Sources of the Christian Self: A Cultural History of Christian Identity
Overview
Using Charles Taylor’s magisterial Sources of the Self: The Making of the Modern Identity as a springboard, this interdisciplinary book explores lived Christian identity through the ages.
Beginning with such Old Testament figures as Abraham, Moses, and David and moving through the New Testament, the early church, the Middle Ages, and onward, the forty-two biographical chapters in Sources of the Christian Self illustrate how believers historically have defined their selfhood based on their relation to God/Jesus.
Among the many historical subjects are Justin Martyr, Origen, Augustine, Aquinas, Julian of Norwich, Dante, John Calvin, Teresa of Ávila, John Bunyan, Jonathan Edwards, Christina Rossetti, Blaise Pascal, Søren Kierkegaard, C. S. Lewis, and Flannery O’Connor—all of whom boldly lived out their Christian identities in their varied cultural contexts. In showing how Christian identity has evolved over time, Sources of the Christian Self offers deep insight into our own Christian selves today.
Key Features
- Examines identity-formation through religion through concrete historical and biographical circumstances
- Explores what it has meant for women and men to identify with Christ in very different contexts
- Analyzes examples from the Old and New Testaments, moving through patristic, medieval, and early modern periods through the enlightenment into the modern age
Contents
- Part One: Identity in the Old Testament
- Part Two: Identity in the New Testament
- Part Three: Identity in the Early Church
- Part Four: Identity in the Middle Ages
- Part Five: Identity in the Age of Reform
- Part Six: Christian Identity in the Emergence of the Modern World
- Part Seven: Christian Identity in the Upheavals of the Twentieth Century
Contributors
- Keith Bodner
- Gerald P. Boersma
- Hans Boersma
- Christopher Hall
- Bruce Hindmarsh
- James M. Houston
- Steve L. Porter
- Iain Provan
- Bruce K. Waltke
- Jens Zimmermann
- Robyn Wrigley-Carr
- Steven Watts
- Colin Thompson
- Mikael Tellbe
- Andrea Sterk
- Janet Martin Soskice
- Sven Soderlund
- Ronald K. Rittgers
- Jonathan Reimer
- Murray Rae
- Ryan S. Olson
- Stephen Ney
- Eleanor McCullough
- Elizabeth Ludlow
- Howard Louthan
- V. Phillips Long
- Jonathan Sing-cheung Li
- Bo Karen Lee
- Jay Langdale
- Pak-Wah Lai
- Mariam Kamell Kovalishyn
- Robert A. Kitchen
- Richard V. Horner
- Ross Hastings
- Yonghua Ge
- Craig M. Gay
- Victor I. Ezigbo
- Julie Canlis
- Paul C. Burns
- Robert Bork
- Markus Bockmuehl
Praise for the Print Edition
Magnificent. . . . Second-to-none for those studying Christian identity.
—Scot McKnight on Jesus Creed
Product Details
- Title: Sources of the Christian Self: A Cultural History of Christian Identity
- Editors: James M. Houston and Jens Zimmermann
- Publisher: Eerdmans
- Publication Date: 2018
- Pages: 694
- Resource Type: Collected Essays
- Topic: Theology
About the Editors
James Houston is professor emeritus of spiritual theology at Regent College, Vancouver.
Jens Zimmermann is Canada Research Professor of Interpretation, Religion, and Culture at Trinity Western University and visiting professor of philosophy, literature, and theology at Regent College, Vancouver.