Assurance was a central issue for the eminent Scottish theologian-pastor Thomas Boston long before it emerged as a focal point of the theological debate in the Marrow Controversy. In The Marrow of Certainty, Chun Tse presents the first full-length study of Boston's theology of assurance in six dimensions: trinitarian, covenantal, Christological, soteriological, ecclesiastical, and sacramental. This work not only furnishes the first-ever intellectual biography of Boston in his Scottish context and controversies, but it also cross-studies the theology of the Marrow of Modern Divinity with Boston's notes. This research argues that Boston's doctrine of assurance centres on union and communion with Christ, the architectonic principle of his theology. The book challenges the common conception that Boston's theology merely follows Calvin, the Scots Confession, the Marrow, the Westminster Standards, and Scottish federalism. Boston, most strikingly, holds in tension assurance as intrinsic to faith—itself a gift from God's sovereignty in election—while insisting on self-examination as a human responsibility. This salient mark of his doctrine of assurance originates from his assertion that Christ died for the elect alone but all—elect or not—have the warrant to receive Christ. As such, assurance is, theologically, a divine gift and, pastorally, a human endeavour. Certainty is thus both extra nos and intra nos. Boston, this study reveals, has a potent and enduring power to speak on the perennial issue of assurance, rooted in the person of Christ, whom he considers as being the covenant itself.

Martyrs' Mirror examines the folklore of martyrdom among seventeenth-century New England Protestants, exploring how they imagined themselves within biblical and historical narratives of persecution. Memories of martyrdom, especially stories of the Protestants killed during the reign of Queen Mary in the mid-sixteenth century, were central to a model of holiness and political legitimacy. The colonists of early New England drew on this historical imagination in order to strengthen their authority in matters of religion during times of distress. By examining how the notions of persecution and martyrdom move in and out of the writing of the period, Adrian Chastain Weimer finds that the idea of the true church as a persecuted church infused colonial identity. Though contested, the martyrs formed a shared heritage, and fear of being labeled a persecutor, or even admiration for a cheerful sufferer, could serve to inspire religious tolerance. The sense of being persecuted also allowed colonists to avoid responsibility for aggression against Algonquian tribes. Surprisingly, those wishing to defend maltreated Christian Algonquians wrote their history as a continuation of the persecutions of the true church. This examination of the historical imagination of martyrdom contributes to our understanding of the meaning of suffering and holiness in English Protestant culture, of the significance of religious models to debates over political legitimacy, and of the cultural history of persecution and tolerance.

The identity of the Antichrist is a topic of hot debate today. Adding fuel to the flame of rampant speculation are voices saying the Antichrist might be a Muslim or a Jew—a view that respected Bible scholar and bestselling author Ron Rhodes argues against in this revealing, Scripture-based exploration of: what God's Word does and does not tell us about the Antichrist the advance signs, power moves, and eventual fall of this person the mysterious "Gog"—leader of Northern military coalition mentioned in Ezekiel It is time for a trustworthy study of this topic to take the place of emotion-based suspicions. Believers, followers of end-times news, and anyone anxiously watching the turmoil of today's political landscape will be thankful for this thorough, straightforward resource. Excellent for church and personal libraries.