Church and Society

Управління культури, національностей, релігій та туризму Хмельницької облдержадміністрації та Державний історико-культурний заповідник «Межибіж» спільно з Хмельницькою обласною організацією Національної спілки краєзнавців України 20 жовтня 2017 року проводять Всеукраїнську науково-практичну конференцію «Релігія і церква як чинник історичних та суспільних процесів Східної Європи». Конференція входить до Плану заходів Міністерства культури України з підготовки та відзначення в Україні 500-річчя Реформації.

Робота конференції планується за такими тематичними напрямами:
I. Історія релігій та церков в Україні.
II. Реформація в Україні та Східній Європі від Середньовіччя до наших днів.
III. Церква і держава - розмаїття взаємодій. Церкви як чинник державотворчих процесів.
IV. Соціальна місія релігій та церков.
V. Церква у матеріальній культурі людства. Релігійна архітектура, сакральне мистецтво, література, предмети культу і атрибутики. Релігійні предмети у фондах музеїв та архівів, у приватних колекціях.

This is a presentation of my PhD thesis, with the title: Justice and Righteousness in the Prophecy of Amos and their Relevance to Issues of Contemporary Social Justice in Ghana. It Summarizes the content of the study and its contribution to scholarship.

My dissertation is an analytical study of a historical anthropological nature of the special relationship between parish priests and church assistants active in Csongrád in the second half of the 19th century, and the role they played in local society. Social role is understood to mean the sum of the forms of action expected of the individual by the community, that is, the body of expectations attached to certain social statuses and positions. Individuals also have an understanding of the question of “how a priest/cantor/bellringer, etc.” should behave, and as they adapt their behaviour to these expectations, they also become role-carriers. Experiencing and accepting the social role is a factor of key importance; accordingly the role of the lower clergy and church assistants also requires sincere identification with the moral weight of their tasks. The community judges their behaviour and everyday actions in the light of the success or failure of their role identification.
The representatives of historical anthropology – including myself – regard it as essential to clarify precisely the circumstances, to assess the cultural, economic and especially the social conditions serving as the background of the phenomena studied. In this sense the society of Csongrád in the period concerned is the context of the values and norms to which the office-bearers examined relate and adapt – in their own customary, ad hoc way. It is in this context that the decisions and responses of the individual actor acquire meaning.
Two characteristic elements of microhistory that are difficult to separate from historical anthropology can also be found in my work. One is the concept of normal exception associated with the name of Edoardo Grendi, that can be examined through the example of the parish priest Antal Hegyi (1886-1902). According to the theory, the examination of atypical phenomena – that is, phenomena contrary to statistical representativity – can help to reveal deep strata of social reality that, in the absence of conflict, remain hidden. Given that the individual chapters of the dissertation are restricted both in their sub-themes and in time and space, the idea of change of scale logically arises. The change of scale tries to form a bridge from the micro to the macro, from the specific to the general by reconstructing the fabric of social reality through an increasingly thick description of micro-level phenomena. I have treated the minor and major conflicts of the ecclesiastical and para-ecclesiastical office-bearers as the sum of phenomena that in themselves point beyond themselves and throw light on cultural and tradition-based relations. In this way the present dissertation can be regarded as a chain of case studies that, embedded into a wider social context, become historical anthropological analysis, a picture formed of mosaic pieces.
My research is thus focused on changes in the social role of the lower clergy, lay assistants and para-ecclesiastical assistants in the second half of the 19th century. According to my hypothesis, parallel with the restructuring of the society of Csongrád, the judgement of individual roles must also have undergone change, and the path to an understanding of trends influencing the transformation leads through the study of individual conflicts.

En este trabajo monográfico estudiaremos la fundación de varias órdenes religiosas en América, con énfasis en la fundación de órdenes religiosas femeninas.  Es importante entender cómo el Concilio de Trento influyó en la re-estructuración de los conventos en Europa y en América, por lo tanto hemos incluido una sección que trata sobre el tema.  También, cómo parte del estudio, veremos cómo estas instituciones son controladas por el sistema patronal y el regalismo.

Quando il 29 luglio 1529, nella cattedrale di Barcellona, Carlo V e Clemente VII firmarono la pace, che dalla città catalana prese nome, Trivento era uno snodo importante nel piano strategico e delle operazioni militari della Corona spagnola nel Regno di Napoli. Posta, com’era, lungo la strada d’accesso terrestre al Regno di Napoli, in una zona di confine con la Santa Sede, circondata da potentati ecclesiastici come Montecassino o la badia di S. Sofia di Benevento, era inevitabile che un sovrano come Carlo V avesse mire su di essa per stabilire un controllo serrato in ambito civile ed ecclesiastico, da un lato con il conferimento del titolo feudale alla fedele e leale nobiltà e dall’altro lato controllando gli avvicendamenti episcopali sulla cattedra più antica del Contado di Molise. Eppure, nell’ambito della storia e delle vicende che riguardarono il regio patronato nel Mezzogiorno d’Italia, sulla diocesi di Trivento è stata fatta ancora poca luce, soprattutto in relazione al maggior rilievo economico e politico che ebbero altre diocesi e arcidiocesi del Regno su cui pure il sovrano spagnolo intese stabilire il proprio controllo. Il presente lavoro intende colmare questo vuoto.
La storia della diocesi molisana ha rappresentato l’occasione per osservare la periferia del Regno di Napoli nell’età spagnola, alla luce delle complesse dinamiche politiche nelle molteplici e differenti relazioni tra “centri”, Spagna/Roma/Napoli e “periferie” dell’Impero e del Regno. In quel vasto spazio territoriale che fu il Regno di Napoli, periferia dell’assai più ampio Impero spagnolo, si muovono le trame per la nomina dei vescovi della diocesi di regio patronato e dunque degli ecclesiastici candidati alla diocesi di Trivento. Alla luce del costante dialogo tra i centri del potere sono ricostruiti i processi di nomina e i profili dei candidati alla diocesi molisana. Quest’ultimi erano segnati da un cursus honorum di tutto rispetto, perfettamente inseriti nel dialogo e nelle trame politiche vicereali della corte napoletana. La storia che emerge è storia politica, storia sociale, storia religiosa, in un moltiplicarsi di spunti di riflessioni che inevitabilmente emergono confrontandosi con una realtà diocesana e con le linee evolutive a essa riconducibili all’indomani del Tridentino e nelle attività pastorali del clero che operava nel territorio.
Quanti dei vescovi nominati dal sovrano spagnolo raggiunsero Trivento e, una volta sul posto, cosa fecero? Cosa cambiò nella storia del territorio? Seguendo le vicende della storia diocesana sono analizzati i motivi che indussero la Monarchia spagnola alla scelta di Trivento come diocesi di regio patronato e, dall’altro lato, le risposte e gli esiti che, nel lungo periodo, si ebbero sul territorio.
L’intero lavoro di tesi si snoda tra i centri del potere politico chiamati a nominare i vescovi di regio patronato e la compagine locale, per quel che attiene il territorio, le strutture demografiche, il panorama socio-economico, il sistema devozionale, la composizione del clero diocesano. Tutti elementi utili a contestualizzare e tracciare la storia diocesana nel lungo periodo dell’età spagnola

A szerző az alsópapság, a laikus templomszolgák és az egyházközeli asszisztencia társadalmi szerepének változásait vizsgálja a 19. század második felében. Hipotézise szerint a csongrádi társadalom átstruktúrálódásával párhuzamosan az egyes szerepek megítélése is változáson mehetett keresztül, az átalakulást befolyásoló tendenciák megértéséhez pedig egyedi konfliktusok tanulmányozásán keresztül vezet az út.

It is noteworthy that these women who have been ordained have been very successful and faithful in their ministry. And yet, theologians and ecclesiastical authorities have been finding it hard to accept the ordained ministry of women wholeheartedly. In this reflection paper, I am going to bring out the need and necessity of women ordination in Church.

Recent events in Ukraine have forced post-Soviet evangelicals to address a question they had long avoided: ‘in what way is the gospel not only the source of personal salvation, but also the source of social transformation?’ This lecture advances the provocative argument that instead of calling the people to repent and make peace, the church itself should repent for betrayingthe people, and for failing for so many years to speak truthfully to those in power and to stand on the side of the oppressed. It is argued that Baptists in both Ukraine and Britain need to reject the kind of narrow pietism that over-emphasises individual salvation, and should instead rediscover their holistic mission, in which both the individual and society become complementary parts of the overall Christian vision of biblically-informed action on behalf of the overriding biblical imperative of social justice. The lecture concludes on a hopeful note by showing that despite their limited numbers, Baptists can be in the vanguard of a new movement(a ‘church without walls’) for the reformation of the church and the renewal of society, which moves towards an open future with hope for greater freedom. While drawing on the author’s experience of living and working in Ukraine, this lecture also addresses vital issues that affect the global Baptist community, such as the missional imperatives of social justice and solidarity and the limits of political authority.

The essay discusses the relationship between the media and the Church. As a rule, until 1989, the media was hostile against the (Orthodox) Church, as well as against being religious, an attitude often passed over the intellectuals. The negative attitude against the Church was mainly the position of television and written press. Rather immune to the sensational and the subjective, the radio was not so radical in its position. The author refers to certain types of attitude: ignorance, suspicion, irony and sarcasm; spreading a negative image of the Church by the Marxist propaganda; the distortion of the messages; the presentation of certain major conflicts from a single point of view etc. The conclusion: mass-media generally has an anti-Christian attitude, leading to a public
opinion that implies Christians' discrimination.

Fletcher located his ethics between the extremes of legalism and antinomianism. The antinomians have no laws; the legalists have laws for everything. Fletcher’s situationism has only one law, this ethics is neither a lawless relativism, which says that there is no law for anything, nor a legalistic absolutism which has laws for everything; rather there is one law for everything, the law of love.

Pourquoi les églises sont-elles réticentes par rapport à un engagement politique de leurs pasteurs ? En France, ceci est rare. Pourtant, quand on regarde aux alentours, les exemples abondent
Nous examinons quelques règlementations en la matière dans les milieux évangéliques en France. Ensuite nous décrivons plusieurs exemples de pasteurs en politique. Enfin nous développons une approche nuancée de ce phénomène, car il y a plusieurs formes d'engagement. Certains sont très appropriés pour des pasteurs. De par leur expérience et de leur formation, les derniers sont en fait, bien qualifiés pour exercer des fonctions politiques.

This article attempts to be investigating the role Islam played surrounding Reformation. As Reformation occurring in the time when the Ottoman sultanate was at its peak and was invading Europe for the sake of expanding its territory, this article tries to find the connection that possibly exists. On the other hand, it also intends to depict the negative perceptions on Islam that were formed under circumstances like these among Europeans Christians, particularly among the Reformers such as Calvin. Those perceptions are products of its time. They should not be transferred into present situation, which is very different from the time of the Reformers.
Keywords: Reformasi, Eropa Barat Kristen, Islam, John Calvin, persepsi.

This web article provides a narrative description concerning the impact of Global markets on poverty in Tondo, Philippines from a United Methodist perspective. Written in 2009, the article was provided to the EPA Church and Society concerning conditions in the Philippines and the United Methodist Church as an update following a research trip to the Philippines partially underwritten by a Peace With Justice grant. Follow the URL link above for the article and additional resources

The Vestry of Madona Dudu Church was an influential and rich entity that played a key role in helping and sustaining war efforts in the First World War struggle. Thanks to the founders, the vestry had a consistent wealth, including buildings, fertile lands, and other benefits that were under the administration of responsible people.
In 1913 the old church was demolished and the plan was to construct a new cathedral, but all the financial resources and the vestry’s goods were redirected to help the people that were suffering from the Great War. The unpublished documents that I studied are a testimony of the efforts and the consistent help of the Vestry of Madona Dudu Church for those that needed not only spiritual guidance but more likely material support.

The ministry to the transgender community in India is still in its infancy and the Mar Thoma Church through its Navodaya Movement has been making little steps in this direction. This essay employs Kosuke Koyama's deliberations on Neighbourology as expounded in his seminal work 'Waterbuffalo Theology' to formulate a contextual theological framework for doing ministry with the transgender community.

In the course of the modern age, antagonism and conflicts between secular
and ecclesiastical power reached a degree of intensity that involved some of the most important sectors of social life. This intensity, as well as the complexity of the relations existing between the two powers (besides the obvious dichotomy and, at times, convergence of their mutual goals), leads us to reflect on the nature and the exact meaning to give to the notions of State (as it was understood in the ancien régime) and Church. All things considered, an investigation of the concrete nature of the conflicts that occurred between these two powers, even one limited to those relevant to the topic of marriage, means dealing with one of the historiographical issues that most closely touches the life of institutions over the course of the modern age. In the course of the 17th century and even more in the one that followed, matrimonial policy was seen above all in the light of phenomena which, like clandestine marriages, were felt to be dangerous and even harmful to established authority. If they were secret marriages, they were considered a source of social disorder or in any case a disturbance of a correct and orderly transmission of property. Clandestine and secret marriages thus comprised a significant political problem all over Europe.

This paper formed one of the presentations at the seminar which evaluated the LWF process: Seeking Conviviality - A New Core Concept for Diakonia. It set out some theological starting points for the consideration of the past work of the process group and upcoming work needed.

As a global Wesleyan-Holiness denomination coming of age in the twentieth century, the Church of the Nazarene has both dramatically confronted and yet largely complied with the emerging hegemony of both federated and nation states, particularly across North America. For all the introspection scholars and church leaders have done leading up to the denominational centenary and following, we have yet to address how the Church of the Nazarene has come to organize itself administratively, especially in declaring district boundaries. Moreover, we have yet to account for how such geo-logistical decisions support or otherwise hinder the church’s local mission. In this paper, we analyze the paradigm shift from organizing districts creatively around urban centers to more arbitrarily dividing districts along geopolitical lines, especially state/provincial lines within the USA and Canada. The former practice was directly aligned with the mission, as P. F. Bresee put it, to “evangelistic and city mission work.” The latter development, however, demonstrates the extent to which the denomination lost sight of that initial, proximal impetus. Instead, the Church of the Nazarene succumbed to a subversive, even if unintended, Manifest Destiny of its own—a colonial, imperialistic agenda in service to “spreading of the doctrine and experience of Christian holiness” divorced from the cities where it took root. Therefore, we suggest new ways the Church of the Nazarene may exercise a prophetic imagination in revising the organization of districts, zones, fields, regions, and other geographically realized administrative areas. That is, as an act of confronting hegemonic structures with which the church has been so complicit and, in turn, recapturing the original vision for a church organized around people rather than in service to political powers.

Nei saggi che ha dedicato, a partire dagli anni ottanta del Novecento, al vescovo di Padova Gregorio Barbarigo Liliana Billanovich ha messo a fuoco l'apporto fornito allo stile di governo diocesano di Barbarigo da una prassi di esercizio del potere tipica del patriziato veneziano, evidenziando inoltre il ruolo della famiglia del prelato nella conduzione degli affari della curia padovana. Il presente contributo discute questa chiave di lettura, commisurandone l'efficacia anche rispetto agli indirizzi degli studi successivi.

The following short paper is designed to unfold the following four theses concerning the nexuses of media, religion, mediation, and mediatization:
1. Mediation lies at the core of religion. The dynamics of mediation have always been crucial for any sound understanding of religious communication. Religions are cultural laboratories for mediated communication.
2. In order to capture the significant changes in late modern societies in the field of religion, one must work with a rather precise conceptual tool: with mediatization as opposed to mediation.
3. Mediatization is not caused by the media in any direct causal sense but is brought about by religious actors and institutions. It is a mirror process, in which religious institutions anticipate the way the media observe religion and transform themselves accordingly.
4. Many reforms initiated by the Protestant Churches in Germany over the last 20 years must be ‘read’ as processes of mediatization of religion and its institutions.

the sixth ministerial conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO) will formally begin in Hong Kong. To most of Hong Kong's people, influenced by the mass media, the six-day meeting only means that many activists will come to Hong Kong to join demonstrations and that riots may occur. Moreover, based on the propaganda of the Hong Kong government, they also think that the WTO can bring more business opportunities, more choices to consumers and may even improve the livelihood of the poor. They do not really know what the meeting is going to discuss nor the impact of the WTO on the lives of people in developing countries.

Nowadays insightful information about the causes, meaning, prevention and management of HIV and AIDS is available. Statistics show new infections especially in areas not penetrated by the church because of different perceptions about sexuality. As such, not much literature exists about the church queer studies and theology in the context of HIV and AIDS. Discourses about sexual orientation in the church have triggered complex debate. The tension includes the inclusion of homosexuals within worship, as well as their identity and space in the worship experience. As such, this raises questions about the compatibility of Christian faith, rituals, and practices. The demise of families, shifting identities of marriages, including marrying and ordaining gays, human rights and religious freedom are fundamentals in this article. Somewhat, there is relegation of the lesbians, bisexuals, and gays, while it is a contributor to issues of HIV and AIDS. Thus, this article seeks to understand the extent to which the Pentecostal faith, practices, and rituals can dialogue with homosexuals in the context of HIV and AIDS. This article utilizes Queer theology, and data collection is through in-depth interviews and sermonic discourse analysis. This article concludes that reaching out to lesbigays in Pentecostalism create space for the church to mitigate the widespread of HIV and AIDS. This article constructively contributes to the understanding of HIV and AIDS, sex, and sexuality in Africa.

This invited session is CTSA's contribution to the International Network of Societies for Catholic Theology (INSeCT)'s global research project entitled "A question of gender justice: the role of women in decision-making in different areas of church and society." This session advanced a conversation among the CTSA, the Australian Catholic Theological Association (ACTA), and the Unión de Instituciones Teológicas Católicas en México, A.C. In his paper, "'Recognition' and the Ministry of Women," James McEvoy situates the question of gender justice in contemporary history, arguing "that the language and practice of recognition can aid the challenge of overcoming patriarchy, and that the church today must see the recognition of women's ministry as a fundamental calling." McEvoy states that Charles Taylor's conception of recognition is productive through its attention to social and political life. A key problem here concerns the inherent complexity of the politics of equal recognition in two distinct senses: "a politics of universalism" with its emphasis on the "equal dignity of all citizens," and "a politics of difference" with its focus on, initially, the uniqueness of women's identity, and more recently, "the range of women's identities" in all their differences. For McEvoy, it is "the biblical vision of women and men being one in Christ Jesus" that requires the development of "ecclesial structures [that] enable women to participate fully in the life and leadership of the ecclesial community," and second, the transformation of those structures "so that women's culturally different ways of speaking and acting can be recognized and accommodated in the dialogue about the ecclesial community's future." The premise of Christina Astorga's paper is found in its title, "Gender Inequity is at the Root of Gender Violence." She argues that this connection, once affirmed, foregrounds "the theology of prophetic lament and the ethics of gender resistance." She begins by elucidating three forms of gender violence against women as they are manifest in a few Asian countries and in Africa. She considers violence against women who suffer HIV/AIDS, abuse as domestic workers, and torture/rape in the practice of dowry. These examples set the stage for her subsequent discussion of how the Western construct of male-female dualism deems women subordinate and destined to be in a self-sacrificial role. Indeed, patriarchal culture strongly encourages women and girls to internalize their oppression as natural and normative, so much so "that even thinking about what it means to strive for freedom brings terror and trepidation to [women's] psyches." This experience of oppression makes violence against women appear less horrific and more acceptable, in some cases even "honorable." Astorga argues that our theo-ethical response must be one of lament to God which fuels work toward a transformed, more just world.

Discrimination is one of the most challenging issues that we are faced with in the world today. It impairs human dignity and dehumanizes individuals and particular group of people, violating the order of God’s creation. It has and continues to be a critical issue and a serious challenge for Christian churches today. This thesis aims to link the theme of the liberation for the Burakumin who are the discriminated and marginalized people in Japanese society over a period of years, with the liberating message of the Gospel, and the ecumenical commitment towards the issue of discrimination. The Burakumin are not really known in the world outside Japan. An attempt is made to highlight their discriminatory situation and their struggle for liberation. An attempt has also been made to study the Buraku liberation theology as one of the contextualized liberation theology and highlights its relevance and contribution towards the struggle against the discrimination in Japanese society and also the world at large. Then, as an example of the ecumenical biblical interpretation for the liberation of the marginalized people, it attempts has been made to interpret and re-read the biblical text about the story of the resurrection in John 20:11-18 from the perspective of the Burakumin. Through a Buraku liberation reading, it is hoped that the possibility of interpreting the resurrection of Jesus as the liberating experience for the discriminated and marginalized people can be highlighted with the re-reading and presentation of the resurrected Jesus in the similitude of the discriminated and the marginalized, appearing before the discriminated and marginalized in the society.

This paper examines the role of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in shaping Peloponnesian society at the dawn of the 18th century. It explores the intricate relationship between ecclesiastical authority and the evolving social and political landscape in the Peloponnese during this period. By utilizing archival sources and contemporary accounts, the study investigates how the Patriarchate influenced local communities and contributed to significant social transformations. The chapter further analyzes the interplay between church and state, considering the impact of ecclesiastical policies on cultural identity and social cohesion. Ultimately, the findings offer fresh insights into the enduring legacy of the Ecumenical Patriarchate and its pivotal role in the historical narrative of the Peloponnese.

Εξετάζεται ο ρόλος που διαδραμάτιζε το Οικουμενικό Πατριαρχείο στη λειτουργία της πελοποννησιακής κοινωνίας στην αυγή του 18ου αιώνα. Ερευνάται η πολύπλοκη σχέση μεταξύ της εκκλησιαστικής εξουσίας και του εξελισσόμενου κοινωνικού και πολιτικού τοπίου στην Πελοπόννησο κατά τη συγκεκριμένη περίοδο. Με την αξιοποίηση αρχειακών τεκμηρίων και σύγχρονων πηγών, η μελέτη διερευνά τον τρόπο που το Πατριαρχείο επηρέασε τις τοπικές κοινότητες και συνέβαλε σε σημαντικές κοινωνικές μεταμορφώσεις. Το κείμενο αναλύει επίσης τις σχέσεις Εκκλησίας - Πολιτείας, εξετάζοντας τις επιπτώσεις της εκκλησιαστικής πολιτικής στην πολιτιστική ταυτότητα και την κοινωνική συνοχή. Τα ευρήματα προσφέρουν νέες προοπτικές στην κατανόηση της διαρκούς κληρονομιάς του Οικουμενικού Πατριαρχείου και του καθοριστικού του ρόλου στην ιστορική αφήγηση της Πελοποννήσου.

If the Christian church seeks to foster truly redemptive change in the world, reflection on its social responsibility, its life and activity is essential. People of integrity, cultivated and supported by a community of faith can serve as a doorway of invitation into a fellowship of shalom, one that is meant for all humanity. The biblical concept of shalom constitutes a robust framework for guiding the life of the church in the contemporary world. In this article I survey the biblical concepts of community and shalom in the Bible with a view to gleaning insight for contemporary church life.

"Не бойся, но говори и не умолчкай." -Деяния 18:09 «В мире будете иметь скорбь; но мужайтесь: Я победил мир. "-Иоан. 16:33 В июне 2000 года митрополит Сурожский Антоний дал большое интервью в Лондоне, отрывки из которого были опубликованы спустя несколько дней в Париже в газете "Русская мысль". В этом интервью владыка Антоний размышлял об атмосфере внутреннего страха, которая начала окутывать Православную Церковь: