THE CHURCH RELATED COLLEGE AND LAY LEADERSHIP

This article argues that in the face of an unprecedented crisis in ministry and mission in the Church of Scotland decisive action is needed in the area of the education and training of its lay members. It examines how the church’s theological and cultural heritage shaped a negative attitude towards lay leadership, and reviews attempts at reform in recent years as well as proposals regarding education and training contained in the Kirk’s current Radical Action Plan.

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Desperate Measures

Ecclesiastical Law Journal ◽

10.1017/s0956618x00004762 ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 6 (31) ◽

pp. 389-394 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Pete Broadbent

Keyword(s):

Church Of England ◽

Kingdom Of God ◽

Second World War ◽

Lay Leadership ◽

World War ◽

Ecclesiastical Law ◽

First Time ◽

Second World ◽

The Church ◽

Do So

I want to suggest that, for possibly the first time since the Second World War, we have a genuine opportunity for the Church of England to reform its mission and pastoral coverage, and its institutions, for good and for the furtherance of the Kingdom of God. Our changing culture is the main context for this reform, but it is being made possible by two external drivers—the financial meltdown which is currently taking place at national and diocesan level, and the decline in clergy numbers which has forced the Church at last to embrace the new patterns of ministerial priesthood and lay leadership proposed by John Tiller in 1983. It is clear to me that the Church of England as an institution only embraces change when it is forced to do so. It would be perfectly possible to ignore our changing cultural situation and to die quietly in a corner, were it not for our lack of money and priests. I am upbeat about this, because I do not believe that the forces of reaction and darkness will prevail this time. But I am worried that the framework of ecclesiastical law will delay and attempt to prevent the changes that are needed—and to this concern I will return.

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Spiritual Healing, Sick Kids and the Law: Inequities in the American Healthcare System

American Journal of Law & Medicine ◽

10.1017/s0098858800002847 ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 29 (2-3) ◽

pp. 269-299

Author(s):

Janna C. Merrick

Keyword(s):

Medical Science ◽

Spiritual Healing ◽

Best Interests ◽

Legal Rights ◽

High Tech ◽

Divine Love ◽

Religious Minority ◽

Human Need ◽

East End ◽

The Church

Main Street in Sarasota, Florida. A high-tech medical arts building rises from the east end, the county's historic three-story courthouse is two blocks to the west and sandwiched in between is the First Church of Christ, Scientist. A verse inscribed on the wall behind the pulpit of the church reads: “Divine Love Always Has Met and Always Will Meet Every Human Need.” This is the church where William and Christine Hermanson worshipped. It is just a few steps away from the courthouse where they were convicted of child abuse and third-degree murder for failing to provide conventional medical care for their seven-year-old daughter.This Article is about the intersection of “divine love” and “the best interests of the child.” It is about a pluralistic society where the dominant culture reveres medical science, but where a religious minority shuns and perhaps fears that same medical science. It is also about the struggle among different religious interests to define the legal rights of the citizenry.

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Ideas and Leaders in Contentious Politics: One Parish Priest in El Salvador's Popular Movement

Behavioral and Brain Sciences ◽

10.1017/s0140525x13009862 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 38 (01) ◽

pp. 76-101

Author(s):

PETER M. SANCHEZ

Keyword(s):

Collective Action ◽

El Salvador ◽

Liberation Theology ◽

Contentious Politics ◽

Religious Leaders ◽

Political Movement ◽

Parish Priest ◽

Historical Moment ◽

Resource Mobilisation ◽

The Church

AbstractThis paper examines the actions of one Salvadorean priest – Padre David Rodríguez – in one parish – Tecoluca – to underscore the importance of religious leadership in the rise of El Salvador's contentious political movement that began in the early 1970s, when the guerrilla organisations were only just beginning to develop. Catholic leaders became engaged in promoting contentious politics, however, only after the Church had experienced an ideological conversion, commonly referred to as liberation theology. A focus on one priest, in one parish, allows for generalisation, since scores of priests, nuns and lay workers in El Salvador followed the same injustice frame and tactics that generated extensive political mobilisation throughout the country. While structural conditions, collective action and resource mobilisation are undoubtedly necessary, the case of religious leaders in El Salvador suggests that ideas and leadership are of vital importance for the rise of contentious politics at a particular historical moment.

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