Practical Theology Commons^™

Examining The Cross-Cultural Competence Of United States Christian Missionaries Engaged In Developing Indigenous Leaders: A Mixed Methods Study, Craig W. Goodman

Dissertations

For the past two millennia, missionaries have crossed from one culture to another to bring the Christian message to all cultures of the world. Questions about the effectiveness of these mission efforts have been asked and researched by many; however, one key question remains unanswered: what personal attributes help a person to be more competent at crossing cultures as they interact with people from other cultures? Although cross-cultural competence has been studied in a variety of fields over the past 50 years, the models and assessments used have never been applied to Christian missionaries.

To address this deficiency, this parallel ...

God’S Plan For Life: Training Drill Sergeants To Better Serve Their Neighbor By Developing Moral Character Utilizing The “Transformational Moral Leadership” Model, Matthew Christensen

Doctor of Ministry Major Applied Project

Instances of moral failure within the U.S. Army raises the question of whether an individual’s character may be developed and improved by utilizing a moral decision-making process. If so, is it possible to measure this improvement? From a Lutheran perspective, is it possible to improve moral character without appealing to the boundaries provided by God’s Word and a Christian community influencing the spiritual dimensions of one’s life.

This project set out to build upon an eighteen-hour Transformational Moral Leadership training model being utilized to strengthen the moral character of drill sergeants at Fort Benning, Georgia. The ...

God And Satan: A Look At Martin Luther’S Titles For Satan And What They Reveal About The Relationship Between God And Satan, Alexandria M. Shick

Master of Art Theology Thesis

Shick, Alexandria M. “God and Satan: A Look at Martin Luther’s Titles for Satan and What They Reveal About the Relationship Between God and Satan.” M.A. Thesis, Concordia Seminary, 2022 87 pp.

The relationship between God and Satan is complex and intertwined. There is a tendency in Christianity to overemphasize Satan’s power and his place in the realm of evil and in so doing neglect and disregard what it means for God to be truly omnipotent. Luther understood Satan as being under God’s will, only having the ability to act where, when and how God allowed ...

The Modern Wesley Class Meeting - Bringing Accountability, Practical Faith, And Personal Connection Into Established Local Congregations, Roger Graham Clayton Jr

Doctor of Ministry Projects and Theses

This paper is an attempt to resurrect the Wesleyan class meeting in to the modern day congregation in order to build stronger and more vibrant communities. By examining the historical footprint of the class meeting in Wesley's Britain and the beginning of the American experiment, the core attributes of the class meeting are extracted to be accountability, vulnerability, and practical faith.

This paper also attempts to show that these core principles of the class meeting are still present in the modern world outside of the church to great success within the military, non-denominational faith groups, and in the battle ...

How Does The Harry Potter Series Connect To Plato's Belief In The Immortality Of The Soul And Finitude Of The Body?, Julia Strimling

Undergraduate Research and Scholarship Symposium

Plato has long been acknowledged for his significant role in the development of the Christian perspective regarding immortality. The following analysis demonstrates how Plato’s perspective on what follows death, which shaped Christian eschatology, aligns with the themes presented in the Harry Potter series. Using Plato’s Phaedo, this paper will compare Plato’s ideas about the immortality of the soul to how J. K. Rowling portrays immortality, illuminating the presence of Christian thought in the famous Harry Potter series. These connections include the beliefs that the soul survives the physical death of the body, one must nourish and protect ...

Developing Practices Within The Lord’S Supper That Develop Central Identity At Queen City Church Of Christ, Ryan Russell

Doctor of Ministry Theses

This project was designed to meet a need at the Queen City Church of Christ (QCC) for developing intentional practices around the Lord’s Supper for forming a central identity in a diverse community. The scope of this project focuses on the project group’s ability to develop practices based on the theology of the Lord’s Supper, biblical teaching, engaging in practices of spiritual formation as a group, and their observations of Lord’s Supper practices in other Christian traditions. Paul’s first letter to the church in Corinth provides the textual context for the discussion of the role ...

Incorporating Wisdom Christology Into The Phronesis Of Courtyard Church Of Christ, Tiffany A. Dahlman

Doctor of Ministry Theses

The purpose of this project was to address an identified problem Courtyard Church of Christ members were having with decision-making in a way that promoted shalom and reflected Christ to the world. I proposed that Wisdom Christology could assist in the decision-making process and formed an intervention team of five additional people from within the congregation to explore the situation through participatory action research. We met for six sessions in the early months of 2020. The team embarked on a thorough examination of Wisdom Christology through the Scriptures climaxing in the Wisdom Hymn of Col 1:15–20. Our subsequent ...

The Spiritual Care Protocol: Developing Informed Responses To End-Of-Life Concerns, Gabriel Fisher

Doctor of Ministry Theses

This thesis addresses the understanding and practice of spiritual care in a nonprofit hospice. The identified problem this project seeks to resolve is a lack of a protocol to continually assess the spiritual concerns of patients and families on service with this organization. The purpose of this project intervention is to develop a protocol document that assesses spiritual concerns and helps members of an interdisciplinary team offer more informed responses to spiritual care needs. The project has multiple intents in that it will also help address a gap in organizational awareness and seek to enhance current care practices and understandings ...

Creating An Action Plan To Increase Diversity And Inclusion At Northwest Church Of Christ, Kenton Reeves Brown

Doctor of Ministry Theses

This project was designed to meet a need at the Northwest Church of Christ in Oklahoma City to help the church transition from a church that values diversity to one that realizes its vision of being diverse and inclusive. The scope of this project was to create an action plan to increase diversity and inclusion to present to the church leaders for their consideration. The theological foundation for the project comes from Paul’s convictions, expressed in Gal 1–2, that any who are in Christ should not be excluded or treated as a lower-class member of the community based ...

Developing Policies And Procedures For Restorative Accountability At Southwestern Assemblies Of God University, W. Lance Meche

Doctor of Ministry Theses

This project was designed to address a lack of policies and procedures at Southwestern Assemblies of God University that support its restorative accountability approach in addressing student conduct violations. The student handbook provides rights and responsibilities afforded each student as well as the procedures that appointed staff members are to follow in the event that campus policies are violated; however, the language used in the student handbook did not address modern student culture, nor did it procedurally assist staff members in helping students to develop spiritually. The project intervention involved staff members who address student violations with grace as well ...

On Certain Antinomies Of Freedom: Divine Foreknowledge And Immutability, Tanja T. Rounds

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The objective of this inquiry is to establish the compatibility of free operation in the divine essence given that God is omniscient, and immutable. As such, this inquiry differs from conventional philosophical debate surrounding the divine attributes and creaturely freedom. Chapter I will respond to the antinomy of God’s foreknowledge and divine freedom, and offers a theory for divine freedom and foreknowledge compatibilism from the theory of truthmaking. Chapter II will respond to the antinomy of divine freedom and immutability, and offers a Neo-Thomist account of freedom to explain free action in the divine essence.

A Reader’S Guide To Worship And Liturgical Studies, David Kneip

Discernment: Theology and the Practice of Ministry

The history of writing about worship in the Christian tradition is almost as old as the tradition itself, and it shows no sign of abating anytime soon. As a result, readers may find it difficult to know where to begin reading, and how to evaluate books that are popular or otherwise available to them. This annotated bibliography aims to assist readers in navigating the huge field of Christian publishing in worship studies, both by offering specific book recommendations and by demonstrating some of the different sub-categories that one might examine in attempting to choose what to read or study. The ...

What In The World Is Research?, Tim Sensing

Discernment: Theology and the Practice of Ministry

Doctor of Ministry projects engage in robust field research involving data collection, analysis, and interpretation. Often, DMin students are entering the world of a social science field researcher for the first time. Words like “research”, “Institutional Review Boards”, and the non-sequitur “non-research,” fall outside the common vocabularies of even the professors. Navigating the language so one is not lost in translation fosters researcher confidence.

On The Task Of Today's Theologian, Henry O. Widdicombe

Obsculta

This piece was written as a reading response paper for Kristin Colberg’s Documents of Vatican II course in the Spring of 2022. It argues that today’s theologian must take seriously the demands of the Second Vatican Council and that the task of the theologian is, in light of contemporary culture, offer an ever-new articulation of the Gospel of Christ Jesus that does not lose its ever-ancient truths. In that vein, the piece utilizes the assigned readings for a particular course meeting to, with the aid of Bernard Lonergan, outline a kind of pro-Vatican II panegyric.

Identity Formation And Powerful Narrative: What The Church Can Learn From Disney, Janie Fisher

Master of Art Theology Thesis

This thesis explores a phenomenon I first observed while working for The Walt Disney Company in Florida. Many people seem to be dedicated to Disney in a distinctly religious way, giving the company their time, money, abilities, and heart. Disney is one of the most successful organizations in America, and they have mastered the art of storytelling in their films and theme parks. These stories can be used for identity formation, as they teach people who they are, what the world is like, and how they ought to live. Disney uses religious means to help their fans feel as if ...

The Church In The Modern Context, Maria Milazzo

Obsculta

This paper on the Church in the Modern Context brings into conversation the goals of Vatican I, Vatican II, and those of Pope Francis in today’s modern context. It seeks to understand the context of the councils and where Pope Francis seeks to lead the Church today, especially one that resembles a field hospital.

The Generation Of The Smartphone, Anisabel Palma

Obsculta

iGen is the generation of those born after 1995. A common characteristic of teen iGen’ers is their lack of interest in school. Many of these kids attend school only because they must, not because school is a place where they are looking forward going each morning. The low interested has been increasing since 2012.. There is a link between iGen teens’ behavior including motivation to go to school to their use of technologies around them. In this paper, the author tries to find a response to this change and to offer some hope to those working with teens.

Climate Change: The Role Of Technology, "Dominon," And Our Pastoral Responsibility, Leah Wakefield

Obsculta

This paper briefly examines the correlation between burning fossil fuels, the increase of carbon in the atmosphere and resulting volatile weather, including hurricanes and floods. The paper then discusses possible technological solutions, including carbon dioxide scrubbers. Finally, the paper critically examines Genesis 2:15 and 1:26 and uses Laudato Si’ to reframe our understanding of “dominion” over the earth as a responsibility that calls for us to work to end climate change.

Everyone Wants A Revolution, No One Wants To Do The Dishes, Henry O. Widdicombe

Obsculta

This piece is a reflection on climate despair, filtered through the novel A Canticle for Leibowitz, the Catholic Worker Movement, and Benedictine spirituality to imagine what the response of a faithful Catholic might be. It posits that the only adequate response to, seemingly, insurmountable challenges is to hope against hope.

Spiritual Mysteries That Matter When Leading, Gregg Chenoweth

Scholar Week 2016 - present

We need a God who guides, right now, in real time, through the projects and ambitions of our lives. The Apostle Paul did too. Like us, he never met the material Jesus and had to cultivate what he called a “competence” for being guided by God in the Spirit. This identity became so central to his life, he told the Church in Corinth his reputation should be as a “steward of mysteries.” We can be that too. We must. We lead in a world fixated on, "believe it when you see it," yet God provides more to us than sight ...