Missionary Outreach Research Articles

Two Testaments in One Bible: How do the Old and New Testaments Interrelate?

The canonization of the Jewish Bible took place gradually in the post-exilic era, first the Law (Torah), second the Prophets (Nebi’im), and, finally, the Writings (Ketubim) in the period between the first and second Jewish revolts. From the third century BC, the biblical books were gradually translated into Greek. Because of the missionary outreach beyond Judea and Galilee, the early Christians used the pre-existing Greek translation of the Bible for preaching and teaching. Both due to its higher number of books and its salvation-historical compositional outline, the Septuagint corresponded well to the early Christians’ understanding of the Christ event as the continuation of revelation history. Gradually, the books that recount the story of Jesus Christ (the Gospels) and the books that communicate faith in Christ and elaborate what it means to live one’s life as a follower of him (the Letters) were collected and given equal authority to as the Holy Scriptures shared with and inherited from the Jews. The Zion tradition is a paradigmatic example of a theological tradition that underwent a long, transformative development from David’s conquest of Jerusalem in the tenth century BC until its reception in Jesus’ ministry and theological expositions in the New Testament. The New Testament shares a common language of faith with the Old Testament, applied to express the shared confession of the one true God, the Father of Jesus Christ. The New Testament understands itself as a continuation of the Old Testament, testifying to the culmination in the Christ event of the history of revelation.

Adoniram Judson's Burmese Bible: Dependency and Development

AbstractAdoniram Judson is widely perceived as the pioneer Bible translator in Burma. His translation of the entire Bible into Burmese, however, built upon three centuries of Roman Catholic missionary outreach. Catholic priests had arrived as chaplains for Portuguese immigrants to Burma in the early sixteenth century, but an indigenous Burmese Catholic church was established within a generation through intermarriage. Barnabite missionaries arrived in the early eighteenth century and engaged in a dynamic hundred years of missionary work. These Catholic missionaries developed key Christian terminology and discourse that Judson drew upon in his translation work. British Baptists were also in Burma for several years before Judson arrived and made their own contribution to Burmese Bible translation. An analysis of the Burmese translations of the Lord's Prayer by Barnabite missionary Giovanni Maria Percoto (1776), British Baptist James Chater (1812), and Judson (1817 and 1832) demonstrates how Judson both drew upon and developed the work of his predecessors in his immense project of translating the entire Bible into Burmese (1840). The Judson Bible, still the most widely used and highly esteemed version in modern-day Myanmar, is an intertextual production. Literary and oral texts, all shaped by their historical settings, intersected multiple other texts over a period of three hundred years before flowing into Judson's translation.

A Woman’s History: A Lifetime of Practising Yiguandao—The Senior Leader of the Subdivision Baoguang Chongzheng

This paper examines a female Yiguandao (一貫道) leader’s lifelong history of practising the faith: Huang Shih-Yen (黃世妍, 1940–), the Elder (qianren 前人) of the subdivision Baoguang Chongzheng (寶光崇正). The journey begins with her conversion to Yiguandao and devotion to its religious practices, followed by her assuming leadership of a subdivision and expanding overseas proselytising missions. Female leaders are not uncommon in modern and contemporary Yiguandao; however, Huang presents a different image from that of conventional female leadership in popular Chinese religions. First, unlike most female leaders who refuse marriage, Huang is a wife and mother; she has shouldered both sacred and secular duties. Second, when she gained leadership, her husband, who was also an Elder of Baoguang Chongzheng, followed and assisted her in managing the temple affairs. Third, she was personally and actively involved in missionary outreach rather than being a spiritual mentor. The materials used to investigate Huang’s life history were predominantly oral history and my own participant observations. This paper illustrates that women’s contributions to religious practices may be on par with their male counterparts, but their stories have been overlooked.

“The conversion of the missionary: A journey of the heart” pastoral reflection

In his plenary talk “The Conversion of the Missionary: A Journey of the Heart,” Frank J. Caggiano, Bishop of Bridgeport, identifies ways by which the church can engage in missionary outreach that will help transform the lives of those whom it serves. In a cogent analysis of our post-Christian secularized culture, Caggiano teaches that the worldview characterized by relativism about truth and morality often leads to the pursuit of power, possessions, and pleasure that do not bring fulfillment. In this context, the word “missionary” refers to every baptized disciple of Jesus Christ proclaiming the offer of salvation in Jesus Christ in a spirit of accompaniment. Faith is a lifetime journey of the heart toward Christ as defined by Saint Augustine, in his autobiography: “for Thou hast formed us for Thyself, and our hearts are restless till they find rest in Thee.” Caggiano cautions that we cannot be a transformative presence in the world until we ourselves are transformed in Christ, which demands more than an intellectual assent, but a conversion of mind, heart, and will. He identifies the three spiritual qualities for ongoing personal conversion as a willingness to surrender to the Lord and his will each day, to be humble of heart, and to strive to be a joyful person and herald of the good news of the salvation that comes only in Jesus Christ.

The Hispanic/Latino National Pastoral Encuentro Processes: Harbingers of Pastoral Conversion and Synodality

The Hispanic/Latino National Pastoral Encuentro Processes: Harbingers of Pastoral Conversion and Synodality Allan Figueroa Deck SJ (bio) Over the past fifty years, the Catholic Church in the United States under the leadership of the Bishops Conference has planned and executed a series of national gatherings known as Encuentros modelled on similar events convened in Latin America under the auspices of the Conference of Bishops of Latin America and the Caribbean (CELAM).1 In the wake of CELAM’s Medellín Conference in 1968, the Encuentros (of which there have been five) became the principle and most authoritative vehicle for the U.S. Catholic Church’s outreach to the Latino/Hispanic communities for implementation of the pastoral/ecclesial vision and reforms of Vatican II.2 [End Page 97] U.S. Hispanic church leadership have recognized the singular importance of the Encuentros. Twenty-seven years ago, in 1995 Archbishop Roberto González of San Juan, Puerto Rico described their impact in these words: The Tercer Encuentro Nacional (1985) led to the creation of a strategic plan for Hispanic Catholics in this country—the National Pastoral Plan for Hispanic Ministry—which emphasizes the Church as missionary, communitarian, and participatory.3 Church historian and theologian Timothy Matovina summarizes the fifty-year evolution of Hispanic Ministry in the United States in chapter three of his landmark study of the Hispanic/Latinos, Latino Catholicism: Transformation in America’s Largest Church, in which the story of the Encuentros looms large.4 Writing more recently in 2021, pastoral theologian Hosffman Ospino observed that “lack of awareness about the National Encuentros of Hispanic/Latino Ministry (aka “Encuentros”), and the processes of ecclesial discernment and collaboration at their core, remains a major gap in the ministerial formation as well as in our shared understanding of what it means to be American Catholics.”5 Interestingly enough, “mission, communion and participation”—the very words used by Archbishop González to describe the goals of the National Pastoral Plan for Hispanic Ministry back in the mid-1980s— are the very same ones Pope Francis used three decades later in the title of the XVI Ordinary Synod of Bishops to be held in Rome in 2023, the capstone event of the synodal process launched in 2021,“For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation, and Mission.” Those three words name the goals of the synodal process he has set in motion. Through the synodal process that the Encuentros prefigured, Pope Francis is creating the condition for comprehensive pastoral conversion boldly articulated in his magna carta of renewal Evangelii Gaudium: [End Page 98] I dream of a “missionary option,” that is, a missionary impulse, capable of transforming everything, so that the Church’s customs, ways of doing things, times and schedules, language and structures can be suitably channeled for evangelization of today’s world rather than for her preservation.6 Synodality integrally linked to the all-embracing process of pastoral conversion that the Pope insists upon, is a concept retrieved from the church’s most ancient history and tradition and a fundamental feature of the church’s way of proceeding. The synodal way provides a promising means for achieving the ambitious transformation of the church, a new model for the third millennium, that highlights communion and participation and thus enables missionary outreach. In this reflection on the Hispanic/Latino Encuentro processes, I propose to review some select background and features of arguably one of the most significant forerunners and models in the United States of and for the renewal of Vatican II’s pastoral agenda sparked by Pope Francis’s energetic papacy.7 Click for larger view View full resolution Logo from I Encuentro (1972). Courtesy V Encuentro-USCCB Hispanic Affairs, Washington, DC. [End Page 99] The First Encuentro as Foundational and Seminal Event June 19, 2022 marks the fiftieth anniversary of the First Encuentro which took place at Trinity College in Washington, DC. Recalling this event in 2022 and celebrating it in the context of the church’s vigorous retrieval of the Second Vatican Council’s call for aggiornamento and Pope Francis’s pastoral agenda as outlined in Evangelii Gaudium provide an opportunity for further understanding and appreciation of the origins of the Encuentros, their...

YouTubing Eudaimoniae? Pachamama, Inspiration, and Manipulation in Platonic and Biblical Rhetorics

ABSTRACT Rhetorical functions of media are outlined in the Platonic and Biblical traditions and applied to 2019ʹs “Pachamama” YouTube iconoclepsis (“image-stealing”) controversy. Where post-Enlightenment theory brackets or dismisses spiritual communication, pre-modern frames offer clear heuristics and vocabulary for interpreting mediated religious protest. In reaction to a culture of sophistic manipulation, Plato envisioned ideals approached via cooperative dialectic. Psychogogy, leading souls, requires artists and orators adapting true, beautiful, and good ideals for people in their care. Plato uses a pharmacological metaphor to show how art and public discourse can harm and diminish, or heal and restore, spiritual wellbeing, and social eudaimonia. In contrast to Plato, the Biblical tradition cedes invention to God, whose message is shared with passion and urgency to guide people away from evil toward flourishing. The culmination of prophetic communication is the Incarnation: Jesus gives humanity direct contact with divine truth and light, and upon His resurrection the Holy Spirit inspires missionary outreach. Today YouTube activists engage power dynamics within sacred space and imagery to attempt Church reforms.

Born by Intolerance: the Formation and Evolution of the “Russian Schism” Management Institution in the Reign of Peter I and Catherine II

The article examines the wide range of questions related to the history of formation and development of the state and church institution of the “Russian schism” management in the 18th century. In this regard the primary subject of the research appears to be the issues of the Russian schism origin and the generated by it state and church intolerance towards the Old Believers adhering to ancient Russian religious rites. The author analyzes the reasons for the state participating in the Old Believers persecution, as well as the motives and forms of the letters’ resistance to the duress of the state and missionary outreach of the church. The author examines the problems of the discriminatory legalization of the Old Believers and the formation of the Peter’s “Russian Schism” management institution, its ideological substantiation, legal and administrative arrangement and functions. Ht also pays attention to the changes in the Old Belief under the influence of the modernization reforms of Peter I. He reveals the relation between the sworn definitions of the Synods of 1656 and 1667 and the appearance of the Peter’s “schism” management institution. He studies the issues of Peter’s institution reforms by the decrees of Catherine II that extended the principles of religious toleration to the sphere of the civil rights of the Old Believers. Still the intolerance to their religious rights based on the civil legislation dependence on the Synod oaths, was preserved both in Peter’s and Catherine’s “Russian Schism” management institutions.

From mission to church; from church to mission? The Bantu Presbyterian Church of South Africa: The first ten years, 1923-1933

The formation of the Bantu Presbyterian Church of South Africa in 1923 was much criticised for being the result of a racist policy; yet had it not been for racism prevalent in South Africa at the time its formation might have been unnecessary as part of the missionary outreach of the United Free Church of Scotland. For better or worse it was established and in such matters there was no going back. However, its mission was hindered by attempts to control it externally by the Scottish church and internally by missionaries and their Mission Council. The first ten years of its history testify to this. Its subsequent history bears witness to the attempt to make it an authentic African missionary church open to the ecumenical scene.

The Catholic Church in Ireland Today

Studies • volume 106 • number 421 9 The Catholic Church in Ireland Today The Catholic Church in Ireland Today1 Gerry O’Hanlon SJ In the middle of summer 2016, commenting on a controversy surrounding Ireland’s national seminary, St Patrick’s College Maynooth, the country’s leading broadsheet, The Irish Times, had this to say in an editorial: The Maynooth controversy would once have given rise to major public disquiet. That it no longer does so reflects the Church’s recent history. Many Catholics have long since abandoned the institution – its princes, priests and politics – and are choosing to interpret the faith according to their own conscience.2 Coincidentally, earlier in the same year, an academic study in the field of the sociology of religion was published with the title Transforming PostCatholic Ireland.3 The author, Gladys Ganiel, in explaining her choice of title, refers explicitly to an article written by Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin in 2013 titled ‘A post-Catholic Ireland?: Renewing the Irish Church from within’.4 Ganiel defines a post-Catholic Ireland in terms of ‘a shift in consciousness in which the Catholic Church, as an institution, is no longer held in high esteem by most of the population and can no longer expect to exert a monopoly influence in social and political life’.5 She argues that the future of faith in Ireland will depend on the development of ‘extra-institutional’ forms of religious expression (religion practised outside or in addition to the institutional Catholic Church).6 Her analysis ties in with the frequently observed characteristic of modern Catholicism in Ireland – and indeed further afield – as becoming individualised and de-institutionalised. With the new emphasis on personal conscience as opposed to magisterial teaching, this is sometimes referred to as the ‘Protestantisation’of the Catholic Church in Ireland. Dr Martin himself has spoken and written frequently about the crisis confronting the Irish Catholic Church, warning that it ran the risk of becoming an ‘irrelevant minority culture’.7 I propose in what follows to describe briefly some of the background to this crisis and then to suggest some ways forward. 10 Studies • volume 106 • number 421 Gerry O’Hanlon SJ Background to the crisis ThetraditionalCatholicismwhichisnowbeingsupersededinIrelandhadmany distinguishing features.8 It was a defining characteristic of Irish nationalism and identity, with ‘a monopoly on the Irish religious market’, a strong relationship with state power, elevating the status of cleric to extraordinary heights and emphasising the evils of sexual sin.9 This was Catholicism with high levels of religious practice, a stress on rule-keeping and sin, a strong ethos of sacrifice and delayed gratification, a familiarity with austerity and a hope for fulfilment in the after-life. It was characterised by a deep popular devotion featuring the likes of the rosary, benediction, sodalities, indulgences and processions. It provided comfort and fuelled the spiritual and ethical imaginations of its adherents, and had a deeply committed, global missionary outreach. However, its un- and even anti-intellectual nature meant that it was ill-prepared for the challenges posed by a late-emerging modernity in Ireland. It was a religion in which the voice of the priest, the bishop, and the Pope could rely on its formal authority to get a serious hearing, not just from the faithful, but also from the politician. A paternalistic ethos reigned and was almost universally accepted. Apart from the popular devotion already mentioned, this was Catholicism deeply institutional in form, dependent on a type of clericalism which was vulnerable to a more critical culture. From the 1960s onwards this more critical culture emerged in Ireland. The influence of television and other media, economic development and increased urbanisation, foreign travel, EEC membership and enhanced educational opportunities all conspired to open Ireland up to the waves of critical questioning and secularisation already well advanced in many other parts of Europe. Internally, the Church was at best lukewarm in its reception of the Second Vatican Council – there was liturgical change which was received for the most part positively, some increased lay involvement, not least in various episcopal commissions established in the wake of the Council, and a real energy around some issues of social justice (not least in the establishment of...

The preliminary urban missionary outreach of the apostle Paul as referred to in Acts 13�14

The objective of this article is to deal precisely and systematically with the preliminary urban missionary outreach of the apostle Paul as referred to the book of Acts, chapters 13�14. This article covers an ample spectrum of Paul�s mission work together with his companions. The book of Acts gives us a full exposition of the Holy Spirit as the primary agent of mission. The Holy Spirit led the church in Antioch of Syria in the dedication of Paul and Barnabas for their mission work which was specifically to the Gentiles as the Jews who were given the first preference rejected the Gospel (Ac 13:46). Christ in Acts 9:15 indicated his intention of choosing Paul as his chosen vessel to bear his name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel, and this commission of Paul to the Gentiles was also referred to in Acts 22:21. The result of the apostles� propagation of the Word of God was that many Gentile people from different cities repented and became Christians. Although the apostles encountered many challenges and opposition, their initial campaign ended in a good mode, as they experienced the wonderful works of God to the Gentiles as God had opened a door of faith (salvation) among the Gentiles.Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: This article deals with missiological issues as it refers to Paul, who together with his crew encountered many challenges in their mission work like an opposition, expulsion, exaltation, stoning and so on. Even though they faced those challenges, they did not evacuate their responsibility of propagating the Word of God in different metropolitan areas. Thus where the element of �perseverance of the saints� of the Reformed Dogmatics comes in.

A dimensão missionária da eucaristia

<p>O mistério da eucaristia constitui a raiz e a fonte da vida cristã e, portanto, da Igreja. É o meio encontrado por Cristo para cumprir sua promessa de “estar conosco todos os dias até o fim dos tempos” (Mt 28,20). Por meio da ceia eucarística entra-se em comunhão com Cristo e participa-se do divino projeto salvífico universal. A proposta deste artigo é sublinhar o quanto a dimensão missionária da eucaristia é ontológica e determinante para a vida cristã (AG 2). E como afirma Francisco: “A ação missionária é o paradigma de toda a obra da Igreja” (EG 15).</p>

A Missionary Church: Introduction and Chapter One ofEvangelii Gaudium

Abstract article provides a summary and synthesis Introduction and Chapter One Evangelii Gaudium (EG 1-18 and 19-49), where Pope Francis outlines his vision church and program his pontificate. He envisions church as fundamentally a church and sees role his pontificate as bringing about transformation church into a church. article concludes by showing that Pope Francis' vision church in EG echoes Vatican II's decree Ad Gentes and is shaped by his experience church in Latin America. Thus, it ends with two observations: first, that with EG, Ad Gentes' statement that the Church is by her very nature ceases to be merely a theological declaration and now becomes a concrete pastoral program action; and second, that EG, where concerns third world are allowed to shape vision universal church, is an eloquent manifestation church becoming a World Church. ********** As first major document his pontificate, (1) Pope Francis' post-synodal apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium (EG) (2) may be considered to be programmatic. In it, in context his reflections on Synod Bishops on New Evangelization held in October 2012, Pope Francis lays out his vision church and programme his pontificate. find an overview this in Introduction and first chapter EG. Indeed, Chapter One's title, The Church's Transformation, captures Pope Francis' vision and programme. He envisions church as a church and sees role his pontificate as bringing about transformation church into a church. Summary and Synthesis Introduction ([paragraph] [paragraph] 1-18) Introduction sets tone apostolic exhortation by placing it in context Synod Bishops on New Evangelisation for Transmission Christian Faith ([paragraph] 14) and underlining experience joy gospel as wellspring evangelization ([paragraph] [paragraph] 3-7). that is turned in on itself, caught up with its own interests and concerns, with no room for others and no place for poor, is a where joy God's love is no longer felt, making us resentful, angry and listless ([paragraph] 2). On other hand, life is attained and matures in measure that it is offered up in order to give to others. This is ... what means ([paragraph] 10). Indeed, gospel is an invitation to a personal encounter with Jesus Christ, which is always an experience joy. gospel is, therefore, an invitation to joy, and proclamation gospel an experience joy. Chapter One ([paragraph] [paragraph] 19-49) Chapter One consists five sections: (1) A Church Which Goes Forth; (2) Pastoral Activity and Conversion; (3) From Heart Gospel; (4) A Mission Embodied within Human Limits; and (5) A Mother with an Open Heart. Vision church. Chapter One outlines Pope Francis' vision church as fundamentally missionary. He dreams, he says, of a 'missionary option', that is, a impulse capable transforming everything, so that Church's customs, ways doing things, times and schedules, language and structures can be suitably channeled for evangelization today's world rather than for her self-preservation ([paragraph] 27). His dream, in other words, is a church that moves from to missionary mode. We need to move from a pastoral mere conservation to a decidedly pastoral ministry ([paragraph] 15). 'Mere administration' can no longer be enough. Throughout world, let us be permanently in a state mission ([paragraph] 25). Missionary outreach is paradigmatic for all Church's activity ([paragraph] 15). …

Together towards Life and the Mission Studies Curriculum

Personal reflection It was a great privilege as vice-moderator of the WCC Commission on World Mission and Evangelism (WCC-CWME) from 2007--2013 to be asked to chair the drafting group for the planned new policy statement on mission and evangelism, and I hope I may be allowed a few moments to reminisce about that experience. During the previous CWME, preparing the statement and getting it through the relevant processes became our main work. The first stage was to determine our priorities for the document. Since we could not cover all the many facets of mission, we had to select what we could agree were the priorities for mission in today's landscape. Looking back at the only previous statement from 1982, "Mission and Evangelism: An Ecumenical Affirmation," it was clear that the global landscape had altered significantly. (2) The year 1982 came before the end of the Cold War and the onset of globalization, before 9/11 and the so-called "clash of civilisations," (3) and in many other respects it seemed a long time ago. In the light of this, our mission priorities needed rethinking. Once we had decided these at the commission meeting in Bangalore in 2008--marginalization, evangelism, ecclesiology, and mission spirituality--we divided into groups to work on them. Each group held consultations to inform its writing. I was privileged to contribute to a meeting in Manila in July 2011 to discuss mission and pneumatology, another on church and mission in Geneva in May 2011, and a third on mission spirituality in Jamaica that same month. Our joint conference with the Faith and Order Commission in Hungary in 2009 supported the work on ecclesiology, the Edinburgh 2010 project and conference helped to frame our ideas ecumenically, and several other WCC initiatives also fed into our work. It was daunting to receive the first reports from the groups and to try and work out how to put them together as a coherent whole. What is more, each part needed to be approved by the rest of the 25-member commission and the discussions threw up fascinating theological and missiological issues at every turn. Finally, one weekend in Geneva in 2011, the moderator Bishop George Varghese mor Coorilos, secretary Revd Dr Jooseop Keum, and I finalized the introduction and conclusion--initially drafted by Dr Keum--and then the complete draft document could be circulated for the commission's approval. The pre-assembly conference on mission and evangelism in Manila in March 2012 was the most exciting part of the process for me. The draft document was examined and tested by 250 mission practitioners and scholars over five days. In the wonderful atmosphere created by the Philippine Council of Churches, the new statement met with general affirmation and the scrutiny bore fruit in many constructive suggestions that were implemented by a further revision group led by Revd Dr Kenneth Ross. Then at the end of August that year it was my privilege to present the document to the WCC central committee meeting in Crete, and it was to my great relief that I heard it was accepted as official WCC policy. Finally, at the WCC general assembly in Busan in South Korea in 2013, I moderated the plenary on mission--the first for 21 years--at which the message of Together towards Life was introduced to the churches. I believe the success of this document owes a great deal to the forethought of Revd Jacques Matthey, the former commission secretary, to the careful steering and energetic leadership of Dr Jooseop Keum, and to the moderation of Bishop Mor Coorilos. It has been a great honour to contribute. Significance of Together towards Life for missiological education What is the significance of Together towards Life for missiological education? I believe we should see its significance in three main ways: in its novel pneumatological approach, in the ecumenical consensus it represents, and in its use of the world Christianity paradigm. …

Augustan Rome and the Body of Christ: A Comparison of the Social Vision of theRes Gestaeand Paul's Letter to the Romans

A surprising omission in New Testament studies of the imperial world is a comparison of Augustus's conception of rule in theRes Gestae(RG) with Paul's eschatological gospel of grace in his letter to the Romans. Even though each document has been foundational in the history of Western civilization, a comparison of their vastly different social outcomes has not been undertaken. Neil Elliott has made an outstanding contribution in laying the foundations for such a study, offering a scintillating analysis of Paul's letter to the Romans in terms ofiustitia(justice),clementia(mercy),pietas(piety), andvirtus(valor), the four virtues of Augustus inscribed on the Golden Shield erected in the Julian senate house (RG34.2). However, a full-scale investigation of the Augustan conception of rule in theRGwould open up new perspectives on Paul's engagement with the imperial world in Romans, given that Augustus became the iconicexemplumof virtue for his Julio-Claudian successors. Nonetheless, the difference in genre and aims of each document makes such a comparison daunting for New Testament scholars, as does the controversy that each document continues to generate in its own discipline. Further, we are unsure about the extent of the exposure that Paul might have had to theRG, directly or indirectly. Possibly Paul saw a Greek version of theRGtext at Pisidian Antioch, along with the Latin text that still survives there, during his first missionary journey (Acts 13:14–50), even though there are no archaeological remains of the Greek text at Antioch today. Presumably Paul would have been aware that the original Latin copy of theRGwas inscribed in bronze at Augustus's mausoleum at Rome. This article will argue that Paul, in planning to move his missionary outreach from the Greek East to the Latin West (Rom 15:19a–24), thought strategically about how he was going to communicate the reign of the crucified, risen, and ascended Son of God to inhabitants of the capital who had lived through the “Golden Age” of grace under Augustus and who were experiencing its renewal under Nero. What social and theological vision did Paul want to communicate to the city of Rome in which Augustus was the yardstick of virtue to which future leaders of Rome should aspire?

The Joseph Smith Papers, Journals, Vol. 1: 1832–1839 , and: The Joseph Smith Papers: Revelations and Translations, Vol. 1: Manuscript Revelation Books , and: The Joseph Smith Papers: Revelations and Translations: Manuscript Revelation Books , and: The Joseph Smith Papers: Revelations and Translations, Vol. 2: Published Revelations (review)

Reviewed by: The Joseph Smith Papers, Journals, Vol. 1: 1832–1839, and: The Joseph Smith Papers: Revelations and Translations, Vol. 1: Manuscript Revelation Books, and: The Joseph Smith Papers: Revelations and Translations: Manuscript Revelation Books, and: The Joseph Smith Papers: Revelations and Translations, Vol. 2: Published Revelations Ruth Alden Doan (bio) Keywords Joseph Smith, Mormonism, American religion The Joseph Smith Papers, Journals, Vol. 1: 1832–1839. Edited by Dean C. Jessee, Mark Ashurst-McGee, and Richard L. Jensen; Dean C. Jessee and Ronald K. Esplin, gen. eds. (Salt Lake City, UT: The Church Historian’s Press, 2008. Pp. 506. Cloth. $49.95.) The Joseph Smith Papers: Revelations and Translations, Vol. 1: Manuscript Revelation Books. Edited by Robin Scott Jensen, Robert J. Woodford, and Steven C. Harper; Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard L. Bushman, gen. eds. (Salt Lake City, UT: The Church Historian’s Press, 2011. Pp. 529. Cloth. $79.95.) The Joseph Smith Papers: Revelations and Translations: Manuscript Revelation Books (Facsimile Edition). Edited by Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard L. Bushman. (Salt Lake City, UT: The Church Historian’s Press, 2009. Pp. 707. Cloth. $99.95.) The Joseph Smith Papers: Revelations and Translations, Vol. 2: Published Revelations. Edited by Robin Scott Jensen, Richard E. Turley, Jr., and Riley M. Lorimer; Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard L. Bushman, gen. eds. (Salt Lake City, UT: The Church Historian’s Press, 2011. Pp. 726. Cloth. $69.95. Over the course of the last half-century, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or Mormon Church, has moved from an inward-looking, defensive posture with regard to the preservation and writing of [End Page 518] its history to taking a place in mainstream scholarship. The present volumes symbolize the openness and scholarly standards that have come to characterize that effort. Joseph Smith wrote little. The Joseph Smith Papers, therefore, include a great deal of work not actually written by Smith himself. The Journals volume includes both records by Smith and, more often, entries written by scribes that were either dictated by Smith or summarize his activities. The editors are careful to distinguish whose handwriting recorded each entry. Indeed, the presentation of all of these volumes allows for a clarity of understanding of not just the words but the process of coming to certain versions of the words—a level of clarity beyond the needs of many readers but very helpful to experts in the study of early Mormonism. For a broader audience, the Journals volume will hold more interest, perhaps, than will the Revelations. Nonetheless, the Revelations volumes are also carefully, even meticulously, prepared and presented. For the expert on Mormonism, and perhaps for the just plain curious, a multi-colored format that allows the reader to see messages believed to be from God going through various adumbrations is enlightening and sometimes fascinating. The facsimile edition will please some readers; the volume of published revelations allows scholars to trace the dissemination of those pronouncements. The records of these early years of Mormonism show us a religious movement drenched in millennial anticipation and in occasional revivals that brought down the Spirit and resulted in such manifestations as speaking in tongues. Yet this was also a period of tremendous organizational drive. These volumes open up the process of creating and maintaining a complex hierarchy for the church. They also show Smith and other Mormon leaders at work simultaneously seeking a home for their community and putting energy into missionary outreach. The primary audience for these volumes will be adherents to and experts in Mormonism. Historians beyond the specific field may also find these volumes of interest, however, and this review will concentrate on a few areas that may be illuminated by these collections. Historians of American religion will find perusing these volumes fruitful in at least two ways. First of all, the religious development of Mormonism itself provides insight on popular religious culture and opportunities to see comparative aspects of American religions. The study of millennialism in the antebellum era, for example, necessarily includes mainstream Protestants, Millerites and Adventists, Shakers, [End Page 519] communitarians, and others. The visions, rhetoric, anticipation, and judgment that characterize Smith...

Ecumenical Connections across Time: Medieval Franciscans as a Proto-Pentecostal Movement?

Abstract In the long course of Christian history there have been many expressions of the action of the Holy Spirit in renewing the Christian Church through a variety of renewal movements. Two such movements are the twentieth-century Pentecostal movement and the thirteenth-century Franciscan movement. While there is no specific historical link one with the other, there are resources in the older movement, with its concern for direct human experience of Christ, its return to biblical poverty, a hope of renewing the church by a restoration of biblical holiness, its experience of gradually integrating its radical view of the end of time with the institutional church, and its impulsive missionary outreach, that offer many lessons for the newer movement as it serves worldwide Christianity.

“THE SHIP THAT BEARS THROUGH THE WAVES”

This article highlights the complicated relationships which Charlotte Yonge constructs between foreign mission, British imperial expansion, and England's own impoverished classes. The Daisy Chain (1856), which provides a clear example of the way the theme of missions might be taken up in conjunction with pro-empire sentiment, also suggests something of the complications which could ensue when the two rhetorics were united in one project. This article traces out the way in which The Daisy Chain employs the traditional metaphor of the Christian Church as a ship riding the storms of life. Through the symbol of the ship, the novel constructs naval enterprises, missions, and the Tractarian project of church building as not merely analogous but mutually supporting, such that the “motion” of missionary outreach ultimately works both ways. Just as Anglicanism travels outward toward the colonies, so, in Yonge's understanding, colonial missionary endeavours reach back and shape English Christianity as well and, in so doing, shape English national identity.

The Vatican in dialogue with Islam: inclusion and engagement

Since the epoch-making Second Vatican Council (1962–1965) the engagement of the Roman Catholic Church in interreligious dialogue and interfaith relations has developed and expanded. Other faiths, hitherto the object of missionary outreach for proselytising purposes, have been re-appraised as valued partners in dialogue. Islam, once regarded as the hostile ‘other’ to be held at bay, became, aside from Judaism, the first among the faiths with which the Church engages in dialogue. An overview of the origins and development of this dialogical activity during the twentieth century with special reference to the relation of the Vatican to Islam is the focus of this article. The topic is, of course, vast. The aim here is simply to distil the essential principles and processes, and to discuss some of the salient features. This dialogical development has not been without its difficulties; it remains, arguably, of critical concern.

Religion and Profit: Moravians in Early America (review)

Reviewed by: Religion and Profit: Moravians in Early America Mark A. Noll Religion and Profit: Moravians in Early America. By Katherine Carté Engel. [Early American Studies.] (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. 2009. Pp. x, 313. $39.95. ISBN 978-0-812-24123-5.) This well-researched and carefully organized study traces the history of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, from its founding in 1741 as an outpost of the international Moravian movement through the tumultuous events of the Seven Years’ and Revolutionary Wars into the much altered circumstances of the early-nineteenth century. Its focus is the interconnection of religious and economic spheres that made the Moravians’ New-World experience so unusual in its own time and so intriguing for later historians. At its founding, Bethlehem was the far-western outpost of the renewed Unity of the Brethren, whose headquarters was the landed estate in Saxony of Count Zinzendorf, the motivating force of the movement. The particular distinction of the Moravians was their all-out dedication to missionary service that, unlike other Protestant efforts of the era, subordinated national and ethnic considerations to religious goals. Central to this enterprise was the Moravians’ creativity in financing their missionary ventures. The particular success of Engel’s book is to explain the contingent relationship between the Moravians’ religious motives and the economic strategies they devised to support these purposes. At its origin, Bethlehem was a “pilgrim community” organized for mission. Its founders created a corporate entity known as the Oeconomy that acquired property, founded businesses, assigned workers, and negotiated with outside interests. In the process the Pennsylvania Moravians engaged in many of the [End Page 613] same economic activities as their colonial peers, but with a significant difference. The difference was that their business dealings were devoted to supporting missionary outreach to other European settlers, native Americans, and the enslaved populations of the West Indies. In its first decades, great fluidity attended these activities, with a large percentage of Bethlehem’s millers, storekeepers, tanners, and weavers going off for short- or long-term stints as missionaries themselves and with economic decisions regularly oriented to promoting the missionary cause. One of Engel’s most important conclusions is that the Moravians did not promote distinct economic practices; rather, they modified the era’s usual economic activities and organizations only to the extent required by the careful moral standards of their evangelical community and for the purpose of supporting missionaries. Into the 1760s the synergy between the Moravians’ functioning as missionary pilgrims and Bethlehem’s organization as a community economic enterprise achieved remarkable results. Even with their strong ties to Germany, the colonial Moravians were among the colonies’ most attractive evangelical movements, and their missionary work among the Indians was far more successful than any comparable attempts by other Protestants. After 1760, however, changes multiplied. The death of Zinzendorf in 1760 left the whole Moravian movement beset by a huge debt that this far-sighted but detail-challenged visionary left behind. The end of the Oeconomy under the Moravians’ new leadership in 1762 began a clear separation between religious and economic purposes. The Seven Years’ War, followed by the depredations against Natives by marauding Pennsylvanians (the Paxton Boys), removed Moravian Indians from the precincts of Bethlehem. Shortly thereafter the War for Independence created tensions for a movement that included many pacifists and also remained grateful to the British Parliament for earlier legal recognition. The result by 1800 was a Moravian Bethlehem that remained prosperous and intensely religious, but that no longer sustained close contacts with missionary efforts, that had individualized economic and moral relationships, and that had evolved into a much more typical denomination. Engel’s account of change over the last part of the century features careful attention to the interplay of local and world events, the continuing integrity of Moravian religious motives, but also the compelling force of circumstances that ended the earlier dynamism of this pilgrim community. With her extensive use of German as well as English sources, her close attention to local events and world developments, the book is a noteworthy example of Atlantic history at its best. Mark A. Noll University of Notre Dame Copyright © 2010 The Catholic University of America Press

What did the Barmen Declaration have to say to the churches of the German Democratic Republic?

What did the Barmen Declaration have to say to the churches of the German Democratic Republic?