Abstract The critical onboarding of ethnography evinced by scholars in theology, religious studies and Christian ethics compellingly generates ecclesiologies and other theologies inclusive of non-academic life. Yet, in a critical reflection on methodologies in ecclesiological research, this paper questions the growing predominance of ethnography, specifically ethnographic thickness. Drawing upon the work of anthropologist Audra Simpson, this paper argues that the ethnographic turn in religious ethics and theology and religious studies misses (at best) or ignores (at worst) the epistemological violence lurking at the root of this method. By looking into practices of ethnographic thinness and refusal, this paper highlights apophasis as the best theological grounding for scholars engaging with ethnography. Ethnographic apophasis requires practitioners to heed the colonial and settler colonial realities inherent in the method of ethnography itself; ethically pushing notions of solidarity into anticolonial practice.

Abstract This paper uses sociological theories of religious change to explain findings from action research on intergenerational relations at two ethnic churches in the U.S. At the outset of our study, immigrant adults felt threatened that younger congregants preferred non-ethnic churches. When these churches used research funds to support youth development and outreach programs, they experienced intergenerational congregational belonging. We ask, do existing sociological theories sufficiently explain how these ethnic churches responded to the ecclesial problem of youth departure? Can we use action research to advance theories of how youth practice belonging within ethnic churches? We show how action research produced anomalous cases of intergenerational partnership that begs the integration of market-based and neo-institutional theories of religious change. We argue that future action research targeting youth ministries and civic activism in ethnic churches can explain how American religion is changing through the immigrant youth demographic.

Abstract Based on an interdisciplinary study of practical theology, pedagogy, and business education, this article elaborates on aspects of social competence, digitality, engagement, and lived theology. The article further describes in which areas and how often young adults completing vocational training are involved in society and the church and how they use their smartphones. In addition, the young people’s assessment of the opportunities and risks of digital possibilities is discussed as aspects of etiquette regarding manners with the smartphone. Furthermore, it is worked out how young adults perceive themselves as socially competent and what implications this has for social learning. Finally, the authors describe the significance of these findings for hybrid-liquid church life and the extent to which practical action promotes the theological productivity of young adults and supports their development.

Abstract Swedish Pentecostal and neo-Pentecostal churches have, since the 1990s, started elementary schools. In this study, we examine theological issues that this new ‘practice’ brings about or makes visible. We have performed semi-structured interviews with church and school leaders, as well as focus group interviews with staff at three schools. In our analysis, we note that the aim of the schools is not to convert pupils but to create a certain culture and thereby to develop good people. These schools do not have other core values or different aims than public schools but describe these values and aims as Christian. However, the informants believe that they have better tools with which to accomplish these values and aims. We suggest that the informants assume an ethics that focus on values such as individual freedom, tolerance, and love, that conversion is not regarded as a requisite to a good life, and that explicit religious activities are placed in the private sector. These assumptions are not, we argue, seen as new, or caused by the engagement in elementary schools; rather they are regarded as ongoing ‘changes’ in the churches under consideration here that become visible in this praxis.

Abstract Drawing on empirical data from a study of Sunday Services in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Denmark (elcd) and using a theoretical framework from ritual theory, this article analyses and interprets regular churchgoers’ participation in the Lord´s Supper. The empirical material consists of participant observations combined with focus group workshops. The article puts forward the argument that participants experience the Lord´s Supper as a ritual in the Sunday Services that enables and embodies an intensified space in which they come to terms with the other churchgoers, themselves and God. The article thoroughly explores how the Lord´s Supper as a ritual seems to consist of different parts or movements marked by collective and individual practices that significantly affect the churchgoers’ ways of participating in and experiencing the Eucharist. It thus reveals that insights from ritual theory can provide an opportunity to rethink the theological and ritual dynamic of worship and in particular the Lord’s Supper.

Abstract Attitude toward church buildings was assessed among a sample of 6,476 churchgoers in England during the first covid-19 pandemic lockdown in 2020. The six-item Scale of Attitude toward Church Buildings (sacb) assessed a range of aspects of attitude that included the importance of buildings for Christian faith generally, and buildings as central to the expression of Christian faith. Anglo-Catholics and Roman Catholics showed similar positive attitude towards buildings, Anglican Evangelicals showed a less positive attitude on average that was similar to those from Free-Churches, while Broad-Church Anglican attitude lay between these two extremes. Younger people had a more positive attitude than older people, especially among Catholics. On average, men had more a positive attitude than women, and lay people a more positive attitude than clergy. These findings suggest that the significance of buildings varies among traditions in ways that may still reflect historical issues of the Reformation.

In one of the early editions of Ecclesial Practices the Editorial reflected on how the interplay between theological reflection and ethnography could be liked to a paso doble.Each eyeing the other with respect and passion.Since those early days, the conversation between ethnography and theology continues to be lively, and from the papers published over the past eight years a tentative merging of the disciplines' respective methodology and theoretical framework is discernible.But, at the same time, it is becoming apparent that, what Kristy Nabhan-Warren and Natalie Wigg-Stevenson label a 'crisis of representation' in ethnological approaches to theology, is emerging.This special edition records a conversation at a workshop hosted by Ecclesial Practices in 2019 that addressed this issue, which Kristy and Natalie outline in their Introduction.Referring to the seminal works published in 1986 that set the methodological and theoretical framework for ethnological studies for anthropologists, Kristy and Natalie point to the treasure trove of wisdom for theologians to be found in the decades of ethnographic studies since their publication.At the heart of this 'crisis in representation' is the uncertainty about the adequate means of describing social realities.Kristy and Natalie urge practitioners engaged in ecclesial studies to reflect deeply on their methodologies and harness the energy that has developed since the late eighties.For, in so doing, they argue, theologians will be empowered to engage more fully and creatively in their conversations in the field.Critically is the shift away from verbal language towards images, from descriptive texts to creative art, and to participative action research that changes both the author and the participant.The following four papers within this special edition are excellently reviewed by Kristy and Natalie and need no further introduction in this Editorial.However, together the papers make the strongest argument that ecclesial studies is emerging into a discipline that is distinctive and informative for theologians in refreshing ways.Highlighting this 'crisis in representation' is a timely reminder that 'Ecclesial Theology' should be critically reviewed

Abstract Drawing on original ethnographic fieldwork with a Christian environmental initiative in Appalachia and Alabama, this article argues that moral theologians should conceive of ethnography as witnessing witnesses to aid and multiply witnesses. An ethnographic ‘witness methodology’ is contrasted with two other approaches that the author calls revealer and skeptic methodologies. This witness methodology is developed primarily by analyzing a creation care organization’s practice of citizen science in places devastated by coal mining and coal burning. The author develops the concept of witness by reflecting on his role in helping the organization develop a slogan to describe their work and how this slogan encapsulates their citizen science practice. Though developed primarily in conversation with the author’s fieldwork, the proposed witness methodology is also supported through dialogue with Scripture, Christian ethics, and cultural anthropology.