Evangelicalism

The Power of Feminist Rituals by Grace Kao

by Feminism and Religion

Originally posted on the Feminism and Religion project

March 31, 2012
by Grace Yia-Hei Kao

Jeanette Stokes’ 25 Years in the Garden is on my bedside... more
March 31, 2012
by Grace Yia-Hei Kao

Jeanette Stokes’ 25 Years in the Garden is on my bedside table. It’s a book I read several years ago with a small group of feminist Christians when I was living in Blacksburg, Virginia. The following passage from one of her essays got me to thinking back to the 2012 PANAAWTM conference (Pacific, Asian, and North American Asian Women in Theology and Ministry) I had attended just two weeks ago:

“Rituals are part of everyday lives: reading the newspaper, checking the weather, waiting for the mail to come, or talking with a family member at the end of the day. Rituals can also mark the extraordinary events in our lives: the birth of a child, the death of a loved one, a birthday, marriage, anniversary, or divorce” (Stokes, 2002, p. 37).

We PANAAWTM attendees participated in two rituals that, while neither “everyday” nor “extraordinary,” were nevertheless symbolically very rich, meaningful, and unifying.

Covenant and Myth: Can Reformed Theology Survive without Adam and Eve

by Karl Hand

Australian eJournal of Theology Vol 19, No 1 (2012)

Reformed theology is a diverse movement, and has found many ways to interact with the presence of mythical stories in... more Reformed theology is a diverse movement, and has found many ways to interact with the presence of mythical stories in scripture. There is a strong tendency, however, to draw a 'line in the sand' at the historical existence of Adam because of the function that he plays in the history of the covenants - particularly the 'covenant of works'. This article problematises that line by suggesting that it is possible to build an authentically Reformed and covenantal theology without a historical Adam.

“If You Allow Gay Marriage…” by John Erickson

by Feminism and Religion

Originally published on the Feminism and Religion project

… you have to allow polygamy, bestiality, and everything else!” The title for my post this week is a quote from an... more … you have to allow polygamy, bestiality, and everything else!” The title for my post this week is a quote from an individual I used to associate with.  This individual, haling from a conservative evangelical background, tried to explain to several others and myself the reasons why gay marriage would eventually lead to the repeal of anti-polygamy and bestiality laws across the United States.

The problems that I have with this particular argument are conflating gay marriage with religious freedom.  Activists and scholars can draw comparisons to anti-polygamy cases such as the 1878 U.S. Supreme Court case Reynolds v United States and the 1882 Edmunds Act and 1887 Edmunds-Tucker Act that disfranchised and led to the imprisonment of Mormon polygamists. But in the end, gay marriage is not about religious freedom but rather human rights.

Preying on Victims: Radical Christianity and Exploitation of Tragedy in the Name of God By Michele Stopera Freyhauf

by Feminism and Religion

Originally published on the Feminism and Religion project

It is our moral responsibility, whether we identify as Christians or not, to pray for not prey on the victims of... more It is our moral responsibility, whether we identify as Christians or not, to pray for not prey on the victims of tragedies.

Over the last month, dare I say years, society has witnessed or been subjected to an all out war from radical Christians across America deploying the wrath of God and reveling in the tragedy of others to perpetuate their apocalyptic message of rhetoric and terror.  As I hear the news over the last few months, an old Billy Joel song starts to play in my head “We didn’t start the fire.”  Whether we started the fire or not, we should not feed the flames of hatred but figure out a way to extinguish it.

Here is a brief synopsis of current events that reflect this hatred and radicalism perpetuated in the name of God – examples of Christianity terrorizing or preying on victims through their actions.

The Westboro Southern Baptist Church: Preying on Victims at Funerals and Thanking God for their Tragic Deaths

"Ako je došao silom, on ne ostaje": narativi o konverziji u neoprotestantskim zajednicama // "If he came by force, he would not stay": narratives on conversion in Romanian neo-Protestant communities

by Aleksandra Djurić-Milovanović

Interkulturalnost, no. 3, 2012

Hodges- Review- Stephens and Giberson, “The Anointed- Evangelical Truth in a Secular Age”

by Blair Hodges

Between Legalism and Liberalism: The Brethren in Christ, the New Evangelicals, and the Rhetoric of Religious Identity in Postwar America

by Devin C. Manzullo-Thomas

Presented at the international conference "History, Protestantism, and Identity in the Americas," on October 6, 2011, in Mexico City, Mexico.

Like today’s Old Order Amish, the Brethren in Christ of the early twentieth century were a sectarian religious... more Like today’s Old Order Amish, the Brethren in Christ of the early twentieth century were a sectarian religious community stressing values like simplicity, pacifism, and “separation from the world.” But by midcentury, the community had abandoned the outward manifestations of these nonconformist beliefs, and had moved closer to the mainstream of conservative Protestantism. In the midst of these transformations in religious practice, church officials sought to re-assert a new identity for their small community. Thus, between 1945 and 1965, Brethren in Christ leaders fashioned two categories—“legalism” and “liberalism”—into which they sorted ideas, attitudes, and beliefs of which they wanted no part. Against these undesirable elements, church leaders posited the concept of the “true” Brethren in Christ. Through this process of group redefinition, church leaders linked their denomination to what scholars have termed the “new evangelicalism.”

In exploring the postwar identity construction among the Brethren in Christ, “Between Legalism and Liberalism” also challenges longstanding scholarly conceptualizations of the “new evangelicalism.” For the Brethren in Christ, this midcentury revivalist movement promised a familiar orthodoxy coupled with a more accommodating approach to American culture. In other words, when viewed from the perspective of the separatist Brethren in Christ, these “new evangelicals” were not “conservative Protestants”—they were religious progressives.

Shared Faith, Bold Vision, Enduring Promise: The Maturing Years of Messiah College (review)

by Devin C. Manzullo-Thomas

Published in "Mennonite Quarterly Review" 85, no. 3 (July 2011)

BARBARA MACGOWAN COOPER, EVANGELICAL CHRISTIANS IN THE MUSLIM SAHEL

by Duane Alexander Miller

REAPPROPRIATION: AN ACCOMMODATIONIST HERMENEUTIC OF ISLAMIC CHRISTIANITY

by Duane Alexander Miller

40 YEARS OF MISSION IN ALGERIA

by Duane Alexander Miller

Michael A. G. Haykin and Kenneth J. Stewart (eds.), The Advent of Evangelicalism: Exploring Historical Continuities (Nashville: B & H Academic, 2008), Christian Scholar’s Review xxxviii: 4 (2009), 500-03 (review)

by Jonathan Yeager

Review of Enlightened Evangelicalism, H-Net Reviews

by Jonathan Yeager

Le protestantisme polynésien, de l’église locale aux réseaux évangéliques

by Yannick Fer

Archives de sciences sociales des religions n° 157 (special issue "Christianismes en Océanie - Changing Christianities in Oceania"), 2012, p. 47-66.

The spectacular growth of Evangelical Protestantism and its “network culture” in Polynesia relies on regional... more The spectacular growth of Evangelical Protestantism and its “network culture” in Polynesia relies on regional migrations and young generations who aspire to disentangle personal faith and obedience to church authority. And yet, this growth can’t be simply reduced to a trend of globalisation, breaking away from the deep cultural roots of historical Protestantism in the region. The analysis of regional networks linked with the charismatic international organisation Youth With a Mission thus shows how some Evangelical movements re-appropriate, in their own terms, the Polynesian missionary history and local cultural identities; and how they finally interpret them in the frame of a global theology of spiritual warfare combining a “folklorisation” of culture and a de-territorialisation of personal membership with the exaltation of the “natural” bonds between individuals and territories.

Ego-affirming Evangelicalism: How a Hollywood Church Appropriates Religion for Workers in the Creative Class

by Gerardo Marti

The “creative class” is a growing stratum of American labor consisting of nomadic workers who master self-promotion... more The “creative class” is a growing stratum of American labor consisting of nomadic workers who master self-promotion for economic survival. Using ethnographic and interview data from a Los Angeles church with a majority of attenders working in the entertainment industry, the paper demonstrates how a congregation oriented around a softer form of Word of Faith/Prosperity theology provides moral guidance for creative class believers. Their personal pursuit of fame and fortune is viewed as a veneer for the real self who not only lives by God's standards but also interacts with broader society in solidarity with others in their moral community with the goal of fulfilling religious aspirations. The resulting ego-affirming evangelicalism suggests that congregations that accommodate individual “greatness” within a cohesive community will be embraced by creative class workers who seek both inspiration for daily work and consolation for the isolation and fatigue experienced through their occupational challenges.

Jeunesse en Mission dans le Pacifique : un réseau missionnaire aux frontières de la religion et de la politique

by Yannick Fer

Perspectives missionnaires n°62 (Dossier « La planète évangélique »), 2011, p. 66-72.

La planète évangélique

by Philippe Gonzalez

Gonzalez, Philippe & Andy Buckler. 2011. Introduction : La planète évangélique. Perspectives missionnaires, 62(2) : 5-17.

Introduction du numéro 62 de la revue Perspectives missionnaires consacré à "La planète évangélique". Introduction du numéro 62 de la revue Perspectives missionnaires consacré à "La planète évangélique".

De l'évangélisation des cultures à l'hégémonie culturelle : l'héritage ambigu de la School of World Mission de Fuller Seminary

by Philippe Gonzalez

Gonzalez, Philippe. 2011. De l'évangélisation des cultures à l'hégémonie culturelle : l'héritage ambigu de la School of World Mission de Fuller Seminary. Perspectives missionnaires, 62(2) : 57-65.

Mormon- Evangelical Dialogue- Setting the ground rules: A way forward

by James Holt

Published in Sacred Tribes Journal 2012

A discussion of the polemic and polite exchanges between Mormons and Evangelicals. This article then attemtps to set... more A discussion of the polemic and polite exchanges between Mormons and Evangelicals. This article then attemtps to set some ground rules for future discussion.

Silent Preachers in the Age of Ingenuity: Faith, Commerce, and Religious Tracts in Early Nineteenth-Century Britain

by Joseph Stubenrauch

Published in Church History 80:3 (2011), 547-574.