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The integrative theme of this collection of essays is change and transformation explored in the context of diverse expressions within the context of Anglican Church history. It addresses some central themes--notably the sacraments, liturgy, biblical interpretation, theological education, the relationship of church and state, governance and authority, and Christian education. The volume traces Anglican Church history chronologically. It includes a comparative study of penance in the thought of John Wyclif and Thomas Cranmer. The book also treats the dispersal of authority evident in the development of the Book of Common Prayer and the King James Bible, consensus in eucharistic theology in the...
Was Jonathan Edwards the stalwart and unquestioning Reformed theologian that he is often portrayed as being? In what ways did his own conversion fail to meet the standards of his Puritan ancestors? And how did this affect his understanding of the Divine Being and of the nature of justification? Becoming Divine investigates the early theological career of Edwards, finding him deep in a crisis of faith that drove him into an obsessive lifelong search for answers. Instead of a fear of God, which he had been taught to understand as proof of his conversion, he experienced a ‘surprising, amazing joy’. Suddenly he saw the Divine Being in everything and felt himself transported into a heavenly world, becoming one with the Divine family. What he developed, as he sought to make sense of this unexpected joy, is a theology that is both ancient and early modern: a theology of divine participation rooted in the incarnation of Christ.
The Limits of a Catholic Spirit presents an extraordinary, in-depth study of John Wesley's relationship with Catholicism, examining the limits to which Wesley, as an evangelical Protestant, practiced his ideal of a Catholic spirit. Through the use of rare primary sources from the National Archives, Kelly Diehl Yates provides a refreshing investigation of Wesley's interaction and strained relationship with Catholicism, taking the path less trodden in studies of his theology. While revisionist scholars argue that Wesley proposed principles of religious tolerance in his sermon, Catholic Spirit, Yates argues that he did not expect unity between Protestants and Catholics, remaining wedded to anti-Catholic beliefs himself. By paying attention to this previously unfilled gap in Wesley studies, Yates' exemplary historical and critical study tackles questions which have beset Wesley scholars for decades, including Wesley's relationship with the Jesuits, Jacobitism, the anti-Catholic Gordon Riots of 1780, and his time in Ireland. Grounded in historical case studies, Yates explores these questions from a fresh perspective, providing answers to these questions, and more.
Between the years 1677 and 1691 the Puritan minister Roger Morrice compiled an astonishingly detailed record of public affairs in Britain. Running to almost a million words his 'Entring Book' provides a unique record of late seventeenth-century political and religious history. It charts the rise of British party politics, and the transformation of Puritanism into 'Whiggery' and Dissent. It provides a wealth of information on social and cultural history, as well as the relationships between the three Stuart kingdoms. All the essays in this volume have been inspired by the key concerns of the Entring Book: the palpable sense of the fear and foreboding in the 1680s; the long shadow cast by the ...
'[A] marvellously original, densely researched study of the English republican imagination.' Tom Paulin, The Independent
Religious life in early America is often equated with the fire-and-brimstone Puritanism best embodied by the theology of Cotton Mather. Yet, by the nineteenth century, American theology had shifted dramatically away from the severe European traditions directly descended from the Protestant Reformation, of which Puritanism was in the United States the most influential. In its place arose a singularly American set of beliefs. In America's God, Mark Noll has written a biography of this new American ethos. In the 125 years preceding the outbreak of the Civil War, theology played an extraordinarily important role in American public and private life. Its evolution had a profound impact on America'...
Employing an interdisciplinary approach that gives equal consideration to Campbell's secular and religious writings, Jeffrey Suderman argues that Campbell used the critical tools of the Enlightenment to defend an orthodox Christian faith. This conclusion
Between the English Civil War of 1642 and the American Revolution, countless British missionaries announced their intention to "spread the gospel" among the native North American population. Despite the scope of their endeavors, they converted only a handful of American Indians to Christianity. Their attempts to secure moral and financial support at home proved much more successful. In The Poor Indians, Laura Stevens delves deeply into the language and ideology British missionaries used to gain support, and she examines their wider cultural significance. Invoking pity and compassion for "the poor Indian"—a purely fictional construct—British missionaries used the Black Legend of cruelties...