Religious Studies
Paul Mojzes, Ph.D., is Professor Emeritus of Religious Studies at Rosemont College, PA, where he served as Provost and Academic Dean. He was interim director of the Gratz College Holocaust and Genocide Studies doctoral program and is adjunct professor. He is a native of Yugoslavia where he studied at Belgrade University Law School, received the A.B. degree from Florida Southern College and Ph.D. degree from Boston University. He was the co-editor of the Journal of Ecumenical Studies, and is the founder and editor of Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe. Author of six and the editor of seventeen books, he has written over 100 articles and chapters in books. Among his recent books are Balkan Genocides: Holocaust and Ethnic Cleansing in the Twentieth Century; Yugoslavian Inferno: Ethnoreligious Warfare in the Balkans, Religious Liberty in Eastern Europe and the USSR, and edited Religion and War in Bosnia and North American Churches and the Cold War.
North American Churches and the Cold War
Mutual Impact Between the Cold War and North American Christians
How did the Cold War between East and West (1945-1990)
impact the North American Christian communities? And
how, in turn, did the churches respond to the challenges of
the ideological rivalry and threat of nuclear annihilation?
Despite the Cold War being interpreted as a religious
challenge, the churches used different approaches, both
within their home country and abroad. The course will be
based on the findings in a book, “North American
Churches and the Cold War” edited by Paul Mojzes
(Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2018).
Four Lectures
- Purpose of the exploration. Canadian Christian Approaches - Why undertake such a study? How did the Canadian
Christians deal with the superpower rivalry that threatened
to drag them into a conflict not of their own making?
- Inter-Protestant Conflicts: Mainline Churches vs. evangelicals - “Mainline Churches,” attempted to respond in moderation
to the challenges of communism by containing it and trying,
despite the awareness of the communist danger, to find a
peaceful resolution to the conflict and nuclear disarmament.
Evangelical Protestant churches, which are conservative,
supported the escalation of the conflict between West and
East, some of them expecting the end of the world.
- Roman Catholics and eastern Orthodox Approaches - The Catholic Church had fewer internal tensions, but major
changes occurred after the Second Vatican Council: the
move from very pronounced anti-communism prior to the
Council to a more differentiated approach to the world
situation became noticeable. Eastern Orthodox churches
had no unified approach because their mother-churches
were under communist control. They experienced schisms
because part of their membership was extremely anticommunist
while some of their church leadership
experienced communist pressure.
- Peacemaking efforts and Lessons Learned - The response by “Peace Churches” (such as Mennonites and
Quakers) and by peacemaking churches and organizations.
American participation in Christian-Marxist dialogue. What
have we learned that could serve us in future conflicts, such
as a renewed “cold war” or terrorist Islam?
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| Course # F4T2 — First 4 Weeks
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| Place: | Auditorium, Lifelong Learning Complex, Jupiter Campus |
| Dates: | Tuesdays, October 16, 23, 30; November 13 2018 |
| Time: | 12 - 1:30 PM |
| Fee: | $40 / member; $60 / non-member |
| Class Cancelled |
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