Arts and Humanities Commons^™

From Individual Salvation To Social Salvation: Why Evangelist B. Fay Mills Changed His Revival Message, Constance P. Murray

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

Rev. B. Fay Mills was a popular, late nineteenth century Protestant evangelist whose fame approached that of the eminent Gospel preacher, Dwight L. Moody. Preaching to audiences in large urban settings, Mills’ revivals captured headlines and significant column space as he preached sermons of individual salvation from sin from the perspective of Christian orthodoxy. Yet, just as he was reaching the very top of the field of itinerant evangelists, he changed his message to reflect his growing interest in and association with the Social Gospel movement. This thesis investigates the reasons for his shift in theological viewpoint and public proclamations. …

Suggestions For Future Reading, Chris Doran

Leaven

No abstract provided.

Editors' Notes, Stuart Love, D'Esta Love, Chris Doran

Leaven

No abstract provided.

Table Of Conents

Leaven

No abstract provided.

When Souls Had Wings: Pre-Mortal Existence In Western Thought, Jesse D. Hurlbut, James L. Siebach, David B. Paxman, Dana M. Pike, Terryl L. Givens

BYU Studies Quarterly

Four experts in different branches of study review Terryl L. Givens's expansive new book When Souls Had Wings: Pre-mortal Existence in Western Thought.

Book Review, Thomas H. Olbricht

Leaven

No abstract provided.

Echoes Of A Distant Thunder?: The Unitarian Controversy In Maine,1734-1833, David Raymond

Maine History

The Unitarian Controversy (1734-1833) was one of the most divisive denominational separations in the annals of American church history. Historians generally have confined their study to the churches of Massachusetts proper, neglecting the vital role that Maine churches played in the various phases of the separation. Maine Congregationalists were among the first to recognize and protest the emergence of Unitarian ministers in their churches, and they took the lead in the movement to force Unitarians out of the Congregational Church. Although small in numbers, Maine churches played an important role in this significant theological controversy. The author is a History …

Racial Prejudice, Homophobia, And Sexism As A Function Of Right-Wing Authoritarianism, Religious Values, Religious Pressures, And Religious Orientation, Dixie Turner

Doctoral Dissertations

Past literature is ambiguous regarding relationships among different religious variables and prejudice. The purpose of this study was to clarify complicated relationships among religious pressures, religious fundamentalism, Christian orthodoxy, intrinsic and extrinsic religious orientation, quest orientation, right-wing authoritarianism, and the outcome variables of racial prejudice, homophobia, and sexism. Two models, a developmental model and social learning model, were proposed in this study and were tested using structural-equation modeling. Participants were 310 self-identified Christian students. Several predicted paths were deleted in both models because they did not contribute to good fit. Three predictor variables: Christian orthodoxy, extrinsic religious orientation, and religious …

The Legacy Of Avery Cardinal Dulles, S.J.: His Words And His Witness, Anne-Marie Rose Kirmse, Michael M. Canaris, Cardinal Theodore E. Mccarrick

Religion

In his nearly 50-year career teaching philosophy and theology at Fordham and other distinguished universities, Avery Cardinal Dulles wrote and traveled extensively, writing 25 books and more than 800 articles, book reviews, forewords, introductions, and letters to the editor, translated into at least 14 languages and distributed worldwide. This work serves as a companion to the previous volume of McGinley Lectures, published as Church and Society (Fordham, 2008), and also provides an independent research guide for scholars, theologians, and anyone interested in American Catholicism in the decades immediately before and following the Second Vatican Council.

From his poems and reflections …

Tertullian’S Adversus Judaeos: A Tale Of Two Treatises, John P. Fulton

Theology Graduate Theses

Tertullian’s Adversus Judaeos is a controversial text of disputed origins. Until recently, it was not given much scholarly attention, because it was unclear whether or not Tertullian wrote it as an integral, finished work, intended for publication. Two aspects of the text are especially problematic. Sections of chapters 9-14 appear to be taken whole cloth from Tertullian’s Adversus Mariconem, suggesting that Adversus Judaeos, as preserved, may be a composite of two works. Also, the work is disjointed, digressive, and repetitious, unlike Tertullian’s usual standards of authorship. Nonetheless, the most recent scholarly assessment of Adversus Judaeos, based on …

The “Found” World Of Genesis 1 Part Ii: How Does Science Inform Theology, Nicholas Miller

Memory, Meaning & Faith

No abstract provided.

Godbodied: The Matter Of The Latter-Day Saints, Stephen H. Webb

BYU Studies Quarterly

Christian theologian Stephen H. Webb is the author of Jesus Christ, Eternal God (Oxford University Press, 2012). This article, excerpted from that book, gives readers Webb's unique view of Mormonism. A professor of religion and philosophy at Wabash College in Indiana, Webb researched an obscure heretical position on the nature of Jesus Christ and soon encountered Joseph Smith's doctrine that God has a body. Webb writes that Mormons reject the Nicene Creed and Augustine's Platonization of Christianity. They affirm the eternal nature of matter and claim that Jesus and humans are members of one family because they are made of …

A Leadership Training Manual For The 21st Century Church Leader Based On The Pattern And Principles Jesus Created To Train The Twelve Apostles, Gregory Bruce Baxter

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Christian leadership training for pastors, missionaries, and lay leaders is mostly patterned after academic, business, military, and government models. This leads to a pragmatic, secular, and American approach to building Churches and advancing the Kingdom of God. Secular models of leadership training can inform and supplement but never usurp scriptural principles and values. The best Christian leadership training pattern is the one Jesus created to train the twelve Apostles. This model is found predominately in the gospels. The template this writer will follow is based on A. B. Bruce's 19th century seminal work, The Training of the Twelve. This training …

Sensible, Prudent & Shrewd: Building Blocks For A Theology Of Efficiency, Michael E. Cafferky

Faculty Works

This paper examines operational efficiency from a biblical theology perspective. The paper describes operational efficiency in contemporary terms and considers six categories of constraints on efficiency. In pursuing its purpose the paper reviews six relevant biblical themes including: God‘s character, creation, covenant, shalom, blessing, and fruitfulness. Five biblical values and virtues describe how efficiency is to be achieved: truth, wisdom, prudence, usefulness, and stewardship. The biblical theme of agricultural yield provides an illustration of the instrumental virtues and values by which workers achieve and measure efficiency.

Beyond Words: The Remystification Of The Divine Through Dance, Silence And Theopoetics, Nora F. Wright

Scripps Senior Theses

This thesis challenges Classical Christian presentations of God based on exclusive and literalized metaphors. This piece explores the response of three dissenting groups, who place their emphasis on an experiential theology, directly challenging the use of conventional language to describe God. The Quaker practice of silent worship, Isadora Duncan’s dance form and Theopoetics each demand that religious structures enable an experience of the Divine that is spontaneous, mysterious and deeply personal.

Franz Liszt: The Sonata In B Minor As Spiritual Autobiography, Jonathan David Keener

Dissertations, 2014-2019

Many composers, particularly in the 19th century, have attempted to write “autobiographical” music. Although Franz Liszt never explicitly mentioned that any of his works were autobiographical, the facts we have about his life and the symbolism within his Sonata in B Minor suggest that this piece may serve this purpose, either intentionally or subconsciously. Liszt, having strong ties to the Catholic Church, may have also consciously or unconsciously incorporated religious symbolism into the work. Works that exerted influence on the formal structure and the possible extra-musical meaning of the Sonata in B Minor include Charles-Valentine Alkan’s Grande Sonate, Robert …

John Wesley‟S Liturgical Revision: A Pattern For Reshaping Worship For Post-Christian America, Lawrence A. Lacher

Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation

Lacher, Lawrence A. “John Wesley‟s Liturgical Revision: A Pattern for Reshaping Worship for Post-Christian America.” Ph.D. diss., Concordia Seminary, 2011. 316 pp.

This project seeks to find a solution to the current malformation of Christian Worship in the American church through re-examining John Wesley‟s Sunday Service for Methodists in North America (1784) in order to extract the underlying pattern. That pattern is then proposed as a paradigm that allows for the contextualization of worship while retaining its historic shape, function and purpose.

John Wesley‟s liturgical advices are examined for several reasons. Since the writer is interested in helping those who …

A Theology Of Religious Change, David J. Zehnder

Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation

Zehnder, David, J. “A Theology of Religious Change.” Ph.D. diss., Concordia Seminary, 2011. 218 pp.

This essay sets up a dialogue between the sociology and psychology of religious change (conversion’s human side) and conversion (theologically defined) to prove that empirical research into change experience, ideology as an attracting force to religion, and social networks’ influence on conversion does not threaten theology’s assertions but can help to clarify theology’s tasks in communicating to various audiences. Science helps theology through a correlational model of interaction developed in the study. The correlational method first asks of science: Why do people change religiously? Once …

The Influence And Legacy Of Deism In Eighteenth Century America, Tiffany E. Piland

Master of Liberal Studies Theses

This thesis project, The Influence and Legacy of Deism in Eighteenth Century America, examines deism’s impact as a theological system on American life and culture in the eighteenth century. Beginning with a basic definition of the term deism, a historical background is included. Next, the work of Galileo, Bacon, Newton, and Locke is examined for its impact on eighteenth century thought as well as early deist writers such as John Toland, Matthew Tindal, and Lord Herbert of Cherbury.

Moving onto America in the eighteenth century, colonial newspaper articles, letters, and other documents are examined that contain references to deism. Colleges …

Critical Realism In Conversation With Postmodern Theology, Science And Hermeneutics, Matthew J. Graham

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Postmodern Developments In Evangelical Theology, Robert Weston Siscoe

Honors Program Projects

Postmodernism has created an epistemological and conceptual climate for different approaches to Evangelical theology. In this study, my purpose is to analyze contemporary trends in postmodern theology and investigate to what extent these trends are affecting Evangelicals. The categories of postmodern theology I have chosen for comparison are deconstructive theology, narrative theology, and radical orthodoxy. The first portion of my research summarizes their formative influences and current approaches in hopes that these observations can then be applied in specific contexts.

After a review of each of these theologies, I compared them to what I experienced in three Post-Evangelical congregations. The …

Luke 18:9-14: An Expositional And Literary Discussion On The Parable On The Pharisee And Tax Collector, Nathan A. Schwenk

Senior Honors Theses

In the third Gospel of the New Testament, Luke consistently writes about the Pharisees and their piety pronouncing woes and judgments upon them. Representing the religious leaders of that day, they exalted themselves above everyone else and most of all, tax collectors, who are the epitome of sinners. However, the principle of the great reversal is a prominent theme in Luke’s Gospel, in which the exalted are humbled and the humble are exalted. Multiple times Jesus uses this principle to completely transform peoples’ mindset on who is greatest in the world.

This thesis will offer an extensive exposition on the …

Loving In The Present: The Theological And Pastoral Influences Of St. Bonaventure's Critical Retrieval Of Joachim Of Fiore On Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict Xvi, William L. Patenaude

Theology Graduate Theses

This thesis demonstrates that Pope Benedict XVI has benefited considerably from his 1957 study of St. Bonaventure’s pastoral response to thirteenth-century Franciscan “Spiritualists” and their disruptive acceptance of an imminent or realized eschatology. Joseph Ratzinger noted that Bonaventure’s response included a corrective theology of history that, along with a dialectical engagement of new ways of thought, provided Christianity with a vital understanding of the relation between human history and revelation. The present work examines how these Bonaventurian influences allowed Ratzinger/Benedict XVI to develop from core Christian theological proclamations—particularly the Cross and that God, as Trinity, is relationship and love—a particular …

An Exposition Of Augustine's Theodicy: From Its Influences To Its Modern Application, Kevin J. Gray

Philosophy Student Scholarship

This paper delineates the thrust of Augustine's theodicy against the broader background of his Christian Neoplatonic outlook. We examine Augustine's initial Manichean influences and see how these beliefs carry over to his mature thought, which is evident in the seventh book of the Confessions. After Augustine's time with the Manicheans, we look at how he was so influenced by the books of the Platonists (libri platonicorum). Although Augustine's position regarding the problem of evil shifts, his idea of the primacy of the soul is still evident in his thought process. To wit, Augustine posits that evil must …

The Sacrifice Of The Life-Giving Death: The Atonement And Its Theological Presuppositions In Eastern Orthodox Soteriology, Daniel L. Marchant

Senior Honors Theses

Whereas much Western theology tends to portray the sacrifice of Christ as an act of penal substitution, the patristic tradition of the Eastern Orthodox Church emphasizes an understanding of Christ's atoning work that is participatory rather than substitutionary, ontological rather than juridical, and cosmic rather than individual. These differences in emphasis arise from different understandings of such foundational doctrines as man's original created nature, the fall, and the Old Testament sacrificial system.

Since man was created in a dynamic condition in the image of God, called to attain to the likeness through deification in the energies of God, and as …

"Poor Maggot-Sack That I Am": The Human Body In The Theology Of Martin Luther, Charles Lloyd Cortright

Dissertations (1934 -)

This dissertation represents research into the writings of Martin Luther [1483-1546] reflecting his understanding of the human body in his theology. Chapter one reviews the history of the body in the theology of the western Christian church, 300- 1500. Chapters two through five examine Luther's thinking about various <“>body topics,<”> such as the body as the good creation of God; sexuality and procreation; and the body in illness, death, and resurrection. Chapter six presents conclusions.

Luther's thinking is examined on the basis of consultation of the Weimarer Ausgabe and the <“>American Edition<”> of Luther's works. Special attention is given to …

What Are They Saying About The Jonah Psalm? An Analysis Of The Current Trends In Its Interpretation, Daniel A. Neal

Theology Graduate Theses

The aim of this thesis is to examine the current state of the question of the Jonah psalm, particularly its peculiar placement within the prose of the book of Jonah. Its date of composition, rhetorical features, and overall purpose are of specific interest, and are inspected as such. Definitive answers prove elusive in regards to the psalm’s date of composition, as it can be placed, with varying degrees of conviction, between the 8^th and 2^nd centuries BC. Rhetorical analysis proves more enlightening, as comparing the psalm to the surrounding prose underscores the linguistic and rhetorical synergy between the …

Theology Of Confessionist Dialogue: A Theology Of Religions In The Religious Situation In Korea, Young Seok Song

ATS Dissertations

This dissertation constructs a new theology of religions, naming it a confessionist dialogue. By examining the traditional and contemporary religious atmosphere of Korea, I demonstrate how Korean Christians have often had an anti-relational attitude toward other religions, which caused religious conflicts and created anti-social expression in Korea. I also show that only a few religious pluralists have engaged in an active dialogue with other religions in Korea. By survey research, I found that the majority of Korean Christians have acknowledged the necessity of relationship with other religions, but they have a fear of religious pluralism, which makes them hesitant to …

Catholic Sexual Ethics - A Necessary Revision: Theological Responses To The Sexual Abuse Scandal, Hille Haker

Theology: Faculty Publications and Other Works

No abstract provided.

Orts 72, 2011, The George Macdonald Society

Orts: The George MacDonald Society Newsletter

MacDonald on BBC Television

George MacDonald received welcome publicity on BBC Television’s popular Sunday afternoon religious programme Songs of Praise on 16th January this year when I was interviewed about his life and work in a programme broadcast from Arundel in West Sussex. Songs of Praise, which celebrated its 50th anniversary this year, is centred around hymns chosen by local people and sung in a cathedral or large church, but also includes interviews with local people and others about matters of interest.