Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Growing In Faith, Sarah Moss

The Voice

No abstract provided.

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 …

Farms Review Probes Geography, Papyri, Isaiah, Creation, And More

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

The latest FARMS Review (vol. 16, no. 2, 2004) is another weighty issue flush with articles covering a wide array of interesting topics. In the lineup are reviews of works on Book of Mormon geography, de-Christianization of the Old Testament, the Joseph Smith Papyri, Isaiah’s central message, Jerusalem in Lehi’s day, creation theology, gospel symbolism, and the Christian countercult movement. Also included are two freestanding essays, one older article of lasting appeal (initiating a new feature in the Review), book notes, a 2003 Book of Mormon bibliography, and the editor’s top picks of recent publications. A foretaste of the many …

Perturbation - For Nature Computes On A Straight Line (In Seven Balancing Acts), Vijay Fafat

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

What if all of our Reality is a simulation? What, perhaps, are the unintended artifacts if we are an "approximate" simulation because God could not muster sufficient computational power for the Equations capturing the ultimate Theory of Everything? Are life and Sentience something She intended, a problem with the simulation's code, or an irreducible, teleological inevitability in Creation?

“Now I Will Recall The Works Of God”: Allusion And Intertextuality In Sirach 42:15-43:33, Gary Patrick Klump

Dissertations (1934 -)

Since the discovery of the Hebrew fragments of Sirach in the Cairo Geniza, the study of influence and intertextuality has been pervasive. However, previous scholars have generally overestimated the occurrence of literary allusion, partially due to the lack of a universally accepted method and nomenclature. This dissertation addresses that issue by investigating Ben Sira’s deployment of culturally constructed registers related to the storm-god theophany, the combat myth, divine speech, and the sapiential register in Ben Sira’s Hymn to the Creator. Using a reconstructed version of the Masada Manuscript, none of the discrete parallels proposed by various scholars held up as …

Three Reasons To Praise The Creator From Psalm 8: A Biblical Theology With Attention To Intertextuality, Donald Mcintyre

Eleutheria: John W. Rawlings School of Divinity Academic Journal

Psalm 8 serves as the first creation hymn of the Psalter, and as such is worthy of an exegetical and theological analysis. This analysis will begin with an exegesis of the text, since exegesis rightfully precedes theologizing.[1] The exegesis will include a translation, examination of the historical and literary contexts, the genre classification, structure, and discussion of the literary features with special attention given to parallelism and conclude with a brief exposition. After the requisite exegetical analysis has been completed, a theological synthesis will be commenced progressing from the psalms location in its microstructural setting to its use in …

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 …

Why Should Christians Care About Bitcoin?, Jesse L. Veenstra

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

"Given the strong stances and opinions on Bitcoin and the religious language often attached to it, it’s clear we should continue to analyze Bitcoin from a particularly Christian perspective."

Posting about ­­­­­­­­handling cryptocurrencies responsibly 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/why-should-christians-care-about-bitcoin/

Creation Care, Human Wellness, And Sustainability, Omoike Eric Aizenofe

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, I argue that creation care contributes to human wellness and to sustainable living on earth. Within contemporary contexts, humans are suffering spiritually, mentally, and emotionally. This distress impairs wellness and reduces peoples’ capacity to contribute to sustainable solutions and earth-positive impacts. Creation care entails conscious and intentional activities that are carried out for the health of the created world. Creation care contributes to human wellness, spiritually, mentally, and emotionally by offering spaces, environments, co-habitations, and interdependency among its components that support human wellness and sustainable living. Creation care helps fight spiritual, mental, and emotional distress so that …

“Daddy, Will Animals Be In Heaven?”- The Future New Earth, Paul Raabe

Concordia Pages

In this Concordia Pages Dr. Raabe has us focus on the earth as a new creation. He says “‘Daddy, will animals be in heaven?’ That is a common question and a good question. It gets at the big picture. What does the post-resurrection look like? What kind of eschatological future do you lay out before your people? What do you teach your people?”

Introduction, Stephen O. Smoot, John Gee, Kerry Muhlestein, John S. Thompson

BYU Studies Quarterly

The Book of Abraham is accepted by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as an inspired or revealed translation of the writings of the biblical patriarch Abraham. Joseph Smith began the translation of the text after he acquired some Egyptian papyrus scrolls and mummies in summer 1835. Canonized as scripture by the Church in 1880, the book narrates an account of the patriarch’s near-sacrifice at the hands of his idolatrous kinsfolk, his journey into Canaan, the covenant he entered into with God, and his visions of the premortal world and the Creation. Although a short book of only …

Creation From Chaos, Stephen O. Smoot, John Gee, Kerry Muhlestein, John S. Thompson

BYU Studies Quarterly

Traditional Christianity teaches that God created the universe ex nihilo, or “out of nothing.” As explained by one scholar, “the most widely accepted theistic explanation of initial creation is the theory that God created the universe from absolutely nothing. . . . Most major theologians in Christian history—for example, Irenaeus, Augustine, Catherine of Sienna, Thomas Aquinas, Martin Luther, John Calvin, John Wesley, Karl Barth, and Paul Tilich—believed that God initially created the universe from absolutely nothing. . . . Many influential Christians throughout history have affirmed the theory.”