"ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, The"

Gustafson, James M.

doi: 10.1177/000271627038700101pmid: N/A

Ahlstrom, Sydney E.

doi: 10.1177/000271627038700102pmid: N/A

The decade of the 1960's has been marked by revolutionary changes in theology and ethics as well as in re ligious attitudes and moral standards. The over-all ecclesiasti cal situation has also been profoundly altered, for Protestants, Catholics, and Jews alike. Radical theology, powerful counter cultural movements, a search for new life styles, serious dis satisfactions with traditional modes of religious expression, and widespread questioning of long-accepted views on the church, the university, and the state have put the 1960's into sharp contrast with the postwar period of affluence and religious re vival. This relatively sudden transition is by no means easily explained, especially since the underlying intellectual and social issues have been slowly maturing for hundreds of years. There are certain half-coincidental convergences and a number of es pecially catalytic events, however, that have given a powerful popular base to anxieties and doubts that were once more restricted. Especially critical were the demographic and tech nological developments that led, almost simultaneously, to both an urban crisis and a racial crisis. At the same time that his toric religious convictions and ecclesiastical loyalties were being severely tested, moreover, the long-accepted grounds for confi dence in and allegiance to the American system were being undermined by the diversion of governmental concern and resources from the works of peace and reconstruction to the prosecution of the war in Vietnam. What might otherwise have been a difficult but gradual transition thus became sudden, traumatic, and disruptive.

Laney, James T.

doi: 10.1177/000271627038700103pmid: N/A

The new morality is both a behavioral phenom enon and an articulation of a contemporary ethic. Behaviorally speaking, the new morality is a rejection of more traditional models of the moral life and a strong endorsement of new modes. As such, it exhibits elements common to any ethic: adherence to and advocacy of its values and rejection and denial of others. Proponents of the new morality as an ethic, on the other hand, not only have interpreted it to be a repudi ation of legalism, but have also considered it to be an ethic beyond objective obligation. By defining new morality pri marily in the categories of love, they have sought to relieve this "new" morality of all structured constraints. Although it is true that the new morality is more relaxed about older notions of right and wrong, it would be a serious mistake to assume, as have situational ethicists, that practical ethics, as expressed in the new morality, has eliminated the place and function of obli gation. Unfortunately, the debate in the churches over the new morality has misconstrued the rejection of accepted models of Christian behavior as the repudiation of all normative ethics. The serious task remaining is to find new and adequate expres sion for modern sensibilities within the context of Christian love.

Borowitz, Eugene B.

doi: 10.1177/000271627038700104pmid: N/A

Jewish theology in recent years seems to have broken with its custom of following the current trend in Protes tant theology. The movement to secularize Christianity has had little effect upon Jews, for they came through the alliance with secularity some time ago. God-is-dead theology had spe cial appeal because the problem of theodicy has been an un- healed wound for Jews ever since the revelation of Hitler's slaughter of European Jewry. Yet, there has been an almost complete rejection of God-is-dead Judaism. That is traced to the fact that the new atheism would validate Auschwitz, and the Jewish community cannot tolerate that. By contrast, it has felt itself commanded, as a matter of ultimate importance, to keep the people of Israel alive. It has also sensed in the survival of the State of Israel the positive presence of God. A new intellectual leadership seems to have emerged, one which operates with a sort of Jewish existentialist theological con sensus. However, the younger generation seems less interested in theory than in experimentation to find more meaningful forms of living Judaism.

Bianchi, Eugene C.

doi: 10.1177/000271627038700105pmid: N/A

It is not an exaggeration to say that the last decade has been a revolutionary period in American Catholic thought and life. The effects of John XXIII's Second Vatican Council have produced an unprecedented spectrum of creative hopes and deep tensions in American Catholicism. As the 1970's begin, a growing polarization between conservative- classical and progressive-historical mentalities divide Catholics on nearly every issue. The very nature and function of the church are described and adhered to in basically differing ways. Doctrinal intransigence and a strong sense of infallibility are seriously challenged by radically developmental views of doc trine. A new spirit of dissent among clergy and laity is chal lenging authority on various levels. The monarchical and paternal structures of Catholicism are gradually giving way to more democratic and charismatic styles. The changing litur gies of the church reflect, at once, creative diversity and disap pointing confusion. The code morality of the past is constantly confronted by a more flexible and situational ethic. Amid all these changes, American Catholics have had their first real taste of ecumenism. In this year, too, institutional retrenchment is at odds with movements to hurry church unity. All these polarizations give rise to the question of whether American Catholicism is on the brink of schism or of a new kind of unifi cation.

Stylianopoulos, Theodore G.

doi: 10.1177/000271627038700106pmid: N/A

The Orthodox Church in America, a family of self-governing churches united by a common faith and worship, experienced little change in the 1960's—gradual consolidation, and fuller acclimation to the American environment being its chief tasks. Internally, the Orthodox church began to feel the need for liturgical renewal more acutely and to deal with the problem of visible disunity. Externally, while its faithful were successfully adapting to the American socioeconomic structure, its church leaders and theologians responded cautiously to the American milieu. Most Orthodox, proud of their ethnoreligious traditions and strongly oriented to ancestral lands, continued to possess a sense of uniqueness and mission in America, the land in which they, doubtlessly, feel at home. The sharpest tension with American culture was noted among church leaders and theologians, particularly on theological grounds. Although there were signs of openness, a firmly conservative theological outlook also created internal tensions as regards ecumenical relations with other churches. On the whole, however, the Orthodox church looks confidently to the future, while its lead ers and theologians explore its place and role in the New World.

Cone, James H.

doi: 10.1177/000271627038700107pmid: N/A

Black consciousness as expressed in Black Power is the most significant reality of the black community. Though the phrases "Black Power" and "black consciousness" are rela tively new, the reality that they symbolize is rooted in the past. Black consciousness is the black community focusing on its blackness in order that black people may know not only why they are oppressed, but also what they must do about that op pression. Because there always have been black people who have resisted the white definitions of blackness, it is appropriate to say that black consciousness is as old as black slavery. It is not possible to enslave a people because they are black and ex pect them not to be aware of their blackness as the means of liberation. It is Black Power's emphasis on liberation that makes it unquestionably a manifestation of God's work in America. The Christian Gospel is a gospel of liberation. The pre—Civil War black churches recognized this, and that was why they refused to accept an interpretation of Christianity that was unrelated to civil freedom. Unfortunately, the post— Civil War black churches forgot about this emphasis and began to identify religion with piety. But the rise of Black Theology in the black churches is a renewal of the pre—Civil War empha sis. It is not certain whether the major black denominations will respond positively by reordering their structures in the light of Black Power. What is certain is the black commu nity's awareness of its blackness as the only tool for liberation. And unless the black churches redefine their existence in the light of the fathers who fought, risking death, to end slavery, the judgment of God will descend upon it in the persons of those who affirm with Brother Eldridge Cleaver: "We shall have our manhood. We shall have it or the earth will be leveled by our attempts to gain it."

Sandeen, Ernest R.

doi: 10.1177/000271627038700108pmid: N/A

Fundamentalism's continued vitality raises ques tions about the validity of traditional historical interpretations of the movement. The explanations which focus upon the 1920's and concentrate upon socioeconomic factors in account ing for the rise of Fundamentalism have tended to discourage research into the nineteenth-century background to the move ment, and customarily forecast the quick demise of the group as members accommodate themselves to the urban indus trial environment. Contemporary Fundamentalism, which has, during the last decade, experienced an unexpected efflorescence, can be better understood if it is defined as the name applied to certain millenarians during one phase of their history, which stretches back, at least, to 1870—when they were usu ally called premillennialists—and continues to today, when they prefer to be known as Evangelicals. The unity of this movement over the past century is discussed in terms of its thought, leadership, and social structure. It is argued that Fundamentalism lives in symbiotic relationship with other forms of religion and with cultural trends, leading the Funda mentalist, paradoxically, to affirm both his despair over the world and his identification with much of the world's culture. He has resolved this tension through the creation of innumer able parallel institutions which, though completely Fundamen talist, affirm essentially worldly values. Fundamentalism rep resents a relatively rare example of an authentic conservative tradition in American history. The study of its history and structure ought to prove significant outside the limits of the history of religion.

King, Winston L.

doi: 10.1177/000271627038700109pmid: N/A

There is now in America a considerable scholarly and existential interest in Asian religions. A number of fea tures in the contemporary cultural scene suggest the possibility of a genuine openness to Eastern religious influences : break down of militant Christian missionary attitudes; uncertainty concerning the classical Christian teleology of a coming King dom of God on earth, as well as concerning that belief's secular form—confidence in present progress toward an American utopia; distrust of the cerebral-intellectual, and a leaning toward the visceral, values and powers; and alienation from the natural environment. The Eastern flexible (nonliteral) use of religious language, sense of organic relationship with nature, and emphasis upon the visceral-intuitive apprehension of truth by direct experience thus have a strong appeal. However, the question of whether potentiality will become actuality remains. Eastern religiosity has now become one possible option for Americans, and its study is probably a permanent part of the academic scene. But it would seem that both those supporting the dominant Christian tradition and those rejecting it still find Eastern religiosity too strange to be relevant. And it may well be that before any genuine cross-fertilization of Eastern and Western religio-cultural styles can take place, traditional East ern religiosity will have been destroyed.

Fichter, Joseph H.

doi: 10.1177/000271627038700110pmid: N/A

Like the church they serve, the full-time Roman Catholic professionals, including religious Sisters and Brothers as well as priests, are experiencing a period of crisis. Fewer people are entering this career, and many are leaving it. The main losses are in the specialized ministries in which the best- educated have been engaged. Meanwhile the traditional struc tures are being revised and replaced with experimental forms. The authoritarian system is giving way to collegiality at all levels, from relations with the laity to those with the hierarchy. A new focus on task-orientation has emphasized professionali zation which, in turn, has promoted self-fulfillment and relative autonomy. Seven out of ten of the church professionals in America are religious Sisters who are reorganizing their com munities around smaller task forces with much greater local self-direction than ever before. The traditional assumption that a celibate clergy is much more effective professionally than a married clergy is now being widely questioned. The religious orders, while maintaining celibacy, are re-evaluating the prac tical aspects of the vows of poverty and obedience. The in creasing "openness" of the church is reflected in the seminaries and training places of church personnel, who are now receiving a much broader and diversified professional preparation.