Evangelical Theological Faculty

The editors first met each other via email in early 2020 [...]

Currently, there is a lack of sufficient research regarding spirituality in the lives of young people in youth care contexts. In this study, youth care refers to various forms of either voluntary or mandatory support and care for young people (children and teenagers) and their educators for growing-up problems, parenting problems, and psychological, psychosocial, and behavioral problems or intellectual disabilities. The available research is not systematically gathered in an overview. Against this background, this article presents a systematic literature review based on the following main research question: What insights can be distilled from scholarly peer-reviewed journal articles published from January 2000–July 2025 regarding spiritual formation in youth care? The results of the review study were based on 41 journal articles. Half of these articles thematize the foster care context. The other articles are spread over other youth care contexts, including psychiatric care, child and youth welfare, residential care, social work, and services for unaccompanied minors. Most of the articles presented empirical research. Three major themes can be defined that connect most articles: (a) the discussion of religion and spirituality as naturally present in the lives of children and the need or right to recognize that dimension and to facilitate continuity in it; (b) the question or the hypothesis that religion and spirituality can promote well-being, including the finding that this does not always appear unambiguous, up to and including attention to the harmful effects of religion and spirituality; and (c) the question of whether and how religion and spirituality can be used more instrumentally in youth care services to provide the best possible care to young people. The article discusses these findings, and recommendations for youth care professionals and follow-up research are presented.

Christian eschatology has been identified as problematic in the context of the climate crisis; on the one hand, it is accused of creating the preconditions for the modern exploitation of nature, while on the other it is accused of stimulating a quietist withdrawal from environmental action. Some understandings of Christian eschatology are helpful in addressing the climate crisis, in particular the promising eschatology of the German Protestant theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Eschatological thinking develops throughout the three phases of his life, with two main themes emerging, namely, 1) his understanding of the world as Christ-reality, and 2) the distinction he makes between the ultimate and the penultimate. Taken together, these concepts can be formative in the construction of the Christian virtue of hope in the context of the climate crisis.

In the changing context of Western Europe, many churches and denominations aim to reach non-Christians with the gospel through new missionary ecclesial forms. From the perspective of missional theology the mission and unity of the Church are inherently connected. This raises the question how the unity of the Church might be expressed in the praxis of missionary church development. However, there has been very little research on this issue. Thus it remains unclear, what ecumenism in missionary church development looks like in practice, what promotes and what hinders it. Therefore, an empirical investigation among seventeen Christian leaders from different confessions involved in missionary church development in Vienna was conducted. The study found that ecumenical cooperation is very limited, with some exceptions. This seems due to both theological factors, like diverging interpretations of mission and the gospel or different stances on issues of sexual ethics, and non-theological, like lack of time and resources. Building on these insights, the paper suggests the establishment of a regional ecumenical church planting hub and outlines possible steps toward its realization. This platform might foster relationships and exchange across confessional boundaries and thus help new forms of church in Vienna to express the ecumenical unity of the Church and to complement each other toward a faithful participation in the mission of God in the city.

Generaties lang kon je kerkelijk leiderschap beschrijven als een functie of rol die in redelijk afgebakende sociale en religieuze gemeenschappen kon worden beoefend. Daarbij werden diverse vaardigheden en persoonlijke eigenschappen noodzakelijk geacht. Het gezag van de leider voorzag in een zekere stabiliteit van de gemeenschap en verankerde de trouw aan de eigen traditie tegenover diverse andere tradities. Dit nogal vereenvoudigde plaatje is nu echt veranderd. Religieuze gemeenschappen zijn diverser geworden. Het is een complex kerkelijk landschap waarin oude bakens verschuiven, afbrokkelen, of worden overwoekerd. De vraag die in dit themanummer centraal staat, is hoe kerkelijke leiding in dit nieuwe landschap een wegwijzer ten goede kan zijn.