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This book presents an exciting new approach to the medieval church by examining the role of literary texts, visual decorations, ritual performance and lived experience in the production of sanctity. The meaning of the church was intensely debated in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. This book explores what was at stake not only for the church’s sanctity but for the identity of the parish community as a result. Focusing on pastoral material used to teach the laity, it shows how the church’s status as a sacred space at the heart of the congregation was dangerously – but profitably – dependent on lay practice. The sacred and profane were inextricably linked and, paradoxically, the church is shown to thrive on the sacrilegious challenge of lay misbehaviour and sin.

Zweig’s contribution in Albanian literature comes from the effort of well-known Albanian intellectuals and translators, which in turn has inspired and influenced prominent figures in Albanian literature and culture. This paper focuses on the inspirations, similarities and differences between ‘Last Mass in the Cathedral of St. Sophia’ by the German author Stefan Zweig, who is one of the authors most frequently translated into Albanian, and ‘The Church of St. Sofia’ by the famous Albanian author, Ismail Kadare. The paper provides solid arguments demonstrating the interesting parallels between the theme, plot and motives in the two stories that depict the same historical event, the conquest of Constantinople and the invasion of Ottoman soldiers into the capital of the Byzantine Empire. Particularly, they emphasise the Church of Saint Sophia, the Sultan’s amazement at its beauty, the conversion of the Church into a mosque and the covering of the Christian elements, the faces of the saints and especially ‘those of Christ and Saint Mary’. Furthermore, icons and elements of historical and religious Christian significance, the fall of the Cross and the altering of the direction of prayers according to religious affiliation are also depicted. Thus, it may be said that great writers, such as Zweig and Kadare, do not have any regularity in where and when they appear. Hence, the connections and literary similarities, whether accidental or a sign of inspiration and influence, can be found in their works, as in many other authors of world literature. 

This article examines the role of house churches in South Africa in the ministry of emerging adulthood. Emerging adulthood is a turbulent life stage that is characterised by change and exploration. Additionally, it involves increasing responsibility and autonomy as young people assume more adult roles. This article suggests that emerging adulthood is a critical life stage for several reasons. Given the contextual realities of South Africa (high unemployment, high levels of crime, poverty), as well as the associated negative behaviour and the increasing religious disaffiliation among emerging adults, it is essential to provide nurturing support to this group in particular. To this end, this article presents a missional model for house churches as an alternative method of ministry for reaching and retaining this population group. The characteristics of house churches and emerging adults are explored and serve as the backdrop for this missional model.Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implicationsThis article makes intradisciplinary and interdisciplinary contributions by engaging the theological disciplines of missiology and practical theology as well as psychology and sociology.

We review the bourgeoning literature on multiracial religious organizations. Although scholars have paid attention to racial integration in congregations since the 1940s, only recently has there been a concerted focus on this topic. This article—having reviewed the state of the field—argues that research on this topic must engage in three vital labors: explore more theory building or theory extension, interact with the broader field of sociology, and explicate how religious racial diversity contributes to or dismantles systems of social stratification. We discuss possible paths and approaches for future research on race, religion, and integration.

This essay extends the analysis of an earlier article, published in the previous issue of Studies in Philology, which argues for an Anglo-Saxon cultural identity for the nameless man in the tomb in the Middle English St. Erkenwald. The present essay examines the fictional scenario of the poem, involving the exhumation and investigation of an early English saintly body during renovations at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, within the context of the historical investigations of Anglo-Saxon saints’ cults in the decades following the Conquest of 1066, proceedings that track the nationwide cathedral-building program inaugurated by the Normans. The poem’s emotional staging of a skeptical high-ranking prelate questioning the body, flanked by an anxious community, and the conspicuous absence of written documentation concerning the body capture the spirit and methodology of the historical investigations conducted by Norman prelates on early English saints pending reinterment in new ecclesiastic buildings. The poem emulates features of post-Conquest hagiography of early English saints in its long historical proem, while challenging the vision of history it proclaims. The source text of the Trajan legend and its importance to pre-Conquest society underscore and reassert early English formulations of salvation, supplying the distinctly early English mode of baptism of tears. The poem subtly undermines the investigatory process, defending early English identity in post-Conquest society.

The temple of San Francisco de La Paz is one of the best examples of the mestizo baroque style in Bolivia. The richness of the interior of the temple contributes to creating a theatrical and symbolic space, intending to evangelize and transmit the new values of the Catholic faith, through its iconographic programme. Our analysis highlights the differentiation of interior space using altarpiece programmes, thus evidencing how interior architecture is used for communication purposes. We conclude that interior space is transformed for evangelizing purposes.

Christians are known for their caring activities towards the world, except that it is the mutual care between believers that witnesses the restoration found in Jesus Christ to the world (Jn 13:35). The article claims that mutual care between believers may bring restoration and healing to church congregations when based on the paradigm of the family of God. The biblical family metaphors of the adoption in Christ, the Body of Christ and the Bride of Christ are discussed to understand the functioning of mutual care through the interaction of koinōnia and diakonia within church congregations. The purpose of mutual care within filial relationships is to restore one another and acquire knowledge about their new identity (‘being-function’) and to develop their new identity in Christ by preparing one another to participate together in the mission of God (‘doing-function’) as they continually increase in maturity (‘becoming-function’). The C.A.R.E. model, as a practical and applicable tool, employs the biblical concepts of koinōnia and diakonia that are already functioning within congregations. Enhancing these biblical concepts increases mutual care and leads to a healthier church where members live according to who they are in Christ and extend this blessing of care to others around them.Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implicationsThis article offers a unique interdisciplinary exploration, bridging pastoral care, practical theology and systematic theology. It delves into the paradigm of the family of God as a fresh approach to fostering mutual care within church congregations through koinōnia and diakonia.

One does not read very far in the second and by far the longest section of Herbert’s The Temple before the single-minded exhortations of the speaker in “The Church Porch” and the early Lenten “complaints” of Christ to his people in “The Sacrifice” turn to the unpredictable elements of the speaker’s human condition: puzzlement, striving, grief, joy. The quick movement between these elements is due not only to Herbert’s poetic sensibility, I argue, but also to his anthropological understanding and his interest in early Christian precedent. I focus on remnants of Prudentius’ 5th-century Psychomachia in Herbert’s poetry and prose and suggest that they open a new vista onto Herbert’s performance of the unsteady dual state of the temple builder, whether poet or reader.

In 1961, the author's family took a field trip to the Beecher Bible and Rifle Church in Wabaunsee, Kansas. The church was named after Henry Ward Beecher, who had shipped rifles hidden below Bibles to the Free State New Haven Colony in 1855. The church was a crucial stop on the Underground Railroad. The author's father wanted them to understand the turmoil of Bleeding Kansas, a period of armed conflict between pro-slavery and Free State factions. However, the church was closed on the day of their visit. On their way home, they stopped at a cafe where they saw a sign indicating racial discrimination. The author's father confronted the owner and they left the restaurant hungry. This incident highlighted the author's father's anger over racial injustice. Later, in the 1960s, the author's father framed three poems that spoke to brotherhood and commonalities, which he read aloud to the family.