Local Church (local + church)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


The New Cathedral of Oakland, California

NEW BLACKFRIARS, Issue 1034 2010
How Does It Pray?
Abstract After an earthquake destroyed the Cathedral of Oakland, California (pop. 450,000) in 1989, it was decided to erect a new one on a different site. After much planning a new, quite striking building was constructed, but one that was to be the centre of a complex of building hosting other church ministries. The building and plan has been much admired by architects, liturgists and theologians. This short article explores how well this building complex will help parishioners to pray and serve needs of the local church. [source]


Lumen Gentium: The Unfinished Business

NEW BLACKFRIARS, Issue 1026 2009
Paul Lakeland
Abstract Using Lumen gentium as a focus, what can we say about the unfinished business of renewal? How does it work, and how must we read Lumen gentium in order to grasp "what remains to be done"? We consider four issues, each of them in dialogue with one of four theologians who reached their 60th birthday in 1964, the year Lumen gentium was completed. Bernard Lonergan helps us come to terms with the historically conditioned nature of Lumen gentium itself. Karl Rahner points the way towards a better grasp of Lumen gentium's discussion of the place of other religions in the economy of salvation. John Courtney Murray's influence on the Council fathers is a case study in the importance of the local church. And Yves Congar's willingness to rethink his own positions testifies to the importance of not making Lumen gentium into unchanging truth. Overall, the unfinished business of the document on the Church is to learn to treat it, in Lonergan's words, as "not premisses but data." [source]


,To Whom Much Has Been Given...': Religious Capital and Community Voluntarism Among Churchgoing Protestants

JOURNAL FOR THE SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF RELIGION, Issue 3 2000
Jerry Z. Park
Research on volunteering behavior has consistently found a positive relationship between religion and volunteering. Using a sample of churchgoing Protestants (N=1,738)from the Religious Identity and Influence Survey we examine the specific influences of religiosity, religious identity, religious socialization, and religious social networks on local volunteer activity in church programs and non-church organizations, as well as general volunteering tendencies. These influences are presented within the theoretical framework of religious capital. Logistic regression techniques were applied to determine the strength of the contribution of these influences while accounting for basic background factors. Findings suggest that churchgoing Protestants are influenced by all measures to some degree, but religiosity (specifically participation in church activities) remains the strongest influence. Significant religious influences overall are most pronounced within the context of church-related volunteering which suggests that churchgoing Protestants exhibit a strong sense of community identity through their local churches. A discussion of these results and their implications for volunteering follows. [source]


OPERATIONALIZING OPPORTUNITIES AND CREATING PUBLICS IN SALVADORAN CHURCHES: FINDINGS FROM AN ETHNOGRAPHIC PROCESS EVALUATION

ANNALS OF ANTHROPOLOGICAL PRACTICE, Issue 1 2010
James Huff
This article explores how one faith-based nonprofit organization and its various Pentecostal and evangelical church partners in El Salvador are creating associational contexts within which local community development projects are identified and implemented. Observational and interview data derived from a process evaluation of a project identification exercise are examined to explore how different community and organizational stakeholders attempt to implement local development initiatives that will presumably build on local assets and associations. The study details the patterns of participation that emerged as members of local churches negotiated with their neighbors over how to best direct social change in their community. Corresponding analysis of interview data portrays how these same actors relied on diverse social logics,which are both religious and practical in nature,to make sense of and assess some of the key assumptions of a particular form of faith-based development. The case is a good example of how faith-based organizations play key roles in the formation of publics, wherein actors from diverse networks come together to deliberate over the aims and outcomes of local development projects in contemporary El Salvador. [source]