"Finally, a single volume that brings together several important non-mainstream religious movements
... that generally receive little attention in standard introductions or courses in church history! Diles describes the histories, beliefs, and practices of various medieval and post-Reformation European renewal movements, several of which could be classified as restoration movements, and calls attention to their enduring legacies. Defining restoration as the effort to reject perceived corruptions in the church and to renew faithfulness to God's truth and his intended ideal for the church as revealed in the New Testament, Diles draws attention to both similarities and differences between the various movements and emphasizes that restoration is an ongoing process shaped by historical contexts. Early chapters survey the Waldensians, the Hussites, with special emphasis on the Taborites, and the Unity of the Brethren as examples of medieval renewal movements that pre-dated the sixteenth-century reformations. After highlighting important aspects of the sixteenth-century reformations, both Protestant and Catholic, additional chapters survey movements that were made possible by, and were reactions against, the magisterial Protestant Reformations. These include Anabaptists such as the Swiss Brethren, Hutterites, and Mennonites, seventeenth-century German Pietism and pietistic offshoots, the Schwarzenau Brethren and the Moravian Brethren, and three eighteenth-century Scottish restoration movements. Although the book is not an uncritical glorification of these movements and does not hesitate to demonstrate weaknesses of each, Diles suggests that these movements represent an important strand within church history that should not be forgotten and that brings important lessons to bear on the church today. These movements challenge us to reexamine our traditional ways of viewing history, God, faith, Scripture, and the practice of the Christian way. We may not always agree with them, but we ought always to give them a hearing. By so doing, our own faith and practice may be greatly enriched"-- Provided by publisher. Read More
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