January—February, 2013 (Vol. 28, No. 3-4)

Academic interest in and journalistic curiosity about the development of evangelical churches in Europe continues, as evidenced in recent publications.

The Swiss weekly L’Hebdo (January 10) devoted its cover to the growth of evangelicals, summarizing the results of a newly published research book by Jörg Stolz and a team of scholars at the University of Lausanne (Le Phénomène Evangélique, Labor et Fides). In Switzerland, evangelical believers of all types represent nearly 3 percent of the population (in addition to a portion of the faithful with evangelical leanings in the established Reformed Church).

While this seems to be modest at first sight, evangelicals as a whole are not declining (in contrast to mainstream churches) and are committed. In absolute numbers, there are more evangelicals than Reformed worshipping every week, although the latter still make up 28 percent of Swiss residents. Eighty-seven percent of evangelicals in Switzerland attend church at least once a week.According to the researchers, a main advantage of evangelicals is their competitiveness: not only do they know how to market their message, but they also have varied offerings for modern people, relying on social networks.

A strong sense of belonging characterizes more than 96 percent of evangelicals, and community feelings are strong, with few evangelicals marrying people outside of the fold. A much stronger emphasis on values (e.g. moral values) also contributes to a sense of collective identity. While a number of Reformed believers who move to another place let their affiliation lapse, evangelicals usually will reaffiliate with another local congregation. The researchers distinguish among three types of evangelical groups: conservative (10.7 percent), charismatic (32.5 percent) and classical (56.8 percent).

About a third of converts come from nonevangelical backgrounds, and this is even more the case with charismatic congregations: half of their members were not raised in evangelical families. Evangelicals of the charismatic type are reported to be especially innovative, refashioning constantly what they offer. Influences of the charismatic style and beliefs can be found in evangelical churches of other types as well.

While researchers writing on Buddhism in the West often—and correctly—distinguish between “ethnics” and “converts” as two different types of practitioners in Buddhist organizations in the West, there are also tensions “between those who value the traditional authority located within the lineage and those who value the rational authority located within the wider western culture,” writes John Stephen McKenzie in the current issue of Fieldwork in Religion (Vol. 7.1).

McKenzie researched the Rokpa International in Scotland, where ethnic Tibetans are few (mostly monastics), and identified five categories of Buddhists: “lineage-trained Tibetans” are ethnic Buddhist who lead the organization and are primary power holders; they derive high status from their position in the lineage and attempt to preserve tradition, while being willing to adjust to an extent varying among themselves. There are also, however, “lineage-trained Westerners,” some of whom have been ordained, enjoying a legitimacy derived from their degree of training, and association with famous teachers, knowledge of the tradition, but also status in secular society (e.g. holders of a PhD). Over time, recruitment procedures of those ordained have become stricter.

Some active converts are lay Buddhists, described by McKenzie as “Westerners in lineage-adapted training,” who come to rely strongly on a teacher more than on literature through their practice, and also strongly identify with the tradition and the organization; they may play an important role as volunteers and occupy minor influential positions. Then there are “Westerners adapting lineage training,” who mix their interest for Tibetan Buddhism with elements of other religions or alternative beliefs, from Christianity to New Age; they may be regulars, but remain eager to select and retain their independence in relation to the role of teachers.

With their greater commitment to Western cultural values, they can access neither higher teachings nor power positions, but their financial contribution to the organization may be important in some cases. Finally, there are “non-lineage trained spectators,” who visit centers without having an interest in becoming involved, but also provide a source of income to the organization, and in some cases may commit themselves at a later stage. McKenzie’s typology points to the utility of the sociological concepts of authority, power, and status for understanding the practice and development of Buddhism in the West.

It also helps to understand the role played by different types of participants and their interdependency.

(Fieldwork in Religion, Equinox Publishing, Unit S3, Kelham House, 3 Lancaster Street, Sheffield, South Yorkshire S3 8AF, UK, http://www.equinoxpub.com/FIR)

Available first in German, the long-awaited new catechism of the New Apostolic Church (NAC) was officially released on Dec. 4, 2012 and signals important developments in this largely European denomination, reports German Protestant theologian Kai Funkschmidt in the journal Materialdienst der EZW (January).

Although the church maintains its belief in the special mission of its “apostles” for humanity, the new catechism attempts to formulate an ecumenical, open approach at a time of membership decline in Europe, where a number of church buildings have been sold. The catechism replaces a previous book that was published in 1992 and had only undergone minor changes since then. Summarizing the doctrine of the NAC, the new catechism is eight times longer than its predecessor.

Parts had been made public in 2010 and 2011, leading to lively debates within the church, something that was itself a novelty in a hierarchical organization such as the NAC.From the perspective of outside observers, the ecumenical opening represents the most significant development in the doctrines of the NAC and has also been emphasized at the release event. While the NAC had earlier presented itself as the true church of Christ, it is now spoken about as if it were one church among other denominations, although it still believe in the specific mission of its “apostles” for all Christians and the need of its ministry to deliver sacraments—with the exception of baptism: everybody who has been baptized in the name of the Trinity is considered as a Christian.

The fact that the current doctrines of the NAC are now clearly explained will also help it to progress in dialogue efforts with other Christian denominations initiated in recent years.Funkschmidt remarks that one should also pay attention to what is not mentioned or no longer taught in the new catechism. For instance, there is no mention of the ordination of women—which means the issue is still open, and “apostles” themselves concede that such a future development cannot be ruled out. Another important topic is that the Chief Apostle is no longer introduced as “the Representative of the Lord on Earth,” who can receive “new revelations;” the catechism now states that the Holy Spirit can provide “new insights” to the Apostolate on topics that are dealt in the Scriptures while not being fully unveiled.

Funkschmidt writes that the new catechism reflects the current stage in the ongoing ecumenical development of the NAC. Whatever the next steps will be and however fast it evolves, one could add that the NAC thus shares similar developments in other denominations in recent decades. It remains to be seen if such a process will manage to avoid divisions within the church, as often occurs in denominations going through significant transformations.

(Materialdienst der EZW, Evangelische Zentralstelle für Weltanschauungsfragen, Auguststrasse 80, 10117 Berlin, Germany, http://www.ezwberlin.de)

Communications technology, including mobile phones and the Internet, are gradually making themselves felt on Mount Athos, the spiritual and monastic center of Eastern Orthodoxy, although it does not seem to be affecting monastic life.

The monks living in the 20 monasteries and 12 other church communities (known as brotherhoods or “sketes”) on the “holy mount” are “confronted with the evergrowing and dominating power of technology on a scale never experienced before,” writes Lukasz Fajfer in the journal Social Compass (September–December). The pace of the introduction of technology—from electricity to cell phone usage—is uneven in the various monasteries and does not necessarily correspond with which community is the most “modern” or ascetic: some of the more traditionalist monasteries have adopted electricity for practical reasons (refusing outside assistance, they may depend on their own hydroelectric plants).

Fajfer notes that there are no specific guidelines on the use of technology, although a large group of monks on Mount Athos see a contradiction between the spiritual life and reliance on technological conveniences.Just as many monks viewed the building of roads to the monasteries as making the world too accessible, they are leery of being overly connected to the outside through communications media. But cell and landline phones are now widely used, if only to coordinate work and workers within and between the various communities. Today at least 14 monasteries and most sketes also use computers, although there is an attempt to limit them for office use.

Yet a few monasteries use the computer to connect with and give advice to people outside of Mount Athos or engage in legal matters for self-preservation, including such social media as Facebook. Fajfer concludes that the use of technology on Mount Athos does not bear out the stereotype that the more traditionalist a monastery is the less it will use these means. The monasteries’ practical approach to technology reflects the Orthodox relation to modernity, attempting to protect the core of its spirituality and disciplines without rejecting modernity entirely.

(Social Compass, http://www.sagepub.com/journals/Journal200920)

While the Catholic Church has experienced growing disaffiliation and disaffection in much of Europe, Catholicism shows a measure of growth and vitality in the largely secularized societies of Scandinavia, reports Britain’s The Tablet (January 19).

Fredrik Heiding reports that while the numbers of seminarians and new vocations to the priesthood are modest—producing 31 seminarians out of 282,000 Catholics—they stand out from the declining seminary enrollment and vocations in the rest of Europe. Several of these candidates to the priesthood are converts: the greater public role of religion in Scandinavian countries encourages the search for a spiritual and ecclesial home, according to Heiding.

The fact that the church is less intertwined with national sentiments and structures and is freer to manifest its views, regardless of public opinion, makes it an attractive alternative to the Lutheran Church of Sweden (which, even though now independent of the state, still reflects its positions).

The church has also taken a number of initiatives that have developed the community and encouraged vocations. These include a strong network of young Catholics in Norway and Franciscans building an attractive youth network in the Gothenburg region of Sweden. There is also the recent establishment of the first Catholic university in Sweden since the Reformation; the university also includes a new seminary, which means that priestly formation no longer has to take place in Rome.

Heiding adds that it is the non-established and intimate nature of the church in this region that is behind much of this vitality. “Because the Catholic community is small, a type of family network has emerged. The Catholic Church as an organization is—perhaps surprisingly—rather horizontal, which reflects Scandinavian management culture at large …. The bishops often know the faithful by name, and although titles are used, conversation quickly moves into the more familiar second-person pronoun.”

(The Tablet, Clifton Walk, London W6 0GY UK)

The Catholic Church in France “has returned vigorously to the public scene” after decades of invisibility, according to an article in the magazine Inside the Vatican (January).

Opposition to a law on same-sex marriage and gay adoption is being led by the archbishop of Paris, Cardinal Andre Vingt-Trois, who started a controversy when he publicly issued a prayer praising the importance of both mothers and fathers in raising children. The uproar was fanned by the newspaper Le Monde when it defended the prelate. When gay marriage obtained the approval of the Council of Ministers last fall, Vingt-Trois protested publicly to political leaders, saying that the measure would represent a radical change to the nature of the sexes and procreation.

The cardinal’s views fed into a mood of resistance against the government and led to protest marches drawing hundreds of thousands in Paris and other cities. Writer Sandro Magister notes that the protests have included Catholics and non-Catholics, including secularists, such as feminist philosopher Sylviane Agacinski. The protests may reflect changing attitudes about gay marriage and adoption, as both measures have lost support in 2012. On the day of the protests Pope Benedict XVI encouraged the French bishops to “pay close attention” to any legislation challenging the protection of marriage between men and women.

Magister concludes that “The archbishop of Paris is no longer a general with an army. The bishops are with him too. They have elected him as the president of the Episcopal conference.”

(Inside the Vatican, via delle Mura Aurelie 7c, Rome 00165, Italy)

Quakerism is growing at its conservative and liberal edges, but showing decline at its moderate center, according to an analysis of Quaker denominational membership figures by Richard H. Taylor.

In a paper presented at the November meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, Taylor looked at the history of the various Quaker bodies and their membership and growth rates, most recently reported in the Religious Congregations and Membership Study (2010). He found that the greatest losses in the Quaker community have been in the centrist Friends United Meeting (FUM), while the evangelicals (many of whom had left the FUM) and liberals have seen growth. By 2010 over one-third of all reported Quaker members are in the Evangelical Friends Church International (about 28,000 members).

While this body has reported losses in rural areas, they have made up for it with their Quaker mega-churches, such as the Yorba Linda Friends Church and the Rose Drive Church—both in the same town in Orange County, California.At the same time, the liberal, non-pastoral unprogrammed groups (holding to silent worship), represented by the Friends General Conference, now have more meetings than any other Quaker group—almost 400 exclusively in this body and another 200 having dual affiliations (since they don’t have pastors, the meetings can be started much easier than other Quaker groups).

Although their membership lags behind the evangelicals, the fact that non-programmed meetings don’t have clear membership requirements may mean that many more people are involved in liberal Quakerism than reported. While the growth “from the edges” has taken place since the 1950s, the pattern is still evident today: the Indiana Yearly Meeting is currently in a dispute that will “probably cause it to rupture along liberal-conservative lines.” Taylor concludes by asking if “this is the future of other centrist old-line Protestant denominations.”

A movement of American Buddhists, mostly converts, who are seeking to create an alternative to the predominant white Buddhist community is emerging.

The Huffington Post (December 11) reports that Buddhists from native American, Hispanic and African-American backgrounds have organized separate faith communities or “sanghas” in various cities in this fledgling movement. Known as People of Color Sang-has, participants say that they feel excluded from white-led Buddhist groups and in turn prohibit whites from participating in their rituals and meditation services.

Most of the converts to Buddhism have been white and while there have been attempts to integrate with Asians or “ethnic” Buddhists, the former camp tends to stress meditation more.While those in the people of color movement also are mediation-oriented and acknowledge that ideally Buddhism is color blind, they claim that an exclusive European white cultural style marks many convert sanghas, despite the talk and policies of “diversity” they adopt (such as the growing number of “diversity councils”).

In its place, People of Color Buddhists want to integrate their traditions into Buddhism, such as native American rituals.

The strongly conservative economic and political tone of conservative evangelical colleges, particularly those most active in Christian Right causes, are taking the emphasis off politics and concentrating more on theology, reports Christianity Today (December).

The change is most evident at The King’s College in New York, which appointed conservative writer and speaker Dinesh D’Souza as its president in 2010 and had a strong political thrust, upholding “biblical competition” and “seeking prosperity” as guiding principles. D’Souza resigned in 2012 after reports surfaced that he had appeared with his fiancé while still legally married to his wife. The resignation also brought a deemphasis on political activism and resulted in the above principles being taken off the college’s website.

Similar changes are taking place at other evangelical colleges that “have positioned themselves as conservative in more than just theology.” Patrick Henry College, which blended political activism with classical studies, has experienced some disillusionment with politics, which resulted in a conflict between faculty and administration several years ago. “I see that happening across the board. Christian activists who get involved in politics soon find that things are not so simple as getting Christians elected,” says Gene Edward Veith, provost of the school.

Historian Allen Guelzo says that many more schools used to have explicit ties with cultural and political conservatism, with some trying to “return to the center …. There are many pressures against being known as a conservative institution.”

(Christianity Today, 364 Gundersen Dr., Carol Stream, IL 60188)

The idea of the afterlife is being reconfigured through the New Age culture of personal well-being.

Extraordinary experiences claimed by proponents of near-death experiences and lucid dreaming provide material to support this redefinition, eliding questions of salvation and traditional notions of heaven and hell, writes Raymond L.M. Lee in the Journal of Contemporary Religion (Vol. 28, No. 1).

With the contemporary fragmentation of central questions, alternatives to the traditional views of the hereafter are being offered.A search for improving physical and mental health through holistic activities “must inevitably confront questions which deal with the end of life.” The quest for well-being continues beyond the life in the here and now. Key texts on New Age notions of dying have been Stephen Levine’s Who Dies? and the books by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross. In this view, death is “a gateway to knowing the Self.”

The afterlife is thus redefined “as providing an enriched ground for seeking the Inner or Higher Self.” In such a detraditionalized perspective on death, concerns for salvation lose relevance. The afterlife thus becomes aligned with the spiritualities of life.

(Journal of Contemporary Religion, Taylor & Francis, 325 Chestnut Street, 8th Floor, Philadelphia, PA 19106)

Latinos are increasingly interested in Islam and, judging by the current issue of The Message International (November/December), the publication of the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA), Muslims are returning the favor.

The issue, half of which is in Spanish, is devoted to Hispanics and Islam, and cites the recent American Mosque 2011 study which showed that the number of Latino converts has been steadily increasing since 2000, “more so than any other racial or ethnic group.” Similar trends are said to be taking place in Mexico and further south in Central and South America. The ICNA, which is a Muslim umbrella organization, is said to be among the few Islamic organizations providing services for this demographic, such as publishing educational material in Spanish and holding Spanish sessions at its large annual conference. An editorial stresses that Islam is an “integral part of Latino history and culture” and that Hispanics who choose to become Muslim are “merely rediscovering and embracing their past.”

The “testimonies” of conversions to Islam in the issue often cite the influence of the Latino American Dawah Organization, which reaches out to Hispanics and promotes a “greater appreciation of the legacy of Islam in Spain and Latin America.”The presence of Islam in Latin America is becoming enough of a concern among evangelicals to help launch a satellite Christian network to battle such influence, according to Charisma magazine (January).

The magazine reports on televangelists Bill and Carrie McDonald and how they expanded their Unison TV Network via satellite to reach a viewership of 400 million Hispanic viewers. The broadcasting of the Muslim-based network Al Jazeera and, more recently, an Iranian Spanish-language satellite channel that would create an “open door for the Muslim culture to be ushered right into Latin America. As a church we need to get in on this battle,” says Bill McDonald.Whether or not Latinos are being targeted as a special mission field by Muslims, the shared history between the two groups has created a unique approach to Islam and immigration in Spain and Portugal.

In her new book Al-Andalus Rediscovered: Iberia’s New Muslims (Columbia University Press, $25), journalist Marvine Howe provides an in-depth account of the recent Muslim immigration to Spain and Portugal and the historic Islamic influence in this region, giving the reader a sense of how past and present may be related. She argues that the continuing Muslim (mostly African, but also Middle Eastern and some Asian) immigration and growing acknowledgement of their unique Islamic history have set Spain and Portugal apart from the rest of Europe in how they deal with their Muslim migrants. Howe portrays both societies as moving away from interpreting their pasts as one of Catholic supremacy over Islamic aggression, most obviously illustrated by the Inquisition and the expulsion of Muslims. Scholars have actively sought to reconstruct the historical record to show the contributions Muslims made to Iberian culture, especially in the arts and language.

This conciliatory stance toward Islam was complicated by the increasing incidents of extremist Islamic terrorism in Spain since 9/11, more specifically the bombings of commuter trains in Madrid in 2004. Howe notes that such groups as al-Qaeda viewed the country as a launching pad for terrorist activity in the rest of Europe. Yet unlike many European countries, the terrorist threat did not generate large-scale anti-Islamic sentiment in Spain, even if there was a backlash against the rising tide of African Muslim immigrants. Howe writes that because the Muslim community in Portugal is smaller and more integrated than in Spain, the former country has had even less conflict over Islam of the kind reflected in the headscarves controversy in France.

The book is most interesting in its explanation of how the Iberian model of integrating Muslims into society has been something of a success story, standing in sharp contrast to most other European countries. Both Spain and especially Portugal see themselves as countries of immigrants and therefore have an obligation to help other immigrants. To facilitate this welcoming approach both countries have developed governmental and non-governmental organizations (often with ties to the Catholic Church) that advocate for and deliver services to immigrants and work with Muslim groups.

Both countries have made deliberate attempts not to create parallel societies or ghettos that isolate Muslims from society, as has been the case in other countries. Howe concludes on the challenges facing Iberia that there is little agreement among Muslims about which group should represent them to their governments, and the severe economic downturn has spawned more negative attitudes toward Muslim immigrants, particularly in Spain.

(The Message International, 166-89th Ave., Jamaica, NY 11432; Charisma, 600 Rhinehart Rd., Lake Mary, FL 32746)