Tornado God

Tornado God

Author: Peter J. Thuesen

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2020-04-01

Total Pages: 320

ISBN-13: 019068030X

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One of the earliest sources of humanity's religious impulse was severe weather, which ancient peoples attributed to the wrath of storm gods. Enlightenment thinkers derided such beliefs as superstition and predicted they would pass away as humans became more scientifically and theologically sophisticated. But in America, scientific and theological hubris came face-to-face with the tornado, nature's most violent windstorm. Striking the United States more than any other nation, tornadoes have consistently defied scientists' efforts to unlock their secrets. Meteorologists now acknowledge that even the most powerful computers will likely never be able to predict a tornado's precise path. Similarly, tornadoes have repeatedly brought Americans to the outer limits of theology, drawing them into the vortex of such mysteries as how to reconcile suffering with a loving God and whether there is underlying purpose or randomness in the universe. In this groundbreaking history, Peter Thuesen captures the harrowing drama of tornadoes, as clergy, theologians, meteorologists, and ordinary citizens struggle to make sense of these death-dealing tempests. He argues that, in the tornado, Americans experience something that is at once culturally peculiar (the indigenous storm of the national imagination) and religiously primal (the sense of awe before an unpredictable and mysterious power). He also shows that, in an era of climate change, the weather raises the issue of society's complicity in natural disasters. In the whirlwind, Americans confront the question of their own destiny-how much is self-determined and how much is beyond human understanding or control.


Calvin and English Calvinism to 1649

Calvin and English Calvinism to 1649

Author: R. T. Kendall

Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published: 2011-02-01

Total Pages: 287

ISBN-13: 1597527475

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To this groundbreaking work, originally published by theÊOxford University Press in the 1980s, the author has added a new preface and two appendices, oneÊof which consists of extracts from Calvin's Commentaries. The author demonstrates that the English Puritans, who he calls experimental predestinarians, were followers of John Calvin's successor inÊGeneva, Theodore Beza, and not of Calvin himself. R. T. Kendall maintains that what became knownÊas English Calvinism was largely the thought of Beza, not Calvin. His book is an importantÊclarification of Calvin's position in relation to those who have been regarded as his followers.


The Thought of Jonathan Edwards

The Thought of Jonathan Edwards

Author: Miklos Veto

Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published: 2021-01-25

Total Pages: 520

ISBN-13: 1498226248

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Jonathan Edwards is the greatest theologian of colonial America as well as its first important philosopher. As a theologian, he represents without any concession Calvinistic Orthodoxy, re-thought and re-lived through the experience of the Great Awakening. The large majority of his writings are of a theological character, yet this theology is articulated and expressed through a systematic philosophical reflection. Edwardsian thought covers three major areas: First, being, grace, and glory; then, the doctrine of the will extending to the study of the original sin and evil; finally, an entirely original theory of knowledge synthesizing spirituality, aesthetics, and epistemology. The present book, the first edition of which appeared in French almost thirty years ago, is a uniquely comprehensive study of the work of Jonathan Edwards. It discusses all the aspects of his thought over against the background of classical Protestant theology and of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Western philosophy. Our time witnesses a significant renewal of interest in Jonathan Edwards. Professor Veto’s book should prove to be a major contribution to assist and to guide the readers of “America’s Theologian.”


Calvin and the Reformed Tradition

Calvin and the Reformed Tradition

Author: Richard A. Muller

Publisher: Baker Books

Published: 2012-11-15

Total Pages: 454

ISBN-13: 1441242546

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Richard Muller, a world-class scholar of the Reformation era, examines the relationship of Calvin's theology to the Reformed tradition, indicating Calvin's place in the tradition as one of several significant second-generation formulators. Muller argues that the Reformed tradition is a diverse and variegated movement not suitably described either as founded solely on the thought of John Calvin or as a reaction to or deviation from Calvin, thereby setting aside the old "Calvin and the Calvinists" approach in favor of a more integral and representative perspective. Muller offers historical corrective and nuance on topics of current interest in Reformed theology, such as limited atonement/universalism, union with Christ, and the order of salvation.