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The article introduces the first issue of Studia Theologica: Nordic Journal of Theology for 2024. The editor-in-chief expresses gratitude to the authors, colleagues, and staff involved in the publishing process. The issue contains six articles covering various topics, including Christian theurgy, religious fictionalism, online communion, dance and theology, feminist theological inquiry, and Tertullian's paradoxical statement about Christ's death. The articles offer diverse perspectives and scholarly insights on these subjects. [Extracted from the article]

This article considers visual and textual descriptions of conversions to Lutheranism by focusing on the former Augustinian monk Gottfried Rabe, who delivered his revocation sermon in Wittenberg in 1601 and features on two woodcuts as well as on a commemorative medal. Through a close analysis of the visual tropes and symbolism in these under‐studied sources, broader questions about Lutheranism at the turn of the sixteenth century are raised, including the role of the University of Wittenberg, the positions of Martin Luther and the Czech reformer Jan Hus as role models of conversions to Lutheranism and the Catholic responses to such conversions at this point in time. The article argues that the different media promoted different images of Rabe, showing a range of possible interpretations of the conversion and its place within the different confessions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article considers visual and textual descriptions of conversions to Lutheranism by focusing on the former Augustinian monk Gottfried Rabe, who delivered his revocation sermon in Wittenberg in 1601 and features on two woodcuts as well as on a commemorative medal. Through a close analysis of the visual tropes and symbolism in these under‐studied sources, broader questions about Lutheranism at the turn of the sixteenth century are raised, including the role of the University of Wittenberg, the positions of Martin Luther and the Czech reformer Jan Hus as role models of conversions to Lutheranism and the Catholic responses to such conversions at this point in time. The article argues that the different media promoted different images of Rabe, showing a range of possible interpretations of the conversion and its place within the different confessions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines a contemplative exercise in a confirmation class of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Denmark. Each confirmand is asked to lie down in a pew isolated from the rest of the class and to meditate on prayer and scripture in the dim light of the sanctuary while contemplative music is played. This article raises questions about the learning process and the role of the minister. It focuses on what happens when learning modes shift from addressing what religion, as a system of knowledge, objectively is, to practised religion (how it is done) and to its more subjective form, religion as faith or experience. A problem is rooted in a conflict among these three aspects of religion and the associated modes of learning, which reveals a tension between external objectivity and the internal nature of subjectivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the recent history of Lutheran theological education in South Africa, which is still confronted by the legacy of colonial and apartheid education systems. The latter need to be confronted with liberation and decolonisation systems that reclaim African indigenous identities. There is a need to cultivate a culture of quality and equal education, spirituality, politics, and socio-economic systems for the service of South Africans. Evangelical Lutheran churches in Southern Africa are committed to improve and reform Lutheran theological education in the 21st century. Lutheran theological education is necessary to make a meaningful contribution towards training theological students to assist the church in its response to societal concern and contextual issues. The article introduces a recent renewal of Lutheran theological institutions in a new teaching and learning environment by the Lutheran Church. It discusses the implications and successes of Lutheran theological education in South Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite extensive musicological writings on J. S. Bach's sacred cantatas, limited space is dedicated to their musical portrayal of the Christian doctrine of parousia (παρουσία)--Christ's return, or second coming. This study considers the parousia concept within the biblical New Testament and its particular significance for eighteenth-century German Lutheranism, contemplating its dichotomous fearful, and hopeful interpretations. It also explores its implications for the doctrinal notions of death, judgement, and salvation, among other correlated themes as they appear in Bach's cantatas BWV 70, 90, and 140. When analyzed in conjunction, these three cantatas collectively reflect Lutheranism's volatile and intricate sentiment toward Christ's second advent, along with its impact on the Christian's individual experience and spiritual life. This paper analyzes various renditions of these themes in the cantatas along with their rhetorical and musical rendering, thus distilling Bach's perspectives of Christ's second coming. The musical and literary emphases found in the combined product of libretto and musical clothing are revealed in situating the parousia in Bach's larger sacred oeuvre. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article clarifies the criteria for the concept of church fellowship - as communio ecclesiarum - according to the Leuenberg Agreement, as it is a ruling model for the Protestant regional churches in the EKD - Protestant Church in Germany. For this purpose, it explores the fundamental Article VII of the Confessio Augustana on the understanding of the church's being church, places it in the context of the Confessio A ugustana, emphasizes the affirmation of the early church symbola by the Confessio Augustana and, against this background, formulates the claim of the Lutheran churches to stand in the una sancta catholica ecclesia. The church of Jesus Christ on earth is present where the pure gospel is proclaimed and the sacraments of baptism and the Lord's Supper are administered in accordance with their foundation. Both the ordained ministry and the episcopal ministry as a service to the unity of the church are subordinate to the gospel and thus constitutive for the church's being church. The article discusses that and to what extent the Leuenberg Agreement implements these criteria. It emphasises the special nature of this concept of church fellowship, which, on the basis of the criteria of CA VII, declares church fellowship between independent churches in their confessional distinctiveness, and links this to the question of how much ecclesiological diversity and legitimate diversity the Roman Catholic Church can recognize. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article offers a comparative analysis of the early modern Danish and Swedish Household state in relation to the treatment of "disobedient" children. It uses law codes and court records to explore the dynamic relationship between the household and state, arguing that contrasting patterns are apparent despite the common features of absolutism, agrarian, and mono-confessional Lutheranism. In Denmark, the state often responded to such cases by arrogating the power of the household and removing children from their care. In Sweden, the state upheld and sought to educate the household and relied upon parents to carry out appropriate chastisements of its junior members. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Raksts ir veltīts Baltijas evaņģēliski luterisko baznīcu dzīvei un attiecībām ar padomju reliģijas politiku staļinisma periodā. Analizējot katras baznīcas vadību maiņu Otrā pasaules kara laikā un īsi pēc tam, autore atklāj Igaunijas, Latvijas un Lietuvas luterāņu apstākļus sovetizācijas kontekstā. Pētījumā izmantoti visu trīs Baltijas valstu arhīvi un atbilstošā literatūra. Luterāņu baznīcu vadības nodošanas process Igaunijā un Latvijā bija līdzīgs – starpkaru perioda baznīcu vadītāji, pametot savu valsti, nodeva baznīcu drošās rokās, taču sākotnējie aizstājēji amatā ilgi neatradās, tika pakļauti represijām un vēlāk ar padomju atbalstu tika iecelta jauna vadība. Lietuvas evaņģēliski luteriskās baznīcas vadības maiņa tika veikta pēc vairāku mācītāju iniciatīvas un bez padomju ietekmes, kas arī noteica baznīcas attieksmi pret padomju varu pēckara gados. Neskatoties uz amata ieņemšanas atšķirībām, pirmajos gados visu baznīcu vadību galvenie uzdevumi bija palīdzēt draudzēm ar karā nodarītiem fiziskiem zaudējumiem, pārreģistrēt draudzes, kalpot pašiem vai atrast mācītājus draudzēm. Īpaša nozīme vadību darbībā bija Reliģijas kultu lietu pārvaldei un tās pilnvarotajam, kas uzraudzīja baznīcas. Baltijas luterāņi šajā periodā saskārās ar intensīvu sovetizāciju, piedzīvoja atklātas un slēptas represijas, novērošanu, izmeklēšanu u. c. ar padomju reliģijas politiku saistītas darbības. Autore secina, ka rakstā aplūkotajās hronoloģiskajās robežās tika aizsākti procesi, kas noveda pie Igaunijas un Latvijas evaņģēliski luterisko baznīcu lēnas sovetizēšanās un vēlākās reliģiskās stagnācijas 60.–70. gados. Lietuvas evaņģēliski luteriskā baznīca, pateicoties tās vadības darbībai un vadošo personu nostājai, netika pakļauta sovetizēšanai tādos apmēros, kā tas notika Igaunijā un Latvijā. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the Erol Beker Chapel of the Good Shepherd in St. Peter's Lutheran Church in New York City, one of few extant immersive environments created by sculptor Louise Nevelson and the only one with explicitly Christian content. In the mid-1970s, Nevelson collaborated with Rev. Ralph Peterson, who commissioned the chapel within St. Peter's, a new urban church in the Citicorp complex. Nevelson was able to pursue her idiosyncratic spirituality, expressed in a life-long exploration of the fourth dimension, which she considered a gateway to transformation. Peterson was able to work with "the greatest living American sculptor" on an inspirational space for meditation and ritual, for his Lutheran church dedicated to an arts and social-action ministry. The pastor and artist found common ground in the language of abstraction, creating a gleaming white space of joy and life. The paper provides a close reading of the iconography of the chapel's sculptural components, meaning that is amplified by other designed elements, including lighting, pew arrangement, and a Nevelson-designed vestment. This paper also examines how the chapel functions in the twenty-first century as a religious space. After years of relative obscurity and benign neglect, the Chapel is today undergoing restoration and reassessment. It can once again fulfill its role as a space of radiant livingness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Evangelical Lutheran Church’s Art and Craft Centre at Rorke’s Drift provided an enlightened environment for black artists during the apartheid years when they had few other opportunities. There is a growing literature on these achievements, but potter Judith Mkhabela, who benefited from this influence, has not yet been recognised in print, probably because she worked mainly at home. This paper documents, as far as we have been able, the range of items, including the distinctive ceramic elephants, made by her and her associates, as well as some details about her life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Studies on Art & Architecture / Kunstiteaduslikke Uurimusi is the property of Estonian Society of Art Historians and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Performance appraisal interviews are a distinct feature of modern work organisations. A generic organisational script, appraisals have also been adopted by traditional professions within old religious institutions. Based on the theory of institutional logics, this article aims at providing new knowledge about the interplay of professionalism and managerialism in pastoral appraisals. It addresses the following research question: How do professional and managerial logics intersect in performance appraisal interviews of pastors in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Norway? This study clarifies the function, contents and ambiguity of appraisals by interviewing pastors and their leaders and analysing their experiences and expectations of appraisals. The author discusses how ideal-typical professional and managerial logics are demarcated and hybridised in appraisals. With the church in a state of transition, this study shows how the pastor profession constructs itself in appraisals by drawing on both logics yet primarily safeguarding professionalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Studia Koszalinsko-Kolobrzeskie is the property of University of Szczecin Press / Wydawnictwo Naukowe Uniwersytetu Szczecinskiego and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Since the turn of the millennium, the Orthodox Church of Finland has welcomed up to 1,000 new members annually, excluding infant baptisms. This is over 1.5 percent of the church's current total membership. In this study, I investigate Finnish cultural workers' transitions to Orthodox Christianity, based on interviews of twenty-nine people. As a theoretical framework, I use Henri Gooren's conversion career approach. My interlocutors' narratives demonstrate how the appeal of Orthodoxy is constructed vis-à-vis the Lutheran-dominated religious and cultural landscape. Another key finding is the overlapping influence of life crises, social networks, and character traits on processes of individual religious change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Letonica is the property of University of Latvia, Institute of Literature, Folklore & Art and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The article addresses the problem of the confessional diversity of sixteenth-century Polish religious vocabulary. It revises the arguments put forward by other academics and formulates new research recommendations. Focusing on the lexicon of Polish Lutheranism, which has so far received little scholarly attention, the article examines the vocabulary used in the polemical texts by one of the main representatives of the Polish Reformation: the Lutheran Erazm Gliczner. Based on the analysis of two groups of confessional terms: 1. repentance [pokajanie] - reflection [upamiętanie], 2. the Catholic church [Kościół] - the Protestant church [Zbór], we claim that the author does not avoid words that belong to the Catholic lexicon, but distances himself from the terminology used by representatives of radical, anti-Trinitarian denominations. Our findings help to revise certain popular ideas, conclusions drawn from the analysis of Polish translations of the Bible, as well as linguistic commentaries of the translators. It is thus essential that the research in the field of the sixteenth--century Polish religious vocabulary should be continued and should include texts other than Bible translations, i.e., texts whose authors' word choice was determined by different factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Denmark is served by its staff and a body of volunteers in close cooperation. Every one of the ca. 2000 parishes in the country involves volunteers in strategic decision-making and subsequent implementation. Yet, so far there has been no information gathered on this target-group. The present survey covers this need: Who are the volunteers? How are they recruited? What tasks do they carry out? And not least, What motivates them to continue year after year? Responses are compared and contrasted to research in other sectors into the nature of volunteer groups and individuals. The results suggest that hardly any church volunteers are recruited through the church's advertising. Most of them have responded to a personal invitation from within a network of so-called "weak ties". The over-riding decisive factor for volunteers is church fellowship – first as imagined, then as experienced. The study is based on a mixed-method design, combining a quantitative analysis of 805 volunteers in three East Jutland deaneries with qualitative in-depth interviews of twelve volunteers from two different Danish parishes. It is the first survey of its kind in Denmark. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay describes the creation of the American mission to "the Sudan" carried out by Lutherans of Norwegian descent. In this case, the Sudan is not the modern nation or nations bearing the name, but the 3,000 miles of savanna stretching through central Africa to the west of modern Sudan. The missionaries navigated the French colonial government and befriended African chiefs. They traversed long stretches of land, mostly on foot, while establishing new mission stations. The Norwegian Lutheran Church in America in 1917 initially declined to support A. E. Gunderson's proposal of a Sudan mission as an official ministry of the NLCA, but it encouraged him in his efforts. After thirty-five years of successful independent missionary work, the NLCA, now named the Evangelical Lutheran Church adopted the Sudan Mission in 1952. The Sudan Mission's legacy continues in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Cameroon and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Central African Republic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article informs on Reformation research developments in Germany. It mentions the organization of two new research centers in Wittenberg which intends to expand its offerings to include continuing education opportunities in other countries and to extend its seminar program in Wittenberg with respect to the Reformation and the history of the Lutheran church in the early modern period.

Copyright of Turkish Journal of Religious Education Studies / Türkiye Din Eğitimi Araştırmaları Dergisi is the property of Turkish Journal of Religious Education Studies and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The document provides a list of upcoming mineral and gem shows across various locations in the United States, including details such as dates, venues, and contact information for each event. The shows range from the 44th New Mexico Mineral Symposium in Socorro, NM, to the San Francisco Crystal Fair in CA, catering to a diverse range of interests in the rock and mineral community. The document also includes information on future events in 2025, such as the Tucson Gem and Mineral Society's 70th Annual Tucson Gem and Mineral Show® in AZ. [Extracted from the article]

This article understands the term ‘confessionalism’ as ‘defining the church by confessional document’ (Arand, Nestingen, and Kolb 2012: 5). The authors of the Lutheran Confessions (for the historical and theological background cf. Arand, Nestingen, and Kolb 2012) were deliberately conscious of the contemporary character of the confessional writings in the sixteenth century, but at the same time deeply convinced to confess the eternal truth of God’s word (Kolb 1999: 449–466). Thus, the Lutheran confessions of faith are not simply ‘instruction about’ the gospel, propositions and theory, nor are they merely an ‘introduction to’ the gospel, but rather a guideline for making practical application of the gospel. In the nineteenth century, confessional Lutheran churches created a new awareness of the Concordia-Lutheran principles of the sixteenth century and gave them renewed ecclesiological reality. In the International Lutheran Council, many of these, or those to follow their objectives, form the International Lutheran Council, committed to determining their decisions solely on the basis of the Word of God, and not on social, cultural or practical considerations. Lutheran identity, however, is not first and foremost a special identity; it rather lays claim to catholicity. As in the Reformation, to renew the Church means to remain faithful to the One, Holy, Catholic Church. This approach includes an ecumenical dimension as well. Lutherans understand themselves as being at once evangelical, catholic, orthodox, and ecumenical in the best sense of the word.

I offer an interpretation of the target of Søren Kierkegaard's corrective to Luther as not merely cultural Lutheranism but Luther's very conception of what it means to be receptive to grace. On this interpretation, while Kierkegaard affirms that salvation is by grace alone, and through faith alone, he thinks that Luther errs when he conceives of salvation as a process in relation to which the believer is merely passive. Instead, in Kierkegaard's view, receptivity to grace involves a distinctive, middle-voiced, form of human agency in which the believer learns to acknowledge her need for grace. With reference to Kierkegaard's discourses on patience, and their thematic proximity to the spirituality of the Philokalia, I illustrate this conception of active-passivity and show how it is compatible with an uncompromising Lutheran emphasis on human powerlessness. With reference also to his insistence of the irreducible importance of the participant's perspective, I further draw out from Kierkegaard an account of why the temptation may arise to erroneously interpret the core tenets of Luther's teaching, in the mode of a theory of soteriological passivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since 1822, French Protestantism has been engaged in world mission through the Paris Evangelical Missionary Society (SMEP). In 1971, this mission society was succeeded by two organizations – the Community of Churches in Mission (CEVAA) and the French Evangelical Department of Apostolic Action (DEFAP), created by the French Lutheran and Reformed Churches. French delegates of SMEP or DEFAP were present at the six missionary conferences organized by the International Missionary Council (IMC) and the seven held by WCC Commission on World Mission and Evangelism (CWME) since 1910. This article offers a short description of each conference and the French delegation, analyzes the communication around the conferences in the French Protestant press, and reflects on the influence these conferences had on the practice of SMEP and then DEFAP. The authors show that it was during the 1960s, the transition period between SMEP and CEVAA, that the work of IMC/CWME had the biggest impact on the way French churches conceived of and practised mission work. Prominent church leaders played a key role in passing missionary ideas between French Protestantism and the IMC/CWME. But the difficulty of fully integrating world mission issues into the mindset of French churches prevented a deeper reception of the main mission concepts developed by the missionary conferences, especially in the last decades, in which the very significance of the French mission service DEFAP has been questioned. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article informs on Martin Luther's writing "Of the Keys", published in 1530, raised important questions about the forgiveness of sins, which had a central impact on the later understanding of private confession in German Lutheranism in the early modern period. It mentions about a public controversy about Andreas Osiander's efforts to abolish the rite of general confession and absolution in the city.

The article informs on the free secular Gernrode monastery under Elisabeth von Weida, 1504-32, abbess of the Imperial Abbey of Gernrode. It mentions Elisabeth's liturgical innovations and the refurbishment of the abbey's church were designed to reinforce imperial traditions and invoke the abbey's historical significance as she was relying on imperial institutions to fend off attempts by powerful princes to exploit her vulnerabilities.

The Anglican-Lutheran Porvoo Declaration (1996) has implications for global Anglican-Lutheran relations. It nurtured ecumenical processes which resulted in 'full communion agreements' between Lutherans and Episcopalians in the United States of America (1999), and in Canada between Lutherans and Anglicans (2001). Although the Porvoo Declaration influenced the later documents, regional bilateral agreements are not automatically interchangeable. The concept of 'transitivity' describes the relationship of two ecumenical agreements with each other and the possibility of applying an agreement in other regions. The Anglican Consultative Council (ACC) in 2015 invited churches where appropriate to implement recommendations on 'Laying foundations for transitive relationships'. In this article an analysis is offered of the current ecumenical situation and the presuppositions and implications of full communion agreements in general and individually. Communion-wide guidelines to identify possible next steps and the grounds on which all three 'full communion' agreements could become mutually transitive is also examined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reporting on the 14th International Congress for Luther Research, "Word and World: Luther across Borders," held in Thousand Oaks, California, on August 14–19, 2022, with brief reflections on the history, rationale, and organization of the Congress, as well as on future opportunities for Luther scholarship to engage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Today's understanding of anxiety has both a clinical and a quotidian sense. This article sketches how both senses owe a debt to Luther's understanding of the distress that arises from the paradoxical human condition of bondage and freedom of the will. While clinical anxiety must be considered in its own right and treated with the most empirically adequate scientific methods available, readers will find that Luther's pastoral views in regard to anxiety speak to the general feelings of anfectung in our current cultural context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study seeks to provide a brief overview of the history of the Catholic parish by the Church of St. Wenceslas in Velká Polom in the Opava region, specifically until the end of the 17th century. In Velká Polom, sometime between the last quarter of the 15th and the first quarter of the 16th century, a new late Gothic brick church was built, which still stands in the village today. The paper is based primarily on the study of sources. The author focused primarily on the spiritual administrator of the parish, the parish Church of St. Wenceslas and its contents, parish dwellings, the extent of the parish district and the position of the parish in the context of the development of church administration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Performance appraisal interviews are a distinct feature of modern work organisations. A generic organisational script, appraisals have also been adopted by traditional professions within old religious institutions. Based on the theory of institutional logics, this article aims at providing new knowledge about the interplay of professionalism and managerialism in pastoral appraisals. It addresses the following research question: How do professional and managerial logics intersect in performance appraisal interviews of pastors in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Norway? This study clarifies the function, contents and ambiguity of appraisals by interviewing pastors and their leaders and analysing their experiences and expectations of appraisals. The author discusses how ideal-typical professional and managerial logics are demarcated and hybridised in appraisals. With the church in a state of transition, this study shows how the pastor profession constructs itself in appraisals by drawing on both logics yet primarily safeguarding professionalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]