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In Understanding the Divide: A Presbyterian Elder, a Roman Catholic Theologian, and Basic Questions of the Christian Faith, a Presbyterian Elder and a Roman Catholic theologian reflect in dialogical fashion on basic but critical dimensions of contemporary Christian faith. How should we interpret the Bible? How do we get to heaven? What are sacraments and what is their function? Who are the saints and what role if any do they continue to play in the life of the Christian community? Tom Tasselmyer, a Ruling Elder in the Presbyterian Church in America, and Lyle K. Weiss, a Roman Catholic theologian, respond to these and other questions offering two distinct contemporary visions of an ancient faith. In alternating chapters, Tom and Lyle engage in dialogue concerning basic questions of Christian faith from Reformed and Roman Catholic perspectives, providing readable, intelligible, and accessible answers to questions believers are asking while simultaneously stimulating ongoing thought and fostering mutual respect between two rich traditions within the broader Christian family.

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American Baptists emerged from the Civil War as a divided group. Slavery, landmarkism, and other issues sundered Baptists into regional clusters who held more or less to the same larger doctrinal sentiments. As the century progressed, influences from Europe further altered the landscape. A new way to view the Bible–more human, less divine–began to shape Baptist thought. Moreover, Darwinian evolutionism altered the way religion was studied. Religion, like humanity itself, was progressing. Conservative Baptists–proto fundamentalists–objected to these alterations. Baptist bodies had a new enemy–theological liberalism. The schools were at the center of the story in the earliest days as professors, many of whom studied abroad, returned to the United States with progressive ideas that were passed on to their students. Soon these ideas were being presented at denominational gatherings or published in denomination papers and books. Baptists agitated over the new views, with some professors losing their jobs when they strayed too far from historic Baptists commitments. By 1920, the Northern Baptists, in particular, broke out into an all-out war over theology that came to be called «The Fundamentalist-Modernist» controversy. This is the fifty-year history behind that controversy.

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On the world stage, the Holy See acts as both a religious and a political actor. As the head of over 1.2 billion Catholics, the pope is a widely recognized spiritual authority. Politically, the Holy See maintains diplomatic relations with other states and actively participates in international organizations such as the United Nations.
A Living Tradition examines the normative sources and the dilemmas underpinning papal diplomacy. It does so in the context of four diverse case studies: the Vietnam War, John Paul II and Poland, the United Nations conferences in Cairo and Beijing, and the global campaign for debt relief.
While Catholic Social Doctrine offers a principled basis for Holy See diplomacy, living out religious norms is more complicated than simply preaching them, especially in global politics. This process leads to political and ethical policy dilemmas as well as to changing patterns of conflict and cooperation with other international actors.
By drawing upon unpublished archival documents from five countries, A Living Tradition offers a fresh and interdisciplinary view of both Catholic Social Doctrine and papal diplomacy that explores a key issue of the religious resurgence we are experiencing in the twenty-first century: how religious traditions function in global politics.

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John Wesley was an Anglican priest and major leader in the eighteenth-century Evangelical awakening whose theology and practice continues to influence the church today. This book tells how his own search for a heart renewed in love ultimately led him to a fresh vision of the way of salvation, one that is centered on sanctification, empowered by the Holy Spirit, and available to all. Transcending the theological dichotomies of his day, Wesley developed a distinctive Protestant tradition that continues to shape Methodist and Holiness Christians, and has had a significant impact on Pentecostalism. It was Wesley's optimism of grace that gave his Methodists and generations to come a vibrant hope that hearts and lives, churches, and the world at large can all be changed by the power of God's amazing love.

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John McIntosh attempts to describe more accurately and completely the spectrum of Evangelicalism (Anglican) that three successive principals of Moore Theological College appropriated and taught in the period. Each was an outstanding graduate of Oxford, Cambridge, and Dublin, respectively. The study traces the circumstances of their appointment and seeks to define the convictions they held–against the background of challenges and changes to their Christian faith they faced in their day. A close examination of their published and unpublished literary oeuvre clears away misunderstandings and even misrepresentations of their thought and influence. In so doing it explains how it was that those Evangelicals in the diocese who adhered more closely to their Reformation tradition finally prevailed decisively over those who were Protestant but liberal.

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The tensions between Calvinism and Arminianism have perpetuated Christian thought for some 500 years. The concerns from both parties are legitimate. Calvinists are often accused of fatalism along with holding to a troubling view of double-predestination. Arminians are often accused of holding to a human-centered view of salvation that robs God of glory while championing human ability. Could it be that many of the tensions between Calvinists and Arminians are sourced in an often-overlooked issue–monergism and synergism? Could the same be said regarding Protestantism and Roman Catholicism concerning justification? In this volume, Daniel Kirkpatrick explores the specific roles of God and humans in various aspects of salvation to determine whether salvation is a work between God and a person (synergism) or a work of God alone (monergism). Building upon the framework of Aquinas, the Reformers, and Arminians, this book examines the issue of who does the work of salvation in light of cause and effect with hopes of providing new insights on historic doctrines.

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Between 1548 and 1551, controversies over adiaphora, or indifferent matters, erupted in both Germany and England. Matthias Flacius Illyricus in Germany and John Hooper in England both refused to accept, among other things, the same liturgical vestment: the surplice. While Flacius' objections to the imperial liturgical requirements were largely contextual, because the vestments and rites were forced on the church and were part of a recatholicizing agenda, Hooper protested because he was convinced that disputed vestments and rites lacked a biblical basis. The Devil behind the Surplice demonstrates that, while Flacius fought to protect the reformation principle of justification by grace alone through faith alone, Hooper strove to defend the reformation principle that Scripture alone was the source and norm of Christian doctrine and practice. Ultimately, Flacius wanted more Elijahs, prophets to guide a faithful remnant, and Hooper wanted a new Josiah, a young reform king to purify the kingdom and strip it of idolatry.

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Since being elected to the Chair of St. Peter on March 13, 2013, Pope Francis has given unique shape to the meaning of the new evangelization. With his emphasis on the concept of encounter, and his stunning expression of pastoral ministry in Evangelii gaudium, the present pontiff has breathed new life into the Christian vocation to evangelize. This book brings together the voices of fifteen American Catholic scholars around the theme of Pope Francis and the Event of Encounter. Inaugurating the new series, Global Perspectives on the New Evangelization, this book incorporates a variety of approaches and questions in order to amplify the theology behind the pontificate of Pope Francis and the most recent developments in the new evangelization. Among the topics treated in the book are mercy, ecology, doctrine, culture, and the life and ministry of Jorge Mario Bergoglio. The reader will be delighted with an array of perspectives that promise to give inspiration for embarking on further frontiers of the new evangelization.

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Over the centuries, Baptists have labored to follow Christ in faithful devotion and service. More recently, they have occasionally partnered with fellow Christians from other traditions in these efforts while learning from each other along the way. In Thinking With the Church, Derek Hatch argues that Baptists need to follow the same pattern when it comes to their theological reflection, engaging the wisdom of all Christian pilgrims across time. This will require a new theological method–ressourcement–that embraces Baptists' place within the Great Tradition of the Christian faith. Such work will not abandon long-held Baptist convictions but offers resources for renewing Baptists' theological vision as they participate in the fullness of the mystical body of Christ.

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Today a variety of theological approaches offer fresh and enriching insights, yet much of contemporary religious thought can be disorienting for the beginning student of theology. This accessible introduction presents aspects of the thought of Fr. Bernard Lonergan SJ, (1904-1984) in a way that makes his vital contribution to contemporary theology accessible to the beginning student. The author minimizes technical terms and explains basic ideas with user-friendly examples. Rather than a survey of diverse contemporary theological opinions, or a thematic presentation of one topic, the book tries to clear away confusions by focusing on the theologian concerned with those topics. The book will thus encourage creative ways of overcoming some of the unnecessary obstacles for students who want to explore theology today.

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