Juan de Avila (1499-1569) was one of the most significant exponents of Spanish Golden Age spirituality. His work throughout Andalusia gave rise to the school of Avilista spirituality, a spirituality adopted by both lay men and women as well as secular and regular members of the clergy who were inspired by his stress on moral and spiritual formation and were bound together by the observance of a rigorous program of spiritual discipline. Scholars have increasingly identified him as the author of a distinctively judeoconverso spirituality. Currently, however, there are no comprehensive studies...

The causal link between modernization and secularization constitutes the core of secularization theories, but what these theories often overlook are the ways in which modernity can benefit religion. Focusing on the female diaconate's contributions to education, health care, and poor relief in nineteenth-century Sweden, this book argues that modernization created new possibilities and opportunities for religious communities to wield public influence. The rise, growth, and social significance of the deaconess movement remain incomprehensible apart from the very modernizing forces that...

The aim of this book is to offer the reader a critical edition of the petitions in their original Italian language that (Catholic) Jews residing in Italy submitted to the Fascist General Administration for Demography and Race (Demorazza) in order either to be "discriminated," i.e., not subjected to various provisions of Mussolini's racial laws of 1938, or "Aryanized," i.e., be considered not of "the Jewish race," as defined by the convoluted and inconsistent Fascist anti-Semitic legislation. Anyone born of parents who both were of "the Jewish race," even though professing a religion other...

Augsburg, Reformation, Eucharist, Anabaptism, early-modern Germany, early-modern cities,

The Geistbuch is an anonymous vernacular theological treatise from the first half of the 14th century that circulated in Middle High German and Middle Dutch. Based on the biblical injunction of Jesus to Peter, Sequere me ("Follow me," John 21:19), the text describes the Christian path of perfection. The present volume offers for the first time a critical edition of the Geistbuch in its original Middle High German. It also includes a commentary on the sources, a reconstruction of the text's history and tradition, an analysis of its structure and method of argumentation and a word...

This book provides an in-depth analysis of the virtues of evangelical life according to three major Franciscan authors: Francis of Assisi, Bonaventure of Bagnoregio, and David of Augsburg. It is the first to offer a historical and source-based treatment of early Franciscan virtue discourse, by answering the following questions: How do the authors describe and prescribe the essential virtues for the life in the footsteps of Jesus Christ? How are the spiritual virtues acquired or lost? How do the development and application of these virtues shape "perfect" individuals as well as the "good" of...

The study examines the published and unpublished historical works and materials written by the Zurich Reformer Heinrich Bullinger primarily considering the Reformation History preserved in his handwritten manuscript from the 1560s. Its origin, sources, and his applied work processes are analyzed in the context of the theological assumptions and methodological claims of Bullinger's historiography, which are also classified and examined against the background of early modern humanist and confessional historiography. The history of reception and influence of Bullinger's Reformation History are...

This book explores the nature of religious community at a time when, by some accounts, it was in its death throes. Many have argued that early modern communities suffered too much damage to survive, as cumulative assaults of the Reformation, the rise of Puritanism, and the denominational fragmentation of the Interregnum and Restoration destroyed parish unity forever. Without minimizing the significance of these events, this book argues for the resilience of religious community. By analyzing the religious networks of Oliver Heywood (1630-1702), a strategically-placed and well-documented...

The early modern 'public sphere' emerges out of a popular 'culture of persuasion' fostered by the Protestant Reformation. By 1600, religious identity could no longer be assumed as 'given' within the hierarchical institutions and elaborate apparatus of late-medieval 'sacramental culture'. Reformers insisted on a sharp demarcation between the inner, subjective space of the individual and the external, public space of institutional life. Gradual displacement of sacramental culture was achieved by means of argument, textual interpretation, exhortation, reasoned opinion, and moral advice exercised...

This book focuses on the legacy of Jonathan Edwards on the Particular Baptists by way of apprehending theories held by their congregations during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. In particular, special attention is directed to the Edwardsean legacy as manifested in the theology of Andrew Fuller. The monograph positions itself between Edwards and Fuller in the transatlantic, early modern period and attempts by the two theologians to express a coherent understanding of traditional dogma within the context of the Enlightenment. The scope of the research traces Fuller's theological...