the scope of his inquiry to vital questions of political theology, ethnic identity, social ethics, and ecclesiology. As Christian theologians must once again reckon with questions of national self-understanding under the pressures of mass migration and resurgent nationalisms, this investigation into the logic of ethno-nationalist theologies is a timely contribution.

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Book SynopsisIn 1611 Edmond Richer, the syndic of the Faculty of Theology of Paris, published a short but incisive defence of the conciliarist doctrine under the title De ecclesiastica et politica potestate. He claimed that this doctrine had been almost uninterruptedly followed by the University of the Paris since the time of the Council of Constance in the early 15th century. Within two years, at least six Latin, French or bilingual editions of the treatise saw the light as well as an English and a Dutch translation. The book was condemned at a meeting of the French bishops in March 1612 and its author was dismissed from his position of syndic of the Faculty of Theology a few months later. He withdrew from public life but remained influential. He continued to write in defence of the conciliarist doctrine and the so-called liberties of the Gallican Church until his death in 1631. He vehemently opposed Cardinal Bellarmine's doctrine of the indirect power of popes in temporal matters but never subscribed to the doctrine of the divine power of kings. Most of his books were published posthumously.Philippe Denis retraces Edmond Richer's career and examines his ecclesiological and political thinking. Without taking all the syndic's opinions at face value, this volume commits itself to taking seriously Richer's declared intention, which was to vindicate the teaching of the School of Paris and that of Jean Gerson in particular. Philippe Denis places the heated, sometimes aggressive, debates between Richer and his adversaries in the context of a double progression: that of the doctrine of an absolute monarchy, a form of government which had been developing since the troubles of the League, and that of the Ultramontane ideas, often disputed but supported with growing vigour, in France and elsewhere, in the context of the reception of the Council of Trent.Philippe Denis presents the English translation of his book originally published in French (Editions du Cerf in Paris, 2014).

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Book SynopsisIn the field of biblical hermeneutics one area which scholarship has neglected is Catholic biblical scholarship during the early modern era. A brief look through a standard textbook on hermeneutics reveals the all-to-common jump from Luther, Calvin and the other Reformers, straight to Spinoza and the pioneers of the historical critical method. Catholic figures during the Reformation and afterward are often considered too reliant on tradition, too entrenched in dogmatic disputes, and too ignorant of historical methods to be taken as serious scholars of Scripture. In this timely work, Dr. Murray addresses these misconceptions and systematically shows why they are inadequate and a more nuanced judgment is needed. Beginning with a much-needed overview of contemporary scholarship, the work examines the historical context and key influences on the Catholic approach to the Bible. After addressing the Council of Trent and the Jesuit Order, it then examines two influential Jesuit biblical scholars in the next two chapters, the Spanish Cardinal Franciscus Toletus (1532-1596) and the great Flemish exegete Cornelius a Lapide (1567-1637). Dr. Murray examines the life, works, secondary literature, and biblical hermeneutics of both great scholars showing that Catholics, just like their Reformed brethren, could be serious and quality exegetes. While they lacked the historical knowledge and tools of today, the work shows that the Jesuits were pioneers in showing how their faith and devotion could be compatible with a historical and scientific study of Scripture. Jesuit Biblical Studies After Trent is a must read for those seeking to understand how Catholics were approaching the Bible after the Reformation and for those seeking to learn how to integrate their personal faith with a scientific study of Scripture.

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Book SynopsisFrederik A.V. Harms examines Calvin's ecclesiology based on his commentary on the Little Prophets from 15571559. Harms presents Calvin's view of the church from a historical-systematic perspective. His study of the great reformer's ecclesiology is accompanied by two historical parts. On the one hand, Harms Calvin offers historical context from 1558 to 1559, when he gave lectures on the Little Prophets. On the other hand, Harms provides an overview of the history of interpretation of the Little Prophets from the early church to the first generation of reformed orthodoxy.

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Book SynopsisRobert McKelvey argues that John Bunyan wrote The Holy War as a warfare allegory symbolizing the salvation history of Scripture from a Calvinistic-covenantal perspective. In this cosmic drama of redemption, the "Histories That Mansoul, and her Wars Anatomize" include the individual-soteric-microcosmic level or ordo salutis unfolding analogous to the redemptive-historical-macrocosmic level or historia salutis. The eternal covenant of redemption provides the foundation for this history of salvation, which progresses from creation to the anticipation of consummation. This scheme finds its roots in the Puritan philosophy of "universal history" which sees all historical events serving God's redemptive purposes. The individual, through union with Christ founded on election, participates in the drama by inclusion within the trans-historical covenant of grace. As a depiction of cosmic war, The Holy War sets forth the enmity between the church and Antichrist, which is representative of the greater battle between Christ and the devil from Genesis to Revelation. As a pastoral guide to persecuted saints, Bunyan retrospectively rehearses the history of redemption to grant comfort. In addition, he prospectively reveals the consummation of redemption to encourage perseverance and instil eschatological hope. This thesis is substantiated contextually through Bunyan's life and writings, historiographically by surveying the history of Holy War interpretation, pre-textually by examining the introduction to the allegory, and textually by analyzing the allegory itself.

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Book SynopsisEven beyond the 500th anniversary of 2009, Calvin and the consequences of the Reformation associated with his name have lost none of their fascination. Current questions and research projects revolve around the life, work and thoughts of the early modern theologian. The work contains the lectures of the tenth International Congress for Calvin Research (Bloemfontein 2010) and represents the latest state of Calvin research. The first part consists of all lectures by leading scientists from the history of the Reformation and theology, including Luca Baschera, Tony Lane and Wim Janse. They deal with the main topic of the congress, reconciliation. The thematically diverse second part contains short lectures, such as on Calvin's concept of theology or Calvin's understanding of freedom. Mimako Saito writes about Calvin's legacy in Japan. Like the publications of previous Calvin Congress lectures, this edition is intended to serve as a source and guide for future studies. The selection of the title, Calvinus clarissimus theologus, continues the tradition of quoting from an exchange of letters to Calvin. The title echoes the words of Johannes Storm, who praises Calvin as an "astute and learned theologian." Based on these words, Herman J. Selderhuis expresses the honorable commemoration of the Calvin expert and long-time secretary and member of the Presidium Wilhelm Heinrich Neuser, who died a few weeks before the start of the congress.

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Book SynopsisChristian theology traditionally regards the sacramental as the polar opposite of the profane. The polarity is a memorial of contemporary desacralisation, profanisation, and sacralisation that stands as a portal to the story of modern reality. In our liminal space, we neither de-sacralise our environs nor re-sacralise the world. The lines are blurred and our perception of spirituality is neither immanent nor transcendent. While words fail to articulate the condition, stories are told and tales of experiences come together to form new theoretical nets, systems and categories. The conference volume, Sacrality and Materiality: Locating Intersections seeks to reply to the questions: Where does the sacred intersect with the material? What happens when they meet? First, however, does the sacral even exist? Would it be more productive to ignite sacramental discourse at the intersections of a new matrix? Historically, materiality is other than spirituality -- an intersection of the two is an intangible event of the intellect and spirit. We must engage a bipolar setting in the context of its own history in order to speak about the unspeakable. Despite that spirituality and materiality refuse to assume the categories assigned to the initial polarities of sacrality and profanity, the volume addresses the constrictions. Sacral materialism and sacral spiritualism both exist in their own right, and Christian theology has more to offer than polarities. The sacral is the meeting point for the fission of thought. Is the sacramental a topos for telling a postmodern story of spiritual experience? Is Evangelical sacramental theology relevant? Does theological talk about holy materiality belong in denominational and inter-religious dialogue?

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Book SynopsisDarren M. Pollock examines the 1611 Romans hexapla commentary by the prolific Church of England preacher and controversialist Andrew Willet. While some have considered Willets later biblical commentaries to have been a retreat from his earlier engagement in religious controversy, the author argues that his exegetical work maintained a significant element of anti-Catholic polemics, only expressed in a different genre. This polemical hermeneutic served as an organizing principle and as a means by which to clarify the presentation of traditional Reformed readings in relief against a body of Roman Catholic theology that Willet believed threatened the gospel of grace. Pauls letter provided ample opportunity for Willet to identify what is distinctive about Reformed theology or rather, as Willet would have it, the particular ways in which papist dogma had diverged from the true line of Christian belief running from the Fathers through to the (truly catholic) Reformed church of the seventeenth century.Willets exegesis highlights many of the polemical issues that had long been contended between Protestants and Catholics, including the authentic versions of the bible, Scriptures attributes, and principles of interpretation, as well as doctrines like justification, predestination, the assurance of salvation, and the place of good works. A close investigation into Willets exegetical method also helps to see how an identifiable hermeneutical lens is consistent with a disciplined reading that is faithful to the text. His polemical focus does not corrupt his exegesis or force upon it meanings that are alien to the text itself; rather, his polemical hermeneutic serves to focus his attention and frame positive doctrinal statements against the sharp contrast of alternate readings.

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Book SynopsisIn this study of Christian eschatological thought, virtually no attention has been given to past interpretations of the biblical phrase the new heavens and earth. John Duff uncovers the interpretations of this phrase that were extant in seventeenth-century England. These interpretations fall into two basic camps -- those that understood the phrase metaphorically and those that understood the phrase literally. Some English divines believed the new heavens and earth referred to the new age of the gospel that commenced in the first century CE. At that time, God flung open the doors of salvation to Gentiles while at the same time bringing judgment to the Jewish nation for its failure to recognise and embrace Jesus as Messiah. This epic transition was fittingly described as a new heavens and earth. A second group of English interpreters believed the phrase stood for a yet future time when the political and religious circumstances of the world would change for the betterment of the church for one thousand years. The new heavens and earth stood for a future millennium in which Christ would establish his reign over the world prior to the day of resurrection and final judgment. Theologians who accepted a literal understanding believed the new heavens and earth described the renovation of the physical creation at the final judgment. Among this group, differences of opinion existed with respect to how much of the world would need cleansing, what creatures would be restored and of what use would a renovated world serve. The idea that the earth, and not heaven, would be the final abode of the saints emerged among a few obscure writers.

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Book SynopsisPál Ács discusses various aspects of the cultural and literary history of Hungary during the hundred years that followed the Battle of Mohács (1526) and the onset of the Reformation. The author focuses on the special Ottoman context of the Hungarian Reformation movements including the Protestant and Catholic Reformation and the spiritual reform of Erasmian intellectuals. The author argues that the Ottoman presence in Hungary could mean the co-existence of Ottoman bureaucrats and soldiers with the indigenous population. He explores the culture of occupied areas, the fascinating ways Christians came to terms with Muslim authorities, and the co-existence of Muslims and Christians. Ács treats not only the culture of the Reformation in an Ottoman context but also vice versa the Ottomans in a Protestant framework. As the studies show, the culture of the early modern Hungarian Reformation is extremely manifold and multi-layered. Historical documents such as theological, political and literary works and pieces of art formed an interpretive, unified whole in the self-representation of the era. Two interlinked and unifying ideas define this diversity: on the one hand the idea of European-ness, i.e. the idea of strong ties to a Christian Europe, and on the other the concept of Reformation itself. Despite its constant ideological fragmentation, the Reformation sought universalism in all its branches. As Ács shows, it was re-formatio in the original sense of the word, i.e. restoration, an attempt to restore a bygone perfection imagined to be ideal.

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Book SynopsisFor 60 years Qumran research has been focused on epigraphy, exegesis, and the historical sources of the Dead Sea Scrolls. The manuscripts are now published and accessible, and research is turning in a positive way to the archaeology of the site and its context. The time has come to provide researchers with a complete documentation. The excavator, Roland de Vaux, had given preliminary reports and a valuable interpretation made in the immediate aftermath of the excavations. Since considerable progress has been made in the archeology of Hellenistic and Roman Palestine, however, Qumran has to be reassessed and the interpretation objectively verified.Volume IIIA presents an up-to-date archaeological reconsideration: a shorter and more precise chronology, in which the earthquake of 31 BC is deleted; the concept of an Essene community is challenged, owing to the lack of a suitable infrastructure; the cemetery itself is connected with a Jewish diaspora scattered around the Dead Sea. Other facilities strengthen the Jewish character of the site, however. The function of Qumran fits better with the rites of a pilgrimage on the occasion of the festivals of Passover and Pentecost.In the second part, the peripheral Essene facilities, expanded around an earlier Hellenistic center, are analyzed and described. The essay seeks to outline their internal consistency and to determine their function. The restoration of a stratigraphy, by cross-checking the excavation archives, leads to a redistribution of pottery in four levels in a more precise chronology.The reconsideration makes use of anthropology, which opens up the archaeological field and throws additional light on the manuscripts.

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Book SynopsisThis volume contains the plenary papers and a selection of shortpapers from the Seventh Annual RefoRC conference, which was held 1012 May 2017 in Wittenberg. The contributions concentrate on the effects of Luther's new theology and draw the lines from Luther's contemporaries into the early seventeenth century. Developments in art, catholic responses and Calvinistic reception are only some of the topics. The volume reflects the interdisciplinarity and interconfessionality that characterizes present research on the 16th century reformations and underlines the fact that this research has not come to a conclusion in 2017. The papers in this conference volume point to lacunae and will certainly stimulate further research. Contributors: Wim François, Antonio Gerace, Siegrid Westphal, Edit Szegedi, Maria Lucia Weigel, Graeme Chatfield, Jane Schatkin Hettrick, Marta Quatrale, Aurelio A. García, Jeannette Kreijkes, Csilla Gábor, Gábor Ittzés, Balázs Dávid Magyar, Tomoji Odori, Gregory Soderberg, Herman A. Speelman, Izabela Winiarska-Górska, Erik A. de Boer, Donald Sinnema, Dolf te Velde.

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Book SynopsisThe contemporary world is marked by a sense of vulnerability not seen since the end of the Cold War. Climate change, migration, and political instability make people feel the inherent vulnerability of human life. Concepts of "risk" and "danger" are as relevant now as ever before for illuminating contemporary life. Yet, what changes in human lives if one interprets existence with "risk" and "danger" from the perspective of Christian faith? Does the Christian symbol system offer orientation for human lives in a time of crisis? Exploring the work of leading contemporary thinkers, Danish theologian Mikkel Gabriel Christoffersen develops a rich and varied account of Christian doctrine that enables human beings to live with risk and danger, in all vulnerability, with gratitude, courage and care for others. Christoffersen develops an interdisciplinary approach that allows him to draw upon sociological and anthropological reflections on life lived whilst facing risks and dangers. He brings these findings into conversation with Scandinavian, Anglo-American, and German theologians of risk. The result of his endeavor is a Trinitarian theology of risk that explores the extent to which one can consider the cross of Christ a risk of the incarnation rather than its very purpose. Focusing on vital existential questions makes Christoffersen's considerations vibrant and relevant to scholars and lay-people with an open-minded, intellectual interest in contemporary Christian theology.

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Book SynopsisIn 1885, a large hypogeum was discovered at the Saint-E'tienne Compound, the domain acquired only two and a half years before by the Dominicans on the western slope of El Heidhemiyeh hill, about 250 m north of the Jerusalem Ottoman wall. After the unearthing of a second large hypogeum, only fifty metres north of Hypogeum 1, in their monumental work on the history of Jerusalem, the two eminent Dominican scholars Louis-Hugues Vincent and Felix-Marie Abel proposed to date the two burial complexes to the Hellenistic or Roman period. This dating remained unchallenged until the survey of 1974-75, carried out by the distinguished Israeli archaeologists Gabriel Barkay and Amos Kloner, who proposed to date the two burial caves towards the end of the Judahite kingdom, on the basis of an unsystematic comparison of few architectural features with those of other tombs. In the frame of the improved knowledge of the broad and adjacent archaeological contexts since the last study of the Saint-E'tienne Compound Hypogea, between 2011 and 2014 Riccardo Lufrani carried out a detailed survey of the two burial caves, providing new and more detailed photographic, topographic, archaeological and geological documentation. The systematic comparison of the significant architectural features of the Saint-E'tienne Compound Hypogea with a consistent sample of 22 tombs in the region suggest dating the hewing of the two hypogea to the Early Hellenistic period, shedding a new light on the history of Jerusalem.

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Book SynopsisThe theme of this volume is the question of value-perception. It is discussed from different philosophical, psychiatric, theological, and anthropological perspectives. The thesis that unites all the papers is the recognition that we live in a relational, dynamic world, in which we primarily perceive, and that to dissolve values from facts is fundamentally misleading, both in theory as in life. The contributions are the outcome of an energetic conference in 2016 where the problems at stake were rigorously discussed. The results are presented here, and they have an explicit order and are strictly related. It opens with basic questions and observations, then critical opinions and objections come into play, after which the outline of a larger theory of value perception is presented, and at the end some concrete examples from material practices are drawn.

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Book SynopsisTransylvanian Sabbatarianism emerged from the aspirations of the Reformation, without direct contact with the Jews. Although the most frequently asked question about them concerns their identity were they Christians or Jews the answers of the literature are superficial, biased, and take only an external point of view. The aim of this book, therefore, is to move closer to the 1617th century Sabbatarian manuscripts and to examine how much they were still connected to Christianity in their biblical interpretations, doctrines and religious practices, how they adapted to Judaism, and how they saw themselves in relation to the two world religions. The analysis of Reka Timea Ujlaki-Nagy shows that although they still held some Christian beliefs, these were considered to be incidental and unnecessary to salvation. Sabbatarians followed the ideal of an age preceding Christ, consequently the Reformation effort to restitute apostolic Christianity disappeared from their religious thought.

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Book SynopsisMost commentators view the Epistle of Jude as a parenetic text. The commentary Expecting for the Mercy highlights its soteriological and Christological contents. This has been possible by taking a structural approach to the text and showing that its structure is chiastic, with Jude 1415 at its centre a description of the eschatological judgment foretold from the beginning of the world. The judgment is seen primarily as a time to show mercy to the faithful. Knowing this, the believers should also show mercy to the straying. Placing Jude 1415 at the centre of the theological reflection has allowed us to reveal the hermeneutic perspective applied to interpret apocalyptic texts. The narrator interprets this kind of texts from the Christocentric angle, just like all other writings belonging to the Jewish tradition. In addition, he uses typology and the pesher method. The commentary is ecumenical, taking into account both Catholic and Lutheran perspectives.

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Book SynopsisThe Great Canon of St Andrew of Crete â a timeless liturgical tool for the spiritual transformation of man

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Book SynopsisFrom the beginning many of the early Christian communities led an ascetic lifestyle, although a good number of New Testament texts do not seem suitable for justifying radical ascetic and encratite practice. The question thus arises how the different forms of asceticism could be justified on the basis of those scriptures.The articles of the volume focus on the interpretation and application of New Testament texts in various ascetic milieus and in the works of several early Christian authors and on the reception history of New Testament texts either supporting or resisting an ascetic relecture.

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Book SynopsisWhile the so-called New perspective in Paul has been in the focus of New Testament exegesis for more than 25 years now, ancient interpretations of Pauline texts and ideas have been neglected widely. The present volume aims to fill this gap. Its articles concentrate on three different foci of modern exegesis: interpretations of Pauls conversion, his ideas about the relation of grace and works and the fate of Israel. Several additional articles contrast these ancient perspectives with answers of modern exegesis.

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Book SynopsisAntonio Gerace dealt with the development of biblical scholarship in Louvain by analysing with seven authors who worked in the first part of the Sixteenth century and who are strictly linked to the Louvain milieu. In chronological order, they include Nicholas Tacitus Zegers (c.1495-1559), John Henten (1499-1566), Cornelius Jansenius of Ghent', Adam Sasbout, John Hessels (1522-1566), Thomas Stapleton, and Francis Lucas 'of Bruges'. Each author offered key-contributions that can effectively show the development of Catholic biblical scholarship in that period. This can be divided into three main thematic areas: 1) Text-criticism of the Latin Vulgate; 2) Exegesis of the Scriptures; and 3) Preaching of the Bible. Somehow, these three areas represent the 'study flow' of the Scriptures: the emendation of the Vulgate, aimed at restoring the text to a hypothetical 'original', and the philological approach to the Greek and Hebrew sources allowing for a better comprehension of the Bible. Such comprehension becomes the basis of commentaries made with the intention of explaining the meaning of the Scriptures to the faithful in the light of the Tradition. Furthermore, the Church needed to preach the Scriptures and their contents to the Catholic flock in order to safeguard them from any 'heretical' influence. Therefore, several homiletic works appeared so that priests could prepare their sermons appropriately. Therefore, Gerace divided his work into three parts, each devoted to one of the three research areas, following the 'study-flow' of the Scriptures.

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Book SynopsisMissiological calls for self-theologizing among faith communities present the field of practical theology with a challenge to develop methodological approaches that address the complexities of cross-cultural, practical theological research. Although a variety of approaches can be considered critical correlative practical theology, existing methods are often built on assumptions that limit their use in subaltern contexts. Kirk VanGilder addresses these concerns by analyzing existing theological methodologies with sustained attention to a community of Deaf Zimbabwean women struggling to develop their own agency in relation to child rearing practices. He explores a variety of theological approaches from practical theology, mission oriented theologians, theology among Deaf communities, and African women's theology in relationship to the challenges presented by subaltern communities such as Deaf Zimbabwean women. Rather than frame a comprehensive methodology, VanGilder proposes attitudes and guideposts to reorient practical theological researchers who wish to engender self-theologizing agency in subaltern communities.

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Book SynopsisThree recent and commercially successful series of novels employ and adapt the resources of popular fantasy fiction to create visions of religious identity: J.K. Rowlings Harry Potter books, Phillip Pullmans Dark Materials and Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins Left Behind series. The act of creating fantasy counter-worlds naturally involves all three stories in the creation of what Mike Gray terms transfigurations of transcendence: hopeful albeit paradoxical encodings of the ambiguous, non-observable reality whose primary locus in modern society is the societally extra-systemic human individual. Popular fantasy fiction turns out to involve acts of world-creation that are inherently religious and inherently paradoxical.A substantive examination shows that all three are involved in more or less intentional re-narrations of traditional Christian beliefs and narratives. The "atheist" His Dark Materials series does not deny but re-imagines the Christian visions of selfhood; the "traditionalist" Left Behind series does not simply replicate but modifies its own declared values; the apparent secularity of the Harry Potter series is shaped by its creative reception of Christian patterns and narratives. While the stories visions of selfhood clearly clash, the basic paradoxes involved in their struggle to articulate transcendence expose significant parallels and a productive conversation with the Christian tradition.It is not simply that popular fantasy fiction is theologically relevant the Christian Heilsgeschichte, too, proves to be highly relevant in popular culture. However, while far from obsolescent, models of religious identity in contemporary society require criticism and creativity and, as evinced most powerfully in the Harry Potter stories, a flair for constructive engagement with paradox. Three recent and commercially successful series of novels employ and adapt the resources of popular fantasy fiction to create visions of religious identity: J.K. Rowlings Harry Potter books, Phillip Pullmans Dark Materials and Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins Left Behind series.The act of creating fantasy counter-worlds naturally involves all three stories in the creation of what Mike Gray terms transfigurations of transcendence: hopeful albeit paradoxical encodings of the ambiguous, non-observable reality whose primary locus in modern society is the societally extra-systemic human individual. Popular fantasy fiction turns out to involve acts of world-creation that are inherently religious and inherently paradoxical.A substantive examination shows that all three are involved in more or less intentional re-narrations of traditional Christian beliefs and narratives. The "atheist" His Dark Materials series does not deny but re-imagines the Christian visions of selfhood; the "traditionalist" Left Behind series does not simply replicate but modifies its own declared values; the apparent secularity of the Harry Potter series is shaped by its creative reception of Christian patterns and narratives. While the stories visions of selfhood clearly clash, the basic paradoxes involved in their struggle to articulate transcendence expose significant parallels and a productive conversation with the Christian tradition.It is not simply that popular fantasy fiction is theologically relevant the Christian Heilsgeschichte, too, proves to be highly relevant in popular culture. However, while far from obsolescent, models of religious identity in contemporary society require criticism and creativity and, as evinced most powerfully in the Harry Potter stories, a flair for constructive engagement with paradox.

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Book SynopsisStephen J. Hamilton attempts to create a portrait of born-again Christianity by providing a general introduction to the doctrine of regeneration, including its development in modernity, as well as short exegeses of relevant scriptural texts, followed by a close reading of four theologians Philipp Jakob Spener, Jonathan Edwards, Friedrich D.E. Schleiermacher, and Charles G. Finney who all associate the doctrine of regeneration with an experience of presence in the individual believer.In light of these analyses, he then traces a general theological structure of the born-again understanding of regeneration, including a catalogue of theological issues over which there is significant disagreement, in order to create a topography of born-again theologies. In the final section, he applies these results to contemporary conversion narratives of non-theologians. It is in such conversion narratives, the author argues, that theologians can discover an implicit, lived theology that reveals how doctrines are perceived and put into practice among Christians. Accordingly, this is to be understood as the result of the creative reciprocity between (often tacit) theological convictions and the experiences of the Christian life. The final chapter, as a coda to the entire work, offers some concluding reflections on the present cultural and political situation in the USA pertaining to born-again Christianity and argues against any oversimplifications of the relationship between born-again theologies, culture, and politics.

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Book SynopsisRecent developments in technology have given rise to the impression that the boundaries imposed by our bodiliness can somehow be overcome. The increasing philosophical interest in bodiliness as an unavoidable human condition can be seen as a response to this far too comfortable impression. The essays in this volume address the topic of bodiliness from a theological point of view. They show that our perceptions of, and relationships with, one another cannot be divorced from our bodily condition, and that this existential reality affects significantly how we understand our relationship with God. The contributions also address how we can best deal with the fragility of our bodily condition, as well as the challenges that technological and medical procedures for altering the appearance and constitution of our bodies pose. Special attention is given to how liturgical experience not only offers us a means to respond to these challenges but also to deepen our understanding of Christian communities as ineluctably bodily.

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Book SynopsisJust Gender Relations in Church and Society â more than just a Dream

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Book SynopsisDie poetische und politische Inszenierung der PfÃlzischen Hochzeit des Jahres 1613 in London.

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Book SynopsisErich Gruen's small study, the revised and extended Felix Jacoby Kiel lecture on the Jewish historians of the Hellenistic period, shows that their writings, which have survived only fragmentarily, displayed a remarkable breadth and diversity. Their handling of the biblical texts was at the same time very playful, consciously connected with a certain amount of idiosyncrasy and with the intention of placing Jewish traditions in a broader cultural context. The historians saw their task primarily not to elucidate it. To the biblical narratives they offered instead compelling twists, alternative versions and provocative variants. Almost always their representations also had a certain entertainment value. The sacredness of Scripture remained untouched.

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Book SynopsisThis volume also covers major aspects, such as the role of intellectualism, the description of abstract and primitive art, and the unison of symbolism and individual portraiture in premodern cultures.

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