Ethics in Religion Commons^™

The Lost & Found Game Series: Teaching Medieval Religious Law In Context, Owen Gottlieb, Ian Schreiber

Presentations and other scholarship

Lost & Found is a strategy card-to-mobile game series that teaches medieval religious legal systems with attention to period accuracy and cultural and historical context. The Lost & Found project seeks to expand the discourse around religious legal systems, to enrich public conversations in a variety of communities, and to promote greater understanding of the religious traditions that build the fabric of the United States. Comparative religious literacy can build bridges between and within communities and prepare learners to be responsible citizens in our pluralist democracy. The first game in the series is a strategy game called Lost & Found (high school and ...

Review Of: J. Denny Weaver, God Without Violence: Following A Nonviolent God In A Violent World, Brian Stiltner

Philosophy, Theology and Religious Studies Faculty Publications

In God Without Violence, Mennonite theologian J. Denny Weaver ‘proposes new motifs for Christology and atonement’ and ‘highlights new versions of Christian practice’ based in ‘the nonviolence of God who is revealed in the life and work of Jesus’ (pp. 197–98). Weaver wrote this book to be a popular version of his previous books on atonement theology, accessible to church study groups and college classes.

Weaver, J.D. (2016). God without violence: Following a nonviolent God in a violent world. Eugene, OR: Cascade.

The Transformational Power Of Forgiveness Within The Church, Mary Mckenzie

Masters Theses

This thesis seeks to explore and describe the concepts and effects of forgiveness within the church. It shows that the roots of violence, suffering, and pain are in the unhealed wounds of the past. It examines biblical, theological, and psychological materials on forgiveness, unforgiveness, and health benefits. Learning about forgiveness and how to use the skills can conceivably enhance mental and physical health through an optimistic and hopeful outlook on life. It highlights the differences of the definition and understanding of forgiveness and forgiveness from an intercultural perspective. Results from participants’ from five ethnic groups (African, African American, Asian, Caribbean ...

Remember My Chains: New Testament Perspectives On Incarceration, Matthew L. Skinner

Faculty Publications

Understanding the physical realities and social attitudes concerning incarceration in the ancient world provides a fuller context to the New Testament’s unadorned and ambiguous references to people’s experience of being held in custody. The context is crucial for interpreting biblical passages that commend caring for prisoners, that reaffirm God’s strength and nullify the ignominy associated with incarceration, and that declare God’s power over the means and motives of imperial coercion. Such passages also compel the contemporary church to advocate on behalf of prisoners and to denounce the systems that regularly victimize them.

Christianity And Gambling: An Introduction, Massimo Leone

Occasional Papers

Religions hold complex relations with games and, in particular, with gambling. The article focuses on Christianity. On the one hand, the history of this religion shows a tendency to condemn games as source of distraction from spiritual rectitude and to stigmatize gambling, above all, as opening to metaphysical randomness and, as a consequence, as challenge to the idea of divine omniscience. On the other hand, Christianity has also sought to reinterpret games, and even gambling, as possible occasion for moral improvement and as useful distraction from the hardship of monastic life. A theological perspective that reaches its peak in Thomas ...

Radical Social Ecology As Deep Pragmatism: A Call To The Abolition Of Systemic Dissonance And The Minimization Of Entropic Chaos, Arielle Brender

Student Theses 2015-Present

This paper aims to shed light on the dissonance caused by the superimposition of Dominant Human Systems on Natural Systems. I highlight the synthetic nature of Dominant Human Systems as egoic and linguistic phenomenon manufactured by a mere portion of the human population, which renders them inherently oppressive unto peoples and landscapes whose wisdom were barred from the design process. In pursuing a radical pragmatic approach to mending the simultaneous oppression and destruction of the human being and the earth, I highlight the necessity of minimizing entropic chaos caused by excess energy expenditure, an essential feature of systems that aim ...

Christian Political Economy And Economic Science: A Pathway For Interdisciplinary Dialogue, Nathan Mclellan

Religious Studies Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation considers two intellectual impediments to interdisciplinary dialogue between Christian theologians, ethicists, and economists: scarcity and the status of economics as a wertfrei science. Using the landmark methodological work of Lionel Robbins, An Essay on the Nature and Significance of Economics Science, to frame the discussion, this dissertation seeks to remove these two intellectual impediments to interdisciplinary dialogue by considering three nested questions. They are:

(1) Is scarcity—as defined by Robbins—an accurate description of the world?

(2) If scarcity, as defined by Robbins, is an accurate description of the world, how is this to be justified theologically ...

Wrap-Up Report, Wonsuk Ma

Empowered21 Scholars' Consultations

No abstract provided.

Communication Ethics: Ellul's Complexity Of Form, Marianne Pabis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This project aims to enlarge understanding of Ellul’s dilemma of the ethical Christian communicator through a hermeneutic exploration of his intentionally un-paradigmatic treatment of technology as the determining factor in the formation of contemporary structural realities, a claim central to Ellul’s theory of technological society. It attends to the question of why, over the course of more than 50 books and over 1,000 articles, Ellul has refused to expound upon this claim as an overarching theoretical construct. As a contribution to the field of communication ethics from Ellul’s Christocentric perspective, this work also explicates the importance ...

Spiritual Transformation At Austin Christian Church, David Hooper

Doctor of Ministry Project/Theses

This project was designed to meet a need at the Austin Christian Church (ACC) for enhancing the spiritual formation of new converts to Christianity by providing clear direction for mentors seeking to disciple others into the image of Christ. The scope of this project is focused directly on taking the first steps toward a deliberate pathway for spiritual formation by establishing the foundational principles. The apostle Paul’s pastoral theology provides the theological rationale for the project. Theosis, the theologically rich description of the Christian transformative process, also informs the theological foundation for the project. Drawing on the work of ...

Hospitality And Contemplative Presence: A Local Reflection, Cindy Gonzalez

Obsculta

Nota Bene During an age of people not knowing their neighbors and of hurtful racial division throughout the United States, I find myself living in a small town. This reflection is a plea for people to look up from their smart-phones and welcome those who need hospitality. This is also a plea for all to become community-building advocates through contemplative presence.

The Liberating Christ: From The Gospel Of Matthew To Modern Day Liberation, Matthew Nelson

Obsculta

The author of the Gospel of Matthew, staying true to the usage of the word in Greek and Hebrew culture, uses the word shepherd as a direct critique of the Roman social structures that oppressed and marginalized the majority of the Empire during the time of Christ and the time of the writing of the Gospel. This direct confrontation is a timeless call, present in modern day liberation theology, as Christians are called to confront unjust social structures and distill hope in the lives of the oppressed and marginalized members of society by making God’s promises of Gustavo Gutiérrez ...

Wilken's "Christian Ethics: Four Views" (Book Review), Rory Patterson

The Christian Librarian

No abstract provided.

Sensibility And Self-Denial: A Christian Evaluation Of Journalistic Care Ethics And Traditional Ethics, Valerie Pors

Senior Honors Theses

Traditional ethical models within journalism have upheld truth and objectivity as the highest standard, based on a conglomeration of Western ethical traditions. However, as the age of subjective moral reasoning ushered in skepticism and independently subjective philosophies, ethicists have examined the application of care ethics to the field of journalism. Scholars have viewed care ethics and traditional ethics as conflicting theories, but both contain elements of God’s nature as revealed in the Bible. Both models also harbor secularized elements. In a biblical analysis of the two systems and their underlying assumptions, this thesis identifies crucial biblical differences in their ...

The Plausibility Of Animal Sacrifices In Ezekiel 40-48 Literally Operating In The Millennial Kingdom Under The New Covenant, Ian Bacon

Masters Theses

This thesis delves into the controversy surrounding the presence of animal sacrifices in Ezekiel 40-48. In these chapters Ezekiel depicts a temple that dispensationalists believe to be literally fulfilled in the Millennial Kingdom.Yet, some claim that a literal understanding of these sacrifices in the future negates the work of Jesus on the cross. The response by many dispensationlists is to argue that these sacrifices will be performed to memorialize the death of Jesus. This thesis proves that the sacrifices in Ezekiel 40-48 are for purification purposes to atone for the contamination of sin so that the glory of Christ ...

Married Love And Responsible Parenthood: Changing The Discussion On The Ethics Of Birth Control, Hannah Renner

Celebrating Scholarship and Creativity Day

The current framework in which The Catholic Church discusses birth control originates within a sexual ethic based on rules Christians are obligated to follow. After a careful, internal critique of the encyclical, there needs to be a change in this framework so that Christian sexual ethics is less focused on the rules and more focused on the values which Humanae Vitae embodies. These values are presently described as the unitive and procreative ends of marriage. However, with a transition from a rule-based sex ethic to a value-based sex ethic, these ends of marriage can be redefined in terms of married ...

Book Reviews, Arden C. Autry Phd, Edward E. Decker Jr, Christopher G. Foster, Robert W. Graves, Daniel D. Isgrigg, Jeffrey S. Lamp, Wonsuk Ma, Peter A. Reynolds, James B. Shelton, Andrew R. Williams

Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology

No abstract provided.

Sexuality, Gender, And Marriage: Pentecostal Theology Of Sexuality And Empowering The Girl-Child In India, Brainerd Prince, Atula Walling

Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology

Th e focus of the article arises from a case study of an Indian woman and her adopted child, Sunita and Komal. Th ere are three key issues that can be abstracted from the story of Sunita and Komal. Th e abandoned “girl-child” Komal raises the question of sex—what am I? What does it mean to be biologically female? What consequences are there for being born female? Sunita’s and Komal’s rejection from their families has led them to ask the question about their gender—who am I? What does it mean to be a girl or woman ...

The Question Of Power In African Pentecostalism, Alex R. Mayfield

Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology

Should the charismatic theology of anointing be considered a democratizing influence in Africa or a reiteration of mediatorial forms of power? Th is article seeks to answer this question by analyzing African traditional religious power structures in comparison to modern African theologies and practices of Pentecostal anointing. Th is comparison, however, highlights the problem of drawing direct lines from Africa’s past to its present; Pentecostal rupture from a traditional past is paradoxically both a break from and connection to pre-colonial conceptions of the self and community. Ultimately, this article argues that while both traditional religions and modern Pentecostal anointing ...

A Historical And Hermeneutical Approach To The Vice-Lists: A Pauline Perspective, Mark Hall

Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology

The subject of homosexuality is controversial in the Church, even among Pentecostals; consequently, there has arisen a need for a historical and hermeneutical examination of the topic, especially in the Pauline corpus. The vice-lists of ancient literature along with the ones in the Pauline epistles provide insight into the apostle’s understanding of their purpose and function. Of the ones where Paul lists sexual sins, three specifically mention homosexuality: Romans 1:26–27, 1 Corinthians 6:9–10, and 1 Timothy 1:9–10. Th is article discusses Paul’s understanding of the connection between homosexuality and idolatry and provides ...