Church History
Showing 201–300 of 437 results
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To All Nations From All Nations
$58.99Add to cartSharing the Good News might be understood as the prime directive of the Church from its earliest times, but the Church soon discovered unforeseen obstacles and its own set of temptations, including its lust for power and domination. Although the gospel might be joyfully offered, it was not always received in the same spirit. And the Church was not always gracious with dissent and criticism. Even so, the Church continues to reach out to the least, the last, and the lost-attempting to bring them into the family of God. But for mission to be effective today, it must take advantage of indigenous resources and recognize its limitations as well as its gifts.
This book broadly introduces prominent missionary practices and major historical figures using three perspectives. First, it takes into account the missionary activity proceeding from the margins rather than only discussing the center of theological and ecclesial activity. Second, it narrates the cross-cultural, cross-confessional, and cross-religious dynamics that characterize Christian missionary activity. And third, it emphasizes that much missionary activity is generated by national rather than international missionaries. The text concludes with a chapter on the postmodern and postcolonial world.
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Interfaces : Baptists And Others
$49.99Add to cartWhat, the authors ask, has been the Baptist experience of engaging with different groups and developments? The theme has been explored by means of case studies, some of which are very specific in time and place while others cover long periods and more than one country. In the first half the contents are arranged by period. The first section examines early Baptists, the second nineteenth-century Baptists in Britain and America and the third Baptists in the twentieth century. The second half turns to various parts of the world: Australia, New Zealand, Asia and Africa. The overall picture is one of a complicated series of relationships as Baptists defined themselves as different from other bodies and yet, especially in the twentieth century, tried to co-operate in mission and ecumenical endeavour.
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World Changers : Fascinating Figures From Church History
$14.99Add to cartThey Served the Lord They Loved
Bible teacher Herbert Lockyer presents brief biographical sketches of the stirring deeds and extraordinary accomplishments of some of the greatest men of God in church history. Though human, with their own faults, flaws, and missteps, these men had a passion to serve God in a needy world, and their stories still thrill our hearts and create within us a desire to follow Christ, wherever He may lead us.
The biographies include…
*Martin Luther
*George Wishart
*John Knox
*Robert Murray McCheyne
*David Livingstone
*John Bunyan
*John Wesley
*Charles Haddon SpurgeonThese men were outstanding and strategic witnesses for Christ. Their influence and encouragement of God’s church continues to build up the faith of believers, even today.
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Early Church And Today 2
$25.99Add to cartThe Early Church and Today is a collection of scholarly articles by an acclaimed specialist in early Christianity written for a broad audience. The topics taken from the New Testament and other early Christian literature are relevant for the church today. The articles are grouped in the following categories: Volume 1, church and ministry; Volume 2, Christian living, biblical interpretation, the restoration motif, religious liberty, and the book of Acts of the Apostles.
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Early Church And Today 1
$25.99Add to cartThe Early Church and Today is a collection of scholarly articles by an acclaimed specialist in early Christianity written for a broad audience. The topics taken from the New Testament and other early Christian literature are relevant for the church today. The articles are grouped in the following categories: Volume 1, church and ministry; Volume 2, Christian living, biblical interpretation, the restoration motif, religious liberty, and the book of Acts of the Apostles.
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Book That Made Your World
$23.99Add to cartUnderstand where we came from.
Whether you’re an avid student of the Bible or a skeptic of its relevance, The Book That Made Your World will transform your perception of its influence on virtually every facet of Western civilization.
Indian philosopher Vishal Mangalwadi reveals the personal motivation that fueled his own study of the Bible and systematically illustrates how its precepts became the framework for societal structure throughout the last millennium. From politics and science, to academia and technology, the Bible’s sacred copy became the key that unlocked the Western mind.
Through Mangalwadi’s wide-ranging and fascinating investigation, you’ll discover:
*What triggered the West’s passion for scientific, medical, and technological advancement *How the biblical notion of human dignity informs the West’s social structure and how it intersects with other worldviews
*How the Bible created a fertile ground for women to find social and economic empowerment
*How the Bible has uniquely equipped the West to cultivate compassion, human rights, prosperity, and strong families
*The role of the Bible in the transformation of education
*How the modern literary notion of a hero has been shaped by the Bible’s archetypal protagonistJourney with Mangalwadi as he examines the origins of a civilization’s greatness and the misguided beliefs that threaten to unravel its progress. Learn how the Bible transformed the social, political, and religious institutions that have sustained Western culture for the past millennium, and discover how secular corruption endangers the stability and longevity of Western civilization.
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Essential History Of Christianity
$24.99Add to cartThe Essential History of Christianity covers both the key historical events and the big picture. Miranda Threlfall-Holmes helps us to understand what has gone on in the past, and sheds light on our present experiences of churches, religion, spirituality and religious conflict. She also gives important clues about what might happen in the future. This entertaining and accessible guide makes sense of a fascinating subject, providing a clear overview of the broad sweep of Christian history, and is indispensible for those beginning to study Christianity or the Church.
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Desert Fathers And Mothers
$21.99Add to cartWisdom from the very beginnings of
Christian monasticism can become a companion on your own spiritual journey.The desert fathers and mothers were ordinary Christians living in solitude in the deserts of Egypt, Palestine and Syria who chose to renounce the world in order to deliberately and individually follow God s call. They embraced lives of celibacy, labor, fasting, prayer, and poverty, believing that denouncing material goods and practicing stoic self-discipline would lead to unity with the Divine. Their spiritual practice formed the basis of Western monasticism and greatly influenced both Western and Eastern Christianity.
Their writings, first recorded in the fourth century, consist of spiritual advice, parables and anecdotes emphasizing the primacy of love and the purity of heart as essential to spiritual life and authentic communion with God. Focusing on key themes of charity, fortitude, lust, patience, prayer, self-control and visions, the Sayings influenced the rule of St. Benedict and have inspired centuries of opera, poetry and art.
Christine Valters Paintner, PhD, opens up wisdom of the desert fathers and mothers for readers with no previous knowledge of Western monasticism and early Christianity. She provides insightful yet unobtrusive commentary that describes historical background, explains the practice of asceticism and clarifies the ancient desert wisdom that will speak to your life today and energize your spiritual quest.
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Spiritual In The Secular
$48.99Add to cartDavid Livingstone’s visit to Cambridge in 1857 was seen as much as a scientific event as a religious one. But he was by no means alone among missionaries in integrating mission with science and other fields of research. Rather, many missionaries were remarkable, pioneering polymaths.
This collection of essays explores the ways in which late-nineteenth- and twentieth-century missionaries to Africa contributed to various academic disciplines, such as linguistics, ethnography, social anthropology, zoology, medicine, and many more. This volume includes an introductory chapter by the editors and eleven chapters that analyze missionary research and its impact on knowledge about African contexts. Several themes emerge, including many missionaries’ positive views of indigenous discourses and the complicated relationship between missionaries and professional anthropologists.
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Early Christian Worship
$25.00Add to cartOscar Cullmann was born in Strasbourg and studied theology and classical philology there and in Paris. Since 1938 he has been Professor of New Testament and Early Church History in the Theological Faculty of the University of Basel and also, since 1949, Professor of Early Christianity at the Sorbonne, the Ecole des Hautes Etudes, and the Faculte de Theologie Protestante in Paris. He has received honorary degrees from Lausanne, Manchester, Edinburgh, and Lund.
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2 Powers In Heaven
$44.99Add to cartIn his now classic Two Powers in Heaven, Alan Segal examines rabbinic evidence about early manifestations of the two powers heresy within Judaism. Segal sheds light upon the development of and relationships among early Christianity, Gnosticism, and Merkabah mysticism and demonstrates that belief in the two powers in heaven was widespread by the first century, and may have been a catalyst for the Jewish rejection of early Christianity. An important addition to New Testament and Gnostic scholarship by this much revered scholar, Segal’s Two Powers in Heaven is made available once again for a new generation.
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Turning Points (Reprinted)
$27.99Add to cartIn this popular introduction to church history, now in its third edition, Mark Noll isolates key events that provide a framework for understanding the history of Christianity. The book presents Christianity as a worldwide phenomenon rather than just a Western experience.
Now organized around fourteen key moments in church history, this well-received text provides contemporary Christians with a fuller understanding of God as he has revealed his purpose through the centuries. This new edition includes a new preface; updates throughout the book; revised “further readings” for each chapter; and two new chapters, including one spotlighting Vatican II and Lausanne as turning points of the recent past.Students in academic settings and church adult education contexts will benefit from this one-semester survey of Christian history.
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Baptismal Imagery In Early Christianity
$28.00Add to cartWhat can we learn from early Christian imagery about the theological meaning of baptism? in Baptismal Imagery in Early Christianity: Ritual, Visual, and Theological Dimensions Robin Jensen–a leading scholar of ancient Christian art and worship–examines the baptismal right through several lenses.
She explores five models for understanding baptism: 1) as cleansing from sin; 2) sickness, and Satan; 3) incorporation into the community; 4) as sanctifying and illuminative; 5) as death and regeneration and as the beginning of the new creation. Throughout she details how visual images, poetic language, architectural space, and symbolic actions signify and convey the theological meaning of this ritual practice in its ancient context. Moreover she interprets this evidence considering both the image and the action together and then offers a holistic and integrated understanding of the power of baptism.
Illustrated with nearly 60 photos.
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7 Truths That Changed The World
$19.00Add to cartIdeas have consequences, sometimes far-reaching and world-changing. The Christian faith contains many volatile truths that challenged–and continue to challenge–the cultural and religious status quo of the world. This biblical, historical, and philosophical exploration of some of Christianity’s most transformational ideas offers a unique look at how the world changed when Christ and his followers came on the scene.
These ideas include:
the resurrection
Jesus as God incarnate
creation out of nothing
the compatibility of faith and reason
justification by grace through faith
humankind in God
the greater good of sufferingPastors, students, and thoughtful Christians will be strengthened to face contemporary challenges to these truths and will find the confidence to impact their world for Christ.
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Light On Darkness
$39.99Add to cartIn its earliest days, photography was seen as inherently free of ideological bias. Today, in the world of Photoshop, we are rightly more skeptical – at least most of the time. When it comes to photography from the past, we tend to set some of our skepticism aside. But should we? In Light on Darkness? leading historian of African Christianity T. Jack Thompson revisits a body of photography long taken at face value – that generated by British missionaries to sub-Saharan Africa in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries – and demonstrates that much more is going on in these images than meets the eye. This book offers a careful reassessment of missionary photographers, their photographs, and their African and European audiences, including over 70 fascinating photographs from the period.
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James Robinson Graves
$19.99Add to cartJames Robinson Graves (1820-1893) is known for firmly believing that Baptists of his day needed clearly distinct markers in order to preserve a meaningful denominational identity. The founder of Landmarkism, his theology emphasized church succession (an unbroken trail of authentic congregations dating back to the New Testament), the local church (rather than the idea of a universal Body of Christ), and strict baptism guidelines.
In this first biography of Graves in more than eighty years, author James A. Patterson portrays the man as bold and brash. A native of Vermont who moved south to Nashville in 1845, the self-educated preacher and budding journalist would become a combative defender of the Baptist cause, engaging in public controversy with Methodists, Restorationists, and even fellow Baptists.
Ultimately, Graves sought to influence the direction of the Southern Baptist Convention in its formative period and was the primary shaper of the “Tennessee Tradition,” now considered a key strand of Southern Baptist life and identity. By focusing on Graves’s understanding of essential Baptist boundary markers, this book assesses the strengths and weaknesses of the Landmark legacy. It concludes with an epilogue that discusses the enduring influence of his ideas in the decades after his death.
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Worship As Repentance
$25.99Add to cartAgainst contemporary trends that conceive of Christian worship primarily as entertainment or sheer celebration, Walter Sundberg argues that repentance is the heart of authentic worship. In Worship as Repentance Sundberg outlines the history of repentance and confession within liturgical practice from the early church to mid-twentieth-century Protestantism, advocating movement away from the “eucharistic piety” common in mainline worship today and toward the “penitential piety” of older traditions of Protestant worship.
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Beauty Of Holiness
$40.00Add to cartThe Beauty of Holiness: The Caroline Divines and Their Writings offers an expansive and detailed portrait of the continued maturation of Anglican theology and devotion in the central half of the seventeenth century. The Caroline Divines have long been hailed as the patrons of an Anglican golden age. Their emphasis upon liturgical renewal and development, like their emphases upon learning and piety, have had a pervasive influence on the Anglican ethos that extends down to our own day. aaThe Beauty of Holiness includes selections from key figures such as Lancelot Andrewes, John Cosin, and Jeremy Taylor, but also expands the canon of Caroline divinity to include lay writings, some of which were published posthumously. Traditional topics such as sacramental theology and private devotion are complimented by readings on poetry as a spiritual discipline, natural theology, and the importance of family prayers. Chapters survey diverse facets of Anglican orthodoxy such as liturgical practice, the cult of King Charles the Martyr,
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From Sacrament To Contract (Expanded)
$50.00Add to cartThis newly revised and enlarged edition of John Witte’s authoritative historical study explores the interplay of law, theology, and marriage in the Western tradition. Witte uncovers the core beliefs that formed the theological genetic code of Western marriage and family law. He explores the systematic models of marriage developed by Catholics, Lutherans, Calvinists, Anglicans, and Enlightenment thinkers, and the transformative influence of each model on Western marriage law. In addition, he traces the millennium-long reduction of marriage from a complex spiritual, social, contractual, and natural institution into a simple private contract with freedom of entrance, exercise, and exit for husband and wife alike.
This second edition updates and expands each chapter and the bibliography. It also includes three new chapters on classical, biblical, and patristic sources.
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Calvin : Institutes Of The Christian Religion
$90.00Add to cartPrint on Demand Title
Now available in paperback, this is the definitive English-language edition of one of the monumental works of the Christian church. All previous editions-in Latin, French, German, and English-have been collated; references and notes have been verified, corrected, and expanded; and new bibliographies have been added.The translation preserves the rugged strength and vividness of Calvin’s writing, but also conforms to modern English and renders heavy theological terms in simple language. The result is a translation that achieves a high degree of accuracy and at the same time is eminently readable.
Long recognized for the quality of its translations, introductions, explanatory notes, and indexes, the Library of Christian Classics provides scholars and students with modern English translations of some of the most significant Christian theological texts in history. Through these works-each written prior to the end of the sixteenth century-contemporary readers are able to engage the ideas that have shaped Christian theology and the church through the centuries.
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Luther And Calvin
$16.95Add to cartMartin Luther and John Calvin have both left dramatic and lasting influences on Christianity and on European society. Their calls for reform led to the church breaking off in different directions, and people and nations believed so passionately for or against their causes that wars ravaged Europe for decades. But what exactly did they teach? This book presents Luther and Calvin in context, looking at the work and ideas of each in turn and then at the making of Lutheranism and the Reformed tradition, showing how the sixteenth-century Reformation began a process of political and intellectual change that went beyond Europe to the “New World”. The result is that today its influence is tangible all over the Western world. Perfect for those who want to understand and engage with what Luther and Calvin thought, and with the debates surrounding interpretation, this book is an excellent introduction to two of Christianity’s most famous thinkers. Charlotte Methuen teaches Church history at the University of Glasgow, and has also worked a the Universities of Hamburg, Bochum, Oxford and Mainz. She specializes in the Reformation period and is the author of numerous books and articles.
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British Missionaries And The End Of Empire
$44.99Add to cartThere are many histories of overseas mission and many histories of the last days of Great Britain’s empire in Africa, but there has been no book-length study on the relationship between them – until now. In British Missionaries and the End of Empire, historian John Stuart thoroughly and critically examines British Protestant missionary experiences during the tumultuous years between 1939 and 1964 in east, central, and southern Africa. Focusing on Botswana, Zambia, Malawi, and Kenya (with an eye for South African influence on mission affairs), Stuart portrays the uneven and evolving relationship between Protestant missionaries, the British empire, and African nationalists. He shows how missionaries sometimes supported empire, sometimes drew comfort from it, sometimes criticized it, yet finally learned to live with its formal demise, continuing their work in the newly formed African independent states even after the end of empire.
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Black Fire : One Hundred Years Of African American Pentecostalism
$40.00Add to cartWhether you come from an African American Pentecostal background or you just want to learn more, this book will unfold all the demensions of this important denomination’s history and contribution to the life of the church.
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Forged By Conviction
$22.95Add to cartForged by Conviction is a never before written, chronologically accurate account of the birth and prominent rise of the Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia. Meet the colorful personalities who helped to define and mobilize this great movement for God’s glory. Discover how both church planting and decentralization helped to carve what would become the foundation of one of America’s most modern day struggles for biblical inerrancy. Learn of the controversial and often courageous struggle of many Southern Baptist men and women who were seemingly cast as renegades by the liberal establishment. See how their obedience to God and bold faith in Jesus Christ enabled them to witness their dreams-initially written on a napkin at a local restaurant-blossom into a great organization known as the Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia.
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Christianity
$35.95Add to cartThe Christian faith has the allegiance of one third of the human race. It has succeeded in influencing civilization to such a degree that we now take its existence almost for granted. Yet it might all have been so different. Christianity began with the words and deeds of an obscure village carpenter’s son who died a shameful criminal’s death at the hands of the Roman occupiers of his country: itself an insignificant outpost of the powerful ruling Empire. The feverish land of biblical Palestine, awash with apocalyptic expectations of deliverance from its foreign overlords, was hardly short of seers and prophets who claimed to be sent visions from God. Yet the followers of this man thought he was different: so different, in fact, that some years after his death and asserted resurrection they scandalously insisted not only that he was sent by God, but that he “”was”” God. How a provincial sect, with its seemingly outrageous ideas, became first the sanctioned religion of the Roman Empire and then, over the course of 2000 years, the creed of billions of people, is the improbable story that this book tells. It is a story of freethinkers, friars, fanatics, and firebrands; and of the lay people (not just the clerical or the powerful) who have made up the great mass of Christians over the centuries. Many introductions to Christianity are written by Christians, for Christians. This elegant textbook, by contrast, shows that the history of the religion, while often glorious, is not one of unimpeded progress, but something still more remarkable, flawed and human.
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Wesley As A Pastoral Theologian
$49.99Add to cartDuring the last 40 years a considerable amount of scholarly attention has been given to John Wesley’s way of doing theology. There is extensive debate within Wesleyan circles (particularly in North America) regarding the conception and utility of his theological method, usually identified as the Wesleyan quadrilateral (Scripture, reason, traditi…
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Christian And The Sword
$12.00Add to cartPart of a major doctrinal tract of the Hutterites of the sixteenth century, this early Anabaptist document gives Biblical references for Christian nonviolence.
Concerning the Sword is the fourth article of the Article Book, a major doctrinal document of the Hutterites of the sixteenth century. Its author is not named but was probably the Hutterian bishop Peter Walpot (1521-1578). The book deals with the following five articles: (1) Concerning true baptism (and how infant baptism contradicts it); (2) Concerning the Lord’s Supper (and how the sacrament of the priests is against it); (3) Concerning the true surrender (Gelassenheit) and Christian community of goods; (4) That Christians should not go to war nor should they use sword or violence nor secular litigation; (5) Concerning divorce between believers and unbelievers.
The book is not a theological treatise, but rather, like all Anabaptist doctrinal writings, a collection of biblical texts topically arranged to prove the position of the church with regard to the question at issue. The title of the larger edition, A Beautiful and Pleasant Little Book Concerning the Main Articles of our Faith, is quite colorless; more to the point is the title used in the Chronicle of the Hutterian Brethren: The Five Articles of the Greatest Conflict Between Us and the World. It does not pretend to contain a complete system of Anabaptist thought but only a collection of those points and their arguments that distinguish the Brethren from the “world” and justify their particular stand. The Article Book must have been widely known in its time. Catholics as well as Lutheran polemics against it are known.
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Story Of Christianity 2
$27.99Add to cartTHE STORY OF CHRISTIANITY, VOLUME 2, is an informative, interesting, and consistently readable narrative history. Beginning with the Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century, this second volume continues narrative history to the present. Historian Justo Gonzalez brings to life the people, dramatic events, and shaping ideas of Protestantism, Catholicism, and Orthodoxy during this period, keynoting crucial theological developments while providing fresh understanding of the social, political and economic forces that influenced the formation of the church. In particular, the author notes recurring themes of unrest, rebellion, and reformation. Gonzalez presents an illumination record of the lives, impelling ideas and achievements of such prominent figures as Martin Luther, Ulrich Zwingli, and John Calvin-movers and shapers in the emerging Protestant church. His biographical insights, in conjunction with vivid historical accounts, reveal how individual lives mirror and clarify core theological concerns and developments. The interpretive overview of The Story of Christianity includes a thorough and timely analysis of the growth and maturation of Christianity, including events in Europe, the United States, and Latin America-the latter an area too often neglected in church histories, yet increasingly vital to an understanding of Christianity’s historical development, present situation, and future options. Gonzalez’s richly textured study discusses the changes and directions of the church in the traditions of Protestantism, Roman Catholicism, and Eastern Christianity. The Story of Christianity covers such recent occurrences as the World Council of Churches, the Second Vatican Council, the movement toward Christian unity, and much more. It concludes with a thoughtful look at the major issues and debates involving Christians today. The Story of Christianity will serve as a fascinating introduction to the panoramic history of Christianity for students and teachers of church history, for pastors, and for general readers.
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On This Day In Christian History
$19.99Add to cartAmazing stories of faith from twenty centuries of church history. From the Roman Empire to the Reformation, St. Valentine to St. Francis, Martin Luther to Billy Graham, On this Day introduces readers to a parade of preachers, popes, martyrs, heroes, and saints from 2,000 years of Christianity. This introduction to 365 of the most interesting men and women of faith brings a year’s worth of inspiration and spiritual challenge and offers an enjoyable glimpse into church history. Each day includes a related Scripture reading and a simple, colorful story about history-making events in the lives of people who loved God wholeheartedly.
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Defending Constantine : The Twilight Of An Empire And The Dawn Of Christend
$38.00Add to cartWe know that Constantine issued the Edict of Milan in 313
outlawed paganism and made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire manipulated the Council of Nicea in 325
exercised absolute authority over the church, co-opting it for the aims of empireAnd if Constantine the emperor were not problem enough, we all know that Constantinianism has been very bad for the church. Or do we know these things? Peter Leithart weighs these claims and finds them wanting. And what’s more, in focusing on these historical mirages we have failed to notice the true significance of Constantine and Rome baptized. For beneath the surface of this contested story there emerges a deeper narrative of the end of Roman sacrifice–a tectonic shift in the political theology of an empire–and with far-reaching implications.
In this probing and informative book Peter Leithart examines the real Constantine, weighs the charges against Constantinianism, and sets the terms for a new conversation about this pivotal emperor and the Christendom that emerged.
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How Africa Shaped The Christian Mind
$25.00Add to cartIntroduction
Toward A Half Billion African Christians
An Epic Story
Out Of Africa
The Pivotal Place Of Africa On The Ancient Map
Two Rivers: The Nile And The Medjerda–Seedbed Of Early Christian Thought
Affirming Oral And Written Traditions
Self-Effacement And The Recovery Of Dignity
The Missing Link: The Early African Written Intellectual Tradition Forgotten
Why Africa Has Seemed To The West To Lack Intellectual History
InterludePart One: The African Seedbed Of Western Christianity
1 A Forgotten Story
Who Can Tell It?
Pilgrimage Sites Neglected
Under Sands: The Burial Of Ancient Christian Texts And Basilicas
2 Seven Ways Africa Shaped The Christian Mind
How The Western Idea Of A University Was Born In The Crucible Of Africa
How Christian Exegesis Of Scripture First Matured In Africa
How African Sources Shaped Early Christian Dogma
How Early Ecumenical Decision Making Followed African Conciliar Patterns
How The African Desert Gave Birth To Worldwide Monasticism
How Christian Neoplatonism Emerged In Africa
How Rhetorical And Dialectical Skills Were Refined In Africa And Introduced To Europe
Interlude: Harnack?s Folly
Overview
3 Defining Africa
Establishing The Indigenous Depth Of Early African Christianity
The Stereotyping Of Hellenism As Non-African
Scientific Inquiry Into The Ethnicity Of Early African Christian Writers
The Purveyors Of Myopia
The African-Priority Hypothesis Requires Textual Demonstration
The South-to-North Hypothesis
A Case In Point: The Circuitous Path From Africa To Ireland To Europe And Then Back To Africa
A Caveat Against Afrocentric Exaggeration
4 One Faith, Two Africas
The Hazards Of Bridge Building
The Challenge Of Reconciliation Of Black Africa And North Africa
Overcoming The Ingrained Lack Of Awareness
The Roots Of The Term Africa
Excommunicating The North
Arguing For African Unity
Defining “Early African Christianity” As A Descriptive Category Of A Period Of History
How African Is The Nile Valley?
5 Temptations
The Emerging Task Of Historical Inquiry
The Catholic Limits Of Afrocentrism
The Inflexible Habit Of Ignoring African Sources
The Cost Of The Forgetfulness
Overlooking African Voices Already Present In Scripture
How Protestants Can Celebrate The Apostolic Charisma Of The Copts
The Christian Ancestry Of AfricaPart Two: African Orthodox Recovery
6 The Opportunity For Retrieval
Surviving Modernity
The Steadiness Of African Orthodoxy
The New AfricanAdditional Info
Africa has played a decisive role in the formation of Christian culture from its infancy. Some of the most decisive intellectual achievements of Christianity were explored and understood in Africa before they were in Europe. If this is so, why is Christianity so often perceived in Africa as a Western colonial import? How can Christians in Northern and sub-Saharan Africa, indeed how can Christians throughout the world, rediscover and learn from this ancient heritage? Theologian Thomas C. Oden offers a portrait that challenges prevailing notions of the intellectual development of Christianity from its early roots to its modern expressions. The pattern, he suggests, is not from north to south from Europe to Africa, but the other way around. He then makes an impassioned plea to uncover the hard data and study in depth the vital role that early African Christians played in developing the modern university, maturing Christian exegesis of Scripture, shaping early Christian dogma, modeling conciliar patterns of ecumenical decision-making, stimulating early monasticism, developing Neoplatonism, and refining rhetorical and dialectical skills. He calls for a wide-ranging research project to fill out the picture he sketches. It will require, he says, a generation of disciplined investigation, combining intensive language study with a risk-taking commitment to uncover the truth in potentially unreceptive environments. Oden envisions a dedicated consortium of scholars linked by computer technology and a common commitment that will seek to shape not only the scholar’s understanding but the ordinary African Christian’s self-perception. -
Evangelicals : What They Believe Where They Are And Their Politics
$20.00Add to cartAn overview of the global evangelical movement, including its historical roots, doctrinal distinctives, current strength, influence on politics and society, and teaching about the future. In the changing political, social, and religious landscape of the West, the term evangelical is increasingly losing meaning and credibility. Although some people say there is no unity to what evangelicals believe, church historian Christopher Catherwood sets out to prove otherwise, stating, “We are a people defined by our beliefs, and that is what distinguishes us in our twenty-first century postmodern times.” Catherwood delivers a succinct and organized review of the global evangelical movement, looking at its earliest days, current place in world Christianity, political and social influence, unifying theological doctrinal beliefs, and its view on eschatology. Using the doctrinal basis of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students and the 1974 Lausanne Covenant, Catherwood summarizes evangelical beliefs before describing the scope of the global church and the shift of evangelicalism’s center from the global North and West to the South and East. Catherwood demonstrates that the term evangelical is not only meaningful, but necessary. Anyone wanting to know about the past, present, and future of evangelicalism will find this book helpful.
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Complete Writings Of Menno Simons
$59.99Add to cartAvailable as a print on demand title shipping within two to three days.
This English edition of Menno Simons’ writings contains all the known writings of Menno, including several tracts, letters, and hymns never previously translated. The entire contents of this edition were translated from the Dutch by Leonard Verduin of Ann Arbor, Michigan, and edited by J. C. Wenger, who wrote clarifying introductions to each of Menno’s writings. This edition represents a faithful English rendering of what Menno taught and wrote in the 16th century.
The Complete Writings of Menno Simons is issued with the hope that it may serve to strength the Mennonite Church in a dynamic Christian life, to introduce to the Christian church at large a new vision of discipleship, to create in the reader a new loyalty to the Word of God, and to recapture the true Christian spirit in this era of secularism.
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Story Of Christianity 1
$27.99Add to cartTHE STORY OF CHRISTIANITY, VOLUME 1, is an informative, interesting, and consistently readable narrative history. It brings alive the people, dramatic events, and ideas that shaped the first fifteen centuries of the church’s life and thought–including major events outside of Europe, such as the Spanish and Portuguese conquest of the New World. Historian Justo Gonzalez shows how various social, political, and economic movements affected Christianity’s internal growth.
Gonzalez skillfully weaves in relevant details from the lives of prominent figures from the apostles to John Wycliffe, tracing out core theological issues and developments as reflected in the lives and stuggles of leading thinkers within the various traditions of the church. “The history of the church, while showing all the characteristics of human history, is much more than the history of an institution or movement,” Gonzalez stresses. “It is a history of the deeds of the spirit in and through the men and women who have gone before in the faith.” THE STORY OF CHRISTIANITY demonstrates at each point what new challenges and opportunities faced the church, and how Christians struggled with the various options open to them, thereby shaping the future direction of the church.
THE STORY OF CHRISTIANITY will serve as a fascinating introduction to the panoramic history of Christianity for students and teachers of church history, for pastors, and for general readers.
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Christianity And Western Thought 2
$40.00Add to cartMarx, Mill, Hegel, Nietzsche, Kierkegaard, Emerson, Darwin, Freud and Weber brought to the nineteenth century new realms of thought, which still continue to wield substantial influence today. As a result, the study of history, science, psychology, philosophy, sociology and religion have never been the same. These heirs to rationalism began to explore the full range of human experience–which became a matter of philosophical and theological interest, and even authority. Romanticism flourished in the arts and literature as Idealism, Transcendentalism, Pragmatism and other movements developed. All had a profound effect on religion and how it was viewed. In this second of three volumes which survey the dynamic interplay of Christianity and Western thought from the earliest centuries through the twentieth century, Steve Wilkens and Alan Padgett tell the story of the monumental changes of the nineteenth century.
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Jewish World Around The New Testament
$65.00Add to cartRenowned biblical scholar Richard Bauckham believes that the New Testament texts cannot be adequately understood without careful attention to their Judaic and Second Temple roots. This book contains twenty-four studies that shed essential light on the religious and biblical-interpretive matrix in which early Christianity emerged. Bauckham discusses the “parting of the ways” between early Judaism and early Christianity and the relevance of early Jewish literature for the study of the New Testament. He also explores specific aspects or texts of early Christianity by relating them to their early Jewish context. Originally published by Mohr Siebeck, this book is now available as an affordable North American paperback edition.
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From Nicaea To Chalcedon (Expanded)
$42.00Add to cartPreface To Second Edition
1. The Birth Of Church History And Its Sequel
2. Athanasius And The Shaping Of Nicene Theology
3. Heroes Of The Faith: The Literature Of The Desert
4. The Cappadocians
5. The Temper Of The Times: Some Contrasting Characters Of The Late Fourth Century
6. The Literature Of Christological Controversy
IndexAdditional Info
In this volume, a world-renowned scholar of early Christianity updates and expands her classic survey of the writers and writings of the golden age of Greek patristic theology. This reliable guide to Christian literature from the late third century to the mid fifth century is more accessible than specialized works on individual authors but more informative than coverage provided by general histories and reference works. The second edition has been revised throughout for use by a new generation of students and scholars and includes a new chapter and updated bibliographies. -
Global Awakening : How 20th Century Revivals Triggered A Christian Revoluti
$32.00Add to cartThe last century has seen the revolutionary remaking of Christianity into a truly world religion. How did it happen?The last century has seen the revolutionary remaking of Christianity into a truly world religion. How did it happen? Mark Shaw’s provocative thesis is that far-flung revivals in places like Africa, Korea, Brazil and India are at the heart of the global resurgence of Christianity.
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Christianity And Western Thought 1
$50.00Add to cartIntroduction
PART I: PHILOSOPHY IN THE ANCIENT WORLD
1. Socrates And Pre-Socratic Philosophy
2. Plato’s Vision Of Reality
3. Aristotle And The Physical World
4. Epicureans, Stoics, Skeptics And Cynics
5. From Greeks To GospelPART II: FROM CHURCH FATHERS TO MEDIEVAL SCHOLASTICS
6. Philosophy And The Church Fathers
7. Early Medieval Philosophy
8. Aquinas And Later Medieval PhilosophyPART III: FROM THE REFORMATION TO THE AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT
9. Philosophy And The Reformers
10. Old Questions And New Crises
11. The Age Of Rationalism
12. Rational Religion And The Era Of Deism
13. The Rise Of British Empiricism
14. The Skeptical Empiricism Of Hume
15. Scottish Common Sense And Early American Philosophy
16. Enlightenment And Skepticism In France
17. Enlightenment And Skepticism In Germany
18. Retrospect And ProspectNotes
A Note On Books
A Note On The Role Of Women In The History Of Western Thought
Select Index
Additional Info
From Socrates and the Sophists to Kant, from Augustine to Aquinas and the Reformers, Colin Brown traces the turbulent, often tension-filled, always fascinating story of the thinkers, ideas and movements that have shaped our intellectual landscape. Is philosophy the “handmaiden of faith” or “the doctrine of demons”? Does it clarify the faith or undermine the very heart of Christian belief? Brown writes, “This book is about the changes in preconceptions, world views and paradigms that have affected the ways in which people have thought about religion in general and Christianity in particular in the Western world. . . . It is a historical sketch, written to help students–and anyone else who might be interested–to get a better grasp of the love-hate relationship between philosophy and faith that has gone on for close to two thousand years.” Students, pastors and thoughtful Christians will benefit from this rich resource. The first in a three-volume work, Brown’s easy-to-read, hard-to-put-down introduction to Christianity and Western thought focuses on developments from the ancient world to the Age of Enlightenment. -
Organization Of The United Methodist Church
$18.99Add to cartAn indispensable guide for all United Methodists-especially pastors, lay leaders, church council members, confirmation and new member candidates and their instructors, and seminarians-this book is presented in a practical, down-to-earth manner for easy use by both individuals and classes, clergy and lay. It highlights the functions and connectional relationships within the organization, beginning with the local church and continuing through connectional organs in districts, annual conferences and their agencies, jurisdictional conferences and their agencies, the General Conference, the general agencies of the Church, and the Judicial Council.
Bishop Tuell discusses the Church’s unique polity and gives a frank assessment of its strengths and weaknesses. At the same time he paints the image of a worldwide connectional communion that is organized to spread the good news of Jesus Christ and to bear witness to its Wesleyan heritage. -
Liberating Black Theology
$19.99Add to cartWhen the beliefs of Barack Obama’s former pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, assumed the spotlight during the 2008 presidential campaign, the influence of black liberation theology became hotly debated not just within theological circles but across cultural lines. How many of today’s African-American congregations-and how many Americans in general-have been shaped by its view of blacks as perpetual victims of white oppression?
In this interdisciplinary, biblical critique of the black experience in America, Anthony Bradley introduces audiences to black liberation theology and its spiritual and social impact. He starts with James Cone’s proposition that the “victim” mind-set is inherent within black consciousness. Bradley then explores how such biblical misinterpretation has historically hindered black churches in addressing the diverse issues of their communities and prevented adherents from experiencing the freedoms of the gospel. Yet Liberating Black Theology does more than consider the ramifications of this belief system; it suggests an alternate approach to the black experience that can truly liberate all Christ-followers.
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Teaching Of The 12
$16.99Add to cartWhat did the original apostles have to say about the ways that Christians should worship, live, and care for each other? Explore the answers to these questions and more in Tony Jones’ new book written for all Christians who desire to understand what it means to be Christian and worship and live in community with others.
Tony introduces readers to the Didache, a first century Christian treatise written to give instructions to the fledging churches. This enigmatic text was considered canonical by some of the early Church Fathers (i.e. John of Damascus), but was believed to be unworthy of the canon although recommended reading by others (i.e. Athanasius). Tony takes it apart, section by section, and explains its meaning while making application to the ways and problems and solutions most relevant for Christian churches today.
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Worshiping With The Church Fathers
$27.00Add to cartChristopher Hall invites us to accompany the church fathers as they enter the sanctuary for worship and the chapel for prayer. He also takes us to the wilderness, where we learn from the early monastics as they draw close to God in their solitary discipline. Readers will enjoy a rich and rare schooling in developing their spiritual life in this unique survey of the life of worship from the perspective of the early Church.
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John Calvin And Evangelical Theology
$50.00Add to cartThis latest offering by noted theologian Sung Wook Chung examines the ways in which John Calvin (1509-1564) continues to impact the global evangelical movement in the twenty-first century.
This useful collection is perhaps most distinguished by the diversity of its contributors. Literally spanning the globe, the group of scholars whose work is included represents a wealth of viewpoints from various traditions including Dutch neo-Calvinism, the French Reformed tradition, Scottish American Presbyterianism, Anglicanism, Congregationalism, the Baptist Tradition, Calvinist Dispensationalism, Asian Reformed tradition, African American Reformed tradition, and Latin American Evangelicalism. Together, they offer an enlightening glimpse into the historical Calvin and project that understanding on the evangelical movement of the future. -
Christianity In Action
$30.99Add to cartThis meticulously researched yet engaging book traces The Salvation Army’s history of service from its beginnings in Victorian England to its present-day mission in all parts of the world. / A phenomenal religious movement, acclaimed for its compassionate service, The Salvation Army now works in no fewer than 118 countries, yet no contemporary book has chronicled this high-profile organization – until now. Henry Gariepy’s well-written, comprehensive account effectively fills that gap.
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We Believe In The Crucified And Risen Lord
$60.00Add to cartThis volume offers patristic comment on the second half of the second article of the Nicene Creed, concerning the work of Christ. Readers will gain insight into the history and substance of what the early church believed about Jesus as the God-Man.
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Sanctorum Communio : A Theological Study Of The Sociology Of The Church
$32.00Add to cartNow in an affordable paper edition, Sanctorum Communio is more readily usable for teaching and scholarship. The work, available in this series for the first time in its entirety in English, includes all material omitted from the original 1930 German publication. Bonhoeffer’s doctoral dissertation sets out the theology of sociality that informed all his work, engaging social philosophy and sociology to interpret the church as “Christ existing as church-community.” Here are the roots of his commitment to the Confessing church and the ecumenical movement, and of his actions in the resistance movement for the sake of peace and Germany’s future.
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Introducing Christianity : Exploring The Bible Faith And Life
$22.00Add to cartThis introductory-level book on Christianity looks clearly at what the church believed and taught throughout its history. Hard questions about the Bible, theology, and the Christian life are dealt with from the perspective of faith. As author, veteran scholar, and pastor James Howell puts it, “Great hope rests in thinking through these questions, and this book wrestles with them.” Howell knows the questions people ask and is adept at answering them. In doing so, he explores what it means to live as a Christian, as part of the church community, and also what it means to live with the hope Christian faith provides, even for those who “previously believed there was no hope.” Includes study questions for discussion.
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Forgotten Scriptures : The Selection And Rejection Of Early Religious Writi
$50.00Add to cartWe know that the early Christian church had a variety of Scriptures and other source material that informed their faith and shaped their thinking. We also know that after a few centuries the church decided to keep the twenty-seven books of our present New Testament and to treat them as canonical in faith and practice. But the other books did not simply disappear. In fact, many of them remain valuable for understanding the diversity of the early Christian church and the astounding claims of faith on which the church was founded. Learning about these ancient documents need not threaten the church’s current orthodoxy and authority; in fact, learning about these texts can help today’s Christians form a deeper understanding of the early church.
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Our Watchword And Song
$69.99Add to cartThis study of the growth of the Church of the Nazarene traces the denomination s doctrinal roots to the English Reformation and then explores the church’s historical, intellectual, and doctrinal development.
Giving special attention to the church s distinctive belief in entire sanctification and emphasis on education, the authors colorfully retell the story of the church from its humble origins in Pilot Point, Texas, to its expansion into an international community reaching the world through a warm-hearted faith.
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Redeemed Bodies : Women Martyrs In Early Christianity
$35.00Add to cartWhy do religious people choose paths that lead to their deaths as martyrs? Why do some who are killed for their faith become known and revered while others do not? Gail Streete asks these important and disturbing questions in the context of early Christianity, looking at the stories of martyred women such as Thecla, Perpetua, and Felicitas, women whose stories helped shaped Christian faith for centuries, yet are all but forgotten in the modern world. Streete reclaims these stories and relates them to tragic instances of martyrdom in our own world, pulling from stories as diverse as the victims of Columbine and female suicide bombers in the Muslim world. What do their deaths mean, and why do we find their stories so moving?
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We Believe In One Lord Jesus Christ
$60.00Add to cartThis volume offers patristic comment on the first half of the second article of the Nicene Creed, concerning the person of Christ. Readers will gain insight into the history and substance of what the early church believed about Jesus as the God-Man.
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Labour Of Obedience
$35.00Add to cartThis important study of key Anglican Benedictine Communities in the first half of the 20th century provides a vital record of how the Anglican Communion dealt with an issue that was as divisive in its day as today’s disputes over sexuality and women bishops, and explores the origins of the influential Anglican Papalism movement. It was the heyday of Anglo-Catholicism in the Church of England. Religious life was flourishing for the first time since the Reformation. The first shock came when the Abbot of Caldey, a flamboyant character noted for luxurious tastes, and his monks went over to Rome. Nashdom – the great Benedictine community to which Gregory Dix belonged and, in many ways, the ultimate expression of Anglo-Catholicism – threatened to do likewise over the crisis of the Church of South India where the very idea of priestly ordination and identity was being challenged. Thanks to Archbishop William Temple the crisis was averted, the monks of Nashdom stayed and the scene was set for Anglican Papalism to enter the stag
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Readers Guide To Calvins Institutes
$22.00Add to cart2009 marks the 500th anniversary of John Calvin’s birth, and throughout the year scholars from around the world are gathering to discuss Calvin and his influence. Calvin’s Institutes is one of the great classics of Christian theology. Here a leading Calvin expert offers an affordable guide to reading the Institutes (keyed to the McNeill/Battles translation).
The book includes annotations to selected readings that offer readers a streamlined introduction to the heart of Calvin’s theology. Dividing the Institutes into thirty-two portions, the author has chosen an average of eighteen pages to be read from each portion to cover the whole range of the Institutes and provide readers with passages critical to understanding Calvin’s theology. The notes guide readers through the text, concentrating on the sections chosen for reading, summarizing the material, and drawing attention to the most significant footnotes in the McNeill/Battles edition. An introduction and questions at the beginning of each portion direct the reader’s attention to important points, and a brief guide at the end of each portion suggests further reading. The book will serve professors and students of the Institutes; courses in Calvin, Reformed theology, and historical theology; and readers seeking a guide to the Institutes.
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John Calvin : A Pilgrims Life
$35.00Add to cartTable Of Contents
Introduction
1. Orphan (1509-1533)
2. Pilgrim (1533-1536)
3. Stranger (1536-1538)
4. Refugee (1538-1541)
5. Preacher (1541-1546)
6. Victim (1546-1549)
7. Widow (1549-1551)
8. Patient (1551-1554)
9. Sailor (1555-1559)
10. Soldier (1559-1564)Additional Info
Professor and renowned Reformation historian Herman Selderhuis has written this book to bring Calvin near to the reader, showing him as a man who had an impressive impact on the development of the Western world, but who was first of all a believer who struggled with God and with the way God governed both the world and his own life. -
In The Footsteps Of Phoebe
$33.99Add to cartThis book presents a rich and insightful look at the deaconess vocation and its blessing to the LCMS. Utilizing primary sources to document the inspiring story of the deaconess movement within the LCMS, it fills a significant gap in the annals of synodical history. Collected in this one volume is a record of events as well as the thoughts and actions of deaconesses during every era of the Synod’s history.
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In The Shadow Of The Temple
$45.00Add to cartOskar Skarsaune gives us a new look into the development of the early church and its practice by showing us the evidence of interaction between the early Christians and rabbinic Judaism. He offers numerous fascinating episodes and glimpses into this untold story.
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What The Preacher Forgot To Tell Me
$18.00Add to cartIn “What The Preacher Forgot To Tell Me: Identity and Gospel in Jamaica, author Faith Linton identifies what she believes is a deficiency in the historical preaching of the Gospel in Jamaica, and other Caribbean countries, that has impacted the success of the Gospel there. It is her conviction that many of those to whom the gospel is preached lack just what the ancient Athenians lacked-a heightened awareness of the one, true God and of them as He originally designed them. They lack a sense of kinship, of belonging to their Creator, and therefore of what they are to Him and what they owe to Him. She examines the principal of preaching the Gospel message by beginning at the beginning-in Genesis, with our creation. When people do not appreciate the significance of their being created in His image, the consequences are that they have no clear, healthy sense of their spiritual identity or of the lofty purpose for which they were created. If the message preached does not fill this gap, the understanding of the gospel will be distorted. Hearers may be driven to repentance strictly out of the fear of hell. Or, they may seek self-centred satisfaction and happiness by allying themselves with Christ, but they will not be motivated to please God. When a person is not allowed to see how closely connected they are to God, who made them like Himself, they continue to feel alienated from Him even after salvation. They feel unable to relate closely to Him in an intimate way. Her personal experience bears this out. Faith’s book identifies this problem with clarity and conviction as she describes how this principle has impacted Jamaica and the Caribbean communities and offers what she hopes is a transformational solution.
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Hymn Writers Of Early Pennsylvania
$14.99Add to cartWilliam Penn’s promise of religious freedom brought many diverse religious groups to Pennsylvania in the 17th and 18th centuries. Each brought pre-existing hymns and hymn tunes, but many also wrote original texts and music. This book examines the hymns of the 1694 Wissahickon settlement under Johannes Kelpius, the 18th century Ephrata Cloister of Conrad Beissel, and the hymn life of the Bethlehem Moravian Unitas Fratrum. Among the later writers of hymn text or music selected for this study are William Kirkpatrick, John Wyeth, William Gustavus Fischer, Francis Hopkinson, Eleanor C. Donnelly, and many more. Sample texts are included for many hymns, and six musical scores are reproduced. Of special interest are the earliest texts and music from the Wissahickon and Ephrata communities. Pennsylvania’s hymn background is unique and compelling. The stories of the writers and their hymns should appeal to anyone interested in hymns, theology, music, or American history.
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Heretics For Armchair Theologians
$24.00Add to cartIn this unique Armchair volume, noted church historians Justo and Catherine Gonzalez introduce readers to important early church figures whose teachings were denounced by the church as heresies. Instructional for what they taught and for revealing what the church wished to safeguard and uphold, these “heretics,” including Marcion, Arius, Nestorius, and Pelagius, are engagingly presented in their contexts through a clear and accessible text that is highlighted by the humorous illustrations of Ron Hill. Heretics for Armchair Theologians is an enjoyable way to learn about the church’s early life and beliefs.
Written by experts but designed for the novice, the Armchair series provides accurate, concise, and witty overviews of some of the most profound moments and theologians in Christian history. These books are essential supplements for first-time encounters with primary texts, lucid refreshers for scholars and clergy, and enjoyable reads for the theologically curious.
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Churchs Guide For Reading Paul
$31.99Add to cartHere Brevard Childs turns his sharp scholarly gaze from the Old Testament scholarship he is known for to the works of the apostle Paul. He offers an unusual argument: the New Testament was canonically shaped, its formation a hermeneutical exercise in which its anonymous apostles and postapostolic editors collected, preserved, and theologically shaped the material in order for the evangelical traditions to serve successive generations of Christians. Childs contends that within the New Testament the Pauline corpus stands as a unit bookended by Romans and the Pastoral Epistles. He assigns an introductory role to Romans, examining how it puts the contingencies of Paul’s earlier letters into context without sacrificing their particularity. At the other end, the Pastoral Epistles serve as a concluding valorization of Paul as the church’s doctrinal model. By considering Paul’s works as a whole, Childs offers a way to gain a fuller understanding of the individual letters.
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Reconciliation Blues : A Black Evangelicals Inside View Of White Christiani
$18.00Add to cartJournalist Edward Gilbreath gives an insightful, honest picture of both the history and the present state of racial reconciliation in evangelical churches. He looks at a wide range of figures, such as Howard O. Jones, Tom Skinner, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Jesse Jackson and John Perkins.
Charting progress as well as setbacks, his words offer encouragement for black evangelicals feeling alone, clarity for white evangelicals who want to understand more deeply, and fresh vision for all who want to move forward toward Christ’s prayer “that all of them may be one.”
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Divine Authenticity Of Scripture
$32.00Add to cartIVP Print On Demand Title
Andrew McGowan examines the evangelical understanding of the nature and use of Scripture. McGowan emphasizes the work of the Holy Spirit in relation to Scripture, and argues that we should speak of “spiration” rather than inspiration of Scripture.
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God Seekers : Twenty Centuries Of Christian Spiritualities
$37.99Add to cartThis is a fresh introduction to Christian spirituality, designed to be concise, readable, and nontechnical for those just dipping their toes into spirituality. Although the book will be useful to the religious professional, it is primarily addressed to the thoughtful reader who may not be active in a Christian community or who may have given little thought to Christianity as a source of wisdom and guidance. God Seekers presents thirty-two spiritual masters – Augustine, Teresa of Avila, Kierkegaard, Dorothy Day, Madeleine L’Engle, etc. Through capsule biographies, selected quotations, and reflection questions, Richard Schmidt explores the diverse ways Christians relate to God by bringing to life these great figures and traditions of the Christian church, from Irenaeus to Rosemary Radford Ruether.
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Church Membership In The Bible
$6.99Add to cartChrist has designed a ‘home’ or family for his people, described in these pages as an accomplishment of divine genius. This is a magnificent subject, vital to spiritual growth and blessing and also to our service for the Saviour.
This book answers many questions about churches and church membership in New Testament times. Next to having a real walk with Christ and knowing the doctrines of the faith, membership of a good church has a powerful formative influence on the believer’s life.
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South Africas Forgotten Revival
$16.49Add to cartAlthough the Great Awakening at the Cape in 1860 was as powerful as its precursors in America, Ireland and Wales, its story has never been fully told until now. Dr. Olea Nel has succeeded in filling a much needed gap in the literature by describing these events through the lives of three key players: Andrew Murray, Nicolaas Hofmeyr and Gottlieb van der Lingen. As the story unfolds, you will learn:
About the crisis in the Dutch Reformed Church prior to revival when
semi-literate stock farmers believed that God had called them to subdue the African tribes, not evangelize them.How virtually overnight the revival demolished this outlook so that awakened Christians became people of prayer and mission enthusiasts.
How Andrew Murray defended the Church against the onslaught of
liberalism through legal battles in the Cape High Court as well as the Privy Council, London. -
Faith And Fatherland
$29.00Add to cartAn informative glimpse into the world of German Protestants in the difficult Hitler era, Faith and Fatherland approaches the history of the Church Struggle from the “bottom up,” using sources like pastors’ correspondence, parish newsletters, local newspaper accounts, district superintendents’ reports, and local church statistics.
While Jantzen confirms the general understanding that German Protestants failed to resist or even critique the Nazi regime, he reveals a surprising diversity of opinion and variety of action, including the successful efforts of some Lutheran pastors and parishioners to resist the nazification of their churches.
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Canonical Theism : A Proposal For Theology And The Church
$39.99Add to cartCanonical Theism is a post-Protestant vision for the renewal of both theology and church. The editors call for the retrieval and redeployment of the full range of materials, persons, and practices that make up the canonical heritage of the church, including scripture, doctrine, sacred image, saints, sacraments, and more. The central thesis of the work is that the good and life-giving Holy Spirit has equipped the church with not only a canon of scripture but also with a rich canonical heritage of materials, persons, and practices. However, much of the latter has been ignored or cast aside. This unplumbed resource of canonical heritage waits for the church to rediscover its wealth. With a bold set of thirty theses, the authors chart and defend that mine of opportunity. They then invite the entire church to explore the benefits of their discoveries. This ambitious book offers insights to be integrated into the church body, renewing the faith that nourished converts, created saints, and upheld martyrs across the years.
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Modern Church History
$52.99Add to cart“This is the SCM Core Text: “”Modern Church History”” provides an introduction to global Christianity from 1700 to the mid 20th C. The book aims to help students understand the processes, movements and individuals who have contributed to making the contemporary Christian landscape the shape it is in the 21st century. Theologically it takes a wide and inclusive approach to provide a balanced survey of Christianity in all its forms – Protestant, Catholic and Orthodox. Geographically it focuses on the Christian church in the UK, continental Europe and North America, and examines in each location the social movements, campaigns and campaigners, scientific and political challenges that have shaped the Christian Church throughout the period.Beginning with the reaction to Lutherism, it charts the rise of Pietism in Europe throughout the late 17th and early 18th centuries, the influence of John Wesley and the Methodists, in the UK and the ‘Great Awakening’ in North America. The early chapters summarize the developments within th
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Doctrinal Standards In The Wesleyan Tradition (Revised)
$35.99Add to cartThe history of Wesleyan family of churches doctrines
What are our core beliefs? Doctrinal Standards in the Wesleyan Tradition, Revised Edition, narrates the history of the formation of Wesleyan doctrines, describing how they were transplanted from the British Isles to North American, how they became constitutionally protected in Wesleyan-rooted churches.
The first edition of this book affected the outcome of the 1988 General Conference of The United Methodist Church as the delegates decided many then-disputed doctrinal issues. This revised edition addresses the continuing hunger for more precise and useful information on the doctrinal traditions of mainline Protestantism. Hence the arguments have been updated with more than 400 changes.
Included are doctrinal statements for the Evangelical United Bethren, Free Methodist, Methodist Protestant, Wesleyan, Nazarene, African Methodist Episcopal Zion, Christian Methodist Episcopal, and African Methodist Episcopal Churches; as well as an outline syllabus of a Course on the Articles of Religion.
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Interpreting Contemporary Christianity
$48.99Add to cartInterpreting Contemporary Christianity is a multidisciplinary interpretation of world Christianity and the changing shape of the global religious landscape. The geographical coverage and the voices from various corners of the globe exemplify the impact of the shift of Christianity’s center of gravity away from the northern hemisphere. New voices, new methods, and new perspectives emerge. Contributors: Afe Adogame, Edith Blumhofer, Joel Carpenter, Paul Freston, Anthony Dela Fuente, Joel Hanciles, Brian M. Howell, Ogbu U. Kalu, Sebastian C. H. Kim, Jon Miller, Philomena Mwaura, John Parratt, Dana Robert, Brian Stanley, Diane Stinton, Feiya Tao, Kevin Xixi Yao.
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Faith And Human Rights
$14.00Add to cartThe UN’s 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights stands as a highpoint of twentieth-century moral deliberation, yet sixty years later human rights are widely denied, evaded, or ignored around the world. Where are religious persons in this situation? Here a philosopher and a theologian address the issues with authority, clarity, and genuine passion in a way that does not spare religion or even religious people, who have been among the most egregious violators of human rights in the world.
Faith and Human Rights argues that the idea of human rights is not exclusively religious, but that its realization in practice requires urgent action on the part of people of all faiths – and of no faith. The authors contend that while faith has much of value to contribute here, the world’s religions will require vigilant reappraisal if they are to function as genuine partners in the global struggle for human dignity. Acknowledging the ambiguous moral legacy of their own tradition, Christianity, the authors draw on Christological themes to draft blueprints for a culturally sensitive “theology of human rights.”
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Anglican Papalism
$35.00Add to cartIn 1898 the Church of England was shaken to its roots by the then Pope’s declaration that Anglican orders of ministry were ‘null and void’. This threatened to create an unbridgeable gulf between the two Churches, yet some Anglicans responded creatively by demonstrating their loyalty and fidelity to Rome – the movement was known as Anglican Papalism and it laid the foundation for new respect and fresh dialogue that culminated in the friendlier message Vatican II. Anglo-Catholic readers will value this illustrated history of a small but powerful and characterful movement within Anglo-Catholicism.
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Division Of Christendom
$60.00Add to cartIn The Division of Christendom, revered historian Hans J. Hillerbrand details the events and ideas of the sixteenth century and contends that the Protestant Reformation must be seen as an interplay of religious, political, and economic forces in which religion played a major role. Hillerbrand tells the fascinating story of the ways in which theological disagreements divided the centuries-old Christian church and the roles that leading characters such as Luther, Zwingli, Anabaptists, and Calvin played in establishing new churches, even as Roman Catholicism continued to develop in its own ways. The book covers all significant aspects of this period and interprets these important events in their own context while reflecting on the consequences of the Reformation for later periods and for today.
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Rome And Canterbury
$29.00Add to cartForeward
Author’s Note
Preface
The History
Chapter I: The Breach In The West
Chapter II: A New Christian Landscape
Chapter III: Rome And Canterbury Face Modernity
Chapter IV: The Ecumenical Movement Gets Up And Running
Chapter V: Anglicans/Episcopalians And Roman Catholics Initiate Talks And The Anglican Centre In Rome Opens
Chaper VI: The Anglican Roman Catholic International Comission Begins Its Work
Authority
Chapter VII: Introduction To Authority: Early Leadership, Primacy Infallibility And The Situation Today
Chapter VIII: Church Governance Today And ARCIC’s Agreed Statements On Authority
The Future
Chapter IX: What’s Next?
Chapter X: My World And Christian Unity
Epilogue
Acknowledgments
Appendix I: A Common History: Christianity’s Earliest Days
Appendix II: Agreed ARCIC Documents: Eucharist (1971), Ordination (1973), Salvations And The Church (1986)
Appendix III: Morals: Agreed Statement On Teaching And Practice (1994)
Appendix IV: Mary: Grace And Hope In Christ (2005)
Appendix V: Timeline
Appendix VI: A History Of The Gregorian Calendar
Appendix VII: Population By Continent (400 BC To 1600 AD)
Appendix VIII: Resources
Additional Info
Rome and Canterbury tells the story of the determined but little known work being done to end the nearly five hundred year old divisions between the Roman Catholic and the Anglican/Episcopal Churches. The break was never intended, has never been fully accepted and is experienced, by many, as a painful and open wound. It is a personal account that begins the story by reviewing the relevant history and theology, looks at where we are today, and concludes with some reflections on faith and belief in the US. -
Light From The Christian East
$26.00Add to cartJames R. Payton, Jr. introduces us to Eastern Orthodox history, theology and practice. For all readers interested in ancient ecumenical Christian theology and spirituality, and is especially open and sympathetic to what evangelicals can learn from orthodoxy.
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Communion In The Spirit
$39.99Add to cartThis study explores the central connection Edwards drew between his doctrines of religious experience and the Trinity: the person and work of the Holy Spirit. Edwards envisioned the Spirit’s inter-Trinitarian work as the affectionate bond of union between the Father and the Son, a work which, he argued, is reduplicated in a finite way in the work of redemption. Salvation is ultimately all about being drawn in love into the Trinitarian life of the Godhead.
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Apostolic Networks In Britain
$49.99Add to cartSince the 1970s the so called “New Church” networks with their apostolic leadership teams have become an established part of the charismatic evangelical scene in the UK. In Part One, the stories of the diverse apostolic groupings are traced from the 1960s to the present day. Part Two is a study, based on empirical research, of leaders in apostolic networks. Part Three explores the theologies found in these churches and Part Four concludes with some sociological and theological analysis.
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Heresies And How To Avoid Them (Reprinted)
$22.00Add to cartBad ideas have a maddening tendency to get recycled. In Heresies and How to Avoid Them an esteemed group of practicing theologians help contemporary Christians grasp why historically orthodox theology leads them to believe certain things, while rejecting others. Readers will learn about the decisions that radically affected the course of church history – and that still shape Christianity today.
They tackle twelve ancient heresies, and clarify what these early aberrations were, how they developed, and why they have been discarded by believers through the centuries.
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Hidden Histories In The United Church Of Christ 2
$20.00Add to cartHidden Histories 2 invites readers to enhance their knowledge of history as an important source of spiritual strength for these times. It also examines more deeply what it means for the United Church of Christ to celebrate its unity in diversity. It explores such areas as Lutheran and Reformed Cooperation; German Evangelical Protestants; Origins of the Christian Denomination in New England; Evangelical Pietism and Biblical Criticism; Women’s Mission Structures and the American Board; Religious Journalism; Philip William Otterbein and the United Brethren; From German Reformed Roots to the Churches of God; The Congregational Training School for Women; and Chinese Congregationalism.
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Hidden Histories In The United Church Of Christ 1
$18.00Add to cartPublisher Marketing: This collection of essays expands knowledge about the diversity of the UCC, and connects the UCC with many significant developments in American religious and ethnic history. It explores such areas as Native American Protestantism, black Christian churches, a schism in the German Reformed Church, Armenian congregationalism’s missionary beginnings, German congregationalism, blacks and the American Missionary Association, Deaconess ministries, the Schwenkfelders, the Calvin Synod (Hungarian), women’s work and women’s boards, and Japanese-American congregationalists.
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History Of The Reformed Presbyterian Church In America
$50.00Add to cartPrint on demand
Students of Presbyterian church history will discover a whole family of churches whose history sparkles with remarkable personalities and noteworthy achievements, however much they may have been forgotten in the years that followed. Reformed Presbyterians, Associate Reformed Presbyterians, and the dwindling numbers of those who once belonged to the United Presbyterian Church of North America, will all give thanks for the history that is brought to light in these pages. We ‘Scottish Dissenting Presbyterians’ have a goodly heritage. We have much to discover about our forbears in the faith, and what they accomplished in their day; and much as well to consider with regard to how their distinctive principles and practices may have something vital to contribute to our churches and to our nation today. -Ray B. Lanning and Nathan P. Eshelman, From the Introduction. -
Church History : A Crash Course For The Curious
$19.99Add to cartIn this concise, accessible guide, author Christopher Catherwood takes his readers through the history of the faith, educating them about the uniqueness of Christianity from its birth to the diverse, global Evangelical Church we know today. Church History is the perfect place to start for anyone who wants to know where to begin this quest for knowledge.
Enjoy discovering more about the lives of men and women from various times and places, not only to better understand the church, but also to know how to live wisely in this age. These are some of the many reasons why history is so important.
From those who desire to learn more about their fellow followers of Jesus Christ throughout history to those who want to learn more about church for themselves, this book will test you to dig deeper in your faith.
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Beyond Religious Discourse
$39.99Add to cartDrawing extensively on primary sources, this pioneer work in modern religious history
explores the training of preachers, the construction of sermons and how Irish
evangelicalism and the wider movement in Great Britain and the United States shaped the
preaching event. Evangelical preaching and politics, sectarianism, denominations, education, class, social reform, gender and revival are examined to advance the argument that evangelical sermons and preaching went significantly beyond religious discourse. The result is a book for those with interests in Irish history, culture and belief, popular religion and society, evangelicalism, preaching and communication. -
Searching For Sacred Ground
$19.95Add to cartExplores the universal search for balance in life, using historical events and people to illustrate the constant tensions between conflict and resolution. On a parrallel story line, the author weaves into this rich tapestry the life of an exceptional man.
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Thomas Muntzer : A Tragedy Of Errors
$26.00Add to cartRejected in the sixteenth century by both Protestants and Catholics, yet hailed by Marxist historians as a forerunner of the Marxist revolution, this volume tells Muntzer’s story and offers a critical assessment of him in light of his extant works, with particular attention to the religious foundations of his revolutionary program.
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Gnostic Discoveries : The Impact Of The Nag Hammadi Library
$14.99Add to cartThe Meaning of the Nag Hammadi, now in paperback opens the with the thrilling adventure story of the discovery of the ancient Papyrii at Nag Hammadi. Muhammad Ali, the fellahin, discovered the sealed jar, he feared that it might contain a jinni, or spirit, but also had heard of hidden treasures in such jars. Greed overcame his fears and when he smashed open the jar, gold seemed to float into the air. To his disappointment, it was papyrus fragmenst, not gold, but for scholars around the world, it was invaluable.
Meyer then discusses the pre-Christian forms of wisdom that went onto influence what Christians believe today. In addition, some Nag Hammadi texts are attributed to Valentinus, a man who almost became Pope, and whose rejection changed the church in significant ways. Text by text, Meyer traces the history and impact of this great find on the Church, right up to our current beliefs and popular cultural fascination with this officially suppressed secret knowledge about Jesus and his followers.
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Canons
$35.99Add to cartIn this lively and entertaining volume, Trevor Beeson describes many of the greatest and most engaging Canons in the history of the Church of England. With a wealth of amusing detail and anecdote, as well as a skilful marshalling of the essential facts, he brings the Canons alive, and considers their significance in the social and ecclesiastical history of their times.
Tracing the course of the dramatic change in the fortunes of the English cathedrals and in turn the lives of the most interesting and significant Canons who were in office, Trevor Beeson provides readers with an interesting and undemanding introduction to two centuries of Church history with these portraits of quite remarkable men.
