Churches in transforming mission: A story of Lutheran communion in Africa

The argument of this paper is that the legacy of “ecclesia semper reformanda” (churches in a continued reformation and renewal) in Africa should not only transform the theological perspective of the Lutheran communion, but also take stock of the diaconal, social, economic and political realities of its members. In other words, a theology done in Africa needs tools and methodologies that are more comprehensive.     

The ‘Emerging Church’ in America: Notes on the interaction of Christianities

The ‘Emerging Church’ is an American-born movement that dates to the late 1990s. It is fundamentally a movement of cultural critique in which the primary interlocutor is the dominant tradition in the United States, conservative Evangelicalism. In this article I address the phenomenon of Emerging Christianity based on historical, literary, and ethnographic analyses of Emerging Church advocates and critics. In particular, I argue that four points of dialogue characterize the status of Emerging in the United States: ‘post-foundational’ theology, ‘ancient-future’ worship, ‘missional’ evangelism, and a general posture of ‘deconversion.’ Ultimately, I present the story of the Emerging Church for its significance to two broad theoretical questions. First, how do new forms of religious identity come into being? And, second, for those working in the ‘anthropology of Christianity’: what happens when Christianities interact? In response to these questions, I stress the Janus-faced quality of Emerging Christianity and its reliance on the categories, narratives, and vocabulary of conservative Evangelicalism in constructing its thoroughgoing cultural critique.     

Christian Stewardship in Light of a Theology of the Cross1

Abstract : The article translates a keynote address delivered in Spanish at the November 2007 “Life and Mission” special assembly of the United Lutheran Evangelical Church in Argentina, held in Buenos Aires. Departing from Jesus' “giving it all away on the cross,” it lays a cruciform foundation for a Christian theology of abundant generosity, and offers practical implications for stewardship leaders.     

The Role of Short‐Term Mission Teams in the New Centers of Global Christianity

Drawing on ethnographic and interview data collected in El Salvador and South Africa over a four‐year period, this article uses a social constructionist approach to describe two types of interaction between short‐term mission teams and their hosts. First, hosts encounter the flow of teams as foreign social products. Once they internalize this new part of their social reality, hosts seek to recruit and control teams. They also mimic the practice of short‐term missions, sending their own teams to remote locations. Second, hosts interact directly with visitors, engaging in world‐building activities that create transnational religious ties. Short‐term missions thus make residents of the new centers of Christianity more mobile in Christianity's global civil society and increase the number of ties between Christians across borders. These findings have implications for the scholarly debate about how to conceptualize Global Christianity; they also broaden the scope of the emerging discourse on short‐term missions.     

On the (Ir)Relevance of Lutheran Theology: Teaching Lutheran Theology in Tanzania

Abstract : The Lutheran interpretation of the gospel we have preached and taught in Tanzania finds little resonance. This may be due to our individualistic and guilt‐oriented, narrow reading of Luther. Luther's theology may again become relevant in Tanzania should it find local interpretations. Good news can indeed be glad tidings when the Word meets human need and anguish. The dominating questions of the human condition change between cultures, societies and times. Our context is not 16th century Wittenberg.     

How Christian upbringing divides the religious nones in Britain: exploring the imprints of Christian upbringing in the 2016 EU referendum

ABSTRACT

Over the last few decades, Britain has witnessed a significant decline in Christian affiliation and the corresponding growth in the number of religiously unaffiliated individuals. Relatively little attention has, however, been paid to ‘former Christians’ who were brought up in a Christian household but now identify as having no religion. This study focuses on the effects of Christian upbringing on the voting behaviour of religious nones in the EU referendum of 2016. Using data from the 2016 British Social Attitudes survey, the empirical analysis in this article examines the socio-cultural characteristics of Anglican, Catholic, and ‘Other Christian’ households as well as their role in shaping the voting turnout and the voting intentions of individuals who are religiously unaffiliated. The results suggest that Anglican upbringing and Catholic upbringing serve as salient proxies for national identities among the secular groups. Additionally, in the EU referendum, the voting behaviour of religious nones with different kinds of Christian upbringing was very distinct. This reveals that religious upbringing is a source of within-group variety among British religious nones and that Britain’s Christian heritage still has important socio-political implications despite the decrease in the country’s Christian population.     

Christian Bioethics in Europe: In Defense against Reductionist Influences from the United States

Christian ideas have continued to inspire European bioethicsuntil now. The central thesis of this essay is that the open-mindednessof Roman Catholic and other Christian denominations in Europeis crucial for understanding why Christian ethics is so wellintegrated in the European culture. The essay describes firstthe institutional frameworks in which these Christian mainlyRoman Catholic ideas are developed. It analyzes further thedifference between the secular Anglo-American and European bioethicsas it has been influenced by these Christian ideas. It finallysummarizes the challenges to which Europe's Christian bioethicalidentity is presently exposed to. The essay states that theChristian inspiration of European bioethics is mainly connectedwith the ideologically moderate, tolerant, and dialogical participationof Christian bioethicists in the bioethical debate in Europe.     

Bridging the Void: New Interpretations of Christian Mysticism and Mystical Theology

There is currently a welcome intensification of interest in the contemporary theological significance of both historical traditions of mystical theology and twentieth‐century theories of mysticism. This review article surveys and evaluates the stimulating range of approaches to these two issues contained in the essays in these volumes. It suggests that the volumes make evident the difficulty of attempting to uncover an underlying conceptual unity in these two historically entangled but deeply different forms of thought. The historical and philosophical sophistication with which many of these essays reflect on these tensions, however, points towards fruitful lines of future enquiry.     

Encountering non-Christian Chinese international students: cross-cultural adaptive practices of local Christian organisations in the UK

ABSTRACT

This paper explores the cross-cultural organisational adaptation of host religious organisations through their interaction with non-Christian Chinese international students in the UK. Grounded in Kim’s integrative adaptation theory, the research employed the methods of participant observation, interviews and document analysis to examine the interaction of international students with two specific churches (part of the Church of Scotland). The study found that in order to provide international engagement, the churches in question underwent cross-cultural organisational adaptation and transformation with a consideration of the cultural differences and the needs of Chinese students in intercultural communication, including in terms of multicultural team building, the improvement of intercultural competence and adaptive religious practices. These adaptive transformations or ‘customised services’ attracted and engaged large numbers of Chinese students in the intercultural interaction surrounding congregations. The cultural adaptation of host congregations contributes to the quality of social support for international students as well as the intercultural expansion of Christian values and beliefs throughout the trend of student mobility.     

Trinity and Religious Pluralism: The Doctrine of the Trinity in Christian Theology of Religions

Books reviewed:
Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen, Trinity and Religious Pluralism: The Doctrine of the Trinity in Christian Theology of Religions. Reviewed by John Flett Princeton Theological Seminary     

Christian Prayer and the Local Congregation: A Social Analysis of Individual Prayer Petitions

Abstract

Prayer requests from members and attendees of a progressive Christian church located in a large American City was the subject of this investigation. This church serves congregants from Roman Catholic and Protestant backgrounds, and a large, but not exclusively gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender community. ap Siôn’s study of prayer typology and subject contents from rural England influenced this investigation. This study used computer technology and document analysis to categorize 8,059 individual prayer card requests submitted between 2014-2018 from church members and attendees. Results showed the most common prayer requests were “Thanks and Thanksgiving” prayers with “Praise and Adoration” prayers among the least common. Few references to sin and forgiveness were found. The most frequently mentioned subjects of prayers were those referencing personal needs and concerns. Findings and comparison with ap Siôn and other research suggest these prayer requests demonstrate the social and theological cohesiveness of Christian prayer. Additional research is suggested comparing Christian prayer with prayers in other religions and how prayer behaviors interact with the rise of multiculturalism in society.     

Six in one hand,half a dozen in the other: An ontological content analysis of radical Islam and the Christian right

The purpose of this paper is to examine the logics of justification embedded in the discourse of radical Islam and fundamentalist Christianity. Proponents of either side mostly suggest that their ideological system stands in opposition to the other. But such opposition holds only for the substantive content of these religious ideologies, not necessarily their underlying logics. That is, they indeed worship different deities, practice different customs and rituals, and in many respects, see the world in very different ways. However, our analysis examines the logical construction of their respective ideological discursive justifications, finding that differences in content are nonetheless underpinned by a remarkably similar system of logic. Previous comment on underlying similarities between these religions has been based on a sense of their affective tenor, observations of their similar rhetoric and methods of activism and otherwise random fragments of coincidence. We instead apply an ontological schema to paradigmatic discursive examples of each, thereby illustrating that their core logics are fundamentally the same.     

Religion in Domestic Violence Prevention PSAs: The Role of Religiosity in Motivating Christian Bystanders to Intervene

Domestic violence is an ongoing health issue around the world, propelling individuals and organizations to seek out new and innovative ways to mitigate its widespread reach. Focusing on the potential of religion to positively impact messaging, the current study examines how Christian symbolism might be used to encourage intervention behavior using public service announcements (PSAs). Using a between‐subjects design of Christian Americans as the respondent pool, a religious symbol versus a control ad was utilized. Levels of religiosity were also measured and factors impacting the construct assessed. Findings revealed religiosity, the importance of religion in one's life, was the underlying motivator for highly religious people to act rather than a religious cue. Within religiosity, the perceived strength of faith to one's identity held greater value than church attendance and frequency of prayer. Theoretical implications are discussed as well as insights for people working in public service messaging.     

Towards a Eucharistic Politics of the Black Body: Black Sexuality in the Horizons of Christian Theology

Abstract

Black bodies are perilously circumscribed by adverse dominant narratives. These narratives, when appealed to by black persons, make naming and understanding black sexuality difficult because they rest upon modern binarisms. The work of J. Kameron Carter, William Cavanaugh and Eugene Rogers demonstrates how Christian dogmatics can avoid self-defeating dualisms by situating talk of sexual desire and black bodies in the larger framework of eschatology, Christology and ecclesiology. In sum, black bodies find their meaning, liberation and flourishing in being made part of the body of Christ, true politics and model of action.     

Biblical stories removed,Christian beliefs retained: religious elements in the life education curriculum of Hong Kong’s Methodist Church primary schools

ABSTRACT

The Methodist Church of Hong Kong has promoted a life education programme since 2004, and has progressively applied it in all affiliated schools. This article analyses the characteristics of the latest primary school life education curriculum compiled by this Christian school sponsoring body. There are three significant findings: 1) religious elements remain rich in the four strands of life education the Universe, oneself, other people, and environment; 2) biblical stories have been removed, but Christian beliefs are integrated into the curriculum materials and summaries in terms of Christian role models and the Holy Scriptures, in order to develop students’ relevant values, good character and positive attitudes towards life; and 3) the importance of prayer as a religious practise for action. The intended curriculum demonstrates how religious elements like Christian beliefs can be applied in secular education to build students’ sense of meaning and purpose in life.     

Religion and development ethics in global perspective: a case study of a foreign Christian NGO in China

ABSTRACT

Much academic writing on religion and development tends to focus on the values, beliefs, and modes of operation of religious organizations to examine whether religion contributes ethically to development. A problem with such an approach is its disregard of the contested and evolving nature of religious participation in development in broader national and global contexts. What constitutes ethical religious contribution to development? How can we study the question sociologically? To answer these two questions, I develop Roland Robertson’s notion of the global field to present a framework for analyzing the dynamic interaction between religion and development ethics. In terms of methodological contribution, the framework proposed here prompts us dynamically to contextualize the issue of religious development ethics with reference to four components that make up the global field: the religious agent, the national society, the global civil society, and the global discourse on wellbeing and development. This means that, from an analytical perspective, what is proper or ethical in religious development ethics should not be construed in absolute terms, but in terms of degree and variation. I demonstrate the usefulness of such a contextual approach by drawing on research on ‘GMV’ (pseudonym for an international Christian medical professional services group actively engaged in community development) in China and examining the relationship between religious NGOs, the party-state, and evolving discursive practice of development in the country.     

Jung in Africa: the historical record

Blake Burleson's ninety-minute presentation was part one of 'A Passage to Africa' moderated by John Beebe. Eight individual filmed sequences from home movies taken by Helton Godwin Baynes during Jung's 1925 expedition to East Africa were shown. In addition to placing these clips in their historical, geographic, and cultural context, Burleson introduced the following cultural complexes revealed in the film and in travelling companion Ruth Bailey's commentary on the film: romantic primitivism, 'going black', self-conscious élite, 'furor Africanus', the 'black man's burden', racial inferiority, and the 'curse of Ham'.