Freedom of Religion and The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Denmark

This article investigates how Africans in Zululand, South Africa, viewed Lutheran missionaries in the 1950's. The main source is a thorough report Zulu pastor S. A. Mbatha gave in answer to a survey initiated by the Swedish missionary Helge Fosseus in 1957. Fosseus wanted to find out more about the causes of increasing African resistance to mission, church and Christianity. Mbatha replied that missionaries were seen by Africans as enemies in that they shared white South African society's prevailing attitude toward blacks. Missionaries were characterized as exploiters and betrayers. This negative image contrasts strongly with the picture the missionaries painted of themselves as Africans' friends and allies in the struggle against increasing discrimination. The last part of the article discusses possible causes for the large difference between the missionaries' self-understanding and the Africans' image of the missionaries.     

Emerging Tapestry: An Evangelical Lutheran Social Ethic

This article argues that an identifiable social ethic is emerging in the social teaching documents of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Reading across the body of teaching and policy it becomes evident how conscientious attention to Lutheran themes and commitments at the interface with contemporary social analysis and questions has produced a coherent ethic. That is, it is relatively comprehensive, responsibly consistent, and remarkably cogent with an identifiable moral imperative and mode of reasoning. The paper delineates the character of this responsibility ethic across the five dimensions of ethics.     

A Parish Pastor's View of Evangelical Lutheran Worship

Abstract : Introducing ELW has been an adventure with many highlights and a few disappointments. This congregation still prints everything in a bulletin, but notes that ELW gives a congregation freedom to use alternatives in the liturgy. ELW will be useful for years to come.     

Churched Ibiza: Evangelical Christianity and Club Culture

In this article, I trace the shifting theorisation of religious conflict to argue that religious conflict in the USA is shaped by a dialectic of religious and secular movements. Church-sect theory, which was originally a class-based theoretical framework, was appropriated by the rational choice approach in the sociology of religion, which instead privileged competition in a religious marketplace. Ernst Troeltsch described divisions between church and sect, but H. Richard Niebuhr demarcated a denominational divide in the USA based on class, region, ethnicity and race. In the 1980s, Wade Clark Roof and William McKinney, Robert Wuthnow and James Davison Hunter observed that the differences in the US were no longer necessarily between denominations but could occur within denominations. For them, what had become known as the Culture Wars were based on a conflict between religious liberals/progressives and religious conservatives/orthodox. This conflict is shaped by a dialectic of secular and religious movements and counter-movements.     

The Missional Shape of Worship in Evangelical Lutheran Worship

Abstract : Mission stands out as an orienting concept in ELW unlike its predecessors. ELW has a missional theological framework as well as a practical missional orientation, a situation in which worship and mission are understood and practiced in relation to one another. It is possible that ELW will help congregations claim the missional character of worship.     

Theology in the Life of the Lutheran Church

Abstract : This article is intended as a brief introduction to the essays that occur in this issue of Dialog. Written for seminar discussion during the concluding consultation in the Lutheran World Federation five‐year study “Theology in the Life of the Church,” these papers were presented in Augsburg, Germany, in March 2009. Each article explores the connection between academic theological reflection and the practical needs of faith communities throughout the world, especially the global South.     

Psychological Types of Male Evangelical Church Leaders

A sample of 57 male evangelical church leaders completed a measure of psychological type. The data demonstrated that between one-quarter and one-third (28%) displayed a preference for sensing, feeling, and judging as either ESFJ or ISFJ. This is consistent with findings from other recent studies concerned with the personality profile of clergy.