The Conflict between Traditional Christian Churches in Ukraine as a Conflict of Identities: Where to Search for the Prospects of Reconciliation? A Reflection in the Light of the Theories of Paul Ricoeur and John Paul Lederach

Abstract

After the independence of Ukraine in 1991 there emerged or re-emerged four churches that derive their roots from ancient Kyiv Christianity. Those churches conflict with each other, the main cause of the split and tensions being the issue of cultural and social–political identities in the country. Such conflicting narrative identities have to be reconciled by the mutual recognition of their diversity when churches in Ukraine want to become a real force for transformation in society. Among the different models of the search for rapprochement in this article I refer to the theories of Paul Ricoeur and John Paul Lederach. According to the ethics of memory of Paul Ricoeur, traditional Ukrainian churches should abandon endless circles of melancholia about their losses and create new identities through the process of mourning. Because the tensions among traditional Christian denominations in Ukraine are not likely to be solved by institutional measures as history proves, churches should concentrate their efforts on working on social and relational platforms. Here I refer to the ethics of moral imagination of John Paul Lederach that envisions focusing the reconciliatory activities on locations of interaction between people that should finally contribute to the rapprochement.     

Civic Sacrament and Social Imaginaries in Transition: The Case of the South African Churches and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission

Abstract

This article reflects on a seminal moment within South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC): the appearance of the African Initiated Churches (AICs) before the Commission in 1997. It demonstrates how this moment brought into relief divergent contestations of the public within South African Christianity in three ways: first, by situating the TRC within the liturgical performance of a reimagined South African nationality, making it a "civic sacrament" of reconciliation; second, by highlighting the formative role churches themselves played within this liturgy, deploying theological language to create a healed, secular body politic; third, by displaying the different social imaginary of the AICs—a social imaginary which interrupted the TRC's liturgical recreation of time and space, as well as challenging the historical relations between church and state in South Africa. The paper concludes with the question posed in this "interruption," a question that challenges the broader church with regard to fulfillment of the liturgy not in the secular nation-state, but in that City which is to come.     

杨凤岗的美国华人宗教研究述评

介绍了杨凤岗博士关于美国华人改信基督教动因研究、“叠合身份”理论与美国华人教会中的多重身份构建研究、教会中的第二代美国华人文化认同等问题研究的学术成果与观点;论述了其理论成就与贡献;也对其研究中存在的诸如“叠合身份”理论的时效性、教会潜在的社会和经济功能、美国华人宗教研究中的阶级因素等问题进行了分析探讨。     

Macro-Scale Analysis of Damage to Churches after Earthquake in Abruzzo (Italy) on April 6, 2009

This article focuses on the effects of the earthquake which struck the Abruzzo region (Central Italy) on April 6, 2009, causing considerable damage to many ancient buildings, particularly churches. During the emergency after the earthquake, many churches and other historical monuments (towers, city walls, large town houses, etc.) were surveyed, according to first-level damage survey forms for Cultural Heritage buildings, by multidisciplinary working groups composed of experts from several Italian institutions (Universities, Ministry for Cultural Heritage, Fire Brigade, etc.). This article presents a statistical study on the information collected by the University of Padova during the surveys, which was later inserted and organized in a database, and illustrates data on damage assessment of the buildings in question. It also presents an intuitive overview of the seismic effects on several churches, allowing not only better understanding of the response of these structures to this particular earthquake, but also correlating data on it with its effects on the churches.     

The world-wide web of humanitarianism: NGOs and population displacement in the third quarter of the twentieth century

Abstract

Non-state organisations were important actors in the international refugee regime after the Second World War. This article traces connections between refugee crises and geo-politics by focusing on the interaction of three NGOs with the new Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in the 1950s. One non-state actor, the World Council of Churches (WCC), highlighted the suffering of German expellees as illustrating the limitations of the refugee regime. The second non-state organisation, Jami’at al’ Islam (JAI), asserted its right to represent all Muslim refugees in Europe. Along with its anti-Communist stance it adopted an anti-colonial rhetoric and denounced the limitations of UNHCR’s mandate, but it was later exposed as a front for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). The third organisation, Comité Inter-Mouvements Auprès des Evacués (CIMADE), formed in 1939 to help French Jews escape deportation during the Vichy era, subsequently aided Algerians who suffered persecution by the French authorities. Like WCC, this began a long ‘career’ in humanitarianism. In its dealings with these NGOs, UNHCR trod cautiously, because it was constrained by its mandate and the governments that contributed to its budget. Each example demonstrates the challenges of ‘non-political’ efforts to offer humanitarian assistance to refugees and the limits to the autonomy of non-state organisations.     

The Opening of the Coconut Curtain: Pacific Influence on the World Council of Churches through the Campaign for a Nuclear-Free Pacific, 1961 to 2000

This paper investigates the influence of Pacific Church leaders within the wider forum of the World Council of Churches (WCC) and their promotion of Pacific concerns – primarily the campaign for a nuclear free Pacific and other ecological concerns. The 1975 WCC Assembly held in Nairobi marked the move of the WCC from a predominantly North Atlantic body to a fully global one, with an emphasis on African issues and with Pacific church leaders elected to the WCC Central Committee. From 1975 the Pacific presence increased within the WCC, with a Pacific President from 1991. In an interesting example of the interaction of local and international activism, Pacific church leaders both used links with the ecumenical body to educate themselves on theology, science and campaigning skills, and used the platform of WCC Assemblies to bring their concerns to a worldwide audience.     

Orleanist Diplomacy and the French Colony in Uruguay

Traditional and historic relations between France and Ireland have been the object of numerous fine studies at historic, cultural, and literary levels. They have also been much celebrated. However, the darker side of Franco-Irish relations has received far less attention. The present article aims to act as a corrective and shows that between 1870 and 1970, relations between the two countries were rather distant, strained on occasion even, and that much depended on the political and strategic evolution in Europe and as well on the Catholic question. The scope of the article ranges from the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 until Ireland's negotiations to enter the European Communities (EC) in 1970.     

Vulnerability Assessment of Unreinforced Masonry Churches Following the 2010–2011 Canterbury Earthquake Sequence

The 2010–2011 Canterbury, New Zealand earthquake sequence caused extensive damage to unreinforced masonry churches. A sample of 80 affected buildings was analysed and their performance statistically interpreted. Structural behaviour is described in terms of mechanisms affecting the so-called macro-elements, and damage probability matrices are computed. Regression models correlating mean damage level against macroseismic intensity are also developed for all observed mechanisms, improving the initial simple-linear formulations through use of multiple-linear regressions accounting for vulnerability modifiers, whose influence is evaluated via statistical procedures. Results presented herein will support the future development of predictive tools for decision-makers, also contributing to seismic vulnerability mitigation at a territorial scale.     

An engineering career as industrial mission: Jack Keiser in post-war Britain

ABSTRACT

British mechanical engineer Jack Keiser’s postwar career in industrial education was simultaneously a career in justice work and Christian industrial mission. This paper examines the Christian critique of industry Keiser developed early in his career, as he transitioned in 1949–1950 into his life’s work in firm-based industrial education, and asks how historians of technology might interpret a critique that characterized industry in hyperbolic terms as enslaving or demonic. Keiser’s was part of an international critique connected to three important post-war Christian institutions: Student Christian Movement, the Industrial Mission Movement, and the World Council of Churches. He engaged with justice at both an intimate and a cosmic level, intimately through face-to-face relationships with apprentices and trainees under his supervision, and cosmically by engaging with the biblical prophets through whom God called for justice.