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Notice board: Church History

by
25 April 2014

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THE kirk session was a group made up of the church minister(s) of a town with around 12 responsible lay elders of the area. Its function was disciplinary and administrative. Margo Todd has edited a version of The Perth Kirk Sessions Books 1577-1590, notable for their comprehensiveness and the light that they shed on how ordinary people in that area adapted to the Reformation (Scottish History Society, £40; 978-0-906245-31-6).

Concentrating on a slightly later period of Scottish church history, Alasdair Raffe looks at The Culture of Controversy: Religious arguments in Scotland 1660-1714. His aims are to explore how disagreements were expressed during this period, and to explain the substance of the discord, arising from the breakdown of religious uniformity (The Boydell Press, £60 (£54); 978-1-84383-729-9).

Tasting Heaven on Earth: Worship in sixth-century Constantinople is a case study of everything connected to its subject.

As Walter Ray explores Byzantine Christianity, he includes primary source materials such as sermons, liturgies, and prayers, and accompanies them with diagrams and photographs to give a comprehensive picture (Wm B. Eerdmans, £18.99 (£17.10); 978-0-8028-6663-9).

Richard Mortimer opens the archives of one of London's historically most influential churches. In his Guide to the Muniments of Westminster Abbey, he starts with the records' history, before looking at their types in more detail, and giving an outline of the relevant catalogues (Boydell & Brewer, £25 (£22.50); 978-1-84383-743-5).

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