Traditional Christian Churches Research Articles

Governance of religious diversity in Central Europe: A religious nationalism inspired illiberal turn in Hungary and Slovakia?

Central European countries with a historically dominant Roman Catholic heritage belong to a particular cluster in respect to the governance of religion. This paper focuses on Hungary and Slovakia and addresses the effect of religious nationalism on the regimes of governance of religion in the two countries. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, there was a brief period of neutral stance towards religion, which was characterized by liberal values. With the introduction of the bilateral Concordat agreements with the Holy See, both countries started to treat traditional Christian Churches preferentially. By the 2010s legislation in both countries created restrictive entry barriers for “new” religions. This created two or multi-tiered systems for “old” and “new” religions, in which the former enjoyed closer relationship with the state. As a result, the separation of church and state has become blurred. Preferentially treated churches reappeared in the public space as providers of certain educational and social services. Preferentially treated churches and the state developed asymmetrically interdependent relationships, the state having the upper hand. Meanwhile, increasingly populist and nationalist parties instrumentalized religion by involving Christianity in their nationalistic political discourse. This helped create a normative space, in which the state is able to give further preferential treatment to certain religious groups over others. The emphasis on Christian national identity underpinned these governments’ narratives that conflates migration with security and Islam, which pushed those religious groups on the margins, which do not fit in the religious nationalist narrative of the increasingly right- and populism-leaning governing elite.

The Rise of Wedding Churches

Abstract The popularity of Christian weddings represents the new widespread acceptance and popularity of a religious ceremony that sits at the intersection the familial, social, commercial, political, and religious. These rites challenge established preconceptions concerning both Christianity and Japanese identity. The postwar history of Christian wedding ceremonies is best understood in light of the efforts made by traditional Christian churches and the bridal industry to meet the religious demands of Japan’s largely “nonreligious” constituency. In responding to the needs and desires of nonreligious Japanese, commercial and religious institutions not only cooperate to produce and provide Christian weddings, but also compete to satisfy expectations for religious authenticity. There are no better examples of this than the efforts made by Christian churches to open their doors to individuals with no espoused Christian faith and the production of the bridal industry’s fleet of “wedding churches.” As such, Japan’s massive nonreligious constituency has contributed to the creation of a unique form of Christianity particular to Japan.

Studying Change in Religious Organizations: A Discourse-Centered Framework

Abstract This article highlights the discourse-driven nature of contemporary processes of religious change. Drawing on the textually-oriented discourse theory and discourse analysis of Fairclough supplemented by additional perspectives from organizational discourse studies, the article outlines a discourse-centered analytic framework for the empirical study of the changing discursive practices and modus operandi of contemporary religious organizations. The framework consists of four analytic factors, each of which highlight the role that discourse plays at various levels of processes of religious organizational change. The article demonstrates the application of the framework in actual practice in relation to empirical examples from five traditional Christian churches in three different national contexts, thus bringing the tangible effects of changing discursive practices on the operations and practices of religious organizations into clear focus.

Christian visions of homosexuality: new debates of old churches

The article is devoted to the study of the relationship between the processes of erosion of the traditional norm vs deviation matrix in the public consciousness and changes in the position of Christian denominations and churches, new tendencies in theological research, canon law, social work, pastoral practice.
 The purpose of the work is to characterize the processes of diversification of Christian churches for their attitude towards homosexuality under the pressure of changes in the structure of social deviations and the liberalization of the Christian environment. The author defines the main types of historical stigma of homosexuality; characterizes changes in the public opinion of the population of traditionally Christian countries (based on the modern sociological studies); highlights the main innovations in the social doctrine and practice of various Christian denominations; and identifies the dominant trends in eastern and western Christianity in relation to homosexuality.
 It is substantiated that the contradiction between the official doctrine, the conservative position of the church hierarchy, on the one hand, and liberal tendencies in the public opinion of the secular community, on the other hand, are more or less common to all Christian denominations. The most difficult situation related the Roman Catholic Church, whose followers live in Western countries with a high level of tolerance for homosexuality. Under the pressure of changes in legal institutions, public morals and public opinion, the traditional Christian interpretation of homosexuality is filled with new connotations; changes were introduced in canon law, institute of spiritual education, other religious institutions; the church becomes more open to discuss problems that have long been taboo. Church policy and pastoral practice are based on the clear delineation of the concepts of "homosexuality", "acts of homosexuality", "homosexual inclinations", "homosexual intentions", "homosexual temptation", etc.
 It has been shown that despite the existing changes in rhetoric, canon law and church practice, the official position of churches is subject to constant critical attacks. Criticism refers not only to the "lack of" acts of homosexuality, the preservation of religious stigma of homosexuality as sin, the condemnation by the church of homosexual behavior, same-sex marriages and gay culture, but also the rooting of patterns of such behavior in monastic and priestly structures. An alternative to the official position of traditional Christian churches is the growing theological movement, which was called "Queer-Theology", which produces its own version of Christian anthropology.
 Processes of destroying of traditional structure of deviations in the globalized world, from one side, and processes of post-secularizing - from other, generate contradictory consequences for functioning of religious institutes; the palette of possible attitudes to homosexuality becomes complicated. Overall, the differently directed trends were done distinctly in western and east Christianity. In Catholicism, there are processes of liberalization of Christianity, the search for ways to adapt homosexuals to the religious environment, and in the problem field of Christian anthropology new theological interpretations of gender ethics are proposed. In the flow of Orthodoxy, especially of Russian, the fundamentalization and nationalization of Orthodoxy, the defense of the matrix of traditional values will preserve the religious stigma of homosexuality in the future.
 Research results can be drawn on in the courses of religious-studies and sociological disciplines; in research of the problems of social and religious deviation.
 Foreseeable assumptions about the development of the research object are finding the best ways to investigate the newest tendencies in attitude of Christian churches toward the social issues of the day; to provide comparative and cross-cultural analysis of processes of diversification of Christian environment.

A Unique Project of Mission: Forty Years on, a Personal Memoire

Fifty years ago, Call to the North was conceived against the background of sectarian terrorism. This was a unique occasion when all the traditional Christian churches of the North of England were engaged in unitedly presenting the Christian faith to the general population. The exercise was led by the Anglican Archbishop of York together with the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Liverpool and Dr John Marsh representing the Free Churches.The objectives of the exercise, the methods employed, the problems encountered and its eventual outcome in 1973 are outlined, together with an account of the Roman Catholic Archbishop’s strategy of seeking Pope Paul VI’s support to help his traditional dioceses come to terms with the new Vatican thinking of Pope John XXIII and Vatican II.The account concludes with a reflection on the historic outcome of this unique exercise.

English

Uncustomary and unofficial polyandry is very usual in Zimbabwe than is recorded and embraced by the majority of Zimbabweans. This study argues that nontraditional, unceremonious polyandry is frequent and appealing among some Zimbabweans despite the fact that it is condemned and rejected by traditional chiefs, diviners and the Christian churches. The study also contends that polyandry should be publicly practiced just like polygyny for it is not strange, not eerie and should be adopted and unreservedly experienced for it is not interdicted by both African Indigenous Religion (AIR) and Sub-Sahara African constitutions. The research results are that non- classical unorthodox polyandry in Zimbabwe is furtively experienced because polyandrists and their co- husbands are afraid of requital and popular vilification by the community at large, and by traditional chiefs, diviners and Christian churches in particular. There are some social and economic advantages which amass to polyandrists and their children, and also to the ‘co- husbands’ intentionally, at the same time sexually share a polyandrist. The conclusion is that polyandry should be openly embraced and consummated among Zimbabweans just as polygyny is plainly approved by them, and is openly acknowledged. Polyandry seems more likely to be a plan used by Zimbabwean women to realize their sovereignty and sexual independence. Key words: Polyandry, polygyny, paternity, partible, co- husband.

Kim Il-yeop and Christianity: The Influence of Christianity on the Life and Identity of Kil Il-yeop

Kim Il-yeop is considered to have been a pioneering female writer in the history of modern Korean women’s literature, beginning in the 1920s; she was Korea’s first female editor and publisher of a magazine for women, Sinnyeoja. She was one of the first generation of Korean “new women” and “modern female writers.” More importantly, however, Kim Il-yeop had a close relationship with Protestant Christianity and was at one time in her life a devout Christian. This paper investigates what in fact Christianity meant to Kim Il-yeop in her own life, in other words, how exactly she understood the Christian religion and in what ways she experienced and practiced it. Christianity shaped the landscape of her childhood, which included a Christian home, a Christian education, and her father’s embodiment of a fine Christian character as a pastor. Concerning her personality in her childhood, Kim Il-yeop herself attributed her fine and optimistic character to her Christian faith. On the other hand, however, she characterized Christianity as a religion of “repressive ideas” whose doctrines operated as a moral force that compelled strict self-regulation. More importantly, Kim Il-yeop understood herself through her identity as a pastor’s daughter and according to the expectations of her father. She experienced and understood Christianity and the true Christian life through her father. Her father’s influence on her derived primarily from the lessons she learned in observing his sincere religious life, rather than Christian doctrine. Kim Il-yeop understood the lessons of his Christian life more broadly and practiced them in her religious life after she became a Buddhist monk. Later on in life, Kim Il-yeop began to present a growing skepticism about Christianity, and this resulted in the weakening and final rejection of her Christian faith. She ultimately repudiated all the beliefs and claims she had accepted before. The motivation behind her repudiation of Christianity was the fact that she was interested in “free love” and even enjoyed romantic relationships during her youth. Indeed, her life as a new woman went against strict and conservative Christian norms and ethics. Kim Il-yeop’s repudiation of Christianity was in a broader sense related to the traditional and patriarchal Christian churches of Korean Christianity at that time. For her, Christianity itself never became a real power and source of energy with which she could handle the reality and difficulty of life, and in the end, she failed to save her faith.

Friend or Foe?

Religious belief is a common human characteristic with 80 percent of the world’s population professing some religious affiliation. Indeed, global surveys report an increase in ‘religiosity’ across the globe in recent decades. Within Christianity, Pentecostalism has experienced considerable growth in contrast with the more traditional Christian churches. This growth is occurring across the globe, but is extremely evident within developing countries. Within development studies (both the theory and practice), religion has been negatively portrayed, misunderstood, or set aside as not being of importance to development outcomes. Such an approach towards religion is misguided and limits development effectiveness. While religion is certainly not the ‘answer’ to eradicating poverty or overcoming global injustices, authentic engagement by development actors with religion does provide important opportunities to enhance development outcomes. This paper will consider the basic tenets of development theory and practice and contrast those against Pentecostal theological teaching in order to determine where there exists common ground and where there exists misalignment of values and thus tension. Such assessment is important in order to enhance the religious literacy of the development sector to better understand how to authentically engage with communities expressing this belief.

The Conflict between Traditional Christian Churches in Ukraine as a Conflict of Identities: Where to Search for the Prospects of Reconciliation? A Reflection in the Light of the Theories of Paul Ricoeur and John Paul Lederach

After the independence of Ukraine in 1991 there emerged or re-emerged four churches that derive their roots from ancient Kyiv Christianity. Those churches conflict with each other, the main cause of the split and tensions being the issue of cultural and social–political identities in the country. Such conflicting narrative identities have to be reconciled by the mutual recognition of their diversity when churches in Ukraine want to become a real force for transformation in society. Among the different models of the search for rapprochement in this article I refer to the theories of Paul Ricoeur and John Paul Lederach. According to the ethics of memory of Paul Ricoeur, traditional Ukrainian churches should abandon endless circles of melancholia about their losses and create new identities through the process of mourning. Because the tensions among traditional Christian denominations in Ukraine are not likely to be solved by institutional measures as history proves, churches should concentrate their efforts on working on social and relational platforms. Here I refer to the ethics of moral imagination of John Paul Lederach that envisions focusing the reconciliatory activities on locations of interaction between people that should finally contribute to the rapprochement.

Religious Non-Places: Corporate Megachurches and Their Contributions to Consumer Capitalism

The corporate megachurch represents a pecuniarily driven institution that both emphasizes marketing for the purposes of constant growth, and focuses on the manufacture and delivery of consumer-centric goods and services. This article draws on the theory of the non-place as conceptualized by Augé, who argues that the non-place is a direct effect of contemporary capitalism’s incessant incursion into ever more areas of life. The non-place refers to any variety of transitory sites that lack historical, cultural, or geographic reference points, and while they seem to be everywhere one is left with the sense of being ‘nowhere’ in particular. One such place that lacks distinguishing features and fails to provide any contextual reference is the corporate megachurch. Because of its strategic work to distance itself from traditional Christian churches and focus instead on creating homologies with entertainment, self-help, and retail, the non-place church normalizes the banality of consumer capitalism.

Ethnicity, Religion, and Conflict in Ghana: The Roots of GA Nativism

GHANA STUDIES / Volume 14 ISSN 1536-5514 / E-ISSN 2333-7168© 2012 by the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System 81 ETHNICITY, RELIGION, AND CONFLICT IN GHANA: THE ROOTS OF GA NATIVISM1 RICHARD ASANTE Recent studies suggest that violent conflicts have declined in Africa since the end of the Cold War. According to the African Development Bank (2008: xi), “in 2006, seven African countries experienced conflicts, compared with about 14 in the late 1990s.” However, contrary to the expectations of many scholars and political pundits, the post-Cold War period has also witnessed sporadic outbursts of ethnic, regional, and religious hostilities and conflicts with disruptive consequences, particularly in Côte d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Chad, Sudan, and Nigeria . This development poses major challenges for consolidating the peace, social co-existence and citizenship. Cultural differences are claimed to be at the root of many of the world’s conflicts, both within and between states (Gurr 2000; Horowitz 1985, 2001; Lake and Rothchild 1998), and among them (Huntington 1996). Samuel Huntington emphasizes cultural differences as the root of conflicts in the post-Cold War era. In his words, “the fundamental source of conflict in this new world will not be primarily ideological or primarily economic; the great divisions among humankind and the dominating source of conflicts will be cultural” (Huntington 1993: 22). Posner (2004), however, argues that the mere presence of cultural differences cannot possibly be a sufficient condition for the emergence of political or social strife. In recent times, Ghana’s image as an island of peace and stability has come under threat as a result of frequent disputes and conflicts between adherents of Ga traditional religion and some Christian churches over the 1. The author is grateful to Christopher Agyare-Kordie for research assistance. 82 Ghana Studies • volume 14 • 2012 annual ban on drumming and noise-making,2 imposed by the Ga Traditional Council prior to the celebration of the Ga traditional festival of Homowo .3 Homowo, which literally means “to hoot at hunger,” is a harvest festival commemorating a famine in the history of the Ga people.4 The festival that begins in May and ends in late September is celebrated annually by various Ga communities to usher in the farming season (Brobbey 2007: 63; Tsikata and Seini 2004: 41–42).5 In May, prior to the festival, the Ga Traditional Council imposes a onemonth ban on drumming and noise-making throughout the Ga Traditional Area, which covers the Accra-Tema Metropolitan area of the Greater Accra Region.6 On the one hand, Ga traditionalists justify the imposition of the ban on the basis that it is a time-honored religious tradition of the Ga 2. The ban on drumming and noise making is also observed as part of festival celebrations among some ethnic groups in the Western, Eastern, and Ashanti Regions of Ghana. However, many of the clashes on drumming and noise making have occurred in Accra between the Ga Traditional Council and Christian churches. The clashes and violence attracted considerable public debate and discussions across the country. Radio and television discussions and phone-in programmes were characterised by accusations , counter-accusations and recrimination with strong ethnic, regional, and religious sentiments. This has become a source of public worry and had the potential to undermine the peaceful coexistence of the various ethnic and religious groups in Accra in particular and Ghana in general. 3. The traditionalists are those who adhere to religious practices handed down by the ancestors. Christianity is more recent and of foreign origin. There are different types of traditional religious practices and Christian churches in Ghana. The conflict over the ban on drumming and noise-making is especially between the Ga Traditional Council and Christian churches, particularly the Pentecostal and Charismatic ones, which are noted for their livelier forms of worship, involving drumming and dancing, as well as clapping of hands, shouting, and other signs of an intensely emotional religious experience. 4. The Ga people are the indigenes of Accra, the national and administrative capital of Ghana. 5. From July on, the different divisions of the Ga traditional area mark their actual festival days with ritual cleansing, pacification...

Religion and entrepreneurship in New Zealand

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between religion and entrepreneurship and whether religious practice impacts on how individuals view the individual and societal contribution of business enterprise. As ethnic diversity is increasing within the Western world, so too is the religious mix of value systems and religious belief systems that come with such diversity/religions. Paralleling increasing diversity is the decreasing participation rates in the traditional Christian churches. The paper questions the impact of this changing religious mix on entrepreneurial participation and perception.Design/methodology/approachA total of 2,000 randomly‐selected New Zealanders were telephone‐surveyed to measure their perceptions of individual and societal impacts of entrepreneurial participation and religious practice.FindingsThe findings indicate that increasing ethnic diversity and associated religious value systems are certainly not going to negatively reduce the business start‐up rate. If anything, the start‐up rate may be enhanced.Originality/valueThe paper shows that the value that New Zealand society places upon entrepreneurship is not diminished by the increasing religious diversity in the country.

From Tent Meetings and Store-front Healing Rooms to Walmarts and the Internet: Healing Spaces in the United States, the Americas, and the World, 1906–2006

The centennial of the Azusa Street revivals of 1906 provides us with convenient poles for charting shifts in the landscape of Christian spiritual healing practices during the past century. Alongside unprecedented achievements in medical science, nearly 80 percent of Americans report believing that God supernaturally heals people in answer to prayer. Individuals who need healing, even after trying the best medical cures, readily transgress ecclesiastical, physical, and social boundaries in their quest for health and wholeness. The promise of a tangible experience of divine power, moreover, presents an attractive alternative to seekers disillusioned with what they perceive as the callous materialism of medical science and the religious legalism of traditional Christian churches. This essay calls for new narratives of sacred space that map the ways that pentecostal and charismatic healing practices have proliferated, diversified, and sacralized a growing number and variety of physical, social, and linguistic spaces in the past hundred years. At the turn of the twentieth century, modernist epistemological assumptions that privileged reason over experience encouraged fine intellectual distinctions between the sacred and the secular. In esteeming bodily experience as more trustworthy than disembodied doctrine and in resisting linguistic binaries as culturally constructed, postmodern epistemologies have multiplied the number and range of places available to be endowed with sacred meanings. I argue that boundaries between the sacred and the secular are dissolving at the same time that new boundaries are being established, privileging particular places and defining a new relationship among the United States, the Americas, and the world.

Cosmologies in Collision: Pentecostal Conversion and Christian Cults in Asmara

Abstract:This article aims to contribute to a better understanding of the popularity of Pentecostalism and the formation of religious identity in an Eritrean city. Examining the penetration of Pentecostal Protestantism into longstanding Christian churches in Asmara during a time of rapid socioeconomic change in Eritrea, it looks at how Pentecostalism discontinues its relation with the past, conceptualizes the present, and generates an autonomous image of itself in the highly competitive religious marketplace of an Eritrean urban space. The article discusses how and why this movement increasingly favors Bible reading and networks of religious meetings as the principal mediums of transmission of its teachings and the expansion of its denomination, breaking deliberately from traditional Christian churches and using local forces and resources.

Reflections on Church Education

Sometimes it seems that our traditional Christian churches - both different and identical denominations - do not share any insignificant differences in rituals, but the abyss. For, agree, believing in one God, the God of mercy and forgiveness, in one Holy Scripture that includes the New Testament, it is not possible to be at war with one another as some Christian Churches in Ukraine are at odds today.

The role of religion in entrepreneurship participation and perception

This paper examines the relationship between religion and entrepreneurship and whether religious practice impacts on how individuals view the individual and societal contribution of business enterprise. Religion and enterprise have a complex interdependent relation (Dodd and Seaman, 1998; Anderson et al., 2000), with the Western Protestant work ethic raising entrepreneurship to a privileged status. As ethnic diversity has increased within the western world, so too has the religious mix of value systems and religious belief systems that come with such diversity/religions. Paralleling increasing diversity is the decreasing participation rates in the traditional Christian churches. We question the impact of this changing religious mix on entrepreneurial participation and perception. Our findings indicate that increasing ethnic diversity and associated religious value systems are certainly not going to negatively reduce the business start-up rate. If anything, the start-up rate may be enhanced.

Religiousness Inside and Outside the Church in Selected Post-Communist Countries of Central and Eastern Europe

In Western Europe more and more sociologists of religion are talking about religious individualization instead of secularization to describe the religious change in modern societies. Institutional forms of religion, especially traditional Christian Churches, are increasingly losing their social significance; new forms of religion, which are not so highly institutionalized and more syncretistic, are, however, emerging. The author raises the question whether this theoretical model conceptualized for Western Europe can be applied to the analysis of religious developments in Eastern Europe. The result of the analysis carried out on the basis of a representative survey in 11 Eastern and Central European countries is that new forms of religiousness outside the Church are emerging in Eastern and Central Europe. In predominantly Catholic countries, these forms stand in contrast to the traditional forms of religion, in more secularized countries, they are not an alternative to institutionalized forms of religion.

Religious Liberty, New Religious Movements and Traditional Christian Churches in Eastern Europe

The new political, economic and cultural situation in Eastern Europe after 1989, and the radical and dramatic transformation towards democratisation, deeply affected all strata of society. Inevitably, the search for new foundations of public and private life and for new spiritual orientations came to the fore, together with a suddenly emerged cultural pluralism and religious diversity, unknown under the confines of MarxistLeninist dogma. Initially, this process was connected with a fresh experience of openness and freedom for religion after the old restrictions on religious activity were abolished. Later, a feeling of cultural shock, a growing sense of insecurity and a loss of orientation among a considerable part of population (to a great extent arising from the lack of deeply-rooted unifying public ideas and shared values in postcommunist society on the one hand, and the challenge of the new religious groups to the traditional Christian churches on the other) brought about the urgent need for redefinition of the public place and role of religion. This redefinition has several aspects: the relations between the state and religious organisations both mainstream churches and new religious movements (NRMs); the interaction between religion and politics; the institutional and spiritual influence of the 'national' churches, and interreligious relations. The question of religious liberty includes as well specifications about the extent to which the state should be involved in attempts to resolve disputes between NRMs and other groups and institutions. The NRMs in Eastern Europe are not an isolated phenomenon which might be investigated in isolation from the overall state of affairs in society; they are to be seen as a focus for a wide range of problems, currents and controversies of very various backgrounds. They are a conflict-engendering field, but in a restricted sense; much more are they to be conceptualised as indicators of societal difficulties and tensions which already exist or are in the process of emerging. They might be discussed from different perspectives: sociological, historical, psychological, theological. The pre-eminently cultural-critical approach of this study places NRMs in the conceptual and socio-political framework of the right to religious liberty in its interconnectedness and interrelatedness with cultural-religious pluralism, as long as these two principles are among the conditions indispensable for the (re )construction of civil society and real democratisation. The fulfilment of the political project of civil society in Eastern Europe is not an easy task and will take much more effort and time than was supposed in the euphoria of the first years after the fall of the Berlin

The Christian Church and the New Religious Movements: Towards Theological Understanding

FOR MORE than a decade Western society, in particular the United States of America, has seen the rise and proliferation of religious and spiritual groups which the public has undiscerningly and indiscriminately labeled cults. Many of the adherents of these new groups have come from the background of the traditional Christian churches. Most of them, by abandoning the beliefs and practices of their forefathers, have passed a negative judgment on the Christian Church and its relevance to contemporary life. The so-called cults have often been in the public eye because of the legal actions and Congressional investigations instigated by anticult organizations. Anguished parents, whose children have become cult members, have turned to self-styled deprogrammera who have at times operated outside both civil and moral law. Yet the mainline Christian response to the new religions can, with few exceptions, be categorized as one of neglect and apathy. Though the churches have made extensive efforts to come to grips with the cultural upheavals of the mid-1960's, their attempts to meet the challenge of the cults have, on the whole, been slow, sporadic, and superficial. Many Christians, theologians included, have failed to grasp the significance of the new religious movements, which are already leaving an impact on society at large and on Christianity itself. It is unfortunate that we still lack a systematic treatment of the theological implications of these movements. The only concerted Christian response has come from evangelical Christianity, which has directed a considerable amount of literature to