Small Church Research Articles

обидѫ сътворити или обидҍти? On the Position of Verbal Periphrases with the Semantics of ‘Causing Damage’ in the Old Church Slavonic Lexical Inventory

The article is devoted to the study of Old Сhurch Slavonic verbal periphrases. The concept of «verbal periphrasis» goes back to the conception of Charles Bally, who first drew attention to verbal periphrases, distinguishing them among phraseological phrases (restricted collocations) in French. One-word Greek verbs in the originals of Old Сhurch Slavonic texts can be rendered as one-word Old Сhurch Slavonic verbs and verbal periphrases. The article analyzes the use of one-word verbs and verbal periphrases in Old Сhurch Slavonic within the framework of a small thesaurus Greek-Old Church Slavonic group with the semantics of ‘causing damage’. Greek one-word verbs of the active voice with the semantics of ‘causing damage’ can be rendered by verbal periphrases with the verbs творити, сътворити, дэяти. Periphrases with the verbs приѩти, приимати serve to render the forms of the verbal paradigm of the same Greek one-word verbs but forms of the media-passive voice. The role of informatively compensating dependent words is played by “old” Slavic lexemes обида, врэдъ, пакость, напасть, огавиѥ, inherited, most likely, from Proto-Slavic. The presented material indicates that verbal periphrases with the semantics of ‘causing damage’ were not the result of phraseological calquing of Greek or Latin counterparts but were formed on a proper Slavic basis.

Perceptions of Burnout Among Black Pastors of Small Churches: A Phenomenological Study

The purpose of this study was to explore the roles and responsibilities of Black pastors and how they might contribute to burnout. Five participants (four men, one woman) were selected from a sample of 25 Black pastors who completed the Maslach Burnout Inventory-Human Services Survey (MBI-HSS) and agreed to be interviewed. Transcendental phenomenology, a qualitative analysis, was used to understand the essence of meaning of burnout among the five interview participants. Four themes were identified from the data, which allowed the essence of meaning of burnout to be constructed: (1) Burnout is Emotionally Tiring; (2) Ministerial Demands and Rewards; (3) Cultural Aspects; and (4) Personal Before Professional. Findings suggest that Black pastors are subject to experiencing emotional, physical, and spiritual fatigue; that denomination-specific tasks and cultural factors (i.e., age, race, and gender) add to the uniqueness and challenges of their pastoral identity; and that the choice to prioritize personal life over professional life ensures the stability in their personal relationships with God and their families.

Between Transcendental and National: Wooden Churches of Slovakia

ABSTRACT The Eastern Carpathian Mountain region is home to Slavic peoples, who celebrate the bringing of Christianity by Saints Cyril and Methodius in the ninth century. The mountainous region retains small village churches, some dating from the eighteenth century, each established within agrarian communities by Roman Catholic, Greek Catholic, Protestant, or Orthodox denominations. Despite village subjugation under the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Nazi occupation, Russian “liberation” and Socialist-era suppression of non-Orthodox denominations, these exquisite vernacular structures have remained and illustrate the continuing transcendental experience for worshipers but also now shared with those who celebrate them as symbols of national resistance, as well as tourists who come to experience them as UNESCO World Heritage sites. Sharing a common church object, traditional typological and formal aesthetic approaches that have been established by researchers for these structures are contrasted against a phenomenologically rooted set of embodied modes for meaning across examples from extant structures within Slovakia. Embodied approaches provide, via modes of lived experience, a deep offering into what each church shares with their ecological landscape, village, and history; a holistic visceral tapestry key to their appreciation complimenting the typological and differently affirming their continuing value.

“We just want to sing”: how a small London evangelical church responded to Covid-19

ABSTRACT This article documents the myriad ways in which a north London evangelical church responded to Covid-19 when it was decanted from its church building into cyberspace. By focusing on three aspects of Hovland’s framework of place-making—materiality, personhood, and transcendence (Hovland 2016), I analyse how church members viewed their experience of attending an online church. Apart from contributing to the literature on non-charismatic, non-Pentecostal evangelicalism, it suggests that the importance of singing together, as well as the silence and bodily stillness that sometimes ensue, in the everyday life of a church deserves further attention in a comparative anthropology of Christianity.

“They are all here to see and touch”

The sanctuary of St Anthony of Padua (Kisha e Shna Ndout) in Laç, northern Albania, is one of the most visited religious places in Albania. The small church, built there and ministered by Franciscans, is now an impressive place of worship frequented by Catholics, Muslims and Christian Orthodox. Throughout the year, pilgrims from across the country, but also from Kosovo, visit the sanctuary. On the 12th and 13th of June of each year, an official pilgrimage is held, which reaches its climax on the night of the 12th when many thousands of Albanians sleep in the shrine seeking blessings and healing. This article aims to explore pilgrimage-related practices, wherein arises materiality as a privileged means of reaching out to the divine and as a reaction to silencing during the communist era (1945–1991). Such practices are overshadowed by nationalist discourse, in which ethnic-linguistic membership outweighs the religious one, even undermining procedural and terminological normativity.

Legal nature of marital relations: theory and practice

The family is the primary and main center of society. The family is the main institution of society. In turn, the institution of the family includes many more private institutions, namely the institution of marriage, the institution of kinship, the institution of motherhood and fatherhood, the institution of property, the institution of social protection of childhood and guardianship, and others.
 Marriage is an institution that regulates the relationship between a man and a woman. It is marriage in human society that is considered the only acceptable, socially approved and legally established form.
 Marriage is the family union of a woman and a man, registered in the state registry of civil status acts. Persons who have reached marriageable age have the right to marry. Marriage is based on the free consent of a woman and a man.
 The religious rite of marriage takes place now everywhere in Ukraine. The spiritual majesty of the temple or even the smallest church with church singing, crowns on the heads of the bride and groom, kind parting words of the priest - all this makes the wedding an unforgettable event in life. However, the religious rite of marriage has no legal significance. The religious rite of marriage, as before, does not create the rights and obligations of a spouse, remaining a personal matter of a woman and a man. Persons who, after the wedding, live together without registering a marriage have the status of a family, but do not have the legal status of spouses.
 Legal regulation of family relations is the main task of the Family Code of Ukraine, which defines the principles of marriage, personal non-property and property rights and obligations of spouses, the grounds for their origin, the content of personal non-property and property rights and obligations of parents and children, adopters and adoptees, other members family and relatives.
 Family relations are regulated by the Family Code of Ukraine with the aim of strengthening the family as a social institution and as a union of specific persons, establishing a sense of duty to parents, children and other family members, building family relations on the basis of parity, on feelings of mutual love and respect, mutual help and support, providing each child with family upbringing, the possibility of spiritual and physical development.
 A marriage is terminated as a result of its dissolution by joint application of the spouses or one of them. A marriage is terminated as a result of its dissolution by a joint application of the spouses on the basis of a court decision. A marriage is terminated as a result of its dissolution at the request of one of the spouses on the basis of a court decision in accordance with the Family Code of Ukraine.

Transient communities: The case of a refugee choir in the Catholic church of Lesvos — Eirini Papanikolaou, Jennifer Sherrill & Antonis Ververis

For many refugees fleeing conflict in the Middle East and Africa, the Greek island of Lesvos is the first point of entry into the European Union. However, due to an agreement between the European Union and Turkey declared in March of 2016, people crossing the Aegean Sea without formal travel documents would be detained on the Greek islands until their asylum applications were examined. This bureaucratic slowdown trapped refugees on Lesvos for months and years of unknown waiting. At the same time, the arrival of refugees from various African countries led to a flourishing of the small Catholic church in the capital city, Mytilene. In 2017, a parish choir was established by Congolese refugees with the purpose of providing a refuge to members who sought a sense of community, spirituality, and normality. Through interviews, participatory observation, and polyvocal ethnography, we address the following research areas: the importance of spirituality in the lives of refugees, how participation in the choir helped them to feel a sense of community, and the use of choral singing as a form of integration. More specifically, we discuss how the refugee-initiated autonomous aspect of the choir created an environment in which each member had a personal stake in developing and caring for the choir community as a whole. As a majority of the interviewees felt that singing for God was the highest purpose, participation in this choir helped members connect to their faith while also giving a much-needed sense of purpose in uncertain times.

Добыча и обработка камня в средневековом городе на плато Эски-Кермен

Archaeological researches at the plateau of Eski-Kermen has recorded the traces of large-scale construction works carried out when the castle was built in the late sixth century and later, in the tenth and eleventh centuries, when several homesteads in the town quarters were demolished and small aisleless churches were erected at their places. The urban building was directly connected with stone-mining and stone-working. The most noticeable traces of ashlar-mining on the plateau appear in the sites between the three marches of the ascension road to the main gate of the town, which is carved into the bedrock of the south-western slope of the table mountain. The traces of work on the ashlars from the ruined buildings suggest the use of a pick, adze, simple and toothed chisel by local stonemasons. Mediaeval stonemasons also put special cross-shaped marks on the stones to indicate the batch of building materials prepared for the church construction. The living conditions in the castle and, later, in the town at the rocky plateau forced the local inhabitants to learn the skills of stone-working, as the mining and working of stone was in permanent need for the building and reconstruction of economic rooms, artificial caves, carving of graves, and making of household implements, such as the lids for pythoi and water-trough for livestock. Centuries-long life on the rocks probably developed a guild of professional stonemasons, or λάτομοι, in the town, who mined and dressed stone and passed on their skills from generation to generation. More complex work with stone, such as the making of architectural details and carving of decorations, wee plausibly done in specialised workshops (έργαλεΐον τους πελεκάνους) located outside the town, most likely near the quarries. The identification of the sites of these workshops in the south-western Crimea is a subject for the future research.

LOCUS THEOLOGIAE W ARCHITEKTURZE I SZTUCE SAKRALNEJ – STUDIUM PRZYPADKU

The article, in the theological and philosophical key, shows the Christian understanding of beauty and its place in the broadly understood sacred art. The author points to a specific evolution of beauty, which from the Renaissance to modern times lost its original mysticism of beauty in favor of its individualistic interpretations, closing the need to find divine-human unity in sacred art. This is expressed in the liturgy and the eternal connection with it of the arts, both structural and expressive. Looking for patterns reaching the essence of beauty in sacred arts, the author brings out two Italian architects: Ciro Lomonte and Guido Santoro, who in a small parish church in Sancipirello reached for the primal instinct of beauty in sacred art and, through simple forms, made a kind of sacralization of the "naked" church interior.

Theory of Technomagic: Spells, Ecstasy and Possessions in Digital Culture

The rituals, ceremonies and effervescence of the sacred manifest themselves in digital culture not only through the proliferation of new religious cults. They do so through the online actualisation of traditional religious forms but also the spiritual elevation of objects (Houtman & Meyer, 2012), practices (Carolyn, 2014) or ephemeral, playful and dreamlike images (Susca, 2016). In most cases, they involve figures that evoke the most sensitive and immaterial aspects of experience: its flesh (Esposito, 2004; Henry, 2000) and its imaginary (Durand, 1992). This is the actualisation of what Durkheim (2008) called the “social divine”. We are thus witnessing the proliferation of a multitude of small churches characterised by a low degree of institutionalisation and a high symbolic and emotional density (Maffesoli, 2020). In this sense, digital sociality acquires a decisive value in transfiguring ordinary life, the realm of the profane, into a mythical and mystical experience, brushing up against the sacred in its wildest form (Bastide, 1975). Indeed, the relationships that emerge from these media landscapes reveal a capacity to associate what is separate in time and space, previously belonging to the spiritual and transcendent orders (Davis, 1999). Thus, the culture of connection and sharing actualises in secular spheres a whole set of symbolic experiences reminiscent of religious mysteries (Campbell, 2012). This imaginary modifies the modern relationship between technology and society according to a paradigm that could be called “technomagic”.

Empirical fragility curves for masonry churches and their macro-elements using a large database: Proposal of a new likelihood function

Several earthquakes have highlighted over time the high vulnerability of masonry churches to horizontal actions, so that more and more research is being devoted to the assessment of their seismic response and to the design of strengthening interventions to guarantee their preservation.This paper analyses in detail the damage suffered by a large sample of 2870 masonry churches hit by the 2016–17 Central Italy seismic sequence, using the damage data extracted from the DaDO Web GIS. Fragility curves based on the empirical/observational approach are elaborated starting from the damage probability matrices (DPMs) in terms of global damage, both for the whole database and for some subsets of churches with homogeneous characteristics, in order to analyze the influence of some typological features. In particular, it is highlighted that the subset of small churches with rectangular plan and single nave show a generally lower vulnerability compared with those of the whole database.Moreover, the damage observed in the most common macro-elements detectable in masonry churches is examined by defining specific damage indices for macro-elements. The fragility curves for the macro-elements are, then, compared with those referring to the global damage, evidencing some interesting aspects useful both in the survey phase and for planning specific interventions. One of the main outcomes is that the seismic responses of the ‘Façade’ and ‘Principal nave’ macro-elements may closely approximate the global response of the church.Finally, the paper presents a new fitting procedure of the observational damage data aimed to build fragility curves for subsets of churches characterized by a reduced number of data falling in some PGA ranges. A ‘weighting’ procedure is, indeed, proposed in order to give less relevance to small groups of churches falling in the less populated PGA ranges.

Understanding Christianity Through Presentation and Practice

Having grown up in the Midwest, I have seen the localized practice of Christianity as a way of life for many members of small communities. Christian protocols cultivate a mindset of fellowship outside the sanctuary. Praying for members of the community that do and do not regularly attend services instilled in me a curiosity about community dynamics through religious practices. This research-based study describes the congregation of a small country church known as The Harmony Church through regular attendance at Sunday services, weekly music practices, Bible study, and prayer meetings as well as monthly business meetings. Using ethnographic methods of participant observation and interviews, I discuss how the congregation understands and values their General Baptist Christian practice locally, as well as perceive its presentation globally.

Evaluation of decarbonisation options for heritage church buildings

Heritage church buildings are significant energy consumers and carbon emitters, but hard to decarbonise due to construction materials and designs, which presents an imperative challenge for churches that have a mission to achieve net-zero targets by 2030. The study aims to provide a clear pathway for decarbonising heritage church buildings to support net-zero planning and evidence-based decisions. The methodology involved producing a virtual replica for each building to generate valuable insight into retrofit possibilities; exploring the potential of various decarbonisation interventions using dynamic modelling simulated with site data; comparing the interventions to the baselines in terms of energy, cost, and emissions; and tailoring decarbonisation solutions according to specific conditions. The results show that for small churches, replacing the gas boiler with another technology and using existing hydronic heating could be effective for low usage, whereas replacing the current heating system with heat pumps with PV offset would be more economical for high usage; on the other hand, for large churches, heat pumps or biomass could significantly reduce emissions. It is concluded that due to the unique characteristics of heritage church buildings, there is no one-size-fits-all solution but the uniform methodology proposed in this study could be applied to support evidence-based decisions for net-zero heritage buildings. The case studies contribute towards current knowledge and understanding. The work is original as it quantifies the benefits of various decarbonisation measures in 4 case studies of different ages, sizes, and usage patterns, representing a significant portion of heritage church buildings in England.

Seeger Lecture, Society for Ethnomusicology Virtual Meeting 2021

Seeger Lecture, Society for Ethnomusicology Virtual Meeting 2021

Small Missional Church as an alternative in the period of Church Decline in Korea

This article examines the causes and circumstances of the decline of Korean churches since the 2000s. After briefly sketching the history and critical events of the growth of the Korean church, it pays attention to one of the leading reasons people leave thechurch and a reason that the Korean church has lost its reliability in the view of much of Korean society. After that, the author introduces two phenomena in the process of the slow growth and decline of the Korean church: the phenomenon of “believing without belonging” and the increase in numbers of bi-vocational ministers. This is a time when the missional church has begun to emerge as a new type of church, different from the traditional church, and at the same time non-institutional churches have emerged as a missional approach to believing without belonging. Furthermore, the author argues that the small missional church is a helpful alternative and required paradigm in the context of the decline of the Korean church by using several case studies, including shared worship space, bi-vocational ministry, and local missional church.

Territorial Aspects of Parish System Formation in Barnaul Spiritual Government's Rural Parishes (the Second Half of the 18th — Early 19th Centuries)

This article examines the issues of the rural parish’s system formation of the Barnaul Spiritual Government (BSG) of the second half in the 18th — early 19th centuries. The work is aimed at studying the number and composition of settlements (constituent parts of parishes), the allocation of borders and the construction of parish territories.
 It is concluded that the network of the BSG rural parishes was formed by the end of the 1780s. According to the data for 1755, there were 157 villages in seven rural parishes (64.9% of the total number of BSG settlements). In 1820, with the maximum number of rural parishes (13) as well as the Spiritual Board as a whole (23), the figures increased to 536 (68.7%). By the end of the study period, after reducing the number of BSG rural parishes to seven, there were 316 settlements in their composition (58% of the total number of BSG settlements). Communities with the largest concentration of settlements stand out among rural parishes. These are, for example, such parishes with centers in the Beloyarskaya Sloboda and the Genghis village (numbering about 100 villages in their composition). Territorially small church units also existed in the BSG. The leading position in terms of the growth rate of the villages number was occupied by the Petropavlovsk parish of Genghis village: from 1755 to 1820 the indicators increased 9 times. Most of the BSG rural parishes were formed at the expense of the village population. The presence of settlements with the status of military fortifications was recorded by sources in two parishes. They belonged to the Kolyvan-Kuznetsk military line.

My Savior's Guest: A Festschrift in Honor of Erling Trygve Teigen ed. by Thomas Rank

Reviewed by: My Savior's Guest: A Festschrift in Honor of Erling Trygve Teigen ed. by Thomas Rank Thomas E. Jacobson My Savior's Guest: A Festschrift in Honor of Erling Trygve Teigen. Edited by Thomas Rank. Lake Mills, Iowa: Thomas Rank, 2021. 268 pp. The name Erling Teigen, though familiar among a particular segment of American and world Lutheranism, is mostly unknown to those who represent a more ecumenical and "liberal" Lutheran tradition. [End Page 219] Even so, this Festschrift in honor of Teigen, a beloved and significant figure in the Evangelical Lutheran Synod (ELS), is a worthwhile read for Lutherans of various perspectives. To understand the significance of this book, one must first understand something of the tradition in which Teigen carried out his ministry as a pastor and professor. The ELS, now headquartered in Mankato, Minnesota, is a small Lutheran church body currently in fellowship with the larger Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS). Leading up to the larger Norwegian-American Lutheran merger of 1917, which produced the Norwegian Lutheran Church in America, a small group of pastors from one of the merging groups known as the Norwegian Synod refused to participate in the merger and formed their own synod. Largely, though not exclusively, this was the result of refusal to compromise on the theological issue of election or predestination. This group of "Little Norwegians" eventually became known as the ELS. Today it considers itself the authentic continuation of the tradition of the Norwegian Synod, which was a member of the Synodical Conference, originally formed in 1872 as a federation of synods, having fellowship on the basis of fundamental doctrinal unity. For this reason, the ELS has an identity rooted in the perspectives of the Synodical Conference, of which it remained a member until 1963. It also seeks to carry forward its Norwegian background. The title of this Festschrift reflects this concern for the historic Norwegian Lutheran tradition. The words "My Savior's Guest" appear in English translations of two Dano-Norwegian hymns for Holy Communion by Thomas Kingo and Johan Nordahl Brun. Naturally, the essays included here reflect the assumptions and concerns of church bodies with a heritage in the now defunct Synodical Conference, such as the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, the WELS, and the ELS. Readers from these traditions will find not only much on which to agree, but also valuable insights into topics such as how one derives a sola scriptura principle from the Lutheran confessional writings, how to understand the relationship between freedom and uniformity in liturgical practice, and the importance of sacramental theology in the face of non-liturgical, "contemporary" worship trends. Not surprisingly, there are also essays devoted to issues such [End Page 220] as unionism and syncretism, the ordination of women, and the dangers of Pietism. It also touches on an area of recent concern, with an essay on the error of online or digital communion. Although the articles are erudite and professional, the volume also brings a personal touch in its effort to honor Teigen. It includes one sermon by Teigen, preached in 1989 on the slaughter of the innocents of Bethlehem. An essay also recounts Teigen's contribution to world Lutheranism through his work in building confessional Lutheranism in Latvia after the end of the Cold War. Although the volume includes a bibliography of Teigen's published works and a lighthearted "Erling Alphabet," which highlights aspects of his personality and contributions, a concise biography of Teigen would have been helpful for readers unfamiliar with his work. This collection, while affirming perspectives of the ELS and related bodies, can be helpful for Lutherans beyond the former Synodical Conference traditions. The realignment of American Lutheranism over the last decades, which has seen the emergence of a more conservative variety of the more ecumenically oriented Lutheranism, has brought such centrist bodies into greater contact with the Lutheranism of the former Synodical Conference. This volume can help those of us from such centrist traditions better understand and engage with such groups, and also sharpen and hone our own perspectives. Thomas E. Jacobson Institute of Lutheran Theology Brookings, South Dakota Copyright © 2023 Johns Hopkins University Press and Lutheran Quarterly, Inc.

Sounding eeeeeee: Stretching phyto vibrancy beyond anthropology

Sounding eeeeeee: Stretching phyto vibrancy beyond anthropology

Importance of reasoning in the financing of churches from public funds or the case of the Hungarian Evangelical Fellowship with the legislator (2011-2019)

The following analysis is about a unique, out-dragged, henceforth unsolved legal bargaining between small churches and the parliament in Hungary. Is the majority principle based on firm enough grounds so that to differentiate among religions? Why should the ruling majority be required to take into consideration religious groups that are marginal, or that they dislike, on an equality basis while distributing public funds? This paper suggests that the conceptual critique of the new deliberately differentiating, illiberal Church law of 2011 is that it allows unhinged exclusive and arbitrary decision-making for the legislation. Although majority principle should be the essence of democracy, its unconstrained version creates such anomalies in the democratic institutions which could well be survived but would alter the system into a non-democratic regime. First generation fundamental rights are therefore to be protected not by the democratic institutions even in a democracy but by the rule of law (liberalism).

Pastoral Narcissism & Church Size

Imagine yourself in this situation, it is Sunday morning and you are heading to church. It is a fairly large church with many people attending and many services are offered. You notice the lead pastor is arguing with one of the younger pastors. The conversation itself seems a bit loud and inappropriate for the location but it is not the first time it has happened, and no one elseseems to notice. The following week, you attend a different church that is smaller in followers. You notice the lead pastor arguing with a younger pastor. Everyone is watching the conversation at this point since it seems as if it is uncommon to happen at all. What is the difference? Why arepeople more tolerant in larger churches? Research shows that Narcissistic pastors of larger churches have less dominant followers than smaller churches. The reason for this is that there is a fear that if a narcissistic pastor were to leave the church, the number of attendees would drop because of their devotion to the pastor. In this case, having an understanding of why a pastor caneither reduce or increase church attendance.