The period from Thomas Aquinas to Duns Scotus is one of the richest in the history of Christian theology. Cross aims to provide a thorough examination of the doctrine in this era, making explicit its
To be convicted of a crime in the United States, a person must be proven guilty ?beyond a reasonable doubt.” But what is reasonable doubt? Even sophisticated legal experts find this fundamental doctrine difficult to explain. In this accessible book, James Q. Whitman digs deep into the history of the law and discovers that we have lost sight of the original purpose of ?reasonable doubt.” It was not originally a legal rule at all, he shows, but a theological one.The rule as we understand it today is intended to protect the accused. But Whitman traces its history back through centuries of Christian theology and common-law history to reveal that the original concern was to protect the souls of jurors. In Christian tradition, a person who experienced doubt yet convicted an innocent defendant was guilty of a mortal sin. Jurors fearful for their own souls were reassured that they were safe, as long as their doubts were not ?reasonable.” Today, the old rule of reasonable doubt survives, but it
To be convicted of a crime in the United States, a person must be proven guilty ?beyond a reasonable doubt.” But what is reasonable doubt? Even sophisticated legal experts find this fundamental doctrine difficult to explain. In this accessible book, James Q. Whitman digs deep into the history of the law and discovers that we have lost sight of the original purpose of ?reasonable doubt.” It was not originally a legal rule at all, he shows, but a theological one.?The rule as we understand it today is intended to protect the accused. But Whitman traces its history back through centuries of Christian theology and common-law history to reveal that the original concern was to protect the souls of jurors. In Christian tradition, a person who experienced doubt yet convicted an innocent defendant was guilty of a mortal sin. Jurors fearful for their own souls were reassured that they were safe, as long as their doubts were not ?reasonable.” Today, the old rule of reasonable doubt survives, but i
John Locke (1632–1704) is a central figure in the history of thought, and in liberal doctrine especially. This major study brings a range of his wider views to bear upon his political theory. Every political theorist has a vision, a view about the basic features of life and society, as well as technique which mediates this into propositions about politics. Locke's vision spanned questions concerning Christian worship, ethics, political economy, medicine, the human understanding, revealed theology and education. This study shows how the character of these wider concerns informed Two Treatises of Government, especially in respect of a view of divine teleology, and situated a distinctive view of politics which treated the state and the church in parallel terms.
John Locke (1632–1704) is a central figure in the history of thought, and in liberal doctrine especially. This major study brings a range of his wider views to bear upon his political theory. Every political theorist has a vision, a view about the basic features of life and society, as well as technique which mediates this into propositions about politics. Locke's vision spanned questions concerning Christian worship, ethics, political economy, medicine, the human understanding, revealed theology and education. This study shows how the character of these wider concerns informed Two Treatises of Government, especially in respect of a view of divine teleology, and situated a distinctive view of politics which treated the state and the church in parallel terms.
Cyril was bishop in Jerusalem from c350-351 AD until 386 AD. His writings are an important source for the history of early Christian doctrine. This book provides full English translations, with explan
Throughout church history, the book of Psalms has enjoyed wider use and acclaim than almost any other book of the Bible. Early Christians extolled it for its fullness of Christian doctrine, monks memo
This penultimate volume in Pelikan's acclaimed history of Christian doctrine—winner with Volume 3 of the Medieval Academy's prestigious Haskins Medal—encompasses the Reformation and the d
The twin sisters Agnes Lewis (1843–1926) and Margaret Gibson (1843–1920) were pioneering biblical scholars who became experts in a number of ancient languages. Travelling widely in the Middle East, they made several significant discoveries, including one of the earliest manuscripts of the four gospels in Syriac, the language believed to have been spoken by Jesus himself. Previously published as part of the Horae Semitica series, this first fascicule contains the third-century Syriac text of the Didascalia Apostolorum, edited by Gibson. Traditionally attributed to the apostles, the text is a treatise on Church law and doctrine, covering topics including church organisation, charity and forgiveness. Gibson described it as a 'potent instrument' used to gain the 'unquestioning obedience of the Christian people'. An important resource for the Syriac scholar, the edition also includes additional material from a variety of sources, and is of considerable significance to ecclesiastical history
Two names stand above all others in the history of the early Christian church: Augustine and Athanasius. The former was from the West and contended for the doctrine of grace against Roman moralism, wh
This Companion takes as its starting point the realization that Jesus of Nazareth cannot be studied purely as a subject of ancient history, 'a man like any other man'. History, literature, theology and the dynamic of a living, worldwide religious reality, all appropriately impinge on the study of Jesus. The two parts of the book roughly correspond to the interdependent tasks of historical description and critical and theological reflection. It incorporates the most up-to-date historical work on Jesus the Jew with the 'bigger issues' of critical method, the story of Christian faith and study, and Jesus in a global church and in the encounter with Judaism and Islam. Written by seventeen leading international scholars, the book encourages students of the historical Jesus to discover the vital contribution of theology, and students of doctrine to engage the Christ of faith as Jesus the first-century Jew.
This Companion takes as its starting point the realization that Jesus of Nazareth cannot be studied purely as a subject of ancient history, 'a man like any other man'. History, literature, theology and the dynamic of a living, worldwide religious reality, all appropriately impinge on the study of Jesus. The two parts of the book roughly correspond to the interdependent tasks of historical description and critical and theological reflection. It incorporates the most up-to-date historical work on Jesus the Jew with the 'bigger issues' of critical method, the story of Christian faith and study, and Jesus in a global church and in the encounter with Judaism and Islam. Written by seventeen leading international scholars, the book encourages students of the historical Jesus to discover the vital contribution of theology, and students of doctrine to engage the Christ of faith as Jesus the first-century Jew.
This is a definitive study of a major intellectual movement of nineteenth-century Spain. The 'harmonic rationalism' of the German Karl Christian Friedrich Krause (1781–1832), a philosophy dedicated to an ideal of universal brotherhood, had an unexpectedly powerful influence upon Spanish history, politics, education and literature in the late nineteenth century and beyond. Concerned primarily with the phase in which this all-embracing movement appears most homogeneous - between the revolution of 1854 and the early days of the Restoration - Professor López-Morillas clearly outlines the Krausist doctrine and its relevance to Spain, particularly in the contexts of attitudes towards Germany and France. Because of the failure of the Enlightenment to establish any real roots in Spain and the political repression that delayed and weakened the Romantic revolt, the Spanish intellectual and political climate of the time was receptive to a philosophy that combined rationalism and idealism with soc
Medieval western theologians considered the Johannine comma (1 John 5:7-8) the clearest biblical evidence for the Trinity. When Erasmus failed to find the comma in the Greek manuscripts he used for his New Testament edition, he omitted it. Accused of promoting Antitrinitarian heresy, Erasmus included the comma in his third edition (1522) after seeing it in a Greek codex from England, even though he suspected the manuscript's authenticity. The resulting disputes, involving leading theologians, philologists and controversialists such as Luther, Calvin, Sozzini, Milton, Newton, Bentley, Gibbon and Porson, touched not simply on philological questions, but also on matters of doctrine, morality, social order, and toleration. While the spuriousness of the Johannine comma was established by 1900, it has again assumed iconic status in recent attempts to defend biblical inerrancy amongst the Christian Right. A social history of the Johannine comma thus provides significant insights into the rece
Throughout the course of Byzantine history, Christian doctrine taught that angels have a powerful place in cosmology. It also taught that angels were immaterial, bodiless, invisible beings. But if tha
Examines the role of the doctrine of divine ideas in the theology of Thomas Aquinas. Traces the two versions of the doctrine from which he drew, Augustinian and Dionysian, from their roots in Plato an
A keen student of theology, August Friedrich Gfrörer (1803–61) became professor of history at the University of Freiburg and also sat as a representative in the Frankfurt parliament, agitating for the reunification of Protestantism and Catholicism. This three-volume work, published in 1838, may be regarded as marking the modern period in the Christian study of Judaism. Gfrörer was the first scholar who attempted to recount the history of Palestinian Judaism at the time of Jesus by using primary source material and without pursuing an obvious apologetic or polemic agenda. More than 2,000 pages in length, the work is a formidable scholarly achievement of lasting value in the field of religious studies. Volume 1 accounts for first-century Jewish education and scholarship, and discusses the doctrine of revelation. The author also addresses the Jewish understanding of God and of spirits, angels and demons.
John Cassian is a study of the fifth-century monk who was one of the founders of western monasticism. Christian monasticism flowered in Egypt during the fourth century. Cassias spent several years in Egypt and his writings are important evidence of the earliest period of monastic life. Later in life Cassian came to Provence and adapted the Egyptian ideals and methods for Latin use. The Benedictine Rule owes much to his influence. Benedictine monks still look back upon Cassian as an authority for their way of life. He was the first guide to the contemplative ideal in the history of western thought. Cassias questioned the doctrine of predestination taught by Augustine. Dr Chadwick shows how this argument gave him an ambiguous reputation in medieval history. The first edition of this book was published in 1950. It established itself as a contribution to the history of monasticism and to the origins of the contemplative ideal in Christianity. This is a reprint of the 1968 second edition in
