Nominal Christians Research Articles

Problems Facing Islamic Education: Evidence from Nigeria

This study examines problems facing Islamic education in Nigeria. Primary and Secondary methods of data collection are used. Survey research design is adopted in this study. Self-structure questionnaire is raised and used to acquire information from the respondents relevant for testing hypothesis of the study. Chi – square (x2) technique was adopted for data analysis and hypothesis testing which revealed the findings of the study that Islamic education has been confronting with the challenges of acceptability, resources and enlightenment among nominal Muslims and Christians. Islamic education has not promotes Islamization of knowledge aims at reshaping all the branches of human knowledge; humanities, pure and applied sciences in accordance with the Islamic view and reality. The study recommended that there should be vigorous enlightenment campaign showing the merits of this exercise and fruits of its success. Systematic campaign and enlightenment programme should be given priority attention otherwise the idea would be misconstrued and negatively presented to members of the public. DOI: 10.5901/jesr.2013.v3n9p165

The Public Presence of Religion in Western Europe: its social significance among religious constituencies lying between the secular and churchgoing Christians?

The study examines attitudes about public religion in the Netherlands, Britain, France and Denmark using ISSP survey data for 1998 and 2008. The context is de-privatization of religion in secular Western Europe due to Christian cultural defence. The majority of Dutch and British participants hold moderate opinions about mixing religion and politics. The majority of French and Danish participants are against public religion. Comparing 2008 to 1998, anti-public-religion attitudes are more evident in the Netherlands in 2008. It is moderate attitudes that are less likely in Britain and approval is even less likely in France and Denmark in 2008 compared to 1998. Overall, public religion has become more unpopular in all four countries. In terms of differences between religious constituencies within countries, attitudes about public religion have de-coupled from churchgoing in Britain unlike continuing relative approval of churchgoers elsewhere. Non-attendance of services is associated with disapproval in France only. In the Danish case, majorities express anti-public-religion attitudes across all religious constituencies in 2008, including Danish churchgoers. National differences emphasize differing traditions, church-state relations and current conditions. There are two instances of cultural defence in our analysis. The Dutch case represents growth in religious-Christian numbers outside of the churches who are not against public religion. The other instance of religio-ethnic cultural defence is among a growing minority of nominal Christians in Britain, who are neither religious nor churchgoers, but express approval of mixing religion and politics as part of an imagined national identity rather than any basis in Christian faith.

Nominal Christian Adherence

It is the desire for belonging, not believing, that explains why so many apparently non-religious people who do not believe in even the minimal tenets of organized religion will claim a religious identity in specific contexts. This paper draws on qualitative longitudinal empirical research seeking to explain that claim through exploring mainstream religious belief and identity in Euro- American countries. What is often described as nominal, fuzzy, or marginal adherence is far from an empty category, but one loaded with significance and similar to an ever-present, implicit religious oritentation described by Durkheim. The author develops nominalism as characterized by a lack of a strong belief in a higher power, and indifference towards churches, but an (irregular) adherence to religion as a significant cultural, familial, and moral marker.

Spiritual Transformation by Ritualization in Christian Education

This paper begins with a question, “Today, who is a Christian?” This question implicatively addresses the loss of the aim of Christian education. It also indicates that today’s Christian education in Korea has been much focused on bringing up “Sunday Christians” or “nominal Christians,” but not on “authentic Christians” who practice moral conscience and the ethical Christian life as a Christian in the world. From this perspective, I point out the importance of Christian formation in the church educational settings. Especially in this paper, Christian formation is understood as a process of becoming a Christian “being formed in Christ.” More emphasized in Christian formation is the process of transforming both being (belief) and doing (action). Therefore, my attempt for this is integrally to approach to a Christian formation bringing both the psychological, philosophical dimension of moral and religious transformation. In particular, my argument is the question of how to be able to bring out the formation of the moral self and that of public life all together by the spiritual transformation. Accordingly, as a powerful mode for Christian formation, I deal with the subject matter of ritualization, suggesting the various theories of spiritual transformation. Representing several scholars’ discussion of ritual meaning and its relation to efficacy, I focus on our developing relationship with God and our transformation made possible by the Holy Spirit when our lives are oriented toward a life of liturgy. Therefore, the sacramental experience of the Words and liturgy is suggested as very efficacious means to be formed in Christ. As a conclusion, it is in a liturgical process that we must try to reflect the traits with three dimensions which characterize participants’ behavior, I suggest.

Ethnic Nominalism and Civic Religiosity: Christianity and National Identity in Britain

The relationship between religion and national identity is a contested topic in public debates about cultural diversity and immigration. In sample surveys only a minority the British population identify themselves as belonging to a Christian religion, and far fewer practise their faith. Nevertheless, nearly a quarter of the population think it is important to be Christian to be truly British. This study explores the complex relationships between religious and national identities in Britain, using data from the 2008 British Social Attitudes Survey. Three different forms of national identity were identified through factor analysis: civic-symbolic, cultural-aesthetic and ethnic national identity. Ethnic national identity is the only dimension of national identity that is positively associated with thinking it is important to be Christian to be British. While churchgoing Christians are more likely to feel national in response to secular cultural symbols, they are less likely to associate religion with nationality than those with a nominal Christian affiliation. The results indicate that Christianity has cultural significance for national identity primarily as a proxy for ethnic identity.

A Study on Nominal Christians

A Study on Nominal Christians

Everyday Religion and Identity in a Western Manitoban Chinese Community: Christianity, the KMT, Foodways and Related Events

Immigrating to the Canadian prairies in the late 1870s, a predominantly male Chinese population first settled in Winnipeg, Manitoba, then in Brandon and cities, towns, and villages created by new branch lines of the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) in the 1880s. From the earliest time of the province's post-colonial settlement, men could join the Chinese Freemasons (Hongmen/Zhigongtang) whose 1863 headquarters was established in Barkerville, British Columbia, and later the Chinese Benevolent Association (CBA) in 1884 in Victoria. By 1910, a Winnipeg Freemasons lodge (probably a restaurant) existed that also housed a local branch of the Tongmenghui (Chinese United League). Two years later, it became a secret KMT (Zhongguo Guomindang or Chinese Nationalist League in the West) office and one year after that a rural outpost opened in Brandon. While the men had found comfort in the fellowship provided by Freemasons and CBA membership, in the KMT they had Sun Yatsen (1866-1925) who, like them, came from a southern village and was now living away from China. This essay examines the front and back regions of everyday religiosity that emerged out of KMT involvement and relationships, reverence for Sun Yatsen, and a nominal Christian identity in a Western Manitoban Chinese Community.

‘A Truly Christian Village’: The Farmerfield Mission as a Novel Turn in Methodist Evangelical Strategies, Eastern Cape, South Africa, 1838–1883

ABSTRACT Between the 1820s and the 1830s, the superintendent of Wesleyan missions, William Shaw, and his colleagues created ‘a chain of stations’ that effectively established a Methodist sphere of influence in the Eastern Cape. Despite the romance associated with this era, pioneer evangelism yielded Africans who attended church without becoming bona fide Christians, and the small number of baptised, official church members paled in proportion to the actual resident mission population. Shaw and his missionary colleagues complained of equivocation, lack of interest, and dissimulation among their potential African converts. The outbreak of war on the frontier in 1834, the subsequent destruction of some of the Methodist missions and the dispersal of the mission population all compounded the disappointment with pioneer missions. That the patterns of romance followed by despair over signs of backsliding and lack of interest were commonplace in the annals of missionary history did little to assuage the disillusionment. Determined to remedy the spectre of ‘nominal Christianity’, Shaw created Farmerfield, a new mission settlement designed to cultivate a vital, mature African engagement with Christianity. Farmerfield's strict rules of residence, its location amid a white community, and its recruitment of ‘a select class of natives’, changed the tenor and direction of African evangelism as William Shaw had envisioned it and represented a novel turn in Methodist evangelical strategies.

An Organon for Theology: Whately's Rhetoric and Logic in Religious Context

Abstract This essay argues that Whateley's rhetorical and logical theories are systematically related to his religious thought and the religious controversies in which he was involved. It analyzes Whately's works on reasoning in light of his pertinent religious notions, namely, a distinction between true and nominal Christianity; rejection of idolatry; abrogation of Mosaic Law; the relationship of the empirical facts of God's Creation and Revelation to human speculations; the priesthood of all believers; and the concomitant necessity of private judgment.

Year by Year with the Early Jesuits (1537-1556): Selections from the Chronicon of Juan de Polanco, S.J. (review)

Reviewed by: Year by Year with the Early Jesuits (1537–1556): Selections from the Chronicon of Juan de Polanco, S.J. Robert E. Scully S.J. Year by Year with the Early Jesuits (1537–1556): Selections from the Chronicon of Juan de Polanco, S.J. Translated and annotated by John Patrick Donnelly, S.J. [Jesuit Primary Sources in English Translation, Series 1, No. 21.] (St. Louis: The Institute of Jesuit Sources. 2004. Pp. xxiv, 480. $37.95 paperback.) In the field of early modern history the role and impact of the Jesuits have attracted ever greater attention in recent years. Moving beyond some of the traditional—and somewhat stale—categories, such as seeing the early Jesuits as primarily the shock troops of the Counter-Reformation, newer research is examining the Jesuits' influence on the arts, sciences, and wider culture, both in Europe and overseas. This was not, of course, a one-way street, and these encounters transformed the early Society of Jesus, just as the Society helped to transform the early modern world. Indispensable in these investigations are the original sources produced by and about the Jesuits, such as Juan de Polanco's seminal Chronicon. Polanco entered the Society in 1541 and served as its secretary under the first three fathers general: Ignatius Loyola, Diego Laínez, and Francisco Borgia. The Chronicon, which covers the years 1537–1556 (from the eve of the Society's founding through the year of Ignatius's death), is a six-volume account totaling some forty-five hundred pages. From this massive compilation, John Patrick Donnelly, S.J., has selected and translated somewhat under five hundred pages of documents which, in his words, provide "a sample rather than a systematic guide to the Chronicon as a whole" (p. xiv). In general, Donnelly has chosen wisely. The selections from the earliest years are, not surprisingly, relatively few since the number of Jesuits was quite small. Even so, the range of activities was considerable and ever growing, [End Page 814] as we can see from one of Polanco's listings of "the usual ministries proper to our Institute—preaching, administering the sacraments of confession and Communion, teaching catechism, giving the Spiritual Exercises, bringing peace to quarrelling factions, and carrying out other similar pious works . . ." (p. 19). Although a number of these were traditional activities of priests and religious orders, the Jesuits often added new (and somewhat controversial) dimensions. In terms of the sacraments, the Jesuits were innovators in encouraging frequent confession and Communion. With regard to the latter, in particular, this brought both commendation and condemnation from various ecclesiastical authorities. Among the most unique and important contributions of the Jesuits were the Spiritual Exercises. Throughout the Chronicon we see what a profound impact the Exercises had on a wide range of people: men and women; clergy, religious, and laity; nominal Christians and those whose strong faith was deepened through this process of prayer and discernment. From the late 1540's onward, along with the Spiritual Exercises, the "colleges" became central to the mission and identity of the Jesuits. Although not part of the original vision of Ignatius and the early companions, the colleges became a great success because they met such pressing needs—educational, spiritual, and cultural. There were problems to be sure, which Polanco discusses, including inadequate manpower and financing, questions concerning the curriculum and discipline, etc. Still, there seemed to be no end of requests for new colleges, which soon became the quintessential Jesuit ministry. Yet, the other side of Jesuit popularity was opposition, sometimes vehement, and not only from outside but often from within the Church. Although many a pope, bishop, king, duke, and institution were strong supporters of the Jesuits, many others were opponents, whether for ecclesiastical, political, personal, or other reasons. To cite just one example of divergent reactions—the Dominican order—the Chronicon mentions a number of instances of Dominicans who strongly supported and others who strongly opposed the nascent Society of Jesus. Although certain themes and patterns emerge in this selection of documents, there is also an interesting variety of persons, places, and ministries presented. Donnelly states that he focused on Europe because much scholarly attention has focused on the...

Christian nominality in methodism

The paper explores “discipleship” in the discipline of “Building up the local church”. The empirical research indicates a perceived difference in what it means to be a disciple and what it means to be a Christian with the increasing belief that discipleship is an optional extra to the Christian calling and even a “higher form” of Christian development. The causes of nominal Christianity within Methodism and how this has resulted in a misunderstanding of true discipleship are considered. The paper opens a way forward for the local church to overcome nominal Christianity and to enable the process of making disciples and practising discipleship.

Research note: The 2001 census and christian identification in Britain

Results from the 2001 population census suggest that nearly 72% of people in England and Wales may be identified as Christian. This figure is substantially higher than the proportion found by the British Social Attitudes survey and other national studies. Comparing the census with sample surveys and examining different parts of the UK raises two interesting questions. Why does the census produce a higher figure than recurrent surveys for nominal Christian identification? Why, when church attendance is higher in Scotland than in England and Wales, does the census show a higher proportion of nominal identifiers in the latter? It is argued that the answer to both questions is the same: anxiety about national identity. While the census results might be taken to mean that there are more Christians than expected, such an interpretation is probably mistaken.

Conversos, Inquisition, and the Expulsion of the Jews from Spain by Norman Roth

Conversos, Inquisition, and the Expulsion of the Jews from Spain. By Norman Roth. (Madison: The University of Wisconsin Press. 1995. Pp. xvi, 429. $50.00.) There are many books on the conversion of Iberian Jews to Christianity, the establishment of the Spanish Inquisition, and the Expulsion of 1492. Most scholars, whether Jewish or Christian, have emphasized the forced nature of the conversions, and, as a result of this, the existence of a large number of only nominal Christians, many of them secretly attached to Judaism and therefore persecuted by the Inquisition down to the eighteenth century. While, in his Marranos (1966), Benzion Netanyahu argued that over some decades most conversos became sincere Christians, he accepted the forced nature of the original conversions. In contrast, Professor Roth argues that almost all the conversions were free and that, from the beginning, the great majority of the conversos were sincere Christians. Roth cites many Spanish and Hebrew sources. In a short review it is impossible to discuss in detail how he uses them. There are three main problems with the book: its claims to originality, its selective use of evidence, and, most important, its adamant insistence on positions adopted a priori. Roth claims (pp. xii f.) that his book is the first detailed examination of the role of the conversos in Spanish society and the first to connect the fifteenthcentury Inquisition with its predecessor, founded two hundred years earlier. Given previous scholarship, it is hard to take these claims seriously. To establish them, Roth is obliged to attack his predecessors (see below). Two examples of the selective use of evidence may suffice. Roth accepts (pp. 68 f.) part of a statement of ca. 1490 on the good Christians converted eighty years earlier, while rejecting the reference in the same source to contemporary conversions, impelled by fear. On page 162 (n. 17), citing a text which refers to persons converted by force, he inserts the word few in his source. Roth starts from the unproven assumption that the conversions were free. Discussing the reasons for the conversions of many Jews in 1391 and later, Roth states (p. 8) that in Spain or almost none of the conversions had anything to do with duress or persecution. On page 32 we are told that in 1391, given the forceful reaction of the Kings there was clearly no reason for `fear. These points are repeated many times (cf. pp. 34,115, 217, etc.; a weakness of the book is an excessive tendency to repetition). They are hardly supported by the evidence, only a fraction of which is cited here. (To save space, I refer to my book, The Spanish Kingdoms, II, 139-141.) If, in 1391, Jews freely chose [Roth's emphasis] to become Christians (p. 44), one may ask why they did not do so earlier? The answer is obvious; before 1391 they were not in deadly fear of massacre by Christian mobs. The inescapable question which so far not one single scholar has attempted to address: if Jews were being 'coerced' into convert ting in Spain, why did they not leave the country (pp. 43 f.), is one which could only have occurred to someone living in the twentieth century. In the 1390's simply leaving the country meant abandoning one's roots and one's local community. …

Conversion in the Bible

A variety of Hebrew and Greek words are used in the Bible to convey the concept of ‛conversion’. The New Testament recognises both ‛insider conversion’ and ‛outsider conversion’—the former being a call to return to their God and the latter demanding both a new experience of God and a change of religious affiliation. The distinction rests on where a person comes from and the degree of dislocation involved in joining the community of faith. Nevertheless, within the new community the distinction is theologically unimportant. As the church became increasingly separate from Judaism, the conversion of Jews was seen more and more as ‛outsider conversion’; with the growth of ‛nominal Christianity’ the need for ‛insider conversion’ has redeveloped.

Aragonese and catalan Jewish converts at the time of the expulsion

Historians of fifteenth-century Spanish Jewry have had to grapple with few problems as controversial or complex as that of Jewish conversion to Christianity and its implications for both Jewish and Christian societies. The forced conversion of Jews on a massive scale during the pogroms of 1391, and the subsequent voluntary conversions in the wake of the Disputation of Tortosa and the preaching of the Dominican Vicent Ferrer (1412-15) gave rise to the converso problem, that of nominal Christians whose relationship to their new faith covered a broad spectrum of stances, ranging from zealous adherence to outright rejection in favor of the Jewish faith of their ancestors. In any case, it is probable that the presence of this new socioreligious group that bridged the gap between Christian and Jewish societies was an important factor encouraging and facilitating the continual trickle of Jewish conversions after the traumas of the late fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries. The dilemma presented by the existence of a large body of New Christians evoked varied responses from Jewish and Christian authorities, and eventually led the Catholic monarchs, Fernando of Aragon and Isabel of Castile, to establish the Spanish Inquisition (1478-83) in order to eradicate the judaizing conversos from Christian society. Once inquisitorial investigations revealed clearly what many already suspected or knew that Jews actively abetted those conversos so inclined in their maintenance of a Jewish life Fernando and Isabel in 1492 took the decisive step of expelling all Jews from Castile and Aragon in the hope of protecting the New Christians from further Jewish contamination.1 Yet the expulsion itself served only to compound the converso problem, for many Jews and it is unlikely that historians will ever know how many opted for baptism instead of exile from what had been their homeland for well over a millennium.2

Parnassus Restored, Saints Confounded: The Secular Challenge to the Age of the Godly, 1560–1660

The conception of English culture in the century that was brought to a climax in Cromwellian triumph and tragedy has suffered from a flatness of historical perception, one major cause of which has been insufficient recognition of the thought and esthetic creativity of nominal Christian and emphatically non-Puritan intellectuals and artists. We have concentrated too much on defining the novelties, indeed often inappreciable differences, that characterized pre-revolutionary and revolutionary Christian factionalism in England: Anglicanism, Puritanism, Sectarianism, Laudianism, and now Arminianism. I want instead to make a case for the neglected power, pervasiveness, and perdurability of varieties of secularism in the age of the Godly.Although a growing number of scholars are aware of the importance of literature to the dynamics of this astonishing epoch, the redoubtable spirit of William Haller prevails still in historical efforts to reconstitute the cultural context of that literature. The pagan bedrock laid down by a century of humanist imports is obscured by the flood of ephemeral sermons and miscellaneous religious discourse. Recent literary scholarship, on the other hand, having shaken the incubus of F. R. Leavis and not yet succumbed to post-structuralism, has given us models with which to illuminate prerevolutionary English culture: the monographs of Stephen Greenblatt, Jonathan Dollimore, and Stephen Orgel investigate the penetration of secular humanism into literature, historical writing,and popular and court theatre. They could lead us out of the fog created by the supersaturated climate of Protestant culture.

Gereformeerde teologiese opleiding vir Afrika in die een-en-twintigste eeu

Although the numbers and influence of the Reformed Churches in South Africa seem to be dwindling at the moment, they still have a precious heritage which should be passed on to Africa: the reformed faith and reformed theology:. Christianity is growing apace in Africa, but unfortunately this is often a superficial, nominal Christianity. A great need and desire for thorough, biblical, theological training does exist. This need should be answered by the Reformed Churches by providing theological courses for extension training at four academic levels, especially for equipping leaders of the independent African churches, not with the purpose of making proselites, but primarily with the purpose of biblical leaching where it is needed. These courses should be made available at inter alia the Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education, which is already involved in the Timoteus correspondence course.

Counting America's Jews: Clarifying the Procedures: A Research Note

We have read with much interest Rodney Stark's recent essay in this journal (1987), in which he suggests procedures for correcting the data in the 1971 and 1980 Glenmary Research Center studies of church membership in the United States. Stark is concerned, in part, with the version of the 1971 Glenmary study that we created through the addition of data on American Jews taken from the American Jewish Yearbook. However, there appears to be a misunderstanding on Stark's part concerning the characteristics of these 1971 data. Our purpose here is to clarify these matters. After stipulating that the American Jewish Yearbook offers "relatively good data" (p. 69), Stark observes that many persons claiming Jewish identity "are not members of a congregation" (p. 69). Accordingly, based on estimates provided by Gallup (1978), Stark proposes to adjust the American Jewish Yearbook data for 1971 to correct for these uncounted, unaffiliated Jews. As we have noted from the earliest (Newman, Halvorson, & Brown 1977) to the more recent (Newman & Halvorson 1982, 1984, 1987) of our works with the 1952, 1971, and 1980 studies, the American Jewish Yearbook provides a "culture count" that estimates the Jewish population in communities with 100 or more such persons in residence. These data are not reports or estimates of congregational or synagogue memberships. Thus, while Stark is correct that these data entail some undercounting, he is wrong about the nature of these deficits, and perhaps about their magnitudes as well. Consequently, it is not appropriate to adjust estimates of the size of the Jewish population in 1971 according to estimates of the relative proportions of members and non-members from survey data or any other data. This is because both of these categories are already included in the "culture count" type of statistic provided in the American Jewish Yearbook. It is precisely this feature of the Yearbook data that makes them comparable to the "adherents" (as opposed to the "members") statistic found in the Glenmary studies. The Glenmary "adherents" statistic, though calculated somewhat differently by various Christian denominations, is an inclusive statistic and accounts for so-called backdoor or nominal Christians who

FUNDAMENTALISME – JA OF NEE?

FUNDAMENTALISM – YES OR NO? Fundamentalism does not exist, at least not as a ‘highly self-enclosing ideology’ as James Barr puts it. What we do have, is a mass of disparate religious and cultural phenomena with identifiable common characteristics. In various part of the world these phenomena are known by various names. They exist wherever the Bible is accepted as the word of God. One of the most basic traits, common to religious fundamentalism, is the totalitarian view of the Bible, i e that the Bible is the inspired and infallible word of God. Therefore it is universally normative. Concomitant with this point of view we find, to a more or lesser degree, theological themes such as the universality of sin, divinity of Christ, the Immaculate Conception, personal and religious experiences, imminent judgment of the world, and so on. Where one or more of these concepts dominate to the point of becoming totalitarian, the resultant view of life is exclusivism. This in effect means a dualistic view of Scripture and life, viz true as against nominal Christians, conservative as against historical critical examination, and application of the Bible and its message. This paper explores illustratively the views and issue of fundamentalism in many parts of the Christian world and its theological thinking, with particular attention to their manifestation on the South African scene. The bottom line remains throughout: fundamentalism is a pathological phenomenon, wo which we sincerely and firmly reply: no!

Cult Consumption in Canada: A Further Critique of Stark and Bainbridge

Stark and Bainbridge have asserted that because of the unique ability of religion to address ultimate questions, secularization stimulates religious innovation. The decline of some religions is associated with the rise of new ones, precisely because the market becomes more open. Stark and Bainbridge have used North American and European data to show that cult activity is in fact most concentrated where conventional participation appears to be weakest. The authors examine three key assumptions of Stark and Bainbridge pertaining to (1) the human need for supematurally-based answers, (2) the necessity of religion providing those answers, and (3) cult concentration representing inevitable numerical growth. It is argued that these assumptions are precarious, and that the available data suggest not a perpetual religion market but a durable a-science market, produced by the inclination of societies to legitimize the co-existence of non-naturalistic as well as naturalistic explanations. Recent national Canadian cross-sectional and longitudinal data are used to show that cult concentration represents only a necessary condition for the recruitment of the non-religious. While considerable switching to “something” has characterized both Canadians with “no affiliation” parents and those who themselves at some stage were “none,” the switching has typically been in the direction of nominal Christianity rather than cult participation. These findings support earlier national data which indicate that an increasing proportion of people—now a slight majority—are rejecting religious meaning systems, old and new, in favour of a-scientific fragments. The authors conclude with a discussion of factors which have contributed to such a preference in Canada and other highly industrialized societies.