THE COLLECTIVE CHARACTERS OF RELIGIOUS CONGREGATIONS

Our primary aim in this article is to advocate for the interdisciplinary study of the collective character traits of local religious congregations, taking as our focal example local Christian congregations. It should be clear that such study presently lies on the frontier of interdisciplinary religious studies. Yet, as we will attempt to show in the first section, the way has been paved for the study of such collective character traits through salient developments within several academic disciplines in recent decades. This frontier, in other words, is open for exploration, and there are available tools that can help us explore it. We will illustrate how such exploration may be undertaken fruitfully in the second section by focusing on two distinct kinds of virtuous collective character traits of Christian congregations: traits that enable a congregation to fulfill its distinctive role in the missio Dei, and traits that enable a congregation's members to flourish in their interpersonal relationships. In each case, we will identify a candidate collective virtue of the relevant type, discuss its nature from philosophical and theological perspectives, and, drawing on relevant empirical research, provide reason for thinking that applying empirical methods to it can yield additional insights about its value.     

The Contribution of the Protestant Church in Germany to the Pluralist Discourse in Bioethics: The Case of Stem Cell Research

Christian contributions to the public discourse on bioethicscome from individual Christians, from Christian churches, andfrom academic theology. All contributors must frame their argumentsin such a way as to account for the pluralism of worldviewsin contemporary Germany. For this purpose, they must take issuewith certain hermeneutical and discourse theoretical considerations.That is to say, in order for their contributions to remain normativelyauthentic in a Christian and Protestant sense, these must relateto Scripture and to Protestantism's confessional documents,and in order for these contributions to remain pertinent andrelevant to the facts, they must relate to biomedical, philosophical,and legal contexts. Given these hermeneutical and discoursetheoretical requirements, two church statements addressing theethical discussion concerning the use of embryonic stem cellsfor medical research are analyzed.     

The Future of Luther's Theology

Abstract : Some historical observations need to be made about Luther in his own time before his thought can be made useful for our future. First, theology was a collaborative undertaking for Luther and his Wittenberg colleagues. Second, theology was tied to their Reformation agenda of teaching a new way of practicing Christianity in accord with the gospel. That agenda required radical changes: a conversion of religious efforts to please God into advocacy of the neighbor; expansion of the church beyond Rome into an ecumenical assembly of holy and active believers; and a theological reorganization of public life that blurred the line between theology and ethics. In these areas, adapted to the 21st century, lies the greatest utility of Luther's theology for the future.     

Spare the Rod? Ideology,Experience, and Attitudes Toward Child Discipline Among Presbyterian Clergy

Despite the recurrent public and academic controversies over the issue of corporal punishment, few studies have examined the attitudes of clergy members. This oversight is noteworthy, because clergy members may influence the beliefs and behaviors of church members and others via their roles in parish ministry, counseling, and civic leadership. Our study addresses this gap in the research literature using data from a nationwide sample of Presbyterian Church (USA) clergy members. Key findings include the following: (a) Approval of corporal punishment is higher among male, non-white, less affluent, and parish (vs. specialized) clergy; (b) Theological conservatism is unrelated to corporal punishment attitudes, but political conservatism and Republican Party leanings are strongly predictive of greater approval of physical discipline; and (c) Clergy members who know someone in their congregation who has experienced abuse are less supportive of the corporal punishment of children, although direct personal experiences with physical or emotional abuse are less consistently related to corporal punishment attitudes. Several implications and promising directions for future research are discussed.

Effects of Transactional and Transformational Leadership of Pastors

Over the last 20 years, researchers and practitioners have become increasingly interested in the transactional–transformational leadership paradigm. However, only a few studies have tested the validity of this approach to leadership concerning Christian pastors. Thus, two studies were conducted in Germany that explored the effect of transactional and transformational leadership of pastors on several outcome criteria. The results revealed that transformational leadership was positively associated with followers’ satisfaction with their pastor, their extra effort, their effectiveness, and their job satisfaction. In addition to this effect on followers, transformational leadership showed positive effects on worshipers’ satisfaction with the worship service. Implications of these results for theory and practice are discussed.

Religious Organizations and Government: An Ecclesial Lutheran “Take”

Sharp debates exist today about the appropriate relationship between religious organizations and government, with views ranging from Christian nationalism to strict secularists. This essay explores a mediating position expressed in the conceptual phrase that religious bodies should “work with civil authorities in areas of mutual endeavor, maintaining institutional separation and functional interaction.” The essay uses historical and ecclesial sources to describe the struggles and underpinnings that lead to this position and then unpacks its meaning and import. While originating from within the conceptual and ecclesial American Lutheran tradition, the essay points to this approach as a public proposal for sound relationship between religious communities and political authority in the United States.     

Paradox explored: Climate shame,moral agency,the church,and the birds

This article explores shame and moral agency in relationship to the climate catastrophe, and the moral situation of the world's relatively high-consuming people who are implicated in greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change. The author complexifies that situation in the conundrums of climate colonialism, climate racism, structural sin, and the moral ambiguities they raise, including such questions as: “What are the moral demands of climate sin grounded in historically rooted economic systems that one did not create but upon which the material conditions of one's life depend? To what extent, if any, is the individual morally accountable for the social structures of which one is a part and from which one benefits?” From there, the essay moves to its central question. It is whether shame theory might help to enable moral agency for what is desperately needed now by people of climate privilege and economic privilege in the North Atlantic world—wise and courageous action to address climate change and climate injustice. The article probes shame theory for clues to what disables moral agency and what catalyzes it. The author finds in shame theory pathways for transforming shame-based moral inertia into moral agency. Those pathways suggest vital roles for the church.     

The Others: Finding and Counting America's Invisible Churches

The 2010 U. S. Religious Census: Religious Congregations and Membership Survey (RCMS) is the most comprehensive picture of U.S. religious life, county by county. How thorough is the RCMS in covering local religious groups? To answer this question, three county snapshots were performed with collected data compared to the RCMS 2010 reported numbers. Data suggest that there has been an underreport by as much as 25 percent of the number of local congregations in these counties. New and emerging religious movements and denominations as well as ethnic congregations comprise much of this percentage, making it more imperative for scholars to develop methodologies and frameworks in order to capture these “others” and invisible churches in America.     

What If the Church Really is the Body of Christ?

Abstract : What does it mean to claim that the church is the body of Christ? Following the lead of the New Testament, Bonhoeffer, Jenson, and Hauerwas, this article articulates how the church becomes the body of Christ through the narrative of Scripture and the practices of worship. As Jesus Christ has a distinctive character, so also the body of Christ has a distinctive character. This character is described through the four classical marks of the church—one, holy, catholic, apostolic. These notae ecclesiae are to be interpreted not only in relation to the inner constitution of the church but ethically in relation to the church's calling to be “shalom church” for the life of the world in peacemaking, doing justice, caring for creation, and defending human dignity. Particular communal practices that embody this character are proposed for the life of the church.     

Religion in the Twenty-First-Century World Society

This article presents the main theoretical approaches to the religious phenomenon: functionalism, constructivism, civil religion, invisible religion, diffused religion, rational choice, vicarious religion, and so on. It is difficult to accumulate empirical data that in general are considered too weak. The state of the art of sociology of religion seems promising because of the presence of new generations of sociologists who are deeply involved in their work. For the future a specific theory on migration mobility is necessary. Another necessity is a wider development of qualitative analysis for a better knowledge of religious dynamics.