European Journal of Theology - Current Issue

This article is devoted to the Belarusian Baptist pastor Lukaš Dziekuć-Maliej (1888–1955) and his work in the context of the Great Evangelical Awakening in Belarus. The first part of the article describes his origins, his conversion and the beginning of his ministry. The second part is devoted to Maliej’s life and work in Hrodna (1915/1916–1921), during which he was actively involved in the Belarusian national revival, the restoration of Belarusian statehood and the founding of Belarusian schools. Maliej’s enforced but very blessed period as a minister in Brest (1921–1939) is the subject of the third part of the article. This time in Belarusian history is called the era of the Great Evangelical Awakening and the Baptist Church in Brest, whose pastor Maliej was, became one of the largest in Eastern Europe. Maliej translated the New Testament and the Psalms and thanks to his efforts, the evangelical faith became part of the Belarusian identity.

The article argues for the theological importance of differentiating between identities. It presents the argument with a focus on the relationship between national and Christian identity. I begin by assessing why identity is such a controversial topic in today’s society. I then pay attention to how we should understand the complex concept of ‘identity’ before moving on to discuss national and Christian identity. While national identity is understood as a diffuse mixture of stability and plasticity, in the New Testament Christian identity is understood as distinctly stable and of an ontological nature. This view is demonstrated through a systematic reconstruction of the New Testament statements on identity, which concludes that the union with Christ in faith regenerates the believers and makes individuals part of the body of Christ, and that this is a fundamental change in identity. The dual aspects of regeneration and ecclesiology are identified as the centre of the New Testament understanding of identity. The article concludes by developing the concept of ‘differentiating identity’, seeking to describe the appropriate distinctions between different identities. Christian identity is here understood as so-called aspectival, while all other identities are understood as merely partitive.

This article highlights the challenges faced by evangelicals in Ukraine who have set out to be faithful disciples of Christ in the face of the country’s current war for survival. It opens with an analysis of the historical context that shaped Ukrainian evangelical Protestantism, including the influence of the radical Reformation, dispensationalist eschatology, the tradition and spirituality of the Orthodox Church, and life in the atheistic, hostile Soviet society. It discusses distinct features of the traditional Ukrainian evangelical theology of discipleship and its practice, such as the importance of conversion and separation from the world, Christianity as a way of life following Christ, radical pacifism, and the significance of evangelism. Next presented is an analysis of the existential, theological, ethical and social challenges that Ukrainian Christians are facing as they seek to incorporate social responsibility into the discipleship of the Kingdom of God since the Revolution of Dignity and the Russian aggression in 2014, and especially since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022. Attention is briefly paid to the responses of Russian evangelicals to the war, before the article concludes with an overview of the theology of discipleship in a war of attrition: humility, the solidarity of love, self-denial, prophetic imagination and courage.