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A History of the Idea of "God's Law" (Theonomy): Its Origins, Development and Place in Political and Legal Thought
Marc A. Clauson
This book addresses the idea that the judicial law of God, as found in the Old Testament of the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures, has a place in legal and political thought and practice, as well as economic thought, and has advanced in various forms since the beginning of Christianity, and previously, during the period of the Hebrew Commonwealth. This work traces the Theonomic movement and its ideas from its roots in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries into its modern form, placing Theonomy in context of legal, political, and economic philosophy.
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A Study of Scottish Hermeneutical Method from John Knox to the Early Twentieth Century: From Christian to Secular
Marc A. Clauson
This work examines the evolution of Scottish hermeneutical method from John Knox to the early 20th century, showing how the method was transformed from a Primitivism (a term borrowed from the history of ideas) to "historical consciousness" as represented by the higher critical method. This work examines the whole "big picture" of transformation based on the "paradigm shift" or presuppositions from the primitivism of John Knox and others to the Enlightenment-based historical-critical method.
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Transformed Minds
Marc A. Clauson, Robert G. Parr, Mark Caleb Smith, Richard P. Tison, and Thomas S. Mach
In this brief collection of essays, professors who teach in the Department of History and Government at Cedarville University explore the biblical foundation for the academic disciplines unique to their Department. The Excerpt (above) contains the full text of the book.
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Secessionism and the European Union: The Future of Flanders, Scotland, and Catalonia
Glen M.E. Duerr
This study examines three different cases - Flanders in Belgium, Scotland in the UK, and Catalonia in Spain - to investigate how secessionist political parties are approaching the issues of independence. All of these cases are different with respect to history, governmental structure, and economic situation. Yet all of the cases are similar in some ways - they are close to the same size (in terms of population), operate withing mature democratic political systems, have distinct secessionist political parties, and all reside within member states of the EU. Categorically, in all cases there are also shared influences of ability of the region to secede: institutions, interests, and ideas.
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Alexander the Great and Hernán Cortés: Ambiguous Legacies of Leadership
Justin D. Lyons
This is a biographical pairing of two of the greatest conquerors in human history, drawing its inspiration from Plutarch's Parallel Lives. Like Plutarch, the purpose of the pairing is not primarily historical. While Plutarch covers the history of each of the lives he chronicles, he also emphasizes questions of character and the larger lessons of politics to be derived from the deeds he recounts. The book provides a narrative account both of Alexander's conquest of the Persian Empire and Cortés's conquest of the Aztec Empire while reflecting on the larger questions that emerge from each. The campaign narratives are followed by essays devoted to leadership and command that seek to recover the treasures of the Plutarchian approach shaped by moral and political philosophy. Analysis of leadership style and abilities is joined with assessment of character. Special emphasis is given to the speeches provided in historical sources and meditation on rhetorical successes and failures in maintaining the morale and willing service of their men.
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Gentleman George Hunt Pendleton: Party Politics and Ideological Identity in Nineteenth-Century America
Thomas S. Mach
George Hunt Pendleton is a significant but neglected figure in the history of nineteenth-century politics. A Democrat from Cincinnati, Ohio, Pendleton led the mid-western faction of the party for much of the nineteenth century. He served in the Ohio Senate for one term before serving in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1857 until 1865. He was a leader of the Extreme Peace Democrats during the Civil War and was General George B. McClellan's running mate in the presidential campaign of 1864. Losing both the election and his seat in the House, he spent almost fifteen years out of public office. During those years he remained active in the Democratic Party both within Ohio and across the nation and was rewarded with a seat in the U.S. Senate. Serving one term from 1879 to 1885, Pendleton fathered the first major civil service reform legislation, the Pendleton Act of 1883.
"Gentleman George" not only provides a microcosm of Democratic Party operations during Pendleton's lifetime but is also a case study in the longevity of Jacksonian principles. In an era of intense Democratic factionalism stretching from the 1850s to the 1880s, Pendleton sought to unite the divided party around its traditional Jacksonian principles, which, when reapplied to address the changing political issues, became the foundation of the mid-western Democratic ideology.
With its close examination of nineteenth-century American politics, this biography will be welcomed by scholars and lovers of history alike.
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Tough Times for the President: Political Adversity and the Sources of Executive Power
Jewerl Maxwell and Ryan J. Barilleaux
By examining case studies of tough times for the president, this book broadens the understanding of presidential power and both the limits and opportunities chief executives face as they govern from the Oval Office. It points to a new view of the sources of presidential power. This study of presidential adversity illuminates the fundamental sources of executive power-executive actions, foreign policy initiatives, organizational changes, going public, and unconventional actions-that form a foundation for the persuasive influence that many see as the epitome of presidential leadership. It also shows how presidents cope with the kinds of tough circumstances in which chief executives find themselves all too often. The case studies show American chief executives facing some of the toughest political situations of their presidencies, and illuminates important episodes in modern political history. The authors show Gerald Ford trying to govern without any of the traditional sources of political capital, Bill Clinton recovering from two near-death political experiences (the loss of Congress in 1994, then the Lewinsky scandal), and the unraveling of the George W. Bush presidency. The authors also use these insights to help build an alternative understanding of presidential power. The authors' cases of presidents in tough times leads to a new view of presidential power as situational leverage. They sketch an understanding of power as leverage that takes into account the resources that a president is able to apply in a particular situation, weighed against the risks and obstacles that threaten to undermine presidential goals and the opportunities that help to motivate the president. This approach presents a more accurate, realistic, and useful view of presidential power than Richard Neustadt's catchy but misleading "power to persuade." Moreover, viewing power as leverage helps to account for why recent presidents have devoted time and attention to employing and expanding their capacity for unilateral action. Tough Times for the President is a unique book because it provides a different perspective on America's most important office. Most books on the presidency focus on issues of presidential leadership, presidential greatness, or influence over policy, but none compares how presidents have responded to the political challenges confronting them.
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Baptist Successionism
James Edward McGoldrick
An important contribution...it is difficult to see how the historical argument could be any better presented than has been done by James McGoldrick.
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God's Renaissance Man: Abraham Kuyper
James Edward McGoldrick
Like his predecessors in church history, Kuyper was a person of massive intelligence, immense learning, terrific energy, and zealous faith. He nevertheless received great adulation from his beloved kleine luyden (little people) of the working and lower middle classes, many of whom struggled to survive economically and few of whom could afford a higher education. Throughout his long career as a pastor, journalist, educator and political leader, Kuyper maintained close contact with the common people and communicated with them effectively, even though he was far above them in intellect and formal learning.
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Luther's English Connection: The Reformation Thought of Robert Barnes and William Tyndale
James Edward McGoldrick
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Three Principles of Protestantism
James Edward McGoldrick
Reprint: The Banner of Truth, issue 232, January 1983
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The World of Marsilius of Padua
Gerson Moreno-Riano
Perhaps no author of the Latin Middle Ages has been the subject of so much controversy and even vitriol than Marsilius of Padua (ca. 1275-1342/43). As author of the notorious heretical tract, the Defensor Pacis, Marsilius became an infamous figure throughout the intellectual and political centres of Europe during his own lifetime. His magnum opus, a sharply pointed dissection of the damage done to earthly political life by the incursions of the papacy and a plea for conciliar ecclesiology, was repeatedly condemned during the fourteenth century and in later years. Yet the treatise continued to be disseminated and received translation into several vernacular languages. During the Reformation, Marsilius and his Defensor Pacis enjoyed another round of acclamation and denunciation, depending upon one's confession. In July 2003, a group comprising many of the world's most renowned scholars of medieval political thought gathered for a 'Marsilius of Padua World Congress', held in conjunction with the tenth International Medieval Congress held in July 2003 in Leeds. The present volume contains selected papers originally prepared for that meeting. The contents represent a compendium of innovative scholarly contributions to the understanding of Marsilius, his life and times, and his lasting impact on Western thought. Included are chapters that reflect a range of recent, ground-breaking research by both senior scholars and the future leaders in the field. After a general survey of the current state of scholarship on Marsilius, the volume divides into three thematically organized sections, covering a variety of historical, textual, methodological, theological, and theoretical questions. In all of the essays, readers will discover the wealth and complexity of Marsilius's thought as well as the startling range of approaches and methods of interpretation taken in the study of his work. The volume's selection of authors is international in scope and represents the first interdisciplinary scholarly collaboration in the field of Marsilian studies to occur in the twenty-first century.
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Time and Eternity: The Medieval Discourse
Gerson Moreno-Riano
This volume is composed of selected papers from the main strand, 'Time and Eternity', at the seventh International Medieval Congress held in July 2000 at Leeds. It attests to the fact that the medieval experience of time and eternity was rich and complex, and that its investigation is open to various approaches and methods. Time and (the possibility of impossibility of) its beginning and its end were frontiers to be explored and to be understood. To make the reader more familiar with the field of study, the volume begins with Wesley Stevens's plenary address 'A Present Sense of Things Past: Quid est enim tempus', a stimulating introduction not only with regard to some of the basic problems in conceptualizing the nature of time but also to the dating of historical events and the use of calendars for that purpose. Following StevensAes essay, the volume is organized into seven broader themes covering a variety of questions and trying to offer new insights into the medieval perception and constructions of time. They deal with the computation of time and the use of calendars; Jewish concepts of time and redemption; Christian philosophies of eternity and time; monastic and clerical conceptions; literary representations; time and art; and apocalyptic expectations. The volume's selection of authors is international in scope and represents some of the leading current scholarship in the field. It proves that we still 'thirst to know the power and the nature of time' (St Augustine).
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Tolerance in the 21st Century: Prospects and Challenges
Gerson Moreno-Riano
Tolerance in the 21st Century investigates some of the key philosophical and practical dilemmas surrounding the implementation and realization of tolerance in the 21st century. In particular, this well thought-out volume investigates the political, social, moral, religious, global, and philosophical issues integral to discussions of tolerance in our current era. The work delves into new areas assessing the problems posed for tolerance by such factors as identity, war, community, the Internet, and gender. Each essay is written by expert scholars who seek to share their particular expertise with some of the most important and essential questions concerning tolerance. Editor Gerson Moreno-Riano has collected essays that ask not only where we are now in the study of tolerance but also seek to make a positive contribution to the study of tolerance by suggesting what can and should be done to further policies and practices of tolerance as well as investigating the limits of tolerance. Tolerance in the 21st Century is certain to delight scholars of political and democratic theory, political participation and citizenship, and American politics.
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Portrait of Obedience: The Biography of Robert T. Ketcham
J. Murray Murdoch
The biography of Robert T. Kethcham (Baptist pastor & one of the founders of the GARBC). A deeply moving life portrait of a man dedicated to the services of his Lord and the church he so dearly loved.
