Bringing immigrants onstage as central players in the drama of rural capitalist transformation, Anne Kelly Knowles traces a community of Welsh immigrants to Jackson and Gallia counties in southern Ohio. After reconstructing the gradual process of community-building, Knowles focuses on the pivotal moment when the immigrants became involved with the industrialization of their new region as workers and investors in Welsh-owned charcoal iron companies. Setting the southern Ohio Welsh in the context of Welsh immigration as a whole from 1795 to 1850, Knowles explores how these strict Calvinists responded to the moral dilemmas posed by leaving their native land and experiencing economic success in the United States. Knowles draws on a wide variety of sources, including obituaries and community histories, to reconstruct the personal histories of over 1,700 immigrants. The resulting account will find appreciative readers not only among historical geographers, but also among American economic historians and historians of religion.

I will explain the traditional principles commonly referred to as Calvinism. I will then demonstrate that the most popular proof texts (i.e., Bible passages offered to establish a point) for this belief system do not actually support it. - p. 8.

Why do two groups of Christians read the same verses of Scripture and reach radically opposing views of the Sovereignty of God and the Responsibility of Man? Starting with what Augustine called the very beginning of our faith, the system of Calvinism is explained from its foundation in the attributes of Omniscience, Omnipotence and Perfection in God, up through the Perseverance of the Saints. This system of belief, supported by numerous quotes from Augustine, Luther, Calvin, R. C. Sproul, James White, and John Piper, trusts in the absolute sovereignty of God. This is not simply an explanation of what Calvinism teaches, instead this is an explanation of WHY Calvinists all reach the same conclusions of what Scripture teaches. This systematic approach using the writings of Calvin, and supporting evidence from current Calvinists, will help non-Calvinists as well as life-long Calvinists better understand exactly what Calvinism teaches. C. S. Lewis understood Calvinism better than most Calvinists. Beginning with the same attributes of God as they relate to the creation and fall of man, Lewis systematically addressed the foundational reasoning used by Calvin to develop his theology. Finding Orthodoxy is as simple as understanding these two opposing systems of belief. This presentation of what Calvin and C. S. Lewis taught, breaks down a very complex issue into a series of steps that interlock in a way that allows for an understanding of Sovereignty, Responsibility, Election, Predestination, and Salvation. Most books describe the two protestant views of theology that came out of the Reformation as Calvinism and Arminianism. After the death of John Calvin and Jacobus Arminius, the followers of Arminius issued a document disagreeing with five of the points of Classic Calvinism. The Synod of Dort was convened to counter these five Arminian points, and issued the now familiar five TULIP points of Calvinism. Calvin and C. S. Lewis: Solving the Riddle of the Reformation (C&C) is not another simple rehash of these five points. Instead of beginning with Total Depravity, C&C examines the foundation that Total Depravity and the TULIP points are built upon. This starting point is not the authors opinion, instead, the starting point is what Augustine (called the father of Reformed Theology) and Calvin state to be the very beginning of our faith. C&C methodically lays out the complete system of Calvinism, using the starting point of Augustine and Calvin. The TULIP points are shown to be the top of the iceberg in the complete systematic theology of Calvin. When the complete system of Calvinism is explained, the futility of simply comparing the different views on the TULIP points is readily apparent. Tracing Calvinism to its first premise, the very foundation that Augustine, Calvin, and R.C. Sproul agree on, sets up the riddle of the reformation. After extensive documentation of Calvin's premises, C&C explains the how C. S. Lewis took the same starting point Calvin used and constructed a different systematic theology. The explanation of how Calvin and C. S. Lewis began with the same premises, yet arrived at different conclusions, solves the riddle of the reformation: Why two groups of Christians that read the same verses of Scripture reach radically opposing views of the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man. C&C shows that the only definitive way to know which system is Orthodox -- to solve the riddle -- is to dig all the way down and examine this foundation. C&C is exhaustively researched, extensively documented, charitably presented, intellectually challenging, and gives excellent answers on the Sovereignty of God and the role of man in salvation.

This valuable contribution to the debate about the relation of religion to the modern city fills an important gap in the historiography of early nineteenth-century religious life. Although there is some evidence that strict doctrine led to a more restricted response to urban problems, extensive local and personal variations mean that simple generalizations should be avoided. Ian J.Shaw argues against earlier prejudiced views and shows that high Calvinists played a vigorous and successful part in the response of early nineteenth-century churches to the process of urbanization. The study includes six substantial case studies of ministers and their churches in Manchester and London. Four high Calvinist ministers are considered, with two studies of ministers holding to an evangelical Calvinist doctrine also included to provide instructive contrasts. Detailed social analysis of the congregations is based upon extensive use of manuscript and printed sources, sermons, and local and denominational press.

Veins of iron run deep in the history of America. Iron making began almost as soon as European settlement, with the establishment of the first ironworks in colonial Massachusetts. Yet it was Great Britain that became the Atlantic world’s dominant low-cost, high-volume producer of iron, a position it retained throughout the nineteenth century. It was not until after the Civil War that American iron producers began to match the scale and efficiency of the British iron industry. In Mastering Iron, Anne Kelly Knowles argues that the prolonged development of the US iron industry was largely due to geographical problems the British did not face. Pairing exhaustive manuscript research with analysis of a detailed geospatial database that she built of the industry, Knowles reconstructs the American iron industry in unprecedented depth, from locating hundreds of iron companies in their social and environmental contexts to explaining workplace culture and social relations between workers and managers. She demonstrates how ironworks in Alabama, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia struggled to replicate British technologies but, in the attempt, brought about changes in the American industry that set the stage for the subsequent age of steel. Richly illustrated with dozens of original maps and period art work, all in full color, Mastering Iron sheds new light on American ambitions and highlights the challenges a young nation faced as it grappled with its geographic conditions.

From places like John Piper's den, Al Mohler's office, and Jonathan Edwards's college, Christianity Today journalist Collin Hansen investigates what makes today's young Calvinists tick. Church-growth strategies and charismatic worship have fueled the bulk of evangelical growth in America for decades. While baby boomers have flocked to churches that did not look or sound like church, it seems these churches do not so broadly capture the passions of today's twenty-something evangelicals. In fact, a desire for transcendence and tradition among young evangelicals has contributed to a Reformed resurgence. For nearly two years, Christianity Today journalist Collin Hansen visited the chief schools, churches, and conferences of this growing movement. He sought to describe its members and ask its leading pastors and theologians about the causes and implications of the Calvinist resurgence. The result, Young, Restless, Reformed, shows common threads in their diverse testimonies and suggests what tomorrow's church might look like when these young evangelicals become pastors or professors.