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Natural Christology: The Necessity Of Christ By Analysis Of Natural Religion, Jared Anthony Smith
Natural Christology: The Necessity Of Christ By Analysis Of Natural Religion, Jared Anthony Smith
Masters Theses
The hero’s journey [or the monomyth] and the perennial philosophy are two conceptions of human experience that popularize a single old idea: a common human plight recurs across time through humanity’s socio-cultural variety. The monomyth highlights this through narrative modes; the perennial philosophy does this through religious modes. Both distillations have garnered a Christian counterattack, being thought to dangerously depart from the gospel in their essence as they nonetheless borrow its language and timbre. Yet, their incorporation of the gospel ventures beyond appropriation. Supposing these secular notions esteem the recurrent human journey with any alacrity, a careful apologetic discerns and …
A Two-Part Rebuttal Of Probability-Based Arguments Against Christian Theism, David Keith Wilson
A Two-Part Rebuttal Of Probability-Based Arguments Against Christian Theism, David Keith Wilson
Masters Theses
This thesis addresses probability-based arguments (PA) from atheism against theism. This popular form of atheistic argument, rather than arguing that there is no such being as God, instead argues that God’s existence is very improbable. This would imply that the theist is unjustified in their belief, and therefore epistemically obligated to forsake their belief. By pairing a cumulative warrant with Alvin Plantinga’s inside straight argument, it is shown that the theist is under no such obligation. As there are many things that are unlikely as well as true, it can be that theism is both unlikely and true. Therefore, the …
A Defense Of The Resurrection Miracle And Critique Of The Hallucination Theory, Joshua James Smothers
A Defense Of The Resurrection Miracle And Critique Of The Hallucination Theory, Joshua James Smothers
Masters Theses
Many Christian scholars simply laugh at the notion of the Hallucination theory. However, while it is laughable that the hallucination theory claims the disciples of Jesus all shared a hallucination in which they saw their beloved friend risen from the grave, there is more to the hallucination theory than meets the eye. This thesis defends the resurrection using history while critiquing the hallucination theory. Jesus did rise from the grave in the same physical body that was crucified at Calvary, and the disciple's claims of seeing a risen Jesus are true and can be proven with fact and evidence.
Principles For Starting A Song-Writing Ministry, Carson Ka Siu Li
Principles For Starting A Song-Writing Ministry, Carson Ka Siu Li
Masters Theses
With the approval of Dr. Keith Currie and Dr. David Schmal, I have chosen to complete the Music & Worship Ministry Project as the Final Thesis for the Masters of Art in Music and Worship. The objective of the project is to produce an Extended Play Record (EP) that contains five original worship songs written specifically for this EP. The components of this project include: songwriting, arranging, performing, recording, and producing. This project will achieve two purposes: first, the songs in this EP are meant to be sung in my local church – Koinonia Evangelical Church (KEC); second, this project …
C.S. Lewis And The True Myth: A Reconciliation Of Theology, Philosophy, And Mythology, Courage Lowrance
C.S. Lewis And The True Myth: A Reconciliation Of Theology, Philosophy, And Mythology, Courage Lowrance
Masters Theses
C.S. Lewis was both a student of pagan philosophy and mythology and a Christian. He never was divided between these two pursuits in his life, though he gave the latter its proper priority. What allowed Lewis to keep this balance was his idea of the gospel as the True Myth, an idea that helped lead to his conversion and remained at the core of his thinking throughout his life. By this idea of True Myth, Lewis was able to not only unite the pagan myths to Christian truth, but also the rest of human thought as well. Thus, in order …
A Teleological Exploration Of The Plausibility Of Moral Knowledge, Kevin Lebel King Jr.
A Teleological Exploration Of The Plausibility Of Moral Knowledge, Kevin Lebel King Jr.
Masters Theses
Natural selection seems to offer a compelling case for the development of evaluative judgments independent of evaluative facts. If such a case can be made, then how do moral judgments correlate to moral facts? It seems that there would be no tight connection from judgments to truth and moral judgments would be unwarranted. Gilbert Harman realized the implications of a probable non-moral genealogy. Richard Joyce goes on to provide a probable non-moral genealogy that would epistemically undermine moral judgments as Harman thought. Joyce argues that in a naturalistic world natural selection can account for moral judgments, but that the truth …
Scientism, Satire, And Sacrificial Ceremony In Dostoevsky's "Notes From Underground" And C.S. Lewis's "That Hideous Strength", Jonathan Smalt
Scientism, Satire, And Sacrificial Ceremony In Dostoevsky's "Notes From Underground" And C.S. Lewis's "That Hideous Strength", Jonathan Smalt
Masters Theses
Though the nineteenth-century Victorian belief that science alone could provide utopia for man weakened in the epistemological uncertainty of the postmodern era, this belief still continues today. In order to understand our current scientific milieu--and the dangers of propagating scientism--we must first trace the rise of scientism in the nineteenth-century. Though removed, Fyodor Dostoevsky, in Notes From Underground (1864), and C.S. Lewis, in That Hideous Strength (1965), are united in their critiques of scientism as a conceptual framework for human residency. For Dostoevsky, the Crystal Palace of London's Great Exhibition (1862) embodied the nineteenth-century goal to found utopia through the …
Removing The Classical Landmark: Assessing An Epistemology Governed By Methodological Naturalism, Kegan Shaw
Removing The Classical Landmark: Assessing An Epistemology Governed By Methodological Naturalism, Kegan Shaw
Masters Theses
This paper proposes to assess the naturalist project in epistemology with an eye towards exposing the project as deficient for serving as a robust epistemological project. Epistemologists treasure a certain family of questions and burden themselves with a number of specific concerns the most important of which, I think, cannot be answered by the epistemological naturalist. Ignoring these questions, I will argue, essentially amounts to a dismissal of the principle tension that primarily motivates and properly guides epistemological theorizing. This tension is the familiar appearance vs. reality distinction and characterizes what I am calling the classical landmark or boundary-stone for …
The Fine-Tuning Of Nomic Behavior In Multiverse Scenarios, Max Lewis Edward Andrews
The Fine-Tuning Of Nomic Behavior In Multiverse Scenarios, Max Lewis Edward Andrews
Masters Theses
The multiverse hypothesis (the view that there is not just one world or universe in existence, bur rather that there are many) is the leading alternative to the competing fine-tuning hypothesis (the laws of physics and constants are fine-tuned for the existence of life). The multiverse dispels many aspects of the fine-tuning argument by suggesting that there are different initial conditions in each universe, varying constants of physics, and the laws of nature lose their known arbitrary values; thus, making the previous single-universe argument from fine- tuning incredibly weak. The position that will be advocated will be that a form …
A Response To Clark Pinnock's Hope For The Unevangelized As Seen In A Wideness In God's Mercy, Joshua Covert
A Response To Clark Pinnock's Hope For The Unevangelized As Seen In A Wideness In God's Mercy, Joshua Covert
Masters Theses
This paper will offer a response to Clark H. Pinnock's hope for the unevangelized as seen in A Wideness in God's Mercy. Pinnock argues that God saves individuals based upon their faith not primarily their knowledge. Pinnock develops a concept called the faith principle which he uses to support his claims. Pinnock provides five examples of unevangelized persons who are saved through faith without knowledge of Christ. Through Pinnock's faith principle and these five examples he argues that the unevangelized do not need special revelation - knowledge of Christ. It will be argued that the five examples provided by Pinnock …
An Apologetic To Sun Hwan Pyun's Dialogue Theology As A Liberation Theology Of Religions, Youngchan Kim
An Apologetic To Sun Hwan Pyun's Dialogue Theology As A Liberation Theology Of Religions, Youngchan Kim
Masters Theses
Sun Hwan Pyun was a professor at Methodist Theological University. As a theologian, he grappled with two important theological questions: "Is Christianity an exclusive religion?" and "Is Christianity only a religion for the upper class?" Regarding the exclusivism of Christianity, Pyun searched for an answer in ecumenical-religious pluralism. As an answer for "is Christianity for the poor", he accepts Minjung liberation theology. Pyun wanted to combine these two theologies and, subsequently, referred to his dialogue theology as a liberation theology of religions. The purpose of this thesis is to search for the theological and biblical answers to these theological questions …
A Hierarchy Of Love: Myth In C.S. Lewis's Perelandra, Joseph Walls
A Hierarchy Of Love: Myth In C.S. Lewis's Perelandra, Joseph Walls
Masters Theses
In C.S. Lewis's Perelandra, the transposed creature is drawn up into its "kindly stede" as a sacramental symbol of Christ through that fictional planet's unbroken relationship between meaning and form. Although Perelandra's "wheels-within-wheels" hierarchy may at first seem reminiscent of Catholicism's teachings on symbol, as a Protestant, Lewis believes that human beings cannot be truly sacramental symbols until the return of Christ. Lewis's optimistic depiction of a cosmic hierarchy is one of perfect love: superiors rule their subordinates with agape, and creatures who discover their submissive roles reciprocate with eros or adoring love. Every created being in Perelandra is part …
An Exegetical And Theological Examination Of Matthew 5:17-20, Marc A. Clauson
An Exegetical And Theological Examination Of Matthew 5:17-20, Marc A. Clauson
Masters Theses
Recent polemics relating to the use and validity of the Mosaic Law make a reexamination of some of the key Biblical passages imperative as well as a rethinking of the basic framework by which the issue of the Law is discussed. Matthew 5:17-20 is a passage often used by all sides in the Law debate and is here analyzed as to its relevance to the Law issue. This periscope is Jesus' programmatic statement about his mission with respect to the Law. The passage clearly states that the Law is not abolished and this truism serves as the broadest interpretational framework …