Alan PF Sell's Books

Confessing and Commending the Faith

Historic Witness and Apologetic Method

By: Alan P.F. Sell

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Confessing and Commending the Faith

Historic Witness and Apologetic Method

By: Alan P.F. Sell

Since Christianity is a way and not simply a theory, commending the faith to others is an activity in which every Christian participates. Confessing and Commending the Faith discusses the presuppositions which underlie the intellectual commendation of Christianity in the face of the philosophical challenges of the present day.Following his earlier books, John Locke and the Eighteenth-Century Divines and Philosophical Idealism and Christian Belief, Alan Sell proposes a way of proceeding with Christian apologetics in the twenty-first century. He discusses what Christians wish to proclaim, asks whether these claims are reasonable and examines what is involved in the intellectual commendation of the Christian faith.Confessing and Commending the Faith makes extensive use of the historical tradition of apologetics and brings this work to bear on contemporary questions such as the meaning, use and reference of religious language, and the question of transcendence in relation to history. Alan Sell argues that if the intellectual commendation of Christianity's claim to truth is to be viable, contemporary apologetics must draw upon reason, revelation and experience to do justice to Christianity's basic confession of Christ as Saviour and Lord.

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563

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Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published Date

ISBN 10

1597528722

ISBN 13

9781597528726

Nonconformist Theology in the Twentieth Century

By: Alan P.F. Sell

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Nonconformist Theology in the Twentieth Century

By: Alan P.F. Sell

This book is the first comprehensive study of the systematic, doctrinal, and constructive theology produced within the major Nonconformist traditions during the twentieth century. By the end of the nineteenth century, modern biblical critical methods were fairly widely adopted, evolutionary thought was in the air, and doctrinal modifications, especially concerning the fatherhood of God, were underway. Sell charts the influence on Nonconformist thinking in the twentieth century of the New Theology associated with R. J. Campbell, the First World War, the reception of Karl Barth, the theological excitement of the 1960s, and growing religious pluralism. The second lecture concerns the major Christian doctrines of God, Christ, the Holy Spirit, and the Trinity. Whereas in the early decades of the century there was considerable emphasis upon the atonement, during the concluding two decades the Trinity received more attention than had formerly been the case. In Lecture Three attention is directed to ecclesiological and ecumenical themes. The Nonconformists are presented as Protestant, and as displaying some zeal in propagating their particular understanding of the Church. The doctrinal aspects of their national and international moves toward inner-family unity and of their broader ecumenical relationships are considered. Eschatology is treated in the concluding lecture prior to Sell's assessment of the significance of twentieth-century Nonconformist theology, and his observations regarding its current state, its future content, and its practitioners.

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252

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Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published Date

ISBN 10

1725232022

ISBN 13

9781725232020

Testimony and Tradition

Studies in Reformed and Dissenting Thought

By: Alan P.F. Sell

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Testimony and Tradition

Studies in Reformed and Dissenting Thought

By: Alan P.F. Sell

Internationally recognised for his scholarship in the philosophy of religion and Christian Doctrine, and for his ecclesiastical connections as former Theological Secretary of the Geneva-based World Alliance of Reformed Churches, the Reformed theologian Alan Sell has an established reputation amongst theologians, church and intellectual historians, ecumenists, and ministers of religion. This collection of Alan Sell's work on the Reformed and Dissenting traditions - which includes the Presbyterian, Congregational and United Reformed Church - spans key doctrinal, philosophical, ethical, historical and ecumenical topics. The author illuminates central themes within the history and thought of the Reformed and Dissenting traditions including: the catholicity of the Church and danger of sectarianism, the importance of church meeting, the centrality of the Cross in Christian thought, the need for a viable Christian apologetic. Alan Sell also includes the only modern study of Henry Grove and papers on Andrew Fuller and P. T. Forsyth, in whose work there is currently a revival of interest. With growing interest world wide in the Reformed family, which is the third largest Christian world communion, this book offers an invaluable resource.

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363

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Routledge

Published Date

ISBN 10

1351148109

ISBN 13

9781351148108

Baptism, Peace and the State in the Reformed and Mennonite Traditions

By: Alan P. F. Sell

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Baptism, Peace and the State in the Reformed and Mennonite Traditions

By: Alan P. F. Sell

What are the most significant points at issue between the Reformed and Mennonite communions–Baptism, peace and church-state relations? Is there a way forward? In the hope that there may be, the contributors to this book attempt to clear the way to closer relations between Reformed and Mennonites by careful scholarly discussion of the traditionally disputed questions. The papers gathered here were presented at the second phase of the international dialogue between the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (Presbyterian and Congregational) and the Mennonite World Conference. There are Reformed and Mennonite studies of the topics, together with the responses of a philosopher of religions, a sociologist, a systematic theologian and a church historian. In the Introduction the dialogue is set in its historical and contemporary ecumenical context, and the Conclusion, drafted by the dialogue participants, has been forwarded to the two world bodies for their consideration and action. This important work will be relevant to all future scholarly research into the growing debate between Reformed and Mennonite communions.

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263

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Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0889208816

ISBN 13

9780889208810

Enlightenment, Ecumenism, Evangel

Theological Themes and Thinkers 1550-2000

By: Alan P.F. Sell

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Enlightenment, Ecumenism, Evangel

Theological Themes and Thinkers 1550-2000

By: Alan P.F. Sell

What is the Gospel, and how is it to be commended? This question encapsulates the running theme of this collection of papers. In five essays Professor Sell discusses some Puritans, Cambridge Platonists, Quakers, and critics of deism and pantheism who sought to articulate the Gospel in the intellectual environment in which they had been set. Their underlying concerns are of continuing relevance in current ecumenical discussion, as are questions of doctrinal change and development, the subjects of two further papers. A paper on spirituality echoes some of the concerns of the Separatists, Platonists, and Quakers, but views them in relation to the widespread interest in the topic at the present time. Two papers concern the ways in which the Gospel is shared in ecumenical circles, with special reference to the Holy Spirit, ecclesiology, and the Reformed contribution to interconfessional discussion. A bibliographical survey of Reformed theology in twentieth-century Britain shows the range of interest within one ecclesiastical tradition, while such wider issues as contextual theology, inclusivism, and the peril of sectarianism are discussed in a further paper. The book concludes with an attempt to answer the question, what is involved in proclaiming the Gospel of reconciliation today?

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449

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Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published Date

ISBN 10

1597527440

ISBN 13

9781597527446

Philosophy, Dissent and Nonconformity, 1689-1920

By: Alan P.F. Sell

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Philosophy, Dissent and Nonconformity, 1689-1920

By: Alan P.F. Sell

This is a pioneering study of philosophy in the English and Welsh Dissenting academies and Nonconformist theological colleges from the Toleration Act of 1689 to 1920. The author discusses the place of philosophy in the curriculum and the philosophical works published by tutors, professors, and alumni, among them Isaac Watts, Henry Grove, Richard Price, James Martineau, and Robert Mackintosh. It is shown that particular attention was paid to natural theology, moral philosophy, and apologetics, and some of the ideas propounded are of continuing interest. This important book will interest historians of philosophy, of the Church, and of education.

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297

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Wipf and Stock Publishers

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ISBN 10

1608991016

ISBN 13

9781608991013

Mill on God

The Pervasiveness and Elusiveness of Mill's Religious Thought

By: Alan P.F. Sell

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Mill on God

The Pervasiveness and Elusiveness of Mill's Religious Thought

By: Alan P.F. Sell

Endorsements: "Mill on God is Professor Sell's latest impressive study in a long list of substantial theological writings, and historical and philosophical works on religion. Drawing upon several of Mill's classic philosophical texts, his posthumous publications on religion, and a range of informal communications, Sell has produced easily the best available introduction to Mill's religious thought, the intellectual context of his religious views, and the reception of his ideas and arguments. This combative and elegant work of historical and philosophical interpretation teases out the important ambiguities and tensions in Mill's thoughts, and amply demonstrates the centrality of his concern with religion." --James E. Crimmins, International Academic Advisor and Professor of Political Science, Huron University College, Canada Author Biography: Alan P. F. Sell, a philosopher-theologian and ecumenist, is employed in research, writing, and lecturing in the United Kingdom and abroad. He has held academic posts in England, Canada, and Wales, and ecclesiastical posts in England and Geneva. He is the author or editor of over thirty books, of which the most recent are Convinced, Concise and Christian: The Thought of Huw Parri Owen (Pickwick Publications, 2012) and Christ and Controversy: The Person of Christ in Nonconformist Thought and Ecclesial Experience (Pickwick Publications, 2012).

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211

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Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published Date

ISBN 10

1620324237

ISBN 13

9781620324233

A Reformed, Evangelical, Catholic Theology

The Contribution of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, 1875-1982

By: Alan P.F. Sell

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A Reformed, Evangelical, Catholic Theology

The Contribution of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, 1875-1982

By: Alan P.F. Sell

The story of twentieth century theology remains incomplete, writes author Sell, if due attention is not paid to the Christian ecumenical bodies and their theological work. He has therefore compiled this theological history of the World Alliance of Churches - the first detailed analysis of the theological contribution of any major Christian world communions.

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314

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Wipf and Stock Publishers

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ISBN 10

1725207117

ISBN 13

9781725207110

Hinterland Theology

A Stimulus to Theological Construction

By: Alan P.F. Sell

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Hinterland Theology

A Stimulus to Theological Construction

By: Alan P.F. Sell

Alan Sell maintains that systematic and constructive theology are best understood as the product of a conversation with the biblical writers, the heritage of Christian thought and the current intellectual environment. The conversation will benefit if the voices of hinterland writers are heard as well as those of the theological and philosophical 'giants'. In this book ten hinterland theologians associated with English Dissent are introduced and their writings are discussed. Thomas Ridgley, Abraham Taylor and Samuel Chandler wrote in the wake of the Toleration Act of 1689; George Payne and Richard Alliott responded to the Enlightenment and the Evangelical Revival; D. W. Simon, T. Vincent Tymms and Walter F. Adeney took account of modern biblical criticism, and Robert S. Franks and Charles S. Duthie respectively lived through and followed the heyday of liberal theology. The study reveals both adjustments and time-lags in theology, and shows how hinterland theologians can stimulate the ongoing conversation concerning theological method, philosophico-theological relations, the Trinity, the atonement and ecumenism.

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732

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Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published Date

ISBN 10

1606083104

ISBN 13

9781606083109

John Locke and the Eighteenth-Century Divines

By: Alan P.F. Sell

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John Locke and the Eighteenth-Century Divines

By: Alan P.F. Sell

Where Christian apologetics are concerned, is Locke to be endorsed, repaired, modified, or forsaken?' The diverse answers given to this question by the eighteenth-century divines form the complex subject of this book, which offers the first detailed account of his influence upon the religious thinkers of the eighteenth century. The work is based upon a thorough search of relevant materials, many of them scarce and widely dispersed. But the question is still relevant three centuries after Locke's death, and Professor Sell's objective in this volume is not only historical. From this study of the reception of Locke by the divines there emerge pressing questions about method, reason, faith, revelation, and authority which need to be addressed by those who would attempt Christian apologetics as Christianity's third millennium approaches. Although this book stands in its own right, it can also be read as a companion volume to the author's Philosophical Idealism and Christian Belief (University of Wales Press, 1995). Together, the two books represent soundings taken in important Enlightenment and post-Enlightenment intellectual traditions. The question whether an apologetic method may be found which avoids the pitfalls exposed both by the examination of Locke and the idealists, and which circumvents latter-day embargoes upon Christian apologetics, will be addressed in a third and final volume.

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457

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Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published Date

ISBN 10

1597528714

ISBN 13

9781597528719

Aspects of Christian Integrity

By: Alan P.F. Sell

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Aspects of Christian Integrity

By: Alan P.F. Sell

Integrity means both honesty and wholeness. Alan Sell examines this concept by posing some searching questions: Is Christian thought an intruder in secular education? How are crucial Christian doctrines to be held together? On what grounds should churches address ethical issues? Does Christian disunity deny the gospel? Is Christian mission justifiable in a pluralistic world? How can local churches become better centers of pastoral integrity? Sell addresses each of these important issues in separate chapters of this scholarly yet readable book.

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171

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Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published Date

ISBN 10

1579101151

ISBN 13

9781579101152

Four Philosophical Anglicans

W. G. DeBurgh, W. R. Matthews, O. C. Quick, H. A. Hodges

By: Alan P.F. Sell

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Four Philosophical Anglicans

W. G. DeBurgh, W. R. Matthews, O. C. Quick, H. A. Hodges

By: Alan P.F. Sell

Alan Sell explores the lives and ideas of four unjustly neglected Anglican philosophers: W. G. De Burgh (1866-1943); W. R. Matthews (1881-1973); 0. C. Quick (1885-1944); H. A. Hodges (1905-1976). This study fills an important gap in the history of twentieth-century philosophical and theological thought. Sell argues that these writers covered a wide range of philosophical topics in an illuminating way, and that a comparison of their respective standpoints and methods is instructive from the point of view of the viability or otherwise of Christian philosophizing. He discusses the challenges these four philosophical Anglicans issued to certain important trends in the philosophy and theology of their day, and argues that some of them are of continuing relevance.

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340

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Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published Date

ISBN 10

1725235404

ISBN 13

9781725235403

Christ and Controversy

The Person of Christ in Nonconformist Thought and Ecclesial Experience, 1600-2000

By: Alan P.F. Sell

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Christ and Controversy

The Person of Christ in Nonconformist Thought and Ecclesial Experience, 1600-2000

By: Alan P.F. Sell

What may happen when Christians take doctrine seriously? One possible answer is that the shape of churchly life "on the ground" can be significantly altered. This pioneering study is both an account of the doctrine of the person of Christ as it has been expounded by the theologians of historic English and Welsh Nonconformity, and an attempt to show that while many Nonconformists held classical orthodox views of the doctrine between 1600 and 2000, others advocated alternative understandings of Christ's person; hence the evolution of the ecclesial landscape as we have come to know it. The traditions here under review are those of Old Dissent: the Congregationalists, Baptists, Presbyterians and their Unitarian heirs; and the Calvinistic and Arminian Methodist bodies that owe their origin to the Evangelical Revival of the eighteenth century.

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231

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Wipf and Stock Publishers

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ISBN 10

161097669X

ISBN 13

9781610976695

Philosophical Idealism and Christian Belief

By: Alan P.F. Sell

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Philosophical Idealism and Christian Belief

By: Alan P.F. Sell

There is now renewed and growing interest in post-Hegelian idealism, which was in its heyday at the end of the nineteenth century. This book is concerned with the religious and socio-ethical aspects in the writings of selected idealists. It addresses the question: was post-Hegelian philosophical idealism, in its friendliest guise, more a help than a hindrance to the expression of Christian convictions and the articulation of Christian doctrines? In pursuit of an answer, the author discusses the writings of seven British idealists who, if not in every case entirely doctrinally orthodox, were by no means unkindly disposed towards the Christian faith: T. H. Green, Edward Caird, J. R. Illingworth, Henry Jones, A. S. Pringle-Pattison, C. C. J. Webb, and A. E. Taylor. The book opens with an account of the formative intellectual influences upon the seven idealists and their consequent philosophical positions. There follow chapters on God, ethics and society, and Christian doctrine. The conclusion passes some positive and negative judgments upon post-Hegelian idealism in so far as it bears upon, or expresses, Christian belief. It also broaches the underlying question of the method of Christian thought vis ^ vis the general intellectual environment.

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349

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Wipf and Stock Publishers

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ISBN 10

1597528706

ISBN 13

9781597528702

Church Planting

A Study of Westmoreland Nonconformity

By: Alan P.F. Sell

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Church Planting

A Study of Westmoreland Nonconformity

By: Alan P.F. Sell

Though small in area, the old county of Westmorland was home to numerous nonconformist groups. In this comprehensive account of these movements, reference is made to Quaker origins; to the older Dissent, both Independent and Presbyterian (and thence Unitarian); to the Inghamites and the Sandemanians: to the visits to the county of Fox, Nayler, Ingham, Whitefield, Wesley, and Woolman; to the coming of the Baptists; and to such later developments as Primitive and United Methodism, the Evangelical Union, the Brethren, and the Pentecostals.

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189

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Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published Date

ISBN 10

1579101275

ISBN 13

9781579101275

Philosophy, History, and Theology

Selected Reviews 1975–2011

By: Alan P.F. Sell

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Philosophy, History, and Theology

Selected Reviews 1975–2011

By: Alan P.F. Sell

Alan Sell here presents a selection of his wide-ranging, informative, and entertaining reviews. Among philosophical themes discussed are Locke and the Enlightenment, Richard Price, John Stuart Mill, philosophical idealism, and analytical philosophy of education and of religion. Historical studies run from the Middle Ages onwards, and encompass English, Welsh, and Scottish Nonconformity, the Evangelical Revival, the Oxford Movement, theological education, American Reformed thinkers, the crisis of belief and the Social Gospel in Canada, and evangelical and liberal theology. Theological topics include Origen, Calvin, and Dutch Reformed thinkers, American Baptists, Mercersburg Theology, Scottish theology, liberation theology, assurance, the atonement, ecclesiology, ecumenism, art and theology, Christian ethics, worship and spirituality.

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478

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Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published Date

ISBN 10

1630877905

ISBN 13

9781630877903

The Philosophy of Religion 1875-1980

By: Alan P.F. Sell

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The Philosophy of Religion 1875-1980

By: Alan P.F. Sell

This volume provides an overview of the relation between secular philosophy and philosophical theology over a one-hundred-year period. Beginning with idealism, the study proceeds through the rise of realism, the advent of logical positivism, the development of analytical philosophy, the resurgence of scholasticism and existentialism, the contributions of encounter theology and of process thought, to specific questions of the existence of God and religious language.

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261

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Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published Date

ISBN 10

1620324261

ISBN 13

9781620324264

One Ministry, Many Ministers

A Case Study from the Reformed Tradition

By: Alan P.F. Sell

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One Ministry, Many Ministers

A Case Study from the Reformed Tradition

By: Alan P.F. Sell

The heart of this book is the claim that the one church catholic comprises all who, on the ground of Christ's saving work, are called and gathered by God the Holy Spirit into a fellowship whose only Head is Christ himself; and that all thus called are granted the high privilege of sharing in a variety of ways in the one ministry of Christ. This is the vision of the Reformed churches past and present. Alan Sell argues that far from being a parochial enquiry, the nature of the ministry and the work and education of all the ministers are issues as relevant to the life and practice of particular local churches as they are to ecumenical discussions between the several Christian world communions.

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150

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Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published Date

ISBN 10

1630875503

ISBN 13

9781630875503

Exploitation

By: Alan Wertheimer

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Exploitation

By: Alan Wertheimer

With this volume, Professor Wertheimer discusses when a transaction can be properly regarded as exploitative - as opposed to some other moral deficiency - and explores the moral weight of taking unfair advantage.

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336

Publisher

Princeton University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0691019479

ISBN 13

9780691019475

The Theological Education of the Ministry

Soundings in the British Reformed and Dissenting Traditions

By: Alan P.F. Sell

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The Theological Education of the Ministry

Soundings in the British Reformed and Dissenting Traditions

By: Alan P.F. Sell

Unwilling on conscientious grounds to submit to the religious tests imposed by the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, the English and Welsh Dissenters of the second half of the seventeenth century established academies in which their young men, many of them destined for the ministry, might receive a higher education. From the eighteenth century onwards, theological colleges devoted exclusively to ministerial education were founded, while in Scotland historically, and in England and Wales over the past 120 years, freestanding university faculties of divinity/theology have provided theological education to ordinands and others. These diverse educational contexts are all represented in this collection of papers, but the focus is upon those who taught in them: Caleb Ashworth (Daventry Academy); John Oman (Westminster [Presbyterian] College Cambridge); N. H. G. Robinson (University of St. Andrews); Geoffrey F. Nuttall (New [Congregational] College, London); T. W. Manson (University of Manchester); Owen Evans (University of Manchester and Hartley Victoria Methodist College)--the lone Methodist scholar discussed here; and W. Gordon Robinson and J. H. Eric Hull (University of Manchester and Lancashire Independent College). Between them these scholars covered the core disciplines of theological education: biblical studies, ecclesiastical history, philosophy, doctrine, and systematic theology.

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385

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Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published Date

ISBN 10

1621896781

ISBN 13

9781621896784

Confessing the Faith Yesterday and Today

Essays Reformed, Dissenting, and Catholic

By: Alan P.F. Sell

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Confessing the Faith Yesterday and Today

Essays Reformed, Dissenting, and Catholic

By: Alan P.F. Sell

Can Christians be spiritual and religious? Do they even know the difference between the two? Through a guide for guardian angels entering into basic training for service to "womankind," Bound, an Earth Walker's handbook overhauls Western Christianity with integrity and clarity.

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