Ecclesiology

2021 ◽  
pp. 296-310
Author(s):  
David True
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Close Reading ◽  
Reinhold Niebuhr ◽  
The Reformation ◽  
Critical Task ◽  
American Churches ◽  
The Church

This essay argues that Reinhold Niebuhr had a rich and theologically informed ecclesiology. The argument begins by briefly considering criticisms of Niebuhr’s ecclesiology before turning to a close reading of his writings on the American church. These writings are practical in nature and brief, which perhaps explains why they have received relatively little attention. In them, it becomes clear that Niebuhr embraced several doctrines associated with the Reformation churches, including a high view of the sacraments and the persistence of sin. For Niebuhr, grace and sin are central to the church’s identity as a communion of grace. Grace, he claims, has profound implications for the church in the United States. In a culture that emphasises merit, grace should give the church a critical task. Niebuhr’s vision of the church, then, is a sect-church, at once sacramental and critical. The essay concludes by sketching how Niebuhr’s ecclesiology relates to and informs contemporary American churches.

Pentecostalism and African diaspora : a case study of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), in North America

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 77-92
Author(s):  
Rotimi Williams Omotoye
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
North America ◽  
United States Of America ◽  
The United States ◽  
Church Of God ◽  
Sources Of Information ◽  
Christian Church ◽  
Secondary Sources ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Church

Pentecostalism as a new wave of Christianity became more pronounced in 1970's and beyond in Nigeria. Since then scholars of Religion, History, Sociology and Political Science have shown keen interest in the study of the Churches known as Pentecostals because of the impact they have made on the society. The Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) was established by Pastor Josiah Akindayomi in Lagos,Nigeria in 1952. After his demise, he was succeeded by Pastor Adeboye Adejare Enock. The problem of study of this research was an examination of the expansion of the Redeemed Christian Church of God to North America, Caribbean and Canada. The missionary activities of the church could be regarded as a reversed mission in the propagation of Christianity by Africans in the Diaspora. The methodology adopted was historical. The primary and secondary sources of information were also germane in the research. The findings of the research indicated that the Redeemed Christian Church of God was founded in North America by Immigrants from Nigeria. Pastor Adeboye Enock Adejare had much influence on the Church within and outside the country because of his charisma. The Church has become a place of refuge for many immigrants. They are also contributing to the economy of the United States of America. However, the members of the Church were faced with some challenges, such as security scrutiny by the security agencies. In conclusion, the RCCGNA was a denomination that had been accepted and embraced by Nigerians and African immigrants in the United States of America.

THE INCEPTION AND EVOLUTION OF FINANCIAL REPORTING IN THE PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

1986 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 55-63 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. A. Swanson ◽  
John C. Gardner
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Financial Reporting ◽  
United States Of America ◽  
The United States ◽  
Episcopal Church ◽  
For Profit ◽  
Not For Profit ◽  
The Church

This research documents the emergence of accounting procedures and concepts in a centrally controlled not-for-profit organization during a period of change and consolidation. The evolution of accounting as prescribed by the General Canons is identified and its implementation throughout the church conferences is examined.

Introduction

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caron E. Gentry
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Imago Dei ◽  
Power Structures ◽  
President Obama ◽  
Reinhold Niebuhr ◽  
Christian Realism ◽  
Feminist Thought

This introduction contrasts the election of President Obama with the election of President Trump, introducing the concept of anxiety politics and the role of emotions in discourse. It argues that while Christian realism, as articulated by Reinhold Niebuhr, continues to be relevant, its discussion of power structures and anxiety needs to be reevaluated in light of feminist thought. It does so by intersecting Niebuhr with other theologies on the imago dei and creativity. In this way it can better account for the racial and misogynist structures that the United States is founded upon and that continue to haunt and effect US politics.

Attitudes toward Mormons and Voter Behavior in the 2012 Presidential Election

2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 60-85 ◽  
Author(s):  
George Hawley
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Presidential Election ◽  
Party Identification ◽  
The United States ◽  
Vote Choice ◽  
Voter Behavior ◽  
Latter Day Saints ◽  
Active Member ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Church

AbstractPrior to the 2012 presidential election, some commentators speculated that Mitt Romney's status as a devout and active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints would undermine his presidential aspirations. Using the 2012 American National Election Survey, this study examines the relationship between attitudes toward Mormons and voter behavior in the United States in that election year. It finds that attitudes toward Mormons had a statistically-significant effect on turnout — though these effects differed according to party identification. It additionally finds that these attitudes influenced vote choice. In both cases, the substantive effects were small, indicating that anti-Mormon feelings did play a role in the 2012 presidential election, but they did not determine the final outcome.

Christian Doctrine and Free Church Ecclesiology: Recent Developments among Baptists in the Southern United States

Ecclesiology ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 195-219
Author(s):  
Paul Fiddes
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Southern Baptist ◽  
The United States ◽  
Southern United States ◽  
Recent Book ◽  
Christian Doctrine ◽  
Free Church ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Local Manifestation ◽  
The Church

AbstractThe main substance of this article is an extended review of a recent book by a Southern Baptist historical theologian, Malcolm Yarnell, entitled The Formation of Christian Doctrine, which aims to root the development of doctrine in a free-church ecclesiology. This review offers the opportunity to examine a spectrum of ecclesiologies that has recently emerged among Baptists in the Southern region of the United States of America. Four 'conservative' versions of ecclesiology are identified, which are named as 'Landmarkist', 'Reformed', 'Reformed-Ecumenical' and 'Conservative Localist'. Four 'moderate' versions are similarly identified, and named as 'Voluntarist', 'Catholic', 'Moderate Localist' and 'World-Baptist'. While these categories are not intended to be mutually exclusive, the typology is useful both in positioning Yarnell's particular thesis, and in making comparisons with recent Baptist ecclesiology in Great Britain, which has focussed on the concept of covenant. Yarnell's own appeal to covenant is unusual in Southern Baptist thinking, and means that he cannot be easily fitted into the typology suggested. Though he belongs most evidently to the group named here as 'Conservative Localists', and is overtly opposed to any concept of a visible, universal church except in an eschatological sense, it is suggested that his own arguments might be seen as tending towards a more 'universal' view of the reality of the church beyond its local manifestation. His own work thus offers the promise that present polarizations among Baptists in the southern United States might, in time, be overcome.

John Courtney Murray

2021 ◽  
pp. 180-198
Author(s):  
Francesca Cadeddu
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
American History ◽  
Religious Pluralism ◽  
The United States ◽  
Catholic Theology ◽  
Reinhold Niebuhr ◽  
Archival Documents ◽  
Religious Landscape ◽  
John Courtney Murray

This chapter offers an insight on the intellectual relationship between Reinhold Niebuhr and John Courtney Murray, SJ. Newly discovered archival documents highlight their roles as consultants to the Basic Issues Program of the Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions (CSDI), established in 1957. The activities of the programme were based on debates pertaining to topics including religious pluralism, civic unity, and natural law. Niebuhr and Murray had the opportunity to present their perspectives on the United States religious landscape and the issues raised by ecumenical and social relations between the Protestant majority and the Catholic minority. What emerges from their confrontation is not a search for conciliation, but rather a representation of Reinhold Niebuhr’s understanding of pre-conciliar Catholic theology and John Courtney Murray’s effort to contribute to the acknowledgement of Catholics within American history and society.

Why Is There So Much Christianity in the United States? A Reply to Sommerville

2002 ◽  
Vol 71 (4) ◽  
pp. 858-864 ◽  
Author(s):  
David A. Hollinger
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
North Atlantic ◽  
Religious Affiliation ◽  
The United States ◽  
Church History ◽  
Voluntary Organizations ◽  
Secular Culture ◽  
The North ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Church

If we are going to explain the slow pace of de-Christianization for the United States relative to other industrialized societies in the North Atlantic West, we might well begin with the church-state relationship. The absence of an established church in the United States has enabled religious affiliation to function, like other voluntary organizations in “civil society,” as mediators between the individual and the nation. I conimented on this rather old idea in a book C. John Sommerville is kind enough to cite in another connection, Science, Jews, and Secular Culture, but since he does not take up this point, I will develop it a bit further here, before reacting to Sommerville's other concerns as expressed in his refreshingly fair-minded rejoinder to my essay in the March 2001 issue of Church History.

The Protestant Episcopal Church, Black Nationalists, and Expansion of the West African Missionary Field, 1851–1871

1988 ◽  
Vol 57 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-45 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. R. Oldfield
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
New York ◽  
The United States ◽  
West African ◽  
Second Century ◽  
The West ◽  
Episcopal Church ◽  
American Missionaries ◽  
Protestant Denominations ◽  
The Church

One of the most boldly conceived assaults on benighted Africa during the nineteenth century was that undertaken by mainline Protestant denominations in the United States. With the brash confidence characteristic of the age, hundreds of American missionaries were dispatched from New York and Baltimore to convert the heathen tribes of Africa and wrest a continent from ruin. If the experience of the Protestant Episcopal church is at all typical, however, these efforts not infrequently aroused suspicion and open hostility. In fact, Episcopal penetration of Liberia in the second half of the second century was remarkable for a long and bitter contest with black nationalists who were intent on using the church as a vehicle for their own personal and racial ambitions.

Knowing Your Place

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Himanee Gupta-Carlson
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
South Asian ◽  
Asian Americans ◽  
The United States ◽  
Close Reading ◽  
Religious Discrimination ◽  
Daily Lives ◽  
South Asian Americans ◽  
Auto Ethnography

This chapter discusses Hindu nationalism and its outreach to Indians living outside of India, particularly the United States. It describes how the movement has impacted the daily lives of Indian Americans in Muncie, Indiana, through a close reading and discourse analysis of conversations with Indian and other South Asian residents of Muncie. The author uses auto-ethnography to situate the analysis within the context of her experiences and argues that the manner in which South Asian Americans in Muncie of differing religious backgrounds might offer a template for challenging religious discrimination.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document