Announcing the newest release in our well-received Popular Encyclopedia series—The Popular Encyclopedia of Church History, an ideal resource for anyone who want a clear, user-friendly guide to understanding the key people, places, and events that shaped Christianity. General editors Ed Hindson and Dan Mitchell have extensive experience with producing reference works that combine expert scholarship and popular accessibility. Together with a broad range of well-qualified contributors, they have put together what is sure to become a standard must-have for both Bible teachers and students. With nearly 300 articles across 400 pages, readers will enjoy... a comprehensive panorama of church history from Acts 2 to today a clear presentation of how the church and its teachings have developed concise biographies of major Christian figures and their contributions fascinating overviews of key turning points in church history This valuable resource will enrich believers’ appreciation for the wonderful heritage behind their Christian faith.

Did the Labour Party, in Morgan Phillips' famous phrase, owe 'more to Methodism than Marx'? Were the founding fathers of the party nurtured in the chapels of Nonconformity and shaped by their emphases on liberty, conscience and the value of every human being in the eyes of God? How did the Free Churches, traditionally allied to the Liberal Party, react to the growing importance of the Labour Party between the wars? This book addresses these questions at a range of levels: including organisation; rhetoric; policies and ideals; and electoral politics. It is shown that the distinctive religious setting in which Labour emerged indeed helps to explain the differences between it and more Marxist counterparts on the Continent, and that this setting continued to influence Labour approaches towards welfare, nationalisation and industrial relations between the wars. In the process Labour also adopted some of the righteousness of tone of the Free Churches. This setting was, however, changing. Dropping their traditional suspicion of the State, Nonconformists instead increasingly invested it with religious values, helping to turn it through its growing welfare functions into the provider of practical Christianity. This nationalisation of religion continues to shape British attitudes to the welfare state as well as imposing narrowly utilitarian and material tests of relevance upon the churches and other social institutions. The elevation of the State was not, however, intended as an end in itself. What mattered were the social and individual outcomes. Socialism, for those Free Churchmen and women who helped to shape Labour in the early twentieth century, was about improving society as much as systems.

"The more I listen to people, the more I lecture, the more I realize how wide is the gap between the people's understanding of the Church and the Church's historical realities." [Introduction] The author seeks to close this gap by critically exploring such areas as: the rich variety of ministries in the early Church; the Crusades; the piety of the Middle Ages; the challenge of the Reformation; the role of the pope; the rise, fall and recent reinstatement of the diaconate; the changing role of women in the Church; and the origins of various liturgies and popular devotions.

The Catholic Church: A Brief Popular History is an engaging and informative survey of the major people, periods and events in Church history. Designed with the introductory student in mind, the text is both accessible and thorough. An engaging vignette opens each chapter, drawing the reader in by encouraging a personal connection to the people of the time. A chapter overview then signals the material to follow. Throughout the text, sidebars highlight key persons and events, excerpts from primary sources enrich the reading, connections with the Church today add relevance, and end-of-chapter questions prompt reflection and review. Altogether, The Catholic Church: A Brief Popular History provides a solid foundation in major theological themes and prepares students for further study.