Talos, Vasile Alexandru (2008) Church in the apostolic spirit: A strategy for building indigenous apostolic congregations in the cultural context of Eastern Orthodox and post-Communist Romania. Doctoral thesis, Asbury Theological Seminary.
Full text not available from this repository.Abstract
Since the fall of Communism in 1989, religious freedom and openness toward Occident have been originating new spiritual and cultural dynamics for the Romanian Churches and new opportunities for their mission but also have been raising serious challenges about how to successfully fulfill their mission. The wave of great responsiveness toward the gospel lasted for about seven years. Today, churches have to compete with several social and spiritual factors in order to get people's attention. The supremacy of the Orthodox Church and the presence of a significant Evangelical movement in Romania make this country unique within the European Union. However, the competition between Orthodoxy and Evangelicalism creates unhealthy attitudes from both sides. Thus the Orthodox Church considers that the Evangelical churches as well as their "proselytism" constitute a real threat toward the spirituality, unity, and ethnical identity of the Romanian people. Evangelicals on the other hand consider that all Orthodox believers are spiritually lost and that there is nothing beneficial to learn from the history, theology, and life of their church. Next, secularism, materialism, the New Age movement, Eastern mysticism, and other religions are gaining ground on the Romanian soil, while religious traditionalism and a survival mentality impede Romanian churches from significantly reaching the young generations. At the same time mission models and innovations from abroad are imported without judicious evaluation and proper contextualization. In light of such a context, this study tries to address several issues that churches in Romania are facing today. First, this study provides a more objective view of the local historical development in order to demythologize certain historical claims which in turn lead to parochialistic, nationalistic, and traditionalist attitudes and which feeds the perpetuation of Christian nominality. Next, it provides an analysis of the Romanian culture and worldview in order to help Evangelical churches avoid an "undercontextualization" of their message, ministry, and mission and properly contextualize church growth principles and models that other churches around the world are practicing. This missiological analysis might also help the local Orthodox churches avoid an "overcontextualization" of the Christian message and mission which as one can see leads to religious syncretism. This dissertation also describes the local religious context and points out how our churches can find a clear vision and direction in this time of transition toward democracy, pluralism, and postmodernism. Also, the apostolic spirit of early Christianity should inspire our churches in order to have a significant impact on the Romanian people. Lastly, the study delineates several theological, ecclesiological, and missiological principles and insights that can help a church function as a genuine community of believers in the spirit of apostolic Christianity. It also describes and exemplifies the practical application and results of such insights as seen in the case of Good-News Baptist Church of Bucharest and explains how these insights if applied on a larger scale can produce a revitalization movement among our Evangelical churches and other interested Christian congregations.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | Romania; Evangelism; Christianity; Congregations; Churches; Attitudes; Innovations; Identity; Democracy |
| Subjects: | B Mission theology/theory > Contextualization/Inculturation C Types of Christian Ministry > Church Planting G Christian traditions/Denominations > Eastern Orthodox |
| Divisions: | Central Europe > Romania |
| Depositing User: | Users 3 not found. |
| Date Deposited: | 04 Apr 2019 18:03 |
| Last Modified: | 04 Apr 2019 18:03 |
| URI: | https://ceeamsprints.osims.org/id/eprint/1560 |
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