Christ and Controversy: The Person of Christ in Nonconformist Thought and Ecclesial Experience 1600-2000

Description: What may happen when Christians take doctrine seriously? One possible answer is that the shape of churchly life on the ground can be significantly altered. This pioneering study is both an account of the doctrine of the person of Christ as it has been expounded by the theologians of historic English and Welsh Nonconformity and an attempt to show that while many Nonconformists held classical orthodox views of the doctrine between 1600 and 2000 others advocated alternative understandings of Christs person; hence the evolution of the ecclesial landscape as we have come to know it. The traditions here under review are those of Old Dissent: the Congregationalists Baptists Presbyterians and their Unitarian heirs; and the Calvinistic and Arminian Methodist bodies that owe their origin to the Evangelical Revival of the eighteenth century. Endorsements: This encyclopedic but accessible survey stands as witness to the churchs ongoing wrestle with an ancient question--Who do you say that I am? It demonstrates Professor Sells acumen as a meticulous researcher his contagious devotion to the nonconformist tradition and his aptitude for bringing the dead back to life. With wit and sober-headedness this bold and theologically informed study records many christological enthusiasms and ecclesiological consequences that this perduring question has birthed--its invitation lingers still. -Rev. Dr. Jason Goroncy Lecturer and Dean of Studies Knox Centre for Ministry and Leadership About the Contributor(s): Alan P. F. Sell is a philosopher-theologian and ecumenist. He has held academic posts in England Canada and Wales ecclesiastical posts in England and Geneva and now works full time as a researcher/author/editor and as a Visiting Professor at home and abroad. His most recent book is Convinced Concise and Christian: The Thought of Huw Parri Owen.