The concept of God's two kingdoms was foundational to Luther and subsequent Lutheran theology. Since the middle of the nineteenth century, that concept has been understood primarily as a political concept. But is a political reading of the two kingdoms a perversion of Luther's teaching? Leading Reformation scholar William Wright contends that those who read Luther politically and see in Luther a compartmentalized approach to Christian life are misreading the Reformer. Wright reassesses the original breadth of Luther's theology of the two kingdoms and the cultural contexts from which it emerged. He argues that Luther's two-kingdom worldview was not a justification for living irresponsibly on planet earth.

Ilmari Karimies investigates Martin Luther's understanding of reality and faith. He examines Luther's understanding of reality from three perspectives: firstly God as the self-giving highest good uniting opposites and hiding beneath them; secondly the visible and invisible world; and thirdly human beings as tripartite (body, soul, spirit) and bipartite (flesh-spirit). The author explores the cognitive conflict between these in relation to spirit's grasping of God and the invisible world with reference to Augustinian Platonism. He analyses aspects of faith from the perspective of the theory of divine illumination and shows that Luther represents a realistic Augustinian view. Faith functions as the theological intellect, grasping the invisible world and showing human beings the future good in a manner similar to the medieval notion of ecstatic knowledge. It differs from vision in glory because of sin, as mixed with humanity, and as partial knowledge.

This volume collects together articles which engage a variety of themes related to human and divine love. The title of this book “apprehending love” employs the notion of apprehensio and especially its medieval background. For example, Martin Luther built his understanding of justification around this concept, which, on the one hand, refers to intellectual comprehension but, on the other hand, means becoming one with the object itself. In faith, Christ becomes not only the outward object of our faith, but its proper subject. In a similar way, when we love someone or something, we are transformed according to the object of our love.

Atkinson uses Qoheleth's work ethic to provide an analysis of Ecclesiastes, utilising the writings of St Bonaventure and Martin Luther. Reading Ecclesiastes within a penitential framework, Bonaventure offers a version of the contemptus mundi tradition that is rooted in his metaphysics. His commentary is ethically significant for the way he detects the vice of curiousity precipitating a perceptual rupture wherein vanity comes to signify sin and guilt. Luther, on the other hand, interprets Solomon as a wise economic-political administrator who preaches the good news of God's involvement in quotidian existence. This understanding enables Luther to read Ecclesiastes eschatologically, with labour being seen as a locus of divine activity. One may thus read Solomon's refrain as an invitation to labour with the expectation of receiving God's gifts in the present. Finally, Atkinson suggests that Ecclesiastes enhances current conversations regarding the theology and ethics of work by working the doctrinal foci of protology and eschatology through Christology. The presence of the Word, then, can be found now only in the preaching and sacraments of the church, but also in the labour of the worker.

As the third part of a philosophy of Christian life, A Metaphysics of Love builds on a view of Christian life as shaped by the dynamic of call, response, and promise. It argues that love is the ultimate content of this dynamic and considers how far this claim extends. Taking its bearings from Dante's vision of divine love as 'the power that moves the sun and other stars', this study explores the requirement that love is both human and cosmic, uniting being and beings. Cognizant of much recent philosophy's desire to overcome or move beyond a metaphysics of being, it examines some of the formal structures that make love possible, including language, time, social being, forgiveness, and ultimacy. Following on from the earlier volumes, extensive use is made of the idea of the poetic as the eminent mode of Christian witness, contextualized within the prose of everyday life. Heidegger provides fundamental philosophical orientation, whilst key features of love are brought to the fore through dialogue with Kierkegaard. Dante and Dostoevsky are frequent points of reference, in addition to a range of literary and religious sources, including the Scottish poet Edwin Muir. Leading scholar George Pattison concludes that the phenomenon of love requires us to articulate a metaphysics that involves both being and nothingness, thereby taking a critical position vis-à-vis both classical theism and existential atheism.

“If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” 2 Chronicles 7:14 Kenya is a diverse nation, with many ethnic communities and cultural traditions. However, this diversity has led to deep divisions over the years, resulting in entrenched ethnopolitical tension and conflict. In this book, Dr David Kirwa Tarus advocates for a Christian theological response to the nation’s divisions by presenting various theological perspectives on anthropology, society, and politics including those of John Calvin and John Mbiti, as well as other prominent Kenyan theologians. This work traces the history of ethnopolitical conflict in Kenya and the church’s response from 1895 to 2013 and thoroughly examines how a reformed theology can provide a pathway to social cohesion in Kenya. David Tarus humbly yet boldly challenges Kenyans to pursue national unity and peace by interrogating their allegiances to their ethnic communities and political parties. This book carefully argues why it is only a Christian identity, commitment to humanity as bearing the divine image, and the triune God himself, that can heal the divisions in this land and in turn bring an end to other social evils such as corruption, intolerance, and violence. Ethnopolitical conflict is not confined to one nation, and this study will bear much fruit in other contexts where people yearn for social cohesion.

In this historical study, Jonathon D. Beeke considers the various sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Reformed expressions regarding the duplex regnum Christi (the twofold kingdom of Christ), or, as especially denominated in the Lutheran context, the “doctrine of the two kingdoms.” While a sampling of patristic and medieval sources is considered, the focus is on select magisterial Reformers of the sixteenth century and representative intellectual centers of the seventeenth century (Leiden, Geneva, and Edinburgh). A primary concern is to examine the development of these formulations over the two centuries in question, and relate its maturation to the theological and political context of the early modern period. Various conclusions are offered that address the contemporary “two-kingdoms” debate within the Reformed tradition.

Abraham Kuyper was a remarkable figure in the modern age: pastor, theologian, politician, journalist, and educator. His writings launched what is known as Dutch neo-Calvinism. Widely known but little read, Kuyper is now receiving the global recognition that his influential thought deserves in this introduction by Craig Bartholomew.

This collection of essays explores the impact of Jesus within and beyond Christianity, including his many afterlives in literature and the arts, social justice and world religions during the past two thousand years and especially in the present global context. This first volume focuses on selected historical afterlives of Jesus, including the Pantokrator of Byzantium and the Aryan Jesus of Nazi Germany. This collection is not an exercise in Christian apologetics, nor is it an interfaith project—except in the sense that many of the contributors are from a Christian context of some kind, while others are from other contexts. The contributors include scholars in relevant fields, as well as religious practitioners reflecting on Jesus in their own cultural and religious settings. While the essays are original work that is grounded in critical scholarship, reflective practice, or both, they are expressed in nontechnical language so the information is accessible to intelligent nonspecialists.

This volume analyses the societal legacy of Lutheranism in Finland in broad terms. It contributes to the recent renewed interest in the history of religion in Finland and the Nordic countries by bringing together researchers in history, political science, economics, social psychology, education, linguistics, media studies, and theology to examine the mutual relationship between Lutheranism and society in Finland. The two main foci are (i) the historical effects of the Reformation and its aftermath on societal structures and on national identity, values, linguistic culture, education, and the economy, and (ii) the adaptation of the church – and its theology – to changes in the geo-political and sociocultural context. Important sub-themes include nationalism and religion, the secularization and institutionalization of traditional values, multiple Protestant ethics, and long continuities in history. Overall the book argues that large changes in societies cannot be explained via ‘secular’ factors alone, such as economic development or urbanization, but that factors pertaining to religion provide substantial explanatory power for understanding societal change and the resulting societal structures.