Spread Of Christianity Research Articles

The Struggle of NZV in Spreading the Gospel in Garut, West Java, Indonesia, in the Early 20th Century

Based on a widely accepted view, the spread of Christianity in Indonesia was backed up by Dutch intervention. This article argues that the assumption is not entirely right. In some regions, the Dutch colonial and European settlers paid little attention to Christian missions. Garut, for example, was a city in the Priangan Residence that served as an economic center for the Dutch. Islamic influence was very strong in Garut. Therefore, when the NZV reached Garut in 1899, it received no support from the Dutch colonial administration. The effort to spread Protestant Christianity was initiated by the Chinese people. The strong Islamic influence in Garut became the main barrier preventing people's conversion to Christianity. Even though at the beginning of the 20th century there was no direct resistance, but secretly the Islamic leaders fought back by building negative perceptions of both the Netherlands and Christianity by labeling them as kafir and unclean.

Book of the prophet Jeremiah in theological and philosophical reading

This article is devoted to the analysis of the Old Testament Book of the prophet Jeremiah. This man lived in Judea in VII–VI centuries BC. The article emphasizes that, in addition to prophecies about the future spread of Christianity, this Book touches on many aspects of the religious life of Jewish society. The purpose of the article is to identify in the book of the prophet Jeremiah those ideas that are characteristic of the Christian worldview. The book of Jeremiah vividly expresses the idea of repentance, and Jeremiah's prophecies are closely related to the New Testament book of Revelation. The book of Jeremiah vividly expresses the idea of the responsibility of human society. The article notes that not all biblical postulates are absolute. For example, the categories of blessing and curse of God are conditioned by the way people live and can change according to the development or regression of the spiritual life of the people. This article can be useful in the preparation of educational material on theological and philosophical disciplines.

Craft education in Egypt in the Late Roman period (284:641A. D)

Craft education was one of the types of education that existed in the late Roman period (284:641) in Egypt, and it was allowed for all, and since obtaining permission from the Guilds was a condition for practicing any work, citizens enrolled their sons or masters by enrolling their slaves in workshops with craftsmen for training in a craft. The contracts of craft training should include specific conditions of the training period and the financial compensation that the trainee will receive if he progresses in training, and also the contract should include the responsibility of feeding and clothing the trainee. Hence, the training contracts were a certificate of enrollment of students in technical and vocational education, and after completing the training period, the trainee could practice the work with a teacher or separately. Training contracts appeared in the Roman era explicitly, while they appeared less in the late Roman era under the same name. Therefore, we find a lot of professional training that we deduce from papyrus documents, which may be a letter from one person to another or a second papyrus with the receipt of a sum of money in advance. Training also differed in the late Roman era, especially after the spread of Christianity, especially in agreeing on the official holidays to be granted to the trainee.

Dardania in late Antiquity

Late Antiquity, known as a transitory phase between Antiquity and the Middle Ages that encompasses the 4th-6th centuries, was characterized by major historical events that led not only to political and administrative changes, but also social, cultural and religious changes. This paper will elaborate the impact of these changes in the province of Dardania, of which the central territory corresponds to today’s Kosovo, with a specific focus on the spread of Christianity and Christian architecture and changes in settlement patterns, as people moved from field settlements to hillforts. Moreover, it will present architectural features and the role of fortifications in Late Antiquity.

Death and burial in Kyivan Rus’ according to written sources

The spread of Christianity in the lands of Kyivan Rus caused radical, but not rapid, changes in the religious, philosophical, and mental worldviews of contemporary society. Funeral rites were a significant factor in which the feature of the spiritual transformation of local societies was reflected. The proposed study is devoted to the peculiarities of the Christian funeral rite and ceremony in the lands of Kyivan Rus’ and the Galician-Volhynian state, which are covered in written sources of the time. Therefore, the upper chronological date of the study is the XIV century. Their elaboration and systematization led to the construction of the article in a linear way – starting with pre-death, and then post-mortem preparations, directly funeral and memorial service. The analysis and generalization of the funeral rite, characteristic for the Christian Orthodox tradition as a whole, is carried out. At the same time, their separate local elements are highlighted. Some comparisons and parallels between the Rus’ and Byzantine funeral traditions were made.

코로나 팬데믹 국가적 재난과 복음전파: 초대교회와 한국전쟁 상황의 전도 활동 비교연구

This study examines how the Early Church, which suffered a massive epidemic in the second and third centuries of the Roman Empire, and the Korean church, which suffered the Korean War, set the direction and purpose of evangelism. During a national disaster, in which the anomie phenomenon of social order occurs, they shed light on how they influenced the unchurched, the perception and spread of Christianity, and the church’s growth. The church should recognize the COVID-19 pandemic as an opportunity to spread the Gospel, not as a crisis. Rather than only emphasizing solidarity and recovery within the church, the church should also benefit society by practicing the love and sacrifice of Christ. To do so, we need to seek life-oriented evangelism, not institutional religious activities. Furthermore, we must challenge new domains and methods of evangelism in the New Normal environment. The church should grow into an open network-oriented faith community, not a closed religious gathering, and meet those who do not know the Gospel.

Vývoj trestání deliktu rouhání a urážky Boha v českých zemích

The article deals with the issue of the crime of blasphemy and insult to God in a wide time horizon, from the beginnings of the spread of Christianity to the middle of the 20th century. In addition to historical developments, it also maps the factual nature of these offenses and their entrenchment in criminal codes. It reflects the relationship between church and state and their mutual intersections in the exercise of judicial power. The article further analyzes the development of criminal law protection of the church. The greatest attention is paid to medieval and modern (Theresian and Josephine) legislation.

Christianity in East and Southeast Asia

Throughout past decades, there has been much discourse on how the axis of Christianity has moved from the global North to the global South with the demographic shift in Christianity worldwide. Befittingly, this shift has also increased attention on Christianity’s local manifestations, especially in the global South. Christianity in East and Southeast Asia, the fourth volume of the “Edinburgh Companions to Global Christianity” collection and part 2 of its series on Asia, answers this call for attention by analyzing the fastest-growing religion of the past several decades and its multiplicities in “two of the most religiously diverse regions in the world” (3).Replete with impressive charts and detailed maps, the companion aims to edify its readers with a better understanding of transnational Christianity and its encounters with other religions, communities, and governments in the context of East and Southeast Asia. This book centrally provides “an account of how we are continuing to make Christianity Asian” (19) through its comprehensive demographic and statistical analysis and by shedding light on the lesser-known areas of East and Southeast Asia. The book is also noteworthy for its attempt to break free from the confinement of being purely encyclopedic or simply an eclectic collection of essays by addressing Christianity’s past and the continuously looming issues through uniformity in its three subsections: “Countries,” “Major Christian Traditions,” and “Key Themes.”The first section begins by zooming in on the history of Christianity in the nineteen nations covered in this volume. Each contribution takes a historical approach by retracing Christianity’s growth, which is often entangled with the complexities of social and political challenges, colonialism, and interfaith relations. The in-depth examination of each nation provides a platform for countries like Timor Leste, often overlooked due to its brief history, to be brought into the limelight and to excite readers for further research. The real gem in this collection is in the fact that “critical insiders” (xi) in their respective fields have contributed to entries for their own countries or from their own disciplines and perspectives, thereby providing a more critical and incisive insight.While observing the various Christianities in the countries of East and Southeast Asia, the second set of essays takes a closer look at six major Christian traditions, which excludes an essay on independent churches due to the political sensitivities of church-state relations in the region. Following the worldwide trend, Pentecostal and Charismatic Christianity has also been growing rapidly, with its emphasis on a “practical gospel for daily survival and witnessing” (347). Independent churches have also increased significantly, largely due to the increasing number of house churches in China, as covered in David Ro’s essay.The final ten essays share a common thread with the collection’s other volumes, which address important themes such as gender and theology. Two special essays focus on issues of migration and the colonial and postcolonial context, which are highly relevant in the context of East and Southeast Asia. Just as migration has served as a significant analytical lens in understanding African Christianity, Maruja M. B. Asis argues that migration can also serve as a critical tool in scrutinizing the spread of Christianity in this region. Wai Ching Angela Wong draws out the complexities of colonialism and imperialism in East and Southeast Asia, challenging readers to also question “what is meant by the postcolonial context of East Asia” (474) in the contemporary.With such a dense volume, it is impossible to cover every angle or topic, and it is easy for one to become overwhelmed by the vast area that the volume aims to cover. It is also easy to fall into the trap of becoming an essentialist overly dependent on statistical data. Nevertheless, what this exhaustive coverage does accomplish well is that it conveniently provides accessible snapshots of the individual nations and the region as a whole, provoking the readers to further fill in the gaps. Readers should also utilize Gina Zurlo’s informative profile on the demographic analysis of Christianity in East and Southeast Asia and the rich statistical data found in the appendix.From the perspective of my own scholarly interests, books such as this heterogenous volume provide opportunities for students and scholars of World Christianity to stay informed and explore the Christianities in the periphery and the indigenous agency that merits much attention. This volume, along with the rest of the volume series, greatly contributes to readers’ ability to see the bigger picture of the history and expansion of Christianity.

Study on Christian Belief and Cultural Exchange of Chinese in Northern Thailand: The Case of the Manchu Village of Chiang Raic'

In the process of integration into Thai society, Manchu Village> a Chinese community, has achieved mutual cooperation between civil autonomy authority and national administrative authority. Gradually accepted Thai culture> villagers in Manchu formed a strong national identity for 'Thailand. Meanwhile> they still inherit Chinese culture and maintained hometown recall and Chinese identity > which have also undergone fission. A variety of beliefs> such as Islam, Christianity? Buddhism> Yitong Taoism,and u Heaven > Earth>Country > Ancestor and Teacher” , coexist in the community. However>the split of the Christian church has not affected the unity and cohesion of the community. The spread and development of Christianity in Manchu presents a macro interaction chain between 'Thailand and Southeast Asia? between China's southeastern coastand southwestern frontiers.

Pacifist Prophet: Papunhank and the Quest for Peace in Early America

Pacifist Prophet: Papunhank and the Quest for Peace in Early America

Pacifist Prophet: Papunhank and the Quest for Peace in Early America

Pacifist Prophet: Papunhank and the Quest for Peace in Early America

Revelation, Economics and Sex: The Bible and Sex Work in South Africa

The setting for this article is the ongoing debate about the legality of sex work in South Africa, which received renewed attention when the African National Congress as ruling party passed a resolution in 2017 to decriminalise sex work. In the Global South in particular, entanglements between gender, sexuality and economics are most pronounced in sex work. In South Africa, desperate socio-economic inequalities, alienating gender patterns, and distrusted sexualities are interrelated and interspersed with explicit and subtle appeals to the Bible. It is proposed that the book of Revelation with its rich and at times disturbing, sexualised imagery offers some contours for debates pertaining to the decriminalisation of sex work. Given the spread of Christianity in South Africa, in faith communities and through cultural impact, the popular use of the Bible and the discursive presence of Revelation with regard to sex work is understandable, revealing, and worrying, all at the same time.

5-6세기 하부 누비아(Low Nubia) 지역에서 노바디아 왕국 등장과 기독교 수용

When Emperor Diocletian withdrew the Roman border to Seyne in 298 and the Meroe dynasty collapsed after the mid-4th century, a political vacuum occurred in Triakontaschoinos. Around this time, Blemmeyes and Nobades appeared and clashed in this area. First, the Blemmeyes occupied Talmis in 394 and in the first half of the 5th century, developed an emerald mine in the eastern desert with Dodekaschoinos. When a political gap occurred, those in the eastern desert moved to the Dodekaschoinos to find burial sites and pastures. They politically ruled, and engaged in transit trade around the emerald. In the 5th century, Nobades appeared around the second Cataract and founded Nobadia. King Silko formed a tribal united state in the middle of the 5th century, defeated Blemmeyes and occupied Dodekaschoinos, and in the 6th century, it developed into a centralized kingdom. In the process of developing into a centralized Kingdom beyond the tribal united state, King Silko recognized Christianity as a state religion along with another traditional religions. As such evidence, relics bearing Christian signs were unearthed from Ballana tombs and the custom of burying people together disappeared, and the burial custom of making large tombs disappeared around the year 500. Missionaries were sent from the Eastern Roman Empire and the country officially accepted Christianity in 543, which seems to be the culmination of the gradual spread of Christianity from the second half of the 5th century.

PERAN PAKUBUWONO X DALAM PEGEMBANGAN DAKWAH ISLAM DI SURAKARTA 1893-1939

The Role of Pakubuwana X in the Development of Islamic Da'wah in Surakarta 1893-1939 was inseparable from the socio-political dynamics that occurred, where the Dutch East Indies Government changed its policy from power expansion to ethical politics or commonly known as the politics of reciprocation. As a result, zending schools were born that carried out the Christian mission in the educational institution. Pakubuwana X as the King who has the title Sayidin Panotogomo, the position as the highest leader of the Islamic religion feels objected if his people embrace another. He was not happy with the establishment of zending-run schools in the Surakarta area that carried a Christian mission. Therefore, among the efforts to fortify its people from the spread of Christianity by establishing Mambaul Ulum. The focus of research is to determine The Role of Pakubuwana X in The Development of Islamic Da'wah in Surakarta in 1893-1939. This research is a qualitative type, namely research that intends to understand the phenomena experienced by the research subjects by examining various phenomena that occurred during the reign of Pakubuwana X. With the descriptive method, which is a method of examining the status of a group of humans, an object to provide a systematic, factual and accurate picture of the facts and phenomena being studied. From this it can be described The Role of Pakubuwana X in The Development of Islamic Da'wah in Surakarta in 1893-1939 and various related factors and indicators that support the development of this da'wah. From the results of this study it can be concluded that The Role of Pakubuwana X in The Development of Islamic Da'wah in Surakarta in 1893-1939 is very large. This can be seen from the increasing number of syi'ar Islam. Kauman is the center of Islamic activity. Various religious activities such as recitation, Islamic schools and major Islamic events continue and still exist. The rise of syi'ar Islam can also be seen from the increase in the number of people praying in congregation at Masjid Agung, for example, Friday prayers, Dhuhur and Ashr, the number of congregations is getting more and more crowded. Khutbah Jum’at were translated into Javanese and Arabic, previously Khutbah Jum’at used Arabic, installed loudspeakers and broadcast directly by SRI radio (Broadcast Radio Indonesia) belonging to Kasunanan Surakarta.

An assessment of Christian institutions of care and medicalization in Late Antiquity

Christian institutions of care, particularly those related to healthcare and the care of the poor, are believed by some scholars to be one of the most important causes for the spread of Christianity in Late Antiquity. However, historiography pertaining to the medicalization of these institutions is scant, and often scholars are at odds with one another regarding key points on the topic. In this article we review the most important positions, as well as give our own take on the topic, through the analysis of written and archaeological evidence. We have found that most of these institutions were not medicalized, and that those that were did not show any clear signs of following traditional ancient medical sects. We conclude that these institutions can mostly be considered important in Christian expansion by their care for, and not by their cure of, of the poor.

African Traditional Religion Encounters Christianity: The Resilience of a Demonized Religion

African Traditional Religion Encounters Christianity: The Resilience of a Demonized Religion

Pandemics and education: A historical review.

Major pandemics have tremendous effects on society. They precipitated the early decline of the Western Roman Empire and helped spread Christianity. There are countless such examples of infectious diseases altering the course of history. The impact of epidemics on education however is less well documented. This present historical account of the past 800 years looks specifically at how some aspects of education were shaped from the early medieval epidemics such as leprosy and the Black Plague to the Spanish Flu and COVID-19. Leprosy changed religious education, and the Black Plague may have contributed to the rise of medical schools, hospitals, public health education, and led to the implementation of lazarettos and the quarantine. The smallpox epidemic helped usher in public health education for immunization, while the 1918 Spanish Flu precipitated the rise of education by correspondence, and recently COVID-19 has catapulted remote digital learning to the forefront of higher education.

The Kangxi Court’s “tribute lion” and Lodovico Buglio’s On Lions

There was no shortage of works depicting lions from political or literary perspectives in ancient China, but there had not been a dedicated treatise on the animal before the early Qing period. Lodovico Buglio’s On Lions, which appeared with the activities around the presentation of a tribute lion in 1678, was the first Chinese language text to discuss lions from the perspective of animal knowledge. It is also a concise encyclopaedia of European “lion culture.” Buglio sought to spread Western animal culture, especially Christian animal knowledge, through On Lions. From the perspective of spreading Christianity, he tried to break the connection between the lion and Buddhism found in Buddhist literature. And by questioning the reliability of accounts of historical tribute lions that came by land, he tried to create a new tradition of a systematic Christian lion culture in China. By comparing the contents of On Lions and Aristotle’s History of Animals (Historia animalium), this article points out that the “Yali” mentioned in Buglio’s On Lions was not Aldrovandi as Fang Hao supposed, but more likely refers to Aristotle.

Give Them Christ: Native Agency in the Evangelization of Puerto Rico, 1900 to 1917

The scholarship on the history of Protestant missions to Puerto Rico after the Spanish American War of 1898 emphasizes the Americanizing tendencies of the missionaries in the construction of the new Puerto Rican. There is no doubt that the main missionary motif during the 1890s was indeed civilization. Even though the Americanizing motif was part of the evangelistic efforts of some missionaries, new evidence shows that a minority of missionaries, among them Presbyterians James A. McAllister and Judson Underwood, had a clear vision of indigenization/contextualization for the emerging church based on language (Spanish) and culture (Puerto Rican). The spread of Christianity was successful not only because of the missionaries but also because native agents took up the task of evangelizing their own people; they were not passive spectators but active agents translating and processing the message of the gospel to fulfill their own people’s needs based on their own individual cultural assumptions. This article problematizes the past divisions of such evangelizing activities between the history of Christianity, mission history, and theology by analyzing the native ministries of Adela Sousa (a Bible woman) and Miguel Martinez in light of the teachings of the American missionaries. The investigation claims that because of Puerto Rican agents’ roles in the process of evangelization, a new fusion between the history of Christianity, mission history, and theology emerged as soon as new converts embraced and began to preach the gospel.

Nature worship in the digital age: A case of Omabala clan in Anambra State in South East Nigeria

The study examined the patronage of nature worship in the digital age with focus on Omabala clan in Anambra State. It is premised on the fact that nature worship still holds sway in the digital and Christian-dominated society. Five research questions guided the study which employed a survey design. The population was the Omabala clan scattered in four LGAs in Anambra State. 100 respondents drawn using convenient sampling formed the sample. Data were elicited by means of a researcher-designed questionnaire tagged ‘Female Nature Worship Questionnaire’ (FENAWOQ). The percentage was used for data analysis. The findings revealed among others that the most popular form of nature worship in the area is water worship and that nature worshippers employ digital devices and other mass media in their operations – an indication that African Traditional Religion (ATR) moves with the times. Also, most water worship centres are presided over by women in spite of the male-dominated society. It was equally observed that the major reason African Traditional Religion (ART) thrives in the area despite the spread of Christianity is due to the life-threatening challenges the people face. The study concludes that the potency of ATR is still upheld by adherents, Christianization notwithstanding.