Journal articles on the topic 'Zion Christian Church'

The Apostolic Faith Mission (AFM) of South Africa has experienced schisms from the year 1910 to 1958. The schisms were caused by sociological and theological factors. These are schisms by the Zionist churches (Zion Apostolic Church, Christian Catholic Apostolic Holy Spirit Church in Zion, Zion Apostolic Faith Mission); Latter Rain; Saint John Apostolic Faith Mission and Protestant Pentecostal Church. The sociological factors that led to the schisms by the Zionist churches and the Protestant Pentecostal Church are identified as racial segregation and involvement in politics respectively. The theological factors that caused these schisms by Latter Rain and Saint John Apostolic Faith Mission are manifestations of the Holy Spirit and divine healing respectively. After comparison of the factors, it is concluded that racial segregation is the main factor that caused schisms in the AFM.

AbstractIn May 1897 Faith Tabernacle Congregation was formally established in North Philadelphia, emerging from an independent mission that shortly thereafter became the Philadelphia branch of John Alexander Dowie’s Christian Catholic Church. Faith Tabernacle probably abstained from merging with Dowie’s organization because, unlike the Christian Catholic Church, it rigorously followed the faith principle for managing church finances. Like the Christian Catholic Church, Faith Tabernacle established many similar institutions, such as a church periodical (called Sword of the Spirit), a faith home, and a missions department. After Assistant Pastor Ambrose Clark became the second presiding elder in 1917, many of these institutions began flourishing in connection with a marked increase in membership, particularly in the American Mid-Atlantic as well as in Nigeria and Ghana. Unfortunately, a schism occurred in late 1925 that resulted in Clark’s leaving Faith Tabernacle to found the First Century Gospel Church. This event halted much of Faith Tabernacle’s growth both domestically and in West Africa. Subsequently, many of the former Faith Tabernacle followers in Nigeria and Ghana founded the oldest and largest Pentecostal churches in both countries.

Focusing on the ‘translatability’ of Christianity in Africa is now commonplace. This approach stresses that African Christian practice is thoroughly inculturated and relevant to local cultural concerns. However, in exclusively emphasizing Christianity's indigeneity, an opportunity is lost to understand how Africans entered into complex relationships with North Americans to shape a common field of religious practice. To better illuminate the transnational, open-faced nature of Christianity in Africa, this article discusses the history of a twentieth-century Christian faith healing movement called Zionism, a large black Protestant group in South Africa. Eschewing usual portrayals of Zionism as an indigenous Southern African movement, the article situates its origins in nineteenth-century industrializing, immigrant Chicago, and describes how Zionism was subsequently reimagined in a South African context of territorial dispossession and racial segregation. It moves away from isolated regional histories of Christianity to focus on how African Protestantism emerged as the product of lively transatlantic exchanges in the late modern period.

From his pulpit at Faithful Word Baptist Church (Independent Fundamental Baptist) in Tempe, AZ, fundamentalist preacher Steven L. Anderson launches screeds against Catholics, LGBTQ people, evolutionary scientists, politicians, and anyone else who doesn't share his political, social, or theological views. Anderson publishes clips of his sermons on YouTube, where he has amassed a notable following. Teaming up with Paul Wittenberger of Framing the World, a small-time film company, Anderson produced a film about the connections between Christianity, Judaism, and Israel, entitled Marching to Zion (2015), which was laced with antisemitic stereotypes. Anderson followed Marching to Zion with an almost 40-minute YouTube video espousing Holocaust denial, entitled “Did the Holocaust Really Happen?” In this article, I analyze Anderson's Holocaust denial video in light of his theology, prior films, and connections to other Christian conspiracists, most notably Texe Marrs, I particularly show how Anderson frames the “Holocaust myth,” as he calls it, in light of a deeper spiritual warfare that negatively impacts the spread of Christianity.

ABSTRACTSouth African Zionism, one of the most popular Christian movements in modern South Africa, has frequently been interpreted in narrowly indigenous terms, as a local, black appropriation of Christianity, heavily invested in orality and ritual performance. The correspondence of the twentieth-century Zionist minister Isaiah Moteka tells a different story. Moteka honed the craft of letter-writing in order to build and sustain his relationship with Zion, Illinois, the headquarters of the worldwide Zionist church. Through the exchange of letters across the Atlantic, Moteka affirmed his own and his congregants’ place within a multiracial Zion diaspora. And through their complex invocation of overlapping local and global affiliations, Moteka's writings proclaimed his standing both as a regional clergyman and as a cosmopolitan internationalist. In particular, these ambiguous missives became the platform for Moteka's engagement with apartheid-era state officials. Seeking to persuade state officials that his organization fell under ‘white’ supervision, Moteka's letters proclaimed his accreditation by Zion, Illinois, thereby casting himself as a deputy of the worldwide movement. But these documents’ citation of transatlantic loyalties also suggests Moteka's own conflicted loyalties. His letters asserted loyalty to the nation state while they simultaneously subordinated earthly power to the Kingdom of God.

The twenty-fourth of September 1905 started as a typical Sunday in Zion City, Illinois. Promptly at 2:00 P.M. John Alexander Dowie ascended the platform of Shiloh Tabernacle, robed in the brightly embroidered garments of an Old Testament High Priest. He was acknowledged by the seven thousand souls who sat before him as the Messenger of the Covenant, the third and final incarnation of the prophet Elijah, and the General Overseer and First Apostle of the Christian Catholic Apostolic Church in Zion. The 6,600 acres of farms, homes, factories, and businesses surrounding the tabernacle were exclusively his. And for all practical purposes, so were the people. One contemporary journalist judged that Dowie had come to possess the “most autocratic power it is possible to wield in this republic,” while another concluded that “no man… of our time has ever secured anything like the personal following he has.” Near the end of the five hour service the prophet changed into his white expiation robes and, as he had done on countless Sundays in the past, prepared to bless and distribute the Holy Sacraments. But this time, in the semi-darkness of the early evening, he seemed to stagger and slump to the floor. The people soon learned that Dowie had suffered a crippling stroke. They also soon knew that their effort to build a biblical Zion on the “sky-skirted prairie” north of Chicago was in shambles.

The place of beginning of the Christian community was called „the Upper Church of the Apostles” in Mount Zion. It became the seat of the Mother Church under the leadership of fourteen bishops of Jewish stock from the beginning until the reign of Constantine. The authority of the bishops was symbolized by the throne of St. James. The complete transformation of Jerusalem into a „Roman city” operated by Emperor Aelius Hadrian meant the end of the Jewish hierar­chy in the Mother Church and the emergence of a new leadership of Gentile ori­gin. Until the time of bishop Maximus the Holy Sepulcher became the center of the Gentile Church. In the IV century we can say the growing rivalry between Caesarea and Jerusalem and appearing of many members of the hierarchy and the monastic communities participated very energetically in the problems of the local Church. In the time of Cyril of Alexandria can be seen the support given to him by the Palestinian bishops. The alliance Jerusalem – Alexandria would last until the beginning of the council of Chalcedon. At that time Juvenal of Jerusalem was striving for the recognition of patriarchal status for the see of the Holy City, decided to go over to the opposite side, formed by Constantinople, Rome and the Antiochenes, thus abandoning the „monophysite party”. Thanks to this dramatic change, the Church of the Holy Land was able to associate itself officially with the dogmatic decision of Chalcedon and the Metropolitan of Jerusalem was elevated to the status of Patriarch.

In his inaugural lecture as Professor of World Christianity at the University of Edinburgh, Professor Stanley discusses three individuals connected to Edinburgh who have major symbolic or actual significance for the development of world Christianity over the last 150 years. Tiyo Soga (1829–71) studied in Edinburgh for the ministry of the United Presbyterian Church, and became the first black South African to be ordained into the Christian ministry. His Edinburgh theological training helped to form his keen sense of the dignity and divine destiny of the African race. Yun Chi'ho (1865–1945) was the sole Korean delegate at the World Missionary Conference held in Edinburgh in 1910. His political career illustrates the ambiguities of the connection that developed between Christianity and Korean nationalism under Japanese colonial rule. John Alexander Dowie (1847–1907) was a native of Edinburgh and a student of the University of Edinburgh who went on to found a utopian Christian community near Chicago – ‘Zion City’. This community and Dowie's teachings on the healing power of Christ were formative in the origins of Pentecostal varieties of Christianity in both southern and West Africa.

Biblical scholarship generally considers Is. 25:6-8 one of the most universal salvation oracles. Nevertheless, not only the old translations, but also Jewish exegetes of the Middle Ages understood it as an announcement of doom. A fresh look at the intertextuality of some of the key words, gives new credibility to this interpretation. In fact, a banquet may be occasion of judgment, oil can hint to extravagant ointment, new wine may intoxicate, the covering which is pulled away is sometimes a metaphor for military protection. After the exegesis, the hermeneutical problem of diverging interpretations is discussed. The two faces of the oracle are seen as the result of the different readings of Israel and the Church. For obvious reasons, Jewish readers identified with the people living on mount Zion, Christian readers with the nations climbing up to it. In order to bridge the abyss, it is necessary to recognize these contrasting receptions and to acknowledge the distinct, but intimately connected roles of Israel and the Gentiles.

Mbiti once asserted that Africans are notoriously religious. For Mbiti, Africans are incurably religious. It becomes necessary to look intently at the current South African socio-political and economic landscape in the context of religiosity. There are vivid indications that religiosity in South Africa has become a common ‘terrain ‘of use, abuse, and misuse in processes of both politicking and moralising. Interestingly, when any political leadership asserts power, there is also a discourse of ‘religiosity’ that develops. This propensity has unfortunately equated religion or being religious (in South Africa) to political democratic legitimization, consolidation and normalization. Outside South Africa is the narrative of Prophet TB Joshua. There are claims that a number of political leaders have been to the Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN), Lagos head-quarters, in Nigeria, arguably chasing their political validity. There are other relevant narratives and accounts in South Africa which include the frequent visits to Moriya, the headquarters of the Zion Christian Church (ZCC), in Limpopo and also the Isaiah Shembe meeting place at eKuphakameni. The question is whether religion or religiosities are appropriate instruments to give political credibility. The paper aims to question how religion and religiosity affect the current South African socio-political and economic landscape. Some anecdotes and narratives of how polarized this situation is will be presented and analysed.

AbstractThis article analyses the intersection between cosmopolitanism and racist ideologies in the faith healing practices of the Christian Catholic Apostolic Church in Zion. Originally from Illinois, USA, this organization was the period's most influential divine healing group. Black and white members, under the leadership of the charismatic John Alexander Dowie, eschewed medical assistance and proclaimed God's power to heal physical affliction. In affirming the deity's capacity to remake human bodies, church members also insisted that God could refashion biological race into a capacious spiritual ethnicity: a global human race they referred to as the “Adamic” race. Zionist universalist teachings were adopted by dispossessed and newly urbanized Boer ex-farmers in Johannesburg, Transvaal, before spreading to the soldiers of the British regiments recently arrived to fight the Boer states in the war of 1899–1902. Zionism equipped these estranged white “races” with a vocabulary to articulate political reconciliation and a precarious unity. But divine healing was most enthusiastically received among the Transvaal's rural Africans. Amidst the period's hardening segregation, Africans seized upon divine healing's innovative racial teachings, but both Boers and Africans found disappointment amid Zion's cosmopolitan promises. Boers were marginalized within the new racial regimes of the Edwardian empire in South Africa, and white South Africans had always been ambivalent about divine healing's incorporations of black Africans into a unitary race. This early history of Zionism in the Transvaal reveals the constriction of cosmopolitan aspirations amidst fast-narrowing horizons of race, nation, and empire in early twentieth-century South Africa.

The main perspective from which St. Augustine describes the Church, is the category of good and evil. It is included in the image of the heavenly Jerusalem understood as a community of saints in heaven, Zion as a symbol of the pilgrim Church and the metaphor of Babylon, which is the kingdom of evil and persecu­tor of the followers of Christ. The Church on earth exists between Jerusalem and Babylon, and for this reason there are both good and bad people. That confusion is an important feature of Augustine’s Church in its earthly dimension. Saints Christians are trying to improve the bad members of the Body of Christ, but they are also forced to tolerate the evil that they cannot change, and bad Christians can persecute the good ones. Augustine calls their mutual relationship the spiritual battle. The judgment of them, and their final separation belongs to God only, and it will be done during the Final Judgement.

Toen in Wallonië tijdens de lente van 1886 een heftig werkliedenoproer uitbrak, kon men spreken over een opstand in de echte zin van het woord: stakingen, wanorde, vernielingen, bloedige confrontaties met de ordetroepen. Het was een verzet op grote schaal dat het socialistisme als sociaal-politieke beweging een ‘gelaat’ bezorgde, ook in Vlaanderen, waar de katholieke kerk haar maatschappelijk dominantie kon hanteren om, na haar strijd tegen het liberalisme, voortaan eveneens een dam op te werpen tegen het athëistische socialisme. In die context gold de eenheid van de gelovigen als een dwingend imperatief. Sociale hervormingsgezindheid zin kon uitsluitend via antisocialistische organisaties zonder politieke doelstellingen. Wat in Wallonië was gebeurd trilde echter na, inbegrepen de kritische reflex die in bepaalde gelovige kringen was ontstaan en die bij het begin van de jaren 1890 zou leiden tot het ontstaan van de christendemocratie.Ook in Vlaanderen zou de christendemocratische gedachte stilaan ingang vinden, niet in de laatste plaats bij een generatie gelovigen die hun sociaal denken koppelden aan een uitgesproken Vlaamsgezindheid en een zeker antiklerikalisme. Zij ontwikkelden een radicale vorm van christendemocratie en kwamen gaandeweg in botsing met het kerkelijk imperatief van de onvoorwaardelijk politieke eenheid onder de gelovigen. Hun opstand leidde hen naar het pad van de dissidentie.________The Daensist movement: a socio-political revolt in Flanders, outside socialism When a violent riot of labourers broke out in Wallonia during the spring of 1886, it could be described as a true insurrection: strikes, chaos, destruction, bloody confrontations with the forces of law and order. This was large-scale resistance that provided socialism with a ‘face’ as a socio-political movement, including in Flanders. Here the Catholic Church could take advantage of its social dominance in order to also start combating atheist socialism after its fight against liberalism. In that context the unity of the faithful applied as an obligatory imperative. A commitment to social reform was only possible by means of antisocial organisations without political objectives. However, what had happened in Wallonia caused reverberations, including the critical reaction, which occurred in some circles of the faithful and which would lead to the creation of Christian Democracy at the beginning of the 1890’s. The Christian Democratic ideology would also gradually become more widespread in Flanders, particularly amongst a generation of faithful who linked their social thinking to an outspoken pro-Flemish persuasion and a kind of anticlericalism. They developed a radical type of Christian Democracy and gradually found that they had to confront the ecclesiastical imperative of the unconditional political unity among the faithful. Their revolt took them to the path of dissidence.

The article deals with the publication of the song for the Holy Mass with the incipit Pozdvihni se duše z prachu [Raise, Thou Soul, Thyself from the Dust] in the 19th century. The author of the text of this song is the Premonstratensian Eugen Karel Tupy, also known under the pseudonym Boleslav Jablonsky. This song for the Holy Mass is included in the current unified hymn book in the section of the Ordinary and common chants of the Mass as number 517. In the 19th century, the song was published in several types of printed media. Its earliest extant edition is a broadside from 1845, which was followed by similar editions from 1849 and 1850, 1854, 1855, 1859 and another two undated. In 1852, the author himself included it in the second edition of the prayer book Růže sionská [The Rose of Zion], although it is not part of the first edition from 1845. In the same year, the song was included in the hymn book Písně ke mši svaté pro školní mládež [Songs for the Holy Mass for School Children] and three years later in a hymn book from the same printing house Písně ke mši svaté, k úžitku osady Hostounské a Únětické [Songs for the Holy Mass to Be Used in the Settlements of Hostouň and Unětice] and in 1860 in the Zpěvník pro chrám, školu i dům [The Hymnal for Church, School and Home]. At that time, it also appeared in the contemporary Perla pravých křesťanů [A Pearl of True Christians], compiled by František Křenek and published in 1860, as well as in the prayer book Květinná malá zahrádka [A Small Flower Garden], published in the printing house of Alois Josef Landfras and his son in Jindřichův Hradec around 1860. The song was also included in Písně a modlitby pro studující katolickou mládež [Songs and Prayers for Young Catholic Students] by Blahorod Čap, who had the collection printed in Litomyšl in 1869. The penetration of the text of the song by a renowned poet and writer from broadsides to hymnals and prayer books provides interesting and rare evidence of the journey of an artificial song to the unified hymn book.

In dit artikel wordt de rol geanalyseerd van kardinaal Suenens in de ontknoping van de kwestie ‘Leuven-Vlaams’. Zijn mandement van 13 mei 1966, dat ook door de andere Belgische bisschoppen werd ondertekend, leidde een halve eeuw geleden tot de splitsing van de Leuvense universiteit.Suenens’ beslissing in 1966 om de Franstalige afdeling in Leuven te handhaven, lokte groot verzet uit in Vlaanderen. Het kwam tot een revolte tegen het kerkelijk gezag, enerzijds omdat de katholieke Vlaamse opinie de autoritaire ‘verordening’ van de bisschoppen als autoritair klerikalisme verwierp, anderzijds omdat een permanente Franstalige aanwezigheid in Leuven in Vlaanderen gezien werd als een bedreiging van het Vlaamse karakter van Brabant. Dat was voor de Vlaamse beweging en politici ook daarom onaanvaardbaar, omdat pas in 1963 de taalgrens was vastgelegd met als bedoeling homogene taalgebieden te creëren, eentalig Nederlands in Vlaanderen, ééntalig Frans in Wallonië, en tweetalig in Brussel.Toen in januari 1968 de UCL blijkens haar expansieplan in Leuven wilde blijven, leidde dat tot een tweede revolte, die het hele Vlaamse land beroerde. Een eerste gevolg ervan was dat het eenheidsfront van de kerkelijke hiërarchie verloren ging en de Vlaamse en Waalse bisschoppen respectievelijk het standpunt van de eigen taalgemeenschap bijtraden. De facto liet vanaf toen het episcopaat de beslissing over Leuven over aan de politiek. Een tweede gevolg was dat de politieke partijen – te beginnen met de christendemocratische – uiteenvielen naar taalgroep, wat leidde tot de val van de regering, tot parlementsverkiezingen, en een nieuwe regering die de splitsing en overheveling van de UCL naar Louvain-la-Neuve realiseerde.De historische betekenis van Suenens’ optreden lag ten eerste op het niveau van de Kerk zelf, want door lijnrecht in te gaan tegen de verwachtingen in Vlaanderen betreffende een ééntalig Leuven, en door de autoritaire toon van het bisschoppelijk mandement, vernietigde het kerkelijk gezag zijn eigen autoriteit. Ten tweede versterkte dit optreden het Vlaams-nationalisme en de communautaire tegenstellingen in het land, zodat daarna staatshervormingen in federaliserende zin onvermijdelijk werden. Ten derde verschoof de focus van de Leuvense studentenbeweging van Vlaamsgezind verzet tegen de bisschoppelijke verklaring, naar antiklerikalisme en anti-autoritarisme, en daarna naar een globale nieuwlinkse maatschappijkritiek. Ze bleef na 1968 een decenniumlang de Leuvense studentenbeweging oriënteren.Al deze gevolgen waren tegengesteld aan wat Suenens had bedoeld met het mandement. Hij gaf daarom later toe zich te hebben vergist. Vier elementen helpen die vergissing te verklaren: het besloten Franstalig milieu waarin hij leefde; de normatieve verwachting die aan zijn rol van primaat aartsbisschop van België kleefde; de gedachte dat de eenheid van de ‘grootste katholieke universiteiten ter wereld’ een voorwaarde was voor haar internationale rol; en ten slotte ook persoonlijke elementen, zoals zijn elitaire levensloop en aristocratische persoonlijkheid. Ze droegen alle bij tot het politieke falen van de kerkvorst.__________ “A Wide Field for the Student Movement Lies Open.” On the Origin and Character of the Flemish Front Movement This article analyses Cardinal Suenens’ role in the conclusion of the issue ‘Leuven Vlaams’ [Leuven Flemish]. His directive of May 13, 1966 – also supported by the other Belgian bishops – ultimately resulted in the separation of the university in Leuven half a century ago.Suenens’ decision in 1966 to maintain a Francophone branch at the university in Leuven had sparked great opposition in Flanders. This would culminate into a revolt against the clerical authorities because, on the one hand, the Catholic Flemish opinion designated the bishops’ rigid ‘ordinance’ as authoritarian clericalism, and because, on the other hand, a permanent Francophone presence in Leuven was considered a threat to the Flemish character of the province of Brabant. Consequently, the Flemish movement and politicians deemed this unacceptable, and were further emboldened by the fact that as recently as 1963 the linguistic border had been consolidated, which was intended to create linguistically homogenous regions: monolingual in Flanders and Wallonia, and bilingual in Brussels.When in January 1968 the UCL’s expansion plans conveyed its intentions to remain in Leuven, it sparked a second revolt that swept the entire Flemish land. A first consequence was the dissolution of the ecclesiastical hierarchy’s unity, as Flemish and Walloon bishops supported their own linguistic communities’ stance, ultimately leading to the episcopate relinquishing the decision over Leuven to politics. A second consequence was that political parties – starting with the Christian-democrats – disbanded and realigned along the linguistic fault line, which led to the fall of the government, parliamentary elections and a new government that implemented the separation and subsequence transfer of the UCL to Louvain-la-Neuve.The historical relevance of Suenens’ demea-nour is first of all related to the Catholic Church itself. The stark clash with Flemish expectations regarding a unilingual university at Leuven, and the authoritarian tone of the bishop’s directive had led to the abrogation of his pre-eminence by the clerical authorities. Secondly, his conduct strengthened Flemish nationalism and the country’s communitarian cleavage, thereby rendering the subsequent state reforms to federalism inevitable. Finally, Suenens’ stance transformed the student movement in Leuven, entailing a shift from Flemish opposition to the bishop’s decree towards anti-clericalism and anti-authoritarianism. This would subsequently contribute to the emergence of a general New Left critical orientation, which influenced the student movements for over a decade following 1968.All these effects were the exact reverse of the directive’s intentions. That is why Suenens later admitted that he had made a mistake. Four elements help to explain that error: the closed Francophone milieu in which he lived; the normative expectations that were associated with his role as Belgian’s archbishop; the presumption that the unity of ‘the biggest Catholic university in the world’ was a prerequisite for its international stature; and finally his personality, including his elite upbringing and aristocratic personality. These all contributed to the prelate’s political downfall.

In the South African population censuses of the past the thousands of African Independent Churches were all classified and tabled together in one category. Since 1980 only one, the Zion Christian Church, has been identified separately. Previous statistics did not make it possible to know which of these churches were the larger ones, where they were based and which groups were growing as these statistics were very general. This article gives the reasoning behind the proposal made to the Central Statistical Services to enumerate some of these churches separately, and to classify the more or less 4 500 churches into a number of categories on the basis of their stated names.

This article revisits the role healing has played in the growth of the Zion Christian Church (ZCC) as one of the fastest growing African Independent Churches (AICs) in South Africa. The article argues that the ZCC is appealing to black Africans because it addresses healing within the cultural context of an African. Healing within the cultural context speaks to the fundamental needs of an African. The fundamental needs of an African see healing as addressing more than just a body ailment, but the totality of a person. The paper revisits the history of healing in the ZCC, and in so doing, will be a revisit to this church’s history. In revisiting this history, the discrimination that this church faced from the political authorities and from the white mission churches will also be referred to.

The role of singing in the formation and building up of the community of faith. Faith is communicated through participation in various actions and rituals in a dynamic process of socialising into the Christian community. Worship is the prime locus for growing into the community of faith. The singing of hymns in worship is important for people to participate in the faith, to socialise into the Christian community and to strengthen the identity of the faith community. Flowing from worship and back, singing and making music, as gifts of the Holy Spirit, are relevant in all activities of the church: to celebrate, to proclaim the gospel, to teach the faith, to comfort and support people pastorally, to open up the opportunity for participation, to give space for communication, to reach out, to bring people together, to form community and foster koinonia – and in doing so, to contribute in building up the community of faith. The community of faith is sung into being. Making music and singing together therefore need to be a part of the encompassing program of a congregation and a church. Ministers need a thorough liturgical-hymnological training as a sound theological base for working with others in actively building up the community of faith through music.

In de turbulente jaren van het midden van de 19e eeuw opponeerde de prediker Hermann Friedrich Kohlbrügge (1803−1875) tegen het optimistische vooruitgangsgeloof van zijn tijd, met zijn reformatorische verkondiging waarin Jezus Christus in het midden van de verkondiging werd gezet. In zijn preken schilderde hij niet met waterverf; een natte spons erover en alles was weg, maar zijn woorden haakten in harten en gewetens van zijn toehoorders. Juist op het ‘doen’ in het geloof legde hij accenten, waar tot op deze dag nog over gesproken wordt. Hoe zit het? Een christen doet goede werken en is volkomen in Christus en dan toch: ‘Wir tun nichts Gutes, wobei wir nicht sündigen’ (Kohlbrügge 1903:33). De concrete, praktische zaken van het leven worden bij hem niet geplaatst in de ervaringswereld van de toehoorders, kortom, dichter bij hun leven, maar toehoorders en hun werkelijkheid worden gezien in het licht van de opgestane Christus. Hoe voorkomen wij dat ons kader wordt scheefgetrokken waarin het menselijke en het geestelijke gescheiden wordt? Heiliging vraagt om een geïntergreerd leven.‘Wir tun nichts Gutes, wobei wir nicht sündigen’: The sanctification in the ministry within the Reformed church in the 19th century Wuppertal. In the turbulent years of the mid–19th century the preacher Hermann Friedrich Kohlbrügge (1803–1875) stood up against the prevailing opinion of an optimistic feel good religion with a biblical preaching in which Jesus Christ is glorified. When he preached, he did not portray with a pencil, which can be erased easily. His words were engraved in the hearts and conscience of the people listening to him. His way of highlighting the ‘deeds’ in Christian belief, are issues people still discuss today. This is how he sees it: a Christian does good deeds and is completely sanctified in Christ, yet ‘Wir tun nichts Gutes, wobei wir nicht sündigen’ (Kohlbrügge 1903:33). The practical and modern day issues of life are not placed in the experienced way people were used too, but the reality is being shown in the light of the Risen Lord. How do we prevent our framework from being pulled into the wrong direction? A direction in which the human and spiritual is separated. Sanctification means an integrated life.