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 […]
Estonia not religious, but still spiritual?
Along with the Czech Republic, surveys show Estonia as being the least religious country of Europe. However, this does not prevent many Estonians from combining a low level of religion with a high level of beliefs in supernatural phenomena, as made clear in several papers presented by scholars from the University of Tartu at the […]
Among European countries, Soka Gakkai most successful in Italy
Registered as an organization in 94 countries of the world, the Buddhist group Soka Gakkai is present in most European countries, where it claimed 105,000 members in 2012 (352,000 in the USA), and probably 120,000 members today. But the movement is especially successful in Italy, where its first meetings started in the early 1960s, growing […]
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 […]
- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- …
- 199
- Next Page »