18 February 2016

Thursday, February 18, 2016, 0:00

This news item was posted in Presbyterians Week category.

“But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if the sword come, and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman’s hand.” [Ezekiel 33:6]

“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” [Ephesians 6:12]

Presbyterians Week Headlines

[1] Foundation for Reformed Theology Provides Information on Jonathan Edwards Resources Available Online from Yale University Press

[2] St. Andrews, Scotland to Celebrate 500^th Anniversary of the Protestant Reformation in 2017

[3] Kirk Moderator Addresses Church of England General Synod 16 February 2016 for First Time in History

[4] News from the Deepest Recesses of Hell

[5] Raging Heathen and Vain Imagining

[6] The Religion of Peace

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[1] Foundation for Reformed Theology Provides Information on Jonathan Edwards Resources Available Online from Yale University Press

The Foundation for Reformed Theology on 9 February 2016 provided the editor with the following information:

Jonathan Edwards Online

Many regard Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758) as the most important American theologian to date. His writings are included in four of the Foundation’s study lists.

Mr. Ernest L. Gardner III, a Presbyterian minister and one of the Foundation’s ministerial study seminar leaders, has been kind to share with me that Jonathan Edwards’s writings are available online.

First (1), here is a link to a page of links to each of the seventy-three volumes of The Works of Jonathan Edwards published by Yale University Press:

http://edwards.yale.edu/research/browse

As you click through to each volume, you will be taken to another page of links serving as a table of contents for each volume. As you click through on those links, you will be taken to the texts. See, for example:

Religious Affections

Second (2), here is another link to a page of links making up an index, by names of the books of the Bible, of Edwards’s published sermons in the same collection:

http://edwards.yale.edu/research/sermon-index/canonical

Again, as you click through each of these links, you will be taken to another page of links for the chapters of the books, and, from there, links to the individual sermons that are available.

Third (3), if you want to see high-resolution scans of Edwards’s original manuscripts, go to this page:

http://beinecke.library.yale.edu/

Scroll down to “Research Tools” on the left, scroll down below that and click on “Digital Collections,” enter “Jonathan Edwards Collection” (without the quotation marks), and then click on the magnifying glass.

That should take you to the first of 106 pages of search results for these manuscripts. Once there, follow these instructions:

Viewing Sermons

In the box at the top that reads “Jonathan Edwards Collection,” enter the name of the manuscript, or the text of sermon, in double quotes. For example, to call up the scans of a sermon, type in “Deut. 32:35”, and the results will appear on screen.

Click on the title (in blue) of the desired manuscript, and the image of the first page, along with a horizontal scroll, will appear on the left of the screen, and metadata on the right.

Click on “Image View” for a static image, or “Zoom View” to magnify.

Scroll through the images until you reach the desired page, and click on it. The page image will automatically appear in the viewer above.

Viewing Other Manuscripts

To access a non-sermonic text, using the manuscript inventory, enter the name of the item. For example, if you wish to view Edwards’ “Catalogue” of

Reading, enter “Catalogue” (again, in double quotes), and click on the item from the results.

Fourth (4) and finally, here are some other links to websites about Jonathan Edwards, in case they might be of interest and help:

The Jonathan Edwards Center at Yale University

Jonathan Edwards Society

Jonathan Edwards Center at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School

Christian Classics Ethereal Library, page on Jonathan Edwards

For more about Jonathan Edwards, see this reading list:

Topic 14. Jonathan Edwards: Religious Affections

+ Foundation for Reformed Theology, 4103 Monument Avenue, Richmond, Virginia 23230, 804-678 – 8352, goodloe@foundationrt.org

+ The Jonathan Edwards Center Yale University, 409 Prospect Street, New Haven, Connecticut 06511, 203-432-5340, Contact Page

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[2] St. Andrews, Scotland to Celebrate 500^th Anniversary of the Protestant Reformation in 2017

A 17 February 2016 FifeToday article by Fiona Pringle titled “Reformation 500th Anniversary Programme Revealed for St. Andrews” reports that St. Andrews, Scotland in 2017 will celebrate the 500^th anniversary of Martin Luther’s posting of the 95 Theses on the door of the Wittenberg Cathedral that began the Protestant Reformation.

The Community of Protestant Churches in Europe has named St. Andrews as one of the European Cities of Reformation because John Knox was educated at St. Andrews and preached a 1559 sermon in Holy Trinity Church that sparked a riot amongst the congregation.

Bishop Dr Michael Bünker, general secretary of the Community of Protestant Churches in Europe commented:

“The Royal Burgh, these days most widely renowned for its tradition-steeped university, is undoubtedly a Reformation town of European stature.

“The University of St Andrews, the Church of Scotland and the town’s local churches have worked together as an ecumenical team to compile an impressive programme to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation in 2017, including a series of events to rejuvenate various aspects of the European-wide effect of Martin Luther’s Reformation and the role St Andrews played during the Reformation era.

“We understand that the programme will culminate in an ecumenical service of worship in the Holy Trinity Church on October 31, 2017.

“All in all, this constitutes a marvellous effort to raise the public awareness of the history and contemporary significance of the Reformation in St Andrews in joint celebration of the quincentenary in 2017.”

+ FifeToday, 23 Kirk Wynd, Kirkcaldy, Fife KY1 1EP, Scotland, 01592-645700, ffpnews@fifetoday.co.uk

+ Community of Protestant Churches in Europe – Leuenberg Church Fellowship, Severin-Schreiber-Gasse 3, 1180 Vienna, Austria, 4791523-900, Fax: 4791523-110, office@leuenberg.eu

[3] Kirk Moderator Addresses Church of England General Synod 16 February 2016 for First Time in History

A 16 February 2016 Christian Today article titled “Scottish Moderator to Address Synod for First Time in History” reports that on 16 February 2016, for the first time in history the moderator of the Church of Scotland addressed the Church of England (CoE) General Synod meeting in London, England.

The CoE General Synod will be asked to accept the proposed Columba Declaration that would commit both groups to “”grow together in communion and to strengthen our partnership in mission.”

A 17 February 2016 CoE press release announced the synod vote to accept the Colombia Declaration:

An historic agreement recognising the longstanding ecumenical partnership between the Church of Scotland and the Church of England and paving the way for future joint working between the two churches has been backed today by the General Synod.

Members voted to approve the Columba Declaration and welcome Growth in Communion, Partnership in Mission, a report by the Joint Study Group of the Church of England and the Church of Scotland, as a ‘significant development’ in the relationship between the two churches.

The General Synod also called on the Council for Christian Unity to oversee the implementation of the commitments in the Declaration and to set up a Contact Group to coordinate future work between the two churches.

The motion backed by the General Synod also notes the Church of England’s valued relationship with the Scottish Episcopal Church within the Anglican Communion and requests that the Council for Christian Unity ensures that the Scottish Episcopal Church is invited to appoint a representative to attend meetings of the Contact Group.

Moving the motion, the Rt. Rev. Dr. Peter Forster, Bishop of Chester, co-chair of the Joint Study Group, said: “The dialogue and partnership between the Church of England and the Church of Scotland is shaped by our shared calling as ‘national’ churches, which have a parish structure covering the nation, and a recognition by the State and wider society.

“As our country has become more secular, we find ourselves drawn together as we face common problems, and opportunities.

“For all the ways in which our recognition and calling as national Churches has had very different histories and legal structures, we have found that we have more in common, in our common tasks in mission, than we might have been led to suppose.”

Commending the report and Declaration, the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, the Rt Rev Dr Angus Morrison, told the General Synod: “The strengthening of the bonds which already exist between us can only serve the ‘advance of the Gospel’ which is our united desire and aim.”

The report will now go to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in May for approval.

The Columba Declaration is set out in the fifteen-page Joint Study Group report and commits the two Churches to grow together in communion and strengthen their partnership in mission.

+ Christian Today, 200 Great Dover Street, London SE1 4YB, England, 020-7378-5705

+ Church of Scotland, 121 George Street, Edinburgh EH2 4YN, Scotland, 0131-225-5722

+ Church of England, Church House, Great Smith Street, Westminster, SW1P 3AZ, England, 44-0-20-7898-1000

[4] News from the Deepest Recesses of Hell

— Former Planned Parenthood Abortionist Flees to Thailand as More Women Accuse Him of Sex Abuse

— Purdue Staffer Who Threatened to Rape Pro-Lifers Resigns

— New California Law Forces Pro-Life Pregnancy Centers to Advertise Abortions

— Oregon Assisted Suicide Deaths Rose another Twenty-Six Percent in 2015

— Hillary Clinton Defends Partial-Birth Abortions, Happy Bill Clinton Vetoed Bill to Ban Them

— Babies Planned Parenthood Aborted Were Shipped in Thirty-One-Gallon Medical Waste Containers Every Week

— In Mexico, Pope Francis Goes into a Trance While Bowing Before Image of the ‘Virgin Mary’

— Oklahoma Judge Upholds Law Requiring Abortionists to Have Hospital Admitting Privileges