#LifeWay Research

[mybeautifulchristianjourney]

by John Stonestreet and Kasey Leander | Recently, my colleague Kasey Leander sat down with Dr. Andrew Newell of Wycliffe Hall, Oxford, to discuss the Christmas hymn, “Hark the Herald Angels Sing.” Originally published in 1739, the song is a treasure of orthodox Christology, something just as needed today as it was in the 18th century...

[qupritsuvwix]

Horseshit. Just let them read the bible. All of it. At their own pace. Let them ask questions. Let them research their questions. Your average atheist has spent more mileage with a bible in their hand than your average “christian”. The bible, when read as a book, unencumbered by dogma, doctrine, and supernatural threats, can do all the damage by itself.

[sandybuny]

archaeologists and anthropologists talk abt ur admiration for ancient cultures outside europe without being incredibly racist n chauvinist towards the descendents of that culture and their lifeways challenge

trying to read abt the upano valley sites in the ecuadorean amazon and this french guy (who calls himself an archaeologist but from his bio im p sure is just the "ideas guy" who secures their funding) cant stop shit talking indigenous life ways while making unwarranted comparisons of the upano valley to rome or egypt. like come on why are u even there if u dont appreciate them for what they were and are? are u that unserious abt this?

hoping the actual research paper is better cause its got a lot mroe authors and actually connects the site to current lifeways

[maaarine]

Menopause was a French invention at a time of revolution (Alison M Downham Moore, Psyche, July 30 2024)

"Have women in all historical and present cultures suffered the ailments of menopause we know about today?

Studies in medical history and anthropology, and cross-cultural medical surveys, indicate wide variability in how women have experienced it globally.

Japanese women interviewed in the 1990s described their primary complaint of midlife as shoulder stiffness – not hot flushes.

And a 2015 study of British Pakistani women found that those raised in Pakistan were more likely to believe the menopause caused a cough and sore throat, while those raised in the UK were more likely to see it in a range of emotional symptoms.

No concept like ‘menopause’ is found in any world health or medical tradition, except in Western biomedicine.

And, even in the West, neither physicians nor midwives had much to say about the final cessation of menses before about 1780.

So how did the concept originate?

Menopause was first defined by young male university students and their medical professors at the universities of Montpellier and Paris from the end of the 1700s.

It was a major topic in France throughout the 19th century, with several hundred books written about it in the emerging new specialisms of hygiene (preventive health), psychiatry, gynaecology, sexology and endocrinology.

No other culture was anywhere near as interested in this topic as the French, and even those very few works on menopause appearing in Germany, England and the US during the 19th century borrowed heavily from them.

Why were the French in particular so fascinated by menopause?

Menopause was likely invented by the French because of its association with three categories of nervous pathologies that had flourished in medical writing there from the end of the 1600s into the 1800s: the vapours, hysteria, and hypochondria.

Nervous diseases, it was thought, were a product of luxury and civilisation: urban life, stale air, sedentary lifeways, overeating, exotic foods and beverages, licentiousness, and corporeal laziness were all to blame.

A medical view emerged of urban elite women in modern France as generally more prone to nervous diseases during times of uterine change, including around the final cessation of menses, via ‘sympathies’ of the uterus with the nervous system and the brain. (…)

When French physicians queried older peasant women about their cessation of menses, they were met with blank looks or laughter, since the very idea that simply being old enough to gain relief from menstruation and childbirth made one sick was completely alien and nonsensical to them.

Medical theses produced between 1799 and 1840 developed a rich ‘hygienic’ discourse, advising urban women to mimic peasant diets and lifeways to avoid the ravages of menopause and enjoy a healthy ageing. (…)

In the early 20th century, women conducted research studies on the diseases of women’s ageing, after they were permitted to enter the medical profession.

There was a distinctly less catastrophising and generalising tone.

They addressed serious diseases such as uterine cancer, or worrying symptoms such as haemorrhagic bleeding, but did not see these as problems for all women whose menses was ceasing.

Sage voices had long criticised the practice of lumping all women’s experiences of midlife and old age into the container of menopause.

Some women doctors argued that the concept of menopause was itself a risk to women’s health, producing an ‘auto-suggestion’, or nocebo effect that they would be better to avoid and simply take good care of their minds and bodies, or even embark on a quest for spiritual insight instead. (…)

The concept of menopause did not come from women themselves but rather from medical men for whom it served as a useful and generative case-example.

It was a tool for biomedical reformulations of treatment practices and for the conceptual separation of morbidity from mortality; it was a teaching device for male medical students learning the new mechanistic approach to women’s health; it was a weapon with which to fight other doctors, medical faculties and rival health traditions, as well as a pathway for new medical disciplines such as hygiene, psychiatry, gynaecological surgery and emergent endocrinology – to expand patient markets, develop theoretical precepts and refine clinical skills. (…)

The French pathologisation of menopause informed the 20th-century view of women as too different to include in clinical trials on account of their uterine exceptionalism, which continues to hamper current scientific knowledge of gendered diseases and drug responses.

More women than ever now live to an age when they will see their menses cease, so there is increased interest in menopause and new forms of representation about it.

But there is also a massive growth in the marketing of products and services designed to extract profits from women in midlife by promoting worry about their ageing and promising false remedies for all their life challenges.

Just like French doctors in the 19th century, commercial entities today hold a vested interest in the idea that menopause is a time of crisis and revolution – something we necessarily need to treat through specific interventions that target it."

[ainsi-soit-il]

Evangelical voters and regular churchgoers are less likely than other voters to see a presidential candidate’s “personal character” as a deciding factor, according to Lifeway Research. Fewer than half name it as a priority, instead ranking issues like the economy, immigration, and religious freedom as top considerations.

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Aaron Earls

Published: Oct 22, 2023

The next generation is often leaving the faith while under the supervision of parents who believe they’re passing on their religious values.

When church leaders imagine young people turning away from Christianity, they may picture a college student being convinced by an atheist professor or an older high schooler getting a driver’s license and using their newfound freedom to leave church behind. In reality, the secularization of the next generation may look more like a 14-year-old watching YouTube in their room.

New analysis published at the Institute for Family Studies (IFS) reveals children born in the 1980s and ’90s never absorbed the faith in their home. And they walked away from it at an earlier age than most parents and leaders suspect.

In the early 1990s, no more than 16% of 8th, 10th, and 12th graders said religion was not important to them at all, according to the Monitoring the Future survey series. By the early 2000s, however, the percentage of high school seniors who completely dismissed the importance of religion to them personally began to increase dramatically.

For close to a decade, sophomores were more like 8th graders, with both hovering around 15%. But around 2010, 10th graders became more like 12th graders in terms of their disregard for religion. A few years later, the percentage of 8th graders who said religion is not at all important began to rapidly increase.

In the latest study, close to 30% of seniors and sophomores and almost 25% of 8th graders said they didn’t consider religion to have any importance.

When does secularization happen?

One explanation for this could be fewer parents saying religion is important to them. More secular parents may be passing on their lack of faith to their children. But the IFS analysis also looked at a 2019 Pew Research study that asked both children and parents about the importance of religion.

At age 13, there is little difference between the percentage of teenagers who self-report that religion is not at all important and the percentage of parents who say religion is not important to their child. A gap emerges at 14. This gap is sizeable by 15 when more than 20% of teenagers say religion is not at all important.

There’s no real increase in secularization among teenagers after they reach 15. The shift away from religion occurs before then. Meanwhile, parents’ perception stays flat across the age range at around 10-15% who say religion is unimportant for their child.

Additionally, the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY) followed the religious affiliation of those born between 1980-86 until around age 30. “Of NLSY respondents surveyed at age 13, around 12% were nonreligious. By age 17, 17% were nonreligious,” reported research fellow Lyman Stone in the IFS report.

“Religious affiliation wasn’t surveyed for a few young adult years, but then by age 21, about 21-23% of these young people were nonreligious, a share that has been essentially unchanged until today. In other words, this cohorts’ rise in secularism occurred by age 21, and much of it by age 17.” Yet, only 7% of parents report raising their children with no religion between the ages of 13-17.

Stone concludes that “most nonreligious children are born into religious households and lose their faith while under the supervision of parents who believe that they are successfully transmitting their religious values.”

Sweet 16

Similarly, the most recent Lifeway Research study of teenage church dropouts found 66% of those who attended a U.S. Protestant church regularly for at least a year also stopped attending for at least a year as a young adult. Similarly to the IFS analysis, teenagers often begin their religious separation prior to their college years.

Sixteen is often a pivotal age for those dropping out of church. At that age, the attendance rates start to diverge for those who stay in church as adults and those who drop out. The next few years become the church dropout danger zone when most teenagers leave behind regular church involvement.

[ Continues to strategies for retention... ]

[troutreznor]

Wax & Wane / Bryan David Griffith, 2018

Smoke accumulated in encaustic beeswax on panel.

"Many tribes across the Pacific west consider fire as medicine, and as such, view traditional burning as a human service to ecosystems. Prescribing fire in specific areas fosters and enhances water, food, materials, medicines, and vegetation that benefits both people and the environment. Conversely, many landscapes that have experienced the cessation of tribal fire stewardship practices, fire suppression and exclusion, or in simpler terms, not enough fire - are sick, as are the people who live there, from a tribal perspective. Eventually, these places experience too much severe fire, like an overdose.

Cultural-based fire stewardship is central to many tribal lifeways. Traditional Fire Knowledge carried out by tribal communities is the sophisticated application of fire, 'prescribing' fire like a medicine, to promote healthy and resilient landscapes and human communities."

-Karuk descendant Frank Kanawha Lake, Research Ecologist, USDA-Forest Service Pacific Southwest Research Station

photo captured and accompanying caption transcribed from "Rethinking Fire" exhibit at the World Forestry Center in Portland, OR

[woundedearth]

there is definitely something to be said of linguistic diversity making pinning down the “correct” indigenous place names difficult, but all that means is there are multiple names for the place that could be listed side by side (just like the USGS-approved settler place names are part of a plurality). no slight at all but it’s pretty nuts that the research on that last reblog couldn’t really identify more definitive place names for so-called mount hood bc there’s absolutely no way there isn’t a rich linguistic tapestry of names for this mountain. this mountain is a fucking entity, it suddenly juts like 10 thousand feet above the willamette valley and you can see it from everywhere. a lot of people were living here prior to colonization! some sources say hundreds of thousands along the lower columbia. dozens of different indigenous lifeways with different traditions, cosmology, and languages developed in the shadow of this mountain. it sucks that the myth of “wy’east” does such a disservice to the place and native communities that live/d here :/

[mybeautifulchristianjourney]

The Southern Baptist Convention, the United States' largest Protestant denomination, lost more than 1,200 member churches in 2022, according to a recent data analysis from LifeWay Research. The SBC previously reported a loss of approximately 457,000 members in 2022…

[azsdiary]

Me omw to serenade Devon fine self now I found out Him + Rae aren’t together bc FINEST TV DISNEY MAN HANDS DOWN and the only childhood crush who wasn’t lying/playing games (Jake 😬Trevor Jackson 😵‍💫 Chad Dylan cooper 🥱) love me a 👏 GOOD 👏 MAN.

Paul gave 6 Virtues a good man should pursue:  Righteousness godliness Faith love steadfastness and gentleness. And ISN’T DEVON ALL 6! Preach.

Be a good man click here:

This song makes me want to burst into tears it’s their prom song

[christianity-crucible]

“More than one in 10 Americans — around 40 million of us — stopped attending church in the last 25 years,” reported Christianity Today. “There’s no denying the decline in church attendance.” But there is denying it. Focus on the Family argues that stories about evangelical church decline are a “myth” promoted by liberals and that “liberal churches are hemorrhaging members” while “biblical churches are holding strong,” growing or even exploding. In May, the Southern Baptist Convention, America’s largest evangelical denomination, reported losing 457,371 members from 2021 to 2022, its “largest single-year numerical drop in more than 100 years,” according to the SBC’s Lifeway Research. “In total, Southern Baptist churches have suffered membership declines of about 3% annually the past three years.” “Despite what you may hear, conservative, evangelical churches are, in fact, growing.” Yet in July, Focus on the Family again promoted its contrary claim: “On the surface, it may appear that Americans are leaving the pews in droves. And there is some truth to that. However, that’s not the whole truth. Some churches are losing members. But it is actually the more liberal churches that are dying. … Despite what you may hear, conservative, evangelical churches are, in fact, growing.”

This is a lie that evangelicals had been telling for a while but the evidence now clearly shows evangelical churches are now also in decline and have been for years. (According to one account, evangelical decline just started later than main Protestant denominations'.)

“White evangelicals should panic,” wrote the late Michael Gerson, who decried the great dechurching in a 2019 column: “About 26% of Americans 65 and older identify as white evangelical Protestants. Among those ages 18 to 29, the figure is 8%. Why this demographic abyss does not cause greater panic — panic concerning the existence of evangelicalism as a major force in the United States — is a mystery and a scandal.” Focus on the Family promotes panic about many cultural trends. Why no panic about evangelical church trends?

Turns out evangelical leaders *are* panicking. Which is part of the reason they are trying to de-emphasize their anti-LGBTQ bigotry -- to where some LGBTQ people only find out how hateful their church is toward them *years* after they started attending.

But with churches closing all over, evangelicals often feel they can't afford to reject anyone -- which is why many evangelical churches now are unwilling to admit to new parishioners that they are non-affirming.

(I wonder how clear Tim Keller's Redeemer Presbyterian Church ever was about that to new members?)

[thorraborinn]

In this article, I examine how hydropower projects in Mapuche territory both form part of internationally recognized approaches to develop renewable energy and also anchor colonial relations in rivers. In pursuit of energy development, water and ancestral cultural practices of the Mapuche Pueblo are being seized by a nexus of state laws and informal practices of private sector actors. Concurrently, Mapuche people assert their jurisdictions and experience resurgence of Indigenous lifeways through defending their waterways. Drawing on collaborative research guided by the Alianza Territorial Puelwillimapu, a Mapuche-Williche alliance convoked by ancestral leaders, I provide a methodological contribution to legal geography’s analysis of Indigenous rights. Bringing a legal geography approach to dispossession, I explain how collaborative mapmaking and systematizing the “layers of dispossession” provides a methodological approach to consider structural limitations to environmental justice on Indigenous lands. Overall, this case contributes to how we conceive of spatial justice in legal geography and in renewable energy development.

[manelyec]

Campus Pastor Honored at EPA Convention

Earlier this month, Emmanuel Campus Pastor, Chris Maxwell attended the Evangelical Press Association Convention in Lancaster, Pa.

The Evangelical Press Association is a professional organization of Christian print and digital publications.

At the convention, the 2023 Higher Goals Awards and the Awards of Excellence were presented.

Two of Maxwell’s blogs/articles received honors at the convention for national recognition.

Blog: Single post

Fourth Place: Chris Maxwell, A Letter to My Parents

What readers are saying about “A Letter to My Parents”:

That was the most honest and special moment. I feel like I was living it with you. I appreciate your transparency. I needed the reminder that life is short and time with our favorite people should be valued.

— Reagan McCary

Emmanuel College Student

Freelance Article

Second Place: Chris Maxwell, Do Pastors Care Too Much?

It is exciting to know that we have someone of Pastor Chris’ caliber working with the students on a daily basis. He is passionate about this work and it is a blessing to know that he is representing the College in such a positive way. He is a game-changer!

–Mandrake Miller

Vice President Emmanuel College

What readers are saying about “Do Pastors Care Too Much?”

Chris’s pastoral heart is evident in his writing, demonstrating genuine care as he communicates truth and hope. It is a joy to partner with him in ministry to serve pastors and church leaders. With nearly two-thirds of U.S. Protestant pastors pointing to stress as a mental challenge they face in ministry, Chris uses his voice in this article to remind pastors they weren’t created to carry the weight of every struggle the people in their congregation’s face. This is a timely message for pastors, exhorting them to care deeply for others while also guarding space to rest in the Lord and allowing others to minister to them as well.

–Marissa Postell Sullivan – Managing Editor, Lifeway Research

Lifeway Christian Resources

Click here to view the full list of award winners.

[pixie-melon]

Read me 🤍

Hello lovely! Welcome to my blog!

You can call me Rei, M or Lyn! I use She/They pronouns.

I’m a writer, student, Solarpunk, Cripplepunk lesbian so anticipate much posting about all of those things.

I like to use my Tumblr for creativity, activism, fandom things, community organization, and my academics.

I’m a super mega senior at University who’s studied: Forestry, History Anthropology, Women and Gender Studies, Religion, Biology, Psychology, Speech Language Pathology, Music, Film, Photography, Library and Archival Sciences, Anatomy and Physiology, and Medical Terminology.

I’ve been in college for 6 years now and will possibly be graduating Fall 2025! But honestly TBD, being disabled and in college is a nightmare™️. I’m about 1/4 of the way through with 5 different degrees, 1/2 way through 2 and in the home stretch of 1 which is the one I plan to graduate with! I have way too many interests and research questions so you’ll see a lot of that here too.

I align myself politically with abolition, de-colonization, and womanism. Anarchy is currently growing on me haha.

I’m Chicana-American with roots in occupied Anahuac as well as Dutch and Irish roots through colonization.

I practice spiritualism in line with my cultures, with traditions I’ve extracted from my catholic upbringing, my brushes with curanderismo, my blood knowledge and my studies of animistic global traditions and the shared folklore of the earth. I do not practice any beliefs or methods from closed practices that are not my right by blood and do not condone the exploitation or usage of closed often indigenous practices by uninvited practicioners, as is common in the rise of neo-paganism/spiritualism.

I’m disabled and chronically ill so it’s unlikely any DMs or asks will be answered as it’s not in my capability at the moment. But when/if I become well enough again I will get to all questions and kind conversation!

This is a safe space for all. Any harmful, hateful, oppressive or offensive language or behavior will not be tolerated. You and your thoughts are valid and welcome until they come at the expense of someone else’s lifeway or autonomy. In which case you’re outta here. The block button is my best friend and I do not suffer fools 🤍

• Enjoy and be welcome! Check your energy at the threshold please and thank you 🧹•