Christianity Commons^™

Ecumenical Dialogue Between Reformers And Orthodox Under The Ottomans (15-16th Century), Svetoslav Svetoszarov Ribolov

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

Despite the capture of Constantinople by the Ottomans in 1453, the Orthodox Church continued to make contacts with the West. In the 15^th and 16^th centuries, Patriarchs Joasaph II and Jeremias II had ecumenical contacts and theological dialogues with two generations of Reformers. Martin Luther and Melanchthon, and later Martin Crusius, Jakob Andrеä, and their associates in Wittenberg took up the initiative for a serious ecumenical dialogue with Constantinople. Despite a sincere desire on both sides, lack of a common methodological framework in the talks did not allow for significant results. In the end, both sides did not …

Project Portfolio: Cultural Humility: Equipping Ministerial Leaders To Navigate Ever-Changing Cultural Landscapes, Caleb Lu

Doctor of Leadership

In the modern quest for competency, efficiency, and production, humility seems to have been forgotten as a key component to what Christ-like leadership looks like in churches and in ministry. Biblical humility requires one to consider one’s relationship with God2 and one’s relationship with others, as Paul details in Philippians. In interviews with Chinese-Americans in Chinese heritage church contexts, multicultural church contexts, and non-church contexts, the cultural divide between older and younger generations (exacerbated by power dynamics)3 was often highlighted as a main reason they did not feel seen or heard. The need, then, was for church and ministry leaders …

Review Of "Calvin On The Death Of Christ: A Word For The World", Jonathan Mccormick

The Christian Librarian

No abstract provided.

Book Review: Orthodoxy In Two Manifestations: The Conflict In Ukraine As Expression Of A Fault Line In World Orthodoxy, By Bremer, Brüning, And Kizenko, Paul Crego, Paul B. Mojzes

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

A review of Thomas Bremer, Alfons Brüning, and Nadieszda Kizenko (eds). Orthodoxy in Two Manifestations: The Conflict in Ukraine as Expression of a Fault Line in World Orthodoxy. Peter Lang, 2022.

ISBN: 9783631886991

The Security Dimensions Of Religious Life In Ukraine: A Focus On Orthodoxy In The Cross-Border Chernivtsi Region, Oleksandr Brodestkyi, Iryna Horokholinska

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The article analyzes the modern tendencies in the religious space of Ukraine with a focus on the processes that are taking place in Orthodoxy in the context of transformations in the self-identification of the faithful. Changes in the jurisdictional affiliation of the Orthodox communities in Ukraine are taken into account. The dynamics of these processes are analyzed against the background of the full-scale war that Russia has unleashed and is waging against Ukraine. Special attention is paid to the situation in Chernivtsi border region, in particular, from the point of view of the Ukrainian-Romanian geopolitical and church relationships. A number …

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 …

Wesley's "Singing The Faith: Soundings Of Lyrical Theology In The Methodist Tradition" (Book Review), Elizabeth A. Nolan

The Christian Librarian

No abstract provided.

Religious Leadership And Critical Junctures In The 2022 Russian Invasion Of Ukraine: 104 War Days Of Metropolitan Hilarion, Alar Kilp, Jerry G. Pankhurst

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The chairman of the Department for External Church Relations (DECR) of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeyev) was dismissed from his office on the 104th day (June 7, 2022) of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Was Hilarion dismissed because of his ‘silence’ on the Russian invasion? We study the 104 ‘war days’ of Metropolitan Hilarion from four dimensions: leadership as position; leadership as process; leadership as result; and leadership as person. Our findings are multivocal: the Russian invasion of Ukraine did become a leadership challenge for Hilarion the way that previous military interventions (in Ukraine and Syria) and …

Best Practices In Protestant Aid For Ukrainian Refugees: 2022, Mark R. Elliott

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

Excerpt: "Russia’s all-out invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, dramatically accelerated Moscow’s military campaign against its southwestern neighbor which had begun in 2014. This unprovoked invasion managed to generate an equally dramatic displacement of Ukrainian civilians, some 13.5 million and counting.

"Paradoxically, the humanitarian response has been both phenomenal and inadequate. It has been phenomenal in its prodigious marshalling of resources and in its determination to alleviate enormous human suffering, calling forth impulses of generosity on a massive scale on the part of the UN, the EU, numerous individual European and North American governments, businesses, foundations, relief and development …

Nato And The Swedish Churches: Dealing With Defence Policy In The Midst Of A European Crisis, Erik Sidenvall

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

Excerpt: "Just like the rest of the population, Swedish Christians remain fundamentally divided in their opinions about the best way to arrange Sweden’s relationship to NATO. But the responses on the part of the churches also seem to hark back to bygone ages. National defense and foreign policy remain, in a country for centuries fundamentally shaped by Lutheran doctrine concerning the division between faith and politics, a matter for the political realm. A tense and potentially threatening geopolitical situation tends to reinforce long cherished views."

Reasons For The Rupture Of The Ukrainian Orthodox Church With The Moscow Patriarchate Against The Backdrop Of The War In Ukraine 2022, Valentyna Kuryliak, Bogdan Synchak

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The object of the study is provided by the conflict of interests of the Ukrainian society and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-(MP) against the backdrop of the 2022 full-scale Russian war against Ukraine. The article considers the impact of new legislative initiatives aimed at minimizing the destructive Russian influence, including on the religious area. The main content and contradictions of certain points of the Decree of the Council of the UOC (MP) dated May 27, 2022, as a result of which the religious denomination declared independence from the Moscow Patriarchate, are analyzed. The main reasons for …

Gene's "The Spirituality Of The Cross-Expanded And Revised" (Book Review), Ntombikayise N. Mathabela

The Christian Librarian

No abstract provided.

Not-Quite-Equal: Mentoring Women For 21st Century Leadership, Susan Rose

Doctor of Ministry

Women are being ordained to ministry in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) at a higher rate than men, but they are not achieving parity in ministry opportunities, salary and benefits. Women comprised 52% of the ordinations in the PC (USA) denomination from 2006-2018. However, they receive fewer full-time positions, fewer congregational positions, less pay for the same positions as men, and Board of Pensions benefits at a lower percentage than men. Reviewing the history of women’s leadership in the church contextualizes biases and prejudices women continue to face today. In Section 1, this paper examines the history of women’s leadership in …

Conflict Between The Clergy And The Laity In The Quaker Church In Kenya, John Muhanji

Doctor of Ministry

The Quaker church missionaries came to Kenya as part of the West's Christian movement to the dark continent. Historians have usually referred to the Society of Friends' spiritual life as quietism, which did not resonate well with African spirituality which was disregarded by the missionaries as evil. Africans unquestioningly believe in the supreme creator of the universe and humanity. There is no ethnic group in Africa that does not have a specific name for a supreme God.1 Therefore, the Quaker belief that "there is that of God in everyone" was not considered by the Western missionaries that Africans believed in …

Latest Developments Affecting Russian Protestant Seminaries And Churches, Mark R. Elliott

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

Excerpt: "Of course, the Russian state assault on Protestant theological education does not occur in a vacuum, as can be seen by an ongoing parallel campaign against individual Protestant congregations. A sample of three cases of direct disruption of Baptist, Pentecostal, and Adventist worship by local authorities in 2019, 2020, and 2021 may illustrate the point."

Increasing State Restrictions On Russian Protestant Seminaries, Mark R. Elliott

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

"In sum, Russian Protestant seminaries are presently undergoing a trial by state inspection that threatens their very existence. Academics Perry Glanzer and Konstantin Petrenko are correct in asserting that the Russian state’s “power to license and accredit” is “the power of life and death” over any educational institution.

State justifications for close oversight of Protestant seminaries appear overstated at best and lack credibility at worst. As regards state concerns for quality control, should not the Russian constitution’s requirement for separation of church and state take precedence over a secular government’s presumption to instruct believers on how best to train their …

Evangelicals And Roman Catholic Spirituality, Daniel L. Brunner

Faculty Publications - Portland Seminary

After almost twenty-five years of teaching at an evangelical seminary in the Pacific Northwest I am seeing an emerging interest in and hunger for Catholic spirituality and mysticism among many of our students, both at the master’s and doctor of ministry levels. It is exciting to see spirituality as a conduit for Roman Catholic – Evangelical ecumenism and dialogue.

Artman's "The Miracle Lady: Kathryn Kuhlman And The Transformation Of Charismatic Christianity" (Book Review), Andrew C. Stout

The Christian Librarian

No abstract provided.

Castelo's "Pentecostalism As A Christian Mystical Tradition" (Book Review), Juliana Morley

The Christian Librarian

No abstract provided.

The Relationship Between Self-Compassion, Religion, Gender, And Objectified Body Consciousness In Christian Nazarene Women, Arielle R. A. Marston

Doctor of Psychology (PsyD)

Body shame and objectification of the female body are well known contributing factors in physical and mental health issues including high stress, eating disorder symptomatology, depression, anxiety, and low self-esteem. Religion plays a role in body shame and female objectification through both scripture and theological writings although this relationship remains inconclusive. Self-Compassion has been found to be a mitigating factor with regard to body shame in college and caregiver contexts. The Church of the Nazarene promotes itself as supporting female leadership and roles within the church. Since religion and gender roles seem to play a role in body shame and …

Interview With Orville And Marilyn Winters, Cherice Bock, Ralph Beebe

War & Conscientious Objection in Northwest Yearly Meeting of Friends, 1940-1975

Orville Winters discusses how he registered for the draft as a noncombatant. His wife Marilyn discusses how her brother Arnold Lee was a conscientious objector.

Frontmatter, Quaker Religious Thought No.131, Jon R. Kershner

Quaker Religious Thought

No abstract provided.

Robert Barclay's Christology, Madeleine Ward

Quaker Religious Thought

Robert Barclay (1648-1690) was arguably the most influential Quaker theologian of the seventeenth century, but his legacy has been controversial. This article will assess this legacy through an examination of his changing Christology over time. This focus on Christology is justified because underlying the earliest Quakers’ belief that Christ was ‘come to teach his people himself’ was the notion that the Light within was Christ—and Barclay has been accused of striking this concern at its heart.

Primitive Christianity Revived—The Original Quaker Vision, Paul N. Anderson

Quaker Religious Thought

Quaker histories over the last century or so have been highly interpretive in their interests and approaches, yielding a number of diverse results as to the character of the early Quaker movement, with varying implications. Obviously, one of the interests in history involves seeking to understand more about the past in order to shed light on the present and the future of the Friends movement itself. What, however, if such an interest is itself misguided? What if the founders of the Friends movement did not seek to start a movement, but rather, were solely invested in something entirely different? In …

Christian And Universalist?: Charting Liberal Quaker Theological Developments Through The Swarthmore Lectures, Danchristy Randazzo

Quaker Religious Thought

In this article, I elucidate two main strands of thought in the Swarthmore Lectures concerning the relationship between Liberal Quakerism, Christianity, and Universalism. Within these two poles are nuanced differences, however, with relation to where Liberal Quakerism falls along a spectrum between explicitly Christian and Universalist.

Response To Anderson, Ward, And Randazzo, Jeffrey Dudiak

Quaker Religious Thought

In this issue we have been gifted with three credible, nay expert, expositors of three interpretations of Quakerism in historical perspective: Penn’s interpretation of Quakerism as “primitive Christianity revived,” Barclay’s evolving interpretation of Quakerism’s “inward Light” as vehiculum dei, and his speculation on a corresponding spiritual sense, and the twentieth century development of Quaker understandings of Christianity and universalism—mutually excluding or complementary?—traced across the prestigious Swarthmore Lectures.

Contributors -- Quaker Religious Thought No. 131

Quaker Religious Thought

No abstract provided.

Review Of T. Vail Palmer, Jr., A Long Road: How Quakers Made Sense Of God And The Bible (Newberg, Or: Barclay Press, 2017), Isaac Barnes May

Quaker Religious Thought

T. Vail Palmer, Jr.’s A Long Road provides a nuanced and comprehensive overview of the thought of two centuries of Quaker Biblical scholars and theologians, focusing on the careers of individual religious leaders to chart the trajectory of a movement. The introduction positions the book as building on classics of Quakerism like Rufus Jones’s Faith and Practices of the Quakers, John Punshon’s Portrait in Grey, Walter Williams’s Rich Heritage of Quakerism and Carole Dale Spencer’s Holiness: The Soul of Quakerism, but the Quaker work that Palmer’s book most closely resembles is Wilmar C. Cooper’s attempt to document a systematic Quaker …

Review Of Paul Buckley, Primitive Christianity Revived: Translated Into Modern English (San Francisco, Inner Light Books, 2018) And Primitive Quakerism Revived: Living As Friends In The Twenty-First Century (San Francisco, Inner Light Books, 2018), Paul N. Anderson

Quaker Religious Thought

In translating William Penn’s analysis of the early Quaker movement into Modern English and in expanding on its meaning for reviving the spirit of early Quakerism for the 21st century, Quaker theologian and historian Paul Buckley has performed a great service. These two books go hand-in-hand, and individuals and reading groups alike would benefit greatly from reading these books and considering their meaning for today. The text is readable, and Buckley’s language is readily accessible. Thus, in rendering William Penn’s Primitive Christianity Revived in a welcoming form, and in expanding upon its meaning as a source of spiritual renewal for …

Levering And Vanhoozers' "Was The Reformation A Mistake?: Why Catholic Doctrine Is Not Unbiblical" (Book Review), Darcy R. Gullacher

The Christian Librarian

No abstract provided.