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Leaves from the Notebook of a Tamed Cynic
By Reinhold Niebuhr. 2015
From 1915 to 1928, at the beginning of a career that would see him become America's foremost theologian, Reinhold Niebuhr…
served as pastor of Bethel Evangelical Church in Detroit, Michigan. This deeply personal book presents his advice and insights for young ministers about the challenges and rewards of pastoral ministry. It is presented in this exclusive Library of America E-Book Classic edition with a preface by Niebuhr's daughter, editor Elisabeth Sifton, plus a chronology of Niebuhr's life and detailed notes.Bishops, Clerks, and Diocesan Governance in Thirteenth-Century England
By Michael Burger. 2012
This book investigates how bishops deployed reward and punishment to control their administrative subordinates in thirteenth-century England. Bishops had few…
effective avenues available to them for disciplining their clerks, and rarely pursued them, preferring to secure their service and loyalty through rewards. The chief reward was the benefice, often granted for life. Episcopal administrators' security of tenure in these benefices, however, made them free agents, allowing them to transfer from diocese to diocese or even leave administration altogether; they did not constitute a standing episcopal civil service. This tenuous bureaucratic relationship made the personal relationship between bishop and clerk more important. Ultimately, many bishops communicated in terms of friendship with their administrators, who responded with expressions of devotion. Michael Burger's study brings together ecclesiastical, social, legal, and cultural history, producing the first synoptic study of thirteenth-century English diocesan administration in decades. His research provides an ecclesiastical counterpoint to numerous studies of bastard feudalism in secular contexts.Calvin's Theology and Its Reception
By I. John Hesselink, J. Todd Billings. 2012
J. Todd Billings and I. John Hesselink have compiled an essential collection of essays for the study of John Calvin's…
theology. Leading Calvin scholars examine the early and late reception-history of Calvin's fundamental teachings, including reflections on the contemporary possibilities and limitations in developing Calvin's thought. Contributors include Timothy Hessel-Robinson, Michael S. Horton, Mark Husbands, David Little, Suzanne McDonald, Jeannine E. Olson, Sue A. Rozeboom, and Carl R. Trueman.John Knox for Armchair Theologians
By Suzanne Mcdonald. 2013
This volume in the popular Armchair series presents a short and reader-friendly introduction to the tumultuous life and theology of…
the fiery reformer John Knox. As leader of the Scottish Reformation, Knox notably came into conflict with the Roman Catholic Church, particularly Queen Mary. He was also an outspoken advocate for education and care for the poor, and is widely regarded as the founder of the Church of Scotland. Each chapter includes a description of Knox's activities as well as a discussion of key texts that introduce Knox's theological convictions. Expertly written by Suzanne McDonald, and featuring witty illustrations from Ron Hill, this book offers an intriguing introduction to the life and work of this major theological figure.The Niebuhr Brothers for Armchair Theologians
By Scott R. Paeth. 2014
This volume offers a compelling introduction to the life, times, and theological thought of H. Richard and Reinhold Niebuhr--the two…
most important American theologians of the twentieth century. Although the Niebuhr brothers shared the same heritage and experienced many of the same formative moments, their thought diverged at key points as their lives and careers developed. Scott R. Paeth's expert introduction to the Niebuhr brothers explores this history and the enduring influence of the Niebuhrs on religious and political thought. This lively introduction, which includes witty illustrations from Ron Hill, is an essential resource for understanding these enduring theological figures.The Cambridge Companion to John Henry Newman
By Ian Ker, Terrence Merrigan. 2009
John Henry Newman (1801-90) was a major figure in nineteenth-century religious history. He was one of the major protagonists of…
the Oxford or Tractarian Movement within the Church of England whose influence continues to be felt within Anglicanism. A high-profile convert to Catholicism, he was an important commentator on Vatican I and is often called 'the Father' of the Second Vatican Council. Newman's thinking highlights and anticipates the central themes of modern theology including hermeneutics, the importance of historical-critical research, the relationship between theology and literature, and the reinterpretation of the nature of faith. His work is characterised by two elements that have come especially to the fore in post-modern theology, namely, the importance of the religious imagination and the fiduciary character of all knowledge. This Companion fills a need for an accessible, comprehensive and systematic presentation of the major themes in Newman's work.The Cambridge Companion to Bede
By Scott Degregorio. 2010
As the major writer and thinker of the Anglo-Saxon period, the Venerable Bede is a key figure in the study…
of the literature and thought of this time. This Companion, written by an international team of specialists, is a key introductory guide to Bede, his writings, and his world. The first part of the volume focuses on Bede's cultural and intellectual milieu, covering his life, the secular-political contexts of his day, the foundations of the Latin learning he inherited and sought to perpetuate, the ecclesiastical and monastic setting of early Northumbria, and the foundation of his home institution, Wearmouth-Jarrow. The book then considers Bede's writing in detail, treating his educational, exegetical and historical works. Concluding with a detailed assessment of Bede's influence and reception from the time of his death up to the modern age, the Companion enables the reader to view Bede's writings within a wider cultural context.The Cambridge Companion to Muhammad
By Jonathan E. Brockopp. 2010
As the Messenger of God, Muhammad stands at the heart of the Islamic religion, revered by Muslims throughout the world.…
The Cambridge Companion to Muhammad comprises a collection of essays by some of the most accomplished scholars in the field exploring the life and legacy of the Prophet. The book is divided into three sections, the first charting his biography and the milieu into which he was born, the revelation of the Qur'Äun, and his role within the early Muslim community. The second part assesses his legacy as a law-maker, philosopher, and politician and, finally, in the third part, chapters examine how Muhammad has been remembered across history in biography, prose, poetry, and, most recently, in film and fiction. Essays are written to engage and inform students, teachers, and readers coming to the subject for the first time. They will come away with a deeper appreciation of the breadth of the Islamic tradition, of the centrality of the role of the Prophet in that tradition, and, indeed, of what it means to be a Muslim today.The Cambridge Companion to Thomas More
By George M. Logan. 2011
This Companion offers a comprehensive introduction to the life and work of a major figure of the modern world. Combining…
breadth of coverage with depth, the book opens with essays on More's family, early life and education, his literary humanism, virtuoso rhetoric, illustrious public career and ferocious opposition to emergent Protestantism, and his fall from power, incarceration, trial and execution. These chapters are followed by in-depth studies of five of More's major works - Utopia, The History of King Richard the Third, A Dialogue Concerning Heresies, A Dialogue of Comfort against Tribulation and De Tristitia Christi - and a final essay on the varied responses to the man and his writings in his own and subsequent centuries. The volume provides an accessible overview of this fascinating figure to students and other interested readers, whilst also presenting, and in many areas extending, the most important modern scholarship on him.Confessions of a Secular Jesus Follower: Finding Answers in Jesus for Those Who Don't Believe
By Tom Krattenmaker. 2016
An award-winning USA Today columnist makes the case for how a Jesus freed from religion and politics meets the need…
for meaning and purpose in secular America. Tom Krattenmaker is part of a growing conversation centered at Yale University that acknowledges--and seeks to address--the abiding need for meaning and inspiration in post-religious America. What, they ask, gives a life meaning? What constitutes a life well led? In Confessions of a Secular Jesus Follower, Krattenmaker shares his surprising conclusion about where input and inspiration might best be found: in the figure of Jesus. And Jesus, not only as a good example and teacher, but Jesus as the primary guide for one's life. Drawing on sociological research, personal experience, and insights from fifteen years studying and writing on religion in American public life, Krattenmaker shows that in Jesus, nonreligious people like himself can find unique and compelling wisdom on how to honor the humanity in ourselves and others, how to build more peaceful lives, how generosity can help people and communities create more abundance, how to break free from self-defeating behaviors, and how to tip the scales toward justice. In a time when more people than ever are identifying as atheist or agnostic, Confessions of a Secular Jesus Follower is a groundbreaking and compelling work that rediscovers Jesus--and our own best selves--for the world of today.Locations of Buddhism: Colonialism and Modernity in Sri Lanka
By Anne M. Blackburn. 2010
Modernizing and colonizing forces brought nineteenth-century Sri Lankan Buddhists both challenges and opportunities. How did Buddhists deal with social and…
economic change; new forms of political, religious, and educational discourse; and Christianity? And how did Sri Lankan Buddhists, collaborating with other Asian Buddhists, respond to colonial rule? To answer these questions, Anne M. Blackburn focuses on the life of leading monk and educator Hikkaduve Sumangala (1827–1911) to examine more broadly Buddhist life under foreign rule. In Locations of Buddhism, Blackburn reveals that during Sri Lanka’s crucial decades of deepening colonial control and modernization, there was a surprising stability in the central religious activities of Hikkaduve and the Buddhists among whom he worked. At the same time, they developed new institutions and forms of association, drawing on pre-colonial intellectual heritage as well as colonial-period technologies and discourse. Advocating a new way of studying the impact of colonialism on colonized societies, Blackburn is particularly attuned here to human experience, paying attention to the habits of thought and modes of affiliation that characterized individuals and smaller scale groups. Locations of Buddhism is a wholly original contribution to the study of Sri Lanka and the history of Buddhism more generally.Romancing the Maya: Mexican Antiquity in the American Imagination, 1820-1915
By R. Tripp Evans. 2004
During Mexico's first century of independence, European and American explorers rediscovered its pre-Hispanic past. Finding the jungle-covered ruins of lost…
cities and artifacts inscribed with unintelligible hieroglyphs--and having no idea of the age, authorship, or purpose of these antiquities--amateur archaeologists, artists, photographers, and religious writers set about claiming Mexico's pre-Hispanic patrimony as a rightful part of the United States' cultural heritage.In this insightful work, Tripp Evans explores why nineteenth-century Americans felt entitled to appropriate Mexico's cultural heritage as the United States' own. He focuses in particular on five well-known figures--American writer and amateur archaeologist John Lloyd Stephens, British architect Frederick Catherwood, Joseph Smith, founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and the French émigré photographers Désiré Charnay and Augustus Le Plongeon. Setting these figures in historical and cultural context, Evans uncovers their varying motives, including the Manifest Destiny-inspired desire to create a national museum of American antiquities in New York City, the attempt to identify the ancient Maya as part of the Lost Tribes of Israel (and so substantiate the Book of Mormon), and the hope of proving that ancient Mesoamerica was the cradle of North American and even Northern European civilization. Fascinating stories in themselves, these accounts of the first explorers also add an important new chapter to the early history of Mesoamerican archaeology.Love and Saint Augustine
By Hannah Arendt. 1996
A completely corrected and revised English translation that incorporates Arendt's own substantial revisions and provides additional notes based on letters,…
contracts, and other documents as well as the recollections of Arendt's friends and colleagues.Devangelical
By Erika Rae. 2012
Devangelical is an irresistibly funny and irreverent memoir about Erika Rae's experience growing up in - and out of -…
the Evangelical church in the American Bible Belt. As an adolescent who is expected to be hot for God, and not boys, Erika dreads that the Rapture will come before she gets to have sex. All the while she survives exorcisms, radical taboos, satanic back-masking on records, muscle men for Jesus, and cool, mulleted youth group leaders. Eventually Erika emerges as a young, married adult in spiritual limbo. Devangelical is a political and personal exploration of how the Evangelical church affects us all. For Erika Rae, it means a smart and honest shedding of baggage. A lot of heavy, scuffed-up, duct-taped baggage . . . with clowns inside.Islam in Victorian Britain
By Ron Geaves. 2010
This is the first full biography of Abdullah Quilliam (1856-1932), the most significant Muslim personality in nineteenth century Britain. Uniquely…
ennobled as the Sheikh of Islam of the British Isles by the Ottoman caliph Sultan Abdul Hamid II in 1893, Quilliam created a remarkable Muslim community in Victorian Liverpool, which included a substantial number of converts. Ron Geaves examines Quilliam's teachings and considers his legacy for Muslims today.Ron Geaves is professor of the comparative study of religion at Liverpool Hope University and has contributed substantially to the study of British Islam, religion in South Asia, and fieldwork in religious studies.The Life of Buddha
By Paul C. Blum, A. Ferdinand Herold. 1954
THE LIFE OF BUDDHA Based on prolonged study of Indian legends, poems,history) and literature, The Life of Buddha not only…
adds to the actual knowledge of the facts surrounding the life of the Lord Buddha, but it also renders intelligible much that has hitherto mystified the Western student of the Orient. With great clarity, the author brings out the modes of life the sense of values, the technique of meditation, and the daily life of the Lord Buddha. This book should have appeal to a great variety of readers; packed with stimulating information, it is of interest to the student of Eastern religion and mysticism and the lover of Asiatic art, as well as to those concerned with philosophy, with the psychology of religion, and also to the general reader who hopes to gain an insight into the Orient. This vivid account of Buddha's life shows clearly how the values and manners set down by this man swept through India, Burma, Indo-China, and Ceylon, across China and Korea, and into Japan; and howthe daily life of a man who lived over two thousand five hundred years ago has become an inspiration, not only to millions of Chinese, Koreans, and Japanese,but also to increasing numbers of Westerners as well.Muhammad: Man and Prophet
By Adil Salahi. 2002
The Prophet Muhammad initiated one of the most significant religious and cultural developments in human history, bringing the religion of…
Islam to the world. Adil Salahi's compelling biography traces the life of the Prophet Muhammad from his birth and childhood to the triumph of Islam and its hold on Arabia. The author sets this against a fascinating historical backdrop. His careful analysis of the Prophet's life is written with today's Muslim and non-Muslim readers in mind: Muslims will further their comprehension of their faith, and non-Muslims will come to understand the love Muslims have for their Prophet.Martin Luther
By Martin Marty. 2004
This new series examines the lives of people who have had a major impact on the history or current practice…
of religion Individuals profiled include clergy of diverse faiths as well as lay people who have had a profound intellectual influence on religious and philosophical thought When Martin Luther nailed his Ninety-five Theses demanding Church reforms to the church door at Wittenberg in 1517 he had no idea he was starting a revolution His ideas however took hold of Europe and helped split the Catholic Church into the many Christian denominations that exist around the world todayAugustine's Inner Dialogue: The Philosophical Soliloquy in Late Antiquity
By Brian Stock. 2010
Augustine's philosophy of life involves mediation, reviewing one's past and exercises for self-improvement. Centuries after Plato and before Freud he…
invented a 'spiritual exercise' in which every man and woman is able, through memory, to reconstruct and reinterpret life's aims. Brian Stock examines Augustine's unique way of blending literary and philosophical themes. He proposes a new interpretation of Augustine's early writings, establishing how the philosophical soliloquy (soliloquium) has emerged as a mode of inquiry and how it relates to problems of self-existence and self-history. The book also provides clear analysis of inner dialogue and discourse and how, as inner dialogue complements and finally replaces outer dialogue, a style of thinking emerges, arising from ancient sources and a religious attitude indebted to Judeo-Christian tradition.Rabbi Paul: An Intellectual Biography
By Bruce Chilton. 2004
A brilliant new biography of Saint Paul, whose interpretations of the life and teachings of Jesus transformed a loosely organized,…
grassroots peasant movement into the structured religion we know today Without Paul, there would be no Christianity. His letters to various churches scattered throughout the Roman Empire articulated, for the first time, the beliefs that make up the heart of Christian practice and faith. In this extraordinary biography, Bruce Chilton explains the changing images of Paul, from the early Church period when he was regarded as the premiere apostle who separated Christianity from Judaism to more recent liberal evaluations, which paint him as an antifeminist, homophobic figure more dedicated to doctrine than to spiritual freedom. By illuminating Paul’s thoughts and contributions within the context of his time, Chilton restores him to his place as the founding architect of the Church and one of the most important figures in Western history. Rabbi Paulis at once a compelling, highly readable biography and a window on how Jesus’ message was transformed into a religion embraced by millions around the world. Drawing on Paul’s own writings as well as historical and scholarly documents about his life and times, Chilton portrays an all-too-human saint who helped to create both the most beautiful and the most troublesome aspects of the Church. He shows that Paul sought to specify the correct approach to such central concerns as sexuality, obedience, faith, conscience, and spirit, to define religion as an institution, and to clarify the nature of the religious personality—issues that Christians still struggle with today.