Locating the history of Christianity between the history of the Church and the History of Religions: The Italian case

2015 ◽  
pp. 445-454
Keyword(s):  
History Of Christianity ◽  
Italian Case ◽  
History Of Religions ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Church

After Church History? Writing the History of Christianity from a Global Perspective

Horizons ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 322-342 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul V. Kollman
Keyword(s):  
Church History ◽  
Global Perspective ◽  
Demographic Changes ◽  
Global History ◽  
History Writing ◽  
History Of Christianity ◽  
Christian Communities ◽  
History Of Religions ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Church

ABSTRACTRecent efforts to write the global history of Christianity respond to demographic changes in Christianity and use “global” in three ways. First, “global” suggests efforts at more comprehensive historical retrieval, especially to place the beginnings of Christian communities not within mission history but within the church history in those areas. Second, “global” can refer to the broader comparative perspectives on Christianity's history, especially the history of religions. Finally, “global” can indicate attempts to retell the entire Christian story from a self-consciously worldwide perspective. Recent works also raise new theological and pragmatic challenges to the discipline of church history.

scholarly journals A certain bishop and a certain diocese in Egypt at the turn of the fourth and fifth centuries: The testimony of the Canons of Athanasius

2020 ◽  
pp. 92-115
Author(s):  
Ewa Wipszycka
Keyword(s):  
Fifth Century ◽  
History Of Christianity ◽  
Church Hierarchy ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Creation ◽  
The Church

The Canons of Athanasius, a homiletic work written at the beginning of the fifth century in one of the cities of the Egyptian chora, provide us with many important and detailed pieces of information about the Church hierarchy. Information gleaned from this text can be found in studies devoted to the history of Christianity of the fourth and fifth centuries, but rarely are they the subject of reflection as an autonomous subject. To date, no one has endeavoured to determine how the author of the Canons sought to establish the parameters of his work: why he included certain things in this work, and why left other aspects out despite them being within the boundaries of the subject which he had wished to write upon. This article looks to explore two thematic areas: firstly, what we learn about the hierarchical Church from the Canons, and secondly, what we know about the hierarchical Church from period sources other than the Canons. This article presents new arguments which exclude the authorship of Athanasius and date the creation of the Canons to the first three decades of the fifth century.

scholarly journals Boekbesprekings/Book Reviews

2008 ◽  
Vol 64 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Editorial Office
Keyword(s):  
Stem Cell ◽  
New Testament ◽  
History Of Christianity ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Church

Ephesians: Empowerment to walk in love for the unity of all in ChristThe stem cell debateDarwin and intelligent designThe fathers of the church: A comprehensive introductionSpiritual emotions: A psychology of Christian virtuesThe Bonhoeffer legacy post-holocaust perspectiveWondrously shelteredDietrich Bonhoeffer: A life in picturesA people's history of Christianity, Vol. 5 Reformation ChristianityDefeating depression: Real help for you and those who love youMartin Luther's message for us todayJurgen Moltmann Eine Lebensgeschichte, herausgegebn von W RaumA broad place: An authobiographyRender to God: New Testament understanding of the divine

The Legacy of Peggy Hiscock: European Women’s Contribution to the Growth of Christianity in Zambia

2020 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 316-333
Author(s):  
Jonathan Kangwa
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Women Missionaries ◽  
History Of Christianity ◽  
Methodist Church ◽  
Missionary Movement ◽  
Church And Society ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Church ◽  
European Women

The history of Christianity in Africa contains selected information reflecting patriarchal preoccupations. Historians have often downplayed the contributions of significant women, both European and indigenous African. The names of some significant women are given without details of their contribution to the growth of Christianity in Africa. This article considers the contributions of Peggy Hiscock to the growth of Christianity in Zambia. Hiscock was a White missionary who was sent to serve in Zambia by the Methodist Church in Britain. She was the first woman to have been ordained in the United Church of Zambia. Hiscock established the Order of Diaconal Ministry and founded a school for the training of deaconesses in the United Church of Zambia. This article argues that although the nineteenth- and twentieth-century missionary movement in Africa is associated with patriarchy and European imperialism, there were European women missionaries who resisted imperialism and patriarchy both in the Church and society.

The Idea of the Church in Christian History

1952 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 191-214 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wilhelm Pauck
Keyword(s):  
Social Context ◽  
Special Kind ◽  
Church History ◽  
Christian Faith ◽  
Special Importance ◽  
Christian Life ◽  
History Of Christianity ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Church ◽  
Christian History

It is customary to describe and interpret the history of Christianity as church history. To be sure, most church historians do not emphasize the special importance of the “church” in the Christian life they study and analyse; indeed, they deal with the idea of the church, with ecclesiological doctrines and with ecclesiastical practices as if they represented special phases of the Christian life. But, nevertheless, the fact that all aspects of Christian history are subsumed under the name and title of the “church” indicates that the character of Christianity is held to be inseparable from that of the “church”; the very custom of regarding Christian history as church history indicates that the Christian mind is marked by a special kind of self-consciousness induced by the awareness that the Christian faith is not fully actualized unless it is expressed in the special social context suggested by the term “church.”

scholarly journals Council and primacy in the Church

Sabornost ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 215-223
Author(s):  
Marina Stojanović
Keyword(s):  
Traditional Approach ◽  
Paper Briefly ◽  
History Of Christianity ◽  
History Of ◽  
One And Many ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Church ◽  
The Trinity

The unity of the Church, as has long been established, is expressed through its synodality. This notion, present and explained throughout the history of Christianity, seems to have lived more through councils and liturgical communion than has become a transparent, defined and quite clear theological notion. Whenever, in the spirit of Western rationalism, an attempt was made to explain the concepts of council and synodality, there was a contradiction between the metaphysical concepts formed in antiquity, one and many. Expressed in theological terminology, it is about the relationship between the council and the primacy in the Church, which should be preserved so that it does not fall into crises on the local and universal level as we are witnessing today. The council of the Church, as an expression of the fullness and harmony of all its members (limbs), cannot be treated as an institution of hierarchy that implies subordination or as a collective of socially organized individuals. The present paper briefly discusses the issue of the synodality and the primacy in the light of current problems in Orthodoxy, and emphasizes the patristic and traditional approach to this topic, built on the interpretation of the existence of the Trinity.

scholarly journals Roberto de Nobili SJ i misja w Maduraju w latach 1606-1656

2019 ◽  
Vol 24 ◽  
pp. 59-74
Author(s):  
Justyna Pyz
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
Interreligious Dialogue ◽  
Indian Culture ◽  
History Of Christianity ◽  
Social Rules ◽  
Missionary Work ◽  
Church Hierarchy ◽  
History Of ◽  
Modern Era ◽  
The Church

The Mission in Madurai 1606-1656 was a unique episode in the history of Christianity in India. During these times changing religion to Christianity meant abandoning one’s culture. Roberto de Nobili, an Italian Jesuit and founder of the mission was the fi rst European to learn Sanskrit, study the scriptures of the Vedas and convert Brahmins. He allowed them to keep their social customs, which was seen as controversial by the church hierarchy. He followed these social rules himself, living the life of an Indian ascetic and thus gaining respect among higher castes. His way of separating Hinduism from Indian culture was, and still is, contentious but it was done for practical purposes. The controversies forced him to defend his arguments on many occasions. In his writings he described Indian traditions and explained his method of missionary work. There were not many followers of de Nobili’s method, who would be able to understand the need of accommodation, undertake studies of Hinduism and be prepared to embrace an ascetic lifestyle. It was not until the 20th century that interreligious dialogue emerged as a concept and some Catholic clergymen found inspiration in Hindu spirituality. The goal of this thesis is to show just how pioneering was the accommodation method used by de Nobili and how his infl uence can still be felt on attempts at interreligious dialogue in the modern era.

scholarly journals Africanization of Christianity: Henry Venn’s indigenization of Christianity

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 82-85
Author(s):  
Ekpenyong Obo Ekpenyong ◽  
Ibiang Obono Okoi
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Values ◽  
Christian Faith ◽  
Church Organization ◽  
History Of Christianity ◽  
African Christianity ◽  
The Bible ◽  
History Of ◽  
Native Literature ◽  
The Church

The history of Christianity has always been a two-way process of transformation in any given culture. Christianity and paganism are reciprocal; Christianity is necessary for revelation to be fulfilled, but the actual quality of this fulfillment depends upon the quality of the religious man transformed by revelation. Christianity, as a result of this, needs a natural religion, the same way it needs all human realities as the sole mission is to save what has first been created. The link between Gospel and culture is that Gospel whenever its introduced and established in a new culture, is “transposed” in a particular way a sweet melody into a new key. Moreover, the Gospel, when transposed from its biblical world to other cultural worlds, undergoes change itself as well as causing these other worlds to change. Crowther created an astonishing impact and contribution after his consecration in 1864; as he strived to indigenize or Africanize Christianity to make it possible for the Christian faith to be accepted by Africans without having to give up or disown their cultural values. This work seeks to find what part Henry Venn, the dynamic and accomplished secretary of the Church Missionary Society, played to see how Christian faith can go well together or combine with African beliefs and practices to produce Christianity which may become a religion for Africans. This work has shown that Henry Venn's ideas on native Church organization include: the native Church needs the ablest native pastors for its fuller development and that it should be under a native bishop and that a native Church is organized as a national institution. This work adopted a qualitative method that used historical and content analysis. This work concluded that for the Africanization of Christianity to be actualized, African Church must have its liturgy or incorporate what was good of the native religions to develop an authentically African Christianity. And that reducing the various African vernaculars into writing and developing native literature was a first step in the reforming movement toward Africanization of Christianity; just as Venn urged Crowther to undertake the translation of the Bible into Yoruba and to preach in Yoruba even while still at Freetown.

scholarly journals The Acts and Decrees of the Synod of Diamper and the Machinations of Religious Colonization

2021 ◽  
pp. 53-60
Author(s):  
Shimi Paul Baby
Keyword(s):  
Turning Point ◽  
Decisive Role ◽  
The West ◽  
History Of Christianity ◽  
Cultural Life ◽  
Christian Culture ◽  
History Of ◽  
Christian Practices ◽  
Different Cultures ◽  
The Church

The Synod of Diamper is, arguably, amongst the most significant milestones in the history of St. Thomas Christians in Kerala. This Synod was convened in the church at Udayamperoor, Kochi, Kerala, from June 20 to June 26, 1599. As is documented, it was Archbishop Alexis De Menezes of Goa who convoked this Synod. 200 decrees were passed during the nine sessions which were held during the Synod; these decrees, in toto, became a turning point in the history of Christianity in Kerala. Primarily, the Synod of Diamper was a religious/theological one. However, its subsequent decisive role in the history and culture of Kerala also gave the Synod a social face. A close scrutiny of the canonas [canon] reveals that these decrees were formulated with a consideration of only Christian practices that were prevalent and familiar in the West [Occident]. In a grimly ironic sense, the canonas overtly attempts a coax-hoax, whereby the Christians of Kerala would be coerced to follow the rules of the occidental version of Christianity; and this disciplining would be aided by various methods including expulsions from parish, ex-communication, etc. One big fallout of this scenario was that the Christians of Kerala, who till then had a variegated co- existence with different cultures, were forced to take up an exclusive and singular notion of Christian culture. Through these canonas, many of the existing socio- cultural customs of the Christians of Kerala were abolished; an attempt to sculpt the socio-cultural life of this native populace and bring it in accordance with the image of the Christian that the West upheld.  This article aims to reveal the methodology through which the Institutionalized Western Theological-agencies, by means of constant surveillance and an enforced seclusion-exclusion axis, exerted power on regional and native Christian group.

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