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About the PCS Journal
The McMaster Divinity College Centre for Post-Christendom Studies (MDCCPCS) is a research center for both Christian ministry and academic leaders. Its mission is to chart the course forward for post-Christendom churches. To this end, it describes and analyzes post-Christendom contexts and looks for solutions to the challenges they pose. Articles published in Post-Christendom Studies (PCS) will advance the Centre’s mission.
Post-Christendom Studies publishes research on the nature of Christian identity and mission in the contexts of post-Christendom. Post-Christendom refers to places, both now and in the past, where Christianity was once a significant cultural presence, though not necessarily the dominant religion. Sometimes “Christendom” refers to the official link between church and state. The term “post-Christendom” is often associated with the rise of secularization, religious pluralism, and multiculturalism in western countries over the past sixty years. Our use of the term is broader than that however. Egypt for example can be considered a post-Christendom context. It was once a leading center of Christianity. “Christendom” moreover does not necessarily mean official public and dominant religion. For example, under Saddam Hussein, Christianity was probably a minority religion, but, for the most part, Christians were left alone. After America deposed Saddam, Christians began to flee because they became a persecuted minority. In that sense, post-Saddam Iraq is an experience of post-Christendom — it is a shift from a cultural context in which Christians have more or less freedom to exercise their faith to one where they are persecuted and/or marginalized for doing so.
Post-Christendom Studies is a peer-reviewed journal.
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Current Volume
Post-Christendom Studies 7 (2022–2023)
ARTICLE
STUART MURRAY WILLIAMS
Reverse Mission in Post-Christendom Europe
5–32IAN RANDALL
Radical Reformation, Community, and Post-Christendom
33–60EVERT VAN DE POLL
Nominal, Fuzzy, and Cultural Christianity in Europe Today
61–86SEAL OLIVER-DEE
“Never Was There a Tale of More Woe . . . “? The Church in Western Europe in the Twenty-First Century
87–115 -
Back Issues
Post-Christendom Studies 6 (2021–2022)
ARTICLE
GEOFFREY BUTLER
Apologetics in the Patristic Era: Pre-Christian Wisdom for a Post-Christian Age
5–30STEVE TAYLOR
“Courtsey of Landowners”: Toward a Post-Christendom Hermeneutics of Respectful Listening
31–55MARY A. JACKSON
Christian Mission and the English Pub
56–86J. RICHARD JACKSON
The Church of the Bigger Table
87–105Post-Christendom Studies 5 (2020–2021)
ARTICLE
DAVID M. GUSTAFSON
Evangelists of Church History: Wisdom for Evangelism in Western Contexts Today
5–32MARK ELLINGSEN
What to do About America’s Nones
33–54CHERYL M. PETERSON
God’s Mission has a Church, but does God’s Mission have a Scripture?
55–75RICK RICHARDSON
From the Will to Power to the Power of Weakness: Toward a Post-Christendom Evangelism
76–108Post-Christendom Studies 4 (2019–2020)
ARTICLE
PETER LINEHAM
Post-Christendom New Zealand
5–24JASON GORONCY
Race and Christianity in Australia
25–74KEVIN WARD
Reimagining Ministry and Ordination for the Post-Christendom Mainline Protestant Church
75–97MARK HUTCHINSON
Protestants in Post-Christendom Australia: Themes and Movements
98–121Post-Christendom Studies 3 (2018–2019)
ARTICLE
PAUL DOERKSEN
Post-Christendom Virtue Ethics
5–37PATRICK SUTHERLAND
Wayfinding: Developing a Metaphor for Contemporary Preaching
38–57STUART BLYTHE
Eating Forbidden Food: Peter, Baptist Polity, and Engaging with Culture
58–80STEVE MCMULLIN
Church Renewal in the Digital Age
81–110DOMENIC RUSO
Reflections of a Church Planter: Digital Natives and the Shaping of a Church to Come
111–27Post-Christendom Studies 2 (2017–2018)
ARTICLE
STEVEN EDWARD HARRIS
The Power of the Word of God: Luther and Pentecostalism in Dialogue
5–19JAMES R. PAYTON, JR
Reformation Ecumenism Reframed
20–41MICHAEL P. KNOWLES
Preaching Before Posting: Lessons for the Postmodern Church from the Early Sermons of Martin Luther
42–66NOEL WALKER
Ninety-Five Tweets: A Twenty-First Century Reformation
67–86JOSHUA L. W. HEATH
Two Kingdoms for Today: Luther for Post-Christendom Political Engagement
87–108Post-Christendom Studies 1 (2016)
ARTICLE
DAVID BEBBINGTON
Evangelicalism and Secularization in Britain and America from the Eighteenth Century to the Present
5–30NAJIB GEORGE AWAD
Is “Post-Christendom” a Relevant Hermeneutical Framework to the Situation of the Christians in Greater Syria? Towards a Critical Appraisal
31–76A. J. SWOBODA
Beautiful, Beautiful: Preaching in a Post-Christian “Aesthetic Society”
77–96JOEL THIESSEN
A Sociological Description and Defence of Secularization in Canada
97–124REGINALD W. BIBBY
Post-Christendom in Canada? Not So Fast
125–141 -
Editors And Editorial Board
Senior Editors
Lee Beach, McMaster Divinity College
Gordon L. Heath, McMaster Divinity College
Steven M. Studebaker, Multnomah UniversityAssistant Editors
Dudley A. Brown, McMaster Divinity College
Taylor Murray, Tyndale UniversityEditorial Board
Najib G. Awad, Hartford Seminary
John E. Franke, Theologian in Residence, Second Presbyterian Church, Indianapolis and Evangelical Theological Faculty
A. J. Swoboda, Theophilus Church (pastor), George Fox Evangelical Seminary
Joel Thiessen, Ambrose University -
Submissions
Submissions can fall under a variety of areas of theology, history, culture, and practice. The journal encourages interdisciplinary approaches from a variety of fields of study—e.g., sociology, philosophy, and political science. These approaches may be prescriptive—e.g., an Anabaptist view on post-Christendom—or descriptive—e.g., changing voting patterns among Christians. The following serve as examples of relevant topics within each of these areas. They are intended only as guides.
Theology
- The relationship between the Church and State, the kingdom of God and earthly kingdoms
- The role of theology in relation to other disciplines in the contexts of post-Christendom
- The way post-Christendom affects and changes theological discourse.
History
- The reasons behind, responses to, the disappearance and decline of Christian communities around the world
- What can contemporary Christian communities learn from historical experiences of post-Christendom and de-Christianization?
Culture
- The effects of post-Christendom on culture and the Church—e.g., philosophical, sociological, and political dimensions
- Changing attitudes towards the Christian faith and its adherents as they are portrayed in arts and media
Practice
- Challenges for the Church arising from the contexts of post-Christendom
- Emerging forms of doing Church that attempt to address these challenges
- Post-Christendom and the proclamation of the Gospel
Guidelines for Articles
- Most articles are between 5000 and 7000 words and normally should not exceed 10,000 words.
- For style please consult the PCS style (MDC Style Guide)
- Submissions should be sent to the Assistant Editor (mdccpcs@mcmaster.ca)
All article submissions will be peer reviewed.
