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The Mystical Presence (1846), John Williamson Nevin's magnum opus, was an attempt to combat the sectarianism and subjectivism of nineteenth-century American religion by recovering the robust sacramental and incarnational theology of the Protestant Reformation, enriched with the categories of German idealism. In it, he makes the historical case for the spiritual real presence as the authentic Reformed doctrine of the Eucharist, and explains the theological and philosophical context that render the doctrine intelligible. The 1850 article "The Doctrine of the Reformed Church on the Lord's Supper" represents his response to his arch critic, Charles Hodge of Princeton Seminary, providing what is ...
The idea that religion has a dangerous tendency to promote violence is part of the conventional wisdom of Western societies, and it underlies many of our institutions and policies, from limits on the public role of religion to efforts to promote liberal democracy in the Middle East. William T. Cavanaugh challenges this conventional wisdom by examining how the twin categories of religion and the secular are constructed. A growing body of scholarly work explores how the category 'religion' has been constructed in the modern West and in colonial contexts according to specific configurations of political power. Cavanaugh draws on this scholarship to examine how timeless and transcultural categor...
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A comprehensive guide to the history, theory and practice of Pow Wow, this book draws upon historical documentation, traditional methods, and a life of personal experience. Pow Wow, or Braucherei, as it is known by its practitioners, is a system of folk magic that has its roots in Christian and Pre-Christian Germany, but its character is wholy American - the quintissential American magical system. Drawing on quotes from the Bible, qabalistic principles and old gromoires, it is empowered by the Holy Trinity, and most practitioners consider themselves to be Christian, much like the Cunning Folk of England. The final chapter, about Doctor Santee, references material and uses a photograph that i...
In the mid nineteenth century, Reformed churchmen John Nevin and Philip Schaff launched a fierce attack on the reigning subjectivist and rationalist Protestantism of their day, giving birth to what is known as the "Mercersburg Theology." Their attempt to recover a high doctrine of the sacraments and the visible Church, among other things, led them into bitter controversy with Charles Hodge of Princeton Seminary, as well as several other prominent contemporaries. This book examines the contours of the disagreement between Mercersburg and Hodge, focusing on four loci in particular-Christology, ecclesiology, sacramentology, and church history. W. Bradford Littlejohn argues that, despite certain...
During the relatively short history of American Protestantism countless pastors, theologians, and pastor-theologians have addressed a variety of pragmatic issues facing Christian congregations. No one has done so with greater theological precision and passion than the Reformed theologian John Williamson Nevin (1803Ð1886). Nevin made his mark in American Protestantism with the publication of 'The Anxious Bench' and 'The Mystical Presence'. In this volume, Sam Hamstra brings to light Nevin's previously unpublished ÒLectures on Pastoral Theology,Ó a work that provides students with a more comprehensive portrait of one of the nineteenth century's leading Reformed theologians in America. Hamstra's introduction provides an important companion to Nevin's ÒLectures,Ó one that includes application for twenty-first-century pastors, as well as a surprise for those familiar with Nevin's critique of New Measures.
Christians are not just called to be transformed into something "better" or even "good," but to be transfigured into a "new creation"--ceasing to be what they are in order to become what they are not. In The Eucharist's Biographer, Albert Walsh proposes that the path to this "distinctive Christian identity" is through the power of the Holy Spirit, as revealed in the unity of Word and Sacrament. With this premise, he unites two powerful traditions: the Proclamation of the Word of the Protestant tradition and the Power of God's Grace in the Eucharist of the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox traditions. It is in what Walsh calls the eucharistic-evangel as a whole that the individual and community are subject to the "real presence" of the Christ, who, in the power of the Holy Spirit, is the force behind the transformation and maintenance of Christian identity.
Versammlinge—community events filled with songs, performances, speeches, and skits that celebrate Pennsylvania German heritage and culture—are held entirely in the Pennsylvania German Deitsch language. Some, the “groundhog lodges,” feature a ceremony honoring the groundhog, while others do not. These unique meetings, expressions of a distinctive ethnic identity in the context of a rapidly changing society, have become a traditional mainstay among Pennsylvania Germans who have worked to preserve their language and culture into the twenty-first century. Serious Nonsense introduces readers to Pennsylvania German cultural practices that tourists rarely see and that outsiders, including m...
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