Practical Theology Commons^™

Using Pascal's Wager As A Model For Introducing God To Unbelievers In An Increasingly Fast-Paced, Secular World, Laurie Sharma

Masters Theses

Statistics say that each year, 4.5 billion people, or nearly 60% of the world’s population, will gamble at least once. Every time someone gambles in a casino, the statistical probability—that is, 'the odds'—favor the house. With odds stacked against the individual gambler, it appears irrational to gamble in casinos and one must wonder why anyone would take such risks. Conversely, gambling would appear rational if the odds were not stacked against the gambler. What if the odds were significantly higher; 50/50 to be exact? If this were the case, more people would be spending more time and money at casinos …

Airplane Hangars And Triple Hills: Renovation, Demolition, And The Architectural Politics Of Local Belonging At The Our Lady Of Csíksomlyó Hungarian National Shrine, Marc Roscoe Loustau

Journal of Global Catholicism

In 2019, Pope Francis, leader of the global Catholic Church, celebrated an outdoor Mass at the Our Lady of Csíksomlyó Hungarian national shrine in Romania. When the Franciscan Order that runs the shrine published renovation plans for the altar where the pope would appear, the Facebook post received over 800 outraged comments, including one man who asked, “How can such a beautiful Hungarian symbol, so perfectly integrated into the landscape, be humiliated like this?” By situating these expressions of outrage in the history of Eastern European material politics, I argue that the aesthetic value the commentators were defending – a …

Girls’ Education And Child Marriage In Central Africa | Insights From Qualitative Fieldwork Part Ii: The Republic Of Congo, Jean-Christophe Boungou Bazika, Wolf Ulrich Mféré Akiana, Quentin Wodon

Journal of Global Catholicism

Child marriage is defined as a formal or informal union before the age of 18. As in much of sub-Saharan Africa, the prevalence of child marriage remains high in the Republic of Congo (RoC), in part because educational attainment for girls is low. Based on qualitative fieldwork, this article looks at communities’ perceptions of child marriage and girls’ education and their suggestions for programs and policies that could improve outcomes for girls. The article also discusses potential implications for Catholic and other faith-based schools, as well as faith leaders.

Girls’ Education And Child Marriage In Central Africa | Insights From Qualitative Fieldwork Part I: The Democratic Republic Of Congo, Geneviève Bagamboula Mayamona, Jean-Christophe Boungou Bazika, Quentin Wodon

Journal of Global Catholicism

Child marriage is defined as a formal or informal union before the age of 18. As in much of Sub-Saharan Africa, the prevalence of child marriage remains high in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in part because educational attainment for girls is too low. Based on qualitative fieldwork, this article looks at communities’ perceptions of child marriage and girls’ education and their suggestions for programs and policies that could improve outcomes for girls. The article also discusses potential implications for Catholic and other faith-based schools, as well as faith leaders.

The Parish Choir Movement And Generational Festivals In Romania’S Socialist Period: New Community Festivities In Transylvania’S Gheorgheni (Gyergyó) Region, Eszter Kovács

Journal of Global Catholicism

Among the post-1945 East European socialist regimes, Romania and Poland were the only countries where the Catholic Church—despite government interventions, controls, and bans—managed to play a significant social and political role in community life. This case study provides an ethnographic description of the parish choir movement and graduating class reunions, called “generational festivals” in Hungarian, in the Gheorgheni (Hu: Gyergyó) region in the 1970s and 1980s. The gatherings will be analyzed in the context of everyday life, the socialist system’s distinctive shortage economy, and official limits on religious activity that characterized the era. I will first describe the world of …

The Williams Way: Why Roger Williams’ Philosophy Of Religious Liberty Remains Imperative Today, Michael Zigarelli

Eleutheria

To travel the road of religious freedom, a society requires firm guardrails. To the left of the road looms the cliff of “state suppression of religion.” To the right looms the cliff of “state establishment of religion.” During the life of Roger Williams (1603?-1683), the problem in the American colonies was the latter, the inextricable entanglement of religion and civil authority. Known as “The New England Way” in Williams’ colony of Massachusetts Bay, its main tenet of governance was that social stability required religious uniformity. Williams could not disagree more, embarking on a life’s mission to proclaim that government possesses …

Apologetics At The Cross: A Collaborative Article Review, Matthew H. Hamilton

Eleutheria

Apologetics at the Cross is a guidebook designed for contemporary times. It teaches students how to perform apologetics in a respectful manner while orienting them to an others-centered approach developed in cruciform communities. Chatraw and Allen’s central conviction is that “Christian [apologetics] must arise from the gospel of Jesus Christ. Otherwise it could not be Chrsitian [apologetics]” (318). It explores the biblical and historical foundations of apologetics, practical guidance concerning engagement, and various methods/theological structures for apologetics. Ultimately, the authors put forth their very own inside/out approach to apologetics, which seeks to engage unbelievers in their cultural frameworks while drawing …

The Final Amen: Designing And Implementing A Christlike System For The Closure Of Waypointe Christian Fellowship, Christopher E. Sherwood

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Like a myriad of other churches across the country, WayPointe Christian Fellowship (WCF) experienced a long decline leading to a critical question: Should the church permanently close? In the case of WCF, the answer was yes, which led to other questions about how to accomplish the task while maximizing God's glory, minimizing the pain felt by those involved, and preparing the congregation to migrate to another body of believers. This thesis project was designed to enable the leaders of WCF and other church leaders to answer these questions. In this pursuit, a comprehensive closure plan was created and implemented at …

Children Are A Heritage From The Lord: A Procreation-Centric Approach To Christian Marriage And Family Education, Nicholas Lee Hagerman

Doctor of Ministry Major Applied Project

Hagerman, Nicholas L. "Children Are a Heritage from the Lord: A Procreation-Centric Approach to Christian Marriage and Family Education." Doctor of Ministry. Major Applied Project, Concordia Seminary, 2022. 242 pp.

As youth and young adults are being raised in the church, they are often taught about issues related to sex and marriage. However, procreation and raising families are rarely mentioned in such teaching, which tends to focus instead on relational issues between spouses, the avoidance of sexual sins, and the marital institution's reflection of the relationship between Christ and His church. This project seeks to remedy this deficiency by taking …

Pastoral Care For National Guard And Reserve: Using Bible Study To Equip National Guard And Reserve To Navigate Through The Blessings And Burdens Of Civilian-Military Vocations, David Schleusener

Doctor of Ministry Major Applied Project

Schleusener, David, S. "Pastoral Care for National Guard and Reserve: Using Bible Study to Equip National Guard and Reserve to Navigate through the Blessings and Burdens of Civilian Military Vocations" Doctor of Ministry. Major Applied Project, Concordia Seminary, 2022. 267 pp.

The researcher is a U.S. Navy Reserves chaplain and student at Concordia Seminary in Saint Louis, Missouri, in the Doctor of Ministry program. The researcher focused on the unique challenges, burdens, and significant stress our nation's reserve components face due to dual responsibilities in civilian and military sectors. National Guard and Reserve (NGR) is the term adopted for those …

Index Of Discernment Articles

Discernment: Theology and the Practice of Ministry

These pages present an index of work published in Discernment: Theology and the Practice of Ministry from Volume 1, Issue 1 until Volume 8, Issue 2. Lists by subjects and authors are presented.

Book Review: Worship With Teenagers: Adolescent Spirituality And Congregational Practice, Chelsea Flow Stirman

Discernment: Theology and the Practice of Ministry

Worship with Teenagers: Adolescent Spirituality and Congregational Practice, by Eric Mathis. Baker Academic, 2022. 243 pages, $17.00.

Three Approaches To The Greater Inclusion Of Women In Public Worship, Jennifer M. Dabbs, Shannon Clarkson Rains, Kaley D. Ihfe

Discernment: Theology and the Practice of Ministry

In the spring of 2022, elders and ministers from three West Texas Churches of Christ convened for a discussion of how their congregations expanded the roles of women in public worship. Tradition within the Churches of Christ dictates that men fill all visible roles during worship services. Since these practices are based in commonly accepted interpretations of the scripture, women’s active participation in worship represents a momentous change in both practice and belief. The ninety-minute discussion covered the initial decision-making process, the implementation of new roles, problems encountered, and advice for others wanting to make a similar change. The transcript …

Pastor As Poet Of The Soul, Zachary J. Luben

Discernment: Theology and the Practice of Ministry

The church finds itself in a culture that challenges the idea of divine action in the world—one of the results of living in a secular age. We are more likely to talk about “good luck” or “coincidence” than we are about God acting in history. Charles Taylor calls this the immanent frame—that we have constructed a social view that frames our lives without the supernatural. In addition, Hartmut Rosa describes modernity as social acceleration, which puts us out-of-sync in our relationships to others and the world. For the pastor, these cultural and social forces at work often lead …

Spirit-Centered Counseling And Second-Order Change: The Cpr Model, Bill J. Buker

Salubritas: International Journal of Spirit-Empowered Counseling

Building upon a previous exploration of Spirit-centered counseling, which described its purpose as expanding the redemptive pattern of God’s story by following the transformative wisdom of Jesus (Buker, 2021; Decker et al., 2021), this paper offers a model that conceptualizes how such a process might be facilitated. Depicting it via the three general phases of connection, perception, and redemption (CPR), the CPR model draws on the concept of second-order change to describe the epistemological shift that occurs when the transformative wisdom of Jesus is embraced. Spirit-centered counseling is portrayed as helping clients experience similar shifts by deconstructing the …

Pentecostal Spirituality And Counseling, Edward E. Decker Jr., Haley R. French, Stephen Parker

Salubritas: International Journal of Spirit-Empowered Counseling

The relationship between pentecostal spirituality and counseling remains underdeveloped. This article applies various aspects of pentecostal theology and spirituality to counseling. After briefly orienting readers to pentecostalism and defining pentecostal spirituality, the authors identify five elements of pentecostal spirituality that illumine the way pentecostal clinicians think about and practice counseling and therapy: a pneumatological imagination, narrative structures, counselor affections (dispositions), Spirit empowerment, and Spirit-directed change.

Implementing And Equipping A Fivefold Ministry With Theological Education To Defend And Uphold Biblical Doctrines In The Church, Kara Yvette Harris

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

God instructed believers to put forth their best work to rightly handle His Word of truth (2 Tim 2:15). Unfortunately, God’s truth is under attack and has been polluted with false teaching and incorrect understanding of Scripture. It is incumbent on the local church to combat this problem of incorrect biblical teaching head-on. Therefore, this action research project aims to demonstrate that through proper theological training in the church, this problem will be remedied. This action research assumes that arming the local church with theological training will strengthen its core. To this aim, this research project included teaching five theological …

Kendell & Stewarts' "Are You Still Watching?: Using Pop Culture To Tune In, Find God, & Get Renewed For Another Season" (Book Review), Kathryn Sadakierski

The Christian Librarian

No abstract provided.

Archibald's "Shaking The Gates Of Hell: A Search For Family And Truth In The Wake Of The Civil Rights Revolution" (Book Review), Lori Thornton

The Christian Librarian

No abstract provided.

An Inclusive Framework For Ministry: Fostering The Spiritual Formation Of Children In A Multicultural Church, Jennifer Reinsch Schroeder

Doctor of Ministry Theses

This project thesis was designed to foster the spiritual formation of children in a multicultural church. A diverse team was assembled to design a curriculum to be used with volunteers in a children’s ministry context. Through seven two-hour sessions held over eight weeks in the spring of 2022, the curriculum development team first examined what it means to embody a multicultural perspective of the gospel while at the same time investigating the negative impact of a White, Eurocentric expression of Christianity. Next, they collaborated to develop a theological construct that centered around (1) the idea of being created in the …