In the Reformed tradition, the Lord's Supper is a sacrament that draws on a rich and deep tradition in its theology and practice. In this new volume in the Columbia Series in Reformed Theology, John Riggs provides a comprehensive overview of the most important Reformed theologians and confessions on the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. Riggs identifies the theology of true mystical union with Christ in the Supper as both a theological legacy the Reformed tradition inherited and a th...
With its focus on the traditions and communities that form us over the course of a lifetime, virtue ethics has richly expanded our understanding of what the Christian life can look like. Yet its emphasis on human virtues and habits of mind and life seems inconsistent with the Reformed tradition's insistence that sin lies at the heart of the human condition. For this reason, virtue ethics seems out of place in Reformed theology, especially in the company of the Reformed tradition's g...
The Heidelberg Catechism, first approved in 1563, is a confessional document of the Protestant movement considered one of the most ecumenical of the confessions. Published to coincide with the catechism's 450th anniversary, this book explores the Heidelberg Catechism in its historical setting and emphasizes the catechism's integration of Lutheran and Reformed traditions in all of its major doctrines. An appendix contains a translation of the Heidelberg Catechism recently prepare...
***Available April 2012.***This book offers the first English translation of Friedrich Schleiermacher's "On the Doctrine of Election" (1819), a historic and influential essay published just before the first edition of Schleiermacher's magisterial systematic theology: The Christian Faith. In this essay, Schleiermacher develops a view of election as consisting of a single divine decree of both election and rejection that embraces all humanity--a theological development that became ba...
This book is a collection of essays by thirteen feminist and womanist authors who locate themselves within the Reformed tradition. Topics explored include: the Trinity, creation, election, atonement, the church, fear, resistance, and vocation. This book will be of great interest to scholars and students interested in feminist theology.The Columbia Series in Reformed Theology represents a joint commitment by Columbia Theological Seminary and Westminster John Knox Press to provide the...
This premier work considers the development of the doctrine of baptism in the Reformed tradition. John Riggs studies the major early Reformers, concentrating on Calvin's views, and then traces the development of the doctrine through the Reformed Confessions, Reformed Orthodoxy, and into Schleiermacher's thought. Twentieth-century debates are discussed as they illuminate earlier tensions and differing views from the past.
Here Adam Neder offers an exploration of the concept of "participation in Christ" in Karl Barth's Church Dogmatics and what it means for understanding Christian faith. He clarifies Barth's claim that humanity as a whole, and human beings individually, participate in Jesus Christ--revelation, election, creation, reconciliation, and redemption all take place in Christ; and their meaning may only be comprehended in Christ. In these acts of inclusion and realization, the creature is inc...
In 1923, Karl Barth delivered a series of lectures, offering his theological commentary on the Reformed confessions. These lectures are collected here, allowing readers rare insights into the mind of a great theologian.The Columbia Series in Reformed Theology represents a joint commitment by Columbia Theological Seminary and Westminster John Knox Press to provide theological resources from the Reformed tradition for the church today. This series examines theological and ethical issu...
All Things New presents a study of Schleiermacher's important but sometimes misunderstood Christian Ethics. Brandt places Schleiermacher's ethics in the context of his life, illuminates its main themes, and corrects some common misperceptions about Schleiermacher and his work. He argues that Schleiermacher's ethical concerns helped to make him truly a "Reformed" theologian. All Things New also shows Schleiermacher to be more than an "academic theologian," but rather one who was a c...
In this volume, the internationally respected theologian Jan Rohls chronicles the dynamic tradition of Reformed confessions of faith from the sixteenth century through the first third of the twentieth century. He discusses theological themes and positions that have informed both the tradition in its entirety and also particular confessions, concluding with the Theological Declaration of Barmen in 1934. An introduction by Jack L. Stotts discusses Reformed confessions since Barmen.The...
John Calvin's first catechism--originally written in French in 1537 and then in Latin in 1538--provides a valuable, clear, and concise introduction to his thought. Now for the first time, readers have available Ford Lewis Battles' English translation of the 1538 Latin edition and a current discussion of it in the same volume. This commentary on the first catechism also utilizes other sources such as Calvin's Commentaries and Institutes, as well as the latest Calvin research. This v...
While the effects of historical criticism on theology in the modern period have been well documented, their implications for modern preaching have been largely ignored. Dawn DeVries examines the content of and reasoning behind the preaching on the Synoptic Gospels by John Calvin and Friedrich Schleiermacher in order to ascertain their responses to the historical Jesus. By doing so, DeVries demonstrates that the shifting of emphasis in modern preaching from the miraculous aspects of ...
Throughout the years, biographers have depicted John Calvin in manifold ways. Serene Jones takes a fresh look at Calvin as she draws a compelling portrait of Calvin as artist, engaged in the classical art of rhetoric. According to Jones, this art was used knowingly and skillfully by Calvin to persuade and challenge his diverse audiences. Jones offers a rhetorical reading of the first three chapters of Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion. What emerges is a truly original in...
John Calvin's reading of the Old Testament was a departure from that of many of his contemporaries. He rejected much of the traditional Christian exegesis of the Old Testament that attempted to to explain it in terms of the New Testament revelation of Christ. He also rejected much of the traditional Jewish exegesis of the Old Testament that favored a more so-called historical approach to the writings. Instead he offered a middle way to interpret the Old Testament scripture with respe...
This fascinating volume explores the mystical strand of thought that exists in the writings of John Calvin. Dennis Tamburello explores in particular the relationship between Calvin's notion of "union with Christ" and notions of the mystical union between believers and Christ that were prominent in the medieval period as explicated in the writings of St. Bernard of Clairvaux.The Columbia Series in Reformed Theology represents a joint commitment by Columbia Theological Seminary and We...
Moving beyond traditional ways of reading Karl Barth, William Stacy Johnson proposes an approach that makes Barth relevant for the postmodern period. Recognizing Barth's insight that God is mystery, he suggests that theology is best seen not as a restating of old orthodoxies but as an ongoing response to that divine mystery. Johnson's reassessment of Barth opens exciting possibilities for a new appropriation of Barth's insights for contemporary theology and the church.The Columbia S...
