Few topics are as broad or as daunting as the God of Israel, that deity of the world's three monotheistic religions, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, who has been worshiped over millennia. In the Hebrew Bible, God is characterized variously as militant, beneficent, inscrutable, loving, and judicious. Who is this divinity that has been represented as masculine and feminine, mythic and real, transcendent and intimate? The Origin and Character of God is Theodore J. Lewis's monumental study of the vast subject that is the God of Israel. In it, he explores questions of historical origin, how God was characterized in literature, and how he was represented in archaeology and iconography. He also brings us into the lived reality of religious experience. Using the window of divinity to peer into the varieties of religious experience in ancient Israel, Lewis explores the royal use of religion for power, prestige, and control; the intimacy of family and household religion; priestly prerogatives and cultic status; prophetic challenges to injustice; and the pondering of theodicy by poetic sages. A volume that is encyclopedic in scope but accessible in tone and was honored with all three of the major awards in the field in three seperate disciplines (American Society of Overseas Research (ASOR) 2020 Frank Moore Cross Award, 2021 American Academy of Religion Award for Excellence in the Study of Religion, 2021 Biblical Archaeology Society Biennial Publication Award for the Best Book Relating to the Hebrew Bible), The Origin and Character of God is an essential addition to the growing scholarship of one of humanity's most enduring concepts. Read more

Since it was first published, the SCM Studyguide to Theological Reflection has quickly gained a reputation for being a vital and accessible guide to the subject for all who embark on it for the first time. This studyguide offers newcomers a step by step introduction to understanding what theological reflection is and helps them to explore which of the methods introduced best suits them and their particular situation. It is practical in emphasis, providing students with a wide variety of worked examples and opportunities to carry out their own exercises. This 2nd edition will bring the content up to date, offering a revised and improved bibliography and updated and refreshed examples and exercises, including new sections on scriptural reasoning and contemplative theology. Read more

Theological Reflections: Methods, offers a comprehensive collection of models of theological reflection. By bringing this diverse collection together in one place, the editors create a unique reference work that allows a clear and visible contrast and comparison as each model is treated formally and in a standard format. Throughout each chapter the distinguishing features of the model are examined, the geneology and origins are discussed, worked examples of the model applied to contemporary theology are provided, and critical commentary, future trends and exercises and questions are provided. Now firmly established as an essential text on theological reflection, this new edition has been revised and updated with a new introduction, updated examples, and refreshed bibliographies Read more

Over 15 years after its original publication The Bible in History remains an essential examination of the symbiotic relationship between Scripture and the social and cultural contexts shaping its interpretation. David W. Kling traces the fascinating story of how specific biblical texts-sometimes a single verse, other times a selection of verses or chapters, even books-have at various times emerged to be the inspiration of movements that have changed the course of history. Episodes range from Anthony's call to the desert and a life of monasticism after hearing Jesus's directive to the "rich young rule" to give up his possessions, to the Anabaptists non-violent ethic in following Jesus' teaching in the Sermon on the Mount, to the varied applications of the exodus motif in African American history. This revised and expanded second edition adds two new chapters. The first examines the text in Matthew 28:18-20 and considers the multitudinous interpretations before, during, and after the text emerged as the iconic "Great Commission" of missionary motivation in the modern period. The second assesses those biblical texts that encompass the divisive and ongoing issue of male homosexuality. Both chapters engage the question of, "how the texts have shaped the times," but, as Kling argues, the "times" have also exerted an enormous impact on shaping the interpretation of the texts, and hence, on the continuing disputes over the meaning of those texts. Read more

The idea of heaven on earth haunts the human imagination. The day will come, say believers, when the pain and confusion of mortal life will give way to a transfigured community. Such a vision of the world seems indelible. Even politics, some reckon, has not escaped from the realm of the sacred: its dreams of the future still borrow their imagery from the prophets. In Heaven on Earth, T.J. Clark sets out to investigate the very different ways painting has given form to the dream of God’s kingdom come. He goes back to the late Middle Ages and Renaissance – to Giotto in Padua, Bruegel facing the horrors of religious war, Poussin painting the Sacraments, Veronese unfolding the human comedy. Was it to painting’s advantage, is Clark’s question, that in an age of enforced orthodoxy (threats of hellfire, burnings at the stake) artists could reflect on the powers and limitations of religion without putting their thoughts into words? At the heart of the book stands Bruegel’s ironic but tender picture of The Land of Cockaigne, but also Veronese’s inscrutable Allegory of Love. The story ends with Picasso’s Fall of Icarus, made for UNESCO in 1958, which already seems to signal – perhaps to prescribe – an age when all futures are dead.Table of ContentsPreface • Introduction • 1. Giotto and the Angel • 2. Bruegel in Paradise • 3. Poussin and the Unbeliever • 4. Veronese’s Higher Beings • Conclusion: Picasso and the Fall • Coda: For a Left with No Future Read more

The Pilgrim’s Progress has inspired readers across the centuries to persevere in their faith. For longstanding fans of Bunyan’s tale, or for those encountering it for the first time, this illustrated edition offers new beauty and insight with striking hand-painted illustrations and enlightening commentary for all ages. Inside you’ll find:15 chapters, accompanied by gorgeous hand-painted scenes at the beginning of each chapterannotations embedded across every chapter to help readers gain a deeper understanding of the allegorya presentation page for thoughtful gifting and a notes section to write down your thoughtscolorful artwork throughout the entire bookOriginally written for the everyman, John Bunyan's Christian classic has since found its way into the libraries of scholars and universities as well—a true masterpiece for the ages. Its historical richness, eloquent symbolism, and stunning prose have withstood the test of time, and this new edition helps readers appreciate the timeless beauty found in Bunyan’s words.The Pilgrim’s Progress is perfect for:homeschooling families or an addition to your family librarymen, women, and children who enjoy learning about historySince its publication in 1678, The Pilgrim’s Progress has been translated into more than 200 languages. It's a worldwide bestseller, second only to the Bible, and it has become a hallmark among scholars and theologians around the globe. Read more

In Christmas as Religion, Christopher Deacy explores the premise that religion plays an elementary role in our understanding of the Christmas festival, but takes issue with much of the existing literature which is inclined to limit the contours and parameters of 'religion' to particular representations and manifestations of institutional forms of Christianity. 'Religion' is often tacitly identified as having an ecclesiastical frame of reference, so that if the Church is not deemed to play a central role in the practice of Christmas for many people today then it can legitimately be side-lined and relegated to the periphery of any discussion relating to what Christmas 'means'. Deacy argues that such approaches fail to take adequate stock of the manifold ways in which people's beliefs and values take shape in modern society. For example, Christmas films or radio programmes may comprise a non-specifically Christian, but nonetheless religiously rich, repository of beliefs, values, sentiments and aspirations. Therefore, this book makes the case for laying to rest the secularization thesis, with its simplistic assumption that religion in Western society is undergoing a period of escalating and irrevocable erosion, and to see instead that the secular may itself be a repository of the religious. Rather than see Christmas as comprising alternative or analogous forms of religious expression, or dependent on any causal relationship to the Christian tradition, Deacy maintains that it is religious per se, and, moreover, it is its very secularity that makes Christmas such a compelling, and even transcendent, religious holiday. Read more

This title contains four short fictional stories for teenagers about what could be waiting for each one of us if our lives were suddenly to end. The study guide aims to make this a useful teaching tool for youth workers. The work is also linked to a Website. Read more

Our lives are filled with objects—ones that we carry with us, that define our homes, that serve practical purposes, and that hold sentimental value. When they are broken, lost, left behind, or removed from their context, they can feel alien, take on a different use, or become trash. The lives of objects change when our relationships to them change. Maia Kotrosits offers a fresh perspective on objects, looking beyond physical material to consider how collective imagination shapes the formation of objects and the experience of reality. Bringing a psychoanalytic approach to the analysis of material culture, she examines objects of attachment—relationships, ideas, and beliefs that live on in the psyche—and illustrates how people across time have anchored value systems to the materiality of life. Engaging with classical studies, history, anthropology, and literary, gender, and queer studies, Kotrosits shows how these disciplines address historical knowledge and how an expanded definition of materiality can help us make connections between antiquity and the contemporary world. Read more

To a lively cast of international players that shaped Manchuria during the early twentieth century, At the Frontier of God's Empire adds the remarkable story of Alfred Marie Caubrière (1876-1948). A French Catholic missionary, Caubrière arrived in Manchuria on the eve of the Boxer Uprising in 1899 and was murdered on the eve of the birth of the People's Republic of China in 1948. Living with ordinary Chinese people for half a century, Caubrière witnessed the collapse of the Qing empire, the warlord's chaos that followed, the rise and fall of Japanese Manchukuo, and the emergence of communist China. Caubrière's incredible personal archive, on which Ji Li draws extensively, opens a unique window into everyday interaction between Manchuria's grassroots society and international players. His gripping accounts personalize the Catholic Church's expansion in East Asia and the interplay of missions and empire in local society.Through Caubrière's experience, At the Frontier of God's Empire examines Chinese people at social and cultural margins during this period. A wealth of primary sources, family letters, and visual depictions of village scenes illuminate vital issues in modern Chinese history, such as the transformation of local society, mass migration and religion, tensions between church and state, and the importance of cross-cultural exchanges in everyday life in Chinese Catholic communities. This intense transformation of Manchurian society embodies the clash of both domestic and international tensions in the making of modern China. Read more

In The Inner Life of Catholic Reform, Ulrich Lehner offers a longue durée overview of the sentiments and spiritual ideas of the 250-year long time span following the Council of Trent, known as Catholic Reform. While there have been many studies of the so-called Counter-Reformation, the political side of Catholic Reform, and of its institutional and social history, the sentiments, motivations and religious practices of Catholic Reform―what Lehner calls the "inner life"―have been mostly neglected. Reform, Lehner argues, was not something that occurred merely through institutional changes, new laws, and social control. For early modern Catholics, church reform began with personal reform and attempts to live in a state of grace. Lehner seeks to take these religious commitments seriously and understand them on their own terms. The central question he asks is "What did Catholics do to obtain salvation, to make themselves pleasing to God?" Lehner examines how the spiritual ideas that emerged from attempts to wrestle with the question of the salvation of souls changed the Catholic view of the world. Drawing on a plethora of published and unpublished sources and a wide array of secondary literature―with an emphasis on Europe, but integrating material from Africa, America, and Asia―Lehner documents this transformative period in history, when Catholicism became a "world religion." Read more

Target success in AQA A-level Religious Studies with this proven formula for effective, structured revision; key content coverage is combined with exam-style tasks and practical tips to create a revision guide you can rely on to review, strengthen and test their knowledge.With My Revision Notes you can:- Plan and manage a successful revision programme using the topic-by-topic planner- Consolidate subject knowledge by working through clear and focused content coverage- Test understanding and identify areas for improvement with regular 'Now Test Yourself' tasks and answers- Improve exam technique through practice questions, expert tips and examples of typical mistakes to avoid Read more

Oxford A Level Religious Studies for OCR is a brand new course developed by renowned authors Libby Ahluwalia and Robert Bowie for the 2016 OCR specification. This textbook has been endorsed by OCR and supports a deep engagement with philosophy, ethics and the study of Christianity using language and an approach accessible to all students. Key terms are clearly defined, and case studies and scenarios are used to give students a practical understanding of key theoriesand how they might be applied to the big ethical and philosophical questions of the day. The book includes a section on 'Developments in Christian Thought' to support the new requirement for a systematic study of a religious tradition. There is also dedicated support for developing students'essay-writing skills, as well as revision summaries and practice questions to ensure students feel prepared for their exam. Read more

In both modern fiction and the biblical texts of 1 Samuel 13-2 Samuel 1, the character of Jonathan serves as a key literary and theological figure. Throughout In Search of Jonathan, Lena-Sofia Tiemeyer interprets Jonathan's portrayal in traditional biblical literature and modern fiction. Each chapter provides first an analysis of Jonathan's characterization in 1-2 Samuel, followed by an examination of the depictions of Jonathan in modern fiction. Together, biblical and modern literature demonstrate how fictional retellings deepen and challenge the ways that scholars interpret Jonathan's character.Throughout the volume, Tiemeyer offers an interpretation of Jonathan as a plausible and psychologically consistent character while grappling with questions posed by his actions in the text. Tiemeyer asks, what kind of man is Jonathan who shows initiative and daring leadership ability, but who is also willing to lay down his crown before the usurper David's feet in humble submission? What kind of son is Jonathan who rebels against his father and takes David's part in the conflict between him and Saul, yet remains loyal to Saul until the bitter end on Mount Gilboa? To answer these questions, Tiemeyer considers depictions of Jonathan in modern fiction. Modern approaches, as Tiemeyer discusses, illuminate dormant yet integral aspects of the biblical texts. These modern retellings highlight, transform, and subvert the biblical portrayal of Jonathan. Posing these questions to the reader and other biblical scholars, Tiemeyer challenges the ways that scholars perceive Jonathan and his portrayals across biblical and modern literature. Read more

The SCM Studyguide: Liturgy, 2nd Edition is an introduction to liturgy that considers the basic 'building blocks' needed to grasp the subject area. It outlines the essential shape and content of Christian worship and explores a range of liturgical dynamics of which both students of liturgy and leaders of liturgy need to be aware. This 2nd edition of the popular Studyguide is fully revised, updated and expanded. The book takes account of new developments in scholarship, engages with new contexts for liturgical celebration (notably, fresh expressions as part of a mixed economy of church), encompasses recent revisions in liturgy and seeks to broaden the engagement beyond the British context to consider the wider global context. Read more

Understanding Christian Leadership offers an examination of a distinctly Christian understanding of leadership offering a critical appraisal of insights from secular theories of leadership, exploring biblical and other theological insights into the nature and practice of leadership. Whilst arguing for a form of leadership which is widely dispersed and collaborative, the book seeks to explain the distinctive role of leaders within such a leadership economy. It also seeks to establish a proper relationship between sacred and secular leadership thinking, tackling some of the common philosophical and theological reservations to do with leadership discourse, whilst offering a critical framework for discerning the suitability for the Church of different sources of leadership thinking. Designed as core reading for leadership modules currently taught by the author across a large number of training contexts in the UK, this book is an indispensable text for those taking undergraduate or postgraduate-level qualifications in Christian leadership as well as those in other less formal leadership training contexts. Foreword by Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury Read more

A key textbook and companion reader for a core subject at most higher education and further education institutions of religious studies and theology. The reader volume is compiled to include helpful linking passages so students are guided as to context, meaning and relationship to themes and both volumes will be cross-referenced for ease of use. Addressing World Christianity in an introductory way, this title serves primarily as a guide to the history of Christianity in the century and as such examines theological issues that have often been at the heart of key historical events and developments. It is the companion reader to the "SCM Core Text: World Christianity in the 20th Century". Read more

The founder and president of the Mothers Union, one of the first and largest womens organisations, Mary Sumner (1828-1921) was an influential educator and a force to be reckoned with in the Church of England of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Using the analytical tools of the sociologist Pierre Bourdieu, Sue Anderson-Faithful locates Mary Sumners life and thought against social and religious networks in which she was restricted by gender yet privileged by class and proximity to distinguished individuals. This dichotomy is key to understanding the achievements of a woman who both replicated and shaped Victorian attitudes to womens roles in society. To Mary Sumner mission and education meant the propagation of religious knowledge through progressive pedagogy. Her activism was intended to promote social reform at home and nurture the growth of the British Empire with mothers wielding their political power as educators of future citizens. The symbiotic relationship between Church and State concentrated power in the hands of a ruling class with which Mary Sumner identified and which she supported. In her view the legitimacy of national and imperial rule was intertwined with the moral force of Anglicanism. Sue Anderson-Faithful interprets Mary Sumners lifelong work in the light of these relationships, contrasting her assertion of personal agency and an empowering discourse of motherhood with her simultaneous reinforcement of patriarchy and class privilege. Read more

Debates concerning the relationship between Tridentine Catholicism and Catholicism after Vatican II dominate theological conversation today, particularly with regard to the Church and its engagement with the world. Current historical narratives paint ecclesiology after the Council of Trent as dominated by juridical concerns, uniformity, and institutionalism. Purportedly neglected are the spiritual, diverse, and missional aspects of the Church. This book challenges such narratives by investigating the theology of ecclesial unity and catholicity of the renowned Spanish Jesuit Francisco Suárez (1548-1617). Analyzing standard as well as overlooked sources of Suárez's ecclesiology, Eric J. DeMeuse shows how Suárez wrestles with the new demands of his time and anticipates later ecumenical developments in twentieth-century Catholic ecclesiology. Early modern expansion prompted theologians after Trent to reckon with the ecclesial status of baptized Protestants, the Greek Orthodox, and non-believers in the New World. It further prompted reflection on the universality, or catholicity, of the Church, and how the Church's mission to the nations serves her greater unity in Christ. DeMeuse demonstrates Suárez's vision of the Church to be deeply spiritual, diverse, and missional--not at the expense of the institutional, but as its necessary and life-giving source. This book further explores not only Suárez's speculative ecclesiology, but how the unity and catholicity of the body of Christ are lived out in practice: in the worship and works of the faithful, and, most notably, in the charism of his own religious order, the Society of Jesus. Suárez's theology shows what the spiritual dynamic between Christic unity and missional catholicity should look like in the Church. Read more