The history and nature of Christian eschatology are examined in Rudolf Bultmann, History and Eschatology (1957; also published as The Presence of Eternity: History and Eschatology, 1975); Jürgen Moltmann, Theology of Hope: On the Ground and the Implications of a Christian Eschatology (1967, reissued 1993; originally published in German, 1964); and Frederic J. Baumgartener, Longing for the End: A History of Millennialism in Western Civilization (1999; reissued 2001). Influential works from the perspective of process theology are Catherine Keller, The Face of the Deep: A Theology of Becoming (2003); and Marjorie Hewitt Suchocki, The End of Eviclass="underline" Process Eschatology in Historical Context (1988). Ernst Wilhelm Benz Martin E. Marty The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica Christian philosophy
Introductions to the early period include Christopher Stead, Philosophy in Christian Antiquity (1994); and Robert Louis Wilken, The Spirit of Early Christian Thought (2003). The classic works on the medieval period are Étienne Gilson, Reason and Revelation in the Middle Ages (1938, reprinted 1966), and History of Christian Philosophy in the Middle Ages (1955, reissued 1980). Modern developments are treated in James C. Livingston, Modern Christian Thought, 2 vol., 2nd ed. (1997–2000). Christian existentialism is addressed in George Pattison, Anxious Angels: A Retrospective View of Religious Existentialism (1999). Also useful is Hans Küng, Does God Exist?: An Answer for Today, trans. by Edward Quinn (1980, reprinted 1991; originally published in German, 1978). John Hick Mysticism
Many of the texts of the great Christian mystics have been published in new translations in The Classics of Western Spirituality series (1978– ). Bernard McGinn, Presence of God: A History of Western Mysticism, 2 vol. (1991–95), is a good introduction. Helpful for the serious student are the classic works of William James, The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature (1902, reissued 1977); and Rudolf Otto, Mysticism East and West: A Comparative Analysis of the Nature of Mysticism, trans. by Bertha L. Bracey and Richenda C. Payne (1960, reissued 1987; originally published in German, 1926). Karl Rahner, The Practice of Faith: A Handbook of Contemporary Spirituality, ed. by Karl Lehmann and Albert Raffelt (1983; originally published in German, 1982), is one of the more important theological contributions of the late 20th century. Bernard J. McGinn Myth and legend
The nature of myth is examined in Mircea Eliade, Myth and Reality, trans. by Willard R. Trask (1963, reprinted 1998; originally published in French, 1963); and Robert A. Segal, Myth: A Very Short Introduction (2004). Resistance to myth and legend in early Christianity is described in Walter Bauer, Orthodoxy and Heresy in Earliest Christianity, ed. by Robert A. Kraft and Gerhard Krodel (1971, reissued 1996; originally published in German, 1934).
The Apocryphal gospels are covered in Morton Smith, The Secret Gospeclass="underline" The Discovery and Interpretation of the Secret Gospel According to Mark (1973, reissued 1985); James M. Robinson (ed.), The Nag Hammadi Library in English, 4th rev. ed. (1996); and Elaine Pagels, The Gnostic Gospels (1979, reissued 1989). Also of interest is Charles W. Hedrick and Robert Hodgson, Jr. (eds.), Nag Hammadi, Gnosticism, and Early Christianity (1982).
Devotion to the saints is discussed in H. Delehaye, The Legends of the Saints: An Introduction to Hagiography, trans. by Donald Attwater (1907, reissued 1998; originally published in French, 1905); Lawrence S. Cunningham, The Meaning of Saints (1980); Peter Brown, The Cult of the Saints: Its Rise and Function in Latin Christianity (1981); and Donald Weinstein and Rudolph M. Bell, Saints & Society: The Two Worlds of Western Christendom, 1000–1700 (1982, reprinted 1986). The Arthurian cycles are treated in P.B. Grout et al. (eds.), The Legend of Arthur in the Middle Ages (1983).
Christian alchemy is described in C.G. Jung, Psychology and Alchemy, trans. by R.F.C. Hull, 2nd ed. rev. (1968, reprinted 1980; originally published in German, 2nd rev. ed., 1952). Alchemical researches of Enlightenment scientists, especially physicists and chemists, are examined in Frances A. Yates, The Rosicrucian Enlightenment (1972, reissued 2002); and Betty Jo Teeter Dobbs, The Foundations of Newton’s Alchemy; or, “The Hunting of the Greene Lyon” (1975, reprinted 1983).
Two examples of non-Western materials are Roger Bastide, The African Religions of Braziclass="underline" Toward a Sociology of the Interpenetration of Civilizations, trans. by Helen Sebba (1978; originally published in French, 1960), especially pp. 260–284 on Afro-Brazilian Christianity; and Marc de Civrieux, Watunna: An Orinoco Creation Cycle, trans. and ed. by David M. Guss (1980; originally published in Spanish, 1970). Lawrence E. Sullivan The relationships of Christianity
Ernst Troeltsch, The Social Teaching of the Christian Churches, trans. by Olive Wyon, 2 vol. (1931, reissued 1992; originally published in German, 1912), is dated in specifics but is still one of the most comprehensive and influential studies of this topic. Another important general work is Paul Tillich, Theology of Culture, ed. by Robert C. Kimball (1959, reissued 1978), essays on philosophy, art, literature, and science. Studies of various aspects of Christianity’s intersection with the world include, on pastoral care, Ronald L. Numbers and Darrel W. Amundsen (eds.), Caring and Curing: Health and Medicine in the Western Religious Traditions (1986), a unique and comprehensive presentation by scholars of various faith traditions, with bibliographies; on birth control, John T. Noonan, Jr., Contraception: A History of Its Treatment by the Catholic Theologians and Canonists, enlarged ed. (1986); on black theology, James H. Cone, For My People: Black Theology and the Black Church (1984); on liberation theology, Deane William Ferm, Third World Liberation Theologies: An Introductory Survey (1986); and Leonardo Boff and Clodovis Boff, Introducing Liberation Theology (1987; originally published in Portuguese, 1986); and, on feminist theology, Rosemary Radford Ruether, Sexism and God-Talk: Toward a Feminist Theology (1983, reissued 2002). Carter H. Lindberg Christian missions