Light on a people's forward path comes from behind - from the past. Because Cumberland Presbyterians are eager for illumination for their ongoing mission this set of books have been written. In ÒA People Called Cumberland PresbyteriansÓ three writers have endeavored to directly and effectively present the convictions, dedication and purpose that formed this Presbyterian denomination on the American frontier and have impelled it through more than 160 years to the present. The books illuminate some of the most distinctive traits of the church. Many persons and events come to life in it. Not only the better known heroes and heroines of the movement are presented, but also many of the lesser known who play colorful and significant roles, and details typical of the ongoing life of the church are here, along with accounts of the stirring hours of its history.

This contribution to the global history of ideas uses biographical profiles of 18th-century contemporaries to find what Salafist and Sufi Islam, Evangelical Protestant and Jansenist Catholic Christianity, and Hasidic Judaism have in common. Such figures include Muḥammad Ibn abd al-Waḥhab, Count Nikolaus Zinzendorf, Jonathan Edwards, John Wesley, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and Israel Ba’al Shem Tov. The book is a unique and comprehensive study of the conflicted relationship between the “evangelical” movements in all three Abrahamic religions and the ideas of the Enlightenment and Counter-Enlightenment. Centered on the 18th century, the book reaches back to the third century for precedents and context, and forward to the 21st for the legacy of these movements. This text appeals to students and researchers in many fields, including Philosophy and Religion, their histories, and World History, while also appealing to the interested lay reader.

The American Presbyterian creed up until the second half of the twentieth century has been the confessional tradition of the Westminster Assembly (1643-48). Presbyterians in America adopted the Westminster Confession and Catechisms in 1729 through a compromise measure that produced ongoing debate for the next hundred years. Differences over the meaning of confessional subscription were a continuing cause of the Presbyterian schisms of 1741 and 1837. The Presbyterian Creed is a study of the factors that led to the ninteenth-century Old School/New School schism and the Presbyterian reunions of 1864 and 1870. In these reunions, American Presbyterians finally reached consensus on the meaning of confessional subscription that had previously been so elusive.

This book provides a history of Presbyterians in American culture from the early eighteenth to the late twentieth century. Longfield assesses both the theological and cultural development of American Presbyterianism, with particular focus on the mainline tradition that is expressed most prominently in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). He explores how Presbyterian churches--and individuals rooted in those churches--influenced and were influenced by the values, attitudes, perspectives, beliefs, and ideals assumed by Americans in the course of American history. The book will serve as an important introduction to Presbyterian history that will interest historians, students, and church leaders alike.

Across more than six generations—beginning before the Revolutionary War—the Breckinridge family has produced a series of notable leaders. These often controversial men and women included a presidential candidate, a U.S. vice president, cabinet members, generals, women's rights advocates, congressmen, editors, reformers, authors, and church leaders. Along with success, the Breckinridges, like other Americans, faced hardship and war, contended with race, lived through difficult family situations—including a sex scandal—and encountered personal and political failure. An articulate, opinionated, and frank family, the Breckinridges have left a detailed record that allows us a vivid recreation of the range of American history and society.

Biography of John Cabell Breckinridge: "a lawyer, U.S. Representative, Senator from Kentucky, the 14th Vice President of the United States, Southern Democratic candidate for President in 1860, a Confederate general in the American Civil War, and the last Confederate Secretary of War. To date, Breckinridge is the youngest vice president in U.S. history, inaugurated at age 36. He is also remembered as the Confederate commander at the Battle of New Market, where young VMI cadets participated in the battle on the Confederate side."-Wikipedia.