General Articles
The influence of social media in the Islamic world is producing a new kind of Muslim social influencer who is encouraging greater religious individualism among young Muslims, according to an article in the open-access journal Religions (April 8).
Economic development in Southeast Asia over the last three decades has been accompanied by a growth of Christianity, with Pentecostalism proving uniquely successful, write Terence Chong (ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute) and Daniel Goh (National University of Singapore) in the Newsletter of the In
The future of Hillsong, a popular megachurch denomination, as well as its model of “celebrity pastors,” are being called into question after a series of ethical scandals that have led to some congregations pulling out of the network.
Everywhere from prisons and the military to hospitals, Buddhist chaplains are finding that their non-dogmatic and often non-theistic approach is resonating with the rising non-affiliated population, writes Pamela Gayle White in the Buddhist magazine Tricycle (Spring).
Even if the war in Ukraine ends in some tolerable outcome, the theological divisions it has generated and its effect on Orthodox-Catholic dialogue will persist for some time, writes Robert Royal in his blog The Catholic Thing (March 28).
While short-term missions have already challenged older models of career missionaries, there is a new tendency among Christian volunteers to embrace “independent missionary” organizations that “operate without the infrastructure provided by a denomination, congregation, or para-church organizatio
There is a revitalized interest in the cult of Saint Brigid in Ireland and beyond, even as the Catholic Church is in retreat in the country, writes Ed O’Loughlin in the New York Times (March 14).
While transnational networks have played a crucial role in the organization of Muslim life in European countries, that role is being eclipsed by more local networks.
There is a small yet growing anti-war movement among evangelicals in Russia that matches that of their counterparts in the Russian Orthodox Church [see the cover article in this issue], write April French and Mark Elliott on the website Religion Unplugged (March 29).
For Ukrainian Jews, both at home and abroad, the war in Ukraine has helped solidify their Ukrainian identity where they had previously been wary of such identification or had called themselves Russian, writes anthropologist Marina Sapritsky-Nahum in the London School of Economics’ Religion an