International Society for the Study of Reformed Communities

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Publications

The University of America Press published proceedings from both the 1994 and 1997 conferences in edited volumes with the financial and technical assistance of the Calvin Center for Christian Scholarship, Calvin College. Citations for each volume and their tables of contents are given below.

Dekker, Gerard, Donald Luidens, and Rodger Rice (eds.). 1997. Rethinking Secularization: Reformed Reactions to Modernity. New York. University Press of America.

Table of Contents:

"Introduction: Setting the Stage"

Gerard Dekker, Donald Luidens, and Rodger Rice

Section I: Looking Backward

1. "Modernity and the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands: Bargaining or Surrender?"
Gerard Dekker

2. "The Church Must Make Its Influence Felt: RCA Responses to Modernity"
Lynn Winkels Japinga

3. "Calvinists in the Second City: The Dutch Reformed of Chicago's West Side"
Robert P. Swierenga

4. "Dutch Orthodox Protestants Between Isolation and Accommodation: Institutional Developments, 1945-1980"
Dirk Th. Kuiper

5. "Vision and Revision: Neo-Calvinism in the Netherlands and Canada"
Harry A. Van Belle

Section II:Strangers in Strange Lands

6. "Strangers in Their Own Land: Calvinists in an Arminian Culture"
Dennis N. Voskuil

7. "The Struggle for a New Identity within the Reformed Community: A South African Perspective"
Bonganjalo Goba

8. "The Struggle for Christian Higher Education In Japan: A Case Study of Meiji Gakuin University"
Mark R. Mullins

9. "Boundary Maintenance and Its Evidence in the Case of Canadian Dutch-Calvinists"
Bradley G. Breems

10. "Prophecy, Prayer, Protest, and Penetration: Dutch Orthodox Calvinism Confronting Modernity"
Hijme C. Stoffels

Section III:Living With Modernity

11. "Three Orientations within the Reformed Protestant Churches of the Netherlands"
Marty P. Veerman

12. "Immanentistic Beliefs in God: Modern Pantheism"
Hendrik J. C. Pieterse

13. "Transforming Society vs. Purifying the Church: Iowa Reformed, Amish, and Mennonites as a Case Study"
Michael L. Yoder

14. "The Influence of Secularization on the Church: Christian Reformed Ministers' Perceptions"
James M. Penning and Corwin E. Smidt

15. "Intra- and Intergenerational Transmission of Religious Practices in the Reformed Church in America: A Case for Individual-Level Secularization"
Roger J. Nemeth and Donald A. Luidens

16. "The Impact of Modernity on Pine Rest Christian Hospital"
Richard E. Houskamp

Section IV:Looking Forward

"Conclusion: A Resounding Gong or a Tinkling Bell?"
Gerard Dekker, Donald Luidens, and Rodger Rice

Luidens, Donald, Corwin Smidt, and Hijme Stoffles (eds.). 1998. Reformed Vitality: Continuity and Change in the Face of Modernity. New York. University Press of America.

Table of contents:

Introduction

1. "Reformed Vitality in the Face of Modernity"
Gerard Dekker

Section 1: Models of Continuity

2. "Worldview and Agriculture: A Study of Two Reformed Communities in Iowa"
Janel Curry-Roper

3. "The 'Fidelity and Chastity' Amendment: A Competition to Renew the Presbyterian Church"
William J. Weston

4. "Reformed Communities as Functional Communities: Social Capital, Christian Schools, and Reformed Community Vitality"
Rodger R. Rice and Gordon L. Van Horn

5. "Religious Vitality in a Changing Culture: Attitudes of Calvin College Students"
Corwin E. Smidt and James M. Penning

Section 2:Models of Change

6. "From Sturdy Calvinism to Spiritual Seekership: The Transformation of Religiosity in the Reformed Church in the Netherlands"
Hijme Stoffels

7. "The Unpleasant Past: Assumed Engagement in a New Age"
Nanne E. Haspels

8. "Paying Peter and/or Paul: Church Finances and Congregational Vitality"
Roger J. Nemeth and Donald A. Luidens

9. "Reformed and Feminist: Feminist Theology as a Source of Revitalization"
Lynn Winkels Japinga

10. "Signs of Stress and Vitality: The South African Dutch Reformed Church Experiences a Paradigm Switch"
H. Jurgens Hendriks

11. "Value System Conflict and Unity: The Dutch Reformed Church and the Uniting Reformed Church in South Africa"
H. Russel Botman

12. "Civic Calvinism: Source of Scottish Reformed Vitality"
William Storrar

13. Conclusion
Donald A. Luidens, Corwin E. Smidt, and Hijme Stoffels

Hendriks, H. Jurgens, Donald Luidens, Roger Nemeth, Corwin Smidt, and Hijme Stoffels (eds.). 2001. Reformed Encounters with Modernity: Perspectives from Three Continents. Print24.com, South Africa.

Table of contents:

Forward and Acknowledgements

Introduction

Section 1: The African Continent

1. "An African Response to Modernity"
Edwin Zulu

2. "The Role of Christianity and African Religions in the Construction of a Namibian Identity"
Sammuel K. Mbambo

3. "The Uniting Reformed Church in Mariental: Its Plight and Role in a Rural Society"
Zach C. Pienaar

4. "The Challenges that Face Reformed Christianity in Malawian Cities"
Osborne Lukiel Joda-Mbewe

5. "The Reformed Community in Malawi: Legalism in the Nkhoma Synod"
Hilary Mijoga

6. "The Rapid Growth of the Reformed Church in Mozambique"
Wallace Chikakuda

7. "The School Project of the Reformed Church of Mozambique"
John Roux

8. "Resource Development and Women in Leadership Positions in the Reformed Church of Zimbabwe"
Wilbert Runyowa and Rangarirai Rutoro

9. "A Reformed Perspective on Development in Africa: A Personal Pilgrimage"
Bennie J. van der Walt

10. "Doing Missional Theology in an African Context"
H. Jurgens Hendriks

Section 2: The American Continent

11. "Conflict and Change in the Reformed Church in America Since 1945"
Lynn Japinga

12. "Burn the Wooden Shoes: Modernity and Division in the Christian Reformed Church in North America"
Robert Swierenga

13. "The Disintegration of a Sexual Harassment Case"
Ronald R. Stockton

14. "What is Normal in the Presbyterian Church (USA)?
William Weston

15. "Fragmentation and Dispersion: Postmodernity Hits the RCA"
Roger J. Nemeth and Donald A. Luidens

16. "Oceans Apart? Theology and Politics Among Reformed Clergy in the United States and Scotland"
James M. Penning and Corwin Smidt

Section 3: The European Continent

17. "Is Reformed Belief Possible in a Post-Modern Society"
Gerard Dekker

18. "You Can't Force 'em: Patterns of Commitment in the Dutch Reformed Church and the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands"
Nanne E. Haspels, Frederiek Th. Lunshof-Klein, and Hijme C. Stoffels

19. "Pietistic Calvinists and Modernity"
Nicolette Hijweege

Conclusion

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