Embracing Exile : the case for Jewish diaspora (2025)
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"Embracing Exile is a comprehensive history of Jewish responses to and conceptions of their exiles/diasporas. Jews have, since their beginnings, been a wandering people. According to their origin story, they wandered from Ur of Chaldees to Canaan to Egypt and then back to Canaan. From there, they were exiled to Babylon, where they built their longest-lived home, one that survived until the twentieth century. Over the span of centuries, they resettled in Persia, Egypt, Morocco, Spain, Italy, Turkey, Poland, Ukraine, and the United States, often flourishing. Thanks to these experiences, Diaspora became "natural" to Jews, and though they may have hoped for a return to their Promised Land at the End of Days, they made sense of their many homes, defending Diaspora as the realm where Jewish life could grow and Jews fulfill their covenantal obligations in the company of their God. The texts and expressions the volume documents in Defending Diaspora include biblical and rabbinic texts, philosophical treatises, Kabbalah, Hasidism, and a multiplicity of modern expressions. The book offers revised readings of the book of Esther and other biblical texts, a survey of Talmudic treatments of exile, an in-depth analysis of the thought of the Maharal of Prague, analyses of works by Philip Roth, and other modern authors, and much more. The book shows that lament has not been the most common Jewish response to diaspora and that Zionism is not the natural outcome of either Jewish ideology or history"
Divine and Human Love in Jewish and Christian Antiquity (2025)
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"The centrality and significance of love for much of ancient Judaism and Christianity are clear. But if there is a broad, even if not universal, agreement on the importance of love, the singularity of the term 'love' covers over a multitude of differences in how love is conceived and mapped onto the conceptual landscape of antiquity. In this volume, Crabbe and Lincicum assemble a set of essays that analyze the concept of love from the minor prophets to Methodius of Olympus, with a central focus on the texts that came to make up the New Testament.
So Help Us, God: American presidents and the Bible
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The religious beliefs of America's leaders and the role of religion in public life have long captivated the American public. In this book, historian Carl J. Richard looks at the many ways that the Bible has influenced America's leaders in their personal and political lives. With chapters organized thematically, Richard discusses the educational system, familial influences, church experiences, and religious revivals that have immersed presidents in the Bible; their lifelong engagement with Scripture; their biblically-infused political rhetoric; their powerful belief in a divine Providence that protected them and guided their nation; their resultant belief in the power of prayer; their belief in God-given rights and spiritual equality; their belief in a national mission to advance the cause of liberty across the globe; their belief in the excellence of Christian ethics and in the necessity of religion to the survival and success of republican government; their belief in an afterlife; their religious differences; the influence of the founding presidents' biblical conception of human nature on their establishment of constitutional checks and balances; and the effect of modern presidents' more optimistic outlook on their willingness to undermine them. So Help Us, God: American Presidents and the Bible will appeal to all readers interested in American presidential history and the role of religion in public life.
Arianism Revisited: an introduction to non-Nicene theologies (2025)
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"The purpose of this book is four-fold: to render accessible the complex doctrinal views of Arianism; to bridge a rupture in scholarly approaches to "Arianism"; to present the controversy in its full ethnic, linguistic, and chronological scope; and to assess the controversy theologically and indicate what Christians may gain from studying it today"-- Provided by publisher.
That Which They Can't See: a retrieval of Jonathan Edwards' homiletical use of imagination
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In this retrieval study David Van Brugge addresses how the current understanding of a homiletical use of imagination for expository preaching might be strengthened. The current need for strengthening becomes apparent when the various understandings of imagination and their implications for practical theology are realized. This is compounded as trends in homiletics seem to minimize the imagination or embrace it in modern or postmodern ways. The original contribution of this study is recognizing that the homiletical use of imagination can be strengthened by retrieving the Puritan baroque characteristics of Jonathan Edwards' imagination as evidenced in his sermons to the Stockbridge Indians of 1751-1758. Edwards drew on a rich background to display an imagination that synthesized thoughts and ideas, thought beyond the senses, and that, by the grace of God, transformed thought and practice. Through that creative thought, Edwards maintained Biblical exposition and appeal to the affections. Van Brugge further develops and evaluates the idea of Puritan baroque characteristics, concluding that it is a helpful characterization of Edwards' Stockbridge Indian sermons. In these sermons Edwards imaginatively used imagery, light, space, movement, and glorification for the ultimate goal of directing the affections of his audience towards God. Such a use of imagination for affective purpose becomes a key for the strengthening of a homiletical use of imagination today.
Johann Agricola Aus Eisleben (ca. 1494-1566) : vom Freund zum Gegner der Wittenberger Reformatoren
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"Johann Agricola from Eisleben, also called Islebius, belonged to the circle of Wittenberg reformers and long enjoyed the trust of Martin Luther and Philipp Melanchthon. But he soon became one of their bitterest opponents. Although Agricola saw himself as a loyal representative of Wittenberg theology, his idiosyncratic positions and his participation in the Augsburg Interim of 1548 repeatedly led him to various disputes over Reformation doctrine. His self-image and the image he was perceived by others diverged widely. The essays collected here attempt to get to the bottom of this finding by examining Agricola's various places of work and periods of activity and by drawing on the writings produced in those contexts. The volume thus opens up a new perspective on Agricola that does not reduce him to a controversial theologian, but rather reveals the diversity of his life and work." -- Publisher,
1525 : Thomas Müntzer und die Revolution des gemeinen Mannes
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"Fanatic or freedom fighter: no other figure of the Reformation period was debated as fiercely as Thomas Müntzer. Some declared him a mystical enthusiast, others a theologian gone astray, a utopian, or a revolutionary with a rainbow flag. Müntzer's life was closely connected to the German Peasants' War. His execution after the lost Battle of Frankenhausen in 1525 marked both the zenith and the beacon of the uprising. Müntzer became a point of contention for historians in East and West and a symbol to which even Latin American liberation theologians refer. Müntzer stands for an unfulfilled promise. For the revolution of the common man represented nothing less than an early struggle for a democratic community. Questions of meaning and justice posed at that time remain relevant 500 years later." -- Publisher,
Charity after Augustine : solidarity, conflict, and the practices of charity in the Latin West (2025)
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In the Province of the Dragon : a pioneer deaconess in southern China from the Boxer Uprising to the communist insurgency
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This book provides a close-up account of a singular woman's life and work. Sophie Newton's desire to serve God led her to the forefront of missionary work in Southeast China from the last years of the Imperial Dynasty. She lived through the tumultuous events of the Boxer Rebellion, the Nationalist Revolution, the Warlord Conflicts, and the rise of the Communist Movement. Newton spent her life empowering females through establishing schools, training Bible-women, and adopting children as well as challenging infanticide, child marriage, foot-binding, and the opium trade. Drawing on a wide range of family journals, personal letters, archival records, newspaper reports, and personal interviews, this book tells her story: one that shows how personal conviction, selflessness, and single-minded compassion can make a real and lasting difference to people in a village, provincial city, capital, or province.
Peyote Politics : the making of the Native American Church, 1880-1937 (2025)
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Readers of the Lost Ark: imagining the ark of the covenant from ancient times to the present (2025)
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Faith of the Fathers : the comprehensive history of Catholic chaplains in the Civil War (2025)
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Marginalized Religion and the Law in the Roman Empire
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The Roman Empire's approach to religion has traditionally been described in paradoxical terms. On the one hand, Rome has often been regarded as almost proverbially tolerant, as well as highly flexible in its dealings with the diverse range of religious cults and practices within its territories. On the other hand, the Roman religious landscape was not without its limits, and there were certain groups who found themselves, for one reason or another, on the outside. The legal interactions between these groups and the Roman authorities have largely been studied in isolation. In Marginalized Religion and the Law in the Roman Empire, K. P. S. Janssen instead takes a comparative approach, and investigates how members of various marginalized religious groups were embedded in, and interacted with, the wider Roman legal system. The legal positions of private diviners, Jewish communities and early Christians are compared and contrasted to provide a broader perspective on the legal treatment of marginalized religion in the Roman world. Janssen argues that the known interactions between these respective groups and the Roman authorities are best understood within the wider context of Roman law and administration, and that they furthermore shared a number of important characteristics. While the treatment these groups received was certainly not in all respects identical, the procedural, socio-political, and ideological mechanisms that underpinned the relevant legal measures were nonetheless conspicuously similar.
Giotto : the life of the Virgin Mary : the Scrovegni Chapel (2025)
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The most important and influential painter of the 14th century. From the beautiful artwork on the cover, to the rich colorful timeless photographs within, the reader will be provided with an enchanting perspective of Giotto's way of narrating a story with his masterpieces inside the Scrovegni Chapel. This book is divided into three sections beginning with the Story of Salvation, describing the figure of the Virgin Mary, to whom the sacred site is dedicated. The next section tells the life of Jesus Christ and opens with the Nativity. Finally, the last section of the book shows the allegories of the Vices and Virtues. The images lead the reader step by step before arriving at the Last Judgement. We invite you to preview an inside look, where you will be offered a glimpse at the treasure trove of images that continue to enchant visitors from all around the world. This book will make a wonderful gift and will be a centerpiece that sparks many future discussions. It is printed in both English and Italian. Federica Millozzi, World Heritage Office Conservator. Since 2007 she has been curator of the Civic Museums of Bassano del Grappa, responsible for the museum service, the educational section and the historical photographic archive. +
Islam : a new history from Muhammad to the present
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A concise new narrative history of Islam that draws on the transformative insights of recent research to emphasize the diversity and dynamism of the tradition Today's Muslim world is in upheaval: legalists and mystics engage in intense debates, radical groups invoke Sharia, Muslim immigrants in the West face prejudice and discrimination, and Muslim feminists advocate new interpretations of the Koran. At the same time, Islam is mischaracterized as unitary and unchanging by people ranging from right-wing Western politicians claiming that Islam is incompatible with democracy to conservative Muslims dreaming of returning to the golden age of the prophet. Against this contentious backdrop, this book provides an essential and timely new history of the religion in all its astonishing richness and diversity as it has been practiced by Muslims around the world, from seventh-century Mecca to today. Most popular histories of Islam continue to repeat conventional pietistic accounts. In contrast, John Tolan draws on decades of new historical research that has transformed knowledge of the origins and development of the Muslim faith. He shows how the youngest of the three great monotheisms arose in close contact with Jewish, Christian, and other religious traditions in a mixture of cultures, including Arab, Greek, Persian, and Turkish; how Islam spread across an enormous territory encompassing hundreds of languages and cultures; how Muslims have forged widely different beliefs and practices over fourteen centuries; and how Islamic history provides crucial context for understanding contemporary debates in the Muslim world. At a time when much talk about Islam is filled with misunderstanding, stereotypes, and bias, this book provides a fresh and lucid portrait of the continuous and ongoing transformations of a religion of tremendous variety and complexity.
Bodies in Motion : a religious history of sports in America
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Are sports the new American religion? Arthur Remillard, a seasoned scholar of religion and sports, hears this question frequently. Often, it is prompted by the contrast between the waning of traditional religious institutions and the thriving, cash-rich world of sports. Stadiums bustle with boundless enthusiasm, exuberant rituals, and potent symbols. Churches no longer seem to.According to Remillard, however, this question reduces "religion" to only its institutional form, thereby overlooking the many unscripted ways that sports have assumed sacred significance throughout American history. Bodies in Motion shines a bright light on the ways that sports have allowed individuals and communities to develop, describe, and proclaim their most deeply held and strongly defended values and beliefs. From prizefighting and baseball to distance running and bowling, Remillard emphasizes that the fundamental element of sports is the human body in motion-the body that strives, struggles, and sweats on the field of play. From here, participants, observers, and organizers do the creative work of inscribing meaning onto these motions, of elevating them from the ordinary to the extraordinary. Along the way, these interpretations shape and are shaped by broader societal forces at play, including race, class, gender, ethnicity, and nationality.Engaging and thought-provoking, Bodies in Motion shows how sacred activities have been intricately entangled in athletic activities, expanding how we think about religion and its meaning and uses. Whether you're an avid sports fan, a reader of American history, or simply curious about the intersection of religion and sports, this book promises to show you new ways of understanding this fascinating subject.
Apostle of Liberation : AME Bishop Paul Quinn and the underground railroad
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William Paul Quinn's untold story is a missing piece of American history. His deep but little-known involvement with the Underground Railroad is one of the most fascinating subplots of a remarkable life. More than any other prelate of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, or AME Church, Quinn (1788-1873) guided the faithful throughout the perilous pre-Civil War years, sanctioning escape from slavery while avoiding suspicion and, by all appearances, upholding the law. Quinn helped his followers navigate the hardships of slavery, as well as the demands of freedom in the post-Civil War world. Apostle of Liberation illuminates Quinn's significance, demonstrating why his life and courageous efforts deserve more attention-and more appreciation. It also explores, in depth and for the first time, the eight and a half years Quinn spent in New York City. It was during this time that Quinn experienced the major conflict of his life with AME founder Bishop Richard Allen over Quinn's independent activities in New York. Much to Bishop Allen's frustration, Quinn-one of the AME Church's "Four Horsemen"along with Allen-associated with ministers of other denominations, collaborated with the city's African American civic leaders, rescued freedom seekers, and operated beyond Allen's reach. Quinn later established a 150-member independent church in the city, earning Allen's wrath and a five-year exile from the church. This remarkable missionary's life embodies the struggles and challenges that shaped the lives of nineteenth-century Black leaders, and those who followed them. Apostle of Liberation explores the historical figure as well as the man of God-his spiritual gifts, his character and uniqueness, as well as his many strengths and failings. The book carefully lays out his trials and triumphs, and the magnitude of his accomplishments in the face of legally sanctioned national opposition, denominational fights and schisms, and devastating Supreme Court decisions. Combining AME Church history, the story of the Underground Railroad, the origins of African American educational efforts, and inspiring anecdotes of westward migration and community engagement, Apostle of Liberation offers an original and distinctive contribution to American religious history.
The World after Gaza : a history
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"Courageous and bracing, learned and ethical, rigorous and mind-expanding." --Naomi Klein "This profoundly important and urgent book finds Mishra, one of our most intellectually astute and courageous writers, at the peak of his powers." --Hisham Matar "A triumphant work of empathy in a polarizing conflict." --Anand Giridharadas Named a Best Book of the Month by TIME * Named a Most Anticipated Book of 2025 by The Guardian, Bustle, Foreign Policy, and Literary Hub From one of our foremost public intellectuals, an essential reckoning with the war in Gaza that reframes our understanding of the ongoing conflict, its historical roots, and the fractured global response The postwar global order was in many ways shaped in response to the Holocaust. That event became the benchmark for atrocity, and, in the Western imagination, the paradigmatic genocide. Its memory orients so much of our thinking, and crucially, forms the basic justification for Israel's right first to establish itself and then to defend itself. But in many parts of the world, ravaged by other conflicts and experiences of mass slaughter, the Holocaust's singularity is not always taken for granted, even when its hideous atrocity is. Outside of the West, Pankaj Mishra argues, the dominant story of the twentieth century is that of decolonization. The World After Gaza takes the current war, and the polarized reaction to it, as the starting point for a broad reevaluation of two competing narratives of the last century: the Global North's triumphant account of victory over totalitarianism and the spread of liberal capitalism, and the Global South's hopeful vision of racial equality and freedom from colonial rule. At a moment when the world's balance of power is shifting, and the Global North no longer commands ultimate authority, it is critically important that we understand how and why the two halves of the world are failing to talk to each other. As old touchstones and landmarks crumble, only a new history with a sharply different emphasis can reorient us to the world and worldviews now emerging into the light. In this concise, powerful, and pointed treatise, Mishra reckons with the fundamental questions posed by our present crisis -- about whether some lives matter more than others, how identity is constructed, and what the role of the nation-state ought to be. The World After Gaza is an indispensable moral guide to our past, present, and future.
Contemporary Religious Tourism : multidisciplinary insights, environmental engagement, and community impact (2025)
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This book explores the multifaceted impact of religious tourism on prominent global destinations, addressing significant research gaps in this evolving field. Religious tourism, driven by complex psychosocial motives, particularly religious and spiritual needs, has long influenced travel behavior. Pilgrimages, a key aspect of religious tourism, are examined in depth, highlighting their role in fulfilling spiritual and material needs across various belief systems. The book investigates the intricate relationship between religion and tourism, considering factors such as authenticity, emotional solidarity, pro-environmental behaviors, and the educational aspects of spiritual journeys. With case studies from diverse regions such as Greece, India, Italy, and Bulgaria, the book offers a global perspective on how religious tourism intersects with marketing, economics, social development, and sustainability. This volume provides valuable insights for academics, practitioners, and policymakers interested in the profound and diverse implications of religious tourism in different cultural and geographical contexts.
Augustine and Frontiers of Pluralism (2025)
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"This book focuses on St. Augustine as a worthwhile resource for thinking through the challenges and prospects of pluralism. The contributors speak to several dimensions of this organizing concept, understanding of which is advanced by engagement with Augustine. The volume brings together scholars from different disciplines, faith traditions, and political commitments, all of whom have deemed it worthwhile to return to Augustine to learn about a signature theme of common life in the twenty-first century. The chapters address a variety of topics including civic engagement, feminism, Black religious thought, domination, liberalism, and time. In an age of pluralism, the hope is to access the insights of the thinker who struggled with a plurality of desires, motivations, and political-theological imaginations, and to benefit from his thoughts. The book will be of particular interest to scholars of theology, philosophy, and political science"-- Provided by publisher.
The Controversial Thomas More : politics, polemics and prison writings (2025)
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The Controversial Thomas More offers an original and critical intervention on the writings of Thomas More and his opposition to King Henry VIII. Thomas More is known for refusing the oath of succession and remaining silent about his reasons for doing so. His prison literature, however, tells a different story. Under the threat of execution, More waged an astonishingly prolific and often coded writing campaign in rebuke of King Henry VIII's claim to be supreme head of the Church in England. Travis Curtright's groundbreaking book shows how William Rastell, More's nephew and printer, fashioned a historically inaccurate depiction of More, one that persists to this day. Rastell's edition of More's works gave the false impression that More stopped writing polemical literature in 1533 and, instead, turned his mind exclusively toward heaven and away from politics. In contrast, Curtright proves that More's prison writings are not just devotional literature but also a powerful defense of a united Church under the pope, reestablishing More as a key political and religious thinker, defiant of King Henry VIII. Most scholars restrict More's political thought to his Utopia, but The Controversial Thomas More shows how his prison writings best reveal his ideas of political unity and authority, and is a reconsideration of More's legacy and place in the history of the Henrician Reformation.
Righteous Strife : how warring religious nationalists forged Lincoln's union (2025)
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The first major account of the American Civil War to give full weight to the central role played by religion, reframing the conflict through Abraham Lincoln's contentious appeals to faith-based nationalism How did slavery figure in God's plan? Was it the providential role of government to abolish this sin and build a righteous nation? Or did such a mission amount to "religious tyranny" and "pulpit politics," in an effort to strip the southern states of their God-given rights? In 1861, in an already fracturing nation, the tensions surrounding this moral quandary cracked the United States in half, and even formed rifts within the North itself, where antislavery religious nationalists butted heads with conservative religious nationalists over their visions for America's future. At the center of this melee stood Abraham Lincoln, who would turn to his own faith for guidance, proclaiming more days of national fasting and thanksgiving than any other president before or since. These pauses for spiritual reflection provided the inspirational rhetoric and ideological fuel that sustained the war. In Righteous Strife, Richard Carwardine gives renewed attention to this crucible of contending religious nationalisms, out of which were forged emancipation, Lincoln's reelection, and his second inaugural address. No understanding of the American Civil War is complete without accounting for this complex dance between church and state-one that continues to define our nation.
A History of Christianity in America
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The story of Christianity in America is a fascinating one, marked by constant change, development, and innovation. The faith has shaped the country, even as the country has shaped it. Award-winning historian Mark Granquist has written an up-to-date telling of this story from the arrival of Europeans to the present day. While the twists and turns are complex, varied, and at times confusing, Granquist has identified several consistent threads that weave their way through the various branches and periods of American Christianity: voluntary religion, pluralism, and an innovative religious marketplace.The account is comprehensive without being overwhelming. And it is presented in a clear and compelling narrative sure to capture and hold readers' interest. This book is therefore ideal for use in semester-long classes in undergraduate or graduate programs and appealing for general readers. The main text is accompanied by illustrative elements including sidebars, images, maps, and timelines.
Tending the Garden : a history of Christian mysticism
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Mysticism in an ancient and important aspect of the Christian faith, yet it is highly misunderstood. Due to obscure language and concepts, not to mention occasionally eccentric personalities, the mystics can be difficult to approach. Once you peel back the layers of insider language, however, one begins to see a highly relatable group of people who were, first and foremost, concerned with tending to a personal and loving relationship with God. Tending the Gardenprovides the reader with a basic definition of and clarity around several terms and practices of Christian mysticism, as well as analyzing the lives and writings of important Christian mystics. Jennifer Wojciechowski proposes some ways in which we, as modern people living in an industrialized and disenchanted society, can benefit from knowing Christian mystical history and engaging in spiritual practices related to Christian mysticism. The book's aim is to demystify the mystics by making them understandable and relatable to modern believers. In this era of disenchantment and religious decline, Tending the Gardenwill introduce Christians to a rich and vibrant history of mystical prayer and relationship with God in order to spark curiosity and inspire a deeper spiritual life. The book will serve as an accessible introduction to and thematic historical overview of Christian mysticism.
The End of the Schism : Catholics, Protestants, and the remaking of Christian life in Europe, 1880s-1970s (2025)
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The dramatic story behind an extraordinary transformation: the reconciliation between Europe's Protestants and Catholics, and the emergence of a new era of Christian collaboration. For centuries, Europe's Catholics and Protestants were bitter rivals, each group blaming the other for violence and alleged moral decline. Yet starting in the 1930s, they swiftly made peace, abandoning old stereotypes and even forming joint political parties and social organizations. Why did these erstwhile adversaries suddenly start cooperating, and what were the consequences? A groundbreaking study, The End of the Schism overturns conventional wisdom about this revolutionary change. Udi Greenberg shows that ecumenism did not grow out of mutual tolerance. Rather, Christian thinkers and politicians on both sides of the Catholic-Protestant divide came together to contain what they considered growing threats to Christian life: socialism, feminism, and Afro-Asian liberation movements. This project of interconfessional peacemaking accelerated with the rise of the Nazis, whose call for religious unity sparked intense debates among Christian denominations about their relationships with one another. Their rapprochement culminated in the unfolding of the Cold War and decolonization, when Catholic and Protestant authorities formally declared each other "brethren in faith." The End of the Schism makes clear the enormous consequences of the ecumenical revolution. By working together, Catholics and Protestants were able to design Europe's economic policies, regulate its sexual practices, and deeply shape its postwar relationship with the Global South. As confessional attachments in Europe have weakened, this coalition of Christians has only grown more cohesive, leveraging their alliance to maintain influence across a politically fractured continent.
Nikolaus Gallus im Streit für Christus : die Dynamik der lutherischen Konfessionsbildung im Kontext theologischer Kontroversen des 16. Jahrhunderts
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Nicholas Gallus in the struggle for Christ: the dynamics of Lutheran confessional formation in the context of theological controversies of the 16th century (2025)
Religion in the Américas : trans-hemispheric and transcultural approaches (2025)
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Religion in the Américas explores the fluid, dynamic, and complex nature of religion across Latin America and its diasporic communities in the United States. Utilizing a transdisciplinary and trans-hemispheric lens, this groundbreaking anthology transcends traditional scholarly boundaries?geographical, disciplinary, and temporal?as it explores ideas and cultural practices that share a common history of Iberian colonialism. This robust collection of essays forges a dialogue among scholars throughout the Americas who represent a variety of disciplinary perspectives. The book is divided into five sections: ?Fluidity in the Afro-Latine Diaspora,? ?Aesthetics in Las Américas,? ?Critical Feminist Epistemologies and Activism,? ?The Limits of Institutional Religion,? and ?Spiritual Invasions and Contagions.? Throughout the volume, the concept of ?experience? serves as a foundational lens, as chapters examine how individuals and communities actively interpret and negotiate their realities within diverse historical and social contexts. Focusing on religion as a culturally conditioned epistemic practice, Religion in the Américas invites readers to engage with religion in the Americas on multiple, intersecting levels of knowledge, including local insights, scholarly analyses, and the positionality and queries of readers themselves. The book?s dialogical approach encourages not only continual reevaluation of the complexities of religious experience in the Americas but also creative innovation that will inspire new avenues of inquiry.
Merchants of Knowledge : intellectual exchange in the Ottoman Empire and Renaissance Europe (2025)
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Between 1450 and 1550, a remarkable century of intellectual exchange developed across the Eastern Mediterranean. As Renaissance Europe depended on knowledge from the Ottoman Empire, and the courts of Mehmed the Conqueror and Bayezid II greatly benefitted from knowledge coming out of Europe, merchants of knowledge--multilingual and transregional Jewish scholars--became an important bridge among the powers. With this book, Robert Morrison is the first to track the network of scholars who mediated exchanges in astronomy, astrology, Qabbalah, and philosophy. Their books, manuscripts, and acts of translation all held economic value, thus commercial and intellectual exchange commingled--knowledge became transactional as these merchants exchanged texts for more intellectual material and social capital. While parallels between medieval Islamic astronomy and the famous heliocentric arrangement posited by Copernicus are already known, Morrison reveals far deeper networks of intellectual exchange that extended well beyond theoretical astronomy and shows how religion, science, and philosophy, areas that will eventually develop into separate fields, were once interwoven. The Renaissance portrayed in Merchants of Knowledge is not, from the perspective of the Ottoman Muslim contacts of the Jewish merchants of knowledge, hegemonic. It's a Renaissance permeated by diversity, the cultural and political implications of which the West is only now waking up to.
Contesting the Body of Christ : ecclesiology's revolutionary century (2025)
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This book engages ecclesiology across the twentieth century as worked out in ecumenical and global contexts and explores how the four marks of the church-one, holy, catholic, and apostolic-were remade, contested, and reaffirmed in surprising and innovative ways.
Why religion went obsolete : the demise of traditional faith in America
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Is traditional American religion doomed? Traditional religion in the United States has suffered huge losses in recent decades. The number of Americans identifying as "not religious" has increased remarkably. Religious affiliation, service attendance, and belief in God have declined. More and more people claim to be "spiritual but not religious." Religious organizations have been reeling from revelations of sexual and financial scandals and cover-ups. Public trust in "organized religion" has declined significantly. Crucially, these religious losses are concentrated among younger generations. This means that, barring unlikely religious revivals among youth, the losses will continue and accelerate in time, as less-religious younger Americans replace older more-religious ones and increasingly fewer American children are raised by religious parents. All this is clear. But what is less clear is exactly why this is happening. We know a lot more about the fact that traditional American religion has declined than we do about why this is so. Why Religion Went Obsolete aims to change that. Drawing on survey data and hundreds of interviews, Christian Smith offers a sweeping, multifaceted account of why many Americans have lost faith in traditional religion. An array of large-scale social forces-everything from the end of the Cold War to the rise of the internet to shifting ideas about gender and sexuality-came together to render traditional religion culturally obsolete. For growing numbers of Americans, traditional religion no longer seems useful or relevant. Using quantitative empirical measures of big-picture changes over time as well as exploring the larger cultural environment--the cultural "zeitgeist"--Smith explains why this is the case and what it means for the future. Crucially, he argues, it does not mean a strictly secular future. Rather, Americans' spiritual impulses are being channelled in new and interesting directions. Why Religion Went Obsolete is a tour de force from one of our leading chroniclers of religion in America.
Miracles and Wonder : the historical mystery of Jesus (2025)
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NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER . From a renowned National Book Award-winning scholar, an extraordinary new account of the life of Jesus that explores the mystery of how a poor young man inspired a religion that reshaped the world. "This a brilliant and necessary book. Sober, wise, respectful, and fearless." -Jon Meacham, author of The Soul of America "Pagels' story is for believers and non-believers alike." -Tara Westover, author of Educated "The depth of spirituality she uncovers is profound." -The New York Times Book Review Early in her career, Elaine Pagels changed our understanding of the origins of Christianity with her work in The Gnostic Gospels. Now, in the culmination of a decades-long career, she explores the biggest subject of all, Jesus. In Miracles and Wonder she sets out to discover how a poor young Jewish man inspired a religion that shaped the world. The book reads like a historical mystery, with each chapter addressing a fascinating question and answering it based on the gospels Jesus's followers left behind. Why is Jesus said to have had a virgin birth? Why do we say he rose from the dead? Did his miracles really happen and what did they mean? The story Pagels tells is thrilling and tense. Not just does Jesus comes to life but his desperate, hunted followers do as well. We realize that some of the most compelling details of Jesus's life are the explanations his disciples created to paper over inconvenient facts. So Jesus wasn't illegitimate, his mother conceived by God; Jesus's body wasn't humiliatingly left to rot and tossed into a common grave-no, he rose from the dead and was seen whole by his followers; Jesus isn't a failed messiah, his kingdom is a metaphor- he lives in us. These necessary fabrications were the very details and promises that electrified their listeners and helped his followers' numbers grow. In Miracles and Wonder, Pagels does more than solve a historical mystery. She sheds light on Jesus's enduring power to inspire and attract.
The Essential City of God : a reader and commentary
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City of God is Augustine's fullest treatment of church and society. This abridged edition includes commentary, essays, and other resources for readers to discover his work anew.
Luther's Theology: a translation of Hans Joachim Iwand's posthumous works
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This book highlights the writings of the young (or early) Martin Luther, which separates it from other books on Martin Luther's theology. The book sets Luther in radical, at times almost shocking, contrast with theological and philosophical modernity. Reinforced by hundreds of quotations from Luther, what emerges for readers is a revision of age-old and current ideas of Christian faith, into which they are invited. Thus, Catholicism, medieval and modern; Protestantism (according to Iwand, a stimulus to Nazi ideology); Lutheranism, particularly with its staid doctrine of the "Two Kingdoms"; Liberalism, with its personalism and ethics of intention; Pietism, likewise vulnerable to political mishandling; the "Quest of the Historical Jesus" and Existentialism, nourished by Nietzsche and Freud--all are subject to confrontation, and in all this readers are directly engaged as if by Luther himself. In the transfer from classroom lecture to the edited and published book, nothing is lost of the original encounter of a master interpreter and student of Luther.
Philosophers, Jews, and Christians in the Roman Empire: authority, text, and tradition
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This book explores how philosophical and religious communities in the Roman Empire of the first and second centuries CE engaged with and were shaped by their relationship to texts and tradition in their quest for true religious knowledge, or ultimate truth. This era was a dynamic transition period for philosophers, Jews, and Christians in the Roman Empire: it was the stage between Hellenistic philosophy and the Neoplatonism of Late Antiquity; the end of Second Temple Judaism and the start of the rabbinic period; Christianity's rapid growth and transformation into an institutional and uniform church. Philosophers, Jews, and Christians utilized similar strategies for communal identity and boundary-marking and reinterpreted ancient traditions in creative ways to create new centers of authority. An intellectual literary culture fostered a focus on texts as a locus of contention, conversion, and exchange within and between groups. The book surveys and compares these groups as three distinct textual or reading communities, analyzing their practices of textual engagement and parallel attitudes towards textual authority in this period. This book is suitable for students and scholars working on ancient philosophy in the Roman Empire, classicists, and scholars of early Christianity and Judaism in this period.
The Luther Myth: the image of Martin Luther from religious reformer to Völkisch icon
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In the period from the close of the Napoleonic Wars up through the immediate post-World-War II era the image of Martin Luther was transposed in Germany from a religious reformer and advocate of freedom to a symbol of völkisch nationalist identity, such that with the seizure of power by the Nazis, Luther was used to portray a symbiosis between the new regime and the tradition of Protestant religiosity. The Luther Myth traces the evolution of this image within the environment of nineteenth- and twentieth-century German nationalist sentiment, looking particularly at how Protestant Germans styled Luther to affirm the essentialist racial identity politics of the Nazis, the cult of authoritarian leadership around Adolf Hitler, the drive to impose state control over all competing sources of authority, and the victimizing of German Jews. In doing so, it sheds new light on why Nazism was able to co-opt German Protestantism as a source for legitimizing its seizure of power despite the fact that the animating core of Nazi ideology was radically subversive in relation to traditional Christian piety. Using evidence drawn from not only theological works and literary and philosophical sources, but also speeches, theatrical works, public celebrations, and monuments, it pulls together the narrative of development and connects it over the longer term, offering an original contribution to scholarship on the topic and allowing readers a format for considering how similar dynamics are still at work in contemporary society and culture.
Women in Christianity in the Medieval Age
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This volume offers a comprehensive introduction to and investigation of the multivocality of women's experience in the Middle Ages. In medieval Europe women saw their role in the Christian Church and society progressively confined to conflicting models of femininity epitomised by the dichotomy of Eve/Mary. Classical views of gender, predicated on misogynistic dichotomies which confined women to matter and the corruption of the flesh, were consolidated in powerful male-dominated clerical institutions and widely disseminated. Towards the end of the Middle Ages, however, women's corporeality and somatic spirituality contributed to and influenced burgeoning modes of piety centred around the cult of the Virgin Mary and the veneration of the suffering body of Christ on the Cross. This shift in devotional practices afforded women as bodily beings the space for an increased level of self-expression, self-realisation, and authority. Ranging from philosophical and theological enquiry to education and art, as well as medical sciences and popular beliefs, the essays in this collection account for the complexities and richness of the conceptualisations and lived experiences of medieval Christian women. The book will be especially relevant to students and scholars of religion and history with an interest in medieval studies and gender. Whilst expounding the key strands of thinking in the field, it engages with and contributes to some of the latest scholarly research.
Martin Luther, Jews, and Judaism : a re-examination (2025 ebook)
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"This book explores Martin Luther's attitudes towards Jews and Judaism, considering his approach in the historical, religious, theological, and cultural context of late Middle Ages Europe. During his career, especially in the later stage, Luther made numerous venomous comments and wrote violently anti-Semitic tracts. Reflecting on these statements and writings, the book maintains that Luther's stance cannot be excused as a reaction to issues with family, health, or ageing, or as an integral part of society's norms. The author argues that Luther's Judeophobia was rooted in a reading of the Old and New Testaments, and in the Christian anti-Jewish tradition, education, and fundamental theological worldview on Jews and Judaism that he chose to escalate. Other factors discussed include Luther's fears of ongoing Jewish intellectual influence and 'Jewish magical power', as well as his deep disappointment at the Jewish rejection of his newly reformed Church. Providing an invaluable perspective on Martin Luther's position, the book will be of interest to scholars of religion, theology , history, anti-Semitism, and Jewish-Christian relations."
Return to the heart : the biblical spirituality of St. Augustine's confessions (2025 ebook)
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St. Augustine's Confessions is the first autobiography in Western literature and a perennial classic of rhetoric, philosophy, and theology. It is also one man's journey away from and back to God, finding himself along the way. And though Augustine's sin and his desires for love, happiness, and peace are his own, in them we can recognize aspects of our own experience.
Return to the Heart: The Biblical Spirituality of St. Augustine's Confessions invites readers to follow in the footsteps of an enduring spiritual master. Bringing St. Augustine's wisdom to a new generation, Shane Owens reveals that it is only in the heart-to-heart encounter with God that we become whole and understand ourselves.
Return to the Heart gives convincing testimony from St. Augustine to the reality that an ever-present God is at work in our lives to bring us to conversion—and to eternal life.
Nineteenth-Century Women's Movements and the Bible (2024 ebook)
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Nineteenth-Century Women's Movements and the Bible examines politically motivated women's movements in the nineteenth century, including the legal, cultural, and ecclesiastical contexts of women. Focusing on the period beginning with the French Revolution in 1789 through the end of World War I in 1918, contributors explore the many ways that women's lives were limited in both the public and domestic spheres. Essays consider the social, political, biblical, and theological factors that resulted in a multinational raising of awareness and emancipation for women in the nineteenth century and the strengthening of their international networks. The contributors include Angela Berlis, Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Ute Gerhard, Christiana de Groot, Arnfriður Guðmundsdóttir, Izaak J. de Hulster, Elisabeth Joris, Christine Lienemann-Perrin, Amanda Russell-Jones, Claudia Setzer, Aud V. Tønnessen, Adriana Valerio, and Royce M. Victor.
A History of Christianity in America (EBOOK)
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The story of Christianity in America is a fascinating one, marked by constant change, development, and innovation. The faith has shaped the country, even as the country has shaped it. Award-winning historian Mark Granquist has written an up-to-date telling of this story from the arrival of Europeans to the present day. While the twists and turns are complex, varied, and at times confusing, Granquist has identified several consistent threads that weave their way through the various branches and periods of American Christianity: voluntary religion, pluralism, and an innovative religious marketplace.The account is comprehensive without being overwhelming. And it is presented in a clear and compelling narrative sure to capture and hold readers' interest. This book is therefore ideal for use in semester-long classes in undergraduate or graduate programs and appealing for general readers. The main text is accompanied by illustrative elements including sidebars, images, maps, and timelines.
The Oxford Handbook of the Bible and the Reformation
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During the Reformation of the sixteenth century, the role of the Bible in both Protestant and Roman Catholic branches of western Christianity was vital and complex. Drawing on new technologies such as movable type, this period saw extraordinary energy and enterprise put into the translation, interpretation, and publication of Christianity's sacred text. As a result, an increasingly broad section of the population, from scholars and clergy to laity and children, came to be involved in the reception of the Bible and its position in early modern religious expression. The Oxford Handbook of the Bible and the Reformation provides readers with a deeper understanding of the expansive history of the Bible as it was shaped, shared, and received across Christian traditions. Chapters explore the biblical canon, translation and print, the development of Reformation hermeneutics, the history of Bible commentators, and exegesis relating to key texts and theological themes of Reformation writing and discourse. Engaging the subject broadly, intricately, and robustly, the expertise of over fifty leading experts illuminates the early modern Bible's composition and position as scripture and, from the Renaissance era on, as a printed book. By including the contributions of radical reformers, Catholics, and women scholars, the Handbook presents a deep and wide-ranging account of the importance of the Bible's reach and authority among all western Christians.
Turning Points in American Church History: how pivotal events shaped a nation and a faith (2024 ebook version)
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"An excellent resource for those eager to learn more about the evolution of American Christianity."--Publishers Weekly "Well-informed and highly readable."--Christianity Today (5-star review) American history has profoundly shaped, and been shaped by, Christianity. This engaging introduction provides a brisk and lively yet deeply researched survey of these intertwined forces from the colonial period to the present. Elesha Coffman tells the story of Christianity in the United States by focusing on 13 key events over four centuries of history. The turning points are as varied as the movements they track, including a naval battle, a revival, a schism, a court case, an outpouring of the Spirit, an act of terrorism, the election of a bishop, and the election of a president. Coffman highlights women and men from a range of traditions and shows how, throughout these events, Christians endeavored to discern what it meant to live faithfully in the diverse and rapidly changing place that became the United States. This book helps readers understand their own faith and the landscape of American religion. Each chapter includes a hymn, a prayer, relevant historical images, excerpts from primary sources, and resources for further reading. Foreword by Mark A. Noll.
Dutch Reformed Protestants in the Holy Roman Empire, c.1550-1620 : a Reformation of refugees
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"Examines the diverse experiences of Reformed Protestant religious refugees fleeing war and persecution in the Netherlands for cities and towns in the Holy Roman Empire in the late sixteenth century. Starting in the mid-sixteenth century, widespread persecution and war forced tens of thousands of Reformed Protestants in the Netherlands to flee their homes for new communities in England and the Holy Roman Empire. This book follows those refugees who escaped to large cities and small towns to the east and southeast, up the Rhine River watershed. The comprehensive approach taken here examines these forced migrations from political, intellectual, social, cultural, religious, and linguistic perspectives, including using a large prosopographical database to track refugees' movements and experiences. It challenges scholars' claims that Reformed Protestants developed more doctrinal, volunteeristic, and well-organized churches particularly capable of surviving the challenges of persecution and exile. Instead, the authors show, refugees proved remarkably willing to compromise and adapt, even as they built new relationships with the unfamiliar people they met abroad. Based on an extensive collaboration between two senior scholars with different training and intellectual backgrounds and the team of researchers they led, this book challenges conventional wisdom about refugees and forced migrations in early modern Europe. This book is based on research conducted as part of a project funded by the Dutch Research Council (NWO), titled "The Rhineland Exiles and the Religious Landscape of the Dutch Republic, c.1550-1618. This title is available under the Creative Commons license CC-BY-NC-ND"-
Women and the Christian Story: a global history
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"This is a story about Christian women. It is a story of martyrs, mystics, missionaries, leaders, preachers, theologians, saints, and prophets." For most of its two-thousand-year history, Christianity has told its stories from the perspective of men, mostly powerful men, and almost always men in control of the "official" narrative. These masculine narratives tell only part of the story because they obscure the rich and essential contributions, large and small, of Christian women throughout time. If the stories of women have been overlooked generally, stories of women from outside the Western tradition have been even more seriously overlooked. In this exciting, readable, and fresh new history of Christianity, Jennifer Hornyak Wojciechowski foregrounds the story of Christian women for a new era. Be they powerful or nameless, saintly or flawed, women across two millennia and six continents are lifted up and allowed to speak fully to their part in the spread of the faith. Wojciechowski's book works perfectly as a classroom text while welcoming general readers of all backgrounds and interest levels.
Here's a selection of the latest (Summer/Fall 2024) full-text journal articles in Church History from a variety of history journals:
Recent (Fall 2024) articles on Church History--ATLA Religion, including ATLA Root Review of "Church in a Secular Age"
Here are some other recent (Spring 2024) full-text journal articles in Church History from these journals, Themelios, European Journal of Theology, Concordia Theological Quarterly, and Christian Century:
Additional recent full-text articles on church history from ATLA (2023)
"Recontextualising theology: A challenge for theological training" by J. Beyers. Open access in Verbum et Ecclesia, May 2025
"A Study of Natural Theology from a Lutheran Perspective" by T. Pandiangan, in RERUM: Journal of Biblical Perspective (5.1: April 2025)
Enjoy the latest articles (some by Luther Sem's own Faculty), from Word & World recent issues (44.4), accessed via Luther Library's subscription to ATLA -Religion Database. This issue also includes the 1960 sermon by Gerhardt von Rad, Jacob Wrestles at Peniel: A Sermon on Genesis 32:22-31b. (translated by Luther Sem Emeritus Prof. F. Gaiser). See this PDF for full-text links: Word and World , Fall, 2024 . For the latest Word & World, Spring 2025, on the 'Care of Creation' (not yet indexed in the Atla Religion Database) see this link.
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Browse this partial list of currently received print journals in church history or theology (linked to their online version); you'll find the most recent Print version in the Reading Room at Luther Library.
