Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Hell, And The Savior Of The World, Michael Anthony Bahry

Theology Graduate Theses

No abstract provided.

On The Development Of Catholic Moral Teaching (Chapter 1: Halakhic Precedent), David Salzillo

Theology Student Scholarship

This paper proposes 1) that Matthew 16:19 refers to the practice of halakha (in Judaism, the application of the Torah’s moral, legal, and ceremonial precepts to real-life cases), and thus confers on the apostles—and their successors in the Catholic Church—the authority to apply and adapt Christian moral teaching to new situations and 2) that the rules and norms of halakha provide the Catholic Church with a way of reconciling development and even revision of Catholic moral teaching with the Church’s claim to infallibility in matters of faith and morals. Especially given the recent controversies regarding the German Synodal Way, my …

A Biblical Theology Of Water, Eric Robert Waller

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Numerous “water related terms” are utilized in Genesis 1-2 such as, “the deep, “the waters,” “water,” “sea,” seas,” “stream,” “river,” “flow,” “flows,” and “rain.” Arguably similar, Revelation 21-22 uses the terms “water of life,” “river of the water of life,” “thirsty,” “spring, ” and “lake.” That the traditional Protestant canon is bookended with such similar terminology appears to create an inclusio that demands further inquiry within the canon to seek supplemental, complementary, and even potentially contrasting and conflicting evidence supporting a biblical theology of water. While commentary on every canonical water related text or term would be a daunting task …

The Consistency Of The Kingdom Of God Through Israel's Unconditional Covenants, Myungwoo Kim

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The Bible consistently presents one common theme: the kingdom of God. Biblical theology focuses on God’s faithfulness, wisdom, and purpose in the process of redemption. The Old Testament expresses the firm belief that God will surely fulfill His covenants and reign forever. The Old Testament prophets believed that the Messiah would come for judgment and salvation. They consistently prophesied the birth and reign of the Messiah, which connects the Old and New Testaments. There is a continuity between the Old and New Testaments. The promises made to Israel in the Old Testament will be fulfilled for Israel, not the church. …

Implementing And Equipping A Fivefold Ministry With Theological Education To Defend And Uphold Biblical Doctrines In The Church, Kara Yvette Harris

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

God instructed believers to put forth their best work to rightly handle His Word of truth (2 Tim 2:15). Unfortunately, God’s truth is under attack and has been polluted with false teaching and incorrect understanding of Scripture. It is incumbent on the local church to combat this problem of incorrect biblical teaching head-on. Therefore, this action research project aims to demonstrate that through proper theological training in the church, this problem will be remedied. This action research assumes that arming the local church with theological training will strengthen its core. To this aim, this research project included teaching five theological …

A Reconciliation Of Pauline Complementarian Theology And Egalitarian Narratives In The New Testament, Paul Andrew Morss

Masters Theses

The debate about women having authority over men or serving in leadership roles within the church is a controversial topic that has existed for some time. There are different interpretations of the complementarian and egalitarian debate surrounding specific areas in scripture. The Bible is a source of wisdom and truth that is used to direct the lives of Christians and the church. However, both sides point to the same text as the justification for their beliefs. The complementarian and egalitarian debate is far-reaching, but I plan to look at one subject within the larger debate. The scope of my thesis …

Theological Education And Spiritual Formation In The Lives Of Engaged, Emerging Adults, Markus David Colbert

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This thesis seeks to answer the following question: What is an effective discipleship method for emerging adults who are already engaged in IChurch? The method chosen was multi-layered and utilized corporate discipleship which involved a classroom setting geared toward theological and doctrinal education based on Bloom-Anderson’s taxonomy of educational objectives, communal discipleship which was concerned with small group activities and peer-to-peer accountability, and personal discipleship geared toward individual spiritual formation given an edited list of Whitney’s personal spiritual disciplines. Participants were asked to take an introductory Theological examination which plotted them from analyze level to the create level of Bloom’s …

Heart, Soul, Mind, And Strength: Understanding Spirituality's Transformative Impact As Assisted By Intradisciplinary Integration, Christopher Taylor Stokes

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Spirituality is an essential and deeply embedded part of Black Americans’ psyche. The counseling field has largely overlooked the roles of spirituality and religious beliefs in the development of the consciousness of this demographic. In the treatment of Black Americans, particularly Black churchgoers, this can be a serious oversight. The purpose of this DMin action research thesis is to provide sufficient intradisciplinary integrative spiritual teaching to effect holistic coping strategies for Lake Providence’s Mid-Week Bible Study Service members. The goal is to bring healing through an intradisciplinary integrative teaching approach utilizing psychology, theology, and spirituality. If the members of Lake …

Three Tributaries, Exploring The Reformed, Baptist, And Catholic Branches: A Review Of The Church's Book, David Westfall

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

"If our conversations about the Bible, its meaning, and its authority seem always to prove fruitless, perhaps this is a better place to start."

Posting about the book The Church's Book from In All Things - an online journal for critical reflection on faith, culture, art, and every ordinary-yet-graced square inch of God’s creation.

https://inallthings.org/three-tributaries-exploring-the-reformed-baptist-and-catholic-branches-a-review-of-the-churchs-book/

The Now And The Not Yet: A Review Of The Art Of New Creation, Justin Bailey

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

"What does it mean to create art that reflects the reality of new creation, in a way that is attentive to the gritty particularities of our present moment?"

Posting about the book The Art of New Creation from In All Things - an online journal for critical reflection on faith, culture, art, and every ordinary-yet-graced square inch of God’s creation.

https://inallthings.org/the-now-and-the-not-yet-a-review-of-the-art-of-new-creation/

A Theological Framework For Reflection On Artificial Intelligence, Michael D. Langford

SPU Works

The theological questions before us in a digital age are pressing. What does God think of AI? Is AI good or evil? Will AI save us? What sort of future will AI give us? In what follows, I want to briefly introduce a few theological concepts that will hopefully help equip us for theological reflection on AI. We will begin with the question of epistemology, or how it is that we come by knowledge; in the realm of theology, this centers on revelation. We will then touch on the doctrine of creation, including the understanding of what it means to …

Artificial Intelligence And Theological Personhood, Michael D. Langford

SPU Works

Can AI be a person? What does God tell us about humanity and personhood? These are questions of theological anthropology and involve inquiring after the nature of humanity as God’s creation and what God wills for human personhood.

To address these inquiries, we will look at three biblical texts that bear on issues of theological anthropology, hopefully garnering some theological resources to consider the anthropological status of AI. Specifically, we will look at three “creation” texts that necessarily deal with the nature of human personhood within the divine economy of salvation history. The first is Genesis 1 and 2, which …

Sin And Grace, Bruce D. Baker

SPU Works

The theological lens of sin and grace gives a broader and deeper viewpoint than mere ethics. Ethical analysis is of course useful and necessary, but ethics alone is not enough. Ethics apart from a robust, holistic understanding of humans as persons-in-communion will remain mired in reductionist thinking about human dignity and morality. Therefore, this final chapter addresses the ethical issues of AI through the lens of sin and grace.

Epilogue: A Litany For Faithful Engagement With Artificial Intelligence, Bruce D. Baker

SPU Works

A litany is a thoughtfully organized prayer for use in public worship by the church, or as a personal devotional practice by individuals. This seems a fitting way to close our reflection on AI, faith, and the future. Prayer will be essential to our faithful response to the new opportunities and challenges AI brings. Our hope is that this litany will serve as a practical guide to thoughtful invocation of the Holy Spirit in prayers for wisdom and discernment, and in the daily disciplines of spiritual growth.

Whence Faith? The Nexus Of Passional Reason, Christian Personalism, And Abduction In Apologetics, Thomas Jefferson Gentry Ii

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Motivated by a desire to understand better and articulate matters touching on how beliefs are formed, this research considers the possibility of a religious epistemological nexus, a connection between the rational and affective capacities possessed by persons, human dignity and self-determination, and the method of argumentation used by apologists. The thesis defended is that through the means of the concomitance of the human intellect, emotions, and will (passional reason), the whole person is engaged in the process of passional reason whereby one can perceive, assess, and decide to believe in matters of religious faith (Thomistic doxastic voluntarism). Further, at the …

Jesus’S Subversive Reading Of The Isaian Jubilee: Luke 4:16–30 In Theological-Historiographical Perspective, Jeff Scott Kennedy

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

A growing number of scholars have proposed that Luke, or his sources, fabricated the story of Jesus reading a text in the Nazareth synagogue (Luke 4:14–30) in order to appeal to the literate sensibilities of Luke’s Greek audience. The thesis of this dissertation is that Luke’s portrayal of Jesus as a capable public reader and expositor of the Scripture is historically credible and Christologically significant. Rather than implying that Jesus was a scribal-literate reader, Luke’s synagogue narrative signals that Jesus was a capable and a welcomed lay-reader of the Prophets, and a capable yet unwelcomed expositor who appeared to have …

Connecting Youth To The Gospel: The Role Of Theology And Apologetics, John Wesley Sales Iv

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Connecting youth to the Gospel sounds like a basic undertaking. However, evidence shows students know very little about the Gospel. While they grow up in church and attend Sunday school, there is still a lack of desire from students to want to know who God is. There needs to be a path to teaching students the genuine and deep teachings of the Gospel. This topic is important because as students grow older, they may grow apart from what they learned in Sunday school. When they are challenged and distracted by the world, they need a strong anchor to keep them …

Pathology, Identity, Or Both?: Making Meaning From Early Christian Martyrdom, Matthew J. Recla

University Author Recognition Bibliography: 2022

Partly in response to an earlier ‘pathological approach’ that seemingly stigmatised early Christian martyrdom, recent scholarship has adopted an ‘identity approach’ that explains martyrdom as a normative discourse of self-construction. This explanation of martyrdom as Christian identity-making, not willing death, is insufficient for three reasons. First, this approach implicitly reaffirms the theological claim that religious identity alone makes martyrs. In doing so it reduces the complexity of the individual martyr to ‘Christian’. Second, this approach excises the existential phenomenon of the martyr from martyrdom. Third, the term ‘identity’ has become ubiquitous, and its use to mark both sameness and difference …

“Change And Become Like Children”: Eschatological Childhood As Critique And Intention Of Ecclesiological Life, Joel Young

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

"Crossing Borders" The Life And Work Of Peder Borgen In Context, Torrey Seland, Paul N. Anderson

Faculty Publications - George Fox School of Theology

Crossing Borders: The Life and Work of Peder Borgen in Context documents his personal sojourn and contributions to church and society, in addition to covering the scholarly contribution of a world-class biblical scholar and theologian. Too rarely is a scholar’s personal story considered as the back-drop, or even the foreground, of one’s academic work. In that sense, Torrey Seland’s detailed biography is inextricably linked to Borgen’s bibliography: a multitude of connections that contextualize the intrigue and significance of an exemplary scholar’s work.

Excluded From Our City: Clement Of Alexandria And The Porous Frontier Of Early Christian Identity, Jordan C. Goneau-Goncalves

Theology Graduate Theses

In the Paedagogus, the second volume of his three major works, Clement of Alexandria develops a “Christian” ethic and sense of identity, which is dependent on one’s “habits, deeds, and passions.”¹ The work itself is directed toward “you who are children” and is intended to instruct Christians in matters of character and behavior.² Though he is preoccupied with attempting to educate—rather, allowing his understanding of Christ to educate—Christians in regard to appropriate behaviors and values, thereby defining and maintaining a unique sense of Christian identity in late second century Alexandria, he is also at home in a …

Active Participation In The Two Direct Points Of Contact With God Within The Thomistic Metaphysics Of Human Nature, Richard. R. Palin Jr.

Theology Graduate Theses

No abstract provided.

‘He Hath Borne Our Infirmities And Carried Our Sorrows’: Thomas Aquinas On Christ’S Suffering In His Descent To Hell, Stephen Beale

Theology Graduate Theses

No abstract provided.