Brethren Church Research Articles

Roman References in Early Modern Central European Confessional Architecture

The subject of the article focuses on broader problem of the ‘confessionalization’ of Early Modern architecture or the specifics of sacred architecture in post-Reformation Europe. The study is based on the Czech environment in the 16th and the beginning of the 17th century. Several sacred buildings, both non-Catholic and Catholic, were founded with special relation to the environment of Rome. The remarkable environment of Rome, which in the sixteenth century again became a central and reference location for artistic and religious work in Early Modern Europe, could for various reasons inspire both main religious groups. In addition to Catholic churches, the study also looks at the churches of the Unity of Brethren as a unique denomination in the Czech lands. As the most remarkable examples serves the Unity of Brethren church in Mlada Boleslav, seat of one of the bishoprics (later called as “Rome of the Unity of Brethren”). On the other hand the ties to Roman prototypes are observed among Catholics in the case of Olomouc, the seat of bishops of Moravia where the confessional architecture became a special tool of Counter-Reformation gesture.

Breaking Bread with the Brethren: Fraternalism and Text in a Black Atlantic Church Community

This ethnographic article examines the constitution of brotherhood at Dixon Bible Chapel (DBC)—a West Indian and African American Brethren church community located in Lithonia, Georgia, a suburb of the Atlanta metropolitan area. Based on my analysis of interview, oral history, and church historical texts collected during fieldwork from 2006 to 2008, I propose that DBC members conceptualize brotherhood as an egalitarian, closely knit form of religious belonging inspired by New Testament representations of the church. Furthermore, I argue that is through DBC brothers’ textual rituals that brotherhood is substantiated as a framework for male democratic religious participation and leadership. Though hierarchies of class, ethnicity, gender, and generation segment the ranks of DBC brotherhood and the church community writ large, church members invest in brotherhood as a social formation that they believe sidesteps the exclusions of mainstream religious institutions. Extending the implications of DBC brotherhood to the present issue’s emphasis of black fraternal organizations, I pose questions about the meanings and salience of fraternalism as a social model for Afro-diasporic institution building.

“On the Journey Home”: The History of Mission of the Evangelical United Brethren Church, 1946–1968. By J. Steven O'Malley. United Methodist Church History of Mission Series. New York: General Board of Global Ministries, United Methodist Church, 2003. xiv + 285 pp. Appendices, notes, select bibliography. $21.95 cloth; $14.95 paper.

“On the Journey Home”: The History of Mission of the Evangelical United Brethren Church, 1946–1968. By J. Steven O'Malley. United Methodist Church History of Mission Series. New York: General Board of Global Ministries, United Methodist Church, 2003. xiv + 285 pp. Appendices, notes, select bibliography. $21.95 cloth; $14.95 paper.

Book Review: On the Journey Home: The History of Mission of the Evangelical United Brethren Church, 1946–1968

Book Review: On the Journey Home: The History of Mission of the Evangelical United Brethren Church, 1946–1968

Book Review: “On the Journey Home”: The History of Mission of the Evangelical United Brethren Church, 1946–1968

Book Review: “On the Journey Home”: The History of Mission of the Evangelical United Brethren Church, 1946–1968

Continuity Considered

SUMMARY Early professional context and influence of Robert Perske in an Evangelical United Brethren Church of the Rocky Mountain Conference. The author describes his manner of encountering diverse perspectives, and the themes which endure from the 1950s through the present, as he has maintained his long time relationship with Bob.

THE QUEST FOR ACADEMIC COMMUNITY: A CASE STUDY OF FRESNO PACIFIC UNIVERSITY .

Following a 38-year career in public higher education, I am completing a 2-year term as president of a Christian university sponsored by the Pacific District Conference of the Mennonite Brethren Church. My charge or calling has been to assist the university through a difficult transition and to prepare the way for a new president with a long-term vision for the campus

Interpreting umeewarra mission

Indigenous occupation of Australia for at least the last 60,000 years, was followed by European settlers in 1788. Christian missions and government reserves established at this time, often removed Aboriginal children from their parents, families and land. These children are ‘the Stolen Generation’. One such mission was Umeewarra Mission at Port Augusta in South Australia, which was established by the Brethren church in the 1930s and operated until recently. Some of the former children who were raised at the Mission have established a committee, the Umeewarra Nguraritja (meaning ‘place’ or ‘home'), to oversee the Mission site. The Umeewarra Nguraritja wants to establish an Interpretive Centre to tell the Aboriginal and missionary history of the Mission. It needs to preserve and interpret the mission culture in a way which maintains the integrity of that history and presents the material culture, the oral histories and stories from former children of the mission, sensitively to visitors. This paper reports on the research process being used for strategic planning of site management and interpretation. The paper addresses in particular the need for the researchers to be sympathetic to both indigenous and missionary cultures, playing both supportive and leadership roles in order to give something back to the ‘stolen generation’.

Pietism and Its Influence Upon the Evangelical United Brethren Church. By James O. Bemesderfer. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: The Evangelical Press, and published by the author. 124 pp. $3.00.

Pietism and Its Influence Upon the Evangelical United Brethren Church. By James O. Bemesderfer. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: The Evangelical Press, and published by the author. 124 pp. $3.00.