Practical Theology Commons^™

Biopsychosocial And Spiritual Implications Of Patients With Covid-19 Dying In Isolation, Thushara Galbadage, Brent M. Peterson, David C. Wang, Jeffrey S. Wang, Richard S. Gunasekera

Faculty Articles & Research

Critically ill patients with the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) are dying in isolation without the comfort of their family or other social support in unprecedented numbers. Recently, healthcare teams at COVID-19 epicenters have been inundated with critically ill patients. Patients isolated for COVID-19 have had no contact with their family or loved ones and may have likely experienced death without closure. This situation highlights concerns about the psychological and spiritual well-being of patients with COVID-19 and their families, as they permanently part ways. While palliative care has advanced to address these patients' needs adequately, the COVID-19 pandemic presents several barriers ...

Capitalism And Biblical Ethics, Sarah D. Stewart

Liberty University Journal of Statesmanship & Public Policy

There has been a growing trend in some expressions of Christianity to view Capitalism as fundamentally incompatible with the Christian faith. This article looked to a variety of sources to argue that Christianity and Capitalism are not fundamentally incompatible. Rather, Capitalism developed alongside developments in Christian theology during the Middle Ages. This traditional form of Capitalism is defined and argued for in this article. The article attempts to demonstrate that the elements that allow Capitalism to thrive are compatible with Christian ethics. The case is made by first examining the historical development of Capitalism and its relationship to Christianity. From ...

Overview And Acknowledgments, Marc Roscoe Loustau

Journal of Global Catholicism

No abstract provided.

A Mixed-Method Study: Executive Pastors And The Performance Of Fast-Growing Churches, Donald Wouter Bosch

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Based on available literature, little systematic investigation has explicitly considered the extent to which investing in church management, including hiring executive pastors, affects church performance. The purpose of this exploratory sequential mixed-methods study is to assess phenomenological and correlational data from one hundred of the fastest-growing churches in the United States, as ranked by LifeWay Research (2018) for calendar years 2017-2018 and draw available conclusions on church executive leadership capacity versus performance. Phenomenological data was used to qualitatively examine the executive management functions at these churches and analyze how each determined its need for such expertise based on leadership team ...

¿Dios Bendiga Whose América? Resisting The Ritual Theologizing Of Nation, Carmen M. Nanko-Fernández

Journal of Hispanic / Latino Theology

No abstract provided.

Present Church: Ecclesial Adolescence In The Twenty-First Century And Annual Re-Appraisal At Northland Village Church, James B. Wammack

Doctor of Ministry Projects

The goal of this study was to consider a small worshipping community, Northland Village Church (NVC), as it enters its second decade, and whether and how it can pursue a commitment to reconciliation in the US in the twenty-first century. NVC’s seed verses, 2 Corinthians 5:16-21, claim that God has reconciled and is reconciling the world to Godself through Christ. Within the ongoing nature of that work, a worshipping community is given the ministry of reconciliation whereby to participate in, and be subject to, God’s activity in Christ through the guidance of the Spirit.

In order to ...

Engaging And Discipling Nones: A Missional Coaching Handbook, Jerry Davisson

Doctor of Ministry Projects

The goal of this project is to create a Missional Coaching Handbook that can be used by pastors and church leaders to coach parishioners on how to engage and disciple the Nones in their unique context toward holistic gospel flourishing. A gap exists between missional understanding and missional praxis in the churches of the Association of the Churches of God in Oregon and Southwest Washington. A new discipleship model needs to be implemented that utilizes coaching to equip parishioners to reach the Nones in their communities.

This study explores the history of the Association and the changing understanding of mission ...

Countering Systemic Abandonment By Creating Systemic Change, Nathan Davis

Doctor of Ministry Projects

In recent years, the United States has seen a rapid rise in the number of adolescents experiencing anxiety and depression. As has been noted by researchers, this growth is linked to the changing culture and the new challenges facing adolescents. To address this, this ministry project will create an online training seminar for youth workers that will help them identify and respond to the underlying issues in students’ lives leading to anxiety and depression.

The first part of the project explored the social science as it relates to the rapid growth that has been observed in adolescents experiencing anxiety and ...

Mentoring Toward An Adaptive Capacity In Leaders: An Adaptive Leadership Model At Church Of The Resurrection, Joshua M. Clough

Doctor of Ministry Projects

This project develops an adaptive mentoring program for leader formation at Church of the Resurrection in the Kansas City metropolitan area. Utilizing literature on mentoring models and the adaptive leadership framework, the project proposes a model that utilizes the mentoring relationship as the holding environment for learning adaptive leadership and specifically adaptive capacity. The mentoring model partnered twenty-six emerging leaders with twenty-six existing leaders to cultivate within leaders the skill sets, characteristics, and practices for adaptive leadership in organizations.

Part one of the project outlines the community and ministry context from which the project arises. First, I focus on the ...

Promoting Pastor Spiritual Vitality In The Christian Reformed Church Through An Online Toolkit, Carol Muller

Doctor of Ministry Projects

Spiritually healthy pastors are good for the Church.^[1] This seems commonsensical, yet many pastors in the Christian Reformed Church (CRC) do not engage in the healthful habits and relationships necessary to grow and sustain their spiritual wellbeing. Pressures from without and within often result in neglecting the very habits and companions promoting their spiritual flourishing.

To encourage the spiritual wellbeing of CRC pastors, this project provides an online spiritual vitality toolkit. This resource includes: Assessments for strengthening self-awareness, a chart for discerning spiritual companions, Christian practices making room for God, guidance for gathering with peers, resources for pastor retreats ...

A Listening People: Hearing God's Voice At The Turnpike Road Church Of Christ, Michael P. Miller

Doctor of Ministry Projects

The goal of this study is to equip a group of eight-to-twelve women and men from the Turnpike Road Church of Christ in Ignatian spiritual discernment so that they may confidently and assertively hear and respond to God’s voice.

The Church of Christ has a limited history and practice of engaging in a conversational relationship with God. The dominant founding figure of the Church of Christ, Alexander Campbell, was essentially a Lockean empiricist who regarded the Bible as the only reliable and trustworthy guide. The Holy Spirit was relegated to the Bible meaning one encountered God and his guidance ...

Sustainability And Religion, Chad Rimmer, Mary (Joy) Philip

Consensus

No abstract provided.

Introducing A Comparative Ecotheology: Islamic Concept Of Basmalah And Luther’S Commentary On The Ten Commandments, Sayed Hassan Akhlaq

Consensus

In our trying time of the COVID-19 pandemic, this paper discusses current environmental concerns in light of critical questions about the relationship between God and Mother Earth. This paper addresses this question in an inter-religious context. In order to fulfil its original duty of inculcating spirituality, faith can build a bridge between God and people on a constructive understanding of the Earth. To this end, Christianity and Islam offer notions of divine grace and divine lutf to do this duty. In this paper, I examine two inspiring sources: the Islamic motto of Basmalah, and Luther’s commentary on the Ten ...

Fetishized Nature Or Life-Giving Breath? Religion As Skill In Climate Change, Sigurd Bergmann

Consensus

Anthropogenic climate change and unsustainable modes of production, consumption and lifestyles represent one of the most demanding challenges facing Earth, our home and humanity. Therefore religious belief, faith communities and spiritual commitment are highly needed to prepare the ground for what has been described as the necessary “great transformation”. To achieve this transformation, we need a new climate narrative and iconography, supported by a broad alliance of local and trans-local social forces. Religion has a significant role to play in this mobilization. This article begins by depicting several reasons that religion is a crucial driving force in the needed great ...

Religious Environmental Stewardship, The Sabbath And Sustainable Futures In Africa: Implications For Sustainability Discourse, Ben-Willie Kwaku Golo

Consensus

In terms of goals and approaches, the potentials of religion and faith communities have had a prolonged marginalisation from the rather intense academic and political engagements in the suitability discourse with a consensus on the concept of sustainability as both an approach and a goal. In this paper, I argue that the highly religious African context would require a religiously inspired and phrased recourse towards a comprehensive sustainability, rather than a solely secular concept of environmental sustainability. This is much more so when environmental sustainability is largely a secular vision of a religious one – environmental stewardship. Ignoring the beliefs, norms ...

Mindfulness, Empathy, Contentment And Communication; Five Buddhist Perspectives And Five Solutions To Five Unsdgs, Gunaketu Bjørn Kjønstad

Consensus

No abstract provided.

Adam, Dust Of The Earth: A Paradise Received And Incomplete In The Biblical Accounts Of Creation. Some Philological Observations On The Creation Accounts, Jean Koulagna

Consensus

In Christian thinking about climate and environment issues, Dogmatic theology has often seemed to precede the exegesis of biblical texts. And when it is suggested, this exegesis is usually based on previously formulated theological conclusions. In other words, exegesis is there to support ethical stands that are no doubt laudable, but have been already established. Under these conditions, it becomes difficult to analyze those texts as they are and to understand them within the historical and anthropological contexts in which they were produced. This article attempts to break this trend by suggesting philological observations concerning the creation accounts in Genesis ...

Sustainability And Climate In Religion: A Case Of Study Of The Green Churches Network In Africa (Toile Des Églises Vertes En Afrique) Teva, Marcel Ngirinshuti

Consensus

Faced with the ecological crisis, many churches are involved in the search for concrete solutions. Since 2016, the Green Churches Network in Africa (TEVA), a network of churches, denominational structures and associations, which are committed to caring for the "common home" (planet-earth) in Africa. This organization currently has (as of 2019) 1,808 parishes grouped into 19 churches in 12 African countries. The vision of TEVA is to reach 2020 green parishes by the end of 2020. Starting with the fact that ecological questions are often perceived as utopian and very complex, TEVA aims to promote knowledge of African ecological ...

When Environmental Obligations Collide With State Sovereignty: An International And Sharia Law Perspective, Seyed Masoud Noori, Soheila Ebrahimi Louyeh

Consensus

This article critically reviews the notion of State sovereignty under international law and argues that to achieve eco-justice as well as sustainable development goals, a restrictive and ecological approach needs to be taken toward the principle of states’ permanent sovereignty over natural resources. Environmental sustainability requires states’ environmental obligations to be identified as erga omnes so they can be addressed toward the international community as a whole and fall within the scope of article 48 of the ILC Articles on States Responsibility. Interestingly, in complete alignment with this progressive interpretation, sustainable utilization of natural resources has a longstanding foundation in ...

Women, Climate Change And Eco-Theology, Mary (Joy) Philip

Consensus

The impact of climate change is not proportionate to the ones that contribute to it. It is the world’s poorest and those in vulnerable situations, especially women and children, who bear the brunt of environmental, economic and social shocks. This paper highlights the fact that women are disproportionately affected by climate change, when they are primarily the ones that have been caring for and preserving the earth. This paper also argues for the need for eco-consciousness and the increased participation of women in climate initiatives, as women have a theology and spirituality undergirded by eco-consciousness.