Retrieving the Tradition and Renewing Evangelicalism


Book Description

A learned and uniquely constructive book that gently urges "suspicious" Christians to reclaim the patristic roots of their faith. This is the first book of its kind meant to help Protestant Christians recognize the early church fathers as an essential part of their faith. Writing primarily to the evangelical, independent, and free church communities, who remain largely suspicious of church history and the relationship between Scripture and tradition, D. H. Williams clearly explains why every branch of today's church owes its heritage to the doctrinal foundation laid by postapostolic Christianity. Based on solid historical scholarship, this volume shows that embracing the "catholic" roots of the faith will not lead to the loss of Protestant distinctiveness but is essential for preserving the Christian vision in our rapidly changing world.




Evangelicals and Tradition


Book Description

Helps church leaders recover ancient understandings of Christian belief and practice from the early church fathers and apply them to ministry in the twenty-first century.




Theological Retrieval for Evangelicals


Book Description

Restless for rootedness, many Christians are abandoning Protestantism altogether. Many evangelicals today are aching for theological rootedness often found in other Christian traditions. Modern evangelicalism is not known for drawing from church history to inform views on the Christian life, which can lead to a "me and my Bible" approach to theology. But this book aims to show how Protestantism offers the theological depth so many desire without the need for abandoning a distinctly evangelical identity. By focusing on particular doctrines and neglected theologians, this book shows how evangelicals can draw from the past to meet the challenges of the present.




Tradition, Scripture, and Interpretation


Book Description

"While the patristic age is marked by the development of the Apostle's and the Nicene creeds, D. H. Williams contends we must not neglected the lesser known yet just as significant theological texts and expressions of worship that were seminal in shaping early Christian identity. In this sourcebook, Williams gathers key writings from the first through sixth centuries that illustrate the ways in which the church's confessions, teaching, and worship were expressed during that time. More than an anthology, this sourcebook introduces the primary sources of Christian antiquity."--BOOK JACKET.




Methodist and Pietist


Book Description

In 1968, the Methodist and Evangelical United Brethren (EUB) churches merged to form The United Methodist Church. More than forty years later, many United Methodists know very little about the history, doctrine, and polity of the EUB. To be sure, there are vestiges of the EUB, most notably the Confession of Faith, in the United Methodist Book of Discipline, but there is much more to be profitably explored. For example, the EUB represents a strand of German Pietism that developed an emphasis on the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of the church that, with the exception of Wesley, Fletcher and the early Methodists, was unparalleled in the history of Protestantism. This book makes accessible to clergy and laity alike the considerable riches of the EUB tradition with a view toward the renewal of United Methodism today.




Reclaiming Pietism


Book Description

The historical movement known as Pietism emphasized the response of faith and inward transformation as crucial aspects of conversion to Christ. Unfortunately, Pietism today is often equated with a holier-than-thou spiritual attitude, religious legalism, or withdrawal from involvement in society. In this book Roger Olson and Christian Collins Winn argue that classical, historical Pietism is an influential stream in evangelical Christianity and that it must be recovered as a resource for evangelical renewal. They challenge misconceptions of Pietism by describing the origins, development, and main themes of the historical movement and the spiritual-theological ethos stemming from it. The book also explores Pietism s influence on contemporary Christian theologians and spiritual leaders such as Richard Foster and Stanley Grenz. Watch a 2015 interview with the authors of this book here:




Theology as Retrieval


Book Description

Buschart and Eilers identify six critical areas—Scripture, theology, worship, spirituality, mission and culture—where contemporary Christians are retrieving aspects of our Christian past for life and thought today. The result is a fascinating tour and wise reflection on how Christians might receive, employ and transmit the treasures of their past.




Prophetic Evangelicals


Book Description

In this inaugural Prophetic Christianity volume, fifteen contributors share their visions for a biblically centered, culturally engaged, and historically infused evangelicalism. Interacting with a wide variety of influential thinkers, they articulate several approaches to creating a socially responsible, gospel-centric, and ecumenical evangelical identity. Contributors: Raymond C. Aldred Vincent Bacote Bruce Ellis Benson Malinda Elizabeth Berry Chris Boesel John R. Franke David Gushee Peter Goodwin Heltzel Pamela Lightsey Cherith Fee Nordling Ruth Padilla-DeBorst Gabriel Salguero Helene Slessarev-Jamir Christian T. Collins Winn Telford Work




Arianism After Arius


Book Description




A High View of Scripture? (Evangelical Ressourcement)


Book Description

Where did the Bible come from? Author Craig D. Allert encourages more evangelicals to ask that question. In A High View of Scripture? Allert introduces his audience to the diverse history of the canon's development and what impact it has today on how we view Scripture. Allert affirms divine inspiration of the Bible and, in fact, urges the very people who proclaim the ultimate authority of the Bible to be informed about how it came to be. This book, the latest in the Evangelical Ressourcement series, will be valuable as a college or seminary text and for readers interested in issues of canon development and biblical authority.