Valeri, Mark R. The Opening of the Protestant Mind: How Anglo-American Protestants Embraced Religious Liberty. New York, NY, United States of America: Oxford University Press, 2023. Pages: xiii+292. ISBN: 9780197663677
If you are interested in the history of religious pluralism and tolerance, you might want to check out this book: “The Opening of the Protestant Mind.” It traces how Protestants in England and America gradually changed their attitudes and practices toward other Christian denominations and non-Christian religions from the 17th to the 18th century.
The book argues that political, economic, and cultural factors, such as the Restoration of the monarchy, the rise of Whig liberalism, the expansion of overseas trade, and the emergence of evangelicalism drove this change. The author shows how these factors influenced Protestants to rethink their views on conversion, evangelisation, and moral liberty, and to adopt a more tolerant and respectful approach to religious diversity.
The book covers a wide range of topics, such as the debates over religious toleration, the Enlightenment moral philosophy, the missionary activities among Native Americans and Muslims, and the impact of religious pluralism on the formation of the state and secularism. The book also challenges some of the existing interpretations of Protestant history and offers a fresh perspective on the origins and development of religious pluralism in the modern world.
This book is well-written, well-researched, and well-argued. It is not a dry academic tome, but a lively and engaging narrative that will appeal to both scholars and general readers. It is a valuable contribution to the fields of religious history, intellectual history, and political history. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to learn more about the history of Protestantism and its interactions with other religions.
This book is yet another contribution to the discussion on how to read the Bible. It deals with the question if it is valid for the reader to bring their own theological framework to their reading or not?
Hilber, John W. Ezekiel: A Focused Commentary for Preaching and Teaching. 2019
By this work, Hilber has demonstrated how to write commentary for pastors and teachers who are the major consumers of Bible commentaries. Many commentaries very technical the ordinary pastors and students of the Bible. On the other extreme are commentaries who compromise exegesis for detailed suggestions for application. What is unique about this commentary is that it has a proper balance between exegesis and application; and is not too technical for the non-specialist.
What makes this a very user-friendly commentary is its structure. In the short introduction, the author gives us an overview of the Book of Ezekiel. He also offers some advice on how to divide the book into ‘teachable units.’ This is followed by suggestions on how to apply the text to the context of the preachers and their listeners.
He divides the Book into teachable units. The key themes of each unit are presented in the form of bulleted lists. He then presents the specific context of this passage in the wider context of the Book of Ezekiel. In the section that follows titled ‘Interpretive Highlights’ comments on the significant verses are given. So, we don’t have comments on all verses and words or phrases! Only what is essential for our understanding of the key themes of the passages are discussed. Besides these, all units also have a section called ‘Theological Bridge to Application’ where the key themes of each unit are seen in the light of the larger Biblical theology. In the last section, titled ‘Focus of Application’ the author makes broader suggestions as to how that particular section speaks to contemporary situations that we live in.
This indeed is a commentary where the reader gets what they need to preach and teach without having wade through mind-boggling details. Every reader would long for similar volumes from Hilber on other books of the Bible.