Christian Charity Research Articles

Envisioning an alternative: a Pentecostal Charismatic movement and everyday life in postcolonial Zimbabwe

ABSTRACT The fragility of the postcolonial Zimbabwean state and concomitant failed governance has opened crevices through which alternative forms of self-organising and social formation are emerging. In the face of state-inspired uncertainties One God Ministry (OGM) members have organised themselves along religious lines to strengthen their livelihoods and wellbeing. This article draws on the findings of an ethnographic study of members of an anonymised Pentecostal Charismatic Christian movement (PCC) that self-organised to push for the attainment of economic democracy through provision of decent housing and income-generating activities for its members. It argues that OGM is filling the void left by the weakening postcolonial state. The Pentecostal movement’s success is derived from its ability to proffer pragmatic solutions to structural challenges that members face. Furthermore, OGM builds its solutions around diversity in membership, transnational relations, and followers’ hopes and aspirations.

“Caritas theory” as theological discourse within education in social work?

ABSTRACT This study focuses on incorporating the field of Caritas Theory (from German “Caritaswissenschaft”), which concentrates on the theological reflection of Christian charity, into study programs in social work. First, the article reflects on the study plans of relevant programs at pertinent universities in the European 10 Union. It distinguishes these as to whether they directly contain the study of Caritas Theory or of particular theological themes. It describes the origin of the field, which differs from Catholic Social Thought, and the current discourses within the field taking place in English as well as several other European languages (German, Spanish, Czech, Polish, Hungarian). Finally, it systematizes, reflects on, and evaluates the relationship of the field to education in social work. The basic criterion is the actual contribution of Caritas Theory for studying social work. The study identifies overall four concepts of the relationship of this field to social work – the conception of “Christian social work,” the complementary model, the conception of structural similarity, and the transdisciplinary approach. According to the study, only two of these, however, fulfill the criterion of an actual contribution to studying social work.

Religious faith, effort and enthusiasm: motivations to volunteer in response to holiday hunger

The voluntary sector is playing an increasing role in responding to UK poverty, but there is a lack of attention in cultural geographies to understanding what motivates people to volunteer in this response. In particular, faith-based organisations – and therefore volunteers with religious faith – have been an active part of the voluntary sector response to poverty. However, little is known about what motivates people who have a religious faith to volunteer. Drawing on participatory and ethnographic research with a UK Christian charity working in the area of children’s holiday hunger, this article seeks to make three contributions. First, it moves beyond static notions of religious motivation which tend to characterise quantitative and more reductive qualitative approaches to volunteering in the social sciences. Secondly, it develops analysis of religious faith which foregrounds its relational, fluid and contested role in motivating people to volunteer, highlighting the importance of ongoing volunteering journeys alongside the initial motivations which led to a person starting to volunteer. Thirdly, by focusing on effort and enthusiasm the article seeks to break down the binary between faith-based and secular motivations and highlight instead the ways volunteers at the holiday hunger project experienced challenges in turning an initial motivation into action, and how ‘faith motivation’ itself is inherently relational and is co-constituted in place.

Crooked Prophets, Ungodly Politicians and their Publics

Pentecostal Charismatic Christianity (PCC) has had a radical and public impact on African cities, believers and politics. Scholars often describe this impact in terms of the “Pentecostalization” of the public sphere. Looking at Prophet Bushiri and his Enlightened Christian Gathering Church in South Africa, I argue that the ontological situatedness of PCC believers, “unbelievers” and those who shared a spirited world view led to a plurality of public spheres and counter publics. Thus, secular commentators in South Africa did not understand the Pentecostal message or its expression while locals who believed in a spirited world interpreted Prophet Bushiri’s messages and behaviour in terms that dismissed debate in favour of (violent) action. Within PCC circles, which often stretched beyond the local to encompass vast networks of “spiritual kin”, communicative flows were scuppered by an unstable public moved by the Spirit rather than secular political processes.

Charismatic Christianity in Finland, Norway, and Sweden: Case Studies in Historical and Contemporary Developments, edited by Jessica Moberg and Jane Skjoldli

Charismatic Christianity in Finland, Norway, and Sweden: Case Studies in Historical and Contemporary Developments, edited by Jessica Moberg and Jane Skjoldli

British Philanthropists and the Imperial Imagination orThe Case of the Canadians Distressed by Fire at Montreal

This article reconstructs the benevolent campaign mounted in London after the devastating Montreal fire of 1765. Appealing to a greater sense of British identity, the trustees framed the French Canadian sufferers as “new subjects” entitled to both imperial benevolence and Christian charity. At the core of the subscription were notable London philanthropist Jonas Hanway and Marine Society peers John Thompson and Fowler Walker. Well versed in the mechanics of a successful charitable subscription, the trustees employed a familiar Georgian strategy using a robust print and coffeehouse campaign to solicit public support. However, the trustees overestimated the public’s acceptance of their construction of a “greater Britain” and underestimated the elevated political enmity towards the British American colonies in the era following the Seven Years’ War. A lack of donor interest compelled them to enlarge their efforts and shift away from newer charitable tactics, instead embracing more traditional avenues such as gaining the patronage of King George III and engaging the greater British public through parish fundraising. This case study highlights the complexities of transatlantic benevolence and its use to push the boundaries of British identity in the mid-eighteenth century.

Religion in Spaces of Transit: African Christian Migrant Churches and Transnational Mobility in Morocco

ABSTRACT This article discusses how religious place-making contributes to the mobility and transnational connection of migrants during their periods of transit and fragmented journeys. Based on ethnographic research conducted in Pentecostal Charismatic Christian churches in Rabat and Casablanca, it describes how the establishment of religious places by West and Central African Christian migrants is an outcome of the blockades and ruptures that many of them experience in the buffer zone that Morocco has become. Moreover, this article demonstrates how the religious and social practices within these migrant spaces contribute to the development of mobility in terms of both the sending and receiving nations, as well as the believer’s integration into transnational Charismatic Christian territories. In this context of forced immobility and limited religious freedom, the transnational and decentralised dimensions of Pentecostal Charismatic Christianity have been particularly suitable for stranded Christian African migrants who aim to remain their agency and achieve in a better future, potentially through emigration to Europe.

A constant border-crossing: Conversion and evangelical charismatic Christian identity among the Roma in Estonia and Latvia

This article focuses on the interplay of (de)marginalization and identity building among evangelical Roma in Estonia and Latvia. The evangelization of the Roma, who are traditionally Orthodox, Luth...

THE EXISTENCE OF BATAK ULOS IN THE AREA OF HEGEMONY

Adat or custom is made by humans for the sake of human interest, it is hoped that the stability and order of the community are maintained through the customs that are imposed on these community groups. Culture will continue to move along with the movement of global economic activity, it also influences the development of every existing culture. The Toba Batak culture is also inseparable from these clashes. The label as an idol worshiper is synonymous with the Toba Batak culture. There are many issues and views that explain why this happened, including the result of local religious practices practiced by the Toba Batak community today such as the Ulus ritual labeled by Charismatic Christian Missionaries as Atheist teachings. According to them, Ulos must be destroyed because it is considered a magic object in which magical powers are attached and “save” the power of evil spirits. The hegemony of modernization and globalization, reinforced by the influence of religion, has made Ulos an object that has high values ??of civilization, starting to erode, especially in terms of the nature and meaning of it. In this regard, the aim of this paper is to explain the existence of Ulos in relation to the hegemony of modernity and the pressure of Charismatic Christian missionaries on the indigenous Batak culture. The data analysis and approach method used in this study is qualitative with the perspective of cultural studies. The results showed that the shift in meaning was getting out of control because the perpetrators were the Batak people themselves who had been exposed to a new ideology that was centered on spiritual issues. The reason that seems so biblical is used as a tool to legalize the extermination in the form of burning Ulos against his followers because Ulos is labeled loaded with demonic powers. The process of eliminating the meaning of the ancestral heritage becomes faster because the adat institutions no longer have the legal power to oppose the hegemony and dominance that continues. 
 Key words: Ulos Batak, hegemony, charismatic Christianity

Above the Fray: The Red Cross and the Making of the Humanitarian NGO Sector

Reviewer: David Forsythe, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Above the Fray: The Red Cross and the Making of the Humanitarian NGO Sector by Shai M. Dromi presents a concise review of the evolution of the Red Cross, its basic principles, and competing visions of humanitarian action—such as by Doctors Without Borders (MSF). It is an introductory review of the basics, covering ground well known to those who follow Red Cross details closely. What he says about MSF is also well known. His use of history is adequate for his purposes but leaves out many complexities. Dromi’s overview is sound but without provocative thesis. He shows, as have others, that the idea of Red Cross, articulated by Henry Dunant and put into practice by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), arose out of Calvinist Geneva and was inspired early on by notions of Protestant Christian charity. A network of national...

Health in Need of Healing: Church History as a Road Map for Future Evangelization in Medicine.

Western medicine developed as an expression of Christian charity and played a large role in the growth of the early church. Despite its original foundation in Christian moral principles, modern medicine has deviated from its origins. The principles of human dignity, solidarity, and subsidiarity have been subjugated to a materialist and transactional construct that forms the basis of the contemporary medical delivery and financing systems. The dehumanization of both healthcare practitioners and patients by the partnership of governmental and corporate entities, and the use of health care as a political instrument, has debased the original mission of the medical profession and represents an affront to the principles of Catholic social teaching (CST). This essay explores the ways in which the US medical delivery and financing systems violate the principles of CST by means seldom recognized due to the inurement of the public and medical professionals. By examining the prevailing healthcare model through the lens of CST, the author illustrates the ways in which CST principles are systematically violated. This analysis serves as the foundation of a Catholic response to the question of how faithful Christians might live out their calls to holiness through the exercise of their professional vocations. A vision of an invigorated model of medicine as vocation, along with illustrative examples, is presented. By exemplifying the principles of human dignity, solidarity and subsidiarity in health care, Christians can seize a golden opportunity for evangelization by rearticulating the historical spiritual mission of Western medicine.

Serving ‘the Cause’: Cecil Jackson-Cole and the professionalization of charity in post-war Britain*

Abstract This article explores the relationship between faith, business and charity in mid to late twentieth-century Britain by examining the work of Cecil Jackson-Cole, co-founder of Oxfam, founder of Help the Aged, ActionAid and many other charities. Jackson-Cole’s approach to ‘building-up’ a charity accelerated the ongoing professionalization of the sector. This did not, however, represent a complete break from the Christian charity ethos of the past. By examining Jackson-Cole’s faith and its influence on his charity business network and practices, it is possible to see an enduring symbiotic relationship between faith and professionalization in organized charity across the twentieth century.

Pentekostal spiritualitet, økoteologi og miljøengasjement

Pentecostal spirituality, eco-theology and environmental engagement: A contrition to the development of a Pentecostal spirituality that integrates eco-theology and environmental ethics.
 This article identifies resources and problems in the Pentecostal-Charismatic tradition concerning environmental action and engagement. The purpose is to motivate Pentecostal and Charismatic churches to reflect on how they should respond as the world faces the prospect of an ecological crisis. The study begins by identifying a core narrative in the Pentecostal-Charismatic tradition. This core narrative is used as a hermeneutical key to interpret eco-theological elements in the biblical story of creation, fall, redemption, and final consummation. The study also discusses common objections towards eco-theology among Pentecostal and Charismatic Christians. These objections include the fear of an alternative or eco-centric spirituality, the implications of different forms of eschatology, and how Pentecostal and charismatic Christians understand their being in the world with regard to both evangelism and politics. The article argues that Pentecostal and Charismatic churches have spiritual resources that may empower them to transcend an anthropocentric worldview and develop a visionary virtue-ethic that may guide and enable a sustainable lifestyle and constructive environmental engagement. The article concludes by identifying seven themes that may encourage constructive action-reflection and stimulate further research.

Effects of a Changing Religious Landscape on Community Social Bonds

In many areas of the world, the role of traditional social spaces for forming and maintaining social capital is weakening. We analyze the effects of changes in a common social space, religious institutions, on community social bonds. To accomplish this, we use a unique dyadic network sample from western Kenya, an area undergoing extensive religious shifts due to the rise of Charismatic Christianity. Utilizing an identification strategy that makes use of the fact that people in these areas are more likely to attend closer religious institutions (RIs) due to transportation constraints, we find that severing an RI link with a peer increases the likelihood of severing an information link with that peer by 45 percentage points. We do not find a positive effect from forming an RI link, suggesting that information links take longer to build than to sever. We find no evidence that an individual trusts a peer less after severing an RI link, which is consistent with a setting in which information links are severed through the lack of casual interaction in a shared social space rather than bias caused by different religions or denominations. The study has important implications for understanding the role of social spaces in maintaining relationship bonds. It provides evidence that the fragmentation of these spaces decreases the number of casual interactions among individuals in a community, decreasing average levels of relationship strength and causing sparser information networks.

Soldiers of the Cross, The Authoritative Text: The Heroism of Catholic Chaplains and Sisters in the American Civil War by David Power Conyngham

Reviewed by: Soldiers of the Cross, The Authoritative Text: The Heroism of Catholic Chaplains and Sisters in the American Civil War by David Power Conyngham William John Shepherd Soldiers of the Cross, The Authoritative Text: The Heroism of Catholic Chaplains and Sisters in the American Civil War. By David Power Conyngham. Notre Dame, IN.: University of Notre Dame Press, 2019. 535 pp. $35.00. Having been preserved for over a century in the University of Notre Dame Archives, Soldiers of the Cross is the long-delayed publication of a remarkable unfinished manuscript. The author, David Power Conyngham, was an Irish Catholic immigrant, journalist, and Union Civil War veteran who served in the celebrated Irish Brigade. The wartime service of priest chaplains and sister nurses was widely [End Page 84] considered the most important Catholic contribution to nineteenth-century American society. In Conyngham's words: "true Christian charity knows no sectarianism, religious or political, and that the Catholic chaplain was the soldier of the cross, and not of the sword" (15). After the war, Conyngham interviewed these priests and nuns, or those who had information about them, in order to compile a record of their selfless deeds. Thankfully, Notre Dame preserved his unfinished work after Conyngham's untimely death in 1883. Recognizing that it combines both history and hagiography, editors David Endres and William Kurtz consider it the most comprehensive record of Catholic participation in the Civil War written in the nineteenth century. There have been several excellent studies of Catholics in the Civil War. One of the best and most recent is editor Kurtz's Excommunicated from the Union (2015). This, along with the classic George Barton's Angels of the Battlefield (1897) and Ellen Ryan Jolly's Nuns of the Battlefield (1927), should be read in conjunction with Soldiers of the Cross. Commonly known as "Holy Joes," there were nearly 4,000 wartime chaplains from all denominations on both sides during the war. Of these, Catholic priests, usually Irish or French immigrants, contributed approximately 50 commissioned chaplains to the Union army and 30 on the Confederate side. Additionally, with numbers reaching nearly 700 from 20 religious communities, Roman Catholic sisters or nuns made up about 20 percent of all nurses. As arranged by the editors, Conyngham's work was transcribed with grammatical corrections made as needed. They also wrote short introductory and concluding paragraphs for each chapter, as well as explanatory endnotes. There are 18 chapters on 12 Union chaplains, including the famous William Corby, who was one of seven Holy Cross priests from the University of Notre Dame, and the only chaplain at the Battle of Gettysburg. He notably gave absolution to soldiers on the second day of the battle, an act later commemorated with an iconic statue. Another Union chaplain of note, at least to me personally, was R. C. Cristy of the 78th Pennsylvania Volunteers, a protégé of Prince Gallitzin, who was the renowned Apostle of the Alleghenies. Cristy almost certainly ministered to my relative, William McCombs, a soldier [End Page 85] of the 78th who died in late 1861 along the Green River in Kentucky. A testament to Cristy's quality is the fact that he was elected chaplain in a regiment where only 50 of its nearly 1,000 men were Catholic (125). While Soldiers of the Cross has seven chapters devoted to three Confederate chaplains, this section focuses mostly on the well-known diary of Redemptorist priest James Sheerin, who was present in several major battles throughout the war. Finally, there are nine chapters on the various orders of nuns, including the Sisters of the Holy Cross and the Sisters of Mercy. Strangely, though, the Daughters of Charity, who contributed by far the most nurses with some three hundred serving, were not included. The most famous of these nuns was probably Mother Angela Gillespie, a Holy Cross sister and kin to William Tecumsah Sherman. The editors are to be congratulated for rescuing Conyngham's research from relative obscurity. Even though the overall quality of the chapters is uneven, it was a true labor of love. Some interesting chapters are comprised of Conyngham's recycled articles, excerpts from diaries, and testimonial letters from...

The Controversy Surrounding Rev. Włodzimierz Kirchner’s Brochure [Challenging Poverty in Bałuty

Włodzimierz Kirchner (1875-1970) – former priest, activist in the Łódź and Warsaw districts of the Christian Charity Association, he supported the efforts of the organisation by publishing articles on philanthropy. He was a proponent of the so-called ‘enlightened philanthropy’, i.e. he argued that social support cannot be of a spontaneous and chaotic character, but, rather, it should be controlled and monitored so that unemployment can be prevented. To justify his theses, the main of which was a conviction that giving alms was a waste of money and a tool spreading demoralisation, he conducted an analysis of dysfunctional communities, e.g. Bałuty (near Łódź back then). He depicted the inhabitants of the area (serving as a synecdoche of the dysfunctional communities throughout Poland) as a group of pretenders and impostors hustling potential benefactors by using a theatricalisation of behaviours which evoked empathy. He collected and published his conclusions in the brochure titled Walka z nędzą na Bałutach, which – due to its controversial recommendations of emotional restraint and the application of the method of control and monitoring – stirred aversion among various groups of intellectuals. Kirchner was accused of blind support of doctrines and extreme aestheticism, while the leftist press accused him of hypocrisy typical of the clergy.

Diskurser om defekte kroppe

The notion of discourse is useful in examining the various ways in which impairments of the body are construed. In the last several hundred years of Western history, bodily difference has been the object of Christian charity, pedagogy, medical classification and rehabilitation. The article reviews these shifts in discourse and points to some fundamental assumptions about difference in Euro-American culture. In non-Westem cultures, discourses on bodily anomalies can also be traced. However, discourse analysis of the Foucaultian variety

Artman's "The Miracle lady: Kathryn Kuhlman and the transformation of charismatic Christianity" (book review)

Artman's "The Miracle lady: Kathryn Kuhlman and the transformation of charismatic Christianity" (book review)

TOPICAL PROBLEMS OF RELIGIOUS UPBRINGING OF PERSONALITY IN THE PEDAGOGICAL HERITAGE OF HRYHORII VASHCHENKO

The purpose of the article is to study the importance of religious education in the formation of the spiritual and moral values of personality in the legacy of the outstanding Ukrainian teacher of the twentieth century H. Vashchenko. In matters of spiritual and moral education of personality H. Vashchenko acted as an indisputable representa-tive of the religious-pedagogical direction. The heritage of the outstanding teacher H. Vashchenko includes the position on the formation of important spiritual and moral values on the Christian basis. The basis of the education of a person for H. Vashchenko was determined by faith and religious feelings. Considering the issue of relations between a person and a society, H. Vashchenko saw this problem solution in Christianity.Christianity does not oppose the person to society, but connects them with the upbringing of Christian charity – faith, hope, and love. The teacher explained that the Christian faith should not be blind, formal, it should be alive.H. Vashchenko stressed that the main content of the spiritual and moral education of the child is the category of love as the highest moral sign and spiritual value. By educating the child in love for her neighbors, Christianity organically connects her or him with love for God. Christianity knows two forms of love: contemplative and active, but called for them to be united. The best example of such an association is the Christ who prayed, read the Word of God, and acted among people, did miracles, fought with evil, suffered from sacrifices and death. For H. Vashchenko, Christian morality was an important source of spiritual values, the highest manifestation of which was to serve God and the Motherland. He regarded spirituality as a complex system of values, through which, on the basis of Christianity and European culture, the Ukrainian people should create their national Ukrainian educational ideal.Religious education should begin in the family. The main means of upbringing are the example of adults, which starts with Christian relationships, which must be built on love, mutual consent, mutual respect and ends with traditions.The teacher emphasized that in the formation of religious feelings of the child an important role is played by “holy traditions”. The festive dinner before Christmas, Epiphany, the study of Christmas carols, generosity, the celebration of Easter, the Savior, the Blessed and other holidays promote the respect for the customs of the ancestors, their affiliation with the Ukrainian people. Religious education deepens during the preschool and school age. But in order for it to produce good results, it is necessary to eliminate formalism in its conduct, to give a good example for pupils.Thus, as a result of the study it was established that in the heritage of H. Vashchenko the problems of religious education are considered in the context of the spiritual and moral education of the personality, which corresponded to the perfection of the educational ideal. As a representative of the religious-pedagogical direction in pedagogy, H. Vashchenko tried, firstly, to form the spiritual and moral personality of the child on the basis of the Orthodox Christianity values; secondly, to solve the issue of freedom of the will of the individual and society in the spirit of Christianity; thirdly, to encourage the child to build relationships with people on the basis of observance of the first testament of Christian morals – love for God and for a man. As an experienced teacher, an ardent patriot of Ukraine, a deep believer, H. Vashchenko considered the religious education of young people as the effective means of updating the school on the spiritual and national principles.

An African Christian Perspective on the Veneration of the Saints or the Ancestors

Almost all religions believe in life after death. Christians believe that their deceased relatives and Church members who were baptised before they died would rise to new life in Christ after death. However, some Pentecostal and Charismatic Christians find it difficult to accept the fact that our deceased brothers and sisters (who are called by different names, saints or ancestors) are alive and deserve honour or recognition from the living. Africans venerate their deceased brothers and sisters who lived impeccable and irreproachable lives while they lived on this earth. In the same way some Christians, especially Catholics, Anglicans and others in public ceremonies canonize their deceased brothers and sisters who lived lives worthy of emulation and call them saints. They set aside some days in the year when they are publicly venerated in their liturgies and celebrate their entrance into eternity with God. In this article the writer argues that both Catholics and Africans are doing nothing wrong when they venerate their brothers and sisters as heroes in this way. They are only giving them honour like we do to our national heroes and ask for their intercession in prayer. Although Christians and Africans call their deceased members who lived exemplary lives by different names (Saints and Ancestors respectively), they venerate them in similar ways and the Saints or Ancestors play similar roles in the lives of their living members, notwithstanding some dissimilarities. Keywords: Veneration, Worship, Saints, Ancestors. DOI : 10.7176/JPCR/45-02 Publication date :October 31 st 2019