Christian Legacy Research Articles

Revelation and Communion: A Contextual Theological Approach to Diversity and Dialogue in World Christianity

Abstract Theology in world Christianity not only features theological discourse that scrutinizes the colonial legacy of Christianity, pointing out the ways in which Christian doctrines are cast in colonial power, but also presents theology from the indigenous concerns to appropriate the Christian faith. Nonetheless, the present challenge to doing theology in world Christianity extends to not only making Christianity a dialogic-livable faith but also sustaining the relationship between universality and indigeneity. This article grapples with the task of decolonizing revelation, salvation, and dialogue in world Christianity using the insights from Ecclesiam Suam (1964) and Elochukwu Uzukwu’s wholeness-oriented approach to revelation and diversity. Particularly, it reexamines the meaning of salvation in the context of a narrative and proposes that the indigenous approaches could overcome the hurdles—not reinscribe highly problematic relations between the so-called center and margins through inculturation and contextual theology—taking note that theological discourse on revelation and salvation stands in need of scrutiny.

Prophetic dissent in dark times: the new Poor People’s Campaign and the rhetoric of national redemption

ABSTRACT In this paper, we offer an analysis of an important social movement challenging the fantasy of Christian nationalism: the new Poor People’s Campaign, and specifically the rhetoric of the Bishop Dr. William J. Barber II. We argue that Barber’s rhetoric represents a source of dissent against Christian nationalism through his strategic use of the jeremiad. Barber’s progressive jeremiad offers a distinctively moral narrative that recovers the radical Christian legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Ultimately, we argue that Barber’s jeremiad advances a distinctive narrative of American national redemption through democratic renewal and reconstruction.

“Velvet Steel” Ministers for God and America: Eleanor Lansing Dulles and the Nineteenth-Century Legacy of Christianity and Nationalism

The political impact of Dr. Eleanor Lansing Dulles has not been assessed in her capacity as a power broker who brought her theological understandings to Cold War United States policy. The deep influence of both her brothers—Allen, Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, and John Foster, Secretary of State under Dwight D. Eisenhower—on global affairs and diplomacy has been the topic of myriad studies. Works draw extensively on family biography, noting that both “nature and nurture” brought religion to US foreign policy. Including Dr. Dulles in the analysis provides nuance and complexity to definitions of Christian nationalism and underscores the legacy of both missionaries and religious thought in US foreign relations during the early Cold War. Contextualizing religiosity through a study of gender and the Dulles family legacy of female missionaries into the Cold War narrative builds upon the existing literature of the Dulles family, religion, and Cold War diplomacy to challenge concepts such as Christian internationalism, Christian nationalism, and Left–Right binaries. Diplomacy is revealed as her form of Christian missionary work in the secular sphere. Eleanor Lansing Dulles became a missionary not for a religion, but for a nation.

Invoking the Spirit: Salvador de Madariaga, Religious Networks and European Integration Beyond the Churches

The transatlantic religious networks promoted by Americans after World War I not only delivered human and financial resources but they also brought about significant changes in religious and political thought and practice in Europe. The experiences, networks and narratives created through two world wars equipped Europe with an ideological arsenal, which it marshalled against the Soviet threat during the cultural Cold War and which provided the European integration process with resources and legitimacy. The invocation of ‘spirit’ proved an extremely effective way of legitimizing the European project: it identified materialism as the seed of destruction of civilization; it promoted an interfaith narrative that was acceptable to different churches and religious sensibilities; and it represented human rights as the historical legacy of Christianity. Salvador de Madariaga's life reflects the evolution of the role of religion in the twentieth century, especially with regard to non-denominational Christianity. He was a committed missionary of ecumenist global civic conscience and a crusader for freedom of conscience against totalitarian interference. His defence of liberalism and his repeated calls for a cultural construction of Europe were rooted in his conviction of the intrinsically spiritual nature of all human beings, his identification with the legacy of Christianity and his desire to guarantee universal freedom of spirit. This article analyses documents from Madariaga's personal archive and other archives in Europe and America in order to chronicle his spiritual journey and to understand his crusade to create a ‘Europe of the spirit’.

The neo-medievalist strategy of the Holy See in international politics: from Cairo to Regensburg

There are many religious actors in the system of modern international relations, but one of them is especially important, as it has a special (observer) status in the UN, diplomatic relations with most countries of the world and acts as a norm-setting entity. At the same time, it must be said that scholars in the field of international relations pay very little attention to it. Thus, we are talking about the Roman Catholic Church, whose number of believers exceeds 1.3 billion worldwide, and whose institutional expression and legal personality is a sacred seat in international politics. The purpose of this article is to show how the Holy See still preserves the legacy of medieval European Christianity (Catholicism) in today's international politics and to reaffirm the importance of religion in global processes. The example of the Holy See makes it clear that religious actors have always played a certain role in the transnational governance of the international community. On the other hand, we will try to illustrate the impact that the Holy See's diplomatic strategy can have on the secular state system as well as on global public policy.

L. N. Tolstoy and Islam: Rethinking Muslims’ place in Russian cultural canon

This article distinguishes the main ways of thematization of Islam in Russian intellectual culture: Islam as a civilizational opponent, as inferior to Christianity as a revealed religion, as a potential Christianity, and others. These opinions differ from the Tolstoy’s as he understood Islam as a full-fledged tradition that has some religious truths common to Christianity and that distorts them throughout the course of history in its own way. The special relevance of Tolstoy’s conception of spiritual and ethical nature of religion for rethinking Muslims’ places in the Russian “cultural canon” is noted. The author observes the particular internal similarities between Tolstoy’s philosophy and Islam that make them close. Both the outright “Islamization” of Tolstoy’s teachings and the attempts to separate his ideas from Islamic context are criticized. The “cognation” between some of Tolstoy’s central ideas, stemming from his contemplation of Christian legacy, and the ideas embedded in Islamic tradition may facilitate more successful “convergence” of Muslim identity and Russian identity (“prototypically” Christian). In conclusion, the author justifies the necessity of appealing to the thought of “non-Islamic” thinkers in Russian culture for overcoming of the stereotypical images of Muslims in Russian “cultural canon” to be effective.

Preservation of Ilocano Historical and Cultural Value in the Holy Week Procession: A Design Development of the Carroza

The “carroza," formerly "andas," are part of our legacy of Christianity from the Spanish era in the Philippines as it also unfolds the historical, cultural, and religious significance of "carroza" to the Ilocanos, especially during the celebration of Semana Santa. . As time goes by, the aging of the wood materials degraded and resulted to a high cost of repair. This study is qualitatively aimed to explore the history, culture, and religion and eventually preserve the old "carroza" among the Ilocanos. The interviews of the encargados-participants emerged four (4) themes: history, cultural, spiritual; issues of the carroza; preservation, and enhancement. In synthesis, it is apparent that it focuses more on the old "carroza" and necessitates its preservation. Results found that the problems with the existing product are stiff suspension, the difficulty of steering on tight turns, and the product being bulky in the storage room. This study addressed their concerns and reinvented the existing products with a new design prototype that is easier to construct and more stable from vibration and turning during the procession. The old carroza called for a new prototype and enhanced it to preserve the physical carroza and its cultural, spiritual, and historical value.

Book review: Christianity and human rights. Perspectives from Hungary. Edited by András Koltay

Christianity has played a crucial role in building and maintaining civilisation and cultures in Europe until this very day. People living on the continent share the legacy of antiquity and Christianity in balance, while respecting the values of religion and still maintaining neutrality in their constitutional systems. This causes the question to stand, whether Christianity still is a part of European culture, and if so, in what religious, political or cultural ways.All these questions are examined in the volume, which incorporates 16 studies of various authors. Essays show clearly that not only the merge of different cultures, disputes of interests, the connection between law and religion, but also and mainly the ideas of Christianity are all special legal theories and questions waiting to be examined.Even though the various academics contributing to this volume have their own individual concepts and different views, most of the studies concentrate on problems and questions of basic freedoms, such as human dignity, freedom of speech and religious freedom. As it is stated by the Editor in the foreword, all 16 studies are written in English by academics from different research institutes all over Hungary, also easily accessible internationally, inviting researchers to contribute to this international scientific debate.

The Christian Question

Roland Boer’s five-volume work, On Marxism and Theology (2007–2013), explores the connections between Marxism and Christianity. In this interview, Boer speaks about some of the pressing issues and knotty questions raised in the series. Beginning with questions of Boer’s intellectual and political formation, of previous work on the Marxism–Christianity link, and contemporary claims about the return of religion, the discussion moves to the treatment of religion by Marx and Engels, by key Second International thinkers, and within Russian Marxism. The interview then turns to the Western Marxist tradition and the importance of Ernst Bloch and Theodor Adorno in Boer’s work. Responding to a final set of questions, Boer reflects on post-secularism and the new atheism, ethics and grace, and the contemporary struggle over the Christian legacy.

Jobseeking as pilgrimage: trials of faith in the labour market

ABSTRACT Jobseeking is increasingly frequent within contemporary labour markets characterised by temporary contracts, flexible projects and precarious ‘gig-work’ – with economic shocks such as the Financial Crash and COVID-19 pandemic creating waves of redundancy and mass unemployment. How individual job-changers and jobseekers make sense of their experiences and shape their own conduct is explored here, drawing inspiration from the emergent turn to ‘economic theology’ to consider the continued influence of Christian legacies of pilgrimage. To supplement Turner’s understanding of pilgrimage as liminal ritual, the article adapts Weber’s Protestant Ethic thesis and Foucault’s later works on ‘modes of veridiction’, forms of tests and trials which ‘tell the truth’ about the subject. Thus, jobseeking pilgrimages are less seasonal collective religious ritual than a continuous individualised ethic; contemporary jobseeking involves pilgrimages of constantly deciphering signs, putting oneself to the test via the market and self-purification and transformation.

Is There Pain in hell?

AbstractI present a short summary of the traditional pagan and Christian legacy claiming that hell is above all a place of pain and the objections that have been addressed to it. Then I proceed to my main point:tracing a philosophical thread from Plato to Aristotle and then from Augustine to Aquinas, and citing a psychological experience of everyday life, I maintain that: 1) either there is no pain in hell, or 2) hell is not the worst thing that can happen to a human being. Then I present four possible objections to my thesis and attempt to counter them. In the last section I point to some practical consequences on the pastoral level that could ensue from a different doctrine on the nature of hell.

Book Review: Patterns Legitimizing Political Violence in Transcultural Perspectives: Islamic and Christian Traditions and Legacies68.1509 KochBettina — Patterns Legitimizing Political Violence in Transcultural Perspectives: Islamic and Christian Traditions and Legacies (De Gruyter, 2015). History of Political Thought38(4), Winter 2017: 771–773.

Book Review: Patterns Legitimizing Political Violence in Transcultural Perspectives: Islamic and Christian Traditions and Legacies68.1509 KochBettina — Patterns Legitimizing Political Violence in Transcultural Perspectives: Islamic and Christian Traditions and Legacies (De Gruyter, 2015). <i>History of Political Thought</i>38(4), Winter 2017: 771–773.

“We are fortress Europe!” Nativism and religion in the ideology of Pegida in the context of the European crisis

This article deals with the movement known as “Patriotic Europeans against the Islamisation of the Occident,” or Pegida, focusing primarily on the nativist dimension which often takes centre stage in its ideological discourse. Pegida describes itself as a defender of Western Civilization and of its Christian legacy from what it sees as the perils of Islamisation on the one hand, and of globalist political elites on the other. In the context of the political changes and rise of alternative visions of civil society, particularly in Central and Eastern Europe, Pegida should arguably be seen as a representative of a growing European nativist wave. Lastly, the article looks at the “Prague Declaration,” a document which was signed in 2016 by Pegida and a number of allied movements from outside of Germany.

Of Bottles and Wells: Hagar's Christian Legacy

ABSTRACT What place should Hagar have in Christian theology? On one hand, she is the first person in Scripture to whom an angel of the Lord appears; she even names the “God of Seeing” who meets her (Gen 16:13). On the other hand, Hagar is a symbol of the law that leads to slavery, and those who live in the freedom of Christ should cast her out (Gal 4:29). I argue that Christians should conceive of Hagar's place in theology in relation to Christ and through spiritual reading of the Hagar narratives in Genesis. Literary correspondence between the narratives in Gen 16:1–16 and 21:8–21 and accounts of the exodus suggests that God's heeding of Hagar in the midst of her affliction anticipates God's deliverance of the Israelites and of the world in Christ. As Paul describes the Israelites as having drunk from Christ in the wilderness, and receiving baptism in crossing the sea (1 Cor 10:1–4), so Hagar also experienced Christ in the wilderness. Thus, Christian spiritual reading may cast Hagar out of the church, insofar as she represents merely human effort devoid of the Holy Spirit, but it may also view her as a positive example of transformation in Christ by the Spirit.

Comparing family changes in two rural areas of Kenya: Past legacies and present realities

ABSTRACTFertility in Kenya declined from total fertility rate (TFR) 6.7 to 4.6 between 1989 and 2008/09. Initially, Western and Coast Provinces returned figures above and below the national average with TFR 8.1 and 5.4 respectively. Then fertility in Western Province declined substantially to TFR 5.6 while in Coast Province the decline was modest to TFR 4.8, above the national average in both provinces. I shall scrutinise this development by examining two rounds of qualitative case studies in rural villages in the two provinces, first in 1988–90 with a follow up in 2011. The analysis revealed that over time fewer children were born in the Western villages, but more in the Coast villages. The hypothesis is that differences in cultural (patriarchy and a mix of matriarchy and patriarchy) and religious (Christian and Muslim) legacies are crucial to understanding such disparities in childbearing. Attention is given to marriage, gender relations and female education.

A Comment on Moyn’s Christian Human Rights, Chapter 4: ‘From Communist to Muslim: Religious Freedom and Christian Legacies’

A Comment on Moyn’s Christian Human Rights, Chapter 4: ‘From Communist to Muslim: Religious Freedom and Christian Legacies’

Christian Oxyrhynchus: Texts, Documents, and Sources ed. by Lincoln H. Blumell and Thomas A. Wayment

Reviewed by: Christian Oxyrhynchus: Texts, Documents, and Sources ed. by Lincoln H. Blumell and Thomas A. Wayment Christian Askeland Lincoln H. Blumell and Thomas A. Wayment, editors Christian Oxyrhynchus: Texts, Documents, and Sources Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2015 Pp. 778, $89.95. Christian origins and New Testament enthusiasts will encounter within this volume the primary surviving Greek papyri from Oxyrhynchus, the Egyptian darling-child of every papyrologist and the principal source of Greco-Roman era manuscripts. Whereas editors have compiled various anthologies of texts, translations and images of ancient Christian literature, this monograph capitalizes on the systematic excavation and publication of the ancient city’s papyri in a defined-yet-comprehensive survey of ancient material culture and literature, selecting witnesses to the city’s Christian legacy. In terms of the total papyrological picture, one could contextualize the current collection by noting that “53 of [End Page 640] 127 New Testament papyri originate from Oxyrhynchus” (17) and could imagine a parallel representation for the other categories of literature contained within this edition. The 756-page-plus survey could hardly accommodate any more content (for instance, images of the manuscripts, approximately 175 in total). Arguably, the reader would be served either by a second volume dedicated solely to images or by a digital image archive. The space restraint probably also explains the diplomatic presentation of the transcriptions, which are followed by (and not paralleled by) English translations. With respect to content, Blumell and Wayment have spared no expense in their discussion of secondary literature and textual commentary. Surpassing simple reproduction of the texts and notes from prior publications, the two editors offer fresh opinions and occasionally censure an earlier reading. For instance, in their discussion of PSI IV 311, “Delivery Instructions for a Letter to Bishop Theodotus of Laodicea” (circa 330 c.e.), the editors suggest for the first time that an Arian connection between an Oxyrhynchite bishop and Theodotus might be evident in the letter (512–23). Those examining the critical notes to the New Testament papyri will encounter not only text-critical evidence equivalent to the apparatus criticus of the Nestle-Aland but, furthermore, extensive reconstructions of the lacunae, wherever deemed possible by the volume editors. Students reading through such a volume should be encouraged to interact with methodological problems, of which the monograph editors are expressly aware. After 52 “New Testament Texts,” the reader encounters 26 “Extracanonical Texts.” These are described throughout with the terms non-canonical, uncanonical and extra-canonical to refer to lesser-known Christian narrative texts such as the gospels of Mary, Peter and Thomas, as well as the Didache, unknown “Apocryphal Gospels,” and numerous witnesses to the Shepherd of Hermas. The third section contains, among other items, hymns, homilies, and magical texts under the rubric “Other Christian Literary Texts.” The division between these last two sections is arbitrary, unless one presumes that the “Extracanonical Texts” represent a corpus of texts whose origins were contemporary to the canonical texts. Although the Didache, for instance, would fit this paradigm, the presupposition is potentially misleading in other cases. Several of these methodological problems could form themes of a graduate class or even research papers for students using the book. For example, the editors note that the Gospel of Peter identification for P.Oxy. XLI 2949 reflects a speculative reconstruction and may not be tenable. One could use this volume to review the impact of the speculative and sometimes completely arbitrary paleographic dating of papyri to single centuries, calculating how many of these dates rely on other paleographically dated specimens. (Notably, the current editors are typically citing the dates of other scholars, raising issues where necessary, e.g. 525.) Likewise, a student might assess the worth of Turner’s system of codex groupings or could survey the relevance of some sub-corpus such as the libelli and the relevant persecutions. This publication offers reliable Greek transcriptions and translations, augmented by excellent maps and bibliography. While the critical apparatus to the New Testament papyri presents novel and robust assessments of the evidence, [End Page 641] the introductory materials synthesize the obsolete textual assessments of Eldon Epp, not recognizing for instance the impact of the Münster Text und Textwert...

Felix Wilfred, ed. The Oxford Handbook of Christianity in Asia. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2014, xxi + 657 pp.

Felix Wilfred, ed. The Oxford Handbook of Christianity in Asia. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2014, xxi + 657 pp. The Oxford Handbook of Christianity in Asia is a comprehensive guide to Christianity in all its forms in a very diverse region. It is interdisciplinary in approach, and covers Christianity in its many expressions, from theology and spirituality to social and cultural studies and inter-religious interactions. Felix Wilfred and his five-person editorial board have recruited an additional 30 outstanding scholars to produce a multi-faceted handbook that will be useful for many years to come. Following a general introduction by the editor, the handbook is divided into five parts, each with its own introduction and five to nine chapters. In his introduction, Wilfred seeks to emphasize the agency of Asian Christians, as well as their complex ties with the West. In the transmission of Christianity to Asia, he writes, "Everywhere operative is the process of appropriation of the Christian faith and institutions according to the genius of the various peoples and societies of the continent." The relationship of Christianity to colonialism is analyzed in many places in this book. Wilfred writes, "Christianity was as much part of the colonial establishment as it was against it. It could germinate and grow with the explicit or tacit support of the colonial powers and bask under their protection; but it could also challenge the same colonial powers on a number of issues and take side with those dominated and exploited by those very forces. The legacy of Christianity in this respect is highly ambiguous and open to debate." From the introduction onward, the authors of this volume stake out contested positions and different approaches, rather than settling for bland summaries. This makes for interesting reading. Part I sets the stage with individual essays on regional descriptions of Christianity in West, South, Southeast, Central, and East Asia. The authors approach their subjects in different ways, with different emphases and with different degrees of thoroughness. Those dealing with the early period are more historical in nature, while others are thematic, and still others focus largely on the present. The section is useful, but as in all such handbooks, uneven. Part II goes beyond the geographical regions in its emphasis on "Cross-Cultural Flows and Pan-Asian Movements of Asian Christianity." The chapters on Asian theological trends, cross-textual hermeneutics, and the Pentecostal and Charismatic movements are outstanding. They are comprehensive and can function as brief introductions to their subjects for students and general readers. Other chapters on the ecumenical movement, missionary movements from Asia, indigenous Christianities, and issues related to gender, sexuality, and feminism are also useful, but not as authoritative. Part III is more thematic in nature, with nine chapters on "Asian Christianities and the Social-Cultural Processes." The emphasis throughout is on the social forces that have shaped Christianity, including modernity, colonialism, nationalism, and democratization, and Asian Christian responses to these movements. Some of the chapters are case studies, while others are broader in scope. The chapters are nuanced, with authors showing the complex ways in which Asian Christians adapted to, resisted, and negotiated with the broader social movements. …

THE CHRISTIAN LEGACY IS INCOMPLETE: FOR AND AGAINST ŽIŽEK

Slavoj Žižek’s enthusiastic endorsement of the Christian legacy as the only hope for the future of radical politics has, unsurprisingly, made him popular amongst many Christians and theologians in recent years. This article explores the underlying logic of Žižek’s celebration of the Christian legacy, arguing that his dual celebration of the Christian and European legacies not only reveals the entanglement of his argument with the white supremacist logic of Christian superiority but begins to expose the ways in which Žižek’s focus on Christian Europe is inconsistent with his own fundamental ontological claims.

“Present Your Bodies”: Film Style and Unknowability in Jessica Hausner’s Lourdes and Dietrich Brüggemann’s Stations of the Cross

Since 2005, a number of European films have emerged examining the legacy of Christianity in Western Europe, and the ways in which men, women and children struggle to negotiate questions of religion and secularity, the personal and the institutional, faith and doubt. This article looks at two of these films—Jessica Hausner’s Lourdes (2009) and Dietrich Brüggemann’s Stations of the Cross (2014)—in relation to questions of religious experience, the female body and film style. In both films the battle between these opposing categories is played out on the bodies of women—a paraplegic MS sufferer in Lourdes, an anorexic teen in Stations of the Cross—and both the films end ambiguously with what may, or may not, be a miracle of sorts: a confirmation of faith or a rebuttal. I wish to connect this ambiguity to the use of a very distinctive mise-en-scene in both films, which relies on a heavily restricted colour palate; highly formalised, painterly-compositions; and crucially what David Bordwell has termed “planimetric photography”: a shooting style that eschews depth or diagonals, refusing the spectator entrance into the image and holding her instead at a deliberate distance. My argument, in short, is that these stylistic choices—while gesturing towards a tradition of Christian art—also refuse the spectator either visual or haptic knowledge of the events that the characters undergo. Rather, they are suggestive of the fundamental unknowability that characterises religious experience, leaving us alone, outside of the action, forced to negotiate ourselves between belief and doubt.