Parish Network Research Articles

The Juvenilization of American Christianity by Thomas E. Bergler (review)

Reviewed by: The Juvenilization of American Christianity by Thomas E. Bergler Helen Ciernick The Juvenilization of American Christianity. By Thomas E. Bergler. (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing. 2012. Pp. x, 281. $25.00 paperback. ISBN 978-0-8028-6684-4.) Thomas E. Bergler has written an important book for the historian of American Christianity. Beginning in the 1940s, Bergler takes the reader on an historical journey through the development of youth ministry and youth culture in the United States to outline the origins and process of the juvenilization of American Christianity and “how it has benefitted and hurt each of the major streams of Christianity in America” (p. 7). Along the way, Bergler draws upon archival documents, national publications, published memoirs, and the work of sociologists and historians. He does not intend to blame youth ministry for the current state of American Christianity; nor does he intend to explain how to eliminate juvenilization. Rather, he hopes “that by understanding where we have come from and how we got here, we might be able to choose the best paths forward” (p. 7). In his introduction, “We’re All Adolescents Now,” Bergler examines adolescence in American culture and briefly defines adolescent Christianity as “any way of understanding, experiencing, or practicing the Christian faith that conforms to the patterns of adolescence in American culture” (p. 8). He then continues by offering a brief overview of the process of juvenilization and examining the current state of American Christianity. In chapter 1, “Youth, Christianity, and the Crisis of Civilization,” he examines the perceived crisis of civilization in the 1940s that provided the impetus for the development of youth ministry, before introducing his four study groups: (1) Mainline Protestants represented by the Methodist Episcopal Church, (2) Evangelical Protestants as seen in Youth for Christ, (3) Roman Catholics and the American bishops’ Catholic Youth Organization program, and (4) African Americans of the Baptist denomination. He opens chapter 2, “Misreading the Signs of the Times: From Political Youth to Trivial Teenagers” with a discussion of the developing youth culture of the late 1940s and 1950s before looking closely at each group’s response to the cultural shifts that put American Christianity on the path to juvenilization. The next four chapters look at each group’s approach to youth ministry from the 1950s through the early1960s. Chapter 3 examines liberal Protestantism’s failure to move youth to Christian political action as it effectively undermined youth’s view of organized religion. Chapter 4 chronicles the crucial role that African American churches played in the civil rights movement as they placed their emphasis upon and hope in young people’s willingness to fight. Chapter 5 focuses on the American Catholic Church’s supportive network of parishes, schools, and national youth programs that formed youth in the faith. Chapter 6 returns to evangelical Protestantism, analyzing its continued success in adapting to the ever-changing youth culture even as some ministers worried about the cost of cultural adaptation. Chapter 7 elucidates the connection between the youth ministry of the 1940s and 1950s and the seemingly sudden juvenilization of the American Christianity. Chapter 8, “The Triumph and Taming of Juvenilization,” offers a timely and keen analysis of the state of American Christianity and suggestions for dealing with it. [End Page 958] Although Bergler focuses on youth ministry, the college professor will benefit from a careful reading of The Juvenilization of American Christianity, especially the final chapter. His work offers insights into college students’ experiences and perceptions of Christianity and suggestions that professors may want to keep in mind when structuring courses and leading classroom discussions. Without straying into the arena of campus ministry, professors can help students to develop an understanding of Christianity beyond what Christian Smith labeled “Moralistic, Therapeutic Deism” (p. 219). Helen Ciernick Mount Mary College Yankton, SD Copyright © 2015 The Catholic University of America Press

The Parish Network in the Nahiye of Vidin in the 16th–18th Centuries

The Parish Network in the Nahiye of Vidin in the 16th–18th Centuries

Los párrocos y las redes de sociabilidad parroquial en el mundo rural de la Cataluña moderna: historiografía e historia

Dos son los principales objetivos que nos proponemos en este artículo: en primer lugar, reflexionar sobre la evolución de la parroquia rural como objeto de estudio historiográfico en Cataluña a lo largo del siglo XX contextualizando debidamente esta evolución dentro del marco español y europeo; y, en segundo lugar, dar una visión sintética y global, desde la perspectiva de la historia social, de los distintos roles jugados, de manera especial a lo largo del siglo XVIII, por la densa red parroquial exitente en las distintas diócesis catalanas, los párrocos que gobernaron las parroquias y las principales estructuras parroquiales que vehicularon la sociabilidad de los fieles, de manera especial las fábricas parroquiales y las cofradías.

Parroquias y curas en el obispado de Calahorra y la Calzada (siglos XI-XVI)

La diócesis de Calahorra y la Calzada presenta una red parroquial y un sistema beneficial heterogéneo producto tanto de su formación como diócesis, en la época medieval, como de la diversidad socioeconómica en la que los clérigos ejercían su labor pastoral. En este trabajo se aborda, en primer lugar, la formación y configuración de la estructura diocesana que acabaría determinando la red parroquial; en segundo lugar, se analiza las variaciones en la demanda de servicios religiosos y su impacto sobre el número de templos y de clérigos; y por último, se estudian las características reales del servicio, en tiempos del concilio de Trento, teniendo en cuenta el grado de absentismo, la acumulación de beneficios y los niveles de renta, atendiendo a la categoría beneficial de cada clérigo.

Le contrôle des paroisses, un enjeu entre les ordres militaires et l’épiscopat : le cas aquitain

Controlling Parishes : a Challenge between Military Orders and the Episcopate. Case Study in Aquitaine. In the Bordeaux, Bazas, Périgueux and Sarlat dioceses, the Order of the Temple and the Hospitallers had to find their place in the existing network of parishes and monasteries. At first, the episcopate was favourable to their presence, as was usually the case for any new religious order the interest aroused by the crusades made those orders all the more welcome. As time went by, however, prelates were less and less lenient and considered the orders were encroaching on their jurisdiction through their privileges. Each bishop wanted to rule his diocese as he wished and carry out his own policy. Jurisdictional disputes started to emerge. Prelates were protected by papal privileges from any encroachment of the orders. The latter were trying to gain their « independence » for the controll of their parishes so as to be free to do as they pleased without being indebted to anyone. They succeeded in part, since over two thirds of their monastic houses became parishes in the Middle Ages. But they still represented less than 5% of all parishes in the four dioceses.

Iglesia y repoblación. La red parroquial de la Transierra extremeña (1142-1350)

The parish network of Extremadura can be characterised by its slow development. Once the conquest of the territory had taken place, it would not be until the end of the 13th century that the parish structure would acquire a certain development. This development basically would rely, in essence, on two realities. Firstly, we must point out the still inadequate ecclesiastical organization in a space full of difficulties and slow colonization. Secondly, the extreme scarcity of the population in many of the regions of Extremadura by the middle of the 13th century should be taken into consideration as well. Without a doubt, Extremadura's reality of a weak parish system, evident until the start of the 14th century, is closely related to an insufficient repopulation process and to an intense localization in which major contrasts can be seen between settled zones and practically uninhabited zones. At the beginning of the 14th century, a better parish network organization can be seen as the evident result of a general population increase in the totality of the territory of Extremadura.

Archaeomedes, la dynamique spatio-temporelle de l'habitat antique dans la vallée du Rhône : bilan et perspectives

Within the framework of the European programme Archaeomedes, a study of the evolution of the population in the Western Languedoc from the Roman conquest till today was done. During antiquity and the Middle-Ages, stages of settlement spreading are followed by restructuring and concentrations linked to historical constraint rather than to environment: settlement networks around country-towns having an economic, social, political and ideological role. In the Middle-Ages, a network of parishes followed by an hierarchichal organization (geography of different powers, social and economic competition). As soon as antiquity though, the surrounding milieu was able to be taken into account: according to the figured data of the B cadaster in Orange, the varying of the rent fares for the land and the area to be lent is based on a relevant classification of the soils of the Tricastin plain.

L'habitat médiéval de Saint-Andrieu (Fenouillet-du-Razès, Aude)

An inventory of the Saint Andrieu deposit was made in 1981, after a large part of it had been destroyed by extensive agricultural levelling works. To make up for the lack of digs, the most thorough possible methodology was implemented : toponomy, old cadastres, vertical photographs of the I. G. N., systematic prospecting and textual notes. The ceramics collected from the site enabled us to suggest the 11th-12th centuries. The site is put back into the local context of how the ground was occupied in the Middle Ages. It must hâve been part of the settlement immediately prior to the stabilising of the présent parish network. Nevertheless its exact nature remains hypothetical : mound or settlement organized around a church and its cemetery.

THE CATHOLIC PARISH, THE CATHOLIC CHAPEL AND VILLAGE DEVELOPMENT IN IRELAND

The Catholic Church in Ireland underwent profound transformations in the early modern period. Among the most significant of these was the need to reconstruct its parish network and to provide places of worship for its adherents. This reconstruction and rebuilding phase was largely compressed into the 1780–1860 period and gave rise to a radically new parish framework which was adapted to the demographic, social and economic conditions of that time. Chapels were also constructed in large numbers and their sites were determined by the attitudes of landlords, the wealth of the local Catholic community and the sponsorship of prominent Catholic families. The diffusion of chapel building shows pronounced regional biases. Associated with this reinvigorated parish and chapel network was the development of new villages, for which the chapel acted as a nucleus and focus. The term chapel-village is used to describe them and their economic, social and morphological characteristics are examined. Their distribution reve...