Essays on the Real Church

Essays on the Real Church PDF Author: Dirk J. Smit
Publisher: African Sun Media
ISBN: 1991260482
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 675

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Book Description
The spirit of the Reformation is often expressed in the well-known slogan that Reformed churches are always being reformed according to God’s Word, ecclesia reformata semper reformanda secundum verbum Dei. Over the last century, the spirit of this slogan motivated someone like Dietrich Bonhoeffer to argue that the visible form and life of the church should reflect the truth and message of the church. Already in his doctoral dissertation called Sanctorum Communio, the communion of the saints, the young Bonhoeffer combined theological claims and traditions with social theory and analysis, in this spirit, in an innovative way, to study the nature and integrity and witness of the church. At the time, this was a radical claim, with major consequences and challenges for Protestant churches. Their life – which meant their order, structure, actions, statements, convictions, public presence and role – was to be measured by their gospel – which meant their message, proclamation, convictions, claims. They could no longer proclaim one truth yet live a different life. It was this spirit which led to the well-known Theological Declaration of Barmen in 1934 and to the formation of the Confessing Church in Nazi Germany. Many called this a moment of truth, a status confessionis. It was this same spirit which later inspired the struggle in South Africa for the integrity and faithfulness of the church and for the credibility of its message, proclamation and witness. The contributions in this volume – 52 papers, essays, sermons, studies – were all produced in this spirit. Most of them have not been published before. They were all occasional pieces, written over several decades, in different contexts and for different purposes and audiences, yet they all breathe this self-critical spirit of the Reformation, considering whether the real church – the concrete, every day, actual, living church that people know and experience and perhaps belong to – truly strives to embody the gospel itself, the message which it claims and proclaims. They all inquire, under different circumstances and in diverse ways, about different social forms of the real church – from worship to congregation, from denomination to ecumenical church, from individual believers to movements and organisations – whether and how they embody the truth of the church, or not. Together, these contributions tell a story – the story of this spirit, in South African circles, over several decades, but also in the ecumenical church in our globalizing world. They offer one small glimpse into different concrete moments in the story of this spirit in the life of this tradition and community of faith. Hopefully, some of these accounts may resonate with others who also shared the same spirit – and still share it today, in new and ongoing ways.

Why the Church Is as True as the Gospel

Why the Church Is as True as the Gospel PDF Author: Eugene England
Publisher: Mormon Arts & Letters
ISBN: 9780850511017
Category : Mormon Church
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Originally published: Salt Lake City, Utah: Bookcraft, c1986.

Essays on Church, State, and Politics

Essays on Church, State, and Politics PDF Author: Christian Thomasius
Publisher: Natural Law and Enlightenment
ISBN:
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 340

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Book Description
The essays selected here for translation derive largely from Thomasius's work on Staatskirchenrecht, or the political jurisprudence of church law. These works, originating as disputations, theses, and pamphlets, were direct interventions in the unresolved issue of the political role of religion in Brandenburg-Prussia, a state in which a Calvinist dynasty ruled over a largely Lutheran population and nobility as well as a significant Catholic minority. In mandating limited religious toleration within the German states, the provisions of the Peace of Westphalia (1648) also provided the rulers of Brandenburg-Prussia with a way of keeping the powerful Lutheran church in check by guaranteeing a degree of religious freedom to non-Lutherans and thereby detaching the state from the most powerful territorial church. Thomasius's writings on church-state relations, many of them critical of the civil claims made by Lutheran theologians, are a direct response to this state of affairs. At the same time, owing to the depth of intellectual resources at his disposal, these works constitute a major contribution to the broader discussion of the relation between the religious and political spheres.

Worship by the Book

Worship by the Book PDF Author: Rev. Mark Ashton
Publisher: Zondervan
ISBN: 0310874297
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 260

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Book Description
“What is at stake is authenticity. . . . Sooner or later Christians tire of public meetings that are profoundly inauthentic, regardless of how well (or poorly) arranged, directed, performed. We long to meet, corporately, with the living and majestic God and to offer him the praise that is his due.”—D. A. CarsonWorship is a hot topic, but the ways that Christians from different traditions view it vary greatly. What is worship? More important, what does it look like in action, both in our corporate gatherings and in our daily lives? These concerns—the blending of principle and practice—are what Worship by the Book addresses.Cutting through cultural clichés, D. A. Carson, Mark Ashton, Kent Hughes, and Timothy Keller explore, respectively:· Worship Under the Word· Following in Cranmer’s Footsteps· Free Church Worship: The Challenge of Freedom· Reformed Worship in the Global City “This is not a comprehensive theology of worship,” writes Carson. “Still less is it a sociological analysis of current trends or a minister’s manual chockfull of ‘how to’ instructions.” Rather, this book offers pastors, other congregational leaders, and seminary students a thought-provoking biblical theology of worship, followed by a look at how three very different traditions of churchmanship might move from this theological base to a better understanding of corporate worship. Running the gamut from biblical theology to historical assessment all the way to sample service sheets, Worship by the Book shows how local churches in diverse traditions can foster corporate worship that is God-honoring, Word-revering, heartfelt, and historically and culturally informed.

Christian Reflections

Christian Reflections PDF Author: C. S. Lewis
Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
ISBN: 0802871844
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 233

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Book Description
This collection contains fourteen of Lewis's theological papers on subjects such as Christianity and literature, Christianity and culture, ethics, futility, church music, modern theology and biblical criticism, the Psalms, and petitionary prayer. Common to all of these varied essays are Lewis's uniquely effective style and his tireless concern to relate basic Christianity to all of life.

Retrieving Doctrine

Retrieving Doctrine PDF Author: Oliver D. Crisp
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
ISBN: 0830839283
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 225

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Book Description
Oliver Crisp offers a set of essays that analyze the significance and contribution of several great thinkers in the Reformed tradition, ranging from John Calvin and Jonathan Edwards to Karl Barth. Crisp explains how these thinkers navigated pressing theological issues and how contemporary readers can draw relevant insights from the tradition.

Reallivepreacher.com

Reallivepreacher.com PDF Author: Gordon Atkinson
Publisher: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company
ISBN: 9780802828101
Category : Christianity
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
In December of 2002, a pastor of a small Baptist church in South Texas began posting essays on various subjects at a web log which was soon being read by thousands. This is a collection of the best of his writing and includes a number of essays that were never published.

C.S. Lewis and the Church

C.S. Lewis and the Church PDF Author: Judith Wolfe
Publisher: A&C Black
ISBN: 0567047369
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 207

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Book Description
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The Soul of the American University

The Soul of the American University PDF Author: George M. Marsden
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0195106504
Category : Education, Higher
Languages : en
Pages : 482

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Book Description
Explores the decline in religious influence in American universities, discussing why this transformation has occurred.

Essays in the Philosophy of Religion

Essays in the Philosophy of Religion PDF Author: Philip L. Quinn
Publisher: Clarendon Press
ISBN: 019156950X
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 328

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Book Description
This volume presents a selection of essays by the late Philip Quinn, one of the world's leading philosophers of religion. Quinn left behind an influential body of work on a wide variety of topics. He was the author of Divine Commands and Moral Requirements (1978) and of more than two hundred papers in philosophy. Fourteen of his best and most influential contributions to the philosophy of religion are gathered here. The papers have been organized around the following topics: religious epistemology, religious ethics, religion and tragic dilemmas, religion and political liberalism, topics in Christian philosophy, and religious diversity.