Theology

Cotton Mather's Biblia Americana (1693-1728) is colonial America's first commentary on the whole Bible. Perhaps best remembered for his writings on Salem witchcraft, the hugely prolific Mather was undeniably one of New England's leading Enlightenment thinkers.

This volume presents a selection of studies by Jan N. Bremmer on the interplay between Judaism, Christianity, and paganism in the Roman Empire. The author covers a wide range of subjects, including pogroms, ghosts, sacrifice, miracles, mysteries, the decline of traditional ancient religion, Constantine's conversion, and the survival of paganism.

As the founder of Pietistic Lutheranism, the letters of Philipp Jakob Spener are an essential source for research on the Early Modern Age, not only in terms of church history, but also regarding cultural history and the history of ideas. Volume 3 of the »Correspondence with Adam Rechenberg« contains 179 letters from the years 1691-1693.

What is wrong and problematic about wisdom, so that it can turn out to be fatal for the wise? Marcel Krusche addresses this question on the basis of Old Testament texts in which wisdom appears as an ambivalent or detrimental quality and the (supposedly) wise have a negative image.