Both Reformed (or Calvinistic) theology and church practice are finding growing appeal among Christians in China, reports Paul Peng in China Source (June 26), an online evangelical Chinese newsletter. Peng writes that Reformed thought has becoming increasingly influential among Chinese Christians, largely due to the translation of Reformed literature into Chinese and the evangelistic and […]
Megachurches’ future may be brightest outside US
Megachurches abroad now have the higher average attendance in the world, even though the vast majority of megachurches are still in the United States, reports the Washington Post (July 24). While there are 230 to 500 such churches elsewhere in the world, the Hartford Institute estimates that there are about three times more megachurches in […]
Findings & Footnotes: August 2015
01: The current issue of the online journal Science, Religion & Culture (June) is devoted to atheism as both a philosophy and worldview and in its various organizational expressions. The introduction goes over the familiar territory of defining atheism, non-religion and religion, looking specifically how secularism and faith is related to human betterment. An article […]
On/File: August 2015
A cell-based approach to parish life, borrowed from Korean Pentecostal churches, is spreading in world Catholicism. The Parish Evangelization Cell System, known as “Pecs,” was first adopted by St. Eustorgio’s parish in Milan, Italy, turning it from a moribund inner-city church with fewer than 100 Mass attenders to a community of 1,000 people involved in […]
The ‘nones’ embracing ‘Good Samaritan ethic’?
The growing attention to non-affiliated often assumes they are biblically illiterate, but many are actually engaged with the Jewish and Christian scriptures, even if in a non-traditional and individualistic way, writes Elizabth Drescher in the Jesuit magazine America (June 8-15). In her research and soon-to-be published book on the non-affiliated, or the “nones,” including both […]
Mennonites’ expansion not dulling historic peace witness
The global expansion of Mennonite and other Anabaptist churches in recent decades has not come at the expense of their emphasis on peacemaking and conflict resolution; in fact, such values are important in spawning “neo-Anabaptist” networks existing outside of official Mennonite bodies, writes John D. Roth in the current issue of Mennonite Quarterly Review (April). […]
Current Research: July 2015
01: The idea that personal contact with gays and lesbians will reduce opposition to homosexuality may be valid for many Americans considering the rapid changes in public attitudes regarding gay marriage, but it does not seem to apply to evangelical Christians, according to a study in the Review of Religious Research (June). What is called […]
Brazil’s children evangelists draw following and criticism
The growth of children preachers in Latin American evangelical churches is filling a special niche, creating a new kind of charisma based on innocence, reports the New York Times Magazine (July 14). The Assemblies of God has been the main denomination nurturing an estimated thousands child preachers in Brazil, though the phenomena is controversial, “earning […]
Brittany’s church art a conduit for new spirituality
The preservation of Catholic art and architecture in Brittany is generating its own kind of spirituality alongside and, in some cases, as a substitute for regular practice of the Catholic faith, writes Ellen Badone in the current issue of the journal Material Religion (March). Up until the 1980s, Brittany was among the most devout regions […]
India investing in secularized Yoga
Like in the West, yoga is becoming increasingly secularized but less for reasons of personal health and wellness than to promote national greatness and unity, according to the New York Times (June 20). The newspaper reports that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has inaugurated an International Day of Yoga in late June to be celebrated […]
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