Books by Jaroslav Pelikan

University education has been the subject of vigorous debate since its advent. In this book the author reflects on the character and aims of the university, assessing its guiding principles, its practical functions and its role in society.

Reflecting on Goethe's statement that he was a pantheist in science, a polytheist in art and a monotheist in ethics, Pelikan analyzes Goethe's character "Faust" and his development as a theologian. Pelikan is the author of "The Christian Tradition" and "Through the Centuries".

It is equally true that the Reformation was inspired and defined by the Bible and that the Bible was reshaped by the intellectual, political and cultural forces of the Reformation. This work explores the level of influence each had upon the other.

Jaroslav Pelikan compares the methods by which the official interpreters of the Bible and the Constitution - the Christian Church and the Supreme Court, respectively - have approached the necessity of interpreting, and reinterpreting, their important texts.

An internationally renowned historian of Christian doctrine offers a theological reading of Acts.

The Emergence of the Catholic Tradition is the history of this critical, troubled time. Pelikan focuses upon the subtle relation between what the faithful believed, what teachers--both orthodox and heretical--taught, and what the church confessed as dogma during its first six centuries of growth. In constructing his work, Pelikan has made use of exegetical and liturgical sources in addition to the usual polemical, apologetic, and systematic or speculative materials.

Addressing essential questions about the Christian tradition, "Credo" stands as an independent reference work devoted to the subject of what creeds and confessions are and what their role in history has been.

The Bible is among the world's most influential and important books - and the most controversial. It affects not just religious beliefs but every aspect of our culture, including the very language we speak. But how did it become the book we know it to be? In this superbly written history, Jaroslav Pelikan charts its evolution from oral tales via Hebrew texts, Greek, and Latin translations, to its many different forms today, offering a new insight into the history of the last three thousand years. This is an enduring work of scholarship and a fascinating read.

A discussion about how each age created Jesus in its own image, discovering in his life and teachings the answers to fundamental questions of human life and destiny. It studies the images of Jesus cherished by successive ages, suggesting that the depictions are key to understanding each era.

The line that separated Eastern Christendom from Western on the medieval map is similar to the "iron curtain" of recent times. Linguistic barriers, political divisions, and liturgical differences combined to isolate the two cultures from each other. Except for such episodes as the schism between East and West or the Crusades, the development of non-Western Christendom has been largely ignored by church historians. In "The Spirit of Eastern Christendom," Jaroslav Pelikan explains the divisions between Eastern and Western Christendom, and identifies and describes the development of the distinctive forms taken by Christian doctrine in its Greek, Syriac, and early Slavic expression. "It is a pleasure to salute this masterpiece of exposition. . . . The book flows like a great river, slipping easily past landscapes of the utmost diversity--the great Christological controversies of the seventh century, the debate on icons in the eighth and ninth, attitudes to Jews, to Muslims, to the dualistic heresies of the high Middle Ages, to the post-Reformation churches of Western Europe. . . . His book succeeds in being a study of the Eastern Christian religion as a whole."--Peter Brown and Sabine MacCormack, "New York Review of Books" "The second volume of Professor Pelikan's monumental work on The Christian Tradition is the most comprehensive historical treatment of Eastern Christian thought from 600 to 1700, written in recent years. . . . Pelikan's reinterpretation is a major scholarly and ecumenical event."--John Meyendorff "Displays the same mastery of ancient and modern theological literature, the same penetrating analytical clarity and balanced presentation of conflicting contentions, that madeits predecessor such an intellectual treat."--"Virgina Quarterly Review"

The Virgin Mary has been a figure of inspiration to Catholics, Protestants, Jews and Muslims, artists, musicians, writers, and men and women everywhere. This text examines how Mary has been depicted and venerated through the ages.