Outline: In this prize-winning book Nathan O. Hatch offers a provocative reassessment of religion and culture in the early days of the American republic, arguing that during this period American Christianity was democratized and common people became powerful actors on the religious scene. Hatch examines live distinct traditions or mass movements that emerged early in the nineteenth century - th…
Outline: John Anthony McGuckin, one of the world's leading scholars of ancient Christianity, has synthesized a lifetime of work to produce the most comprehensive and accessible history of the Christian movement during its first thousand years. The Path of Christianity takes readers on a journey from the period immediately after the composition of the Gospels, through the building of the earlies…
Outline: Just what is Islam and what does it mean to be a Muslim in the world today? Since the events of 9/11 and 7/7, Islam has become one of the most controversial and misunderstood religions in the world. Introducing Islam encourages students to put aside their preconceptions and explore this fascinating religion. William Shepard traces the history of Islam from its origins in the life and c…
Outline: Gunter Stemberger's revision of H.L. Strack's classic introduction to rabbinic literature, which appeared in its first English edition in 1991, was widely acclaimed. Gunter Stemberger and Markus Bockmuehl have now produced this updated edition. Following Strack's original outline, Stemberger discusses first the historical framework, the basic principles of rabbinic literature and herme…
Outline : This book initiates a dialogue where one does not exist, and continues a dialogue where one has been tentatively initiated, regarding the concept of God in the neoclassical philosophy of Charles Hartshorne and that found in analytic philosophers who adhere to classical theism. Two distinctive features of the book are a careful examination of Hartshorne's use of position martices in th…
Among the many types of sources for the history of Byzantine monasticism, none are more important than the typika, or foundation documents, collected and translated in these volumes, which will make possible for the first time a comprehensive study of religious life and institutions in the Greek East and a comparison between Greek and Latin monasticism.1 Together, the typika throw light on almo…
Outline : Paul Helm breaks fertile ground in this survey of theological anthropology in the Reformed tradition. Acknowledging the rich patristic and medieval heritage available to Reformed theologians, Helm works through a representative range of authors and materials during the period 1550 to 1750 in order to identify certain ways of thinking as well as elements of development and change. Addr…
Outline: This history of Christian theology tells a story that begins a biblical times and continues until today. Written in a straightforward narrative style, it provides an insightful explanation of major issues in religious history and the positions of some of the greatest theologians concerning them. William C. Placher presents the history of theology as an aspect of intellectual history, a…
Outline: This book draws together a collection of thirteen published and unpublished articles which together constitute a new reading of the character and development of Latin Trinitarian theology in the fourth and fifth centuries. The focus of the essays is on Augustine of Hippo (354-430 CE), but Augustine is treated here as an inheritor of earlier Latin tradition. Many of the figures of that …
Outline: Did God the Father kill His Son? What happened to the Trinity on the cross? "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" At this moment did God utterly forsake Jesus? Did the Father turn his back on the Son in rage? Was the Trinity ruptured or broken on that day? Theologian Thomas McCall tackles this profound, difficult and sometimes troubling passage in the life of Christ - the moment …
Outline: We've lost ourselves. Disconnected from the past and uncertain about the future, we are anxious about what our lives will be and troubled by a nagging sense of meaninglessness. Adrift in the world, many Christians have their identity completely wrapped up in work, and their definition of the "good life" is financial success. Fewer are staying committed to the Christian faith, finding i…
Outline: In this accessible historical overview of Sunday, noted scholar Justo Gonzales tells the story of how and why Christians have worshipped on Sunday from the earliest days of the church to the present. Readers of this book will rediscover the joy and excitement of Sunday as early Christians celebrated it and will find fresh, inspiring perspectives on Sunday amid our current culture of in…
Outline: Modern Protestant debates about spousal relations and the meaning of marriage began in a forgotten international dispute some 300 years ago. The Lutheran Pietist ideal of marriage as friendship and mutual pursuit of holiness battled with the idea that submission defined spousal roles. Exploiting material culture artifacts, broadsides, hymns, sermons, private correspondence, and legal c…
Outline: A History of Biblical Interpretation provides detailed and extensive studies of the interpretation of the Scriptures by Jewish and Christian writers throughout the ages. Written by internationally renowned scholars, this multivolume work comprehensively treats the many different methods of interpretation, the many important interpreters from various eras, and the many key issues that h…
Outline: This insightful book examines nine case studies in the history of exegesis in order to demonstrate the valuable insights into Scripture that we can gain not only from what individual commentators say but from fifteen centuries' cumulative witness to the meaning of Scripture in the life of the church.
Outline: This accessible text by James P. Ware provides both a concise guide to Paul's theology and a general introduction to the key issues and debates in the contemporary study of Paul. Examining Paul's message in the context of the ancient world, Ware identifies what would have struck Paul's original audience as startling or unique. By comparing Paul's teaching to the other religions and phi…
Outline : Cotton Mather (1663-1728) was America's most famous pastor and scholar at the beginning of the eighteenth century. People today generally associate him with the infamous Salem witch trials, but in this new biography Rick Kennedy tells a bigger story: Mather, he says, was the very first American evangelical.
Outline : This sixth volume of Hughes Oliphant Old's monumental, acclaimed study of preaching throughout history, The Modern Age, tells the story of preaching and worship from the French Revolution to the fall of the Berlin Wall (1789-1989). During this period preaching continued to support the historic Christian faith while the church under- took to resist secularization, come to grips with bi…
Outline: This original work of scholarship clarifies how, in light of Matthew's Gospel, the first Christians understood and claimed Israel's messianic mission to people of every ethnic group immediately after Jesus' death and resurrection. In Part 1 James LaGrand examines the Hebrew Bible and other ancient documents to uncover the meaning in Matthew's time of the terms 'Israel' and 'the nations…
Outline: Modern culture is obsessed with identity. Since the landmark Obergefell v. Hodges Supreme Court decision in 2015, sexual identity has dominated both public discourse and cultural trends - yet no historical phenomenon is its own cause. From Augustine to Marx, various views and perspectives have contributed to the modern understanding of the self. In this timely book, Carl Trueman analyz…
Outline: An exploration of the parallels between Old Testament texts and contemporary writings from Mesopotamia, Egypt, and elsewhere in the Middle East. The fifth edition expands on the first four with additional texts.
Outline : THE STORY OF ISRAEL IN THE FIVE CENTURIES LEADING UP TO THE BIRTH OF JESUS Bridging the Testaments surveys the history and theological developments of four significant eras in Israel's postexilic history: the Persian Era (539-331 BC), the Hellenistic Era (331-167 BC), the Hasmonean Era (167-63 BC), and the Roman Era (63-4 BC). In doing so, it does away with the notion that there were…
Outline: Where is God? There are never quick fixes or easy answers when we can't immediately see God's hand - when the struggle is hard and painful - he is working. Weaving together Scripture, personal stories, and the words of classic "How Firm a Foundation," David Powlison brings an experienced counselor's touch to exploring how God enters into our sufferings, helping us see God working in ou…
Outline: Matthew Levering offers an examination of the doctrine of creation and its contemporary theological implications, engaging with classical and modern views.
"This specially prepared work compromises a living archive of important programming languages, described by the people most instrumental in their creation and development. Drawn from the ACM/SIGPLAN Second History of Programming Languages Conference, this volume, like the earlier book from the first such conference (HOPL), conveys the motivations of the language designers and the reasons why th…
Outline : Dramatically converted on the stormy seas, a slave-trader-turned-abolitionist penned the best-loved hymn of the Christian faith. A church father was arrested and martyred for teaching the truth about Christ's incarnation. Captured by pirates and shipped off to Ireland, a priest baptized thousands of pagans, from paupers to princes. Now who ever said church history was boring? The Chur…
Science is a living, organic activity, the meaning and understanding of which have evolved incrementally over human history. This book, the second in a roughly chronological series, explores the evolution of science from the advents of Christianity and Islam through the Middle Ages, focusing especially on the historical relationship between science and religion. Specific topics include technolo…
This text is designed for students and academics studying the doctrine of the incarnation. James Dunn clarifies in detail the beginnings of the belief in Christ as the Son of God and discusses the historical context of such beliefs.
The Greek East in the Roman period abounded in fictions.In Fiction as History: Nero to Julian (1994), G. Bowersock has written memorably of what he characterizes as an explosion in the production of ancient fictions in the Roman empire,beginning in the reign of Nero (54–68 c.e.),and of the paradoxical character of some of these fictions.
DARK AS THE SEVEN CENTURIES SPANNED BY THE selections in this volume are commonly supposed to have been, those who investigate them more than superficially will discover that in this period the church of Christ was ever endeavoring to lift aloft a light which the darkness did not overcome.
The Baron d'Holbach, a prominent figure in the French Enlightenment, is best known for his writings against religion. His prolific campaign of atheism and anti-clericalism, waged from the printing presses of Amsterdam in the years around 1770, was so radical that it provoked an unprecedented public response. For the baron's enemies, at least, it suggested the end of an era: proof that the likes…
Could a Pope ever consent to be the subject of a political power? Owen Chadwick presents an analysis of the causes and consquences of the end of the historic Papal State, and the psychological pressures upon old Rome as it came under attack from the Italian Risorgimento and liberal movements in Germany, France, Spain, Portugal, and Tsarist Russia.
Titus Flavius Clemens (c. 150–215), better known as Clement of Alexandria, remains a puzzling figure in the history of the Christian Church. Little can be confirmed about the setting in which he operated, and the controversy concerning the nature and purpose of his writings still attracts scholarly debate. Evidence surrounding the so-called ‘catechetical school’ at Alexandria is hard to c…
The Blackwell Bible Commentaries series, the first to be devoted primarily to the reception history of the Bible, is based on the premise that how people have interpreted, and been influenced by, a sacred text like the Bible is often as interesting and historically important as what it originally meant. The series emphasizes the influence of the Bible on literature, art, music, and film, its ro…
From a renowned historian comes a groundbreaking narrative of humanity's creation and evolution--a #1 international bestseller--that explores the ways in which biology and history have defined us and enhanced our understanding of what it means to be "human." One hundred thousand years ago, at least six different species of humans inhabited Earth. Yet today there is only one--homo sapiens. What …
Thoroughly exploring the history of the conflict between Christians and Jews from medieval to modern times, this wide-ranging volume includes newly uncovered material from the recently opened post-Soviet archives. Anna Sapir Abulafia delineates controversial issues of inter-faith confrontation, and a number of eminent scholars from around the globe discuss openly and objectively the dynamics of…
This volume presents a collection of sources marking the culmination of mystical thought within medieval Christianity. These works are supplied from already existing, reputable translations appropriately acknowledged throughout the book. The chief editorial objective has been a distinctive resetting, in clarified historical perspective, of the richly varied, but closely related, texts of late …
Here is a definative, readable translation of John Calvin's Theological Treatises.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...
An exploration of the relationship between the rise and development of a mystical element in Islam, known as Sufism, and the mysticism that was already to be found within the Christian Church of the Near and Middle East.
This book is an introduction to Judaism of the Second Temple period. That is, it covers the time beginning in the Persian period and ending with the fall of the temple (539 bce–70 ce), though I find it helpful to go as late as the Bar Kokhba revolt (132–35 ce). I have already given a detailed history of the Judaism of the period in Judaism from Cyrus to Hadrian (1992) and the four-volume wo…
The papers in this volume, written by specialists in several disciplines, explore the parameters and significance of magic in Byzantine society, from the fourth century to after the empire's fall. The authors address a wide variety of questions, some of which are common to all historical research into magic, and some of which are peculiar to the Byzantine context." "Among the topics discussed a…
Volume 3 covers the effects of the Bible on the history of the West between the Reformation and the publication of the New English Bible.
Volume 1 of The Cambridge History of the Bible concerns the earliest period down to Jerome and takes as its central theme the process by which the books of both Testaments came into being and emerged as a canon of scripture, and the use of canonical writings in the early church.