The Beauty of Belief sheds new light on Lutheran relationships with ecclesiastical decoration in southwest Germany following the Duchy of Württemberg’s Reformation in 1534. Based on extensive original archival research and engagement with surviving images and objects, Róisín Watson compellingly demonstrates how Lutherans moved away from initial acts of iconoclasm and towards embracing the possibilities of the religious image in their devotional routines. She explores the interactions of Württemberg rulers, pastors, and congregations with their ecclesiastical spaces across the political upheavals of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. In doing so, this book tells not only the story of the visual culture of the Reformation, but an account of Württemberg’s Reformation itself.
The Beauty of Belief sheds new light on Lutheran relationships with ecclesiastical decoration in southwest Germany following the Duchy of Württemberg’s Reformation in 1534. Based on extensive original archival research and engagement with surviving images and objects, Róisín Watson compellingly demonstrates how Lutherans moved away from initial acts of iconoclasm and towards embracing the possibilities of the religious image in their devotional routines. She explores the interactions of Württemberg rulers, pastors, and congregations with their ecclesiastical spaces across the political upheavals of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. In doing so, this book tells not only the story of the visual culture of the Reformation, but an account of Württemberg’s Reformation itself.
Jacob Joseph's book, The Christ who Embraces: An Orthodox Theology of Margins, explores the intersection of Orthodox Christian mission and caste dynamics among St. Thomas/Syrian/Orthodox Christians in India. It defines a liturgical touch or embrace in the context of 'untouchability,' where people identify as equal without discrimination, reflecting the inseparable unity of Christ's transcendental (divine) and immanent (human) nature.
Jacob Joseph's book, The Christ who Embraces: An Orthodox Theology of Margins, explores the intersection of Orthodox Christian mission and caste dynamics among St. Thomas/Syrian/Orthodox Christians in India. It defines a liturgical touch or embrace in the context of 'untouchability,' where people identify as equal without discrimination, reflecting the inseparable unity of Christ's transcendental (divine) and immanent (human) nature.
Focusing on the works of a select group of Lutheran astronomers in the Wittenberg sphere of influence, Earthly Adams and Pious Philosophers establishes a theological anthropological blueprint that echoed in their contributions to the sixteenth-century astronomical revolution. In challenging canonical cosmology and its Scholastic advocates, Georg Joachim Rheticus, Tycho Brahe, and Caspar Peucer invoked intellectual piety and a pessimist epistemology tailored to Luther’s understanding of man after the Fall. The fruitful ignorance to which they submitted can be seen as part of a larger view of the self and the world, the astronomer, the academic scholar and the university, that was essentially theologically informed.
Focusing on the works of a select group of Lutheran astronomers in the Wittenberg sphere of influence, Earthly Adams and Pious Philosophers establishes a theological anthropological blueprint that echoed in their contributions to the sixteenth-century astronomical revolution. In challenging canonical cosmology and its Scholastic advocates, Georg Joachim Rheticus, Tycho Brahe, and Caspar Peucer invoked intellectual piety and a pessimist epistemology tailored to Luther’s understanding of man after the Fall. The fruitful ignorance to which they submitted can be seen as part of a larger view of the self and the world, the astronomer, the academic scholar and the university, that was essentially theologically informed.
This work explores the procedures, norms, doctrines, and implications of episcopal elections in Christian churches. The evolution of episcopal elections reveals the political and social tensions and dynamics that influence the selection of bishops. The text analyses how such elections reflect the complexity of ecclesiastical structure from its origins in the New Testament to the present day. Election procedures never followed a fixed pattern, but were influenced by pre-existing traditions and contingent needs. The history of episcopal elections highlights the need for authority and consensus in the Christian community, exploring specific instances and historical developments that have shaped the current practice.
This work explores the procedures, norms, doctrines, and implications of episcopal elections in Christian churches. The evolution of episcopal elections reveals the political and social tensions and dynamics that influence the selection of bishops. The text analyses how such elections reflect the complexity of ecclesiastical structure from its origins in the New Testament to the present day. Election procedures never followed a fixed pattern, but were influenced by pre-existing traditions and contingent needs. The history of episcopal elections highlights the need for authority and consensus in the Christian community, exploring specific instances and historical developments that have shaped the current practice.
This monograph explores the topic of eschatological violence in Pentecostal biblical interpretation of Ezek. 36.16–39:29, Rev. 19.11-21, and Rev. 20.7-10. By reviewing Pentecostal reception history of these texts, considering the influence of classical dispensationalism on Pentecostal biblical interpretation and eschatology, this study offers a peace reading that aligns with both early Pentecostal writers and contemporary Pentecostal scholars whose eschatology departs from classical dispensationalism. This monograph builds a case for envisioning a hopeful and proleptic premillennial eschatology that emphasizes the peace and reconciliation of the gospel more than ‘end times’ war and violence.
This monograph explores the topic of eschatological violence in Pentecostal biblical interpretation of Ezek. 36.16–39:29, Rev. 19.11-21, and Rev. 20.7-10. By reviewing Pentecostal reception history of these texts, considering the influence of classical dispensationalism on Pentecostal biblical interpretation and eschatology, this study offers a peace reading that aligns with both early Pentecostal writers and contemporary Pentecostal scholars whose eschatology departs from classical dispensationalism. This monograph builds a case for envisioning a hopeful and proleptic premillennial eschatology that emphasizes the peace and reconciliation of the gospel more than ‘end times’ war and violence.
This book is a literary study tracing the roles and functions of angels as characters in Sufi literature, based on their functions outlined in the Qurʾān. If you pick up any book discussing Islam or islamic theology, you will probably find angels in it - one never thinks much about them, and they often seem marginal. However, whether real or a simple literary device, what are the angels’ real functions in a text? This study proposes to outline their functions, and more specifically what classical Sufi literature (7th-12th century CE) makes of them.
This book is a literary study tracing the roles and functions of angels as characters in Sufi literature, based on their functions outlined in the Qurʾān. If you pick up any book discussing Islam or islamic theology, you will probably find angels in it - one never thinks much about them, and they often seem marginal. However, whether real or a simple literary device, what are the angels’ real functions in a text? This study proposes to outline their functions, and more specifically what classical Sufi literature (7th-12th century CE) makes of them.