Catherine Ballériaux (Halle/Saale-Wittenberg, Germany)

›According to the Will of God Revealed in Scriptures‹. Native Praying Towns as Examples of Reformed Godly Governance

This paper will analyse the practicalities of John Eliot’s missions amongst the natives in the 17^th century, and compare his efforts to Catholic conversion strategies used by the French Jesuits in the same area. The implementation of Christianity among peoples who were considered not only ignorant of its fundamental tenets but also of the basic principles necessary for community building and the establishment of civil life forced missionaries to push their theology to its limits and to formulate in more details how the universal fallen nature of man could not only be regenerated through grace but also controlled by social and political structures. The margins of empire were key areas where the essentials of early modern religious thought could be enacted, crystallized, and transformed.

 

Miklós Kovács (Szeged, Hungary)

The Printer Benedek Abádi

By looking at the biography of the printer Benedek Abádi (1514-1552?), this contribution focuses on the interdependence of the Reformation and the emerging book printing trade in Hungary. After his studies at the university of Krakau, Abádi learned the craft of printing from J. Vietor. In 1541, at the request of Palatin Nádasdy, he printed the whole New Testament translated into the Hungarian language by J. Sylvester, which is known as the most beautiful Hungarian book of the 16^th century. Following this, he studied in Wittenberg and then became an ordained Lutheran preacher who worked in a charismatic way between 1545 and 1552 in the almost destroyed city of Szeged in South Hungary. Melanchthon once wrote in a letter about Abádi: With his sermons »glänzt das Evangelium« (the Gospel is shining). The end of Abádi’s life is unknown: In 1552, his tracks faded away in the disturbances of the Turkish occupation.

 

Nataliia Sinkevych (Tübingen, Germany)

Religiosae Cryptae (1675) by Johannes Herbinius. The Description of Kiev and its ›Sacral Space‹ in Early Modern Multiconfessional Discourse

History of the Early Modern times presents plentiful paradoxes in interdenominational relations. One of these paradoxes is the publishing of John Herbinius’ book Religiosae Kijoviensium Cryptae (1675) in German Protestant Jena describing an important Orthodox center of intellectual and spiritual life – the Kyiv Cave Monastery.

Herbinius’ book has little religious polemic. He sympathised to Ruthenians and their religious customs. The religious tolerance (or rather toleration) in the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania had a great impact on the society, allowed to avoid religious wars and gave many interesting examples of coexisting of different religious denominations. This very toleration allowed Herbinius’ book to appear and made a great impact on his ideas.

 

Henning Schwanke (Leipzig, Germany)

Rien ne va plus? The Question of the Ethnos

Seemingly, under the leadership of Protestantism, modernity abolished the ethnos as a stable reflection group for the individual. Merely rarely, by means of a schismogenesis, does a particular group succeed in distancing itself from the mainstream in a long-lasting way and establishing its own cultural community on a stable basis. The domination of blood ties seems to have come to an end with the Reformation and its primacy of education.

From a religious-ethnological point of view, this contribution will offer examples of how closed ethnic apart-cultures were established in the industrial and service modernity in the succession of the Reformation, and how this will be a relevant way of life in the future.

 

Joseph Bosco Bangura (Potchefstroom, South Africa)

›Sola Scriptura‹? African Charismatic Movements and the Bible

African Charismatic Movements are rarely analysed along the lines of a Reformation of Christianity in Africa. This paper responds to this scholarly omission by (i) arguing that Charismatic Movements may be calling on the African church to reengage afresh with the Bible; (ii) discussing ways in which the Charismatic attitude to the Bible may be construed as part of the unfinished business of the Reformation; and (iii) that African Charismatic Movements are attempting to allow the Bible to recast poignant cultural themes in Africa’s new Christianity.

 

Oyeleye Ojemola (Waco, USA)

The Impact of Luther’s Reformation in Nigeria

The aim of this paper is to explore the after effect of the Reformation many years after Martin Luther had to deal with what he considered a plague in the Church. Beginning with the establishment of missionary contacts with the indigenous tribes of the Bight of Benin to the establishment of colonies by the western empires, this paper is exploring the impact played in the shaping of the socio-political atmosphere of the area to become known as Nigeria. Missionary activities divided the people along tribal lines, and create political structures that still influence both the church and the state. The paper will then move on to present how this mission activities from different denominations is still influencing politics, arts, economy and social structure of the Nigerian church and the society.

 

Chiropafadzo Moyo (Harare, Zimbabwe)

Reformation in an Intercultural Context

This presentation will discuss the impact that mission work has had on religious teachings, and the ways that worship, types of music, and understanding of God and creation have evolved with the adaptation of religion across different cultures. Taking heed of the challenges in intercultural contexts, this presentation will examine cities as sites of spiritual reformation. Large cities are a convergence of different cultures, because they are predominantly made of migrants from smaller towns. As such, the contemporary church in many ways draws from the cultural pillars of its congregants, and is continuously reforming itself to reflect this. By drawing on experiences in Zimbabwe and other African countries, this presentation will provide a perspective on Reformatory initiatives in the church.

 

Johnson Mbillah (Nairobi, Kenya)

Christian-Muslim Relations in Africa in the Light of the Reformation

The paper seeks to make it clear that the theological foundation for the formation of the Programme for Christian-Muslim relations in Africa (PROCMURA) in 1959 as the pioneer African organisation that stretches a hand of friendship to Muslims, is Reformed Theology in all its facets. The cardinal framework that undergirds PROCMURA’s essence and work comes in its statement: »We relate with Muslims from our faith in the Triune God and not in spite of that faith«. It also comes in its Mission Statement: »Faithful Christian Witness and Christian constructive engagement with Muslims for peace and peaceful co-existence.« ›Christian Witness‹ and ›Working for Peace‹, it concludes, are mandatory since ›Witness‹ is in obedience to Christ’s command and ›Peace‹ is following His example as the ›Prince of Peace‹.

 

Wilhelm Wachholz (São Leopoldo, Brazil)

Traces of the Reformation and its effects in Brazil

Since 1824, Lutheranism in Brazil has contributed to the introduction of a new community form. In the first three centuries of Brazilian colonial history, society was divided into two strata: masters and slaves. A real middle class was only constituted with German immigration. Immigrants both brought with them their experiences of such communal life, and they joined forces to set up their own schools, churches, cemeteries, etc., since the Brazilian government failed to give them any support. Community life structured economic, political, social, cultural and religious relations and to this day continues doing so.

 

Anupama Hial (Hamburg, Germany)

Cultural Impact of Lutheranism in India

Culture is one of the elements of social reality. It is true that Indian culture has played a significant role in enabling people – men and women both – to realize their capacities and self-worth. Such cultural ideas find their roots in ancient Hindu scripture, in folklore and mythology as well. Many of the practices that Indian men and women have either adopted or these have been thrust upon them both within the Church and in the secular life, are due to the unconscious appropriation of various discriminatory cultural ideas that prevail in Indian society, even today. However, the first Lutheran Mission from 1706, also called ›Tranquebar Mission‹ had challenged and influenced the Indian culture and the lives of Men and Women in India for almost 310 years.

 

Kamil Öktem (Münster, Germany)

From Description to Normativity. ›Sola Scriptura‹ as Influence on Muslim Thought in the 19^th and 20^th Centuries

In the context of newly formed structures and organizations of the Islamic studies disciplines, this contribution focuses on the question of how an up-to-date understanding of Koran interpretation can be imagined. To answer this, first the development of the principle of ›sola scriptura‹ will be briefly examined, then the transformation from description to normativity in the exegesis of the Koran, due to the influence of the Protestant exegesis, will be presented. This contribution will also consider how the latter impacted the hierarchy of the hermeneutical textual sources of interpretation, which can be summarized as the Koran, the Sunna, the consensus of the scholars and the conclusion by analogy. If we re-think the Koran as ›solo Corano‹ by means of this impact, a remarkable difficulty concerning this hierarchy arises.