JOURNAL OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY最新文献

This article focuses on a digital platform which invited forced migrants to document their experiences during the Covid pandemic, resulting in an archive of digital materials, much of it relating to religion and spirituality: around 1000 contributions by around 800 asylum-seekers, refugees and undocumented migrants. Using smartphones, they shared audio and video recordings, photos, texts, artworks, etc. The Covid Chronicles project, funded by the Open University, ran from March 2020 to June 2023. It was initiated by a group of academic researchers and forced migrants connected through volunteering with support organisations in UK cities and the Netherlands. Via personal networks and social media, the project extended its reach, snowball-fashion. The bulk of contributions are from the UK and mainland Europe but eventually the project connected forced migrant individuals and groups worldwide. The content is hugely varied, but many contributors refer to religious and spiritual practices, frequently bearing witness to the solidarities created by care-giving community actions and invoking ethical principles rooted in faith traditions. Many hoped that a better future might emerge from the crisis: this archive is as much about imagining viable futures as it is about documenting history.

The Roman Catholic Church has always been aware of its history and has developed a theology of the past. A document produced by the Pontifical Commission for the Cultural Patrimony of the Church in 1997, The Pastoral Function of Church Archives, brought together some of its central principles. Nevertheless, in practice, the Catholic community has followed these ideals to different degrees of success. This short article presents several case studies in the United Kingdom and Rome, and surveys the challenges facing Catholic archives. If religious archives are “places of memory,” the “memory” is often only occasionally tapped. There is always a real danger of historical amnesia. Religious archives should be confident in demonstrating that valuing the past means illuminating the present and believing in the future.

This introductory article surveys the situation of religious archives, locating the UK experience in a wider international context. It surveys existing literature on religious archives, noting concerns about the failure of many religious organisations to keep archives and the challenges of preservation and accessibility for those that do. There is a particular need to ensure the preservation of the archival record of religious groups with shorter but now significant histories and to respond to the opportunities and challenges of digitisation. Three key creative tensions for religious archives are then explored. First, archives are records of the past, but they are also shaped by present concerns, both those of the past present in which they were collected and the present and future present of ongoing curation and interpretation. Second, “religious” archives also evidence “secular” activity, from mundane but historically revealing details of daily life to the involvement of religious leaders in national politics and international relations. Conversely, much evidence regarding religion is to be found in “secular” archive collections. Finally, religious archives serve a variety of constituencies, including the institution that generated them, academics and the general public. Herein lie tensions, but also rich complementarities.

This case study presents some of the significant learning outcomes in gathering, interpreting, sharing stories and the impact on our institutional memory. It places this article in a learning context; learning from past expressions and experiences for a better future. To this end it highlights the virtues associated with notions of what is commonly associated with the aims and objectives of a “Learning Organisation.” The case study emphasises the value of a “bottom up” story and not just telling it from the “big man's” perspective, from the point of view of a male dominated hierarchical organisation and in so doing, it recognises the valued contribution of our diverse demography. Sharing our stories within the context of heritage enables us to look at our Pentecostal tradition with respect and honesty whilst at the same time being open to new ways of seeing and thinking about our legacy.