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From The Paper To The Stars, Morgan Jefferson Smith

Masters Theses

The document “From the Paper to the Stars” is a concise Thesis evoking the powerful art of literature. The first section is constructed to a minimal recount of the author's past when the spark for writing began in a preschool classroom, followed by inspiration from great authors (J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, to name a few) instilling a purpose to write as a commission to the Lord. The critical evaluation showcases the research of certain fiction, or fantasy, is rooted in mythological ideological reputation. However, such a genre is shown to be a tool for Christian writers to illustrate the …

Paradigms Of Horror, Xingge Zhang

Masters Theses

“It seems an unaccountable pleasure which the spectators of a well-written tragedy receive from sorrow, terror, anxiety and other passions, that are in themselves disagreeable and uneasy” (Hume, 1757).

Horror, said Adorno in another context, was beyond the scope of psychology. Horror tries to frighten, shock, horrify, and disgust using a variety of visual and auditory leitmotifs and devices, including reference to the supernatural, the abnormal, mutilation, blood, gore, the infliction of pain, death, deformity, putrefaction, darkness, invasion, mutation, extreme instability, and the unknown. Supernatural or uncanny narratives can shape, distort, or reflect the storyline in literary works, but also …

Faith Down The Rabbit Hole: A Critical Rhetorical Interrogation Of Q-Anon And Parasitic Christianity, Nate Carlson

Masters Theses

Over the course of the last six years, the conspiracy theory community known as Q-Anon has risen to prominence across the internet, coming to encapsulate a significant portion of the United States’ conservative and protestant populations. This study applies the act of Critical Rhetoric as proposed by McKerrow (1989) to the Q-Anon “drops”; message board posts wherein Q, the enigmatic leader of Q-Anon, preached conspiratorial ideology and misinformation to his followers. A pattern of Christian theology being usurped and retooled by Q as a method of faith-based political radicalization emerged throughout the texts, and this phenomenon was named “Parasitic Christianity.” …

Prisoners Present Arms: Sectarian Christians And The American Carceral State During The First World War, Joshua Ward Jeffery

Masters Theses

This thesis investigates the prison experiences of Arthur Dunham, Harold Gray, Evan Thomas, and other conscientious objectors to the First World War. It demonstrates that the Federal government of the United States used scientific management techniques, including the initiation of a discourse of 100% Americanism, the use of propaganda to spread this discourse, and the use of this discourse to encourage Americans to keep their friends, neighbors, and relatives under surveillance. These techniques were used together in order to create an American "carceral state" that allowed the government to surveil and discipline its population in such a way as to …

Active Religion: James Ireland, The Separate Baptists, And The Great Awakening In Virginia, 1760-1775, Cooper Pasque

Masters Theses

In the mid-eighteenth century, the religious fervor of the Great Awakening entered Virginia. Evangelical Baptists soon threatened to undermine the authority of the Anglican Church and its planter patrons. Despite their efforts to quiet the Baptists, evangelical religion took root in Virginia by the end of the American Revolution. Historical works on these events offer valid but incomplete explanations. Puzzling dynamics in the Virginian context require a more complex interpretation. The life of James Ireland provides a unique window into possible answers. His autobiography provides evidence for what appears to be the most fundamental reason for evangelicalism's successes in Virginia. …

Creating A Millennial Generation Contextualized Church Culture, Christopher Deitsch

Masters Theses

The Millennial generation, or Generation Y as some people know them, is the biggest generation in the United States of America history. As they flood schools, universities, and the job market it is easy to see that there are major differences between them and previous generations. Simultaneously, the church in America has hundreds of individual churches each year closing and tens of thousands each year declining; most churches are ceasing to grow. The inability to reach Millennials is one of the reasons for this decline. This thesis purposes to give a snapshot of the Millennial generation, overview a few of …

American Daoism: A New Religious Movement In Global Contexts, Steven San-Hu Chan

Masters Theses

This thesis explores the phenomenon of American Daoism. It assumes that American Daoism is a New Religious Movement, and argues that it has roots in counterhegemonic religious movements of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. I will explore these roots and describe how they are counter-hegemonic. Furthermore, I will build upon Elijiah Siegler’s doctoral dissertation, “The Dao of America: The History and Practice of American Daoism,” by using post-modern theories of identity to discuss how American Daoist identity is formed. This thesis argues that American Daoist identity is a combination of Chinese and American cultural objects that form a hybrid religious …

Falun Gong, The Great Red Dharma : Permanent Revolution Of The Law Wheel, Stephen Mciver Flanigan

Masters Theses

Falun Gong is one of the largest and fastest-growing religious movements in Chinese history, and its illegality and persecution in China are cause for concern in the areas of human rights and religious freedom. In this thesis, I argue that the particular characteristics of Falun Gong suggest that its massive popularity in China may be due to its ideological resemblance to the structures of Maoism and Chinese Communism, which for fifty years have penetrated every area of Chinese life. Furthermore, I argue that Falun Gong is a direct response to the traumatic experience of the Cultural Revolution in China and …

Three Women Saints In The Thirteenth Century: Mentalities And Roles, Ulrike Strasser

Masters Theses

This case study analyzes the lives of three thirteenth-century female saints, Lutgard of Aywiferes, Margaret of Ypres, and Christina Mirabilis, and places them against the broader theoretical frame of quantitative studies on the subject sainthood. The focus of the study is the pursuit of holiness as well as the perception of holiness. Both, pursuit and perception, serve as the point of departure for a discussion of the mentalities and the social realities which the women’s sainthood reflects.

The findings from this study indicate that female saints display numerous commonalities which can be traced back to the saints’ gender and its …

Southern Baptist Clergy Discuss The Nature Of Christian Conversion : $Ba Conceptual Analysis, John Forrest Hall

Masters Theses

The proliferation of new religious movements in the West during the past few decades has stimulated social scientific interest in the phenomenon of conversion. Within sociology, conversion has been vaguely conceived, the sole source of definitive consensus being that the phenomenon involves radical personal change. Students of conversion have exhibited a lack of agreement regarding what changes an individual undergoes as a result of the experience and how the convert is to be located for research purposes. As a result, sociology has lacked disciplined analyses of conversion. The ambiguity of conversion prompted the undertaking of an interview survey of Southern …