After World War II America saw itself as “the protector of Western culture.” As the Soviet Union became more secular, the United States remained primarily Protestant and added the phrase “one nation under God” to its Pledge of Allegiance. As war veterans returned home they wanted to fit in with their communities and found solidarity at church. Civilians also sought religion following the war. As a result church attendance skyrocketed to record breaking rates. “Being ‘normal’ was a highly valued social ideal during this time,” says Jacobsen.
Loyalties to a certain Protestant denomination have gone way down since the war. So much so that American Protestants of different denominations have started to refer to themselves as just “Christians.” Non-denominational Protestants have begun identifying themselves more with their particular congregation than with the denomination itself. Protestant membership has continued to decline and even lost its majority status sometime during the nineties. It seems to have been replaced by a large increase in popularity of the evangelical subgroup, the largest religion today. The American religious profile has changed in other ways since the World War II.
Since the 70s, religions other than Protestant, Catholic and Pentecostal have seen an increase of 2%. The number of people identifying as nonreligious has also increased from 2% to 20% in 2015. Many of these individuals prefer to see themselves as spiritual, rather than religious.
Early Baptists were the first to believe in a concept called soul competency, or soul liberty. This led to the development of an ideal that many believe to this day. This is the concept of the right to believe whatever an individual believes in their heart, for lack of a better term. Many American believe it any intrusion into this can be spiritually harmful. At the same time American Christians think it is their responsibility to share their faith in an effort to convert others. This is in an effort to make others aware and give them an opportunity to choose to practice.
Author Archives: Christopher
Team 3: Piepgrass, question 1
Between the year 1885 and 1915 virtually every Western European nation made a move to colonize Africa. This “scramble” for resources during the Industrial Revolution was led primarily by the English and French government. The citizens of these nations supported the globalization movement because they thought it was their duty to spread the ethics of “Christian living.” These missionaries often started schools supported by governments.
William Wade Harris was said to be visited by the angel Gabriel while he was in jail. Following his experience he devoted his life to Christianity. After being released he preached the gospel up and down the east coast. He’s said to be responsible for converting 100,000 Africans to Christianity.
In the late 1800s African Independent Churches began popping up. Their interpretation of the Gospel was more orthodox than the version being propagated by western missionaries at the time.
During WWII many European and American missionaries left Africa leaving opportunity for Africans to fill in. John Gatu requested that all missionary work be halted so that the people could gain more independence and separate themselves from western Christianity. This gave the new leaders of the church an opportunity to interpret the Bible as they saw fit.
One way that African Christianity has distinguished itself from Western Christianity is by incorporating Native African tradition. These traditions value ancestors. It is believed that ancestors play a role in the word of the living. Deceased family members continue on as guides and protectors for their descendants. Interpretation in Africa has also led 20-30 percent of native Christians to believe that God is a divine force, rather than a personal being. Different nuances in Christian beliefs and these traditional beliefs that gives the African Christian demographic such spiritual depth. A common connection that links the old and the new moral traditions is a dynamic called Ubuntu. Rather than an individual faith in God like in Western Christianity Ubuntu emphasizes the connection of all humans. In this community the Christian God can be found.
Team 3: Piepgrass, Question 2
Philip Jakob Spener is known as the “father of Pietism.” Spener was raised by devout protestants but he himself was more of a Calvinist than a Lutheran. He studied theology at some of the best Protestant universities and eventual earned a doctorate degree. He worked toward what Gonzalez describes as a completion of the protestant movement that had started in the sixteenth century but was interrupted by the doctrinal debates. Agreeing with Luther’s idea of justification through faith Spener emphasized a need for sanctity of the member. In response to the rationalism of philosophers and the dogmatic structure of the catholic church he encouraged religion to be practiced in small groups in which that tone wasn’t promoted. Instead preachers were encouraged to “set aside their polemical and academic tone” in order to foster a more intimate relationship with believers. This attracted a lot of people to “colleges of piety.”
One of the most significant contributions Piety made to the world of religion was the “birth of Protestant missions.” The first was in Tranquebar, India in 1707. Later, a school of missions was founded for training missionaries. Within twenty years more protestant missionaries had been sent out than in the two centuries earlier.
In Pia Desideria Spener writes about the significance of the scriptures. He says that they should be taught to the congregation in their entirety and that the masses need help understanding them. The average person isn’t getting enough out of just reading at home and in order to help them gain an understanding a specific time should be allotted at church when they are read in sequence. At this time members with more experience with a particular passage will be able to speak about their understanding of it. By having this private reading and interactive public study the average person will be able to come to a better understanding and convey that to their friends and family without putting an overwhelming burden on the priests and ministers. The congregation will be strengthened and will have more control over their relationship with God.