Sustainable Masculinity in Ecumenical Perspective

Gender is an important topic of the WCC's Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace. It is the result of both theological anthropological concerns and the ongoing search for justice and peace. In other words, it is a typical area where traditional Faith and Order and Life and Work concerns coincide. Yet, gender is often taken to mean concerns of the role, rights, and treatment of women primarily, with some attention to the position and treatment of transgender persons and sexual minorities. This article argues that, precisely from the point of view of these ecumenical theological concerns, attention for masculinity as a gender is also required. The reason for this is that although many different forms of masculinity are supported with an appeal to the Christian tradition, not all forms of masculinity are compatible with a desire for safeguarding human dignity and a sustainable journey into the future.     

Baptist Perspectives on Faith-Based Initiatives and Religious Liberty

SUMMARY

Baptist perspectives are presented on recent policy efforts that could increase the opportunities for religious organizations to receive public monies for the planning and delivery of human services. A distinctive Baptist principle is religious liberty, a tenet of faith that contributes to several Baptist writings that consider the risks of church-state relationships in human service activities. Political and philosophical perspectives are considered in a discussion of services that Baptists provide and an understanding of these services as faith-based initiatives. The ElderCare Program of Buckner Baptist Benevolences in Texas and other services are discussed as models of faith-based initiatives for older adults.     

Women’s Ministry in Ecumenical Perspective

Although discussion about the ministry of women seems to have come to a standstill as a result of arguments that don’t seem to change, the actual practices of the churches have evolved beyond doctrinal positions. In the Roman Catholic Church, many women have been appointed to positions in pastoral care and education, and even to decision‐making bodies. In the Orthodox Church, prerogatives previously reserved for nuns are beginning to be applied to lay women. But if we can entrust women with pastoral responsibilities, why is it not possible to move to include them in priestly ministry? To answer this question, we need to analyze the implicit levels of refusing the priesthood to women.     

Chinese Churches and the Ecumenical Movement from an Asian Perspective

The involvement of Chinese churches and Chinese Christians with the ecumenical movement preceded the establishment of the World Council of Churches in 1948. Recurring themes in the encounter have been de‐colonization and indigenization, church unity and post‐denominationalism, and Asian regional ecumenism. There was also a determination among Chinese church leaders to reconfigure mission and relations between churches in the West and those in Asia. These concerns have their origins in the chequered history of Christian missions and their association with imperialism in the last century.     

Religious Diversity From a Jewish Perspective

The exploration of spiritual and religious diversity may receive less attention in counselor education than is warranted, resulting in counselors who are unprepared to deal with spiritual and religious issues in counseling. This trend could have a negative impact on Jewish clients, as well as on other religious clients, who feel that issues related to their identity are ignored. The Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (2001) has recognized that religious diversity is an integral component of the multicultural counseling movement, but counselor education and training programs, as a whole, still need to embrace this standard.     

Religious Experience: A Sociological Perspective

This paper draws on a wide range of researches to stress the importance of social context to the sociological understanding of religious experiences. It argues that individualistic definitions fail to take into account real group experiences such as those resulting from the reforms of Vatican II. For the sociologist, it is important to explore general patterns of group experiences and the meanings attributed to them. The paper discusses some of the methodological and conceptual problems in this area before considering evidence for the patterning of religious experience according to differences of generation, gender, class, level of urbanization, institutional involvement, and status inconsistency. The paper concludes by locating religious experiences in the context of modernity. In contrast to related theories of secularization, it draws attention to the recent work of Hervieu-Léger which suggests that utopian future expectations create space which can only be met by new forms of religious experience.     

从宗教史看和谐社会的构建

宗教维护社会秩序的和谐稳定表现在:对统治秩序的来源以及被统治者遭受的苦难进行神圣性的解释,教化和强化人们服从现实政治秩序;宗教还调整维护大量的非阶级性的道德关系。当然历史上也有很多掺杂了宗教因素的社会冲突,如中国历史上披着宗教外衣的民变和农民起义,西方历史上的宗教战争和教派冲突。在现代社会,贯彻宪法规定的宗教自由原则,完全可以用民主和法治的手段来预防和解决这类社会冲突。过去宗教突出倡导的容忍精神,可以转化为现代人际之间和文明之间的宽容精神;过去宗教强调的对权力和意志的服从,可以转变为现代的对法律和契约的服从———服从精神对于任何一个社会的正常运转与和谐稳定都至关重要。扬长避短,把握分寸,宗教就完全可以成为构建和谐社会的得力助手。