Religion England

Acclaimed biographer Susan Ronald delivers a stunning account of Elizabeth I that focuses on her role in the Wars of Religion - the battle between Protestantism and Catholicism that tore Europe apart in the sixteenth century. Elizabeth’s 1558 coronation procession was met with an extravagant outpouring of love. Only 25 years old, the young queen saw herself as the nation’s Protestant savior, aiming to provide new hope, prosperity, and independence from the foreign influence that had plagued her sister Mary’s reign. Given the scars of the Reformation, Elizabeth would need all of the powers of diplomacy and tact she could summon.

Does a sinister cabal actually control international affairs? Were William Shakespeare and Abraham Lincoln secretly involved with a group founded to discover and preserve the principles of alchemy? Has an ancient mystical religion really been reduced to a length of red string that sells for a dollar an inch? Secret societies surround us, yet they often remain a mystery. Their secrecy suggests sacrilege and crime, and their loyalties stand accused of undermining the world's governments. They generate fear, suspicion, and - above all - fascination.

At its height, the Order of the Knights Templar rivaled the kingdoms of Europe in military might, economic power, and political influence. For 700 years the tragic demise of this society of warrior-monks amid accusations of heresy has been plagued by controversy, in part because the transcript of their trial by the Inquisition - which held the key to the truth - had vanished.Templar historian Barbara Frale happened to be studying a document at the Vatican Secret Archives when she suddenly realized that it was none other than the long-lost transcript!

The Christmas season is often one of the busiest and most stressful times of the year, and it’s easy to lose sight of what makes it special. Helping us refocus on what’s truly important, well-known pastor and author John Piper leads readers through twenty-four short meditations on Advent. The devotionals - drawn from Piper’s extensive preaching and teaching ministry - lead readers to ponder afresh the birth of Jesus, Israel’s long-awaited Messiah and the Savior of the world.

Stephen King presents “a fresh adrenaline rush of terror” (People) in this electrifying #1 New York Times bestseller! The new minister came to Harlow, Maine, when Jamie Morton was a boy doing battle with his toy army men on the front lawn. The young Reverend Charles Jacobs and his beautiful...

This prize-winning account of the pre-Reformation church recreates lay people's experience of religion, showing that late-medieval Catholicism was neither decadent nor decayed, but a strong and vigorous tradition. For this edition, Duffy has written a new introduction reflecting on recent developments in our understanding of the period.

Eugene England (1933–2001) — one of the most influential and controversial intellectuals in modern Mormonism — lived in the crossfire between religious tradition and reform. This first serious biography, by leading historian Terryl L. Givens, shimmers with the personal tensions felt deeply by England during the turmoil of the late 20th century.

God without religion? Andrew Farley’s experience as a Christian was first characterized by self-effort as he tried to please God at any cost. His ruthless religion resulted in spiritual fatigue and disillusionment with church. Only then did he discover what relaxing in Jesus means and how enjoying God’s intimate presence can transform everyday life. Using a story-driven format, God without Religion dismantles common religious misconceptions. Pulling no punches, Andrew shows how the truth about these controversial issues can liberate and unify believers....

Matthew Mills uncovers and draws together vibrant contributions to Marian doctrine and devotion by some of those then living in England under the sixth-century Rule of St. Benedict: the Benedictines and their successors, the Cistercians. In a thematic unfolding of Mary's life and identity, a picture emerges of a Mariology shaped by the constant of monastic liturgy, anchored in the biblical and patristic wisdom cherished and transmitted by the Venerable Bede, and animated by love. Towering figures are also placed within a wider landscape alongside lesser known but still significant others.

New England's history is marked with witch executions, curses, and an untold number of cemeteries hiding mysteries beneath their stones. In this sometimes harsh landscape, the truth is often stranger than fiction. Examine the footprints burned into the ledge of Devil's Foot Rock in Rhode Island. Spend a night at the Kennebunk Inn in Maine, where the mischievous specter of Silas Perkins still resides.

The child of a scheming father and ruthless mother, Lady Jane Grey is born during a time when ambition dictates action. Cousin to Edward VI, Mary I, and Elizabeth I, she is merely a pawn in a political and religious game in which one false step means a certain demise. But Lady Jane has remarkable qualities that help her to withstand the constant pressures of the royal machinery far better than most expect.

A preeminent physicist unveils a field-defining theory of the origins and purpose of life. Why are we alive? Most things in the universe aren't. And everything that is alive traces back to things that, puzzlingly, weren't. For centuries, the scientific question of life's origins has confounded...

The Kings and Queens who ruled England from 1413 to 1603 and changed England from a Catholic, isolated island nation to a Protestant powerhouse that dominated European and eventually world politics.

Until the mass hysteria of the seventeenth century, accusations of witchcraft in England were rare. However, four royal women, related in family and in court ties - Joan of Navarre, Eleanor Cobham, Jacquetta of Luxembourg, and Elizabeth Woodville - were accused of practicing witchcraft in order to kill or influence the king. In Royal Witches, Gemma Hollman explores the lives and the cases of these so-called witches, placing them in the historical context of 15th-century England, a setting rife with political upheaval and war.

Apocalyptic millennialism is one of the most powerful strands in evangelical Christianity. It is not a single belief, but across many powerful evangelical groups there is general adhesion to faith in the physical return of Jesus in the Second Coming, the affirmation of a Rapture heavenward of "saved" believers, a millennium of peace under the rule of Jesus and his saints and, eventually, a final judgement and entry into deep eternity. A key figure in this process was John Nelson Darby.

Ronald Hutton is known for his colorful, provocative, and always exhaustively researched studies on original subjects. This work is no exception: the first full-scale scholarly study of the only religion England has ever given the world, that of modern pagan witchcraft, which has now spread from English shores across four continents. Hutton examines the nature of that religion and its development, and offers a microhistory of attitudes to paganism, witchcraft, and magic in British society since 1800.

The Ecclesiastical History of the English People was written in Latin by the Venerable Bede (673-735), a Benedictine monk living in Northumbria, an important Christian centre in the eighth century. It is a remarkable document, tracing, in general, early Anglo-Saxon history, and in particular, as the title proclaims, the growth and establishment of Christianity against the backdrop of the political life.

New England is filled with phenomena science cannot explain. Houses in which the floorboards creak and doors open on their own, waters upon which ghost ships sail, spooky sounds coming from the forest, eerie lights in the sky, and much more.

The most famous and documented investigation of British psychic researcher Harry Price's long career was that of Borley Rectory, in a tiny village in Essex, 60 miles from London. A vanished Benedictine monastery, a ghost nun, a phantom carriage, and poltergeists beguile Price and his team as they methodically track down, document, and test whatever is responsible for the alarming irregularities they witness—until the ten-year exploration goes up in flames.

Begun in the mid-16th century by Protestant nonconformists keen to reform England's church and society while saving their own souls, the puritan movement was a major catalyst in the great cultural changes that transformed the early modern world. Providing a uniquely broad transatlantic perspective, this groundbreaking volume traces puritanism's tumultuous history from its initial attempts to reshape the Church of England to its establishment of godly republics in both England and America, and its demise at the end of the 17th century.