Arts and Humanities Commons^™

The Conflict Is Inherent: A Quaker Theology Of Vocational Ministry, Robin Mohr

Quaker Religious Thought

“I’m wrestling with the nagging feeling that God is calling me to this ministry of hospitality and encouragement: this work of bringing Friends together, convening learning communities, facilitating conversations and supporting Friends on their spiritual journeys, which brings me such joy and fulfillment and peace. Aren’t I really supposed to be doing this all the time? Am I disobeying God’s leading by spending so much of my time earning a secular living? Or is the desire to devote myself to a full-time, ‘hireling’ ministry a distraction? A temptation?”¹

This tension is familiar to many Quakers who are seeking to …

A Dangerous Theology, Emily Provance

Quaker Religious Thought

Ministry is inherently risky. The existence of a call to ministry implies potential failure: failure to respond, failure to discern, failure to fulfill. Ministry also carries with it potential societal and personal consequences, ranging from outright persecution to subtler judgment for counter-cultural words and actions to loss or rearrangement of personal relationships. Perhaps for this reason, within the Quaker context, we can’t address a theology of ministry while only addressing the minister. Quakerism is not a faith of the individual but of the community. In theological and theoretical circles, Friends say that the community, not the individual, has the responsibility …

One Quaker's Life In The Ministry, Lloyd L. Wilson

Quaker Religious Thought

I am an apprentice to the Quaker faith tradition. I am a recorded minister, speaking under the authority of a minute issued by Friendship Friends Monthly Meeting, and with the specific release of my anchor committee in that meeting. Wil Cooper said that we Quakers tell so many stories about ourselves because, without creeds or dogma, stories are how we remember who we are as a people of faith. I am not able to articulate an adequate Quaker theology of vocational ministry; I can tell you some stories from a lifetime of wrestling over an adequate response to God’s call …

Remembering T. Vail Palmer, Jr., Paul N. Anderson

Quaker Religious Thought

One of the premier Quaker theologians of the last half century or more, Thompson Vail Palmer, Jr. passed away on February 6th. Vail was one of the founding members of the Quaker Theological Discussion Group, contributing to its original vision and momentous significance. He edited issues 39–47 of Quaker Religious Thought (1974–78), and he co-edited issues 47–54 with Dean Freiday (1979–82), who then succeeded him as editor. In addition to over a dozen essays, comments, and reviews contributed to QRT over more than four decades, Vail also published several important essays and books.¹

Review Of Michael Birkil, Quakers Reading Mystics (Brill, 2018), Mark Bredin

Quaker Religious Thought

Birkel’s book, at one level, is a searching historical enquiry establishing the possible direct influence of John Cassian on Robert Barclay, Jeanne Guyon on Sarah Lynes Grubb, Johannes Tauler on Caroline Stephen, Jacob Boehme on Rufus Jones, and Buddhist mysticism on Teresina Rowell Havens. He emphasizes his study to be “strongly shaped by…the principles of historical study” (8). His conclusion is, indeed, rooted in the language of historical probabilities, such as “based on incontestably solid ground” (100) or “are more tentative” (100).

Lucretia Mott: Isaiah 58, Mark Bredin

Quaker Religious Thought

In a sermon at Cherry Street Meeting on 31 March in 1850, Lucretia Mott drew upon Isaiah 58:6–7, 13 and James 2:15 for inspiration against sentiments expressed by Isaac Watts (1674–1748), views that led, she believed, to complacency towards the poor and the slave. She perceived such to be an outrage to the God of the biblical prophets. More precisely, Lucretia’s evocation of Isaiah 58 in her address resulted in an intensification of her already developed sympathy for the poor, motivating her to social engagement for justice. In making this argument I consider: (1) what it means to read the …

Towards A Literary History Of Quaker Writing In The Atlantic World, Jay David Miller

Faculty Publications - Department of English

Among eighteenth-century Quaker writers, John Woolman was idiosyncratic, as illustrated by the fact that in his journal he recorded an ac-count of his own death. Needless to say, this was not usually done. Instead, it was conventional for posthumously published Quaker journals to include not only an autobiographical narrative of spiritual development but also additional material written by qualified Friends offering further testimony and giving details about how and when the author died. The first printing of Woolman’s journal in his posthumous Works (1774) is accompanied by such material about his 1772 death in York, England, but this was not …

Environmental Aesthetics And Environmental Justice In Jonathan Edwards’S Personal Narrative And John Woolman’S Journal, Jay David Miller

Faculty Publications - Department of English

This essay examines the relationship between Christian theology, environmental aesthetics, and environmental justice in colonial America. As opposed to the work of secular writers from the early republic like J. Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur and Thomas Jefferson, the Christian environmental aesthetics of Jonathan Edwards and John Woolman have potential to address questions of environmental justice in American literary history, such as tenant exploitation, African enslavement, and Indigenous displacement. Edwards, however, worked in a pastoral literary tradition, which limited his ability to imagine environmental justice due to his commitment to the doctrine of election. Woolman, on the other hand, worked …

Vocation As Story, Story As Vocation, Ben Brazil

Quaker Religious Thought

On a frigid December morning in Indiana, a man named Dave Jetmore discovered that his daughter’s pet goat had died. Not wanting to upset his little girl—much less broach the topic of death—Jetmore planned to tell his daughter that “Billy” had simply gone to live somewhere pleasant. Inventing that story was the easy part; the harder part was hiding the body. First, Jetmore tried to bury the goat, but the ground had frozen hard as rock. Next, he had his son fling the body from the pickup to a snowbank, which failed to conceal anything. Time was growing short. And …

Effectiveness Of Media Tools Of The Ukrainian Chaplaincy In Times Of War, Oleksandr Kostiuk, Olena Predko, Denys Predko

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The effectiveness of the media tools of the Ukrainian chaplaincy in war conditions is considered. It is substantiated that the extreme conditions of war favor the selection of quality candidates for the chaplain service and the integration of chaplaincy into the military structure. The chaplain’s work is not limited to spiritual care, but also focuses on the moral and psychological support of military personnel. The use of such social networks as Instagram and Tik-Tok as a new form of work for chaplains is being studied. The following common forms of work of chaplains in social networks were identified: keeping a …

Frontmatter (Volume 43, Issue 5), Paul B. Mojzes

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

No abstract provided.

The Pattern Of The Transformation Of The Religious Life Of The Armenian Diaspora In Ukraine: Conditions, Causes, Consquences, Iryna Haiuk

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The article reveals the role of the Armenian Church in preserving the ethnic identity of Armenians in the diaspora on Ukrainian land. The transgression or adaptation of the religious and ecclesiastical sphere of Armenians to the new environment in Ukraine was a "soft" process, since it was a transition within a Christian society, and therefore not on religious, but on the confessional basis of "Own"/Christians, although "Others." The specifics of the mentality, general algorithms of migration and incorporation into the new socio-cultural environment determined the main aspects of the transition of the religious and ecclesiastical sphere of Armenians into the …

The Adventist Development And Relief Agency In The Conditions Of War In Ukraine, Valentyna Kuryliak

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The study presents two positions of Ukrainian Adventists in relation to volunteer work in the conditions of war. The first position is professional, which involves the provision of charitable assistance to people from the Adventist Relief and Development Agency in Ukraine. Such charitable assistance is based on the principle of charity and is aimed solely at providing the necessary assistance to victims. The second position is to also assist the affected members of the Seventh-day Adventist Churches, as people who do not have professional volunteer training. With the second category of helping Adventists, a number of controversial issues tend to …

Manipulative Christianity: (Pseudo) Historical And Cultural Codes In The Concept Of "Russian World", Oleksandr Lukyanenko

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The article illustrates the formation of the idea of the “Russian world” in the religious discourse of Orthodox Russia. The study summarizes the data on the use of ideological stamps by the Patriarch of Moscow Kirill during sermons with the aim of forming support for Vladimir Putin’s policies. The research cites examples of dirty propaganda, falsification of history, falsification of historical facts in religious and political battles in the conditions of the Russian-Ukrainian war. Kirill Gundyaev continued to assert the line of the President of the Russian Federation regarding non-recognition of the separateness of the Ukrainian people, assertion of its …

Finnish Response To Nato - Views From The Evangelical Lutheran Church And Christians In Finnish Politics, Miro Leporanta

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

Excerpt:

Finland placed an application for NATO in May of 2022, together with Sweden, with whom Finland’s foreign policy goals had been aligned for years.

Finnish Christianity and Finnish Churches have offered a variety of responses to the end of Finland’s non-military alignment. Of historical institutions in Finland, the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Church (hereafter FELC) has a prominent social influence and is regarded as an institution that represents that country's values. This applies to Finnish defense policy as well. The church is a prominent player in the Finnish army and conscript service. On the FELC website, the Church states that: …

Belarus: Religious Freedom Survey, January 2023, Forum 18 Https://Www.Forum18.Org/Archive.Php?Article_Id=2806

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

Forum 18's freedom of religion and belief survey analysis of Belarus notes continuing violations of this freedom and of interlinked freedoms. These include a web of "legal" restrictions on which communities can meet, where, who they are led by, and what literature they may use. These restrictions make the exercise of freedom of religion and belief dependent on state permission. Violations have worsened since fraudulent presidential elections in August 2020, and the regime's support for Russia's renewed invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.1

The War In Ukraine And Political Theology In Poland, Christopher Garbowski

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

In the broadest of terms, political theology can be defined as “the analysis of political arrangements (including cultural-psychological, social, and economic aspects) from the perspective of God’s ways with the world.”¹ Since the world changes, as do the politics accompanying them, political theology is of necessity a dynamic branch of the theological enterprise. The editors to the second edition of The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Political Theology note a number of such changes that justify the expanded second edition of their handbook, including—what is most pertinent for understanding political theology at present in Poland—“the discourse on religion and violence, …

Russian Orthodox Church As Apologist For The Current Russian Aggression, Valentyn Krysachenko, Alina Zadorozhnya, Yulia Lebedeva, Yuriy Figurnyi

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The article analyzes the criminal character of the Russian Orthodox Church as an apologist for Russian imperial aggression. The concept of canonical territory is the ideological basis for the intervention of the Russian Orthodox Church in the internal affairs of independent states. Historically, the creation and growth of the network of the Russian Orthodox Church structures on its territory took place by illegal means, and the concept of canonical territory as a political trend was introduced in 1989 as a means of maintaining its own dominance in the post-Soviet states. The concept of “canonical territory” in the interpretation of the …

Militarism In The Spiritual Code Of The Modern Orthodox “Russian World, Oleksandr Lukyanenko

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The article continues the series of research illustrating the formation of the idea of the “Russian world” in the religious discourse of Orthodox Russia. It pays special attention to the manipulations made by the Patriarch of Moscow, Kirill (Gundyaev), while preaching and giving public speeches. The study summarizes the idea of the “new martyrdom for Russia” recently promoted by the hierarch. The paper illustrates his support of Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 by the formation of the social opinion by the spiritual leader. Kirill uses the images of different wars to draw historical parallels with Russia’s current war …

The Nature And Motives Of Religiosity In An Atheistic State (On The Example Of Scientific Research Conducted In Soviet Ukraine), Tetiana Havryliuk, Vladyslav Diatlov

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

This article analyzes methods for studying the nature and motives of religiosity of the population in the context of ideologically tinged academic science. The academic scientific approach to the studied branch, in this case, the religiosity of the population, ensured a large array of empirical material and the possibility to classify and structure it. This enriched the science of religion with new facts. The idea that religiosity could be overcome with the help of fundamental educational and scientific propaganda was refuted by data on the development of religiosity in the territory of Soviet Ukraine. The shortcoming of dominance of ideology …

Why We Wrote An Open Letter To The Ekd And Wcc On The War Of Aggression Against Ukraine, Katharina Kunter, Ellen Ueberschär

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

“War shall not be according to God's will." This simple sentence was agreed upon by the World Council of Churches (WCC) when it was founded in 1948. The start of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine on February 24, 2022, broke with this principle of the Ecumenical Movement. We were sure that the churches of all confessions, especially our own church, the Evangelische Kirche in Deutschland (EKD) and all other member churches of the WCC, would immediately and unanimously position themselves against the Russian war of aggression. But the clear word, which we had hoped for, did not come.

The Final Dilemma: Cremation As A Form Of Jewish Burial In Slovakia, Peter Salner

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

This paper seeks to answer the question of why, in the 21st century, Jews from the largest Jewish community in Slovakia have increasingly begun to prefer cremation over traditional Jewish burial. Importantly, Judaism views the act of cremation as a repudiation of faith in the afterlife, which incurs punishment in the form of exclusion from the resurrection after the prophesied coming of the Messiah. There is also a historical case against cremation, based on the Nazis’ burning of the bodies of murdered concentration camp inmates. Ethnological research shows that the main reason for this preferential shift is the Holocaust, one …

Still Sticking To The Big Brother: History, German Protestantism, And The Ukrainian War, Katharina Kunter

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

It has often been revealed, in the great historical upheavals of contemporary history, that a quick, situational ad-hoc assessment and reaction is not the strength of German Protestantism. This was the case after the collapse of Imperial Germany (Kaiserreich) and the sovereign church regiment (Landesherrliches Kirchenregiment; summus episcopus) in 1918, as well as after the end of the Second World War, when German Protestantism was long at odds with democracy and Adenauer's ties to the West.4 The Peaceful Revolution in the GDR in 1989 (during the civic uprisings of 1989/90 in the other Central European countries) also surprised the leaders …

The Repressive Policy Of The Soviet Totalitarian Authorities Towards The Evangelical Baptist Christians Of Ukraine, Oksana Vysoven, Larysa Kapitan, Yuriy Fihurnyi, Oleksii Lukashevuch, Ihor Haidaienko

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The punitive and repressive machine of the totalitarian regime worked to destroy politically hopeless citizens of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, and essentially religious people who made any sacrifices for the sake of their beliefs. A large part of them died in Stalin's concentration camps from diseases and malnutrition, as well as from difficult working conditions. Many prisoners were sentenced to be shot. Their families were harassed by law enforcement agencies, harassed in the press, at work. During the Khrushchev period, after the announcement of the anti-religious campaign and before the collapse of the Soviet Union, the children and …

Conflicts In The Families Of Parish Priests In 18th Century Ukraine, Oleksandr Lukyanenko, Vitaly Dmytrenko, Vita Dmytrenko

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The study demonstrates how the religious worldview of early modern man influenced the formation of family values and relationships in the families of church and clerics. The paper is based on the analysis of religious texts that were the basis of the contemporary Orthodox idea of the ideal family, comparing them with notes on the daily life of religious figures of the early modern period and with archival sources. The thesis analyses the conflicts in priests’ families in Ukraine in the early modern society that was lenient with the “dosed” violence of the father in the family. The priest chose …

Here We Go Again? – Wcc´S Statement On Ukraine, Mio Kivelä

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The aim of this paper is to analyze the statement World Council of Churches, WCC, made on the war in Ukraine as well as the discussion related to the statement at the WCC´s 11^th assembly in 2022. The statement and the discussion around it at the assembly will also open a wider perspective on ecumenical movements. One perspective will be to analyze whether the statement made on Ukraine repeats the problems made in previous ecumenical statements and comments around Second World War, WWII.

Frontmatter (Volume 43, Issue 6), Paul B. Mojzes

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

No abstract provided.

Evolution Of A Protestant Theology Institution In Croatia: From Private Church College To University Center, Lidija Matošević, Marina Schumann, Enoh Šeba

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The focus of this case study is the Faculty of Theology “Matthias Flacius Illyricus” (Teološki fakultet “Matija Vlačić Ilirik” – TFMVI) in Zagreb, founded by two minority religious communities: the Lutheran Church and the Baptist Union. The authors’ premise is that by examining over forty years of the institution’s existence, prominent trends and attitudes can be identified that continue to shape the interaction between churches and the state within Croatian society, where the Roman Catholic Church represents the overwhelming majority. The authors begin with a historical overview of the position of churches under the Communist regime in Yugoslavia, with particular …

Introduction By The Guest Editor, Valentyna Kuryliak

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

We bring to your attention a special issue dedicated to Christian denominations on the territory of Ukraine. The issue is dedicated to the most difficult periods in the history of Ukraine, namely three wars, two of which were in the 20th century, and the third of which began in 2014 and has been in an active phase since 2022.

...This August issue of OPREE is divided into two parts. The first part contains articles devoted to the period from 1900 to 1945. During this period, the authors from different denominational backgrounds analyze the state of Christian denominations and the challenges …

Christian Denominations On The Territory Of Ukraine In The First Half Of The 20th Century (1900-1939), Fedir Prodanyuk

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The article examines the state of Christian denominations in the territory of Ukraine in the first half of the 20th century. It has been established that the Christian religion occupied an important place in the life of Ukrainian society. However, the period of prosperity and oppression simultaneously fell in the first 40 years of the 20th century. The confessional policy of the Soviet Union, which came to replace the tsarist authorities, gave a limited privileged position for some Christian churches while creating harsh conditions for other denominations. As a rule, these were Protestant movements, but the Orthodox Church also experienced …