Local Christian Community Research Articles

Participation Of Armenian Traders In The Development Of The Middle East Economy During Xvii–Xix Centuries

The present article analyzes the participation of Armenian merchants in the development of the economy as an exceptional social reality in the region. This can also be considered as an expression of peaceful coexistence between Armenian and the local Christian and Islamic religious communities. Thus, from a chronological point of view, the study presents the XVII–XIX centuries when there was a conflict of interests between the great powers in the Middle East. However, even in those difficult times, the Armenian traders were able to expand their activities, connecting the East and the West, thus becoming a bridge between the local Middle East and the European societies. This explains the rise in the social structure of the Syrian, Iranian and Iraqi Armenian communities, bringing the traders’ progressive contribution to the development of these societies. Therefore, it can be said with certainty that being successful in trade contributes to the preservation of the national characteristics and image of their communities. This study was carried out by three researchers of the Armenian Communities and Diaspora Department of the Institute of History of NAS RA, based on some monographs, professional encyclopedias, periodical press articles and some other well-known experts’ studies in this field.

Prescriptive Theology for the Local Church: Tite Tiénou's Hermeneutical Contributions to African Evangelical Theology

This article analyses the hermeneutical contributions of Tite Tiénou, a leading figure in African evangelicalism. In the academic literature, African evangelical theology has often been characterised as a ‘biblicist’ form of theologising that does not account for the hermeneutical questions that arise from the encounter between the Christian message and African contexts. This negative perception seems to be based on the radical line of Byang Kato, the first African General Secretary of the Association of Evangelicals in Africa. This article argues that Tiénou, in his hermeneutical works, endeavours to develop what he calls a “third way” between academic and popular theologies. This third way honours Kato's theological legacy, yet moves beyond it to seriously addresses the challenges raised by African inculturation theologians. Characteristic of Tiénou's contribution is that he foregrounds the local Christian community, as both the source and the addressee of theology.

Shaping Christianity in Calagurris: Prudentius’s renouatio of Ambrose in Peristephanon 1

Abstract: At the close of the fourth century, the ideal shape of Christianity was hotly contested. The veneration of saints and their relics, the significance of celibacy and asceticism, the nature of Christ, and many other aspects of faith and spirituality were disputed. A profusion of literary works, extant and not, explicitly addressed the intricate web of debated topics; Prudentius’s Peristephanon 1, however, has been understood in isolation from this cultural and ideological contest. This article identifies Ambrose’s Hymn . 10 as a significant source for Peri . 1; the former provided Prudentius with a framework upon which he built a narrative of martial martyrdom and of saintly identity for the unstoried relics in his hometown of Calagurris. Peri. 1 repurposes Hymn. 10’s vocabulary, concepts, classical allusions, and a dynamic of envy ( inuidia ) directed by the historical persecutor against the contemporary audience. The purpose of the poet’s renouatio , however, is more than hagiographical expansion; Prudentius replicates Ambrosian tropes to define his local Christian community in relation to its patronal martyrs. Peri . 8 builds on the foundation of Peri . 1, portraying the martyrs of Calagurris as not only patrons but also imitable models for the city’s residents. Emeterius and Chelidonius become the exemplars of both historical and contemporary Calagurran Christianity. Thus, Prudentius uses an Ambrosian exemplar to provide a localized response to the discourse of the day, deliberated throughout the empire.

‘Together we are strong!’ Infrastructures of community, safety and power on a Christian Mission Compound

ABSTRACT The Mission Compound is a residential enclosure in a small town in the hinterland of south-western Odisha, India that is exclusively inhabited by Christians. Acquired by German missionaries who introduced new forms of religion, administration and togetherness, this land became Christian and fostered the importance of rituals as well as the clergy’s dominance in a formerly self-administered Adivasi-tribal culture. I conceptualise this Compound as a religious infrastructure, encompassing material components – roads, buildings, walls, and gates – as well as the collective memories and meanings with which these are entangled. Examining the residents’ interactions with this infrastructural apparatus offers a window into the everyday dynamics of security and power that they navigate, as well as the processes of Christian identity formation and belonging in which they – and the infrastructure itself – participate. In this sense, the Mission Compound has great material, religious, social and semiotic meaning for the local Christian community.

Bible Study as Postcolonial Witnessing

AbstractThis article contextualizes Stef Craps’ concept of postcolonial witnessing and Shelly Rambo's concept of the afterlife of trauma to offer a model of Bible study as a postcolonial witnessing to the afterlife. The aim is to identify the contextual and multilayered dimensions of Bible study as a witnessing practice embedded in an Indonesian local Christian community's story of post‐religious communal violence and cultural trauma and its rereading of the Bible as a narrative of the afterlife. The community's story unveils an intergenerational community of survivors witnessing life within the intersection of the rupturing presence of violence, mission history, and its collective memory. I argue that a contextual Bible study from the lens of the afterlife imbued with a local Christian community's story of trauma and witnessing exemplifies an intergenerational, intertextual, and intercultural witnessing of life – thus, a postcolonial witnessing – which is relevant to mission studies in the context of trauma history and interreligious relationships.

The Property Rights of the Church in the Roman Empire

The present paper deals with the legal capacity and especially the property rights of the growing Christian communities and church institutions within the Roman Empire from the beginning to the Justinianic era. In the beginning, the believers’ charitable donations became the property of the bishops. Later, when the local Christian communities became legal persons, the property of the bishops was separated from the property of the congregations. The local churches could already own real estate before 313. After 313, the legal capacity of the Catholic congregations was confirmed. Later, following the example of local churches, monasteries and finally charitable institutions also became legal entities. Charitable houses were also personal associations and not foundations; independent foundations – similarly to the rules of classical Roman law – did not exist in Justinianic law. The edicts of the Christian emperors greatly facilitated the acquisition of property by local churches, monasteries and charitable institutions. Furthermore, a number of legal rules were made for the special protection of ecclesiastical property.

Mother-Tongue Theological Hermeneutics: In Search of Relevant Glocal Interpretation of Scripture

In the attempt to creatively bring the complex multi-religious (Judeo-Christian) scripture to bear on both the contemporary global and local Christian communities, a formulation of a relevant hermeneutical method becomes imperative. The reason is that in a globalised world, there is a tendency for a dominant culture to designate the interpretative approach that comes from a minor culture as only “contextually” relevant. The question that comes to mind is: Could there be an academic reflection in the interpretative process that is faithful to both the global and local contexts? This paper demonstrates the quest for such a relevant hermeneutical approach that could also be used to re-read biblical texts by introducing mother-tongue theological hermeneutics. This approach, understood and utilized, would therefore serve as a hermeneutical approach that bridges the gap between global and local perspectives on a biblical text. Keywords: Mother-tongue, theological hermeneutics, Glocal, Scripture

Diet and mobility in Late Antique Sicily: Isotopic data from the catacombs of Santa Lucia, Siracusa (Italy)

The catacombs of Santa Lucia were built during the 3rd century CE in Siracusa, Sicily, Italy, as a burial site for members of the local Christian community until the early 8th century CE. This site is an important cemeterial context of the Late Roman and Byzantine periods. The tombs and artifacts found suggest that individuals of varying wealth were buried in the catacombs. Historical accounts also confirm the presence of a significant Christian community from Syria and the Levant in Siracusa during this period. The objective of this research is to investigate the life histories of the Late Antique community interred in the catacombs using stable isotope analysis. This technique aimed to clarify the dietary differences between individuals of different social status and geographical origins, in order to re-evaluate the data from historical documents. To achieve this, we conducted stable carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen isotope analyses on skeletal samples from 25 individuals recovered from the catacombs of Santa Lucia, using established methods. The results revealed significant dietary diversity among the individuals buried in the catacombs, with evidence of the consumption of both C3 and C4 plants, as well as fish from both freshwater and sea sources.The oxygen isotopes show a particularly broad range in both the small sample set of bones and the larger set of teeth, suggesting a significant degree of mobility for most of the individuals tested. The high variability found in the diet and the evidence of mobility for most of the individuals tested not only between early age and adulthood, but also throughout their lives. It raises new questions and calls for the consideration of the archaeological and historical implications of these novel discoveries.

Religious tolerance in the Arab Gulf states: Christian organizations, soft power, and the politics of sustaining the “family–state” beyond the rentier model

Abstract The states of the Arabian Gulf present a novel case for the examination of relations between authoritarian governance and Christian organizations. The economic clout of the Gulf states has been central to political stability and legitimacy but they are increasingly seeking to expand and consolidate the soft power and resilience through political and diplomatic initiatives. This article examines how the Christian organizations established in recent decades by large migrant communities are incorporated into this strategy and how they are responding. It argues that religious tolerance has formed a central discourse in governmental policies and narratives that construct the Gulf states as modern progressive nations, despite their unique political systems based mainly on constitutional monarchies with limited political participation. This constructs local Christian communities as a source of soft power, despite their position as a religious minority.

‘A Defender of Christendom’? The Inner Logic of Hungary’s Humanitarian Aid Policy

The purpose of this article is to introduce the Hungary Helps Programme, a stated purpose of which is to support Christian communities in the Global South. Data and findings indicate that Hungary has provided direct assistance to local Christian churches, communities and faith-based organisations by financing more than 160 projects with a total value of almost €53 million since 2016. The programme, which may be considered an element of the ‘Hungarian model’, mainly benefits local churches. The HHP serves to strengthen Hungary’s autonomous role within the EU, amongst other things, by providing direct financial support to Christian churches.

Von der Urlaubsvertretung zum theologischen Schlüssel-Dienst in der lokalen Gemeinde

This article pursues the thesis that the ordination of lay preachers contributes to the strengthening of local Christian life. Starting from the local Christian community, the theological content of ordination is considered and the ordination of lay preachers is justified. Experiences from East Germany and the Anglican ecumenical community point to perspectives for this contribution.

INKULTURASI SEBAGAI PROSES PEMBATINAN IMAN DAN NILAI-NILAI KRISTIANI

This paper purpots to spell out the crucial challenges which emerge in the encounter beteen the local Christian communities and their traditional cultures:in other words, the interaction between the faith in Jesus Christ received from missionaries and ther salient features of the cultures which have shaped the people down the centuries.It aims, likewise, to outline the fruitful possibilities ofthe encounter.The basic assumptions ofthe concept of Inculturation are taken forgranted namelythat Inculturation neverto be conceived as a finished product, is essentially a process through which Faith in Jesus endures as the principle of inspiration and of action within a given culture. And that Inculturation of the Faith goes beyond the frontiers of Liturgy, spiritual-pastoral life and ecclesial organizations, and embraces the entire ambit of human life. Evangelization and Inculturation are positively correlated terms in an eminent degree.

Christological Icons of Struggle in Negros Island

The article discusses how the artistic endeavor in the Island of Negros in the Philippines, is providing a platform in the creation of Christian images that empowers the local struggles of local Christian communities. It presents how the art community becomes part of the cultural dimension of Christology towards involvement in the community narrative of oppression. These visual artists, in collective artistic groups or as individuals engaged in the contextual reading of the lived struggle of the communities, and translating, as well as integrating the images into a socially-relevant faith imagery.

On Christian Martyrdom in Japan (1597-1658)

This essay deals with the collective episodes of Christian martyrdom that took place in Japan in the Early Modern Time. On February 5, 1597 six Spanish Franciscans, seventeen Japanese catechists and three Japanese Jesuits, a priest and two brothers were martyred by crucifixion on the Nishizaka Hill, Nagasaki. This episode of collective martyrdom of Christians was the first of many such episodes that occurred to a great extent during the so-called Christian Century or Namban Era (1549-1639). The formation of communities of Kakure Kirishitan (Hidden Christians) or Sempoku Kirishitan (Underground Christians) was a main consequence of these episodes. The Kirishitan communities developed a very syncretic religiosity marked by the veneration of their ancestors killed for their faith. In 1627 the martyrs of Nagasaki in 1597 were declared blessed, as an overall recognition of this episode within a time characterised by such gruesome episodes in Europe and beyond. The atomic bomb thrown over Nagasaki in 1945 revived the memory of past martyrdoms dating back to 1597 among the local Christian communities. In June 1962, the Twenty-Six Martyrs Museum and Monument built on the spot of their martyrdom on the Nishizaka Hill in Nagasaki, Japan, opened to commemorate the centenary of the canonization of these martyrs. The subject remains actual in the 21st century. Hundred and eighty-eight Kirishithan martyred for their faith, and who were mostly laypersons, were declared blessed in 2008. The film Silence directed by Martin Scorsese and based on the novel by Shisaku Endo opened the debate on the significance of Christianity and martyrdom in early modern Japan to the wide public in 2016.

To Think Christianly: A History of L'Abri

To Think Christianly: A History of L'Abri

Historical Visionary in the Writings of Dissident Authors

This article reviews the creation and the roots of two historical legends about the trip of Ivan Smera to Alexandria and the privilege of Alexander Macedon to Slavs. The methodology of current research is based on the comparison of historical narratives. Two versions of the legend about the trip to the Orient were composed on the ground of old Kyivan chronicle which narrates the story about the choice of religion by Kyivan prince Volodimer in the last decades of the X th century when several ambassadors were sent to study the peculiarities of Judaism, Islam, Latin and Byzantine Christianity. During the second half of the XVI century, a new version of this tale was composed by Calvinists in Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. It narrates the visit of a certain person (Jolash or Ivan Smera) who arrived at Alexandria in North Africa to investigate the customs of the local Christian community. Ivan Smera found that the customs and the rite of the local community reflect the ideals of simple Christian service, without icons and church decoration. The rite of this religious community responds to the customs and the service of Calvinism. Smera has reported about the customs of Alexandria’s Christians to Volodimer but the Kyivan price ignored the ambassador’s notes and accepted Christianity in the byzantine rite. The other legend, which circulated in East and Central Europe during the Renaissance, narrates about the privilege of Alexander Macedon that was inscribed by golden letters on the tables in Alexandria. This imagined document relates that Slavic tribes arrived from the lands of Illyria and Dalmatia under the rulership of chieftains Lech, Roxolan, and Czech. It seems that both legends are rooted in Alexandria because Arianism prevailed in this city during late antiquity and Calvinism leaders supposed to establish good relations with orthodox patriarchs of this city in the second half of the XVI century. Religious life in ancient Alexandria was treated by the authors of the legend about the trip to North Africa as an example of perfect Christianity.

Law and religion in “Martian the Lawyer”, the dramatic poem by Lesia Ukrainka

The paper explains the attitudes towards law and religion in Lesia Ukrainka’s dramatic poem “Martian the Lawyer” (1911). The poem depicts the life of early Christians under the Roman law in the third century and obtains new relevance in the context of the movement ‘Law and Literature’, as the focus on law in this oeuvre allows a deeper exploration of its meaning. Law is connected with religion in two ways in the poem: as a part of the civil religion and as a system of prohibitions and punishments within the Christian community. Analysis of the text shows that Martian is a carrier of a sophisticated religious form, which implies the juridical elements codified in early Christianity, as well as a belief in law as the incarnation of the idea of truth and justice. The two antagonistic social and spiritual systems – early Christianity and the Roman law – fuse into one ideology that consumes the life of the protagonist. The difference between the juridical laws, the law of nature, and the commandments of Christian leaders disappears within this religious form. In the house of the hero, only those things that represent time or law remain, such as different types of timepieces and juridical texts; Martian’s home becomes a place for abstract ideas, but not for human beings with their needs and feelings. For the protagonist, there are no conflicts between law and religion, but there is a conflict between early Christianity and the Roman law on the one side and, on the other side, human compassion, which is supposed to be a crucial idea within Christianity but is not practiced in the local Christian community. Because of this conflict, Martian completely loses contact with human feelings and becomes an ideal lawyer, which is beneficial for his Christian community but tragic for himself and his relatives. This development signifies not only a sacrifice but also the full realization of Martian’s talent (Ukrainian: ‘khyst’). In some episodes within other poems by Lesia Ukrainka, law and religion are presented as intertwined or undifferentiated, but in “Martian the Lawyer” the author for the first time elaborates this issue thoroughly and creates an ambivalent and sophisticated dramatic situation.

Христианский Мангуп. Современная источниковая база и основные этапы истории

Throughout the entire period of the Middle Ages, the settlement of Mangup was one of the most important ideological centres for the spread of Christianity in the south-western Crimea. From the creation of the independent Gothic bishopric on, it housed the residence and the cathedral church of the hierarchs of Crimean Gothia. This is evidenced by numerous churches and monasteries discovered by many-year-long excavations of the site (27 in total). This paper is the first in the scholarship attempt of systematization of all available information from the sources related to the Christian history of the castle of Mangup, written, epigraphic, archaeological, and so on. Particular attention has been paid to the results of modern excavations of the church archaeology monuments at the settlement in question, carried out systematically in 2012–2021. They formed the basis for the reconstruction of the main stages of church building and the most important periods in the history of the local Christian community. Generally, it covers a wide period from the mid-sixth century, when a big basilica featuring the nave and two aisles, the future cathedral of the Gothic bishopric (metropolia), was built at Mangup along with the large Byzantine castle, and finished in the early seventeenth century. The construction and functioning of most part of known churches and monasteries of the castle of Mangup dates to the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, when this site finally developed into a large mediaeval city, the capital of the principality of Theodoro in the south-western Crimea.

Riflessioni su percorsi spirituali ed ecclesiali di brasiliani immigrati in Italia

Immigration in Italy is a constant call to hospitality, no less than to openness to build a physical and symbolic space for all people and groups, cultural and religious, in which immigrants come together for both linguistic and spiritual affinity. These groups and communities represent a challenge and an opportunity for the Italian church. With the aim of knowing in order to enhance and make known in the Italian local church a little of the experience of Christian and ecclesial life of Brazilians in Italy, in the first semester of 2017 a research was conducted among immigrants from Brazil. The article presents the main results of an interactive listening with dozens of people, in fifteen cities, where believers of Brazilian origin actively participate in the local Christian community, in parishes or in ethnic communities.

A Preliminary Report on Polish–Lebanese Excavations at the St. George’s (Mar Girgis) Church in Rachkida (Northern Lebanon)

The article discusses the results of limited fieldwork carried out in 2012 at the St. George’s (Mar Girgis) church near the village of Rachkida, about 9 km northeast of Batroun. The church, which was probably built by a local Christian community like other villages in the region, was founded on remains from the Byzantine period. As far as could be ascertained, the main body of the building is a three-aisled basilica extended to include a porch on the west side and an additional chapel with two apses at the east end. The church was used in the 12th and 13th centuries and may have kept its sacral function throughout the early Mamluk period, perhaps even later. Throughout its post-ecclesiastical history it functioned as a relatively well-preserved, freestanding roofed building. A large number of diverse finds from the Late Ottoman and French Mandate periods indicate frequent use as a shelter or even a place of temporary habitation. The medieval and post-medieval pottery from the site forms a small but nevertheless significant assemblage, offering unique insight into the local material culture of northern Lebanon. More importantly, it provides a preliminary analysis of several categories of pottery which, to date, have been absent or only cursorily mentioned in archaeological research from Lebanon.