Race,Religion, and Global Solidarities: W. E. B. Du Bois and “The Black Church” as a Contested Category

W.E.B. Du Bois was thoroughly ambivalent about the political significance of American Black churches regarding their role in challenging racial inequality. He saw them as integral to Black social life, but also as failing to live up to their potential as drivers of liberation. And, while he focused primarily on Black churches within the United States, Du Bois was also committed to Black liberation on a global level. This suggests great potential for applying DuBois’ analyses of Black religion to the question of transnational religious and racial solidarities and the global political salience of “the Black Church” as a category. In this context, this article explores the significance of DuBois’ work for analyzing the category of “the Black Church.” It does so through a comparative case study of African American Christian engagement with the issue of Israel and Palestine, with four case studies ranging from African American Christian Zionists to Palestinian solidarity activists. Across these cases, the analysis highlights the ways that the history, identity, and mission of “the Black Church” are invoked in the context of Palestine and Israel. It argues that “the Black Church” is best understood as a contested category of collective religious and racial identity.     

“Liturgy emerges from a wound”

Serious academic reflection and scholarship on the Fresh Expressions of Church (FXoC) movement in the United Kingdom is developing significantly, but there exists almost no such work in South Africa. What has been produced deals with scholars reflecting on their experiences of Fresh Expressions in the United Kingdom (Ian Nell and Rudolph Grobler, “An Exploration of Fresh Expressions as Missional Church: Some Practical-Theological Perspectives,” NGTT DEEL 55:3–4 (2017), 747–68). This is an unfortunate situation. While there has been a generous response by many churches, there has been little interest, by and large, from the Anglican Church of Southern Africa (ACSA). FXoC is, then, an under-researched entity in South Africa. This article, part of a larger study, seeks to ask questions about how liturgy might develop from below in a new ecclesial community of marginalized people.     

Racism,Xenophobia, and Migration in Italy,a Post-Catholic Country

This paper looks at the present situation of xenophobia and racism in Italy through the lenses of land and displacement. It examines the relationship between the homeland and the phenomenon of migration – internal and international – from the beginning of the unitary unified state of Italy (1861) and the Catholic identity of Italian society. Colonialism opened the door to disdain for Black people, while fascism decreed racial laws against Jews without opposition from the Catholic hierarchy. After the Second World War, the Italian Republic banned any form of racism; but more recently the fear of the stranger has led to intolerance of migrants arriving in Italy because of war, violence, hunger, and poverty in their homelands. While Pope Francis, Italian bishops, and many Catholic associations and individuals have called for an attitude toward migrants based on the gospel, sentiments of racism and hate against foreigners are widely present among the population of a formerly Catholic country.     

The World Council of Churches and the Theology of Christian-Jewish Relations

This essay explores the approach of the World Council of Churches (WCC) to the theological questions involved in Jewish-Christian relations, while also noting connections between these questions and political factors. The first part focuses on WCC assemblies. At Amsterdam in 1948, a brief document emphasized four key issues: the relationship of the Jewish people to God and to the Church; antisemitism; mission; and the State of Israel. At subsequent assemblies, especially after 1967, with attention focusing on the Israel-Palestine conflict and the plight of the Palestinians, theological discussion of these questions was avoided. The second part of the essay turns to the discussion of these four questions at other levels of the WCC, also considering the wider context of this discussion in the varied approaches developed among WCC member churches. A major theme throughout the essay is that because of the spectrum of ecclesiastical and regional affiliations across member churches, theological discussion of these questions has been controversial within the WCC. If its output in this field of theological work has therefore understandably been limited in comparison with that of some member churches and ecumenical partners, the WCC does nevertheless have a unique capacity to play a convening role for discussion of these difficult questions between Christians of different traditions and from very different political contexts.     

Discerning the Ministries of Women

In 1988, the historic Rhodes Inter-Orthodox Symposium on the Place of Women in the Orthodox Church encouraged, among other things, fuller participation of women in the life of the church. This article reports on the results of a study that solicited the views of Orthodox Christians regarding the participation of women in the life of the church. Nearly three-quarters of respondents clearly stated or intimated that they would like to see more opportunities for women to serve in the church. One-third of the respondents identified the issue of deaconesses in their essays. Responses here revealed a great diversity of experience, education, and opinion. Nevertheless, more than half of the respondents commenting on deaconesses showed an openness to this ministry. This may be a powerful measurement indicating that exploring the pastoral need for this and other ministries may well be long overdue.     

“A Mosaic Community Together in the Journey of Faith”

This article demonstrates how missional churches have emphasized accompaniment as missiological foundation in the COVID-19 pandemic season. Employing ethnographical method, interviews, and virtual church visits as the primary approach, the paper explores how NextGen Church as the embodiment of Christ’s love has moved communities to solidarity and unity in the middle of global suffering. It concludes that God is on the mission of love and that the pandemic has provided an opportunity for the church to enhance its participation in missio Dei by epitomizing Christ’s love.     

Separation of Religion and State and Secularism in Theory and in Practice

Abstract

This study examines whether states follow the religion policies they declare in their constitutions. It identifies four types of policies which officially seek to limit religion's role in government: absolute separation of religion and state (SRAS); neutral political concern; exclusion of ideals; and secularism–laicism. I determine whether states follow these policies using the religion and state (RAS) dataset and compare this to constitutional declarations that the state is secular and declarations of separation of religion and state. The results show that a majority of states which make both types of declaration do not follow these policies based on any of the four standards used in this study. However, the presence and wording of these clauses are correlated with state religion policy.     

The Russian Orthodox Church in Western Europe: one or many?

This article analyses the way Russian Orthodox communities, primarily in Western Europe, cope with the ecclesiological challenge of de-territorialisation and increased individual mobility in the modern world. It focuses on the developments within the three parallel Russian Orthodox jurisdictions in Western Europe, especially since the fall of the Iron Curtain. These developments can primarily be summarised in the context of two dilemmas. First, there is the question whether the ‘temporary’ solutions that were put in place as a result of the Soviet regime’s hostility towards the Russian Orthodox Church should come to an end in the new ‘free’ circumstances since 1990. Second, there is the question of how to reconcile Russian traditions and allegiances with the religious needs of local converts to Orthodoxy. The main developments include the conflict in the UK since the death of Metropolitan Anthony (Bloom) of Sourozh in 2003, the reunification of the Russian Orthodox Church with the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia in 2007 and, most importantly, the developments in the Archdiocese of Orthodox Parishes of Russian Tradition in Western Europe (Exarchate of the Patriarchate of Constantinople) since the turn of the millennium. The French debate on the future of Russian Orthodoxy in Western Europe is the most pertinent one and provides a key to understanding the challenges posed to Orthodox ecclesiology in the West.     

Albert Pighius's Controversial Work on Original Sin

Abstract

Pighius's Controversies were first published in 1541 and apparently went through nine separate editions by 1586, although one of these never existed and two others incorporate copies of earlier editions. The first of the sixteen ‘controversies’, on original sin, proved to be controversial and was later branded as semi-Pelagian. Pighius had it printed on his way from the Worms to the Regensburg Colloquy, but was prevented from publishing the volume until after the collapse of the latter. He announced that he had been displeased with the first printed version and that he had had the first signature reprinted. The Cambridge University Library has a copy of the first edition with two different A signatures, the first of these being a unique and hitherto unnoticed examplar of the earlier, cancelled, printing. This copy also contains two hand-written notes banning the publication of the first controversy for the time being. The most likely explanation is that Nicholas Granvella, the imperial chancellor, wrote these notes, banning (until the conclusion of the Regensburg Colloquy) first the publication of the first controversy and later the publication of the entire first volume of the Controversies, comprising the first nine controversies. The article concludes with the cancelled text, collated with the text found in all of the later versions.     

‘May those who know nothing be content to listen': Loys Bourgeois's Advertissement to the Psalms (1551)

Abstract

In 1551 the Genevan cantor, Louis Bourgeois, published an updated collection of metrical psalms with melodies, as part of Jean Calvin's project to publish all 150 psalms in French verse. With this collection, Bourgeois wrote a short notice describing the changes he had made to some of the pre-existing psalm tunes, and offered advice to the congregation on how they might improve the quality of their psalm-singing. After the appearance of the publication, Bourgeois was imprisoned for making unauthorized changes to the psalms, and for encouraging people to remain silent rather than sing out of tune or out of time. Although the intervention of Calvin ensured the cantor's quick release, the Genevan town council ordered that all copies of the book be destroyed. For the first time, Bourgeois's Advertissement to the reader is presented here in the original and in English translation with commentary.