History of religion Books
Atlantic Books In the Name of God
Book SynopsisIn this groundbreaking book, Selina O''Grady examines how and why the post-Christian and the Islamic worlds came to be as tolerant or intolerant as they are. She asks whether tolerance can be expected to heal today''s festering wound between these two worlds, or whether something deeper than tolerance is needed. Told through contemporary chronicles, stories and poems, Selina O''Grady takes the reader through the intertwined histories of the Muslim, Christian and Jewish persecutors and persecuted. From Umar, the seventh century Islamic caliph who laid down the rules for the treatment of religious minorities in what was becoming the greatest empire the world has ever known, to Magna Carta John who seriously considered converting to Islam; and from al-Wahhab, whose own brother thought he was illiterate and fanatical, but who created the religious-military alliance with the house of Saud that still survives today, to Europe''s bloody Thirty Years war that wearied Europe of murd
£20.00
Third Millennium Press Ltd. Atlas of the Quran
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£50.99
Bene Factum Publishing Ltd The Pocket Book of What, When and Who on Earth:
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£9.99
Mandrake of Oxford The Secret Gospel of Mark
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£13.50
ATF Press In the Land of Larks and Heroes: Australian
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£26.59
ATF Press Thinking Things Through: Essays in Philosophy and
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£23.74
ATF Press Pieces of Ease and Grace
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£24.69
ATF Press Pieces of Ease and Grace
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£29.69
ATF Press Go Where the Work is Waiting
Book SynopsisThese pages tell the story of the Sisters of St Joseph of Goulburn, one of the Josephite Congregations that carried out the vision of Father Julian Tenison Woods and St Mary of the Cross MacKillop. The book traces the lives and work of the Sisters in bringing a Catholic education to remote and isolated children in south west New South Wales. It covers the years from the foundation of the Congregation in Goulburn in 1882 to its merger or fusion with the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart in 2012. As well as looking at the lives of the Sisters it gives a sense of life in the many small and often remote places where they established schools, and the events in both Church and State that impacted upon their lives. In the pages of the book it is possible to imagine the Sisters going about their daily tasks, meeting challenges as they had to be faced while resolutely following what they discerned was being asked of them at each stage of their journey.
£30.59
ATF Press De-colonising the Biblical Narrative - Volume 3:
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£25.64
ATF Press The Unknown Father of the Modern Mission
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£22.79
ATF Press The Unknown Father of the Modern Mission
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£27.54
ATF Press God in South Africa: The Challenge of the Gospel
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£22.79
ATF Press Remembering a Dream
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£25.64
ATF Press Vatican II Notebook
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£35.99
ATF Press Never See a Need: The Sisters of St Joseph in
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£30.39
ATF Press Never See a Need: The Sisters of St Joseph in
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£35.09
ATF Press Wonderful and Confessedly Strange
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£23.74
ATF Press Church as Communion: The Gift and Goal of
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£20.89
Larson Publications Put the Blame on Eve: What Women Must Overcome to
Book SynopsisThis book follows the roots of women''s struggle for equal pay, equal status, and equal respect back to that fateful, eye-opening day -- when Eve met a Serpent by a Tree, and shared an Apple with Adam instead of enjoying it without him. How did Eve (and then all women) become a scapegoat for The Fall of Man? What spin on this story made women seem to deserve being held down or back, to be suspected -- and often even suspect themselves -- of devious intents or deeds? Who fashioned such spin, and how? And why did we ever buy into it? Melinda Rising''s research into the gnarled roots of sexism and misogyny in our culture -- from the Book of Genesis through early Church history, the Crusades, heretic hunting, the Inquisitions, witch hunts, and on into our own century -- is startling, inspiring, and ultimately healing. Understanding this story, and seeing what still haunts contemporary women, may be an essential key for progress toward real gender equity in our time.
£15.29
Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht GmbH & Co KG Authority and Performance: Sociological
Book SynopsisThe importance of the church councils of the 5th and 6th centuries can not be overstated. They give important insights into the late Roman Empire and the role of the church at that time. The Council of Chalcedon (AD 451) is the most outstanding event of its time due to its rich source, dramatic nature and historical significance. The decisions of the Council led in the Greek Church to heavy upheavals, which continue to this day. Hagit Amirav examines for the first time the social dynamics and the different roles of the actors, the power plays of the imperial deputies and the bishops, their gestures and rhetoric, which should serve the consensus finding. At the center of the analysis is Markian in his dual role as Eastern Roman Emperor and as the central figure of the Greek Church.
£77.34
Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht GmbH & Co KG From Movement to Inheritance: Hidden Assets from
Book SynopsisThis book does not only deal with the history, but also with the effects of the Reformation over the mentality, education and scientifical research among Hungarians during the last five centuries. The spirit of the Reformation has not only been a church-forming factor, but also a force of nation-building and salvation. This volume includes 17 studies of Hungarian Reformed theologians presented at a conference in November 2016. The main goal was to give an overview of the most recent research results in history and theology regarding Reformation and its effects over society and mentality among Hungarians. The contributors come from various Hungarian theological universities from the Carpathian basin, thus the book is an overview of their research topics and results. The City Cluj-Napoca was, became and remained an important center of the Reformation, as significant events took place in its surroundings as well. The Faculty of Reformed Theology of the Babeș-Bolyai University and the Protestant Theological Institute has always functioned in an environment, where the challenges of multi-confessionalism and multiethnicity are also present beside interdisciplinarity.
£68.84
Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht GmbH & Co KG Alternative Voices: A Plurality Approach for
Book SynopsisWhen scholarship presents the histories, belief systems, and ritual patterns of specific religious groups, it often privileges victorious and elite fractions of those communities to the detriment and neglect of alternative, dissonant, and resurgent voices. The contributions in this volume, which include case studies on various religious and academic contexts, illustrate the importance of listening to those alternative voices for the study of religion.
£121.54
Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht GmbH & Co KG Betsaida/Bethsaida Julias (et-Tell): The First
Book SynopsisHeinz-Wolfgang Kuhn informs about the excavations on et-Tell at the northern end of the Sea of Galilee, directed by the Israeli archaeologist Rami Arav, professor at the University of Nebraska at Omaha and Prof. Richard Freund of the University of Hartford as Project Director. It is now possible to identify the hill with Bethsaida/Julias, which is mentioned, among other texts, in the New Testament gospels (seven times), by the Jewish historian Josephus and in Rabbinical literature. This volume has a twofold purpose: On the one hand, the 15 collected essays in English and German, complemented by the Munich excavation plans, enable the reader to follow the course of the excavations from the very beginning in 1987. The emphasis of the collected essays (beginning with an article published in 1989) lies on the levels of the Hellenistic-Early Roman period, giving a continuous description of the excavations, as they developed over such a long time. On the other hand, one finds here the current data of the excavations, with many important details concerning the Hellenistic-Early Roman period, with the author focussing especially on the first half of the first century CE, the time of Jesus activity at Bethsaida, as can be shown through historical-critical research. In particular, an overview is given of all the coins of the Herods (from Herod the Great to Agrippa II, including five coins of Philip, the ruler at the time of Jesus), of finds of columns, figurines and decorated stones, and there are lists of the so-called Herodian oil lamps and the typical Jewish stone vessels from the Early Roman period. The question of a small pagan Hellenistic-Early Roman temple is discussed, illustrated with many pictures. The excavation plans of the whole area and including all excavated levels from Iron Age IIA on (with an exact grid), extending over 25 years, are unique since they can never be redrawn, due to the normal destruction of nature and ongoing excavations. Heinz-Wolfgang Kuhn informs about the excavations on et-Tell at the northern end of the Sea of Galilee, directed by the Israeli archaeologist Rami Arav, professor at the University of Nebraska at Omaha and Prof. Richard Freund of the University of Hartford as Project Director. It is now possible to identify the hill with Bethsaida/Julias, which is mentioned, among other texts, in the New Testament gospels (seven times), by the Jewish historian Josephus and in Rabbinical literature. This volume has a twofold purpose: On the one hand, the 15 collected essays in English and German, complemented by the Munich excavation plans, enable the reader to follow the course of the excavations from the very beginning in 1987. The emphasis of the collected essays (beginning with an article published in 1989) lies on the levels of the Hellenistic-Early Roman period, giving a continuous description of the excavations, as they developed over such a long time. On the other hand, one finds here the current data of the excavations, with many important details concerning the Hellenistic-Early Roman period, with the author focussing especially on the first half of the first century CE, the time of Jesus activity at Bethsaida, as can be shown through historical-critical research. In particular, an overview is given of all the coins of the Herods (from Herod the Great to Agrippa II, including five coins of Philip, the ruler at the time of Jesus), of finds of columns, figurines and decorated stones, and there are lists of the so-called Herodian oil lamps and the typical Jewish stone vessels from the Early Roman period. The question of a small pagan Hellenistic-Early Roman temple is discussed, illustrated with many colored pictures. The excavation plans of the whole area and including all excavated levels from Iron Age IIA on (with an exact grid), extending over 25 years, are unique since they can never be redrawn, due to the normal destruction of nature and ongoing excavations.
£304.79
Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht GmbH & Co KG Commentary and Authority in Mesopotamia and
Book SynopsisHow did the written word serve as an authoritative source in the ancient world? What does it mean that some works became so popular as to merit dedicated interpretive commentaries? And does any direct relationship exist between the various methods of interpretation and styles of composition in these commentaries? The present work sets out to provide some solid answers to such questions. At the heart of this book stands a comparative analysis of ancient cuneiform commentary texts from mid-to-late first millennium Mesopotamia and early Jewish commentaries -- known as pesharim -- from the turn of the common era found in caves near Khirbet Qumran. Though some aspects of Mesopotamian hermeneutics may have influenced Jewish exegesis, likely through Jewish Aramaic scribes, the actual Mesopotamian practice of composing commentary texts exerted little-to-no influence on the compositional techniques of the pesharim. Nevertheless, many textual difficulties in the Qumran pesharim can be explained as the result of an accretion of interpretations over an extended period of time -- practice detailed in the textual record of the Mesopotamian commentaries. What is more, these commentaries reveal important evidence about both the way in which and the extent to which such works functioned as authoritative sources. As a result, this book advocates a shift away from discussing textual authority in simple binary terms, both in ancient and modern contexts, to functional descriptions of literary authority.
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Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht GmbH & Co KG Johann Wilhelm and Johanna Eleonora Petersen's
Book SynopsisAlthough the Petersens' name is quite known among specialists of Pietism, their work, their ideas and the development of their thoughts remain mostly unresearched. Elisa Belucci aims to shed more light on her works, analyzing and interpreting them in relationship to the theological and socio-political context. In so doing, she fills some gaps present in the research on these authors: firstly, she analyzes the positions presented in the Petersens' work until 1703 at length; secondly, she tries to unearth sources and influences; Thirdly, she seeks to comment on the Petersens' ideas and positions in relationship to the historical context. The result is an entangled picture which questions the traditional distinction between church Pietism and radical Pietism, orthodoxy and radicalism/separatism, showing, instead, that these categories are sometimes too narrow to describe the position of certain authors , such as the Petersens.
£73.09
Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht GmbH & Co KG John Edwards (16371716) on Human Free Choice and
Book SynopsisFilling the historiographical gap, Yoo raises a fundamental question concerning the criticism of the Reformed doctrine of free choice in relationship to divine necessity as determinism. Unlike the deterministic interpretation of traditional Reformed thought on free choice, the substantive and careful study of John Edwards writings on free choice in the intellectual context of the seventeenth and the eighteenth century shows that in Edwards view, human beings retain the natural freedom from compulsion and freedom of contrary choice even after the Fall, and divine necessity such as decree, predestination, and foreknowledge does not exclude human free choice at all.
£91.99
Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht GmbH & Co KG The Ironic Calvinism of Daniel Kalaj (d. 1681): A
Book SynopsisDaniel Kalaj (d.1681) was a Polish Reformer of Hungarian background, born in Little Poland (Malopolska) and trained in Franeker, Friesland, under some of the most brilliant Reformed theologians of seventeenth-century Europe, such as Cocceius and Cloppenburgh. Kalaj's ministry in the Reformed Church of Little Poland was abruptly interrupted when Catholic authorities wrongly accused him of spreading then-outlawed Arianism, calling him a "Calvinoarian." Kalaj became the first Polish Protestant minister to receive a sentence of capital punishment as a result of the new anti-toleration law issued in 1658 against Arians, under the false pretext of military treason during the Second Northern War (1655-1660). He escaped the axe by fleeing to Lithuania (and later to Gdansk), where he wrote his best-known work "A Friendly Dialogue between an Evangelical Minister and a Roman Catholic Priest". The "Friendly Dialogue" is both: Kalaj's own personal defense and a compendium to Polish Reformed doctrine, and has a strongly irenic disposition. In contrast with many Reformed thinkers of his day, Kalaj is capable of communicating Reformed doctrine in a friendly and peaceful manner. He places special emphasis on the unity of the catholic church, as expressed in his statement that "the three churches Roman, and Lutheran, and Reformed are all part of one true church before God," while at the same time attempting to retain his Reformed orthodoxy.
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Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht GmbH & Co KG The Spirituality of the Heidelberg Catechism:
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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Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht GmbH & Co KG Arts, Portraits and Representation in the
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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Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht GmbH & Co KG Latomus and Luther: The Debate: Is every Good
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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Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht GmbH & Co KG Reformation of Prayerbooks: The Humanist
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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Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht GmbH & Co KG Reformation of the Commonwealth: Thomas Becon and
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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Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht GmbH & Co KG John Calvin and the Righteousness of Works
Book SynopsisJohn Calvin's understanding of works-righteousness is more complex than is often recognized. While he denounces it in some instances, he affirms it in others. This study shows that Calvin affirms works-righteousness within the context where faith-righteousness is already established, and that he even teaches a form of justification by works. Calvin ascribes not only a positive role to good works in relation to divine acceptance, but also soteriological value to believers' good works. This study demonstrates such by exploring Calvin's theological anthropology, his understanding of divine-human activity, his teaching on the nature of good works, and his understanding of divine grace and benevolence. It also addresses current debates in Calvin scholarship by exploring topics such as union with Christ, the relation between justification and sanctification, the relation between good works and divine acceptance, the role of good works in the Christian life, and the content of good works.
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Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht GmbH & Co KG Transregional Reformations: Crossing Borders in
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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Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht GmbH & Co KG Constantino de la Fuente (San Clemente,
Book SynopsisDuring the first half of the sixteenth century the Spanish Inquisition fought Lutheranism in a benign way, but as time passed the power struggle between those that favoured reform and the detractors intensified, until persecution became relentless under the mandate of Inquisitor General Fernando de Valdés. The power struggle did not catch Constantino by surprise, but the tables turned faster than he had expected. On 1 August 1558 Constantino preached his last sermon in the cathedral of Seville; fifteen days later he was imprisoned. Constantinos evangelising zeal is evident in all his works, but the core of his theology can be found in Beatus Vir, where he deals with the doctrines of sin and pardon, free grace, providence, predestination, and the relationship between faith and works. In his exposition of Psalm 1, Constantino does not resort to human philosophies but associates the spiritual fall of humanity with ugliness. In his exhortation to the reader, he states: we shall plainly see the repulsiveness of that which seems so good in the eyes of insane men, and the beauty and greatness of that which the Divine Word has promised and assured those who turn to its counsel.
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Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht GmbH & Co KG In God's Custody: The Church, a History of Divine
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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Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht GmbH & Co KG Calvinus clarissimus theologus: Papers of the
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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Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht GmbH & Co KG Calvin and the Independence of the Church
Book SynopsisHerman Speelman deals with a central question in the intellectual history of the sixteenth century: to what extent can Calvin be regarded as responsible for the tendency in Calvinism or, broader, in Reformed Protestantism, to form a church which has its own ecclesiastical organization and office bearers? So far, claiming a great deal of independence for the church has been considered an important aspect of Calvin's legacy. In this line of reasoning, it is assumed that Calvin was a strong opponent of the church as a state organization that did not have its own governing body and power of excommunication. To better understand this issue, we first examine the position of the church within the city-state of Bern. Secondly, we direct our attention to the manner in which Calvin gave form to ecclesiastical life in Geneva. Next we deal with the church in France, and finally, we examine the influence of Calvin and French Calvinism on the organization of the Reformed church in The Netherlands in the 1570s.
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Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht GmbH & Co KG Sacrality and Materiality: Locating Intersections
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?
£36.54
Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht GmbH & Co KG Early Stuart Polemical Hermeneutics: Andrew
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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Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht GmbH & Co KG A Knot Worth Unloosing: The Interpretation of the
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.
£76.49
Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht GmbH & Co KG Reformations in Hungary in the Age of the Ottoman
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.
£85.49
Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht GmbH & Co KG Prophecy and Its Cultic Dimensions
Book SynopsisThis collection of eight essays deals with a wide range of historical, literary, and methodological issues. First, what were the links between the cultic and the prophetic personnel? Did prophets have ritual/cultic functions in temples? Did prophetic actions and/or utterances play a role in the performance of the cult? What were the ritual aspects of divinations? Second, how do literary texts describe the interaction between prophecy and cult? Third, how can various theories (e.g. religious theory, performance theory) enable us to reach a better understanding of the interplay between divination and cultic ritual in ancient Israel and the wider ancient Near East?Marian Broida explores the ritual elements as described in the biblical accounts of intercession. Lester Grabbe revisits the important question of whether cultic prophecy existed in the Jerusalem temple in ancient Israel. Anja Klein maintains that while Psalms 81 and 95 may indirectly testify to a form of cultic prophecy, they do not themselves constitute cultic prophecy. Jonathan Stökl discusses the notion of triggering prophecy and suggests that enquiring of Yhwh may in itself be understood as a kind of ritualised behaviour. John Hilber considers the performance of the rituals that accompanied prophetic affirmation of victory in the Egyptian cult. Martti Nissinen looks more broadly at the question whether prophets in the ancient world functioned as ritual performers. Lena-Sofia Tiemeyer investigates the priests mediating and predictive functions as depicted in the Deuteronomistic History. Alex Jassen argues that Jews in the Second Temple Period perceived the priests and the temple to be a new locus of prophetic activity.
£68.84
Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht GmbH & Co KG More than Luther: The Reformation and the Rise of
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.
£94.49
Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht GmbH & Co KG Protestant Majorities and Minorities in Early
Book SynopsisThe contributors to this volume examine the complex and dynamic role that Protestant majorities and minorities played in shaping the Reformations of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. In doing so, it offers an important perspective on the range of intellectual, social, economic, political, theological and ecclesiological factors that governed intra- and inter-confessional encounter in the early modern period. While the principal focus is on the situation of different Protestant majority and minority groups, many of the contributions also engage the relation of Protestants and Catholics, with a number also considering early modern Christian dialogue with Muslims and Jews.The volume is organised into five sections, which together provide a comprehensive picture of Protestant majorities and minorities. The first section explores intellectual trajectories, especially those which promoted confessional unity or sought to break down confessional boundaries. The second section, taking the neglected Spanish Reformation as an important case-study, examines the clandestine aspect of minority activities and the efforts of majorities to control and suppress them. The third section pursues a similar theme but examines it through the lens of Flemish and Walloon Reformed refugee communities in Germany and the Netherlands, demonstrating the way in which confessional factors could lead to the integration or exclusion of minorities. The fourth section examines marginal or peripheral Reformations, whether geographically or doctrinally understood, focussing on attempts to implement reform in the shadow of the Ottoman Empire. Finally, the fifth section looks at confessional identity and otherness as a principal theme of majority and minority relations, providing both theoretical and practical frameworks for its evaluation.
£94.49
Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht GmbH & Co KG Education, Religion, and Literary Culture in the
Book SynopsisThis book contextualizes Claudian's handling of the Proserpina myth and the underworld in the history of literature and religion while showing intersections with and differences between the literary and religious uses of the underworld topos. In doing so, the study provides an incentive to rethink the dichotomy of the terms "religious" and "non-religious" in favour of a more nuanced model of references and refunctionalisations of elements which are, or could be, religiously connotated. A close philological analysis of De raptu Proserpinae identifies the sphere of myth and poetry as an area of expressive freedom, a parallel universe to theological discourses (whether they be pagan-philosophical or Christian), while the profound understanding and skilful use of this particular sphere "a formative aspect of European religious and intellectual history" is postulated as a characteristic of the educated Roman and of Claudian's poetry.
£105.39
Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht GmbH & Co KG Christians or Jews?: Early Transylvanian
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.
£105.39
