Church or Factory: Radical Inclusivity and Vanguard Practice in 1960s New York

Art historians have often discussed Andy Warhol's Factory as a unique creative space in 1960s Manhattan. Similarly, scholars of dance and performance have provided valuable insight into the vanguard activities associated with the Judson Dance Theater located near Union Square. Few studies take time to compare these two places and consider their relationships to one another. This article looks at Warhol's Silver Factory and the performances that took place at Judson Memorial Church more or less simultaneously with a goal of identifying overlapping actors and establishing shared concerns and a sense of radical inclusivity that existed at both sites.     

Rising in Witness: The Metropolitan Community Church in the Religious Press

This detailed article surveys the literature generated by and about the Metropolitan Community Church from its foundation in 1968 to contemporary times in the mainstream religious press and tracks its use as a research venue.     

Between womanhood as ideal and womanhood as a social practice: women’s experiences in the Church organisation in Poland

Using the conceptual framework proposed by Susan Sered and institutional gender theories, this article analyses the relationship between the symbolic and idealised image of femininity with which Catholic women working in the organisations of the Roman Catholic Church in Poland identify themselves and practices of femininity in the structures of Church institutions. I locate the difficulties experienced by women in the Church in realising this symbolic image of femininity. At the same time, I identify the strategies taken by women as ways of dealing with the difficulties and as practices of achieving normative femininity in unfavourable circumstances. I analyse three types of strategies: sacralising difficulties and experienced barriers, familiarising relationships in the Church, and affirming femininity. The article examines the content of interviews conducted between 2012 and 2015 with 31 laywomen working in Church organisations in 15 dioceses in Poland and in the Episcopal Conference, who held three types of positions: office workers/secretaries, professionals, and directors.     

The Spanish Catholic Church,the public sphere,and the economic recession: rival legitimacies?

Spanish society was severely affected by the post-2008 economic recession. The country’s political institutions were faced with a major crisis of legitimacy that gave birth to new social and political movements. In this context, the response of the Roman Catholic Church to the recession was threefold. Firstly, the recession had an impact on the Church itself, as it reactivated the recurring public debate on Church–State relations and the institutional benefits enjoyed by the Church. Secondly, the recession also provided a limited opportunity for the Church. On a normative level, the Catholic hierarchy used the recession to give voice to its discourse on the moralization of the economy and politics, relating it to recurrent campaigns by the Church on family policies and the territorial unity of Spain. In addition, the social sector of the Church responded to the recession through a program of social work intended to offset the failures of both the market and the public authorities. Thirdly, the social work undertaken by specific sectors of the Church unexpectedly led to forms of political advocacy, independently or alongside anti-austerity or pro-migrant social movements. All these effects sharpened previously existing dividing lines within the Catholic landscape.     

The Roman Catholic Church of Norway and migration challenges

Ever since its re-establishment in Norway in 1843, the Roman Catholic Church has grown steadily. On 1 January 2017, the church had a total membership of approximately 150,000. The reason for the latest, and certainly largest, wave of Catholic migrants to settle in Norway is labour migration resulting from the eastward expansion of the EU in 2004, when Poland and Lithuania joined. About half the Catholic population of Norway originates from these two countries. This article focuses on the following research question: How does the Roman Catholic Church in Norway, represented by sisters in religious communities, priests and ecclesiastical employees, respond to the large influx of Catholic migrants to Norway? The study is based on a qualitative survey consisting of semi-structured interviews with 10 informants, all religious sisters, priests or ecclesiastical employees. Although some informants admit that the strong growth resulting from migration has posed problems, such as tendencies to form ‘parallel congregations’ based on ethnic origin, most expressed a positive view of this influx of migrants and of the future of the Catholic Church in Norway.     

Differentiated Consensus as a Means of Correcting Unilateral Ecclesiological Developments?

The methodology of “differentiated consensus,” which was used to arrive at the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification between Lutherans and Catholics in 1999, has led to more progress in 40 years than in the previous five centuries, through reinterpreting certain formulations that were seemingly incompatible, and allowing correction of those doctrinal developments that are unilaterally self‐referential and that reach far back in history. To assess the progress made, this article examines the type of doctrinal consensus originally required by the Catholic Church, so as to understand what is new about differentiated consensus and its potential for correcting unilateral doctrinal developments.     

Conquest and the Western Church

This article examines the action of power relations in the church in pursuit of worldly advantage – political, economic, and social – in the formation, action, and spread of the institution of the Western church, often in collusion with the imperial aspirations of state powers. It argues that redress is required to make amends for injustices and crimes against humanity, as well as to evangelize more effectively in a world that includes those victimized by those claiming to represent God's authority.     

Community‐Based Participatory Research With Black Churches

Black Americans are more likely than other racial/ethnic groups to rely on spiritual and religious resources for mental health support. As such, counselors must seek unique ways to reach and understand Black communities. This article provides an overview of Black Americans' help‐seeking behaviors, the significance and culture of the Black Church, and a framework for counselors and counseling researchers to form effective partnerships to conduct community‐based participatory research initiatives that will produce empirical outcomes and promote culturally responsive mental health and wellness programming in Black communities.     

Trust,organisational boundaries and gender: Mothers Prayers in Ukraine

This article is focused on the Ukrainian branch of an international prayer network Mothers Prayers and its relations with the hierarchy of the Greek Catholic Church. The argument made here can be located within investigations on the transformations of religion and gender relations under Soviet socialism and the post-Soviet conditions (Buckley 1997; Kormina et al. 2015; Luehrmann 2011; Ngo and Quijada 2015; Wanner 2012). While a gender-focused analysis can undoubtedly help us understand some crucial aspects of this movement’s development, here I put forward a complementary interpretation which stresses the need to understand religious vitality and the role of religion, including religious organisations such as churches, in social and political struggles as an outcome of the Soviet secularisation project. The secularisation politics in the Soviet Union resulted both in the appearance of an ‘ambient faith’ (Engelke 2012; Wanner 2014) in unexpected areas of life and in changes of how people perceive the role of religious organisations in religious and political life. I argue that the praying mothers mobilise their motherhood to challenge the male-dominated hierarchical religious organisation in ways that are implicit and indirect, but nevertheless significant.     

Nonfirmands: Danish youth who choose not to have a Lutheran confirmation

Most Danish youth participate in the traditional Lutheran ritual of confirmation. However, a growing minority does not. Based on survey data collected in 2011 from over 600 Danish pupils, this study examines the ways in which Danish ‘nonfirmands’ are different from their peers who participate in confirmation in relation to religious background, personal religious beliefs, intellectual engagement, and demographic factors. We further explore key motivations for ‘nonfirmation’ expressed by the nonfirmands in the sample. Broadly speaking, our findings highlight secular socialization and individual beliefs about God as key elements in understanding the nonfirmand and his or her reasons for opting out of confirmation. We expect confirmations to continue to decline in popularity as nonfirmation gains social acceptance, as nonfirmands raise their own children, and as Denmark becomes increasingly secular.