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The last third of the 19th century witnessed a considerable increase in the active participation of women in the various Christian missions. Katharina Stornig focusses onthe Catholic case, and particularly explores the activities and experiences of German missionary nuns, the so-called Servants of the Holy Spirit,in colonial Togo and New Guinea in the late 19th and first half of the 20th centuries. Introducing the nuns ambiguous roles as travelers, evangelists, believers, domestic workers, farmers, teachers, and nurses, Stornig highlights the ways in which these women shaped and were shaped by the missionary encounter and how they affected colonial societies more generally. Privileging the sources produced by nuns (i.e. letters, chronicles and reports) and emphasizing their activities, Sisters Crossing Boundaries profoundly challenges the frequent depiction of women and particularly nuns as the largely passive observers of the missionizing and colonizing activities of men. Stornig does not stop at adding women to the existing historical narrative of mission in Togo and New Guinea, but presents the hopes and strategies that German nuns related to the imagination and practice of empire. She also discusses the effects of boundary-crossing, both real and imagined, in the context of religion, gender and race.

This volume consists of fifteen of the authors essays, including two that have never been published before. The essays date to the last decade and a half, and all reflect in some manner the authors ongoing interest in literary operations of classification and their social implications, particularly the production of distinctions which create social inequality in the world of the text, and have the potential to generate hierarchical social relationships in contexts where biblical texts might have had an impact on real people. In these essays, the author explores themes such as gender, sexuality, purity and pollution, sanctification, death and afterlife, foreignness, and disability with particular attention to the roles distinctions such as honored/shamed, feminine/masculine, mourning/rejoicing, unclean/clean, alien/native play in creating and perpetuating social differences in texts. Rites of status change such as circumcision, shaving, purification, burial or disinterment, sanctification and profanation of holiness are a focus of interest in a number of these essays, reflecting the authors on going interest in the textual representation of ritual. Most of the essays examine texts in their historical setting, but several also engage the early history of the interpretation of biblical texts, including the phenomenon of inner biblical exegesis. The essays are divided into five sections: Rites and Social Status; Gender and Sexuality; Disability; Holiness, Purity, the Alien; Death, Burial, Afterlife and their Metaphorical Uses. The author introduces each of the sections, contextualizing each essay in his larger scholarly project, reflecting on its development and reception and, in some cases, responding to his critics.

The Christian experience in modern Europe is fragmented. It shows great diversity in various geographical contexts and, historically, a considerable alternation of extremes, high or low tides of engagement. One aspect of the Christianity in Europes past is its mission history. The spread of Christianity from the West as one of its most important results into the continents of the Global South has been deeply ambivalent in character. On the one hand, the mission from the West helped to build the historical foundations for Christian education, "adolescence" and maturation to responsible "adulthood" in a global, diverse, segregated and pluralistic world. As a mature global player, Christianity was in a prime position to contribute to peaceful conflict resolution, in the religious, social and political fields. On the other hand, the darkness and utter insufficiency of the encounter between the European, Christian "self" and the many "others" worldwide brought along problematic projections of different beliefs attacked in a hostile way as "alien" and, inevitably, as "conquered". The consequences, particularly for the "primal other" the indigenous people were often disastrous. Werner Ustorf has been a leading missiologist worldwide for thirty years. This book not only analyses the interaction between mission and individual, the construction of the "self" and the "other" in a mission context, but also proves the analytical strength of theology in conceptualizing future Christian experiences in Europe. Ustorf illustrates that apart from traditional dimension of faith, a non-religious interpretation and critical trust in transcendence, is crucial for the formation of the new interculturation of Christianity in Europe. Thus, this book demonstrates how mission history can be transformed to a research concept for a global and pluralistic Christianity.

J. Mark Beach untersucht die Bundestheologie Francis Turretins und entdeckt dabei einen Strang in der reformatorischen Theologie des 16. Jahrhunderts, der sich grundlegend von seiner Auspragung im 17. Jahrhundert unterscheidet. Die jeweilige Interpretation lasst bedeutende Ruckschlusse auf die Bundestheologie zu.

Se apagaba el siglo III y amanecía el siglo II a. C. cuando, en pleno dominio seléucida de Palestina, vio la luz esta peculiar obra, escrita originalmente en hebreo. El traductor al griego se presenta como nieto del autor, de cuyo nombre informa: Jesus. Esta obra firmada pretende ser aparentemente un compendio de sabiduria orientado a la educacion religiosa de los israelitas, si bien no puede ocultar los rasgos de un autentico manual de teologia politica, muñida al servicio de una ideologia sociopolitica concreta. Una prodigiosa trinidad de entidades convergentes entre si (Religion, Sabiduria y Ley) invita a los lectores a la resiliencia frente a la adversidad, mientras se cubren las etapas del largo camino a casa. El autor (o autores) intima(n) a sus lectores a abandonar las peligrosas rutas de la curiosidad intelectual y la libertad de pensamiento (3,21-24) y a acatar la disciplina del sometimiento a la Ley. Queda abortada asi el ansia por el cultivo de la inteligencia emocional y de la experiencia estetica que definian a la antigua sabiduria global y globalizadora, para la que la meta no era el hogar, sino el camino. La propuesta de Ben Sira de una ortopraxis exogena generaba sin remedio la regresion a un esteril infantilismo religioso. De algun modo, se puede decir que Jesus Ben Sira representa el declive y la muerte de la sabiduria en el seno del judaismo.

We all know that Augustine was a teacher of rhetoric before he became a highly influential Church leader. We know that he never stopped using rhetoric as a bishop. What we do not always know is what we mean by Augustines rhetoric. Is it the style, the figures of speech, encrypted in strange names like hendiadys or homoioteleuton?We also know that Augustine wrote letters throughout his ecclesiastical career, some of them highly polemical. The scholars tend to see the ancient correspondence as a part of a celebrated ritual of friendship. But has Augustine really used the letters written in the heat of the Donatist controversy within this cultural context?For decades the works of Augustine have been of interest mostly for Church historians and theologians, and rightly so. It is worth noticing, however, that the people who read or listened to them at the time of their composition were alumni of rhetorical and law schools, where they had to read Ciceros speeches and learn from rhetorical handbooks (some authored by himself, other written under his influence). The aim of this study is to prove that Augustines polemical correspondence is teeming with examples of rhetorical tricks commonly used in courtroom argumentation. I argue that the backbone of Augustines anti-Donatist letters, that is his patterns of argumentation and strategies of persuasion, is largely formed by the techniques of forensic rhetoric.My aim here is to offer an insight into how Augustine used rhetorical tools inherited from classical theory in building and developing polemical strategies in his anti-Donatist letters. This study should expand our knowledge on such various topics as history of rhetoric, ancient epistolography, polemical literature and Augustines art as a polemicist.

In her work Rebekah Earnshaw provides an analysis of Creator and creation according to Calvin on Genesis. This offers a new theological reading of Calvins Genesis commentary and sermons, with an eye to systematic interests.This analysis is presented in four chapters: The Creator, The Agent and Act of Creation, Creatures, and Providence. Calvin on Genesis gives unique insights into each of these. First, the Creator has priority in Calvins thought. The Creator is lEternal, who is infinitely distinct and abundantly for creatures in his virtues. Second, the agent of creation is triune and the act of creation is "from nothing" as well as in and with time. This is a purposeful beginning. Third, Calvin affirms creaturely goodness and order. The relation of humans and animals illustrates Calvins holistic view of creation as well as the impact of corruption and disorder. Providential sustenance and concursus are closely tied to the nature of creatures and the initial word. Fourth, fatherly governance for the church is presented separately and demonstrated by Calvins treatment of Abraham and Joseph.Earlier presentations of Calvin on Creator and creation are incomplete, because of the lack of sustained attention to Calvin on Genesis. This analysis supplements works that concentrated on the Institutes and Calvin on Job, by bringing new material to bear. Further, throughout this analysis lies the implicit example of a biblical theologian, who pursues what is useful from scripture for the sake of piety in the church.Insights from Calvins thought on Genesis provide a foundation for systematic work that reflects on this locus and the integrated practice of theology.

In his fascinating new book, Polonia Reformata. Essays on the Polish Reformation(s), Professor Piotr Wilczek of the University of Warsaw discusses selected aspects of Polish early modern religious history and literature, introducing them from a new perspective and emphasizing the great role of Polands radical Reformation in European intellectual life. At the same time, the author presents the varieties of religious experience and expression to be found in the Polish-Lituanian Commonwealth, and questions certain myths about Polands Reformation and Counter-Reformation history and culture, which have featured in European historiography at least since the publication in 1685 of Stanislas Lubienieckis Historia reformationis Polonicae. The books general introduction about Polish "religion on the periphery" is followed by essays on the reception of John Calvins works, the role of Socinianism, religious polemics and the major religious poets of the early modern period, including Jan Kochanowski, probably a Lutheran in his youth and an Erasmian Catholic later in life, and Erazm Otwinowski, the finest Polish-language poet in the community of the Polish Brethren (Socinians). In this engaging study, Professor Wilczek also looks at the broader European contexts that played an important role in the development of the Reformation and Counter-Reformation in Central and Eastern Europe. This meticulously researched book will appeal to scholars and general readers interested in early modern religion, culture, literature and history.

The Protestant Reformation has long had the reputation as being a movement of "the Book", led by reformers like John Calvin who were "men of the Book". The essays in this volume reveal many of the underlying complexities of these terms. Building on research and scholarly discussions of recent decades, these authors delve into a variety of topics related to John Calvin and the printed word, ranging from the physical changes in printed texts in the first decades of the Reformation to Calvins thinking about the relationship of two books the Bible and his own Institutes to Christian doctrine. Calvin remains a towering figure in the Protestant Reformation, whose theology and religious views are still often cast as rigid and unchanging. These essays emphasize, in contrast, the evolutions and transitions that were fundamental to Calvins own participation in the Reformation and to the ways that his leadership influenced developments in Reformed Christianity in the following centuries. The contributors, international experts on the history of Calvin and Reformed Protestantantism and on Calvins theology, bring a wide variety of historical and theological approaches to bear on the question of Calvins relationship to the printed word. Taken all together, these essays will push specialists and general readers to rethink standard assumptions about Calvins influence on Reformed Christianity and, in particular, about the interplay among theology, Reformed discipline, religious education efforts, and the printed word in early modern Europe.

This volume makes a distinctive contribution to the upcoming 500th anniversary of Luthers reformation by looking back to the previous centennial in 1917 and tracing forward the enduring impact of the questions raised by Lutheran scholars then to contemporary research in religious studies, history, and theology. The great flourishing of interest in Luthers religious experience and thought in Berlin at the turn of the twentieth century was known as the Lutherrenaissance, an extraordinarily generative moment of scholarly creativity within the Lutheran tradition. Thinkers such as Holl, Harnack and Otto took up questions that would reverberate throughout twentieth century religious and theological inquiry, on the nature of history, for instance, dialectical theology, and the question of mysticism in religious experience. The Lutherrenaissance also planted the seeds of a political theology that contributed to the alliance of Lutheran theologians with National Socialism. Contributors to this volume, attentive to both to the rich contributions of the Lutherrenaissance and its darker consequences, open an unprecedented conversation across the century. Then and now, the study of religion and theology were in periods of transition; then and now, scholars were working at the very foundations of the various disciplines of religious inquiry across the social sciences and humanities. Contributors aim to bring the critical insights of that period to bear on key questions in the study of religion and theology today, with particular attention to the global context within which present day scholars work. It exemplifies new perspectives in Luther scholarship today, the rich and fertile grounds of the Lutheran tradition, in its engagement with unprecedented global circumstances.

Markus Muhling presents an epistemological theory of revelation as perception and a relational-narrative theological ontology based on the concept of dramatic coherence, in which the triune life is understood not as an anomaly within ontology, but rather as the decisive condition of its possibility. Muhling further demonstrates that potential for resolving certain theological problems arises if new insights from the natural sciences, such as the theory of the ecological brain in the neurosciences and the theory of niche-construction in evolutionary theory, are taken into account. Similarly, he also proposes that neuroscience and evolutionary biology can procure advantages from a dialogue with theology.

Claudio Moreschini focuses on selected and as yet still understudied aspects of Boethius life and works. He presents Boethius in the culture of the sixth century in Italy, outlines his great cultural project and discusses the problem of his Christian faith. The Consolatio Philosophiae is examined from the point of view of Latin Platonism, highlighting the aims of its poetry and its philosophical tenets. Moreschini also shows how Boethius combined Christian faith and philosophy in order to solve theological issues, most notably the Christological debates of his times or the question of the Trinity.

Divine Substitution is an investigation of ancient conceptualizations of divine presence. Specifically, this thesis investigates the possibility that the ancient Mesopotamian conceptualization of cultic and royal statues, thought to actually manifest the presence of gods and kings, can likewise be found in ancient Israel. Despite the overly pessimistic view of the later biblical authors, material objects were almost certainly believed to extend and manifest the presence of God in pre-exilic Israel (e.g., standing stones). Likewise, the later polemics against such cultic concepts demonstrate Israels familiarity with this type of conceptualization. These polemics engaged in the rhetoric of mutilation and destruction of cultic representations, the erasure and re-inscription of divine names, and the rhetorical deconstruction of the specific Mesopotamian rituals thought to transform the dead statue into a living god. Though the biblical reflection of these concepts is more often found in the negative commentary regarding "foreign" cultic practices, S. Herring demonstrates that these opinions were not universally held. At least three biblical texts (Gen 1:26f.; Ex 34:29-34; and Ezek 36-37) portray the conceptualization that material images could manifest the divine presence in positive terms. Yet, these positive attestations were limited to a certain type of material image humans.

The authors of this volume investigate the analysis of visual sources and their indispensable role for understanding and interpreting religions, their symbol systems, and the wider traditions of which they are a part. A particular interest in this study is the focus on the methodological challenge of images from a comparative perspective. The common concern that ranges over all the contributions is the search for a methodological perspective where images may be analysed in a comprehensive way, with particular regard for the social, and wider intellectual settings, as well as the religious, in which the images are embedded. Accordingly, we seek to show that visual sources need to be interpreted from different angles. In the last decades, a broad range of publications has contributed to highlight the significance of images, and visual media in general, for understanding religious traditions, communities and discourses in both historical and contemporary perspective. In more recent research streams, focussing on visual media in religious traditions and symbol systems, various avenues have opened up and been explored focussing on the status of images and of the gaze of the viewer as central aspects. Furthermore, there are illuminating contributions dealing with the theoretical premises and settings with which to approach the visual as a central component of religion, on the one hand giving an overview of essential definitions and implications, on the other hand concentrating on specific techniques and/or media.

The chapters in this volume contribute to recent scholarship exploring the reform of worship as a central feature of Protestant communities at their inception and through the ages. Case studies ranging from sixteenth-century Geneva and its environs to the early modern Netherlands and South Asia to nineteenth-century America provide a corrective to traditional depictions of Reformed worship as a static, sober, interior, and largely individual experience focused on the sermon. The key moments in the broad stream of Reformed worship traditions analysed by an international team of experts yield collectively an image of the adaptive and negotiated character of worship attitudes and practices over time and in varied cultural settings. The contributions examine the phenomenon of worship in broadly construed ways and from angles ranging from ritual studies, liturgical innovation, material culture, and social impact. A second red thread running through the volume concerns the material, sensory, emotional, and experiential dimensions of Reformed religious culture. Worship emerges as both a site of conflict and renewal in Reformed traditions, inspiring not only confrontations and debates but also fruitful engagements that stimulated and continue to invite reflection on this critical category of Reformed faith traditions, self-understandings, and cultural impact.

In this study Charles Raith II fills a gap in Reformation-era scholarship by analyzing Calvins teaching on works and reward in light of medieval theological developments surrounding the doctrine of merit. While significant analysis has been given to Calvins doctrine of justification, its relation to sanctification, the notion of union with Christ, and the role of participation, there is as yet no sustained analysis of how these teachings are shaped by the most hostile and pervasive of his polemics, namely, his confrontation with a merit-based framework for understanding Christian salvation. This volume, however, interprets Calvins own theological constructions as contextually determined by the reigning polemics of his day. In addition, previous scholarship on these topics has largely failed to properly contextualize Calvins own thought against the background of scholastic theological developmentsdevelopments that Calvin both accepts and rejects in the formulation of his own theology. After Merit addresses these gaps by (1) analyzing Calvins tracts, scriptural commentaries and Institutes to demonstrate Calvins unique distain for the doctrine of merit among the early Reformers and the pervasiveness of this polemic within his theological program; (2) reviewing the scholastic developments surrounding the doctrine of merit from the High to Late Middle Ages as background to Calvins thought; (3) highlighting Calvins principle problems with the doctrine of merit: the competitive-causal schema between divine and human causality, merit as a basis for justification, and good works as "deserving" of reward; and (4) unpacking Calvins theology of justification, sanctification, the worth of works, and the role of works in salvation as an alternative to the "opponents" doctrine of merit. The volume concludes by reflecting on the reception of Calvins theology of works and reward in later Reformed thought.

Eric Platt examines British participation in the Dutch religious and political disputes of the early 17th century (the Bestandstwisten) and its significant impact on both countries. Although the disputes began over predestination, they quickly took on political overtones as the two sides, the Remonstrants (Arminians) and Contra-Remonstrants, vehemently debated proper church-state relations and leading Dutch officials began supporting differing sides. By 1611 King James I and other important British figures had also become closely involved. Although the Kings initial impulse was to defuse the conflict, he eventually threw his considerable influence behind the Contra-Remonstrants. This assistance helped them and their political allies secure victory, and a large British contingent participated in the Synod of Dordt that took place in the aftermath of the conflict. Not all British influences, however, came about as a result of direct involvement. Both sidesgreatly relied on British precedents and sources in arguing their positions. The conflict also had an impact on Great Britain. Observers there closely followed developments in the Bestandstwisten and repeatedly expressed concern that the conflict would spread to the British Isles. These fears proved true as the Dutch disputes contributed to increased British disputes about predestination during the 1620s.Scholars have long recognized the importance of the Bestandstwisten and Synod of Dordt for Dutch history and the development of Reformed doctrine. But there has never before been published a full-length treatment of the British involvement in the conflict and its impact on both countries. As the world prepares to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the Synod of Dordt, Platts book fills this scholarly gap.

The book is divided into two parts. The first part deals with the development of Augustinestheology of Original Sin and Justification. Here the emphasis is placed on the defining moments ofthis development process. These moments are the second half of 390s (period during which theChurch Father wrote two of his key-works: De diversis quaestionibus ad Simplicianum (396/397)and Confessiones (397-400)) and the last twelve years of his literary career, with emphasis on theworks he produced in the heat of the long and bitter confrontation with Julian of Aeclanum.In the second part Pereira deals with Luthers doctrines of Original Sin and Justification of the sinner.The main source of analysis is Luthers Lectures on Romans (1515/1516). There is an intrinsicrelation between the two parts of the work. The author demonstrates how Augustine came tobreak with the patristic soteriology and anthropological theology and adopted the radicalism ofgrace with which he faced the theologians associated with the fifth-century Pelagianism, especiallyJulian of Aeclanum. In the second part, Pereira argues that it was precisely that radicalism of grace thatmade of Augustine Luthers favourite theologian. The same radicalism of grace was adopted byLuther in his opposition to the recentiores doctores, the Nominalist theologians, especially GabrielBiel. Without overlooking the crucial role played by the Pauline corpus, one can accurately say thatAugustines anti-Pelagian thesis were at the core of the young Luthers soteriological andanthropological claims (essential to understand what the Lutheran "insurgency" was all about) andwere the driving force behind Luthers cry for reformation, at least as far as the doctrine of salvationwas concerned.When it comes to the doctrine of salvation, Augustine found in Luther a prominent reader and a faithful follower. To understand this fact, it would suffice a careful analysis of Luthers doctrine of justification by faith alone since it contains a strong and genuine Augustinian tonality.

The contributions in this volume enter the debate about the way in which the provision of poor relief can be influenced by its national confessional context. They bring new perspectives to the understanding of theological aspects of Lutheranism, such as the connection between justification by faith alone and care for the poor, and work and work ethics. The articles also analyse the implementation of social responsibility of the authority towards different categories of poor (deserving and undeserving), local administration and centralization of poor relief through connections of public and private sources of funding, and collaboration between state, church and civil society through different public and private aspects of poor relief. In this way the various contributions combine to demonstrate new ways in the study of the connection between confessional specifics and historical developments through detailed knowledge of theology, supported by concrete historical case studies.

From different perspectives this book studies the role of Reformation theology in the shaping of Danish society and the social dimensions of Lutheran confessional culture. The book develops an approach making it possible to draw strong conclusion about the social teaching of Luther and its impact on the development of the Danish society. It works on a conceptual level by analyzing the social dimensions of key Lutheran concepts and their translation into the doctrine of the three estates (church, household, and state), and on the level of lived experience of life within these three orders, not at least within the household forming the ideal form also for church and state. Thus the chapters in the book endeavor to connect the social ideas inherent in the Lutheran confession with the social formation of the Danish state from the Reformation into the period of Absolutism. A long mono-confessional situation within the Danish Monarchy makes it possible to study the impact of Lutheranism and the development of a confessional culture within a uniquely long timeframe. The focus is on basic mediums for the translation of Lutheran ideas into social practice: law, primarily connected to marriage and family; and the role of household, both as primary social relations and as basic social and political model. In this way the book offers important insights for theologians, historians, sociologists, and academically anyone interested in the relation between theology and sociality, confession and culture.