The Church and the Trinity I: The Church of the Spirit

We are commemorating the tenth anniversary of the death of the outstanding young preacher Geoffrey Preston by publishing this trilogy. It was written not very long before he died and has not appeared in print before. Its other two parts, 'The Church of the Son' and 'The Church of the Father', we will be publishing in our July/August and September numbers.     

The Church in the Closet

Abstract

This article employs the metaphor of ‘the closet’ to explore the ambivalent status of the contemporary Church. The requirements of prophetic ministry and mission require that the Church leaves the security of the closet and claims its vocation as a counter cultural movement. However, remaining within the closet the Church enjoys the security and protection of the dominant powers. It is hard to relinquish these comforts particularly in contexts where ‘coming out’ may result in persecution or even martyrdom.     

The Demise of the First Secularization: The Church of Gogol and the Church of Belinsky

The article presents Gogol as marking the end of a century-long phase of secularism in Russian culture, from Peter the Great to Pushkin, and as the first writer to represent the cultural phenomenon of the ‘New Middle Ages’ and renewed religious zeal, first described by Berdyaev; further, it highlights some commonalities between Gogol and Belinsky and takes Belinsky as a leading instance of ‘religious atheism’. The article goes on to consider Russian culture’s need for neutral ‘middle ground’ between its multiple and extreme polarities and, in this context, highlights Sergej Averintsev’s plea for an orientation towards Aristotelianism. These are the opening two sections of a longer paper delivered at a conference on ‘Russian Culture at the Crossroads. Art and Society’ at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas,’ 24–25 November 1997. The title of the full paper is: ‘Russian Culture at the Crossroads: Secularization, Demonism and the Transition from a Binary to a Ternary Model.’     

The Rural Elderly and the Church

The growing numbers of rural elderly in America has resulted in a burgeoning of research on this constituency. Such research has identified information on the living cirumstances of rural elderly as well as on the advantages and disadvantages of the rural milieu as a context for aging. Research has also demonstrated the central role which religion and the church play for the rural elderly, and it is iwth this knowledge that the church must expand its role in service to this population. The church may enhance its role by beginning with four major areas: (1) increasing church accessibility; (2) complementing formal service programs; (3) enhancing indigenous support networks; and (4) providing educational programs.     

The Church in the Postcommunist World

Abstract

The collapse of the Communist regimes of Eastern Europe is evidence only of the triumph of Western‐style consumerism. The Church's influence on society, both in East and West, is very limited. This situation is the result of historical factors which may be traced back to the early Middle Ages. Historical materialism is the offspring of the medieval Western version of Christianity which, under rationalistic and moralistic pressure, transformed God into a dead authoritarian concept. A brief analysis of the terms ratio and logos is offered in illustration of the different mindsets of the Eastern and Western Churches. The metaphysical revolution which brought in the modern world was a rebellion against the Western understanding of God. Historically, Orthodoxy has lacked the confidence to advance its own view but it can contribute an understanding of the Church based on the notions of personhood and relation that offers the most fruitful way forward.