Originally intended for the advanced instruction of young people, Chytraeus' A Summary of the Christian Faith is a marvelous book for anyone seeking a deeper understanding of the faith. Chytraeus (1531-1600), one of the authors of the Formula of Concord, ranks as one of the central Lutheran theologians of 16th century. A Summary of the Christian Faith (Originally entitled Catechesis) offers two great blessings to its readers: (1) an opportunity to see how one of the Lutheran fathers confessed and taught the faith, and (2) an opportunity to grow in one's own knowledge and appreciation of Christian doctrine. "Chytraeus had the irenic nature of Melanchthon with the doctrinal commitment of Luther." (From the Introduction.)
This “excellent study” shows how a Spanish archbishop laid the groundwork for the seventeenth-century expulsion of the Moriscos (James B. Tueller, Renaissance Quarterly). In early modern Spain, the monarchy’s policy of converting all subjects to Christianity only created new forms of tension among ethnic religious groups. Those whose families had always been Christian defined themselves in opposition to forcibly baptized Muslims (moriscos) and Jews (conversos). Here historian Benjamin Ehlers studies the relations between Christians and moriscos in Valencia by analyzing the ideas and policies of archbishop Juan de Ribera. Appointed to the diocese of Valencia in 1568, Juan de Ribera encountered a congregation deeply divided between Christians and moriscos. He came to identify with his Christian flock, leading hagiographers to celebrate him as a Valencian saint. But Ribera had a very different relationship with the moriscos, eventually devising a covert campaign to have them banished. His portrayal of the moriscos as traitors and heretics ultimately justified the Expulsion of 1609–1614, which Ribera considered the triumphant culmination of the Reconquest. Ehler’s sophisticated yet accessible study of the pluralist diocese of Valencia is a valuable contribution to the study of Catholic reform, moriscos, Christian-Muslim relations in early modern Spain, and early modern Europe.
Synodical Conference Lutherans have labored under the delusion that their Universal Objective Justification is ancient and orthodox. Instead, the doctrine is recent, Pietistic, and the essence of Enthusiasm. Historical and Biblical research show why this is true, how Knapp rather than Walther is the key Synodical Conference theologian.
The early Christian Church was a chaos of contending beliefs. Some groups of Christians claimed that there was not one God but two or twelve or thirty. Some believed that the world had not been created by God but by a lesser, ignorant deity. Certain sects maintained that Jesus was human but not divine, while others said he was divine but not human. In Lost Christianities, Bart D. Ehrman offers a fascinating look at these early forms of Christianity and shows how they came to be suppressed, reformed, or forgotten. All of these groups insisted that they upheld the teachings of Jesus and his apostles, and they all possessed writings that bore out their claims, books reputedly produced by Jesus's own followers. Modern archaeological work has recovered a number of key texts, and as Ehrman shows, these spectacular discoveries reveal religious diversity that says much about the ways in which history gets written by the winners. Ehrman's discussion ranges from considerations of various "lost scriptures"--including forged gospels supposedly written by Simon Peter, Jesus's closest disciple, and Judas Thomas, Jesus's alleged twin brother--to the disparate beliefs of such groups as the Jewish-Christian Ebionites, the anti-Jewish Marcionites, and various "Gnostic" sects. Ehrman examines in depth the battles that raged between "proto-orthodox Christians"--those who eventually compiled the canonical books of the New Testament and standardized Christian belief--and the groups they denounced as heretics and ultimately overcame. Scrupulously researched and lucidly written, Lost Christianities is an eye-opening account of politics, power, and the clash of ideas among Christians in the decades before one group came to see its views prevail.
CLP uses extensive research and quotations from the sources to show similarities and differences among three major Christian confessions: Roman Catholicism, Lutheranism, and Protestantism. CLP was written for Lutheran/Catholic couples but has also been used for adult Bible study and confirmation classes. CLP is not polemical and seeks to create understanding among the three main Christian confessions of faith. The author is a Lutheran pastor with a PhD in theology from Notre Dame and a master's degree in Biblical studies from Yale University. He has attended lectures and conferences where many of the leading Protestants have spoken, including Billy Graham, Pat Robertson, and D. James Kennedy.
In 1609, the entire Muslim population of Spain was given three days to leave Spanish territory or else be killed. In a brutal and traumatic exodus, entire families were forced to abandon the homes and villages where they had lived for generations. In just five years, Muslim Spain had effectively ceased to exist: an estimated 300,000 Muslims had been removed from Spanish territory making it what was then the largest act of ethnic cleansing in European history. Blood and Faith is a riveting chronicle of this virtually unknown episode, set against the vivid historical backdrop of Muslim Spain. It offers a remarkable window onto a little-known period in modern Europe - a rich and complex tale of competing faiths and beliefs, of cultural oppression and resistance against overwhelming odds.
