Western Christianity Research Articles

Wielding God's Power: A Framework for Understanding Orthodox Christian‐Muslim Relations

ABSTRACTOver the past 2 decades, the topic of Christian‐Muslim relations has become one of the most talked‐about issues in the world, and western Christian historical experiences and sources have usually dominated these discussions. Often overlooked is the fact that vast numbers of Eastern and Oriental Orthodox Christians and Muslims have continuously lived among one another from the beginning of Islam in the seventh century up to the present day. This article asserts that a broad analysis of Orthodox Christian‐Muslim relations as a distinct history can reveal insights into the nature of interfaith relationships across time and geographical or linguistic boundaries, highlighting lasting and profound human experiences such as solidarity, spiritual fellowship, traumatic memory, and resistance against injustice. This article will both introduce readers to the key scholarly literature that discusses aspects of this distinct history, and also put these sources into dialog in order to propose ways of approaching this history as a coherent field of study. Specifically, this article argues that theologies of sacred power have structured Orthodox‐Christian Muslim relations across time and space. These theologies are here termed “imperial theologies of sacred power,” and “vernacular theologies of sacred power.” “Imperial theologies of sacred power” refer to the political theological claims that both Orthodox Christian and Muslims empires made to justify their dominance over the other's religious communities as imperial subjects. “Vernacular theologies of sacred power” refers to the relationships that were constructed between members of these communities at the local level when they actively shared sacred spaces and rituals. The concept of “vernacular theologies” is taken from recent theoretical work in Orthodox Christian Studies by Lydia Bringerud (2019), Sarah Riccardi‐Swartz (2020), and Helena Kupari and Elini Vuola (2020) and provides a helpful way forward for the further exploration of the historical contours of interfaith relations in Orthodox Christian contexts.

Eve in the community Garden: Black ecofeminist pedagogies as intervention in Western Christian environmentalism

Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical Laudato Si’ criticized human facilitation of the climate catastrophe and urged for a justice-centered approach to global warming issues. Since then, many Jesuit educational institutions have committed to sustainability in their operations, campus culture, and classroom curricula towards environmental justice. I argue that any justice-oriented climate education is improved when rooted in Black ecofeminist pedagogy that facilitates a deep engagement with the histories and potentialities of our environmental world. This article takes my course Race, Gender, and Environmental Justice as a case study that illuminates the contributions of Black ecofeminist pedagogy in interrogations of epistemological authority, developments of structural analytical frameworks, and embodied engagements with the lived world. I contend that it challenges Western Christian epistemological, methodological, and political norms and propels Jesuit environmental education toward a more critical posture of racial and gender justice. This article considers the many substantive contributions of Black ecofeminist pedagogy to environmental thinking and teaching, and how Jesuit institutions, with histories steeped in racial oppression, gender inequality, and sexual marginalization, have a distinct opportunity to engage with Black ecofeminism to move beyond perfunctory strategies of sustainability, and instead engage the deeply intersectional work of recognition, repair, and environmental justice.

Missional insights on socio-political realities, religious vulnerability, and the choice of Barabbas

This article presents a missional perspective on the complex interplay between socio-political realities, religious vulnerability and the formation of political ideologies among Western Christians, drawing insights from the biblical narrative of the choice of Barabbas at Jesus’s trial. In today’s world, Western Christians are confronted with numerous socio-political challenges that can compromise their spiritual discernment, leading to religious delusion and, potentially, the adoption of politicised ideologies. Through a deep dive into the Jewish choice of Barabbas over Jesus, we seek to unravel the underlying dynamics. By examining the socio-political context of Roman occupation and Jewish societal pressures, we illuminate how these external factors influenced the religious vulnerability of the Jewish people. Furthermore, we explore how this vulnerability manifested in the decision to prefer Barabbas, a figure representing worldly resistance, over Jesus Christ, the embodiment of divine grace. From a missional perspective, we reflect on the implications of this historical event for contemporary Western Christian engagement with socio-political issues. We argue that understanding the delicate interplay between socio-political context, religious vulnerability and political ideology is essential for Western Christians seeking to embody the transformative mission of Christ in today’s world.Contribution: This article contributes to missional theology by offering insights into how believers can navigate socio-political complexities with spiritual discernment and faithful witness.

The Different Amazonian Indigenous Cultures Between Western and Chinese Tourists’ Perspectives

This research paper examines the contrasting portrayals of Amazonian indigenous cultures in the European, American and Chinese travel media, revealing the profound impact of historical, cultural and faith-based factors on tourism. It begins with an overview of the evolution of tourism and its multifaceted impact on indigenous cultures, highlighting the benefits of tourism for indigenous cultures. Through a comparative analysis of Western and Chinese tourism websites, this paper identifies differences in the way these cultures are depicted. Western depictions tend to romanticize and commodify indigenous cultures, portraying them as “noble savages” and emphasizing their poverty, isolation, and need for external protection. Closely linked to Western colonial history, Christianity and romanticism, these portrayals reflect a paternalistic view that often disregards the agency of indigenous communities. In contrast, Chinese depictions are influenced by Taoism and Confucianism, emphasizing harmony with nature, collectivism and social order. These depictions focus on the connection between aboriginal people and their environment, depicting them as models of ecological balance and collective living. The study also explores the historical and colonial contexts that have shaped such Chinese portrayals, reflecting China’s history of internal upheaval and resistance to cultural imperialism. The paper concludes by highlighting the need for a more nuanced and respectful approach to indigenous tourism that recognizes the agency, resilience and vitality of these communities, moving beyond mere stereotyping and commodification.

Women’s Environmental Peacebuilding – from the Lense of Post-Colonial Theological Ecofeminism

In a broader context, this paper focuses on the need to address environmental issues and include women’s voices and actions in the context of interreligious dialogue—more specifically, to create a venue for women’s engagement in environmental peacebuilding through interreligious encounters and dialogue. First, the phenomenon of religious environmental peacebuilding is introduced as an emerging field that views conflicts over environmental resources (environmental injustice) as an opportunity for the conflicting parties to cooperate with one another and ultimately work toward a lasting and sustainable peace. A brief overview of two examples of good practices of women’s movements for environmental peacebuilding (Navdanya and the Green Belt Movement) and their contributions are briefly analyzed. From this perspective, the question arises: is Western Christian ecotheology listening to the ecotheological perspectives and practices of the Global South? Furthermore, it addresses the importance of including women’s voices and actions (from the Global South and the Global North for mutual enrichment), which are often left out of interreligious dialogue, but could also find their place in religious (environmental) peacebuilding. This paper follows the ecofeminist thesis that the exploitation of the earth (ecological crisis) is closely linked to the marginalization, exploitation, and abuse of women. From this perspective, perceptions and critical perspectives of environmental injustice and the importance of women’s engagement in environmental interreligious peacebuilding are brought together.

The environmental impact of religious beliefs in the East and West: evidence from China

This study explores the influence of religious beliefs on environmental attitudes and behaviors in China. Using data from the 2021 Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS), two structural equation models were constructed to examine the mediating roles of natural empathy and anthropocentrism in the relationship between environmental awareness and willingness to make sacrifices for environmental protection. The results indicated that while environmental awareness positively influenced willingness to sacrifice, natural empathy did not significantly mediate this relationship. Conversely, anthropocentrism negatively mediated the relationship, suggesting that individuals with anthropocentric tendencies were less willing to make personal sacrifices for environmental protection. Furthermore, a multi-group analysis revealed that individuals with traditional Eastern religious beliefs (Buddhism, Taoism, and folklore) exhibited higher environmental awareness and willingness to sacrifice compared to those with no religion or traditional Western (Christianity) religious beliefs. These findings highlight the influence of religious traditions, particularly the emphasis on nature reverence in Eastern religions, on shaping pro-environmental attitudes and behaviors. The study contributes to understanding the complex interplay between religious beliefs, environmental values, and sustainable behaviors in the Chinese context.

Agnostics’ Well-Being Compared to Believers and Atheists: A Study in Europe’s Religious–Cultural Zones of Christian Heritage

Past research suggests three distinct major trends regarding the links of religion with well-being. First, religious faith contributes to well-being, with believers showing higher well-being than nonbelievers. Alternatively, it is certainty about one’s own worldviews, be they religious or irreligious, that predicts well-being. Finally, secularization moderates the above, making nonbelief normative. We investigated these trends by focusing on agnostics, who, compared to believers and atheists, combine a lack of faith and uncertainty about worldviews and should, thus, be the lowest in well-being. By analyzing European Values Study 2017 data from 29 countries and controlling for personal variables, we found that in countries of Western Christian heritage, be they religious or secularized, agnostics were the least happy compared to believers and atheists. Religionists, compared to atheists, were happier (countries of Protestant heritage) or equally happy (countries of Catholic heritage). In countries of Eastern Orthodox tradition, believers were happier than nonbelievers, agnostics, and atheists alike—but again, agnostics were the lowest in the less religious countries. In sum, uncertainty makes agnostics, consistently across religious cultures, to be the lowest in well-being, whereas the effect of religious faith on well-being varies across cultures.

Entre innovation et appel à la tradition: l’État médiéval en Europe centrale-orientale aux XIe-XIVe siècles: Perspectives historiographiques et discours identitaire

The assimilation of the institutional and cultural experiences of the Western Christian world and the penchant for innovation shown by the Central and Eastern European elites led to the distinct institutional profile of the states in the region, one that differed from the French, Russian, and Mongol ones and was defined by the balance between the demands of the powers-that-be and the interests of society

Critique of European Christianity and Modernity in the Writings of Sanaullah Makti Tangal, a 19th Century Islamic Scholar from Kerala

Abstract This article explores Christian-Muslim debate in 19th-century South India through the writings of the reformist Islamic scholar Sanaullah Makti Tangal (1847–1912). Tangal spent most of his time critiquing the blurred boundaries of Western conceptions of religion, modernity, and secularism, in ways not unlike much later scholars such as Talal Asad and Saba Mahmoud. The distinctiveness of Tangal’s approach was the construction of an alternative Islamic modernity that could take the place of Western Christian norms. Modernity, in Tangal’s eyes, was not a token of rationalism or secularism, but a tool for purifying Islam in Kerala from unwanted elements adopted from local cultures. This article also places Tangal’s thought against the backdrop of the theological and philosophical debate introduced to Kerala by the colonial administration between scholars who endorsed or rejected the European reconstruction of religion.

Simeon the God-Receiver (Luke 2:21–35) as a Translator of the Septuagint: Investigating the Sources of a Popular Hagiographic Legend in Orthodox Christianity

The legend of the old man Simeon, who received Jesus in his arms and was one of the Septuagint translators, is almost unknown in Western Christianity but is very popular today among Orthodox Christians. The version circulating in Orthodox churches is based on the account in Demetrius of Rostov’s Lives of the Saints. The article explores the occurrences of the legend in modern, medieval Slavonic, Byzantine, and oriental writings and attempts to identify the stages of the transmission of the legend from antiquity to modern times. The historical analysis and the comparison of the motifs found in these writings make the hypothesis of a Byzantine archetype of the legend plausible. This writing has been lost, but it was previously translated into Syriac, Arabic, and Slavonic, contributing to the spread of the legend in Eastern and Slavic Christianity. The legend builds on the identification of Simeon in Luke’s Gospel with Shimʿon ha-Tsaddiq. It interprets Luke 2:26 by constructing a pre-history of the episode that places Simeon into the time of the Septuagint translation. The miracle of prolonging Righteous Simeon’s life functions as a reconfirmation of the fundamental character of Isaiah 7:14 for Christianity.

Orientalism and Christian Pilgrimage in Contemporary History

This study focuses on the concept of orientalism and its relation to Christian pilgrimage in modern times, and the views of Western Christian religious figures, historians, researchers, and pilgrims to share their experiences with Christians who want to make a journey to the Holy Land, monks’ caves or other holy places around the world. The benefits of Christian pilgrimage in their view will be spiritual more than physical by visiting the Christian pilgrim's true places of pilgrimage. The invitation here is to teach Christians the religious ceremonies that were done by the early pilgrims who had followed Christ's steps and his apostles who took the Bible as their guide. According to them, pilgrimage is not for fun or entertainment but for worship and forgiveness, an idea that lasted for a long time until now. This study included an introduction, a definition of orientalism, and an explanation of the western Orientalists’ point of view of pilgrimage, by giving examples of pilgrims' stories who made their journey whether in reality or in a dream.

The impact of geopolitical processes in Bosnia and Herzegovina on urban development and cultural identity

The historical-geographical development of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BH) in the area of the fusion of Western and Eastern Christian civilizations and the Orient resulted in ethnic and religious heterogeneity, occasional political crises and ethnic conflicts that shaped the cultural identity and character of the entire development. BH was separated from the Yugoslav community in the conditions of the civil war. After the war in 1995, a complex administrative-territorial organization of the new state was established, based on the ethnic and religious affiliation of the population. At the same time, the transition of the socialist social system took place, as well as other geopolitical processes and social changes in the Western Balkans initiated by globalization. The paper focuses on cultural disintegration and changes in urban identity and development of cities through the analysis of the six largest urban centers as indicators of social changes in BH. The results of the analysis suggest that there has been a cultural differentiation of society, which is reflected in changes in the ethnic and religious structure of the population and their spatial distribution. Economic stagnation and depopulation of urban centers, as a consequence of the civil war and social reforms, were confirmed by a comparative analysis of statistical indicators of economic and demographic development. Cultural changes were determined by relevant scientific methods and approaches: historical-geographical method, comparative analysis of statistics of demographic indicators and changes in spatial distribution, ethnic and religious structure of the population, and economic changes by analysis of employment in sectors of the economy. The scientific results of previously published papers devoted to some of the mentioned problems, primarily economic development and population dynamics in BH and its large cities, were also taken into account. In this paper, social changes are observed through the cause-and-effect relationships of geopolitical and cultural processes (political, economic and cultural disintegration), social and economic reforms (ownership transition and deindustrialization) and their manifestations on cultural identity and the development of urban centers.

Distinctions: Uses of the Bible in Immigration Debates

This article considers and responds to some of the ways the Bible is used in US immigration debates, focusing on restrictive interpretations by conservative scholars. It highlights how biblical texts are often applied to support modern distinctions, such as legal versus illegal immigrants, by selectively interpreting passages like those referring to the “least of these” or the treatment of sojourners versus foreigners. The discussion draws on some complexities of theological history, including how Western Christianity’s colonial mindset distorted biblical teachings, leading to exclusionary practices. The article contrasts these views with more inclusive biblical interpretations that emphasize hospitality and justice.

Inculturation of Luhya Birth and Naming Rituals in Christian Worship: A Study of The Baptist Church in Vihiga County, Kenya

African Christians are in a dilemma of whether to fully embrace western-prejudiced Christianity or to stick to their traditional forms of faith. Influenced by the fear of syncretic worship, the Baptist church in Vihiga County, which is out rightly committed to Western Christianity condemns and opposes Africans who embrace their traditional religious rituals and rites. Despite this, the Luhya community who profess the Christian faith secretly are adamant in practicing their birth and naming religious rituals in worship. The paper argues that inculturation of Luhya birth and naming rites and rituals in Christian worship in the Baptist church in Vihiga County, Kenya has a significant impact on the survival of Christian message among its membership. The faith that does not become culture is not a lived faith. The study was informed by animism and sociological theories. Descriptive research design was employed with qualitative approaches of analysis. The sample size of the study was 221 participants comprising 183 Lay Christian and 38 Key informants (16 Pastors and 22 Church Leaders). The findings revealed that many Baptist Christians are resistant to inculturate Luhya rites and rituals of birth and naming into their worship, instead they condemn them and those that perform such rituals. This resistance makes them live inauthentic Christian life within their cultural context. The study recommended the Church leadership, theologians, and scholars to advocate for values in Luhya birth and naming rites and rituals that are consistent with Christian worship

Prayer 24/7: The Mountain of Fire and Miracles Prayer City and Urban Invigoration in Nigeria

ABSTRACT The idea of a modern city is hardly construed from the prism of religion, even though the Tower of Babel has been discursively engaged as an agenda of building a megacity with an interplanetary goal. During the development and expansion of Christianity, cathedrals, with their elaborate architectural aesthetics and frequently as the only spectacular buildings in the provinces, became sites of ecclesiastical and political power. In Nigeria, although the mainline churches followed the cathedralization pattern of Western Christianity, the Pentecostal churches preferred the establishment or construction of prayer camps as the earliest mode of development and sacralization of space. However, there is a transition from prayer camps to prayer cities, with the latter conceived as a deliberate urbanization policy that embraces modern facilities. Using ethnographic and analytical methods, I study the Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries’ Prayer City near Lagos, Nigeria, a “city” built on and sustained by prayer culture, and a “city” that invigorates urban life.

Natural Contemplation – a Christian Healing for the Environment?

Abstract Recent studies have acknowledged the insufficiency of rational arguments to motivate us for necessary changes to save the planet: hence the attraction of non-religious ecospiritualities. Identifying Western Christianity’s relationship with the environment as more moral than spiritual, I respond to the principle of right relation to the environment developed by the Methodist social creed tradition to recover the neglected tradition of natural contemplation from Christian cosmology and the monastic tradition. Drawing also on Douglas Christie’s analytical autoethnographic approach and on neglected liturgical tradition, I argue further that natural contemplation is intrinsically a prayer for the healing of nature.

Some Eastern Orthodox Perspectives on Science-Engaged Theology (and Their Relevance to Western Christians)

An Eastern Orthodox understanding of science—that of Christopher C. Knight—is presented as a contribution to science-engaged theology that has implications for western Christian reflection on science as a contemporary locus theologicus. Three areas of enquiry are discussed: natural theology, the human mind in its relationship to God, and divine action. It is suggested that in each of these areas, Orthodox perspectives can provide links between the differing perspectives to be found among western Christians and provide new pathways for theological exploration on an ecumenical basis.

Studying Religiosity Beyond (Western) Christianity: an Empirical-Psychological Perspective and its Implications

Abstract Over recent decades, empirical research on religion has increasingly criticized its primary focus on Western Christianity. This paper has two aims: Firstly, it addresses challenges in applying ‘Western’ empirical research on religion to non-Western contexts (samples, measurement, results and discussion). Secondly, it highlights the convergent approach, bridging the gap between the perceived dichotomy of cultural universalism and cultural relativism. This approach acknowledges both religiosity’s universal commonalities across contexts and particularities in a certain cultural-religious context. Studying religiosity beyond Christianity enables to explore a nearly limitless field of basic research but also provides a robust empirical, social-scientific foundation for various practical applications that are gaining increasing social relevance, such as therapy, migration, and counseling for religious institutions. Such are vital for the future of our field, ensuring its continued relevance in times of accelerated secularization.

Pilgrims or project managers: premodern challenges for contemporary students

Presenting an alternative to the prevailing emphasis on what constitutes knowledge – knowledge as the fruit of scientific method, something that is objective and detached from the self – I argue for a critical retrieval of premodern approaches to knowledge that were promoted within the Eastern and Western Christian tradition, approaches that are spiritual in nature. I propose that spiritual modes of knowing should be considered alongside other forms of knowing, in service of a richer, more holistic approach to higher education, one that does justice to the multidimensional aspects of human nature, development, formation and flourishing. While not denying the necessity and value of many current forms of knowledge, I propose that students should also be offered opportunities to become familiar with complementary modes of knowing that are likely to extend the repertoire of the ways they read and respond to the world, other people and their experience of life. Such premodern Christian approaches privileged self-giving and self-control, rather than mastery over or control of what was investigated. Their epistemology viewed intellectual, moral and spiritual virtues as intimately interconnected. They considered knowledge to be something revealed and given rather than constructed or exposed by our methodology. The paper considers the educational potential for students today of learning from the premodern emphasis on knowledge as dependent on both ascetic training and affective formation, as entailing capacitation (being attuned to or fitted for external reality), and as promoting self-knowledge and transformation. I contrast premodern and contemporary approaches to knowledge through the metaphors of pilgrim and project manager.

The Conciliarist Idea of Islam in the Quattrocento—Prelude and Legacy

This contribution intends to examine the impact of Conciliarism (1414–1439) on the Christian vision of Islam in the Quattrocento. The analysis of the thought of bishops such as Nicholas of Cusa (d. 1464) and John of Segovia (d. 1458) is understandable only through the evolution of the Latin world with regard to Islam, moving from the Corpus Toletanum (12th century) and the impact of the Crusades in the Levant (1096–1291) and in Europe. This forwardness is rooted in the process of “Islamic Christianization,” an analytical operation lasting three centuries, during which Koranic Christology was to play a primary role. It will be through this “Christ-centric” process that from the Renaissance, the Ottoman empire, the great enemy of Western Christianity, will be appreciated for some of its peculiar facets. The weakening of the concept of heresy and of Catholic ecclesiastical authoritarianism in decreeing what heresy was probably one of the “indirect” outcomes of that dialogical “Moment of Vision” between Christianity and Islam. The further fragmentation of the Church of Rome, after the failure of Conciliarism and the outgrowth of the reformed Churches in the 16th century, favored a preliminary different understanding of the religiosity of others.