Christian Understanding of War in an Age of Terror(Ism)
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Adventist Eschatology in Relation to the Religious Left and the Religious Right
Journal of the Adventist Theological Society, 23/2 (2012):190-242. Article copyright © 2012 by Michael F. Younker. Adventist Eschatology in Relation to the Religious Left and the Religious Right Michael F. Younker Ph.D. Student, SDA Theological Seminary Andrews University 1. Introduction It is commonly understood that Seventh-day Adventist eschatology predicts that a Sunday Law in homage to Papal authority will be enacted in the United States and other nations in the final period of earth’s history preceding the Second Coming of Christ.1 Furthermore, despite its ultimate inevitability according to the sure word of prophecy, prior to such an enactment we are obligated to do all we reasonably can to delay this law by uplifting the importance of religious liberty.2 I affirm these beliefs. The 1 For a collection of Seventh-day Adventist thought leader Ellen White’s comments on this, see Donald Ernest Mansell, The Shape of the Coming Crisis (Nampa, ID: Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1998), 58-82. As White herself put it, “The Sabbath question is to be the issue in the great final conflict in which all the world will act a part,” Ellen White, Testimonies for the Church Volume Six, 352. 2 “A time is coming when the law of God is, in a special sense, to be made void in our land. The rulers of our nation will, by legislative enactments, enforce the Sunday law, and thus God's people [will] be brought into great peril. When our nation, in its legislative councils, shall enact laws to bind the consciences of men in regard to their religious privileges, enforcing Sunday observance, and bringing oppressive power to bear against those who keep the seventh-day Sabbath, the law of God will, to all intents and purposes, be made void in our land; and national apostasy will be followed by national ruin. -
A Modern Christian Perspective on Global Poverty in Light of Economic Globalization
A MODERN CHRISTIAN PERSPECTIVE ON GLOBAL POVERTY IN LIGHT OF ECONOMIC GLOBALIZATION an Honors Project submitted by Isaac B. Sharp 6825 Mountain Shadow Dr Knoxville, Tennessee 37918 (865) 256-9595 in partial fulfillment for the degree Bachelor of Arts in Religion with Honors April 28, 2010 Project Advisor: Dr. Ross Brummett © 2010 Isaac B. Sharp Approval Sheet A MODERN CHRISTIAN PERSPECTIVE ON GLOBAL POVERTY IN LIGHT OF ECONOMIC GLOBALIZATION _________________________ _________________________ Faculty Director Chair, Department of Religion _________________________ Director, Honors Program ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This project could not have been completed without the diligent work and support of several people. By no means can I take all of the credit for the completion of this project, and I would be remiss if I did not thank those who have guided me along the way for their efforts. I first must thank Dr. Christine Jones and Dr. Don Garner for their invaluable editing of and suggestions for the drafts of each of the chapters. As members of the hearing committee, it was far above and beyond their duties to be as involved as they were. The final project is infinitely better than it would have been if they had not assisted along the way. I also want to thank Ken Massey for his service on my hearing committee. Most importantly, I want to thank Dr. Ross Brummett. His tireless efforts in every step of this process have been without parallel, and he truly has embodied what it means to be an Honors Project advisor. If not for Dr. Brummett, there is truly no way that this project would have been completed. -
Post-Christendom, Post-Constantinian, Post-Christian…Does the Label Matter?
Post-Christendom, Post-Constantinian, Post-Christian…does the label matter? Post-Christendom The term ‘post-Christendom’ has become increasingly familiar in conversations about church and mission in contemporary western societies. Some first encountered this term in the ‘After Christendom’ series, published by Paternoster and written by members of the Anabaptist Network since 2004. 1 These books offer resources to help us understand and engage creatively with the challenges and opportunities of post-Christendom culture. But many others are also using this language, and have done so for many years, even if its significance has not been widely recognised until quite recently. ‘Post-Christendom’ appears to be a significant lens through which to view the emerging cultural landscape. However, different people use the term ‘post-Christendom’ in different ways. Sometimes this helps us engage with the issues we face; but sometimes it simply causes confusion. In the emerging church conversation, for instance, ‘post-Christendom’ is often used as if it were a synonym for post-modernity. Understanding and engaging with post-modernity is undoubtedly important, but referring to this as ‘post-Christendom’ does not aid clarity of thinking. The transition from modernity to post-modernity and from Christendom to post- Christendom confronts us with a cultural and missional ‘double whammy’. These shifts overlap, complement and reinforce each other in various ways, so we do need to explore their inter-relationship and dual impact. But post-Christendom is not the same as post- modernity. Post-Christendom presents different challenges and opportunities. The first book in the ‘After Christendom’ series offered a definition of post-Christendom: the culture that emerges as the Christian faith loses coherence within a society that has been definitively shaped by the Christian story and as the institutions that have been developed to express Christian convictions decline in influence. -
Concordia Theological Quarterly
Concordia Theological Quarterly Volume 76:1-2 Januaryj April 2012 Table of Contents What Would Bach Do Today? Paul J. Grilne ........................................................................................... 3 Standing on the Brink of the J01'dan: Eschatological Intention in Deute1'onomy Geoffrey R. Boyle .................................................................................. 19 Ch1'ist's Coming and the ChUl'ch's Mission in 1 Thessalonians Charles A. Gieschen ............................................................................. 37 Luke and the Foundations of the Chu1'ch Pete1' J. Scaer .......................................................................................... 57 The Refonnation and the Invention of History Korey D. Maas ...................................................................................... 73 The Divine Game: Faith and the Reconciliation of Opposites in Luthe1"s Lectures on Genesis S.J. Munson ............................................................................................ 89 Fides Heroica? Luthe1" s P1'aye1' fo1' Melanchthon's Recovery f1'om Illness in 1540 Albert B. Collver III ............................................................................ 117 The Quest fo1' Luthe1'an Identity in the Russian Empire Darius Petkiinas .................................................................................. 129 The Theology of Stanley Hauerwas Joel D. Lehenbauer ............................................................................. 157 Theological Observer -
The Politics of the Cross: the Theology and Social Ethics of John Howard Yoder
3377 Bayview Avenue TEL: Toronto, ON 416.226.6620 TYNDALE M2M 3S4 www.tyndale.ca UNIVERSITY Note: This Work has been made available by the authority of the copyright owner solely for the purpose of private study and research and may not be copied or reproduced except as permitted by the copyright laws of Canada without the written authority from the copyright owner. Carter, Craig A. The Politics of the Cross: The Theology and Social Ethics of John Howard Yoder. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Brazos Press, 2001. The Politics of THE Cross The Theology and Social Ethics of John Howard Yoder Craig A. Carter Brazos Press A Division of Baker Book House Co Grand Rapids, Michigan 49516 © 2001 by Craig A. Carter Published by Brazos Press a division of Baker Book House Company P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287 Printed in the United States of America All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval sys tem, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews. Scripture is taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copy right © 1973,1978,1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. Scripture marked as “Phillips” is taken from The New Testament in Modern English. Copy right © by J. B. Philips 1996. Used by permission of Touchstone/Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Carter, Craig A. -
Winnipeg Regional Mennonite‐Catholic Dialogue, Meeting No. 15
Minutes Winnipeg Mennonite‐Catholic Dialogue, Meeting No. 15 Meeting held on 25 May 2005 at St. Ignatius Parish Adult Education Centre Present: Elaine Baete, Adolf Ens, Irma Fast Dueck, Harold Jantz, Helmut Harder, Richard Lebrun, Henry Loewen, John Long, Luis Melo, Elaine Pinto, Michael Radcliffe, Linda Trenholm, and guest Brian Butcher. Regrets: Elaine Pinto 1. Helmut Harder began the meeting by thanking Michael Radcliffe for making the arrangements to have our meeting at St. Ignatius. Richard Lebrun introduced his grandson, Brian Butcher, who attended the meeting as a guest. 2. Sharing recent ecumenical experiences. a) Luis Melo reported on: i) The WDEDCE conference in Edmonton that (as president) he had planned in mid- February on “Catholic-Evangelical Relations.” This meeting brought together about 25 directors of ecumenism. ii) The document on “Mary, Grace and Hope in Christ,” which brings to an end the mandate of ARCIC II (the official RC-Anglican international dialogue). iii) Attendance at the national Anglican-Roman Catholic dialogue in Montreal just before the conclave. With respect to the transition of leadership in the Church, Luis commented on the significance of the presence of ecumenical and interfaith leaders at the funeral of John Paul II, and the fact that Brother Roger Schultz (founder of Taizé and a non-Catholic) was first in line to receive Holy Communion at the hands of Cardinal Ratzinger. Luis thought this was the fruit of the contact, friendship, and commitment to ecumenism of the late pope’s pontificate and in the Church since Vatican II. b) Mike Radcliffe reported attending a Catholic ecumenical meeting with Robert Polz of the Archdiocese of Winnipeg, completing his work with two Mennonites who had been following the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises under his direction, and spending two weeks in Russia (with his son) where he was very impressed with the beauty of the Orthodox liturgy, and came to appreciate the way in which the Orthodox venerate icons. -
“Who'll Be a Witness for My Lord?”
“Who’ll Be a Witness for My Lord?” Exploring the Power to Be a Witness ANDREW SUDERMAN* The Christian church’s expansive zeal has often, throughout its history, walked hand in hand with the colonial pursuits of empires and nation-states. This cooperative approach between church and empire, which is most apparent in Christendom, has implicated the church, and the Christian faith in general, with the oppressive and violent exploitation that has come through colonialism and its painful history. This Christendom legacy and its corresponding Con- stantinian imagination1 have left their mark on how the church and its role are understood in the South African context. * Andrew Suderman is a lecturer of theology, peace, and mission at Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, Virginia, as well as the Secretary for the Mennonite World Con- ference Peace Commission. He, along with his wife, Karen, worked as Mennonite Church Canada Witness Workers in South Africa for seven years (2009–2016) where he served as Director of the Anabaptist Network in South Africa (ANiSA). He is completing a PhD in theology at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. 1 Although terms such as “Christendom” and “Constantinianism” have become common and mostly synonymous, it may still be useful to offer a definition of the way these terms will be used in this paper. Both Christendom and Constantinianism refer to the impulse to synthesize the purposes of the church and state into a reconciled and compatible partnership. This synthesis was energized over a period of time that includ- ed the conversion to Christianity of the Roman Emperor Constantine in 312 CE; the legalization of the Christian faith within the Empire declared in the Edict of Milan in 313 CE; Theodosius I making Christianity the official religion of the Empire in 380 CE; and the declaration of the illegality of pagan religions in the Empire in 392 CE, which in effect made the Christian faith mandatory and compulsory for all citizens of the Empire. -
A Historian Looks at the Evangelical Left in Moral Minority
RBC Feature Left behind? A historian looks at the evangelical left in Moral Minority By Vicki Sairs David R. Swartz. Photo by Lisa Weaver. Identifying yourself as an evangelical in a roomful then as a teacher and recruiter. of secular people can be awkward. You get the feeling Now he is an assistant professor of history at Asbury that everyone is slowly stepping back to give the fire- University, teaching courses in American history, Western breathing fundamentalist (that would be you) plenty of civilization, the sixties, and war in the American mem- breathing space. ory. David earned his Ph.D. in American history at the Of course, this is a slight overstatement, but only University of Notre Dame under the direction of George slight. Many Americans also associate evangelical Marsden and Mark Noll. Christians with radical right-wing politics. The less gener- Here are some of his thoughts on his book, why he ous among them go so far as to think that being born again wrote it, and what he hopes it will accomplish. makes you a warmonger. Happily, the world of evangelicals is much more com- Karin Granberg-Michaelson and Wes Michaelson, former top aide to plex than partisan stereotypes imply. If you want to know Senator Mark Hatfield and editor of Sojourners, marching in favor of just how complicated we born-again Christians can be, you a nuclear freeze in New York City in the late 1970s. Courtesy of the Joint Archives of Holland, Hope College, Holland, Michigan. might want to read David R. Swartz’s first book, Moral Minority: The Evangelical Left in an Age of Conservatism. -
Left Behind: the Evangelical Left and the Limits of Evangelical
LEFT BEHIND: THE EVANGELICAL LEFT AND THE LIMITS OF EVANGELICAL POLITICS, 1965-1988 VOLUME II A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Notre Dame in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy by David R. Swartz ______________________________ George Marsden, Director Graduate Program in History Notre Dame, Indiana July 2008 TABLE OF CONTENTS VOLUME II CHAPTER EIGHT The Chicago Declaration and the Promise of a United Progressive Evangelical Front.....................................................................357 CHAPTER NINE Identity Politics: The Fragmentation of the Progressive Coalition ..................................................................................................415 CHAPTER TEN From Carter to Reagan: Left Behind by the Right...................488 CHAPTER ELEVEN The Limits of Evangelical Politics: The Evangelical Left in the 1980s........................................................................................547 APPENDIX A ..................................................................................................622 BIBLIOGRAPHY ..................................................................................................624 v CHAPTER EIGHT THE CHICAGO DECLARATION AND THE PROMISE OF A UNITED PROGRESSIVE EVANGELICAL FRONT Many adherents of the third way, acknowledging that forming small communities of “loving defiance” against the technocracy held limited potential for stimulating large-scale change, tempered their strictures of -
203 Born-Again Brethren in Christ: Anabaptism, Evangelicalism, And
Born-Again Brethren in Christ: Anabaptism, Evangelicalism, and the Cultural Transformation of a Plain People DEVIN C. MANZULLO-THOMAS* Abstract: This essay explores how, in the middle decades of the twentieth century, leaders and laypeople in the Brethren in Christ Church constructed, adopted, and deployed an evangelical identity. Initially, this new identity drew community members out of ethnic isolation and into the broader American society; at the same time, it enabled select church leaders to use evangelical venues to advance a decidedly theological critique of war and to reinforce religious practices of simplicity and humility. Later, some Brethren in Christ combined this evangelical identity with church traditions of simplicity and nonparticipation in war in order to advance arguments about pacifism and economic justice, thus contributing to the rise of a progressive evangelicalism. Ultimately, then, this evangelical identity allowed the Brethren in Christ to integrate themselves into American society while simultaneously maintaining a sense of religious and cultural particularity. In June 1933, scores of men, women, and children descended upon Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, for the yearly General Conference of the Brethren in Christ Church in North America. Delegates to the meeting filled their days with fellowship, vigorous debate about denominational issues, and spirited evangelistic preaching. The delegate roster showed that most attendees shared common surnames, all Swiss-German in origin: Hostetter, Brubaker, Wenger, Climenhaga, Herr, and Hoover.1 And as a photograph from the event attests, these church members and leaders embodied their distinctive religious values and cultural practices in visible ways (Figure 1). They donned clothing meant to set them apart: women wore ankle-length dresses in muted colors, head coverings, and bonnets, without jewelry or other adornment, while men wore dark suits with upright collars and no neckties. -
The Anabaptist Turn in Recent American Evangelical Historiography
The Not-So-Quiet in the Land: The Anabaptist Turn in Recent American Evangelical Historiography Devin C. Manzullo-Thomas David R. Swartz. Moral Minority: The Evangelical Left in an Age of Conservatism. Philadelphia: Univ. of Pennsylvania Press, 2012; Brantley W. Gasaway. Progressive Evangelicals and the Pursuit of Social Justice. Chapel Hill, NC: Univ. of North Carolina Press, 2014; Molly Worthen. Apostles of Reason: The Crisis of Authority in American Evangelicalism. New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 2014. In the historiography of North American Anabaptism, evangelicalism typically functions in one of two ways. Some Mennonite-produced analyses have depicted evangelicalism as a threat to Anabaptist distinctives, infiltrating and infecting thought and practice on peace, simple living, and the gathered church—a so-called declension thesis.1 By contrast, other scholarship— often produced by Anabaptist groups outside the denominational orbits of the (Old) Mennonite and the General Conference Mennonite churches— has envisioned evangelicalism as an ally to Anabaptist values. It argues that shared convictions have guided the two traditions toward mutual influence and fruitful dialogue—a kind of integration thesis.2 Whether focusing on 1 Examples of scholarship in this historiographical trajectory include most of the essays in C. Norman Kraus, ed., Evangelicalism and Anabaptism (Scottdale, PA: Herald Press, 1979); Theron F. Schlabach, Gospel Versus Gospel: Mission and the Mennonite Church, 1863-1944 (Scottdale, PA: Herald Press, 1980); Beulah Stauffer Hostetler, American Mennonites and Protestant Movements: A Community Paradigm (Scottdale, PA: Herald Press, 1987); Paul Toews, Mennonites in American Society, 1930-1970 (Scottdale, PA: Herald Press, 1996); and Calvin W. Redekop, Leaving Anabaptism: From Evangelical Mennonite Brethren to Fellowship of Evangelical Bible Churches (Kitchener, ON: Pandora Press, 1998). -
Christian Reconstructionism
ARTICLE A Reformed Approach to Economics: Christian Reconstructionism he impact upon economic thought of the Protestant Reformation was seen across Western Europe, in England, and in North America in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. In particular, Christians Tguided by the teaching of the Reformer John Calvin approached their work, their finances, and their participation in civil life from a perspective they understood to be explicitly grounded in the law of God. They sought guidance in Biblical law regarding questions such as interest-taking on loans and the proper amount to pay for the laborer’s wages. The first generation of New England Puritans went so far as to make Old Testament law binding upon their communities in these areas as well as in non- economic matters. In recent years, some Christian thinkers in the Reformed tradition have advocated a similar approach to social and economic questions, utilizing the appellation of “Christian Reconstructionism.” Moving beyond pub- lished works in the 1960s which were essentially critiques of modern philosophy, politics, and education, the Reconstructionist writer Rousas John Rushdoony produced The Institutes of Biblical Law in 1973. The Insti- tutes extensively examined the Ten Commandments as the expression of God’s law. Much in the vein of the New England Puritans, Rushdoony’s work sought to develop the implications of Biblical law for modern eco- nomic and political institutions. Following Rushdoony’s lead, other Reconstructionist writers in the past twenty years have generated a series of published materials advocating the application of Biblical law to a myriad of social questions. The teachings of Christian Reconstructionism have been increasingly AUTHOR influential in recent years for evangelicals advocating social policy in vari- Edd S.