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Medieval English sermons teem with examples of quantitative reasoning, ranging from the arithmetical to the numerological, and regularly engage with numerical concepts. Examining sermons written in Middle English and Latin, this book reveals that popular English-speaking audiences were encouraged to engage in a wide range of numerate operations in their daily religious practices. Medieval sermonists promoted numeracy as a way for audiences to appreciate divine truth. Their sermons educated audiences in a hybrid form of numerate practice—one that relied on individuals' pragmatic quantitative reasoning, which, when combined with spiritual interpretations of numbers provided by the preacher, created a deep and rich sense in which number was the best way to approach the sacred mysteries of the world as well as to learn how one could best live as a Christian. Analyzing both published and previously unpublished sermons and sermon cycles, Christine Cooper-Rompato explores the use of numbers, arithmetic, and other mathematical operations to better understand how medieval laypeople used math as a means to connect with God. Spiritual Calculations enhances our understanding of medieval sermons and sheds new light on how receptive audiences were to this sophisticated rhetorical form. It will be welcomed by scholars of Middle English literature, medieval sermon studies, religious experience, and the history of mathematics.

[...]the division was not recognized until 1742 and then popularized by mission agencies. [...]I return to arguments for the three missionary journey model and argue that a dotted line, not a heavy line, should be drawn between the \"second\" and \"third\" journeys which reveals more unity between them. \"3 Most argue that verse eight functions as the Table of Contents for Acts.4 The rest of the book details how Christ's people are witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and Rome.5 A distinctly geographical, theo-political, and ethnic presentation of the spread of the good news exists in Acts and the order is important.6 However, the difficulty comes in trying to figure out precise divisions within this broad view. [...]while there are some good arguments to break the narrative at 19:20, the Ephesian ministry continues after 19:20. Because of these reasons, in the following sections I will no longer address the \"summary statement\" structural model, though there is some validity to it.

Written by a leading expert on the late medieval scholastic sermon,Medieval Artes Praedicandiis an essential resource for scholars and advanced students interested in using scholastic sermons in their research.

This book explores how Mary is presented in the sermons of Lutheran pastors in the 16th century. It focuses on the treatment of Mary, the continuities and changes in theologies about her, and her presentation beginning with Martin Luther and continuing with clergy in the Lutheran tradition. It is shown that Lutheran preachers have transformed the traditional image of Mary — she no longer serves as the powerful Queen of Heaven, but is seen as a meek, pious, chaste and obedient girl. Because of the theological changes introduced by Luther and the Lutheran clergy, Mary could no longer be portrayed as an active figure, but must serve as a passive representative of the faithful Christian.

This valuable study explores the Russian Enlightenment with reference to the religious Enlightenment of the mid to late eighteenth century. Grounded in close reading of the sermons and devotional writings of Platon (Levshin), Court preacher and Metropolitan of Moscow, the book examines the blending of European ideas into the teachings of Russian Orthodoxy. Highlighting the interplay between Enlightenment thought and Orthodox enlightenment, Elise Wirtschafter addresses key questions of concern to religious Enlighteners across Europe: humanity's relationship to God and creation, the distinction between learning and enlightenment, the role of Christian love in authority relationships, the meaning of free will in a universe governed by Divine Providence, and the unity of church, monarchy, and civil society. Countering scholarship that depicts an Orthodox religious culture under assault from European modernity and Petrine absolutism, Wirtschafter emphasizes the ability of Russia's educated churchmen to assimilate and transform Enlightenment ideas. The intellectual and spiritual vitality of eighteenth-century Orthodoxy helps to explain how Russian policymakers and intellectuals met the challenge of European power while simultaneously coming to terms with the broad cultural appeal of the Enlightenment's universalistic human rights agenda. Religion and Enlightenment in Catherinian Russia defines the Russian Enlightenment as a response to the allure of European modernity, as an instrument of social control, and as the moral voice of an emergent independent society. Because Russia's enlightened intellectuals focused on the moral perfectibility of the individual human being, rather than social and political change, the originality of the Russian Enlightenment has gone unrecognized. This study corrects images of a superficial Enlightenment and crisis-ridden religious culture, arguing that in order to understand the humanistic sensibility and emphasis on individual dignity that permeate Russian intellectual history, and the history of the educated classes more broadly, it is necessary to bring Orthodox teachings into the discussion of Enlightenment thought. The result is a book that explains the distinctive origins of modern Russian culture while also allowing scholars to situate the Russian Enlightenment in European and global history.

The night before, my husband and I had visited our closest friends, one of whom was dying of cancer. Presented to me in the form of a song, something I could physically participate in at the time (the blessed embodiment of singing, the breathing together, the effort and focus, the rising praise of blended voices) and take with me when I left. A song can deliver you from here to there, pivot your life, change everything.

This volume offers a critical edition and annotated translation of twenty metrical homilies attributed to Isaac of Antioch, a late fifth-century CE Syriac poet.The works in this collection, the majority of which are examples of the Syriac rebuke genre, are aimed at the moral reformation of the Syrian Christian community.