Digital Commons Network^™

Identity Negotiation, Saudi Women, And The Impact Of The 2011 Royal Decree: An Investigation Of The Cultural, Religious, And Societal Shifts Among Women In The Saudi Arabian Public Sphere, Maha Alshoaibi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Historically, Saudi Arabian culture has been deeply rooted in tradition, religious customs, family-oriented structures, and gender derived expectations for men and women alike. Saudi Arabian culture emphasizes a patriarchal family structure where men financially provide for their family whereas women are expected to manage internal household duties such as raising children, upholding household affairs, and working within a limited scope of employment. The concept of Saudi Arabian women integrating into the public workforce has been a source of contention and debate for the last several hundred years. Due to recent changes in political and economic events, a royal decree issued …

Worry In The Pews: Exploring Levels And Causes Of Worry Among Church-Goers, Jennifer Lee

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A large body of research indicates that worry, anxiety, and depression are present in the modern American psyche at increasingly high levels. Everyday worry can lead to further mental health issues, interpersonal problems, and reduced physical wellbeing and should be reduced when possible. Previous research has examined the benefits of church attendance with varied results; however, understanding the relationship between church attendance and everyday worry could be useful in reducing the effects of worry on this population.

The purpose of this quantitative study was to measure self-reported levels and causes of everyday worry among church-goers from three congregations and to …

The Emperor's New Clothes: How The New Atheists Are Reminding The Humanities Of Their Place And Purpose In Society., David Ira Buckner

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation will examine the social and intellectual impact of the so-called “New Atheism” as evidenced by the writings and public careers of its four principal protagonists: evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, philosopher Daniel Dennett, journalist Christopher Hitchens, and neuroscientist Sam Harris. I will argue that the New Atheists together provide an account of reality philosophically superior to that of theism, including those superficially sophisticated variations espoused in the writings of scholars William Lane Craig, John Lennox, Allister McGrath, Alvin Plantinga, etc. Yet, even if this were not so, I would still contend that the accessible, informative, and provocative style of …

The Effects Of Power And Religiously Motivated Ingroup Preference On Social Affiliation, Hernan Escobar

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Human beings are fundamentally social animals motivated by a need to establish and maintain close social relationships. The creation of these relationships inevitably leads to the creation of groups, along with a desire for power as a method of determining how resources are to be allocated within these groups. Most groups are characterized by individuals who belong to the ingroup and those who are relegated to an outgroup, and one powerful motivator of ingroup favoritism is religious affiliation. Although research has shown that feelings of low power increase the drive to socially affiliate, research has not yet explored how religious …

The Effects Of Christianity On Adult Resiliency When Overcoming Grief, Mia-Tiara S. Hall

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Grief seems to affect everyone in some way over the course of life. This research conducted a thematic analysis using grounded theory methods to understand the process in which Christians overcome grief when losing a loved one. A total of six participants volunteered to be able to share their stories. The questions to be answered included: “What is the process of growing resilience among Christians who experience grief due to losing a loved one?” and “How does one’s faith impact this process of overcoming grief?” Utilizing Strauss and Corbin (1990), the data collected in this study was analyzed by open, …

The Trickster And The Tricked: Agency Versus Passivity In Egyptian Representations Of The God Seth, Tanya Mai Olson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis will seek to explore some of the diverse roles played by the god Seth over the course of Pharaonic history. As one of the most complex figures in Egyptian religion and mythology, a diachronic analysis will show that Seth could be portrayed as either an active or passive force, based largely upon the role he was meant to play. By exploring the iconography of his artistic depictions, and corroborating these depictions with textual evidence, this thesis hopes to contextualize Seth's active and passive portrayals and discuss his benevolent and malevolent roles as a god of multiple domains, including …

Living Through Terror And Terror Through Living: The Biopolitical Dimensions Of Religion, Security, And Terrorism, Donnie Featherston

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Recent emphasis and attention by thinkers, media pundits, and politicians on terrorism requires new, critical evaluation of the processes by which terrorism is understood. By investigating the concept of biopolitics, as developed specifically through Michel Foucault and Giorgio Agamben, new insights into the interactions between terrorism, politics, and religion can emerge. Most notably, the attempts to explain terror as simply an economic problem, an excessive form of violence, and/or as religious fervency gone awry rely on embedded biopolitical concepts. The continual attempts to solve terrorism through increased biopolitical strategies, thereby making terrorism a problem for biopolitics, only further substantiate the …

Chatter And Chant: Religion And Community On The Renaissance English Stage, Rachel Dunleavy Morgan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines moments in five English Renaissance plays when characters employ religious language in bids to consolidate or to fracture communities. The plays are John Bale's King Johan (c. 1538, revised c. 1560), Nathaniel Woodes' Conflict of Conscience (c. 1581); Thomas Heywood's A Woman Killed with Kindness (1603); Shakespeare's Cymbeline (1611); and John Webster's The White Devil (1612). The types of communities examined most closely are those of a small scale - relationships of individuals to God, marriages, families, friendships, households, parishes, courts - but these appear against the backdrop of much larger communities such as the nation …

A Close Reading Of Albert Cleage Jrs The Black Messiah: A Study In Rhetorical Hermeneutics, Black Prophetic Rhetoric And Radical Black Politics, Earle J. Fisher

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The physical and rhetorical presentations in Albert Cleage Jrs 1968 publication, The Black Messiah, had an enormous impact on the theological and rhetorical landscape of the late 1960s and continues to echo into the early part of the 21st century. This book of 20 sermons preached at the height of the black power movement in Detroit was disruptive to a white supremacist religious consciousness that plagued the mainstream religious arena and general American public. The Black Messiah has contributed substantially to the change in public discourse about Jesus, Christianity, Black Power, and what it meant to the Christian then (and …