French Evangelical Armenians

Did you know ? There is a vibrant Armenian diaspora in France. Among them, many Evangelicals, strongly attached to Biblical orthodoxy (as they understand it) and Christian orthopraxy. 

On the occasion of the 175th Anniversary of the Armenian Evangelical Church (worldwide), French Armenians, oganized within the Union of Armenian Evangelical Churches in France,  have recently updated they website with a very detailed narrative about their History and identity in Contemporary France.

Thank you for that, Pastor Joel Mikaelian.

Link.

Nepali Pentecostal Christians

Let's thank Samuele POLETTI for this remarkable piece of research just released in the TERRAIN review :

"Miracles matter and the matter of miracles, The miraculous reshaping of world and self among Nepali Pentecostal Christians".

The author skillfully demonstrates how the overlapping of everyday life with the biblical narrative acts as an imaginary device that supports the conversion of unprivileged people in a context in which they do not enjoy much freedom of choice.

Fulfilling the promise of a better life, the production of the miracles that I present provides a glimpse of what it might mean to “live in a book”.

Link

African Pentecostalism in India: Being Born Again in the Diaspora

Over the past four decades, since the 1960s, there has been a steady flow of Africans moving to India for short-term activities: education, medical treatment and trade.

 

This just released article explores how debates and rituals in primarily Pentecostal- Charismatic churches – which have emerged as the focal point of community interaction for contemporary Africans in India – become crucial in shaping, reconfiguring and showcasing the markers of an imagined Africanness. 

 

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Faithful Deliberation: Rhetorical Invention, Evangelicalism, and #MeToo Reckonings

While often perceived as an insular enclave with a high level of in-group agreement about political and social issues, predominantly white evangelicalism includes prominent voices urging deliberation about appropriate responses to sexual abuse, domestic violence, and the discourses surrounding these traumas. In Faithful Deliberation: Rhetorical Invention, Evangelicalism, and #MeToo Reckonings (University of Alabama Press, 2022), T J Geiger II examines theologically reflective rhetorical invention that reconfigures trauma-minimizing commonplaces in order to facilitate community-internal deliberation.

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History of French Baptist Churches, a video serie to follow

Did you know that Baptist chiurches started in France before they started in Texas ?

If you master just a little bit of French, please try to follow this video, which is the first of a serie of short History videos retracing the long story of Baptist Churches in France from 1810 to 1950 (based upon a PhD).

 

Evangelical missionary & accusations of souperism in Ireland

Good news ! Under the title of "Education, Famine, and Conversion: Evangelical missionary strategies and accusations of souperism in Ireland, 1800-1853", Karina Wendling (PSL / EPHE, GSRL) completed her PhD.

It will be defended on the 13th of June, 2022.

Professors Peter Gray and Patrick Cabanel directed the thesis.

In the particular context of Protestant Ascendancy, Catholics perceived Protestant charity during the Great Irish Famine (1845-51) not as genuine relief but as Souperism - or the bribing of souls. This thesis comes within the framework of preceding research that has focused on the cultural and political implications of this fight for souls and examines overlooked aspects of the context in which these accusations appeared to better understand how missionary strategies disrupted the religious territoriality in a time of growing Irish nationalism.

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Evangelical belonging and Migrant experience (USA)

In the Hands of God: How Evangelical Belonging Transforms Migrant Experience in the United States

Johanna Bard Richlin

Why do migrants become more deeply evangelical in the United States and how does this religious identity alter their self-understanding? In the Hands of God examines this question through a unique lens, foregrounding the ways that churches transform what migrants feel.

Drawing from her extensive fieldwork among Brazilian migrants in the Washington, DC, area, Johanna Bard Richlin shows that affective experience is key to comprehending migrants' turn toward intense religiosity, and their resulting evangelical commitment.

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"Protestants continue to support Macron" (interview)

Amid fear and polarisation, French evangelicals share “hope” as “churches continue to multiply”, says historian

Uncertainty and discontentment give the far-right a chance to win the Presidential election on Sunday.

But Protestants continue to support Macron, says researcher Sebastien Fath.

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Nigerian Pentecostalism and Development

Some scholars suggest that the combination of an enchanted worldview, an emphasis on miracles and prosperity teaching, and a preoccupation with evangelism discourages effective political engagement and militates against development. However, Nigerian Pentecostalism and Development argues that there is an emerging movement within contemporary Nigerian Pentecostalism which is becoming increasingly active in development practices.

This book goes on to explore the increasingly transnational approach that churches take, often seeking to build multicultural congregations around the globe, for instance in Britain and the United States. 

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The Quest for Russia's Soul, Evangelicals and Moral Education

What were American Evangelicals doing in Russian public schools after the collapse of the USSR?

Actually, the Russian Ministry of Education had invited them. Faced with the need for new approaches to moral education after the demise of communism, the Russian Ministry of Education turned to a group of Western evangelical Christians called the CoMission for help. Oddly enough, a government that had promoted atheism, destroyed churches, and persecuted Christians for more than seventy years now found itself partnering with Christians to train their educators to teach ethics.

While a few books have described the changes in Russian public schools, this book, first published in 2002 and then in 2018 (new edition) provides the first in-depth case study of moral education in Russia after communism. Link

Communities of the Converted: Ukrainians and Global Evangelism

As a terrible war has started in Ukraine, let's remind the wider public that the Ukrainian society has considerably evolved since the end of the Soviet Union.

Increased religious pluralism is part of it. The rise of Ukrainian Evangelicalism is one of its main features.

It has been studied by Catherine Wanner, who released in 2007 a very good book (Cornell University Press).

 

Link.

How Christian Communities React to Right-Wing Populism

A Religious Vaccination? 

Right-wing populists across Western democracies have markedly increased references to Christianity in recent years. While there is much debate about how and why they have done so, less attention has been paid to how Christian communities react to this development. The present study addresses this gap through a comparative analysis of Christian responses to right-wing populist politics in Germany, France and the US.

Read more (link)

Popular culture and the economic imperative in Nigerian Pentecostalism

Nigerian Pentecostalism continues to assume many of the externalities of popular culture in the country, creating a unique composite of spirituality and secular entertainment. In an emergent trend, church leaders invite popular entertainers into church services and other church-related events with the declared aim of energizing their congregations.

Where does the imperative in Nigerian Pentecostalism to outsource the work of inspiration to performers and jesters come from? 

Link

 

Non-violence in French Protestantism and its literary translations

The French website CAIRN is an amazing ressource, including an international edition which allows many scholars to have an insight into top-level publications in french.

Here is an example with Patrick Cabanel's article about Non-violence in French Protestantism during World War One.

"French protestants played a part in the emergence of radical pacifism and non-violence during the First World War. The values and actions of Bertin Aguillon and Jules-Philippe Guiton, two young methodist ministers who died in 1914 and 1917, are well documented, the latter having kept a diary that has recently been published. This is not the case of Cévenol Roux and the Berthalon du Dauphiné brothers who, for many years, took refuge in the mountains. (...)  Patrick Cabanel suggests opening this chapter on protestant radical pacifism, between history and literature."

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"French Evangelical Protestants between concern and trust"

Released at the end of Nov, 2021, the study on the life of French evangelical Protestant families was commissioned by the "National Federation of Protestant Family Associations" (Fédération nationale des associations familiales protestantes, FNAFP) in cooperation with the National Council of Evangelicals of France (Conseil national des évangéliques de France, CNEF).

The data was collected from 636 Protestant families between 1 and 30 September 2021.

Link.

Pentecostalism in Africa: Pneumatic Christianity in Postcolonial Societies

During recent decades, Pentecostal/charismatic Christianity (pc/c) has moved from an initially peripheral position to become a force to be reckoned with within African Christianity and sub-Saharan African societies in general...

Bringing together prominent Africanist scholars from a variety of disciplines (theology and church history, anthropology, sociology, religious studies, political science, developmental studies) this Brill volume published in 2014 offers an elaborate treatment of the social, cultural and political impact of pc/c in sub-Saharan Africa. A must-read book for whoever wants to study today's Postcolonial Christianity in Africa.

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The TV Serie THE CHOSEN launched in France on National TV

"The Chosen" is the first-ever multi-season TV show about the life of Jesus. Three years after its premiere episode, the series now hits television screens for the first time across France airing on one of this country's top TV channels.

"To be on a major network is a first," said Katherine Warnock, one of the show's producers. "We love our platform, we love having a free app that's available to the whole world, but to be embraced by Canal + has been such an honor."

Read how the Christian TV network CBN, based in USA, has reported about the launching of THE CHOSEN in France for Christmas 2021 (C8 Channel, national TV, dubbed in French language).

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Orthodoxy & Evangelicalism: Contemporary Issues in Global Perspective

Since the 1990s, the Eastern Orthodox and Protestant Evangelical communities have had more direct contact with each other than at any other time. A small but growing number of dialogues have occurred around the globe along with significant comparative studies in history, doctrine, worship, and spiritual life. Few regional studies, however, have examined areas outside the Anglophone world, or the political and legal aspects of relationships between these traditions. Therefore, this volume breaks fresh ground.

This volume is a collection of scholarly essays on current issues and/or developments in Orthodox-Evangelical relations, at both global and national levels, which will inform the ongoing dialogue.

Available in open access here ! Link

A book to read: Pentecostalism and Cultism in South Africa

Pentecostalism is a growing movement in world Christianity. However, the growth of Pentecostalism in South Africa has faced some challenges, including the abuse of religion by some prophets. This book first names these prophets and the churches they lead in South Africa, and then makes use of literary and media analysis to analyse the religious practices by the prophets in relation to cultism. Additionally, the book analyses the “celebrity cult” and how it helps promote the prophets in South Africa.

The purpose of this book is threefold: First, to draw parallels between the abuse of religion and cultism. Second, to illustrate that it is cultic tendencies, including the celebrity cult, that has given rise to many prophets in South Africa. Last, to showcase that the challenge for many of these prophets is that the Pentecostal tradition is actually anti-cultism, and thus there is a need for them to rethink their cultic tendencies in order for them to be truly relevant in a South African context.

Link

Open Door Ministries, World Watch Research: methodology explained

Rooted in the Evangelical world, but aiming global audience, Open Doors Ministries started in 1955 from a Dutch founder.

Its department World Watch Research was set up to carry out research into the persecution of Christians on a solid foundation that aims to withstand scholarly scrutiny and accepts academic guidance. WWR has been gathering and publishing detailed data on the persecution of Christians since 1992. One of their main tools for tracking and measuring the extent of persecution in the world is the World Watch List (WWL). WWL methodology has gradually evolved since the 1990s. In 2012, the methodology was comprehensively revised in order to provide greater credibility, transparency, objectivity and academic quality. In 2013 and 2016, further refinement of the methodology took place.

Here is an uptade of the methodology they use. Link.

Political Pentecostalism: 4 Synoptic Surveys (Asia Africa Latin America)

With volume 17 the series Weltkirche und Mission takes up again the topic of Pentecostal religiosity which made the start in the research projects conducted at the Institute for Global Church and Mission since 2010. The renewed engage- ment is motivated by the focus on the perception of an increasingly political and public activity of actors with Pentecostal background. Since 2016 there has been a project position “Pentecostalism” at the Institute that underlines the importance of scholarly discussion about the phenomenon.

This new 2021 volume is addressing the challenge in a comparative perspective. Local developments and ethnographic studies are for the first time reflected upon from a global perspective.

Link

 

Postcolonial revival in the French-speaking world

Just a few days ago, Yvan Castanou, a prominent megachurch pastor (IMpact Centre Chrétien, ICC)  based in the Paris' suburbs, met in Lagos Bishop David Oyedepo, Nigeria's most powerful Evangelical pastor.

The go-between was pastor Matthew Ashimolowo, megachurch pastor based in London (Kingsway International church).

This kind of connection doesn't come by accident. It is a testimony of a much larger movement going on: Evangelical/Neopentecostal Revival is on the way in the global French-speaking world, connecting more than ever before the strongest English-speaking and French-speaking networks.

To know more about African Evangelical networks in Europe from a French-speaking persoective, read Fancello and Mary (link).

Reminder: Conference on the Christian Right (22 and 23th of oct, 2021)

British Protestant Missions, Europe and "imaginary colonialism"

"This (excellent!) 2021 book is the first account of British Protestant conversion initiatives directed towards continental Europe between 1600 and 1900.

Continental Europe was considered a missionary land—another periphery of the world, whose centre was imperial Britain. British missions to Europe were informed by religious experiments in America, Africa, and Asia, rendering these offensives against Europe a true form of "imaginary colonialism".

British Protestant missionaries often understood themselves to be at the forefront of a civilising project directed at Catholics (and sometimes even at other Protestants). Their mission was further reinforced by Britain becoming a land of compassionate refuge for European dissenters and exiles. This book engages with the myth of International Protestantism, questioning its early origins and its narrative of transnational belonging, while also interrogating Britain as an imagined Protestant land of hope and glory."

Link.

"God needs no defense": Evangelicals and Muslims share views

Yes, Evangelicals and Muslims compete, but they also do talk.

In April of 2020, leaders of the World Evangelical Alliance and Nahdlatul Ulama — including Dr. Thomas Schirrmacher, Dr. Christine Schirrmacher, Dr. Thomas K. Johnson, Kyai Haji Yahya Cholil Staquf and C. Holland Taylor — established the Humanitarian Islam/WEA Joint Working Group. This volume is a product of the Joint Working Group’s Subcommittee on Jurisprudence, Human Rights and Ethics.

Founded in 1846, the World Evangelical Alliance is the largest international organization of evangelical churches, representing over 600 million Protestants and national evangelical alliances in 140 countries. It refers to the Gospel of Jesus-Christ as the main teaching, and promotes faith and evangelism through local communities.

Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) federates 90 millions of Indonesian Muslims, and develops within its ranks a movement called Humanitarian Islam, rooted in the principle of rahmah — stressing the need to contextualize and adapting Islamic teachings, while presenting Islam not as a supremacist ideology or vehicle for conquest, but rather, as one of many paths through which humans may attain spiritual perfection. Link

"The Christian Right: What Convergences today?"

An international conference not to be missed! Research on evangelicals being at the heart of current events, the objective of this international conference will be to broaden the field by crossing analyses and observations in order to better identify the dynamics at work in the Christian world on the level of interactions between religion and politics.

The conference intends to put forward early career researchers. Papers will be in French or in English, to be followed by ensuing publications.

Link

Transatlantic Charismatic Renewal, c.1950-2000, a MUST READ

In Transatlantic Charismatic Renewal, c.1950-2000, Andrew Atherstone, Mark Hutchinson and John Maiden bring together leading researchers to examine one of the globally most important religious movements of the twentieth century. Variously referred to as the charismatic ‘renewal’ or ‘revival’, it was a key Christian response to globalization, modernity and secularization. Unlike other accounts (which focus either on denominational pentecostalism or charismatic phenomena outside the West), this volume describes transatlantic Christianity drawing deeply on its pneumatic roots to bring about renewal. New research in archives and overlooked journals illuminate key figures from David du Plessis to John Wimber, providing insights which challenge the standard interpretations of the charismatic movement’s origins and influence. 

Link.

Faith in Flux, Pentecostalism and Mobility in Rural Mozambique

Anthropologist Devaka Premawardhana arrived in Africa to study the much reported "explosion" of Pentecostalism, the spread of which has indeed been massive. It is the continent's fastest growing form of Christianity and one of the world's fastest growing religious movements.

Yet Premawardhana found no evidence for this in the province of Mozambique where he worked. His research suggests that much can be gained by including such places in the story of global Christianity, by shifting attention from the well-known places where Pentecostal churches flourish to the unfamiliar places where they fail.

A must-read book (link)

The History of Evangelicals and Religious Freedom (Baylor)

An international online conference from the Evangelical Studies Program at Baylor’s Institute for Studies of Religion, and co-sponsored by Baylor’s Truett Seminary

After a successful conference last year on the history of Evangelicals in Latin America, the Evangelical Studies Program at Baylor ISR will hold a conference on the history of Evangelicals and religious freedom. It will range over the period from the eighteenth century to the present and will have papers on many parts of the globe.

Link

Church & Land in Basutoland: the Paris Evangelical Mission

Thanks to Ntabanyane S. K. Tseuoa (University of KwaZulu-Natal), a new light is shed on the interactions between the Paris Evangelical Mission and the people of the Basutoland (now in South Africa).

This paper (2020) investigates how the Paris Mission acquired land in Basutoland upon the arrival of its missionaries in 1833 and in subsequent years. It also looks at changing notions of land and the missionaries' utilisation of it throughout their tenure in Basutoland. It explores how the Basuto as a people understood the possession of land vis-â-vis the European notion of buying and selling land as a commodity.

Grateful for the full-text access! Good work! But disappointed by the total lack of french-speaking research. A great deal of quality work has been done, particularly by Historian Jean-François Zorn, world-wide specialist of the Paris Evangelical Mission. None of this research is used here. Hey, English-speaking friends, using a bit of french should not be an option if you work on French missions!

Link