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Jonathan Edwards engaged in notable ways with the church in Germany through his writings on spirituality, theology and missiology, but this contribution has rarely been acknowledged in academic publications. In this book scholars who have an interest in both Edwards and the church in Europe offer contributions to a significant worldwide conversation on Edwardss texts and teachings. He found an ally in Martin Luther, sought out encouragement from German Pietists, and engaged with Western traditions of philosophy which proved useful in sharpening subsequent reflection on Gods work in the world. Edwards was not just a remote colonial American pastor, but an active participant in the transatlantic republic of letters and contributed to the birth of the global missions movement, for which the church in Germany was itself a significant base.

Over the centuries, the Protestant church has been severed into two major positions in regard to predestination and reprobation. On one side, the Arminians largely reject these doctrines, while the reformed readily embrace them as biblical truth. Although much has been written either rejecting or defending the doctrine of reprobation, little attention has been given to the historical development of the reformed position on the nature of reprobation and Gods use of secondary causality in the hardening of the wicked. By means of historical analysis, Peter Sammons traces the development of the doctrine of reprobation from Augustine to the Synod of Dort. In this book, Sammons gives special attention to views on reprobation and its various parts, preterition and predamnation, along with how, historically, theologians have attempted to articulate its execution. Perhaps one of the greatest paradoxes in all of Scripture, theology, and philosophy is here addressed: "How does an omnibenevolent and omnipotent God predetermine and interact with sin in the world?" Answering the question proves vital, not merely to reconcile theological and philosophical concerns, but to answer the all-important question of life, "Who is God?" This volume is intended to provide a balanced analysis of the historical and intellectual development within reformed theology as to how God is simultaneously holy and sovereign by examining how reprobation and its parts have historically been defined. Reformed understanding on this doctrine was not done in a vacuum, nor was it concluded in the 180 meetings of the Synod of Dort; rather, it has a history within the church of thoughtful development.

This book is an exposition of Jonathan Edwards argumentation in his dissertation Concerning the End for Which God Created the World. In addition to stating Edwards theses regarding Gods end and motivation in creation, this book identifies and discusses the assumptions of his argumentation, analyses and explains its crucial components, and explores its philosophical implications. These implications include a version of exemplarism (i.e., the nature of Gods ideas for creation), dispositionalism (i.e., the characteristics of God which explain Gods motivation), and emanationism (i.e., what God shares of himself with persons who have a living faith in Christ). These entail a view of idealism (i.e., a view of the ultimate ontological ground of the universe), Gods temporal nature, continuous creationism (i.e., how God sustains creation), a version of panentheism (i.e., how God, who is infinite, is related to creation, from which God is absolutely distinct), and occasionalism (i.e., the nature of causation of physical events or states of creation). These concepts and what they entail constitute a complete metaphysical system, providing a thoroughgoing divine action understanding of the foundation of reality. For Jonathan Edwards, Gods acting according to his plans for his purposes in Christ is fundamental to all things. Were we to have an understanding of how the fundamental concepts of science, mathematics, and ordinary experience are related in reality to the God who acts for his original ultimate end in creation, sustaining the universe, while providentially guiding its affairs, and working redemption, we would have the opportunity to develop these as he had hoped, he pointed the way for others to follow.

The doctrines of covenant, faith, and the order of salvation are crucial components of early modern Reformed soteriology. In seventeenth-century England, these three major doctrines of Reformed theology, which had been taken over undeveloped from the Reformers, took a mature shape, but aroused controversies among diverse Protestant groups. Modern historical scholarship on Reformed orthodoxy has produced little significant research that deals with these doctrines synthetically. This examination explores the broader role of faith in relation to these two significant doctrines for salvation in the early modern Reformed theology, with specific reference to the thought of Thomas Goodwin.To this end, Hyo-Nam Kim examines Goodwins life to review his religious experience and to understand his socio-theological context. Goodwins soteriology was sharpened by his battles on two fronts: The first is the threat of Arminian, Neonomian, and Socinian soteriologies that tended to place meritorious value on faith and on human acts. The second is the Antinomian errors that undervalued faith and human responsibility.Goodwin regarded faith as a key concept for his soteriology. Faith plays a central role in the covenant theology not only because a lack of faith was the immediate cause of breaking the covenant of works, but because saving faith was ordained in the covenant of redemption, and actually functions in the covenant of grace, as the instrument and a condition for the recovery of the relationship of mankind with God.Examination of Goodwins ordo salutis provides specific insight into the place and function of faith in the covenant of grace since each element of an ordo salutis refers to the blessings prepared for the elect to be finally saved. Together with the role of faith in Goodwins covenant theology, therefore, the reconstruction of Goodwins ordo salutis and the close examination of the role of faith in each blessing confirm that although faith may be said to be both an instrument and a condition for salvation, faith is the perfect instrument both for making salvation totally Gods gracious work, and for showing that the elect are not passive objects in the covenant.

This book examines the development of institutionalized prayer in ancient Israel at a crucial time in the history of Western civilization: from the period of the Qumran writings, in the last three centuries BCE, through to the rabbinic period, after 70 CE. It explores the shift from sacrificial worship by priests to abstract, unmediated, direct approaches to the deity by laypeople. It demonstrates the transition from voluntary, freely composed prayers to obligatory prayers with fixed texts. The study shows how Qumran and Samaritan prayer contrast with rabbinic prayer, shedding light on Jewish customs before the rabbinic reform.Posthumously edited by Bernard M. Levinson.

This study traces the emergence of the concept of the body as a sanctuary from its biblical roots to its expressions in late Second Temple Judaism. Harringtons hypothesis is that the destruction of the first Jerusalem temple was a catalyst for a new reality vis-a-vis the temple and the emergence of increased emphasis on the holiness of the people along with concomitant standards of purity in a certain stream of Judaism. The study brings into relief elements of this attitude from exilic texts, e.g. Ezekiel, to Ezra-Nehemiah, the Dead Sea Scrolls and other Second Temple Jewish texts, including early Jesus and Pauline traditions. The goal is to provide a history of the concept of the body-cum-temple metaphor which comes to its fullest expression in the letters of Paul to the Corinthians.The concept of the body as a sanctuary as it comes to fruition in late second temple Judaism must be understood within the conceptual world of Jewish holiness of the time. The metaphor of the temple provides a frame of reference but only a close analysis of the concepts of holiness, purity, and impurity and the dynamics between them can provide depth and distinction. Of particular importance, critical to proper understanding of the temple metaphor, are the notions of the elect, holy status of Israel and its possible desecration by wrongful sexual relations, the loss of the temple and the ripple effect of creating at least temporary substitutes for processes of the cult, the widespread concern in Second Temple Judaism for ritual purity in support of greater holiness, and a desire among Jews for the residence and agency of the spirit of holiness.

In 1611 Edmond Richer, the syndic of the Faculty of Theology of Paris, published a short but incisive defence of the conciliarist doctrine under the title De ecclesiastica et politica potestate. He claimed that this doctrine had been almost uninterruptedly followed by the University of the Paris since the time of the Council of Constance in the early 15th century. Within two years, at least six Latin, French or bilingual editions of the treatise saw the light as well as an English and a Dutch translation. The book was condemned at a meeting of the French bishops in March 1612 and its author was dismissed from his position of syndic of the Faculty of Theology a few months later. He withdrew from public life but remained influential. He continued to write in defence of the conciliarist doctrine and the so-called liberties of the Gallican Church until his death in 1631. He vehemently opposed Cardinal Bellarmines doctrine of the indirect power of popes in temporal matters but never subscribed to the doctrine of the divine power of kings. Most of his books were published posthumously.Philippe Denis retraces Edmond Richers career and examines his ecclesiological and political thinking. Without taking all the syndics opinions at face value, this volume commits itself to taking seriously Richers declared intention, which was to vindicate the teaching of the School of Paris and that of Jean Gerson in particular. Philippe Denis places the heated, sometimes aggressive, debates between Richer and his adversaries in the context of a double progression: that of the doctrine of an absolute monarchy, a form of government which had been developing since the troubles of the League, and that of the Ultramontane ideas, often disputed but supported with growing vigour, in France and elsewhere, in the context of the reception of the Council of Trent.Philippe Denis presents the English translation of his book originally published in French (Editions du Cerf in Paris, 2014).

Antonio Gerace dealt with the development of biblical scholarship in Louvain by analysing with seven authors who worked in the first part of the Sixteenth century and who are strictly linked to the Louvain milieu. In chronological order, they include Nicholas Tacitus Zegers (c.14951559), John Henten (14991566), Cornelius Jansenius of Ghent, Adam Sasbout, John Hessels (15221566), Thomas Stapleton, and Francis Lucas of Bruges. Each author offered key-contributions that can effectively show the development of Catholic biblical scholarship in that period. This can be divided into three main thematic areas: 1) Text-criticism of the Latin Vulgate; 2) Exegesis of the Scriptures; and 3) Preaching of the Bible. Somehow, these three areas represent the study flow of the Scriptures: the emendation of the Vulgate, aimed at restoring the text to a hypothetical original, and the philological approach to the Greek and Hebrew sources allowing for a better comprehension of the Bible. Such comprehension becomes the basis of commentaries made with the intention of explaining the meaning of the Scriptures to the faithful in the light of the Tradition. Furthermore, the Church needed to preach the Scriptures and their contents to the Catholic flock in order to safeguard them from any heretical influence. Therefore, several homiletic works appeared so that priests could prepare their sermons appropriately. Therefore, Gerace divided his work into three parts, each devoted to one of the three research areas, following the study-flow of the Scriptures.

Much mainstream Luther scholarship (and Lutheran theology) holds that Martin Luther downplayed, denied, derided, or just plain ignored "the holiness without which no one shall see the Lord" (Heb. 12:14). Phil Anderas advances a revisionist thesis: from the first inklings of his "Augustinian turn" c. 1514 to his death in 1546, Luther held and taught a robust theology of progressive renewal in holiness, carefully calibrated to the sober reality of residual sin and the astonishing gospel of grace in Jesus Christ. As it is set forth in the works that embody Luthers most considered judgments (c. 1535-46), this gospel-centered and irreducibly trinitarian dogmatics of real renewal in holiness is "Augustinian" and "evangelical" in equal parts. As such, it commands the regard of theologians who stand in the tradition of the Churchs doctor gratiae. The argument proceeds in three steps: first, an exposition of the mature Luthers dogmatics of sin, grace, and holiness; second, an investigation of the roots of this dogmatics in the theology of the "420s Augustine," with whom a younger Luther was busily engaged c. 1514-16; third, an account of the continuities and discontinuities that characterize the development of Luthers theology from its embryonic state in the mid-1510s through the breakthroughs of the 1518-21 period to the settled position of the old Doctor.

Sandra Bihlmaier constitutes a historical and philosophical analysis of Philipp Melanchthons concept of method and philosophy. By means of a detailed inquiry into Melanchthons textbooks of dialectic and rhetoric it uncovers the emergence and development of a notion of method which underlies an encyclopedic understanding of philosophy. The work reveals both the traditions of rhetoric and dialectic which Melanchthon builds on in his own works, as well as the Reformers own original reinterpretation of these traditions. Moreover, the reinterpretation and transformation of essential concepts taken from traditional accounts is thematized against the background of the canon of arts and sciences, which undergoes a fundamental change during the European Renaissance. The understanding, configuration, and the applicability of this canon is deeply influenced by this original concept of method.Philipp Melanchthons concept of method and philosophy is central to the understanding of 16th century definition of philosophy. Melanchthons attempt to integrate into a former theoretical discipline, both the aspect of usefulness, as well as a degree of general applicability in human affairs, testifies to the fertility of his philosophical program. Also his project is highly relevant for an understanding of philosophy which transgresses contemporary idiosyncratic categories of philosophical knowledge and draws attention to two fundamental historiographical aspects. First, it cautions historians and philosophers against transferring current definitions of philosophy to works which emerge from different historical, social and intellectual traditions. Second, it raises the awareness of the reader regarding his own understanding of philosophy and of its underlying presuppositions.

Darren M. Pollock examines the 1611 Romans hexapla commentary by the prolific Church of England preacher and controversialist Andrew Willet. While some have considered Willets later biblical commentaries to have been a retreat from his earlier engagement in religious controversy, the author argues that his exegetical work maintained a significant element of anti-Catholic polemics, only expressed in a different genre. This polemical hermeneutic served as an organizing principle and as a means by which to clarify the presentation of traditional Reformed readings in relief against a body of Roman Catholic theology that Willet believed threatened the gospel of grace. Paulos letter provided ample opportunity for Willet to identify what is distinctive about Reformed theology or rather, as Willet would have it, the particular ways in which papist dogma had diverged from the true line of Christian belief running from the Fathers through to the (truly catholic) Reformed church of the seventeenth century.Willets exegesis highlights many of the polemical issues that had long been contended between Protestants and Catholics, including the authentic versions of the bible, Scriptures attributes, and principles of interpretation, as well as doctrines like justification, predestination, the assurance of salvation, and the place of good works. A close investigation into Willets exegetical method also helps to see how an identifiable hermeneutical lens is consistent with a disciplined reading that is faithful to the text. His polemical focus does not corrupt his exegesis or force upon it meanings that are alien to the text itself; rather, his polemical hermeneutic serves to focus his attention and frame positive doctrinal statements against the sharp contrast of alternate readings.

In 1561, a Eucharistic controversy erupted in Danzig of the sixteenth century, sparked by disagreements on the real presence and the practical treatment of the Eucharistic elements. It was one of many inner-Lutheran struggles over the Lords Supper in the years following the Reformation and therefore Bjorn Ole Hovda supplements the scientific studies on that topic. Different understandings of the presence of Christ during the Lords Supper formed different religious norms of practice. On the one hand, the controversy is here analyzed as a discussion on doctrine between opposing ecclesiastical factions, set in the context of reformatory theology and liturgical practice. The theological discussions had important practical and cultic implications. One the other hand and in contrast with the most of earlier works the study seeks to treat with equal seriousness the wider societal and political aspects of the controversy. Hovda shows how deeply embedded the Eucharist was within broader discourses of culture, society and politics. Far from being just an abstruse ecclesiastical matter, it was a question of great sociopolitical interest and potency. The Eucharist served both as the prime symbol of Christian unity, as well as a confessional border stone between rivaling groups.Other important aspects of this wider analysis are tensions between the ordained ministry and the city council regarding authority, internal social tensions within the city, as well as the strategic interests of the city in its relations to the Polish crown, the Hanseatic league and the emerging new trading powers, among others.Through a close study of one particular controversy, light is cast on a variety of issues with relevance to the broader field of Reformation studies, especially concerning the centrality of the Eucharist.

Biblische Frauen spielen eine bedeutende Rolle in verschiedenen Genres patristischen Schrifttums und in rabbinischen Texten: Etwa als Vorbilder fur Frauen, manchmal auch fur Manner, als Reprasentantinnen bestimmter Tugenden oder Laster, als Autoritaten in Streitfragen, als Ausgangspunkt fur bestimmte Praktiken. Die Bilder, die die (fast immer mannlichen) Autoren von den biblischen Frauen zeichnen, spiegeln stets den zeitgenossischen sozialen, kulturellen und religiosen Kontext wider, besonders im Hinblick auf weit verbreitete antike Vorstellungen uber Frauen und uber das Verhaltnis der Geschlechter zueinander. Der Sammelband fragt nach der Prasenz und Sichtbarkeit bzw. Horbarkeit und nach dem Bild biblischer Frauen in den spatantiken Texten. Er enthalt Beitrage zu Rahab, zur agyptischen Frau des Salomo, zur Geliebten des Hoheliedes, zu Judit, den vier Tochtern des Philippus und den Myrophoren der Evangelien, die Salben zu Jesu Grab bringen, und untersucht die Rezeption dieser biblischen Frauen in verschiedenen patristischen und rabbinischen Texten.

Stephen J. Hamilton attempts to create a "portrait" of "born-again" Christianity by providing a general introduction to the doctrine of regeneration, including its development in modernity, as well as short exegeses of relevant scriptural texts, followed by a close reading of four theologians Philipp Jakob Spener, Jonathan Edwards, Friedrich D.E. Schleiermacher, and Charles G. Finney who all associate the doctrine of regeneration with an experience of presence in the individual believer.In light of these analyses, he then traces a general theological structure of the "born-again" understanding of regeneration, including a catalogue of theological issues over which there is significant disagreement, in order to create a topography of "born-again" theologies. In the final section, he applies these results to contemporary conversion narratives of non-theologians. It is in such conversion narratives, the author argues, that theologians can discover an implicit, "lived" theology that reveals how doctrines are perceived and put into practice among Christians. Accordingly, this is to be understood as the result of the creative reciprocity between (often tacit) theological convictions and the experiences of the Christian life. The final chapter, as a coda to the entire work, offers some concluding reflections on the present cultural and political situation in the USA pertaining to "born-again" Christianity and argues against any oversimplifications of the relationship between "born-again" theologies, culture, and politics.

Although many of Edmund Schlinks writings have been available in English for several decades, the publication of the new German edition offered a significant impetus for providing a fresh and more accurate translation of them. Matthew L. Becker translated key terms that occur in all five volumes consistently. Also, he corrected infelicitous and misleading renderings of Schlinks language into English, which more or less happened in all of the earlier editions. In this first volume, Becker presents a completely reworked translation of Schlinks popular work "Der kommende Christus und die kirchlichen Traditionen.

Campegius Vitringa (16591722) of Franeker University was a biblical scholar of considerable influence for the first half of the 18th century. Similar to that of Calvin, his exegetical methodology attempts to walk a via media between the historicism of Grotius (1583-1645) and the Christocentrism of Cocceius (16031669). His magnum opus was a widely-acclaimed commentary on Isaiah (1720). Vitringa scholars have charted his influence along a historical-critical trajectory (including Schultens, Venema, Alberti, Manger, Delitzsch, and Gesenius) and along a Pietistic trajectory (including Franke, Lange, and Bengel, leading toward Lessing, Herder and German Idealism). The book includes the first biography in English and compares his hermeneneutical theoria with his praxis. It analyzes Vitringas exegetical presuppositions, his remarkably high view of the Bible, and his canones hermeneuticos (highly valued by J.J. Rambach [16931735]). It shows Vitringas contextual sensitivity at every level of exegesis, commitment to New Testament normativity in the reading of Isaiah (in which redemptive history is the ultimate hermeneutical horizon), nuanced views on the historical fulfillment of prophecy, and concern for pastoral application. A scholars scholar, widely admired for his mastery of the languages and his intense historical focus in exegesis, Vitringa was also appreciated for his orthodox views, warm-hearted piety, and love for the church.

Recent theology has seen a renewed vigour in debates about the nature and character of God. Juan Cruz turns to one of the prophetic books in the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, Micah, to consider the metaphors it uses to portray the God of Israel and what they reveal about the deity. The book of Micah contains two dominant types of metaphor for Yahweh, namely the legal metaphors in 1:216 and 6:116 and the pastoral metaphors in 2:1213, 4:67, 5:14a and 7:1420. The former type of metaphors presents Yahweh in a courtroom setting, where he accuses his people of their sins, brings a lawsuit against them, and pronounces their judgement. The pastoral metaphors, on the other hand, describe Yahweh as the shepherd of his people, primarily concerned with the restoration and well-being of Israel. The two sets of metaphors therefore respectively present Yahweh in a positive and a negative light. Drawing on insights from philosophy and literary studies, and making particular use of the theories of Benjamin Harshav, Juan Cruz explores the divine metaphors by analysing the arguments they make within their respective literary units and in the context of the whole book, as well as the significant tensions that develop between the metaphors. The volume provides helpful tools to analyse metaphors for God, which may be also used for analysis of non-divine metaphors, and should contribute to our theological understanding of God in the Hebrew Bible, most especially in the book of Micah, a book whose title bears the meaning, "Who is like Yahweh?".

The covenant of redemption (pactum salutis), the eternal intra-trinitarian covenant, was a common staple within Early Modern Reformed theology, yet there are very few historical works that examine this doctrine. J. V. Feskos study, The Covenant of Redemption: Origins, Development, and Reception, seeks to address this lacuna.In the contemporary period the covenant of redemption has been derided as speculative, mythological, a declension from trinitarianism, or erroneously derived from one or two biblical proof-texts. Yet seldom have critics carefully engaged the primary sources to examine the different formulations, supporting exegesis, and ways in which the doctrine was employed.Far from speculation, sub-trinitarian, or a cold business transaction, proponents of the covenant of redemption constructed this doctrine based upon a web of interconnected biblical texts and were very sensitive to maintaining a robust doctrine of the trinity, as they employed this doctrine as a bulwark against the anti-trinitarian claims of Socinian theologians. Proponents of the doctrine also saw this pre-temporal covenant as the embodiment of intra-trinitarian love that overflows unto those chosen in Christ for their salvation and ultimate fellowship with the triune God.John V. Fesko explores the historical origins of the doctrine and then surveys its development in the seventeenth- through nineteenth-centuries, examining key advocates of the doctrine including, David Dickson, Herman Witsius, Johannes Cocceius, Francis Turretin, Patrick Gillespie, John Gill, Jonathan Edwards, Charles Hodge, and A. A. Hodge. He then examines the contemporary reception of the doctrine in the twentieth century with a survey of the doctrines critics, including Karl Barth, Herman Hoeksema, Klaas Schilder, and John Murray. After exploring the claims of the critics, the study moves to examine the views of twentieth-century proponents, including Geerhardus Vos, Herman Bavinck, Abraham Kuyper, Louis Berkhof, and G. C. Berkouwer.

Ekaterin Matusova offers a new approach to the old problems of interpretation of the "Letter of Aristeas".Chapter 1 deals with the question of the structure of the narrative. Matusova argues that at the time of Aristeas compositions of the kind of the Reworked Pentateuch, or Rewritten Bible were circulating in Egypt in parallel with the LXX and were a source of interpretations of the Hebrew text different from the LXX and of specific combinations of subjects popular in Second Temple Judaism. In particular, Matusova further argues that the leading principle of the composition of the Letter is that of the Reworked Deuteronomy, where subjects referring to the idea of following the Law among the gentiles were grouped together. The analysis is based on a broad circle of Jewish sources, including Philo of Alexandria and documents from the Qumran library. The principle of the composition discovered in this part of the study is referred to as the Jewish paradigm.Chapter 2 offers a new interpretation of the frame story in the narrative, i.e. of the story of the translation in the strict sense. Matusova shows that two paradigms are skilfully combined in this split story: the Jewish one, based on the Bible, and the Greek one, which involves Greek grammatical theory. She further argues that the story, when read in terms of Greek grammar, turns out to be a consistent story not of the translation, but of the correction of the LXX, which is important for our understanding of the early history of the translation. The analysis involves extensive excurses into Greek grammatical theory, including a discussion of Aristotle, Dionysius Thrax and other Hellenistic grammarians.In Chapter 3 Matusova tries to find the reason for the combination of these two paradigms, namely the Jewish biblical paradigm and the Greek grammatical ones, and to interpret their interconnected meaning, by placing it in the broad historical context of the Ptolemaic state

Death and dying were not in the main focus of the denominational conflicts of the 16th century. However, pious literature covered these topics again and again, not only before the Reformation, but after it as well. Here, certain denominational differences are clearly visible. Partly, these differences consist in the use of genres: For example, funeral sermons are an often used genre among Lutherans, while they are much rarer in the Reformed tradition. Similar differences can be observed concerning epitaphs. In Roman Catholic areas, funeral sermons and epitaphs are common in the 16th century, too; but their religious function is often a different from the one in Lutheranism. Beyond such interdenominational differences, there are also interesting continuities and connections which the contributors of the volume analyze. For example, there is a certain continuity between 16th century Lutheran funeral sermons and the late medieval tradition of ars moriendi.The volume contains papers presented at the Second RefoRC Conference in Oslo in 2012, and is characterized by a multiconfessional and multidisciplinary approach, with contributions from Church History, Art History, Archaeology, History of Literature and Cultural History. Within a field of research dominated by specialized contributions (e.g. on ars moriendi traditions or on specific traditions of funeral monuments and funeral sermons), the broad approach of this volume may further stimulate to comparative and cross-confessional reflection.