scholarly journals Exploring the characteristic of prophetic-liminality in ministerial leadership: A necessary ethic for contemporary South Africa

2016 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-24
Author(s):  
J. Slater
Keyword(s):  
Church And State ◽  
Leading Edge ◽  
Visionary Leadership ◽  
Christian Leadership ◽  
Social Conventions ◽  
Innovative Leadership ◽  
Women Abuse ◽  
Ministerial Leadership ◽  
Problematic Situations ◽  
The Church

This article explores the prophetic liminality of Christian leadership as it is practiced against the contextual backdrop of social, ecclesial and ethical upheavals such as secularism, relativism, sexism, corruption, violence, crime, women abuse, xenophobia, disbelief and disillusionment in authority both in church and state. It argues for an up-to-date and leading-edge church-ministerial response to modern-day situations. It proposes liminal and innovative leadership for both church and state. However, the liminal quality is specifically aligned with the prophetic dimension of leadership. A prophet's leadership is here understood as visionary leadership that challenges and directs people beyond the ordinary, and confronts that which is unethical in society. Liminal here implies being and functioning at the cutting-edge of events, trailbracing and by steering away from the conventional approaches. Sadly, because leadership had become enmeshed with the systemic designs of the church, society, economics, culture or tribe, it demands to be interjected with an exceptional characteristic to minister both directly and at the same time indirectly to problematic situations. In the words of Diarmud O’Murchu, for a leader to function liminally s/he needs to be on the doorstep or on the horizon of everything contemporary. For leaders to stay in force and relevant implies living with innovative freedom, with human-divine recklessness and with honest integrity. In turn for liminality to be an effective quality in leadership, it involves being spiritually and morally courageous and particularly attuned to a transcendent capacity. This enables the leader to move with the ever changing circumstances of our times, into different situations and cultures, thus devising and applying different responses that constantly accommodate new possibilities The article carves out a theological and a directional itinerary for ministerial leadership that offers a liminal-prophetic liminal–transcendent challenge to leadership today. Liminal transcendent leadership pleads not to be dictated by ecclesial or social conventions and neither by personal conventions. Liminal leadership is by nature a painful search for an appropriate response to what is new, for that which is different in contemporary scenarios.

Church and State

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael P. DeJonge
Keyword(s):  
Church And State ◽  
Political Authority ◽  
The State ◽  
Political Life ◽  
The World ◽  
The Church

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.

Grace and Nation: Coleridge's On the Constitution of Church and State

2007 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 187-208
Author(s):  
Alan Gregory
Keyword(s):  
Church Of England ◽  
Church And State ◽  
The State ◽  
Christian Church ◽  
Close Attention ◽  
Classic Work ◽  
Christ Church ◽  
National Life ◽  
The Church

ABSTRACTUnderstanding Coleridge's classic work On the Constitution of Church and State requires paying close attention to the system of distinctions and relations he sets up between the state, the ‘national church’, and the ‘Christian church’. The intelligibility of these relations depends finally on Coleridge's Trinitarianism, his doctrine of ‘divine ideas’, and the subtle analogy he draws between the Church of England as both an ‘established’ church of the nation and as a Christian church and the distinction and union of divinity and humanity in Christ. Church and State opens up, in these ‘saving’ distinctions and connections, important considerations for the integrity and role of the Christian church within a religiously plural national life.

Separating the Church from State: The Kenyan High Court's Decision in Jesse Kamau and 25 Others v Attorney General (Judgment of 24 May 2010)

2011 ◽  
Vol 55 (2) ◽  
pp. 314-319
Author(s):  
Jamil Ddamulira Mujuzi
Keyword(s):  
Church And State ◽  
Attorney General ◽  
High Court ◽  
Personal Status ◽  
The Church ◽  
Secular State

AbstractSection 66 of the 1963 Kenyan Constitution established the Kadhi's courts with the jurisdiction to determine “questions of Muslim law relating to personal status, marriage, divorce or inheritance in proceedings in which all the parties profess the Muslim religion”. 26 Christians petitioned the High Court and argued that section 66 was unconstitutional because it, inter alia, violated the principle of separation of Church and state. The court found in their favour and held that Kenya is a secular state, that section 66 violated the doctrine of separation of state and Church, and that it was discriminatory and contrary to section 82 of the constitution which prohibits discrimination. This note gives the facts of the case, the issues before the court and the court's decision. It also analyses the court's decision.

Sacred Sounds, Secular Spaces

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Walker
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
Church And State ◽  
Reception Studies ◽  
Liturgical Music ◽  
International Exhibitions ◽  
Republican Government ◽  
Epistemological Position ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Opera Houses ◽  
The Church

This book is the first comprehensive study that reevaluates music’s role in the relationship between the French state and the Catholic Church at the end of the nineteenth century. As the divide between Church and State widened on the political stage, more and more composers began writing religious—even liturgical—music for performance in decidedly secular venues, including popular cabaret theaters, prestigious opera houses, and international exhibitions: a trend that coincided with Pope Leo XIII’s Ralliement politics that encouraged conservative Catholics to “rally” with the Republican government. But the idea of a musical Ralliement has largely gone unquestioned by historians and musicologists alike who have long accepted a somewhat simplistic epistemological position that emphasizes a sharp division between the Church and the “secular” Republic during this period. Drawing on extensive archival research, critical reception studies, and musical analysis, this book reveals how composers and critics from often opposing ideological factions undermined the secular/sacred binary. From the opera house and niche puppet theaters to Parisian parish churches and Montmartre’s famed cabarets, composers and critics from opposing ideological factions used music in their effort to craft a brand of Frenchness that was built on the dual foundations of secular Republicanism and the heritage of the French Catholic Church.

scholarly journals SOCIO-CULTURAL INTERACTION FORMS OF CHURCH AND STATE ON THE EXAMPLE OF THE RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (6) ◽  
pp. 60-64
Author(s):  
Evguenia Alexandrovna Belyaeva ◽  
Elena Aleksandrovna Venidiktova ◽  
Dilbar Valievna Shamsutdinova
Keyword(s):  
Church And State ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The State ◽  
Russian Orthodox ◽  
Russian Society ◽  
Orthodox Church ◽  
Cultural Interaction ◽  
Russian Orthodox Church ◽  
Teachers And Students ◽  
The Church

Purpose: the aim of the undertaken study is to consider the dynamics of the church-state relationship in the context of Russian new cultural tendencies at the turn of the century. Methodology: Thus, The methodological basis of the research was formed by philosophical analysis of the church-state relationship, historicism and comparison principles. The following tasks were being solved: defining the interaction ways between the religious organizations and the state on the modern stage of the Russian society development; pointing out the prospects of consolidation of both the сhurch and the state around the democratic civil society fostering program in XXI century; revealing the need to promote respectful attitude towards human values as an integral part of spiritual culture. Result: The authors achieved the following results within the study: A wider notions of church and state were introduced demonstrating the similarity of some of their functions: offering moral guidance for social well-being; historic doctrinal models “caesaropapism”, “papocaesarism” and “symphony(concordance) of powers” were identified and characterized alongside with their secular counterparts - separation and cooperation models of church-state relationship. In conclusion of the article the urgent need for the transition of church-state relationship from political to social and cultural spheres was justified. Applications: This research can be used for the universities, teachers, and students. Novelty/Originality: In this research, the model of Socio-Cultural Interaction Forms of Church and State on the Example of the Russian Orthodox Church is presented in a comprehensive and complete manner.

scholarly journals Aðskilnaður ríkis og kirkju. Síðari grein

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hjalti Hugason
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Social Role ◽  
Church And State ◽  
Western Culture ◽  
Traditional Role ◽  
Spiritual Culture ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
The Church

This is the second article of two where the author analyses the discourse about the separation between church and state in Iceland in the period 1915–1995. In this article he deals with the arguments given against separation. In the first one he dealt with the opposite views. In the discussion it was common to state that separation would reduce the potential of the National church of Iceland to fulfill its traditional role among the nation at least on the countryside. It was also considered that, when separated, the National church would be far worse positioned to fulfill its multifaceted social role in the community. Still, some participants argued for separation of “principle reasons”. As an example, it was pointed out that Christianity was one of the main defenses of Western culture against the threat posed by Communism during the Cold War. It was also pointed out that in Iceland the Church had been one of the main sources of spiritual culture among the nation. Furthermore, it was pointed out that the separation of state and church would trigger a religious chaos when fanatical sectarian groups funded by foreign movements would advance in Iceland. Finally, it was stated that some connections would always be needed between church and state wherever and they must be organized by law according to the history, tradition and experience of each country.

scholarly journals Public Health, Systems Change, Justice and the Work of the Kingdom

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-19
Author(s):  
Robert E Aronson
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Social Change ◽  
Church And State ◽  
Public Health Systems ◽  
New Jerusalem ◽  
Book Of Isaiah ◽  
The Face ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
Personal Decision ◽  
The Church

Disparities in population health statuses are tied to inequities in society, and not just differences in personal decision-making and behavior.  Christians should (and must) play a role in confronting these inequities, based upon three biblical themes: 1) the instructions in the book of Leviticus regarding the Sabbath year and the Year of Jubilee as a way to protect the economic system from producing insurmountable inequities and degrading the environment; 2) the eschatological image of the New Jerusalem in the book of Isaiah, with its focus on Shalom in contrast to a religion focused on personal piety in the face of oppression and social injustice; and 3) Jesus’ teachings about the kingdom, which include its imminence and the counter-cultural nature of its ethic.  The notion of the kingdom can be applied in the lives of Christians (particularly those involved in public health) through individual acts, corporate acts in the context of the church, and state-led actions to bring about social change to achieve social justice. Social change can be described as an act of reconciliation in which systems of society are redeemed by the power of kingdom principles.  

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