Constantine Revisited

Constantine Revisited PDF Author: John D. Roth
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1621897540
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 204

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Book Description
This collection of essays continues a long and venerable debate in the history of the Christian church regarding the legacy of the Roman emperor Constantine the Great. For some, Constantine's conversion to Christianity early in the fourth century set in motion a process that made the church subservient to the civil authority of the state, brought a definitive end to pacifism as a central teaching of the early church, and redefined the character of Christian catechesis and missions. In 2010, Peter J. Leithart published a widely read polemic, Defending Constantine, that vigorously refuted this interpretation. In its place, Leithart offered a thoroughgoing rehabilitation of Constantine and his legacy, while directing a rhetorical fusillade against the pacifist theology and ethics of the Mennonite theologian John Howard Yoder. The essays gathered here in response to Leithart reflect the insights of eleven leading theologians, historians, and ethicists from a wide range of theological traditions. They engage one of the most contentious issues in Christian church history in irenic fashion and at the highest level of scholarship. In so doing, they help ensure that the "Constantinian Debate" will continue to be lively, substantive, and consequential.

Constantine Revisited

Constantine Revisited PDF Author: John D. Roth
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1621897540
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 204

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Book Description
This collection of essays continues a long and venerable debate in the history of the Christian church regarding the legacy of the Roman emperor Constantine the Great. For some, Constantine's conversion to Christianity early in the fourth century set in motion a process that made the church subservient to the civil authority of the state, brought a definitive end to pacifism as a central teaching of the early church, and redefined the character of Christian catechesis and missions. In 2010, Peter J. Leithart published a widely read polemic, Defending Constantine, that vigorously refuted this interpretation. In its place, Leithart offered a thoroughgoing rehabilitation of Constantine and his legacy, while directing a rhetorical fusillade against the pacifist theology and ethics of the Mennonite theologian John Howard Yoder. The essays gathered here in response to Leithart reflect the insights of eleven leading theologians, historians, and ethicists from a wide range of theological traditions. They engage one of the most contentious issues in Christian church history in irenic fashion and at the highest level of scholarship. In so doing, they help ensure that the "Constantinian Debate" will continue to be lively, substantive, and consequential.

Defending Constantine

Defending Constantine PDF Author: Peter J. Leithart
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
ISBN: 0830827226
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 374

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Book Description
Peter Leithart weighs what we've been taught about Constantine and claims that in focusing on these historical mirages we have failed to notice the true significance of Constantine and Rome baptized. He reveals how beneath the surface of this contested story there lies a deeper narrative--a tectonic shift in the political theology of an empire--with far-reaching implications.

John Howard Yoder

John Howard Yoder PDF Author: J Denny Weaver
Publisher: Lutterworth Press
ISBN: 0718843800
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 535

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Book Description
'John Howard Yoder: Radical Theologian' shows that for John Howard Yoder both theology (in particular Christology) and ethics are expressions of the meaning of the narrative of Jesus. All such statements are relative to a particular context, so thattheology and ethics are subject to reaching back to the narrative in order to restate the meaning in new and ever-changing contexts. This methodology is visible in Yoder's 'Preface to Theology', which has been little used in most treatments of Yoder's thought. Yoder has been characterised as standing on Nicene orthodoxy, criticised for rejecting Nicene orthodoxy, called heterodox, and designated a postmodern thinker to be interpreted in terms of other such thinkers. None of these characterisations adequately locates the basis of his methodology in the narrative of Jesus. Thus 'John Howard Yoder: Radical Theologian' aims to go beyond or to supersede existing treatments with its demonstration that Yoder is a radical theologian in the historical meaning of radical - that is, as one who returns to the root - but also relates his theology to the personal accusations that clouded his later years. For Christian faith, this root is Christ. Parts II and III of the book explore the sources of Yoder's approach, and its application in several contemporary contexts.

The Nonviolent God

The Nonviolent God PDF Author: J. Denny Weaver
Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
ISBN: 1467439258
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 316

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Book Description
This bold new statement on the nonviolence of God challenges long-standing assumptions of divine violence in theology, the violent God pictured in the Old Testament, and the supposed violence of God in Revelation. In The Nonviolent God J. Denny Weaver argues that since God is revealed in Jesus, the nonviolence of Jesus most truly reflects the character of God. According to Weaver, the way Christians live -- Christian ethics -- is an ongoing expression of theology. Consequently, he suggests positive images of the reign of God made visible in the narrative of Jesus -- nonviolent practice, forgiveness and restorative justice, issues of racism and sexism, and more -- in order that Christians might live more peacefully.

The Mammoth Book of British Kings and Queens

The Mammoth Book of British Kings and Queens PDF Author: Mike Ashley
Publisher: Robinson
ISBN: 1472101138
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 805

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Book Description
This book includes more than 1000 monarchs who have at some time ruled all or part of Britain. This includes the host of tribal and Saxon rulers prior to 1066 as well as famous monarchs such as Richard III, Elizabeth I and Charles II and all the rulers of Scotland and Wales. The book gives full details of the lives of the rulers as well as their wives, consorts, pretenders, usurpers and regents and is a geographical guide to where all Britain's monarchs lived, ruled and died including their palaces, estates and resting places.

Approaching the End

Approaching the End PDF Author: Stanley Hauerwas
Publisher: SCM Press
ISBN: 0334052181
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 269

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Book Description
In this book Stanley Hauerwas explores the significance of eschatological reflection for helping the church negotiate the contemporary world. In Part One, ‘Theological Matters’, Hauerwas directly addresses his understanding of the eschatological character of the Christian faith. In Part Two, ‘Church and Politics’, he deals with the political reality of the church in light of the end, addressing such issues as the divided character of the church, the imperative of Christian unity, and the necessary practice of sacrifice.

The Distinctive Identity of the Church

The Distinctive Identity of the Church PDF Author: Jeppe Bach Nikolajsen
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1498202071
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 231

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Book Description
An increasing number of theologians believe that the Western world has moved from an era of Christendom to an era of post-Christendom. This book goes to the heart of the debate related to this shift, asking, How are we to understand the distinctive identity of the church with special reference to its role in a post-Christendom society? It then presents an analysis of the work of the English Reformed theologian Lesslie Newbigin and the American Mennonite theologian John Howard Yoder, both of whom reflect on how we should understand this important question. At the end of The Distinctive Identity of the Church, the charge of sectarianism is discussed. It is argued that a missionary God sends the church to the world and, consequently, this sending should fundamentally determine its existence in the world. The book argues that the task that lies before the church in the Western world is not to bypass its distinctiveness with accusations of sectarianism, but to recapitulate an understanding of its own distinctiveness that should be seen as a precondition for its engagement in society. Such an ecclesiological position holds important potential for an understanding of the role of the church in pluralistic Western cultures.

Vietnamese Evangelicals and Pentecostalism

Vietnamese Evangelicals and Pentecostalism PDF Author: Vince Le
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004383832
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 207

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Book Description
This book offers an analysis of the historical, theological, and social conditions that give rise to the growth of pentecostalism among contemporary Vietnamese evangelicals. Emerging from the analysis is an understanding of how underprivileged evangelicals have utilized the pentecostal emphasis on divine intervention in their pursuit of the betterment of life amid religious and ethnic marginalization. Within the context of the global growth of pentecostalism, Vietnamese Evangelicals and Pentecostalism shows how people at the grassroots marry the deeply local-based meaning dictated by the particularity of living context and the profoundly universal truth claims made by a religion aspiring to reach all four corners of the earth to enhance life.

The Making of a Christian Empire

The Making of a Christian Empire PDF Author: Elizabeth DePalma Digeser
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 9780801435942
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 236

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Book Description
"The Making of a Christian Empire is the first full-length book to interpret the Divine Institutes as a historical source. Exploring Lactantius's use of theology, philosophy, and rhetorical techniques, Digeser perceives the Divine Institutes as a sophisticated proposal for a monotheistic state that intimately connected the religious policies of Diocletian and Constantine, both of whom used religion to fortify and unite the Roman Empire."--BOOK JACKET.

Church and World

Church and World PDF Author: Simon P. Schmidt
Publisher: BoD – Books on Demand
ISBN: 0227177258
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 183

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Book Description
"In the world but not of it" - an expression that has been interpreted in a multitude of ways. With the publication of Rod Dreher’s much-debated book The Benedict Option in 2017, the question of just how the church is to exist "in but not of the world" is once again on the minds of many. To provide answers true to the context in which the Western church now finds itself, it is worth first investigating how the question has been answered in the past. In determining what to do today, it helps to understand how we got here in the first place. At the beginning of the fourth century, people were persecuted for being Christians; by the end of the fourth century, people were persecuted for not being Christians. This book is an academic investigation of how three paradigmatic theologians interpreted this so-called Constantinian shift: Eusebius of Caesarea (ca. 260-339), Augustine of Hippo (354-430), and John Howard Yoder (1927-1997). Surprising similarities between the theology of Eusebius and Yoder become apparent, and underlying theological structures of how to interpret what it looks like to be a community that follows Christ are revealed.