Arts and Humanities Commons^™

"When The Eternal Can Be Met": Bergsonian Time In The Theologies Of C.S. Lewis, T.S. Eliot, And W.H. Auden, James Corey Latta

Dissertations

C. S. Lewis, T. S. Eliot, and W. H. Auden all converted to the Christian faith and, upon conversion, turned to the theme of time in their post-conversion works. Interestingly, these Christian authors employed the secular philosophical framework of Henri Bergson’s theory of duration to construct their theologies of time. As texts fostered by Bergson’s ideas of intuition, the dualistic self, and durative force, Lewis’s The Great Divorce, Eliot’sFour Quartets, and Auden’s “Kairos and Logos” are theological works that depict time as an agent.

My Peace I Give Unto You Christianity's Critique Of Roman And American Exceptionalism, Ryan Tindall

HIM 1990-2015

Throughout the history of the United States, its inhabitants have looked upon their nation as a special place. In some cases, this has exceeded the natural and simple love of home and country and taken a more extreme form. Important to this bent is the tendency to see the nation, its beliefs, and its actions around the world as divinely sanctioned and inspired in some regard. This is a generally necessary component to the idea of American Exceptionalism, which views the United States as a nation with a divinely imposed mission to spread civilization, freedom, and democracy to the ends …

From Profane To Divine: The Hegemonic Appropriation Of Pagan Imagery Into Eastern Christian Hymnody, Jordan Lippert

Scripps Senior Theses

Spanning the first seven centuries of Christianity, this paper explores how Eastern Christian and Byzantine hymn chant was developed alongside pagan and Jewish worship traditions around the Near East. Comparison of hymns by Christian composers such as St. Romanos the Melodist and pagan poetry reveals many similarities in the types of metaphorical imagery used in both religious expressions. Common in Christian hymn texts, well-known metaphors, like the “Light of God,” are juxtaposed with pagan mythological gods, such as Apollo and Helios. This paper attempts to explain how and why Christians appropriated and adopted ancient pagan imagery into the burgeoning musical …

Toward A Dialogical Hermeneutic Of A Hindu-Christian: A Socio-Scientific Study Of Nepali Immigrants In Toronto, Surya Prasad Acharya

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

In search of a hermeneutic that is dialogical, transcending one’s own realm of understanding to give enough space to the other, the theory of dialogical self provides a framework which is not only able to engage mutually incompatible traditions but inculcates a whole new insight into considering that the other is not completely external to the self. One of the most significant features of theory of dialogical self is that it is devised in the conviction that insight into the workings of the human self requires cross-fertilization between different fields. The thesis therefore employs social-psychology, religious studies, inter-cultural studies, theology …

Extending Story Listening As A Practice Of Communal Formation At The Lake Orion Church Of Christ, Eric R. Magnusson

Doctor of Ministry Theses

This doctor of ministry thesis presents the results of a project that explores the potential for extending a practice of story listening as a way of forming community across social circles at the Lake Orion Church of Christ in Lake Orion, Michigan. The intervention involved guiding a group of six participant-researchers, each of whom had previous experience in story listening, through six sessions in the fall of 2011. Each phase of the project was informed by a participatory social Trinitarian theology. The first three sessions were designed to empower participant-researcher pairs to facilitate story listening groups of four to five …

A Spectacle Of Great Beauty: The Changing Faces Of Hagia Sophia, Victoria M. Villano

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

Collateral: Poems, Joshua Jon Robbins

Doctoral Dissertations

In the lyric tradition of Gerard Manley Hopkins’ Terrible Sonnets and James Wright’s odes to the Midwest, the poems in Collateral interrogate the complexities of faith and doubt in middle-class America and present a witness compelled to translate suburbia’s landscapes and evangelical banalities into a testimony of hard truths. These poems explore the emotional exhaustion that accompanies language’s broken connection to ideal meaning and how both are unable to fully correspond to our lives. The manuscript is also an exploration of my own corresponding lyric struggle to reconcile what is and what should be, the personal and the political …

Providential Progress: The Post-Revolutionary World Of Robert Crawford, Katherine Garland

Honors Projects and Presentations: Undergraduate

In 1776, Thomas Jefferson penned the Declaration of Independence. It included the now famous words “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Upon the successful completion of the Revolutionary War, the government and people of the United States had to implement these words into their daily lives. The Revolution created new opportunities in education and industry for regular people to seek “the pursuit of Happiness.” Such revolutionary ambition has often been explained …

The Initiation Of Growth-Focused Relationships Involving Healthy Accountability At The Carbondale Church Of Christ, Stephen Shaffer

Doctor of Ministry Theses

After several years of transition, the Carbondale Church of Christ is in the early stages of becoming a spiritual growth-focused community. However, the emerging growth community appears to reflect the prevailing cultural assumptions that growth is a personal, private, and an individual task. To shape this emergent growth culture, this project initiated a group of congregational opinion leaders, organized in pairs, into the practice of growth-focused relationships involving healthy accountability. The initiation involved a theological orientation followed by a four-week healthy accountability praxis.

The theological framework of the project involved three main aspects. First, the project used the body image …

Can't Be Tamed: A Feminist Analysis Of Apocrypha And Other Scripture, Catherine Alison Ballard

Scripps Senior Theses

This paper is my own unique feminist analysis of certain apocryphal texts. Though the texts I use have common themes, they are divided into what I consider the three most societally important aspects of an ancient woman’s identity: virgin, mother, and whore. The Acts of Thecla and The Acts of Xanthippe and Polyxena deal with virginity. II Maccabees, The Martyrdom of Perpetua and Felicitas, and select chapters of Augustine’s Confessions represent motherhood. Finally, the hagiographies Life of Pelagia and Life of Mary navigate through the mire of sexualities that deviate from norms.

On Being In Relation With All Created Things (An Ecofeminist, Evangelical, Theological Anthropology), Jennifer L. Butler

Seminary Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

Reexamining The Place Of Public Confession Of Sins In A Reformed Context., Matthew John Webber

CTS Master of Theology (ThM) Theses

A dangerous tendency plagues the scripturally mandated practice of confession within many mainline Christian churches. The danger is that the theological thrust of the practice has been ignored or compromised in such a way that the manner in which confession is practiced ignores fundamental elements which underlie the need for confession, specifically public confession performed before one's fellow believers. It is especially evident that the confession of one's sins, which once took place in pubic before the ecclesial body, has seen a significant amount of change within the Reformed context. The focus of this essay is to identify the theological …

Communities Of Creativity: The Role Of Symbols On Youth Formation, Andrew Locke Kellner

Children, Youth, and Family (CYF) Papers

No abstract provided.

A Future I Trust In: Identity And Vocation As The Parent-Leader, Karen M. Gieseke

Children, Youth, and Family (CYF) Papers

No abstract provided.

A Descriptive Study Of 21st Century Instructional Practices In The Association Of Christian Schools International In Kentucky, Ohio And West Virginia, Melanie E. White

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Association of Christian Schools International serves the evangelical Christian community and includes preschools, elementary and secondary schools as well as postsecondary institutions. Offering a viable and authoritative voice in education and contributing to the public good, ACSI enables Christian school students worldwide to acquire wisdom, knowledge, and a biblical worldview as evidenced by a lifestyle of character, leadership, service, stewardship and worship. Core beliefs include spiritual and academic excellence while their statement of faith shows their commitment to providing assistance to the needs of Christian educators and schools (Association of Christian Schools International, 2009). The rationale of this research project …

A Social Literary Study Of Hebrew Esther: Characterizations As A Narrative Construct For Discussing Diasporic Identity, Sara Vulgan

Seminary Masters Theses

This study is a preliminary attempt to ascertain insights into diasporic Persian/Second-Temple period ideas concerning Jewish identity. Through the book of Esther this study utilizes the methodological tool of literary characterizations as a means for gaining insight into the narrator's conceptual framework. The first section highlights some of the important recent Esther studies, along with studies concerned with sociological questions and the Hebrew bible. Section two presents a broad discussion of the sociological and literary concerns for this study. The third section presents a study on the characterizations of the story's co-protagonists, Esther and Mordecai. Two aspects of characterization, the …

Teaching Disciples To Pray: Improving The Understanding And Practice Of Prayer At Calvary Baptist Church Of Floyd, Virginia, Randy Thomas Mcdaniel

Doctor of Ministry Projects

This project was undergirded by a theory that intentionality and discipline in prayer will yield valuable benefits. Growing more knowledgeable in prayer practice as well as learning to faithfully set aside time for prayer were two components of specific importance in this project. Such components can be engaged by the individual in private study. However, the position of this ministry experiment is that the greatest gains regarding knowledge and practice with prayer are to be found from intentional study with the additional element of a dialogical small group experience.

A New Way Of Life In Ministry: Sustaining Hope In The Midst Of Burnout, Benjamin C. Staley

Doctor of Ministry

No abstract provided.

At The Crossroads Of Biblical Studies And Linguistics: An Exegesis Of Genesis 10:1-11 :9, Trevor Huxham

Honors Theses

In the book of Genesis, one of the longest genealogies in the Bible is followed by a narrative about a city and a tower called Babel located in southern Mesopotamia. In this account. God confuses the original common language of humankind at Babel, and from there. people spread throughout the world speaking their diverse languages, however, archaeologists and linguists have found that languages change gradually over time and that people began migrating across the world some 50,000 years ago from eastern Africa. At first glance, there seems to be a conflict here between the Bible and the sciences. But when …

Evaluating Violence And (Non)Violence: A Critical, Practical Theology Of Social Change, Julie Marie Todd

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation uses a practical theological approach to evaluate Christian (non)violence in light of interviews with twelve scholars and activists in the United States about the means of social change and the relationship of those means to social location. Social location conditions an understanding of what violence is and how different groups justify and respond to various uses of violence and (non)violence within society and for social change. The project sets Christian (non)violent practice within the context of direct, structural and cultural violence, and implicates Christian tradition, theology and practice in each level of violence. The qualitative data exposes the …

The Year Of Jubilee Is At Hand: A Call For Social Justice, Jesse Pruett

Honors Theses

In recent months, the campaign "Kony 2012" has captured the focus of millions across the globe. Using social media and an immensely popular YouTube clip, the creators of this campaign are seeking to raise awareness about alleged social injustices committed by Joseph Kony in West Africa. The fact that this campaign, among numerous other campaigns that seek to raise awareness about or to fight some form of injustice, became popular in such a short period of time illustrates the growing interest of millions of people, specifically contemporary westerners, in matters of social injustice and oppression. This growing interest in the …

Voices Of The Imago Consumere: The Dialogic Formation Of Christian Identity In American Consumer Iculture, William D. Gibson

Doctor of Ministry

No abstract provided.

Image Of Grace: Seeing And Sharing The Gospel Through Imagery, David Banks

Doctor of Ministry

No abstract provided.

The Concept Of Divine Love In The Context Of The God-World Relationship, John C. Peckham

Dissertations

The love of God is central to God's relationship to the world. This dissertation addresses the conflict of interpretation between the transcendent-voluntarist and immanent-experientialist models regarding divine love in the context of the God-world relationship by applying a canonical methodology. Chapter 1 introduces the background, purpose, problem, scope, and plan of study as well as the final-form canonical theological method employed in the investigation. Chapter 2 briefly surveys the historical theology of love, tracing the central conceptions of divine love and the God-world relationship by selected, highly influential thinkers. Chapter 3 presents and analyzes the irreconcilable interpretations of divine love …

A Study Of Warfare Theodicy In The Writings Of Ellen G. White And Gregory A. Boyd, Martha O. Duah

Dissertations

The problem of evil has been an issue for all religions over the centuries. But it is a crucial issue for theism because of its affirmation of the co-existence of an omnipotent, omniscient, and omnibenevolent God and evil. Theologians and philosophical theologians have developed a plethora of materials in response to the problem. However, according to critics, none of the responses in and of themselves adequately deals with theism's problem of suffering and evil. As a result, this study explores the warfare theodicy, a Christian response to the problem of sin, suffering, and evil, which seems to have been neglected …

The 100 Words That Make Us Christian, Thomas E. Ingram

Doctor of Ministry

No abstract provided.

Catechetical Approach To Redefining Relationship Between Pastors And Members Of The Congregation With An Eye To Mitigating Pastoral Burnout, Laurie J. Mulkey

Doctor of Ministry

No abstract provided.

Saturday Leadership: Submitted, Engaged Leadership For The Exilic And Templeless Church, Henry Berg

Doctor of Ministry

No abstract provided.

Four-Footed Ministers In Formation: The Four-Footed Ministers Pastoral-Care Program Training Manual For Dog Ministry Based On The Cam/Ps Model, Jerilyn E. Felton

Doctor of Ministry

No abstract provided.

The Once And Future Church: Discipleship And The Hope Of United Methodism, William H. Watson

Doctor of Ministry

No abstract provided.