This paper aims to explain the tradition of dipopantunu bai in Tana Toraja and its relevance to Calvin’s teaching on atonement. This writing is motivated by the existence of traditions in Toraja ...society that encounter the church, and more especially Calvin’s teachings. This is an essential matter because tradition or culture and the church are two things that cannot be separated. Therefore, in order to provide a correct understanding of the dipopantunu bai tradition, it is necessary to be relevant in terms of Calvin’s teaching on atonement. The method used in this study is a qualitative research method with an ethnographic approach that seeks to explore dipopantunu bai culture and atonement in the teaching of Calvinism. The results of this study show that Calvinists no longer view and prioritize the guilt of atonement in receiving forgiveness or salvation from God because the salvation received by humans is grace. However, the dipopantunu bai tradition in a Calvinist perspective can be used as a means to realize mistakes or sins in order to return to the grace given by God.
This article introduces the theology of a neglected figure in the Dutch Reformed (
) tradition of the nineteenth century: Jan Bavinck (1826-1909), the father of Herman Bavinck (1854-1921). The ...approach to his theology is done by describing his definition of piety (
or
), a fundamental subject within the Reformed tradition. The relevance of piety is briefly described in the theology of John Calvin (1509-64) and the
in order to argue for the necessity of exploring Jan Bavinck’s description of the nature and application of godliness. After analysing some primary sources, I argue that Jan Bavinck’s theology of piety can be described as experiential and holistic. In this way, it may be considered, in general terms, as a bridge between the
of old Calvinism – characterised by Calvin and the
theologians – and neo-Calvinism, represented by Abraham Kuyper (1837-1920) and Jan’s son Herman Bavinck.
Part biography and part microhistory,Jacob Green's Revolutionfocuses on two key figures in New Jersey's revolutionary drama-Jacob Green, a radical Presbyterian minister who advocated revolution, and ...Thomas Bradbury Chandler, a conservative Anglican minister from Elizabeth Town who was a leading loyalist spokesman in America. Both men were towering intellects who were shaped by Puritan culture and the Enlightenment, and both became acclaimed writers and leading figures in New Jersey-Green for the rebelling colonists, Chandler for the king. Through their stories, this book examines the ways in which religion influenced reform during a pivotal time in American history.
Heaven's Wrath explores the religious thought and religious rites of the early Dutch Atlantic world. D. L. Noorlander argues that the Reformed Church and the West India Company forged and maintained ...a close union, with considerable consequences across the seventeenth century.
Dutch merchants, officers, sailors, and soldiers found in their faith an ideology and justification for mercantile and martial activities. The West India Company supported the Reformed Church financially in Europe and helped spread Calvinism to other continents, while Calvinist employees and colonists benefitted from the familiar aspects of religious instruction and public worship. Yet, Noorlander argues, the church-company union also encouraged destructive military operations against Catholic enemies abroad and divisive campaigns against sinners and religious nonconformers in colonial courts. Religious fervor, violence, and intolerance imposed financial and demographic costs that the small Dutch Republic and its people-strapped colonies could not afford. At the same time, the Reformed Church in the Netherlands undermined its own religious mission by trying to control colonial hires, publications, and organization from afar.
Noorlander's argument in Heaven's Wrath questions the core assumptions about why the Dutch failed to establish a durable empire in America. He downplays the usual commercial explanations and places the focus instead on the tremendous expenses incurred in the Calvinist-backed war and the Reformed Church's meticulous, worried management of colonial affairs.
By pinpointing the issues that hampered the size and import of the Dutch Atlantic world, Noorlander is poised to revise core notions about the organization and aims of the Dutch empire, the culture of the West India Company, and the very shape of Dutch society...
This book offers an in-depth history of Calvinism in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth 1548-1648. It traces the development of polity, liturgy, piety and church discipline. Bem questions the ...prevailing narrative of decline post 1570 and argues that the three Reformed Churches in fact continued to develop and flourish until the 1630s.
The article analyzes personality and work of R. J. Rushdoony, an American Calvinist pastor and theologian of the second half of the 20th century. The author considers Rushdoony’s origin, as well as ...his linguistic, pedagogical, theological and postgraduate education. Details of his spiritual ministry are taken into account, in particular, Rushdoony’s missionary work among Native Americans, personal life during his ministry, interest in libertarianism, as well as his transitions from one religious organization to another. Regarding the latter part of Rushdoony’s biography, examined are his retirement from spiritual ministry, foundation and work in the “Chalcedon Foundation”, and later years of his life. The author gives a general characteristic of Rushdoony’s work, in particular, the early stage of his activity, participation in the homeschooling movement, and his radical historical position are described. The main attention is paid to the ideas of Christian reconstruction: the apology for applying of the Moses’ Law as the basis for legal framework in modern state, Rushdoony’s anti-democratic preferences, his understanding of the concept of personal freedoms, his literary activity, and criticism from alleged inspirers.
Across much of the postcolonial world, Christianity has often become inseparable from ideas and practices linking the concept of modernity to that of human emancipation. To explore these links, Webb ...Keane undertakes a rich ethnographic study of the century-long encounter, from the colonial Dutch East Indies to post-independence Indonesia, among Calvinist missionaries, their converts, and those who resist conversion. Keane's analysis of their struggles over such things as prayers, offerings, and the value of money challenges familiar notions about agency. Through its exploration of language, materiality, and morality, this book illuminates a wide range of debates in social and cultural theory. It demonstrates the crucial place of Christianity in semiotic ideologies of modernity and sheds new light on the importance of religion in colonial and postcolonial histories.