To Build A New Jerusalem

John Davenport, who cofounded the colony of New Haven, has been neglected in studies that view early New England primarily from a Massachusetts viewpoint. Francis J. Bremer restores the clergyman to importance by examining Davenport’s crucial role as an advocate for religious reform in England and the Netherlands before his emigration, his engagement with an international community of scholars and clergy, and his significant contributions to colonial America. Bremer shows that he was in many ways a remarkably progressive leader for his time, with a strong commitment to education for both women and men, a vibrant interest in new science, and a dedication to upholding democratic principles in churches at a time when many other Puritan clergymen were emphasizing the power of their office above all else. Bremer’s enlightening and accessible biography of an important figure in New England history provides a unique perspective on the seventeenth-century transatlantic Puritan movement.

The untold story of how a secret society rebuilt London. In 1666, a spark from a baker’s over led to the Great Fire, which ravaged much of London. After the flames had been put out and the dead buried, London was once more a blank canvas for the builders and architects to create a new city -- a city that could be rebuilt to reflect its glorious destiny. The men at the centre of London’s reconstruction were, in the main, members of the Rosicrucian-founded Royal Society, men such as Sir Christopher Wren. This society believed in the mystical wisdom of the ancient world and the millenarianist beliefs of its founders. They were convinced that London had long been the chosen site of the New Jerusalem -- the city that would descend from the sky at the Second Coming as foretold in the Book of Revelations. Now, the Great Fire had given them the chance to recreate the city in a more fitting image. In this eye-opening book, Adrian Gilbert, author of Signs in the Sky, reveals a hidden London and the true significance of such well-known sites as St. Paul’s Cathedral, the Monument and Temple church. He also introduces us to the men and women who shaped seventeenth century London according to their beliefs. Combining personal detective story and archaeological investigation with rigorous historical research, The New Jerusalem is a colourful historical portrait of a London we have never seen before.

Why does the earth exist? What is the purpose of human life? These are two of life's most fundamental questions - and they are addressed by the Bible's remarkably unified story, which centres on a unique deity. Desmond Alexander explores this story by beginning at the end, in the final chapters of the book of Revelation. Anticipating the creation of a new earth and a new heaven, these chapters bring to fulfilment a process that began with the creation of the earth, as described in the opening chapters of Genesis. These passages frame the entire biblical 'meta-story'. This stimulating study outlines some of the central themes that run through the Bible, with broad brush strokes designed to show the general shape of the meta-story. Seeing the big picture enables us to appreciate the details more clearly; and since the themes were an integral part of the thought-world of the biblical authors, an appreciation of them may alter significantly our reading of individual books. Good theology always has pastoral implications, and the study occasionally moves into areas of application - the truths revealed are extremely important for shaping our life-style choices.

The Kansas City suburb of Independence, Missouri, is associated primarily with its most famous son, President Harry Truman. Yet Independence is also home to a unique and complex religious landscape regarded as sacred space by hundreds of thousands of people associated with the Latter Day Saint family of churches. In 1831 Joseph Smith, the founder of the Latter Day Saint (LDS) movement, declared Independence the site of the New Jerusalem, where followers would build a sacred city, the center of Zion. Smith prophesied that Jesus Christ would return in millennial and glorious advent to Independence, an act that would make the city an American counterpart to old world Jerusalem. Smith's plan would have mixed the best qualities of nineteenth-century American pastoral and urban psyche. However, the great splintering among returning Latter Day Saint groups has led to divergent beliefs and multiple interpretations of millennial place. Images of the New Jerusalem culls viewpoints from publications and interviews and contrasts them with official church doctrines and mapped land holdings. For example, with a desire to attract mainstream American, the Western LDS Church, which holds the largest amount of land in northwestern Missouri, keeps fairly silent on the New Jerusalem, while the RLDS Church (now the Community of Christ) has dropped millennial claims gradually, adopting a liberal secular style of pseudo-Protestantism. Smaller groups, independent of these two, see sacred space in more spatially and doctrinally limited ways. The religious ecology among Latter Day Saint churches allows each group its place in the public spotlight, and a number of sociopolitical mechanisms reduce conflict among them. Nonetheless, Independence has developed many traits of the world's most seasoned and conflicted sacred places over a relatively short time. This book opens the field of scholarship on this region, where profound spatial and doctrinal variation continues. Craig S. Campbell is professor of geography at Youngstown State University. He has published articles in Journal of Cultural Geography, Cartographica, The Professional Geographer, Political Geography, and other journals.

The New Jerusalem Bible: Standard Edition will satisfy the great need for an authoritative version of "the greatest story ever told" in a package so attractive, user friendly, and affordable, this edition is destined to become a classic. Using the same translation that has been hailed as "truly magnificent" (Journal of Bible Literature), the Standard Edition has a completely redesigned interior, set in a two-column format for easy reading. With all the best features of much more cumbersome and costly versions, this Bible is a must-have for home, church, and school.

Widely respected for his perspectives on faith in the modern world, Richard J. Mouw has long stood at the forefront of the Christ and culture debate. In When the Kings Come Marching In here revised and updated Mouw explores the religious transformation of culture as it is powerfully pictured in Isaiah 60. In Isaiah 60 the prophet envisions the future transformation of the city of Jerusalem, a portrayal of the Holy City that bears important similarities to John's vision of the future in Revelation 21 and 22. Mouw examines these and other key passages of the Bible, showing how they provide a proper pattern for cultural involvement in the present. Mouw identifies and discusses four main features of the Holy City: (1) the wealth of the nations is gathered into the city; (2) the kings of the earth march into the city; (3) people from many nations are drawn to the city; and (4) light pervades the city. In drawing out the implications of these striking features, Mouw treats a number of relevant cultural issues, including Christian attitudes toward the processes and products of commerce, technology, and art; the nature of political authority; race relations; and the scope of the redemptive ministry of Jesus Christ. The volume culminates in an invaluable discussion of how Christians should live in the modern world. Mouw argues that believers must go beyond a narrow understanding of the individual pilgrim's progress to a view of the Christian pilgrimage wherein believers work together toward solving the difficult political, social, and economic problems of our day.