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Half Way Covenant
The Half-Way Covenant was a form of partial church membership adopted by the Congregational churches of colonial New England in the 1660s. The Puritan-controlled Congregational churches required evidence of a personal conversion experience before granting church membership and the right to have one's children baptized. Conversion experiences were less common among second-generation colonists, and this became an issue when these unconverted adults had children of their own who were ineligible for baptism. The Half-Way Covenant was proposed as a solution to this problem. It allowed baptized but unconverted parents to present their own children for baptism; however, they were denied the other privileges of church membership. The Half-Way Covenant was endorsed by an assembly of ministers in 1657 and a church synod in 1662. Nevertheless, it was highly controversial among Congregationalists with many conservatives being afraid it would lead to lower standards within the church. A numb ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Congregationalism In The United States
Congregationalism in the United States consists of Protestant churches in the Reformed tradition that have a congregational form of church government and trace their origins mainly to Puritan settlers of colonial New England. Congregational churches in other parts of the world are often related to these in the United States due to American missionary activities. Congregational churches have had an important impact on the religious, political, and cultural history of the United States. Congregational practices concerning church governance influenced the early development of democratic institutions in New England. Many of the nation's oldest educational institutions, such as Harvard University, Bowdoin College and Yale University, were founded to train Congregational clergy. Congregational churches and ministers influenced the First and Second Great Awakenings and were early promoters of the missionary movement of the 19th century. The Congregational tradition has shaped both ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Conversion Narrative
Broadly speaking, a conversion narrative is a narrative that relates the operation of conversion, usually religious. As a specific aspect of American literary and religious history, the conversion narrative was an important facet of Puritan sacred and secular society in New England during a period stretching roughly from 1630 to the end of the First Great Awakening. Definition As defined by Patricia Caldwell, the conversion narrative was "a testimony of personal religious experience…spoken or read aloud to the entire congregation of a gathered church Under Charles I, the Puritans became a political force as well as a religious tendency in the country. Opponents of the royal prerogative became allies of Puritan reformers, who saw the Church of England moving in a direction opposite to what ... before admission as evidence of the applicant's visible sainthood"Caldwell, Patricia. ''The Puritan Conversion Narrative: The Beginnings of American Expression.'' New York: Cambridge UP ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dorchester, Boston
Dorchester (colloquially referred to as Dot) is a Boston neighborhood comprising more than in the City of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Originally, Dorchester was a separate town, founded by Puritans who emigrated in 1630 from Dorchester, Dorset, England, to the Massachusetts Bay Colony. This Municipal annexation in the United States, dissolved municipality, Boston's largest Neighborhoods in Boston, neighborhood by far, is often divided by city planners in order to create two planning areas roughly equivalent in size and population to other Boston neighborhoods. The neighborhood is named after the town of Dorchester in the Dorset, English county of Dorset, from which History of the Puritans in North America, Puritans emigrated on the ship ''Mary and John (ship), Mary and John'', among others. Founded in 1630, just a few months before the founding of the city of Boston, Dorchester now covers a geographic area approximately equivalent to nearby Cambridge, Massachusetts, Cam ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nathaniel Smibert Portrait Of A Cleric
, nickname = {{Plainlist, * Nat * Nate , footnotes = Nathaniel is an English variant of the biblical Greek name Nathanael. People with the name Nathaniel * Nathaniel Archibald (1952–2018), American basketball player * Nate Archibald (born 1948), American basketball player * Nathaniel Ayers (born 1951), American musician who is the subject of the 2009 film ''The Soloist'' * Nathaniel Bacon (1647–1676), Virginia colonist who instigated Bacon's Rebellion Bacon's Rebellion was an armed rebellion held by Virginia settlers that took place from 1676 to 1677. It was led by Nathaniel Bacon against Colonial Governor William Berkeley, after Berkeley refused Bacon's request to drive Native American ... * Nathaniel Prentice Banks (1816–1894), American politician and American Civil War General * Nat Bates (born 1931), two-term mayor of Richmond, California * Nathaniel Berhow (2003–2019), perpetrator of the Saugus High School shooting in 2019 * Nathaniel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Infant Baptism
Infant baptism is the practice of baptising infants or young children. Infant baptism is also called christening by some faith traditions. Most Christians belong to denominations that practice infant baptism. Branches of Christianity that practice infant baptism include Catholics, Eastern and Oriental Orthodox, and among Protestants, several denominations: Anglicans, Lutherans, Presbyterians, Congregationalists and other Reformed denominations, Methodists, Nazarenes, Moravians, and United Protestants. Opposition to infant baptism is termed "catabaptism". Ceremony The exact details of the baptismal ceremony vary among Christian denominations. Many follow a prepared ceremony, called a rite or liturgy. In a typical ceremony, parents or godparents bring their child to their congregation's priest or minister. The rite used would be the same as that denomination's rite for adults, i.e., by pouring holy water (affusion) or by sprinkling water (aspersion). Eastern Ortho ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Communion (religion)
() is a transliterated form of the Greek word , which refers to concepts such as fellowship, joint participation, the share which one has in anything, a gift jointly contributed, a collection, a contribution. It identifies the idealized state of fellowship and unity that should exist within the Christian church, the Body of Christ. The term may have been borrowed from the early Epicureans—as it is used by Epicurus' Principal Doctrines 37–38.Norman DeWitt argues in his book ''St Paul and Epicurus'' that many early Christian ideas were borrowed from the Epicureans. The term communion, derived from Latin ''communio'' ('sharing in common'), is related. The term "Holy Communion" normally refers to the Christian rite also called the Eucharist. New Testament The essential meaning of the embraces concepts conveyed in the English terms community, communion, joint participation, sharing and intimacy. can therefore refer in some contexts to a jointly contributed gift. The word app ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Predestination In Calvinism
Predestination is a doctrine in Calvinism dealing with the question of the control that God exercises over the world. In the words of the Westminster Confession of Faith, God "freely and unchangeably ordained whatsoever comes to pass." The second use of the word "predestination" applies this to the salvation, and refers to the belief that God appointed the eternal destiny of some to salvation by grace, while leaving the remainder to receive eternal damnation for all their sins, even their original sin. The former is called "unconditional election", and the latter "reprobation". In Calvinism, some people are predestined and effectually called in due time ( regenerated/born again) to faith by God, all others are reprobated. Calvinism places more emphasis on election compared to other branches of Christianity. Origins Predestination of the elect and non-elect was taught by the Jewish Essene sect, Gnosticism, and Manichaeism. In Christianity, the doctrine that God unilaterally pre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Covenant Theology
Covenant theology (also known as covenantalism, federal theology, or federalism) is a conceptual overview and interpretive framework for understanding the overall structure of the Bible. It uses the theological concept of a covenant as an organizing principle for Christian theology. The standard form of covenant theology views the history of God's dealings with mankind, from Creation to Fall to Redemption to Consummation, under the framework of three overarching theological covenants: those of redemption, of works, and of grace. Covenentalists call these three covenants "theological" because, though not explicitly presented as such in the Bible, they are thought of as theologically implicit, describing and summarizing a wealth of scriptural data. Historical Reformed systems of thought treat classical covenant theology not merely as a point of doctrine or as a central dogma, but as the structure by which the biblical text organizes itself. The most well-known form of Covenant ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sacrament
A sacrament is a Christianity, Christian Rite (Christianity), rite that is recognized as being particularly important and significant. There are various views on the existence and meaning of such rites. Many Christians consider the sacraments to be a visible symbol of the reality of God in Christianity, God, as well as a channel for God's Grace in Christianity, grace. Many Christian denomination, denominations, including the Catholic, Lutheran, Anglican, Methodist, and Reformed, hold to the definition of sacrament formulated by Augustine of Hippo: an outward sign of an inward grace, that has been instituted by Jesus Christ. Sacraments signify God's grace in a way that is outwardly observable to the participant. The Catholic Church, Hussite Church and the Old Catholic Church recognise seven sacraments: Baptism, Sacrament of Penance, Penance (Reconciliation or Confession), Eucharist (or Holy Communion), Confirmation, Christian views on marriage, Marriage (Matrimony), Holy Orders ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Calvinists
Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Calvin and other Reformation-era theologians. It emphasizes the sovereignty of God and the authority of the Bible. Calvinists broke from the Roman Catholic Church in the 16th century. Calvinists differ from Lutherans (another major branch of the Reformation) on the spiritual real presence of Christ in the Lord's Supper, theories of worship, the purpose and meaning of baptism, and the use of God's law for believers, among other points. The label ''Calvinism'' can be misleading, because the religious tradition it denotes has always been diverse, with a wide range of influences rather than a single founder; however, almost all of them drew heavily from the writings of Augustine of Hippo twelve hundred years prior to the Reformation. The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Invisible Church
The church invisible, invisible church, mystical church or church mystical, is a theological concept of an "invisible" Christian Church of the elect who are known only to God, in contrast to the "visible church"—that is, the institutional body on earth which preaches the gospel and administers the sacraments. Every member of the invisible church is "saved", while the visible church contains all individuals who are saved though also having some who are "unsaved". According to this view, Bible passages such as , , and speak about this distinction. Overview on the relation with the visible church Distinction between two churches The first person in church history to introduce a view of an invisible and a visible church is Clement of Alexandria. Some have also argued that Jovinian and Vigilantius held an invisible church view. The concept was advocated by St Augustine of Hippo as part of his refutation of the Donatist sect, though he, as other Church Fathers before him, saw th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Visible Church
Church visible is a term of Christian theology and ecclesiology referring to the visible community of Christian believers on Earth, as opposed to the '' Church invisible'' or ''Church triumphant'', constituted by the fellowship of saints and the company of the elect. In ecclesiology, the Church visible has many names, such as ''Kingdom of God'', ''Disciples of Christ'' and '' People of God''. St. Ignatius of Antioch was one of the first Christian authors to write about the subject, insisting that the Church visible was centered on the Bishop and the Eucharist or Last Supper. In early Christianity, anti-Gnostic writers such as Irenaeus, or anti-Novatian writers like Cyprian of Carthage, would often focus on the visible Church in order to oppose various opinions deemed heretical. It was in this context that the expression ''Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus The Latin phrase (meaning "outside the Church here isno salvation" or "no salvation outside the Church") [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
