Restoring the Household: The Quest of the Grace Brethren Church, a fascinating new Brethren history book, will be released BMH Books (Winona Lake, Ind.) in July at the annual conference of the Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches.
Written by Dr. Todd Scoles of the pastoral staff of the Marysville, Ohio, Grace Brethren Church, the book presents a summary of church history and the theological/political forces leading up to the Alexander Mack baptism in the Eder River of Germany in 1708, which is generally considered the starting-point of the Brethren movement.
Scoles also has significant discussion of the Brethren ordinances of trine immersion Baptist and threefold communion, and concludes with an insightful look at some of the dynamics surrounding the founding of Grace Theological Seminary and the Grace Brethren movement in the late 1930s.
The book is based, in part, on research Scoles did for his D.Min. dissertation at Ashland Theological Seminary several years ago.
Financing for the preparation and production of the book was made possibly by gifts to the Brethren Missionary Herald Company, so plans are to make the book available without charge to all Grace Brethren churches and missionary units desiring a copy. Additional copies will be for sale and available at www.bmhbooks.com or by calling (toll-free) 1-800-348-2756. The ISBN number is 978-0-88469-092-4.