Amerika’da İlerici Din: Hyde Park Birlik Kilisesi

Amerika Birleşik Devletleri’nde din 1980lerden beri muhafazakâr kiliselerle Cumhuriyetçi Parti arasında süregelen Dindar Sağ ittifakı sebebiyle yaygın olarak siyasi muhafazakârlıkla özdeşleştirilmektedir. Bu durum ABD dini tarihinde derin kökleri olan, toplumsal adalet ve kapsayıcılık odaklı ilerici Hristiyanlığın sıklıkla göz ardı edilmesine sebep olmaktadır. Bu makale, Şikago’nun köklü bir geçmişe sahip olan ilerici kiliselerinden Hyde Park Birlik Kilisesi (HPUC) örneğinde ABD ilerici din geleneğinin temel özelliklerini, karşılaştığı engelleri ve bu engellere karşı geliştirdiği stratejileri irdelemektedir. Çalışma kilisenin liderlik yapısını, üye kazanma stratejilerini ve sosyal ve siyasi teolojisini katılımcı gözlem, mülakat ve söylem analizi yoluyla incelemektedir. Araştırmanın bulgularına göre kilise İsa’yı radikal bir peygamber ve İncil’i özgürlük mücadelesine rehberlik eden bir kaynak addederek, sosyal ve ırksal adalet, toplumsal cinsiyet eşitliği, cinsel azınlık hakları gibi ilerici siyasi değerleri savunmaktadır. HPUC örneği, konuya dair literatürdeki genel kanının aksine ilerici kiliselerin muhafazakâr kiliselere karşıtlık üzerinden kuvvetli bir kollektif kimlik inşa ettiklerini göstermektedir. Makalenin sonuç bölümü, farklı ulusal bağlamlarda ve inanç geleneklerinde tezahür eden ilerici dinî akımları karşılaştırmalı bir perspektiften incelemenin gerekliliğini vurgulayarak bu tür çalışmaları yönlendirebilecek bir dizi araştırma sorusu önermektedir.

Anahtar Kelimeler:

ilerici din, ilerici Hristiyanlık, din ve siyaset, vaazlar, Hyde Park Birlik Kilisesi

Progressive Religion In America: Hyde Park Union Church

Religion in the United States has been widely associated with political conservatism due to the alliance between conservative churches and the Republican Party—"the Religious Right”—since the 1980s. This often leads to the neglect of progressive Christianity, which has deep roots in U.S. religious history and is oriented toward social justice and inclusion. This article investigates the main characteristics, challenges, and strategies of progressive Christianity through a case study of Hyde Park Union Church (HPUC), a long-established progressive institution in Chicago. Through participant observation, interviews, and discourse analysis, it examines the leadership structure, member recruitment strategies, and the social and political theology of this church. The study finds that taking Jesus as a radical prophet and the Bible as a guide for liberation struggles, HPUC advocates progressive political values such as social and racial justice, gender equality, and sexual minority rights. Against the prevalent assumption in the literature on the subject, this case study shows that progressive churches feature a strong collective identity constructed through the moral indignation of conservative churches. Based on this analysis, the conclusion proposes a series of questions researchers might address to investigate progressive religious currents in different national contexts and faith traditions from a comparative perspective.

Keywords:

progressive religion, progressive Christianity, religion and politics, sermons, Hyde Park Union Church,

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