“Hope that Is Seen Is not Hope”: Visual Explorations of Advent

2008 ◽  
Vol 62 (4) ◽  
pp. 386-400
Author(s):  
William Dyrness

The season of Advent provides a unique opportunity for Christians to employ art and visual elements in worship. Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic and, more hesitantly, Protestant churches have variously encouraged believers to see in part what one day they will see face to face.

2020 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 178-181
Author(s):  
Branko Bjelajac

SummaryThis book contains a large collection of papers which report on missional activities in Central and Eastern Europe, especially on initiatives based in local churches and oriented towards society. It looks across denominational lines, from Eastern Orthodox to Roman Catholic, Protestant and various neo-Protestant churches. This is a very stimulating volume which discusses a much-neglected area in Europe from the perspective of missionary practice, presenting old and new forms of mission, as well as ways forward. It is one of the few publications that addresses aspects of mission in this part of Europe, and presents valuable reading for mission agencies, seminaries and churches.The book contains contributions by more than thirty authors and has sections on reasons for mission; the Orthodox and mission; the Catholics and mission; ecumenical mission; mission in Romania; immigrants, churches, dialogue; theological education as mission; and dialogue, public sphere and mission.RésuméCet ouvrage contient un ensemble de nombreux essais relatant l’activité missionnelle en Europe centrale et en Europe de l’Est, et faisant état plus particulièrement d’initiatives à partir d’Églises locales et orientées vers la société. Il considère ce qui se fait dans des dénominations très diverses, allant des Églises orientales orthodoxes aux communautés catholiques romaines en passant par les Églises protestantes et néo-protestantes. L’ouvrage est très stimulant et aborde un domaine très négligé en Europe sous l’angle de la pratique missionnaire, en présentant des formes anciennes et nouvelles d’activité missionnaire et en proposant des pistes pour l’avenir. C’est l’une des rares publications traitant des aspects de l’entreprise missionnaire en Europe, et son apport est utile pour les sociétés missionnaires, les facultés de théologie et les Églises.Plus de trente auteurs ont contribué à cet ouvrage qui comporte des sections sur : les raisons de l’oeuvre missionnaire, les chrétiens orthodoxes et la mission, les catholiques et la mission, la mission oecuménique, la mission en Roumanie, les Églises et les immigrés, l’aspect missionnaire de la formation théologique, la mission et l’espace public.ZusammenfassungDieses Buch enthält eine umfangreiche Sammlung von Vorträgen über Missionsaktivitäten in Zentralund Osteuropa, die vor allem auf die Initiativen von Ortsgemeinden zurückgehen und auf die Gesellschaft abzielen. Es weitet den Horizont über die Grenzen von Denominationen hinaus, von den orthodoxen Kirchen Osteuropas bis zur römisch-katholischen Kirche, zu den protestantischen Kirchen und den neoprotestantischen Freikirchen. Dieser ausnehmend inspirierende Band erörtert einen in Europa sehr vernachlässigten Bereich aus der Perspektive missionarischer Praxis; er behandelt traditionelle und neuere Formen von Mission sowie mögliche Wege in die Zukunft. Dabei handelt es sich um eine von wenigen Veröffentlichungen, die sich mit Aspekten von Mission in diesem Teil Europas befassen und wertvollen Lesestoff für Missionsgesellschaften, Ausbildungsstätten und Gemeinden bieten.Das Werk enthält Beiträge von mehr als dreißig Autoren und Abschnitte über Motive und Ziele von Mission, Orthodoxe und Mission, Katholiken und Mission sowie über ökumenische Mission; es befasst sich mit Mission in Rumänien, Immigranten, Gemeinden und Dialog; es reflektiert über theologische Ausbildung als Mission und über Dialog, den öffentlichen Raum und Mission.


2021 ◽  
pp. 147737082098882
Author(s):  
Carter Rees ◽  
L Thomas Winfree

Intra-national conflicts with racial or ethnic elements can complicate post-war reconciliation. From 1992 to 1995, much of the former Yugoslavia, a nation largely drawn from three distinct ethnic groups, was embroiled in such a conflict. After the signing of the Dayton Peace Accord, it was feared that schools would become a surrogate battlefield for school-aged children within the newly created nation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). Group threat theory and the imbalance of power thesis provide differing views on such conflicts. Group threat theory posits that as a population – in this case a school – approaches maximum ethnic diversity, the residents – in this case the students – will feel increasingly threatened, resulting in higher cross-group victimizations. The imbalance of power thesis suggests that a group’s decision to victimize another group depends on the relative lack of ethnic diversity: The extent to which one ethnic group dominates a school, the likelihood of victimization of any smaller groups increases. We explore which of these two theories best explains victimization levels within a sample of 2003 school-aged BiH adolescents born in areas dominated by Muslim Bosnians, Eastern Orthodox Serbians, or Roman Catholic Croatians. We find that there is an ethnic component to victimizations: students born in Serbia face higher levels of victimization than do their Bosnian-born counterparts under conditions that fit better with group threat theory than the imbalance of power thesis. We speculate about the significance of these findings for national ethnic harmony in BiH.


2000 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 344-369
Author(s):  
David Goodhew

AbstractSouth Africa's churches grew or declined so quickly in the years after 1960 that by 1991 the country's religious map had been redrawn. This article charts and offers explanations for such developments. Almost all Christian churches grew substantially in the first half of the twentieth century but mainline churches were dominant. They continued to grow numerically into the 1960s and 1970s, but were beginning to shrink as a proportion of the expanding population. By contrast, Roman Catholic, African Independent and smaller independent denominations were growing quickly. By the 1990s, mainline Protestant churches were suffering considerable decline and Roman Catholicism's growth had stalled. African Independent and other churches continued to grow rapidly. A matrix of forces help to explain this phenomenon-including the political situation, socio-economic pressures, secularisation and particular religious factors. A comparative perspective shows South Africa's churches to have much in common with African and global trends.


2012 ◽  
Vol 64 (4) ◽  
pp. 425-441
Author(s):  
Miroljub Jevtic

The majority of the Christian world today is affected by weakening adherence to principles of religious practice. The reverse is the case in the countries of predominantly Orthodox tradition. After the collapse of communism, all types of human freedom were revived, including the religious one. The consequence is the revival of the Orthodox Christianity. It is reflected in the influence of the Orthodox Church on the society. Today, the most respected institutions in Russia and Serbia are the Russian and Serbian Orthodox Church, respectively. Considering the decline of the Western Christianity, the revival of the Orthodox Church has raised hopes that the Western Christianity can be revived, too. Important Christian denominations, therefore, show great interest in including the Orthodox Church in the general Christian project. It is particularly evident in the Roman Catholic Church foreign policy. The Roman Catholic Church is attempting to restore relations with Orthodox churches. In this sense, the most important churches are the Russian and the Serbian Church. But, establishing relations with these two is for Vatican both a great challenge and a project of great significance.


Author(s):  
Samir Simaika ◽  
Nevine Henein

This chapter discusses Marcus Simaika's involvement in the dispute between the Copts and Ethiopians regarding what is known as Deir al-Sultan or the Imperial Monastery in Jerusalem. Ethiopia has long been acquainted with monotheism, and the Ethiopian Church is the largest of all the Oriental Orthodox churches. The Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria has a longstanding relationship with the Ethiopian Orthodox Tawahedo Church and the Eritrean Orthodox Tawahedo Church. Tawahedo means 'unified,' referring to the single unified nature of Christ, as opposed to the belief in the two natures of Christ held by the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. The patriarchs of Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusalem, and many others had refused to accept the two-natures doctrine decreed by the Council of Chalcedon in 451, and these churches are sometimes referred to as monophysite. Simaika maintained that Deir al-Sultan belonged to the Coptic community from time immemorial.


Author(s):  
Linda Woodhead

What is meant by ‘Church Christianity’ and ‘Biblical Christianity’ and where do they come from? ‘Church and Biblical Christianity’ explains that ‘Church Christianity’ is centred around the institution of the church, whereas for ‘Biblical Christianity’ the scriptures have the equivalent position of authority. Both the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox branches belong to Church Christianity and are the most enduring and extensive types of Christianity having been in existence since the 3rd century. Biblical Christianity can trace its roots to the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century when the Bible became widely accessible. Its sectarian nature and desire to shelter from wider society in order to retain Godly purity limited its growth.


Author(s):  
Halvor Moxnes

This chapter discusses the relations between Christianity and nation in three different state constructions: the unification of smaller states into a nation state, older states already with a central government, and nation states that were established by peoples breaking away from empires. It emphasizes new forms of sources for nationalism such as: the Lives of Jesus studies that portrayed Jesus as a model for democratic nationalism or for national character; the use of conservative nationalism to establish the German Empire in 1871; the Anglican Church’s attempts in England to give the Church an inclusive, national character; Roman Catholic ultramontanism, which emphasized the centralized rule of the Church from Rome; the Balkan political independence movement which led to the establishment of independent Orthodox churches; and finally, the ‘mainline’ Protestant churches which influenced the formation of an American national identity.


1984 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 188-207 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sheridan Gilley

Quite the most remarkable achievement of nineteenth-century Ireland was the creation of an international Catholic Church throughout the Celtic diaspora in the British Empire and North America. A true Irish empire beyond the seas, it was often compared in Hibernian self-congratulation to the monastic missions of the Dark Ages and was served by an Irish clergy and a host of religious orders who fostered a distinctively ‘ethnic’ or Irish Catholic expatriate culture, while often showing the higher values of the Catholic spiritual life. It is remarkable that there is no scholarly modern study of this international community now in process of dissolution, for it has given an incalculable strength to twentieth-century Roman Catholicism. Something of its dimensions and importance can, however, be glimpsed from a growing body of historical writing about Irish Catholicism in England and Scotland, the United States and Australia, as well as in Ireland itself. The American Republic and the white settler areas of the British Empire were to Irish Catholics what the Roman Empire had been to Jews and Christians, the alien organisms by which a faith was carried to the far corners of the earth. As a matter of institutional and ecclesiastical history, the subject is one in which the new nations were divided into dioceses and parishes, and provided with churches, convents, colleges, seminaries and schools. This was, moreover, achieved by no easy process, but in spite of endemic conflict within Irish Catholic communities, who were also opposed by Roman Catholics of other national traditions, by the expanding Protestant Churches and by a hostile Protestant or secular state.


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