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George Dallas Smith Papers, 1895-1921, George Dallas Smith

Center for Restoration Studies Archives, Manuscripts and Personal Papers Finding Aids

No abstract provided.

Formulating A Communal Covenant For The Elders And Ministers Of South Fork Church Of Christ, Drew Baker

Doctor of Ministry Theses

This project addressed the lack of a communal covenant for the elders and ministers of South Fork Church of Christ. The purpose of the project was to formulate a covenant that would promote the spiritual discernment and leadership of the elders and ministers. For the theological framework, I relied upon Mark’s portrait of Jesus. I looked at Jesus’s lived example as well as his teachings to discern values and practices that defined his leadership and should therefore be normative for Christian leaders. These values and practices were analyzed according to three relational categories—relationship with God, with each other, and with …

Let Me Serve Your Majesty: Psalm 8, Matthew Fredrickson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The speaker in Ps 8 proclaims a desire to serve Yahweh’s heavenly power/victory by appealing to humanity’s status as God’s images (Gen 1:27) and accepting the role of Yahweh’s new servant (Isa 55:3), as a priest/minister of God (Isa 61:1-6; cf Isa 42:1). This thesis translates אשר תנה as one word in verse 2b (אשרתנה), rendered, “May I serve your heavenly power/victory!” This is illustrated (in part) by two participles in Ps 8, ינקם (v. 3) and עבר (v. 9), which refer to cosmic foes of Yahweh—“the ones who nurse” (the goodly gods in CAT 1.23) and the “one …

Book Review: Bridging Theory And Practice In Children's Spirituality, Shannon Rains

Discernment: Theology and the Practice of Ministry

Bridging Theory and Practice in Children’s Spirituality: New Directions of Education, Ministry, and Discipleship, edited by Mimi L. Larson and Robert J. Keeley. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Reflective, 2020. 264 pages, $22.99.

A Reader's Guide To Youth Ministry, Jeremy D. Smith, Steve Bonner, Walter Surdacki

Discernment: Theology and the Practice of Ministry

Youth ministry scholarship over the past 20 years has offered an array of works impactful to scholars, parents, church leaders, and youth workers. Because of the growing number of robust writings, we have compiled an annotated bibliography intended to guide this wide range of readers in overview of the most impactful works for youth ministry scholarship and practice.

Vocation's Unbroken Chain: Biblical Call Stories And The Experience Of Vocation, Chris Keeton

Discernment: Theology and the Practice of Ministry

This essay reflects on the Biblical passages used to create a vocational curriculum produced by the author's doctoral project. The call stories of Abraham, Joseph, Moses, and Ruth are examined to illustrate the experience of vocation. The essay is divided into three strands of thought: vocation as a journey, vocation as it is related to personal ability, and vocation as it is related to certainty.

Creating Vocational Curriculums For Youth Ministries: Challenges And Opportunities, Chris Keeton

Discernment: Theology and the Practice of Ministry

This essay reflects on the creation of a vocational curriculum produced by the author's doctoral project. The goal is to explore the value in vocational reflection among teenagers in youth groups, and to offer an example of how youth ministries may implement extended and holistic teaching programs regarding the theology of vocation.

This essay begins with an assessment of the ministry context. Second, It reviews templates for vocational curricula used on some college campuses and how the author implemented those strategies into the project. Two key strategies were a common curriculum and a mentoring environment. Such templates were found in …

Restoration Quarterly: Vol. 62, No. 4

Restoration Quarterly

PDF of the cover of Restoration Quarterly: Vol. 62, No. 4.

This repository hosts selected Restoration Quarterly articles in downloadable PDF format. For the benefit of users who would like to browse the contents of RQ, we have included all issue covers even when full-text articles from that issue are unavailable. All Restoration Quarterly articles are available in full text in the ATLA Religion Database, available through most university and theological libraries or through your local library’s inter-library loan service.

Original Free Will Baptist Clergy Role Stress: A Definition And Its Emotional Consequences, Dustin R. Bannister

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The role of a clergyperson is often understood as one that creates a connection between the human and the divine, faith and God. However, such a vast role is typically executed in specific ways, such as leading Bible studies, visiting the sick, leading worship, and the act of preaching. At times, such a role demands even more nuanced behaviors based upon the context, population, and time. As this study posited, the problem is that such a multiplicity of clergy expectations inevitably create role stress, as understood through the constructs of role ambiguity and role conflict. In particular, how one might …

The Interaction Of Adversity, Hope, Social Support, And Academic Resilience In Emerging Appalachian Adults, Daniel Joseph Gottron Jr.

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The negative impact of adverse childhood experiences on both short-term and long-term wellbeing has been repeatedly validated across multiple populations. While adverse childhood experiences have been thoroughly researched in many contexts, this is not the case for Appalachia, which has often been relegated to the fringe of scholarly research, resulting in an overall lack of research on Appalachia. Further lacking is research into how protective factors might be utilized to help overcome adversity. While some recent research on the relationship between adverse childhood experiences, hope, and resilience has been conducted, it too has been limited to select populations. It is …

Public Attitudes Toward Xenotransplantation: A Theological Perspective, Vic Mccracken

Bible, Missions and Ministry

Among the myriad factors contributing to public attitudes toward xenotransplantation, religious belief offers a complex picture. In April 2019, xenotransplantation researchers at the University of Alabama-Birmingham conducted a focus group conversation among 12 area religious leaders. This article offers a theological analysis of the transcript of this conversation. The details of the interactions among the focus group participants sheds light on the manner in which theological belief shapes attitudes toward xenotransplantation. While participants generally recognized and affirmed the potential benefits of xenotransplantation, their support was tempered by an array of concerns emerging from a theological narrative that shaped their moral …

Do Muslims And Christians Worship The Same God: A Philosophical Approach, Zachary W. Casey

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis I probe the question of whether Muslims and Christians worship the same God primarily through the discipline of philosophy of language. Though a multifaceted question at its core (e.g., theological, historical), the question directly ties into how language operates in relation to God. That is, the ways in which Muslims and Christians make predications of God have a significant role in delineating whether they worship the same God. By working from the perspective of predication, I argue that Muslims and Christians refer to but do not worship the same God. In this sense, Muslims and Christians refer …

The Economics Of Love, Débora Silva Viana

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis I argue that the obligation to love based on the Christian tradition requires Christians to disperse their resources in a way that significantly evens out wealth distribution and increases social justice. Christians disagree on the terminology and some tenets of the goal of the Christian life (e.g., deification, beatific vision, communion with God, salvation). However, the requirement to practice love is common to all of these concepts, thus making love normative for Christians. I argue that when love takes such a prominent role in one’s life, then it naturally influences how one manages one’s resources. If love …

Book Review: Sustainable Children's Ministry: From Last-Minute Scrambling To Long-Term Solutions, Ron Bruner

Discernment: Theology and the Practice of Ministry

Sustainable Children’s Ministry: From Last‐Minute Scrambling to Long‐Term Solutions, by Mark DeVries and Annette Safstrom. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2018. 234 pages, $16.99.

Book Review: Neighborhood Church: Transforming Your Congregation Into A Powerhouse For Mission, Brandon Pierce

Discernment: Theology and the Practice of Ministry

Neighborhood Church: Transforming Your Congregation into a Powerhouse for Mission, by Krin van Tatenhove and Rob Mueller. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox, 2019. 146 pages, $20.00.

Book Review: Fear Of The Other: No Fear In Love, Grady King

Discernment: Theology and the Practice of Ministry

Fear of the Other: No Fear in Love, by William H. Willimon, Nashville: Abingdon, 2016. 91 pages, $12.

Chasing Destiny: A Novella, Kassandra Kim

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Chasing Destiny tells the story of Lyric Angel de la Cruz. She is the only daughter of five-time world heavyweight champion and three-time tag team champion Manuel de la Cruz and the oldest granddaughter of Julio de la Cruz, a legend in the wrestling world. For as long as Lyric can remember, her life has been surrounded by wrestling, and she wants to be involved with the business. But unlike her family that came before her. Lyric wants to create her own way in the business, however, when she tells Manuel her career path, he is furious that she would …

The Performance Of Southern Hospitality Within Flannery O’Connor, Anna Elizabeth Lawson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Flannery O’Connor once wrote, “every writer, when he speaks of his own approach to fiction, hopes to show that in some crucial and deep sense, he is a realist” (MM 37). In O’Connor’s short stories she depicts her observations, with a particular eye for regional manners, of the American South and the culture of Southern hospitality. Hospitality as a culture is present within Jacques Derrida’s work, he hypothesized hospitality in two factions: conditional and unconditional. Conditional hospitality functions as a performative contradiction, leaving hospitality inherently connected with its opposite, which is hostility. Any time conditional hospitality is given to a …

Translation Technique And Versional Evidence: The Syriac Peshitta Version Of Colossians As A Witness To Its Greek Text, Ryne Alan Parrish

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Syriac Peshitta version of the New Testament holds great potential for NT textual criticism, but its value to this field is partially dependent upon the ability to deduce the particularities of the Greek text from which it was translated. To assess this ability, a thorough understanding of translation technique in each NT book is required. Toward such an end, this thesis provides a detailed study of the translation technique of Peshitta Colossians (PCol) and an evaluation thereof as a witness to its Greek Vorlage. I argue that the translation technique of PCol does not consistently allow confident conclusions to …

Cultivating Virtue: Developing A Guiding Document For Youth Ministry At Cookeville First United Methodist Church, Adam Daniels

Doctor of Ministry Theses

The purpose of this project was to produce a guiding document of virtues that represented the type of Christ-like character qualities desired in youth at Cookeville First United Methodist Church. The six virtues chosen in the document represent a comprehensive vision for character growth over the course of students’ time in the program. To provide a theological foundation for this project, I examined the idea that virtue has a narrative shape where words find their meaning in a story. For our purposes, this story is generally stated as the story of Jesus at first but is then seen as best …

Adolescent Spiritual Formation: Practical Theology As A Filter For Youth Ministry, Jeremy Smith

Doctor of Ministry Theses

There seems to be a disconnect between the practice and scholars of youth ministry. Historically, the practice of youth ministry has been overly concerned with method, creating multiple approaches, each with its own inherent shortcomings. Responding to this overemphasis on method, scholars of youth ministry have argued for a more theological framework, assuming that the problem lies within a lack of theological education among youth ministry practitioners. In 2001 youth ministry scholarship made a case to place the field of youth ministry under the discipline of practical theology in hopes of grounding the practice of youth ministry in theology. Over …

Preaching Ephesians: The Fourfold Fountain Of God, Tim Sensing

Graduate School of Theology

No abstract provided.

Teachers' Perceptions Of The Role Of Teacher-Parent Partnerships That Best Benefit Students In A Parochial College Preparatory High School, Sarah H. Gates

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

Current research on teacher–parent partnerships has increasingly focused on early childhood education. This transcendental phenomenological study expanded and extended the understanding of effective teacher–parent partnerships in secondary education at a parochial college preparatory high school. According to Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological systems theory (BST), academic growth and development in late adolescents are impacted by the overlapping systems of influence: the microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, macrosystem, and chronosystem. The purpose of this qualitative study was to identify secondary educators’ perceptions of teacher–parent partnerships that best benefit students. Faculty at a parochial college preparatory high school were asked about their perceptions of parental involvement …

Divining Gospel. Oracles Of Interpretation In A Syriac Manuscript Of John, Jeff Childers

Graduate School of Theology

Ancient manuscripts of John’s Gospel containing hermeneiai have long puzzled scholars, provoking debate about their origins, purpose, and use. The fragmentary nature of the early evidence has impeded progress towards a better understanding of these specialized books. The present study shows that these books are "Divining Gospels"—editions of John’s Gospel incorporating lot divination materials for use in fortune-telling. The study centers on material presented here for the first time: the text and translation of a unique sixth-century Syriac manuscript, the earliest and most complete example of a hermeneia Gospel. An analysis of the Syriac along with evidence from Greek, Coptic, …

George Phillip Holt, Sr. Papers, 1971-1972, G. P. Holt

Center for Restoration Studies Archives, Manuscripts and Personal Papers Finding Aids

Finding aid for the George Phillip Holt, Sr. Papers, 1971-1972.

Charles Ready Nichol Papers, 1926-1961, Charles Ready Nichol

Center for Restoration Studies Archives, Manuscripts and Personal Papers Finding Aids

Finding aid for the Charles Ready Nichol Papers, 1926-1961.

Finding Aid For Elbert G. Lewis Papers, (1964-2003), Abilene Christian University Special Collections And Archives

Center for Restoration Studies Archives, Manuscripts and Personal Papers Finding Aids

Finding aid for the Elbert G. Lewis Papers, (1964-2003).

James Shannon Papers, 1849-1857, Abilene Christian University Special Collections And Archives

Center for Restoration Studies Archives, Manuscripts and Personal Papers Finding Aids

Finding aid for the James Shannon Papers, 1849-1857.

Henry Alexander Walker Papers, 1957-1976, Henry Alexander Walker

Center for Restoration Studies Archives, Manuscripts and Personal Papers Finding Aids

Finding aid for Henry Alexander Walker Papers, 1957-1976.

Charles Mckendree Neal Papers, 1933, Charles M. Neal

Center for Restoration Studies Archives, Manuscripts and Personal Papers Finding Aids

Finding aid for the Charles McKendree Neal Papers, 1933.