Evangelical Research Articles

Ein modernes Gotteshaus für Passugg-Araschgen. Der Bündner Architekt Andres Liesch und die Kirche in Passugg

This article examines the evangelical church in Passugg-Araschgen (1971/72), considered one of the main works of the Grisons architect Andres Liesch (1927-1990). As a leading figure in his generation within the canton of Graubünden, Liesch left an indelible mark on the Swiss architectural landscape. His portfolio, boasting over 37 schools, is distinguished by the adept utilisation of concrete and a meticulous spatial arrangement. The Passugg church, influenced by Liesch’s exposure to the expressive architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright, represents an elegant fusion of complex geometries and sculptural spaces respectfully integrated into the surrounding landscape. The structure, characterised by a pavilion roof and the artful incorporation of topography, embodies Liesch’s philosophy that architecture “gains substance through a clear architectural message”. The financial and logistical support of National Councilor Paul Raschein, president of Passugger Heilquellen AG, was crucial in the realisation of the project. The Passugg church stands out as a unique example of sacred architecture designed by Liesch, combining geometric mastery and sculptural vision in a specific context, representing a significant contribution to the architectural modernisation of Graubünden.

Aufgabenbereiche der evangelischen Pfarrfrau einer siebenbürgisch-sächsischen Gemeinde im 20. Jahrhundert

The present article can be considered a contribution to the oral history and contains the description of the fields of duty that a protestant pastor’s wife had in a Transylvanian Saxon parish until the beginning of the 21st century. As an introduction there is a brief overview over the evolution of the parsonage as a religious institution beneath the church beginning with the Lutheran Reformation in the 16th century in Germany. The author is a protestant pastor’s wife herself and recounts some of her experiences living in a village parish where the pastor and his wife were seen as the father and mother of the parish. Among the wife’s duties was the organizing of the women’s association in the village, baking gingerbread for all children at Christmas and Easter, teaching religion at school but also privately (the only possibility in communist Romania), being a good host to all arriving guests, whether invited or not, and many other activities. After the fall of communism through the revolution in December 1989, almost  Dr. Sunhild Galter, Lucian-Blaga-Universität Sibiu/Hermannstadt; E-Mail: sunhild.galter@ulbsibiu.ro. 128 Sunhild Galter 90% of the German speaking population of Romania, the so-called Transylvanian Saxons, left for Germany. This historical event meant the end of the parsonage as an institution within the parishes and the Evangelical church.

Stigmatisation of schizophrenia and alcohol use disorder: relationship with evangelicalism in a U.S. sample

ABSTRACT Stigmatisation of mental illness and substance use disorders has negative health implications. Previous research suggests that religious fundamentalism relates to stigmatising attitudes; Christian evangelicalism, as one type of fundamentalism, is a prevalent influence on personal belief systems in the United States. We recruited 380 participants from Amazon’s Mechanical Turk, who self-identified as evangelical or non-evangelical, read vignettes depicting schizophrenia, alcohol use disorder (AUD), or asthma (control), and completed a stigmatisation measure. Notably, about a quarter of the non-evangelical group were non-religious individuals. Evangelicals had higher stigmatisation of schizophrenia and asthma, but no between-group difference was found regarding AUD. Higher stigmatisation of schizophrenia among evangelicals might reflect perceived violations of societal and religious norms, while widespread stigmatising attitudes related to AUD in the general population might explain the comparable stigmatisation of AUD among both groups. These findings highlight the importance of considering evangelical religious beliefs in stigma research and anti-stigma interventions.

Making a Home, Keeping God Close

Abstract In Evangelical Christian communities, the responsibility for maintaining the home is taken up primarily by women (Bartkowski, 1999; Gallagher & Smith, 1999). The discursive construction of the home as a sacred space free from toxic influences emerged during the Cold War, when the global turmoil seemed to demand the delineation of a matriarchal safe space (Shively, 2017; Neumann, 2019; Anagnost 2013). More recently, restrictions concerning covid-19 have initiated a further shift from the public to the private sphere. Women who were accustomed to conducting housework while their husbands were at work have abruptly come to the foreground as life primarily took place at home. This article explores the intersection of daily activities with religious beliefs as reflected in the practice of blogging. Central to this study is the assumption that ordinary, daily activities provide a unique lens into the way people ‘in the pews’ live their lives.

Conversions of Jacob Hodges: Religion, Race, and Labor in Prison Reform Literature

Abstract: Born to a free Black family, Jack Hodges (ca. 1763–1842) was arrested for the murder of a white man in 1819 and served a term at New York's Auburn State Prison, the world-famous prototype of industrial prison discipline, where he experienced a life-altering Christian conversion. Also known as Jacob Hodges, he became one of the nineteenth century's most famous incarcerated African Americans, appearing in popular crime writing, children's books, reform society reports, and spiritual biographies. Today, however, Hodges is unacknowledged, even among scholars of race and prison studies. My interdisciplinary essay advances both historical and interpretive claims. I reconstruct Hodges's life in the crucible of evangelical Protestantism, racial assimilation, and industrial market capitalism, which worked together, I argue, to shape the ideology of the modern prison system. I also analyze the vivid fantasies about Hodges that circulated in reformist literature. Unlike the majority of captives, whose struggles left only faint traces in the archives, Hodges was neither the object of dehumanizing violence nor the subject of coldly rational surveillance; he was listened to, admired, and treated with sympathy. As a case study in evangelical reformism's sentimental, possessive style of love, the literature about Hodges poses special challenges and opportunities for abolitionist reading.

An Appraisal of the Role of Women in the Birth and Growth of the Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA), Nigeria

The role of women in the church is amazing and laudable. Since the inception of the church, women have been active protagonists in the narrative of the church. Their roles cover several aspects of church growth. They have been the pacesetters in terms of demography, evangelistic programs, monetary contributions, and the establishment of developmental projects. Such is evident in the birth of the Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA) in Nigeria. The growth of ECWA is dependent on the enormous contributions made by women. Despite the fascinating contributions of women, they are still being marginalized in terms of ordination and respective leadership structures at the local, regional, and national levels. Their leadership is limited to women’s group, children's church, and other elementary responsibilities. They serve as subordinates to men’s leadership. A descriptive approach is adopted as the basic methodology for this study. Historical records, diaries, archival materials, and calendars were accessed to bring the narrative of women’s significant roles in ECWA to light. Womanistic theory was also explored as a way of unveiling African women's submission regarding the treatment they receive from their male counterparts and how to properly sustain their humanistic status. The study recommended that women should be allowed to engage in every stratum of the church as they continue to contribute to the growth of ECWA in Nigeria.

Christ and the science of gender and human sexuality: The practice of LGBTQ in critical study

The study aims to assist Christians in discovering facts related to critical thinking and the application of higher criticism in handling the practice of LGBTQ, which is of paramount concern to Christians. This work is intended to help Christians confront and navigate difficult issues raised in the age of science, emphasising the practice of LGBTQ. The intersection of Christianity and the science of gender and human sexuality, particularly the practice of LGBTQ, is a complex and often contentious issue for all humanity living around the globe. This paper examines the acronym used in describing LGBTQ and its associated symbols. The finding found that LGBTQ finds its support from science as well as legal institutions. The Evangelical Christian faith organisations and Conservative Christian tradition do reject the practice of LGBTQ as inconsistent with biblical teachings, hence sinful and contrary to God's design. The paper also cites some support from traditional values applied against the practice of LGBTQ. But Progressive Christian Views tend to interpret Christian teachings on the practice of LGBTQ more inclusively and affirm its practice as consistent with principles of love and justice, which are found in the Bible. This finding affirms the complexity of the science of LGBTQ and the complexity of scriptural interpretation from different Christian traditions. The paper proposes the avoidance of some conversion therapy, like revert celibacy, that can lead to deep hatred, suicidal tendencies and isolation, which might drive a person to an unhealthy sexual orientation as one tries to relieve loneliness. If such is impossible, we call for deliberate measures to create a deep, warm, gracious, friendly, mutually accountable, humble, and forgiving environment. This piece of work concludes by examining Christ's view regarding the practice of LGBTQ by validating a biblical position since Christ is the agent of God's created humans and who should be connected to the community of faith, all for the glory of God.

Religion and mental health in young adulthood: a register-based study on differences by religious affiliation in sickness absence due to mental disorders in Finland

BackgroundReligiosity and spirituality are known to be positively correlated with health. This is the first study to analyse the interrelation between religious denomination and sickness absence due to mental disorders...

Proto-Charismatism in Brazilian Protestantism: The Case of Miguel Vieira Ferreira and the Brazilian Evangelical Church

Abstract This article analyzes the history of the origin and development of the Brazilian Evangelical Church (Igreja Evangélica Brasileira)—an example of proto-charismatism in Brazilian Protestantism—founded on September 11, 1879, by Miguel Vieira Ferreira. This denomination arose from a schism of the Presbyterian Church of Brazil and had as its starting point the ecstatic experience of Dr. Miguel’s conversion. The present text screen is part of the broader discussion about the origins of the Protestant Charismatic/Pentecostal movements, claiming a certain originality since their appearance has no connection with the movements that were ongoing in either the United States or Europe. This event will be analyzed in the light of the concept of the “sacred savage” proposed by the French professor Roger Bastide.

Religion and Fertility: A Longitudinal Register Study Examining Differences by Sex, Parity, Partner's Religion, and Religious Conversion in Finland.

We use longitudinal data on religious affiliation in Finland to examine childbearing behavior. All analyses are based on detailed fertility information from the Finnish national register of each person's religious denomination for men and women born in 1956-1975. We identify higher fertility according to parity among members of the Evangelical Lutheran state church and other Protestant churches, and lower fertility among individuals with no religious affiliation. Most other religious groups-Orthodox Christians, Jews, Muslims, and adherents of Eastern religions-have intermediate levels of fertility. We also find that religious converts, that is, those observed with more than one religious denomination over their life course, typically are similar to the non-converts of the group they convert to, though with more distinct deviations from the Finnish population. Women show larger differences by religious affiliation than men. We find the largest differences across religions when we examine the proportion of childless men and women. Overall, differences between religious groups are rather modest, and childbearing patterns are quite similar. Our results provide, to our knowledge, the first examination of religion and fertility using national-level longitudinal data.

Recidivism and Neighborhood Institutions: Evidence from the Rise of the Evangelical Church in Chile

Recidivism and Neighborhood Institutions: Evidence from the Rise of the Evangelical Church in Chile

Religion and lived space: A geographical reading of La Religion de près

Spatial approaches to religion have grown significantly in recent years and offer original perspectives for understanding new religious realities in the context of secularized countries. This article is an opportunity to show the richness of this “spatial turn” through an analysis of the theoretical tools developed by the French anthropologist Albert Piette in his work La religion de près: l’activité religieuse en train de se faire. Although this work, which has a connection to actor-network theory, does not deal directly with space, it exhibits a geographical sensibility that we will reveal. We show that these tools can be used to demonstrate a complex geography of contemporary religion—in particular the existence of a socio-spatial dialectic—and illustrate their fruitfulness with the case of an ethnographic study of two Quebec evangelical churches.

The Entanglement Between Tangible and Intangible Factors in Shaping Hadiya Migration Aspirations to South Africa

This article expands scholarly knowledge on migration decision-making drawing on the case of Hadiya (Southern Ethiopia) migration to South Africa. We propose a conceptual framework where intangible factors (religious beliefs, imaginations, norms, and emotions, and feelings) are placed at the core of decision-making, alongside more tangible factors, such as livelihood opportunities. Even though we differentiate between intangible and tangible, we reject any opposition between the two, arguing that they inform and reinforce each other. The Hadiya—South Africa migration corridor emerged from a foundational evangelical Christian prophecy in 2001, which coincided with other events in the Hadiya zone, such as increasing pressure on farmlands, the politicization of internal migration, and more liberal migration policies. Drawing on extensive qualitative data, we focus on the relevance of intangible factors in Hadiya migration to South Africa, bringing to the fore an understudied aspect of decision-making. Showing the centrality of such aspects in Hadiya respondent's life stories, we argue that only by looking at the interplay of intangible and tangible factors we can reach a better understanding of the complex dynamic of migration decision-making.

Organizational Performance as an Outcome of Strategic Leadership in the Context of Selected Churches Affiliated with Evangelical Alliance of Kenya

This study aimed to examine how strategic leadership affects the performance of churches affiliated with the Evangelical Alliance of Kenya (EAK) by establishing the relationship between balanced organizational controls as an aspect of strategic leadership and the performance of churches affiliated with the EAK in Nairobi City County. The research design that was considered entailed a mixed-method approach that utilized a descriptive survey research design to investigate a sample size of 153 participants to help with the study. Quantitative and qualitative data were gathered using semi-structured questionnaires administered by respondents, including leaders, pastors, administrators, and personnel in churches affiliated with EAK. A pilot study that involved 16 respondents from Agape Fellowship Church was considered to establish the reliability using the Cronbach alpha value of above 0.7 as the acceptable threshold. The study determined validity of the data collection instrument. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics techniques and presented in tables and figures, whereas qualitative data were analyzed through thematic analysis. The findings of this study revealed a statistically significant positive correlation between organizational performance and balanced organizational controls. Regression analysis indicates that balanced organizational controls collectively explain 52.8 percent of the variance in organizational performance. The study concludes that strategic leadership significantly influences the performance of churches affiliated with EAK. Therefore, drawing from the findings, recommendations have been fronted for strategic management to leverage this study's findings to comprehend balanced organizational controls, involving long-term focus, alignment of processes with goals, and continuous monitoring significantly contribute to improved performance in EAK-affiliated churches.

The Spirituality of Deconstruction in United States Theological Schools

Building on a movement within the sociology of religion to better situate studies of spirituality in relation to contexts, practices, and power relations, the current study examines shifts in spiritual practice associated with “deconstruction” among graduate students within theological education. We rely on new interview data with a cohort of 30 students at time 1 (2020) and follow-ups with 22 of those students at time 2 (2022), comparing students at four different types of schools (Mainline Protestant, Evangelical Protestant, Catholic, and Black Protestant), and oversampling for students of historically minoritized identities. After identifying patterns in the spirituality of deconstruction, including trends toward embodiment, attunement to the natural world, social activism, and syncretism, we examine how these students perceive the responses of their theological schools to students’ deconstructing spirituality. We especially note a pattern of ambivalence, where certain aspects of the institution (especially some individual faculty and administrators, and student affinity groups) support and model deconstruction for their students. We argue that the spirituality of deconstruction may, therefore, function to both challenge and regenerate institutionalized contexts of religion in an overall setting of institutional decline.

‘Stand Against the Wiles of the Devil’: Interpreting QAnon as a Pseudo-Christian Extremist Movement

The religious dimensions of the QAnon movement and links with political violence have been noted by researchers. This paper furthers this scholarship by conducting an analysis of 121 religious images taken from QAnon Telegram channels over 18 months. Through adopting semiotic and hermeneutical theory, it is argued that QAnon religious imagery can be categorised into a series of types, all influenced by Christian theological themes. When interpreted in a Christian context, these images reveal a close relationship with US-based Christian evangelicalism and with Christian liberation theology movements. By presenting contemporary politics as an eschatological battle between the oppressed and oppressors, framed as the QAnon community versus the devil, the QAnon movement encourages political activism closely analogous to Christian liberation theology movements. This contributes to an explanatory framework for the connections between QAnon followers and anti-government protest and violence during the Covid-19 pandemic and the 6 January storming of the US Capitol.

Religious Dissociation and Liberal Separation: Inside a Christian Brotherhood and a Masonic Lodge

AbstractRecent years have seen a flourishing of everyday experimentations with the category of religion: the “spiritual but not religious,” “religionless” Christians, and many more. Why is there such proliferation of popular experimentation with—and often distancing from—the category of religion? This article explores two such cases of experimentation, a religion-disavowing evangelical Christian brotherhood in Mexico and a Masonic lodge in Switzerland, and shows how, in these two cases, disavowing religion is in part a response to problems associated with a founding principle of liberalism, the separation of private conscience from public citizenship. Subjects of liberal separation are vulnerable to feelings of cloistered conscience and hollow citizenship, problems that are inherent to liberal separation, as evidenced by Freemasonry’s age-old experimentations. These problems are also, however, exacerbated by dwindling popular faith in the institutions of religion and liberal democracy, as evidenced by contemporary evangelical trends of which the Christian brotherhood is exemplary. Such experimentations can be distinguished between those that collapse conscience and citizenship and those that defend the separation while still looking for indirect connections. This contrast is also highlighted by the comparison of religion-disavowing evangelical Christians and Freemasonry.

Ministry of Qes Gudina Tumsa in the Kambata/Hadiya Region

This paper highlights Qes Gudina Tumsa’s efforts in the Kambata/Hadiya region with special bearing at integrating the Kambata Evangelical Church 2 (KEC-2), which had broken away from the Kambata Evangelical Church (KEC) in 1954, into the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus (EECMY). The KEC-2 attended the annual Conferenceof Ethiopian Evangelical Churches (CEEC) from 1955 to 1961, when the EECMY “Home Mission” with the Kambata Home Mission Program (KHMP) was launched. Qes Gudina’s efforts in the region can be divided into two periods. The first was in 1963 when he tried to integrate the KEC-2 into a synod of the EECMY. As we will see, this approach generated some problems. His second attempt, together with the Finnish Missionary Society (FMS) in 1967-69, was more successful.

Missionary Dilemmas in Times of Persecution Case Ethiopia

Under the Communist regime in Ethiopia, 1974-1991, the evangelical churches were subject to severe persecution, with more than 3,000 church buildings closed and pastors imprisoned, tortured, and killed. In this situation a group of missionaries was asked by the leadership of the Lutheran church to pass on information to the Lutheran World Federation. This was a politically charged request and, therefore, a risky undertaking. At the same time the harassment of the churches constituted serious breaches of human rights. This article explores the dilemmas of conscience of the missionaries and how the dilemmas were solved. At the same time, the article sheds light on dilemmas of missions and churches, locally and internationally, in relation to brutal dictatorships. It also shows how a church is forced from a position of critical engagement in society to submission and silence.

General studies, information and communication technology and contemporary mission in Africa

This study examines the relationship between general studies, information and communication technology (ICT), and contemporary evangelism in Nigeria. Information and communication technology (is defined as a diverse set of technological tools and resources used to transmit, store, create, share or exchange information. These technological tools and resources include computers, the Internet (websites, blogs and emails), live broadcasting technologies (radio, television and webcasting), recorded broadcasting technologies (podcasting, audio and video players, and storage devices) and telephony (fixed or mobile, satellite, visio/video conferencing, etc.). Contemporary evangelism and mission in Africa is a radical approach embarked upon by agents of modern religious thoughts and practices to expand the horizons of the mission of religion to mankind in the present dispensation through general studies (GS) and ICT programmes. Through the medium of ICT, Christian evangelism has received a boost in television, radio broadcasts, computers, and the Internet across cities and nations. This work is an attempt to examine the methods adopted by early missionaries in evangelising Africa vis-à-vis the modern techniques of GS and ICT, the challenges of mission, the concept of ICT and its various forms such as phones, television, radio, computers, and the Internet, and their relevance to mission. This work therefore adopted historical, missiological, and phenomenological approaches in the analysis of data.Contribution: This work discovers that radical development in communication across the globe has influenced and affected Christian methods and practices of carrying out ‘the mission of religion’ and its evangelical perspective, among others.