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Full-Text Articles in Arts and Humanities

Using Pascal's Wager As A Model For Introducing God To Unbelievers In An Increasingly Fast-Paced, Secular World, Laurie Sharma Jan 2023

Using Pascal's Wager As A Model For Introducing God To Unbelievers In An Increasingly Fast-Paced, Secular World, Laurie Sharma

Masters Theses

Statistics say that each year, 4.5 billion people, or nearly 60% of the world’s population, will gamble at least once. Every time someone gambles in a casino, the statistical probability—that is, 'the odds'—favor the house. With odds stacked against the individual gambler, it appears irrational to gamble in casinos and one must wonder why anyone would take such risks. Conversely, gambling would appear rational if the odds were not stacked against the gambler. What if the odds were significantly higher; 50/50 to be exact? If this were the case, more people would be spending more time and money at casinos …


Supernatural Evil As Evidence For The Existence Of God, Shane Stone Geisler Sep 2022

Supernatural Evil As Evidence For The Existence Of God, Shane Stone Geisler

Masters Theses

This study challenges widely held beliefs about the supernatural realm. Those who believe the supernatural realm exists tend to accept there is a personable higher power at work in our world. The naturalistic worldview denies the existence of anything or anyone beyond our physical universe. This paper will first inform the reader of a history of beliefs in the supernatural. Next, an innovative approach will be taken to provide evidence for the supernatural world. Finally, the evidence will be examined to determine its reliability and identify common themes found throughout the research. The information provided is not intended to be …


Venerating Earth: Three Sacramental Perspectives, Jame Schaefer Jan 2022

Venerating Earth: Three Sacramental Perspectives, Jame Schaefer

Theology Faculty Research and Publications

three prominent ways in which the sacramentality of creation has been nuanced over the centuries are explored: (1) Experiencing the presence of God in the world with focus on Ignatius of Loyola’s final contemplation in his Spiritual Exercises; (2) reflecting on manifestations of God’s goodness, power and wisdom that eminent patristic and medieval theologians discerned when studying the world and novel attributes that are discernible today when informed by current scientific findings; and (3) receiving the Eucharist as a heightened encounter with God that can strengthen individuals and communities to act cooperatively. These three ways of perceiving the world within …


The Incoherence Of An Evil God, Carlo Alvaro Jan 2022

The Incoherence Of An Evil God, Carlo Alvaro

Publications and Research

The evil god challenge is for theists to explain why a good god’s existence should be considerably more reasonable than an evil god’s existence. Challengers note that there is a symmetry between a good god and an evil god. Moreover, the classical arguments for a good god can prove the existence of an evil god just as well. Furthermore, theodicies can be mirrored by reverse theodicies. Consequently, the evil god challenge leads to two implications. One, if an evil god is deemed absurd, by logical symmetry, a good god must also be absurd. Two, if an evil god is not …


What In Hell Conflicts With God? The Divine Promulgation View Of Hell Confirms The Reality Of Hell Does Not Make God A Moral Monster, Kara Y. Harris Jan 2021

What In Hell Conflicts With God? The Divine Promulgation View Of Hell Confirms The Reality Of Hell Does Not Make God A Moral Monster, Kara Y. Harris

Masters Theses

The aim of this thesis is to demonstrate that God is not morally at fault for humans consigned to eternal punishment in hell. In this work, I contribute to the ongoing conversation of hell in the following ways: (1) I provide an exposition on the words translated as hell in the Bible; (2) I uncover the progressive nature of the doctrine of hell as sin increases and God advances His plan of salvation to rescue humans from such an eternal fate; (3) I argue that Christianity and the biblical doctrine of hell are bound principally as Christ’s work on the …


Is This A Christian Nation?: Virtual Symposium September 25, 2020, Roger Williams University School Of Law Sep 2020

Is This A Christian Nation?: Virtual Symposium September 25, 2020, Roger Williams University School Of Law

School of Law Conferences, Lectures & Events

No abstract provided.


Augustine’S Privation Theory Of Evil, Emily Jiang Jan 2019

Augustine’S Privation Theory Of Evil, Emily Jiang

Beets Paper Contest

No abstract provided.


Conceiving God: Literal And Figurative Prompt For A More Tectonic Distinction, Robert Masson Feb 2018

Conceiving God: Literal And Figurative Prompt For A More Tectonic Distinction, Robert Masson

Theology Faculty Research and Publications

John Sanders’ Theology in the Flesh, the first comprehensive overview of the toolkit that contemporary cognitive linguistics offers for theological appropriation, despite its remarkable success, gives rather minimal attention to blending theory, one of the discipline’s most formidable tools. This paper draws on blending theory to offer an alternative to Sanders’ chapter on conceiving God. Central to the proposal is claim that God-talk, like many of the advances in science, technology, and art, entails a kind of tectonic understanding and conceptual mapping that is neither literal nor figurative.


Divine Utilitarianism, Jimmy Lewis Jun 2017

Divine Utilitarianism, Jimmy Lewis

Masters Theses

This work addresses the subject of God and ethics and aims to answer questions concerning why God does what he does and whether God is a utilitarian in his ethics. In order to answer these questions, God’s nature is explored through the lens of classical theists such as Anselm, Thomas of Aquin, and Augustine. Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill’s conceptions of utilitarianism are also explicated so that there is no confusion regarding the definition of utility which is used in Divine Utilitarianism. Finally, Divine Utilitarianism is juxtaposed to Divine Command Theory and the explanatory power of each is considered. …


Mary's Song: How Wonderful You Are, Mike Nartker S.M. Jan 2016

Mary's Song: How Wonderful You Are, Mike Nartker S.M.

Musical Compositions about the Marianist Charism

Praise of Mary


Facilitating A Change Of Mind About Father God Through Mentoring Of The Fatherless, Stephen Madosky Jan 2016

Facilitating A Change Of Mind About Father God Through Mentoring Of The Fatherless, Stephen Madosky

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The consensus of published research has proven beyond question that fatherlessness is a crisis in America. Textbooks and autobiographies have covered and reported the statistical effects of fatherlessness; nonetheless, there is far less literature dealing with the solution of fatherlessness and even less literature from Church scholars on how the Church may participate in its correction. This thesis presents an understanding of fatherlessness and proposes a resolution to act on behalf of fatherless children. The resolution will be comprised in preparing Church leaders to equip Church laity to understand and to minister to the fatherless in their affliction effectively.


How Marion Helps Us To Understand Kierkegaard’S Fear And Trembling, Mark Tazelaar Mar 2015

How Marion Helps Us To Understand Kierkegaard’S Fear And Trembling, Mark Tazelaar

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

In the past decade, many interpretations of Fear and Trembling highlight the significance of the “eschatological”—the marvel of Abraham’s expectation that he will get Isaac back. For these interpretations, the central issue is the contrast between the knight of faith and the knight of resignation. Merold Westphal, however, contends that these interpretations lead us away from the main contrast between the hero of faith and the tragic hero. Kierkegaard scholarship is at an impasse. I argue that Marion’s phenomenology of sacrifice, together with the important idea of veritas redarguens that he appropriates from Augustine, offer insights that can resolve the …


To Speak Of God In A Feminine Way In The Churches And Theologies Of The Americas, Susan Ross Apr 2014

To Speak Of God In A Feminine Way In The Churches And Theologies Of The Americas, Susan Ross

Theology: Faculty Publications and Other Works

No abstract provided.


Review Of Ramanuja And Schleiermacher: Toward A Constructive Comparative Theology, Sucharita Adluri Ms. Jan 2012

Review Of Ramanuja And Schleiermacher: Toward A Constructive Comparative Theology, Sucharita Adluri Ms.

Philosophy and Religious Studies Department Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.


The Logic Of The ‘As If’ And The Existence Of God: An Inquiry Into The Nature Of Belief In The Work Of Jacques Derrida, Colby Dickinson May 2011

The Logic Of The ‘As If’ And The Existence Of God: An Inquiry Into The Nature Of Belief In The Work Of Jacques Derrida, Colby Dickinson

Theology: Faculty Publications and Other Works

The religious thematics at play in the work of Jacques Derrida have often provided an ongoing platform from which to struggle with the entire scope of his work, thus moving the seemingly peripheral discourses on religion within his oeuvre to the center stage. Despite repeated attempts to come to terms both theologically and philosophically with the conditional nature of representations, the problematics of representation are perhaps nowhere more forcefully demonstrated than in the work of Derrida. Indeed, for Derrida, the ‘as if’, as a regulative principle directly appropriated and modified from its Kantian context, becomes the central lynchpin for understanding, …


The Savior Is God, John Reeve Apr 2010

The Savior Is God, John Reeve

Memory, Meaning & Faith

No abstract provided.


Reflections On The Asymmetry Of The Tetragrammaton, Ethan Annis May 2009

Reflections On The Asymmetry Of The Tetragrammaton, Ethan Annis

Collected Faculty and Staff Scholarship

The Tetragrammaton are the four Hebrew letters for the word God, yud hey vahv hey, that God used to reveal himself to Moses. The name is commonly translated as He brings into existence whatever exists. People do not know how the name was pronounced. When the Temple existed, it was pronounced by the High Priest once during the high during the High Holidays each year. The name was probably once ubiquitous in the Tanak but was largely replaced by the Masoretes between the 6th and 10th C AD


Buddhist Thoughts On The Battle For God: Is Fundamentalism A Good Reason To Ditch Religion?, Philip Novak Apr 2009

Buddhist Thoughts On The Battle For God: Is Fundamentalism A Good Reason To Ditch Religion?, Philip Novak

Collected Faculty and Staff Scholarship

"Not long ago I taught a seminar on science and religion that required three fo the most widely read gospels of the so-called new atheism: Richard Dawkin's The God Delusion, Daniel Dennett's Breaking the Spell, and Sam Harris's The End of Faith. As I read along, I found the Buddhist in myself in large agreement. after all, Gotama himself had been highly skeptical of the God-idea, involving as it often did an onmipotence he could not square with either the world's suffering or his belief in human freedom." ~ from the article


Monotheism, Polytheism, Monolatry, Or Henotheism? Toward An Assessment Of Divine Plurality In The Hebrew Bible, Michael Heiser Jan 2008

Monotheism, Polytheism, Monolatry, Or Henotheism? Toward An Assessment Of Divine Plurality In The Hebrew Bible, Michael Heiser

Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary (1973-2015)

Israel’s view of God and his relationship to other divine beings in the Hebrew Bible has long been the subject of scholarly debate. The dominant critical consensus since the late nineteenth century holds that Israel’s faith evolved from polytheism or henotheism to monotheism. Passages in the Hebrew Bible that assume the existence of other gods are compared to other passages that put forth the declaration that “there are no other gods besides” the God of Israel as proof of this view. Other scholars who reject this evolutionary paradigm tend to assume passages evincing divine plurality actually speak of human beings, …


God, The Trinity, And Adventism: An Introduction To The Issues, Denis Fortin Apr 2006

God, The Trinity, And Adventism: An Introduction To The Issues, Denis Fortin

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.


Saving God, Robert Masson Jan 2004

Saving God, Robert Masson

Theology Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.


Paradise Lost And The Concept Of Creation, Kent Lehnhof Jan 2004

Paradise Lost And The Concept Of Creation, Kent Lehnhof

English Faculty Articles and Research

On his visit to Eden, Raphael informs Adam and Eve that the universe was not created ex nihilo but rather de deo: everything was fashioned from out of the singular substance of God. This consubstantial connection to God proves universally ennobling by conferring upon each existent a divine origin and a divine composition. Milton's materialist monism, however, prevents him from participating in orthodox ideas of God that differentiate deity from all else on the basis of a divine ousia unique to him. Unable to locate God's divinity in a material difference, Milton sets God off from every other existent on …


"Not So Fast Mr. Wilson" A Review Of "Genes, Genesis, And God" In Natural And Human History By Holmes Rolston, M. Therese Lysaught Jan 2000

"Not So Fast Mr. Wilson" A Review Of "Genes, Genesis, And God" In Natural And Human History By Holmes Rolston, M. Therese Lysaught

Theology Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.


Aids And The Wrath Of God, David J. Baggett Apr 1994

Aids And The Wrath Of God, David J. Baggett

SOR Faculty Publications and Presentations

No abstract provided.


6. Jerusalem: The Development Of A Theology, Robert L. Bloom, Basil L. Crapster, Harold A. Dunkelberger, Charles H. Glatfelter, Richard T. Mara, Norman E. Richardson, W. Richard Schubart Jan 1958

6. Jerusalem: The Development Of A Theology, Robert L. Bloom, Basil L. Crapster, Harold A. Dunkelberger, Charles H. Glatfelter, Richard T. Mara, Norman E. Richardson, W. Richard Schubart

Section I: Athens, Rome, and Jerusalem: Background of Western Civilization

Christianity began as a religion centering around the person of Jesus, and not as a philosophy. It was rooted in Judaism, likewise a religion, not a philosophy. The truths of both were held to have been revealed by God and hence the need for a rational inquiry into their nature was minimized. Many individuals to whom Christianity appealed were satisfied with the simple message of repentance and salvation, but there were many others whose minds were more inquiring and who could not rest until they had explored in a rational way the deep questions which Christianity posed. Most early Christians …