Geisendorfer, James V. 1990 0-88946-644-0 440 pages Contains the names of more than 5700 religious and parareligious groups in the United States. The alphabetical format has over 1500 cross-reference entries showing the former and/or popular names of various organizations.
Graham, Thomas E. 1986 0-88946-663-7 344 pages A collection of seventeen sermons, all first preached at All Souls Church in Chicago between 1895 to 1917, by Jenkin Lloyd Jones: an author, editor, prominent religious figure, and leading reformer who crusaded in support of the ordination of women, women's suffrage, prison reform, the NAACP, political reform, aid to immigrants, relief of poverty, Prohibition, and world peace.
Richey, Russell E. 1990 0-7734-9997-0 284 pages A classic that examines what has been called "America's common faith." The list of contributors includes Robert N. Bellah, Will Herberg, David Little, Charles H. Long, Martin E. Marty, Leo Marx, Sidney E. Mead, Herbert Richardson, W. Lloyd Warner, John F. Wilson, and Donald G. Jones.
Alexander, Jon 1983 0-88946-654-8 501 pages Designed as a resource for teachers and students of American religious and cultural history. Over one hundred excerpts covering over three hundred years with accounts written by men and women from over thirty different Christian, Jewish, Native American, Eastern, and esoteric traditions. Such diverse figures as Cotton Mather, Jonathan Edwards, Nat Turner, Sojourner Truth, Martin Luther King, Jr., Elizabeth Seton, Frances Willard, and Malcolm X are represented, and each selection is prefaced by biographical and bibliographical data. Also includes an informative introduction and an impressive annotated bibliography of the five hundred accounts from which the excerpted hundred were culled.
Fry, C. George 2005 0-7734-6156-6 396 pages Matthias Loy (1828-1915), a major educator, editor, author, church president, preacher, and Lutheran theologian, illustrates the dilemma of the second generation immigration in America. Born the fourth of seven children of impoverished German immigrants in Pennsylvania, Loy grew up torn between the European Legacy and the American Reality. His life as a major Lutheran leader in the Gilded Age indicates that struggle, seeking bilingualism (he wrote and preached in both German and English), personal and denominational success in the American Republic, combined with a determined Repristination of what he felt were the best elements of seventeenth century German Lutheran theology. The resulting synthesis made Loy not only one of the five most influential Lutheran leaders of his century, but a very rewarding study in the process of Americanization – not in the first generation (which often experiences ghettoization) nor the third (which is often “Americanized”), but the crucial – and neglected second generation – where the terms of engagement between the Old World Tradition and New World Innovation have to be negotiated.
Dunne, Robert 2002 0-7734-7215-0 172 pages This provocative book, which crosses disciplines, argues that the confrontation between antebellum Irish immigrants and mainstream Americans helped reshape American ideology and, in particular, the American Dream Myth. As Irish immigrants became a growing presence in the United States, American society reacted in what Dunne calls a “Protestant backlash: clerical and lay interests banded together and attempted to codify the very definition of “America” and thereby relegate Irish immigrants to society’s margins. In an exhaustive examination of self-help manuals, political pamphlets, religious tracts, newspaper editorials, and instructional novels, this study contrasts the disparities between the actions of nativists and their rhetoric of reaffirming “American” identity. It also critiques current trends in multicultural studies and posits a strong cases for studying marginalized groups from European backgrounds within the larger context of their interactions with mainstream society.
“The arguments that Professor Dunne puts forth in his book are a well-reasoned and well-documented corrective to the present-day orthodoxy that simplifies and distorts the meaning and significance of ethnic Americans by consigning them all into the dustbin of ‘white male oppressors.’ . . . Perhaps we will soon move beyond what currently passes for multiculturalism to a truer, deeper, more nuanced examination of what made – and makes – America unique. I can think of no better place to begin than with Robert Dunne’s fine work.” – Peter Quinn
“There is a rich historical literature on anti-Catholic sentiment in nineteenth-century America, especially for those political historians who study the amazing rise of the Know Nothing party. Americans today are largely unaware of the rioting that occurred between Protestants and Irish Catholics over such items as tax money for education and which version of the bible should be utilized in public schools. What Dunne brings to this already rich history is a literary cultural approach that helps to show how Irish Catholics reacted to Protestant attacks. . . . Dunne’s ability to show the ongoing literary battle between Protestant and Irish Catholic attempts to influence their followers reveals the larger battle over cultural supremacy and acceptance . . . . Multicultural, ethnic, literary, as well as political culture scholars will all glean something from the Irish Catholic attempt to maintain their minority identity in the midst of a Jacksonian society that was bent on the maxim that ‘the majority rules.’” – Matthew Warshauer
Johnston, Paul I. 1995 0-7734-9061-2 436 pages The Anthology of the Sermons of J. Michael Reu is the only resource exhaustively to collect and present all of Reu's English-language sermon outlines, sketches, and fully-developed sermons for the first time to enable scholars of American church history, Luther historians, Reformation scholars and church professionals to examine Reu's theological presuppositions and historical insights as he applied these to preaching.
This definitive two-volume collection includes sermons for every Sunday of the church year and also for festival and special occasions, as well as major convention addresses translated for the first time from the German. The volumes are meticulously edited and standardized as to style, spelling, and format of the text, and are easy to use, with helpful lists and an index of published and manuscript sermon sources to identify quickly on sermon by Scripture text, date of origin, or location. Parish clergy will find here a wealth of ideas for opening the text of Scripture to a full and persuasive exegetical development from a theologian who was an acknowledged master of the homiletical art in the Lutheran Church. The sermons contain rich insights, and furnish the busy pastor with examples of how to make textual preaching vivid and applicable to everyday life. Still fresh and powerful in their examination of the human condition and Gospel comfort, these sermons by one of this century's best-known and most admired preachers in the confessional Lutheran tradition encourage and inspire by their directness, their scholarship, and by their deep pastoral concern.
Historians will find the books of interest in identifying major themes in Reu's anthropology and sociology, while theologians will profit from the many clues Reu provides in these sermons as to the content and style the proclamation of the Word should assume, especially as it relates to the Small Catechism of Martin Luther. A number of sermons featured in the Anthology are from the Johann Michael Reu Collection, Wartburg Theological Seminary, Dubuque, IA, and have never before been published; others were published previously in the periodical Kirkliche Zeitschrift, which Reu edited from 1904-1943.
Johnston, Paul I. 1995 0-7734-8970-3 496 pages The Anthology of the Sermons of J. Michael Reu is the only resource exhaustively to collect and present all of Reu's English-language sermon outlines, sketches, and fully-developed sermons for the first time to enable scholars of American church history, Luther historians, Reformation scholars and church professionals to examine Reu's theological presuppositions and historical insights as he applied these to preaching.
This definitive two-volume collection includes sermons for every Sunday of the church year and also for festival and special occasions, as well as major convention addresses translated for the first time from the German. The volumes are meticulously edited and standardized as to style, spelling, and format of the text, and are easy to use, with helpful lists and an index of published and manuscript sermon sources to identify quickly on sermon by Scripture text, date of origin, or location. Parish clergy will find here a wealth of ideas for opening the text of Scripture to a full and persuasive exegetical development from a theologian who was an acknowledged master of the homiletical art in the Lutheran Church. The sermons contain rich insights, and furnish the busy pastor with examples of how to make textual preaching vivid and applicable to everyday life. Still fresh and powerful in their examination of the human condition and Gospel comfort, these sermons by one of this century's best-known and most admired preachers in the confessional Lutheran tradition encourage and inspire by their directness, their scholarship, and by their deep pastoral concern.
Historians will find the books of interest in identifying major themes in Reu's anthropology and sociology, while theologians will profit from the many clues Reu provides in these sermons as to the content and style the proclamation of the Word should assume, especially as it relates to the Small Catechism of Martin Luther. A number of sermons featured in the Anthology are from the Johann Michael Reu Collection, Wartburg Theological Seminary, Dubuque, IA, and have never before been published; others were published previously in the periodical Kirkliche Zeitschrift, which Reu edited from 1904-1943.
Johnston, Paul I. 1996 0-7734-8733-6 366 pages Here for the first time in English translation are the book reviews, articles, and never-before-published manuscripts from the Reu Collection in Dubuque which demonstrate his dependence on such theologians as J. C. K. von Hofmann, F. H. R. von Frank, and J. A. Bengel, as well as his further development of their paradigms. Reu's understanding of Heilsgeschichte as organizing principle for theology is given expression in the documents in this first-ever collection of his representative theological thought. It is the only resource which presents a selection of Reu's book reviews and writings on exegetical theology in English for the convenience of modern students and researchers. It also contains Reu's personal correspondence with Charles M. Jacobs of the United Lutheran Church in American relative to the doctrine of the inspiration of the Scriptures which shaped the Pittsburgh Agreement of 1940. Also included is an important study paper outlining Reu's position on the lodge and the church.
Historians of Religion in American Life will find this collection a unique one-volume resource providing access to key elements in Reu's theological system. Acknowledged authorities in translation, headed by the late Dr. Fred Kramer of Springfield, IL, provide Reu's lucid prose in easy-to-follow translations which are faithful in every detail to the original text.
Students of theology and parish clergy will be helped by Reu's insightful elaboration of the Scriptures and the Lutheran Confessions as they apply to life in a secularized society, and by his application of the Lutheran hermeneutic of Law and Gospel to theological issues confronting the church. Professors of theology from all traditions will be able to access the core understandings of one of America's most significant Lutheran theologians quickly and easily through the original source documents in this collection.
Rausch, David A. 1983 0-88946-652-1 297 pages A narrative biography that examines Gaebelein's important formative years, when, as an evangelist to the Jews, he developed deep concern for the Jewish people and was an early Zionist. Includes several portraits from the Gaebelein family album and three lengthy accounts of conversations with son Frank Gaebelein.
Beck, Martha C. 2008 0-7734-5085-8 324 pages The spiritual odyssey of a woman whose personal experiences offer insights into the ideas and values of the progressive Christian tradition, and of the classical philosophers, most notably Plato and Aristotle. This book contains thirty-five black and white photographs.
Taylor, Daniel Evans 1987 0-88946-043-4 173 pages Traces the life, from childhood to retirement, of a United Methodist Church pastor from the state of Washington.
Williams, Lawrence H. 1986 0-88946-668-8 304 pages This definitive account of Simmons University and the history of the Black Baptists in Kentucky is written from the perspective of the oppressed and their striving for a better community.
Shupe, Anson D. Jr. 1982 0-88946-919-9 115 pages Examines the extent of support for the Moral Majority and this movement's potential for translating Moral Majority sentiments into significant political activity. Includes two surveys from the Dallas_Ft. Worth area, a center of religious and political conservatism that is often considered a stronghold of the Moral Majority.
Pepper, George B. 1988 0-88946-856-7 209 pages A sociological study of an episode in American Catholic history known as the Boston Heresy Case: the 1940s controversy surrounding the Saint Benedict Center, founded in 1940 in Cambridge, Mass., and its leader, Father Leonard Feeney, who would eventually be excommunicated.
Tuck, Donald R. 1987 0-88946-672-6 350 pages A history of the American school of Japanese Buddhism called the True Pure Land (Jodo Shinshu), which also styles itself Buddhist Churches of America, from its earliest 19th-century exponents to the present.
Fehler, Brian 2007 0-7734-5430-6 208 pages An examination of early nineteenth-century journals, sermons, and course syllabi written by prominent members of the Calvinist clergy, especially the Bartlet Chairs of Sacred Rhetoric at Andover Seminary, shows how an emerging oratorical culture in the United States impacted the choices made by Calvinist clergy. This study considers how the theory and practice of rhetoric changed in the face of democratizing forces that contributed to a distinctly oratorical culture in the early republic. This study should appeal to scholars interested in the history of rhetoric and American religion.
Cox, Claude E. 1995 0-7734-9421-9 484 pages This volume contains papers presented at five "Restoration Heritage Day" meetings held in Barrie, Everton, Omagh, and Toronto (1986-1990). Includes papers from sixteen scholars representing all three branches of the Campbell-Stone movement. Deals with the Scotch Baptist influence in Ontario, Campbell's contributions to Ontario, significant leaders, congregational histories, church life, and developments within each wing of the movement.
Anderson, Christopher 2012 0-7734-3049-0 328 pages The Centenary Celebration of American Methodist Missions examines early twentieth century American Protestant missions and demonstrates how the Methodist Episcopal Church and the Methodist Epsicopal Church, South, used the exposition as a staging ground to sell foreign and domestic missions as a means to civilize and Christianize the world. Inside the pavilions of the fair Americans viewed "the world" through hundreds of exhibits containing international peoples converted to Christianity, representations of their indigenous homes, and curios of material objects. The fair functioned as an arena to educate U.S. Protestants on the global reach of mission organizations and missionaries busy at work converting the world to Christ.
Ferret, Richard Bowen 2008 0-7734-4862-4 380 pages This work examines the nature of Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) identity with particular reference to Ellen G. White, the movement’s co-founder and prophet. Unlike most literature in which the primary method in assessing SDA identity from Adventist sources is limited to a theological perspective, this study analyzes the movement’s socio-historical and cultural contexts.
Sawyer, M. James Jr. 1993 0-7734-9961-X 212 pages This study evaluates the theological position of Briggs from a comprehensive perspective, comparing his religious epistemology, his Christology, and his bibliology to the conservative orthodoxy of Princeton and to the Ritschlian liberalism of Adolf von Harnack and A.C. McGiffert. Briggs embraced the fideism of Isaac August Dorner, which colored all of his theological thinking. The study concludes that Briggs was neither conservative nor liberal. Rather he was broadly orthodox, affirming the historical fundamental doctrines of the faith against the onslaughts of liberalism.
Williams, Lawrence H. 2002 0-7734-6907-9 152 pages This work examines the little-known story of this father and son whose work in religion and education spanned a period of more than a hundred years. A former slave, Charles H. Parrish, Sr. graduated in 1886 from State University in Louisville (later Simmons College). The school was owned and operated by black Kentucky Baptists, the only school of black higher education in the state until 1930. Parrish, Sr. served as president from 1918 to 1931. As a founding member of the National Baptist Convention, he also served as chairman of the foreign mission board and editor of the publishing board. During a period of rank segregation, he was an officer of the Baptists World Alliance, a racially integrated worldwide organization.
Parrish, Jr. was a leader in black higher education during several transitional periods. He was a part of the transition from missionary schools to public black schools, and from public supported black schools to integrated ones. He was the first black professor to teach at a public supported university in the South, teaching at the University of Louisville.
Wells, Jonathan 1988 0-88946-671-8 242 pages A study that achieves special relevance because of the controversy lately reintroduced into public consciousness by the scientific creationists. Corrects the record regarding the actual nature of Hodge's response.
Peden, W. Creighton 1996 0-7734-8748-4 376 pages In these two volumes, lengthy selections are presented by each contributor in the Chicago School. The material is presented so that an individual or class may explore the development of this School, as well as the changing issues facing philosophy and religious thought in this century.
Lippy, Charles H. 1989 0-88946-647-5 320 pages This first full-length study of the Christadelphians interprets their thought and development - historical, theological, sociological, and anthropological. Adds to our understanding of the role of millennialism in American religious and cultural history.
Peden, W. Creighton 1996 0-7734-9007-8 424 pages These four volumes include all of Abbot's major published articles. Any scholar or library interested in American philosophy, religious thought, and American social and intellectual history will find this edition of essays an essential addition to the collection. Francis E. Abbot was a noted American philosopher and champion of Free Religion, a member of C.S. Peirce's Metaphysical Club, the first American philosopher to support Charles Darwin, the founding editor of The Index, a founder of the Free Religious Association, and the founding President of the National Liberal League of America. In addition to over six hundred articles, he was the author of Scientific Theism (1885), The Way Out of Agnosticism, Or The Philosophy of Free Religion (1890), and The Syllogistic Philosophy, or Prolegomena to Science (1906).
Peden, W. Creighton 1996 0-7734-9009-4 444 pages These four volumes include all of Abbot's major published articles. Any scholar or library interested in American philosophy, religious thought, and American social and intellectual history will find this edition of essays an essential addition to the collection. Francis E. Abbot was a noted American philosopher and champion of Free Religion, a member of C.S. Peirce's Metaphysical Club, the first American philosopher to support Charles Darwin, the founding editor of The Index, a founder of the Free Religious Association, and the founding President of the National Liberal League of America. In addition to over six hundred articles, he was the author of Scientific Theism (1885), The Way Out of Agnosticism, Or The Philosophy of Free Religion (1890), and The Syllogistic Philosophy, or Prolegomena to Science (1906).
Peden, W. Creighton 1996 0-7734-9011-6 456 pages These four volumes include all of Abbot's major published articles. Any scholar or library interested in American philosophy, religious thought, and American social and intellectual history will find this edition of essays an essential addition to the collection. Francis E. Abbot was a noted American philosopher and champion of Free Religion, a member of C.S. Peirce's Metaphysical Club, the first American philosopher to support Charles Darwin, the founding editor of The Index, a founder of the Free Religious Association, and the founding President of the National Liberal League of America. In addition to over six hundred articles, he was the author of Scientific Theism (1885), The Way Out of Agnosticism, Or The Philosophy of Free Religion (1890), and The Syllogistic Philosophy, or Prolegomena to Science (1906).
Peden, W. Creighton 1996 0-7734-9013-2 440 pages These four volumes include all of Abbot's major published articles. Any scholar or library interested in American philosophy, religious thought, and American social and intellectual history will find this edition of essays an essential addition to the collection. Francis E. Abbot was a noted American philosopher and champion of Free Religion, a member of C.S. Peirce's Metaphysical Club, the first American philosopher to support Charles Darwin, the founding editor of The Index, a founder of the Free Religious Association, and the founding President of the National Liberal League of America. In addition to over six hundred articles, he was the author of Scientific Theism (1885), The Way Out of Agnosticism, Or The Philosophy of Free Religion (1890), and The Syllogistic Philosophy, or Prolegomena to Science (1906).
Rogal, Samuel J. 2009 0-7734-4825-4 1748 pages The 1858 Sabbath Hymn Book stands as an important and significant historical product of nineteenth-century American hymnody, as well as a by-product of nineteenth-century American Protestant culture, that, outside of the boundaries marked off by a small number of specialists in the field, lies practically forgotten.
Rogal, Samuel J. 2009 0-7734-4797-0 188 pages The 1858 Sabbath Hymn Book stands as an important and significant historical product of nineteenth-century American hymnody, as well as a by-product of nineteenth-century American Protestant culture, that, outside of the boundaries marked off by a small number of specialists in the field, lies practically forgotten.
Rogal, Samuel J. 2009 0-7734-4795-4 464 pages The 1858 Sabbath Hymn Book stands as an important and significant historical product of nineteenth-century American hymnody, as well as a by-product of nineteenth-century American Protestant culture, that, outside of the boundaries marked off by a small number of specialists in the field, lies practically forgotten.
Rogal, Samuel J. 2009 0-7734-4793-8 556 pages The 1858 Sabbath Hymn Book stands as an important and significant historical product of nineteenth-century American hymnody, as well as a by-product of nineteenth-century American Protestant culture, that, outside of the boundaries marked off by a small number of specialists in the field, lies practically forgotten.
Rogal, Samuel J. 2009 0-7734-4791-1 540 pages The 1858 Sabbath Hymn Book stands as an important and significant historical product of nineteenth-century American hymnody, as well as a by-product of nineteenth-century American Protestant culture, that, outside of the boundaries marked off by a small number of specialists in the field, lies practically forgotten.
DeMaria, Richard 1978 0-88946-988-1 233 pages A sympathetic study of John Humphrey Noyes' vision of spirituality and his theology of love, clearly showing the implications of this theory for Noyes' doctrines of complex marriages, women's rights (other than equality), male continence, eugenics, and child-rearing. Based largely on primary sources.
Jinkins, Michael 1993 0-7734-9827-3 472 pages This study examines the questions of the character of God and the atonement, intimately related in theological thought and the approach one takes to them. The consideration of these two doctrines arises from a careful and thorough analysis of the writings of John McLeod Campbell and Jonathan Edwards, each a seminal and representative figure.
Schlup, Leonard 2008 0-7734-5134-X 552 pages This compilation of documents highlighting American religion in the 1870s offers insights into various denominations, issues, controversies, dogmas, and practices in the post-Civil War period. Included in the work are properly introduced sermons, letters, articles, church doctrines, speeches, writings, and other contemporary material.
Hall, Richard 2008 0-7734-5060-2 600 pages This volume contains select papers delivered in October of 2003 at the First churches of Northampton, Massachusetts, in celebration of the tercentenary of the birth of Jonathan Edwards. The Northampton Tercentenary of 2003 is in continuity with the conference held in the same building in June of 1900 to mark the sesquicentenary of Edwards’ dismissal from the church, and the anticipated conference to be held in the same place to honor the quadricentenary of his birth in 2103.
Jonas, William Glenn Jr. 1992 0-7734-9798-6 212 pages This study critiques and analyzes Newman's life and work as a historian. By nineteenth-century standards, he ranked among the best: a brilliant linguist who used this ability to become an expert on the dissenting sects throughout the history of church. He was among the pioneers in the field of Anabaptist studies, and should be classified as one of the foremost historians the Baptists ever produced.
Fudge, Thomas A. 1998 0-7734-8249-0 404 pages “Fudge’s work raises important questions and implications for American religious historiography. In the first place his study shifts and enlarges the bi-polar historiography that has dominated the study of American Protestantism, particularly in its conservative and Evangelical forms. . . . demonstrates that other polarities defined the work of significant leaders such as Daniel S. Warner. This in itself makes Fudge’s work an important historiographical step. . . . a solid foundation of thorough acquaintance with the scholarship in the area coupled with careful research in primary source material. Fudge has brought to light fugitive and, in some instances, highly charged materials that bear in important ways on the history of an American religious movement. He handles these materials with unusual sensitivity and a light touch.” – Merle D. Strege
Schlenther, Boyd S. 1995 0-7734-9024-8 114 pages A graduate of the University of Aberdeen, James Morrison went to Moose Jaw as a student-minister from April 1894-April 1895. His pen was sharp and incisive, his literary abilities of a high order. The diary paints splendid cameos of social, political and religious gatherings, often with wickedly funny observations. Moreover, the author produced beautifully crafted descriptions of natural phenomena. Together with its high literary merit, this journal is of decided historical importance -- an exceedingly rare first-hand account of life amongst the prairie settlers of western Canada during its formative period.
Stallard, Michael D. 2002 0-7734-6924-9 316 pages This study presents an analytical description of the theological methods of Arno C. Gaebelein, a leading dispensational and fundamentalist speaker and writer. Gaebelein’s entire theological system, ground in a thorough acceptance of evangelical belief and emphasizing bibliology, Christology, and eschatology, was organized around the central interpretive motif of prophetic hope focused on the personal Second Coming of Christ. While contributing to a deeper understanding of the history of fundamentalism and dispensationalism, Gaebelein’s example helps to establish a descriptive definition of dispensationalism based mostly upon hermeneutical concerns.
Christensen, Richard L. 1995 0-7734-2273-0 244 pages This study of controversial biblical scholar Charles Augustus Briggs substantially revises our understanding of Briggs as an important figure in the world of late 19th-century theology. The book demonstrates that he made unique contributions to ecumenism which anticipated much of the present-day ecumenical dialogue. Briggs provides an extraordinary example of the bridge between conservative and liberal Protestantism and between Protestantism and Roman Catholicism, and was an early precursor to the discussions on theological pluralism and church unity in vogue today.
Huffer, Mary Lee Stephenson 2007 0-7734-5282-6 184 pages This study examines Emily Dickinson’s experiential poetics and her position within and against the changing orthodoxy during the Second Great Awakening, which is best demonstrated by the orthodox sermons of her contemporary, Reverend Dr. Charles Wadsworth. Wadsworth’s published sermons and his “rhetoric of sensation” reflect the characteristics of the changing orthodoxy that arose from the conflict between the liberal Unitarians and the conservative Congregationalists. The tension of knowing and not knowing that existed between these two divergent and convergent faiths created the perfect literary situation in which Dickinson could thrive as a poetic figure. Therefore, this context will shed new light on the study of Dickinson and her work.
Post, Kenneth 2024 1-4955-1307-6 108 pages Perspectives focusing on Biblical texts, this group of letters and essays by the author explores subjects and themes including suffering, eternity, evil, forgiveness, and Christianity.
Bennion, Janet 2008 0-7734-4939-6 248 pages Highlights many of the inherent problems of polygyny, but challenges the media-driven depiction of plural marriage as uniformly abusive and harmful to women, criticizing techniques used by state and federal governments used to raid entire communities as they did in the 1950s and in April of 2008. This book contains six black and white photographs and two color photographs.
Jordan, Philip 1983 0-88946-650-5 277 pages The first book-length treatment and analysis of the ecumenical significance of the American branch of the Evangelical Alliance, a voluntary movement of certain leaders of about ten mainline denominations.
"Offers a number of important insights" _ Church History
Jorstad, Erling 1981 0-88946-982-2 171 pages Distinguishes between moderate "press on" and conservative "hold fast" evangelicals, characterizing Jimmy Carter as the former and Ronald Reagan as the latter, and attributes Reagan's and the "hold fast" evangelicals' political successes to their mastery of computer and television technology.
Grundy, Martha Paxson 2006 0-7734-5568-X 376 pages There is a deep and troublesome dilemma facing believers in a variety of minority religions and sects: how to resolve the demands of their faith and yet participate in the larger community. In Biblical language, the question is how to be in the world but not of it. The Religious Society of Friends in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Pennsylvania was one such religious group. This book explores the dilemma by means of a micro-study of one congregation (monthly meeting) and the seventeen surname families that were part of that meeting for one hundred years. The individuals in those families inevitably faced choices and made decisions between the requirements of their faith and the demands and opportunities of the dominant culture.
Between 1750 and 1850, the period studied here, a number of major events took place that tested Friends. These include, among others, the Revolutionary War, economic growth and depression, the evangelical revival movement, Jacksonian democracy with its accompanying political and social changes, the treatment of Native Americans, and reform movements ranging from abolition to temperance. There were also major movements within the Religious Society of Friends: a reform impulse that included antislavery, and a major division or separation in 1827. The Religious Society was both a stable and a dynamic force as it and its individual members sought to chart their course through the buffeting, challenges, and opportunities posed by the larger society and within their own group.
The in-depth analysis over time of individuals within the matrix of their family and faith community provides insight not usually gained from aggregate data. For example, family patterns are seen to have a much larger influence than most studies indicate. This is, of course, consonant with our own personal experience.
There are chapters that deal with a series of major and less obvious issues between 1750 and 1850. A reader interested in a more nuanced exploration of them would benefit from the insights of this book. Issues include the mid-seventeenth century reform movement within the Religious Society of Friends, including antislavery. There is an interesting examination of the Revolutionary War and Friends’ peace testimony as played out among the individuals who were simultaneously impacted by the reform movement. The book explores the way Friends, individually and corporately, dealt with the triumph of market capitalism.
Douglas, Robert C. 2008 0-7734-5012-2 196 pages The only study to examine how the unofficial hierarchy—editors of
denominational journals, academic leaders, and pastors—shaped the Church of Christ’s response to the Civil Rights Movement.
Penzel, Klaus 2004 0-7734-6428-X 212 pages The focus of this study is Philip Schaff (1819-1893), whose life spans two continents. Born in Switzerland and educated at German universities, as an immigrant scholar he had a distinguished American career as church historian, biblical scholar, apologist of Christianity, and fervent advocate of the reunion of the Christian churches.
This book offers for the first time a scholarly exploration of Philip Schaff’s German years of education, for, as the book demonstrates, only a thorough understanding of Schaff’s formative years will enable us to do full justice to his distinguished American career. His German education largely shaped his American career.
With its broad compass and with its focus on outstanding personalities and theological positions in nineteenth-century German Protestantism, this study therefore contributes to the ongoing scholarly discussion both of a significant figure in nineteenth century American Christianity and of German Protestantism in the nineteenth century’s first half, as it contributes to the important field of immigration studies. An extensive bibliography of relevant German literature is another contribution to scholarship by this book.
Capper, Daniel Stuart Jr. 2002 0-7734-6986-9 280 pages This work asks and preliminarily answers the question, "Who do Americans practice Tibetan Buddhism?" Contrary to most previous scholarship on the guru-disciple relationship in the United States, this study finds that the mystical relationship with the spiritual teacher can actually respond in a healthy way to psychological dimensions of the practitioners' lives.
Adams, Richmond B 2013 0-7734-4530-7 328 pages The books written by Harold Frederic depict a self-made, properly Protestant American. Yet, in some of his books in particular The Damnation of Theron Ware, Frederic depicts self-made women, and challenges the idea that only men can attain culturally-defined success. The works offer an inversion of late 19th century gender-based expectations.
Pettit, Norman 2004 0-7734-6359-3 312 pages This groundbreaking book details how various individuals left a mark on doctrinal history that would determine the course of New England spiritual life.
Nutt, Rick L 2012 0-7734-2569-1 612 pages A historical analysis of the how various American religious groups responded to the Vietnam war, both in support and in opposition.
Hunt, Stephen 2009 0-7734-4681-8 848 pages This extensive volume examines Neo-Pentecostalism’s significance in the Western cultural context and brings a comparative account of neo-Pentecostalism in the USA and Britain. Although primarily sociological in emphasis, the volume also offers deep historical analysis and theological reflection.
Duncan, Stephen F. 2004 0-7734-6479-4 177 pages This is the musical chronicle of Saints Constantine and Helen Serbian
Orthodox Church, established more than 100 years ago by Tsar Nicholas, II. Founded by Serbian and Greek immigrants, it has had Syrro-Arabian, Russian, Greek and Serbian pastors and music from each of these cultures. With
American, Serbian, Greek, Arab, and Russian parishioners, the multi-lingual approach used here may serve as a model for other Orthodox Churches in America.
Stephens, Bruce M. 1993 0-7734-9193-7 164 pages The unique emphasis upon the Spirit in American Protestant theology in the century of theological debate following Jonathan Edwards is the focus of this study. It traces the contours of one of the dominant ideas in American Protestant preaching from Jonathan Edwards to Horace Bushnell. The experience of the work of the Spirit in the regeneration of both the self and society, and the corresponding prominence of the Spirit as the agent of change in American religious life and thought receives detailed attention, with the conviction that such a study will contribute to a richer understanding of American religion and culture.
Moore, Rebecca 1988 0-88946-676-9 150 pages A collection of eight essays written by a professional journalist who not only is conversant with the religious and social implications of such a movement as the Peoples Temple but also was closely related to some of the victims of the mass suicide at Jonestown.
Gustafson, Robert K. 1995 0-7734-9046-9 328 pages This long-overdue biography of James Woodrow, first occupant in 1861 of the unique "Perkins Professorship of Natural Science and Revelation" at Columbia Theological Seminary, brings together research data gleaned from many sources and reveals new information about a remarkable man whose views on evolution and the relation of religion to science were condemned by four General Assemblies of the Presbyterian Church, U.S. (Southern) and were finally upheld by the General Assembly in 1969. He exerted a profound influence over his nephew, Woodrow Wilson, who became President of Princeton University and the United States of America, and over Sydney Lanier, poet laureate of the South. During the Civil War he operated a chemical laboratory in South Carolina which provided chemicals needed to treat the wounded. Following the War he assisted the fledgling Presbyterian Church, U.S.. Simultaneously, he was a scientist, theologian, educator and a successful banker (President of Central National Bank) and businessman, serving on the board of a railroad company. He received his Ph.D. summa cum laude from Heidelberg University, and ultimately served as President of the University of South Carolina.
Erb, Peter C. 1985 0-88946-658-0 410 pages Explores one of the more radical and eclectic manifestations of the subterranean world of pietism in the Middle Colonies, the movement centered in Pennsylvania's Ephrata Community, a semi-monastic colony organized in 1732 by Johann Conrad Beissel.
Manspeaker, Nancy 1989 0-88946-907-5 264 pages A select, annotated bibliography which attempts to include all published books, chapters in books, articles, dissertations, and monographs. With a useful introduction.
Cooey, Paula M. 1988 0-88946-660-2 240 pages Intended to provide a corrective to the general neglect of the central importance of nature and the apocalyptic dimension in Edwards' theology. Traces the movement of Edwards' thought from his own religious experience to God, anthropology, Christology, soteriology, typology, and eschatology.
Geissler, Suzanne 1981 0-88946-906-7 276 pages Defends Heimert's 1966 thesis by viewing Burr as a religious descendant of his Calvinist-New Light grandfather, Jonathan Edwards, and his father, Aaron Burr, Sr.
Bryant, M. Darrol 1993 0-7734-9389-1 256 pages Provides a close, critical examination of the Heimert thesis. Also offer a close textual examination of the corpus of Edwards's writing in relation to the question of America's symbolic foundations.
Walton, Brad 2002 0-7734-7236-3 276 pages This study focuses on Jonathan Edwards’s Treatise Concerning Religious Affections and shows that rather than discontinuity, Edwards’s religion of the heart reflects a conservative extension of traditional Puritan thought into the time of the Great Awakening. It opposes the main-stream scholarly views of Edwards, argue that, however unique as a fully synthesized and exhaustive work, the Religious Affections is constructed almost entirely from elements deriving from 16th and 17th century Puritanism.
Richardson, Herbert W. 2016 1-63313-004-5 112 pages This study describes how Jonathan Edwards created many of the ideas and social institutions that have shaped America. The astonishing thing about Jonathan Edwards is the remarkable way that his thinking and his ideas have permeated virtually all American intellectual and political life.
Richardson, Herbert W. 2017 978-1-4955-0531-6 112 pages This study describes how Jonathan Edwards created many of the ideas and social institutions that have shaped America. The astonishing thing about Jonathan Edwards is the remarkable way that his thinking and his ideas have permeated virtually all American intellectual and political life.
Stetina, Karin Spiecker 2011 0-7734-1489-4 308 pages The significance of Scripture and piety had on Jonathan Edwards’ theology has often been obscured by his innovative use of secular though and reformed theology in his public writings. This study focuses on his earliest sermons and personal writings, which stand [prior to his study of Locke and use of the technical term sense of the heart. In looking at Edwards’ background, faith, and early sermons, this study presents an account of the emergence and expression of his early understanding of religious experience. True religion Edwards discovered, consists of the knowledge of God’s glory, love and grace made manifest by Jesus Christ and supernaturally imparted to the soul of mankind.
Richardson, Herbert W. 2016 1-4955-0503-0 232 pages A study into Edwards’ thought through the developmental stages of his life: conflicts with his father, creation of a new identity for himself at middle age, and his old age radicalization. All these dimensions of his life affected his theological perspective.
Richardson, Herbert W. 2016 1-4955-0503-0 232 pages This book is the first attempt to understand Edwards’ thought through the developmental stages of his life: his conflict with his father figure, his creation of a new identity for himself at middle age, and his old age radicalization. This is the first book written on the historical development of Edwards’ thought.
Pointer, Steven R. 1991 0-7734-9702-1 268 pages As an influential spokesman for a considerable segment of the late 19th-century American populace, Cook was probably without a rival. This study attempts to ascertain the "why" of his career: to account both for the factors which contributed to his rapid rise as well as those which led to his eventual demise. Throughout, an effort is made to convey not simply the account of an individual who has succumbed to the passing fortunes of historical fame, but also insights into the character of a conservative American Protestantism that was more complex and varied than many have realized.
Riforgiato, Leonard F. 2006 0-7734-5943-X 536 pages This excellent book is a biography of John Timon (1797-1867), the first bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo, New York. Beginning with the formative period of his youth, as well as his years as a member of the Vincentian order, this book gives a detailed account of Timon’s leadership in Buffalo. While Timon’s many contributions in the areas of education and social services are documented, this study also deals at length with his involvement in issues of great significance for the larger Catholic community in the United States, in particular, trusteeism and the issue of Catholic assimilation into American society. This monograph is the first historical study of the founding bishop of the Roman Catholic Church in Western New York. The author has studied all the available sources and provides a reliable account of both the religious and the social problems of the Buffalo diocese during its first fifty years. This study will be of interest to scholars in American social and religious history. It is an essential resource for all research and Catholic libraries.
Schlenther, Boyd S. 1999 0-7734-8174-5 304 pages Reproduced here are all five of Makemie's published writings together with all his known correspondence, preceded by a biography which details his active and colorful life. This study provides an invaluable tool for understanding the genesis of one of America's major denominational traditions.
Wilson, Agnes Jackson 2005 0-7734-6331-3 208 pages This book tells the story of Rev. James Renwick Jackson (1905–1953), who rose from humble beginnings in Philadelphia to become one of the leading Presbyterian ministers in the United States in the 1940s and 1950s. Though his life was cut short by cancer, Rev. Jackson inspired thousands of members of three churches in Philadelphia, Tyrone and Erie, PA. Rev. Jackson rebuilt the First Presbyterian Church of Erie after a devastating fire in 1944, and even after he had fallen ill, he was determined to comfort and serve members of his congregation.
Rev. Jackson is also part of a remarkable family. Three of his brothers became Presbyterian ministers, and nine members of the next generation entered the ministry. Rev. Jackson’s brothers and children appear throughout the narrative of his life, and an epilogue summarizes the work of the family since his death. Four of Rev. Jackson’s sermons are also included in this book. Written by his daughter and drawing on rare primary documents, this book is not only an inspirational biography, it also contains a great deal of practical advice on about building a ministry.
Searl, Jr., Stanford J. 2005 0-7734-5853-0 252 pages This study draws upon original qualitative research in which the author – in systematic and analytical ways – asked nearly fifty Quakers from both the eastern part of the United States and in England to describe their understandings of Quaker silent workshop in the unprogrammed tradition. The research draws upon contemporary theory and integrates an interdisciplinary perspective about the complex relationship between silence and words. In addition, drawing upon the work of contemporary feminist scholarship, the book offers a critique of some key twentieth century studies about silent worship.
Thomas, Nathan Gordon 1989 0-88946-646-7 150 pages The first study to make a serious attempt to trace the millennial fires westward into the Old Northwest. Proves that the New England-New York-Michigan transfer to the West began a diaspora of millennial ideas which would shape evangelical Protestantism even to the present day.
Erwin, John S. 1990 0-88946-645-9 260 pages An ardent chiliast, Cotton Mather (1663-1728) wrote more about millennialism than any other colonial American. His unpublished manuscript "Triparadisus" is the longest treatise devoted to a millennial topic we have by a colonial American author.
Westra, Helen 1986 0-88946-661-0 400 pages Makes extensive use of unpublished manuscripts in the Jonathan Edwards Manuscript Collection at Yale University. Treats five main themes: the scope of gospel ministry, the word of God, the word heard and kept, ordination and installation sermons, and "Christ the Perfect Ministerial Exemplar."
Beckwith, Francis J. 1991 0-7734-9787-0 147 pages This book ventures into uncharted territory. The purpose is to show (1) that the Mormon concept of God differs radically from the classical concept of God, (2) that the Mormon concept of God contains many philosophical flaws, and (3) that the classical concept of God is more consistent with the Hebrew-Christian Scriptures than the Mormon view. The emphasis of this book is philosophical and will include detailed analyses of the following topics as they relate to the Mormon concept of God: (1) the impossibility of the infinite past of Mormon metaphysics, (2) the problems in applying the design argument to Mormon theism, (3) logical necessity and the Mormon God, and (4) the problem of a finite being (the Mormon God) progressing to a point of having infinite knowledge.
Hampshire, Annette P. 1985 0-88946-874-5 339 pages Brings a social scientist's perspective to a replay of the series of events in and around Nauvoo after 1839.
Lee, Martha 1989 0-88946-853-2 163 pages An examination of the history and doctrine of the Nation of Islam in terms of black millenarianism: belief in an imminent, this-worldly, total salvation in which the white world and its oppressive political institutions would fall, after which the black millennium would rise from their ashes.
Rich, Charles Mark 2012 0-7734-2924-7 432 pages Henry Nelson Wieman was one of the most influential American religious figures of the late twentieth century. His work is examined here in relation to other notable thinkers such as Henri Bergson, William James, James Dewey, Alfred Whitehead, and Josiah Royce among others. He was also a mentor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his work set the stage for naturalistic theism. Wieman believed that creative religion constituted by self-giving individuals must always exist in relation to divine cosmic individuality. A radically individual nature of the process of change means that religion must encourage collective actions towards justice through an appeal to the individual rather than the group. What calls the subject to action is co-related to what the individual perceives as a totality of lived experiences.
Moore, Rebecca 1989 0-88946-649-1 248 pages A collection of fifteen essays by persons who were touched in some way by the mass deaths in Guyana. Reflections by former Peoples Temple members, insights by psychologists and counselors, and confessions by relatives vividly reveal what happened to individuals in the decade following November 18, 1978.
Hall, Richard 1990 0-88946-593-2 364 pages Explicates Edward's four neglected texts from the 1740s in order to reveal his philosophical sociology and socio-political philosophy.
Jorstad, Erling 1987 0-88946-669-6 280 pages A comprehensive, scholarly overview of the philosophy and activities of the "New Christian Right" (NCR), which are characterized by a conspiracy theory _ that "secular humanists" are responsible for the degeneration of the country into pervasive evil _ and by a "social agenda" of activism in the areas of abortion, pornography, homosexual rights, prayer in the schools, and creationism.
Holloway, Gary 1992 0-7734-9173-2 196 pages Much has been written on the chanting "spiritual" style of folk preaching in America. This style has so dominated folklore studies that many scholars define folk preaching exclusively in terms of this style. O.B. Perkins has all the characteristics of a folk preacher, but he does not chant his sermons. Instead, he has a reasoned, oratorical delivery quite similar to the popular political rhetoric of the early twentieth century South. This study of his life and sermons broadens the field of folk preaching to include the preaching of those who do not chant their sermons, but who do have a traditional homiletical form.
Taylor, Marion Ann 1992 0-7734-9824-9 400 pages This study fills a lacuna in the history of Princeton Theological Seminary and in the history of Old Testament studies in America by fleshing out the history and significance of the Princeton Old Testament School (1812-1929) through a study of the lives and extant writings of the faculty, especially unpublished archival material never before scrutinized by a specialist in the Old Testament.
Ellis, William E. 1990 0-88946-243-7 140 pages Describes the life of perhaps the most important early-20th-century "dry" Catholic, who was, moreover, a progressive and an advocate of profit-sharing, a multifaceted man who exchanged ideas with many of the most important political and literary figures of his day, including Franklin D. Roosevelt, William Jennings Bryan, Msgr. John A. Ryan, and H. L. Mencken.
Sacks, Francis 1990 0-88946-642-4 800 pages Proposes that the Philadelphia Baptists recognized the divinely established authority of church councils over participating local churches in time of crisis, practiced a true delegation of authority and power, and had ecclesiological significance for Baptist belief and practice. Provides a thorough analysis of the tradition of church and church authority in the Philadelphia Baptist Association, a group which had great impact on the character and theology of all Baptist life in the Americas. Includes two historical chapters describing the British and American roots of the Association, traces the genealogy of the Philadelphia Baptist Confession of 1742 back to the Second London Confession of 1677 and 1689 and to earlier British sources, and contains thorough appendices and bibliography.
Hicks, Peter 1997 0-7734-8657-7 256 pages This volume makes a positive contribution to issues that are central to the current debates on the topic of truth and the development of evangelicalism and its distinctive approach to epistemology. This material on Hodge is not covered elsewhere. In contrast to recent trends that stress the role of Scottish Common Sense philosophy in the development of Hodge's thought, this thesis suggests that theological concepts of the nature of God and of persons, and Hodge's consequent reaction to post-Kantian philosophy, were primary factors in the shaping of his epistemology.
Waldmeir, John C. 2002 0-7734-7261-4 142 pages A wealth of social Christian novels, poetry, and visual images came together during the late nineteenth and early twentieth-century to help Americans imagine new roles for God in a changing society. More “immanent” than “other,” God came to life in such imaginative works, and through elements of creative expression writers and artists demonstrated the ways that human drama provides believers with meaningful images of the divine. Many ministers and theologians read or viewed these works and responded with a social Christian vocabulary rich in figurative language. The ensuing dialogue produced an extraordinary moment in the history of modern American religion. To date scholars have examined only one side of the conversion, emphasizing the extensive influence social Christian theory and practice had upon popular literature and art. This works demonstrates that the creative impulse motivated almost all who participated in the movement, and it argues that the ambiguities of poetry, prose fiction, and the visual arts have helped social Christianity endure.
Krettek, Tom 2023 1-4955-1109-X 278 pages "Pope Francis Encounters an opposition entirely different from his predecessors. This resistance is particularly striking in the United States. ...A simple somewhat unacknowledged factor that triggers conflicts with Pope Francis is that he is a Pope who thinks like a Jesuit." Fr. Tom Krettek ("Introduction")
Lapomarda, Vincent A. 2012 0-7734-3914-5 204 pages In a narrative that covers these women who shaped history from the colonial era down to the present day, the author focuses on those who were influential among the Native Americans as well as among the immigrants, including those of French, Irish, Italian, and other backgrounds who helped shape business, education, health care, and even religion itself. Of particular relevance were the Sisters of Mercy who did so much to develop hospitals, orphanages, and schools in the Pine Tree State.
Hall, Joseph H. 1988 0-88946-670-X 232 pages Details the leadership and teachings of the early Presbyterian church leaders in Missouri as they evolved from Congregationalists into men of the cloth who adapted to frontier exigencies in church and society.
Ortiz, Leonard D. 2008 0-7734-5160-9 256 pages Examines the processes by which heterogeneous communities of Native American people negotiate their identities in the institutional context of the United Methodist Church and the varied responses of the Church to these communities.
Smith, Robert H. 1992 0-7734-9565-7 336 pages Based on extensive research in both original documents and secondary sources, this history begins with the origins of the family in late Medieval, Tudor, and Georgian England, then follows the lives of the American immigrant Passmores for the next five generations. Covers the Passmores who followed the frontier seeking homesteads as well as those who remained close to the original settlement in southeastern Pennsylvania and northern Maryland and Delaware. Of particular interest are the ways in which individuals related to their Quaker backgrounds, some standing within it, some rejecting or adapting it to the changing cultural context in America.
Cronn-Mills, Daniel 1999 0-7734-7943-0 224 pages Jehovah’s Witnesses are one of the most persecuted religious groups in the world and the most persecuted Christian organization in the 20th century. How the Witnesses shape their response to persecution is invariably associated with the social reality they construct in their rhetorical practices. This is a descriptive analysis and interpretation of the social reality constructed by the discourse of the Jehovah'’ Witnesses, utilizing a qualitative-interpretive approach for exploration into a social reality. The purpose is to determine how the textual and contextual reality of Jehovah’s Witnesses influences their lives and courses of action, how discursive practices are fundamental to their understanding of themselves and others.
Washington, Joseph R. Jr. 1989 0-88946-683-1 776 pages Examines certain ethicists' commitment to solving the problems of slavery and racism by shipping the American-born black population back to Africa
Jenkins, James 1984 0-88946-807-9 550 pages Account by James Jenkins of his life in the Quaker community of the early 19th century.
"This splendid book, [is] a refreshingly candid account of the world to which Elizabeth Fry belonged." - The Friends Quarterly
Davidson, Phebe 1993 0-7734-9354-9 228 pages This study develops the theme of spiritual rhetoric as an important foundation of the American autobiographical tradition and the related idea that the marginalized voices of women and African-Americans worked to alter and redefine America's conception not only of autobiography but of self and gender. The redefinition process is illustrated through readings of texts ranging from Puritan conversion (Anne Bradstreet) through evangelical autobiography (African-American evangelist Amanda Berry Smith) and from Indian captivity narrative through the slave and ex-slave (post-bellum) narratives.
Ware, Steven L. 2004 0-7734-6301-1 230 pages In her 1917 sermon Lost and Restored, pentecostal evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson claimed that God had given her a vision showing the fall of the Christian Church from its original purity and the gradual restoration of that original purity in successive stages. Using the prophetic images of agricultural blight and recovery in Joel chapter two, she detailed the fall of the church after the apostolic age to its complete corruption in the Middle Ages. Then, beginning with the Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century, she described the church’s gradual restoration to purity and power with the influence of the Reformers, continuing through Wesley and the holiness movement, and culminating with the Pentecostal movement of her own lifetime. Whatever one may make of her claim to divine inspiration, a close comparison of McPherson’s statements alongside those of the leaders of the holiness movement in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries reveals ample precedent for her statements among leaders of the holiness movement.
Despite the example of such well-known leaders as McPherson, however, the many and varied manifestations of restorationism in American churches and religious movements have been generally neglected as a theme in American religious history, and have begun to be investigated and analyzed only since the 1970s. Moreover, while some scholarly attention has been given in recent years to restorationistic themes in groups such as the Puritans, Baptists, Anabaptists, Disciples of Christ, Churches of Christ, Methodists, and Pentecostals, little attention has been given to the prevalence of restorationistic themes in the holiness movement, and the significant contributions of holiness leaders toward the further prevalence of these themes in early pentecostalism.
This work focuses on the restorationist consciousness which was apparent among holiness groups during the decades of their primary theological and ecclesiastical formation, roughly the period 1880-1920. More specifically, it focuses on the restorationism prevalent among the more radical sectors of the movement—among those “come-outers” and “put-outers” who left the churches of their upbringing and became early leaders in the new, specifically holiness church bodies.
Faught, Jerry 2013 0-7734-4322-3 330 pages The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) experienced an intense struggle for control of the ideological direction of its denomination in the 1960s and 1970s. This book examines how the Conservative movement within the denomination took aim at reorienting the denomination away from its perceived liberal course and toward a clear and unquestioned affirmation of biblical inerrancy.
This study investigates both the Elliott and Broadman Controversies. Since events do not take place in a vacuum, the conflicts are set in their respective historical contexts, both socio-cultural and religious. This project finds that Southern Baptists had become an increasingly diverse group theologically and socially by the 1960s and early 1970s and that the two controversies brought to the forefront doctrinal, social, and regional differences present among Southern Baptists.
Cobb, Stephen G. 1992 0-7734-9508-8 248 pages Of particular concern in this study is the transition in values in the late 1800s as manifested in the relations between labor and management. Discusses the context within which the Pullman Strike of 1894 took place, the predominant values to which it was reacting, the activities of Carwardine, and the rationale for his defense of labor when it was extremely unpopular to do so. This book is based upon primary source material, much of which has never before been presented. The book is a valuable contribution to labor, church and U.S. social history, and also sheds light on contemporary American dynamics.
Brantlinger, Patrick 2015 1-4955-0359-3 340 pages This study uncovers the story of Rev. Pearl May Patrick a nineteenth-century born woman whose commitment to liberal religion and gender equity broke many religious and social barriers in Midwest America. She and her husband were Debsite socialists, ardent supports of progressive ideals and Christian Universalists focused on cultural and social change with emphasis on preaching the social gospel.
Roy, Jody M. 1999 0-7734-7908-2 228 pages This study explores answers to the following questions: 1) how did anti-Catholic rhetors make the alleged threat of a Catholic conspiracy against American liberty so persuasive that it could sustain an active movement from the 1830s-1850s? and 2) how did Catholic leaders construct and justify their response strategies and what did those strategies tell Catholics, and all American, that it meant to be a Catholic American?
“Anybody who wants to understand Anti-Catholicism, Catholicism, and how the two shaped and were shaped by America needs to read this book.” – Gary Hiebsch
Spurgin, Hugh 1989 0-88946-678-5 250 pages Demonstrates how Roger Williams developed the 17th-century English separatist tradition into the American political doctrine of separation of church and state.
Camp, L. Raymond 1989 0-88946-679-3 240 pages A revisionist study of Williams' discourse artistry that analyzes Williams (1603-1683) as skillful, rational, and effective in the public forum, a conclusion based on: examination of Williams' spoken and written rhetoric; an analysis of the repressive circumstances of the era; and an evaluation of the rhetorical context of Williams' discourses. Research evidence includes data from hitherto unknown or unused manuscript collections, from the Bodleian Library at Oxford and the Pembroke Library at Cambridge, and from the Folger Library in Washington, D.C. The study also contains unusual illustrations, including several woodcuts that are not available in other Williams studies or biographies.
Wesley, Cindy K. 2008 0-7734-5146-3 352 pages This book is a historical study of the major German Baptist denomination in the United States and Canada. A thorough account, it examines the history, doctrine, ethnic identity, and mission of German Baptists in North America from the mid-nineteenth century to the early twentieth centuries.
Tkacz, Catherine Brown 2012 0-7734-2555-1 172 pages The Ruthenian Rite is the Slavonic version of Greek Catholicism brought to the Slavs in the ninth century by SS Cyril and Methodius. In America the Ruthenian Catholic Church is the Byzantine Metropolitan Church Sui Juris of Pittsburg U.S.A. In 2007, the English Liturgy then in use since 1970 was replaced by a revision much changed in language and music. While it contains a few excellent changes, such as substituting “Covenant” for “Testament” in the anaphora, overall the revision is deeply flawed.
For Ruthenians, the authoritative Slavonic liturgy is to be respected. Slavonic bohol’ubiv’im and Bohoródista ought to be normative, for instance, not Greek thesphilestatou and Theotokos. The trite and secularizing language imposed on the Divine Liturgy give it limited shelf life. Idiosyncratic new translations such as “Holy Gifts For Holy People” needlessly distance Ruthenian worship from the Orthodox. The music of authentic Slavonic chant was subjected to countless distracting musical changes. Centuries ago the Slavonic liturgy developed a vibrant tradition of paraliturgical hymnody, but it was inauthentic in 2007 to set liturgical texts to modern, non-liturgical melodies.
Fetzer, Joel 1989 0-88946-648-3 150 pages Original argument on religious considerations in the federal government's decision to prosecute, with original primary statistics obtained through personal interviews and correspondence. Topics covered include: The Sanctuary Movement; The Tax-Evasion Trial of Rev. Moon; The Abortion-Clinic Bombers.
Dempsey, Michael James 2008 0-7734-4794-6 236 pages This study argues that Félicité Lamennais (1782-1854) and Orestes Brownson (1803-1876) shared a similar vision for the temporal and spiritual separation between Church and State despite maintaining discordant historical perspectives and diametrically opposed political experiences.
Based upon theology, history, and republican models available for their consideration, they offered a similar practical solution for the tangled web of European political machinations that constrained the papacy’s spiritual supremacy.
Baldwin, Jo 2001 0-7734-7576-1 164 pages Text includes a ‘tuned’ prayer and seven sermons: The Words of Christ; Forgiveness; The Holy Spirit; Be Merciful to Me; Jesus – The Light of the World; Remembering; The Death of Death.
Coumbe, Arthur T. 2019 1-4955-0773-4 344 pages Dr. Arthur Coumbe and William Taylor break down the political history of the Chaplain's post at West Point from the foundation of the post to the modern era. The two scholars break down the Chaplain post, its duties, and the nature of the post in the modern era and its role in the military.
Coumbe, Arthur T. 2020 1-4955-0774-2 344 pages Dr. Arthur Coumbe and William Taylor break down the political history of the Chaplain's post at West Point from the foundation of the post to the modern era. The two scholars break down the Chaplain post, its duties, and the nature of the post in the modern era and its role in the military.
Evans, Christopher H. 1996 0-7734-8778-6 412 pages Tittle, the renowned minister of First Methodist church, Evanston, IL, was among the prominent representatives of the post-World-War I social gospel movement. This study analyzes how Tittle's theology of social reform, based on racial justice, economic equality, and pacifism, was influenced by the upper middle class context of First Church Evanston. Using Tittle's life as a biographical prism, the volume provides important insights into the development of post WWI Methodism, explores how he adapted the leadership paradigm of the social gospel preacher as the primary means to define and articulate his theology for the middle class. Using research in church history, biography, theology, and social history, it shows how Tittle's cultural and theological world view interpenetrated with his congregation to produce a genre of liberal idealism not frequently examined by other scholars. Within Tittle's theology are the seeds for the social idealism that has had ongoing impact upon 20th century American culture, notably evident in the thought of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Crowther, Edward R. 2001 0-7734-7658-X 304 pages This book examines the connection between evangelical religious beliefs and antebellum southern culture. Evangelical assumptions and ideas seemed not only to justify slavery and patriarchy, but these assumptions made comprehensible life’s mysteries and heartaches. Southerners thus had a moral, as well as a material, investment in their culture. As they came to believe that the Republican Party threatened that investment, the religiously-minded southerners could accept and support secession. This moral ardor underlay much southern martial ardor during the Civil War. Rather than treat religion as purely a set of formal rituals or as membership in a church, this work treats the religious assumptions, rituals and symbols as a part of culture.
Luker, Ralph 1984 0-88946-655-6 463 pages A study of three ordained Episcopal clergymen from the South who, as theological "liberals," represented trends and emphases that were a part of the theological and intellectual climate of their time.
". . . a significant contribution to the intellectual history of the south." - Journal of the American Academy of Religion
Wagner-Wright, Sandra 1991 0-7734-9938-5 248 pages Looks at the theological, institutional, and personal foundations for the establishment of the mission field in Hawaii Foreign Missions. Discusses New England Calvinist theology and its institutional commitment to missionary activity. Profiles members of the 1820 and 1823 missionary companies to Hawaii in terms of their theology, conversion experience, expectations of missionary life, and response to the Hawaiians.
Moore, Rebecca 1985 0-88946-860-5 464 pages A study of the Peoples Temple written with compassion and understanding, with special focus on the surviving family members of two of the victims. Seeks to dispel the bizarre image propagated by the media.
Jordan, Brian 2017 1-4955-0549-9 204 pages This previously unknown New York City Roman Catholic priest of the early 20th century is introduced to scholars of religion, labor and social justice causes. His work as a pastor in Brooklyn and in Williamsburg is only part of his biography. Fr. Farrell stood up to the social and political issues of his time: anti-Catholic bigotry, labor rights, organized crime and corruption in the New York City government. This book contains 7 black and white photos.
Althouse, Peter 2010 0-7734-1450-9 264 pages This is study on the central concept of ‘power’ in early Pentecostalism which
examines the historical development of the language of power in Wesleyan
Holiness and American Revivalism and how it fueled early Pentecostal experiences of the Spirit, spiritual practices and theological descriptions.
Author’s Abstract:
Using methods of historical analysis, theological interpretation
and sociological theory, this study investigates the way that the language
of power coalesced and formed the spiritual and theological culture of twentieth century Pentecostalism. The underlying ideology of power shaped and defined early American Pentecostalism and provided a hermeneutical key for how Pentecostals understood God, themselves and the world.
Next, a perusal of early Pentecostal writings and testimonies reveals that notions of power were fundamental to the Pentecostals’ understanding of their experiences with God and fellow human sojourners, as they sought personal and social empowerment to live a life of spiritual discipline,
service, and ministry to others in the world.
Finally, Weber’s theories of charisma and Durkheim’s theories of symbolic interaction are employed to make sense of the Pentecostal world, one in which both personal and social transformations occur.
Kleckley, Russell C. 2009 0-7734-4759-8 900 pages These letters, most previously unavailable, illustrate the regular correspondence of Johann Martin Boltzius with supporters and benefactors in Europe. The volume will interest scholars of religion, social historians, and cultural studies.
In his regular correspondence with supporters and benefactors in Europe, Johann Martin Boltzius, the principal pastor and leader of the Salzburger exiles who settled in the community of Ebenezer in colonial Georgia, provided commentary and insight on religious, economic, political and social matters that extended beyond Ebenezer to include the rest of Georgia, the religious life of other religious communities in the American South and in Pennsylvania. In response to letters from England and Germany, Boltzius also commented on circumstances in Europe, including the Seven Years War and the mission work of the Halle Orphan House, founded by the German Pietist, August Hermann Francke and a primary sponsor of the Boltzius and Ebenezer. These letters report news and impressions concerning a number of leading religious and political figures known to Boltzius in the American colonial context, including James Oglethorpe, John Wesley, Nikolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf, and Henry Meichior Muhlenberg. Boltzius also offers commentary on slavery, mission work among Native Americans, The War of Jenkin’s Ear and the French and Indian War, and most significantly, on the particular circumstances of Ebenezer as an immigrant community.
Peden, W. Creighton 2010 0-7734-3710-X 352 pages This work examines the contribution of Henry Nelson Wieman to nineteenth-century religious philosophy.
Gibbs, Lee W. 2013 0-7734-4324-X 436 pages This volume is a translation from Latin into English of some of the most important shorter philosophical and theological treatises of the English Puritan, William Ames (1575-1633), better known in Europe by his Latin name, Guilielmus Amesius and justifiably called “the spiritual father of the New England churches.”
Hirono, Tatsushi 2012 0-7734-2603-5 236 pages The purpose of this study is to examine American and Japanese clergy’s perception of their role in the prevention of suicide. The research questions are: (1) How do clergy in the US and Japan perceive suicide?; (2) Do they see suicide differently?; and (3) How do they envision the role of suicide prevention? The hypotheses are: (A) Christian clergy think that suicide is an unacceptable “sin;” (B) Buddhist clergy are more accepting of suicide than Christian clergy; and (C) There are role differences related to suicide prevention in the Japanese and American religious communities; and (D) American and Japanese religious leaders have a different view of their obligations related to suicide prevention. The investigator sent 400 anonymous mail surveys respectively to New York and Tokyo. The surveys asked about the clergy’s personal beliefs and the Church’s role in suicide prevention. The investigator analyzed the responses using both quantitative and qualitative methods. The major findings are that many American Christian clergy consider suicide to be a sin; but that “God’s love is available for people who committed suicide.” Many Japanese Buddhist clergy think how one dies is not the most important issue.
Zakai, Avihu 1994 0-7734-9970-9 412 pages This volume explores the eschatological and millennial dimension in the Puritan mind, to show that out of a unique apocalyptic interpretation of history Puritans were not only able to justify their migration to America with sacred, providential history, but also able to define the meaning of their holy experiment in the course of salvation history. As the Puritan emigrants themselves perceived it, their errand into the wilderness was not simply a utopian search for religious reformation but an earthly stand against the power of Satan and Antichrist.
Liderbach, Daniel 1983 0-88946-761-7 158 pages A re-presentation of the Catholic doctrine of grace for the contemporary American mind. First examines the meaning of grace as fashioned by Karl Rahner in his transcendental anthropology, then integrates this with American criteria of judgment (Carl Rogers and C. S. Peirce) to develop a uniquely American theology of grace.
Schultenover, David G. 1991 0-7734-9747-1 160 pages Papers originally delivered at a symposium held at Creighton University April 1990. Keynoted by Avery Dulles, with papers by Judith Dwyer, John Elliott, Diana Hayes, Marina Herrera, Paul Knitter, and Bishop Richard Sklba. Among the questions answered are: What is the future of Christian Theology? What issues will theologians encounter as the Church moves into its third Millennium? How might they deal with those issues?
Frank, Thomas Edward 1993 0-7734-2208-0 292 pages This study argues that some of the best-known religious and educational figures of the period from 1880 to 1920 were deeply conservative of an older nineteenth-century synthesis composed of three major elements of certainty: the dependability and comprehensibility of the laws of nature, the universality of moral principles, and the supremacy of Christianity. It also brings back into scholarly scrutiny the works of three college presidents, William DeWitt Hyde, Henry Churchill King, and William Jewett Tucker, major interpreters of contemporary issues in theology and education. Lastly, it challenges typical assumptions in the history of higher education that the Progressive era was the age of universities. The three presidents insisted that colleges were distinctive in their capacity not just to teach students new information but to mold character, a conviction that was inherited from previous generations and continues to sway many educators today.
Grayston, Donald 1985 0-88946-758-7 220 pages This closely detailed analysis of five versions of Thomas Merton's classic work in spirituality, Seeds of Contemplation, traces and documents Merton's growth as a Christian contemplative and spiritual theologian between the years 1948 and 1961.
Grayston, Donald 1989 0-88946-559-2 491 pages The companion volume to Thomas Merton: The Development of a Spiritual Theologian, this variorum edition should prove "an invaluable resource for Merton readers and Merton scholars . . . a clear, precise, and easy-to-follow piece of scholarship." - Robert E. Daggy, Curator, The Thomas Merton Studies Center
Wenzke, Annabelle S. 1989 0-88946-681-5 250 pages Presents the theology of Timothy Dwight and shows how it constituted a religious legitimization of a social order that has had a great impact on the shape of American life.
Blasi, Anthony J. 2004 0-7734-6391-7 243 pages This study is about the experiences of the people who served the American Catholic Church in religious orders and subsequently left those orders. This work reveals what aspects of their religious formation remained with them during the course of their lay lives and continue to inspire them, and what were the insurmountable problems for them when they tried to serve the Church within the framework of the traditional vows and communal life.
Merrill, Arthur L. 1993 0-7734-9201-1 340 pages The story of the United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities represents the history of a theological school founded in the midst of the turmoil of the 60's but with a vision and commitment to ecumenical theological education in a liberal context. This story is important in its own right, as the documentation of a particular and local history. It further contributes to the larger history of theological education and its changes in the latter part of the twentieth century. It is also part of the history of an important ecumenical venture, the United Church of Christ, in its formative years.
Meiers, Michael 1988 0-88946-013-2 768 pages A work of investigative journalism that presents the theory that the Central Intelligence Agency employed the Reverend Jim Jones to administer a pharmaceutical field test in mind control and ethnic weaponry to a large test group, namely the membership of the Peoples Temple. Proposes that Dr. Laurence Layton (Former Chief of the U.S. Army's Chemical and Biological Warfare Division) cultured the AIDS virus to be tested and deployed in a CIA-backed experiment in Jonestown, Guyana.
Fry, C. George 2003 0-7734-6867-6 128 pages This is a study of pulpit work of the ‘Father of the American Social Gospel’ during his most influential years, his Columbus pastorate. It is based on primary sources – Gladden manuscripts and correspondence. It places the preacher in the context of Congregationalism, his times, and his immediate situation.
Shupe, Anson D. Jr. 1992 0-7734-9549-5 324 pages This is an updated reprint of a minor classic in the socio-politics of religion, The Mormon Corporate Empire (by John Heinerman and Anson Shupe). This commercially successful (but scholarly respectable) exposé blends sociological analysis with investigative journalism and demonstrates: (1) that those who investigate the underbelly of large American religions will not only find "muck" but likely experience derision and even persecution; and (2) that no religion in American society, as a protected institution, can expect or ultimately receive sacrosanct status that exempts it from public accountability. This book provides a factual update on that power as well as the consequences for those who attempt to penetrate its closely-shielded subculture. The LDS Church is not simply another American denomination, and this book shows why.
Rogal, Samuel J. 2016 978-1-4955-0512-6 250 pages Describes the enormous failure that John and Charles Wesley experienced at the beginning of their ministry during their missionary journey to Georgia and South Carolina in 1736-1737. The date of the voyage predates their 1738 evangelical conversion. The author argues that the Wesleys were able to learn from their failure, from this experience and developed new and continuously successful later careers in ministry. Though the genre of the book is a monograph it is filled with direct quotations that give it the feel of a primary source.
Hall, Richard 2016 1-4955-0499-9 152 pages Professor Richard Hall has gathered the 18th-century Edwardsean anti-slavery writings that are presented in this book. Note that John Brown, a white man who sacrificed his life to free black slaves, had read these very documents and they influenced his decision to do what he did.
Hamilton, Barry W. 2000 0-7734-7815-9 328 pages This is the first scholarly biography of William B. Godbey, one of the most colorful and beloved evangelists in the southern holiness movement of the 19th century. He was a highly effective revivalist who promoted the holiness movement as the restoration of New Testament Christianity and primitive Wesleyanism. Godbey was one of the major figures in the holiness movement’s turn to premillennialism, as well as one of the principal ‘holiness heroes’ who kept glossolalia out of a significant portion of the Wesleyan-holiness tradition. He profoundly shaped the ‘eradicationist’ wing of the movement. Godbey was a lifelong member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Remembered in the holiness movement as an ‘eccentric’ and forgotten in Methodism, Godbey was in his lifetime respected as the ‘Bible commentator’ and Greek scholar. He traveled around the world five times, and produced a prodigious literature. The author of an influential book on women in ministry, Godbey was a staunch advocate for women preachers. More than just a biography, this book is a window on the theology and culture of the southern holiness movement in its formative period.
Carden, Ronald M. 2007 0-7734-5471-3 280 pages This study focuses on the background, life and personality of Episcopal Bishop William Montgomery Brown to explain why he became a materialist and a communist. Born to poor but industrious parents near Orrville, Ohio in 1855, he pursued the ordained ministry in the Episcopal Church. Following the publication of his The Church for Americans in 1895, he was chosen as the episcopal successor to the Rt. Rev. Henry Niles Pierce, Bishop of Arkansas. He went on to write some works which proved controversial, causing friction within and outside of his diocese, leading him to move back to his native Ohio where, following a crisis of faith, he became a materialist and communist. Then, following the publication of his Communism and Christianism: Banish Gods from Skies and Capitalists from Earth!, he was tried for heresy and deposed in 1925. He spent the remaining years of his life advancing communism and advocating a symbolic, non-supernatural Christianity, up until his death in 1937.
Bean, Heather Ann Ackley 2001 0-7734-7508-7 256 pages Both urban Appalachian evangelical Christianity, as embodied in Appalachian women’s folk art and music, and process theology as articulated by John B. Cobb, Jr, and those he has mentored share an existentialist eschatology that emphasizes the salvific quality of individual life in the present rather than hope in the future. Process theodicy lacks a rich aesthetic, symbolic or ritual tradition through which to express these beliefs and thus is often criticized for its seeming lack of applicability to Christian life and nurture. Urban Appalachian women’s folk art and music, however, is widely celebrated for its powerful emotional impact, but its multivalent symbolism is seldom explored for theological insight. This project explores the ways in which these two marginal Christian existential theological traditions share common beliefs, articulate them in radically different ways with radically different results, and thus might learn from one another.
Shermis, Michael 1992 0-7734-9185-6 276 pages Larry Axel played a significant role in advancing the interface between theology and philosophy, especially where theological efforts have utilized the American philosophical tradition; the history and development of liberal religious thought in America; themes of relevance to the "Chicago School" of theology; and naturalism in American theology and philosophy, by founding and editing the American Journal of Theology & Philosophy. His writings also offer a possible response of creative interchange between humankind and the rest of creation through lived religious creaturalism.