Since the 1990s, the New Apostolic Church (NAC) has initiated a cautious process of change and engagement with other Christians, writes a German Protestant scholar, Andreas Fincke, in a new report in the German publication EZW-Studien (No. 193). While it has been given relatively little attention by scholars, the NAC is the third largest Christian denomination in […]

Although Christian reconstructionism has declined as a movement, it is still having influence on a new generation of evangelical activists, according to the Public Eye (Fall), a left-of-center newsletter monitoring the Christian Right. Christian Reconstructionism, which teaches that America should be a Christian nation run by biblical law, has often been cited by critics of the Christian […]

Missions and business are forming an alliance as Christian-based companies around the world are seeking to play a new role in evangelization. Christianity Today (November) reports that the phenomenon has gone by different names–from Business as Mission (BAM) to marketplace missions–but such mixing of businesses with Christian proclamation is seen as the “next great wave of evangelization.” […]

As Mitt Romney is making some headway in appealing to evangelical Protestant voters, he may be weakening his own Mormon base in the process, reports The New Republic magazine (Nov. 19). Romney has already angered a vocal minority of Mormons who protest that he is soft-pedaling his faith in the hopes of currying the favor of the […]

Liberation theology may have been forced out of the front door of the Catholic Church in Latin America only to make an appearance at the back door, influencing the region’s political culture. In fact, “wherever the left has come to power in Latin America,” one finds a connection between liberation theology and secular politics, writes […]

African Anglican and other mainline churches’ opposition to the gay rights activism of American denominations, such as the Episcopal Church, is well-known, but such attitudes are not merely a carryover from the U.S. culture wars, writes Philip Jenkins in the New Republic magazine (October 8) Jenkins writes that Africa’s highly competitive environment, where mainstream churches such as […]

Islam in Central Asia still bears the marks of the Soviet legacy, with the destructions and shrinkage of religious knowledge as well as the exclusion of religious life from public. This, however, also meant that the region has had no experience of the trend of ideological Islam, which developed during the same period in some […]

Despite a low level of religious practice, the weak legitimacy of other institutions in Armenia has allowed the Armenian Apostolic Church to assume a significant role in the post-Soviet republic, according to one specialist. Ani Sarkissian (Michigan State University) presented her research at a panel on religion and identity in Armenia at the 8th Conference […]

Most U.S. Catholic dioceses do not expect a large number of requests for celebration of the pre-Vatican II Mass in the foreseeable future. There are however a few exceptions, according to an article by Jeff Ziegler in theCatholic World Report (October). Following the July motu proprioSummorum Pontificum, any priest who wishes to do so can celebrate […]