The Brethren Encyclopedia


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The History of Theological Education


Book Description

Theological education has always been vital to the Church’s life and mission; yet today it is in crisis, lacking focus, direction, but also resources and even students. In the early Church, there is no doubt that to lead worship one had to be able to read and interpret the Bible. In order to lead, it was necessary to know at least something about the history of Israel and the work of God in the Gospels, and interpret that history, making it relevant to daily living. Quickly the Church developed schools for its teachers, whether lay or clergy. A catechetical system was organized through which candidates prepared for baptism were given a basic form of theological education. Hence to be a Christian meant persons knew what and why they believed. But over the years, theological education has come to mean education for clergy and church professionals. It has drifted, seeking new moorings.




A History of the Brethren Movement


Book Description

Coad's work traces the history of the Brethren Movement, which began more than 170 years ago and has since spread throughout the world. The author considers some of the outstanding characters produced by the movement, as well as its signficance in relation to the whole Christian church.







Religious Schools in America (1986)


Book Description

Published in 1986, this selected bibliography considers private schools that are religiously affiliated. Divided into several sections the book open with chapters covering the most influential general books on religion and schooling and offers summaries and analysis of court decisions and commentaries on the issues of government aid and regulation. The book goes on to provide entries of the schools operating in the United States by seventeen religious groups, entries are annotated by experts from the field. The final section of the book considers statements on religious schools made by both public school educators and religious school advocates; formal and informal interactions between the public and religious schools; and the concept of the education of the public by religious and public schools. This work pulls together a wealth of reference material, mainly on religious schools, and provides a much-needed resource for those interested in religious schooling, whether researcher, scholar, student or policy-maker.