Baptist and Free church studies

"An historical examination into the theological motives behind the Baptist insistence on total immersion will demonstrate that symbolism was the primary stimulus for its resurgence.  More than a study of the Greek New Testament or ancient church writings, the dominant theological stress was the believer’s death, burial, and resurrection in Christ.  The first section of this paper will provide a brief history of total immersion throughout church history, including its emergence in the Baptist denomination.  The second section will describe the common mode of baptism in seventeenth century England.  The final section will detail the importance of symbolism among early Baptists and demonstrate that the original immersionist churches also accepted other modes of baptism.  Though not initially required for church membership, seventeenth century Baptists reinstituted total immersion in baptism primarily to emphasize the symbolism of death, burial, and resurrection" (taken from the introduction).

A person’s identity, both social and personal, can be said to be constituted by several different aspects, such as gender, age, ethnicity, class and also religious affiliation. In a country like Sweden, where only a small number of youths are involved in religious organizations, it is however not necessarily uncontroversial for youths to present themselves as religiously active. To openly declare your religious commitment places you in particular collective identities, associated with certain beliefs or stereotypes that may challenge norms surrounding how Swedish youths are expected to think, behave and act. This article examines how a number of youths, active in the Christian youth organization of one of the Swedish free-churches, present themselves and their religious involvement to friends at school. The results show different strategies used for handling experienced or anticipated reactions to their involvement in a religious organization and the collective identities they may be ascribed because of it.

Dissertation presented at Uppsala University to be publicly examined in Lärosal IV, Universitetshuset, Uppsala, Tuesday, April 24, 2012 at 10 for the degree of Doctor of Theology.

Abstract
Halldorf, J. 2012. Av denna världen? Emil Gustafson, moderniteten och den evangelikala väckelsen. (Of the World? Emil Gustafson, Modernity, and Evangelicalism). Artos & Norma bokförlag. 395 pp. Skellefteå. ISBN 978-91-7580-594-8.

The aim of this thesis is to investigate the relationship between evangelicalism and modernity with the Swedish holiness preacher Emil Gustafson (1862–1900) as a case. This is achieved by comparing Gustafson’s spirituality with Charles Taylor’s characterization of modernity.

The investigation identifies five central themes in Gustafson’s spirituality: conversion, calling, suffering, sanctification, and spiritual experience. With regard to these themes parallels with modernity are noted. For example, the analysis shows that modern individualism
influenced Gustafson’s view of conversion, and that instrumental rationality informed his evaluations of his own work as a preacher. But there are also instances where he distanced himself from modernity. He did not embrace a modern optimistic anthropology, or the view of suffering as purely negative.

It is concluded that Gustafson is neither anti-modern, nor identical to Taylor’s depiction of modernity. He represents one kind of modernity. One that is theocentric rather than anthropocentric. In order to uphold this theocentric character Gustafson’s opposition to the basic structure of modernity had to be grounded in social practices. For instance, his negative anthropology was grounded in the revival-meeting where outsiders were called to repent and rely on
God rather than themselves.

Based on the results from this study it is suggested that evangelicalism should be interpreted as neither in conflict with modernity, nor in continuity with it, but rather as a kind of modernity. There are multiple modernities, and evangelicalism is one of them.

Keywords: Emil Gustafson, modernity, evangelicalism, spirituality, holiness movement, Helgelseförbundet, Keswick movement, Free Churches, Charles Taylor, practices, mysticism, individualism, suffering, holiness, discipline

"The purpose of this article is to examine the extrabiblical evidence from the ancient church to answer which mode of baptism was most common and whether that mode was of any consequence to the early church....The initial section of this article will define four ecclesiological terms relating to baptism: partial immersion, affusion, aspersion, and submersion (total immersion). The second section will address the writings of the subapostolic era (AD 70-150), while the third segment will treat writings from the ante-Nicene period (AD 150-300). The final section will then present a practical application of the research for contemporary churches. In the end, the evidence demonstrates that the early church favored immersion practices prior to the fourth century. However, the investigation cannot definitively prove whether that mode of baptism was partial or total immersion. Ultimately, the early church considered the method of water baptism inconsequential and focused, instead, on the genuineness of the candidate’s faith in Christ" (from the introduction).

Im Gottesdienst kommen Himmel und Erde zusammen. Gott begegnet seiner Gemeinde. Was gibt es Schöneres? Dieses Buch hilft zu verstehen, was geschieht, wenn wir Gottesdienst feiern.

Entdecken Sie im ersten Teil das „große Bild“ vom Gottesdienst über die Grenzen von Raum und Zeit hinweg. Nehmen Sie aus diesem Blickwinkel auch die Chancen und Grenzen von Online-Gottesdiensten wahr.

Lernen Sie im zweiten Teil die wichtigsten gottesdienstliche Elemente (z. B. Eröffnung, Gebet, Lobpreis, Abendmahl, Segen) kennen und profitieren Sie von zahlreichen konkreten Gestaltungshinweisen. Verstehen Sie, wie das Zusammenspiel von Gottesdienstleitung, Musik und Verkündigung gelingen kann.

Im dritten Teil können Sie Ihren Blick über den Sonntagsgottesdienst hinaus erweitern auf das Kirchenjahr, auf Gottesdienste zu besonderen Anlässen und auf den Gottesdienst, der im Alltag weitergeht.

Lassen Sie sich inspirieren, damit die Gottesdienste in Ihrer Gemeinde zu einer Begegnung von Himmel und Erde werden!

John Yoder's ecclesiology has received a host of challenges, all of which focus on various facets of its free church nature and praxis. Responses to these challenges have not addressed the logic that undergirds them, a logic concluding that Yoder's free church ecclesiology requires the correction of Hauerwas's "high church Mennonitism." The core of Yoder’s free church ecclesiological framework is what I describe as the logic of Jesus’s service power. Yoder must be read in light of this logic because he builds a cosmological model and corresponding theological grammar on the conviction that “power” is best described plurivocally, rather than univocally. Assuming a plurivocal model of power when reading Yoder helps us to understand his project on its own terms. For Yoder, theology is a grammar that seeks to describe and differentiate between two “directional” power movements: repentance of (turning away from) Constantinian, worldly powers, and submission to (yielding and turning towards) Jesus’s service Lordship. These two directional power movements help explain, contra his challengers, the consistency of Yoder’s pacifism, free church ecclesiology, and ecumenism. All are functions of the power of service Jesus himself exercised. The task of discerning which direction the power flows is, in fact, Yoder's ecclesiology, which is inextricable from his ethics and his salvation narrative.

This thesis provides a critical assessment of the theology of James Wm. McClendon (1924-2000) in order to investigate its potential as a free church theology. The thesis looks at his perception of the role of narrative in theology and his notion of a holistic and pluralistic ethics consisting of three strands: 1) an organic strand, ethics' connection to our bodily existence in the world 2) a social strand, ethics in connection to the practices constituting our cultural sphere, and 3) a resurrection strand, which represents a divine intervention that alters the conditions of the first two strands. The present investigation sets out to expose to what degree McClendon succeeds in integrating these two projects. It will be revealed that some problems lure beneath the surface of his system, the most prominent one being the way his resurrection strand coincides with the role of narrative in general. In the end, it becomes unclear whether his ethics is grounded in aesthetic or mystique powers.

I artiklen ses udviklingen af en egentlig menighedsbaseret teologi som en del af svaret på teologiens grundlagsproblemer. Det sker igennem en diskussion af forhol- det mellem teologi og kirke i udvalgte værker af Regin Prenter og James Wm. McClen- don. Teologiens grundlagsproblemer kan ikke isoleres fra spørgsmålet om teologiens formål. Dette spørgsmål diskuteres i artiklen igennem en modstilling af to positioner, henholdsvis »teologi for kirkens skyld« og »menighedsbaseret teologi«. Regin Prenter præsenterer i Kirken og theologien en konsekvent forståelse af teologistudiets formål; te- ologi skal studeres for kirkens skyld. Det modstilles James Wm. McClendons forståelse af teologiens udgangspunkt og opgave, som han formulerer det i begrebet ’the small ’b’ baptist vision’, der ses som et eksempel på en egentlig menighedsbaseret teologi.

Die vorliegende Studie ist die leicht überarbeitete Habilitationsschrift, die im Herbstsemester 2019 von der Theologischen Fakultät der Universität Freiburg (Schweiz) angenommen wurde. Dass freikirchliche Gottesdienste Gegenstand liturgiewissenschaftlicher Forschung sind, ist nicht selbstverständlich. Zwar gelten die sonntäglichen Got-tesdienste als »Herzstück im ganzen Gemeindeleben« (so Roman im Interview I12PC 1:10:48). Keine andere Versammlung hat eine ähnlich hohe regelmäßige Frequenz an Teilnehmenden. Unzählige angestellte und ehrenamtliche Perso-nen engagieren sich im und rund um den sonntäglichen Gottesdienst. In der Regel ist der größte Raum des Kirchengebäudes für die Feier von Gottesdiensten vorgesehen und reserviert. Die hohen Investitionen in Infrastruktur und Personal unterstreichen die zentrale Bedeutung des Gottesdienstes. Der hohe Stellenwert des Gottesdienstes widerspiegelt sich aber nicht in der theologischen Reflexionskultur. Freikirchliche Gottesdienste sind selten Gegen-stand theologischen Nachdenkens. In meiner Zeit als freikirchlicher Pastor wurde mir diese Lücke-teilweise schmerzlich-bewusst. Das hat bei mir zu einer Intensivierung liturgischer Reflexionen geführt, damals noch nicht ah-nend, dass daraus eine wissenschaftliche Studie hervorgehen könnte. Dass dies möglich wurde, verdanke ich zahlreichen Institutionen und Per-sonen: Die universitäre theologische Hochschule STH Basel hat mir neben mei-ner Lehrtätigkeit zeitliche Freiräume gewährt, um mich der Erforschung frei-kirchlicher Gottesdienste zu widmen. Das liturgiewissenschaftliche Institut der Universität Freiburg (Schweiz) stellte mit seiner ökumenischen Ausrichtung ei-nen idealen Rahmen für die Forschungstätigkeit dar. Ein besonderer Dank ge-bührt dem Institutsleiter Prof. Dr. Martin Klöckener, der das Projekt in kompe-tenter, konstruktiver, umsichtiger und geduldiger Weise begleitet und gefördert hat. Ihm sowie auch Prof.

Review of Kennedy & Hatch's edited volume, Gathering Together: Baptists at Work in Worship. 

Published in Nov 2013 edition of the Pacific Journal of Baptist Research.  Online at http://www.baptistresearch.org.nz/the-pacific-journal-of-baptist-research.html

Streszczenie: Towarzystwo Wydawnicze „Kompas”, działające w latach 1921–
–1939, było jednym z najbardziej znanych wydawnictw oferujących literaturę
religijną, kierowaną głównie do członków Kościoła Chrześcijan Baptystów.
W jego ofercie, oprócz publikacji o tematyce religijnej, znajdowały się też liczne
kalendarze, galanteria papiernicza czy publikacje zlecane przez inne podmioty
społeczne bądź gospodarcze. Wydawnictwo „Kompas” korzystało ze wsparcia
amerykańskich członków Kościoła Chrześcijan Baptystów, a także miejscowych
przedsiębiorców związanych z tymże wyznaniem w łodzi. W związku z kryzysem
gospodarczym w 1929 r., Towarzystwo „Kompas” zostało rozwiązane, a związana
z nim drukarnia skupiła się na wykonywaniu prac zleconych.

In the blockbuster Kingdom of Heaven (2005), Hollywood-star Orlando Bloom impersonates the medieval Balian of Ibelin, a bastard son of a noblemen and landowner in 12-century Palestine. The movie displays the Crusade wars for Jerusalem, centered around a deeper question: Where is the real Jerusalem? Is it in the city stones, or the in the conscience of men? Bloom answers this question by with a answer that could as easily summarize Baptist ecclesiology: "It is a kingdom of conscience, or nothing." However, this paper-presentation will argue for the adding up catholicity as a second characteristic to congregational ecclesiology besides consciousness. And secondly, for the central role of the ordained minister as the embodiment of this catholicity. Of special importance will be the voice of the English Separatist Robert Browne (c. 1550-1633), one of congregationalism's founding fathers.

The evolution of social attitudes towards the Baptist Church in Poland is an interesting example that delineates mechanisms of functioning of a religious minority in societies spiritually dominated by one religion: the Roman Catholic Church for the Poles, the Evangelical – Augsburg Church for the German minority and the Orthodox Church for the Belarusians and the Ukrainians. In the introductory chapter I describe history of the Baptist movement in Poland in a nutshell. In the second chapter, I outline the rules ofevolution of attitudes of religious majority toward religious minority. The empirical analyzis of the attitudes of Lutheran, Orthodox and Catholic churches towards baptist in Poland from the second half of 19th century to the beginning of the 21th century will be presented in the third chapter. The paper is ended by ‘Conclusions’ (chapter fourth).

As well as an upward movement from practice and experience, there is a need for a downward, critical movement, as the liturgical phenomena of worship are tested against a systematic theology which can claim to be founded on the witness of Scripture. Christopher J. Ellis, Gathering, p. 150.

The popular essay discusses the differences between Swedish and US evangelicalism in political matters. Why is it that evangelicalism in the USA has been attached to the Republican party and Donald Trump, while evangelicals in Sweden have been left-leaning liberals and rejected populism in the 21st century?

Bunyan's Pilgrim, an engraving first published 1853,  took 5 years to engrave, based on Hammatt Billings sketches of the same.  Produced only in Black and white, with some copies tinted with colour wash. Some of the art critics at the time had given the engraving very negative reviews, although the print was popular with the public at the time.  My aim was to find if it was possible to improve the engraving by colorizing using various software (2020)  The picture has a lot going for it, in spite of the critics, for sure I understand what they are saying ...Hopefully colorizing with today's technology will show this forgotten masterpiece in the way it should be. The paper based on a blog post gives a short history and explanation.  https://iparanastudio.blogspot.com/2020/09/bunyans-pilgrim.html

The Baptist Union of Southern Africa’s (hereafter BUSA) future is conspicuous unless it understands the context within which it ministers in our ‘rainbow nation’. As a union of churches, BUSA faces significant challenges that have been highlighted through a mixed methods research approach. Through many months of data collection at the Baptist Union archives, an online survey and informal interviews spanning many parts of South Africa, the researcher practically demonstrates the importance of the cumulative results for the future of BUSA. This article highlights, in overview fashion, a few of the major challenges that need to be urgently addressed in the light of BUSA’s historic ecclesiological presuppositions that have their roots in the missional ministry of Hugo Gutshe who saw each of his Baptist congregants as missionary, and expanded the influence of BUSA in South Africa.

Reformation era martyrdoms in Zürich marked the beginning of the Anabaptist movement (Amish, Hutterites, and Mennonites).  From around the globe, members of these groups travel to Switzerland in search of a better understanding of their history, theology and family origins.  In 2004, reconciliation events took place wherein the Zurich city council and the Reform Church in Switzerland formally requested forgiveness, which was given, of a group of Anabaptist church leaders. Then in 2007, the Swiss government tourism authority in Emmental organized a year-long series of reconciliation events. This paper will examine the impact of the events in 2004 and 2007 on inter-group relations in the light of some relevant aspects of conflict resolution theory.  An interface with tourism and pilgrimage research is suggested through the concept of reconciliation tourism.