Distinguished scholar of religious movements Donald Miller demonstrates the energy, vitality, and entrepreneurial resourcefulness of Pentecostal and charismatic congregations. With one-quarter of the world's Christians, this movement represents a pivotal renewal force within global Christianity, fueled by religious zeal, bold vision, adaptability to local context, and non-hierarchical organizat...

Scholars have identified numerous obstacles that appear to stand in the way of democracy taking root in Russia, including the country’s religious heritage. In an attempt to understand the role of Orthodoxy in Russian society more accurately, this article explores the civic, political, and democratic values of devout Orthodox Christians and more secular-leaning “cultural Orthodox.” The findings ...

This article investigates the diets of neighboring Christians and Muslims in late medieval Spain (here 13th-16th centuries) through the analysis of the stable isotopes of carbon (δ(13) C) and nitrogen (δ(15) N) in adult human and animal bone collagen. Twenty-four Christians and 20 Muslims are sampled from two adjacent and contemporaneous settlements in the township of Gandía on the Mediterranea...

Background: This paper examines the ethical issues surrounding biological and technological advancement in the area of reproduction so as to ascertain their justifiability or otherwise especially from the Christian point of view. Based on the teaching of the Bible on the sanctity and sacredness of human life, this paper considers the ethical issues surrounding Artificial Womb, Artificial Insemi...

In order to avoid both religious intolerance and religious indifference, we need to develop a positive notion of an open laicity or secularity that permits us to respect our religiously plural as well as secular contemporary situation. Open laicity or secularity is the practical and political consequence of a Protestant theology and spirituality. It represents a critical answer to the disaster ...

Radiometric dating--the process of determining the age of rocks from the decay of their radioactive elements-has been in widespread use for over half a century. There are over forty such techniques, each using a different radioactive element or a different way of measuring them. It has become increasingly clear that these radiometric dating techniques agree with each other and as a whole, prese...

We conducted 4 experiments to examine how people incorporate visual information about strangers’ religious identities—religious badges—into their decisions about how much to trust them. Experiment 1 revealed that Christian and non-Christian participants were more trusting (as measured by self-report) of targets who wore a religious badge associated with Christianity (Ash Wednesday ashes) than t...

A web-based survey was used to assess the relationships of religious faith and frequency of church attendance with tipping under conditions of good and bad service. Results indicated that Jews and those with no religion tipped more than Christians and members of other religions, but that the vast majority of Christians tipped at or above the normative 15% of bill size. Worship frequency also si...

This article investigates the phenomenon of violence in South Africa. The statistics of the excessive violence are presented and the possible reasons for this violence are examined. In this respect the influence of the historic social stratification, the inception of Apartheid, the one-dimensional system of the past and poverty are highlighted. The central theoretical argument of this study is ...