Alaskan Missionary Spirituality

Collection of documents illustrating the spirituality of the Alaskan orthodox missionaries. Includes letters of St. Herman, writings of St. Innocent, reports from lesser known parish clergy, and diary excerpts. Introduced by an informative historical essay.

Christian mission involves God, the missionary, and the other, the recipient of mission. This book argues for the centrality of this other in the practice of mission. The other as child of God is presented, not as an empty vessel waiting to be filled, but as the one who draws near to the missionary. Both are sent by God, and together they enter into the journey towards God. Drawing on Scripture, contemporary missiology, and phenomenology, the book argues for the importance of this often neglected other and demonstrates through historical case studies involving Saint Ignatius of Loyola, William Carey, and Saint Innocent of Alaska that the recognition of the gift of the other has always been present in Christian mission and can continue to inspire.

Authors from eighteen countries give us their perspectives on biblical principles and cultural expressions of spirituality particularly as the church engages in God’s mission. The anthology of texts enriches our understanding of the depth and the meaning of being spiritual and the diversity of forms to live out the Christian faith. The issue today is how spirituality should direct and guide a daily life as followers of Jesus in the engagement in the mission of God. No doubt that it has to do with our inner life and our relationship to God, but it is in showing our love and concern to others that we prove our love to God, according to the Apostle John (1 John 4). Mission without spirituality will only be a human effort to convince people of religious theories. Spirituality without a missionary involvement of the church will not express God’s desire that the transforming gospel reaches every person. This book will help you rethink your understanding of what is spiritual, revisit your own spiritual journey, and appreciate the different forms of spirituality as they are described and performed around the globe.

This comprehensive and illustrated volume is both a rich history of the Catholic Church in Alaska, and the autobiography of Fr. Louis Renner, S.J., who was a dedicated missionary in Alaska for 40 years. He tells here a compelling story of a full and fascinating life in service of the people and the Church of Alaska amid the incredible natural beauties, challenging elements and vast regions of the Great Land. Beautifully interweaving the history of the people and Church in Alaska, Fr. Renner tells his story of a dedicated missionary priest who loved the people he served. A scholar, a teacher, and always a Jesuit priest, he taught German and Latin at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, edited the Catholic newsletter The Alaskan Shepherd, and ran missions at two different Indian villages on the Yukon River. This pastoral priest became a friend to people in all sectors of Alaskan society. Tony Knows, the governor of Alaska, even presented him with the "Governor's Award for Friend of the Humanities". The outline of Fr. Renner's life is fleshed-out richly in A Kindly Providence. One reviewer writes that "all is there, a clear picture of his life. Renner is a very good writer- technically competent and very interesting. He kept this reader's interest throughout the 500-plus page book. I really wanted to see how it ended." Another writes: "Once I started to read it, I couldn't put it down. I had to finish it." Rich in detail, this book is a wonderful testimony to a model life of a happy priest in the twentieth century. The book is based, not only on Fr. Renner's remarkable memory, but also on his personal diaries and correspondence, on official documents, and on accounts written by him of his unusual adventures during over forty years in Alaska. Substantial quotes from diaries, letters, and official documents give readers a feeling of being actually present at those events in far-off places. The many photographs illustrating the narrative lend an air of immediacy and give us a vicarious experience of the author's personal life.

Russia's ever-expanding imperial boundaries encompassed diverse peoples and religions. Yet Russian Orthodoxy remained inseparable from the identity of the Russian empire-state, which at different times launched conversion campaigns not only to "save the souls" of animists and bring deviant Orthodox groups into the mainstream, but also to convert the empire's numerous Muslims, Buddhists, Jews, Catholics, and Uniates. This book is the first to investigate the role of religious conversion in the long history of Russian state building. How successful were the Church and the state in proselytizing among religious minorities? How were the concepts of Orthodoxy and Russian nationality shaped by the religious diversity of the empire? What was the impact of Orthodox missionary efforts on the non-Russian peoples, and how did these peoples react to religious pressure? In chapters that explore these and other questions, this book provides geographical coverage from Poland and European Russia to the Caucasus, Central Asia, Siberia, and Alaska. The editors' introduction and conclusion place the twelve original essays in broad historical context and suggest patterns in Russian attitudes toward religion that range from attempts to forge a homogeneous identity to tolerance of complexity and diversity.

This four-volume work provides a detailed, multicultural survey of established as well as "new" American religions and investigates the fascinating interactions between religion and ethnicity, gender, politics, regionalism, ethics, and popular culture. This revised and expanded edition of Religion and American Cultures: Tradition, Diversity, and Popular Expression presents more than 140 essays that address contemporary spiritual practice and culture with a historical perspective. The entries cover virtually every religion in modern-day America as well as the role of religion in various aspects of U.S. culture. Readers will discover that Americans aren't largely Protestant, Catholic, or Jewish anymore, and that the number of popular religious identities is far greater than many would imagine. And although most Americans believe in a higher power, the fastest growing identity in the United States is the "nones"—those Americans who elect "none" when asked about their religious identity—thereby demonstrating how many individuals see their spirituality as something not easily defined or categorized. The first volume explores America's multicultural communities and their religious practices, covering the range of different religions among Anglo-Americans and Euro-Americans as well as spirituality among Latino, African American, Native American, and Asian American communities. The second volume focuses on cultural aspects of religions, addressing topics such as film, Generation X, public sacred spaces, sexuality, and new religious expressions. The new third volume expands the range of topics covered with in-depth essays on additional topics such as interfaith families, religion in prisons, belief in the paranormal, and religion after September 11, 2001. The fourth volume is devoted to complementary primary source documents.

"This text examines how Russians conceived and practiced the colonial rule that resulted from the transformation of a remote extension of Russia's Siberia frontier to an ostensibly modern overseas colony operated by Europeanized Russians"--OCLC