Evangelical Research Articles

DIVORCE STIGMA IN THE CHURCH: IMPLICATIONS ON THE WELLBEING OF DIVORCEES IN EVANGELICAL CHURCHES IN NAKURU COUNTY, KENYA

Divorce among Christian couples is a growing reality in the Church across the world. Regardless of the circumstances that led to divorce, Christians should extend a helping hand to divorcees since there is no easy solution to human problems. However, the church is often seen to be out of step with the reality of society with regards to its response to the issue of divorce. This study sought to investigate the prevalence and manifestation of stigma of divorce in the church and its differential ramifications on the spiritual, social, and mental wellbeing of divorcees in Evangelical Churches in Nakuru County, Kenya. The study applied quantitative research methodology to gather and analyse data. A structured questionnaire was administered to 121 divorcees across 11 sub-counties through snow-ball sampling method. Data was gathered using a structured questionnaire. Percentage frequencies, mean and standard deviation scores were used to summarize data while inferential analysis was performed using correlation technique in SPSS. The study established moderate prevalence of stigma of divorce in the churches. There was a differential effect of stigma of divorce on psychosocial wellbeing dimensions, with the strongest effect size found on social wellbeing. Conclusion was drawn that divorcees experienced stigma of divorce in the church, albeit at muted prevalence levels. The study demonstrated that the influence of stigma of divorce was not uniform across spiritual, mental, and social wellbeing of divorcees. This pointed to a more nuanced understanding of the complex ways in which stigma in the church affects divorcee wellbeing.

Women’s evangelical activities and church growth in Romani communities

Stories about church growth in Romani communities proliferate across Europe but the question of how women contributed to religious mobilization in the interwar period requires further study. The Roma in Bulgaria became an important target group for foreign and local missionaries from various denominations, including, among others, evangelical Methodists, Baptists, and Pentecostals. Their aim was first to correct the laxity of Romani morals, and then to support them to win a religious place of their own in society. Women, in particular, were encouraged to work among children and the female part of their communities and to be collaborative with the male evangelists in advancing common activities. A specific field of action for female believers was women’s associations which were purposely created among both the Bulgarians and the Roma. This article is configured as an ethnographic discussion on the role of women acting as agents of religious change. Thus, I refer in detail to the cases of Boyana (Puncheva), Anka Minkova, and Keva Stefanova, whose activities were mainly related to the Romani church in the village of Golintsi in northwestern Bulgaria. Using a combined ethnological approach, I employ information from different sources: open-ended interviews, hard-to-reach archival sources, and periodicals issued in Bulgaria and abroad.This article was published open access under a CC BY licence: https://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0.

Narratives of Externality, Oppression, and Agency: Perceptions of the Role of the Demonic in Mental Illness Among Evangelical Christians

Accounts of the demonic within the Christian tradition as causative in differing forms of illness and suffering can be traced back to the New Testament. Demonic accounts also exist more centrally in the language of spiritual warfare that pervades some evangelical groups. Contemporary research suggests that belief in the demonic as aetiologically culpable in mental illness has potentially stigmatising effects for those with mental illness and can also negatively impact help-seeking behaviours. However, no research has explored how evangelical groups which subscribe to belief in demonic entities represent the demonic and their relative role in relation to mental illness. This study explores perceptions of the demonic in relation to mental illness, with a sample of evangelical Christians who actively subscribe to belief in the demonic, by using the novel qualitative story completion task. A convenience sample of 43 evangelical Christians completed a third-person fictional story stem featuring a gender-neutral character (Alex) who encountered the demonic (in an ambiguous way) in relation to their mental health. A contextualist informed thematic analysis suggests that while mental ill health was often positioned as having a biopsychological cause, demonic activity was also frequently cited as exacerbating mental illness. Narrations of the demonic positioned Alex in either an active position, wherein they were responsible for their engagement with the occult and the subsequent onset of their mental illness (causative), or a passive position, wherein their pre-existing mental ill health made them vulnerable to demonic attack. In relation to recovery, storied data situated medical and spiritual interventions as effective. Significantly, participants positioned Alex’s Christian faith as a source of power over the demonic and over mental ill health – thus, despite demonic attacks, a sense of agency was often maintained. That the stories positioned demonic influence as external to the self, thereby maintaining a level of individual agency amidst suffering, highlights the potential limitations of assuming all demonic accounts are singularly stigmatising and negative in nature. Findings underline the need for future research to explore demonic accounts in religiously and culturally syntonic ways without imposing meaning.

Doktrin Inerrancy dan Identitas Kaum Injili di Indonesia: Sebuah Kritik Konstruktif

Inerrancy doctrine appeared at the late 19th century in America as an answer to the emergence of critical and literature analysist movement from Europe, especially from Germany. The challenge toward the authority of the bible had emerged since the early church father, especially toward the historical aspect of the book of Genesis. It has been a straightforward notion to link doctrine of inerrancy with the evangelical Christians. The identity of being Evangelical with inerrancy doctrine seems inseparable, ever since. However, the rapid shift in theology, politics, and culture, firstly in the West, and, secondly, around the world demands the identity and its doctrinal statement to be redefined. Theological debates and the implication toward Indonesian churches had not been impactful significantly toward Christians in non-ordained level. Nevertheless, in academic sphere the distinction between ecumenical and evangelical Christians has emerged and yet is limited in writing discourse.

The integration of psychoeducation, anti-corruption education and christian family education for the fathers of GMIT Laharoi

Gender, religion and race are becoming important considerations in corruption cases. Various management initiatives must be explored to counter corruption, particularly prevention strategies that originate within the family as the cornerstone of religious, moral and anti-corruption values education. This study discusses anti-corruption education at Evangelical Christian Church in Timor GMIT in the context of religion, Christian families and church. The research focuses on integrating anti-corruption education and Christian family education by including fathers in anti-corruption education. The purpose of the study is to integrate Christian family education and psychoeducation programs as part of an effort to prevent corruption cases involving GMIT Laharoi's fathers. The quasi-experimental design with The Posttest Only Design and Nonequivalent Groups was used as the primary method, and the narrative qualitative approach was used as the complementary method. The Mann-Whitney non-parametric test was employed for quantitative analysis. Participants in the quasi-experiments were 16, with eight subjects in the experimental group and eight in the control group. The Mann-Whitney test findings indicate an Asymp Sig. (2-tailed) of 0.005 0.05, indicating a difference between the experimental and control groups' post-test outcomes. As a result, the study found that integration of anti-corruption education and Christian family education can affect GMIT Lahairoi fathers' understanding and involvement in educating their children.

The mis-appropriation of Abraham Kuyper’s ideas about “worldview” by American Evangelical Christians

Beginning in the mid-1970s, the term “worldview” gradually became popular among evangelical and fundamentalist Christians as a result of the work of Francis A Schaeffer. He popularized the term through his best-selling books and films. This paper argues that in developing his thoughts about worldviews, Schaeffer appropriated earlier, and far more sophisticated, theories from Abraham Kuyper and Herman Dooyeweerd. The ideas of these men are explored to enable readers to understand the way evangelicals developed Schaeffer’s ideas. It is argued that they moved away from the way both Schaeffer and his mentors used the term. As a result, they lost sight of the fact that understanding worldviews was intended by Kuyper, Dooyeweerd, and Schaeffer to facilitate discussion between people holding very different views. Instead, worldview was turned into a propaganda device that enable people to avoid engagement with people and ideas they dislike. The paper concludes by suggesting that instead of dismissing Christians who employ worldview thinking for political purposes they ought to be challenged to develop a fuller understanding of worldview and confronted with the insights of Kuyper and Dooyeweerd upon which Schaeffer built his ideas.

American Catholic Attitudes toward Jews, Judaism, and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

This unprecedented survey of a representative sample of American Catholics assesses their opinions about their Jewish neighbors, Judaism, Israel and Palestine, and Catholic Church teaching on these subjects. After comparing the survey's results with similar research on the views of evangelical Christians, the article focuses on implications for Catholic religious education, including the respondents' familiarity with relevant post-Nostra Aetate theological developments in papal and Vatican documents.

Comparing Contemporary Evangelical Models Regarding Human Origins

Multiple viewpoints exist among Protestant Evangelical Christians regarding human origins, with each offering different answers to questions regarding the existence of Adam and Eve and their relationship to humanity, common human–ape ancestry, evolution and intelligent design, humanity’s relationship to other members of the genus Homo (e.g., Neanderthals and Denisovans), and the timing of human origins. This article will review eight models for human origins which have recently received attention: (1) the Classical Theistic Evolution/Evolutionary Creationism model, (2) the Homo divinus model, (3) the Genealogical Adam and Eve model, (4) the Homo heidelbergensis model, (5) the Unique Origins Design model, (6) the Classical Old Earth Creationist model, (7) the Classical Young Earth Creationist model, and (8) an Old Earth/Recent Humans Hybrid model. Key features of each model will be described, and critical responses will be discussed in light of agreement or disagreement with traditional Judeo-Christian theological views and the scientific evidence. Most of these models maintain that science does not force one to abandon belief in core tenets of a traditional Adam and Eve, though they resolve the relevant scientific and theological questions in different ways and with varying degrees of success.

Spiritual self-awareness as a moderator between attachment to god and evangelical christians’ appraisals of suffering.

Spiritual self-awareness as a moderator between attachment to god and evangelical christians’ appraisals of suffering.

A Vivifying Spirit: Quaker Practice and Reform in Antebellum America by Janet Moore Lindman (review)

Reviewed by: A Vivifying Spirit: Quaker Practice and Reform in Antebellum America by Janet Moore Lindman Stephanie J. Richmond (bio) Keywords Quakerism, Society of Friends, Schisms, Faith, Reform A Vivifying Spirit: Quaker Practice and Reform in Antebellum America. By Janet Moore Lindman. (University Park: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 2022. Pp. 284. Cloth, $119.95.) Janet Moore Lindman's A Vivifying Spirit examines the increasingly complex world of doctrinal conflict among mid-Atlantic Quakers in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. The book, based on deep archival research, dives into the spiritual practices of American Quakers through a variety of lenses. Lindman argues that Quakers' responses to mainstream evangelical Protestantism shaped their engagement with social reform and their own history. The context Lindman provides for Quakers' debates over reform develops a historiographical thread in both American religious history and the history of antebellum reform examining the connections between reform and religious movements in early America. Despite the details that Lindman adds to the debate over the connections between religion and reform, the book at times struggles to find its footing and audience. The first part of the book examines the spiritual lifecycle of Quakers. After framing the general outlines of American Quaker beliefs in the opening chapter, Lindman takes us into the classrooms and catechism books of Quaker childhood. Quaker educational theory was particularly attentive to both the popular theorists of their time and the need to instill central Quaker values of piety, pacifism, and equality in children from a very young age. The last chapter in the section examines the spiritual practices of Quakers nearing the end of their lives and those of their loved ones. Embracing or easing suffering and grieving together after friends [End Page 355] and family passed—death was central to understanding Quaker faith. As Lindman remarks, "mindfulness dictated recurrent engagement with death to learn how to do it well" (64). These early chapters give a fascinating insight into the mental and religious lives of Quaker families across the spectrum of life stages. The second part of the book examines the impact of the various schisms and divisions within American Quaker meetings. The section opens with a chapter detailing the doctrinal differences between the Orthodox and Hicksite Quakers, who split apart over whether scripture or the inner light should drive one's faith. Orthodox Quakers, who cleaved to scripture, were accused of being influenced by evangelical Christianity and the need to fit into the vigorous Christianity of the Second Great Awakening. Hicksites read both scripture and the writings of early Quakers to assert the primacy of the inner light to Quaker devotion. The division between the two groups intensified, and new fractures appeared in the 1840s and 1850s when Joseph Burney began preaching around the United States, splitting the Orthodox Quakers into Burneyites and Wilburites. Burney, a British Quaker, questioned early Quaker teachings and brought Quakerism closer to the practices of evangelical Christian churches. John Wilbur asserted the importance of quietism and other Quaker practices and challenged Burneyite rejection of the inner light. The final chapter focuses on the disputes between reforming Quakers and those who thought that the right path was keeping separate from the larger political and cultural debates in the United States. This section, like the first, does an excellent job in explaining the impact of these schisms on the rank-and-file of mid-Atlantic Quakers. Through the words of Quaker pedestrians, we learn how they navigated the debates and chose their positions within them, even when friends and family may have taken the other side. The third section engages with how American Quakers applied their spiritual and religious teachings to their interaction with the secular world. This last section, along with the rather awkwardly positioned last chapter in the second part, is perhaps the least interesting for scholars of nineteenth-century America as it retreads familiar ground for scholars of abolitionism and other reform movements. The first chapter in the section examines Quaker print culture and Quakers' engagement in the broader reform print culture in early America. Here we hear more often from well-known historical figures including Lucretia Mott and her fellow abolitionists. [End Page 356] The final chapter...

Innovations in sacral architecture: The resettlement churches of Emil Belluš

Abstract The 20th century saw a great breakthrough in architectural innovation; however, this was less evident in sacred buildings. The Evangelical Church of A. C. was inherently innovative, which was also reflected in the architecture of its churches. The innovativeness of the evangelical denomination can be seen in completely new spatial concepts, morphology, the use of new constructions, materials and building technologies, including modern technical equipment of sacral spaces. This article focuses on two buildings by one architect—Emil Belluš (1899-1979), a doyen of Slovak architecture, whose work significantly influenced the field of sacral architecture of the Evangelical Church of A. C. Innovative contributions can first be seen in the design and later in the construction of two evangelical churches in Nesvady and Senec, in Slovakia, built in the 1950s. The churches were part of a project originally intending to build ten new churches for people who had been resettled as part of the government's post-war migration policy. For several decades, these two churches have remained the last addition to sacral buildings constructed in Slovakia. The article deals with the reasons for the creation of church plans, the socio-political situation of that time, circumstances of their construction, and spiritual ideas and creative contribution of the architect Emil Belluš. The research is based on a detailed study of these temples, their layout, and the use of new technologies, construction principles, morphological elements, and other architectural means in which we seek and define an innovative approach to creation.

Ulrich A. Wien. Crossing Borders–Impact of Reformation in Transylvania since the 1520s: Diversity of Faith and Religious Freedom in the Ottoman Zone of Influence

Ulrich A. Wien. <i>Crossing Borders–Impact of Reformation in Transylvania since the 1520s: Diversity of Faith and Religious Freedom in the Ottoman Zone of Influence</i>

Christianity’s American Fate: How Religion Became More Conservative and Society More Secular. By David A. Hollinger

For much of the twentieth century, white American Protestants were divided into two ideological camps. Evangelical Protestants resisted the civil rights movement, feminism, and religious and racial pluralism. Ecumenical Protestants, in contrast, welcomed these developments because they viewed ethnoreligious pluralism as a positive good. Those two ideological camps within Protestantism still exist, but ecumenical Protestant denominations have experienced such steep membership declines over the past half-century that evangelicals have been able to redefine the word “Christian” as synonymous with “evangelical” and write ecumenical Protestants out of the story. And with the decline of ecumenical Protestantism, secular Americans have become the leading champions of the racial and religious pluralism that ecumenical Protestants of the mid-twentieth century played a role in shaping. David A. Hollinger’s Christianity’s American Fate explains why ecumenical Christianity declined even as its political causes succeeded, why white evangelicals became the leading ideological party in American Christianity, and why this religious shift reshaped American politics.

Spiritual warfare in Africa: Towards understanding the classical model in light of witchcraft practices and the Christian response

The socio-religious panorama of the African religion deserves a close observation of its foundation and function. The perception of the spirit world is dominant in Africa. Similarly, spiritual warfare in the African context is prevalent in the mind and worldview of an African. Spiritual warfare derives its framework from African Traditional Religion (ATR). Hence, understanding ATR’s complexity helps us with the understanding of spiritual warfare. Some essential questions to understand would be what is spiritual warfare from an ATR perspective? How do Africans perceive spiritual warfare? And how do Africans engage in spiritual warfare? What is the place of ATR in spiritual warfare? African Traditional Religion acknowledges the reality and functionality of witchcraft. The perception of the reality of evil forces in Africa attracts all forms of spiritual rites, seeking more extraordinary spiritual powers for defensive and offensive spiritual warfare. This article argues that the effectual Christian response to spiritual warfare with witchcraft practices in Africa is ‘the classical model’ of spiritual warfare. The article provides a synopsis of the models of spiritual warfare, that is, the classical model (CW), world systems model (WSM), ground-level deliverance model (GLDM), and strategic-level deliverance model (SLSW). Subsequently, the article provides the framework for African spiritual warfare and witchcraft practices from traditional and contemporary perspectives. Lastly, the article argues that the Evangelical Christian Response to witchcraft practices is rooted in ‘the classical model’ of spiritual warfare.Contribution: The article contributes to African religiosity within the African context. It reveals the ongoing argument about the continuity and discontinuity of the ATR beliefs and practices in Christianity. The article adds to the evangelical or classical arguments in support of the discontinuity of ATR beliefs and practices in Christianity.

Breaking the Body of Evangelical Whiteness: A Womanist Ethic of Encounter for Faith-Based Anti-Trafficking Work

For the last thirty years, white evangelical Christians have been one of the most prominent groups in the anti-trafficking movement in North America. Whether advocating for policy changes on behalf of survivors, interacting with populations vulnerable to sexual exploitation, or staging rescues, these moral actors use Christian religious practices and values to respond to trafficking and commercial sex work. Anti-trafficking work is coated with and coded by evangelical whiteness, which uses the norms of sexual, social, and racial purity in their interactions with and recovery of trafficking victims and survivors. In response to the white evangelical stronghold on anti-trafficking interventions, the womanist ethic of encounter utilizes womanist frameworks to center the historical realities lived experience of Black women and talk back to the history of evangelical whiteness in anti-trafficking work. Secondly, it focuses on how to interact with the holistic body of Black women in the urban mission field of anti-trafficking. Finally, the womanist ethic of encounter seeks to bridge the gap between the Protestant moralistic centering of the word of the Gospel that coats rescue and recovery efforts and asserts a Catholic centering of the Eucharist to clarify the power of sacrificing and breaking the body of whiteness in anti-trafficking work.

The Perception of Congregational Assemblies in Improving The Quality Of Christian Family Fellowship

The apostle Paul in most of his epistles wrote about teaching, nurturing or pastoralizing to members of the church in order to live as follows the will of God. It shows that in the time of the New Testament the apostles and other servants of God in building the congregation not only emphasized on the issue of numbers but also aggravated the problem of the quality of life of the congregation itself. This study aims to determine the perception of the congregational assembly in improving the quality of Christian family fellowship. This study was conducted at the evangelical christian church (GKI) klasis Sentani congregation Hermon Hollo Him Papua, using a qualitative method through the distribution of questionnaires to the congregational assembly. The results showed that the congregational assembly understood that teaching and guiding church members is an important task mandated (100%), must be done wholeheartedly (83%), and always guided by the Bible (61%). However, sometimes in its teaching the Congregational Assembly felt less certain that they were accepted by members of the congregation (61%), this was likely due to the congregation's lack of preparation and knowledge of how to properly teach and guide christian families (56%). The quality of christian family fellowship is judged by two things, namely having biblical knowledge of the christian family and having the example of Christ. Members of the congregation place Christ as the head of the family (100%), also knowing the basis for the formation of a christian family, even if they do not understand very well how to form a quality christian family fellowship (67%). The attitude shown in Christ's example is to make the Bible a guide for life (56%), active in participating in worship (39%%), active in spiritual activities (44%) and always having an attitude of mutual love for others (44%). Based on these results, it can be concluded that aspects of teaching and guidance for members of the congregation have been carried out by the congregational assembly, but still require good guidance for members of the congregation, especially the congregational assembly as the leader of the church so that the quality of christian family fellowship occurs better.

Mobilising towards environmental sustainability – challenges and chances for churches in Germany

The current ecological crisis is considered a major challenge for humanity. Various scholars suggest that Christian congregations may contribute to the changes of mind-set and behaviour necessary to meet this challenge. The article presents the results of an empirical study on how Protestant congregations in Germany deal with this issue. Data were collected in an online survey and group discussions with members of the Evangelical Church of Germany (EKD), the Free Evangelical Church (FeG) and the Gnadau movement. The study showed that the environmental awareness of church members is similar to the population in general. Major pragmatic obstacles to mobilise congregations for environmental sustainability were the (1) views that it may compete with other tasks of the congregation, (2) that church members may feel excluded and (3) the lack of knowledge and competence regarding this topic. However, creation care was seen as a bridge to the community which allows the congregation to engage with people outside the church. The study shows which issues need to be addressed for Christian congregations to play a more active role in creation care.Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: The research is concerned with church management fostering ecologically sustainable practices and is situated in the discipline of practical theology. As church management is based on the understanding of the mission of the church it is linked to ecclesiology. The practice of local congregations may have effects on the general public and can therefore be studied from a sociological perspective as well as in development studies.

What Does Morality Have to Do with It? What Haidt and Moral Foundation Theory Reveals about White Evangelical Christian Women Who Advocate for Politician Donald J. Trump

This qualitative research offers an explanatory framework to identify potential moral motives evangelical Christian women demonstrate when championing Donald J. Trump, who defies biblical morality. Through focus groups and in-depth semi-structured interviews and utilizing Haidt’s Moral Foundation Theory (MFT), which hypothesizes that conservatives rely on all five of his moral value pairings in their moral implementation. This study juxtaposes whether MFT pairing references are applied when evangelical white Christian women expound on their admiration for the politician, Donald J. Trump. The findings from this study suggest that MFT verbiage accounts for a considerable amount of moral rationale from the participants, who consider their religious faith to be first and foremost in their lives when discussing politics and their political viewpoints. Their discussions and answers touch on all five of Haidt’s moral value pairings. These conservative Christian women’s long-established sanctified realm of religion, family, and the sovereign state hold firm in today’s political debate.

Who is more religious and ethical, Republicans, Democrats or others?

Reports show most religious groups in the United States, especially Christian evangelicals, are showing more affiliation to the Republican political party. Nonetheless, members of the Democratic political party are also weaving faith into their rhetoric. A citizen’s affiliation with a political party can change over time, and political affiliation might influence behavior. This study compares and contrasts individuals affiliated with political parties and those who are not on their: (1) decision-making process purchasing everyday products, (2) relationship with God, (3) and ethical and sustainable behaviors. Using Pew Research data (n=3,278), this study compares and contrasts individuals affiliated with political parties and those who are not on their decision-making process in purchasing everyday products, relationship with God, and ethical and sustainable behaviors. Despite significant differences between political parties, most of them have thanked God for something and almost half of them have asked God for help and guidance. The results show people in the U.S. with various party affiliations are somewhat religious and spiritual. The notion that only Republicans will be guided by religious beliefs is misguided. Almost half of Democrats in this study show strong religious values. The paper makes several contributions to this area of study. First, similarities and differences between individuals affiliated with political parties are determined. Second, myths about stigma toward a particular political party are debunked, and finally, insights for religious and political leaders on their followers’ behavior are provided.

Religion and Subjective Social Class in the United States

Abstract Subjective social class identities—lower, working, middle, and upper—are conditioned by culture and social interactions. I argue that conservative Christianity influences subjective class identification because conservative Christian social networks are highly insular, and its culture prioritizes lower- and working-class ideologies. Using nationally representative data, I find that conservative Christians—operationalized with views of the Bible and religious tradition—are relatively likely to identify as lower and working class, and unlikely to identify as middle and upper class; that these associations are partially but not wholly mediated by higher education and family income; and that there are robust associations between religion and subjective class among those with a bachelor’s degree and above-average family incomes, but not among less-educated and lower-income Americans. These results indicate that conservative Christianity promotes a specific class culture, and that this class culture more closely aligns with biblical literalism than with affiliation with evangelical Protestant churches.