Botica, Florin Paul (2010) Toward addressing split-level Christianity: A study of the interaction between Christianity and folk religions in Romania. Doctoral thesis, Asbury Theological Seminary.
Full text not available from this repository.Abstract
In general, the Romanian people claim to be Christian attending church, praying to God, and observing other Christian rites and holydays. However, they also believe in and practice folk beliefs and customs many of which are unbiblical. They use these local folk beliefs and practices to succor help as they try to deal with daily needs and issues. The major focus of this dissertation is to better understand the problem of split-level Christianity in Romania with the goal of helping local Christian leaders better address it. Thus, this study introduces Romanian Christian leaders and ministers to what is known in missiology as critical contextualization, and explains how ministries based on an expanded model of critical contextualization can guide them in better re-evangelize and disciple split-level Christians. First, the study focuses on folk beliefs and practices forbidden in the Bible (i.e. witchcraft, spiritism, black magic, astrology, fortune-telling, divination and etc), which local churches should address through developing biblical responses and contextual ministries. These more specific folk beliefs and practices were identified and tested through participant observation and interviewing 80 locals from various Romanian regions. My goal here was to discover the degree to which Romanians who claim to be Christian combine these local folk religions with their more orthodox Christian beliefs, and appeal to their practices especially in times of crisis. Second, this dissertation analyzes the main branches of Romanian Christianity, namely Orthodoxy, Catholicism, and Protestantism, in order to understand factors related to their history, theology, ecclesiology, ways of doing ministry locally, as well as how each branch has been addressing the issue of Christian syncretism. At this point 10 Orthodox priests, 8 Evangelical Pastors, 6 Catholic priests, and several others Church leaders were interviewed about current church ministries designated to address split-level Christianity. It is also necessary to understand next how Christianity and folk religion developed and coexisted throughout Romanian history, as well as, how each of the major historical periods influenced their expansion or regression. Very essential at this point is the examination of some past attempts of successful contextualization of the gospel and factors that led to revitalization of Christianity. Lastly, this dissertation introduces 7 missiological insights that local Christian ministers and their churches can employ to better address the issue of split-level Christianity within the Romanian context. These include: a biblically based method of decontextualizing and recontextualizing syncretistic Christian beliefs and practices; a more holistic model of evangelism which I call "Sodzo Evangelism"; a specific way to disciple split-level and nominal Christians which I call "Kathairo Discipleship"; contextual church structures and ministries; specific leadership training; specific theological education; and ecumenical cooperation. The more local Romanian churches will intentionally practice such biblical and contextual forms of ministry and mission the more successful they will be in re-evangelizing and discipling nominal and split-level Christians.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | Christianity; Evangelism; Religions; Churches; Priests; Interviews; Astrology; Pastors |
| Subjects: | A Church/mission history B Mission theology/theory > Spirituality F Interreligious Dialogue and Witness > New Religious Movements H Social research and religion in Central Eastern Europe |
| Divisions: | Central Europe > Romania |
| Depositing User: | Users 3 not found. |
| Date Deposited: | 05 Aug 2018 18:27 |
| Last Modified: | 14 Nov 2020 18:17 |
| URI: | https://ceeamsprints.osims.org/id/eprint/103 |
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