Christian Character Research Articles

PERAN GURU PENDIDIKAN AGAMA KRISTEN DALAM MEMBENTUK KARAKTER SISWA DI ERA INDUSTRI 4.0

Abstract: In this paper the authors reveal the role of Christian Religious Education in shaping the character of students in the era of the industrial revolution 4.0, becoming a new "world" for human life that has a broad impact on the structure of human life, including Christian education. By looking back at the role of Christian Religious Education, this paper emphasizes that Christian Religious Education is a forum for the formation and nurturing of student character so that one day they can become individuals with Christian character who can voice God's truth amid various problems faced. Besides, this also shows part of the role of Christian Religious Education in supporting the transformation of the character of the nation's children. Teachers have a major role in education which influences through teaching and modeling. The teacher's responsibility is to help students develop their potential to the fullest. The potential of students that must be developed does not only concern intelligence and skills but also all aspects of personality. Teachers are not only required to have an understanding or ability in the field of learning and learning but also in motivating students. Christian Religious Education Teachers (PAK) play a role in teaching spiritual values and motivating their students. PAK teachers must understand the concepts of motivation so that they can function as facilitators for the development of students, both in terms of intellectual, emotional, social, and mental-spiritual aspects.Keywords : Role, Student Character, Industrial Era 4.0

PEMURIDAN SEBAGAI UPAYA MENANAMKAN IMAN KEPADA KRISTUS PADA MAHASISWA STAK TERPADU PESAT SALATIGA

Perkembangan ilmu pengetahuan dan teknologi begitu cepat sehingga dapat memengaruhi kehidupan sosial baik individu dengan individu maupun kelompok. Manusia diperhadapkan dengan pola hidup yang beragam dan krisis gaya hidup merupakan suatu kondisi yang serius di era pasca modern saat ini. Oleh karena itu sangat penting bagi orang percaya dimuridkan agar memiliki karakter Kristus yang membawa pengaruh dalam bersosialisasi. Melihat masalah yang ada, maka tujuan dari penelitian ini adalah mendeskripsikan pemuridan sebagai upaya menanamkan iman kepada mahasiswa STAK Terpadu PESAT Salatiga dalam kepercayaan kepada Kristus. Metode yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah kualitatif. Pengumpulan data melalui observasi dan wawancara serta teknik analisa data meliputi catatan lapangan, reduksi, display, dan kesimpulan. Keseluruhan responden dapat memahami dan ikut serta dalam proses pemuridan yang berlangsung dengan pemberian teladan hidup oleh pengikut Kristus. Dari hasil penelitian, ditemukan bahwa pemuridan dengan proses mentoring yang dilakukan oleh STAK Terpadu Pesat, dapat menanamkan iman mahasiswa kepada Kristus.

Evangelicalism and Empire: Rudyard Kipling on the Roman Cult of Mithras and Christianization

AbstractAmong the works of Rudyard Kipling, there are several short stories set in the Roman World that feature characters who are members of the cult of Mithras. These stories also involve Christian characters, but while the Mithraic initiates are loyal servants of the Roman Empire, the Christians create and attract disorder. The aim of this article is to explore why Kipling chose to make the heroic characters of these stories Mithraic initiates, and present the Christians in a less positive light. It will be argued that Kipling was attacking Christian evangelicals, who he disliked due to his experiences at the hands of one as a child, and also because of the difficult relationship between Christian missionaries and British imperial administrators, especially in the aftermath of the 1857 Indian Mutiny. In contrast, Kipling’s Mithras cult acknowledges that there are ‘many ways to the light’, and, moreover, by inferring that there are many similarities between the cult of Mithras and Christianity, Kipling hoped to urge evangelical Christians to moderate their behaviour and use his depiction of the Mithras cult as an example of how to better approach religious diversity within the Empire.

Turguêniev

A criação de tipos literários é um dos pontos altos da obra de Turguêniev. O homem supérfluo e o jovem radical são os exemplos mais lembrados. E tão impressionante quanto estes é o retrato que o escritor faz do camponês russo em Memórias de um caçador. Praticamente todos os grandes literatos russos do século XIX abordaram essa temática, mas Turguêniev foi muito além. Neste artigo, pretendemos demonstrar, por meio de uma análise do conto “Uma relíquia viva”, as inovações realizadas pelo escritor na caracterização dessa figura. Subordinando a estrutura narrativa à voz de uma camponesa e conferindo-lhe uma feição cristã até então inédita, Turguêniev dá vida a uma figura extremamente marcante e comovente.

Landasan Psikologis Pendidikan Kristen dan Relevansinya dalam Pendidikan Kristen Masa Kini

Building a family, church, educational institution or business world cannot be separated from the concept of an education. Education is an important reference in seeing, directing and bringing about a very significant and maximum change. By using descriptive descriptive method, through the literature study approach, research can describe the journey of education in a person, family, educational institution, church or business world, which cannot be separated from the psychological element which is the basis for further understanding. This is because there are many people who have not taken Christian education seriously in the family, work environment, even in churches with a clear curriculum. In the context of this discussion, education is focused on Christian education. It is very necessary to build a strong psychological foundation in Christian education, so that it can be used as a reference in building an ideal and maximum Christian education. The principles in this presentation will formulate some of the psychological foundations which are the foundation of Christian education. Because Christian education is very important in building a wholeness of view that is in accordance with the truth of God's Word and the character of Christ.

Great Expectations and Interwar Realities: Hungarian Cultural Diplomacy, 1918–1941

Great Expectations and Interwar Realities: Hungarian Cultural Diplomacy, 1918–1941

Doing Justice to Religious Diversity: Theological Foundations for “Principled Pluralism”

This article argues a theological case for “principled pluralism,” a particular stance regarding the proper attitude of the state towards the plural religious affiliations of its citizens. Its central claim is that the role of the state is both to defend the religious freedom of adherents to all faiths and to maintain a public square equally open to contributions from all faiths without publicly privileging any faith, even Christianity. It develops the argument in critical dialogue with a “Christian nation” position, according to which nations can exercise corporate religious agency, should be formed where possible according to Christian principles, and in which Christian citizens should call their governments to support the nation’s Christian character. KEYWORDS: Principled pluralism, religious diversity, state, Christian nation, public square

Jurgen Moltmann’s Theology of Hope and the Task of Public Theology in Ghanaian Context

This article examines the relevance of theology in public life particularly from the Ghanaian (African) Christian experience in society. The idea of the public relevance of theology has been ably examined by Jurgen Moltmann in the perspectives of his Theology of Hope and the continuous reflections in the “Ethics of Hope”. The eschatological sacrifice of Christ’s story animates in Moltmann the understanding of what particular transformation one must experience when envisaging what the shape of Christianity is in modern society and the task it has to fulfill in the field of social ethics in the Ghanaian social and political history. Critical to the Ghanaian social- political life is to be encountered with is a sub-culture trend that the task for the socio-political and the economic development of the nation-state is the preserve of politics or political activists. The conversation on the rise to action of the Ghanaian Christian to social ethics is now due to the growing trends of poverty, violence, unemployment, corruption, dwindling social and moral order and failing institutions of state. Jurgen Moltmann develops his thoughts in the Ethics of Hope to deliberately project Christian social ethics that is focused on projecting the Bible as the gospel of hope for the people. This paper evaluates Moltmann’s understanding of modern realities of life and how Christians must relate with and what Christian character brings to bear on the positive change in the life of the people.

Staging Muhammad: A Subversion of the Hagiographic Genre inVida y muerte del falso Profeta Mahoma

This article examines the subversion of the hagiographic genre in a biographical play from the seventeenth century about the Prophet of Islam, Muhammad, written in Spain. In this essay I argue that the contradiction of using a theatrical genre intended to emphasize the holiness of Christian characters in a play about Muhammad unveils the historical tensions and anxieties of Spain’s Muslim past. The disparity between form and content reveals the unconscious political aspect of the play and illustrates why it can be read from two opposite perspectives regarding the Islamic leader. Departing from Caroline Levine’s use of the term ‘affordance’, and drawing on Fredric Jameson’s concept of the political unconscious, I posit that Vida y muerte del falso Profeta Mahoma (1642) is more a reflection on Spain’s hybrid and ambivalent religious culture than a dramatization of Muhammad’s life.

What Prevents Christians from Learning to Be Good?

ABSTRACT This article riffs on the title of John Hull's classic work, What prevents Christian adults from learning?, in which he identifies the pathology of the ‘unlearning religious person’ and the defences that individuals and churches construct to avoid the pain of Christian cognitive learning. Learning Chrisitan values and virtues is rather different, but can still be a pain – and a much more potent and personal one. The paper explores some of the problems and possibiliteis, both for disciples and ministers, of ‘learning the Christian character’.

Manajemen Inovasi dan Penciptaan Nilai Organisasi

The purpose of this research is to find out how the innovation management and organizational value creation in STAKN Kupang, so that they are able to become a high quality and competitive institution. The research method used was a qualitative research method with informants taken were officials at pascasarjana STAKN Kupang, consisting of three people. Research results obtained, namely: 1) Management Innovation can occur if all components play an active role in being able to provide creative ideas that contribute to the advancement of existing education management. And these creative ideas have gone well in the PAK STAKN Kupang postgraduate study program. 2) value creation in the PAK STAKN Kupang postgraduate study program is carried out well by applying Christian character values as added values such as honesty, discipline, sincerity and sincerity.

World Christianity: A Historical and Theological Introduction, by Lalsangkima Pachuau

From historical and theological viewpoints, the book sketches the macro-world map of world Christianity, addressing a wide array of issues in diverse areas, such as Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the Pacific. Christianity, as the author claims, is important in the “majority world” not only because of its large number of Christians but also because of how they change and diversify the character of Christianity and present a new portrait of this global religion. Pachuau argues that “World Christianity expresses the worldwide character of Christianity as it came to be owned at heart by people of diverse cultures and societies from every region and every continent, and portrayed in the multiplicity of church traditions, cultural expressions of faith-practices, and doctrinal voices” (2).The first chapter discusses the foundational discoveries in the academic field of world Christianity. Chapters 3 and 4, “Christian Movements in the Majority World,” which can be read as a continuation of chapter 1, provide detailed vignettes of world Christianity. Pachuau raises two essential questions in search of a deeper understanding of the meaning of world Christianity and what world Christianity actually looks like. In chapter 2, “Modernization, Modern Missions, and World Christianity,” Pachuau poses the two questions with two key terms, namely, contextualization and world mission. Chapters 5 and 6 address the first question and chapter 7 addresses the second question.The first question the author raises is, “How do people make the Christian faith their own?” (99), given the fact that Christianity in the majority world is a different form of faith from Western Christianity based on the Enlightenment. How, then, can these differences exist within the same religion? One explanation offered by scholars of world Christianity is based on the concepts of translatability or vernacularization. Theologically, Pachuau offers answers based on his understanding of contextualization. For him, contextualization consists of the “ongoing conversations [of Christians] with their cultural, social, and spiritual traditions” (29). Therefore, world Christianity reveals how “the new Christianity” of the majority world contextualizes faith (99).The second question the author expounds upon is “What does it mean to do mission in the new world of Christianity?” (143). Using “world mission” as the mission from the majority world and the counterpoint of “foreign missions,” Pachuau claims that world mission has “clearly marked the end of the Western ‘foreign mission’ paradigm, and the beginning of ‘world mission’ in which churches from all continents and nations are invited to participate in God’s mission to all the continents and regions of the world” (147). One of the most important phenomena of “world mission” is migration. The book emphasizes the importance of new immigrant communities as a new form of mission and evangelism because they are “challenging and reviving secularized Westerners to a passionate and vital form of Christianity” (164).Overall, I recommend this book for all readers who want to have a general understanding of world Christianity. Instructors in the field of world Christianity would also find this book helpful because it provides an overview of what world Christianity stands for, especially in the majority world.

Embodied queer theology in Showtime’s Queer as Folk

Treating bodies as explicitly rhetorical, this article analyzes two queer Christian characters from the television series Queer as Folk (Showtime, 2000–2005), arguing that these guest characters represent embodied queer theologies. As they interact with main characters Brian and Justin, queer minister Tom and militant queer activist Cody offer an embodied queer theology where presence invites a visceral experience of queer Christian life. As such, these characters complicate the typical antagonistic role that Christianity often plays in queer narratives and illustrate the queer potential of embodied arguments, including in contexts of spirituality.

Christian Character Formation: Lutheran Studies of the Law, Anthropology, Worship and Virtue by Gifford A. Grobien

Christian Character Formation: Lutheran Studies of the Law, Anthropology, Worship and Virtue by Gifford A. Grobien

Development of Christian Character Education Based Project Based Learning Teaching Materials to Improve Student Character

Development of Christian Character Education Based Project Based Learning Teaching Materials to Improve Student Character

Catholic Social Teaching and the Gig Economy: Engaging Labour Law and the Desert Fathers

Catholic Social Teaching and the Gig Economy: Engaging Labour Law and the Desert Fathers Cathleen Kaveny Catholic Social Teaching has not only consistently emphasised the dignity of work, it has also tirelessly defended the intrinsic value of the worker. In Rerum novarum (1891), Pope Leo XIII admonished wealthy owners and employers ‘not to look upon their work people as their bondsmen, but to respect in every man his dignity as a person ennobled by Christian character’.1 Ninety years later, magisterial teaching has deepened and even radicalised these moral commitments. In Laborem exercens (1981), Pope John Paul II make the case that the true meaning and value of work lies not in the objective value of the work product, but rather in the flourishing of workers themselves as human subjects. He maintains that this insight ‘leads immediately to a very important conclusion of an ethical nature: however true it may be that man is destined for work and called to it, in the first place work is “for man” and not man “for work”’.2 What does respecting the dignity of work and honouring the intrinsic value of the worker entail? First, it requires careful balancing of two views of work found in the common Christian tradition. On the one hand, work is recognised to be onerous; both Leo XIII and John Paul II take pains to grapple with the biblical teaching that work is meant in part to be a punishment for Adam’s original sin.3 On the other hand, work is also perceived as having positive aspects for those who engage in it. Even punishment, after all, is meant to operate for the good of the individuals who are punished. Ideally, therefore, one’s work can be a calling, an aspect of one’s vocation. Consequently, work ought to contribute to the worker’s material and spiritual flourishing. Second, respecting work and honouring workers requires concerted attention to the needs of all those who are stakeholders in human work. Productive work does not merely contribute to the bottom line of the employer. It also facilitates the well-being of the workers themselves, and Studies • volume 108 • number 432 399 Catholic Social Teaching and the Gig Economy: Engaging Labour Law and the Desert Fathers beyond that to the common good, by nurturing a stable, productive, selfactualised workforce whose members also have time and energy to make contributions to families, churches, private associations and the political life of the community. These insights are in some respects timeless, because they are rooted in bedrock values of the Catholic moral tradition. At the same time, their concretisation and implementation inevitably changes with the times, for both normative and factual reasons. For example, magisterial teaching has evolved along with developments of both the Church’s and the broader society’s understanding of the relationship between human beings and creation. Whereas Leo XIII spoke unselfconsciously of ‘dominion’, Francis emphasises the need to care for the earth as our mother and sister.4 Moreover, different eras pose different threats to the dignity and wellbeing of workers. Rerum novarum is preoccupied with the conflict between labour and capital in the mechanical age of automation, while Laborem exercens explores that conflict in the era of technology and globalised capital.5 More difficult but equally important to identify are changes to the nature of work itself. In grappling with how to apply Catholic Social Teaching to current problems, it is essential to interrogate the governing imaginary of ‘work’ that tacitly animates the encyclicals we treat as normative. Despite occasional protestations to the contrary, Laborem exercens largely operates with a tacit view of work that is modelled on the lives of people who work in a mill town. John Paul II seems to contemplate a social context in which most workers are employed many years at the same plant. Labouring with their hands and bodies, they produce tangible goods that can be brought to market or incorporated in other products. Finally, he treats the workplace as an actual social context, in which workers develop steady and face-to-face relationships with co-workers and management. In short, he tacitly assumes a paradigm of work that is (1) stable...

Transcending the Ethical Dilemma of Christian Humanitarianism: American Medical Missionaries at a Hospital in Rural Zambia

ABSTRACT After arriving to volunteer at a rural hospital in Zambia, many short-term American missionaries began to doubt whether the Christian character of their work was recognisable to Zambian patients and health professionals. In this article, I argue that these missionary doubts were a result of what Webb Keane has recently called ‘the ethical dilemma of humanitarianism’, a term he uses to describe the lack of mutual ethical recognition in humanitarian encounters. After showing how missionaries experienced and articulated a distinctively Christian version of this ‘dilemma’, I demonstrate how they were able to transcend it by identifying other people who could properly recognise the Christian character of their work: namely, their families, friends and church members back ‘at home’ in the United States. In conclusion, I suggest that more attention should be paid to the political importance of various forms of domestic ethical recognition in sustaining humanitarianism in practice.

Joseph Ratzinger’s ‘Kierkegaardian option’ in Introduction to Christianity

ABSTRACTAlthough scholars increasingly recognize the debts of twentieth-century Roman Catholic theologians to Søren Kierkegaard, no one has yet traced this influence to Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI). As is frequently observed, Ratzinger’s most famous book, Introduction to Christianity, opens with a meditation on a Kierkegaardian parable from Either/Or. We argue that Ratzinger’s use of Kierkegaard extends well beyond this opening image, to some central moments in his articulation of the idea of God, Christology, and theological anthropology. Upon closer inspection, we argue, Ratzinger’s use of these arguments is owing to the fact that his diagnosis of the ills of contemporary society and the orientation of contemporary Christian theology is the same as that of Kierkegaard, despite their seemingly different contexts. Identifying the Kierkegaardian influence on Introduction to Christianity helps draw our attention to the necessarily ‘introductory’ character of Christianity, which otherwise risks being lost.

Weaponising Religious Freedom: Same-Sex Marriage and Gender Equality in the Philippines

Abstract This article spells out the ways in which religious freedom has been deployed against proponents of same-sex marriage and gender equality in the Philippines. While the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) community and allies have appealed to religious freedom to gain equal rights under the law, conservative Christian entities have fought back by invoking the same notion. They have appropriated religious freedom, which has historically been interpreted by the courts in favour of individual liberties, to defend majoritarian values surrounding sexuality. This article describes this move as the weaponisation of religious freedom in defence of the dominant religion and an assumed majority of Filipinos whose moral sensibilities are purportedly under attack. Towards the end, the article relates this weaponisation to the experience of the Catholic Church in the contemporary public sphere and the militant character of Christianity that continues to view the Philippines as a Christian nation.

Christian universities and schools in relation and context

Editorial There is often a relationship between Christian universities and colleges of higher education and schools of a Christian character. Canterbury Christ Church University was initially founded to provide more teachers for Church schools (Bowie et al., 2018a). It is part of a group of English universities called Cathedrals Group universities which profess an agenda for values-led higher education (https://www.cathedralsgroup.ac.uk/). A research study to find out what students, staff and schools thought really mattered in the teacher education provision made by these universities found they were seen as centres of expertise in teaching and learning and as having a distinctively person-centred philosophy of education (Bowie et al., 2018b). The qualitative and quantitative 2-year study involving six English universities with Christian foundations also found a rich variety of interpretations of this philosophy, according to context, self-understanding regarding the mission of universities, and the distinct contours of schools served by this provision. This ranged from what might be called a common good mission to ‘The Five Thousand’, which sought to provide a good teacher formation for all schools, to a specific apostolic mission to ‘The Twelve’ to serve the Christian schooling sector, as well as a particular concern to serve the most disadvantaged and vulnerable in schools. The English context is marked by diverse and plural populations of students and a secular climate in general. Additionally, the research found staff and student understanding and view of the Christian dimension of the university varied between institutions to a considerable degree. Nevertheless, that dimension was valued by the schools they served. The experience of leading this project in part inspired this journal issue. This issue draws together research into the different dimensions of engagement between Christian schools and Christian universities. The relationship between these institutions and the contexts in which they are situated reveals a web of interconnections. These interconnections are shaped by both an interest in a more historically grounded awareness of the development of educational ideas in the formation of teachers, and a pressure to be more ‘profession’ orientated.