Ecclesia Reformata, Semper Reformanda


Book Description

The European Theology Teachers' Convention (ETTC), held every second year, attracts Adventist scholars from all over Europe, including Russia and Lebanon. This meeting held at Newbold College of Higher Education (Binfield, UK) 25-29 March 2015, centred around one of the leading thoughts of the Reformers: Ecclesia reformata, semper reformanda. Reformation should never stop but rather be a never-ending process. It implies deconstruction and reconstruction of methodologies, of paradigms, and of practices. The present book includes nine presentations, covering the fields of biblical studies, systematic and pastoral theology.




Faith Alone---The Doctrine of Justification


Book Description

Renowned biblical scholar Thomas Schreiner looks at the historical and biblical roots of the doctrine of justification and offers an updated defense of this pillar of Reformed theology. Reinvigorating one of the five great declarations of the Reformation—sola fide—Schreiner: Summarizes the history of the doctrine, looking at the early church and the writings of several of the Reformers. Walks readers through an examination of the key biblical texts in the Old and New Testament that support the Reformed understanding of justification. Discusses whether justification is transformative or forensic and introduces readers to some of the contemporary challenges to the Reformation teaching of sola fide, with particular attention to the new perspective on Paul. Five hundred years after the Reformation, the doctrine of justification by faith alone still needs to be understood and proclaimed. In Faith Alone you will learn how the rallying cry of “sola fide” is rooted in the Scriptures and how to understand this doctrine in a fresh way. —THE FIVE SOLAS— Historians and theologians have long recognized that at the heart of the sixteenth-century Protestant Reformation were five declarations, often referred to as the "solas." These five statements summarize much of what the Reformation was about, and they distinguish Protestantism from other expressions of the Christian faith: that they place ultimate and final authority in the Scriptures, acknowledge the work of Christ alone as sufficient for redemption, recognize that salvation is by grace alone through faith alone, and seek to do all things for God’s glory. The Five Solas Series is more than a simple rehashing of these statements, but instead expounds upon the biblical reasoning behind them, leading to a more profound theological vision of our lives and callings as Christians and churches.







Just Do Something


Book Description

Hyper-spiritual approaches to finding God's will don't work. It's time to try something new: Give up. Pastor and author Kevin DeYoung counsels Christians to settle down, make choices, and do the hard work of seeing those choices through. Too often, he writes, God's people tinker around with churches, jobs, and relationships, worrying that they haven't found God's perfect will for their lives. Or-even worse-they do absolutely nothing, stuck in a frustrated state of paralyzed indecision, waiting...waiting...waiting for clear, direct, unmistakable direction. But God doesn't need to tell us what to do at each fork in the road. He's already revealed his plan for our lives: to love him with our whole hearts, to obey His Word, and after that, to do what we like. No need for hocus-pocus. No reason to be directionally challenged. Just do something.




The Third Reformation


Book Description




The Christian's Reasonable Service


Book Description

First published in 1700, The Christian¿s Reasonable Service (De Redelijke Godsdienst) ran through twenty Dutch editions in the eighteenth century alone! The title is derived from Romans 12:1, ¿I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.¿ It expresses what God requires from man, and particularly from the Christian, that he serve Him in Spirit and in truth¿intelligently, rationally, and in harmony with and response to God¿s revelation of Himself, His Word. With a decidedly Puritan flavor and representing Reformed experiential religion at its best, Wilhelmus à Brakel systematically moves through the major doctrines of the Bible in hopes of seeing the minds of God¿s people renewed for the purpose of promoting godliness. Throughout his work, but particularly in the practical application of each doctrine, à Brakel strives unceasingly to exalt the name of Jesus as the name that the Father has given above every other name¿there being no other name given under heaven among men whereby we must be saved (Acts 4:12).




The Cambridge Companion to Science and Religion


Book Description

This book explores the historical relations between science and religion and discusses contemporary issues with perspectives from cosmology, evolutionary biology and bioethics.




Scots Confession


Book Description

"Scots Confession" from John Knox. Scottish religious reformer who played the lead part in reforming the Church in Scotland in a Presbyterian manner (1510-1572).




Universities as Political Institutions


Book Description

Universities can be viewed and studied as political institutions, especially considering that they sit at the crossroads of social, cultural, and economic pressures. The internal and external environment of higher education brings with it multiple and complex relationships as well as power struggles. Within these contested political spaces, there are phenomena to be studied. While the field of higher education draws from a multitude of disciplines, some scholars argue that only recently has scholarship focused on the political perspectives of higher education. To better understand the politics and policies of higher education, Universities as Political Institutions illuminates a variety of ways that researchers view and study universities as a political institution, from considering the national and international political pressures shaping higher education to the analysis of responses and political action from within the ivory tower. The 2017 annual CHER conference in Jyväskylä (Finland) brought together 213 scholars from 30 countries. This book includes a selection of papers and keynote presentations from this conference. The thematic approach of the book reflects the 2017 conference theme: "Universities as Political Institutions – Higher Education Institutions in the Middle of Academic, Economic, and Social Pressures". The theme focused on multiple and often complex relations and relationships, internal and external, to higher education institutions. In this context, "political" refers not only to definitions, uses, and users of power but more broadly to a variety of relationships among different actors and agencies responsible for making, executing, or resisting decisions concerning higher education institutions.




Community Formation in the Early Church and the Church Today


Book Description

Twelve essays by a multidisciplinary panel of distinguished scholars present a coherent, panoramic picture of the formation of the Christian community. Richard Ascough, Alan Segal, and Peter Richardson explore Greco-Roman and Jewish organizational models. Craig Evans, Richard Longenecker, Scott Bartchy, and Howard Marshall present evidence of early community formation from the Gospels, the major Pauline letters, Acts, and the Pastoral Epistles. Alan Hayes and Frances Young explore post-New Testament Latin and Greek Christianity. John Webster, David Hester, and Miroslav Volf assess modern episcopal, presbyterian, and congregational polities in light of their biblical and theological roots. What has sometimes been called "church order" turns out to be rather the formation of a community, oriented to ministries in which all the people participate.