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A Powerful Defense of The Protestant Tradition.There's a movement among evangelicals of exploring the more sacramental, liturgical, and historically-conscious church traditions, including Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy. This hunger for historical rootedness is welcome—but unfortunately, many assume that this need can only be met outside of Protestant contexts.In What it Means to Be Protestant, Gavin Ortlund draws from both his scholarly work in church history and his personal experience in ecumenical engagement to offer a much-needed defense of the Protestant tradition.Retrieving classical Protestant texts and arguments, he exposes how many of the contemporary objections leveled against Protestants are rooted in caricature. He shows how historic Protestantism offers the best pathway forward and to historical rootedness for Christians today.In his charitable style, Ortlund demonstrates that the 16th century Reformation represented a genuine renewal of the gospel. This does not entail that Protestantism is without faults. But because it is built upon the principle of semper reformanda (always reforming), Protestantism is capable of reforming itself according to Scripture as the ultimate authority.'I find it hard to overstate the importance of this book for every pastor/minister, elder, and serious Bible student that I know...This book automatically becomes my new go-to resource explaining Protestantism. It is fantastic, and I thank God for it...'—Bobby Harrington, co-founder of RENEW.org and Discipleship.org, founding pastor Harpeth Christian Church

Die Kirche steht in den Wirkungshorizonten der sie umgebenden Umwelt. Die in der vorliegenden Monografie herangezogenen Autorinnen und Autoren dokumentieren, dass kirchliches Handeln eingebettet ist in die'Großwetterlage'ihrer jeweiligen Gegenwart und damit Wirkungshorizonten unterliegt. Alle kirchlich-theologischen Antwortversuche auf die Gegenwart müssen unter den Bedingungen der gesellschaftlichen Wirkungshorizonte zur Anwendung gebracht werden und unterliegen der Prüfung ihrer Wahrheit.

Protestantism during the early modern period is still predominantly presented as a European story. Advancing a novel framework to understand the nature and impact of the Protestant Reformations, this volume brings together leading scholars to substantially integrate global Protestant experiences into accounts of the early modern world created by the Reformations, to compare Protestant ideas and practices with other world religions, to chart colonial politics and experiences, and to ask how resulting ideas and identities were negotiated by Europeans at the time. Through its wide geographical and chronological scope, Protestant Empires advances a new approach to understanding the Protestant Reformations. Showcasing selective model approaches on how to think anew, and pointing the way towards a multi-national and connected account of the Protestant Reformations, this volume demonstrates how global interactions and their effect on Europe have played a crucial role in the history of the'long Reformation'in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

Der vorliegende Band ergänzt die Rezeptionsgeschichte der Philosophie Søren Kierkegaards um einen bisher kaum beachteten Interpreten: den evangelischen Theologen Helmut Thielicke (1908–1986). Thielickes Kierkegaard-Rezeption stellt eine Besonderheit dar. Thielicke bezweifelt auf der einen Seite den theologischen Nutzen einer Beschäftigung mit dem dänischen Philosophen, lässt aber andererseits innerhalb seiner Theologie den Kierkegaard'schen Geist in einer Weise aufleben, als habe er nie ein kritisches Wort über Kierkegaard geäußert. Der Theologe Holger Speier stellt die Rezeption Kierkegaards in Thielickes Werk dar, beleuchtet dessen dafür ausschlaggebende Motive und diskutiert schließlich die Frage, inwieweit Thielickes Vorstellung von Theologie – verstanden als Wissenschaft sui generis – auf die Philosophie als Hilfswissenschaft angewiesen ist.

Nietzsche was famously an atheist, despite coming from a strongly Protestant family. This heritage influenced much of his thought, but was it in fact the very thing that led him to his atheism? This work provides a radical re-assessment of Protestantism by documenting and extrapolating Nietzsche's view that Christianity dies from the head down. That is, through Protestantism's inherent anarchy. In this book, Nietzsche is put into conversation with the initiatives of several powerful thinking writers; Luther, Boehme, Leibniz, and Lessing. Using Nietzsche as a critical guide to the evolution of Protestant thinking, each is shown to violate, warp, or ignore gospel injunctions, and otherwise pose hazards to the primacy of Christian ethics. Demonstrating that a responsible understanding of Protestantism as a historical movement needs to engage with its inherent flaws, this is a text that will engage scholars of philosophy, theology, and religious studies alike.

This anthology discusses different aspects of Protestantism, past and present. Professor Tarald Rasmussen has written both on medieval and modern theologians, but his primary interest has remained the reformation and 16th century church history. In stead of a traditional «Festschrift» honouring the different fields of research he has contributed to, this will be a focused anthology treating a specific theme related to Rasmussen's research profile. One of Professor Rasmussen's most recent publications, a little popularized book in Norwegian titled «What is Protestantism?», reveals a central aspect research interest, namely the Weberian interest for Protestantism's cultural significance. Despite difficulties, he finds the concept useful as a Weberian «Idealtypus» enabling research on a phenomenon combining theological, historical and sociological dimensions. Thus he employs the Protestantism as an integrative concept to trace the makeup of today's secular societies. This profiled approach is a point of departure for this anthology discussing important aspects of historiography in reformation history: Continuity and breaks surrounding the reformation, contemporary significance of reformation history research, traces of the reformation in today's society. The book relates to current discussions on Protestantism and is relevant to everyone who want to keep up to date with the latest research in the field.

Die Reformation veränderte nicht nur Theologie und Kirche, sondern setzte einen alle Bereiche der Gesellschaft erfassenden Transformationsprozess in Gang. So beeinflusste der Protestantismus nachhaltig soziale Strukturen, kulturelle Wahrnehmungsmuster, Rechtsnormen, Wissenschaftsideale, künstlerische Ausdrucksmittel und Identitätsbildungen. Die beiden gewichtigen Bände dokumentieren den internationalen und interdisziplinären Kongress'Kulturelle Wirkungen der Reformation', der im August 2017 von den Universitäten Halle-Wittenberg, Jena und Leipzig an der Stiftung LEUCOREA in Lutherstadt Wittenberg durchgeführt wurde. Dessen Beiträge – u. a. von Udo Sträter, Charlotte Methuen, Martin Heckel, Herman Selderhuis, Rudolf von Sinner, Daniel Jeyaraj und Jochen Hörisch – machen deutlich, wie die protestantischen Konfessionsmilieus seit 500 Jahren kulturell wirksam sind, aber auch, wie sie ihrerseits auf gesellschaftliche Herausforderungen reagieren. The Reformation not only changed theology and the church, but set in motion a fundamental transformation, which encompassed every aspect of society. Thus, Protestantism had an enduring influence on social structures, patterns of perception, normative ideas, scientific concepts, scopes for artistic expression and cultural identities. The announced proceedings document the international and interdisciplinary congress'Cultural Impacts of the Reformation'held in August 2017 by the universities of Halle-Wittenberg, Jena and Leipzig at the LEUCOREA Foundation in Lutherstadt Wittenberg. The contributions – amongst others by Udo Sträter, Charlotte Methuen, Martin Heckel, Herman Selderhuis, Rudolf von Sinner, Daniel Jeyaraj und Jochen Hörisch – show precisely both the ways the Protestant confessional milieus have been influential for 500 years and how they themselves have reacted to cultural challenges.

La Riforma protestante declinata al plurale, ossia come processo differenziato che ha coinvolto e intersecato aspetti ed esperienze molteplici: è in questa prospettiva che si colloca la panoramica storica offerta da questo saggio, in cui vengono affrontate le diverse riforme, da quelle promosse dai Riformatori della prima ora – Lutero, Melantone, Calvino, Zwingli – all'altra riforma, la cosiddetta Riforma radicale. Il testo inoltre indaga la Riforma dal punto di vista teologico, essendo un processo che rimette al centro la questione di Dio. Infine evoca le diverse mappe di senso che questo processo ha innescato, con l'intento di suscitare l'interesse su pagine della nostra storia su cui sussistono tuttora narrazioni apologetiche, più preoccupate di assolvere o condannare che di capire.

This volume contains a collection of papers aimed at revealing and investigating the various aspects of Protestantism throughout the centuries. Although several generations of theologians, historians, linguists, or even literary historians have sought to elucidate the complexity of Protestant ethos and its influence on social, spiritual, intelectual and economic processes in Europe. (Des articles en anglais et en allemand)

Der Protestantismus hat Kultur, Gesellschaft, Wirtschaft und Politik in Europa und Nordamerika zutiefst geprägt. Friedrich Wilhelm Graf bietet einen anschaulichen Überblick über die Geschichte des Protestantismus von Luther bis heute. Er fragt nach seiner kulturellen Bedeutung und beschreibt die großen Kirchenfamilien von den Lutheranern, die inzwischen nur noch eine kleine Minderheit darstellen, über die Baptisten und Methodisten bis hin zu den schnell wachsenden Pfingstkirchen. Ein Ausblick auf die Zukunft des Protestantischen beschließt den Band.

On the 500th anniversary of Luther's theses, a landmark history of the revolutionary faith that shaped the modern world.'Ryrie writes that his aim'is to persuade you that we cannot understand the modern age without understanding the dynamic history of Protestant Christianity.'To which I reply: Mission accomplished.'–Jon Meacham, author of American Lion and Thomas JeffersonFive hundred years ago a stubborn German monk challenged the Pope with a radical vision of what Christianity could be. The revolution he set in motion toppled governments, upended social norms and transformed millions of people's understanding of their relationship with God. In this dazzling history, Alec Ryrie makes the case that we owe many of the rights and freedoms we have cause to take for granted--from free speech to limited government--to our Protestant roots.Fired up by their faith, Protestants have embarked on courageous journeys into the unknown like many rebels and refugees who made their way to our shores. Protestants created America and defined its special brand of entrepreneurial diligence. Some turned to their bibles to justify bold acts of political opposition, others to spurn orthodoxies and insight on their God-given rights. Above all Protestants have fought for their beliefs, establishing a tradition of principled opposition and civil disobedience that is as alive today as it was 500 years ago. In this engrossing and magisterial work, Alec Ryrie makes the case that whether or not you are yourself a Protestant, you live in a world shaped by Protestants.

This is the first Handbook of the Reformations to include global Protestantism, and the most comprehensive Handbook on the development of Protestant practices which has been published so far. The volume brings together international scholars in the fields of theology, intellectual thought, and social and cultural history. Contributions focus on key themes, such as Martin Luther or the Swiss reformations, offering an up-to-date perspective on current scholarly debates, but they also address many new themes at the cutting edge of scholarship, with particularly emphasis on the history of emotions, the history of knowledge, and global history. This new approach opens up fresh perspectives onto important questions: how did Protestant ways of conceiving the divine shape everyday life, ideas of the feminine or masculine, commercial practices, politics, notions of temporality, or violence? The aim of this Handbook is to bring to life the vitality of Reformation ideas. In these ways, the Handbook stresses that the Protestant Reformations in all their variety, and with their important'radical'wings, must be understood as one of the lasting long-term historical transformations which changed Europe and, subsequently, significant parts of the world.

Reforma protestante y tradición intelectual cristiana aborda la tarea de interpretación no solo desde las raíces patrísticas del temprano pensamiento protestante, sino también desde su relación con el pensamiento medieval. Extendiéndose hasta finales del siglo XVII, la obra se ocupa también de cómo la Reforma misma, junto a la tradición que la precede, fue recibida en la cultura universitaria del naciente protestantismo

In Embracing Protestantism, John Catron argues that people of African descent in America who adopted Protestant Christianity during the eighteenth century did not become African Americans but instead assumed more fluid Atlantic-African identities. America was then the land of slavery and white supremacy, where citizenship and economic mobility were off-limits to most people of color. In contrast, the Atlantic World offered access to the growing abolitionist movement in Europe.Catron examines how the wider Atlantic World allowed membership in transatlantic evangelical churches that gave people of color unprecedented power in their local congregations and contact with black Christians in West and Central Africa. It also channeled inspiration from the large black churches then developing in the Caribbean and from black missionaries. Unlike deracinated creoles who attempted to merge with white culture, people of color who became Protestants were'Atlantic Africans,'who used multiple religious traditions to restore cultural and ethnic connections. And this religious heterogeneity was a critically important way black Anglophone Christians resisted slavery.

The Reformation marked a period of profound upheaval - one of the greatest turning points in the history of Christianity - and sent shock waves through the western world. In this book, Andrew Atherstone traces the dramatic and compelling story from the Renaissance to the sixteenth-century wars of religion, following the action from its beginnings in Germany, through Switzerland, France, Italy, England, Scotland, and the Netherlands. Focusing on the key personalities and events, he explains the often complex ideas that were at stake, and the political as well as religious issues involved. This is a lucid, authoritative account of a movement that changed the face of Europe forever. The great figures, such as Martin Luther and John Calvin, are brought vividly to life in an accessible, lively and engaging overview of this critical period.

Als Folge der Reformation verzahnten sich in Europa neuerlich Religion und Politik besonders intensiv. Die Forschung ist bislang davon ausgegangen, dass dies zu strikten Abgrenzungen der Konfessionen untereinander geführt habe; sichtbar geworden sei dies nicht zuletzt im Streit über das Widerstandsrecht gegen einen tyrannischen Herrscher, das Calvinisten betonten, während Lutheraner es ablehnten. Luise Schorn-Schütte, eine international renommierte Historikerin auf dem Gebiet der Frühen Neuzeit, ist nach langjährigen Forschungen zu differenzierteren Erkenntnissen gelangt und entwickelt sie in ihrem ebenso informativen wie spannenden jüngsten Werk. Sie zeigt, dass seit 1529 unter den Protestanten im Alten Reich in der Tat eine intensive Widerstandsdebatte geführt wurde. Ihre Träger waren Juristen ebenso wie Theologen, Politiker und Politikberater. Sie verwandten ein europaweit bekanntes Vokabular, das sich zu politisch-theologischen Sprachen entwickelte, die in ganz Europa eingesetzt und verstanden wurden, zumal sie an europäische Rechtstraditionen anknüpften. In der Analyse der Diskussionen erweist sich indes die Zuordnung von calvinistisch/widerstandslegitimierend und lutherisch/untertanengehorsam als Konstruktion der Geschichtsschreibung des 19. Jahrhunderts.

W.R. Ward was one of the most influential historians of modern religion to be found at work in Britain during the twentieth century. Across fifty years his writings provoked a major reconsideration by historians of the significance of religion in society and its importance in the contexts of political, cultural and intellectual life. Ward was, above all, an international scholar who did much to repudiate any settled understanding that religious history existed in merely national categories. In particular, he showed how much British and American religion owed to the insights of Continental European thought and experience. This book presents many of Ward's most important articles and gives a picture of the character, and extraordinary breadth, of his work. Embracing studies of John Wesley and the development of Methodism at large, the ambitions of Evangelicals in an age of international mission, the place of mysticism in evolution of Protestantism and the relations of churches and secular powers in the twentieth century, Andrew Chandler concludes that it was in such scholarship that Ward'quietly recast the picture that we have of the past and drew our attention towards a far greater, more difficult and more interesting, landscape.'

The Enlightenment caused a paradigm shift in the worldview of most people living in the Western world. Those Christian doctrines associated with the Protestant Reformation were believed to be no longer tenable. The great German theologian Karl Barth appeared to provide a remedy for this, with a theology that harkened back to Protestant Reformation. From Calvin to Barth examines just how successful Barth was in returning to the old ways; to ascertain whether he did espouse the thinking of men like John Calvin or whether he simply provided a theological system that was just another face of post-Enlightenment liberal thinking.

Religion vivante, le protestantisme ne cesse de nourrir l'actualité. De Luther aux évangéliques, ce livre présente l'histoire, les grandes figures et les principaux courants du protestantisme. En soulignant les traits caractéristiques de la foi et de la pensée protestante, il rend compte de leur influence sur la société. Complet, clair et accessible, il offre un panorama unique de la culture protestante. Fondements Institutions Pratiques

In einem Züricher Vortrag unternahm ich 1969 einen ersten Anlauf, um Fragen in den Griff zu bekommen, die sich bei der Beschäftigung mit der Geschichte des politischen Protestantismus stellen. Von der damaligen Kon­ zeption ist nur wenig übriggeblieben. Mit dem vorliegenden Vortrag, der in gekürzter Form gehalten wurde, hoffe ich, ein Stück weitergekommen zu sein. Für klärende Gespräche über den politischen Charakter des nordamerika­ nischen Protestantismus und diesbezügliche Literaturangaben bin ich dem münsterschen Kirchenhistoriker Robert C. Walton zu Dank verpflichtet. Auch meinem münsterscheu Kollegen K. -G. Faber möchte ich für Hinweise danken. 1. Zur Wort-und Begriffsgeschichte Den Begriff'Politischer Protestantismus'sucht man in Nachschlagewer­ ken, auch solchen kirchlicher Provenienz, vergeblich. Dies ist indessen noch kein Beweis für die Nichtexistenz der dem Begriff zugrundeliegenden Sach­ verhalte. In der Publizistik kann man eher fündig werden. Alles in allem muß man sich jedoch mit sporadischen und ganz disparaten Belegen von höchst unterschiedlichem Bedeutungsgehalt zufriedengeben. Wir begegnen der Wendung 1818 in Großbritannien, wo eine Agitationsgruppe für die britische Wahlreform die Organisationsstruktur der Methodisten übernahm und sich deswegen, aber auch aus Bewunderung für die Dynamik des reformatorischen 1 Durchbruchs im 16. Jahrhundert,'Political Protestants'nannte • Anderswo hatte man es mit einer Prägung pejorativen Charakters zu tun. Auf dem europäischen Kontinent läßt sich'politischer Protestantismus', wie es scheint, zuerst in der konfessionellen Polemik des Vormärz nachweisen.

Inhaltsverzeichnis Inhalt: U. Wolter, Die Fortgeltung des kanonischen Rechts und die Haltung der protestantischen Juristen zum kanonischen Recht in Deutschland bis in die Mitte des 18. Jahrhunderts - A. Sprengler-Ruppenthal, Das kanonische Recht in Kirchenordnungen des 16. Jahrhunderts - R. Feenstra, Canon Law at Dutch Universities from 1575 to 1811 - J. Witte, Jr., The Plight of Canon Law in the Early Dutch Republic - R.A. Mentzer, Jr., The Reformed Churches of France and Medieval Canon Law - T.M. Safley, Canon Law and Swiss Reform: Legal Theory and Practice in the Marital Courts.

In der Art, wie Reformationsgedenken inszeniert und Reformationsgeschichte konstruiert werden, spiegelt sich bis heute der'Geist der Zeiten'. Im Jubiläum wird Historisches nicht nur tradiert, sondern in Reden und Predigten zugleich neu geformt: als affirmative Eigengeschichte, zukunftsoffen oder als Widerlager zur Gegenwart. Auch die protestantische wissenschaftliche Historiographie hat daran teil. Der in die Abschnitte Konfessionelles Zeitalter, Aufklärung und Pietismus sowie Moderne gegliederte Band bietet mit 16 Beiträgen das Ergebnis einer Tagung 2009 am Erinnerungsort Wittenberg.

Traditional understandings of the genesis of the separation of church and state rest on assumptions about'Enlightenment'and the republican ethos of citizenship. In The Religious Roots of the First Amendment, Nicholas P. Miller does not seek to dislodge that interpretation but to augment and enrich it by recovering its cultural and discursive religious contexts--specifically the discourse of Protestant dissent. He argues that commitments by certain dissenting Protestants to the right of private judgment in matters of Biblical interpretation, an outgrowth of the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers, helped promote religious disestablishment in the early modern West. This movement climaxed in the disestablishment of religion in the early American colonies and nation. Miller identifies a continuous strand of this religious thought from the Protestant Reformation, across Europe, through the English Reformation, Civil War, and Restoration, into the American colonies. He examines seven key thinkers who played a major role in the development of this religious trajectory as it came to fruition in American political and legal history: William Penn, John Locke, Elisha Williams, Isaac Backus, William Livingston, John Witherspoon, and James Madison. Miller shows that the separation of church and state can be read, most persuasively, as the triumph of a particular strand of Protestant nonconformity-that which stretched back to the Puritan separatist and the Restoration sects, rather than to those, like Presbyterians, who sought to replace the'wrong'church establishment with their own,'right'one. The Religious Roots of the First Amendment contributes powerfully to the current trend among some historians to rescue the eighteenth-century clergymen and religious controversialists from the enormous condescension of posterity.

Während der Begriff'Protestanten'heute mehrere christliche Kirchen, Gruppierungen und Bewegungen bezeichnet, ist seine Geschichte im Heiligen Römischen Reich des 16. und 17. Jahrhunderts gekennzeichnet durch Streit unter den Kirchentümern, die er heute geradezu selbstverständlich unter sich sammelt. Er wurde sowohl für Lutheraner als auch für Reformierte zum Kampfbegriff: Beide Parteien beanspruchten ihn exklusiv für sich und flankierten so ihre theologischen, kirchenpolitischen und reichsrechtlichen Ansprüche auf terminologischer Ebene - nicht zuletzt, um dem anderskonfessionellen Gegenüber jedwede Existenzberechtigung abzusprechen. Christian Witt zeigt, wie sich der Terminus'Protestanten'im 17. Jahrhundert zum Integrationsbegriff entwickelte, der bewusst mehrere reformatorische Konfessionskirchentümer unter sich sammelte und so den entscheidenden Schritt hin zu seiner heutigen Nutzung tat.

Protestants: A History from Wittenberg to Pennsylvania, 1517-1740 presents a comprehensive thematic history of the rise and influence of the branches of Christianity that emerged out of the Protestant Reformation. Represents the only English language single-volume survey of the rise of early modern Protestantism from its Lutheran beginnings in Germany to its spread to America Offers a thematic approach to Protestantism by tracing its development within the social, political, and cultural context of early modern Europe Introduces innovative argument that the central dynamic of Protestantism was not its struggle with Catholicism but its own inner dynamic Breaks from traditional scholarship by arguing that the rise of Reformation Protestantism lasted at least two centuries Unites Old World and New World Protestant histories

Title from PDF title page (viewed on Dec. 6, 2007).

Patrick Collinson is the leading historian of English religion in the years after the Reformation. This collection of essays ranges from Thomas Cranmer, who was burnt at the stake after repeated recantations in 1556, to William Sancroft, the only other post-Reformation archbishop of Canterbury to have been deprived of office. Patrick Collinson's work explores the complex interactions between the inclusive and exclusive tendencies in English Protestantism, focusing both on famous figures, such as John Foxe and Richard Hooker, and on the individual reactions of lesser figures to the religious challenges of the time. Two themes throughout are the importance of the Bible and the emergence of Puritanism inside the Church of England.

Ab 1906 erschienen unter der Leitung des Kulturphilosophen Paul Hinneberg im Leipziger Teubner-Verlag die ersten Bände einer ehrgeizigen Enzyklopädie:'Die Kultur der Gegenwart, ihre Entwicklung und ihre Ziele'lautete der Titel dieser systematisch aufgebauten Gesamtdarstellung der Gegenwartskultur. Ernst Troeltsch oblag die Abfassung des Abschnittes über Protestantisches Christentum und Kirche in der Neuzeit, der 1906 in erster Auflage erschien und 1909 in einer stark erweiterten zweiten Auflage, die 1922 noch einmal unverändert abgedruckt wurde. Im vorliegenden Band wird Troeltschs Studie erstmals als separate Buchausgabe präsentiert. Troeltsch rekonstruiert in dieser Abhandlung die Entwicklungsgeschichte des Protestantismus von der Reformation bis in die Gegenwart. Als Leitfaden dient ihm die Unterscheidung zwischen einer altprotestantischen Epoche, die stärker dem Mittelalter angehört, und der neuprotestantischen Epoche, die er eher der aufgeklärten Neuzeit zurechnet. Troeltsch macht die epochalen Differenzen durchsichtig, indem er insbesondere die Wandlungen in den Kulturbeziehungen und damit in der Kulturbedeutung des Protestantismus herausstreicht. Dieser Beitrag in der'Kultur der Gegenwart'begründete Troeltschs Ruhm als Kulturtheoretiker des Neuprotestantismus.

This classic work is an exhaustive philosophical, historical, and religious look at the relationship between Catholic and Protestant religious doctrine and both the historical and ideological growth of capitalism. Starting with a definition of capitalism, Fanfani examines how that definition squares with Catholic and Protestant teaching. He then looks at the historical development of the capitalistic mindset or mentality, and examines the growth of the mindset historically in light of both the Protestant and Catholic doctrine on economic life. This text will be of interest to all students of economic thought, philosophy, and Catholic or Christian studies.

Der berühmte Vortrag Die Bedeutung des Protestantismus für die Entstehung der modernen Welt (1906/1911) sowie weitere Texte zur Kulturbedeutung von Luthertum und Calvinismus aus der gleichen Zeit werden hier in einer textkritischen Edition vorgelegt. In die Auseinandersetzung um die Bedeutung des Protestantismus für die Entstehung der Moderne hat Troeltsch zusammen mit Max Weber im ersten Jahrzehnt des vorigen Jahrhunderts nachdrücklich eingegriffen. Die in diesem Band vereinigten Beiträge haben eine intensive Diskussion ausgelöst, von der die konfessions- und kulturgeschichtliche Forschung bis heute bestimmt ist.

Peter Harrison examines the role played by the Bible in the emergence of natural science. He shows how both the contents of the Bible, and more particularly the way it was interpreted, had a profound influence on conceptions of nature from the third century to the seventeenth. The rise of modern science is linked to the Protestant approach to texts, an approach which spelt an end to the symbolic world of the Middle Ages and established the conditions for the scientific investigation and technological exploitation of nature.