\u27Converted Co-ethnics\u27: Romanian Migrants in the Northern Serbian Province of Vojvodina

In this paper, my case study highlights Romanian neo-Protestant migrants from Serbia who either returned to their “home country,” or work on different missionary activities among their co-ethnics after the fall of communism. To a large degree, members of the Romanian minority in Serbia belong to the Romanian Orthodox Church, which is the dominant confession, then a smaller number to the Romanian Greek-Catholic church and various neo-Protestant communities, such as the Nazarene, the Adventist, the Baptist, and the Pentecostal community. Starting from the hypothesis that the conversion of the Romanians in Serbia to neo-Protestantism is closely related to issues of migration, whether the conversion occurred while living abroad or they were, for religious reasons, forced to leave the country, the focus of this paper is transformation of social relations among converted Romanians and their co-ethnics. Based on the results from ethnographic research conducted in Serbia in 2014–2015, I will focus on how migrants perceive themselves and their co-ethnic attitudes towards them. Becoming a part of transnational religious community and emphasizing supra-nationality, the Romanian neo-Protestants perceive themselves as a part of “worldwide brotherhood,” adopting some new forms of collective identity while distancing themselves from the Romanian Orthodox tradition. Thus, religious otherness raises questions of the attitude of the Romanian local community towards the Romanian neo-Protestant migrants and their new religious, cultural, and social practices

Book Review: Gorana Ognjenović and Jasna Jozelić\u27s Education in Post-conflict Transition: The Politicization of Religion in School Textbooks

An edited volume entitled, Education in Post-conflict Transition: The Politicization of Religion in School Textbooks, was published by Palgrave Macmillan series in Religion, Politics and Policy and edited by two scholars, Gorana Ognjenović (University of Oslo) and Jasna Jozelić (Norwegian Centre for Human Rights, University of Oslo). This volume focuses on the politicization of religion and the development of religious education in public schools, and the degree of religious liberty and human rights in several, mainly former Yugoslav countries. Apart from an introduction, the volume has thirteen chapters and a conclusion. Chapter authors include scholars from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia, and Slovenia . The book also covers case studies of religious education in these countries

"Our Faith Is Good, but Strict": The Transformation of the Apostolic Christian Church-Nazarene in North America

The number of religious minorities from Central and Eastern Europe prone to migration to the English-speaking world increased considerably during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Among them were the Evangelical Baptists, or Neutäufer, founded by a former Reformed minister, Samuel Fröhlich, around 1830 in Switzerland. Reviving some of the old Mennonite principles, this newly emerging religious community was emphasizing nonresistance, a refusal of taking oaths, the rejection of infant baptism, and separation from the world. Their expansion to Southeastern Europe in the late nineteenth century attracted new members from various ethnic groups. Because of state oppression and religious persecution, the Nazarenes from Yugoslavia started to immigrate to North America. There, they joined the Apostolic Christian Church, which was the official name of the Nazarene community in the United States and Canada. The material collected for this article is the result of empirical research conducted in Serbia and the United States on the history of the Nazarene migration to North America after the Second World War. The geographical focus of my research is the area of Akron and Mansfield, Ohio, which received the most Nazarene immigrants from Yugoslavia. Based on qualitative interviews with community members and archival research (Virginia Historical Society Archives), this paper addresses several questions: what the migration waves of the Nazarenes were, how the Nazarenes integrated into the new society, and how this religious community transformed in the English- speaking world

Guest Editorial: Interreligious Encounter and Religious Change in former Yugoslavia

In this issue of OPREE, three case studies by Gašper Mithans, Evelyn Reuter, and Aleksandra Djurić-Milovanović explore interreligious encounters in Yugoslavia and religious transformations that brought new dynamics in interreligious relations between majority and minority religions

\u27Our Faith Is Good, but Strict\u27: The Transformation of the Apostolic Christian Church-Nazarene in North America

The number of religious minorities from Central and Eastern Europe prone to migration to the English-speaking world increased considerably during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Among them were the Evangelical Baptists, or Neutäufer, founded by a former Reformed minister, Samuel Fröhlich, around 1830 in Switzerland. Reviving some of the old Mennonite principles, this newly emerging religious community was emphasizing nonresistance, a refusal of taking oaths, the rejection of infant baptism, and separation from the world. Their expansion to Southeastern Europe in the late nineteenth century attracted new members from various ethnic groups. Because of state oppression and religious persecution, the Nazarenes from Yugoslavia started to immigrate to North America. There, they joined the Apostolic Christian Church, which was the official name of the Nazarene community in the United States and Canada. The material collected for this article is the result of empirical research conducted in Serbia and the United States on the history of the Nazarene migration to North America after the Second World War. The geographical focus of my research is the area of Akron and Mansfield, Ohio, which received the most Nazarene immigrants from Yugoslavia. Based on qualitative interviews with community members and archival research (Virginia Historical Society Archives), this paper addresses several questions: what the migration waves of the Nazarenes were, how the Nazarenes integrated into the new society, and how this religious community transformed in the English- speaking world

Women in the Serbian Orthodox Church: Historical Overview and Contemporary Situation

Research on the position of women in the Eastern Orthodox churches is still scarce. Some recent studies show differences among the various Orthodox Churches in Eastern Europe regarding women’s issues. The position of the women in the Serbian Orthodox Church (SOC) was addressed as late as in the 1990s, but this is still an insufficiently examined field. Eastern Orthodox theologians have rarely discussed the problem of the position and role of women in the SOC. During the socialist era, they did not engage this topic, except in studies related to female monasticism. On the other hand, sociological and anthropological studies have only recently started to include the topic of women in religion and in the church in their research on religiosity in Serbia. However, serious empirical research is still insufficient

Transnational Evangelical Networks in Serbia and Their Influence on Interethnic Relations

Following the end of communism, the former Yugoslav republics experienced a decade of armed conflict. In the Western Balkans, a complete synthesis between ethnicity and religion has been established. In recent years, however, transnationalist evangelical Christian communities have emerged as an antithesis to the majority religions in the Western Balkans. This paper examines the capacity of transnational evangelical communities to create interethnic tolerance in Serbia, primarily through the analysis of their humanitarian activities, their inclusiveness in relation to minority and marginalized social groups, and their influence among Serbs in the diaspora

Noile religii și globalizarea. Studiu de caz al românilor neoprotestanți din Voivodina

In contemporary society, in the processes of globalization and the creation of reterritorialized religious communities, religious pluralism represents a great challenge not only for nation states but also for religious communities themselves. The connection between globalization and new religions refers primarily to the rise of new religions from the local context and the spread of new religions in different parts of the world. Also, the impact of globalization on religious change and the creation of new identities poses a challenge to existing religion-nation-state relations. One of the aims of this paper is to show how globalization affects new religious communities in the area of multicultural and multi-confessional Vojvodina, with special emphasis on neo-Protestant communities (Nazarene, Baptist, Pentecostal, Adventist and Jehovah's Witness communities). Special emphasis is on the Romanian neo-Protestant communities, both because of their number in Vojvodina, and because of the large number of missionaries from Romania and the strong support from the Romanian diaspora. It is through the network of support and cooperation that neo-Protestant communities are intensively developing, and the borders of nation-states no longer represent the border between internal and external relations and connections, between "us" and "them". The presence of missionaries, internet and television sermons, literature translated into different languages, creates “erosion of borders”, caused by communication explosion, followed by deterritorialization of social events (rising from the local context) leading to a different type of relationship between religious communities, nation-states and the creation of a different type of their interdependence

From Southeast European Nazarenes to the Apostolic Christian Church in North America: Migration and Transformation of one Christian Renewal Movement

Research on different religious experiences of immigrants provides an insight into how faith is embodied, lived, and carried across borders, where it may be renegotiated and transformed. In this paper, based on the case study of the community of Nazarene immigrants in the USA, I have introduced the concept of renewal in order to indicate the dynamic of change within this minority religious community. Therefore, the paper represents the initial step in contextualizing the role of migration, dislocation, and change and the correlation of migration and community transformation in the new environment. During the Second World War and the communist era in the countries of South-eastern Europe, many Nazarene believers were strongly persecuted and imprisoned due to their pacifist stance and refusal to take an oath or to vote. Even though their number weakened in the second half of the XX century, the community exists in Serbia, Hungary, Romania, and Croatia. The presented case study is a small contribution that could bring a better understanding of how migration can have an important role in the transformation and later on the renewal of one religious minority community from South-eastern Europe. Seeking a ‘free society’ to escape religious and political oppression, the Nazarenes from Yugoslavia left church buildings, land, and even family members. Migration and escape could be seen as a survival strategy of one alternative religious community in the years of communist rule in Yugoslavia

Religious Transfer Europe-Serbia in the 19th Century: Nazarenes, Baptists and Methodists and the role of the British Bible Society

The theory of cultural transfer usually includes the field of intellectual history, literature, material culture, art, and science, but it can very well be applied to the religious sphere to examine the exchange and influence of religious ideas or religious practices. Religious transfers and the mobility of religious practices have been the subject of research in individual studies, although religious transfer is most often seen as a part of cultural transfer in the broadest sense of the word. This paper focuses on the emergence of Evangelical or neo-Protestant communities in the 19th century that developed in different parts of Central Europe. Due to their missionary efforts and the mobility of religious ideas, Nazarenes, Baptists and Methodists were the first neo-Protestant communities in South Hungary and the Kingdom of Serbia. They found new followers among different ethnic groups: Hungarians, Slovaks, Germans, Serbs, and Romanians, who had very diverse religious backgrounds: Roman Catholic, Christian Orthodox, Lutheran, and Reformed. The most significant form of religious transfer in the 19th century was the appearance of the first translation of the Bible into the Serbian language. The paper underlines the important role of the British Bible Society in distributing and printing the Bible, making it available especially among neo-Protestant believers.Teorija kulturnog transfera najčešće obuhvata oblast intelektualne istorije, književnosti, materijalne kulture, umetnosti, nauke, ali vrlo dobro može da se primeni i na versku sferu, bilo da je reč o razmeni i uticaju religijskih ideja ili verske prakse. Religijski transferi i mobilnost verskih praksi bili su predmet istraživanja u pojedinačnim studijama, iako se verski transfer najčešće posmatra kao deo kulturnog transfera u najširem smislu te reči. Ovaj rad je usredsređen na pojavu evanđeoskih ili neoprotestantskih zajednica tokom 19. veka koje su se razvijale u različitim delovima Centralne Evrope. Misionarskim zalaganjem i pokretljivošću verskih ideja, nazareni, baptisti i metodisti bili su prve neoprotestantske zajednice na prostoru Južne Ugarske i Kraljevine Srbije. Oni su dobijali nove sledbenike među različitim etničkim grupama: Mađarima, Slovacima, Nemcima, Srbima i Rumunima, koji su imali veoma različito versko poreklo: rimokatolici, pravoslavci, luterani i kalvinisti. Najznačajniji oblik verskog transfera u 19. veku bila je pojava prvog prevoda Biblije na srpski jezik. U radu se ističe značajna uloga Britanskog biblijskog društva u distribuciji i štampanju Biblije što je učinilo dostupnom, posebno među neoprotestanskim vernicim