Who Is the Church?

Who Is the Church?

Author: Cheryl M. Peterson

Publisher: Fortress Press

Published: 2013-05-01

Total Pages: 163

ISBN-13: 0800698819

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Many congregations today focus on strategy and purpose—what churches "do"—but Cheryl Peterson submits that mainline churches need to focus instead on "what" or "who" they are—to reclaim a theological, rather than sociological, understanding of themselves. Peterson suggests that we understand the church as a people created by the Spirit to be a community, and that we must claim a narrative method to explore the church's identity—specifically, the story of the church's origin in the Acts of the Apostles. Finally, here is a way of thinking of church that reconciles the best of competing models of church for the future of mainline Protestant theology.


Martin Luther

Martin Luther

Author: Robert Kolb

Publisher: OUP Oxford

Published: 2009-02-05

Total Pages: 222

ISBN-13: 0191647470

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Martin Luther's thought continues to challenge people throughout the world in the twenty-first century. His paradigmatic shift in defining God and what it means to be human left behind a foundation for viewing human creatures that was anchored in Aristotle's anthropology. Luther defined the Revealed God in terms of his mercy and love for human beings, based not on their merit and performance but rather on his unconditioned grace. He placed 'fearing, loving, and trusting God above all else' at the heart of his definition of being human. This volume places the development and exposition of these key presuppositions in Luther's thinking within the historical context of late medieval theology and piety as well as the unfolding dynamics of political and social change at the dawn of the modern era. Special attention is given the development of a 'Wittenberg way' of practicing theology under Luther's leadership. It left behind a dependence on allegorical methods of biblical interpretation for a 'literal-prophetic' approach to Scripture. More importantly, it placed the distinction between the 'gospel' as God's unmerited gift of identity as his children and the 'law', the expression of God's expectations for the performance of his children in good works, at the heart of all interpretation of the Bible. This presuppositional framework for practicing theology reflects Luther's personal experience and his deep commitment to pastoral care of common Christians as well as his reading of the biblical text. It is supported by his distinction of two kinds of human righteousness (passive in God's sight, active in relationship to others), his distinction of two realms or dimensions of human life, and his theology of the cross. The volume unfolds Luther's maturing thought on the basis of this method.


Baptism in the Theology of Martin Luther

Baptism in the Theology of Martin Luther

Author: Jonathan D. Trigg

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2001

Total Pages: 246

ISBN-13: 9780391041073

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This book meets the need for a comprehensive survey of Martin Luther's theology of baptism in English. It offers a thorough analysis of the doctrine, its development, and its role in Luther's wider thought. This publication has also been published in paperback, please click here for details.


Nicholas of Cusa and the Making of the Early Modern World

Nicholas of Cusa and the Making of the Early Modern World

Author:

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2019-01-14

Total Pages: 536

ISBN-13: 9004385681

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Nicholas of Cusa and Early Modern Reform sheds new light on Cusanus’ relationship to early modernity by focusing on the reform of church, the reform of theology, the reform of perspective, and the reform of method – which together aim to encompass the breadth and depth of Cusanus’ own reform initiatives. In particular, in examining the way in which he served as inspiration for a wide and diverse array of reform-minded philosophers, ecclesiastics, theologians, and lay scholars in the midst of their struggle for the renewal and restoration of the individual, society, and the world, our volume combines a focus on Cusanus as a paradigmatic thinker with a study of his concrete influence on early modern thought. This volume is aimed at scholars working in the field of late medieval and early modern philosophy, theology, and history of science. As the first Anglophone volume to explore the early modern reception of Nicholas of Cusa, this work will provide an important complement to a growing number of companions focusing on his life and thought.


The Oxford Handbook of Martin Luther's Theology

The Oxford Handbook of Martin Luther's Theology

Author: Robert Kolb

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 2014

Total Pages: 689

ISBN-13: 0199604703

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

A comprehensive look at the background and context, the content, and the impact of Martin Luther's Theology, written by an international team of theologians and historians.


Reformation Theology

Reformation Theology

Author: Matthew Barrett

Publisher: Crossway

Published: 2017-03-16

Total Pages: 546

ISBN-13: 1433543311

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Five hundred years ago, the Reformers were defending doctrines such as justification by faith alone, the authority of Scripture, and God's grace in salvation—some to the point of death. Many of these same essential doctrines are still being challenged today, and there has never been a more crucial time to hold fast to the enduring truth of Scripture. In Reformation Theology, Matthew Barrett has brought together a team of expert theologians and historians writing on key doctrines taught and defended by the Reformers centuries ago. With contributions from Michael Horton, Gerald Bray, Michael Reeves, Carl Trueman, Robert Kolb, and many others, this volume stands as a manifesto for the church, exhorting Christians to learn from our spiritual forebears and hold fast to sound doctrine rooted in the Bible and passed on from generation to generation.


Reform, Ecclesiology, and the Christian Life in the Late Middle Ages

Reform, Ecclesiology, and the Christian Life in the Late Middle Ages

Author: Thomas M. Izbicki

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2023-05-31

Total Pages: 297

ISBN-13: 1000939081

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Philosophy was not an idle venture in the Renaissance. There were no clear-cut boundaries between theory and the practice. Theologians, jurists and humanists gave opinions on practical matters from within some larger intellectual context, and many held high office. Among the writers represented here are Pope Pius II (1458-1464), Nicholas of Cusa (d. 1464) and Juan de Torquemada OP (d. 1468). All of them, and the other writers dealt with, addressed the issues of their day creatively but from within different traditions, scholastic or humanistic. The present studies deal with issues of Reform, Ecclesiology [theories about the church and its mission] and the living of the Christian life. Among the specific issues covered are the canonization of Birgitta of Sweden, the status of converts from Judaism in Spain, acceptable forms of dress for clergy and laity, and the obedience due the pope. Also studied in this collection are the writings of Spanish theologians about the indigenous populations of the New World and the use of the name of Nicholas of Cusa by Elizabethan and Jacobean writers, both Catholic and Protestant, in polemics concerning right religious teaching and submission to the English crown, a paper hitherto unpublished.


Luther’s Lectures on Genesis and the Formation of Evangelical Identity

Luther’s Lectures on Genesis and the Formation of Evangelical Identity

Author: John A. Maxfield

Publisher: Penn State Press

Published: 2008-09-24

Total Pages: 257

ISBN-13: 0271091029

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Martin Luther's lectures on Genesis, delivered at the University of Wittenberg during the last decade of his life and later published by his students, allow modern readers to view a sixteenth-century professor engaging his students with the text of scripture and using that text to form them spiritually. The lectures show how Luther attempted to form in his students a new identity, an Evangelical identity, enabling them to make sense of the rapidly changing society and church in which they were being prepared to serve, primarily as pastors in the developing territorial churches of the Reformation. This study uses the text of the lectures to outline the contours of the new identity that Luther laid out through his exposition of Genesis. They include how Luther approached and taught his students to perceive the text of holy scripture; how that text unveiled for Luther the nature of Christian life in the world; and how Luther taught his students to view the past, the present, and the future of the church and the world through the book of Genesis. Whether in the published editions of the lectures the historic Luther was actually misunderstood or was transformed in some way into the prophetic Luther of later memory, the text reveals the Luther that his students heard and subsequent generations read.