Local Christian Research Articles

Religiosity and Scientificity: The Transformation of Missionary Anthropology in the West China Border Research Society (1922–1950)

Religiosity and scientificity have long been intertwined in missionary anthropology. Since the 20th century, there has been a shift from religious missionary anthropology to scientific anthropology worldwide. Reviewing published materials and archives, this paper provides a case study of this transformation. It focuses on how the foreign missionary-founded West China Border Research Society transformed from a relatively closed and fixed local Christian academic research institution into a more open, international, and purely scientific research institution disciplined by Christian rationality. It sheds some new light into the Society’s roles and its transformation process. Contrary to the views of many scholars who assert that the Society “died” in 1937 and subsequently engaged in China’s state service and nation-building efforts, we contend that after 1937, the Society sought greater independence and a more scientific approach. Christianity dominated the Society in the early stages after its inception in 1922 in Chengdu, China, and its research results could not be objective or scientific. Although the Society later became more open and globalized, missionary anthropologists still mainly controlled it. After 1937, missionary anthropologists returned to religious rationality under the pressure of being connected to global academia. The Society eventually adopted “salvage anthropology” and tried to develop into a scientific research institution aimed at objective recording, while this somewhat rigid research approach also disciplined and suppressed the nationalist research orientation of Chinese colleagues and scholars. In response, Chinese researchers established other institutions and journals with stronger nationalism and undertook the “border construction work” that the Society could not accomplish.

The art of translation in the Abbasid period

Arab-Islamic culture as a product of the mental and spiritual potential of many peoples around the world forms an important branch of human civilization. In particular, with the Abbasids overthrew the Umayyad dynasty, the role of non-Arabs in this culture increased, and the local population of the territories where Islam originated made their contribution to the all-Muslim culture. The strengthening of Islam in the conquered territories is observed with the strengthening of urbanization. Cities such as Basra, Kufa, Baghdad, Samarkand, Kardoba, Toledo are distinguished by a universal–cosmopolitan character, in which various ethnic communities and religions meet. On the other hand, with the intensification of the translation movement, Greek philosophical thought and Indo–Iranian thought penetrate into the depths of Islamic religion. The local Christian population, especially scholars, scribes and healers, who have firmly established themselves in the administrative institutions of the Baghdad caliphs, in the court of individual nobles, play a major role in this. Their activities are reflected in the work of both christian and muslim authors.

Land Tenure Reforms in the Area of Leskovac after the Treaty of Berlin (1878–1882)

After the Treaty of Berlin (1878), the area of Leskovac became a part of Serbia. With the fall of the Ottoman empire, the Muslim population also departed leaving their properties. Abandoned lands were taken by the local Christians, who had been in feudal relationships with previous owners. The article follows the politics of the Serbian government regarding the issues of ownership and compensation to Muslim landowners. Furthermore, concrete cases of land possession legal disputes between local Serbs and the former proprietors will be presented. The research compares different political and social structures before and after the Treaty of Berlin. Also, it points out the peasants' new economic situation after the liberation from the feudal system. Analysing the unpublished and published documents, with the help of periodicals and literature, the article provides the new insights and views into the studies of the rural history of Serbia and Southeastern Europe in the 19th century

Drug-Related Violence, Substance Abuse, and Mental Health Challenges in a Southeastern American Indian Tribe: A Qualitative Study

ABSTRACT Background Drug-related violence [DRV] and substance abuse impact the mental health of economically challenged minority community members. DRV challenges to mental health promotion are exacerbated in American Indian [AI] communities. Purpose To investigate psycho-social and environmental factors influencing DRV, substance abuse, and mental health challenges within the Lumbee, a southeastern American Indian Tribe. Methods In-depth, one-on-one interviews with 37 Lumbee Tribal Members and Key Leaders were conducted. Results Findings align with existing research, revealing the influence of poor socioeconomic conditions, poor coping strategies, broken family structures, and failed federal policy. The substantial influence of local Christian churches on beliefs, attitudes, and practices of the Lumbee community vis-à-vis DRV and mental health was recognized. Discussion Findings indicated that social-environmental factors, seemingly independent of drug use/violence prevention and treatment, play important roles in the Lumbee community’s ability to recover from mental health consequences of DRV. Identifying barriers to, and facilitators of, prevention and treatment are critical to improving the welfare of tribal communities. Translation to Health Education Practice Major competencies associated with this research apply to Areas I & II, Assessment of Needs/Capacity and Planning. Identification of DRV and mental health education, prevention and treatment barriers are critical to quality-of-life improvement in tribal communities.

New Evidence on the Sixteenth-Century East Syriac Missions in the Malabar Coast: The Muttuchira Inscription (1581 CE) in Context

The present study deals with an inscription on a granite stele in the township of Muttuchira, Kottayam District, Kerala, India. The inscription was written in Malayalam, in the ancient Dravidian vaṭṭeḻuttu script, in 1581. It commemorates the erection of a series of open-air crosses, as well as the placement of a Persian Cross, called the Bleeding Cross. The first cross was erected in 1528 and the last one in 1581. The inscription was first published in 1930 and, ever since, several concurrent interpretations thereof have been proposed. However, all the previous transcriptions and interpretations were based on a poorly executed estampage, which gave rise to a series of misunderstandings. This study is based on a new, clearly readable estampage and gives a transcription in vaṭṭeḻuttu Unicode fonts and in Modern Malayalam characters as well as a Modern Malayalam and an English translation, together with a detailed historical interpretation permitted by new material collected in Kerala in the last two and a half decades. The new deciphering of the inscription sheds light on the role of Muttuchira, one of the main centres of the anti-Portuguese and anti-Latin resistance of the local Christians in the sixteenth century, on the origin of the open-air crosses defining the landscape of Central Kerala, and on the vicissitudes of Christian epigraphy in Kerala.

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.

一般論文] 가정잡지 『신계』(1921)와 강경 지역의 여성 담론

The family magazine Shingye(1921) was created in the Ganggyeong area, a modern commercial city during the Japanese colonial period. It is significant in that it is not a women’s discourse centered on Gyeongseong, but a women’s magazine where local voices can be heard. Namsunmunhwasa, which published Shingye, was the local publisher by teachers including the principal of Mandong School, a local Christian private school. It had an agenda that attention should be paid to the modernization and education of women for the development of the country. Shingye argues that women must develop themselves based on the theory of modernization for good mothers, good families, and good countries. From this point of view, women are not imagined as subjects, but as mothers and wives. In the articles or novels in Shingye, there are only Gisaeng outside the family. Although new women began to appear as school teachers, reporters, and writers in 1921, the women of Shingye became Gisaeng, falling into luxury and pleasure, or shedding tears of lamenting themselves as Gisaeng. This shows that the education and the modernization of women in Shingye are thoroughly imagined only in the family and home as in the early modern period. Although there is a time difference of about 20 years, Shingye has not escaped from the instrumental discourse on women’s education. In Shingye, modernity appears rarely on the pages. This supports the fact that the values demanded by Shingye for women are traditional women’s virtues. Only as long as it is a wise mother and wife, the modernization of women is possible.

Environmentalism and Christian Values in Hong Kong: The Potential Influences of Stewardship, Justice, Love, and Church Environmental Education

AbstractReligious attributes affecting Christians’ environmentalism have received considerable attention since the publication of Lynn White's thesis in 1967, which accused Christianity as the root cause of the ecological crisis. This study aims to assess the relationship between Christianity and environmentalism in Hong Kong, an Asian city where Christianity has been introduced for just more than two centuries. In general, Hong Kong Christians had a stronger willingness to sacrifice for the environment as compared to non‐Christians. Both stewardship worldview and Christian justice and love were identified as the main drivers for environmentalism in Christians, which can be further improved via church environmental education. Our findings provide a particular example to broaden the diversity of the Christianity‐environmentalism nexus and highlight the functional role of stewardship worldview in the Hong Kong context. However, we also call for stronger environmental education in Hong Kong's church to bridge the willingness‐behavior gap among local Christians.

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.

From Singing “Out-of-Tone” to Creating Contextualized Cantonese Contemporary Worship Songs: Hong Kong in the Decentralization of Chinese Christianity

For over a century, Hong Kong Christians have sung Chinese hymns in an “out-of-tone” manner. Lyrics in traditional hymnals were translated or written to be sung in Mandarin, the national language, but most locals speak Cantonese, another Sinitic and tonal language. Singing goes “out-of-tone” when Mandarin hymns are sung in Cantonese, which often causes meaning distortions. Why did Hong Kong Christians accept this practice? How did they move from singing “out-of-tone” to creating contextualized Cantonese contemporary worship songs? What does this process reveal about the evolution of Chinese Christianity? From a Hong Kong-centered perspective, this article reconstructs the city’s hymnological development. I consider the creation of national Mandarin hymnals during Republican China as producing a nationalistic Mainland-centric and Mandarin-centric Chinese Christianity. Being on the periphery, Hong Kong Christians did not have the resources to develop their own hymns and thus continued to worship “out-of-tone”. With the decline of the old Chinese Christian center of Shanghai, the growth of Cantonese culture and Hongkonger identity, and the influence of Western pop and Christian music, local Christians began to create Cantonese contemporary worship songs. This hymnological contextualization reflects and contributes to not only the decolonization but, more importantly, the decentralization of Chinese Christianity.

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.

Liberty of Land, Liberty for God: Between Indigenous Land-Human Relationship and State Sovereignty in French Polynesia

This paper will discuss tiàmāraa faaroo, the concept of religious sovereignty advocated in the Māòhi Protestant Church in French Polynesia, and how it intersects with the idea of political sovereignty. Whilst territorial politics revolves around the possibility of national independence, religious sovereignty suspends the idea of political self-governance, and instead promotes the recovery of Indigenous relationships with the land, a core doctrine of local Christian theology. Religious sovereignty supports a notion of Indigenous sovereignty that is practice-based and conceptually independent of the modern nation-state, but nonetheless is seen to be crucial for national independence, should they wish to achieve it. I suggest how localised Christianity in the Pacific, itself a combination of Indigenous and exogenous epistemologies, provides a model of cultural and temporal hybridity for shaping decolonial futures.

“Holy to the Lord”: The Material Conversion of the Cammarata Finials

This article sets out to trace the trans-religious journey of two objects in the western Mediterranean at the end of the fifteenth century. The expulsion of Jews from all Spanish territories in 1492–1493 instigated the movement of objects from Jewish to Christian hands. Among these were a pair of Torah finials that belonged to the Jewish community of Cammarata, Sicily, where they were set on top of the rods around which the Torah scroll was rolled. These two finials were sold in Sicily and, through a chain of merchants and ecclesiastics, arrived at the Cathedral of Palma and were incorporated into the local Christian liturgy, a process that continued well into the twentieth century. This article analyzes the use and performance of the finials in their different liturgical settings and examines their conversion from Jewish ceremonial objects to ecclesiastical implements. It concludes with a discussion of temporality in studying converted objects, a factor that played a key role in the finials’ migration between socio-religious contexts and resulted in the creation of multifaceted objects.

From Idolatry to Gentilidade: Assessing Local Christians’ Religious Offences in the Goa Inquisition (17th Century)

During the first half of the 17th century, the Goa Inquisition increased its focus on religious offences committed by the so-called Cristãos da Terra (local Christianized populations). Many of these perceived offences occurred in connection with rituals, practices and behaviours stemming from Asian cultural and religious settings, leading the inquisitors in Goa to assess a variety of external features and performances (“signs”) in order to determine the seriousness of the offence and the penalty to impose. While these actions were primarily labelled as “idolatry”, during the 1620s, inquisitorial personnel in Goa suddenly adopted a new designation—that of “gentilidade”—to refer to a type of offence that involved apostasy from Catholicism in favour of the “Law of the Gentiles.” In this paper, I will analyse the context that led to this epistemic change in labelling religious offences, while also comparing the extant Goa Inquisition trials and summaries with later catalogues of cases where offences first began to be designated as “gentilidade.” I will argue that during the 1620s such changes in classifying religious offences were the outcome of a debate that, even though it was external to the Goa Inquisition, incidentally questioned some of its procedures and prompted its inquisitors and prosecutor to repurpose an already existing term into a broad category denoting heresy and apostasy, thus reinforcing the legitimacy of the tribunal’s judicial practices.

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.

Modern missionary work and Chinese women’s literacy: Amy Moore in China 1930–1949

ABSTRACT This article analyses the early work of the Australian missionary Amy Moore, who worked for the China Inland Mission for twenty years. Moore aimed to develop local Christian women leaders who would contribute to China’s spiritual and moral evolution, under the continuing guidance of the colonialism of the European powers. Moore was critical of much of the colonial interventions of Britain and others, but she did not consider that China had yet reached a state of spiritual and cultural maturity, particularly in its treatment of women. Her plan was to improve adult women’s literacy, combining her evangelical passion with influences from international movements for women’s emancipation, and campaigns to improve the condition of Chinese women. Moore’s work was also framed by international and progressive changes in the world mission movement in the interwar years. At the same time Moore responded to modernising changes within contemporary China. Improvements in health, education, and gendered relations for rural women influenced missionary women’s work. Moore shared many life experiences as young woman with Chinese colleagues and friends, yet always the bonds of affection and emotion were cut through by colonial and racial divides.

Effects of Islamic Conversion on Christian Churches in Isoka Township

This study addresses the effects of Islamic conversion on Christian Churches in Isoka Township. Given the noticeable presence of Islam within the Namwanga Community of Isoka and its luring influence on poverty-stricken people in the area, the effects of local people converting from Christianity to Islam needed to be investigated to know the reaction and mitigation measures Christianity had put in place to accommodate the vice. Objectives of the study were: to analyse the concept of conversion based on Horton’s (1971)1 theory and assess the effects of Islamic conversion on Christianity. To explore these, the study drew upon a purposely selected sample of 24 participants from local Christian churches, a mosque and the general public. The Descriptive Qualitative Research Design was used as the foundation for data collection. Semi-structured and Open-ended interviews were applied to obtain the required data. The interviews were transcribed and analysed thematically for respondents’ perceptions of the effects of Islamic conversion on Christianity. Findings: The effects of Islamic conversion on Christianity were determined. Three major themes from the results were religious competition, disintegration of Christian families and indoctrination. The study recommends the carrying out of follow-up studies on the progress of Islam in the area and urging the two contending religions in the area to take advantage of the stance taken by Zambia to promote religious pluralism in the nation to accommodate each other and co-exist.

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

XII. YÜZYILDA ORTA DOĞU’DA ERMENİLER VE TÜRKLER ARASINDA LATİNLERE KARŞI İŞBİRLİĞİNE DAİR BİR DEĞERLENDİRME

The Armenians, who were subjected to deportation many times while living under the Eastern Roman administration, were reactive against the Greeks because of their religious and heavy tax obligations. Therefore, XI. Towards the end of the century, they had a hostile attitude towards the Turks who entered the Anatolian lands at the beginning. However, this situation was short lived and they lived in peace under the rule of the Turks. The rapid advance of the Turks in Anatolia and the rapid capture of the Eastern Roman lands and forming their own administration affected both the Greeks and the Catholic Christians, who were shaken by the news brought by the Greeks and those who left their own country to become pilgrims and went to Jerusalem. Because they had been living the threat posed by the existence of the Andalusian Umayyads for a very long time. As a matter of fact, just before the start of the Crusades, Catholic Christians had started the Reconquista movement to put an end to the Muslim Arab presence in Spain with a united army. With the awareness created by this movement, they took the road to take the "holy land" by accepting the cross and to put an end to the persecution of the local Christians by the Muslims. Gregorian Armenians welcomed the incoming Crusaders with joy and, apart from some isolated incidents, made their work easier by directing the Crusaders. Due to the fact that the Franks considered themselves superior to their Eastern Christian "brothers" among the Crusaders, the bilateral good relations they had established over time began to deteriorate. During this period, although many Crusaders from the lower stratum of the Latins married local Christians, especially Gregorian Armenian women, the friction between them did not end due to the difference in sects. Since the Crusader County of Urfa is the geography where the relations between the Crusaders and Gregorian Armenians were the most intense, the marriage relations seen here were also seen among the nobles and gained enough power to have a say in the administration. However, there were also disadvantages of this intense relationship and Armenians were exposed to the ambivalent behavior of the Crusaders here. This situation continued for a while, but since the Catholic Christians began to consider the Gregorian Armenians as their subjects, the oppression of the Armenians caused a terrible disappointment and they sought salvation in their former allies, the Turkish rulers. For this reason, they asked the Turks for help many times and took their side against the Crusaders. The cooperation of the Gregorian Armenians with the Muslim Turks and their struggle to end the Crusader domination in the region show that the establishment of a Christian union even during the Crusades is a dream. The leader of Catholic Christianity, the Pope, tried to have rights over all other Christian communities because he claimed to be universal, but he was not successful in putting this thought into practice due to the ill-treatment of the knights, nobles and people against the native Christians. Although they brought new troops from the West to be permanent in the region, the Crusaders could not turn the power in their favor due to the unhealthy relations they established with the local Christians. The good relations between the Armenians, who were disappointed with the treatment they received behind this failure, with the Turks, and the policies they followed against the Catholic Crusaders were also effective.