Grateful for Jim Beckford (1942-2022)

A Prominent British Sociologist of Religion, James A. Beckford passed away last week.

Professor Emeritus of Sociology at the University of Warwick, he leaves a great legacy. President of the Association for the Sociology of Religion (1988-89), of the International Society for the Sociology of Religion (1999-2003), he taught also in France as a visiting professor, first at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS, 2001), then at the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes (EPHE, 2004). Many French scholars working on the field of religion will miss him greatly. His research legacy remains and will inspire the coming generations.

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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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African Pentecostalism in Britain

This fortcoming book is based on ethnographic research among African Pentecostal Christians living in the UK. Written by by Katharine Stockland, Senior Social Researcher at the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR), UK, the book title is : African Pentecostalism in Britain Migration, Inclusion, and the Prosperity Gospel

addresses themes of migration and community formation, religious identity and practice, and social and political exclusion. With attention to strained kinship relationships, precarious labour conditions, and struggles for legal and social legitimacy, it explores the ways in which intimacy with a Pentecostal God - and with fellow Christians - has been shaped by the challenges of everyday life for Africans in the UK.

Can't wait to read it ! Link (Routledge)

Essays on the new Green theology

The way churches consider ECOLOGY arises in an increased way in our current society. How can we think theologically about this awareness? How to integrate the ecological dimension without excessively sanctifying nature?

How to act for the safeguard of Creation from a Christian perspective?

Thinkers from different Christian traditions (Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox), from three generations of theologians (pioneers, consolidators and new thinkers) and from various sensibilities in green theology discuss in this volume the emergence of an essential Christian concern: the relationship between man and his environment.

Directed by Prof. Christophe Monnot and Frederic Rognon, written in French, this scholarly book (247p) is a must-have.

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Ethnographic studies on Creole religion (ASSR)

Started in 1956 and currently published by Editions de l'EHESS, Archives de Sciences Sociales des Religions has a tri-part objective: to promote a comparative perspective, broadened by all religions, both living and dead; to encourage collaboration between all social sciences in order to shed light on the many facets of the phenomenon of religion; and to welcome the exposition of theoretical developments in research.

The journal is bilingual (French and English) and occasionally trilingual (Spanish). It publishes two thematic issues and two bibliographic issues per year. The current issue, just released, has been coordinated by Valérie Aubourg and Mathieu Claveyrolas. It is about Creole religion, studied through ethnographic lenses. Two papers are written in English. Others are also provided with an abstract in English.

A must-read ! Link.

Madeleine Albright (1937-2022)

Former secretary of State (USA), Madeleine Albright (1937- 2022)i s gone.

She left a mixed legacy of strong committment to Democracy worldwide, but also of ambiguous global interventionism (including strong support for embargo on Irak, indirectly leading to DAESH's birth).

Smart and well-trained, interested by the role of Faith on Geopolitics, she published a significant book in 2006.

Its title : The Mighty and the Almighty. Introduced by President Bill Clinton. 

In that book, she argued that politics and religious values can work together to promote peace. In her seventeenth chapter about Africa, she pleaded for a better training for diplomats, who should take faith seriously. A good lesson that applies to French diplomats too.

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New prize offered to talented students working on Religion in Quebec

Do you work on religion & Quebec or #francophonie in North America or #FrancoAmerican?

Know smart grad students who do? CHECK this NEW PRIZE from the Société Québécoise pour l’Étude de la Religion

@SQEtudeReligion

Please help us diffuse the call!!

From @hillarykaell

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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).

 

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Knoxic Masculinity? The Scottish exception in female religious leadership

Female religious leadership in Protestant churches is trendy. However, things don't always go smooth.

The Protestant landscape displays very contrasting trends.

If we consider the British isles, situations vary enormously.

Just to take an example, England is way ahead Scotland in terms of Female access to Pastoral leadership.

How come ? Let's consider the Baptist case. The first English Baptist female minister was ordained in 1918.

In Scotland, the same happened in..... 2009 !!!!

The Scottish Kirk (the main Presbyterian body in Scotland) did no much better. The main Presbyterian Church in Scotland ordained its first female minister in..... 1969 (40 years after France. Madeleine Blocher Saillens was ordained as a Baptist minister in Paris as early as in 1929).

Why  is it like this ? Why SCOTLAND, whose History is so full of Freedom fighters, is so way behind England, France and many countries in terms of female religious leadership ?

One BIG reason may be rooted in far history.

Actually, John Knox (1514-1572), a huge towering figure in Scotland's religious history, played a pivotal role in the implementation of Protestant Reformation in Scotland.

And he was very much AGAINST any kind of female religious leadership, as this article ot the Scotsman reminds us (link).

Knoxic masculinity ?

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? 

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The forgotten history of Black Europeans

The presence of people of African descent in Europe is generally viewed through the prism of slavery and colonization, obscuring a much older shared history. 

In her new book African Europeans, An Untold Story, Professor Olivette Otele uncovers a forgotten past, from Emperor Septimius Severus, to enslaved Africans living in Europe during the Renaissance, and all the way to present-day migrants moving to Europe’s cities. 

With a forthcoming translation in French. A must-read book !

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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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Updated Sebastien Fath's CV (2022)

Ten year after the previous posting, it was more than time to display an updated 2022 CV.

Here it is !

 

PDF.

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).

Link.

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

Muslims in Latin American and the Caribbean (ebook)

Muslims have been shaping the Americas and the Caribbean for more than five hundred years, yet this interplay is frequently overlooked or misconstrued. Brimming with revelations that synthesize area and ethnic studies, Crescent over Another Horizon offers a great Latino American perspective on a wider Islamic world.

Already published in 2015, it is now available in ebook format.

This excellent volume includes a chapter on Martinique written by French scholar Liliane Kuczynski  (with also elements on Evangelicals, as part of the religious diversification of the isle).

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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.

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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.

See it to believe it - Photographing religion

See it to believe it - Photographing religion

The photography exhibition 'Pluralities of Belief', conceived by teacher-researchers from the CNRS and the EPHE, intends to show the activities of the GSRL laboratory, which studies religion in contemporary societies throughout the world. The distinctiveness of the selected photographs is to associate aesthetic qualities and scientific relevance. The resulting publication is an attempt to respond to the growing and unanimous interest in religious issues. It takes up the narrative unfolding of an exhibition conceived around several themes : gestures of belief, writings of belief rituals of belief, architectures of belief symbolisms of belief and secularism and convictions. The book focuses mainly on the plurality of beliefs and non-beliefs, considered in equal parts and forming the same common whole, which only find their real significance when they are themselves subjected to a plurality of views.

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Gills Teulié on South Africa and religion : the French scholar to read

FW de Klerk (1936-2021), the former president of South Africa and the last white person to lead the country, has died (link). This is the occasion to remember how difficult has been the path to peace in South Africa.

Protestant Faith has played an ambiguous role, torn apart between the temptation to legitimize Apartheid, and the emphasis on Grace and Freedom for all.  In the French-speaking world, no one more than Dr Gilles Teulié has analyzed South Africa's religious challenges. His brilliant studies on the religious roots of Apartheid are a must-read.

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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.

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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).