In 1645, English immigrants settled in Vlissengen, an area of Queens now known as Flushing. After bitter disagreements with Governor Stuyvesant over the issue of religious freedom, they produced the Flushing Remonstrance, one of the first public statements defending the separation of church and state. The village of Flushing was incorporated into the larger New York City area in 1898, and the community soon became famous for its beautiful tree-lined streets, a reminder of its rich horticultural heritage. The Bowne House, the First Quaker Meetinghouse, Kingsland Homestead, Flushing Town Hall, and St. George's Church are a few of the buildings known for their architectural merit and historic significance.
Worship leaders "share a common challenge: to provide quality, integrated, creative worship week after week for congregations hungry for meaningful and fulfilling connections with God. We are honored to offer this resource as part of your journey to help your congregations grow in faith. Many of our readers also find it helpful as a weekly devotional guide or a prayer resource as they gather for lectionary study groups." (From the Introduction) Alternative ideas for Praise Sentences and Contemporary Gathering Words are offered for those who work in contemporary worship settings. Now more than ever, The Abingdon Worship Annual is a must-have sourcebook offering countless opportunities for planning meaningful and insightful worship.
Ecologies of Faith in New York City examines patterns of interreligious cooperation and conflict in New York City. It explores how representative congregations in this religiously diverse city interact with their surroundings by competing for members, seeking out niches, or cooperating via coalitions and neighborhood organizations. Based on in-depth research in New York's ethnically mixed and rapidly changing neighborhoods, the essays in the volume describe how religious institutions shape and are shaped by their environments, what new roles they have assumed, and how they relate to other religious groups in the community.
A Legacy of Love is the story of a Southern Indiana farm family and the trials and tribulations of raising children during the Great Depression Era. This family, like most people during this era who lived in agricultural communities, did not have central heat, electricity nor indoor bathrooms. Most farm families raised (or made) most of their own food including chickens, eggs, butter, milk, beef, pork, and vegetables from their own gardens. They relied on each other, their extended families, neighbors, and their church community to survive. Ora and Ann Wolfe raised seven children who became productive adults, on 64 acres of land (of which 30 were not tillable) in a three room clapboard house. Supplemental income came from intermittent work in the coal mines by Ora and the selling of butter and eggs by Ann to stores in the city and to neighbors who did not have their own. They faced personal challenges with the loss of a young child to scarlet fever, years where farming efforts barely produced enough to feed them all and family members who left the nest to go off to war or to work in the factories, or elsewhere, to support the war effort. Every day was a challenge, but their belief that an all wise God ruled the affairs of mankind kept the family grounded in its Christian Faith. Church was the center for community and social life. Sunday services, church potluck dinners and singing in the churchs Glee Club were activities enjoyed by this family. The strict observance of the Sabbath was celebrated with a large dinner served around the noon hour that would be enjoyed by every family member and often, with friends of the family. A Legacy of Love will provide the reader with an understanding of life in America during difficult economic times - a time when many people lost hope and some left their homes and farms, never to return. Others gained strength though family, hard work and their churches. The average farm family had little or no money, but nearly everyone faced similar challenges. Adults and children alike learned ways to enjoy the simple things in life at practically no cost. These difficult times not only instilled a good work ethic in children but a strong commitment to each other. This commitment is the legacy of love that bound this family so tightly together with a rich family heritage. It is the fabric that builds strong communities.
This study of a New York neighborhood’s remarkable religious diversity “deserves a place alongside Robert Orsi’s The Madonna of 115th Street” (Publishers Weekly, starred review). Known locally as the “birthplace of American religious freedom,” Flushing, Queens, in New York City is now so diverse and densely populated that it’s become a microcosm of world religions. City of Gods explores the history of Flushing from the colonial period to the aftermath of September 11, 2001, spanning the origins of the settlement called Vlissingen and early struggles between Quakers, Dutch authorities, Anglicans, African Americans, Catholics, and Jews to the consolidation of New York City in 1898, two World’s Fairs, and, finally, the Immigration Act of 1965 and the arrival of Hindus, Sikhs, Muslims, Buddhists, and Asian and Latino Christians. A synthesis of archival sources, oral history, and ethnography, City of Gods is a thought-provoking study of religious pluralism. Using Flushing as the backdrop to examine America's contemporary religious diversity and what it means for the future of the United States, R. Scott Hanson explores both the possibilities and limits of pluralism. Hanson argues that the absence of widespread religious violence in a neighborhood with such densely concentrated diversity suggests that there is no limit to how much pluralism a pluralist society can stand. The book is set against two interrelated questions: how and where have the different religious and ethnic groups in Flushing associated with others across boundaries over time, and when has conflict or cooperation arisen? Perhaps the most extreme example of religious and ethnic pluralism in the world, Flushing is an ideal place to explore how America’s long experiment with religious freedom and pluralism began and continues. City of Gods reaches far beyond Flushing to all communities coming to terms with immigration, religion, and ethnic relations, raising the question of whether Flushing will come together in new and lasting ways to build bridges of dialogue or further fragment into a Tower of Babel. “A delightful journey through American religious history and into the future, as witnessed in the streets of what the author says is the most religiously diverse community anywhere.” —America
