John A. McGuckin

Defending Constantine

History & Biography

“There have been of late a splurge of populist history books damning Constantine the Great as the villain of the piece. Almost without exception they have drawn their picture of this most complex and complicated of late-antique Roman emperors from secondhand, clichéd and hackneyed books of an older generation, adding their own clichés in the process. Constantine has been sketched luridly, as the man who corrupted Christianity either by financial or military means. At long last we have here, in Peter Leithart, a writer who knows how to tell a lively story but is also no mean shakes as a scholarly historian. This intelligent and sensitive treatment of one of the great military emperors of Rome is a trustworthy entrée into Roman history that loses none of the romance and rambunctiousness of the events of the era of the civil war, but which also explains why Constantine matters: why he was important to the ancient world, why he matters to the development of Christianity (a catalyst in its movement from small sect to world-embracing cultural force). It does not whitewash or damn on the basis of a preset ideology, but it certainly does explain why Constantine gained from the Christians the epithet 'The Great.' For setting the record straight, and for providing a sense of the complicated lay of the land, this book comes most highly recommended.”

Irenaeus on the Christian Faith

History & Biography

“James Payton begins his book with a cymbal clash: 'Irenaeus was the greatest theologian to arise in the Church since the times of the Apostles.' He is absolutely right. In recent decades he has been caricatured, by some, in the cause of rehabilitating the Gnostics, but his status as a Christian theologian is monumental and his insight is mystically profound. He remains one of the greatest Fathers of the Church catholic; and it is wonderful to see this artistic and skilful abridgement of his signature work made widely available for a new era.”

Life in the Trinity

Theology

“Donald Fairbairn's mastery of early Christian theology shines out of this wonderful introduction to the world of patristic theology for evangelical readers. It is more than a wise and trustworthy guide taking the reader along what are unfamiliar paths for many Western readers. It is also a work that wears its learning lightly, but amounts to nothing less than a sustained exposition of the majestic coherence of the early Christian doctrine of union with God. I recommend it most highly.”

Partakers of the Life Divine

Theology

“S T Kimbrough has made a jewel of a book out of his lifelong interest in the life of the churches and the historical traditions core to the greater ecclesiastical tradition. In this lively study he makes a bridge for readers between the spiritual traditions of the reformed world through Wesley and other luminaries, and the early Christian doctrines about redemption under the analogy of deification by grace.”

Rethinking Gender in Orthodox Christianity

Theology

“This splendid book serves as an extremely important resource for the whole Orthodox communion as it belatedly faces up to the pressing reality of its manifold needs to address the status, roles, and ministries of women in the Church. Its gathering together of acute and first-rate scholars of antiquity, along with psychology, sociology, and gender studies, makes this accessible book essential reading for all who wish to take the discussion out of the tired trajectories it has hitherto followed.”

Sting and Religion

Arts & Literature

“Professor Marienberg here offers us his deep gaze into the religiously toned lyrics of one of the world's most literate rock stars. It is a rich and rewarding tour de force that casts a fascinating light on Sting himself, as well as giving appropriate consideration to him as a modern metaphysical poet. More than this it moves into the formative context of his life and goes on to shine its searchlight on a lost age, telling how a blue-collar largely Irish immigrant church worked out an agenda of lifting up its cleverest folk into positions of leadership in wider post War society. A splendid achievement.”

T. F. Torrance and Eastern Orthodoxy

Theology

“Truly a 'landmark volume.' The editors, Dr. Todd Speidell and Fr. Matthew Baker of righteous memory, have put us all in their debt.”

The Church Has Left the Building

Church Leadership & Ministry

Foreword

(wrote the foreword)

The Mestizo Augustine

History & Biography

“In this delightful study of Augustine's life and intellectual legacy, Justo González, a doyen of church historians in the Americas, demonstrates the rich fruit of a lifetime of scholarly research. If one were to ask, how could anything new be said about Augustine?, González replies that it is the man's fundamental context that has so far been severely neglected. Augustine was a colonial author, well aware of his situation, poised in a tensile relation between the Numidian and Romano-Latin worlds, in an overextended empire that was coming to a crisis point in his own lifetime. This constitutes him, as González persuasively argues, as fundamentally a mestizo theologian: a man fixed in a tension of perspectives, origins, and goals that formed the energized background of his mind and work. After too many generations that have pretended Augustine was a white European, it is refreshing to read this elegant study of one of the giants of the Western Christian tradition.”

The Victory of the Cross

Theology

“James Payton is a theologian skilled in patristic and contemporary thought. He is also a careful and sympathetic reader in all things to do with Eastern Christianity, an area in which he has immersed himself in a deeply insightful manner. In this present study he has surveyed Orthodox thought on salvation in Christ, and the result is an elegant and masterful survey of a major theme at the very heart of the Christian message. His approachable style is unfailingly clear, and this important study will surely be a new standard on the reading lists.”

Understanding World Christianity

History & Biography

“Scott Kenworthy is one of the world's leading authorities on Russia and its church. In this luminously written study we have a most beautiful introduction to Russian Christianity that is at once masterly in its coverage and also deeply fascinating in its level of detail.”