Liberal Protestantism without Protestantism

After World War II universities often added religious programs. But these seldom touched the heart of the enterprise. Mainstream American Protestants typically saw religion as an add-on, in contrast to John Henry Newman’s Catholic Idea of a University with theology and philosophy at the center. Nathan Pusey’s efforts to strengthen religion at Harvard illustrate the problem. Will Herberg and John Courtney Murray each pointed out the limits of generalized American religion. Religion departments acted as a palliative. But especially in the 1960s legitimate concerns for pluralism and diversity undermined specifically Protestant teachings in favor of a generalized ethic, as illustrated by Harvey Cox in The Secular City. Mainline Protestant campus ministries declined rapidly in the later 1960s. By the 1970s and 1980s ideals of inclusiveness displaced any specifically Protestant heritage. Some see a “cultural triumph of liberal Protestantism,” but the laudable inclusive ideals by themselves also bring cultural fragmentation.

The Obstacles to a Christian Presence

By the 1920s and 1930s those concerned with keeping a Christian presence faced many challenges. One solution was for mainline Protestant denominations to strengthen their student ministries, especially on state university campuses. One approach was to sponsor “Bible chairs” in which qualified professors taught courses on the Bible or Christian religious themes for credit. By 1940 virtually all church-related schools and most state universities had departments of religion. These were liberal Protestant institutions and emphasized scientific and literary study of religion. Despite these efforts higher education was rapidly growing in many other areas, so religion remained peripheral to most of their activities. As compensation this was an era of building huge chapels. Student religious life declined; the YMCA and YWCA in particular declined as did evangelical religious interests. Chapel requirements largely disappeared. The dominant liberal Protestants emphasized teaching character and becoming good citizens grounded in the broadly Christian tradition.

Orthodoxy and Evangelicalism: An Overview of Their Relationship from the Perspective of Moral Values

Orthodox–Evangelical relationships are dominated by proselytism (at least in Eastern Europe and in the former Soviet Union). This is understood as church conversion practiced through unfair means among people who are already Christians, belonging to so-called “historical churches.” However, beyond it, there is a real potential for cooperation using moral values as a starting point. As there is an increasing disagreement between the Orthodox and mainline Protestant on moral values, the Orthodox and Evangelicals might increase their cooperation as they witness traditional values of Christianity. This kind of cooperation might be partially contextual, but it is based on Biblicism, which both Orthodox and Evangelicals share as a core value. As this cooperation, based on shared moral values, certainly has real potential, and has to be used for the good of Christianity, it might also have its limitations. Orthodox Christians and Evangelicals have shared common moral values, but each one of them might interpret the content of these values differently. One of the differences in interpreting and explaining the content of moral values might be given by the different interpretations of what is called church tradition.

Denominational Mobility among Palestinian Christians

This article examines denominational mobility – switching or crossing denominational lines – among Palestinian Christians in Palestine. The study uses qualitative methods and content-driven analysis of interviews with thirty-five Palestinian Christians, conducted in February, March, April and November 2017. The results suggest that denominational mobility is happening among Palestinian Christians between Orthodox, Catholic, mainline Protestant, and Evangelical communities. The analysis revealed three main motives for this denominational mobility: personal belief, marital and family reasons and socio/economic related reasons. Interviewees most often mentioned personal belief as the primary reason for denominational mobility, followed by marital or family matters. Additionally, within the population interviewed, young adults and women were the most mobile in their denominational affiliation. Furthermore, this research suggests that an individualistic impulse in denominational mobility is present within the Palestinian Christian community where denominational mobility traditionally is not encouraged.

Awkward Enthusiasts

Chapter 5 presents one of the first partial analyses of the Sunday Assembly in Berlin, that is, attempts by secular humanists to create congregations and regular assemblies for singing together and listening to inspiring talks. These “atheist churches” have not been very successful in Germany and this chapter seeks to understand why this is so by examining the practices of enthusiasm invited by the congregations. Comparing the Sunday Assembly to the brand “School of Life,” which had similar beginnings, the analysis suggests that the reticence of Sunday Assembly participants in Germany is due to a lack of practice in the emotional style, which is closer to Charismatic than to mainline Protestant performance.

The Queer Thresholds of Heresy

Disputes over heresy are not new or uncommon, as mainline Protestant denominations in South Korea have historically deemed numerous minor sects and radical theologies to be heretical to the Christian faith. However, when the largest evangelical denomination in the country, the Presbyterian Church in Korea (Hapdong), began investigating Reverend Lim Borah (Im Pora) of the Sumdol Hyanglin Church in 2017 and subsequently ruled her ministry to be heretical, they charted new grounds by denouncing LGBTI-affirming theology and ministry as heresy. This article traces the semantic ambiguity and politics of the term for heresy, idan, and highlights the intersection of heretical Christianity, gender and sexual nonconformity, and ideological dissidence. The argument is that growing interests in queer theology and calls for LGBTI-affirming ministry stoked the flames of efforts by beleaguered Protestant denominations to use heresy to discredit and stigmatize dissident practices, and that rather than simply stifle dissent, the subsequent controversy also exposed the limits of dominant power and the contours of vital resistance.

One God, Multiple Rituals and Theologies: Christianity

Current liturgies performed in Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and mainline Protestant worship services preserve a remnant of basic practices, personnel, and key ideas and themes found in passages related to Hebrew Bible worship and ritual. These features, of course, have long histories of reinterpretation and reapplication within Christian tradition. The theological understandings of several of these elements of Hebrew Bible worship have a place in the theological disagreements between the various branches of Christianity, and the current language in the liturgies manifests these differences, as do the discussions about them within the various traditions. This essay especially focuses on the way in which current liturgies continue to manifest different appropriations of Hebrew Bible worship and ritual. Further, the essay draws on ritual theories to reflect on the way in which liturgies establish a sense of timelessness, transcendence, and invariance for worshipers, even though liturgies have changed over the centuries and greatly differ from their Hebrew Bible roots.

Online Communion, Christian Community, and Receptive Ecumenism: A Holy Week Ethnography during COVID-19

A significant liturgical controversy of the COVID-19 pandemic is whether Christians should celebrate communion online. Much of the discussion of online communion has been based on theological and theoretical claims, rather than concrete observations and experiences, and much of this reflection has been directed toward specific denominational contexts. In contrast, this ethnographic study centers on participant observation of twelve worship services that included communion, or would ordinarily have included communion, that occurred between Holy Thursday and Easter Sunday of April 2020 in Free Church, mainline Protestant, Anglican, and Roman Catholic settings. It takes the approach of receptive ecumenism and asks what gifts Christians from various traditions can receive from one another in relation to online communion both during and beyond times of crisis. Rather than making a case for or against celebrating communion online, it explores the ways in which community is demonstrated and effected in online communion practices.