Arts and Humanities Commons^™

The Christian As Witness In View Of The True Witness, Emily Patricia Wilton

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This thesis examines Karl Barth’s understanding of what it means for Christian individuals to be witnesses of Jesus Christ. By analyzing the structure of Barth’s doctrine of reconciliation, with attention to his view of Jesus Christ as mediator, the thesis establishes the christological context of Barth’s concept of witness. The thesis demonstrates how Barth arrives at the conclusion that witness is central to the definition of Christian existence and identifies key features of Barth’s view of witness, namely, its theocentrism, its basis in ontology, and its enactment in human history. The thesis engages secondary scholarship in a critical appraisal of …

Going Gothic: Spanish Unity And Blame In The Legend Of Rodrigo And Florinda, Sara A. Gottardi

Doctoral Dissertations

The Legend of Rodrigo and Florinda is used to explain the causes for the successful Muslim invasion of Spain. My dissertation discusses six medieval versions of this legend, three Muslim and three Christian. I trace variations in blame to identify the different strata of society that are described as the corrosive catalysts for the Visigoths' divine punishment. I also analyze each source's presentation of the Visigothic prior to the invasion and examine how they assess the fracture of Spain into smaller kingdoms after the invasion. Identifying the Muslim invasion as a form of divine chastisement inherently includes the idea that …

The Sacrality Of The Mountain, Manuel Rivera Espinoza

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis I explore the conception of the mountain as a "sacred space" based on the definition provided by Mircea Eliade in The Sacred and The Profane and other works. I recognize three major elements in Eliadean sacral spatiality: a) order and orientation b) liminality and c) reality. Using various sources but mainly the oracle bones inscriptions, the Yugong ("Tributes of Yu") of the Shujing ("Book of Documents") and the Shanjing ("Classic of Mountains") of the Shanhaijing ("Classic of Mountains and Seas"), I demonstrate how the three basic components of sacrality are to be found in each of the …

Neo-Molinism: A Reappraisal And Defense, Elijah Hess

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the cogency of Gregory Boyd's so-called "neo-Molinist" account of the openness of the future. In particular, it is an investigation into whether Boyd's Square of Opposition for future contingents provides a model of reality for free-will theists that can preserve classical conceptions of (i) omniscience, (ii) logic, and (iii) morally significant freedom. In what follows, I argue that it can.

Facilitating Holistic Spiritual Formation At The Northside Church Of Christ In Laredo, Texas, Kirk R. Cowell

Doctor of Ministry Theses

This thesis describes a project to facilitate holistic spiritual formation at the Northside Church of Christ in Laredo, Texas. A program consisting of seven weekly sessions of intergenerational religious experiences was enacted at the church in hopes of catalyzing growth in the cognitive, relational, affective, and behavioral domains. These sessions were constructed on a foundation consisting of the experiences of the non-class Churches of Christ—a group of congregations that has historically rejected the Bible class model—and informed by the intergenerational formation literature. Evaluation of this project showed relational and affective growth greater than what the congregation had experienced with the …

Accessible Spiritual Practices Through Classic Forms Of Prayer, Clyde Vernon Hartline

Doctor of Ministry

But Jesus often withdrew to the lonely places and prayed. Luke 5:16

When God-followers feel distant and disconnected, they often describe their experience as a “lonely place.” The feeling of being distanced from God is exacerbated by a lack of knowledge on how to resolve the distance. Retreats and resources might help one reconnect with God; however, the means for connection is often housed in the deep recesses of books or is hidden in the teachings of spiritual sages far away on desert retreats. Simple classic prayer practices remain largely unknown in evangelical circles as a result of inaccessibility, unfamiliarity, …

Using Storytelling (Including Image, Metaphor And Narrative) In Cross-Generational, Cross-Cultural Twenty-First Century Evangelism, Rick D. Mckinney

Doctor of Ministry

Generational and cultural diversity within twenty-first century society has created great challenges to both professional clergy and laypersons in communicating the gospel. In addition, a postmodern, post-Christian culture has created a hostile environment for those sharing the message of Christ using the formulaic, propositional evangelism methods of the Twentieth century. Section One of this dissertation will elaborate on the problem. Section Two discusses why these methods, written primarily for a period of time when Judeo-Christian absolutes and regard for the sacred were staples in society, are increasingly ineffective. As the church struggles with a steady decline in its membership, the …

God And Gratuitous Evil, Michael Schrynemakers

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

William Rowe has argued for atheism as follows: (1) There seem to be evils God could have prevented without losing a greater good or permitting some evil equally bad or worse, and (2) God would not allow such evils. This dissertation examines (2), the "No Gratuitous Evil Thesis," and its role in Rowe's argument. In Part One I argue that there are crucial ambiguities in the notion of a greater good this thesis appeals to and that these present dilemmas for Rowe's argument, as well as for defining gratuitous evil. This leads to my approximation of the notion of gratuitous …

Can All Religions Live In Peace?, Antony Das S. Devadhasan

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Can All Religions Live In Peace?

Religion is identified as one of the main factors that divide humanity. Pluralists like, John Hick identify the conflicting truth claims or the doctrines of different religions as the basis for religious exclusivism. Hick accuses the exclusivists of being epistemically arrogant and morally oppressive. His remedy for eradicating exclusivism is that every religion with conflicting truth claims should reinterpret these claims so as to share an outlook with other religions. Alvin Plantinga, a critic of Hick, contradicts Hick on behalf of a believer or an exclusivist.He argues that for a believer his beliefs are …

Political Theology Versus Public Theology: Reclaiming The Heart Of Christian Mission, Martin R. Levesque

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Christian theology has always viewed itself in relation to two communities: the church and the wider public. Political theology attempts to expose incoherencies by highlighting theological themes in “secular” society. Public theology, meanwhile, accepts that wider political communities have their own autonomy. The work of Public Theology is to bring together insights from the gospel with initiatives from wider political movements in Government, Economic Structures and Civil Society for the benefit of all citizens.

In this thesis, I explore the historical development of Political Theology with the aid of Kirwan and Phillips. I examine the evolution of Public Theology from …

Between Mercersburg And Oxford: The Ecclesiology Of John Williamson Nevin, Kevin H. Steeper

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Abstract

This thesis explores the ecclesiology of the American theologian John Williamson Nevin (1803-1886) and its relationship to the wider “church question” of the nineteenth century. It will argue that Nevin’s “high church” theology defended the freedom of the church against both theological and political obstacles. Nevin maintained that the American church must establish an identity separate from modern “Puritanism,” as expressed through revivalism, rationalism and sectarianism. Crucially, Nevin was aided in this struggle by the insights of the Oxford Movement. It is a common misperception that the Oxford Movement never influenced American Protestantism. This thesis will contend that Nevin …

Setting The Captors Free: Soteriology In The Thought And Praxis Of Martin Luther King, Jr., Jacob W. Kines Jr.

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation seeks to illuminate aspects of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s theological legacy that have thus far either gone unnoticed or have been inadequately addressed. In particular I am concerned to unearth King’s soteriological legacy for historically privileged groups, especially those claiming a Christian identity. This project explores the ways in which King’s theological method, doctrine of God, and theological anthropology informed his soteriology. Special attention is given to King’ social location as a fourth generation African American preacher reared in the racially hostile South, and the ways in which his early experiences shaped the questions, tasks, and aims of …

Christology, Theology, & Evolution In Celia Deane-Drummond's Christ And Evolution, Trevor Beach Sj

School of Theology and Seminary Graduate Papers/Theses

This paper explores the relationship between theology and biological understandings of evolution. This paper explores some of the major themes in theology as they relate to contemporary observation of the natural world in biology. By this paper, I hope to highlight kenosis and eschatology as two theological foci that can aid in the discussion between biological evolution and contemporary theology.

Worshipping Meaningfully: The Complementary Dynamics Of Liturgy And Theology In Worship, Joseph Omolo

Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation

Omolo, Joseph, T. "Worshipping Meaningfully: The Complementary Dynamics of Liturgy and Theology in Worship." Ph.D. diss., Concordia Seminary, 2014. 242 pp.

This dissertation is a work in systematic theology which explores the relationship between liturgy and theology in the current scholarship of liturgical theology. It examines how the complementary dynamics of liturgy and theology enhance the appropriation of meaning experientially and conceptually in the Christian assembly and thereby making worship meaningful event. Worship is meaningful when the Christian assembly encounters the Triune God in his word and sacraments and the assembly responds in praise, prayer and thanksgiving. In such encounter …

Consideration Of The Church's Identity And Mission, Predicated On The Church Be-Ing 'Ligamen' (Bond), C. A. Chase

School of Theology and Seminary Graduate Papers/Theses

In 1965, the Roman Catholic Church, in Gaudium et spes, declared to the world: this community realizes that it is truly linked with mankind and its history by the deepest of bonds (GS 1). Shifting her identity from being one in opposition to the modern world, she announced the possibility of becoming the very bond (ligamen) binding diverse human communities and nations of the world, whilst existing as a function, a light, an energy (GS 42). Framed against the classical understanding of ecclesia as a perfect society, and the fact that this was no longer realistic in …

The Grammar Of Choice: Charles Dickens's Existential Idea Of Religion, Hai Na

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation challenges the received opinion that Charles Dickens's religious thinking is merely sentimental and philanthropic. Instead, I argue that there is in his works a very consistent "existential" sense of religion, especially in his mature novels. To be religious for him does not lie in the adherence to dogma or the study of theological arguments, but in the crucial choices people make every day. In order to illustrate this "existential" sense of religion, I analyze, in the first chapter, relevant works by Kierkegaard, Carlyle, George Eliot, and Dostoevsky, in order to establish the context in which Dickens's religious views …

Merging The Principles Of Occultism And Anarchism, Kevin Todd Mclaren

History

"Merging the Principles of Occultism and Anarchism" is an attempt to pinpoint the correlations between occult and/or esoteric belief systems and political anarchist philosophy. The paper analyzes the works, belief systems and philosophies of Giovanni Pico della Mirandola and Aleister Crowley and extracts the underlying anarchist principles that are embedded within them. This established connection to anarchism through occultism is reinforced by referencing various anarchist works, particularly the works of William Godwin.

Divine Omnipotence In Descartes' Philosophy, Alfredo Rodriguez

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The present thesis explores various aspects of Rene Descartes' doctrine of divine omnipotence within the context of his overall philosophy and with reference to his medieval heritage. This thesis shows that, contrary to his multiple and explicit statements that God's power cannot be limited in any way, Descartes took a more nuanced position on divine omnipotence that incorporated aspects of the widely accepted medieval position that God's goodness is a constraint on his power. Furthermore, Descartes used the medieval concept of universals as he experimented with the use of modes to explain how a thing's actual existence is possible by …

Joy As Illumination: Participation In God's Life-Giving Trinitarian Love, Trevor Beach Sj

School of Theology and Seminary Graduate Papers/Theses

This graduate paper is on the topic of joy, especially as understood in the commentaries of Adrienne von Speyr, and the writings of Hans Urs von Balthasar. In this paper, I show Christian joy as participation in God’s own joy through an illuminated and inter-personal life-giving love as given through and shown in the entire life of Jesus Christ, from the Incarnation, through the suffering Passion, and unto the Resurrection.

A Theology Of Creation Lived Out In Christian Hymnody, Beth Hoeltke

Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation

Hoeltke, Beth June “A Theology of Creation Lived Out in Christian Hymnody.” Ph.D. diss., Concordia Seminary, 2014. 308 pp.

A seminal article written by Lynn White in the mid-1960’s indicted Christianity as a major cause affecting the ecological crisis of the day. White emphasized that the Christian tradition practiced domination rather than dominion and ownership rather than stewardship. Since White’s article Christian theologians have challenged his interpretation. One of the unexamined sources of the church’s teaching on creation is hymnody. This dissertation examines this source. Hymns play a vital role in the church’s teaching as they have the ability to …

Christian Hope Among Rivals: Life-Organizing Stories As Narrative Theodices, Michael Zeigler

Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation

Zeigler, Michael. W. “Christian Hope among Rivals: Life-Organizing Stories as Narrative Theodicies.” Ph.D. diss., Concordia Seminary, 2014. 270 pp.

This dissertation answers the following: How is Christian hope distinct from others? The answer given is that Christian hope is distinct from its rivals because it expects the God of Jesus to bring the world to conform to the word of the promise he made to Abraham. This answer arises from an approach to Christian eschatology that differs from what has become typical. Current studies in eschatology focus on an internal use attributes, that is, a use fitted for derivation and …

Women Ordination In The Roman Catholic Church, Ria Barretto Aquino

Senior Theses

Changes in culture and society continue to mold and shift the direction of the Roman Catholic Church theologically, pastorally, and doctrinally; the Roman Catholic priesthood has done the same but in a slow progression. This thesis will begin to focus on the Catholic priesthood and the current magisterial doctrine that supports it. Next I will argue this doctrine by counteracting it with evidence of significant roles of women in theology and New Testament. Then I will address another Christian denomination with the existing structure of women ordination from the Episcopalian church. Whether or not an all-male clergy is beneficial for …

A Historical Account Of The Conceptual Evolution Of Satan In The Abrahamic Belief Traditions, Hanan Huneidi

Senior Theses

This paper shows a historical account of the development of the Satan persona in the Abrahamic belief traditions beginning with early Judaism in which Satan evolves most vastly from beginning as merely an action verb to ending as a tempter of man, then moving into the Christian New Testament evil entity personified as a direct opponent to Jesus, and finally ending with Islam’s perspective of a leader of the Jinn.

Awful/Awful: An Archive Of Light Embarrassments, Teysha Vinson

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

The difficulty of representing intangible religious ideas is at the core of Awful/Awful: An Archive of Light Embarrassments. Through an interest in how light is discussed in the Bible as a symbol for God and his fellowship, I make imagery that both repulses me and intrigues me but never do I get to the point where I feel the work encapsulates any answers. Instead, the photographs are questions, archived, unable to represent this light of God on their own without being trite or obtuse. The arranged work on the walls consists of these photographs plus a few ephemera from my …

Toward An Ecotheological Anthropology, Peter Garcia

Seminary Masters Theses

The image of God has carried with it a special designation for humanity within the panoply of life on earth. This project attempts to reorient and expand theological anthropology to include the ecological dimension in Christian perspective to cultivate an understanding of the ecological self. This project will place traditional interpretations of what it means to be human into conversation with twentieth-century ecological philosophies and Native American spirituality in order to broaden the Christian imagination for understanding ourselves within creation. Vine Deloria’s analyses of Western temporal thinking and spatial thinking demonstrated by Native worldviews provides perspective for necessary theological shifts …

Resourcing The Postmodern Pastor: An Examination Of Young Pastors’ Attitudes And The Implications For Denominational Publishers, Bonnie J. Perry

Ed.D. Dissertations

This study explored the influence of postmodernity on the changing attitudes of young pastors regarding spirituality and discipleship in their adult congregants. The purpose of this study was to educate and equip Christian publishers to resource young pastors who are ministering in a postmodern culture. The study focused on Church of the Nazarene pastors 35 years old or younger in the calendar year 2012, exploring their attitudes toward Christian faith, spirituality, and discipleship. At certain junctures in the study, the young pastors’ attitudes were compared to those of pastors who were 36 years or older in order to determine what …

Rising Above A Crippling Hermeneutic, Luke Steven, Carlos, Armando Thompson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Sacred texts authored in antiquity present a challenge for contemporary religious practitioners because there is always a question regarding how to interpret and apply the message today. Prominent Pentecostal theologian and disability theorist Amos Yong faces this challenge concerning the Bible as it relates to disabilities and those who have them. As I argue in this thesis, Yong succeeds in challenging the Pentecostal perceptions of disability without compromising on the over-all Pentecostal view of scripture.

The Hebrew Bible, which, according to Yong, "...serves as the foundation of the Christian scriptures," contains multiple passages that portray disability in a negative light. …

Developing An Intentional Mentoring Model For Disciple Formation At The Mayfair Church Of Christ, Jason Bybee

Doctor of Ministry Theses

This doctor of ministry thesis presents the results of a project to lead a team in the development of an intentional mentoring model for disciple formation at the Mayfair Church of Christ. This intervention involved the team members in a series of sessions during September and October 2013. Project sessions were designed to provide participants an intentional mentoring experience through exposure to four core practices: exploration of the biblical text, appreciative inquiry exercises, communal sharing, and prayer. Sessions were informed by (1) an understanding of discipleship as following behind Jesus and walking alongside our fellow sojourners, (2) the nature of …

The Influences Of Folklore On The Creation Of The Mormon Identity, Hannah Ruth Laprise

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Coasters, Cotton Candy, And Christ: Tracing The Function Of Faith And Fun In Dollywood, Tennessee, Blaire Sheppard Hamilton

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.