Doctrinal Controversies Research Articles

The Filioque: History of a Doctrinal Controversy (review)

The Filioque: History of Doctrinal Controversy. By A. Edward Siecienski. [Oxford Studies in Historical Theology] (New York: Oxford University Press. 2010. Pp. xii, 355. $49.95. ISBN 978-0-195-37204-5.) A. Edward Siecienski dutifully reminds us that his account is by no means a complete of the filioque (pp. 1 5, 21 5). If one thing is clear, the doctrinal debate generated by this famous addendum to the Nicene Creed still awaits final resolution. This is relatively slim volume; if endnotes are excluded, the text's ten chapters total some 200 pages, whereas the history of the controversy stretches back nearly two millennia. It is certainly an ambitious, well-told story. That it manages to weave together in timely manner highly accessible tapestry that is also credible even ecumenically valuable is no small achievement. The origin of this controversy stems from the portentous resolve of the Western Church to add the phrase and the Son (filioque) to the creed. Eastern Christendom, it is fair to say, found the clause unsettling promptly challenged it. If anything, it implicitly questioned the Spirit's eternal dependence on the Father. Not only was tampering with an ecumenical text inadmissible but also the idea of double procession of the Spirit- from the Father the Son- was an egregious error. Fittingly, the author begins his historical reconstruction with an analysis of the New Testament evidence. He then moves briskly to assess the patristic material, particularly the contributions of Ss. Maximus the Confessor Augustine. Several chapters follow that describe the battles debates of the Carolingian era the high Middle Ages. The latter period especially was turning point in terms of developments. The final chapters leapfrog to the dawn of the twenty-first century with valuable critical survey of contemporary trends. Although this is straightforward historical guide, it also often reads as detailed who's who of the subject.The approach in way is deft solution to the following difficult question: How does one chronicle centuries-long controversy, with its myriad polarized participants often-complex commentaries? On the other hand, the author never treats the wider historical political context of the subject as secondary. Siecienski is also on secure ground when arguing that his topic was never some trivial tussle among theologians. The facts are indeed otherwise. To top it off, the author is suitably short on confessional bias sustained angry polemic; clearing the air of old prejudices is undeniably useful. These strengths bring level of balance, even freshness, to his account. The author gives pride of place to Maximus the Confessor (f662), who is viewed as providing powerful piece of promising Latin apologetic. Maximus was convinced the filioque did not ascribe causality to the Son; if anything, the Latins believed that the Spirit receives its hypostatic derivation solely from the Father, the one cause (mia aitia) of its primordial cominginto-being. …

Newman and the Fathers of the Church

AbstractJohn Henry Newman's study of the Church Fathers began during his years as a fellow of Oriel College and continued through his Anglican and Catholic periods almost to the end of his life. Among the various motives that attracted Newman to patristic theology, there are two that I consider especially important: scriptural hermeneutics and ecclesiology. He saw in the Fathers authentic interpreters of scripture, who read the Bible in and with the church in an exemplary way; he also found in them witnesses to the church's understanding of herself and of her offices. Through his ever more extensive reading on the doctrinal controversies in the patristic period, Newman formulated his theory of the development of doctrine, which is one of his major contributions to modern Catholic theology. Newman read the Fathers as contemporaries, as participants in the theological conversations and controversies of his own day. In the writings of the early bishops and theologians, he found a theological method that was congenial to his own.

La réparation du manquement à l’information médicale : d’une indemnisation corporalisée à la mise en œuvre d’un droit créance

An inaccurate information affects the trust that the patient had placed in his/her physician. Does this loss of trust, this feeling of betrayal now within the patient, not account for the non-pecuniary damage that can be compensated as such, regardless of the evolution of the patient's physical condition? Conceived like that, the compensation of the lack of information would then take all its ethical dimension. Another reasoning would consist in linking up the compensation of the bad information to the bodily harm that the patient actually suffered. Following this inclination, the risk has occurred after the victim was deprived of a choice, the choice of running the risk or of choosing another treatment. Consequently, the compensation of the ethical fault will go through the calculation of the chances that the well-informed patient would have had, of avoiding this risk. By a judgement of December 6, 2007, the French Court of Cassation had stated that the only principle that can be compensated following the non-observance by the doctor of the obligation to inform, obligation in view of obtaining the patient's consent, is the loss of chance of avoiding the risk, which eventually occurred. Did this position mean the end of the non-pecuniary damage, replaced by “bodily” compensation of lack of information? After some hesitation, in face of the doctrinal controversy, the Highest Jurisdiction finally adopted a radically different stance, justified in our opinion. By another judgement of June 3, 2010, under analysis, the Court of Cassation has stated that the non-observance of the obligation to inform… necessarily causes a damage to the patient, that must be repaired in all circumstances. This solution, based on the non-contractual liability and the principle of personal dignity, leads to the affirmation of a real fundamental right for the patient. Thus laid down, such a principle has a lot of advantages, but also involves new interrogations.

The Filioque: History of a Doctrinal Controversy by A. Edward Siecienski

BOOK REVIEWS 503 tends to produce bad art. “If an artist may say nothing except what he has invented by his sole efforts, it stands to reason he will be poor in ideas. If he could take what he wants wherever he could find it, as Euripides and Dante and Michelangelo and Shakespeare and Bach were free, his larder would always be full, and his cookery might be worth tasting” (Collingwood, Principles of Art, 325). I take it that Griffiths would agree, even as he would give the point a more theological expression. A supreme virtue of Intellectual Appetite is that its author has borrowed liberally from the entire tradition. The book bristles with insights. Its formulations bear serious consideration. Griffiths has freely given us a valuable contribution to theological grammar, one that we should acknowledge with gratitude and from which we can learn much. This is true, even if (on his own premises) it would not be correct to say that we stand in his debt. ROBERT MINER Baylor University Waco, Texas The Filioque: History of a Doctrinal Controversy. By A. EDWARD SIECIENSKI. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010. Pp. 368. $49.95 (cloth). ISBN: 978-0-19-537204-5. Edward Siecienski has written a valuable history of the doctrinal controversy of the filioque, the Western addition to the Creed of Constantinople I (381) meaning that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son. Siecienski says that his book “is, first and foremost, a theological work” (vii). He gives not merely a review of the evidence from one of the longest and most complicated disputes in Christian history, but an explicit theological interpretation that will illuminate and challenge a spectrum of interested readers. After the introduction, ten chapters trace the history from the New Testament witness concerning the procession of the Holy Spirit to the study of the filioque in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. This last chapter ends with an examination of the important 2003 Agreed Statement of the North American Orthodox-CatholicTheologicalConsultation.In succinct treatments of individual authors and events, Siecienski elucidates a great number of competing theologies concerning the Holy Spirit’s procession. His perspective through this historical narrative features Maximus the Confessor’s Letter to Marinus, which offers what Siecienski calls “a theologically sound hermeneutic capable of bringing together the East and West on the issue of the procession” (215). Because so much of the book hinges on the argument from Maximus in his letter, it is worthwhile to consider at some length Siecienski’s study of that seventh-century monk whose BOOK REVIEWS 504 life bridged East and West and whose teaching developed orthodox theology through the Monothelite controversy. Relying upon the pioneering scholarship of Polycarp Sherwood, Siecienski dates the Letter to Marinus to 645 or 646 as an authentic work by Maximus. This means that Maximus records the earliest Greek animadversion against the Western use of the filioque, and no further objection is known from the East until the controversies during the time of Photius of Constantinople (d. 895). Maximus wrote this letter to the priest Marinus so as to defend the living Bishop of Rome, Pope Theodore, an ardent opponent of the Monothelites, from Constantinople’s attack on two doctrinal points, one concerning the Incarnation and the other concerning the theology of the Holy Spirit’s procession. Siecienski believes that the Letter to Marinus clearly explicates not only the thought of Maximus and of Rome in the seventh century, but also, as he boldly claims, “the patristic mind on the procession of the Holy Spirit” (11; cf. 80). Siecienski writes: “Maximus began the Letter by addressing the accusations made against Pope Theodore’s confession that ‘The Holy Spirit proceeds from the Son’ (ejkporeuvesqai kajk tou~ UiJou~ Pneu~ma toV a{gion), starting with the charge that the teaching was novel: ‘In the first place they [the Romans] produced the unanimous evidence of the Roman Fathers, and also of Cyril of Alexandria, from the study he made of the gospel of St. John” (80). Maximus thus wants to show that Pope Theodore’s teaching has a certain widespread acceptance in the West, and is not without support in the East. Maximus...

Doctrinal Dispute within Interdenominational Missions: The Shanghai Tract Committee in the 1840s

AbstractBoth interdenominational co-operation and denominational competition featured in the Protestant missionary literary enterprise in nineteenth-century China. The interdenominational Religious Tract Society in London became the most vital link between the missionary translators, printing presses and target audiences in the production, publication and distribution of Christian tracts. Ideally, interdenominational missions would pool resources and promote cooperation among missionaries with different denominational affiliations. Doctrinal disputes, however, seem to have been inevitable among them in the everyday operation of missions. The first tract committee established in China, the Shanghai Tract Committee in the 1840s is a case in point. Unequal denominational representation resulted in heated doctrinal controversies and the resignation of a Committee member over the publication of a problematic tract in Chinese.

Dreaming in Christianity and Islam: culture, conflict, and creativity

Throughout history to the present day, religion has ideologically fueled wars, conquests, and persecutions. Christianity and the world's largest and geopolitically powerful faiths, are often positioned as mortal enemies locked in an apocalyptic 'clash of civilizations'. Rarely are similarities addressed. Dreaming in Christianity and Islam, the first book to explore dreaming in these religions through original essays, fills this void. The editors reach a plateau by focusing on how studying dreams reveals new aspects of social and political reality. International scholars document the impact of dreams on sacred texts, mystical experiences, therapeutic practices, and doctrinal controversies. Dreaming in Christianity and Islam explores The Bible and Qur'an, early Christian and Muslim beliefs about dreaming, religious practices of dream interpretation, the dreams of individuals, the use of dreams in healing, caregiving, and creative adaptation to waking problems.

THE LIMITS OF THE HERESIOLOGICAL ETHOS IN LATE ANTIQUITY

A catechumen would be inculcated with a true heresiological ethos intended to arm him or her against the seductions of doctrinal adversaries of the Christian community into which they were now to enter. This was not just about an intellectual ‘flight from heresy’, but also about renouncing all physical contact with heretics. This study considers the difficulties surrounding the creation of this ethos in the course of the doctrinal controversies of the third to fifth c.

Religion, Faith and Toleration

AbstractThe religious intolerance that nowadays feeds a number of current conflicts leads us to rethink our modern conception of toleration, which emerged from the theological and philosophical debates accompanying or thrown up by the doctrinal controversies and politico-religious wars of the 16th and 17th centuries. It is defined by respect for distinct orders: that of conscience and that of the law, private and public, faith and reason. It bears the mark of religion and theology and relates to the idea of human dignity which was given its ethical foundation in the 18th century by Kant's doctrine of autonomy. Current events teach us that still today people kill and persecute in the name of faith, in the name of God, in the name of religion, because they have a different opinion or belief. If toleration, child of the Enlightenment and critical reason, has not definitively gained the upper hand in a rational, technical world, we need to ask whether it is not because we have neglected faith. To conclude from the distinction between reason and faith that they are antagonistic has not led to uprooting the human spirit's intolerance. Might we have forgotten that peace is also the business of religion? What should we expect, what should we hope for from dialogue between religions? Could faith be the antidote to intolerance?

Kimbanguism Going Astray

AbstractThe doctrinal controversy within the Kimbanguist Church, Église de Jésus-Christ sur la Terre par son Envoyé Spécial Simon Kimbangu, reached a new climax in July 2008: Moderate teaching on the person of Simon Kimbangu on the one hand and on the divine Trinity on the other, which had been the church's official doctrine since 2005, was solemnly revoked by an assembly in Nkamba, D.R. Congo and by the church's leader, the Chef spirituel, to be replaced more or less directly by the common popular Kimbanguist belief: Simon Kimbangu is God, the Holy Spirit incarnate. But the theologians who had formulated the former moderate teaching do not accept this new turn in the Kimbanguist Church's doctrine. The article gives the arguments and strategies of both sides and reflects on the possible future development of the Kimbanguist Church.

Pregnant Silences:

This article examines the texts recounting the trials of Anne Askew (c.1521-1546) and Anne Hutchinson (c.1591-1643). Anne Askew was burnt for eucharistic views contravening Henry VIII’s Six Articles, whilst Anne Hutchinson was a dissident exiled from the Puritan colony of New England. Scholarship on these two Annes usually focuses either on gender roles or on doctrinal controversy. This article proposes that gender and doctrine are intertwined in the concepts of activity and passivity invoked in these narratives and expressed through the metaphors of sowing seed, pregnancy and birth. These metaphors echo, in unsettling ways, Aristotle, Luther and the Bible.

Irritability and Sensibility: Key Concepts in Assessing the Medical Doctrines of Haller and Bordeu

This article addresses the doctrinal controversy over the various characterizations of irritability and sensibility. In the middle of the eighteenth century, this scientific debate involved some encyclopaedist physicians, Albrecht von Haller (1709-1777), Jean-Jacques Ménuret de Chambaud (1733-1815), and Théophile de Bordeu (1722-1776). The doctor from Bern described irritability as an experimental property of the muscle fibers and made it the basis of a neo-mechanism in which organic reactions are related to the degree of irritation of the fibers. The practitioners from Montpellier considered sensibility, a property of living matter, to be a spontaneous activity of the organ and developed around this notion an original conception of the organism as the sum of the specific lives of each part. Beyond conceptual divergences, two ways of thinking whose philosophical presuppositions (conception of living matter, mechanism, and organicism), were in opposition, while their epistemological principles (experience versus observation) and their medical practices (active medicine and expectant medicine) went on to evolve in different directions. The privileged place granted to experimentation and assessment enabled physiology to be articulated as an autonomous scientific discipline; the pre-eminence of observation and attention to the radical specificity of the living being constituted the bases of clinical medicine.

"I Can Indeed Respond": Lay Confessions of Faith in Late Sixteenth-Century Central Germany

During the Flacian controversy over the definition of original sin (1560s–70s), a doctrinal debate took place that proved to be foundational for Lutheran theology: a number of the laity from the central German territory of Mansfeld wrote confessions in which they articulated their views on the matter. The mere existence of these statements from the likes of counts, city officials, artisans, and laborers raises the question of lay participation in the doctrinal controversies of the latter sixteenth century, a question rarely asked by historians. Moreover, an examination of why these people wrote their confessions reveals a desire to engage in questions of doctrine during this period of the late Reformation, while an analysis of their writings demonstrates a surprisingly complex understanding of the controversy.

The Birth of the Church: From Jesus to Constantine, AD 30-312 and A Public Faith: From Constantine to the Medieval World, AD 312-600. By IVOR J. DAVIDSON.

By devoting two volumes of a multi-volume church history to the period ad 30–600, the editors have allowed the author space to explain not only the main contours of the period, but also the complicated political background to e.g. persecution, doctrinal controversies, and the Roman empire's relationship with its neighbours (especially the ‘barbarian’ Christian tribes). Each book includes very useful thematic chapters on Christian worship, ministry, ethics, and ascesis. Volume 2 concludes with a focus on north-western (including Celtic) Christianity. Otherwise, the books follow a chronological structure: they are clearly written, with a strong sense of narrative. Davidson does not, however, impose his narrative inflexibly and seeks to avoid simplifying Christianity's relationship to Judaism or (slightly less successfully) paganism and heresy. The accession of Constantine acts as the hinge joining the two volumes; nevertheless Davidson highlights continuities as well as discontinuities between the two eras (the question of Constantine's influence is addressed directly and even-handedly in volume 2's epilogue). Topics such as infant baptism and women's ministry, which have become contentious in later (especially post-Reformation) Christianity, are treated subtly and with explicit comment on the difficulty of interpreting the mixed early evidence. Davidson is particularly good at explaining complex theological terminology (the books’ focus, however, is historical rather than theological—they are not dogmatic history). He draws on recent scholarship, but its effect on his analysis is slightly uneven: more evident, for example, in his studies of Tertullian, Athanasius, and the Cappadocians, than in those of Origen and Nestorius.

Studien zum Frühwerk des Paracelsus im Bereich Medizin und Naturkunde (review)

Reviewed by: Studien zum Frühwerk des Paracelsus im Bereich Medizin und Naturkunde Andrew Weeks Udo Benzenhöfer . Studien zum Frühwerk des Paracelsus im Bereich Medizin und Naturkunde. Munich: Klemm & Oelschläger, 2005. 221 pp. €28.00 (paperbound, 3-932577-914). Behind the long shadow cast by Karl Sudhoff (1853–1938) across the discipline of medical history lay his work in researching and editing the writings of Paracelsus (1493–1541). Medical historians have committed themselves to other agendas. Yet the shadow cast by Sudhoff's foundational work still sets parameters for the study of Paracelsus. An inquiry would be needed to account for the magnification of Paracelsus's aura a century ago by German nationalism with its interpretation of the past as [End Page 443] an anticipation of progress and dawning German preeminence. Udo Benzenhöfer's splendid scholarship on the life, shortcomings, and aura of Paracelsus should qualify him as an ideal candidate for such an investigation. Unfortunately, his "Studies in the Early Work(s) of Paracelsus in the Sphere of Medicine and Knowledge of Nature" mainly list and compare words in the first five volumes of Sudhoff's edition. Benzenhöfer rightly doubts that everything in these volumes represents the early medical-naturalistic writing of Paracelsus. But the "early period" was never more than a tentative compartment into which Sudhoff deposited some undated works. Along with nearly everything in the Sudhoff edition, these works were reedited between 1922 and 1933 from Huser's edition of 1589. The early period rests on Sudhoff's authority. He later cast doubt on his dating. Why then does Paracelsus scholarship remain so in thrall to Sudhoff's fleeting impression that a leading scholar asks in effect which works should be eliminated from his early period? Presumably one wants to believe that among the mass of texts, certain undated writings must have preceded the earliest dated ones from his brief Basel academic activity (March 1527 to February 1528). There is another early authorial period, that of the theological writings of 1524–25 edited by Goldammer. But medical historians prefer a medical revolutionary who dabbled in doctrinal controversy to a religious enthusiast with an extensive, yet conventional, medical knowledge. Pre-Basel medical writing might bolster his claim of having arrived at key insights by traveling and studying nature. The first three volumes are decisive. Vague references in Das sechste Buch in der Arznei and Archidoxis to "our young blood" (unser jung blut) or "our young childish days" (unsern jungen kintlichen tagen) are taken as indicative of a pre-Basel origin (205–6). This conclusion is pivotal but tenuous. Even if we could be certain that "young" is not used in the second citing in a nonbiological, epochal sense (see Grimms' definitions 12 and 13), how much younger would Paracelsus have been, say in 1526? In an age that privileged seniority, such references may have been formulaic modesty. But the main difficulty lies in the context of the entire corpus. One cannot claim that early or pre-Basel works are recognizable by the absence of concepts or themes arising only in the Basel period, unless subsequent writings also contain such terms. The Basel-period terms "taphneus" or "essatum" may be missing in writings assumed prior to Basel, but they are also missing in post-Basel writings. Certain "early" writings do not cite the tria prima in a canonical way, but they are no less marginal in the Paragranum of 1530. Without the established date of Paragranum, we could use Benzenhöfer's criteria to date it before 1527. Benzenhöfer is at his best when discussing the substance of terms. To comprehend the development of the corpus will require something more than just inventorying words: interpretation. [End Page 444] Andrew Weeks Illinois State University Copyright © 2008 The Johns Hopkins University Press

Denunciation of the Washington Convention and Non-Contractual Investment Arbitration: “Manufacturing Consent” to ICSID Arbitration?

The possibility of denouncing the ICSID Convention has recently sparked doctrinal controversies. The scope of such a denunciation and the consequences relating to it were central in these debates. Starting with the analysis of the mechanism precisely set out in the Convention, this article, focusing only on the implication for non-contractual arbitration, aims at clearly establishing the meaning of consent to ICSID arbitration, one of the conditions preventing the denunciation of the Convention from having a full effect. The question thus becomes whether BITs and national laws could be considered as unilateral consent to arbitration, as understood by the drafters of the Convention. Applying concrete and correct treaty interpretation rules will enable us to establish an accurate understanding of the relevant provisions of the Convention, without depriving them of their proper meaning.

The 33 Doctors of the Church (review)

Reviewed by James F. Keating Providence College The 33 Doctors of the Church. By Christopher Rengers, O.F.M. Cap. (Rockford, Illinois: Tan Books and Publishers. 2003. Pp. xxx, 692. $33.00 paperback.) Since Benedict XIV, a pope with a penchant for bringing order to disorder, laid out three criteria for those considered a "doctor" for the entire Church: eminens doctrina (eminent learning), insignis vitae sanctitas (distinguished holiness of life), and Ecclesiae declaratio (declaration by pope or council), the number has more than doubled. Together they constitute a fairly diverse group: a married man, eight from the East, three Africans, six from Asia, and [End Page 872] since 1970, three women. The title doctor ecclesiae conveys an official judgment that a certain man or woman is a trustworthy resource from which the entire Church can draw to better understand the faith. One might, therefore, expect a plethora of information concerning their lives and teachings available to the educated Catholic. Unfortunately, this is not the case, with many of these figures unknown to all but specialists. When did you last hear someone refer to St. Peter Chrysologus, or St. Lawrence of Brindisi? This problem is not insignificant. If the title "doctor" is to be more than a mere honorific, those so entitled must be widely known. Christopher Rengers, O.F.M. Cap., in a final act of a life devoted to sharing the fruits of scholarship with the public, provides his readers with a needed and fascinating tour of the doctors of the church. Each is explained in the light of his or her historical context as well as the ongoing relevance of their life and work. The prose is clear and crisp, and befitting an introductory work, no prior knowledge of the figures or church history is required. A generous selection of quotations enables the reader to encounter the figure directly. To my knowledge, it is the most extensive treatment of all thirty-three doctors in a single volume currently available. Not surprisingly, Rengers's scholarly interests in mariology and hymnody color his treatment. The contributions each has made to Catholic thought and practice in these areas are highlighted. The average reader will be surprised to find out just how much of what the Church sings, prays, and believes derives from these figures. In addition, the writer does justice to the fact that the designation of doctor ecclesiae is inseparable from doctrinal controversy and a polemical style jarring to contemporary sensibilities. In refusing to shield his readers from the infamous aggressiveness of such figures as Jerome, Cyril of Alexandria, and Bernard of Clairvaux, Rengers rightly insists that taking the doctors seriously requires taking their passion for the truth with equal seriousness. Apart from such a connection they can have little contemporary relevance. Ultimately, he argues that much can be forgiven in the defense of Catholic truth, even to the point of defending Bernard's treatment of Abelard: "the gesture of truth sometimes has to be not a pointing finger, but a mailed fist" (p. 284). While this statement is problematic, to say the least, it serves to highlight the crucial issue of appropriation. In an effort to inspire his readers to treasure these men and women, Rengers downplays the need for critical discernment. This task is necessary, however, not only because of historical and cultural distance but the fact that the ecclesial designation of doctor ensures only a general reliability; even here the wheat needs separating from the chaff. It would have helped if the book contained a more thorough introduction, tracing the history of the ecclesial practice of singling certain saints to honor as teachers of the whole Church. Even so, readers looking for a reliable and interesting introduction to doctores ecclesiae, their lives, teachings, and influence, will find it here.

Actus non facit reum, nisi mens sit rea: An Investigation into the Treatment of Mens Rea in the Quest to Hold Individuals Accountable for Genocide

This paper discusses a research investigation into the treatment of mens rea in the quest to hold individuals accountable for genocide. This paper focuses on doctrinal controversies and examines how genocide is and has been addressed by modern tribunals, with special emphasis on the subjective mens rea (mental element) required for genocide.

Are Southern Baptists Evangelicals? A Second Decadal Reassessment

Abstract<title> ABSTRACT </title>In 1983, Southern Baptist theologians began to evaluate the relationship between Southern Baptists and American evangelicals. In 1993, the relationship between the two and the concomitant problems of identity formation were again given serious consideration. This article reviews the earlier conversations and reassesses the relationship in the second decade after the question was first raised and in light of the fact that many Southern Baptists have begun to define themselves as evangelicals. Serious reservations about a close identification are raised in light of a number of doctrinal controversies. Of especial concern are the Christian doctrine of the Trinity and the Baptist doctrine of the Church. It is suggested that Southern Baptists continue their dialogue with but maintain a healthy distance from evangelicalism. Concurrently, an expansion in dialogue with other Christian communities, including fundamentalists, Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, mainline Protestants, Anabaptists, as well as other Baptists, is advocated.

Faith in Reading: Religious Publishing and the Birth of Mass Media in America

David Paul Nord's analysis of the large-scale publishing ventures of early national charitable organizations such as the American Bible Society and the American Tract Society offers valuable insight into the long history of the intimate connection between Protestant evangelicalism and the mass media, and it provides a useful corrective to histories of the book that tend to attribute the sudden growth of print in this period solely to market forces. Nord compellingly shows how voluntary associations, spurred by millennial zeal, pioneered the mass publication of cheap Bibles and tracts and coordinated their distribution to households scattered across remote frontier settlements. Nord observes that these ventures ran counter to market logics even as they provoked the development of techniques we will come to associate with the modern publishing industry. Evangelicals insisted on the mass production and distribution of religious texts despite, or even because of, the lack of demand for such books, and they only cautiously embraced the idea of selling some of their stock (in addition to giving books away) so as to finance the cost of production. Nord delights in the irony of charitable publishers' use of cutting-edge nineteenth-century technology, such as stereotype, steam presses, and machine-made paper, in order to mass-produce and circulate classics of seventeenth-century Protestantism, such as Richard Baxter's A Call to the Unconverted (1658). He traces the idea of mass media to evangelicals' repeated launching of “general supplies” (p. 63), attempts at the universal circulation of identical texts—either a stripped-down Bible, published “without note or comment” (p. 43), or simple stories of Christian conversion that steered clear of doctrinal controversy. In order to achieve this ideal, these voluntary societies employed innovative systems of business administration, such as cost accounting, the keeping of statistics, and the exercise of centralized control over local distribution, well in advance of their adoption by for-profit publishers.

The Hare Krishna Movement: The Postcharismatic Fate of a Religious Trans-plant

Review Article| August 01 2005 The Hare Krishna Movement: The Postcharismatic Fate of a Religious Trans-plant Edwin Bryant, Edwin Bryant Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Maria L. Ekstrand Maria L. Ekstrand Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Nova Religio (2005) 9 (1): 136–139. https://doi.org/10.1525/nr.2005.9.1.136 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Twitter LinkedIn Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Cite Icon Cite Search Site Citation Edwin Bryant, Maria L. Ekstrand; The Hare Krishna Movement: The Postcharismatic Fate of a Religious Trans-plant. Nova Religio 1 August 2005; 9 (1): 136–139. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/nr.2005.9.1.136 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu nav search search input Search input auto suggest search filter All ContentNova Religio Search This content is only available via PDF. ©© 2005 by The Regents of the University of California Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.