Community, Nation and Region: Shrimoni Akali Dal (SAD) and the Politics of Community Formation

This article relies on a historical sociology approach to trace the shifting trajectory of community formation and the forging of boundaries through three discrete though corresponding imaginaries— panth (community) , qaum (nation) and punjabiyat (regional identity)—in the Sikh political narrative. The emergence of each of these grand ideas of Sikh solidity has a history putatively inter-laced with the social make up and political economy of its time. The central object of enquiry for this article is the Shrimoni Akali Dal (SAD) and the attempt is to examine the shifting terrain of its religio-political goals and objectives. Since its inception in 1920, the SAD as a political organisation and Shrimoni Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee as the chief ecclesiastical authority, have been the principle bearers of the Sikh religio-political consciousness. The three constitutive imageries of community formation that SAD in particular and Sikh politics in general has fostered, do not betray a linear trajectory. Instead, there is a discernible simultaneity where each of these ideas co-exist, but subject to contextual operationalisation.

The Call to Preach

Chapter 1 defines the call to preach as containing two aspects, inward and outward, and identifies a gender gap or difference in how men and women can claim their call to preach. By identifying the central problem of gender inequality, this chapter establishes the fundamental concern of this book as a significant issue of patriarchy and ecclesiastical authority. Next, the chapter reviews relevant scholarship in homiletics and history of preaching to contextualize this issue. Drawing on social theorists, obstacles are identified and defined that have formed and maintained the dominant narrative limiting women preachers and their voice and agency. Utilizing feminist hermeneutics, this chapter argues that the historical women preachers of this work and their power of resistance still hold valuable lessons for people struggling to claim their call to preach today.

No Other Gods

Reformed Protestants inherited older biblical and medieval understandings about the difference between civil rule and ecclesiastical authority which fostered a variety of responses to secularization. After the Reformation, Calvinists worked from received categories even as they adapted to a diverse set of political circumstances, sometimes being a persecuted minority, sometimes having unrestrained access to municipal governments, and sometimes disappointed with monarchs who promised more than they gave. Once the political revolutions of the eighteenth century upended the prevailing Constantinian pattern of ecclesiastical establishment (whether Roman Catholic or Protestant), Calvinists made even further adjustments to the sacred–secular distinction. Those adaptations contribute to ongoing debates about society, the church, and a Christian’s civic responsibilities. No matter how varied Calvinists have been in their responses to secularization, they are no stranger than other Christian communions that also struggle to make sense of Jesus Christ’s assertion that his ‘kingdom is not of this world’.

An archaeology of information landscapes?

In its modern form, information literacy was named by Zurkowski (1974), but humans have been creating and using information landscapes since prehistory. Lloyd (2010, 9-10) describes these landscapes as “intersubjectively created spaces that have resulted from human interaction, in which information is created and shared and eventually sediments as knowledge.” It can be surmised that evidence of these landscapes, even from centuries ago, should be visible in the present, including the physical structures and associated graphical and discursive maps (Whitworth 2020) that help users navigate the space and communicate practices to others. This presentation discusses an archaeological study of information landscapes both ancient and modern, based on questions such as: •What is the form of the landscape? •What practices are evident within this landscape? How do these make learning possible? •How is authority distributed over these practices? •Who has stewarded the landscape? •What knowledge ‘sediments out’ of these landscapes as they have been deposited? •How have these landscapes been made sustainable? Two landscapes will be examined in detail. First, medieval world maps, including the Map Room at the Vatican and the Mappa Mundi at Hereford, UK. These maps are oriented to helping users navigate not only the geographical landscape but the landscape of ecclesiastical authority and power. Second, the landscape emerging from the Legacies of British Slavery project (https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/). This is an example of how research and mapping conducted in the present time has revealed landscapes that were significant, but obscured by politics and power, both 200 years ago and in the present. This study shows how archaeology, in its own right, is a significant expression of information literacy. In summary, investigating landscapes and maps in this way reveals how IL can be developed through a critical pedagogy of place (Gruenewald 2008).

Changing Centres of Power

This chapter examines how pre-Islamic elites survived into the ninth century and how ancient claims to ecclesiastical authority came into conflict with the new settlements created by the Arab conquerors of the Middle East. It describes the Kufa and Basra in southern Iraq and Fustat in Egypt as the most famous settlements, which were later joined by smaller centres such as Wasit, Merv, Shiraz, and Mosul. It also mentions conquerors in the amṣār that were paid cash stipends from the revenue generated by taxes, which in turn organized Islamic justice and governance. The chapter identifies three trends in the changing geography of power in the first three centuries of Arab rule in the Middle East. It includes the shift toward a small number of significant cities, the growing centralization of government, and the movement of the centre of power.

Redefining a relevant Church Government Model for the Contemporary Church: An Analysis of Church Polity Principles in the New Testament Church

The church government in the New Testament deals with how ecclesiastical authority, operations and order were exercised in the church. The historical and Scriptural principles for church government suggest flexibility in orientation. Evidence for church government from the early New Testament Church is inconclusive. Nowhere in the Scriptures do we find an exclusive picture related to any of the fully/ officially developed systems of church government today. In the New Testament Church, there was no such a thing as highly hierarchical, clerical and ecclesiastical power. The principles of church government for the Supremacy of the reign of Christ in organization and operation characterized the New Testament Church. From a Reformed church perspective, the characteristics of hierarchicalism, clericalism and ecclesiastical power are rejected in entirety.

Relevansi Eklesiologi Communio Konsili Vatikan II Terhadap Hukum Kanonik 1983

Communion, as expressed fully in Eucharist, for its bond with salvation, is the first and foremost obligation of every member of the faithful. This obligation arises from baptism, as a sacrament which incorporates the faithful into the mystical body of Christ and accompanies the faithful in all their action: the sacramental life, of faith and of relationship with ecclesiastical authority. The Second Vatican Council has placed communion as one of the important ecclesiological paradigms. The process of revision of Code of Canon Law itself is carried out in harmony with the ecclesiological paradigm of the Second Vatican Council. Counted among the visible elements of communion, Canon Law has tried also to translate the conception of communion into juridical language, which contains the rights and obligations of the faithful to endeavor and maintain it. This article has its purpose as an effort to see the relevance of the concept of communion in the Second Vatican Council to the Code of Canon Law promulgated in 1983.

“Ecclesiastical Authority Terror”. The Downgrading of the Szigetszentmiklós Reformed Parish to Mission Parish in 1956

"On 24 May 1956, Délpest Reformed Diocese – by the consent of the Danubi-an Reformed Church District– downgraded the Szigetszentmiklós Reformed Parish to the status of mission parish. The 700 members strong, almost 400 hundred years old parish’s chief elder was also relieved of his duties whilst the consistory was dis-solved. The downgrading of the long-standing parish, the dissolution of the elected consistory, and the deprivation of its right to elect its minister gave rise to protests both inside and outside the parish. An array of scandals, disciplinary issues, and dif-ficult as well as intricate lawsuits followed. The matter also generated waves in the entire Reformed Church since the presidium of the diocese overlooked the ecclesias-tic rules and regulations, ordering the downgrade without the consent of the dioce-san assembly –also assisted by the presidium of the church district–, accepting the new situation and appointing the mission minister. The case of Szigetszentmiklós is a great example to understand the global pic-ture of the actions taken against the disloyal ministers and consistories by the ecclesi-astic governance intertwined with the one-party state. Keywords: Hungarian Reformed Church during communism, church–state relations during communism, 20th-century history of the Reformed Church in Hungary, cold war, Albert Bereczky, Szigetszentmiklós."

Epilogue

Bautista’s life provides a Mormon chapter to the history of conflict over leadership between Euro-American missionary movements and their indigenous converts. Insistence on indigenous ecclesiastical authority and the practice of polygamy cost Bautista his membership in the Mormon Church and nearly every personal relationship. Nevertheless, Bautista never bowed to the pressure of Euro-American religious authority. His contributions include: congregation building in Central Mexico, the Mormon Colonies, Arizona, and Salt Lake City; teaching genealogical research methods to Mexicans from 1922 to 1924; his leadership role in the schismatic movement known as the Third Convention (1936); his authorship of the largest indigenous Mormon theological work to date; his decades of diaries; and the nearly seventy-year survival of his utopian community. His continuing relevance is underscored by the fact that increasing conversions among Latin Americans points to an indigenous majority in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the near future.