History of Religion Commons

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Recent Articles in History of Religion

Gender Bias In The Roman Catholic Church: Why Can't Women Be Priests?, Cheryl Y. Haskins University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law

Gender Bias In The Roman Catholic Church: Why Can't Women Be Priests?, Cheryl Y. Haskins

University of Maryland Law Journal of Race, Religion, Gender and Class

No abstract provided.


Interview Of Thomas J. Wurtenberger, Thomas J. Wurtenberger, Charles D. Muzyczek La Salle University

Interview Of Thomas J. Wurtenberger, Thomas J. Wurtenberger, Charles D. Muzyczek

All Oral Histories

Thomas J. Wurtenberger was born and raised in the Lower Olney (Feltonville) section of Philadelphia in 1935. He was raised primarily by his mother after the death of his father in 1944. Tom attended North Catholic High School where he took business courses. He did not have aspirations to attend college right out of high school. He was encouraged by a former employer to better himself by going to college and earning a degree. One year after graduation Tom enrolled at La Salle College. He chose La Salle because of its reasonable tuition and proximity to home. Originally Tom desired ...


Interview Of Joseph Grabenstein, F.S.C., M.A., M.Ed., M.L.S., Joseph Grabenstein, F.S.C., Wesley Schwenk La Salle University

Interview Of Joseph Grabenstein, F.S.C., M.A., M.Ed., M.L.S., Joseph Grabenstein, F.S.C., Wesley Schwenk

All Oral Histories

Brother Joseph Grabenstein is the Head Archivist of the La Salle University Archives and also manages the Brothers of the Christian School, District of Eastern North America Archives that are housed here at La Salle. He worked as an assistant archivist from 1992 until 1994 and was made head archivist January 1, 1994. Grabenstein was born in 1950 in Cumberland, Maryland to Herman and Irene Grabenstein. He is a 1968 graduate of Bishop Walsh High School and received his Bachelor of Arts in History in 1973 from La Salle College. He taught a variety of classes including history, geography, religion ...


Interview Of John J. Mcgoldrick, F.S.C., Ph.D., John J. McGoldrick F.S.C., Ph.D., Christine M. Thieme La Salle University

Interview Of John J. Mcgoldrick, F.S.C., Ph.D., John J. Mcgoldrick F.S.C., Ph.D., Christine M. Thieme

All Oral Histories

Brother John Joseph McGoldrick (b. 1948), grew up in Southwest Philadelphia with his parents and older brother. Attending Most Blessed Sacrament School and later West Philadelphia Catholic High School for Boys, Brother John was part of a strong Catholic community. It was here at West Philadelphia Catholic High School, where Brother John was introduced to the Christian Brotherhood. It was at this time that he realized that the life of service with the Brotherhood was the type of life he’d like to lead. At the age of fifteen, Brother John attended the junior novitiate and after graduating high school ...


Interview Of Mary Butler, Mary Butler, Zach Bower La Salle University

Interview Of Mary Butler, Mary Butler, Zach Bower

All Oral Histories

Mary (King) Butler was born in 1942 in King and Queen County, Virginia. Her parents are Hayes and Blanche King. Her father’s parents were Archie King, Sr. and Rossie King. Her mother’s parents were Joshua and Peggie Whiting. Mary is the oldest of four children. Her two brothers were born in 1943 and 1951, and her sister was born in 1961. Her nuclear family lived close to her father’s parent’s farm in Plainview, VA. Her family was active in both Union Prospect Baptist Church and First Baptist Church.

Butler worked often on her grandparent’s farm ...


Interview Of Peter J. Finley, Ph.D., Peter J. Finley Ph.D., Meghan Bassett La Salle University

Interview Of Peter J. Finley, Ph.D., Peter J. Finley Ph.D., Meghan Bassett

All Oral Histories

Peter J. Finley Sr. was born an only child to parents John J. Finley and Margaret Francis Dunn in 1931, in Philadelphia Pennsylvania. He grew up in the Fairmount section of Philadelphia. Peter attended St. Francis Xavier School for grade school, La Salle Prep School afterwards—located at 1240 North Broad Street at the time—and La Salle College, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology in 1953. Peter’s connection to La Salle began early in his childhood; his father, John J. Finley, was in the College’s graduating class of 1924. Peter earned a master ...


Active Religion: James Ireland, The Separate Baptists, And The Great Awakening In Virginia, 1760-1775, Cooper Pasque Liberty University

Active Religion: James Ireland, The Separate Baptists, And The Great Awakening In Virginia, 1760-1775, Cooper Pasque

Masters Theses

In the mid-eighteenth century, the religious fervor of the Great Awakening entered Virginia. Evangelical Baptists soon threatened to undermine the authority of the Anglican Church and its planter patrons. Despite their efforts to quiet the Baptists, evangelical religion took root in Virginia by the end of the American Revolution. Historical works on these events offer valid but incomplete explanations. Puzzling dynamics in the Virginian context require a more complex interpretation. The life of James Ireland provides a unique window into possible answers. His autobiography provides evidence for what appears to be the most fundamental reason for evangelicalism's successes in ...


Torah In The Diaspora: A Comparative Study Of Philo And 4 Maccabees, Christopher J. Cornthwaite Western University

Torah In The Diaspora: A Comparative Study Of Philo And 4 Maccabees, Christopher J. Cornthwaite

University of Western Ontario - Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This thesis examines how Judaism was Hellenized by comparing how difference, boundaries, and syncretism function in both Philo and 4 Maccabees. Recent historical and anthropological methods demand rejection of old approaches to these works which differentiated between the Judaism and the Hellenism in them and were often dominated by attempts to show where these authors’ intellectual fidelities lay. By re-evaluating ideas of boundaries and identity, this thesis argues that these authors could be committed to the ends of both Judaism and Hellenism. This necessitates recognition that identity and boundaries are ultimately products of individual self-consciousness; these authors attempt to understand ...


They Came Up Out Of The Water: Evangelicalism And Ethiopian Baptists In The Southern Lowcountry And Jamaica, 1737-1806, Samantha Futrell Liberty University

They Came Up Out Of The Water: Evangelicalism And Ethiopian Baptists In The Southern Lowcountry And Jamaica, 1737-1806, Samantha Futrell

Masters Theses

The Ethiopian Baptists in the eighteenth century Atlantic were not actually Ethiopians at all, but people of West African descent, traded as slaves to the southern lowcountry and Jamaica. Their identification with Ethiopia did not come from their geographic ancestry, but from a Christian heritage that they became a part of when they accepted the salvation of Jesus Christ. The evolution of this evangelical Afro-Baptist movement occurred in three stages. First, white evangelicals, like George Whitefield, carried Christianity to African American populations in South Carolina during the Great Awakening. Second, African American leaders, such as George Liele, rose up as ...


Does God Have A Right To Judge? The Aztecs' False Worship Practices Result In God's Judgment In The Unlikely Form Of Hernán Cortés, Lisa Timmons Liberty University

Does God Have A Right To Judge? The Aztecs' False Worship Practices Result In God's Judgment In The Unlikely Form Of Hernán Cortés, Lisa Timmons

Masters Theses

This thesis covers religious aspects of the Aztec culture before and after the conquest of Hernán Cortés between 1519 and 1521. One aspect of this thesis details the Aztecs' history and rise to power, followed by their rapid demise at the hands of Spanish conquistadors, while the other examines the highly flawed but effective instrument used in the destruction of their sprawling Mesoamerican empire--a conquistador from Spain by the name of Hernán Cortés. At the root of this controversial topic is God's perfect justice in relation to this culture's blatant and repeated disregard for those created in His ...


Community, Power, And Memory In Díaz Ordaz's Mexico: The 1968 Lynching In San Miguel Canoa, Puebla, Kevin M. Chrisman University of Nebraska - Lincoln

Community, Power, And Memory In Díaz Ordaz's Mexico: The 1968 Lynching In San Miguel Canoa, Puebla, Kevin M. Chrisman

Dissertations, Theses, & Student Research, Department of History

On September 14th, 1968, approximately 1,000 enraged inhabitants wielding assorted makeshift weapons formed a lynch mob that brutally murdered four people and injured three others in San Miguel Canoa, Mexico. According to the generally accepted account, Canoa’s inhabitants feared that recently-arrived Universidad Autónoma de Puebla employees, in town on a weekend mountain-climbing expedition, were in actuality communist agitators threatening the town’s social order. The lynching in Canoa received limited press coverage and was subsequently overshadowed by the much larger government orchestrated Tlatelolco massacre that occurred in Mexico City, on October 2, 1968. While Tlatelolco remains an important ...


An Investigation Of Ancient Hebrew Music During The Time Of The Old Testament: Especially The Role Of Music In The Lives Of Israel's First Two Kings, Saul And David, Holly J. Delcamp Liberty University

An Investigation Of Ancient Hebrew Music During The Time Of The Old Testament: Especially The Role Of Music In The Lives Of Israel's First Two Kings, Saul And David, Holly J. Delcamp

Senior Honors Papers

Music has always been an inextricable component of Jewish culture from its beginnings. Even before the construction of the Temple, music was used for worship, feasts, festivals, and various other cultural activities. Since much of this music involves the singing of texts, poetry was also a central part of the Jewish music culture. Singing in ancient Israel often involved instrumental accompaniment. The Bible records the texts of much musical activity. Instrumental music, vocal music, and accompanied vocal music are found throughout the Bible. Instrumental music is found in 1 Samuel 16 when David played his harp to soothe Saul and ...


Repurposed Narratives: The Battle Of Ṣiffīn And The Historical Memory Of The Umayyad Dynasty, Aaron M. Hagler University of Iowa

Repurposed Narratives: The Battle Of Ṣiffīn And The Historical Memory Of The Umayyad Dynasty, Aaron M. Hagler

Mathal/Mashal

The Battle of Ṣiffīn (36/657) is the flash point in the emergence of sects within Islam. The presentation of the Ṣiffīn story in Arabic historical writing therefore changed over time as the sectarian split among Sunnīs and Shīʿites became increasingly defined. This paper will trace the development of the presentation of the Ṣiffīn story in Arabic histories across developing Sunnī and Shīʿite identity crystallization and the region of origin of their authors, as well as literary and stylistic developments in the field of Arabic historical writing.

The specific historians examined have been chosen in part because they demonstrate a ...


Religious Rebels: The Religious Views And Motivations Of Confederate Generals, Robert H. Croskery Western University

Religious Rebels: The Religious Views And Motivations Of Confederate Generals, Robert H. Croskery

University of Western Ontario - Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

During the American Civil War, widely held Christian values and doctrines affected Confederate generals’ understanding and conduct of the war. This study examines the extent and the manner of religion’s influence on the war effort and the minds and lives of Confederate generals. Letters, diaries, and memoirs are used in addition to war reports and secondary sources to understand the range and complexity of this topic. Based on the supposition that each person’s religion is a unique relationship between a human being and his or her Creator, this study analyses the uniqueness of the generals’ religious beliefs using ...


First Baptist Church - Bowling Green, Kentucky (Sc 629), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives Western Kentucky University

First Baptist Church - Bowling Green, Kentucky (Sc 629), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Small Collection 629. Associational letter sent by the First Baptist Church, Bowling Green, Kentucky, to the Warren Association of Baptists, containing the following lists: representatives at council meeting, ministers, membership, officers, Sunday School records, and financial table.


The Transformation Of The Pope: The Agony And The Ecstasy (1965) And The Second Vatican Council (1962-65), Jennifer Mara DeSilva University of Nebraska Omaha

The Transformation Of The Pope: The Agony And The Ecstasy (1965) And The Second Vatican Council (1962-65), Jennifer Mara Desilva

Journal of Religion & Film

In 1965 the film The Agony and The Ecstasy (dir. Carol Reed) presented Renaissance artistic culture, Catholic iconography, and the papal court in Rome to a popular, broad, and non-denominational audience. Based on the novel by Irving Stone (1961), the narrative follows Michelangelo and Pope Julius II through the decoration of the Sistine chapel ceiling (1508-12), outlining a relationship between the two protagonists that suggests some spiritual equality. In the same way that the Second Vatican Council (1962-65) strove for spiritual renewal and an emphasis on the wonder of humankind’s relationship with God, The Agony and The Ecstasy portrays ...


"God's Recurring Dream:" Assessing The New Monastic Movement Through A Historical Comparison, Kimberly C. Kennedy Olivet Nazarene University

"God's Recurring Dream:" Assessing The New Monastic Movement Through A Historical Comparison, Kimberly C. Kennedy

M.A. in Philosophy of History Theses

In April of 1208, Francis of Assisi came to Rome with a handful of his followers, seeking papal permission to found a new religious order. Innocent III had other issues on his mind at the time. But tradition holds that a dream changed the pope’s mind, and he gave his qualified approval to the order of the Friars Minor that day. His gamble was vindicated by history. Twenty years later, Francis of Assisi was canonized, beloved by all Christendom as the founder of the Franciscan mendicant order. His order and others like it constituted a revolutionary departure from traditional ...


By This They Will Know: Discipleship Principles To Transform The Church, Mark R. Brown Liberty University

By This They Will Know: Discipleship Principles To Transform The Church, Mark R. Brown

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Current research indicates that ninety-five million individuals in America do not attend church. Nearly forty percent, of this group, have a negative impression of Christianity. The purpose of this project is to study the forces that that are transforming the American culture, and the dynamics that are perpetuating a bad image of Christianity. The author will evaluate the current state of spiritual formation in the Christian community, and make recommendations for developing an effective discipleship strategy for the church. The impetus for this paper is the Great commission issued by Jesus as recorded in Matthew 28:19. The paper will ...


Whitaker, Francis J., 1916-1994 (Mss 406), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives Western Kentucky University

Whitaker, Francis J., 1916-1994 (Mss 406), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collecction 406. Correspondence, research notes and manuscript articles of Frances J. “Thomas” Whitaker, a Benedictine monk who lived and worked at St. Maur’s Priory, formerly the South Union Shaker Village in Logan County, Kentucky, from 1954-1988. He amassed a large collection of photocopied research material on the South Union community as well as other Shaker villages and museums in the United States. Also includes his research on various Catholic topics.


Memory In Paintings Of Quattrocentro Renaissance Florence: Religious Paintings And Secular Portraits, Ashley Matcheck University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Memory In Paintings Of Quattrocentro Renaissance Florence: Religious Paintings And Secular Portraits, Ashley Matcheck

Psi Sigma Siren

Collective memory studies as a field has always been the interdisciplinary study of how and why memories have been created. The difference between collective or cultural memory studies and that of a strictly historical study is often discussed and debated as people question whether memory or history is more valuable regarding past events. Jan Assmann explains that “in the context of cultural memory, the distinction between myth and history vanishes. Not the past as such, as it is investigated and reconstructed by archaeologists and historians, counts for the cultural memory, but only the past as it is remembered.” Assmann has ...