Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.32862/k.19.1.1
Churches of the Reformation Heritage in Croatia (1990–2020): Their Legal Status, Restructuring, and Overall State in 2021
Stanko Jambrek ; The Biblical Institute, Zagreb
The article presents summarized and partial results of a five-year research (2022-2026) on the scientific project “Churches of Reformation Heritage in Croatia (1990-2020).” The article is published in two parts, in the spring and autumn editions of the Kairos Journal. The first part focuses on the legal status, restructuring, and overall state of churches of the Reformation Heritage in Croatia in 2021. The second part discusses and analyzes the burning issue
of their spiritual, theological, and social identity. The first part of the article explains the objectives of the project, its applied research methodology, and terminology used, while also defining key concepts and explaining the basic characteristics of the aforementioned churches. The article then explores the legal status of churches after the separation of the Republic of Croatia from Yugoslavia and its independence in 1991. The legal status of churches
in the Republic of Croatia was established by the Constitution, the Act on the Legal Status of Religious Communities, contracts of individual religious communities with the Government of the Republic of Croatia, and accompanying implementing acts. This was followed by the process of restructuring the churches, which was thoroughly researched, and this article explains the most important findings. Finally, the article provides statistical data on restructured churches of the Reformation Heritage as of March 28, 2021.
Keywords
legal status; identity of Christians; evangelical Christianity; churches of the Reformation heritage; Protestantism; Baptists; Pentecostals; charismatics; independent churches; Churches of Christ
Hrčak ID:
331659