Harrison ( ‘Religion’ and the Religions in the English Enlightenment , 12-13) argues that the Platonic revival of the Renaissance was one of the key sources for the modern notion of “religion.” The point is clearest in Ficino: “In De Christiana Religione (1474), he . . . . Continue Reading »
Gregory ( The Unintended Reformation: How a Religious Revolution Secularized Society ) follows Amos Finkelstein’s genealogical tracing of the modern scientific worldview to Scotist univocity. To illustrate the effect of Scotism on the Reformers, he points to their rejection of . . . . Continue Reading »
The Torah indicates that the ceremonies of the law were to be done perpetually. But this cannot, Edwards says (Misc. 1027 in The Miscellanies, 833-1152 ) be taken in the strictest sense. Among other things, the prophets predict that the entire earth and all nations will worship the true God and . . . . Continue Reading »
Gifts of physical goods were always, Edwards says, part of piety ( The Miscellanies, 833-1152 , 79): “It was a thing established in the visible church of God from the very beginning, that a part of the substance of God’s visible people should be brought as an offering to the Lord. So it . . . . Continue Reading »
The Reformation is often characterized as an assault on or at least a diminution of the sacraments. At the Trinity House site, I argue the opposing case: The Reformation recovered the sacraments . . . . . Continue Reading »
The title tells the main story that Lynn Hunt, Margaret Jacob, and Wijnand Mijnhardt want to tell: The Book That Changed Europe: Picart and Bernard’s Religious Ceremonies of the World . The book in question was a seven-volume illustrated encyclopedia of religious practices throughout . . . . Continue Reading »
If you’re looking for Marxist sacramental theology , check out the Trinity House site this morning. . . . . Continue Reading »
Trinity House scholar-in-residence James Jordan discusses liturgy as corporate discipleship with Ralph Smith at the Trinity House site. . . . . Continue Reading »
In the 2006 article in Past & Present I cited yesterday, Jonathan Sheehan traces the development of the “criterion of interiority” as a standard for judging true religion from false. One of the crucial developments were arguments like those of John Spencer’s 1685 On the Ritual . . . . Continue Reading »
In a 2006 article in Past & Present , Jonathan Sheehan examines controversies over idolatry in the sixteenth and seventeenth century. Hobbes plays a crucial role in, as Sheehan thinks, radicalizing Calvin’s notion that the human mind is a “manufactory” of idolatry. Following . . . . Continue Reading »
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