scholarly journals Official Reporting of Religious Organizations as a Source of Empirical Data on the Activities of the Church: Some Questions of Theory and Practice of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Sweden

2020 ◽  
pp. 135-145
Author(s):  
O. A. Balabeikina ◽  
N. M. Mezhevich ◽  
A. A. Iankovskaia

The relevance of any material offered to the scientific and expert community depends on many factors. Objectively, the presence of this or that issue in the center of public attention has a positive effect on the actualization of this or that article. However, there is an obvious danger. Academic approaches that accidentally find themselves in resonance with global trends can fall victim to political conjuncture. Relevance in this case can fall victim to the political moment. Moreover, this or that topic, being in the center of public discussion, negatively affects the academic understanding of the problem. All this fully relates to the question of the relationship between the state and the church in modern Europe and Russia.A few words about global trends. Their essence boils down to the growing confrontation between supporters of new ideological approaches and traditionalists, among whom are many adherents.The relationship between religion and the state testifies to the fact that states and societies have not yet learned to draw an effective line between their interests and those of adherents. This fact presupposes careful state and public participation in the affairs of the church. However, acknowledging this circumstance is not enough. The state must clearly know what, where and how is happening in the church sphere of the life of society in cases where church affairs can affect public and state security.It is also known that almost all the leading churches, to a greater or lesser extent, provide official reporting to the state. However, working with this reporting, its scientific analysis is not always representative.Objective. The presented article is aimed at a partial solution of the problem of increasing the effectiveness of academic research of the church` activities. Moreover, it is made based on official church statistics.The author’s position is the following. States and societies have no right to let go of this vital sphere of life. The functions of the state, in this case, are at least controlling. The ineffective execution of its functions by the state can be revealed in many countries of the world. The situation in France is nothing more than a reference case of a problem that, to one degree or another, exists in most of the countries of the world, which are distinguished by ethnic and confessional heterogeneity.

1955 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 99-118 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Kreider

Since the dawn of the Christian era the relationship between church and state has been one of the pivotal issues of western civilization. Men have offered a variety of answers to this problem. The much- persecuted Anabaptists of the 16th century presented one set of answers, radical for their age, which called for a decisive separation of the church from the state and complete freedom for the church to pursue its vocation in the world. The Anabaptists were a distressing annoyance to the civil authorities. This movement posed for the 16th century the acute problem: how should religious dissent be handled?


2019 ◽  
pp. 11-15
Author(s):  
Larysa OSTROVERKH ◽  
Yurii SHANDRENKO

The article explores the phenomenon of the development of virtual currencies and their growing popularity, resulting in a natural imbalance when innovations in the field of economy outstripped the development of legislation governing the relationship between entities in the field of calculations and payments. This led to the lack of a common understanding of the legal status of cryptocurrency and the methods of its regulation at the current stage of economic relations and global technologies, which caused the world community the problem of determining the legal status of cryptocurrency, which arose from the evolution of money and the emergence of new structured financial products. For Ukraine, as for most countries in the world, the global digital economy remains an area with undiscovered potential, since the National Bank of Ukraine does not recognize cryptocurrencies with either electronic money, money surrogates or other legal means of payment and does not recommend using them as such, but, in addition, it does not prohibit their use. Evidence of NBU's desire to keep up with current global trends was the emergence in May 2016 of the first Ukrainian «Karbowanec» cryptocurrency (after the Karbo rebranding in September 2017), which prompted many financial agents to ask whether – «Can you trust Karbo?» and «What is Karbo better than other cryptocurrencies?». Karbo is positioned as an alternative to low volatility settlement, designed for calculations and real use with new cryptocurrency ways of regulating money supply and market price. However, the question remains open – should the state recognize cryptocurrency as a digital (virtual) currency, or as a means of exchange or payment, or as other digital or intangible assets, or as property rights, etc., to introduce a method of accounting and regulate the system of taxation of transactions with it?


Author(s):  
Ernst-Wolfgang Böckenförde ◽  
Mirjam Künkler ◽  
Tine Stein

Is and can religion be seen as a foundation of the modern state? In this article Böckenförde discusses the relationship between state and religion while reviewing Hegel’s main writings on this question. Reconstructing Hegel’s concept of the state, Böckenförde points out that for Hegel, the state is simultaneously universal and historical. It is more than the political system or government—it is the polity in general and the structured form in which the people exist. Moreover, the state is the materialization of the ethical idea as such and the manifestation of how ‘truth’ in history became reality. In Hegel’s view, ‘truth’ is ultimately God’s will in the world. Further, for Hegel, state and religion are two forms of the same substance: reason. Morality and reason are closely intertwined in Hegel. Religion is a source of morality for the people, and the state and the Church are the institutional manifestations of reason. Böckenförde shows that Hegel identifies individual conscience as the core of each person’s freedom; however, Hegel denies a right to an aberrant conscience, indicating a very limited notion of freedom. Finally, Böckenförde discusses Hegel’s philosophy in light of the state today with its separation of state and religion. Since today’s state does not consider religion as part of its foundation, in Hegel’s view it would ‘stand freely in the air’. Böckenförde concludes, contrary to Hegel, that only the democratic process and the people’s agreement on the things that cannot be voted upon can form the basis of the state.


1981 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 40-78 ◽  
Author(s):  
Saïd Amir Arjomand

With the progressive development of secularism in the West, of which Spain's formally becoming a secular state in 1978 may be taken as a symbolic culmination, the Church-State problem has long receded from the foreground of the Occidental memory. Yet, in other parts of the world, where God is not dead, the analogue problem of the relationship between the hierocracy and the state merits attention. As the Islamic revolution of February 1979 eloquently demonstrates, the problem is of great importance and the sociologists' or social historians' neglect of it could only be to the detriment of their understanding.


2005 ◽  
pp. 129-133
Author(s):  
Jacques René Chirac

At the end of 2003, on the eve of Christmas, French President Jacques Chirac delivered a keynote address on "secularism as a fundamental principle of the Republic" in the Elysee Palace before the Prime Minister, heads of assembly, ministers and members of parliament. The President's speech aroused considerable interest not only in France but also around the world, as it touched upon a very urgent problem in many countries - the relationship between the Church and the State.


Author(s):  
Tatiani De Azevedo Lobo ◽  
Marli M. Moraes Da Costa

Resumo: O presente ensaio busca apresentar e fomentar algumas questões pertinentes ao debate contemporâneo sobre a pobreza, demonstrando a importância do tema no cenário mundial. Para tanto, inicialmente discorre-se sobre a construção histórico-social da pobreza e suas características contemporâneas. Com efeito, aponta-se a limitação dos fatores tradicionalmente apresentados como causadores da pobreza, como cultura, genética, geografia etc. Além disso, apresentam-se as formas atuais de monitorar o fenômeno, como o coeficiente de Gini e o IDH. Posteriormente, aborda-se a distribuição mundial da pobreza. Nesse ponto, colaciona-se que a pobreza é um problema mundial. No entanto, é perceptível que o Sul ainda concentra maior número de indivíduos pobres do que o Norte. Na esteira dos últimos dados da pesquisa realizada pelas Nações Unidas, houve uma nítida ascensão do Sul, especialmente nos indicadores sociais ligados à educação. A seguir, trata-se do capital social e da Teoria das Capacidades, apresentando-se novas abordagens da pobreza. Assim, o capital social trata de uma ideia utilizada para verificar a rede de relacionamento dos indivíduos. Já a Teoria das Capacidades está ligada com a ideia de oportunidade da liberdade. Por fim, estuda-se as políticas públicas, bem como seu aspecto fragmentário. Conclui-se, assim, sobre a necessidade de implementação de políticas públicas elaboradas sob a égide de novos paradigmas, a fim de possibilitar o tratamento específico do fenômeno da pobreza, conforme as peculiaridades de cada local. Para tanto foi utilizado neste trabalho o método de abordagem hipotético-dedutivo, o método de procedimento monográfico e a técnica de pesquisa, operacionalizados por meio do emprego de vasta pesquisa bibliográfica. Abstract: This essay seeks to provide and foster some relevant to the contemporary debate on poverty issues, demonstrating the importance of the issue on the world stage. For this purpose, initially spoke about the historical and social construction of poverty and its contemporary features. Indeed, he pointed out the limitation of the factors traditionally presented as the cause of poverty, as a culture, genetics, geography, etc. Furthermore, we presented the current ways of monitoring the phenomenon, such as the Gini coefficient and the HDI. Subsequently addressed the global distribution of poverty. At this point, if collated that poverty is a worldwide problem. However, it is apparent that the South still more concentrated than the poor North individuals. In the wake of recent data from research conducted by the United Nations, there was a sharp rise in the South, especially in social indicators related to education. Next, we treated the capital and the Theory of Capabilities, presenting new approaches to poverty. Thus, social capital is an idea used to verify the relationship network of individuals. Already Capabilities Theory is linked with the idea of freedom of opportunity. Finally, we studied public policy, as well as its fragmentary appearance. Thus, it is concluded on the need to implement public policies prepared under the aegis of new paradigms to enable specific treatment of the phenomenon of poverty, according to the peculiarities of each site. For that was used in this work the method of hypothetical-deductive approach, the method of procedure and the monographic research technique, operationalized through the use of extensive academic research.


Author(s):  
Michael P. DeJonge

This chapter continues the examination of Bonhoeffer’s first phase of resistance through an exposition of “The Church and the Jewish Question,” turning now to the modes of resistance proper to the church’s preaching office. Because such resistance involves the church speaking against the state, it appears to stand in contradiction with Bonhoeffer’s suggestion earlier in the essay that the church should not speak out against the state. This is in fact not a contradiction but rather the coherent expression of the political vision as outlined in the first several chapters of this book, which requires that the church criticize the state under certain circumstances but not others. The specific form of word examined here is the indirectly political word (type 3 resistance) by which the church reminds the messianic state of its mandate to preserve the world with neither “too little” nor “too much” order.


Author(s):  
Michael P. DeJonge

Chapter 3’s discussion of kingdoms and orders in the context of political life leads naturally into the topic of this chapter: the church, the state, and their relationship. The present chapter locates the state (or, better, political authority in general) in relationship to Chapter 3’s categories by presenting it as one of the orders by which God’s structures the world. It is an important actor in the temporal kingdom, where God has ordained it to preserve the world through law. The church in its essence is an agent of the spiritual kingdom, bearing God’s redemptive word to the world. The themes of preservation and redemption, the kingdoms, and the orders find many of their concrete expressions in themes of the church, the state, and their relationship.


1999 ◽  
Vol 35 ◽  
pp. 384-395
Author(s):  
R. W. Ambler

In February 1889 Edward King, Bishop of Lincoln, appeared before the court of the Archbishop of Canterbury charged with illegal practices in worship. The immediate occasion for these proceedings was the manner in which he celebrated Holy Communion at the Lincoln parish church of St Peter at Gowts on Sunday 4 December 1887. He was cited on six specific charges: the use of lighted candles on the altar; mixing water with the communion wine; adopting an eastward-facing position with his back to the congregation during the consecration; permitting the Agnus Dei to be sung after the consecration; making the sign of the cross at the absolution and benediction, and taking part in ablution by pouring water and wine into the chalice and paten after communion. Two Sundays later King had repeated some of these acts during a service at Lincoln Cathedral. As well as its intrinsic importance in defining the legality of the acts with which he was charged, the Bishop’s trial raised issues of considerable importance relating to the nature and exercise of authority within the Church of England and its relationship with the state. The acts for which King was tried had a further significance since the ways in which these and other innovations in worship were perceived, as well as the spirit in which they were ventured, also reflected the fundamental shifts which were taking place in the role of the Church of England at parish level in the second half of the nineteenth century. Their study in a local context such as Lincolnshire, part of King’s diocese, provides the opportunity to examine the relationship between changes in worship and developments in parish life in the period.


2016 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
pp. 493-506 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jill Anne Chouinard ◽  
Ayesha S. Boyce ◽  
Juanita Hicks ◽  
Jennie Jones ◽  
Justin Long ◽  
...  

To explore the relationship between theory and practice in evaluation, we focus on the perspectives and experiences of student evaluators, as they move from the classroom to an engagement with the social, political, and cultural dynamics of evaluation in the field. Through reflective journals, postcourse interviews, and facilitated group discussions, we involve students in critical thinking around the relationship between evaluation theory and practice, which for many was unexpectedly tumultuous and contextually dynamic and complex. In our exploration, we are guided by the following questions: How do novice practitioners navigate between the world of the classroom and the world of practice? What informs their evaluation practice? More specifically, how can we understand the relationship between theory and practice in evaluation? A thematic analysis leads to three interconnected themes. We conclude with implications for thinking about the relationship between theory and practice in evaluation.


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