Christian Participation Research Articles

TEOLOGI PEMBEBASAN PALESTINA

The Theology of Liberation in Palestine has become a phenomenon influencing the dynamics of religion, politics, and identity in Palestine and worldwide. This paper analyzes the connection between Palestinian Liberation Theology and Latin American Liberation Theology, as well as its influence on the perception and participation of Christians in the Palestinian liberation movement. The research method employed is a literature review, focusing on relevant literature search, selection, content analysis, comparison, and critical evaluation. The research findings indicate that Palestinian Liberation Theology shares the same roots as Latin American Liberation Theology, focusing on liberation from oppressive structures and restoring dignity to the oppressed. This theology has strengthened the identity of Palestinian Christians and fostered ecumenical cooperation, motivating them to engage politically in the struggle for Palestinian independence. Practical support from global Christians is reflected in concrete actions and social activities, such as support for the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement against Israel. Palestinian Liberation Theology has been a source of inspiration and strength for Christians in Palestine and worldwide to advocate for justice and promote sustainable peace in the region.

The Public Role of Religion and the Response of Public Theology

This study discusses theological assertions concerning the public role of religion in post-secular societies. In the context of religion’s renewed emergence in the public sphere, it is being called upon to overcome the beliefs of individual and private realms and actively assume the role of a participant in the common goal of a better society. Religion, in this context, is not confined to the personal sphere but is recognized as a crucial participant in shaping a more desirable societal landscape. Religion holds the potential to renew the spirituality of citizens, foster a sense of belonging, and contribute to the formation of social ethics. In response to these circumstances, Christianity is engaging with a new theological methodology known as public theology, proposing a public role for the church and advocating for the public participation of Christians. This study aims to propose public roles for the church and theology in post-secular societies.

The Antagonist Forces of Mission Work: A Critical Review

Some of the best things in life that have to do with soul winning, evangelism and missions, are now sounding so unappealing to this our contemporary world. It seems that contemporary Christians have underrated their values, perhaps we may need to take stock of what are really important, in this journey of our Christianity. It is time to learn to walk in the spirit by obeying the word of God that says, we should reach out to the outermost world. There is a great need for individual Christian participation in the operation of rescuing the masses of humanity that are trapped in sins. Christian should not be deceived, the devil is not happy at their decision to oblige the reaching-out and even to carry out the Lord’s commands. Satan using different schemes to manipulate issues in the life of men to gain control of them and then dominate the total affairs of their lives by intimidating its own living system into them, that which is totally against the will of God for man.

The Victory of the Slaughtered Lamb: A Theology of Winning (and Losing) for Christian Athletes

This paper explores what a notion of victory rooted in Revelation’s theological grammar might look like. Although this essay might hold interest for a variety of individuals, it is written with Christian participation in sports in mind. What might a theology of victory look like that is specifically Christological? That is the question this essay attempts to address. Before offering a theology of victory, though, we will first explore why Revelation is a place to examine this question and how others have attempted to frame their own answers.

Rosemary Radford Ruether’s Global Scope in Interfaith Reconciliation

Rosemary Radford Ruether’s life work demonstrates in books, conferences, and courses her commitment to facilitating dialogue to advance the well-being of women, not as a secular feminist, but as a feminist theologian providing self-critical attention within the Christian community. Her work is an exemplar of redemptive recovery from harmful thinking and the concrete contexts where harmful thinking becomes systematized and institutionalized. Drawing primarily from her Buddhist-Christian dialogues with Rita Gross, this essay provides a series of vignettes to demonstrate Ruetherian methods for self-critical Christian participation in pluralistic encounter.

Konsep Bela Negara dalam Perspektif Islam dan Kristen Protestan

The background of this research is that the authors are interested in conducting further research related to the Concept of State Defense in an Islamic and Christian Perspective because they want to know more about the concepts of the Koran and the Bible regarding state defense and how Islam and Christianity respond to state defense. Therefore, the author conducted a study entitled: "The Concept of State Defense in the Perspective of Islam and Protestant Christianity". The type of research that the authors conducted was library research, namely survey techniques used to collect data and information from various types of materials such as books, newspapers, magazines, journals, theses related to the discussion of this research, and several other works related to researcher this Tian. While the presentation of the data is qualitative. The results of the research findings that have been carried out can be stated as follows: State defense in an Islamic perspective is in Islam, jihad aims to defend, maintain, and also elevate the religion of Allah (Islam). Islam permits jihad or defending the country as long as it is not with war. Where to reject tyranny, to respect places of worship, to guarantee the independence of the homeland, eliminate slander, and guarantee the freedom of everyone to embrace their respective religions. Protestant Christianity explains that the participation of Protestant Christians in defending the country in life, nation and state should always try to make a contribution to the state. Defending the country is synonymous with the values contained as a mandatory action for every citizen. For Islam peace and if the country is good depends on the actions of their people, and always as a guide is the Al-Qur'an and Hadith to make the country better. The Qur'an also explains obeying Allah SWT, Rasulullah and ulil amri according to Allah's teachings. Meanwhile, in the Protestant Christian concept of defending the country that they think that the country is God, the formation of the country is from God, if they submit to the state then submit to God.

Enabling Oblivion: Global Activism and the Erasure of Middle Eastern Christians

The relative ignorance of Armenian narratives in the analysis of current affairs in the Middle East raised by several authors in this roundtable is symptomatic of a larger problem facing ethno-religious minorities in the region. Until the 1990s, Western exposure to Middle Eastern Christianity in both academic and popular contexts was minimal at best. Outside specific studies of notable groups, scholars largely ignored non-Muslim religious sects. At the level of popular discourse, political Islam had illuminated the majoritarian religious impulses of the region, contributing to common Orientalist stereotypes of Arab and Muslim political culture.1 The presence of several million indigenous Christians, the vast majority of whom represented ancient indigenous communities, was largely ignored among academics and journalists. The notable exception was Lebanon, where Christian participation in the drama of the civil conflict of the 1980s was often noted in the press and occasionally scrutinized in academia.

Local Christian Elites on the Public Scene in the Third Century

This article investigates the involvement of Christians in local public life before the time of Constantine through a phenomenological approach, based on the observation of behaviors and of style of interactions in public contexts. It thus explores how the practical conduct of Christian local elites acting as civic officials could be framed as conventional, in their religious group as well as in their sociopolitical milieu, with minor arrangements allowing for ease in public roles and interactions. This study consequently outlines interpretative paths regarding epigraphical evidence as well as sources less often used by historians of cities for the time preceding the legalization of Christianity. Comparing different types of sources from several areas of the empire and asserting methodological principles first exemplified by the study of an inscription from Kios (Bithynia), this study identifies a variety of behaviors by Christian local elites and of interactions with their civic environment: although barely visible, these modes of conduct emerge in the examination of sources if attention is not focused on conflictual events in the context of the persecution beginning in 303. Despite its rarity, evidence regarding Christians in local public contexts thus emerges as historically significant. This pattern of Christian participation in civic life is perceptible in some regions of the empire in the second part of the third century and reflects a specific moment in the long life of the postclassical city.

“Supersessionism”: The Political Origin of a Theological Neologism

This article proceeds along three primary lines. First, through an examination of the writings of Roy and Alice Eckardt and Franklin Littell, it demonstrates that the categorizing of ancient and modern Christian thinkers under the umbrella of “supersessionism” (along with the label for its proponent, the “supersessionist”) originated not in scholarly works of theological history or systematic theology, where the concepts now most frequently appear, but in the political environment of burgeoning American Christian support for the State of Israel’s military superiority. Second, this article foregrounds the way that these writings opposed themselves to Eastern Christians, Arabs, and church fathers. Third, it shows that, in light of their approach to both “traditional” theology and Christian (especially Orthodox) and non-Christian Arabs, the Eckardts, Littell, and other likeminded pioneers of American Christian-Jewish relations did not so much overcome the “supersessionism” myth that they identified and rejected as much as they redirected its principal elements toward a new cast of characters. The article concludes by briefly considering the common role played by “supersessionism” as a sort of “gateway” into Jewish-Christian relations for non-Western theologians, with the hope of reshaping a historically problematic aspect of Jewish-Christian relations that has tended to hinder, rather than facilitate, more frequent Orthodox and other Arab Christian participation in Jewish-Christian dialogue.

The Kingdom of God as a Foundation for the Relationship between the Church and the World according to the Theology of Wolfhart Pannenberg

Wolfhart Pannenberg understood the eschatological dimension as an essential element in the discourse of the Kingdom of God. Unfortunately, this critical element is often missing in theological discourses in general that limit the theme of the Kingdom of God in the context of the end of time and disconnect it from everyday human life. This work aims to explain Pannenberg’s thoughts about the Kingdom of God, which is an eschatological realityand closely related to Christian participation in the world. The author argues that Pannenberg understood the Kingdom of God as a foundation for the church and that the hope for the realization of God’s Kingdom urged the church to embody the values of God’s Kingdom by engaging actively with the world today.

Public Moral Discourse

Public moral discourse encompasses open discussions in which moral concepts of good and right are brought to bear on questions of public policy and on broader issues of basic rights and the goals and rules that guide social institutions. These public questions also raise practical, apologetic, and political concerns that are central to Christian ethics and moral theology. Public discourse frames legal and political understandings of religious freedom, and Christian ethics has a practical interest in ensuring that these choices do not limit Christian worship and formation or unduly restrict the institutional life of the church. Public discourse also engages apologetic theology in a moral task because the questions raised in public discourse involve conceptions of human good, human nature, and human community that have been discussed in Christian theology across the centuries. Christians have a distinctive understanding of persons in society that they hope to make effective, or at least to make understood, in a wider public discussion. Finally, public moral discourse gives rise to a moral responsibility for Christian participation in politics to create a public consensus on the creation of shared human goods.

The problem of dirty hands and Christian participation in politics

Today, politics, in all its forms and kinds, has been negatively construed by many as a “dirty game,” so that anyone involved in it must at one point or the other soil his/her hands with evil deeds (immorality). Consequently, it is usual to find numerous individuals in the society especially Christians, refusing to participate or get involved in politics. Recognising the manifold fatal implications of Christians’ refusal to participate in politics, this paper, adopting the expository, analytic and critical methodologies of research, argues that the inescapable moral dilemmas in politics should not deter Christians from participating in politics. Besides, it is also argued in this paper that the task of political leadership is one that Christians should and must embrace as a way of fulfilling their vocation as “salt of the earth and light of the world.” Fundamentally, this paper, using the four approaches to Christian participation in politics identified by Lesie Griffin as basis, argues that it is possible for a Christian politician to refrain from immorality (doing evil). By so doing, this paper refutes the negative standpoints of Niccolo Machiavelli, Max Weber and Michael Walzer with regards to the possibility of a Christian politician keeping his/her hands clean.

Importance of Lay Christian Participation on Management of Pastoral and Institutional Activities in the 21st Century

Participation has become a popular concept and a system not only in the secular governments and institutions, but also within religious circles. The author defines the concept. Participation, for this paper is an action or a system of involving all people of an organization in the activities pertaining to their development. In Such a system, equality is the basis of the operations. Everybody participates in decision making that brings out the desired outcome of an organization. In order to bring positive change in any institution all members must participate directly or indirectly. Even if they passively involved, they should be aware in the decisions. It is a right of every citizen under the Kenyan constitution 2010 to give their views during the public participation forums prior to initiating any county development. It is, therefore, important as well for all institutions including religious, including churches to involve their members in decision making and in the management process for effective delivery of service and production. This paper is aimed at determining the extent to which laid Christians of Kaplong catholic Parish of the diocese of Kericho, Bomet County, in the pastoral and institutional management. The objective is to determine how lay Christians participate in the management of the church in the 21 st century, in Kaplong and the entire Kenyan church in the post-missionary era. Like other parishes in Kenya, Kaplong was established by the Mill Hill missionaries as early as the 1920s when the missionaries who came from Uganda ventured into the missionary work among the Kalenjin and the Maasai communities. The missionaries had first to go to Uganda before turning to the Western, Nyanza and the Rift Valley. Reputable missionaries among them included bishop Stam, Jan de Reeper, Brandsman, Ferdinand Fent among others. At that ancient period, most of the pastoral work was done by the missionaries since lay Christians had not acquired western education which was essential in the establishment of the Christian faith. Christianity and education were synonymously intertwined. That was why the first teachers in Kenya were the catechists who pioneered the participation of church management. Having collected the data on this paper, the writer established that, the Mill Hill missionaries succeeded in their mission because of involving the lay Christians in the building of the institutions that have existed to date. Fr Fent is still a household name because the work of his hands is still indelibly seen like the hospital, schools, the Parish house and the old sister’s convent currently occupied by the Asumbi sisters. The paper concluded that most of the underlying factors causing conflicts and disagreements in church institutions emerge when all the stake holders are not involved in the management. Involvement is participatory and it creates a sense of ownership. In the 21 st century, lay Christians have replaced the former missionaries in the contribution of finances of the church. Hence, they should be involved in the management in order to avoid lack of trust and ensure transparency and accountability on the resources of the church.

Eschatology and the Munus Triplex

Abstract The traditional Reformed understanding of Jesus Christ as prophet, priest, and king, and of Christian participation in this munus triplex, can be refined, complemented, and extended through viewing this theologumenon eschatologically. Applying the methodology of Third Article Theology to the doctrine of eschatology enables the full breadth of Christ’s pneumatological interaction with humanity to be explored. Recent attempts to partially employ the munus triplex in the service of eschatology reveal considerable advances with regards to Christ’s prophetic and priestly offices. These efforts are categorized and then extended with a constructive discussion of Christ’s kingly eschatological office, which reveals how through the Spirit the kingdom realities that define our future are drawn back to become (in part) characteristics of our present ecclesial existence.

State, Religion and Religious Minorities in Pakistan: Remembering the Participation of Christians in Punjab Legislative Assembly 1947-55

State, Religion and Religious Minorities in Pakistan: Remembering the Participation of Christians in Punjab Legislative Assembly 1947-55

The Eucharist as Witness of Evangelical Churches in Ukrainian Post-Secular Society

Many researchers note an active process of the returning religion to the public sphere. Jürgen Habermas labelled modern societies as postsecular. The public role of the church became especially visible in Ukraine after the Maidan 2014. This is evidenced by national projects to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the Reformation in 2017, and especially by the formation of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine in 2018, as a factor in the Ukrainian identity. In Ukraine, appeared even the concept of “religious security” of the state.Under these conditions, the classical for the Enlightenment and Modernity principle of the separation of the Church and the State, with a clear dualism between the spiritual and the material, need to be revision. As many researchers have shown, at present, the idea of religious and secular turned out to be not only blurred, but also mutually intersecting.In the first 20 years of independent Ukrainian history, the missionary program of evangelicalchurches was built on Missio Ecclesiae as an activity to promote their faith and spread their views in order to expand their own organization. A search for a new missionary paradigm based on Missio Dei is currently underway. The place of the Church in this process provokes numerous discussions. Some (eg Leslie Newbegin) believe that the Church is an area of mission and the developing of the Kingdom of God should takes place through the Church enlargement, others (Joshua Searle) indicate that the Church is not the goal, but the instrument with which God establishes His Kingdom. The last point of view is becoming especially popular in the modern evangelical movement.Searle criticizes the missionary significance of the Eucharist, as well as other church rites, because for him difficult to see any connection between missio Dei and the eucharist. However, the paper shows the groundlessness of this criticism, because An. Paul makes it clear that «as often as ye eat this bread, and drink the cup, ye proclaim the Lord’s death» (1 Cor. 11:26). According to Paul’s thought, the proclamation of the death of Christ takes place when Christians partake the bread and vine. Author shows how the Eucharist supplies the Christian with the necessary strength for testimony through “judgment unto himself”, which leads to repentance and increasing in holiness. Therefore, the purpose of the Eucharist is to renew and strengthen the presence of Christ in the life of the believer for the following mission.Otherwise, modern calls for the expansion of the kingdom of God as opposed to the expansion of the Church, lead to humanistic activism, which focuses on the active participation of Christians in achieving justice, solidity with the poor and suffering, in developing social activity and so on. All this is important, but breaking the link with the Church such approach leads to weakness of the spiritual life and does not teach the feel and understand the will of God, necessary to participate in Missio Dei.For the post-secular society, the harmony of preaching and sacrament, as a visible form of faith, becomes especially relevant. The mission should be focused on the person, as a holistic creature. It should affect his soul, spirit and body, preparing him for Eschaton (1 Thess. 5:23).

Tatian and Basil: Differing Views Regarding the Pagan Educational System of Antiquity

Advanced education for Christians of antiquity was only available through schools which used classical Greek methodology. This included literature, poetry, and philosophy closely tied to polytheistic and pagan traditions. Christian families and leaders at that time had to consider the spiritual implications of participating in such a system. This article contrasts the opinion of Tatian with that of Basil of Caesarea regarding Christian participation in pagan education.

3.1 Movement from the Perspective on Christian Participation in Political Issues

3.1 Movement from the Perspective on Christian Participation in Political Issues

Culture Repackaged: An Ethnography of the Globalized Sub-Culture of Tabletop Wargamers

The purpose of this research is to show the changing face of cultural participation in hidden sub-cultures of the West. Through repackaging social partnership to adapt to post-modern realities, Middle-Earth Strategy Battle Gamers establish community, identity, and social mobilization through tabletop wargaming. This research is a call for anthropologists to expand their presence on social media as a means of understanding shifting images of culture. It is also a call for Christian participation in all segments of society.

KERUKUNAN DALAM KEANEKARAGAMAN: Struktur Keberagamaan Masyarakat Pucakwangi

This study aims to determine the religious structure of the community of Pucakwangi Village, Pucakwangi District, Pati Regency, Central Java Province. Religious awareness is an important foundation for the formation of religious harmony in diversity. With a qualitative functional structural approach, this study analyzes the structures that form community harmony in its diversity. The results of the study show some basic structures found in the midst of the diversity of the Pucakwangi Village community. Building an attitude of sympathy among followers of religion created with the participation of Christians in "tahlilan" activities, visiting each other in commemoration of religious holidays is another part of the forms of harmony they build together. Counteracting religious radicalism is another aspect of harmony that is built by the community with an awareness of the inter­relationships of their recent lives with their ancestors.