01: Several articles in the current issue of the Mennonite Quarterly Review (January) are devoted to the complex and shifting interplay of technology and tradition in the Amish and other strict Anabaptist groups. Contrary to popular perceptions, the use of technology is not totally and uniformly forbidden to any of these groups; rather, it is a […]
Growth of social media creates religious conflict and dialogue in Africa
The growing access to social media in Africa can as easily promote religious conflict and violence as interfaith understanding and public education about religious difference, says religion scholar Rosalind Hackett in an interview in the journal Social Compass (March). Hackett says that the impact of media deregulation in much of Africa is just beginning to […]
Mormon strategy brings church influence, if slow yet steady growth in China
The Mormons have adopted a strategy that is quite different than other churches in China, as Latter Day Saints leaders have negotiated a presence in the country under a tight system of restraints, according to an article in the current issue of the journal China Perspectives (No. 1, 2014). Author Pierre Vendassi notes that where […]
Muslim converts to Christianity chart their own evangelical path
While counting and identifying Muslim converts to Christianity is difficult because such conversions are usually penalized in many Islamic societies, recent research suggests this group of Christians might be distinct both from the traditional churches of their own lands and from Western missionaries and their method of “contextualization,” or making Christianity relevant to a particular […]
Current Research: April 2014
01: Religious belief and involvement remain high for American Indians—whether in aboriginal traditions or Christian churches, and for both men and women, according to one of the largest surveys of religion among this native population. The study, published in the current issue of the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion (Vol. 53, No. 1), […]
New influx of women into church missions pointing to gender changes in Mormonism?
Women are playing an increasingly prominent role in Mormonism, especially with the burgeoning of women missionaries in the church after it lowered the age of admission to the mission field. The New York Times (March 2) reports that the “biggest gender change in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in memory” revolves […]
American Muslims creating `third spaces’ between mosque and society
The growth of Islamic community centers, Muslim sports teams and youth groups and religious discussion groups, are finding a following among younger Muslims who might find mosques confining and the wider society inhospitable to Islam, reports The Christian Science Monitor Weekly (Feb. 17). Many less-than-40 Muslims regard mosques “as little more than sites for weddings […]
Islamic extremism reviving through franchising, regrouping
Despite significant gains in dismantling the leadership of extremist Islamic terrorist groups, religiously based terrorism is on the upswing and more diversified than ever, according to two reports. Foreign Policy magazine (March/April) traces the genealogy of the name al-Qaida from its inception in 1988 (used by Osama bin Laden as a term for his training […]
On/File: March 2014
Alpha Lambda Mu at the University of San Diego is the first Muslim fraternity in the U.S. The fraternity was founded by Muslim students to offer fellow believers a way to express both their American and Islamic identities. While the fraternity is similar to its secular counterparts in that it offers members a menu of […]
Findings & Footnotes: March 2014
01: The Atlas of Pentecostalism is a new online database that seeks to map the rapid growth of global Pentecostalism as a diverse and networked religion. The database uses new and old methods, including global crowdsourcing, big data, cinematography, interviews and academic collaborations to provide an independent perspective on Pentecostalism as it changes. The database expands […]
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