History Of Christianity Research Articles

The Roman Catholic Church and Interreligious Dialogue

Pope John Paul II contributed more than any other Pope in Christian history to interreligious dialogue. This article reviews the pastoral approach of Pope John Paul II (1978-2005) to interreligious dialogue (IRD) and its application in the Archdiocese of Mombasa, Kenya. The Roman Catholic Church (RCC) embraced IRD during the Vatican II Council (1962-1965) convened by Pope John XXIII, who passed on in 1963. While his successor, Pope Pius VI, guided the council and laid grounds for IRD by shifting from its exclusive theology of the pre-Vatican period, Pope John Paul II directed and shaped the pastoral approach of the RCC on IRD and social cohesion. This article analyses Pope John Paul II's magisterium and encyclicals on IRD and its pastoral application by the Archdiocese of Mombasa in moderation of religious and social extremism. It argues that the Archdiocese of Mombasa adopted interreligious dialogue to strengthen interreligious relations and build social cohesion.

The 1977 Chicago Call: Debating Evangelical Identity

In 1977, a diverse group of forty-five leaders and scholars drafted the “Chicago Call”, urging evangelicals to reconnect with historic Christianity and embrace a richer understanding of worship and sacrament. The Call highlighted tensions between those who understood evangelicalism as a movement within the broader Church and those who prioritized Reformation principles and scriptural authority. This article begins by exploring the origins of the conference, key leaders, and its historical context. It then moves to a comparison of primary documents, revealing points of friction that arose between conference participants as they worked to draft the statement. I conclude by assessing the Chicago Call’s limitations, emphasizing the inherent fragility of the evangelical coalition and the ongoing challenge of negotiating a theological consensus.

New Paradigm in the New Era: The Case of History of Christianity in China Today

New Paradigm in the New Era: The Case of History of Christianity in China Today

Finding the Kingdom of God in Africa

A book review essay of The Kingdom of God in Africa: A History of African Christianity by Mark Shaw and Wanjiru M. Gitau, 2nd edition (Langham Global Library, 2020).

Chiesa d’Oriente e Chiesa d’Occidente

Christian unity has always been a desire and a challenge in the history of Christianity. The schism of 1054 is thus a symbolic moment of constant challenge. The present text seeks to make a journey along the path of ecumenical dialogue, especially between the Catholic Church and the Eastern Churches, trying to understand the reasons for separation and, at the same time, the effort to find a way of dialogue. The basis of the research are the documents developed by the Catholic Church, and those prepared in collaboration with other Churches. He also wishes to reflect on the traditions of the Christian East, with the aim of promoting the ecumenical journey of believers in Christ towards full communion and unity. It highlights the role of the Second Vatican Council and its consequences for ecumenical dialogue, highlighting the relationship with the Eastern Churches, especially after the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe. It also underlines the magisterial role of Popes Paul VI and John Paul II, who continued ecumenical dialogue in the commitment to make the Church breathe with both lungs. On this journey we have moved from the dialogue of charity to the dialogue of truth. The steps taken in recent years are described with the documents resulting from the dialogue: Monaco (1982), Bari (1987), Valamo (1988), Balamand (1993), Ravenna (2007), Chieti (2016) and Alessandria (2023).

Southern Baptist Slaveholding Women and Mythologizers

Christian slaveholding should not be forgotten or minimized, nor should its mythologies go unchallenged or uncritiqued. This article surveys some of the leading Southern Baptist women slaveholders and mythologizers before and after the U.S. Civil War. It examines sources of SBC hagiography about the Convention foremothers and their persistent apologia for slaveholding. In particular, it discusses how female mythologizers in the antebellum and postbellum eras linked slaveholding, evangelism, and mission identity. It demonstrates how postbellum Southern Baptist women chose to view women slaveholders as moral exemplars for their current missions. It concludes that understanding the myth-making by and about women slaveholders in Southern Baptist patriarchal society is instructive for understanding this group of American Evangelical Protestants in Christian history.

The Dutch Reformed Church (1974–2024): From Dancing with the Devil to Waltzing to Heavenly Music

The jubilee celebration of Studia Historiae Ecclesiasticae (SHE) reminds church historians of important events that have taken place during the past 50 years. This article gives an overview of important events that took place in the history of the Dutch Reformed Church (DRC). Being the largest white Afrikaans-speaking church and the church which biblically supported the political policy of apartheid, the history of Christianity in South Africa cannot be understood without taking note of the DRC’s journey. For the DRC, 1974 was an important turning point in its history as the policy document Ras, Volk en Nasie en Volkereverhoudinge in die Lig van die Skrif (hereinafter Ras, Volk en Nasie) was approved by the General Synod of the DRC. This document explained how the church motivated apartheid from a biblical point of view. It was – metaphorically speaking – the official start of the DRC’s dance with the devil. During the past 50 years, the DRC has taken important decisions that ended its dance with the devil and started a new dance, waltzing to heavenly music. This happened when the church decided to take a new road to reconciliation which was the primary goal. The article revisits Ras, Volk en Nasie, but also some of the important milestones along the road to reconciliation. It concludes with an example of how a congregation of the former apartheid church succeeded in making a difference in the local community. This confirms the fact that the dance with the devil has indeed ended and that many congregations of the church are now waltzing to heavenly music.

Christian Zionism and Its Impact on USA Politics

As we will see in this study, “Christian Zionism,” which was historically introduced about half a century before Jewish Zionism and inspired it, is not merely a concept consisting of two words. While the Jewish ideology of returning to Palestine had a Messianic and religious jargon in ancient and mediaeval times, contemporary Jewish Zionism has additional secular, nationalist, and socialist components to it. It is not possible to evaluate Christian Zionism independently of specific prophecies and, of course, religion. When we look at the history of Christianity, although we see extreme anti-Semitism and, within the framework of this enmity, severe oppression> and persecution of Jews, in recent years, significant Christian groups, especially American Evangelicals, have not only renounced the oppression and genocide of Jews but have decided to support Jews under all circumstances and even seem to be filled with sympathy for Jews. Can it be the reason that Christians, through their reading of the Old Testament from a different perspective in the post-Reformation period, have truly regretted their mistreatment of the Jews up to this point and have come to appreciate the Jews? Or else do economic and political interests now require such a theopolitics? Or is it because the Christian prophecy that the second coming of Jesus Christ will only be possible when today's Al-Aqsa Mosque is demolished, and the Temple of Solomon is rebuilt in its place has been drowned out by the Zionist Jewish prophecy that is so passionate about rebuilding the Temple that evangelical Christians in particular, and their puppet US administrations in particular, support the state of Israel under all circumstances - given the human tragedy unfolding in Gaza today? By seeking answers to these and similar questions in the current study, it will be presented to the reader's attention why the Western states, especially the United States, support and participate in this crime against humanity by Israel, which massacres dozens of innocent people every day.

Cult of the Dead: A Brief History of Christianity by Kyle Smith (review)

Cult of the Dead: A Brief History of Christianity by Kyle Smith (review)

The Study of Catholic Church History in Zambia’s Past 50 Years

This article explores the trends that have characterised the study of Zambian Church history with specific reference to the history of the Roman Catholic Church in Zambia to commemorate the 50 years of existence of Studia Historiae Ecclesiasticae, a journal dedicated to themes of Church History and the history of Christianity within the African and South African context. Drawing on a qualitative case study research design that utilises document analysis, the article focuses on the scholars and major themes that have dominated the study of the history of the Roman Catholic Church in Zambia. It shows that the study of Roman Catholic Church history has been dominated by male Zambian scholars, with a few notable female scholars. The article further shows that the major themes that have preoccupied the scholarly focus on the history of the Roman Catholic Church range from its growth, Pentecostalism's influence, and Zambia’s declaration as a nation, enduring Catholic church engagement with the state to the church’s contribution to national development. The article argues that the scholars and the themes in Catholic Church history in Zambia point to the growth of church history as a field of study that requires sustained scholarly engagement.

The Papacy as an Ecclesiastical Institution in the history of Early Christianity: aspects in the study of the issue

This article is dedicated to the Institute of the Roman Episcopate. When studying this topic, it often takes on tendentiousness and ideological shades, which contradicts the principles of scientific objectivity. At the same time, the period in the history of the Roman episcopate before the ecclesiastical schism of 1054 often remains without due attention. Meanwhile, this period is very diverse and filled with the spiritual exploits and large-scale intellectual work of the Roman bishops, some of whom are revered as saints in both Orthodoxy and Catholicism. The most famous of them (but far from the only ones) are Leo I Great and Gregory I Dvoeslov. Let us emphasize that before the Edict of Milan in 313, almost all Roman bishops suffered martyrdom due to the persecution of Christians that unfolded in the Roman Empire in the first three centuries of our era. At the same time, the bishops of Rome, in addition to the issues of the physical survival of the community, had to resist heresies, schismatic tendencies, maintain the correctness of worship and promote the growth of the moral consciousness of Christians. There are very few written sources about the life of the Roman bishops in the history of early Christianity, which complicates the study of this topic and leaves many blank spots, nevertheless it gives a special flavor to this scientific study.

An Introduction to the Special Issue: History of Christianity: The Relationship between Church and State

Religion remains omnipresent [...]

The Oldest Past of Christianity

Abstract The article argues that just as religion is manufactured or invented, so is tradition and history. This starting point is worked out with reference to history as a discursive construction, the past as fictioned in the present. The past does not exist independently of historical practice. History is a tool for ideological persuasion and ideological criticism in the chaotic, disputed and contested present. This understanding of historiography is brought to bear on the scholarly discourse on Christian origins, highlighting the performativity or mythic character of conventional reconstructions of the historical Jesus and the formation of early Christianity, in which sacred apologetic texts are employed as ethnographic sources. What is called for is to take leave of the “stance of the faithful,” and to reorient the study of the history of Christian origins away from a “protectionist doxa” towards a critical historiography that understands early Christian history as invented or manufactured.

Миссионерские задачи первого российского консульства в Японии (1858–1865)

The article is devoted to the missionary activities of the first Russian consulate in Japan (1858-1865). The thesis stated is the importance of the missionary factor at the initial stage of Russian-Japanese relations. When writing the article there was implemented the analysis of research literature, letters and memos of the main participants of Russian-Japanese relations. The continuity of the consulate's activities with the diplomatic and missionary activities of E.V.Putyatin in the context of the foreign policy of the Russian Empire in China and Japan is revealed. The influence of Putyatin on the decisions of the Amur Committee, which was expressed in concrete proposals for the formation of the staff of the consulate and the directions of its work on the implementation of the missionary task, is considered. The thesis is proved that the first Consul I.A.Goshkevich possessed the necessary qualities of a diplomat and a missionary and therefore was able to fully realize the duties assigned to him. The assistance of the Asian Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the Holy Synod and the Chief Prosecutor is noted. Letters from Putyatin and Hieromonk Nikolai (Kasatkin) to Goshkevich testify to the use of the hospital and school at the consulate for missionary purposes. The facts and sources considered in the article allow us to draw conclusions about the significance of the experience of the first consulate in Japan for understanding the problems of the theology of the mission: the missionary task of the consulate is assessed as the implementation by Putyatin of the religious and political modelfor Orthodoxy expansion; social and educational activities - as a created missionary environment (macromission). The close connection between the missionary aspect and the solution of foreign policy goals (the establishment of good-neighborly relations between the two countries) is shown, where the state, participating in the spread of the Kingdom of Christ, performed a providential task in the context of the entire Christian history.

THE EVOLUTION OF CHRISTIAN ICONOGRAPHY IN THE VI-VII CENTURIES

The II-III centuries represented the period of the birth of Christian sacred art through Christians imitating the custom of pagans, from whose ranks most of them came, to decorate their graves, sarcophagi or mausoleums with images and even by borrowing some pagan symbols and themes, to which they obviously gave a new, Christian meaning, to which, of course, exclusively Christian themes were added, most often of biblical origin, most of them having a narrative-historical character. In the 4th-5th centuries, under the careful supervision of the Church, a synthesis was made regarding the themes addressed, by abandoning some, by taking over others from the imperial imaginary, prevalence acquiring a dogmatic character, from the desire to express and through the mediation of figurative art, not only through the poetic, transposed into songs, the truths of faith formulated at the first four ecumenical synods, but also in terms of styles. In this second stage of the history of Christian sacred art, especially in the 5th century, as a result of the synthesis achieved in the capital of the empire between the two great artistic currents that manifested themselves in painting, the Hellenistic-Alexandrian and the SyroPalestinian, was formed the Constantinopolitan painting school and the stylistic features specific to this school crystallized . The present study aims to point out the main characteristics and developments of Christian sacred art in the Byzantine Empire starting from the time of Emperor Justinian I until the outbreak of Byzantine iconoclasm.

The China Historical Christian Database: A Dataset Quantifying Christianity in China from 1550 to 1950

The era of digitization is revolutionizing traditional humanities research, presenting both novel methodologies and challenges. This field harnesses quantitative techniques to yield groundbreaking insights, contingent upon comprehensive datasets on historical subjects. The China Historical Christian Database (CHCD) exemplifies this trend, furnishing researchers with a rich repository of historical, relational, and geographical data about Christianity in China from 1550 to 1950. The study of Christianity in China confronts formidable obstacles, including the mobility of historical agents, fluctuating relational networks, and linguistic disparities among scattered sources. The CHCD addresses these challenges by curating an open-access database built in neo4j that records information about Christian institutions in China and those that worked inside of them. Drawing on historical sources, the CHCD contains temporal, relational, and geographic data. The database currently has over 40,000 nodes and 200,000 relationships, and continues to grow. Beyond its utility for religious studies, the CHCD encompasses broader interdisciplinary inquiries including social network analysis, geospatial visualization, and economic modeling. This article introduces the CHCD’s structure, and explains the data collection and curation process.

Violence in the History of England's Christianity: A Study on the Basis of Religious and Literary Discourse

The current article is concerned with the dialectics between power, society and religion at a most dramatic period of the English history – the Tudor Reformation, a time when prevalent Catholic ideas were challenged by the new faith creating a conflict which could not be reconciled for centuries. The transition to a new social order took a strongly religious character. The schism triggered a tsunami of violence that permeated and shaped all aspects of life, polity, and culture. In the current article, politico-theological foundations of violence are viewed in historical perspective including both ideology and practice. Making violence a focal point of the research, we study all the means mobilized to justify it as well as mechanisms and venues of propaganda whose aim was to exert influence on people's mind-set.

Ontological ekphrasis Elena Shvarts’ poem “Memory of the Fresco of Fra Beato Angelico ‘Baptism’ at the Sight of the Head of John the Baptist in Rome”

Scientific interest in the problem of ekphrasis and the peculiarities of ekphrastic description has increased over the past decades. The article analyzes the ekphrastic poetics of E. Shvarts’ poem “Memory of Fra Beato Angelico’s fresco ‘Baptism’ at the sight of the head of John the Baptist in Rome”. The aim of this article is to identify the intermedial correlation of the verbal level with the visual level, revealing the ontological ekphrasis in this poem. The author of the article examined how the three levels of the image in the poem correlate in their ratio: artistic text, frescoes’ visual images, and symbolism (cultural codes). Ontological ekphrasis helps the poet find new ways to reveal traditional Christian themes. Visual images of the early Renaissance fresco acquire an ontological status in the text (dove, “rose,” gray color, water, fog, coal [fire], flower, river, blood, wine, relics [the head of John the Baptist], Lapis Niger, dawn). Through symbols and cultural codes, these images reveal the metaphysics of Baptism from a historical, cultural, and modern perspective, leaving the reader with options for interpretation. In the spirit of the early Renaissance artist himself, Shvarts ontologically recodes the medieval symbolism of Baptism, immersing it into thereality, perceiving Christian history as a struggle of life and death, culminating in the eschatological hope of the Second Coming of Christ. Fra Angelico turned out to be in tune with Shvarts precisely as an artist of the early Renaissance, in the painter’s movement of medieval mysticism to Renaissance ontologism and humanism.

Qualche nota e interrogativo intorno a nuove prospettive di ricerca sul magistero romano a metà Novecento

This paper proposes some considerations through a cross-reading of the articles published in this issue. The new research reveals several protagonists of the curial environment in the elaboration of Pius XII’s magisterial documents: the consultors at the Holy Office Franz Hürth, Sebastiaan Tromp, the better-known Augustin Bea; the secretary of Briefs to Princes Antonio Bacci. The role of the Society of Jesus is also relevant: it is able to mitigate or deflect curial proceedings initiated against its members. The articles add important contributions to our knowledge of Pius XII’s modus operandi at the head of the Catholic Church, with the support of his main collaborators (Montini, Dell’Acqua) and in the context of the internal dialectics within the Holy See. At the doctrinal level, the question of modernism and its new expressions appeared central throughout Pacelli’s pontificate. The text also offers some methodological considerations regarding contemporary research in the field of the history of Christianity and the Churches.

A Thomish Epistemic Cartography of the Question “Can We Know God?”

AbstractThe following article maps the various ways in which the expressions “knowledge” and “to know” are diversely used with reference to the Triune Lord of historic Christian orthodoxy. The reason for this epistemic cartography of Christian grammar stems from a desire to help dissolve and bring quiet to the decades of confusion that have arisen in theological conversation as a function of the failure to specify just what one means by the relevant terms (chiefly, “knowledge” and “to know”) in questions like “Can we know God?” I therefore list the various ways “to know” and “knowledge” are traditionally used to give shape both to the differing versions of the question “Can we know God?” and to their respective answers as displayed within the grammar of the Christian faith. Making use of St. Thomas Aquinas's contributions when helpful, the resulting analysis yields that, though we can truly say it is possible for us to know or have knowledge of God that is of the unitive, conventional, demonstrative, and nominative sort (i.e., the form of the question under those intentional conditions leads to an affirmative answer), we can in no way meaningfully assert the same of definitional knowledge with respect to God. Through God's self‐revelation in/as Jesus Christ, however, I argue that an infallible and superlative expansion of the possibilities for our unitive, conventional, demonstrative, and nominative knowledge of God is on offer.