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In this provocative study, David W. Hall argues that the American founders were more greatly influenced by Calvinism than contemporary scholars, and perhaps even the founders themselves, have understood. Calvinism's insistence on human rulers' tendency to err played a significant role in the founders' prescription of limited government and fed the distinctly American philosophy in which political freedom for citizens is held as the highest value. Hall's timely work countervails many scholars' doubt in the intellectual efficacy of religion by showing that religious teachings have led to such progressive ideals as American democracy and freedom.
Before the American Revolution, no colony more assiduously protected its established church or more severely persecuted religious dissenters than Virginia. Both its politics and religion were dominated by an Anglican establishment, and dissenters from the established Church of England were subject to numerous legal infirmities and serious persecution. By 1786, no state more fully protected religious freedom. This profound transformation, as John A. Ragosta shows in this book, arose not from a new-found cultural tolerance. Rather, as the Revolution approached, Virginia's political establishment needed the support of the religious dissenters, primarily Presbyterians and Baptists, for the mobil...
Stated Clerk Clifton Kirkpatrick and former missionary and denominational executive William Hopper provide a cogent account of the distinctive features of Presbyterianism that define this theological tradition and present a basis for the renewal of the church. This book is ideal for use in church officer training and must reading for all Presbyterians who want to understand their faith tradition more fully, and for non-Presbyterians interested in a succinct presentation of the Reformed theological tradition.
This first history of the Presbyterian Historical Society is a thorough, well-researched presentation.
This volume contains 123 documents which illustrate the early history of the American Presbyterian Congo Mission and its struggle for human rights in the Congo from 1890-1918. The documents, many of which have never previously been published, are crucial to a full understanding of both the work of the Presbyterian Mission and its impact on the social, political, and religious life of the Congo. The book is divided into four parts. Part One documents the founding and early history of the Presbyterian Mission from 1890 to 1898. Part Two documents the deterioration of social conditions in the Congo under King Leopold, and the reform campaigns initiated by the American Mission in Britain and the United States. Part Three consists of documents related to the 1909 libel trial of William M. Morrison and William H. Sheppard, the principal leaders of the American Mission. Part Four documents the Mission's reaction to continuing human rights abuses, particularly religious persecution, under Belgian rule to 1918. The documents are annotated and the volume contains an introduction and an index.
Professing in the Postmodern Academy examines the landscape of religiously affiliated higher education in America from the perspective of faculty members critically committed to the future of church-related institutions. The book includes articles on a variety of topics from members of the Rhodes Consultation on the Future of Church-Related College, a project that has involved ninety church-related institutions since 1996.
Over the past thirty years, Steven F. Lawson has established himself as one of the nation's leading historians of the black struggle for equality. Civil Rights Crossroads is an important collection of Lawson's writings about the civil rights movement that is essential reading for anyone concerned about the past, present, and future of race relations in America. Lawson examines the movement from a variety of perspectives—local and national, political and social—to offer penetrating insights into the civil rights movement and its influence on contemporary society. Civil Rights Crossroads also illuminates the role of a broad array of civil rights activists, familiar and unfamiliar. Lawson d...
The Religious Right came to prominence in the early 1980s, but it was born during the early Cold War. Evangelical leaders like Billy Graham, driven by a fierce opposition to communism, led evangelicals out of the political wilderness they'd inhabited since the Scopes trial and into a much more active engagement with the important issues of the day. How did the conservative evangelical culture move into the political mainstream? Angela Lahr seeks to answer this important question. She shows how evangelicals, who had felt marginalized by American culture, drew upon their eschatological belief in the Second Coming of Christ and a subsequent glorious millennium to find common cause with more mai...
This work brings various important topics and groups in American religious history the rigor of scholarly assessment of the current literature. The fruitful questions that are posed by the positions and experiences of the various groups are carefully examined. American Denominational History points the way for the next decade of scholarly effort. Contents Roman Catholics by Amy Koehlinger Congregationalists by Margaret Bendroth Presbyterians by Sean Michael Lucas American Baptists by Keith Harper Methodists by Jennifer L. Woodruff Tait Black Protestants by Paul Harvey Mormons by David J. Whittaker Pentecostals by Randall J. Stephens Evangelicals by Barry Hankins