Contesting Orthodoxies in the History of Christianity
Published on 10. September 2021
Book
Hardback
392 pages
978-1-78327-627-1 (ISBN)
Description
Examines the pursuit of orthodoxy, and its consequences for the history of Christianity.
Christianity is a hugely diverse and quarrelsome family of faiths, but most Christians have nevertheless set great store by orthodoxy - literally, 'right opinion' - even if they cannot agree what that orthodoxy should be. The notion that there is a 'catholic', or universal, Christian faith - that which, according to the famous fifth-century formula, has been believed everywhere, at all times and by all people - is itself an act of faith: to reconcile it with the historical fact of persistent division and plurality requires a constant effort. It also requires a variety of strategies, from confrontation and exclusion, through deliberate choices as to what is forgotten or ignored, to creative or even indulgent inclusion. In this volume, seventeen leading historians of Christianity ask how the ideal of unity has clashed, negotiated, reconciled or coexisted with the historical reality of diversity, in a range of historical settings from the early Church through the Reformation era to the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. These essays hold the huge variety of the Christian experience together with the ideal of orthodoxy, which Christians have never (yet) fully attained but for which they have always striven; and they trace some of the consequences of the pursuit of that ideal for the history of Christianity.
Christianity is a hugely diverse and quarrelsome family of faiths, but most Christians have nevertheless set great store by orthodoxy - literally, 'right opinion' - even if they cannot agree what that orthodoxy should be. The notion that there is a 'catholic', or universal, Christian faith - that which, according to the famous fifth-century formula, has been believed everywhere, at all times and by all people - is itself an act of faith: to reconcile it with the historical fact of persistent division and plurality requires a constant effort. It also requires a variety of strategies, from confrontation and exclusion, through deliberate choices as to what is forgotten or ignored, to creative or even indulgent inclusion. In this volume, seventeen leading historians of Christianity ask how the ideal of unity has clashed, negotiated, reconciled or coexisted with the historical reality of diversity, in a range of historical settings from the early Church through the Reformation era to the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. These essays hold the huge variety of the Christian experience together with the ideal of orthodoxy, which Christians have never (yet) fully attained but for which they have always striven; and they trace some of the consequences of the pursuit of that ideal for the history of Christianity.
Reviews / Votes
This is a fine collection of essays, alive with provocative reflections, all centred on the threefold theme of 'the making, breaking and enduring of orthodoxies'. Readers will gain nourishment here and not be disappointed. -- CONGREGATIONAL HISTORY SOCIETY MAGAZINEMore details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Woodbridge
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Boydell & Brewer Ltd
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Cloth over boards
Illustrations
6 b/w illus.
Dimensions
Height: 240 mm
Width: 161 mm
Thickness: 26 mm
Weight
752 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-78327-627-1 (9781783276271)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Unknown | Ellie Gebarowski-Shafer | Ashley Null
Contesting Orthodoxies in the History of Christianity
E-Book
09/2021
1st Edition
Boydell & Brewer Ltd
€72.99
Available for download
Ellie Gebarowski-Shafer | Ashley Null | Alec Ryrie
Contesting Orthodoxies in the History of Christianity
The Rise of Nonregular Workers and the New Policy Dissensus
E-Book
09/2021
1st Edition
De Gruyter
€72.99
Available for download
Persons
ELLIE GEBAROWSKI-SHAFER is the author of numerous articles and book chapters on the history of Christianity. She now works in the legal field in Rutland, Vermont (USA), registered as a law clerk in Vermont's Law Office Study Program. ASHLEY NULL is a visiting fellow at the Divinity Faculty of Cambridge University and St. John's College, Durham University. ALEC RYRIE is Professor of the History of Christianity at Durham University. MICHAEL SNAPE is Michael Ramsey Professor of Anglican Studies at Durham University. ELLIE GEBAROWSKI-SHAFER is the author of numerous articles and book chapters on the history of Christianity. She now works in the legal field in Rutland, Vermont (USA), registered as a law clerk in Vermont's Law Office Study Program. ASHLEY NULL is a visiting fellow at the Divinity Faculty of Cambridge University and St. John's College, Durham University. ALEC RYRIE is Professor of the History of Christianity at Durham University.
Content
1. 'Jewish Christianity' in antiquity: meaningless category or heuristic irritant?
James Carleton Paget
2. 'Sola Fide': The Wrong Slogan?
Morna D. Hooker
3. Both Cromwellian and Augustinian: The influence of Thomas Cromwell on reform within the early modern English Austin Friars
Anik Laferriere
4. Lex, Rex, and Sex: The Bigamy of Philipp of Hesse and the Lutheran Recourse to Natural Law
Korey D. Maas
5. The Authority of Scripture in Reformation Anglicanism: Then and Now
Ashley Null
6. Orthodoxy and Heresy in the Post-Reformation
Euan Cameron
7. Profanity and Piety in the Church Porch: The Place of Transgression in Early Modern England
Ethan Shagan
8. Writing on the Walls: Word and Image in the Post-Reformation English Church
Felicity Heal
9. The Myth of the Church of England
Alec Ryrie
10. Mysticism, orthodoxy and Reformed identity before the English Revolution: the case of John Everard
Sarah Apetrei
11. Sacrilege and the Sacred in England's Second Reformation, 1640-1660
Judith Maltby
12. 'I had not the patience to be quiet': Arthur Bury and The Naked Gospel
Alison Dight
13. 'A Soul-Corrupting Indifferentism': The Intellectual Development of Benjamin Henry Latrobe
Jonathan Yonan
14. Newman, Dogma and Freedom in the Church
Eamon Duffy
15. 'Tommy, 'ow's yer soul?' Reconsidering Religion and the British Soldier
Michael Snape
16. King James Vulgate
Ellie Gabarowski-Shafer
17. The Myth of the Anglican Communion?
Hannah Cleugh
James Carleton Paget
2. 'Sola Fide': The Wrong Slogan?
Morna D. Hooker
3. Both Cromwellian and Augustinian: The influence of Thomas Cromwell on reform within the early modern English Austin Friars
Anik Laferriere
4. Lex, Rex, and Sex: The Bigamy of Philipp of Hesse and the Lutheran Recourse to Natural Law
Korey D. Maas
5. The Authority of Scripture in Reformation Anglicanism: Then and Now
Ashley Null
6. Orthodoxy and Heresy in the Post-Reformation
Euan Cameron
7. Profanity and Piety in the Church Porch: The Place of Transgression in Early Modern England
Ethan Shagan
8. Writing on the Walls: Word and Image in the Post-Reformation English Church
Felicity Heal
9. The Myth of the Church of England
Alec Ryrie
10. Mysticism, orthodoxy and Reformed identity before the English Revolution: the case of John Everard
Sarah Apetrei
11. Sacrilege and the Sacred in England's Second Reformation, 1640-1660
Judith Maltby
12. 'I had not the patience to be quiet': Arthur Bury and The Naked Gospel
Alison Dight
13. 'A Soul-Corrupting Indifferentism': The Intellectual Development of Benjamin Henry Latrobe
Jonathan Yonan
14. Newman, Dogma and Freedom in the Church
Eamon Duffy
15. 'Tommy, 'ow's yer soul?' Reconsidering Religion and the British Soldier
Michael Snape
16. King James Vulgate
Ellie Gabarowski-Shafer
17. The Myth of the Anglican Communion?
Hannah Cleugh