Baptist Church Research Articles

Życie i działalność ks. Stanisława Sikorskiego (1910–1993)

Niniejszy artykuł jest próbą syntetycznego opracowania monografii radomskiego kapłana. Analiza polegała na chronologicznym odtworzeniu poszczególnych etapów życia ks. Sikorskiego zgodnie z zebranym materiałem źródłowym. W pracy przedstawiono środowisko, z którego wyrósł, oraz scharakteryzowano pierwsze miejsca jego pracy kapłańskiej na wikariatach i posługę kapelana oddziałów partyzanckich AK. Omówiono okres probostwa w Głowaczowie wraz ze specyfiką prowadzonego duszpasterstwa, odbudową kościoła parafialnego oraz kontaktami z władzą państwową. W dalszej części ukazano działalność proboszcza w radomskiej parafii św. Jana Chrzciciela, opisano duszpasterstwo, wysiłki, które ks. Sikorski podejmował na rzecz powstawania nowych obiektów sakralnych w Radomiu, oraz postawę, jaką prezentował, pełniąc funkcję dziekana radomskiego. W pracy wykorzystano kościelne i państwowe źródła archiwalne oraz dostępne opracowania.

Davidson L. Hepburn, PhD: 13th District

Davidson L. Hepburn, PhD:13th District Myron E. Reed In June I had the honor of speaking with Davidson L. Hepburn, PhD, a native of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas. For those unfamiliar with The Bahamas, it is comprised of a chain of islands spread over 500 miles in the Atlantic Ocean, located east of Florida, north of Cuba and the island of Hispaniola, and west of the British Overseas Territory of the Turks and Caicos Islands (with which it forms the Lucayan Archipelago). The island's capital is Nassau, which lies on the island of New Providence. Andros is the country's largest island. The other inhabited islands, some of which have interesting names, are Grand Bahama, Rum Cay, Eleuthera, Cat Island, Long Island, San Salvador, Ragged Island, Crooked Island, Acklins, Exuma, Great Inagua, Great Abaco, the Bimini Islands, Mayaguana, and the Berry Islands. The country of approximately 400,000 residents is 90% Black, with the overwhelming majority of its citizens considering themselves Christians. Interestingly, the country is one of the richest in the western hemisphere, following the United States and Canada, with an economy based, in large part, on offshore finance and tourism. Dr. Hepburn has had a long and distinguished career in public service. Among his honors include serving as Ambassador of the Bahamas to the United Nations (UN), President of the General Conference of the United Nations, Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and non-resident Ambassador of the Bahamas to Cuba and Haiti. Myron E. Reed: Brother Hepburn, you obviously have had a long, distinguished, and impactful career in public service. For the purpose of this discussion let's focus on your early life, formal education accomplishments, Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc., and some of your professional experiences. Davidson L. Hepburn: Yes, that would be fine. I am deeply honored to be among the Omega Men selected for this project. [End Page 371] MER: Tell me about your early life growing up in The Bahamas. DLH: I was born on Cat Island, Dowds hamlet, New Bight. I lived there until I was about 15 years of age then moved to Nassau, New Providence, the capital, to continue my education. To give you an idea of how rural life was on Cat Island, the school I attended was a one-room schoolhouse where all students met and studied together. I had a wonderful childhood upbringing. My parents were very dedicated to my education, particularly my mother. MER: What did your mother and father do for a living? DLH: My parents were farmers, we had various crops and had livestock such as sheep, goats, and horses. MER: Talk a little more about your early life on Cat Island? DLH: I was one of eight children. One of my early vivid memories was that among the sons, after reaching a certain age, as an early test we were required to break in a horse. The way we did it on Cat Island was to take the horse into the ocean into water up to the horse's shoulders so they could not run away. After the horse becomes calm, we walked the animal back to the sand where they would dash away, and if you didn't fall off, you passed the test. I was never a great lover of horses, but it was something we were required to do. MER: How did your early education progress after Cat Island? DLH: I finished high school in Nassau, New Providence. MER: What high school did you attend? DLH: I attended Southern Senior High School along with evening continuation classes to help prepare myself for the required junior and senior certificate examinations. MER: Was Catholicism a big part of the curriculum at the schools you attended? DLH: No, Catholicism was not part of the curriculum, but the Baptist church had a major influence and control of the youth. At a certain age we were required to be baptized and became full members of the church. Baptisms were held on the beach. There was a specific area set aside for the ceremony with a hole for the minister and helpers. Each candidate would be escorted out and dipped into the water...

Soul Liberty: The Evolution of Black Religious Politics in Postemancipation Virginia by Nicole Myers Turner

Reviewed by: Soul Liberty: The Evolution of Black Religious Politics in Postemancipation Virginia by Nicole Myers Turner Caroline Grego Soul Liberty: The Evolution of Black Religious Politics in Postemancipation Virginia. By Nicole Myers Turner. (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2020. Pp. xxii, 210. $29.95, ISBN 978-1-4696-5523-9.) In Soul Liberty: The Evolution of Black Religious Politics in Postemancipation Virginia, Nicole Myers Turner turns an incisive eye to the formation of Black political and religious networks from the last years of slavery to the last years of Reconstruction in Virginia. Turner not only surveys an array of sources—from Freedmen’s Bureau records and the minutes of African American Baptist, Zion Union Apostolic, and Episcopal Church conventions to the papers of a Virginia political magnate—but also deploys the mapping software ArcGIS to reveal “how church networks. . . suffused the political culture of black Virginians” (p. xii). Throughout her clearly written, tightly structured monograph, Turner rejects facile depictions of Black Christianity as either “an opiate or an inspiration” (p. 2). Instead, Turner delves into a case study of Petersburg, Virginia, and its adjacent counties to chart the evolution of Black churches and postemancipation political organizing in Black Virginians’ pursuit of “soul liberty,” a seventeenth-century Protestant concept that African Americans adapted for their journeys toward “religious freedom, righteousness, equity, and justice” (p. 2). In chapter 1, “Making a New Religious Freedom,” Turner examines the fraught relationship between formerly enslaved Virginians and the Freedmen’s Bureau as African Americans sought to lay claim to their own churches or negotiate their positions within predominantly white denominations and congregations. Turner argues that in this “first stage of the formation of black religious politics,” African Americans drew strength from an antebellum “religious terrain” (pp. 13, 14). In chapter 2, “Independent Black Church Conventions, 1866–1868,” Turner illustrates how Black Virginians conceptualized their “political rights in terms of religious freedom and independence” as they formed their own church conventions (p. 33). These church conventions, she argues, were “theaters for the construction of black male identity” to prove African Americans’ fitness for citizenship, and they relied on the financial savvy of African American women (p. 43). In chapter 3, “Religion, Race, and Gender at the Congregational Level,” Turner focuses on the congregation of Gilfield Baptist Church. There, she shows how African American churchgoers “helped forge community norms and ideas of gender and sexuality” (p. 57). This process was not simple, though it ultimately settled on “a model of minister-centered leadership” that constructed acceptable norms of family and behavior and isolated Black women from leadership positions (p. 57). Chapter 4, “Theological Education, Race Relations, and Gender, 1875–1882,” examines the purpose of education among African Americans, which frequently adhered to a “Victorian ideal”: on the one hand, education allowed Black men to “distance” themselves “from the limitations of slavery,” and, on the other, education “incorporated producerist, bourgeois values of manhood” for the purposes of uplift (p. 99). In chapter 5, “Politics of Engagement,” Turner dives into the fascinating Readjuster movement, a coalition of white and Black Republicans who successfully passed a number of political reforms in the late 1870s and early 1880s, reminding the reader why Virginia is a valuable case study. Famous Readjuster William Mahone recognized the value of tapping into robust Black church networks to rally support for the Readjusters. [End Page 734] Rather than Black churches being “representations of black political acumen,” they were now “vehicles for participation and self-determination” (p. 143). Here, Turner’s use of mapping to shape the “intellectual architecture” of her argument comes into focus, and she uses Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping to its best advantage (p. xiii). “Politically engaged black churches have a history,” Turner writes with her characteristic clarity, and her book effectively proves why scholars of Black political life should not ignore the complex history of Black churches (p. 144). With three versions of the book—in print, as a verbatim open-access e-book, and as an enhanced open-access e-book with interactive maps—Turner has provided many options for scholars to explore her exciting integration of digital humanities with a traditional monograph. Caroline Grego Queens University of...

From Roman Temple to Baptist Church: Sin and Transformation in Southern Baptist Culture

From Roman Temple to Baptist Church: Sin and Transformation in Southern Baptist Culture

God Hates: Westboro Baptist Church, American Nationalism, and the Religious Right by Rebecca Barrett-Fox

God Hates: Westboro Baptist Church, American Nationalism, and the Religious Right by Rebecca Barrett-Fox

Faith-Based Interventions in the Reintegration of Migrated Displaced Persons into the Society

There is a unique set of forcefully displaced persons from Boko Haram insurgency affected areas in north-eastern Nigeria that migrated back to their ancestral homes in Ogbomoso in the south-western Nigeria. These people are referred to in this research as migrated displaced persons (MDPs) because they are not in any IDP centre or camp, but live among their ancestral relatives. This research investigates the extent Baptist churches in Ogbomoso are responding to re-integrate these migrated displaced persons in Ogbomoso into the society. Semi-structured interviews are conducted among fifteen randomly selected pastors of Baptist churches in Ogbomoso metropolis and three other stakeholders. Some available documents are also used in analysing the collected data. Findings from this study reveal that the churches are responding to some extent to transforming the lives of the migrated displaced Boko Haram victims in the area. Therefore, it is recommended that churches and other faith-based organizations should intensify their efforts in responding to transforming the lives of displaced Boko Haram victims in the area, and they should start having documented records for these efforts.
 
 Key Words: faith-based organizations, internally displaced persons, migrated displaced persons, Nigeria, Nigerian Baptist Convention, Ogbomoso land

Problem rewindykacji kościelnej nieruchomości Polskiego Kościoła Ewangelicznych Chrześcijan Baptystów we Wrocławiu

Zasadniczym celem niniejszego artykułu jest ukazanie przebiegu postępowania rewindykacyjnego nieruchomości kościelnej należącej do parafii Polskiego Kościoła Ewangelicznych Chrześcijan Baptystów we Wrocławiu, wraz z analizą wydanych w toku postępowania decyzji administracyjnych. Szczególna uwaga została zwrócona na zagadnienia prawne związane z zastosowaniem art. 2 ust. 4 dekretu z dnia 8 marca 1946 r. o majątkach opuszczonych i poniemieckich oraz konsekwencjami uchwały Sądu Najwyższego z 19 grudnia 1959 roku co do skutków prawnych interpretacji art. 2 ust. 4 tego dekretu. W tej sprawie prawomocna decyzja o odmowie przyznania Kościołowi prawa własności została wydana dopiero po 13 latach od złożenia wniosku rewindykacyjnego. W toku całego postępowania doszło do przewlekłości, co potwierdził wyrok Europejskiego Trybunału Praw Człowieka w sprawie ze skargi nr 32045/10. Drugi Zbór we Wrocławiu (następca prawny wspomnianej wyżej parafii) nie odzyskał prawa własności nieruchomości utraconej po II wojnie światowej na podstawie przepisów ustawy regulującej sytuację prawną Kościoła Chrześcijan Baptystów w Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej. Okoliczności faktyczne przedstawione w niniejszym artykule na kanwie wieloletniego sporu rewindykacyjnego pozwalają na wyprowadzenie wniosków o konieczności uregulowania prawa własności tej nieruchomości w innym trybie niż administracyjny.

Locations of God: Political Theology in the Hebrew Bible

Locations of God: Political Theology in the Hebrew Bible

Promoting Public Good and Wellness from the Perspective of a Midwestern Regional Baptist Church Community-led Research Engagement Partnership

Faith-based communities supporting diverse and underserved communities are increasingly being recognized by researchers as community “anchor institutions” and equitable partners in research engagement. Research suggests that faith-based organizations (FBOs) can promote health and well-being within congregations and throughout communities. This evidence has energized community-academic partnerships to collaboratively support FBOs in plans to improve community wellbeing and health equity, particularly within communities of color. This paper describes the evolution of a community-academic collaboration led by a Full Gospel Midwest Regional Baptist Church where the co-partners professed a commitment to advancing the public good through collaborative governance and shared goal setting in the delivery of an engagement training program. Core features highlighted are: (1) establishing a Community Advisory Board; (2) developing a research engagement training program; and (3) analyses, results, and legacy. Extension of the church-led mission to lead research engagement connects leaders and communities to resources and scientific expertise in support of the data needs and aspirations of faith-based communities. As research-ready partners, faith-based communities have the capacity to function as localized anchors to drive urban health policy and to serve as advocates by being the “voice” in community-driven research engagement for “public good.”

Joshua Dibundu, Lotin Same, and the Native Baptist Church: Resistance and Nationalism in Cameroon’s History of Religion

This article sets out to present Joshua Dibundu and Lotin Same, two clergymen and contemporaries of John Chilembwe of Nyasaland and Simon Kibangu of the Congo, who stood out against European missionary pressure and colonial administrative oppression in an effort to establish and sustain the first African Independent Church (AIC) in Cameroon: the Native Baptist Church (NBC). I argue in this article that unlike the Cameroon kings and chiefs who resisted European occupation of the territory, and nationalists who fought for independence, the leaders of the Native Baptist Church represent another type of early nationalist and change-oriented agents who deserve their place in the historiography of the country. I have privileged the use of archival documents, structured interviews and some critical empirical literature to establish this account.

Thomas Tillam and the Hexham Church Records

ABSTRACT Thomas Tillam was a fascinating Christian Evangelist who lived through the exceptionally disruptive period of the seventeenth century. Whilst a leader at Hexham Baptist Church in 1651–1655, he kept a church record and transcribed thirty-one letters pertaining to the church’s affairs. These have survived and provide an insight into the man himself; the problems of establishing a new church and the potential for external and internal disputes which can severely damage the church. The conclusion of this review is that Congregationalist Churches should beware of the division that may be caused by charismatic leaders, especially over doctrinal and procedural disputes.

Colloquy: Shadow Culture Narratives: Race, Gender, and American Music Historiography

Colloquy: Shadow Culture Narratives: Race, Gender, and American Music Historiography

Fasting: A congregational call for Baptists to reclaim a neglected discipline

For many in Baptist churches in the United States, the spiritual discipline of fasting is a common word and an uncommon practice. This article suggests the need to reclaim the discipline in congregational settings, which would lead to both knowledge of the history and application of the discipline. Included is a brief overview of the triadic structure of fasting, vice, and virtue, as well as cultural and medical concerns. The goal is to understand lack to draw closer to God, thus allowing for a more complete appreciation of food and feasting.

Preaching from ground to table: Reflections on an Eastertide sermon for Port Royal Baptist Church

Food production and consumption cuts across personal, communal, and liturgical practices. This article includes a sermon and a theological reflection on Port Royal Baptist Church’s communion bread. The sermon and reflection give particular attention to the benefits of the perennial grain Kernza, the nature of belonging in Baptist congregations, eating with greater memory, and the delight and pleasure of eating together in worship. The bread we eat, whence it comes, and how we prepare and eat it are all worthy of theological reflection and lived witness.

The Study of Developing a Diagnostic Assessment Tool for Church Health Through The Korean Baptist Church

The Study of Developing a Diagnostic Assessment Tool for Church Health Through The Korean Baptist Church

Thomas S. Kidd, The History of a Movement in Crisis

American Religion 2, no. 1 (Fall 2020), pp. 201–204 Copyright © 2020, The Trustees of Indiana University • doi: 10.2979/amerreli.2.1.22 Book Review Thomas S. Kidd, Who Is an Evangelical? The History of a Movement in Crisis (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2019) Kristin Kobes Du Mez Calvin University, Grand Rapids, USA As the title reveals, Thomas Kidd’s Who is an Evangelical? The History of a Movement in Crisis addresses two primary purposes: first, supplying a proper definition of evangelical, and second, explaining what has led to evangelicalism’s present “crisis.” As to “Who is an evangelical?”, Kidd wastes no time in disabusing readers of popular notions that evangelical means Republican, that evangelicals are white, or that evangelicals should be defined by their political allegiances. Such definitions are “historically peculiar,” he contends; originally, evangelicalism “was basically a spiritual movement”—at its heart “a movement about biblical doctrine , the salvation of sinners, and the work of revival” (26, 66). More specifically, Kidd defines evangelicals as “born-again Protestants who cherish the Bible as the Word of God and who emphasize a personal relationship with Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit.” For Kidd, then, true evangelicals are known by their theological beliefs and by practices such as church attendance or perhaps subscribing to an evangelical magazine. Using these measures, “Hispanic, African American, and other evangelical people of color are just as evangelical as white evangelicals are” (4). Accordingly, Kidd’s history of evangelicalism includes Phillis Wheatley alongside American Religion 2:1 202 slaveholders Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield, segregationists alongside civil rights activists, and diverse believers the world over, including the post-1965 immigrants who are currently changing the face of evangelicalism in the United States. Kidd’s kaleidoscopic overview of evangelical history extends beyond racial and ethnic diversity. Evangelicals have always disagreed with each other “about a host of theological, cultural, and political issues.” Kidd finds them “at their best” when they used their power “to defend the weak and oppressed,” and finds them generally more problematic when they seek “to impose evangelical practices, ideas, or standards of conscience on the public” (34). Still, he concedes that the line often blurs between the better sort of evangelical advocacy and that which he finds lamentable. And Kidd finds much that is lamentable. Here it is worth noting that Kidd is transparent about the fact that he is no disinterested observer. A distinguished professor of history at Baylor University, writer for The Gospel Coalition, and newly appointed visiting professor at the SBC’s Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Kidd self-identifies as a white evangelical who is active in his conservative Baptist church in Waco, Texas. Kidd’s religious identity helps explain his perception of the current “crisis,” the book’s second purpose. A #NeverTrump evangelical (who served a stint on Marco Rubio’s religious liberty advisory board), Kidd chides evangelicals for too often following “well-meaning (or crassly opportunistic) politicians” into misguided quests for political power (53). Here, although Kidd defines evangelicalism as a diverse, global phenomenon, the crisis appears to be an American phenomenon. And here, the blame lies with evangelicals themselves, especially certain “Republican insider evangelicals” who lead hapless (or at least deceived) followers into temptation. But Kidd also blames pollsters and the media for perpetuating the erroneous notion that evangelicalism can be reduced to white Republicans who consider themselves religious. In this way, the definitional question at the heart of the book also contributes to the current crisis. Still another layer of crisis has to do with the racial divide within “the evangelical movement”: the failure of Black and white evangelicals to agree on politics . Kidd doesn’t hesitate to call out white evangelical “passivity” and “silence” in the face of lynching, Jim Crow, and the fight for civil rights, a reticence he attributes in part to a wariness of “social gospel” efforts that would distract from “the church’s core business.” (He refrains, however, from pointing out that white evangelicals exhibited no such qualms in their anticommunist activism or their promotion of an array of conservative social causes.) When Kidd acknowledges white evangelicals’ overwhelming support for Trump in 2016, he also notes that Black Protestants...

교회제작 영화 연구 -셔우드 침례교회와 케어 코너즈를 중심으로-

교회제작 영화 연구 -셔우드 침례교회와 케어 코너즈를 중심으로-

“I Love It When You Play that Holy Ghost Chord”: Sounding Sacramentality in the Black Gospel Tradition

This essay argues that the distinctive aesthetic practices of many African American Christian congregations, indexed by the phrase “the Black gospel tradition”, are shaped by a sacramentality of sound. I contend that the role music routinely plays in the experience of the holy uncovers sanctity in the sound itself, enabling it to function as a medium of interworldly exchange. As divine power takes an audible form, the faith that “comes by hearing” is confirmed by religious feeling—both individual and collective. This sacramentality of sound is buttressed by beliefs about the enduring efficacy of divine speech, convictions that motivate the intensive character of gospel’s songs, sermons, and shouts. The essay begins with a worship service from Chicago, Illinois’ Greater Harvest Missionary Baptist Church, an occasion in which the musical accompaniment for holy dancing brought sound’s sacramental function into particularly clear relief. In the essay’s second section, I turn to the live recording of Richard Smallwood’s “Hebrews 11”, a recording that accents the creative power of both divine speech and faithful utterances, showing how reverence for “the word of God” inspires the veneration of musical sound. In the article’s final move, I show how both of the aforementioned performances articulate a sacramental theology of sound—the conviction that sound’s invisible force brings spiritual power to bear on the material world.

Um panorama do sagrado em Teresina: a territorialização da religião na cidade, Estado do Piauí, Brasil

As religiões assumem papel de destaque frente à formação cultural da sociedade, influenciando na forma do homem se relacionar com o espaço. Desse modo, estudar o espaço urbano considerando a perspectiva do Sagrado possibilita um entendimento particularizado da cidade. Este trabalho tem como recorte de estudo a cidade de Teresina, na contemporaneidade, e intenta compreender como as religiões se territorializam nesta capital. Assim, tem-se como objetivo apresentar um panorama da territorialização das religiões no espaço urbano de Teresina. Foram selecionadas para a pesquisa: as religiões de matriz africana, tais como a Umbanda e o Candomblé; a Igreja Católica; as igrejas evangélicas neopentecostais Assembléia de Deus e Igreja Universal do Reino de Deus; e a Igreja Batista, protestante tradicional. A partir de uma abordagem qualitativa, buscou-se mapear os adensamentos religiosos, descrevendo as territorialidades a fim de ampliar o conhecimento desse índice humano/urbano, por vezes negligenciado, ou subnotificado, contribuindo para a política de planejamento e gestão urbana. Com esse trabalho As religiões assumem papel de destaque frente à formação cultural da sociedade, influenciando na forma do homem se relacionar com o espaço. Desse modo, estudar o espaço urbano considerando a perspectiva do Sagrado possibilita um entendimento particularizado da cidade. Este trabalho tem como recorte de estudo a cidade de Teresina, na contemporaneidade, e intenta compreender como as religiões se territorializam nesta capital. Assim, tem-se como objetivo apresentar um panorama da territorialização das religiões no espaço urbano de Teresina. Foram selecionadas para a pesquisa: as religiões de matriz africana, tais como a Umbanda e o Candomblé; a Igreja Católica; as igrejas evangélicas neopentecostais Assembléia de Deus e Igreja Universal do Reino de Deus; e a Igreja Batista, protestante tradicional. A partir de uma abordagem qualitativa, buscou-se mapear os adensamentos religiosos, descrevendo as territorialidades a fim de ampliar o conhecimento desse índice humano/urbano, por vezes negligenciado, ou subnotificado, contribuindo para a política de planejamento e gestão urbana. Com esse trabalho chegou-se à conclusão que a expressão da religião no espaço transcende a matéria construída, sendo através da vivência dos usuários, ou seja, das suas relações de sociabilidade que se desprende a maior influência do Sagrado. chegou-se à conclusão que a expressão da religião no espaço transcende a matéria construída, sendo através da vivência dos usuários, ou seja, das suas relações de sociabilidade que se desprende a maior influência do Sagrado.

“The Jews love numbers”: Steven L. Anderson, Christian Conspiracists, and the Spiritual Dimensions of Holocaust Denial

From his pulpit at Faithful Word Baptist Church (Independent Fundamental Baptist) in Tempe, AZ, fundamentalist preacher Steven L. Anderson launches screeds against Catholics, LGBTQ people, evolutionary scientists, politicians, and anyone else who doesn't share his political, social, or theological views. Anderson publishes clips of his sermons on YouTube, where he has amassed a notable following. Teaming up with Paul Wittenberger of Framing the World, a small-time film company, Anderson produced a film about the connections between Christianity, Judaism, and Israel, entitled Marching to Zion (2015), which was laced with antisemitic stereotypes. Anderson followed Marching to Zion with an almost 40-minute YouTube video espousing Holocaust denial, entitled “Did the Holocaust Really Happen?” In this article, I analyze Anderson's Holocaust denial video in light of his theology, prior films, and connections to other Christian conspiracists, most notably Texe Marrs, I particularly show how Anderson frames the “Holocaust myth,” as he calls it, in light of a deeper spiritual warfare that negatively impacts the spread of Christianity.