bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Doctrine of the Ministry in Reformed Theology
Authors: McNeill John T.
Published: April 2006

In Reformed theology the doctrine of the ministry is an essential part of the doctrine of the church. The ministry is never a matter of indifference to theology. Its character, authority, forms and functions are prescribed and described in doctrinal statements of the churches, and the subject has been doctrinally and historically expounded by many theologians. While these writers differ in detail in their teaching on the ministry, they agree in main outline and together present a body of doctrine that is both consistent and explicit.
The Medieval Pattern in Luther's Views of the State
Authors: Schwiebert E. G.
Published: April 2006

Nearly twenty-five hundred years ago an ugly old man sat in the market place of ancient Athens trying to teach his fellow citizens how to think. If we may believe Plato, his pupil, the wise old Socrates once observed that human beings were far too prone to assume that the mastery of one field of learning qualified them to speak with equal authority in all others. It was some similar modern rash generalizations in two recent publications which led to the present inquiry. With a natural aversion for polemics we shall, however, refrain from dealing with this controversial material but shall rather investigate our theme on the basis of the best available evidence from the sources and recent European scholarship.
The Parable of the Tares as the Proof Text for Religious Liberty to the end of the Sixteenth Century
Authors: Bainton Roland H.
Published: April 2006

The parable of the tares is the proof pàssage for religious liberty. Sinite utraque crescere (Matthew 13, 30) is the counterpart of compelle intrare (Luke 14, 23). The apostles of liberty repeat the text with monotonous iteration, although there is an occasional variety in the emphasis. Some stress the rationalistic argument: we do not know enough to separate the tares from the wheat. Others emphasize the eschatological approach: we can afford to be patient because God will burn the tares at the harvest. Others again make a legalistic appeal: Christ has commanded us to leave the tares alone. More interesting are the expedients employed by the persecutors to evade the liberal implications of the parable. The simplest device is to identify the tares not with the heretics, but with the moral offenders within the church. Another subterfuge is to identify the overly zealous servants with the ministers, not with the magistrates, who are not to be hampered by the parable.
The Church History Deputation to the Orient
Authors: Case Shirley Jackson
Published: April 2006

The Managing Editor of Church History has sent me a peremptory summons demanding at once an account in one thousand words—no more, no less—of the work of the Church History Deputation to the Orient. In view of the probability that a full report will in due time appear as a separate publication, the present statement may quite appropriately be confined within the limits set by the Editor.
The Nature of Protestantism
Authors: Pauck Wilhelm
Published: April 2006

In dealing with a subject of such a general character, I am well aware of the limitations of the undertaking. It is not possible to define the nature of Protestantism in such a manner as to establish certain principles to which all its historical expressions must or do conform. I accept the statement of Wilhelm Dilthey which reads as follows:

The religions which appear within a developed civilization have common features. They lift the human consciousness to a point at which, by its connection with divinity and the invisible, it renders itself independent from the world. Hence it is the aim of these religions to overcome the contradictions and repressions of life (Hemmungen) by an inner connection with God. Beatitude signifies the developing total state of mind in which all single emotions arising from participation in the world are resolved. Hence religion is neither a cult nor a dogma nor a mode of action but the total life context of a person in which this aim has been attained. From this there result significant consequences for the historian. No religion or communion can be represented by a principle from which cult, dogma, and morality can be derived. The endless theological debates about a principle of Christianity, of Reformed religiousness, of the Lutheran or Reformed church, are without object. This life context cannot even be wholly analysed. As in every form of life, there remains something unanalysable also in every form of religiousness. Just therein religion is, like art; superior to scientific knowledge. One cannot state in one sentence the essence of Christianity. Every attempt of such a sort is historical metaphysics. Knowledge of Christianity is the analysis of the Christian religiousness in individual Christians and in society.
The Condemnation of Origen
Authors: Richardson Cyril C.
Published: April 2006

The condemnation of Origen is one of the saddest episodes in the history of the Christian church. The breadth of his thought, the keenness of his genius and the wide sympathy of his religion, contrast vividly with the narrow obscurantism of his monkish detractors. It is significant that the final defeat of Origen and the closing of the philosophic schools of Athens belong to the same era. It is as if a curtain were then drawn upon the intellectual freedom of the East, and along with certain garbled texts from his works all that was fine and liberal and mature in the faith and thought of Origen had been condemned. He who had striven for a religion truly catholic and had contended that all things were the church's heritage and all things were Christ's, was cast out of the church with imprecations of intolerance and fanaticism. The long controversies over Origen that reach their climax under Justinian mark the passing of much that was noble and enlightened in the early tradition of Greek Christianity.
Julian the Apostate at Antioch
Authors: Downey Glanville
Published: April 2006

Few figures in the story of the rise and establishment of Christianity have drawn so much attention as Julian the Apostate. The emperor who attempted to overthrow the church and reestablish the ancient pagan faith has from his own day to this been bitterly attacked by some, and as stoutly defended by others, until he has become almost a legendary character. Whether monster or tragic hero, his brief career has inevitably called forth an enormous literature in which every shade of the Christian and the pagan points of view is represented. Professional scholars and men of letters, attracted by a number of different aspects of the emperor's life, find rich material in the problem of his curiously mixed personality and in the spectacle of this last concerted; attempt to revive dying paganism. The manner in which the pagans responded to the attempt, and the way in which the church combatted this attack upon it, are alike subjects which will seem to every student to offer valuable lessons. Scholars realize both the difficulty and the importance of a just appreciation of these problems, and the effort to assay them properly has produced studies of the highest value.
Classical and Biblical Scholarship in the Age of the Renaissance and Reformation
Authors: Lockwood Dean P. , Bainton Roland H.
Published: April 2006

Humanists and reformers in the age of the Renaissance and Reformation were concerned for the revival of antiquity both classical and Biblical. Some stressed one and some the other and some like Erasmus were interested in both. Because of the close relation of the two fields, we have brought together into one chapter two essays dealing first with the classical and then with the Biblical scholarship of our period.
The Christian Church in the Last Seventy Years
Authors: Latourette Kenneth Scott
Published: April 2006

A strange contrast exists in the status of the Christian Church in the past seventy years. On the one hand the Church has clearly lost some of the ground which once appeared to be safely within its possession. On the other hand it has become more widely spread geographically and, when all mankind is taken into consideration, more influential in shaping human affairs than ever before in its history. In a paper as brief as this must of necessity be, space can be had only for the sketching of the broad outlines of this paradox and for suggesting a reason for it. If details were to be given, a large volume would be required. Perhaps, however, we can hope to do enough to point out one of the most provocative and important set of movements in recent history.
The Reunion of the Episcopal Church, 1865
Authors: Shanks Henry T.
Published: April 2006

When the American Civil War began, the Southern dioceses of the Protestant Episcopal Church organized a Confederate Church. Contrary to sentiment in the other popular Protestant denominations, there was in 1861 little hostility between the Confederate and Northern leaders of this Church. As the war progressed, however, bitterness developed until in 1865 at the close of the war many wanted to retain separate church organizations. Despite these animosities, some bold spirits succeeded in bringing about the reconciliation of the dioceses of the Church. The story of this reunion has been told before, but new material recently made available warrants a new analysis.
The Lollards in Pre-Reformation Scotland
Authors: Reid W. Stanford
Published: April 2006

The influence of the Lollard movement on the Scottish Reformation was pointed out by John Knox in the sixteenth century; and in the latter part of the nineteenth century the same point was stressed by the Historiographer Royal for Scotland, P. Hume Brown. Yet in spite of such illustrious advocacy, with one or two minor exceptions, little attention has been paid to the Wycliffite tradition in fifteenth century Scotland. It has generally been taken for granted that the Lollards were unimportant and possessed little or no influence. When all the information on the movement which we possess, however, is brought together, one cannot but feel that they had a greater influence on their own time than has heretofore been allowed: Not only did the early reformers consider them very important, but today also, in spite of predilections for economic interpretations of history, they must be regarded as one of the important sources of the Scottish Reformation.
The Presbyterian and Congregational Convention of Wisconsin, 1840–1850
Authors: Leonard Richard D.
Published: April 2006

The Plan of Union adopted in 1801 by the General Association of Connecticut and the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church was a memorable expression of the spirit of Christian unity in the face of a great missionary task. But its particular provisions for the working together of the Congregational and Presbyterian polities were little utilized. The “Accommodation Plan” adopted in 1808 was the main instrument of organization in the spirit of the Plan of Union. According to this a Congregational church, remaining such internally, might join a presbytery and be represented in the presbytery by its minister and a lay delegate. Such churches received the nickname “Presbygational”, or were called “Plan of Union churches.”
Luther's Conception of Territorial and National Loyalty
Authors: Grimm Harold J.
Published: April 2006

The Luther renaissance of our century was in large part a consequence of the determination of German scholars to find an explanation for the debacle of their nation following the First World War. For this reason the attitude of the first truly German genius of modern times toward the German territorial states and the Holy Roman Empire has been a matter of primary concern. This concern was intensified by the resurgence of German nationalism under the totalitarianism of the National Socialists who set about to interpret the life and work of every important historical figure of Germany in the light of the new national faith. German scholars will again study Luther's writings for the purpose of finding hope and inspiration after the catastrophic consequences of the Second World War is already indicated by the frequent references to the importance of religion in Germany's historical evolution.
The Influence of the American Environment on the Conception of the Church in American Protestantism
Authors: Nichols Robert Hastings
Published: April 2006

Among the priceless benefits of the ecumenical Christian movement has been an increase of interest in the idea of the church. One result of this has been to throw into light the condition of the thought of American Protestantism on this subject, and thus to accentuate what has been observed, the considerable poverty of this thought. An illustration of this appeared not long ago in the work of an interdenominational commission formed to study “The Nature and Meaning of the Church,” whose documents have not been published. One consideration to which the commission paid particular attention was the effect of the American environment in relation to its main subject on forms of organized Christianity transplanted from Europe, as were most of the American Protestant forms. For this commission there were prepared studies of historical developments in most of the principal American denominations, by members of them. It was a striking fact that only one of these studies said anything about the effect of the American environment on the conception of the church. The writers of these reports were as likely as any men in their respective communions to be interested in this. It was to be expected that they would give attention to it, in view of the inclusion in the commission's program of “The Nature” of the church. But the result was as stated. The writers, except one, had much to say about the effect of American conditions on the organization and life and action of the church, but about doctrine, about the idea of the church—no.
Conrad Grebel, The Founder of Swiss Anabaptism
Authors: Bender Harold S.
Published: April 2006

The age of the Reformation, as one of the creative periods in the history of the Western church, was rich in great personalities. The challenge of the time brought some men to heroic heights, while it took scores of lesser men out of their small corners and flung them into the great stream of movement and action which was remaking the world, where they were compelled to assume places of leadership. The names, and often the life stories, of many of the characters of four hundred years ago are still familiar to us today. Some of them are household names. But there are no Anabaptist names among them, even though the Anabaptist movement represents a distinct type of continental Protestantism. Menno Simons, the sturdy leader of Dutch Mennonitism, is perhaps most widely known of the Anabaptist leaders, although the quadricentennial of his conversion from Catholicism to the Anabaptist movement, which was celebrated last year by Mennonites round the world, passed scarcely noticed. But Menno was not the founder of Anabaptism, and ten years before he appeared on the theatre of action most of the original founders and leaders of Anabaptism in its birthland in Switzerland and South Germany were numbered among the martyrs. The careers of these Swiss leaders were so short that even among their present-day Mennonite descendants most of them had been totally forgotten until they were revived in recent years by modern historical research; and today there is no living tradition attached to their names. It is true that as long ago as 1910 Adolph von Harnack could say in his History of Dogma: “Thanks to the research of recent years we have been presented with figures of splendid Christian leaders from among the circles of the Anabaptists, and many of these noble and reverend characters come nearer to us than the figures of an heroic Luther and an iron Calvin.”
Medieval Eschatology and St. Francis of Assisi
Authors: Petry Ray C.
Published: April 2006

Francis of Assisi has been made the subject of numerous studies in modern times. His dedication to absolute poverty has elicited praise from admirers of varied character. That same ideal has frequently been made the object of unfriendly strictures. All too many researchers have granted him tolerant dismissal as a naïve idealist. Such writers have damned him with the easy condescension of modern men. They have been too busy proclaiming his impracticability according to modern standards to appreciate what he was and accomplished as a medieval man.
Luther's Inner Conflict: A Psychological Interpretation
Authors: Grimm Harold J.
Published: April 2006

Recent Luther scholarship seems to have reached animpassein its attempt to solve the apparent inconsistencies between the so-called young Luther and the older conservative writer of confessions. Within the last few decades two distinct schools of thought, with of course variations in each, have developed in the attempt to solve this problem.
The Background of Modern Historical Study of Christianity
Authors: Riddle Donald Wayne
Published: April 2006

At the midpoint of the nineteenth century, the historical reconstruction of Christianity which had been made by Baur had come to dominate critical scholarship in the form popularized by the Tűbingen school generally. In Germany Zeller, Schwegler, Hausrath, Köstlin, Volkmar and Hilgenfeld were the distinguished heirs of Baur's views. His representative in Holland was Scholten. In French criticism Baur's influence was felt in the work of Colani, Scherer, and Havet. In Great Britain, Samuel Davidson expounded Tűbingen criticism, which was also to be found in the anonymous work later acknowledged by W. R. Cassels. Indeed the Tűbingen theology was reflected, although in a considerably modified form, in the work of Holsten and Pfleiderer long after the direct influence of the school had waned.
The Vindiciae Contra Tyrannos: A Chapter in the Struggle for Religious Freedom in France
Authors: MacArthur Kathleen W.
Published: April 2006

One of the most significant documents in the literature of the Continental Reformation is that bearing the title The Defense of Liberty Against Tyrants. Its significance rests upon a basis of historical importance far exceeding that of its inclusion in the body of Huguenot writings which illumines the religious life of sixteenth and seventeenth century France. It is important because, as Mr. Harold Laski indicates, it is “a brilliant summary of ideas already adumbrated by the Huguenot party,” and it “surpassed all other essays of the time in the vigor and lucidity with which it restates these ideas.” It is a work which is regarded as embodying the best Huguenot thinking, and it records a memorable protest against tyranny that has renewed poignancy at every crisis in the age-long struggle for human freedom. It asked, and in its own fashion answered, questions having wide political significance because of the inextricable union of political with religious problems of the time.
The Terms “Loci Communes” and “Loci” in Melanchthon
Authors: Breen Quirinus
Published: April 2006

Philip Melanchthon was the author of the first book of Protestant theology, which he called Loci communes rerum theologicarum seu hypotyposes theologicae (Wittenberg, 1521). As a first it is worth some study, for firsts are likely to be models for later things of their kind. Moreover, while Melanchthon is by some considered to depart from early Protestant thought (cf. Philippism), Luther gave unqualified and almost extravagant praise to his young collaborator's first work. This justifies putting at least the 1521 edition in the fundamental canon of Protestantism. Finally, if suth is its importance Melanchthon's method deserves examination.
The Will and the Understanding in the Philosophy of Jonathan Edwards
Authors: Townsend H. G.
Published: April 2006

A new examination of this well worn theme seems to be appropriate in view of the current discussion of the place of metaphysics in the study of philosophy. The familiar supposition that philosophy may, and indeed should, dispense with all high speculations concerning the nature of “the grand scheme of things entire” while it devotes its time to “the order and connection of ideas in the mind,” or to that quasi-mental order known as scientific methodology, would make of philosophy either a segment of natural science or a footless and irresponsible expression of animal hungers and party causes. Any philosophy, so we are told, which indulges in metaphysics is a mere rationalization of animal “drives” on a par with folklore, religion, and magic. Aside from the suspicion that this supposition is itself a metaphysical hypothesis not subject to scientific verification, the reasonable manner of dealing with it is to test it by comparison with rival suppositions in the history of man.
The Influence of the Puritan Clergy on the House of Commons: 1625–1629
Authors: Maclear James Fulton
Published: April 2006

As is well known, Puritanism, as well as social, economic, and constitutional issues, were involved in the struggle against the Crown in the reigns of the first two Stuarts. Like the other groups which comprised the opposition—the lawyers, the merchants, and the country gentry—the Puritans came to focus their attention on Parliament as the agency for the articulation of their grievances against the policy of the government. But unlike the other groups, the ties which bound the Puritans to Parliament were somewhat weak, and to a certain extent indirect. In the first place, the primary concern of the Puritans was with religious reformation, and it was only after they had been repulsed by the Crown and disowned by Convocation that they came to regard Parliament as the only avenue of protest against the conservative Anglicanism of James and the more extreme high church propensities of his son. Moreover, it was impossible for the natural leaders of the religiously disaffected—the Puritan preachers—to champion their cause in Parliament, since the lower clergy had been excluded from that assembly after the fourteenth century on the grounds that they were represented in Convocation.
The “Meaning of History” and the Writing of History
Authors: Harbison E. Harris
Published: April 2006

Since the outbreak of the Second World War we have witnessed what may best be described as a “Renaissance of Christian Thought.” Christian belief is more respectable among intellectuals than it was a generation ago. Philosophers, novelists, and poets who present the case for Christianity are widely read and taken seriously even by fellow-intellectuals who do not share their beliefs. Among the Christian intelligentsia there has been a striking rebirth of theology, and Christian theologians are read more widely outside clerical circles than they have been for perhaps a hundred years. The names of Barth, Brunner, Nygren. Maritain, Tillich, and Niebuhr are known at least vaguely to the same sort of people who could not have named a single theologian a generation ago. Both the quality and range of the revival are impressive. Christianity appears to be attracting first-rate minds, and Christian speculation is ranging all the way from social and political theory to ethics, philosophy, and history.
A Footnote to the Role of the Protestant Churches in the Election of 1928
Authors: Miller Robert Moats
Published: April 2006

Historians are in agreement that the Presidential election of 1928 aroused the concern of American Protestantism. Many observers have expended thousands of words discussing this election. Curiously, while most investigators chide the churches for their indifference to secular affairs, in this instance condemnation is usually because the Protestant churches displayed too much rather than too little interest.
Reduction of Episcopacy as a Means to Unity in England, 1640–1662
Authors: Spalding James C. , Brass Maynard F.
Published: April 2006

In his inaugural address at the Union Theological Seminary, Robert T. Handy called attention to the present possibility of reexamining the whole course of church history from unitive perspectives. Handy pointed out that “the church historian in an ecumenical era can with particular profit devote special attention to the unitive hopes, dreams, and actions of the past.”
The Importance of Jacques Saurin in the History of Casuistry and the Enlightenment
Authors: Mosse George L.
Published: April 2006

The purpose of this paper is to examine several aspects of the relationship between Christianity and the rise of the new rationalistic spirit of the eighteenth century. It is in this connection that we intend to examine the thought of the French Huguenot preacher Jacques Saurin (1677–1730). Historians have held that the two leading ideas of that century, Nature and Reason, derive their meaning from the natural sciences. Such a point of view tends to ignore the greater realism towards nature and politics which developed within the Christian theological framework itself. From the sixteenth century on, we find orthodox theologians emphasizing the need for dealing with the world on its own terms. It was not so much the new sciences but rather the conflicts of the Reformation which brought out this increasingly rational attitude on the part of both Protestant and Catholic theologians. This development went on side by side with that secularized idea of reason which is of specific scientific inspiration. The means which theologians used to make room for a greater realism in their Christian framework of thought was casuistic divinity.
Jerome of Prague, Austria and the Hussites
Authors: Bernard Paul P.
Published: April 2006

That Czech nationalism was the mainspring of the Hussite movement has long been an article of faith among those concerning themselves with the history of that protean wave of reform which swept over Central Europe a full century before the Protestant Reformation. It is not the intent of this paper to quarrel with this fundamental assumption. The assumption has, however, a corollary, namely that because the Hussites were prima facie Czech nationalists and that because this nationalism was patently anti-German, Hussitism could not by definition and consequently did not take root in the Germanic lands bordering upon Bohemia. An attempt will be made here to examine this a priori position in the light of some empirical researches into the history of the Lands of the Austrian Crown in the first half of the fifteenth century.
Studies in the Radical Reformation (1517–1618): A Bibliographical Survey of Research Since 1939
Authors: Williams George Huntston
Published: April 2006

In a current issue ofThe Library of Christian Classics1the present reporter distinguished between a “radical Reformation” and the “magisterial Reformation” of the normative Protestant Reformers, Luther, Zwingli, Calvin, Cranmer, and their associates. Common to all groupings within this Radical Reformation was the unwillingness to depend upon or tarry for the magistracy to reform the Church in root and branch, be the magistrate emperor, king, prince, or collectively the town council.
Luther's Ecclesiology and his Concept of the Prince as Notbischof
Authors: Spitz Lewis W.
Published: April 2006

Until the appearance of Rudolf Sohm'sKirchenrechtin 1892 and of Karl Rieker's study,Die rechtliche Stellung der evangelischen Kirche Deutschlands in ihrer geschichtlichen Entwicklung bis zur Gegenwartin 1893, the opinion prevailed among scholars by and large that the historic development in the relationship of the church in Germany to the state was contrary to the ideal of the Reformer. This ideal was held to be an autonomous congregational church based upon evangelical principles, an interpretation which had received the support of Aemil Richter's authority inDie Geschichte der cvangelischen Kirciwnverfassung in Deutschland, 1851. Since then, Reformation students have divided on this question. Luther wrote of theNotbischöfe: “I wish to leave the jurists … to settle this disputation … I will write as a theologian and a heretic,” and thereby he left a legacy of controversy both to jurists and historians. With equal truth Luther could write, “The other articles … I commend to the lawyers, for it is not my business as an evangelist to decide and judge in these matters. I shall instruct and teach consciences what pertains to divine and Christian matters,” and still maintain, “that since the time of the apostles the secular sword and authority has never been so clearly described and grandly lauded as by me, which even my enemies must acknowledge.” He was involved by circumstances in social and political questions which were notper sehis concern as a theologian. Several factors complicate an analysis of Luther's theory of church and state, the immediacy of the medieval inheritance, conceptual differences of terminology from current usage, the complexity of the transitional historical situation, and Luther's characteristic way of addressing himself to a problem without relating his plan of action to his total theory. In fact, Dieckhoff says that as the pertinent quotations lie side by side, it is impossible to harmonize them. Such pessimism, however, is unwarranted, for Luther was never pathologically dialectical and his position can be satisfactorily understood if viewed in relation to his central orientation. Luther's political theory involved, of course, many facets, the question of Imperial power, papal theory, war, toleration, the Turkish question, feudal loyalties, and others. A study of theNotbischöfeproblem is central, however, for an understanding of his ecclesiology and the much debated church-state question.
The Papacy and the Greeks (1122–1153)
Authors: Rowe John Gordon
Published: April 2006

It is the peculiar distinction of Steven Runciman to have directed our attention to the importance of the twelfth century in the “hardening” of the schism between the Greek and Latin Churches. In the main, Runciman attributes this unhappy development to those tensions which arose between East and West as a result of the crusades and the establishment of the Latin States in Syria-Palestine. While it is not our intention to question Runciman's arguments, it may be suggested that there are other fruitful approaches to the problem of relations between Rome and Constantinople in the twelfth century which Runciman has touched on only in passing. In general terms, it is the purpose of this article to suggest that the development of the schism must also be understood within the context of a complex political drama, centred on southern Italy, in which the Papacy, the Normans, the Germans and the Greeks were the chief protagonists. Our investigation will be confined to the period extending from the signing of the Concordat of Worms in 1122 to the death of Pope Eugene III in 1153. The purpose of the opening section which follows is: 1) to describe the genesis of this web of conflicting aims and objectives; 2) to indicate in what ways the problem of church union had become woven into the fabric of these political developments; 3) to delineate the various responses, both ecclesiastical and political, which the Papacy made to these new developments in her relations with the Greeks prior to the Second Crusade.
The Idea of Covenant and American Democracy
Authors: Niebuhr Richard
Published: April 2006

Every effort to deal with the history of ideas is beset by hazards. Semantic traps are strewn along the way of the inquirer; such words as democracy, liberty, justice, etc., point to different concepts or varying complexes of concepts as they are used in different periods of history and by different men. The unuttered and frequently unacknowledged presuppositions of those who employ them also vary; and since meaning largely depends on context the difficulties of understanding what is meant are increased by the difficulty of ascertaining what is at the back of the minds.
Some Aspects of Early Bourbon Policy Toward the Huguenots
Authors: Rothrock George A.
Published: April 2006

The golden age of French Protestantism, insofar as de jure recognition is concerned, extends from Henry IV's religious settlement in 1598 to the important modification of that settlement by Louis XIII in 1629. These years witnessed important developments both within the Protestant movement and in the relations between that movement and the French crown.
The Role of the South in the Presbyterian Schism of 1837–38
Authors: Smith Elwyn A.
Published: April 2006

In 1927 William Warren Sweet observed that “the most important and far-reaching of the schisms in the American churches were caused by Negro slavery and the effects of the bitter contests in the churches over slavery, which began nearly a century ago, are still with us. Therefore any study of the peculiar factors which have determined the course of American church history must of necessity give a prominent place to slavery.” He himself pursued this suggestion in subsequent research.
Ancient Church History
Authors: Grant Robert M.
Published: April 2006

The problem of writing and teaching Church History is being discussed in this journal and elsewhere, and it is obviously related to the more general problem treated by Mr. Harbison in the last number: the “meaning of history” and the writing et history. In the case of Ancient Church History it is especially difficult. “The problem of defining ‘Church’” may seem simpler because of the rigidity of the ecclesiastical organization developed in the early centuries and not broken by the year 800; but, given the fact that it did develop only gradually, how is the historian to treat gnosticism, Montanism, even Arianism? Is he always to say, “the Church was right”? If he says so, how is he to treat the elements of rightness in what came to be regarded as heresies? Or should he make value judgments other than tentative ones? To what extent is his history art and interpretation and to what extent is it science?
The Demise of English Presbyterianism: 1660–1760
Authors: Spalding James C.
Published: April 2006

In The History and Character of Calvinism, John T. McNeill dismisses the story of English Presbyterianism in the eighteenth century with the following statement: Here we may return for a brief reference to Calvinism in England, where the Presbyterian … nonconformity carried its banners but weakly in the eighteenth century… After the death of Matthew Henry (1714) … Presbyterian leadership was undistinguished. A tincture of rationalism and Socinianism entered the nonconformist academies, and many of the Presbyterian ministers rejected the Westminster standards and doctrines … Those who remained orthodox were in general dull and ineffective ministers. The result was a decline in numbers and significance. This decayed Presbyterianism was restored, or more accurately replaced by the activity of Scots in England, including both those of the Kirk and those of the secessions1.
Anabaptism: Abortive Counter-Revolt Within the Reformation
Authors: Zuck Lowell H.
Published: April 2006

Within the past thirty years a painstaking literature has been produced by the descendants of the sixteenth century Anabaptists, mostly Mennonites, in an effort to replace the traditional European interpretation of Anabaptism as fanaticism beginning with the revolutionary mystic, Thomas Muentzer, and ending with the revolutionary polygamous debacle at Muenster in Westphalia ten years later. Thus were the Anabaptists discredited for centuries by Lutheran and Reformed theologians within the majority churches of Europe, the American Anabaptist historians say.
The Catholic Reform In The Sixteenth Century
Authors: Tavard George H.
Published: April 2006

The many aspects of Catholic activity during the sixteenth century make it difficult to present a systematic bibliography for that period. Interest in the Reformation era has considerably increased among Catholic scholars during the last decades. We must therefore proceed to a severe selection. Only studies that deal with the most significant topics will be included. No breakdown of the material can be completely satifactory. As the main point, however, is to give as clear a picture as possible, one must distinguish three broad periods: before, during and after the Council of Trent. Subdivisions of the subject matter in each period will necessarily overlap. But we will reduce this to a minimum.
The Authorship of Ancient Bounds
Authors: Kiefer Barbara
Published: April 2006

This unsigned tract published in 1645 is one of the most interesting and historically significant documents in the polemic literature of the Puritan Revolution; it has also been described as “one of the halfdozen most important contributions ever made to the theory of religious toleration in England.” The authorship has never been established, though some speculation has attributed the work to Francis Rous, Puritan mystic and leading member of Parliament. But certain references in contemporary documents, together with considerations of thought and style provide conclusive evidence that the pamphlet is from the pen of Joshua Sprigge, army chaplain, Fellow of All Souls College, constant advocate of toleration, and author of several sermons and political tracts, among them the important history of the army under Fairfax, Anglia Rediviva.
The Council of Florence (1438–1439) and the Problem of Union Between the Greek and Latin Churches
Authors: Geanakoplos Deno J.
Published: April 2006

For the medieval world the Council of Florence provided the last great opportunity to close the gap separating Eastern from Western Christendom. Not only was it the most brilliant convocation of Greeks and Latins in the entire Middle Ages, but it marked the first occasion in centuries that East and West assembled in ecumenical council to debate the differences separating their two churches.
Evangelical Religion and Popular Romanticism in Early Nineteenth-Century America
Authors: Gabriel Ralph H.
Published: April 2006

Arnold Toynbee has described our western civilization in the twentieth century as a rationalistic and secular culture. In the sense that an awareness of the importance of science is the starting point of the thinking of our day the generalization seems true. We prize the realism of the objective, analytical approach of science. In a turbulent and swiftly moving age we have substituted relativism for older values once confidently assumed to have universal validity. We have seen scepticism, born of twentieth-century events, erode an old and dynamic belief in progress. We observe Protestantism, its old orthodoxy shaken, striving to make the Christian tradition meaningful and significant for a materialistic generation. We watch the protagonists of democracy striving to hold fast to essential human values and to protect basic freedoms in an age of fear and power.
The Religious Policies of Dukes Wilhelm and Ludwig of Bavaria in the First Decade of The Protestant Era
Authors: Strauss Gerald
Published: April 2006

On the seventh of October, 1528, late at night, agents of Dukes Wilhelm IV and Ludwig X of Bavaria came to the home in Abensberg of Johann Aventinus, the distinguished historian and pedagogue, and arrested him, “ob evangelium,” as he notes the occasion in his diary.1 The Dukes' action was not unexpected. Aventinus recorded arrests of acquaintances and associates in May and July, also “ob evangelium.” He had been away from home much of the time, possibly to avoid the same fate. He spent the summer in Regensburg2 where the Bavarian government had no jurisdiction, but where prolonged residence, at a time when both Lutheranism and Anabaptism seemed to be making rapid gains there,3 could not but arouse suspicion in Munich. In early October Aventinus returned to Abensberg, his captors at his heels.
Schleiermacher's Political Thought and Activity, 1806–1813
Authors: Raack R. C.
Published: April 2006

In the period of the Prussian reform movement, Friedrich Schleiermacher, pastor and intellectual, found a key political role in the Prussian state. Some aspects of Schleiermacher's singular public life during these years were considered by Wilhelm Dilthey in his short article on Schleiermacher's political thought and activity, written almost a hundred years ago. But Dilthey never expanded this preliminary analysis which was, in any case, partial in coverage and limited in critical approach. The recovery of a vast body of material and information unavailable to Dilthey as well as greater historical perspective necessitate a thorough reconsideration of Schleiermacher's activities during these critical years.
Lutheran Orthodoxy and the Beginning of Conservative Party Organization in Prussia
Authors: Lamberti Marjorie
Published: April 2006

Since 1945 German historians, searching for answers to the question of the responsibility of the political parties for the failure of the Weimar Republic, have studied afresh the organization and political activity of parties in Germany. Their work concentrates on the history of parties after 1870, when they became centralized, mass organizations, and treats in a cursory manner the earlier stages in the formation of parties.1In so far as recent and earlier historical studies delve into the period before 1870, they trace the origins of parties in Prussia to the Revolution of 1848. The relation of these parties to the partisan groupings that were formed in the territorial church during theVormärzis overlooked.
Exegesis and the History of Theology: Reflections on the Adam-Christ Typology in Cyril of Alexandria
Authors: Wilken Robert L.
Published: April 2006

The history of exegesis as a discipline is one of the stepchildren of Church History. As such it has not only been neglected by Church historians, but even if studied, it has received inferior treatment. Surely there is something ironical about an age of theological scholarship which has so self-consciously bought the historical method to study the Bible, but which nevertheless allows scholars to be so un-historical in their approach to the history of its interpretation. Consider that much of the material in the history of exegesis has been mined by scholars whose proper business is the study of the Old and New Testaments; or that the history of interpretation is usually considered a part of biblical studies. Inevitably the question asked by biblical scholars sounds something like this: how does a man, a school, or epoch interpret such and such a passage? Frequently this question issues in monographs tracing the history of interpretations of the chosen passage. The result is usually a catena of citations classifying and cataloguing the answers given to problems in the text. Most often the perspective brought to the material is that of the contemporary exegete, who, either explicitly or implicitly thinks he knows what the passage meant—or at least what it could not mean.
Rich Laymen and Early Social Christianity
Authors: Griffen Clyde C.
Published: April 2006

Clergymen led the movement within American Protestantism known as Social Christianity or the Social Gospel. A small minority, primarily in the larger cities, began the shift away from individualistic views of salvation and ethics in the 1870's and 80's. By 1910 they had grown sufficiently in numbers and influence to secure official endorsement by the major denominations of a broad construction of Christian responsibility for the welfare of society.
The ‘Eusebian Constantine’
Authors: Storch Rudolph H.
Published: April 2006

Historians generally have concerned themselves with the reliability of theVita Constantiniof Eusebius, while ignoring an important contribution of the panegyricist, namely, theimageof Constantine he projects to his readers. This image, or the “Eusebian Constantine,” involves four major elements: (1) all success and benefit derive from the favor of the divinity; (2) only the pious receive divine favor; (3) the most important indication of divine favor for a pious ruler is military victory; and (4) with the victory secured, divine favor will produce peace and unity for the realm. Constantine, being close to Eusebius, helped to mold his own image which is more than a representation of the first Christian emperor—it is a key to understanding the nature of Eusebius' panegyric as well as his notion of Constantine's relationship with the Christian God.
The Problem of Social-Political Obligation for the Church of England in the Seventeenth Century
Authors: Harvey Richard
Published: April 2006

Much has been written on the political behavior of the Stuart Church of England. And much too has been written on its monotonous reiteration of the divine right of kings' doctrine—with its ancillary ideas of passive obedience and non-resistance to the commands of authority. Indeed, for this perspective on the institution there exists abundant evidence: seventeenth century sermons and treatises were filled with “church politics.” Morever, Figgis' study remains indispensable: before, and perhaps even more clearly and vehemently after the Puritan Revolution, insistence on absolute obedience to existing authority—especially to the king—reverberated in the parish churches of England. Thus, at this point in time little doubt exists as to the political attitudes of clerics; and indeed a consensus exists also on the probable motives for those clerical attitudes: they followed unavoidably upon the second great conquest in English history, the conquest of the church by Henry VIII. But the church was not unwillingly conquered: it both bound itself and was bound to the destiny of the monarchy in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries—its newly-granted constitutional legality protected it while it nourished the hope that the Crown would act as sponsor of reform in Christian society. In a word, the institution of the church, keenly aware of both its relative impotence and its relative strength with regard to the monarchy, made the best of circumstances by offering virtually unqualified support to Stuart kingship, with certain unintended consequences for the church. Given this perspective, it is easy to understand why, apart from special problems and issues, the thought of Anglican clerics commands little attention today. But perhaps another view of clerical thought will yield as much or more understanding than the traditional perspective has so far yielded: it is the purpose of this essay to offer another view.
John Bunyan and Covenant Thought in the Seventeenth Century
Authors: Greaves Richard L.
Published: April 2006

For a man who had achieved deserved fame as a master of English allegory and had thereby become the subject of a host of biographies, Bunyan would be dismayed if he knew that, three hundred years after his initial if temporary release from the Bedford prison, the thing he had strived for most in his writings had been ignored—his attempt to clarify for his readers what he believed to be the central truths of the Christian faith. Historians have diligently sought for every piece of evidence available to fill in the unknown facts of Bunyan's life, while scholars of English literature continue to examine the style of writing of the unlettered Tinker. Yet no one has ever dealt satisfactorily with the thought of this man.
The Freewillers in the English Reformation
Authors: Hargrave O. T.
Published: April 2006

In searching for the sources and origins of the liberal theology which toward the end of the sixteenth and the beginning of the seventeenth century came to occupy an increasingly important position in English religious thought, historians invariably have turned their attention toward the Continent. Indeed, the impact of this approach suggested by the very label—“Arminianism”—which historically has attached itself to the new theological tendency. But in the preoccupation with continental influences some significant indigenous sources and precedents have been overlooked. The purpose of this article is to call attention to one such precedent—the activities and opinions of an obscure though important religious group which flourished during the reigns of Edward VI and Mary I and which were known to their contemporaries as the “Freewillers.”