Established Church Research Articles

Menstrual Blood and the Blood of Christ: Streams of Strength, Vulnerability, and New Life

ABSTRACT In this article I offer a new womanist perspective for looking at Christ’s blood by interpreting its salvific effects in the context of menstruation. Like menstrual blood, Jesus’ shedding of blood can serve as a reminder of our on-going potential for new life, our need for vulnerability, and the strength we gain through community and individual self-awareness and authenticity. Using menstruation as a hermeneutical lens maintains a central place for the crucifixion in Christianity without condoning violence or substitutionary sacrifice. It affirms women’s bodies and reproductive processes by celebrating menstrual blood as empowering, transforming, and connected to the sacred. These affirmations serve as counternarratives to depictions of menstruation and other aspects of the female body as impure, as deeming women unfit to perform certain functions in the institutional church or society at-large, and as justifying treating women as inferior to men.

Negotiated Resistance: Counterstories of Louisiana Creole Spirituality

ABSTRACT Louisiana Creole as a cultural identity is inextricably linked to Blackness. An understanding of Creole identity as a challenge to the racial binary imposed within Louisiana illuminates the larger legacies of colonialism, slavery, and systems of inequality within society. Creoles organised and fought against racial inequality and segregation through the collective of the Citizens’ Committee forming the legal challenge of Plessy v. Ferguson. Although Louisiana Creoles have been associated with Catholicism, as St. Augustine stands as a historical site of Creole culture, spiritual practices have transcended institutionalised religions. Louisiana Creoles critiqued the institution of the Catholic Church and developed methods of resistance. Drawing upon the legacy of social clubs, Creoles used the format of these associations to further spiritual activism. Through adopting aspects of Catholicism, African traditions, and Louisiana and Creole culture, they formed belief systems and devised intersectional strategies to combat institutional racism.

Pavlo Boichenko: a life given to people

The article represents a life and a professional path of zemstvo doctor Pavlo Nikiforovich Boichenko. His contribution to the development of medical services in the Dnipro region has been presented. The doctor participated in the provision of medical aid to the wounded people during the Crimean War (1853–1856), and assisted in the elimination of the cholera epidemic. The ascetic created the description of Church institutions in Katerynoslav, took care of orphanages. Pavlo Boichenko received awards and gratitude from the authorities, zemstvo, and fellow citizens. The provided material will contribute to the popularization of the figure of the Ukrainian zemstvo doctor.

Образ Пятидесятницы в иконографической программе алтарного кивория Собора во имя первоверховных апостолов Петра и Павла в Санкт-Петербурге

The article is devoted to the unique monument of Peter the Great Baroque – the altar ciborium of the St. Petersburg Peter and Paul Cathedral. The study presents an analysis of the decoration of the ciborium (1722-1729, I.P. Zarudny). First of all, the connection of the iconographic and iconological program of the monument with the circumstances of the apostolic dedication of the cathedral of the new capital of the Russian Empire in the context of the church reform carried out by Peter I is traced. The synodal reform is proposed to be considered from the point of view of the principles of the structure of the ancient Church as a justification for the transition from patriarchal governance in favour of the conciliar Most Holy Governing Synod.In the article, the altar canopy of the Peter and Paul Cathedral is compared with the baldachin of the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin, with the imperial coronation baldachins of Catherine I and with the baldachin of D.L. Bernini from Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome. The external imitation of the European fashion for baldachins was perceived as an embellishing decoration, which didn't prevent the continuation of the Moscow tradition of church decoration in the St. Petersburg monument, and the preservation of its archetypal relationship with the Jerusalem temple. Thus, the semantic connection of the royal and Divine thrones, laid down in the early Byzantine period, continues until the beginning of the XVIII century. It has found its artistic interpretation, including in the composite monogram crowning the Cathedral of Peter and Paul, the variant of interpretation of which is proposed by the author. The theme of the kingdom in the decoration of I.P. Zarudny's ciborium is intertwined with the theme of apostolic succession and the foundation of the church. The apostolic dedication of the Peter and Paul Cathedral was embodied in the artistic solution of the entire altar composition, for which the image of the "Descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles" became central. The establishment of a new Church and a new Jerusalem, manifested in the image of "Pentecost", indicated a particularly important role for the new state symbolically denoting its continuity from both the artistic tradition of Byzantium and the tradition of the Western Christian world.

Kerkelijke Eigendom : Memahami Hak Milik Gereja Di Indonesia Era Kolonial

This research aims to elucidate the history of land ownership by Christian Church institutions in the Dutch East Indies colony. In addition to providing a descriptive account of its development, this article endeavors to delve into various documentary sources concerning ownership, particularly the legal status associated with the Christian Church as an institution within the colonial legal framework. Through an examination of its legal standing, this research seeks to discern the nature of the Church's land ownership. Given the historical nature of this study, the historical method is employed to guide the research towards a comprehensive reconstruction. This method comprises five phases: document exploration (heuristic), critical analysis, exceptions, interpretation, and reconstruction. Emphasis is placed on authentic documents to ensure the accuracy and objectivity of the information presented in this reconstruction. In conclusion, this report elucidates the legal status of the Christian Church under the colonial legal system and its implications for material ownership by the Church based on its legal standing. Thus, shedding light on the origins of asset ownership status held by the Christian Church in present-day Indonesia.

Religijność przyszłych stańczyków w okresie młodości a ich późniejsze wyobrażenia religijne

This article discusses the religious views of Stanisław Koźmian, Ludwik Wodzicki and Stanisław Tarnowski, as well as the shape of their piety before the January Uprising. The religiousness of their youth was confronted and compared with their later religious views, which allowed for a change in their views over the years.This work begins with a discussion of the spiritual formation of the heroes of this article, which was greatly influenced by the family environment in which they were brought up - an environment of patriotic nobility and aristocracy, sincerely devoted to Catholicism (for personal and national reasons). However, despite their attachment to religion and fulfilment of religious practices (especially in the case of Stanisław Tarnowski and Ludwik Wodzicki), the future Staśniks were not uncritically inclined towards the Catholic Church. On the contrary - just like the majority of the generation to which they belonged - they often expressed negative opinions about the moral condition of the clergy, and were opposed to the secular power of the Pope, which put them in opposition to ultra-Montane members of their families and some members of the Hotel Lambert - the organisation with which they were ideologically and politically associated.After the January Uprising there was a gradual evolution of their views towards almost complete obedience to the institutional Church. Nevertheless, for several more years their religious outlook was marked by a certain liberalism, and their views on the behaviour of the Catholic Church were often critical, which resulted in accusations of moderantism being levelled at them by the ultramontane milieu of the "Przeglad Lwowski".

“San Juan is Catholic”: The Hijas de María in Puerto Rico’s Parishes and Streets, 1872–1918

Abstract: The Hijas de María, a global Catholic laywomen’s organization, were active in Puerto Rico from the end of Spanish rule through North American rule. Their organizational structure and their pieties buttressed the Church’s few pastors and, after the North American invasion, its new hierarchy. In the space that the institutional Church could not fill, the Hijas’ devotions provided the laity with new, feminized paths for holiness. The devotional life of the Hijas de María developed within new global currents in the Church, including increasing Roman influence and a greater focus on children and their potential sanctity. This is also a story of how Puerto Rican Catholic women met modernity and its secular influences and claimed the island for their own and the interests of religion and the Church.

Traumatized and Traumatizing: Understanding Clerical Abuse and Dysfunction Through the Lens of Bowenian Systemic Family Therapy

This article explores the phenomenology of clerical abuse and dysfunction within the Catholic Church from the standpoint of the systemic family therapy of Murray Bowen, MD (1913-1990). While intergenerational systems theory and thinking have been well understood in terms of one's family of origin, this knowledge has rarely been applied to the context of Catholic and other priests within their ecclesial communities and the wider institutional Church. The article examines the relationship between the Church's call to reform and heal ecclesial structures and persons while presenting various intervention strategies such as the need for greater self-differentiation and individuation among them. The primary goal is the need to restore emotional homeostasis and holistic well-being to traumatized individuals and groups.

Католическая Церковь: история современного институционального кризиса

This article is devoted the deepest since the Reformation of the 16th century crisis of the Catholic Church. The author connects its causes with tectonic shifts in the history of our civilization and the whole world in the last 200 years. It is the end of the Constantinian era in the history of Christianity And the cultural (in Western terminology, anthropological) crises and technological revolutions of the late 60s and mid-70s XX century led to a crisis of all institutionally organized Christianity. The crisis of the Catholic Church became part of this global crisis of church institutions. The actual Catholic reasons for it were: the preserve in the 20th and 21st centuries the post-Tridentine clerical model of the Church and the transformation of the Catholic Church by the middle of the 20th century from Western European to the world’s church. An additional source of the crisis was the crisis of two important and male oriented leadership institutions: the traditional family model and the celibate-based hierarchical structure of the Catholic Church. As a result, over the past 50 years, the growth in the number of clergy and monascitism has practically ceased. Thus worsened the very possibility of the Church fulfilling its Mission. A paradoxical situation has developed in the Catholic Church today: the numerical increase of the baptized is accompanied by a mass exodus of believers. Awareness of the crisis is happening very slowly. Public discussion of church problems began only with the election of Pope Francis. The institutional nature of the crisis is illustrated in the article using the example of the “pedophile scandal.” It made it possible to identify the problem of spiritual and physical violence in the Church not only against children, but also against adults (seminarians, nuns, disabled people). The crisis has made it possible to draw attention to the presence of mental problems among young people entering seminaries and those ordained. The scandal virtually destroyed the moral authority of the clergy in Catholic countries. The author believes that the entire church hierarchy has been struck by paralysis: the inability to respond in time and effectively to problems and challenges. All this seriously complicates the way out of the crisis.

Modification of the Regulations on Personal Prelatures under Pope Francis

Personal prelatures are Church institutions, focused on specific pastoral ministries, established by the Holy See. Their creation was made possible by the Second Vatican Council and the 1983 Code of Canon Law, and only one prelature has been established so far – Opus Dei. Pope Francis, in his Motu Proprio of 8 August 2023, modified the dispositions of the Canons 295-296 concerning the personnel of prelatures. This article consider the consequences of these changes: the gradual clarification of the positions of the personal prelature in canon law and in the structure of the Church.

Personalistic overtones in the realization of Enlightenment ideas (based on the history of the Illuminati Order)

The article considers one of the lines of understanding and realization of Enlightenment ideas, due to the peculiarities of the New European personality. A personality is an individual acting independently and therefore forced to build a world and private self-image that partially does not coincide with the generally accepted ones. Kant associates these features precisely with Enlightenment, with the competence to use one's mind without guidance from someone else. Two social institutions are considered, the young nation-state and the Catholic Church, striving to put the individual, Society and communities under their control and management. The author suggests that society and communities were created in response to the pressure and expansion of these social institutions. The similarities and differences of social institutions and communities represented by unions and orders are analyzed. The relations between these three subjects and social forces (institutions of church and state, Society and communities) were quite tense, there was a struggle between them, the result of which, on the one hand, was the demarcation and separation of zones of influence, on the other hand, the suppression of the enemy, which often turned out to be Society, communities and the individual. In this context, according to the author, a conspiracy discourse is emerging, which the closer to our time, the more it is used against communities and individuals. This struggle within the institutions of the state and the church, as well as in art, is illustrated by the example of the history of the Illuminati. The activities of the Illuminati and other Orders (communities) were directed by a New European personality who, as Kant wrote, aspired to adulthood, which was in contradiction with the desire of the state and the Catholic Church to direct and control the mind and actions of a person. The author believes that the confrontation of the individual, Society and communities with the state and its institutions persists in our time. Of course, we are talking about a certain type of personality, so to speak, Kantian, and not any; there are individuals and communities that support the state.

The Women’s Ordination Movement in the United States: A Literature Review

ABSTRACT This literature review examines the scholarship on women’s ordination across several Christian traditions in the United States from an intersectional feminist perspective. It comments on the problems of centring patriarchal church institutions in these histories, the lack of feminist analysis, and the problem of ‘firsts’. It also includes a case study on women’s ordination in the Methodist movement to demonstrate the erasure of women’s networks and advocacy and the advocacy-and-rejection cycle that women experienced in several denominations. Finally, there is a discussion of women in churches that do not ordain them and reflections on further directions for scholarly study.

Psichologinė religinių jausmų svarba Williamo Jameso požiūriu

The article analyzes the theme of the psychology of religion by the American psychologist William James. It is treated in the context of the works of other pioneers of psychological science at that time. James saw positive sides in religiosity/faith: it is a stimulating factor in life, an integrating aspect of human maturation and even a fundamental factor in human spiritual hygiene. Without religion, it is difficult to achieve the meaning of life, and empirical science, in his opinion, was increasingly eroding the foundations of religion. Therefore, in search of a way out, he tried to create the so-called optimistic philosophy. James explained that a psychologist can be just as objectively interested in religious phenomena as in other everyday psychological matters. Psychology can study theological phenomena, but there is one limitation – psychological research is limited to the area of human feelings and will, which means that it does not study doctrinal questions of the Church institution. The sanctity provided by faith helps a person to gain psychological balance, opens new horizons of life, broadens horizons and gives hope for eternity.

Церковь и «красный террор» на Дону в 1918–1919 гг. в новейшей археографии

The article is a review of a documents collection prepared by well-known historians Yulia Alexandrovna Biryukova and Evgeny Anatolyevich Ageev “The Church on the Don during the Civil War of 1918–19. Investigation of the Special Commission.” The book was published in Volgograd in 2022. It contains an introductory source studies article on the documents of the Special Investigation Commission for Investigation of the Bolsheviks’ Atrocities, created on General A.I. Denikin’s order. The collection is based on documents “from the field”: questionnaires about Bolshevik persecution filled in by parishes of the Great Don Host in 1919. The collection contains photographs illustrating the Red Terror against the Russian Orthodox Church on the Don. It contains all necessary scientific reference apparatus to facilitate the search for information. The review emphasizes relevance and scientific significance of the documentary materials introduced into scientific use by the compilers. Regional and microhistorical approaches are scientific basis for the documents collection; the Don materials are grouped by districts, deaneries, and parishes. These approaches, respectively, have formed the basis of this article, which is devoted to the analysis of the collection. The principles of consistency and determinism permit to assess the publication, which is considered as a phenomenon of science with its own structure, while a part of the historical knowledge. The main scientific method used in this publication is problematic. The article offers considerations on the problem of Red Terror towards the Russian Orthodox Church. Attention is focused on the fact that a significant part of the published documents testify to local initiatives in the acts of Red Terror. They did not originate from the authorities, were not ordered, but manifested newcomer soldiers’ aggression towards the Church. The author comes to the conclusion that the published sources may be useful to researchers of the Russian Orthodox Church and the Civil War in Russia. Analysis of the attitude of the local Bolshevik authorities, the military, and the population towards church institutions may contribute to a better understanding of the nature of the Russian Orthodox Church persecution and, more broadly, of the role of the religious factor in the Civil War in Russia.

Kněz, muzikolog, sbormistr a pedagog Dobroslav Orel (1870–1942) a jím využívané intonační metody při sbormistrovské práci

The paper turns on the period when Dobroslav Orel worked as a teacher in church institutions and Austrian secondary schools (1894-1918). It focuses on the least studied part of his activity, choirmastering. Through the prism of contemporary pedagogical journals and school documentation, he attempts to reconstruct the choirmaster's methods used by him and, in particular, traces the dynamics of the development of his relationship with Battke's intonation method, from his initial enthusiasm to his awareness of the pitfalls of uncritical acceptance of this method to his warning against the danger of elevating the means of achieving correct intonation to the goal of singing education.

Reforming the Established Church: History and Proposals

AbstractWhile the term ‘establishment’ is ambiguous, it generally refers to a formal relationship between a church and the state in which it operates. This can range from parliamentary representation (as with the Church of England) to mere observance by the monarch (as at the Church of Scotland's annual General Assembly). Since the 1960s there have been proposals regarding Crown appointments and the number and status of the Lords Spiritual. There exists no major push for full disestablishment of the Church of England, but a bill is currently before Parliament.

РЕПРЕЗЕНТАЦИЯ КОНЦЕПТА ЗЛА В ФИЛЬМЕ «ЛЮТЕР»

This article delves into the persona of the German reformer Martin Luther (1483–1546) as portrayed in the eponymous German-US production of 2003. The creators, including director Eric Till and screenwriters Camille Thomasson and Bart Gavigan, alongside the stellar cast, aimed to present Luther in his most humanistic light. However, in pursuit of attempting to craft a “man-centric film,” they compromised historical accuracy. Nonetheless, even in this watered-down version, two issues surface: a political struggle (both against Papal Rome and among his peers) and a psychological one, centered on Luther’s autonomous manifestation of auratic evil within his psyche. While a degree of historical authenticity resonates concerning the political power play (between German religious-political Protestantism led by Luther and the Roman Catholic Church under the Pope), the psychological dimension extends to the religious-state realm. Luther, though, is depicted one-dimensionally: as an entirely positive and progressive figure concerned solely with the moral and ideological renewal of the church institution (despite actually acting in the interests of Elector Frederick the Wise); also, there is a complete absence of critical scrutiny regarding certain chauvinistic aspects of Luther’s beliefs in the film. The article authors endeavor to elucidate the validity of the cinematic concept, prompting a critical appraisal of critiques on the film Luther and scholarly works on Luther the reformer’s historical import. This scrutiny exposes the incongruity between the cinematic personalities and their historical counterparts, necessitating an in-depth analysis of the film’s dramaturgy. In conclusion, the authors articulate the presence of evil as a concept in the actions of Luther and his milieu.

Церковные архивы Московской епархии в 1812 г.: проблемы сохранности документов в условиях оккупации Москвы армией Наполеона

The diocesan archives of the Moscow diocese in 1812 were never the subject of a special study. Because of the wide spread of the church institution, the archives of the diocese often found themselves in the offensive zone of the Great Army. This circumstance made the documents of the church extremely vulnerable to the invaders. The events connected with the occupation of Moscow are widely reflected in the memoirs of eyewitnesses of the French stay in Moscow. Decades later, diocesan officials, with all the distortions of reality inherent in this type of memoirs, testify to the archive of the Consistory. N. P. Rozanov's analysis of the testimonies, which more or less concern the destruction of the records of church institutions, demonstrates the low reliability of the information provided by consistory officials. This article reconstructs the state of archives in the autumn of 1812 on the basis of the documents of the Synodal Consistory and the Moscow Consistory, the fonds of the Russian State Archive of Ancient Greece and the Central State Archive of Moscow: orders of the public prosecutor, the prosecutor of the Synodal Consistory, reports on the state of archives, and the reports of the Spiritual Boards. In the context of the evacuation of Moscow archives not quite successful decisions of the military administration and the diocesan leadership of the organization of the removal of records of the Synodal office and the Moscow Ecclesiastical Consistory are considered. The soldiers of Napoleon's army ravaged the archives of all levels of diocesan administration - the Synodal Office, the Consistory, ecclesiastical boards and parishes. The way in which the archives were treated depended on such factors as the orders of the occupying army and the behaviour of the enemy units quartered in the church buildings, which were not always in favour of plundering. Before the French withdrew from the city, some inhabitants of Moscow district were looting in the immediate vicinity of the diocesan archives. The participation of local residents in the spoiling and plundering of archives is confirmed by postwar reports sent to the Consistory by the diocesan boards of church authorities of the Moscow districts. The post-war restoration work that followed, in addition to revealing serious documentary losses, created the prerequisites for the establishment of an archival committee that was not attached to the office and focused solely on the handling of archival documents. It is concluded that the 1812 war not only caused material losses, but also made it necessary for the diocesan leadership to seek non-trivial solutions which, in the long run, would have a positive effect on the consistory's archives.

DEVELOPMENT OF PRIMARY CHURCH EDUCATION IN KHERSON GOVERNANCE IN THE SECOND HALF OF THE ХІХ CENTURY

The purpose of the submitted publication is to study the process of formation of church institutions of primary education on the territory of the Kherson province in the second half of the 19th century. The state policy regarding the development of church education is considered. The main stages of the activity of church parish schools in the studied region have been clarified. The successes and problems of the establishment and operation of parish schools in the 1860s and 1870s, when this process largely depended on the conscientiousness and enthusiasm of parish priests, are analyzed. It is noted that the 1880s and 1890s were more favorable for the development of church education, due to the liberal policy of the government regarding the development of church schools. The rapid spread of Protestant currents in Southern Ukraine made it necessary to strengthen the position of the Orthodox Church and the religious spirit of the population, which had a positive effect on the formation of a network of parish schools in the province. The role of diocesan bishops in this process is studied. The educational activity of the hierarchs: Innokenty (Borisov), Dimitriy (Muretov), Nikanor (Brovkovycha), Iustyna (Okhotin) was noted. The efforts of the Orthodox parish clergy in the development of primary education were noted.

A fart in the corridors of power: A socio-theological analysis of Evan Mawarire and Raymond Mpandasekwa’s activism

#ThisFlag movement was started by Pastor Evan Mawarire in April 2016 bemoaning the collapse of the Zimbabwean economy at the hands of the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) government under President Robert Mugabe. Although it started off as accidental, it, however, galvanised disparate groups and enabled them to transform anger against the state from online media to the streets. #ThisFlag movement officially started on the 20th of April 2016, when Pastor Mawarire wearing the Zimbabwean flag posted a video to his Facebook page decrying the state of the economy and what he felt was government’s neglect of its duties to serve the citizens of Zimbabwe. Although one government minister described Mawarire’s actions as a ‘pastor’s fart in the corridors of power’, the reaction by the state security agents points to the contrary. Street protests have been banned. This article interrogates the transformation of #ThisFlag movement from an online struggle to street protests that have turned violent. It also looks at other movements that are complementing #ThisFlag and how the state is responding to these protests both on the social media and on the ground. Evan Mawarire may be considered as an unusual voice from the ever mushrooming new church establishments. As such, it becomes a point of interest to find out what voice there is, which represents what is commonly viewed as mainline churches. Such a voice is identified as coming from Bishop Raymond Mpandasekwa of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Chinhoyi who in one of his sermons delivered an acerbic attack on Mnangagwa’s government as a ‘blood thirsty’ government. The study explored the messages of Mawarire and Mpandasekwa using the socio-theological lenses as guided by Rawls’ theory of civil disobedience.Contribution: This study locates #ThisFlag activism in the context of toxic transformative politics in Zimbabwe. In addition, it contributes to our understanding of the relationship between religion and politics in an unstable political and economic setting. It calls for a re-thinking of the role of the church in Zimbabwean society and discusses the state’s response to those deemed to be not towing the line. It shows that while some religious organisations and groups are too keen to be co-opted by the regime, some have effectively resisted this and have become combative as they fight for people’s rights. Another important contribution is located in how these pastor-cum-activists have harnessed social media to amplify their voices and to reach huge audiences beyond the pulpit. The study is important because it contextualises the role of religion in the country’s contemporary politics, and this fits into the scope of the journal in that it is a multidisciplinary study of both religion and politics.