Research On Religion

Posts Tagged ‘culture’

Paul Froese on the Meaning of Life

What is our purpose in life? How do we find it? While the good folks at Research on Religion would like to provide you with a definitive answer to that question, we can only offer you up a sociological analysis of how people search for meaning to their lives. Prof. Paul Froese (Baylor University) helps us with this task as he talks about his newest book, “On Purpose: How We Create the Meaning of Life.” Our journey includes everybody from Jesus to King Missile and from Tony Robbins to a pig who just doesn’t care.

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Murat Iyigun on Monotheism, Conflict, Europe, the Ottomans, and the Blues

Did the Ottoman Caliphate have any impact on Europe’s socio-political and economic development? While we often examine Europe’s late medieval history in isolation from other world events, Prof. Murat Iyigun (University of Colorado) argues that the Ottoman Empire’s advances into southeast Europe affected the religious, political, and economic history of Europe in very interesting ways. We also look at the ability of monotheism to guarantee longer and more expansive sociopolitical control, and the influence of mothers on the military policy of Ottoman sultans. At the end of the podcast, we have a special treat — an original “arabesque blues” song, Muqarnas, written and performed by Murat!

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Doug Johnston on Missionizing Romania

Tags: air shark, AWANA, Baptists, culture, Emmanuel Bapist Church of Romania, Frontline Fellowships, fundraising, Iron Curtain, missionizing, orphanage, orphans, Orthodox Church, Romania, Tennessee Temple University, Timisoara, Timisoara Bible Baptist Institute, Vlad the Impaler

Pastor Doug Johnston of the First Baptist Church of Redmond (Washington) recalls various tales about his six mission trips to Romania. These short trips, each roughly ten days, were designed to support the Emmanual Baptist Church, its orphanage, and the Timisoara Bible Baptist Institute. Pastor Doug relates the purpose of those trips, various observations he made about Romanian religiosity and culture, and even tells us how an inflatable, remote-controlled shark becomes a vital missionary tool.

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Larry Osborne on Church Finances and Growth

Tags: Christianity Today, church attendance, church finance, church organization, culture, Larry Osborne, megachurches, North Coast Church, prosperity gospel, small groups, sticky church, tithing, worship style

Should pastors know what individual congregants tithe? This question set off a debate on Christianity today and we pick it up with Pastor Larry Osborne (North Coast Church in Vista, CA), who admittedly changed his view on this question. He explains why and our conversation also covers other interesting facets of church financing. We also discuss some of the strategies that Pastor Osborne has used to help his church grow from a small Bible Study to a church that serves over 8,000 congregants each week across three campuses.

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