Christian Religious Communities Research Articles

Purchasing Power as a Major Determinant of Food Security in Rural and Semi-Urban Areas: A South African Household Experience

This study examined the complex role religion plays in both promoting and ending sexual and gender-based violence against women in the Tamale Metropolis of Ghana. While major religious traditions emphasize equality and non-violence, certain interpretations of religious texts and cultural traditions have enabled patriarchal norms that subjugate women. Qualitative data from interviews with 18 respondents across Christian, Muslim, and traditional African religious communities revealed ongoing oppressive practices like forced marriage and early marriage of young girls, divorce, physical abuse such as wife battering, sexual abuse, and victim-blaming. However, religious institutions are increasingly initiating efforts to combat this violence through advocacy, education, counselling services, and partnerships with civil society groups. While these initiatives exist, significant challenges remain in transforming deeply entrenched sociocultural norms that enable violence against women. These initiatives demonstrate how religious institutions can leverage their moral authority to transform sociocultural norms enabling violence against women. The study highlights the need for sustained engagement with religious communities, reinterpretation of doctrine promoting gender equality, and collaborative efforts across sectors to eliminate this pervasive human rights issue. Harnessing the influential role of religion through a progressive, rights-based approach is crucial for addressing sexual and gender-based violence in the Tamale Metropolis and similar contexts. By delving into this intricate dynamic within the context of the Tamale Metropolis in Ghana, the study contributes to a deeper understanding of how religious beliefs, interpretations, and institutions can either perpetuate or combat this form of violence. Keywords: Sexual Violence, Gender, Religion, Tamale Metropolis, Ghana

Ending Sexual and Gender-Based Violence Against Women in the Tamale Metropolis: The Role of Religion

This study examined the complex role religion plays in both promoting and ending sexual and gender-based violence against women in the Tamale Metropolis of Ghana. While major religious traditions emphasize equality and non-violence, certain interpretations of religious texts and cultural traditions have enabled patriarchal norms that subjugate women. Qualitative data from interviews with 18 respondents across Christian, Muslim, and traditional African religious communities revealed ongoing oppressive practices like forced marriage and early marriage of young girls, divorce, physical abuse such as wife battering, sexual abuse, and victim-blaming. However, religious institutions are increasingly initiating efforts to combat this violence through advocacy, education, counselling services, and partnerships with civil society groups. While these initiatives exist, significant challenges remain in transforming deeply entrenched sociocultural norms that enable violence against women. These initiatives demonstrate how religious institutions can leverage their moral authority to transform sociocultural norms enabling violence against women. The study highlights the need for sustained engagement with religious communities, reinterpretation of doctrine promoting gender equality, and collaborative efforts across sectors to eliminate this pervasive human rights issue. Harnessing the influential role of religion through a progressive, rights-based approach is crucial for addressing sexual and gender-based violence in the Tamale Metropolis and similar contexts. By delving into this intricate dynamic within the context of the Tamale Metropolis in Ghana, the study contributes to a deeper understanding of how religious beliefs, interpretations, and institutions can either perpetuate or combat this form of violence. Keywords: Sexual Violence, Gender, Religion, Tamale Metropolis, Ghana

İSLAMIN ALMANİYANIN DÖVLƏT-DİN MÜNASİBƏTLƏRİ SİSTEMİNDƏ YERİ

The Place of Islam in the System of State-Religion Relations in Germany Summary The German government regulates its relationship with Islam within the framework of state-religion relations reflected in the country's Constitution and based on democratic values. However, despite this, only the Christian and Jewish religious communities have the status of officially recognized religious communities in the country. Muslim communities operate in a semi-legal state. In modern times, such issues as regulating the relations between Islam and the state, controlling İslam, and ensuring the integration of Muslims into German society are the necessary issues facing the state in relation to Islam. These important issues are being implemented by the German Islamic Conference (AIC). The article examines the activities of AIC. Key words: Islam, Germany, state-religion relations, German Islamic Conference

The Monastic Cell as Utopian Niche: The Contribution of Religious Niches to Socio-Ecological Transformation

ABSTRACT This article explores the extent to which Christian traditions, especially the monastic way of life, possess a transformative potential toward a socio-ecological society. Christian ideas are not unbroken utopias, but they possess an eschatological proviso based on God’s otherness. Neither is monastic life a prefiguration of the Kingdom of God, nor do Christians or the Church prefigure a heavenly society, but Christian action and religious communities can be regarded as forms of refigurative practice, which can fail again and again without losing hope. This article describes the relationship between niche and transformation, between monastic cell and utopia, as such a refigurative practice.

The Role of Music in the Saiva and Christian Religious Communities

Music is the art of organizing sounds at the right time through melody, harmony, rhythm, and characteristics of the specific sound of instruments. If this is to be understood by ordinary people in general, the sound in the ears is a force that penetrates the heart through our pulses and veins and causes the subconscious mind to meditate. How has such music been used in devotion, how has it been used, how is it used, and what are the changes that have taken place due to them, even though it can be seen in many dimensions? What is the role of music in all non-religious communities? In particular, this article will be a study of the role of music in the Saiva and Christian communities and the benefits of the community.

Das Christentum und die säkulare Gesellschaft. Hintergründe und Herausforderungen

Abstract In a multilateral ecumenical setting, this paper analyses the challenges Christian churches have to deal with in modern »secularized« societies. First, it outlines Charles Taylor’s study The Secular Age as a helpful tool to understand the fundamental cultural changes. Second, it highlights three characteristic shifts: the continuous decrease of membership in mainline churches, the growing diversity of (Christian and non-Christian) religious communities, and the failing transgenerational transmission of religious knowledge and practice. As churches cannot any longer take their cultural relevance for granted, third, the paper pleas for an attitude of ›exploring relevance‹ which is open to new forms of communicating the gospel without, however, losing confidence in the respective formative traditions. Finally, the paper argues that, because all churches share these challenges, the situation encourages ecumenism.

Obecność mesjanizmu i millenaryzmu w brazylijskiej religijności ludowej przełomu XIX i XX wieku

The Presence of Messianism and Millenarianism in Brazilian Folk Religiosity in the Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, numerous unorthodox Christian religious communities sprang up in many parts of the vast Brazilian interior. Their worldview basis was the belief that the present life takes place in times of cosmic and social crisis. Waiting for the day of the Last Judgement was associated with attempts to establish a just social order, consistent with Christian norms and values. These communities were led by charismatic leaders, perceived by their participants as incarnations of saints. In this article, we ask about the circumstances and reasons for this religious and social revival, and we consider them in the perspective of the meeting of European culture with the cultures of the New World, understood as the process of creating a new, common symbolic universe.

Antisemitism in the American Religious Landscape: The Present Twenty-First Century Moment

This contribution is an examination of so-called “religious antisemitism” vis-à-vis the various Christian religious communities and/or denominations at the present time, framed by the recognition that, over the last several years, an increase in antisemitism in the United States has been shown by figures compiled by both the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). It is further framed by examining the 2015 Pew Research Center Report “America’s Changing Religious Landscape,” and its 2016 “If the U.S. had 100 people: Charting America’s Religious Affiliations.”

The Impact of the Pandemic on the Conception of Poverty, Discourse, and Praxis of Christian Religious Communities in Brazil from the Perspective of Their Local Leaders

The purpose of this article is to examine whether the global crisis established by the Covid-19 pandemic has affected the conception and praxis of church and/or local community leaders in relation to poverty. The research, carried out through informal, online consultations still in progress, revealed indicative trends in the discourses of 83 Christian leaders of local communities in various Brazilian states that influence, guide, and reflect the practice of the faithful in their communities. The main motivations which the leaders emphasized when mobilizing people to care for the poor were sought and what kinds of concrete actions the churches or Christian communities have carried out under the influence of these leaders in the face of the emergency situation. Initial results showed that the impact of the pandemic generated emergency assistance mobilizations for the poor, conducted institutionally, primarily in local communities; analyzed in the light of the Weberian categories of social action, the motivations endorsed by the leaders for these mobilizations revealed that rationality has given way to tradition and emotion when dealing with a social emergency. Finally, we found that while the social criticism present in the discourses of these leaders identifies economic inequality in the structures of society and emphasizes the need for action by religious institutions, they are nonetheless still minimal in terms of alternatives for a broader mobilization that would bring about transformations in the social structures of inequality in the country.

The structural advancement of religious communities and the commercialisation of the Christian religion in Nigeria

This article examines the activities of Christian religious communities and the birth of a commercialised Christian religion. It begins by creating an atmosphere that the Nigerians find themselves in, and explaining as to why they rely more on religious vendors for solutions to their physical and spiritual problems. Thus, the real causalities are the people with no contentment. The commercialisation of religion in Nigeria has been characterised by increased poverty and social vices such as armed robbery, bad leadership and bad citizenship. Findings reveal that adherents of the various churches that have commercialised their blessings comprise both the poor and the rich of the society. The poor are seeking God for instant blessing, while the rich are seeking God for the sustainability of their wealth and protection. True religion is now lost in Nigeria. Some pastors treat the church as an investment, expecting to get something in return personally when the institution prospers financially. This is evident in the rise in sugar-coated preaching in most Nigerian churches. It was discovered that commercialisation of churches is mainly for financial gains, and it is an offshoot of the proliferation of churches in Nigeria.

Reverberating Disquietude: A response to Shalini Masih’s “A Sustained Note of Disquiet”

This discussion is a response to a paper concerning the oppression of the Christian religious minority community in present-day India. I explore several themes presented by Masih through a psychoanalytic consideration of individual experience, marginalization, theories of prejudice, individual and social trauma, post-colonial critiques, and intersectionality. Links are made between the trauma of colonialism and the present day persecution of Christians in India.

Between Christ and Caliph: Law, Marriage, and Christian Community in Early Islam. By Lev E. Weitz

The aim of Between Christ and Caliph is to examine the diverse social order of the early medieval Middle East by asking two pivotal questions: how does the history of the Middle East appear if historians accept that non-Muslims were as much a part of the complex tapestry of the Umayyad and Abbasid empires as Muslims? What was the role of the household and construction of a distinct form of family life in (re)creating the identities of Christian religious communities? Lev Weitz focuses primarily on the conscious construction of family law by the Church of the East in the seventh through tenth centuries. He explains the creation of eastern Christian family law through the community’s inherited resourcefulness from being a minority faith under the Zoroastrian Sassanian Empire, as well as from demand, to some extent, by Muslim rulers who expected each religious community to govern itself. Weitz also posits that the creation of laws to govern family were inspired by an effort to keep Christians from using Muslim courts. The author attributes the attention paid to marriage, inheritance, and a uniquely Christian family ideal in post-conquest canon law to an effort by bishops and other Christian elites to cement a sense of communal integrity through the social institution of a specifically Christian household. Though the main focus remains on the Church of the East, the monograph covers other Christian communities as well, skillfully comparing the post-conquest legal literature of the East Syrian, West Syrian, and Melkite Christians.

Spiritual Explanatory Models of Mental Illness in West Nile, Uganda

Integrating indigenous cultural knowledge into conceptualizing mental illness offers highly valuable insights to better contextualize mental health. The meaning given to symptoms determines what is abnormal and requiring treatment. In Uganda, the formal health care system is neither the only nor the most widespread treatment provider. Help is often sought from traditional and religious healers, too. Despite numerous calls for cooperation between the healing systems, this has translated into reality only to a very limited degree. The purpose of this study was to gain insight into local explanatory models of mental illness, to gain an understanding of the different patients’ needs, and to develop a more comprehensive system of care. We used an ethnographic investigation approach, which allowed for a more holistic view of the research field. This was geographically delimited to the West Nile subregion in Northern Uganda. We conducted a total of 56 semistructured interviews with traditional healers ( n = 5), Christian religious healers ( n = 3), psychiatric patients ( n = 16), their attendants ( n = 16), and community members ( n = 16). In addition, we used the method of participant observation. The data collected were analyzed using Qualitative Content Analysis and Grounded Theory methodology. For the purpose of this article, we exclusively extracted the spiritual explanatory models. These were spirit possession and curse. Both were traditional concepts with a religious reinterpretation involving the action of spirits.

Pola Hubungan Masyarakat Lintas Agama dalam Mewujudkan Harmonisasi Kehidupan Umat Beragama di Desa Sindang Sari Kecamatan Tanjung Bintang Kabupaten Lampung Selatan

The pattern of public relations is a social process, which refers to a pattern of dynamic social relations. Sindang Sari Village is one of the villages in Tanjung Bintang District, South Lampung Regency, which has Islamic, Christian, Catholic and Buddhist religious communities, while the people are Javanese, Sundanese, Palembang and Batak. However, the life and association of the religious community is harmonious and there has never been a conflict or dispute with religious and cultural backgrounds. The results of this study indicate how the pattern of community relations in Sindang Sari village is associative, namely the form of relationships that lead to cooperation in various forms of social life, community, and inter-religious relations, all of which are related, or without coercion from any party. While the factors that support the good interfaith relationship are the existence of community habits and awareness to carry the burden borne by other members or citizens by arranging night patrols, mutual cooperation, social gathering or squatting. In addition, the supporters of the relationship between religious communities in the village of Sindang Sari are the existence of support from religious leaders and village officials both formally and informally.

Predictors of opposition to and support for the ordination of women: insights from the LDS Church

Female ordination is an important component of gender equality in Christian religious communities. While prior research has examined societal, institutional, and organisational factors that predict changes in ordination policies in Christian denominations, there is very little research examining individuals’ attitudes regarding the ordination of women. In this research, we use data from two surveys of members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) to examine the factors that predict attitudes towards the ordination of women using two polity-specific measures of support or opposition. Results indicate greater support for the ordination of women when framed in a way that takes into account LDS church governance. While several demographic variables predict attitudes towards ordination, the strongest correlate is perceptions of inequality.

Nedenominacinių krikščioniškų bendruomenių raiška Klaipėdos mieste dviejų nepriklausomybės dešimtmečių akivaizdoje

This article presents Klaipeda’s non-traditional Christian religious communities – non-denominational charismatic churches The Word of Love Church, the Free Christian Church in Klaipeda and the City Church, their changes, and their relationship with the urban population during the two decades of Lithuania’s Independence. The article based on material of leaders’ narrations of non-denominational churches, collected through in-depth qualitative interview method and discourse analysis of the local media publications.

Religion and ecological justice in Africa: Engaging ‘value for community’ as praxis for ecological and socio-economic justice

This article embarked on a critical evaluation of religious leadership and ecological consciousness in Africa, using the case of the Nigerian Christian religious community. The article argued that the concept of ecological justice lacks strong theological conceptualisation in the Nigerian ecclesiastical community. Therefore, Ime Okopido’s argument in favour of stewardship for the involvement of religious leadership in the pursuit of ecological and socioeconomic justice served as the starting point for this engagement. However, such engagement of the religious leadership and of the faithful should include developing ecological theological concepts, such as value for community, which are relevant to the context and resonate with indigenous cultures. Embarking on ecological activism, a change of lifestyles and finding other concrete ways of protecting the environment and biodiversity could ameliorate the crisis of ecological and socio-economic injustice in Africa by promoting, in particular, the praxis of value for community.

Models of Relationships between State and Christian Religious Communities in European Region. Historical, Doctrinaire and Legal Perspective

Razmerja med verskimi organizacijami (skupnostmi oziroma cerkvami) in nosilci javne oblasti (državo) so eno osrednjih gibal razvoja evropske družbe v zadnjih stoletjih. V svojem prispevku k obsežnemu znanstvenemu opusu o tem področju družbene resničnosti se omejim na razmerje med državo in verskimi skupnostmi krščanskega občestva. V prvem delu se posvetim različnim pravnofilozofskim učenjem in teološkim doktrinam o razmerju med cerkvijo in državo po posameznih najpomembnejših krščanskih veroizpovedih (rimokatoliški, pravoslavni in protestantski). V drugem delu orišem in nato podrobneje predstavim najpomembnejše modele razmerij med (krščanskimi) verskimi organizacijami in državo na prostorih, kjer največja verska skupnost pripada krščanskemu občestvu. Bralcu slikam pestrost različnih pogledov na državo in pravo po posameznih krščanskih veroizpovedih ter potrdim pogosto slutnjo, da med avtentičnim krščanskim naukom in njegovo manifestacijo v praktičnem življenju resnično obstoji velik razkorak.

Arab Christian physicians as interreligious mediators: Abū Shākir as a model Christian expert

At least since the time of Ḥunayn ibn Isḥāq (d. 873) Christian physicians have enjoyed prominent roles in Islamic governments. This article explores the Christian physician's role as mediator between the Christian and Islamic communities, paying special attention to the thirteenth-century Christian physician Muwaffaq al-Dīn Abū Shākir (d. 1216). Abū Shākir appears in the Coptic hagiographic Martyrdom of John of Phanijoit, which portrays him as a mediator trying to dissuade the hero John from seeking public conversion and martyrdom. This article views Abū Shākir in light of the extant sources, examining him as one instance of a Christian mediator whose expert scientific knowledge opens access between the Islamic and Christian religious communities. Abū Shākir's voice is shown to be circumscribed by the ethos of his profession and the expectations of the communities he serves, both Christian and Muslim.

Transjordan During the Nineteenth Century: Reconsidering the Relation Between Arab Tribes and Christian Religious Communities

AbstractThe article aims to reconsider the history of Ottoman Transjordan during the second half of the nineteenth century. Istanbul's decision to impose its direct control over this province triggered a process of evolution and change within local political spaces. The traditional balance of power was altered and tribes were forced to accept the authority of the Ottoman Empire. States and tribes were not the only political actors. Christian religious institutions also participated in the dynamics of change. The article reconsiders the history of a Christian village of Transjordan, Madaba, to describe the complex relationship between tribes and Christian religious communities during this period of change and evolution. The section Karak highlights the main aspects that characterized the refoundation of Madaba. In the section The Exodus and the Rebirth of Madaba, the exodus of several Christian tribes from Karak to Madaba is analyzed to explain the overlap and intertwinement between the different cultural horizons and sociopolitical logics of the two actors. The section The Village of Madaba analyzes some episodes of daily life in Madaba to detail the consequences of the interaction between tribes and religious communities. Finally, the functioning of the local sociopolitical space on which the Hashemite emirate was later founded is explained. The religious community‐tribe dyad was, in fact, part of the transition from “the tribe to the state.”