The Russian Orthodox Church as moral norm entrepreneur

Conflicts over religious symbols in the public sphere, gay marriage, abortion or gender equality have shown their disruptive potential across many societies in the world. They have also become the subject of political and legal debates in international institutions. These conflicts emerge out of different worldviews and normative conceptions of the good, and they are frequently framed in terms of competing interpretations of human rights. One newcomer voice in conflicts over rights and values in the international sphere is the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC), which in recent years has become an active promoter of ‘traditional values’ both inside Russia and internationally. This article studies the ideational prerequisites and dynamics of Russian Orthodox ‘norm protagonism’ in the international arena.     

Interaction between Pentecostals and local authorities in Russia: challenging secularity from below

Certain researchers have maintained that the resurgence of religion in the Russian Federation is part of a process of desecularisation ‘from above’, following years of forced secularisation. This article postulates that, despite their status as members of what is considered a nontraditional religion, foreign to the Russian soil, Russian Pentecostal churches are actively engaged in a challenge to secularity but ‘from below’. I explore this hypothesis through the examination of three Pentecostal modes of action: social partnership, political partnership and global networking. Based on a qualitative, empirical study, this paper finds that the Pentecostal movement has forged close ties on a local and regional level with public authorities and that, through necessity and mutually overlapping interests, a certain cooperation and even complicity has developed between these local authorities and the organisations linked to the churches, thus facilitating the integration of specifically Pentecostal discourse into certain public structures. The study further shows that local and regional authorities have adopted globalised social work praxes territorialised by Pentecostals in an attempt to associate the current authoritarian regime with perceived forms of global modernity. At the same time I argue that the participation of the Pentecostal movement in a process of desecularisation is not an intentional outcome projected by the Russian regime but rather the consequence of economic and social urgency against a backdrop of a policy of New Public Management. I conclude that, due to the constantly shifting and often-arbitrary legal framework in which Pentecostals must operate in Russia today, the partnerships cultivated by the Pentecostal movement may prove to be unsustainable in the long term.     

Studying the ecclesiology of a national church: the Danish context

Studying the ecclesiology of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Denmark is a complicated matter. It requires knowledge of a broad range of subjects such as theology, political science, history, and anthropology. This article shows some of the difficulties and problems related to studying a national church which is heavily politicised, because a national church, in a globalised context, easily becomes the symbol of a past identification of nation, state, church, and people. Today, this identification is changing because of immigration, secular ideologies, and secularisation. Researchers in ecclesiology must be aware of the political and national dimensions of their research and how their conclusions are used in the political debate.     

The Orthodox Diaspora

This paper discusses the decisions of the Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church in June 2016 that offered the Orthodox diaspora throughout the world the opportunity on many levels to act and develop activities to promote Orthodox witness, faith, and life. The issue of diaspora is very important for the church on account of the dynamic presence of the Orthodox faith and witness within large heterodox, non-Christian, and diversified multicultural populations. The diaspora, after the Holy and Great Synod of the Orthodox Church, has in front of it an open door that no one can shut. Hence the diaspora is always in a movement of outreach for the sowing of the seed of truth to those who are far away and to those who are near: always with the mighty assistance of the merciful and philanthropic God.     

“Who Can Proclaim the Mighty Acts of the Lord?”

The Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church that met in Crete in 2016 reaffirmed that mission and evangelism is a duty for Orthodox faithful, especially in Europe, which is often seen as a terrain for evangelization by movements coming from the global South. This requires caution, planning, accountability, and especially deep faith, against the background of complacency observed among members of the Orthodox Church that creates a noticeable missionary vacuum. The article underlines the necessity to begin with honest self-criticism by pastors and teachers, clergy and laypeople and to follow this with serious pastoral planning in relation to the modern social and cultural environment and the needs of the people.     

The Documents of the Council of Crete

This document is the translation of a report given on 29 November 2017 by Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk to the Bishops’ Council of the Russian Orthodox Church. It presents the results of the study by the Synodal Biblical-Theological Commission of the Russian Orthodox Church of the documents adopted by the Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church at its meeting in Crete from 19 to 26 June 2016. This report is followed by the decisions of the Bishops’ Council concerning the Council of Crete.     

RALPH WENDELL BURHOE: HIS LIFE AND HIS THOUGHT

Abstract. This is the first of four installments by the author, presenting an intellectual biography of Ralph Wendell Burhoe. This first segment follows Burhoe from his college years at Harvard through the founding of the Institute on Religion in an Age of Science in 1954. In this period, after his college and seminary study, Burhoe worked at Harvard's Blue Hill Meteorological Observatory and as executive officer of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Throughout his early life he had been concerned with how religion could maintain its credibility as a bearer of truth vis-à-vis the sciences, which were displacing religion not only among leading intellectuals, but also in other segments of society. The founding of IRAS provided an important instrument for dealing with this concern.     

Is the Catholic Church in America Experiencing Internal Secularization? Priests’ Assessments of Pope Francis and the Condition of the Church

This study addressed internal secularization in the Catholic Church by testing the role of several factors in priests’ assessments of the state of the Church in the United States, priests’ views of whether the Church's situation is getting better or worse, and their attitudes toward Pope Francis. Comparisons with identical questions fielded in 2002 revealed a striking pessimistic turn among priests over the last two decades. In addition, regression analyses using the 2021 Survey of American Catholic Priests revealed that “in-house” factors—namely, attitudes toward Pope Francis and perceptions of how well bishops have restored confidence in the Catholic Church following the sexual abuse crisis—most powerfully predicted priests’ current pessimism. On top of this, politically conservative priests and priests ordained more recently tended to be most critical of how Francis is handling his duties, signaling a pronounced tension inside the Catholic Church over religious authority, a defining feature of internal secularization.     

“Ye Double-Minded”: Black Parishioners’ Attitudes toward Nonaffirming Church Climates

Homophobia in the black community has been largely attributed to the Black Church's conservative views concerning sexual orientation. Prior research demonstrates that black congregations are generally nonaffirming of nonheterosexuality; however, few studies have investigated black congregants’ responses to their churches’ climates regarding sexuality. Using in-depth interviews, this paper examines the extent to which black Christians are content with their congregations’ nonaffirming climates. Findings indicate that although some black parishioners are content with or indifferent to their churches’ climates, most respondents advocate for a change in how their congregations address sexual orientation, specifically calling for open conversations about sexuality. Furthermore, an examination of the language respondents used to evaluate congregational climates suggests discussions of sexuality in churches that humanize and encourage empathy for nonheterosexual identities may help facilitate such conversations. These results challenge assumptions of ideological homogeneity within religious organizations and could inform strategies to promote nonheterosexual inclusion in congregations.