Soundings

What is the proper relationship between the Church and the State? IN ORDER TO ANSWER THIS QUESTION we have to inquire what the Bible and the teaching of the Church have to say about the role and purpose of both these institutions. Let us begin with the State. In my article for Methodist Message on […]

THE ORIGIN OF PENTECOSTALISM is usually traced to Topeka, Kansas, where under the leadership of Charles Parham, a former Methodist preacher, a group of Christians experienced an outbreak of tongue-speaking in 1901. In 1906, William J. Seymour, a black Holiness preacher and student of Parham, led a revival in an abandoned African Episcopalian church in […]

SOCIAL HOLINESS “For Wesley, the true Christian “knows of no religion but social; no holiness but social holiness”.” METHODISM IS ASSOCIATED WITH JOHN AND CHARLES WESLEY, sons of an Anglican rector and his wife, Susannah. Together at Oxford, the Wesley brothers formed the Holy Club (ca 1725), and gathered around them students who were concerned […]

In what ways can nationalism or patriotism become idolatrous? MANY PHILOSOPHERS AND SOCIOLOGISTS have observed that the rise of modern secularism has not erased man’s need for religion. Although it is perfectly true to say that modern man has by and large lost faith in the traditional religions, his need for religion – which is […]

The term ‘Lutheran’ refers to the teachings and practices associated with Martin Luther and the reforms he initiated MOST HISTORIANS OF WESTERN CHRISTIANITY would mark Oct 31, 1517 as the beginning of the great intellectual and religious movement called the Protestant Reformation. On that fateful day, Martin Luther, an Augustinian monk posted his famous Ninety-Five Theses on […]

Can politics be separated from religion, according to the Christian perspective? Can politics be separated from religion, according to the Christian perspective? THE SEPARATION OF RELIGION FROM POLITICS, resulting in the notion of “private religion”, is the outcome of the secularism associated with the 18th century European Enlightenment. Before that time, religion was always a […]

THE EVANGELICAL FREE CHURCH is a Christian denomination that traces its roots to the 16th century Protestant Reformation in Europe. In its concrete historical form this denomination began in the Scandinavian countries like Sweden, Norway and Denmark and later spread to America and Canada. The Evangelical Free Church therefore is broadly located within the theological and […]

How should Christians understand the meaning and responsibilities of citizenship? THE WEBSTER DICTIONARY defines a citizen as “an inhabitant of a city or a town, a member of a country, native or naturalised, having rights and owing allegiance”. Broadly speaking, therefore, citizenship has to do with the relationship between an individual and a community. In […]

The Church of the Brethren THE ORIGINS OF THE BRETHREN MOVEMENT can be traced to 18th century Germany. The draconian control that the government of the day exercised over the established church and the little tolerance for religious diversity had driven some dissenters to take refuge in the German town of Schwarzenau. There these non-conformists […]

How should Christians respond to the growing influence of secularism? THE WORD “SECULAR” comes from the Latin saecularis which means of an age or of a generation. This term points to concern for this world and for the affairs of our time as opposed to other-worldly concerns. Traditionally, the term secular has a negative connotation in […]

THE ORIGIN OF THE BAPTIST TRADITION is a subject of considerable debate among historians and even among Baptist theologians and leaders. Historians like David Benedict and Walter Rauschenbusch (both of whom are Baptist) trace the Baptist heritage to the Anabaptist sects of the 16th century that rejected paedobaptism and reinstituted the baptism of believers. “Anabaptist” […]

Should Christians be patriotic? Can patriotism be Christian? WEBSTER DEFINES PATRIOTISM as the “zealous love of one’s country”. It follows that a patriot is a “person who loves his native country and will do all he can for it”, and that a patriotic act is one that is “inspired by … or aimed at arousing […]