Sisters In Christ Research Articles

From the Ivory Tower to the Grass Roots: Ending Orthodox Oppression of Evangelicals, and Beginning Grassroots Fellowship

When considering the relationship between the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Evangelical Church, can we both celebrate progress towards unity, while acknowledging where growth must still occur? Dr. George Hancock-Stefan, who fled the oppressive communist regime of Yugoslavia with the rest of his Baptist family, now frequently returns to Eastern Europe to explore topics of modern theology. During these travels, he has recognized a concerning trend: the religious unity and interfaith fellowship celebrated in Western academia does not reach the Eastern European local level. This is primarily due to the fact that Orthodoxy is a top to bottom institution, and nothing happens at the local level unless approved by the top. This lack of religious unity and cooperation at the local level is also due to the fact that the Eastern Orthodox Church claims a national Christian monopoly and the presence of Evangelicals is considered an invasion. In this article, Dr. Hancock-Stefan unpacks the history of the spiritual revivals that took place in various Eastern Orthodox Churches in the 19th–20th centuries, as well as the policies established by the national patriarchs after the fall of communism that are now jeopardizing the relationship between Orthodox and Evangelicals. By addressing this friction with candor and Christian love, this article pleads for the Orthodox Church to relinquish its monopoly and hopes that both Orthodox and Evangelicals will start considering each other to be brothers and sisters in Christ.

Blessings or curses? The contribution of the blesser phenomenon to gender-based violence and intimate partner violence

This article examines the blesser phenomenon in South Africa, which gained rapid popularity in 2016. A large body of research exists that reveals that transactional sex is a significant theme within the phenomenon of blesser and blessee relationships. Scholarship has demonstrated that transactional sex has contributed to an increase in human immunodeficiency virus infection rates, especially amongst women aged 15–24 years, as well as a concerning increase in teenage pregnancy. Whilst these are dire realities of blesser–blessee relationships, the one that is most concerning in the current climate in South Africa is the increase in gender-based violence (GBV), intimate partner violence (IPV) and femicide. Therefore, this article concerns itself primarily with this epidemic as it seeks to demonstrate how the blesser phenomenon contributes to GBV and IPV. Blessees are the young women in the blesser–blessee relationships who experience trauma and shame because of the violence and abuse inflicted on them by the older male blessers. The article argues that the church should be seen to be taking decisive action in addressing the scourge of GBV and IPV. The narrative approach is used to give the blessees the opportunity to share their stories. By applying the techniques of narrative therapy, positive deconstruction and the art of holy listening, the study reaches its key outcome: to offer to the church a framework for a pastoral care and healing methodology to help our sisters in Christ to experience healing and to move from shame to self-worth. Contribution: The Blesser phenomen has never been dealt with in theology, especially from the African perspective. Both sides of the problem need pastoral care. The major issue is where do we begin? I started, pastorally working with the blessee, who is in relationship with an older man. The main question that could be pastorally followed is, why pursue an older man for provision? This is a major pastoral issue, especially in poor communities. The younger women are in need of finance, in order to complete their studies and eke out a living. Beside the Covid 19 pandemic, this is the second major issue affecting black townships.

Reformation as a pathway towards integration of Slavic Baptists in Australia

Slavic Baptists, who immigrated and are still immigrating to Australia, are descendants of the Radical Reformers, along with other Baptists around the world. They find themselves in a kind of ethnic-religious counterdirected relationship. Slavic Baptists in Australia are, ethnically speaking, a marginal group of immigrants alongside other Slavic people, but at the same time they are affiliated with the Australian Baptists. This paper aims to show that the radical-reformed religious worldview, faith and beliefs of the Australian Slavic Baptists facilitate their identification with mainstream Australian society through Australian Baptists and other Evangelical Christians, and helps them in their process of integration. One important criteria in the formation of the immigrants’ worldview is their understanding of God. Slavic Baptists see Him not as a national-territorial God, but as a gracious Saviour, the God who is in control of all affairs across all countries. God is omnipresent, perceived through His personal touch of care and provision. He is the God of hope, who always lifts up their spirits in times of anxiety and despair. This is all consistent with their experiences as displaced people, refugees in third countries and immigrants. This God welcomed them in Australia through His other children – the Australian Baptists, who are their brothers and sisters in Christ. The involvement with local Baptists helped them to establish Slavic Baptist Churches in Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney. It enabled them to establish and maintain networks with all kinds of Evangelical Christians. Slavic Baptists love Australia and Australians because of the good experiences they have with the Australian Baptists, who they consider their brothers and sisters. Therefore any local Baptist Church is their Church, and Australian Evangelicals belong to the category of our people, which is very important for immigrants.As data indicates, Slavic Baptists are characterised more by religion (faith) than by ethnicity. The inclusive ‘Slavic’ rather than ‘Russian’ or ‘Ukrainian’ is distinctive evidence of this, while the very identification as being Baptists gives these people a sense of belonging to Australian Baptists and other Evangelical Christians. Being a part of world Evangelical Christianity in this way also gives them a sense of belonging to the whole family of God, which does not discriminate based on differences. Their Evangelical beliefs enable Slavic Baptists to hold a more inclusive globalised worldview. In their case the Radical Reformation with its multifaceted heritage and worldview serves as a pathway for integration into the mainstream Australian society.

The Female Body in Pain: Feminist Re-enactments of Sexual and Physical Violence in Dorothy Molloy's Poetry

Women's representations of rape and domestic violence can exert a forcible social critique of women's victimization by patriarchal social structures that confine and silence them. One such case is contemporary Irish poet, Dorothy Molloy. Molloy writes boldly about abusive sexual relationships, placing masculine violence toward the female body at the center of her poetry. While it was not a new problem, it was only from 1970s onward, with the reawakening of feminist movements in many countries, including Ireland, that rape and domestic violence were brought to public attention. Born midway through the twentieth century, Molloy belongs to the generation of the Second Wave feminist movement, of those articulate women who engaged actively in the public domain by questioning the Church's and the State's authority on sexual matters. Indeed, during the 1990s she was involved in feminist movements in Ireland, particularly in Christian feminist movements such as BASIC (Brothers and Sisters in Christ), a group working for the ordination of women and the establishment of a new Catholic Church “freed from the sin of sexism and healed from the divisions between men and women.”1

Brothers and Friends in Philippi: Family Honor in the Roman World and in Paul's Letter to the Philippians

The essay seeks to demonstrate the value of insights from the social sciences for New Testament interpretation by triangulating between (a) a cultural anthropological model of ancient Mediterranean family honor, (b) the social realia of the Roman colony at Philippi, and (c) Paul's letter to the Philippians. Archaeological evidence from Philippi decidedly confirms the particular aspect of the social scientific model in view, namely, that family members in the ancient Mediterranean world ideally deferred in honor to persons within their kinship groups and competed for honor with representatives of other families. Both activities are amply attested in the inscriptions from Philippi. The presence of these values in the colony sheds light, moreover, upon portions of Philippians, since Paul viewed the Jesus community in Philippi as a family, and he sought in his letter to encourage the Philippians to treat one another like surrogate siblings. This suggests that Paul desired to establish a relational ethos among Christians in the colony which would forcefully discourage competition for honor among persons who took seriously their identity as brothers and sisters in Christ.

Sermon on Matthew 25:1-12

Brothers and sisters in Christ! On this Reformation day, we celebrate the rediscovery of the gospel-the gospel without which the world was full of death and darkness, according to the judgment of Martin Luther. The gospel brings light into the world, into our world so manifestly marked by death. This light is a light which gives life, a light which illumines, a light which warms.

TOWARDS COMMON WITNESS: A CALL TO ADOPT RESPONSIBLE RELATIONSHIPS IN MISSION AND TO AVOID PROSELYTISM

International Review of MissionVolume 85, Issue 337 p. 283-289 TOWARDS COMMON WITNESS: A CALL TO ADOPT RESPONSIBLE RELATIONSHIPS IN MISSION AND TO AVOID PROSELYTISM Monica Cooney smsm, Monica Cooney smsm Monica Cooney, smsm, from Aotearoa-New Zealand, is the Roman Catholic Consultant on Mission working in Programme Unit II — Churches in Mission: Health, Education, Witness — of the World Council of Churches.Search for more papers by this author Monica Cooney smsm, Monica Cooney smsm Monica Cooney, smsm, from Aotearoa-New Zealand, is the Roman Catholic Consultant on Mission working in Programme Unit II — Churches in Mission: Health, Education, Witness — of the World Council of Churches.Search for more papers by this author First published: April 1996 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1758-6631.1996.tb03487.x AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat Volume85, Issue337April 1996Pages 283-289 RelatedInformation

A Stumbling‐block for Jews and Folly for Gentiles

The Cardinal-Archbishop of Paris, two Carmelite friars living on the top of Mount Carmel in the Holy Land, a few Dominican friars, and some 200,000 other Christians, clerical and lay, share something special with me which marks us out, in some respects, from our other brothers and sisters in Christ. We are all bom and bred Jewish, and we share this characteristic with all the apostles, with the Mother of our Lord, and with our Lord himself. Some of us are more aware of our Jewish background than others, and some of us are more deeply steeped in the traditions of Rabbinical Judaism than others of our group. Are we ex- Jews, people who have abandoned their Jewish identity by accepting Jesus as our Messiah, or do we remain Jewish in Christ? I believe that we remain Jewish in Christ, and that Christ calls us to strengthen, to nurture and to cherish our Jewish identity within his body, the Church. There are many people who disagree with this proposition. There have long been Christians who believe that Jews are called to abandon their Jewish identity when they are baptised into Christ, and who see the persistence of Jewish identity among baptised Christians as an affront to our Lord. For such people, my belief in the persistence of my Jewishness and in the importance of the Jewish identity of people like me is folly at best and apostasy at worst. Many Jews concur with this view, albeit from a different angle, viewing all Jews who become Christians as apostates who have abandoned any identification with the Jewish people and have joined hands with those who have persecuted them and murdered them. The baptism of Jews, on their account, is a bar to fellowship, a stumbling-block. I would like to essay a discussion of Jewish-Christian identity and its dilemmas within the Church.

Haugeans, Rappites, and the Emigration of 1825

by INGRID SEMMINGSEN translated by C.A. CLAUSEN i Haugeans, Rappites, and the Emigration of 1S25 In movement its origin bore and the later impress development of its the founder Haugean and movement bore the impress of its founder and leader, Hans Nielsen Hauge (1772-1824), a farmer's son from Tune in 0stfold, on the east side of the Oslo fjord, who worked as a lay preacher at a time when such activity was forbidden by law. The Conventicle Act of 1741 decreed that religious gatherings, conventicles, could be held only under the supervision of the pastor and preferably in his actual presence. According to the prevailing view the pastor was the only person who, through proper studies, could correctly interpret the teachings of the Lutheran State Church. He was the mediator between God and man who had the sole right to administer the sacraments, and as a public official he was accountable to the state for the Christian indoctrination of his flock. As the result of a visionary experience, Hauge came to feel that he had a divine call which made it mandatory for him to break this law and proclaim the word of God directly among his fellowmen. In his interpretation of the Gospel there were obvious elements of North European eighteenth-century pietism. He felt that people had to be awakened to a consciousness of their sins be3 Ingrid Semmingsen fore they could begin to gain salvation through the grace of God. Hauge's religious teachings were therefore also attacks on the rationalism of the state church and its ministers. According to Hauge's views, they doled out stones instead of bread and failed miserably to provide their parishioners with the one thing needful - the word of God pure and undefiled, and, above everything else, a personal religious experience. Despite these pietistic elements, Hauge did not turn his back on the practical problems of society. Quite the contrary. As the Norwegian historian Halvdan Koht has pointed out, a battle was always being waged in Hauge's soul between two apparently conflicting views: in the first place, the need of a personal conversion and the abandonment of a sinful life; and second, his bent toward productive activity. He was a consistent advocate of diligence and hard work. Sloth and sluggishness were a sin in his eyes. His followers were urged "to be good stewards of earthly goods." This view reflected the existence of class conflict and social ambition. Hauge had perceived that the "worldly-minded" had secured power by controlling economic enterprises - and he was specific: " . . .as for instance commerce, and other large industrial undertakings." Hauge felt that society could be reformed if truly spiritual people entered such activities. Nor was he a stranger to the idea that if various economic undertakings prospered for him and his followers then this was a sign of divine blessing - but at the same time he was aware of the danger of being ensnared by the sinful world. Eternal vigilance was therefore of the essence. In this view the Haugeans were at one with the early Puritans of New England. During the years 1796-1804, when he was permitted to work more or less freely between brief periods of imprisonment, Hauge managed to inspire a movement 4 EMIGRATION OF 1825 which encompassed most of Norway. Through his many journeys, often afoot but also by boat along the coast, he won numerous followers - practically all of them rural people or people of rural origin who lived in towns or villages and earned their livelihood as craftsmen or petty traders. There were Haugean groups of various sizes in the small Norwegian cities, especially those on the coast such as Stavanger, Bergen, and Trondheim.1 Through his travels, but also through an extensive correspondence and his printed works - which he sold or gave away - Hauge became the active center in a network of personal and informal contacts. Some of Hauge's letters were addressed to "my beloved fellow believers" or to "my dearly beloved brothers and sisters in Christ and those who are called to become such," without any definite address. They were to circulate from one group to another. Other letters were specified...

Plowing the Sea: Nurturing the Hidden Sources of Growth in the Developing World by Michael Fairbanks and Stace Lindsay

One of the more difficult questions for a thinking Christian is the prevalence of poverty in the world. In many parts of the globe, people who are our brothers and sisters in Christ or fellow human beings face hunger, poor health, oppressive governments, and the inability to education their children.This sears the soul of a thinking Christian.