Christian Faith Communities Research Articles

“The RDP of the Soul”, geweld, vergelding, toleransie en Paulus se appèl om moed te hou

“The RDP of the Soul”, violence, revenge, tolerance and Paul’s appeal for enduranceThis article links up with both the Fourth Nelson Mandela Commemorative Lecture presented by the previous President of the Republic of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki, in 2006, titled the “RDP of the Soul” and with the book of Dr Richard Burridge (King’s College, University of London), Imitating Jesus, in which he shows how biblical ethics has shaped South Africans’ lives since colonialism, apartheid and post- and neo-colonialism. The article argues that moral leadership by the Christian faith community in South Africa which combats violence by rising up in compassion against injustice can counter-balance the spiralling out of retaliation through revenge. The article describes tolerance in terms of the Pauline concept of endurance and the internalisation of hope for the future. Perseverance despite suffering is seen as the contents of tolerance in the midst of aggressive opposition against the essence of life experienced in terms of an individual’s thinking, willing and feeling. The article is a reworked version of a bilingual commemorative public lecture in English and Afrikaans presented on the occasion of the University of Pretoria’s centenary celebration and is dedicated to Professor Dr P J G Meiring, a member of the Commission of Peace and Reconciliation in South Africa.

Dispensing with Conscience: A Legal and Ethical Assessment

For over 30 years, pharmacists have exercised the right to dispense medications in accordance with moral convictions based upon a Judeo-Christian ethic. What many of these practitioners see as an apparent shift away from this time-honored ethic has resulted in a challenge to this right. To review and analyze pharmacy practice standards, legal proceedings, and ethical principles behind conflicts of conscientious objection in dispensing drugs used for emergency contraception. We first searched the terms conscience and clause and Plan B and contraception and abortion using Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft Networks (2006-September 26, 2008). Second, we used Medscape to search professional pharmacy and other medical journals, restricting our terms to conscience, Plan B, contraceptives, and abortifacients. Finally, we employed Loislaw, an online legal archiving service, and did a global search on the phrase conscience clause to determine the status of the legal discussion. To date, conflicts in conscientious objection have arisen when a pharmacist believes that dispensing an oral contraceptive violates his or her moral understanding for the promotion of human life. Up to this time, cases in pharmacy have involved only practitioners from orthodox Christian faith communities, primarily devout Roman Catholics. A pharmacist's right to refuse the dispensing of abortifacients for birth control according to moral conscience over against a woman's right to reproductive birth control has created a conflict that has yet to be reconciled by licensing agents, professional standards, or courts of law. Our analysis of prominent conflicts suggests that the underlying worldviews between factions make compromise improbable. Risks and liabilities are dependent upon compliance with evolving state laws, specific disclosure of a pharmacist's moral objections, and professionalism in the handling of volatile situations. Objecting pharmacists and their employers should have clear policies and procedures in place to minimize workplace conflicts and maximize patient care.

Forgetting the Land

A three-year project funded by the M. B. Reckitt Trust is aiming to provide a theological critique of the sustainability process. This paper, based on the Reckitt Lecture given at the close of the first year of the work, outlines findings from a case study in the post-industrial landscape of South Yorkshire. Working with statutory and voluntary social, economic and environmental agencies and the Christian faith communities there, it explores how `sustainability' is interpreted, whether a spiritual perspective is represented in the sustainability process and whether notions of `belonging' and `place' figure in the quest to secure the future of the area. The wider significance of the findings is discussed.

Pastors as gewonde genesers: Die emosionele uitwerking van kognitiewe dissonansie

Pastors as wounded healers: Emotional experience and cognitive dissonance 
 
 The relevance of reflecting on pastors’ identity and ministry is precipitated by the paradigm shift from modernity to postmodernity. Pastors often suffer from cognitive dissonance because of the paradigm shift. This dissonance comes to the fore in that pastors and the people they are supposed to serve, frequently find themselves in different, opposing worlds. In their attempt to adapt to this situation, pastors often experience emotional woundedness and do not always have the psychological disposition and skills to process their emotions in intelligent and creative ways. The paradigm shift in the Christian faith community can be described as a movement from a traditional to an emerging paradigm. This article aims to reflect on the meaning of this movement for pastors and their functioning in a new world.

How physicians and scientists can respond responsibly and effectively to religiously based opposition to human embryonic stem cell research

Physicians and scientists should respond to bioethical and public policy controversies about human embryonic stem cell research by insisting that public policy meet the requirements of fairness. Doing so denies religiously based objections their current "trumping" power and supports public funding and regulation of human embryonic stem cell research.

Paradox in the Development of the Non-Disabled Church

“He was born blind so that the work of God can be revealed in him,” John 9:3. The appropriation of disabled body images and metaphors in the symbolic language of Christian theological discourse played and continues to play an instrumental role in the formation, building, and sustaining of Christian faith communities. Yet, Christianity's symbolic language is also used effectively to disenfranchise and alienate the actual disabled body from Christian communities. An inheritance from its Graeco-Roman and Jewish ancestry, Christianity takes as normative a direct link between disability and sin. This paper focuses on John 9:1–41 in exploring early Christianity's use of disability to articulate its ideals and examines the implication of the disability/sin correlation for contemporary Christian Communities.

Vergeving in het “Onze Vader”: Een bijbels-theologische pastorale benadering

The petition for forgiveness in the Lord’s Prayer from a biblical theological pastoral perspective
 
 The Lord’s Prayer has a prominent place in the lives and liturgies of Christian faith communities. The petition for forgiveness in the prayer is accompanied by what seems to be a condition: “Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sinned against us”. This “condition” can be a stumbling block for victims of violence perpetrated by people “who sinned against” them. The aim of the article is to provide a liberating perspective on the Lord’s Prayer so that it can contribute to the healing of women who have been sexually violated. Firstly, the concept “forgiveness” in the Old and New Testament is investigated. This leads to an investigation of the ethics of forgiveness in light of Levinas’ criticism of the Christian ethics of forgiveness. Narrative insights point to the possibility of reinterpreting the “us” in “forgive us our sins”. This liberates “victims” of violence to feel included in God’s grace and forgiveness, even though they may find it difficult or impossible to forgive the perpetrator.

Issues in Christian–Muslim Relations: A Malaysian Christian Perspective*

Malaysia is a democratic secular federation with Islam as its official religion. Over the last few decades, this unique model of tolerance and accommodation has been undergoing astounding developments politically, socially and economically. Intense intra-Muslim struggles coupled with increased state-mobilized Islamizing efforts have produced disturbing knock-on effects on non-Muslim minorities. Religion is so profoundly interwoven with race, ethnicity, politics and economics that it is impossible to speak of one without touching upon the others. This article aims to elucidate key practical issues affecting Christians living in a majority Islamic context. It further proposes significant policy options for managing Muslim–Christian relations in twenty-first-century Malaysia. Education is crucial for promoting interreligious harmony, religious freedom, and respect for people of different traditions. More collaborative endeavours through interfaith dialogue should help Malaysians transcend cultural, racial, linguistic and religious barriers. Both Christian and Muslim faith communities need to learn more about and from each other and to move forward towards nation-building and a common destiny.

Prejudice, homophobia and the Christian faith community

The aim of the article is to illustrate that prejudice differs fundamentally from legitimate presuppositions that come into play when people interpret the Bible or reflect theologically on contemporary issues such as homosexuality. It is argued that prejudice leads to the theologically untenable phenomenon of homophobia. Though the rejection of prejudicial attitudes does not mean that “anything goes”, it is a theological necessity to expose harmful attitudes and behaviours regarding sexuality. To this end the article investigates the labels “homosexual”, “gay” and “queer” that, on the one hand, express and perpetuate homophobia and on the other hand represent a search for authentic identity on the part of sexual minorities. The article reflects on the effect of underlying social identity theories on homophobia. Such theories include nominialism with its focus on “sameness” and essentialism that focuses on “difference”, as well as primordialism with its emphasis on the immutability of social identity formation and constructionism that highlights change.

The Place of Asian Resources in Festivals and Liturgies in Christian Churches

The Place of Asian Resources in Festivals and Liturgies in Christian Churches Greer Anne Wenh-In Ng For purposes of this essay, I start with understandings of spirituality as articulated by Sandra Schneiders, "A capacity for self-transcending integration in relation to the Ultimate, whatever the Ultimate is for the person in question," and of Christian spirituality as articulated by Michael Warren, "A systematic way of attending to the presence of God." When applying these understandings to the context of Asian American and Asian Canadian Christian churches, however, a dimension neither acknowledged nor made explicit in the definitions above will inform the discussion, that is, the corporate or communal aspect of spirituality as practiced in community, whether it be the community of an ethno-cultural group, or the community of the church. It is this additional communal aspect of spirituality that will inform the following discussion about the place of Asian resources in the festivals and liturgies of North American Christian churches in this first decade of the 21st century. Characteristics of Festivals All peoples and cultures celebrate a cycle of festivals each year. Some of these are seasonal, arising out of nature's rhythms of change (for instance, summer and winter solstices); others are historical, originating from significant events in that people's common life (the Jewish Passover, the Christian Easter). Such regular, recurring celebrations share a number of characteristics, according to Ellen Tanouye: they are occasions for gathering and incorporating the community; they give identity to newer and younger participants and strengthen a sense of belonging for all; and they act as occasions for renewing, often implicitly, the covenant which members of that community have made with one another. 1 Do these characteristics apply to both Asian cultural seasonal festivals and feasts in the Christian liturgical year? Perhaps a look at how the two sets of festivals, at how they relate to each other and to what extent they reinforce or work against each other, may throw some light on the way the communal aspect of spirituality can be nurtured for Asian American/Canadian Christians in their faith communities. The festivals selected as examples to examine here, mostly from Chinese, Japanese and Korean religio- cultural realities, are: 1) locating festivals of ancestral commemoration, namely Qing Ming (April 5) [End Page 249] and Qong Yang (ninth day of the ninth lunar month) in tandem with Easter and All Saints'Day (November 1) in the Christian liturgical year; 2) celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival (15th day/night of the eighth lunar month or Korean Thanksgiving) along with Thanksgiving; and 3) recalling the "winter festival" aspects of Christmas as the lunar new year is celebrated, usually several weeks later (first day of the first lunar month). Being Asian, Being Christian, through Asian Festivals and Christian Feasts 1) Connecting with one's ancestors and commemorating their lives is an integral aspect of being Asian. Since the introduction of Christianity into Asia by missionaries from Europe and North America, however, traditional rituals and practices of ancestral veneration have been condemned as "pagan," and Christian churches have tended to shy away from any overt reflection on the dilemma, leaving it up to individuals and families to work out what they feel comfortable with in terms of observance. More recently, however, a few English-speaking Japanese American churches have experimented with incorporating a ritual of remembrance or mini memorial service into their monthly holy communion or Eucharist. 2 In the meantime, some Chinese American congregations have begun to observe Qing Ming ("Festival of the Clear and Bright") by holding special remembrance services for the recently dead as well as ancestors, then as a group going to the cemetery to clean up family grave sites, as that festival requires. A Christian faith community, however, may not include the traditional burning of paper money and the lighting of incense in gravesite observances, although bringing fruit (instead of the traditional...

Going with the Flow: Can Christian Faith Communities in the UK Flourish in Non-Institutional Civil Society?

The aim of this article is to reflect theologically on recent research into the changing nature of civil society with a view to exploring the implications of these changes for the way churches and other faith communities might contribute to civil society in the future. The article looks at the mismatch between government rhetoric concerning the role of churches and faith communities in building up civil society, and the actual experience of faith communities becoming engaged in formal civil society activities such as regeneration and social cohesion which has often felt disempowering and awkward. The article then looks at the growth of non-institutional society (i.e. broad-based organizations and direct action campaigns) which tends to lie outside government control and raises the theological and strategic question as to whether more liquid and flexible forms of political participation have something to offer churches seeking to become more appropriately engaged in postmodern flows of society and the increasing marginalization within them.

Information and Technology Resources for the Study of Arabic Christianity

ABSTRACT This article is a guide to the reference literature and primary source materials for the study of Eastern Christianity. The author covers print and electronic resources for the Christian faith communities, writing in the Coptic, Syriac, and Persian languages. The major focus of the article, however, is Arabic Christianity and its information resources.

BEYOND BIBLE STORIES: THE ROLE OF CULTURE-SPECIFIC MYTHS/STORIES IN THE IDENTITY FORMATION OF NONDOMINANT IMMIGRANT CHILDREN

The full identity of Asian heritage children growing up in Canada and the U.S. includes the Judaeo-Christian biblical tradition, the Euro-Anglo tradition of the dominant culture, and the traditions of their heritage culture. This article makes a case for including culture-specific stories from learners' own heritage for more holistic identity formation for younger members of immigrant Christian faith communities. The author examines obstacles that stand in the way, and discusses strategies to carry out this religious education endeavor. While examples are drawn mainly from East Asian culture (particularly Chinese), the discussion is intended to apply to most non-Euro-Anglo Christian faith communities of the North America diaspora.

’n Teoretiese inleiding tot narratiewe hermeneutiek in die teologie

A theoretical introduction to narrative hermeneutics in theologyThe premise of this article is that narrative hermeneutics as a method of research in theology departs from a dialectical relationship between hermeneutics and the method of interpretation. The article aims to describe and explain narrative as a “way of knowing”. It focuses on the form, content, function and context of myth. Myth is foundational to the lifestories of people and groups. The discussion on narrative theory applies Paul Ricoeur’s concept of the “hermeneutical arch” in narrative hermeneutics. The article concludes with the idea that narrative as a way of knowing is ideological critical and deconstructs dominant socio-cultural narratives. The story of Jesus of Nazareth as the foundational myth of the Christian faith community can function as a contra narrative in order to give meaning to people’s lives in the presence of God in a postmodern world.

Publizistik im Dienste antijudischer Polemik: Spatmittelalterliche und fruhneuzeitliche Flugschriften und Flugblatter zu Hostienschandungen (review)

Reviewed by: Publizistik im Dienste antijüdischer Polemik: Spätmittelalterliche und frühneuzeitliche Flugschriften und Flugblätter zu Hostienschändungen Dean Phillip Bell Publizistik im Dienste antijüdischer Polemik: Spätmittelalterliche und frühneuzeitliche Flugschriften und Flugblätter zu Hostienschändungen, by Christine Mittlmeier. Mikrokosmos: Beiträge zur Literaturwissenschaft und Bedeutungsforschung, vol. 56. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang Verlag, 2000. 184 pp. $34.95. Originally a dissertation completed in 1997 at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München under the direction of Wolfgang Harms, this slender volume offers a new approach to a much trodden theme, namely the accusations of host desecration leveled against the Jews in late medieval and early modern Germany. Mittlmeier argues that illustrated pamphlets and leaflets played not a small role in the spread of anti-Jewish polemic, indeed in the very transference of host desecration accusations into the broader public. Noting that specific themes and contexts varied widely, she examines the historical and political contexts, publishers, authors, intended audiences (the levels of readers), and the possible functions of the publications of host desecration charges in Passau (1477), Sternberg (1492), and Knobloch (1510). Throughout, Mittlmeier notes that the most important group addressed by the pamphlets was the urban middle class, and she stresses that the pamphlets had real ability to influence important political decisions and stir political debate. Mittlmeier argues that host desecration discourse and imagery could contemporize accusations of shaming and martyring Jesus and mobilize action and discourse against the Jews. Echoing the findings of recent scholars such as Hsia and Graus, she finds that often the anti-Jewish polemic of the host crime accusations played into larger power politics (i.e., anti-Jewish polemic could be a vehicle for the criticism of political leaders and institutions), particularly in contests between ecclesiastical and urban rulers and between the estates and the princes. She also asserts that charges of host desecration could serve efforts to strengthen internal Christian belief and create a broader internal Christian communal identity by positing the host as a representation of the Christian faith community, and, simultaneously, the Jews as the opponents of that collectivity. Such accusations, which tended to become removed from local contexts through publication and were molded into a sort of ethno-history that had a supra-regional and a-temporal meaning (referring to all Jews), could also serve as the basis for legitimizing the expulsion of Jews from cities or regions. Among the common themes and images Mittlmeier finds in the cases she examines are the portrayal of the Jews as God-murderers, the stubbornness and blindness of the Jews (indeed not a new theme, but one of an apologetic nature), the Jews as the embodiment of evil, and the Jews as usurers. The analysis utilizes some theoretical discussion of the pamphlets and the relation between texts and images, and suggests that in the fifteenth century there were local and regional differences in discourse and representation. One intriguing observation is that particularly since the fifteenth century there was an increase in the illustration of Jews [End Page 138] in oriental clothing, suggesting, amidst the Turkish threat, the association and conspiracy of Jews and Turks. Mittlmeier offers a very concise but useful overview of some of the secondary literature, especially regarding host desecration and the legal position of the Jews in the Middle Ages. Her methodology is well-thought out and consistently applied, but could have profitably been expanded to other cases and compared with other types of representation. Although the work adds few new observations to recent studies, it does reinforce some general conclusions, and it adds the possibility of new sources and modes of interpretation that may shed light on Jewish and Christian relations as well as general religious and political developments within Christian society in early modern Germany. Dean Phillip Bell Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies Copyright © 2003 Purdue University

Educational Indoctrination in Christian Faith Communities

Educational Indoctrination in Christian Faith Communities

Towards a Christian Praxis Education: Some Possibilities for Christian Schools

THIS PAPER ARGUES that a Christian Praxis Education orientation, based on the Christian Religious Education of Groome and Astley as well as the Transformative Christian Religious Education of Hobson and Welbourne, has much that would be of interest to advocates of Christian schooling. Given that the orientation is firmly based within the Christian faith community, has the development of faith as its central aim, and is firmly grounded in the Christian story, there is much to commend it as worthy of consideration by those involved in Christian schooling.

De-Schooling Christianity in the New Millennium

Brian Hill's perspectives on education in the specific context of Christian faith communities had celled with Allan's developing awareness for a number of years. Hence when the opportunity for doctoral studies arose in the. mid 1990s, Allan promptly requested Brian's supervision — supervision which, melding scholarly perception and insight with un in variably gentle manner, was to prove invaluable, for an apprehensive mature-age student. This personal friendship, broadened to include Brian and Allan's wider families, has continued (despite Allan's hunch that it was Brian's suggestion which led to his appointment as editor of this journal!).

INTERGENERATIONAL EDUCATION FOR AN INTERGENERATIONAL CHURCH?

From the biblical era, Christian faith communities have been inter‐generational entities. This article examines how Christian education strategies have expressed intergenerationalism; suggests three major reasons why intergenerational Christian education should be developed with more vigor (Christian theology, spiritual formation, and societal fragmentation); and provides clues for facilitating intergenerationalism in faith communities.