Journal articles on the topic 'Evangelical Baptist Church of Georgia'

Much scholarship in the dialogue between evangelical and Orthodox believers focuses on doctrinal compatibility. This article contributes to that literature by giving an example of a spiritual practice (icon veneration) that creates additional space for ecumenical dialogue and unity. Some US-evangelicals in the 21st century have incorporated the use of icons into their personal faith practices. Icon veneration is ripe with ecumenical potential for evangelical–Orthodox relations because of its prominence in Orthodox communions while at the same time appealing to a growing number of evangelicals. This article considers three sites of evangelical icon use in turn: the Evangelical Baptist Church of Georgia (EBCG), Icons of Black Saints, and an evangelical ministry called “Heart of the Artist”. Each site adopts a slightly unique understanding of icons that may appeal to evangelical believers. Although Orthodox and evangelical believers may understand theologies of icon veneration differently, the emergence of icon veneration among evangelicals remains a spiritual synchronicity, and ought to be recognized as such. Evangelicals continue to receive the gift of icon veneration from their Orthodox siblings in ways in line with the EBCG, Black Orthodox icons, and Heart of the Artist, so icon veneration has potential to further resource ecumenical dialogue.

The report is based on the first results of the study "The History of the Evangelical Christians-Baptists in Ukraine", carried out in 1994-1996 by the joint efforts of the Department of Religious Studies at the Institute of Philosophy of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and the Odessa Theological Seminary of Evangelical Christian Baptists. A large-scale description and research of archival sources on the history of evangelical movements in our country gave the first experience of fruitful cooperation between secular and church researchers.

AbstractI count myself privileged to respond to Kenneth Collins and Jerry Walls recent book on Roman Catholicism. I live in Fort Worth, TX, and I am a member of Wedgwood Baptist Church, which is one of more than 40,000 churches that together comprise the Southern Baptist Convention. I mention this so readers will know that my comments come from a conservative Evangelical Protestant perspective, and my thinking stems from a tradition that is decidedly not Roman Catholic. Having said this, I’m much more sympathetic to Roman Catholicism than a great many Evangelicals, including Collins and Walls. I offer my criticisms of Rome, but I ask that readers not interpret me as someone who denies that the Roman Catholic Church counts as a Christian institution. In an effort to show good faith on this front, allow me to offer some defenses of Roman Catholicism against what I take to be over the top criticisms from some Protestant Evangelicals.

The article analyzes the causes and consequences of the split in the evangelical-Baptist environment in the 1960s; found that one of the main causes of the split in the bosom of evangelical Baptist Christians was the destructive influence of state authorities on religion in general, and Christian denominations in particular when initiated by state bodies of the union of Protestant religious communities under the auspices of the All-Union Baptist Council Church for organization under control of special services bodies; it has been proved that the conflicts between the leadership of the Verkhovna Rada and the Council of Churches were artificial. The confrontations among the believers were mainly provoked by SSC agents and secret services, and were only in the hands of the Communist Party regime, which helped him control events, pacify some and repress others; it is proved that under the influence of the movement for the independence of the church from the state headed by «initiators», the regime has been operating since the second half of the 1960s. gradually began to ease the pressure on officially registered communities of evangelical Baptist Christians. Prayer meetings began to be attended by teens, and ordinary members and members of other congregations were allowed to preach. As a result of these changes and some easing of tensions between the church and the government, many believers and congregations began to return to the official union governed by the ACEBC, without wishing further confrontation; it is shown that the internal church events of the 60's of the twentieth century, which were provoked by the SSC special services and led to the split of the EBC community, reflected on the position and activities of the EBC Church and in the period of independence of Ukraine, the higher leadership of the split community (the ACEBC and the Church Council) and could not reconcile and unite in a united union. This significantly weakens their spiritual position in today's globalized world, where cohesion and competitiveness play an important role.

Reports the findings of a survey of 491 United Church of Christ, Southern Baptist Convention, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and Roman Catholic rural clergy from seven Northern Plains states. Offers implications for seminary and post-seminary training, placement of clergy in churches, pastoral counseling in rural congregations, and contextualized theory and ministry.

Ukrainian evangelical Protestantism is a significant factor in the religious life of the country, not only because of its quantitative characteristics, but also because of its differentness, the identity of dominant national traditions and the situation of political situations. Representing the Eastern image of Western Christianity, the openness to the spiritual experience of the world church community, the evangelical communities are the most dynamic in their development, in new attempts at topical theological synthesis, and in establishing inter-denominational bridges. Evangelical Protestantism means, above all, evangelical Baptist Christians and Evangelical Christians, separating them, on the one hand, from the historical churches and, on the other, from the latest Protestant movements.

The article contains considerations concerning a role of Churches and religion in building the civil society, bringing the readers closer to the specific movement in the history of Christianity which is evangelicalism and to Churches and communities that have grown out of this movement. The author concentrates mainly on Poland, pointing out that for Poles faith and Church membership is still a very important thing. In the article there are presented two examples of evangelical Churches, i.e., the Pentecostal Church in Poland and the Baptist Church in Poland; their interest in the common good and social engagement as well as their effort put into educating children to be responsible citizens has been underlined.

In June 2006, a group of high school youth from Oakhurst Baptist Church in Decatur, Georgia went on an interfaith spiritual pilgrimage to Morocco, a country whose population is over 99% Muslim. This is their story.

I understand my primary task in this essay to be to take you inside the world of evangelical political reflection and engagement. Though I actually grew up Roman Catholic and attended the liberal Union Theological Seminary in New York, I am by now an evangelical insider, rooted deeply in red state mid-South America, a member of a Southern Baptist church (actually, an ordained minister), a teacher at a Tennessee Baptist university, and a columnist for the flagship Christianity Today magazine. Due to the blue state/red state, liberal/conservative boundary-crossing that has characterized my background, I am often called upon to interpret our divided internal “cultures” one to another. Trained to be fair-minded and judicious in my analysis and judgments (though not always successful in meeting the standards of my training), I seek to help bridge the culture wars divide that is tearing our nation apart.As one deeply invested in American evangelicalism, most of my attention these days now goes to the internal conversation within evangelical life about our identity and mission, especially our social ethics and political engagement. In this essay I will focus extensively on problems I currently see with evangelical political engagement, addressing those from within the theological framework of evangelical Christianity and inviting others to listen in to what I am now saying to my fellow evangelicals.

According to Callum Brown in The Death of Christian Britain, from 1963 Christianity in Britain went on a downward spiral. More generally, Brown sees the 1960s as the decade in which the Christian-centred culture that had conferred identity on Britain was rejected. This claim, however, which has received much attention, needs to be set alongside David Bebbington’s analysis of British Christianity in the 1960s. In Evangelicalism in Modern Britain, Bebbington notes that in 1963 charismatic renewal came to an Anglican parish in Beckenham, Kent, when the vicar, George Forester, and some parishioners received the ‘baptism of the Holy Spirit’ and began to speak in tongues. During the next quarter of a century, Bebbington continues, the charismatic movement became a powerful force in British Christianity. Both Brown and Bebbington view the 1960s as a decade of significant cultural change. Out of that period of upheaval came the decline of cultural Christianity but also the emergence of a new expression of Christian spirituality – charismatic renewal. Within the evangelical section of the Church this new movement was an illustration of the ability of evangelicalism to engage in adaptation. To a large extent evangelical Anglicans were at the forefront of charismatic renewal in England. The Baptist denomination in England was, however, deeply affected from the mid-1960s onwards and it is this which will be examined here.

AbstractThough forged in the fires of the early nineteenth-century evangelical revivals, Primitive Baptists became the most significant opponents of the burgeoning antebellum evangelical movement. The Primitives were Calvinists who despised missionaries, Sunday schools, Bible tract societies, and the other accoutrements of evangelical Protestantism. This article contends that a feeling of uncertainty dominated Primitive Baptists' lives, catalyzed their movement's rise, and fueled their strident opposition to the theological and organizational changes shaping churches across the country. For Primitive Baptists, it was their questioning–especially their experience of persistent doubt–that set them apart from evangelicals. The uncertainty that colored Primitive Baptist selfhood motivated believers rather than paralyzed them. It propelled them toward a community of like-minded souls, and it stirred those souls to action as a more ardent brand of evangelical Protestantism crowded church pews. It is in the Primitives' uncertain selves–not in their theology or their socio-economic condition–that we find the most compelling explanation of their movement's unlikely rise.

One of the most significant and rewarding experiences for me during my tenure as general secretary of the Baptist World Alliance was to sponsor an International Summit on Baptists against Racism and Ethnic Conflict. This significant summit was held from January 8 – 11, 1999, in the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia, Martin Luther King Jr.'s home church. At this summit we learned of the tragedy of racism worldwide. We learned that we needed to expand our definition of racism to include ethnic violence. We came as Christians and discovered the power of Christ to bring reconciliation and unity. The latter part of this article will review some of the horrific examples of racism and ethnic conflict worldwide. We will also celebrate the prophetic witness of many Baptist congregations worldwide in fighting against racism and ethnic violence.

Our research is based on a rather large "library" of various works by M. Drahomanov, which contains his views on religion. Among them: Paradise and Progress, From the History of Relations Between Church and State in Western Europe, Faith and Public Affairs, Fight for Spiritual Power and Freedom of Conscience in the 16th - 17th Centuries, , "Church and State in the Roman Empire", "The Status and Tasks of the Science of Ancient History," "Evangelical Faith in Old England," "Populism and Popular Progress in Austrian Rus, Austrian-Russian Remembrance (1867- 1877)," "Pious The Legend of the Bulgarians "," The Issues of Religious Freedom in Russia, "" On the Brotherhood of the Baptist or the Baptist in Ukraine, "" The Foreword (to the Community of 1878), " Shevchenko, Ukrainianophiles and Socialism "," Wonderful thoughts about the Ukrainian national affair "," Zazdri gods "," Slavic variants of one Gospel legend "," Resurrection of Christ (folklore record) ", etc.

On the morning of Wednesday, May 20,1885, Boston police arrested three Protestant clergymen for preaching on the Common. News of the outrage traveled quickly, and within hours the city's evangelical Protestants were in an uproar. When the preachers—A. J. Gordon, pastor of the Clarendon Street Baptist church; H. L. Hastings, editor of a locally popular evangelical periodical, the Christian; and W. H. Davis, superintendent of a mission in the North End—appeared at the Municipal Criminal Courthouse on Thursday morning, a crowd reported to be between four thousand and five thousand, “principally of the middle-class, well-dressed and well behaved,” thronged the steps of the building. “[I]t was clearly evident,” Hastings later wrote, “that something unusual was going on in the police court of the city of Boston.”

Carl Olof Rosenius, son of a vicar, grew up in Northern Sweden, where his family was active in a revival movement inspired by Lutheran theology. Early in life he decided to become a clergyman, but due to sickness and bad financial circumstances he never managed to complete his theological studies. He became a lay preacher and a very influential editor of the edifying magazine Pietisten [The Pietist]. Through this he became the spiritual leader of the emerging revival movement known as new evangelism. His theology was strongly influenced by Luther’s understanding of law and gospel. He had a particular spiritual gift to minister the gospel to awakened and seeking persons so they might come to live an evangelical Christian life. He wanted to promote a revival movement within the Swedish Church and rejected all separatism and the idea of forming a free church, just as he was against lay people’s celebration of Holy Communion. He rejected the incipient Baptist Movement and broke with Evangelical Alliance. Some of his disciples chose to form free churches.

in 1844 Baptist Wriothesley Noel, minister of the Anglican proprietary chapel of St. John’s Bedford Row since 1827, published a book of verse, with a piece on ‘Schism’ containing the following stanzas: For man-made discipline let bigots fightCanons and rules old fathers have approved;By us may those whose faith and life are right,Be owned as brothers and as brothers loved.All true believers are the ransomed church,Children of God by Jesus owned and loved;And in the day when God the heart shall searchWill they who part them be schismatics proved.In the 1820s Noel had been an enthusiastic sympathiser with the pan-evangelicalism then prevalent in London and had remained loyal to these views during the period of stormier relations between Church and Dissent in the 1830s. In the slightly calmer waters of the 1840s Noel’s sentiments again came to represent the views of a small number of Anglican Evangelicals and a rather larger proportion of moderate Dissenters whose efforts to promote Christian unity were to culminate in the formation of the Evangelical Alliance in 1846.

Every entity seeks accomplish its set goals, mandate and the reason for which it is established. The concept of organizational performance refers to the degree of achievement of the organization’s objectives, which is critical to its success and sustainability. The manner in which an organization implements its strategic plan largely determines the resultant success in the achievement of its strategic objectives. The primary objective of this study was to determine the influence of strategy implementation practices on the performance of select evangelical churches within Nairobi County. The specific objectives of the study were to investigate how organizational structure influences performance; examine the influence of resource allocation on overall performance; to establish the extent to which top management commitment affects performance and; to assess the influence of organizational culture on the performance of select evangelical churches in Nairobi City County. The variables of strategy implementation studied were organizational structure, resource allocation, top management commitment and organizational culture. The study was anchored on Burke and Litwin causal model and the Seven-S Model. The study adopted a descriptive research design and focused on a variety of respondents drawn from select evangelical churches within Nairobi City County - Christ is the Answer Ministries, Nairobi Baptist Church, Nairobi Chapel, and Parklands Baptist Church. The study targeted a population of 400 comprising of pastors, employees, church leaders, volunteers and members. A sample of 20% was applied generating a sample size of 80. Relevant data was gathered using structured questionnaires with both open and closed-ended questions. Qualitative data analysis involved explanation of information obtained from the empirical literature and required the use of numeric measures to the scores of the various responses. This was done with the aid of SPSS. The output of the analysis was presented in tables and charts, and interpretations made based on the research objectives. Generalizations of the results were made. The study established that organizational structure, resource allocation, top management commitment and organizational culture have a significant influence on the performance of evangelical churches. The study recommended that churches should develop organizational structures supportive of strategy implementation. It further recommended that the resources available should be focused on priority activities for optimum performance. In addition, the management should have a supportive and committed attitude towards strategy implementation to promote organizational success. It further recommended that churches create and uphold a positive institutional culture that supports high performance and effective implementation of the strategy.

This article analyzes the ways multiple formative narratives interact to shape the identity and political practices of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia, home of Martin Luther King. We argue that the two key narratives of gospel story in scripture and the church’s particular civil rights legacy form the identity and practice of this community in complicated ways: sometimes they are synthesized, sometimes one narrative is temporally merged into the other, and sometimes they operate as competing narratives, generating a tension. We offer three anecdotes from our original research that illustrate the relationship between these narratives and demonstrate that Ebenezer is a community whose identity and political practices are formed by the overlap and interplay of multiple narratives.

Before the war there were private and "old field" public elementary schools, and also private, individual- and church-supported high-schools called academies, seminaries, or institutes. Some even used the word college. Geology and mineralogy were taught in some of the academies, depending upon the availability of teachers; most had the typical classical education of the day. There were four colleges: Franklin [the University of Georgia], Mercer [Baptist], Oglethorpe [Presbyterian], and Emory [Methodist]. All had geology in the curriculum, either as a distinct one-semester course [combining the present-day physical and historical geology] or as part of a course in natural history. None was a center of great scientific strength, although both Franklin and Oglethorpe had the services of Joseph LeConte for a short while. Brief biographies of John R. Cotting, James Jackson, Joseph Jones, William L. Jones, Joseph LeConte, Alexander Means, Josiah Meigs, George W. W. Stone, Joseph Willett, and James Woodward are included.

The twentieth century was a period of prolonged crisis of spirituality in the Soviet Union. The atheist state used all possible and impossible levers of various influences on religious associations and ordinary believers. Since the assertion of the Soviet authorities, an open war has been declared against any manifestation of religion. There were real battles: with their ideological fronts, offensives and retreats, the whole system of operations developed and the tactical plan in line with the party-approved strategy. The result of such disputes between the state and its believing citizens has been the church crises, schisms, and even the elimination of entire denominations. The most violent was the struggle against religious organizations disloyal to the Soviet authorities. It should be noted that even external loyalty did not save religious associations from the onslaught of anti-Sovietism

This article, based on 60 in-depth interviews with the descendants of survivors of political repression, aims at finding out how making sense of a collective traumatogenic experience differs in the case of Evangelical (Baptist and Pentecostal) communities compared with the rest of the cohort. The authors conclude that, in the case of people without religious affiliation, an intergenerational memory transmission mechanism is absent; descendants up to the fifth generation envision the suffering of their ancestors as accidental and meaningless for the present and future. As a result, most descendants refuse to participate in the process of trauma creation. Alternatively, in the final master narrative of the Pentecostals and Baptists, the persecution was an inevitable result of faith. Evangelical descendants construct cultural trauma around a providential event needed to ensure individual salvation and to prevent secularization of the church; for them suffering remains meaningful for the present and future. This allows for the transformation of the stigma that was spoiling their collective identity into a badge of honor, into stigmata, revealing that these believers follow the way of Christ.

Two of the primary images most scholars have of the religion of white southerners in the postbellum period seem inconsistent or even contradictory. One image portrays members of the mainstream Baptist, Methodist, and Presbyterian churches as becoming increasingly secure in their positions as leaders of southern society. The churches were losing, or had already lost, their sense as agencies for the plain folk to criticize the complacency, the hierarchical pretensions, and perceived decadence of the upper class. In doing so, they had taken on the characteristics John Lee Eighmy best described as Churches in Cultural Captivity. As on so many topics, C. Vann Woodward states this position most clearly.

The article reflects the main historical stages of the formation of Ukrainian Pentecostal theology over the past thirty years: from the “birth” of the first church schools to the defense dissertations of doctoral level. Author has presented connection between post-soviet Pentecostal dogmatic system with evangelical traditional of dispensationalism and literal hermeneutic method in study of the Bible. Obviously, that Pentecostal Churches were strongly influenced through the Baptist Bible Courses in Moscow, because many Pentecostal leaders completed them. The author demonstrated the role of Bible Seminaries founded in independent Ukraine by western missioners of leading church`s unions, like the Assembly of God and the Church of God. The article identifies two models of the Pentecostal education (“church” and “academic” approaches) that address to the different needs of church society. “Church” type of theological education tries to teach important topics connected with applied questions of church ministry. However, this approach has a weak side hidden in methodology of research. As a result, not all research papers completed by graduates of the church-oriented school are interesting for Ukrainian scientific society. For control of quality in Ukrainian theological schools, EAAA was founded. Another direction of the development of the Ukrainian pentecostal theological model thinking is the “academic model” of theological education, that today develops in cooperation with state institutions. Through the analysis of the topics of defended dissertations, the author identifies key trends in the development of the Ukrainian Pentecostal movement. Among key topics, there is introspective research of the own roots, reasons of spreading alternative church movement in USSR, and its place on the World religious map. Like prognostic conclusion of all the text, the author identified several topics that may be interesting for Western academic partners, like “theology of Maidan”, “Church peaceful strategies for East of Ukraine” and “Ecological theology in light of Chernobyl’s tragedy”.

When considering the relationship between the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Evangelical Church, can we both celebrate progress towards unity, while acknowledging where growth must still occur? Dr. George Hancock-Stefan, who fled the oppressive communist regime of Yugoslavia with the rest of his Baptist family, now frequently returns to Eastern Europe to explore topics of modern theology. During these travels, he has recognized a concerning trend: the religious unity and interfaith fellowship celebrated in Western academia does not reach the Eastern European local level. This is primarily due to the fact that Orthodoxy is a top to bottom institution, and nothing happens at the local level unless approved by the top. This lack of religious unity and cooperation at the local level is also due to the fact that the Eastern Orthodox Church claims a national Christian monopoly and the presence of Evangelicals is considered an invasion. In this article, Dr. Hancock-Stefan unpacks the history of the spiritual revivals that took place in various Eastern Orthodox Churches in the 19th–20th centuries, as well as the policies established by the national patriarchs after the fall of communism that are now jeopardizing the relationship between Orthodox and Evangelicals. By addressing this friction with candor and Christian love, this article pleads for the Orthodox Church to relinquish its monopoly and hopes that both Orthodox and Evangelicals will start considering each other to be brothers and sisters in Christ.

AbstractHistorians like Oscar Handlin and Timothy L. Smith asserted that international migration, especially that of Europeans to North America, was a process which reinforced traditional religious loyalties. In harmony with this supposed verity, a venerable postulate in the tradition of Scandinavian-American scholarship was that most Norwegian immigrants in the New World (the overwhelming majority of whom had been at least nominal members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Norway) clung to their birthright religious legacy and affiliated with Lutheran churches after crossing the Atlantic (although for many decades it has been acknowledged that by contrast, vast numbers of their Swedish-American and Danish-American counterparts did not join analogous ethnic Lutheran churches). In the present article, however, it is demonstrated that anticlericalism and alienation from organised religious life were widespread in nineteenth-century Norway, where nonconformist Christian denominations were also proliferating. Furthermore, in accordance with these historical trends, the majority of Norwegian immigrants in the United States of America and Southern Africa did not affiliate with Lutheran churches. Significant minorities joined Baptist, Methodist, and other non-Lutheran religious fellowships, but the majority did not become formally affiliated with either Norwegian or pan-Scandinavian churches.

When I was growing up in rural north Georgia in the 1950s and 60s, religious diversity meant there might be a Pentecostal church tucked in among the Baptist and Methodist churches. Today, congregations typically do not live in communities in which religious diversity is so narrowly experienced. Diversity no longer even signals that there are Protestant, Pentecostal, Catholic, and Jewish houses of worship present. The increase in the scope of diversity in almost every community means there are representatives of various non-Abrahamic religions present as well. Members of these different faith expressions live together in community, send their children to the same public schools, participate in local civic events, and serve one another as physicians, pharmacists, teachers, restauranteurs, hoteliers, and retailers. In short, people of diverse religions live, work, and worship in close proximity. How, then, do they form community in which the social fabric of the city, county, or state in which they live, and ultimately that of the nation, is strengthened by a commitment to the common good that secures for all the blessings of security, peace, and justice? In this multi-religious context, how are Christian congregations enhancing rather than hindering the building of community in diversity?

В статье исследуется государственная конфессиональная политика середины 1960-х годов, после отстранения Н. С. Хрущёва от власти. В качестве примеров используются материалы Рязанской области. Целью работы является попытка проанализировать процесс изменений в сфере государственно-церковных отношений, выявить характерные черты и особенности. Рассматриваемый исторический период был поворотным от эпохи гонений на религию к более или менее лояльному диалогу с религиозными организациями. Освещаются новеллы в сфере законодательства о культах и вероисповедной политике власти. Объектом особой заботы рязанского уполномоченного были незарегистрированные общины истинно православных христиан, старообрядцев, мусульман и особенно евангельских христиан-баптистов (ЕХБ). В отношении представителей ЕХБ было организовано уголовное преследование, им не разрешалась ни под каким предлогом аренда молитвенных помещений, что создавало тем самым непреодолимое препятствие для их государственной регистрации. Власть была озабочена также растущей доходностью Русской православной церкви. Особое внимание в статье уделяется эпизодам, связанным с сопротивлением верующих рецидивам проводимой государством антирелигиозной политики, с отстаиванием представителями разных религиозных деноминаций конституционного права на свободу вероисповедания. Изложенные в статье факты иллюстрируют наличие проблем в процессе нормализации взаимодействия органов государственной власти и религиозных организаций, что, в свою очередь, свидетельствует о неоднозначности и противоречивости поворота к новому формату работы. Стереотипы прошлых лет изживались достаточно трудно, поэтому процесс нормализации отношений государственных органов с верующими протекал медленно. Материал, изложенный в публикации, может быть полезен при изучении учебных курсов по истории России, истории Русской православной церкви, религиоведения. The article investigates Soviet confessional politics in the mid-1960s after N. S. Khrushchevʼs resignation. The authors illustrate their ideas using materials related to the Ryazan region. The aim of the article is to analyze changes in the sphere of church-state relations and to single out some characteristic features. The investigated historical period symbolized a transition from religious persecution to a milder attitude towards religious organizations. The article treats some novels issued by the Soviet law system and regarding cults and confession politics. Unregistered Christian, Muslim, Baptist and Old-Believer communities were the Ryazan Ombudsmanʼs primary concern. Evangelical Christian Baptists were legally persecuted and were strictly forbidden to rent church buildings and prayer rooms and therefore could not get registered. The authorities were troubled by the growing wealth of the Russian Orthodox Church. The article focuses on some episodes associated with Christian resistance to anti-religious campaigns launched by the Soviet authorities and with religious representativesʼ attempts to defend the right of believers to freedom of religion. The authors of the article provide facts that highlight strenuous relations between the Soviet authorities and religious organizations. Stereotypes of the past were difficult to discard and overcome and the normalization of church-state relations was a long process. The article can be used in Russian history courses, in Russian Orthodox Church history courses and in religious studies courses.

В статье дается обзор полемических моментов, присущих современной протестантской критике православной экклесиологии, и ответы на эту критику со стороны православных полемистов. Исследование экклесиологических вопросов церковной самоидентичности привели в недавнее время большую группу евангелистов из Северной Америки в Право- славие. Эта тема является перспективной с точки зрения ведения диалога с протестан- тизмом в будущем. Одновременно с протестантской стороны появились публикации с разнообразными аргументами против православного учения, включая учение о Церкви. Протестанты выдвигают против православных обвинения в этнической раздробленности, в завышенной важности епископа, в учении о необходимости Таинств, эксклюзив- ности Церкви, ее единоспасительности, неопределенности взгляда на инославных в православном богословии и другие обвинения «по ассоциации» с Римо-католической церковью. Именно с этим приходится иметь дело в современных публикациях и от этого защищаться. В статье рассматриваются антиправославные публикации в рефор- маторском журнале “Credenda Agenda” и их критика в статье «Нереформированная истина» на православном ресурсе. Также изучается исповедь известного евангелистского исследователя Православия Дэниела Кленденина. Рассматривается статья ректора баптистского румынского университета «Эммануил» Пола Негруца и ответ на нее Джоэла Калвесмаки. Приводится отчет комиссии Лос-Анджелесского библейскогоинститута о несовместимости православной веры с «исповеданием» университета. Также изучается баптистская методичка по обращению православных. Отмечаются тенденции православно-протестантской полемики. Разбор дискуссий в порядке их возникновения в печати и на академическом уровне иллюстрирует степень расхождения во взглядах на современном этапе. The article provides a review of polemical issues of contemporary Protestant critique of Eastern Orthodox ecclesiology and various responses from Orthodox polemists. Researches on the topic of ecclesial identity have recently led a large group of North American evangelicals to Eastern Orthodoxy. This is why this topic is quite promising especially in regard to future dialogues with Protestants. At the same time as the conversions reported by Fr. Peter Guillquist took place a number of publications of Protestant authors arose which questioned and criticized Eastern Orthodox essentials including teaching on the Church. Charges of guilt “by association” with Roman Catholicism, nationalism, bishop prerogatives, necessity of Sacraments, exclusiveness of the Church, unclear status of the non-Orthodox, these are some of important claims which one encounters in press and which require a rebuttal. The article on contemporary polemics includes a review of anti-Orthodox publications in a Reformed magazine “Credenda Agenda” and a response to them called “UnReformed Truth” from an Orthodox resource; an article of a famous evangelical researcher of Eastern Orthodoxy Daniel Clendenin “Why I am not Orthodox” and responses on it; “What Evangelicals should know about Eastern Orthodoxy” by Paul Negrut and responses on it; Biola University Task Force Report on compliance of Orthodoxy with the “Statement of Faith” of the University and comments on it; Baptist Manual “Witnessing people of Eastern Orthodox Background” and a response to it. The various tendencies of the polemics are described.

Models of relations between the state and religious organizations and the basic principles of their implementation are analyzed with the aim to determine which model of relations is being realized in the Republic of Latvia as well as to establish whether a model of relations, secured by a normative act, corresponds to the one implemented in practice. Within this work, the method of analysis has been used when considering the models of relations between the state and religious organizations, as well as the comparative method in the comparison of application of the basic principles of these models in the Republic of Latvia. The relations between the State and religious organizations are examined from the administratively legal and constitutionally legal aspect. The normative acts of the Republic of Latvia are discussed, as well as their mutual interaction and the collisions having sprung up between them. Laws and regulations of the Republic of Latvia are evaluated in connection with the norms of other European Union Member States, which regulate the relations between the state and religious organizations, and their experience. Evaluating the practice of other countries and the implemented models of relations between the state and religious organizations monographs and scientific papers by the scientists of the respective countries have been used. The content of international legal norms regulating freedom of religion have been analyzed as well as the requirements of the normative acts of the Republic of Latvia and their interaction. As grounds for conclusions, rulings by the court are chosen in cases where the application of legal norms is adjudicated concerning the realization of the right to the freedom of religion. Three fundamental principles are pointed out in the research basing on which the relations between the state and religious organizations are formed: association between the state and religious organizations, cooperation between the state and religious organizations and segregation between the state and religious organizations. Basing on the abovementioned principles, all models of relations between the state and religious organizations are formed. The model being implemented in a state can be determined by the regulation of the activity of religious organizations ensured with normative acts, by the range of rights of religious organizations, by peculiar features of preconditions, by the range of privileges, and by the burden of responsibilities imposed on religious organizations. To a large extent, the model of relations between the state and religious organizations depends on state traditions, historical development, distribution and impact of the definite religion within the state territory. The principle of unity between the state and religious organizations indicate the unity between them, institutions of religious organizations are identified as state institutions. Implementation of the abovementioned principle can manifest as an absolute unity between the state and church when state laws are based on definite religious norms and, in case of collisions, the principles of religious doctrine are applied. Or, within the abovementioned principle, two models of relations can be distinguished: a model of religious state and a model of state religion (church). The principle of cooperation between the state and religious organizations provides for separation of the state and religious organizations, they are functioning as autonomous subjects, religious organizations form their own structure and define their inner administration, the state on its part does not interfere in the inner affairs of religious organizations. Nevertheless, the state and religious organizations cooperate in order to achieve definite aims. Such a model of cooperation can be called the model of cooperation. In countries where the principle of separation of the state and religious organizations is in force and the model of segregation is functioning, the autonomy of religious organizations and the state are strictly separated. Each of these subjects is functioning in its own sphere, in parallel to one another. Religious organizations are not vested the rights to perform the functions of the state, and they do not receive financial support. Registration of a religious organization is the starting point where the activities of the state and of religious organizations come into contact. Registration of a religious organization is a basis for the model of relations between the state and religious organizations to be implemented in the given country. In the Republic of Latvia, the process of registration of religious organizations is regulated by the Law on Religious Organizations which provides for the order of registration of religious organizations as well as the legal status of the religious organizations to be registered; registration has a multi-stage structure. Initially, a congregation is registered as reregistrable, but later it acquires a regular status and after uniting the congregations can form a religious union (church). Religious unions (churches) have the right to establish dioceses and institutions. The next step in the mentioned chain includes religious organizations whose relations with the Republic of Latvia can be regulated by special laws. The State has established special relations with Evangelical Lutheran, Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Old Believer, Methodist, Baptist, Seventh-day Adventist and Moses faith (Judaist) denominations. These denominations have a peculiar status in the Republic of Latvia, the range of their rights differs from the rights of other congregations. Relations between the religious unions (churches) of these denominations and the State are regulated by special laws that define their rights and status. The Latvian Constitution (Satversme) contains a reference to the model of relations between the Republic of Latvia and religious organizations providing that the State is separated from the church. Evaluation of the features of a model of separation and its application to the relations between the Republic of Latvia and religious organizations allows to determine whether the implemented model is a model of separation or whether the relations between the State and religious organizations realized in practice belong to quite another model. The requirement for autonomy of religious organizations and the State can be regarded as satisfied, since the demand for non-interference by the State in the inner activities of religious organizations (except for the cases of violating laws) is included in the Law on Religious Organizations. Separation of religious organizations from the public rights sector presently is not being implemented. In state schools there are religious instruction lessons, religious organizations carry out religious activity in medical institutions and prisons, a service of chaplains has been established whose activity is funded from the state budget. Equality of the forms of activity of religious organizations is not guaranteed, since there exists a multi-stage registration system. A state function of performing marriage ceremonies is delegated to religious organizations. Thus, state functions are delegated to religious organizations. Besides the religious organizations are offered direct and indirect financial support which manifests in allotting tax relief as well as allocating direct grants from the state budget. The model having been established in the Republic of Latvia is a model of cooperation between the State and religious organizations. In the Constitution no state religion is provided but also no segregation of the State and religious organizations is realized. The State acknowledges the autonomy of religious organizations, however, the religious organizations receive financial support, definite functions are delegated to them, and religious organizations are operating in the public sector. Satversme lacks provisions that would truly provide that no state church exists in Latvia, but at the same time definite procedures and operations are being delegated to the church as stated by the law. The idea of amending the Satversme of the Republic of Latvia ought to be considered that would contain the provision about the model of cooperation between the State and religious organizations being realized in practice.

John Rangiah was the first Indian Baptist missionary who came to Natal (today called KwaZulu-Natal). He was born in India in 1866 and died in 1915. He established the first Telugu Baptist Church on the African continent in Kearsney, Natal. In the corpus of South African Baptist mission literature, the contribution of John Rangiah is given very little attention. Although he is referenced by Baptist historians for his work amongst Indian Baptists, the impact of the Bible and Bible themes as well as his theology in South Africa have not been examined. This article provides insight into Rangiah�s early life and faith, and critically examines his understanding of the Bible and its themes, such as the Bible, prayer, salvation and eschatological hope. These themes will be critically examined from a conservative evangelical perspective and thereafter attempts to examine these using elements of post-colonial hermeneutics will be undertaken.

This article enumerates the importance of a missional posture in our Baptist cultural moment and details various issues related to the author’s definition of the concept missio Dei. Moving to contextual practices among South African Baptists, the author deals with missional practices deployed in the Baptist context from a participant observer basis. Important principles for the effective implementation of those missional practices across the evangelical denominational divide can be drawn.Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: This article seeks to challenge the modern conception of church as attractional and presents an alternative model that aligns with the recent missional conversations by highlighting five missional practices for congregations to implement for the common good. The fields of theology, missiology and ecclesiology are impacted by this study as it uses the author’s contextual findings as participant observer.

In today’s ecclesiology, the notion of the Spirit and the church has been heavily influenced by a recent and broad retrieval of Trinitarian theology. In this article, I discuss this in relationship to baptist and evangelical traditions as it is represented by Stanley Grenz. His “theology for the community of God” demonstrates the fruitfulness of the Trinitarian retrieval for such traditions. However, the main argument in the article is that it also implies certain risks. According to the Baptist tradition, the central message of the New Testament is the invitation to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. As Kathryn Tanner and Karen Kilby have argued elsewhere, when the biblical challenge to be like Jesus Christ is turned into a more general exhortation to become an image of the Trinity, it often results in abstract ethics and an ecclesiology that focuses mainly on general exhortations to love and to live in community. In contrast, this article claims that the biblical notion of discipleship has greater possibilities to allow for a more substantial and more holistic account of the Church, one that reunites ecclesiology, ethics and the Spirit’s transformative work within liturgy, charismatic service and mission.

The use of the term authenticity in the social science literature can be rather eclectic at best and unscrupulous at worst. (Vanini, 74)We live in an age of authenticity, according to Charles Taylor, an era which prizes the finding of one’s life “against the demands of external conformity” (67–68). Taylor’s argument is that, correctly practiced, authenticity need not result in individualism or tribalism but rather a generation of people “made more self-responsible” (77).Philip Vanini has surveyed the turn toward authenticity in sociology. He has parsed the word authenticity, and argued that it has been used in three ways—factual, original, and sincere. A failure to attend to these distinctives, mixed with a “paucity of systematic empirical research” has resulted in abstract speculation (75). This article responds to Taylor’s analysis and Vanini’s challenge.My argument utilises Vanini’s theoretical frame—authenticity as factual, original, and sincere—to analyse empirical data gathered in the study of recent religious innovation occurring amongst a set of (“alternative worship”) Christian communities in the United Kingdom. I am drawing upon longitudinal research I have conducted, including participant observation in digital forums from 1997 to the present, along with semi-structured interviews conducted in the United Kingdom in 2001 and 2012.A study of “alternative worship” was deemed significant given such communities’s interaction with contemporary culture, including their use of dance music, multi-media, and social media (Baker, Taylor). Such approaches contrast with other contemporary religious approaches to culture, including a fundamentalist retreat from culture or the maintenance of a “high” culture, and thus inherited patterns of religious expression (Roberts).I argue that the discourse of “alternative worship” deploy authenticity-as-originality as essential to their identity creation. This notion of authenticity is used by these communities to locate themselves culturally (as authentically-original in contemporary cultures), and thus simultaneously to define themselves as marginal from mainstream religious expression.Intriguingly, a decade later, “alternative worship” was appropriated by the mainstream. A new organisation—Fresh Expressions—emerged from within the Church of England, and the Methodist Church in Britain that, as it developed, drew on “alternative worship” for legitimation. A focus on authenticity provides a lens by which to pay particular attention to the narratives offered by social organisations in the processes of innovation. How did the discourse deployed by Fresh Expressions in creating innovation engage “alternative worship” as an existing innovation? How did these “alternative worship” groups, who had found generative energy in their location as an alternative—authentically-original—expression, respond to this appropriation by mainstream religious life?A helpful conversation partner in teasing out the complexity of these moves within contemporary religious innovation is Sarah Thornton. She researched trends in dance clubs, and rave music in Britain, during a similar time period. Thornton highlighted the value of authenticity, which she argued was deployed in club cultures to create “subcultural capital” (98-105). She further explored how the discourses around authenticity were appropriated over time through the complex networks within which popular culture flows (Bennett; Collins; Featherstone; McRobbie; Willis).This article will demonstrate that a similar pattern—using authenticity-as-originality to create “subcultural capital”—was at work in “alternative worship.” Further, the notions of authenticity as factual, original, and sincere are helpful in parsing the complex networks that exist within the domains of religious cultures. This analysis will be two-fold, first as the mainstream appropriates, and second as the “alternative” responds.Thornton emerged “post-Birmingham.” She drew on the scholarship associated with the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies, glad of their turn toward popular culture. Nevertheless she considered her work to be distinct. Thornton posited the construction of “taste cultures” through distinctions created by those inside a particular set of signs and symbols. She argued for a networked view of society, one that recognised the complex roles of media and commerce in constructing distinctions and sought a more multi-dimensional frame by which to analyse the interplay between mainstream and marginal.In order to structure my investigation, I am suggesting three stages of development capture the priority, yet complexity, of authenticity in contemporary religious innovation: generation, appropriation, complexification.Generation of Authenticity-as-OriginalityThornton (26, italics original) writes:authenticity is arguably the most important value ascribed to popular music … Music is perceived as authentic when it rings true or feels real, when it has credibility and comes across as genuine. In an age of endless representations and global mediation, the experience of musical authenticity is perceived as a cure both for alienation … and dissimulation.Thornton is arguing that in this manifestation of youth culture, authenticity is valued. Further, authenticity is a perception, attached to phrases like “rings true” and “feels real.” Therefore, authenticity is hard to measure. Perhaps this move is deliberate, an attempt by those inside the “taste culture” to preserve their “subcultural capital,”—their particular sets of distinctions.Thornton’s use of authentic slides between authenticity-as-sincerity and authenticity-as-originality. For example, in the above quote, the language of “true” and “real” is a referencing of authenticity-as-sincerity. However, as Thornton analysed the appropriation of club culture by the mainstream, she is drawing, without stating it clearly, on both authenticity-as-sincerity and authenticity-as-originality.At around the time that Thornton was analysing club cultures, a number of Christian religious groups in the United Kingdom began to incorporate features of club culture into their worship services. Churches began to experiment with services beginning at club times (9.00 pm), the playing of dance music, and the use of “video-jockeying.” According to Roberts many of these worshipping communities “had close links to this movement in dance culture” (15).A discourse of authenticity was used to legitimise such innovation. Consider the description of one worship experience, located in Sheffield, England, known as Nine o’Clock Service (Fox 9-10, italics original).We enter a round, darkened room where there are forty-two television sets and twelve large video screens and projections around the walls—projections of dancing DNA, dancing planets and galaxies and atoms … this was a very friendly place for a generation raised on television and images … these people … are doing it themselves and in the center of the city and in the center of their society: at worship itself.This description makes a number of appeals to authenticity. The phrase “a generation raised on television and images” implies another generation not raised in digitally rich environments. A “subcultural” distinction has been created. The phrase “doing it themselves” suggests that this ‘digital generation’ creates something distinct, an authentic expression of their “taste culture.” The celebration of “doing it for themselves” resonates with Charles Taylor’s analysis of an age of authenticity in which self-discovery is connected with artistic creation (62).The Nine o’Clock Service gained nationwide attention, attracting attendances of over 600 young people. Rogerson described it as “a bold and imaginative attempt at contextual theology … people were attracted to it in the first instance for aesthetic and cultural reasons” (51). The priority on the aesthetic and the cultural, in contrast to the doctrinal, suggests a valuing of authenticity-as-originality.Reading Rogerson alongside Taylor teases out a further nuance in regard to the application of authenticity. Rogerson described the Nine o’Clock Service as offering “an alternative way of living in a materialist and acquisitive world” (50). This resonates with Charles Taylor’s argument that authenticity can be practiced in ways that make people “more self-responsible” (77). It suggests that the authenticity-as-originality expressed by the Nine o’Clock Service not only appealed culturally, but also offered an ethic of authenticity. We will return to this later in my argument.Inspired by the Nine o’Clock Service, other groups in the United Kingdom began to offer a similar experience. According to Adrian Riley (6):The Nine O’clock Service … was the first worshipping community to combine elements of club culture with passionate worship … It pioneered what is commonly known as “alternative worship” … Similar groups were established themselves albeit on a smaller scale.The very term “alternative worship” is significant. Sociologist of religion Abby Day argued that “boundary-marking [creates] an identity” (50). Applying Day, the term “alternative” is being used to create an identity in contrast to the existing, mainstream church. The “digitally rich” are indeed “doing it for themselves.” To be “alternative” is to be authentically-original: to be authentically-original means a participant cannot, by definition, be mainstream.Thornton argued that subcultures needed to define themselves against in order to maintain themselves as “hip” (119). This seems to describe the use of the term “alternative.” Ironically, the mainstream is needed, in order to define against, to create identity by being authentically-original (Kelly).Hence the following claim by an “alternative worship” organiser (Interview G, 2001):People were willing to play around and to say, well who knows what will happen if we run this video clip or commercial next to this sixteenth century religious painting and if we play, you know, Black Flag or some weird band underneath it … And what will it feel like? Well let’s try it and see.Note the link with music (Black Flag, an American hard core punk band formed in 1976), so central to Thornton’s understanding of authenticity in popular youth cultures. Note also the similarity between Thornton’s ascribing of value in words like “rings true” and “feels real,” with words like “feel like” and “try and see.” The word “weird” is also significant. It is deployed as a signifier of authenticity, a sign of “subcultural capital.” It positions them as “alternative,” defined in (musical) distinction from the mainstream.In sum, my argument is that authenticity-as-originality is present in “alternative worship”: in the name, in the ethos of “doing it themselves,” and in the deploying of “subcultural capital” in the legitimation of innovation. All of this has been clarified through conversation with Thornton’s empirical research regarding the value of authenticity in club culture. My analysis of “alternative worship” as a religious innovation is consistent with Taylor’s claim that we inhabit an age of authenticity, one that can be practiced by “people who are made more self-responsible” (77).Mainstream AppropriationIn 2004, the Church of England produced Mission Shaped Church (MSC), a report regarding its future. It included a chapter that described recent religious innovation in England, grouped under twelve headings (alternative worship and base ecclesial communities, café, cell, network and seeker church models, multiple and mid week congregations, new forms of traditional churches, school and community-based initiatives, traditional church plants, youth congregations). The first innovation listed is “alternative worship.”The incoming Archbishop, Rowan Williams, drew on MSC to launch a new organisation. Called Fresh Expressions, over five million pounds was provided by the Church of England to fund an organisation to support this religious innovation.Intriguingly, recognition of authenticity in these “alternative” innovations was evident in the institutional discourse being created. When I interviewed Williams, he spoke of his commitment as a Bishop (Interview 6, 2012):I decided to spend a certain amount of quality time with people on the edge. Consequently when I was asked initially what are my priorities [as Archbishop] I said, “Well, this is what I’ve been watching on the edge … I really want to see how that could impact on the Church of England as a whole.In other words, what was marginal, what had until then generated identity by being authentic in contrast to the mainstream, was now being appropriated by the mainstream “to impact on the Church of England as a whole.” MSC was aware of this complexity. “Alternative worship” was described as containing “a strong desire to be different and is most vocal in its repudiation of existing church” (45). Nevertheless, it was appropriated by the mainstream.My argument has been that “alternative worship” drew on a discourse of authenticity-as-originality. Yet when we turn to analyse mainstream appropriation, we find the definitions of authenticity begin to slide. Authenticity-as-originality is affirmed, while authenticity-as-sincerity is introduced. The MSC affirmed the “ways in which the Church of England has sought to engage with the diverse cultures and networks that are part of contemporary life” (80). It made explicit the connection between originality and authenticity. “Some pioneers and leaders have yearned for a more authentic way of living, being, doing church” (80). This can be read as an affirmation of authenticity-as-originality.Yet MSC also introduced authenticity-as-sincerity as a caution to authenticity-as-originality. “Fresh expressions should not be embraced simply because they are popular and new, but because they are a sign of the work of God and of the kingdom” (80). Thus Fresh Expressions introduced authenticity-as-sincerity (sign of the work of God) and placed it alongside authenticity-as-originality. In so doing, in the shift from “alternative worship” to Fresh Expressions, a space is both conflated (twelve expressions of church) and contested (two notions of authenticity). Conflated, because MSC places alternative worship as one innovation alongside eleven others. Contested because of the introduction of authenticity-as-sincerity alongside the affirming of authenticity-as-originality. What is intriguing is to return to Taylor’s argument for the possibility of an ethic of authenticity in which “people are made more self-responsible” (77). Perhaps the response in MSC arises from the concern described by Taylor, the risk in an age of authenticity of a society that is more individualised and tribal (55-6). To put it in distinctly ecclesiological terms, how can the church as one, holy, catholic and apostolic be carried forward if authenticity-as-originality is celebrated at, and by, the margins? Does innovation contribute to more atomised, self-absorbed and fragmented expressions of church?Yet Taylor is adamant that authenticity can be embraced without an inevitable slide in these directions. He argued that humans share a "horizon of significance" in common (52), in which one’s own "identity crucially depends on [one’s] dialogical relations with others" (48). We have already considered Rogerson’s claim that the Nine o’Clock Service offered “an alternative way of living in a materialist and acquisitive world” (50). It embraced a “strong political dimension, and a concern for justice at local and international level” (46). In other words, “alternative worship’s” authenticity-as-originality was surely already an expression of “the kingdom,” one in which “people [were] made more self-responsible” (77) in the sharing of (drawing on Taylor) a "horizon of significance" in the task of identity-formation-in-relationships (52).Yet the placing in MSC of authenticity-as-sincerity alongside authenticity-as-originality could easily have been read by those in “alternative worship” as a failure to recognise their existing practicing of the ethic of authenticity, their embodying of “the kingdom.”Consequent ComplexificationMy research into “alternative worship” is longitudinal. After the launch of Fresh Expressions, I included a new set of interview questions, which sought to clarify how these “alternative worship” communities were impacted upon by the appropriation of “alternative worship” by the mainstream. The responses can be grouped into three categories: minimal impact, a sense of affirmation and a contested complexity.With regard to minimal impact, some “alternative worship” communities perceived the arrival of Fresh Expressions had minimal impact on their shared expression of faith. The following quote was representative: “Has had no impact at all actually. Apart from to be slightly puzzled” (Interview 3, 2012).Others found the advent of Fresh Expressions provided a sense of affirmation. “Fresh expressions is … an enabling concept. It was very powerful” (Focus group 2, 2012). Respondents in this category felt that their innovations within alternative worship had contributed to, or been valued by, the innovation of Fresh Expressions. Interestingly, those whose comments could be grouped in this category had significant “subcultural capital” invested in this mainstream appropriation. Specifically, they now had a vocational role that in some way was connected to Fresh Expressions. In using the term “subcultural capital” I am again drawing on Thornton (98–105), who argued that in the complex networks through which culture flows, certain people, for example DJ’s, have more influence in the ascribing of authenticity. This suggests that “subcultural” capital is also present in religious innovation, with certain individuals finding ways to influence, from the “alternative worship” margin, the narratives of authenticity used in the complex interplay between alternative worship and Fresh Expressions.For others the arrival of Fresh Expressions had resulted in a contested complexity. The following quote was representative: “It’s a crap piece of establishment branding …but then we’re just snobs” (Focus group 3, 2012). This comment returns us to my initial framing of authenticity-as-originality. I would argue that “we’re just snobs” has a similar rhetorical effect as “Black Flag or some weird band.” It is an act of marginal self-location essential in the construction of innovation and identity.This argument is strengthened given the fact that the comment was coming from a community that itself had become perhaps the most recognizable “brand” among “alternative worship.” They have developed their own logo, website, and related online merchandising. This would suggest the concern is not the practice of marketing per se. Rather the concern is that it seems “crap” in relation to authenticity-as-originality, in a loss of aesthetic quality and a blurring of the values of innovation and identity as it related to bold, imaginative, aesthetic, and cultural attempts at contextual theology (Rogerson 51).Returning to Thornton, her research was also longitudinal in that she explored what happened when a song from a club, which had defined itself against the mainstream and as “hip,” suddenly experienced mainstream success (119). What is relevant to this investigation into religious innovation is her argument that in club culture, “selling out” is perceived to have happened only when the marginal community “loses its sense of possession, exclusive ownership and familiar belonging” (124–26).I would suggest that this is what is happening within “alternative worship” in response to the arrival of Fresh Expressions. Both “alternative worship” and Fresh Expressions are religious innovations. But Fresh Expressions defined itself in a way that conflated the space. It meant that the boundary marking so essential to “alternative worship” was lost. Some gained from this. Others struggled with a loss of imaginative and cultural creativity, a softening of authenticity-as-originality.More importantly, the discourse around Fresh Expressions also introduced authenticity-as-sincerity as a value that could be used to contest authenticity-as-originality. Whether intended or not, this also challenged the ethic of authenticity already created by these “alternative worship” communities. Their authenticity-as-originality was already a practicing of an ethic of authenticity. They were already sharing a "horizon of significance" with humanity, entering into “dialogical relations with others" that were a contemporary expression of the church as one, holy, catholic and apostolic (Taylor 52, 48). ConclusionIn this article I have analysed the discourse around authenticity as it is manifest within one strand of contemporary religious innovation. Drawing on Vanini, Taylor, and Thornton, I have explored the generative possibilities as media and culture are utilised in an “alternative worship” that is authentically-original. I have outlined the consequences when authenticity-as-originality is appropriated by the mainstream, specifically in the innovation known as Fresh Expressions and the complexity when authenticity-as-sincerity is introduced as a contested value.The value of authenticity has been found to exist in a complex relationship with the ethics of authenticity within one domain of contemporary religious innovation.ReferencesBaker, Jonny. “Alternative Worship and the Significance of Popular Culture.” Honours paper: U of London, 2000.Bennett, Andy. Popular Music and Youth Culture: Music, Identity, and Place. New York: Palgrave, 2000.Cronshaw, Darren, and Steve Taylor. “The Congregation in a Pluralist Society: Rereading Newbigin for Missional Churches Today.” Pacifica: Australasian Theological Studies 27.2 (2014): 1-24.Day, Abby. Believing in Belonging. Belief and Social Identity in the Modern World. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2011.Collins, Jim, ed. High-Pop. Making Culture into Popular Entertainment. Oxford: Blackwells, 2002.Cray, Graham. Mission-Shaped Church: Church Planting and Fresh Expressions of Church in a Changing Culture, London: Church House Publishing, 2004.Featherstone, Mike. Consumer Culture and Postmodernism. London: Sage, 1991.Fox, Matthew. Confessions: The Making of a Post-Denominational Priest. San Francisco: Harper San Francisco, 1996.Guest, Matthew, and Steve Taylor. “The Post-Evangelical Emerging Church: Innovations in New Zealand and the UK.” International Journal for the Study of the Christian Church 6.1 (2006): 49-64.Howard, Roland. The Rise and Fall of the Nine o’Clock Service. London: Continuum, 1996.Kelly, Gerard. Get a Grip on the Future without Losing Your Hold in the Past. Great Britain: Monarch, 1999.Kelly, Steven. “Book Review. Alt.Culture by Steven Daly and Nathaniel Wice.” 20 Aug. 2003. ‹http://www.richmondreview.co.uk/books/cult.html›.McRobbie, Angela. Postmodernism and Popular Culture. London: Routledge, 1994.Riley, Adrian. God in the House: UK Club Culture and Spirituality. 1999. 15 Oct. 2003 ‹http://www.btmc.org.auk/altworship/house/›.Roberts, Paul. Alternative Worship in the Church of England. Cambridge: Grove Books, 1999.Rogerson, J. W. “‘The Lord Is here’: The Nine o’Clock Service.” Why Liberal Churches Are Growing. Eds. Ian Markham and Martyn Percy. London: Bloomsbury T & T, 2006. 45-52.Taylor, Charles. The Ethics of Authenticity. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1992.Taylor, Steve. “Baptist Worship and Contemporary Culture: A New Zealand Case Study.” Interfaces: Baptists and Others. Eds. David Bebbington and Martin Sutherland. Carlisle: Paternoster, 2013. 292-307.Thornton, Sarah. Club Cultures. Music, Media and Subcultural Capital. Hanover: UP New England, 1996.Vanini, Philip. “Authenticity.” Encyclopedia of Consumer Culture. Ed. Dale Southerton. Los Angeles: Sage, 2011. 74-76.Willis, Paul E., et al. Common Culture. Symbolic Work at Play in the Everyday Cultures of the Young. Milton Keynes: Open UP, 1990.

The return of Jesus Christ, the end of the world, war, devastating earthquakes, invading space ships, asteroid strikes, the Y2K bug, what do they all have in common? Little if anything really, except that they have all been associated with the coming of the year 2000. To many in Australia the year 2000 may well be an end, if not the End. To some of those, however, it may also be the beginning of something else most significant. That expectation will now be examined. You will have a conducted tour through war and peace, demonic activity, and aeroplanes crashing and people flying. The subject is how a significant number of Australian Christians understand the end of the world ("The End Times"), most particularly the return of Jesus Christ. Those who hold this view we will call "EndTimers". That Jesus Christ will return has been the expectation of the church from its conception. The day of Pentecost is usually regarded as the birthday of the church, and a few days before that Jesus ascended into heaven and the astonished disciples who witnessed it were told by two angels that Jesus would return (Acts 1:9-11). An expectation of the literal return of Jesus Christ has been with the church ever since. It being commonly featured in its creeds both ancient and modern. However, some individual Christians do not hold to a literal, physical return, though they would be in the minority. But amongst those who do expect a literal return, there has not always been agreement about its nature. EndTimers are one group among many, but scattered throughout the Protestant churches. They predict that Jesus Christ will return very soon, indeed, he will return in "this generation". This phrase and many of the ideas commonly associated with it are to be found in the Gospel of Matthew chapter 24. In this chapter Jesus predicts some cataclysmic events, and towards the end of his address, in verse 34, says that they will happen in "this generation". The most natural understanding of this phrase in context is that those events would happen in the life time of his hearers. Indeed, events very much like those described by Jesus did happen in the Fall of Jerusalem about forty years later. Such are the similarities between the two, many Christians with a more liberal view of the Bible see Christ's words as a later construct of the church placed on his lips, and thus as prophecy after the event. For reasons that are more complex than logical EndTimers regard the phrase "this generation" as referring to the generation beginning at the founding of the modern state of Israel in 1948. From that, the events predicted by Jesus are regarded not specifically about a fall of Jerusalem, but about his return and the end of the world. Therefore those who hold this view believe that the End Times will begin within a generation of 1948. If these EndTimers, then, believe that Jesus Christ will return within a generation of 1948, the first question one has to ask is, "How long is a generation?" In the 1960s and 1970s, even into the 1980s, the common answer to that was "Forty years!". Consequently, a glut of books and videos appeared predicting that the End would begin in the 1980s, and they included such titles as: Will Christ Return by 1988: 101 Reasons Why; 88 Reasons Why Christ Will Return in 1988; and Decade of the 80's: A World in Spasm. But the most prominent and influential of them was Hal Lindsey's Late Great Planet Earth, published in 1970. That book is said to be the third largest selling Christian book of all time, with over 20 million copies in print (weep your heart out Bryce Courtney). Most books of this type have been published in America, but were frequently available in Australia. Though this system of belief seems to have had its origins in nineteenth century Britain, American fundamentalists have been its main advocates and developers. As so often happens with American ideas and practices, many Australians have enthusiastically adopted it. In Australia one of the leading teachers in the EndTimers' camp is Brisbane's Ray Yerbury, though New Zealander Barry Smith through lecture tours and books has probably had more influence here. The books of Hal Lindsey, Ray Yerbury, Barry Smith and a few other sources will now be used to detail the beliefs of these Australian EndTimers. Lindsey is included because though he is American, Late Great Planet Earth has been a major, perhaps the major, factor in many Australian Christians adopting these beliefs. The starting point must be the establishment of the modern state of Israel in 1948. To EndTimers this is fulfilment of biblical prophecy. Lindsey says that the "paramount prophetic sign" concerning the return of Jesus Christ is that "Israel had to be a nation again in the land of its forefathers". As has already been noted, within this scheme the return of Christ must happen within a generation of that occurrence. Lindsey writing in 1970 was bold enough to say a generation was "something like forty years" (Late, 43, 54), and is said to believe that Christ will definitely return before the year 2000. Yerbury, writing twenty years later, had to have other options, and he stated that a generation could be either 40, 70-80, 100 or 120 years (Vital, 11). Now 1988 is well in the past, many EndTimers seem to expect Christ's return in or around the year 2000. However, this belief is not usually held with great dogmatism or precision. Indeed, End Times expectations in Australia have been quieter in 1999 than many would have expected. There has been little banner-waving or overt demonstration. In addition the sale of books about the End Times through Australian Christian bookshops has also been slower this year than expected. EndTimers commonly believe that further "signs" of Jesus Christ's return include widespread wars, earthquakes and famines. This is based on a particular understanding of Matthew chapter 24. In addition, a decline in Christian moral values (2 Timothy 3:1-4) and a worldwide control of the money markets (Revelation 13:11-18) are also seen as signs that Christ's return is not far away. To what level wars, earthquakes and famines have to rise or moral values decline before they can be considered authentic signs is not usually discussed, but is clearly a difficulty. Another "sign" of the approaching End is the emergence of a demonic political leader, the Antichrist, also known as "the Beast" (Revelation 13:1-18). With the time scale involved it is necessary to believe that this man, and it always seems to be a man, is alive today, so Antichrist candidates have included the present Pope, the President of a rapidly emerging United States of Europe, Bill Gates, and Prince Charles. Australian leaders do not seem to be considered sufficiently important or frightening to feature as Anichrist candidates. The Bible gives the identification of this "Beast": the number 666. Barry Smith, with neat numerics (a = 6, b = 12, etc.), favoured Henry Kissinger for this role, his surname totalling 666 on Smith's method. Yerbury, with characteristic caution, says that we cannot know his identity at this stage. Another figure that must appear is the Antichrist's henchman, "the False Prophet", a religious leader (Smith, Warning, 22-56; Second Warning, 57-66; better, 170-173; Yerbury, Ultimate, 99-112; Vital, 53-4). Central to EndTimers' beliefs is the Great Tribulation, a time of terrible war and suffering. The duration of this cataclysm is variously described as being seven years (Lindsey, Late, 42, 137-8; Yerbury, Vital, 42-4) or three and a half years (Smith, Warning, 102-112). Where does the return of Jesus Christ fit into this? Commonly EndTimers believe that he will return twice, the first time will be immediately prior to the Great Tribulation, the second time will be seven years later. This first return is for a particular purpose: to remove all the "true" Christians from Earth and take them to heaven, in what is usually known as "the Rapture". This is sometimes referred to as "His coming for the saints". On this occasion he does not actually visit Earth; he only appears above it, and "the saints" will literally rise up to meet him in the sky (Matthew 24:37-41; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18). But for those remaining on Earth this will all be hidden, that is they will know that their Christian friends and neighbours have disappeared, but will have no idea where they have gone or what has happened (Lindsey, Late, 135-142; Smith, Warning, 150-157; Yerbury, Ultimate, 119-122; Vital, 33-6). This belief conjures up some extraordinary expectations. A Christian doctor operating on a patient will be whisked away, mid operation. Car drivers will disappear, causing their vehicles to crash. Airline pilots will suddenly vanish with terrible consequences. Indeed, it is rumoured that some American airlines do not allow Christians to be both pilot and co-pilot of the one aircraft. Christians must be teamed with non-Christians, in case the Christian is suddenly "raptured". Though this specific belief may not have as much significance in Australia as it does in America, there is no doubt that it is still held tenaciously by its Australian advocates. After the Great Tribulation Jesus Christ will return once more, this time actually to Earth. This return is sometimes referred to as Christ's coming "with the saints", for he will bring back the previously taken Christians with him. This will be followed by the fearsome battle of Armageddon, which Christ will win. He will then establish his reign over the whole world, ruling from Jerusalem, in peace, with equity. This reign will last for 1000 years, the millennium of chapter 20 of the book of Revelation. It is normal for EndTimers to perceive this as literally 1000 years, whereas many other Christians, often with very different understandings of End Times events, would see it as symbolic for a long period (Lindsey, Late, 169-178; Smith, Warning, 158-160; Yerbury, Ultimate, 137-149; Vital, 78-101). Following the Millennium there will be a Satan-led rebellion, but this will be short lived, possibly once more of a seven year duration (Lindsey, 178; Yerbury, Vital, 105-7). God, however, will then triumph over Satan, and wrap up the events of this world and this age, judge its inhabitants, and create a new Heaven and a new Earth, upon which the saved will live with Christ forever (Lindsey, 178; Yerbury, Ultimate, 150-154; Vital, 108-117). Who in Australia holds the views outlined above? They are held by most Australian Christian fundamentalists and some Christian evangelicals. Who are these fundamentalists and evangelicals and what else do they believe? Both groups hold to the core traditional Protestant beliefs (the deity of Jesus Christ, the Trinity, etc), and are to be found in most, if not all, Protestant denominations in Australia, from the Anglican Church to the more recently formed charismatic churches. Fundamentalists and evangelicals are not always clearly distinguishable from each other, for there is much overlapping in beliefs between them. But there are, however, some basic differences between the two. Fundamentalists have a very strong emphasis on a literal interpretation of the Bible, frequently interpreting in an unnatural way, often taking metaphors, symbols, and other figures literally. They are also frequently anti-intellectual. Evangelicals, on the other hand, would take a more rational approach to the Bible, giving due regard to the form of the specific writing, and are usually prepared to engage in intellectual debate. Both groups believe that Jesus Christ will literally return, though there is disagreement about the details between and within the two groups. How many evangelical and fundamentalist Christians are there in Australia? A survey published in 1994 was conducted amongst the attenders of numerous Protestant congregations, and discovered that 48% of those people believed that "the Bible is the Word of God which needs to be read in the context of the times". These, most of them at any rate, would be what have here been termed "evangelicals". Another 21% believed that "the Bible is the Word of God, to be taken literally word for word", and thus would be "fundamentalists" (Kaldor, 45-7). If the survey was anything like accurate, approaching 70% of those attending Australian Protestant churches are either evangelicals or fundamentalists. As it would also seem that there are over 1 million attenders at Protestant churches in Australia (Kaldor, 344), it is probable that there are more than seven hundred thousand evangelical and fundamentalist Christians in Australia. The specific beliefs outlined in this article are widespread amongst fundamentalist Christians, but also seem to be held by some evangelicals. These Christians can be found in probably all Protestant denominations, though are much more common in charismatic and Baptist churches than in, say, Anglican and Uniting churches. These beliefs are also found in some of the sects outside the mainstream Christian church. The number of EndTimers in Australia is almost certainly well in excess of one hundred thousand, and may be above two hundred thousand. How do these beliefs manifest themselves in current Australian life? First, one would expect EndTimers to be less concerned about certain issues of social concern than other Christians, and this often seems to be the case. For example, one does not often find them championing the protection of the environment. If Christ's Kingdom on Earth is not many years away, then why worry about such things now? They can be attended to when Christ returns. The important issue is to prepare people for that return. Another manifestation is the setting of dates for that return, which is probably more common than many realise. Those writers consulted for this study do not predict exact dates for these events. They rely on the more elastic concept of the "this generation" idea. But other people do predict precise dates and times. It is not uncommon to hear individuals, and it is usually individuals rather than movements, predicting that Christ will return on this date or another. They each have their own schemes of interpreting the numerics of such biblical books as Daniel and Revelation. One of the most famous of these predictions was in 1992 when posters began appearing in various Australian towns declaring: THE FINAL WARNING OF GOD JESUS is COMING IN 1am 29th OCT 1992 IN THE AIR (It's the Rapture) Remember the days of Noah and Lot Reject the 666 of computer bar code Repent your sins to God Ready the 7 years Great Tribulation This particular prediction originated in a movement in Korea, and, indeed, its leader in Australia was a Korean on temporary residence here. Several of the teachings discussed in this article are indicated in the poster, with the addition of a very precise prediction of Jesus Christ's return. When the day approached, the leader of the Australian wing of the movement was interviewed in newspapers and on TV, and he politely but boldly confirmed his conviction to the Australian public. The Current Affair interview with him the day after the prediction was proved false was especially touching. He apologised with great sincerity to those he had misled, and soon after returned to his homeland. Ironically, the organisation of which this man was part seems to have left open the possibility of future predictions. It is one of the astonishing facts of this type of endeavour throughout history, that those who predict the end of the world are not discouraged by failure. They just try again. Why? The answers may vary, but central is a strong belief in the certainty of biblical prophecy and the confidence that some have that they know best how to interpret it. It would seem that it would take more than failure to dent that confidence. References Kaldor, Peter (ed.) Winds of Change: The Experience of Church in a Changing Australia. Sydney: Anzea, 1994. Lindsey, Hal. The Late Great Planet Earth. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1970. Smith, Barry R. "... better than Nostradamus." Marlborough: Smith Family, 1996. ---. Second Warning. New Zealand: Smith Family, 1985. ---. Warning. New Zealand: Smith Family, 1980. Yerbury, Ray W. The Ultimate Event. Brisbane: Cross, 1988. ---. Vital Signs of Christ's Coming. Brisbane: Cross, 1990. Citation reference for this article MLA style: David Bennett. "That Year 2000: The End or a Beginning?." M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture 2.8 (1999). [your date of access] <http://www.uq.edu.au/mc/9912/end.php>. Chicago style: David Bennett, "That Year 2000: The End or a Beginning?," M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture 2, no. 8 (1999), <http://www.uq.edu.au/mc/9912/end.php> ([your date of access]). APA style: David Bennett. (1999) That year 2000: the end or a beginning?. M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture 2(8). <http://www.uq.edu.au/mc/9912/end.php> ([your date of access]).