Provides an introduction to Martin Luther's thought. This book shows how Luther enjoyed using humour in his interpretation of the Bible, his pastoral relationships and his encounters with death. It reveals that humour in the face of mortality is an indication of human freedom, a way of making life a divine comedy.
Popular Piety and the Manuscript Arts in Early Pennsylvania
Examines the history of Fraktur (illuminated religious manuscripts created and used by Pennsylvania Germans in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries) and explores its role in early American popular piety and devotional culture.
Divine Grace and Human Agency in Martin Luther's Preaching
Many scholars assume that Luther views Christian life as one without agency, where humans are mere instruments through which God works to serve their neighbors. However, Justin Nickel examines the rhetoric of Luther's sermons to argue that Luther thinks Christians have real, if secondary, agency in their lives.
Torbjorg (Thea) Nilsdatter Ronning (1865-1898), was born on a farm outside the town of Bo in Telemark, Norway. Thea and her two brothers, Nils Nilson and Halvor Nilson, immigrated to America in the 1880s. All three distinguished themselves in God's service. Nils and Halvor were well known in their new land. But not their sister. Thea Ronning had a ......
Rather than asking if theology is theoretical or practical -- a question that reveals a fundamental lack of understanding about the nature of theology in general -- it is better to ask "What exactly is theology?" It is this question that Oswald Bayer attempts to answer in Theology the Lutheran Way.
Martin Luther posted his Ninety-five Theses on the church door at Wittenberg in 1517. In the three years that followed, Luther clarified and defended his position in numerous writings. Chief among these are the three treatises written in 1520. In these writings Luther tried to frame his ideas in terms that would be comprehensible not only to the ......
A Brief Overview of the Life and Writings of Paul Tillich
Paul Tillich exercised a major influence on twentieth century Christian thought. In this brief introduction to his work, Dr. Daniel Peterson makes the case for Tillich's broader relevance again as a theologian who can take us beyond the extremes of fundamentalist religion and empty skepticism to a deeper religious faith or spiritual path open to ......
With great clarity and insight, James M. Estes illuminates Luther's call to secular authorities to help with the reform of the church in this important 1520 treatise. To combat Rome's intransigent opposition to reform of any sort, Luther appealed to secular rulers to intervene and clear the way for ecclesiastical reform.
