Charismatics,independents, and missions: Church proliferation in Ghana

The paper traces the changing phases in the development of the African religious movement phenomenon, focusing on the newer versions, namely the charismatic churches, and analysing their activities and their impact on Ghanaian society. It observes that the motives for their proliferation are diverse but one of the main contemporary sources of proliferation is the prominence they have gained through the media and other telecommunication systems. With their strong intolerance towards African traditional religious customs, which they exhibit through the medium of tele‐vangelism, the charismatic churches have become the main opponents and source of Christian/African traditional religious conflict in contemporary Ghana.     

Chapter 14: The Caleb Affect: The Oldest-Old in Church and Society

SUMMARY

Persons in North America who are over 80 years of age are generally overlooked by religious leaders. They are, however, the fastest growing cohort in society. This age crescendo promises to be a significant factor in the future ministry of the rapidly increasing number of graying churches and synagogues.     

A brilliant jewel: sex,celibacy, and the Roman Catholic Church

As clerical sexual abuse scandals hit the news and the crisis of vocations worsens each year, debate about the merits of mandatory clerical celibacy continues to grow. The fact remains, however, that supposedly celibate priests have been sexually active in significant numbers throughout history and that their sexual activity has barely affected the power of the Church. In this article, I focus on the ‘everyday’ nature of sexual ‘incontinence’ among a group of Northeast Brazilian priests and analyse the relative systematicity with which vow-breaking is accommodated. Such systematicity, I suggest, reveals an ongoing stable-instability at the heart of the Church as an institution; a dynamic which, if better understood, can help to explain the most characteristic (but often overlooked) feature of institutions more generally: their impressive longevity.     

The Viability of Christian Same-Sex Unions: Why Scripturally Normed Faith Communities Must Support Homosexual Relationships

Abstract

This article examines the common, competing lay theologies employed to address the viability of Christian same-sex unions and critiques their problematic underpinnings. Particular attention is given to the unproductive hermeneutical dynamics that have characterized the debate over this issue. After a critical examination of the relevant biblical texts and other foundational assumptions, the author proposes a biblical theology of Christian same-sex unions as a constructive, conciliatory alternative. The author contends that Christian communities that grant a controlling influence to the Bible as Scripture must accept the biblical testimony on the identity of human beings and the calling of human beings to image God's covenant faithfulness through the gift of sexuality, regardless of sexual orientation. The article is written primarily with clergy in mind, specifically to offer resources for providing guidance in ecclesial processes of discernment on the issue of Christian same-sex unions.     

Empirical and historical perspectives on the growth of Pentecostal-style churches in Malaysia,Singapore and Hong Kong

This article considers the growth of Pentecostal-style churches in Southeast Asia, and specifically in Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. It outlines four reasons for the growth that occurred and then, using qualitative and quantitative data in a mixed mode, seeks to test the hypotheses it derives. It concludes that each of the hypotheses remains plausible but notes that contextual factors or major social disruptions undermine any deterministic account.     

The Longevity Effects of Religious and Nonreligious Participation: A Meta‐Analysis and Meta‐Regression

Scholars have long argued that the reduced mortality risk associated with frequent participation in religious services derives from two sources: social participation and religious belief efficacy. In contrast, the reduced mortality risk associated with participation in nonreligious groups is thought to derive solely from the social participation component. This study tests the religious efficacy hypothesis by comparing the effects of religious participation with nonreligious participation using meta‐analyses of 312 mortality risk estimates from 74 publications (providing data on more than 300,000 persons). We found no significant difference between the mean hazard ratio (HR) for low religious participation (HR, 1.32; 95% CI, 1.24–1.41) and the mean HR for low nonreligious participation (HR, 1.25; 95% CI, 1.17–1.33). These findings suggest that the positive health effects of religious participation may largely be attributed to the social participation component, rather than to the religious component of the act.     

Linking clergy psychological type profile and church growth in the Diocese of Chester: a pilot study

Two recent studies (one in England and one in Australia) have linked church growth and church decline with the psychological type profile of church leaders. The present study, conducted within the Diocese of Chester, compares the psychological type profile of two groups of clergy who had served in the same parishes for five years or more: 29 leading declining churches and 19 leading growing churches. The data found a significantly higher preference for perceiving among those leading growing churches, although there were no significant differences in terms of the orientations, the perceiving process, or the judging process.     

The devil is in the local: provincial religious legislation in China, 2005–2012

Promulgated in the wake of the Regulations on Religious Affairs, the new set of 20 provincial regulations in China often adopt provisions in the central government statute, prescribing a more benign relationship between religion and the state, defining religious affairs narrowly to exclude internal administration issues of religious communities, stipulating protection of religious freedom before that of state authority, adopting a regulatory rather than administrative regime, removing the annual re-certification requirement of religious venues, increasing the institutional autonomy of religious communities in personnel matters and formation, and transferring the supervisory powers from state agencies to religious communities. At the same time, they also circumscribe the interventionist powers of the state, stipulating bureaucratic response time limits, publicising transparent procedures and specific norms for approving and disapproving religious activities, and not requiring religious communities to accept Party leadership. Despite their overall progressive direction, however, some benevolent central government regulations have not been incorporated by the new provincial regulations, notably those exempting religious communities from supporting state ideology, and those providing administrative appeal and judicial challenge for local government decisions on religious affairs.     

A social role for churches and cultural demarcation: how German MEPs represent religion in the European Parliament

This study deals with the question of how German members of the European Parliament (MEPs) represent the German model of religion–state relations at the European level. Based on a survey and interviews with German MEPs as well as a content-analysis of German MEPs’ speeches, motions and parliamentary questions during the seventh term of the European Parliament (EP), our study demonstrates that this model is represented in three dimensions. First, German MEPs reflect the close cooperation between the churches and the state in Germany, primarily on social issues, through largely church- and religion-friendly attitudes and relatively frequent contacts with religious interest-groups. Second, by referring to religious freedoms and minorities primarily outside the EU and by placing Islam in considerably more critical contexts than Christianity, German MEPs create a cultural demarcation line between Islam and Christianity through their parliamentary activities, which is similar to, though less politicised than, cultural boundaries often produced in public debates in Germany. Third, our study illustrates similar patterns of religious affiliation and subjective religiosity among German parliamentarians in both the EP and the national Parliament, which to some degree also reflect societal trends in Germany. Yet our data also suggest that European political elites are more religious than the average German population. If the presence of religion in terms of religious interest-groups and arguments is included, the EP appears to be more secularist than the German Parliament.