This scholarly biography and collection of writings by and about an early leader of the Hutterites, a pacifist communal Anabaptist group, sheds light on a persecuted religious minority during the Reformation.This comprehensive, annotated collection of Jakob Hutter’s letters and related documents begins with an extensive biography of Hutter and his wife Katharina, based on recent archival research. This introduction serves to contextualize the Hutte...

Luther's Small Catechism was written by Martin Luther and published in 1529 for the training of children. Luther's Small Catechism reviews The Ten Commandments, The Apostles' Creed, The Lord's Prayer, Holy Baptism, The Office of the Keys & Confession, and The Sacrament of the Altar. It is included in the Lutheran Book of Concord as an authoritative statement of what Lutherans believe.The Small Catechism is widely used today in Lutheran churches as part of youth education and Confirmation. ...

"Arguably the most distinctive feature of the early Christian literature," writes Bart Ehrman, "is the degree to which it was forged." The Homilies and Recognitions of Clement; Paul's letters to and from Seneca; Gospels by Peter, Thomas, and Philip; Jesus' correspondence with Abgar, letters by Peter and Paul in the New Testament--all forgeries. To cite just a few examples. Forgery and Counterforgery is the first comprehensive study of early Christian pseudepigrapha ever produced in English...

Aidan Nichols' timely book is the first full-scale investigation of Joseph Ratzinger's theology, from the 1950s to the present day. It presents a chronological account of the development of Ratzinger's writing that reflects a wide range of historical and theoretical interests. A comprehensive introduction to a figure who is in his own right, quite apart from his significance in the politics of the Church, a major German Catholic theologian of the twentieth century.This new edition ...

From the beginning of his career, Swiss theologian Karl Barth (1886-1969) was often in conflict with the spirit of his times. While during the First World War German poets and philosophers became intoxicated by the experience of community and transcendence, Barth fought against all attempts to locate the divine in culture or individual sentiment. This freed him for a deep worldly engagement: he was known as "the red pastor," was the primary author of the founding document of the Confessing...

The classic work of Reformed theology by renowned theologian Herman BavinckIn partnership with the Dutch Reformed Translation Society, Baker Academic is proud to offer in English for the very first time the fourth and final volume of Herman Bavinck's complete Reformed Dogmatics, now also available as a four-volume set.This volume includes the combined indexes for all four volumes. In addition, editor John Bolt introduces each chapter and has enhanc...

How did Germany’s Christians respond to Nazism? In Twisted Cross, Doris Bergen addresses one important element of this response by focusing on the 600,000 self-described 'German Christians,' who sought to expunge all Jewish elements from the Christian church. In a process that became more daring as Nazi plans for genocide unfolded, this group of Protestant lay people and clergy rejected the Old Testament, ousted people defined as non-Aryans from their congregations, denied the Jew...

Worship is at the heart of the Christian faith. This applies equally to all denominations. For that reason it is all the more important that the ordering of worship and its place in the life of the church is regularly rewritten and reinterpreted. This volume—based on the third, completely revised German edition from 2013 by two of the foremost liturgical scholars in Germany—offers a contemporary, comprehensive introduction to the foundations for the study of liturgy today, one from which s...

If there was one person who could be said to light the touch-paper for the epochal transformation of European religion and culture that we now call the Reformation, it was Martin Luther. And Luther and his followers were to play a central role in the Protestant world that was to emerge from the Reformation process, both in Germany and the wider world. In all senses of the term, this religious pioneer was a huge figure in European history. Yet there is also the very uncomfortable but at the...

The Anabaptist Vision, given as a presidential address before the American Society of Church History in 1943, has become a classic essay. In it, Harold S. Bender defines the spirit and purposes of the original Anabaptists. Three major points of emphasis are: the transformation of the entire way of life of the individual to the teachings and example of Christ, voluntary church membership based upon conversion and commitment to holy living, and Christian love and nonresistance appli...

**Writings by and about an early leader in Anabaptism show how the movement coalesced around questions of community, nonviolence, and religious liberty.Both admirers and critics** have called Michael Sattler the most significant of the first-generation leaders of Anabaptism. This collection of documents by and about Sattler, with introductions and extensive notes, makes selected primary source material available in English for the use of students, pastors, teachers, and interested ...

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...