Intergenerational social mobility and religious ecology: Disaggregating the conservative Protestant bloc

We extend research on the effects of religious ecologies by examining the role of religious ecologies in intergenerational socioeconomic mobility. We do so first by providing a theoretical framework addressing the diverse cultural influences of religious traditions and their impact on intergenerational mobility. We argue that certain otherworldly orientations among conservative Protestants suppress mechanisms of upward mobility, and that there are meaningful distinctions between sub-groups of conservative Protestants (evangelicals, fundamentalists, and Pentecostals). An analysis of county-level data from the recently released Equality of Opportunity Project and the Churches and Church Membership Survey is used to empirically examine the relationship between religious ecologies and intergenerational mobility. Findings suggest distinct effects of different religious groups on intergenerational mobility. These results demonstrate the importance of accounting for the ecological impact of religion on social mobility in the United States and challenge the conceptualization of conservative Protestants as a monolithic group.     

Gay Seouls: Expanding Religious Spaces for Non-Heterosexuals in South Korea

What Protestant congregations offer spaces for worship and dialogue among persons with different sexual orientations? The academic literature finds or assumes that non-heterosexuals are stigmatized or invisible in theologically conservative congregations and are welcomed in progressive, affirming congregations. This article develops an alternative claim that some conservative or evangelical congregations offer attractive spaces for non-heterosexuals to worship and dialogue. We illustrate with an exploratory study of four congregations in South Korea—two theologically progressive, two evangelical—whose pastors welcomed everybody regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity. The “inclusive-evangelical” congregations retained conservative theology on sexuality (sexual relations only within heterosexual marriage) but offered more empathic dialogue with non-heterosexuals than did most evangelical congregations; they also provided more resources, conventional religious culture, and ties to traditional affective networks than the affirming-progressive congregations. Inclusive-evangelical congregations offer an institutional venue for non-heterosexual Christians in Korea to potentially reconcile three central values: conservative Christianity, traditional (Confucian) affective networks, and expressive individualism.     

Christian Zionists in the Holy Land: Evangelical Churches,Labor Migrants,and the Jewish State

In this article we trace the creation of Evangelical churches created by and for Latin American undocumented migrants in Israel. First, we relate to the social significance of religious practices and beliefs for migrants' individual and collective identity in the host society and the ways through which non-Jewish labor migrants in Israel are creating alternative spaces that operate simultaneously as a new community of belonging. We consider the possibilities latent in the churches as “free spaces” for foreigners in the Jewish State, along with the limitations that participation in such a church entails for the migrant community. The second theme involves the universe of meanings through which believing migrants interpret their existence and place in the Jewish State. Here we probe how religion becomes a way of legitimizing the migrants' presence in a Jewish state and a means of channeling their claims for inclusion in the host country. We delve into the modes whereby the theological position of Christian Zionism is translated into a sociological position of Christian migrants in a Jewish state.     

社会福音运动与美国禁酒的宗教动因

19世纪末,美国教会各派迫于宗教与社会现实的压力,开始走出空洞说教,关注社会民生,参与各项社会改革,以期重振基督教会昔日之影响,史称之为社会福音运动。它对工业化时代的美国社会产生过深远影响,为推动禁酒运动做出了巨大贡献。     

Comparing Women's Roles in Two Faith-Based Communities with Implications for Value-Based Practice

Abstract

This qualitative study compares Evangelical Christian (EC) and ultra Orthodox Jewish (OJ) women, both from conservative, faith-based communities. The findings are clustered around three primary themes-complementary (traditional) gender roles, distrust of outsiders, and the authority of religious leaders. Nine EC women and thirteen ultra OJ women were interviewed for this study, using a modified grounded-theory method. Based on the findings, guidelines for value-based practice with women from these communities are discussed.     

Are white evangelical Protestants lower class? A partial test of church-sect theory

Testing hypotheses derived from church-sect theory and contemporary research about changes in evangelical Protestants’ social status, I use repeated cross-sectional survey data spanning almost four decades to examine changes in the social-class hierarchy of American religious traditions. While there is little change in the social-class position of white evangelical Protestants from the early 1970s to 2010, there is considerable change across birth cohorts. Results from hierarchical age–period–cohort models show: (1) robust, across-cohort declines in social-class differences between white evangelical Protestants and liberal Protestants, affiliates of “other” religions, and the unaffiliated, (2) stability in social-class differences between white evangelical Protestants and moderate, Pentecostal, and nondenominational Protestants, (3) moderate across-cohort growth in social-class differences between white evangelical Protestants and Catholics, and (4) these patterns vary across indicators of social class. The findings in this article provide partial support for church-sect theory as well as other theories of social change that emphasize the pivotal role of generations.     

曼斯菲尔德庄园：一面张扬道德传教的旗帜

《曼斯菲尔德庄园》是简.奥斯丁的一篇非常重要的小说。人们对于这部小说表现的道德伦理往往归结于作者所放映出来的女性小说家的说教传统。本文将从一个更为宽阔的视角—道德传教—来分析小说中的道德伦理。奥斯丁将道德传教这一宗教词汇借鉴到小说写作中,通过使用反复印证、福音词汇、自由间接引语和道德讨论等方法,拓展了女性小说家在道德方面的写作范畴。     

冲击与反弹:基督教与藏传佛教的早期遭遇——以保安教案为例

近代中国教案频发,究其根底,乃因基督教在传播过程中的多重面目,形成了对中国固有政治结构、社会结构与文化传统的冲击。在冲击与反弹的模式中,中西文化的冲突构成了教案的重要内容。然而中国传统文化亦因类型繁多,不仅有占主体地位的汉族文化,也有各种形态的少数族群文化,从而使中西文化的冲突也呈现出各异的形态和内涵。在早期基督教传入安多藏区的过程中,两种宗教因基本教义、信仰体系和传教形式的不同,在相互的接触中,不可避免地引发了两种同样对社会具有强制性干预色彩的宗教的冲突。藏传佛教对基督教的排斥,既是一种宗教文化对外来文化形态的排异反应,也存在现实利益的考虑。1899年发生的保安教案,清晰地展现了宣道会在保安堡传教的努力与隆务寺对传教士的不满与敌视,最终演变成为一场驱逐传教士的暴力事件。     

格拉斯顿从福音派向高教会派的转变及其原因

19世纪30年代,格拉斯顿的宗教态度发生了一次重大改变,他从一位家传的福音主义信徒转变为一名高教会派信徒。文章旨在通过对30年代前后格拉斯顿在宗教及其他思想认识方面的种种变化轨迹的描述和剖析,由此揭示格拉斯顿宗教态度转变的诸多方面的成因。