Cultural Deference, Community Survival

After the military defeat of the Tamil insurgency in Sri Lanka, nationalist sectors backed by Sinhala Buddhist ideology turned to religious minorities in search of new enemies of the State. These have included Muslims and Evangelical Christians who are described as foreign intruders that contaminate the traditions of the nation. Catholics have been spared of accusations of proselytism and the introduction of foreign cultures partly due to the Church leadership’s explicit stance against Evangelical missionary activities and its support of Sinhala nationalist discourse. Catholic communities of Sri Lanka thus find themselves in an ambiguous position: incorporated into the national citizenry, yet a visible minority anxious not to become marginalized like other religious minorities.

Are evangelical Christians abandoning public schools?

Conventional wisdom suggests that evangelical Christians, often among the most vocal advocates of school choice efforts in the U.S., are promoting choice out of a sense of frustration with public schools and perceived bias against religion. Research by Marilyn Anderson Rhames, however, suggests that evangelicals are no more concerned about religious bias in their local schools than other Americans. Using data from the 2019 PDK poll into the public’s attitudes toward the public schools, Rhames analyzed responses to questions about pressure to “fit in” or conform; religious bias; bias against gay, lesbian and/or transgender students; and the perceived risks of improper civics, Bible, and comparative religion instruction. In most cases, evangelical responses were not significantly different from those of other parents. In some case, racial identity and ideology were stronger drivers of parental opinion.

Sergey Nikitovich Savinsky (1924-2021) and the Historical Self-Awareness of Evangelical Christians-Baptists

The article presents biographical information about the first confessional historian of Russian Evangelical Christians-Baptists, S. N. Savinsky. He authored a number of chapters on the Russian-Ukrainian Evangelical-Baptist community in a book titled “History of Evangelical Christians-Baptists in the USSR” (1989), until that time the only book on the history of his own denomination published during Soviet times. Described is his work as member of the Historical Commission of the All-Union Council of the Evangelical Christians-Baptists. The article traces four trajectories of the worldwide evangelical revival into Russia: the late German Pietism, the North America revival movement, the influence of the worldwide Evangelical Alliance, and the early German Pietism. S. N. Savinsky basic concepts of evangelical revival and uniqueness of the Russian Evangelical-Baptist community are analyzed.

The New Calvinism

This chapter looks at the origins and distinguishing features of the stream of American evangelicalism that has come to be known as New Calvinism. New Calvinism emerged at the end of the twentieth century among evangelical Christians frustrated by the perceived pragmatism and doctrinal shallowness of many evangelical churches. It is classically evangelical in its theology and preaching, eager to build coalitions across denominational lines (in particular, among Baptists and Presbyterians), founded on a selective appropriation of Reformed doctrine (especially the Reformed doctrines of God and soteriology) and committed to a complementarian view of gender roles. However, the New Calvinism’s most distinctive features are its energetic expansion into new geographical and denominational spaces and its cultivation of a unique form of revivalism and affective spirituality drawn from the writings of Puritans like John Owen and Jonathan Edwards.

Diskursus Etika Sosial bagi Kalangan Injili: Mengenal Pemikiran Reinhold Niebuhr melalui The Serenity Prayer

Etika sosial bukanlah topik utama di kalangan Kristen injili, sehingga beredar asumsi bahwa orang Kristen injili cenderung pesimis tentang situasi dalam dunia dan karena itu menghindari isu-isu dalam etika sosial. Tulisan ini menawarkan diskursus etika sosial bagi kalangan Kristen injili dengan memperkenalkan pemikiran Reinhold Niebuhr. The Serenity Prayer dipakai sebagai metode untuk membingkai pemikiran Niebuhr. Dalam pandangan Niebuhr manusia memiliki realitas paradoksal di dalam dirinya. Di satu sisi, ia adalah manusia berdosa yang memiliki keterbatasan dalam menerapkan kasih yang murni sebagaimana yang Yesus ajarkan. Di sisi lain, ia adalah gambar Allah yang memiliki kemampuan transendensi diri yang mampu berpikir kreatif untuk menciptakan kebaruan dalam hidupnya. Menyikapi realitas paradoksal ini, Niebuhr memberi saran untuk membangun landasan etika sosial yang realistis (dialektis) sehingga tidak jatuh pada sikap optimisme yang berlebihan apalagi jatuh pada sikap pesimisme yang cenderung fatalistik. Social ethics is not a major topic that is often discussed among evangelical Christians. Therefore, arise assumption that evangelical Christians tend to be pessimistic about situations globally and avoid issues in social ethics. This article offers a discourse on social ethics for evangelical Christians by introducing Reinhold Niebuhr’s thoughts. The serenity prayer is used as a method to frame Niebuhr’s thoughts. In Niebuhr’s view, man has a paradoxical reality. He is a sinful man who has limitations in exercising the pure love that Jesus taught. On the other hand, he is an image of God who can self-transcendence and think creatively to create newness in his life. Responding to this paradoxical reality, Niebuhr gave suggestions to build a realistic (dialectical) social ethics foundation that does not fall into an attitude of excessive optimism, let alone fall into an attitude of pessimism that tends to be fatalistic.