True Christian Research Articles

Spiritual thirdspace and silent faith: reading the parallax between Buddhism and Christianity in the movie <em>Silence</em> (2016)

Scorsese’s movie Silence (2016) can be (re)contextualized to state that Jesuit priests Ferreira and Rodrigues found spiritual ‘Thirdspace’ when their missionary work was violently suppressed during Edo Japan. To survive the banal violence, suffering and pain and counter the psychological breakdown incurred by the Buddhist inquisitor, the priests seek an alternative, spiritual assimilation and dissimilation entity that paradoxically juxtaposes with the denouncement of faith (fumi-e) and identifies with God’s silence that preserves it. At this point, a Heideggerian ‘out-of-joint’ situation is experienced, reaching Christianity’s true meaning: God-forsaken man is left to decide in existential freewill how to continue his faith under challenging circumstances. The ‘Thirdspace’ identified here differs from Catholic and Christian beliefs, practices and Buddhist doctrinal rituals and occurs when Rodrigues silently preserves his faith, like his mentor Ferreira. This silent faith becomes the indestructibly true, epistemological element. There is higher semiotic significance when Rodrigues’ suppressed Christian soul symbolically returns through his wife, who places the Cross in his hands, establishing a transcendental connection that traverses both religions’ limits and boundaries. Despite the two religions’ ‘un-meeting’ spiritual contradictions, the wife’s act suggests man’s ability to help each other towards mutual, spiritual destinies. When Europe sees Christianity as a missionary endeavour, and its experience of Japanese cruelty culminates, a ‘shift in perspective against its background’ occurs that never returns gaze; the priests never look back at European origin after their ‘roots were cut’. This transposition of locations that prevents a returning gaze is the parallax that re-establishes true Christian faith in both priests.

Apophasis and System. Dogmatic Theology in Apophatic Perspective

The subject of the article is the nature of theological apophasis in relation to the systematic aspirations of theological reflection. This relationship is analyzed from the perspective of the three essential truths of Christianity that form the hard core of its message: the Trinity, the personal union of the two natures in Christ, and deification. Accordingly, Trinitarian theology, Christology and anthropology are characterized, each area separately and in relation to the others, by a high degree of systematization. They constitute compact, organic and interrelated theological systems which, as constituent parts, form an organic whole. All three contain significant apophatic themes. An analysis of the connection between their systematicity and their apophatic dimension allows us to draw broader and more general conclusions about apophaticism in general and its place in theological systematization.

«Неизбежный нравственный переворот» и идея революции в русской общественно-политической мысли XIX–начала ХХ века

The article examines the relationship between the concepts of moral and religious upheaval and political revolution in Russian philosophy of the 19th – early 20th century. The genesis of the concept of moral upheaval is traced in detail in the reflections of P.Ya. Chaadaev, A.I. Herzen, F.M. Dostoevsky, V.S. Solovyov and L.N. Tolstoy. It is shown that Russian thinkers believed that the central element of this upheaval was the religious renewal of life, which consisted in replacing false church Christianity with true (gnostic) Christianity. Particular attention is paid to Herzen's idea that the highest goal of social development, which has religious significance, is artistic culture, therefore any revolution is fruitful only if it leads to the strengthening of the value of culture. Based on the later works of N.A. Berdyaev it is shown that the idea of revolution has a religious justification, but it is fundamentally different for its Western and Russian versions. It is concluded that Herzen and Berdyaev understand the Western version of the idea of revolution and the associated ideology of liberalism as a rationalization of the Catholic worldview which is directed against the development of culture and creativity in man, therefore, having triumphed in Europe, liberalism deprived it of the possibility of the upheaval and led to its cultural and spiritual degradation. The main result of the article is the idea that the Russian version of the idea of revolution which is a form of rationalization of Gnostic Christian religiosity left for a person the possibility of creativity and “re-creation” of the world, although only in the rational form of scientific and technological progress. That is why the revolution and the communist ideology did not have such negative consequences for Russia as the liberal ideology had for the West. As a final result it is shown that Russia and even more so Europe, will only embark on a fruitful path of spiritual development when they finally overcome the idea of revolution and make that moral and religious upheaval that Russian thinkers spoke about.

Not about religion: A reinterpretation of the Chinese rites controversy

As one of the most significant events in the history of Sino-Western interaction and that of Chinese Christianity, the “Chinese Rites Controversy” has been the subject of numerous studies from both Western and Chinese scholars since the 1980s. When interpreting the rites issue of the Controversy, most studies see the crux of it as the “religious” nature of the Confucian rites. In contrast to this dominant understanding, this article argues that both the uncritical repetition of “religious” in the modern interpretations of the Controversy and its tacitly approved validity presuppose a universal and timeless conception of “religion.” Through a method of historicisation, i.e., examining carefully in what sense “religious” and related terms such as “civil,” “political,” “superstitious,” and “yinsi,” etc. were used in the original texts of the Controversy, this article intends to show that the use of “religious” by modern authors constitutes, though to a great extent unconsciously, a hermeneutical anachronism. The root of this anachronism lies in that the use “religious” as a generic adjective defining a distinct sphere of human enterprise that can be differentiated from those “non-religious” ones is a modern invention, and could find its place in neither encompassing Christian truth nor the tianxia order, nor even the fusion of these two horizons manifested in the awareness of literati Catholics, all of which defined the context in which the rites issue was debated during the Controversy.

Guess Who's Coming to Church: The Chicago Defender, the Federal Council of Churches, and Rethinking Shared Faith in Interracial Religious Practice

AbstractOn the cover page of the September 23, 1922, issue of the Chicago Defender, editor Robert S. Abbott announced Go-to-a-White-Church Sunday. Less than a month later, the Federal Council of Churches announced its inaugural Race Relations Sunday. Through a comparative analysis of these two events, this article reconsiders historians’ tendency to assume and emphasize a shared faith across racial lines when discussing interracial religious practice in various historical contexts. Go-to-a-White-Church Sunday was intended both to introduce white churchgoers to black respectability and to provide moral guidance to white churchgoers, whose racism rendered their faith something other than true Christianity. Notwithstanding ceremonial nods to interracial religious brotherhood, Abbott's campaign hinged more so on shared understandings of respectability than on shared Christian faith. While the FCC's Race Relations Sunday differed in its valorization of white Christianity, with proclamations that interracial religious brotherhood was sufficient to solve “the race problem,” both events displayed a shared faith in the power of interracial proximity in itself to accomplish their respective ends. Historians have replicated this problematic faith in interracial proximity by using language of racial transcendence and writing as if interracial religious practice is egalitarian unless proven otherwise. This article calls for more critical, contextually mindful approaches.

Ересь и адиафора в лютеранской догматике

This article is a historical, philosophical, and religious analysis of the reception of the concepts of "heresy" and "adiaphora" in Lutheran dogmatics. There is tension between the condemnation of heresies in Lutheran confessional books and the unconditional recognition of heresies as such by all Lutheran denominations. The problem of understanding the term "heresy" among Lutherans is considered, and a conclusion is made about the similarity of the terminological reception of the Reformation period with the era of the early church, when the lack of a clear definition of the concept of "heresy" did not prevent it from being used in a polemical sense, loading it with negative connotations in order to emphasize the unity of true Christian teaching. Such Lutheran confessional books as "Augsburg Confession", which is a sufficient basis for confessional self-determination and is recognized by all conservative and liberal Lutheran denominations, and the "Formula of Concord", which strictly defines the boundaries of Lutheran confessional identity, are studied. A number of historical examples of heresies mentioned and condemned by Lutheran theologians in the corpus of religious confessional writings are considered. The fact of the practical acceptance of church tradition by confessional Lutherans, in particular the results of the first ecumenical councils, the patristic tradition as evidence of faith and understanding of Holy Scripture, as well as a number of other significant aspects of church heritage, is emphasized. The change in the context of the use of the concept of "adiaphora" is analyzed, a conclusion is made about the preservation of the semantics of the term "adiaphora" in essence, and it is proved that the ethical context of its use among the Stoic philosophers and in the patristic tradition is transformed into a dogmatic one in Lutheranism. It is emphasized that this paradigm contributes to the formation of a tolerant attitude among Lutherans towards dissent and heterodoxy, which opens up opportunities for interreligious dialogue and the development of interchurch communication. A generalizing conclusion is made about the role of discussions of early Lutheranism in the formation of key tenets of Lutheran teaching and Lutheran confessional identity.

ANALISIS INTEGRITAS PEMIMPIN DALAM KELOMPOK SEL BAGI PENINGKATAN ROHANI JEMAAT DI GEREJA BETHEL INDONESIA TABGHA TANJUNG PIAYU BATAM.

Christian leadership should follow the example of Jesus Christ. Small groups are a biblical pattern that occurs in fulfilling God's grand plan for the salvation of humanity, as demonstrated by Jesus with His twelve disciples. True Christian small groups can lead everyone to become disciples of Jesus by carrying out the Great Commission. The integrity of leaders within small groups is believed to bring spiritual growth to the congregation in the local church, leading more people to come and seek God during worship. This research was conducted with the aim of determining the extent of Leader's Integrity, Small Group, and Spiritual Growth in Tabgha Church in Tanjung Piayu, Batam. After collecting all the data from interviews and observations, the researcher proceeded to analyze the data in accordance with the research methodology outlined in the research chapter. The study found a coherence between words and actions; leaders who hold their duties and responsibilities can achieve predetermined goals. Leaders who adhere to the planned course from the beginning, along with all the risks involved, must possess honesty, responsibility, set an example, have the courage to rebuke those who do wrong, but also courageously praise those who do well according to the given direction. Trustworthy leaders are those who can guide, assign tasks in line with the established objectives, stay focused on those objectives, and provide updates on progress made.

The True Christian Life: Thomistic Reflections on Divinization, Prudence, Religion, and Prayer by Ambroise Gardeil (review)

The True Christian Life: Thomistic Reflections on Divinization, Prudence, Religion, and Prayer by Ambroise Gardeil (review)

‘Only the murder accusations are missing’

In 1848, the Götheborgs Dagblad newspaper was revived after a ten-year gap, and launched the anonymous submission column entitled ‘Anonyma Lådan’ (the Anonymous Box). In January and February 1849, many antisemitic letters and articles were published in the Swedish newspapers. Some letters defending Jews and Judaism were published in both ‘Anonyma Lådan’ and Göteborgs Handels- och Sjöfartstidning. Short of blood libel, the antisemitic side accused Jews of typical anti-Jewish stereotypes: for example, greed, hypocrisy and Jewish hatred of Christianity. Anti-antisemitic writers proclaimed a Christian identity that was based on humanism, stating that one could not be a true Christian if one attacked and hated Jews and Judaism. The Jewish congregation in Gothenburg and the society Judiska Intresset (The Jewish Cause) both chose a non-engaged approach to the antisemitic attacks in the newspaper, since it was not respectable to engage in such debates and, in their view, it would only cause more anti-Jewish sentiments if they did so. In this art­icle, it is argued that the reasons behind the attacks were societal changes, but also, more importantly, that with ‘Anonyma Lådan’, antisemitic sentiments found a platform where such sentiments could be freely expressed.

Krobo girls and Dipo puberty rites of passage in the eastern region of Ghana

Globalization, which seems to have broken all socio-cultural, and economic barriers, and the growing rate of societal awareness has no doubt challenged many African cultural rites such as female genital mutilation. Despite the fact that Dipo, a Krobo cultural puberty rite, has been criticised by many people, especially on the basis of its treatment of young girls, the Krobo have managed to sustain it due to its centrality to their culture as the ceremony is instituted to promote personal hygiene, home management, and morality. This paper, therefore, examines 35 girls between the ages of 12 to 20 comprising 21 initiates and 14 non-initiates from Odumase-Krobo in the Eastern Region of Ghana. The participants were engaged in one-on-one and focused group discussions. Using both primary and secondary data, which is augmented with a qualitative research methodology, this paper examines the perception of girls passing through the Dipo puberty rite. The study reveals two main findings; the belief that Dipo is traditionally ungodly and true Christians must not participate in such activities and the belief that Dipo is a cultural puberty rite of passage that is binding upon the Krobo. It is established that the observance of the Dipo rite in this modern era has attracted a number of criticisms based on the way and manner the rite is conducted, especially from the Christians in Ghana, which causes serious psychological distress among Krobo girls.

Kierkegaard’s Pessimism

Abstract The article aims at reconstructing Kierkegaard’s reception of Schopenhauer’s philosophy with the purpose of discussing the pessimism of Kierkegaard’s late writings. The thesis of the article is that the theology of the late Kierkegaard that lies behind his attack on the so-called ‘Christendom’ and, in a wider perspective, on Protestantism in general, must be characterized as ‘pessimistic,’ insofar as it considers the mundane world as fundamentally ‘wicked’ or ‘wretched.’ Accordingly, a certain tendency toward asceticism and denial of the world becomes a distinctive feature of Kierkegaard’s late works and of his interpretation of Christianity. Kierkegaard’s pessimism is, however, limited to his view of the mundane world, and he does not, like Schopenhauer, consider human existence fundamentally meaningless and purposeless. On the contrary, it is the aim of life for the true Christian, according to Kierkegaard, to obtain eternal salvation through self-chosen suffering and negation of his or her own desires for temporal gratification.

Christian Truth in an Age of Coronavirus Pandemic: Guarding the Contours of Catholicity in Zimbabwe

This article will argue that the church is the mystic body of Christ that believers must guard from purveyors bend on twisting the truth. There is no doubt that the Catholic social teaching on medical and moral matters has proven to be pertinent and applicable to the ever-changing circumstances of health care and its delivery. In response to today’s challenges, these same moral principles of Catholic teaching provide the rationale and direction for the community of faith. In times of coronavirus characterized by falsehoods, the truth is a virtue the church must strive for: “… If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”(John 8: 31-32). The truth is Christ; it is Christological. Christians must understand the clash of worldviews that is changing the face of Zimbabwean society. A worldview is simply the sum total of our beliefs about the world; Christianity is a worldview that directs our daily decisions and actions. Worldviews affect the way we think. A worldview is a well-reasoned framework of beliefs and convictions that gives a true and unified perspective on the meaning of human existence. To paraphrase from the book of First Samuel (16: 7) – to see as God sees and not how the world sees. Beliefs are not simple propositions held inside us which drive our outward behaviour in predictable ways, they are more of acts of commitment than anything else. There is no doubt that the future of Catholicism lies in the hands of the church’s leadership and the believing Christians. Catholics look to their faith leaders for guidance on big decisions as regards COVID-19 issues. Conspiracy theories around COVID-19 deny that the COVID-19 pandemic is a biological virus. Catholics require direction from the Pope down to the episcopal leadership to chart the way forward. A worldview not only impacts how one understands and makes sense of the world but also influences how one expresses oneself in the world. The constellation of personal values, beliefs, assumptions, attitudes, and ideas that make up our worldview have an effect on our understanding of reality. Coronavirus has caused uncertainty among believers and confusion as to how to cope with the complex problems that arise in COVID-19 related issues. This article will aver that the nature of drawing the contours of catholicity regarding the biblical foundations of the health falls in the hands of orthodox Catholic teachings.

The Translation of Johann Arndt’s True Christianity into Dutch and the Distribution of his Books in the Dutch Republic

Abstract The impact of Puritan devotional literature on Reformed and Lutheran piety has been well researched in the past decades. Several studies about Dutch religious culture in the 17th century stress the interconfessional readership of devotional writings as a widespread practice. Obviously, the religious cultures were not so self-contained as the paradigm of confessionalization suggests. Until now we don’t have an exhaustive study over the impact and distribution of Johann Arndt’s devotional literature in the Dutch republic of the 17th century. The common opinion is that Arndt’s True Christianity had no noteworthy influence. In fact, it can be shown that there has been a long and intensive literary production and distribution of the True Christianity and other works of Arndt in Reformed circles in the Dutch Republic.

All Things in Common: A Canadian Family and Its Island Utopia by Ruth Compton Brouwer (review)

Reviewed by: All Things in Common: A Canadian Family and Its Island Utopia by Ruth Compton Brouwer Beth Moore Milroy Brouwer, Ruth Compton–All Things in Common: A Canadian Family and Its Island Utopia. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2021. 207 p. Two exemplary contributions to Canadian social history stand out in Ruth Compton Brouwer’s All Things in Common. One is her illustration of how several research areas, such as family, religion, migration, land occupation, and rural life are connected to the utopian form of settlement, a type largely absent from Canadian historical research. Those connections are evident in the case she presents of a built utopia in Prince Edward Island (PEI), which incorporates all those areas. She argues for recognizing the relevance of utopian settlements to the country’s social history. Brouwer’s second contribution is to show how a utopian case can be explored sensitively yet dispassionately by a professional historian who is also a descendant of the family at the centre of the story. In this book, readers will find a richly documented and experientially grounded discussion of the Compton community because the author could use records and participants’ insights that would be unavailable to a non-family writer. Brouwer has published widely on Canadian social history. In this instance she uses both her formal training and personal experience to illuminate why and how one of the truly unusual settlements in this country came into being, and what it tells us about utopia and one corner of Canada. The book comprises two parts. Together, they give readers a penetrating history of this built utopia from the gradual articulation of its aim, through its implementation, to the settlement’s eventual dissolution in 1947. Part I provides necessary background starting with a family of Comptons arriving on the eastern seaboard of the United States in the early 1600s. The subsequent century of religious turmoil and revolutionary upheaval provoked a strand of the family to migrate to Atlantic Canada as part of the 1783 wave of United Empire Loyalists. Early on, a theme emerges that will run through the book. This is the resistance on the part of many Comptons to certain social norms related to religion, family, and the organization of labour. For example, unlike most of their relatives and neighbours living in New Jersey, the first Comptons to come to Canada chose not to support the revolutionary aspirations of the American states. Instead, William, Sarah, and their children became destitute refugees in New York and later in Atlantic Canada. Even when it might have served their financial interests to be a little more [End Page 198] conformist, they tenaciously held on to their beliefs in millenarianism and an old style of “godly” Christianity. These Comptons refrained from membership in any institutionalized Christian churches, which, in their view, had lost sight of true Christianity, offering merely a superficial, coddling “Churchianity,” as they called it. Their aim was to hold fast to their interpretation of early Christianity as found in bible passages, including this one: “‘And all that believed were together, and had all things in common’ (Acts 2:44)” (p. 100). When in the late 1820s, a successive generation of Comptons was putting down roots in PEI, they finally found the religious “home” they had long sought. William, Mary, and their children became followers of Donald McDonald, a pastor trained in Scotland who preached a kind of old Scottish Presbyterianism mixed with various idiosyncrasies and millenarianism. The mélange was so distinctive that his adherents were called McDonaldites. When McDonald died in 1867, some of the Compton clan decided to put together their own “unchurched” manner of worshipping God, inspired by their McDonaldite experiences and their own preferences. Throughout Part I, the author references the effects of imperialist practices regarding land and settlement, as well as how the fracturing of Christianity played out in the lives of generations of Comptons in North America. Part II describes the physical and social development of the Compton communal settlement, its maintenance, and evolution. The land they settled on was of questionable ownership with regard not only to the Indigenous Mi’kmaq who, prior to about 1800, used the whole island...

Analisis Teologis Narasi Yakobus 4:1-10 Dan Implikasi Bagi Orang Kristen

God has meaning in creating man. The intended meaning is a life, where life is a strong reason and motivation to support a person in living life according to what he believes. The narrative of James 4:1-10 contains a Biblical pattern of life. However, in today's development, human culture continues to experience changes. The changes in question are behaviors related to morals and ethical values so that humans experience a lot of degradation in the sanctity of their lives. Overcoming this problem, true Christians can have a humble attitude, fear God, fight against sin, rely on God, purify the heart and pray as contained in the narrative of James 4:1-10. This study uses a library research approach. The purpose of this article is to contribute thoughts in the form of alternative solutions to the problems of deviant behavior committed by some Christians today.

Still Fighting the God-Vs.-Gays Battle: Twitter Reaction to Presidential Candidate Pete Buttigieg’s Identification as a Gay Member of the Christian Left

ABSTRACT A computational analysis of 2.6 million original tweets from March 2019 to March 2020 about presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg, a self-identified gay man and member of the Christian left, showed more interest in his sexuality than his religion. Examination of the most shared tweets suggests that the Twitterverse did not explicitly portray Buttigieg’s dual identities as contradictory, a departure from the typical “God-vs.-gay” rhetoric associated with religion and sexuality. However, the most shared tweet in the data set, from evangelist Franklin Graham, negatively characterized both Buttigieg’s religious and sexual identities and questioned whether a gay man could be a true Christian.

Individual Liberation in Modern Philosophy: Reflections on Santayana’s Affiliation to the Tradition Inaugurated by Spinoza and Followed by Schopenhauer and Nietzsche

This article evaluates the significance of the personal liberation that Santayana offers in relation to previous proposals in Western modern philosophy. These include the ideas of liberation present in the philosophies of Spinoza, Schopenhauer, and Nietzsche. I argue that Santayana endorses Spinoza’s project, as Schopenhauer and Nietzsche did, of a philosophic redemption as an alternative to an established religion. Yet, he also follows Schopenhauer in rectifying Spinoza’s attempt of recapturing the philosophic truth of Christianity, a project undertaken in Medieval times for Judaism and Islam, but not for Christianity. The result is an explicit philosophic reconstruction of the esoteric truth of Christianity. This, I argue, is the content of the lay religion and the deliverance it provides that Santayana sees as genuine philosophy and that is exemplified by the work of his hero and master, Spinoza.

Makna Logos dan Logika dalam Yohanes 1:14 bagi Pertumbuhan Iman Kristen Masa Kini

Today's Christian faith is mostly built without Logos and logic, as a result there is a deviation of faith growth, not towards Christ as the Head of the Church, but growing towards faith in oneself, faith in material things, faith in miracles, and faith without a solid foundation. Many studies on the Logos have been done, as well as on logic, especially in philosophy. However, the study of the meaning of Logos and logic associated with the growth of Christian faith with qualitative methods is something new, the results are expected to add to the treasures of academic scientific literature. It turns out that the growth of Christian faith will not occur in a healthy and balanced manner if only through reading the Logos alone and also if only relying on limited logic. The growth of Christian faith is very dependent on the balance of studying the Logos as a Person and the graphe Logos critically and analytically by using the logic of God's gift properly and correctly, in the help, guidance, and being led by the Holy Spirit. As it turns out, the growth of true Christian faith only occurs if the Logos and Logos become the leading subject, while logic becomes a limited instrument that must always thirst and hunger for true truth. Always realize that the logic that has been updated must always be subject to the guidance of the Holy Spirit so as not to go astray. All learning outcomes to the Logos and Logos should be realized in concrete actions (operibus) as a sign of faith growth and spiritual maturity in the Logos, the goal is that the growth of Christian faith has a significant impact on the world where Christian faith is present as a manifestation of the incarnation of the Logos in the Logos. believer's life today.

Wielding the Sword of the Spirit. Volume Two: The Doctrine & Practice of Church Fellowship in the Synodical Conference (1868–1877) by Peter M. Prange

Reviewed by: Wielding the Sword of the Spirit. Volume Two: The Doctrine & Practice of Church Fellowship in the Synodical Conference (1868–1877) by Peter M. Prange Mark Mattes Wielding the Sword of the Spirit. Volume Two: The Doctrine & Practice of Church Fellowship in the Synodical Conference (1868–1877). By Peter M. Prange. Wauwatosa, Wisconsin: Joh. Ph. Koehler Press, 2022. 286 pp. This book is the second installment of a multi-volume project that examines how leaders in the Synodical Conference, a nineteenth-and early twentieth-century coalition of six confessional Lutheran synods, determined how to practice church fellowship so as not to promote unionism, that is, the feigning of fellowship with non-Lutherans when, on the basis of sound doctrine, no such fellowship exists. "Wielding the Sword of the Spirit" is a metaphor for determining when to say no to "unionistic" tendencies. In his first volume, Prange, a Wisconsin Synod pastor, presented the rise of C. F. W. Walther as the leader who emerged after the downfall of Martin Stephan, the head of the Saxon immigration of anti-unionistic Lutherans to Perry County, Missouri. Stephan had advocated a kind of episcopal leadership, and, with his dethronement, Walther proposed a congregationalist approach to church governance. In both volumes, Walther emerges as adamantly anti-unionist, but never in a legalistic way. In fact, Walther's tone was ever pastoral. "Generally [End Page 118] speaking, he [Walther] judged cases individually and resisted the temptation of painting with too broad a brush. He was especially careful about not drawing conclusions based solely on a person's church affiliation. He treasured Spirit-worked Christian fellowship above every other association" (41). Walther ever acknowledged that true Christians were present in non-Lutheran bodies and that our understanding of doctrine was "piecemeal" (55). Prange's second volume continues the saga of Walther's influence on those synods which would join forces for mutual support and accountability as the Synodical Conference. The Synodical Conference came about due to the conviction that while the General Council's confessional stance, in opposition to the unionistic General Synod, was sound, it was unable to consistently practice its ideal of Lutheran pulpits for Lutheran clergy only and Lutheran altars for Lutheran communicants only. This second volume focuses on the origin and doctrinal stance of the Wisconsin Synod whose roots were in the unionistic mission societies in Prussia but which within its first quarter century embraced a more conservative confessional stance. Indeed, the Wisconsin Synod terminated its membership in the General Council in 1869. Prange is helpful in showing the extent of communication between the heirs of the Mühlenberg tradition in the General Synod and the General Council with the more recent German and Norwegian immigrants in the upper Midwest. He also shows how problematic and troubling the theory of "open questions," advocated by the Bavarian missional pastor Wilhelm Löhe and the Iowa Synod, was for those synods which formed the Synodical Conference. While Wisconsin leaders saw merit in Iowa's ability to avoid theological extremism, Walther's wholesale rejection of "open questions" would carry the day for Wisconsin and other groups in the Synodical Conference. Clearly, for Walther, "open questions" built more theological pluralism into a confessional tradition than is warranted by the scriptures and the confessions. Prange notes that the debates over the doctrine of election and objective justification, the view that the entire world is justified, at least objectively, in Christ's death and resurrection, which led to the departure of the Joint Synod of Ohio from the Synodical [End Page 119] Conference, had less to do with doctrine and more to do with leaders' fear of losing positions of leadership (267). Prange covers material well-known to North American Lutheran historians. His work merits attention because he allows the personalities of the leaders to emerge and provides details that give us a sense for what congregational life was like in this era. The image he portrays of Walther is a much kinder and gentler hero than what extreme conservatives among North American Lutherans advocate. Mark Mattes Grand View University Des Moines, Iowa Copyright © 2023 Johns Hopkins University Press and Lutheran Quarterly, Inc.

Soldier Saints, Missionaries and the Mountains

Abstract This paper intends to contextualise the life of Christianity in British India through the developments in military theology in the late eighteenth and through the nineteenth century that put forth the image of the ‘soldier saint’- a true Christian soldier, British in blood and in faith. This discourse intensified after the military turned civilian Indian rebellion of 1857 which was immediately coloured in Christian vs heathen terms, and following which, the spiritual needs of Christian soldiers came into focus with the East India Company. The deaths, rituals and continued traditions of burial of the Christian soldiers, officers, and civilians have been marked through some prominent cemeteries and war memorials in India. While studies of these sites of memory have focused on the graves, tombs, and memorials in parts of north, west and south India, the frontier region of northeast India has remained outside the focus of most studies. This paper has chosen the eastern Himalayan territories comprising Sikkim and Kalimpong that fall on or near the Silk route to bring attention to the history of territorial aggression and the resulting material memory of lesser-known cemeteries and memorials Further. This paper analyses lesser discussed fiction to bring into focus the region’s human geography. This paper recognises the need to study inter-religious relations through materiality and afterlives of Christianity in India that was shaped to a large extent by the soldiers-both British and native, and the chaplains, gravediggers, priests and nurses and caregivers whose lives are recorded in the memory of death. By doing so, this study hopes to bring new dimensions to the study of Christianity in India with the inclusion of the materiality of religion, the postcolonial gothic imaginary and military theology.