Christianity Commons^™

A Companion Guide For The Discipleship To Missional Community (D2mc) Program, Jedidiah T. Maschke

Doctor of Ministry Major Applied Project

This Doctor of Ministry (DMin.) Major Applied Project (MAP) offers a companion guide for the discipleship training program called D2MC (Discipleship to Missional Community) taught by PLI, a leadership development organization that works primarily with the LCMS. The D2MC program is based on the training pioneered by Mike Breen through 3DM. The companion guide shows how the methods and practices taught by PLI are soundly based in Scripture and confessional Lutheran theology and offers some personal insights and devotional thoughts. The companion guide was distributed and field tested with volunteer participants through and with the approval of PLI. Participants in …

Positive Factors Related To The Decision To Study For The Office Of The Ministry By Men Of The Lutheran Synod Of Nicaragua (Iglesia Luterana Sínodo De Nicaragua/Lutheran Church—Canada), Edmund Auger

Doctor of Ministry Major Applied Project

Auger, Edmund D. “Positive Factors Related to the Decision to Study for the Office of the Ministry by Men of The Lutheran Synod of Nicaragua (Iglesia Luterana Sínodo de Nicaragua / Lutheran Church—Canada).” Doctor of Ministry. Major Applied Project, Concordia Seminary, 2023. 128 pages.

The Lutheran Church throughout the world needs a continuing supply of men to serve as faithful pastors in the public ministry of the Gospel. The identification and spiritual formation of candidates for Word and Sacrament ministry is critical for the young national church body, Iglesia Luterana Sínodo de Nicaragua (Lutheran Synod of Nicaragua).

This project is …

Hospitality: Areas That Are Effective In Creating A Desire For A Visitor To Connect To Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, Brent M. Hartwig

Doctor of Ministry Major Applied Project

This major applied project explores hospitality offered by the local congregation. Biblical hospitality is implicitly and explicitly commanded in scripture. Balancing the Missio Dei and two kinds of righteousness will keep us on the straight and narrow theologically when pursuing hospitality.

When churches offer hospitality, we are feeding, clothing, visiting, providing, and welcoming our neighbor. Our Redeemer wants to continue serving the community as a family-oriented, mission focused, hospitable congregation. We are doing the feeding, clothing, and providing through many efforts in the community. We are active with the local homeless shelter and crisis center. For the MAP, we wanted …

Embodied Superintendence: The Person Of The Preacher In Lutheran Homiletics Especially In Relation To Cultural Identity, Dennis Matyas

Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation

Over the past several decades, the greater homiletical academy has progressed from questions of authority to dialogics to identity, both of the preacher and of the hearers. Within this timeframe, modern Lutheran homiletics has stayed relatively silent on considerations of the person of the preacher, opting instead for certain foundational homiletical truths including the efficacy of the Word of God, the proclamation of justification, and the authority of the Ministerium. After recovering the consideration of the person of the preacher as a foundational Lutheran homiletic, this work explores the formational significance of the preacher’s cultural identity by offering a theoretical …

Behind The Numbers: A Traditional Church Faces A New America, Larry Vogel

Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation

The dissertation examines membership data for The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) from the mid-1970s to the present. It considers the analysis of LCMS decline by two scholars, George Hawley and Ryan MacPherson, who independently proposed that LCMS membership decline was internal in causation due to diminished birthrates and fewer young families. While acknowledging the reality of such internal decline, this dissertation argues that the lack of external growth is a greater cause for LCMS decline. Its lack of external growth is due primarily to the racial and ethnic homogeneity of the LCMS and its failure effectively to evangelize the increasingly …

What God Has Joined Together: The One Threefold Purpose Of Marriage, David Frayne Shudy

Master of Sacred Theology Thesis

Modern married couples and marriage-minded individuals are often left awash in a sea of confusion aimlessly groping about for a purpose for their marriage, with disastrous societal results. Whereas long-standing Christian tradition has taught a unified threefold marital purpose of three equal elements—procreation, mutual help, and remedy for sin—Enlightenment thinkers and their ideological descendants have introduced a hierarchical marriage teleology with a self-chosen purpose (usually companionship) at the top in order to correct for an alleged countervailing overemphasis on procreation in premodern marital teleology.

This thesis will challenge the claim of a relative deficiency in the companionate aspect of premodern …

The Dwell Bible Listening App As An Effective Tool To Habituate Daily Bible Engagement In The Local Congregation, Daniel Russell Prugh

Doctor of Ministry Major Applied Project

Prugh, Daniel R. “The Dwell Bible Listening App as an Effective Tool to Habituate Daily Bible Engagement in the Local Congregation.” Doctor of Ministry. Major Applied Project, Concordia Seminary, 2023. "115" pp.

Congregational members desire to engage the Bible daily. However, oftentimes there are barriers to this goal. One of the most important barriers is that people do not regularly read. This is problematic if the church desires for people to read the Bible daily. In addition, people encounter a tsunami of information every day, that makes it hard to prioritize regular engagement with the Bible. However, the church can …

Sex In Church: The Christian Vocation Of Sexuality Within The Ecclesial Community, Sarah Talena Rusche

Master of Art Theology Thesis

Rusche, Sarah Talena. “Sex in Church: The Christian Vocation of Sexuality Within the Ecclesial Community.” Master’s thesis, Concordia Seminary, 2023. 71 pp.

Sex is characterized as an individualistic endeavor by both Christian and non-Christian thinkers. The culture of the world gives license to every individual to choose what kind of sexual experiences they would like to give and receive, while the culture of Christianity isolates individuals navigating the complexities of sexuality. In response to this individualism, this thesis argues that a faithful sexual ethic orders itself according to God’s will for His creation by considering the needs of the ecclesial …

No Lack Of Gain: A Biblical Theology Of Feminine Generosity, Jenny Zoë Huelsman

Master of Art Theology Thesis

This thesis traces a biblical theology of feminine generosity. The capable wife of Prov. 31:10–31 sets an Old Testament paradigm, which is inhabited and enlarged by women in the New Testament. The thesis considers the women who supported Jesus’ ministry (Luke 8:1–3); the widow and her mites (Luke 21:1–4); Mary’s anointing of Jesus (John 12:1–8); and Tabitha caring for the widows (Acts 9:36–42). Throughout these profiles, a picture emerges of women who make essential contributions to the mission and work of Christ as agents of generosity that is derivative, expressive, contextual, intemperate, and Christocentric, always flowing from and returning to …

Discovering The Means To Provide Mentorship For Post-Seminary Pastoral Formation From Apprentice To Craftsman: A Pastoral Journey, Paul Hass

Doctor of Ministry Major Applied Project

This project seeks to produce a distinct process for the discerning of who might best serve as mentors to those newly ordained. The process aims to allow for people in ecclesiastical leadership roles to discern which of the numerous available pastoral mentors might best be suited for fostering a long-term mentoring relationship to a newly ordained pastor. This project uses the results of qualitative research, drawn from interviews, to provide a matrix for evaluating potential mentors through the lens of the Adaptive Leadership model. The resulting evaluation process was ‘tested’ in a truncated format through the Office of the President …

Pastoral Care For National Guard And Reserve: Using Bible Study To Equip National Guard And Reserve To Navigate Through The Blessings And Burdens Of Civilian-Military Vocations, David Schleusener

Doctor of Ministry Major Applied Project

Schleusener, David, S. "Pastoral Care for National Guard and Reserve: Using Bible Study to Equip National Guard and Reserve to Navigate through the Blessings and Burdens of Civilian Military Vocations" Doctor of Ministry. Major Applied Project, Concordia Seminary, 2022. 267 pp.

The researcher is a U.S. Navy Reserves chaplain and student at Concordia Seminary in Saint Louis, Missouri, in the Doctor of Ministry program. The researcher focused on the unique challenges, burdens, and significant stress our nation's reserve components face due to dual responsibilities in civilian and military sectors. National Guard and Reserve (NGR) is the term adopted for those …

Contemplative Vision: Visual Language In The Sermons Of Johannes Tauler, Joshua P. Reifsteck

Master of Sacred Theology Thesis

Reifsteck, Joshua P. “Contemplative Vision: Visual Language in the Sermons of Johannes Tauler.” STM Thesis, Concordia Seminary, 2022. 91 pp.

Johannes Tauler conceives of thought, contemplation, and mystical experience in visual ways, and this conception manifests in visual language and metaphor throughout Tauler’s preaching corpus. This visual language is influenced heavily by Neoplatonic conceptions of contemplation and the One, and by an interior-exterior tension within Tauler’s anthropology which is especially significant for his portrayal of the senses. This thesis focuses especially upon a group of Middle High German words related to the verb schoͮwen. These words are technical terms, …

To The Glory Of God Evaluating Origen’S Exposition Of The Scripture In His Leviticus Homilies, Andrew Johnson

Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation

Johnson, Andrew M. “To the Glory of God: Evaluating Origen’s Exposition of the Scripture in His Leviticus Homilies”. Ph.D. diss., Concordia Seminary, 2022. 237 pp.

Origen has been called “Adamantine,” an impossibly hard metal. Many have found his work to be strong and powerful and equal in its density. Origen’s preaching is almost impenetrable to the Evangelical preacher. This dissertation seeks to offer an entry for modern evangelical preachers to engage with the historic practice of figural exposition in Origen’s Leviticus homilies. The dissertation investigates the interpretative, homiletical and rhetorical histories which intersect in Origen’s homilies. It unpacks Origen’s use …

God And Satan: A Look At Martin Luther’S Titles For Satan And What They Reveal About The Relationship Between God And Satan, Alexandria M. Shick

Master of Art Theology Thesis

Shick, Alexandria M. “God and Satan: A Look at Martin Luther’s Titles for Satan and What They Reveal About the Relationship Between God and Satan.” M.A. Thesis, Concordia Seminary, 2022 87 pp.

The relationship between God and Satan is complex and intertwined. There is a tendency in Christianity to overemphasize Satan’s power and his place in the realm of evil and in so doing neglect and disregard what it means for God to be truly omnipotent. Luther understood Satan as being under God’s will, only having the ability to act where, when and how God allowed or permitted. The complex …

Straining Forward To What Lies Ahead: Models Of Patristic Contemplation, Joshua Vanderhyde

Master of Sacred Theology Thesis

Vanderhyde, Joshua S. “Straining Forward to What Lies Ahead: Models of Patristic Contemplation.” Thesis, Concordia Seminary, 2022. 111 pp.

As secularization sharpens the contrast between Christian belief and western culture, many Christians are looking for ways to take a more active and intentional approach to the struggle to be conformed to Christ. The Church Fathers offer a unified theory of Christian spirituality, grounded and structured by the concept of contemplation—a theory of perception widely held in the ancient world and integral to diverse systems of thought, including Neoplatonism. In this thesis, the concept of contemplation is elucidated as a theory …

Theology Of The Laity: The Lutheran Way, Brian M. Mosemann

Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation

The distinction between the laity and clergy has been a contributing cause of disunity within the church because the clergy and laity are often pitted against one another with one or the other being elevated to the detriment of the other. This problem has plagued the church from the middle ages until the present day. Since the definition of the term “laity” is vacuous, the laity are generally defined relative to the clergy, specifically in reference to their authority and duties. This results in a negative definition when the laity are defined as the opposite of the clergy. The laity …

The Personalization Of American Christianity: Subjective Assurance And The Puritan Conversion Narrative, Curran Bishop

Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation

The North American Puritans introduced a concept that has shaped American theology: a test of subjective assurance as a predicate to communing church membership. While previous Reformed communities had tested would-be communicants in their knowledge of church teaching and their adherence to that teaching in their lives. The New England colonists added a relation of the individual’s experiential conversion. This was intended to protect the purity of the church while also ministering to the individual by encouraging them in their faith by their inclusion in church membership. The results of the test led immediately to declining numbers of adults becoming …

Reading The Signs Of The Time: Three Voices In The Confessional Lutheran Church As They Relate To Segregation, Racism, And Apartheid In South Africa From 1900–1978, Christoph Dietrich Weber

Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation

Weber, Christoph, Reading the signs of the time: “Three voices in the confessional Lutheran Church to segregation, racism, and apartheid in South Africa from 1900–1978.” Ph.D. diss., Concordia Seminary, 2022. 425 pp.

According to August Vilmar, reading the signs of the times was an essential task of all pastors and theologians. It was a part of their prophetic task to interpret the world and its context with the word of God and to proclaim the voice of the church in law and gospel. The three theologians analyzed in this dissertation: Karl Meister, Hermann Sasse, and Friederich W. Hopf respected Vilmar …

Equipping Lay Elders With The Spiritual Care Skills Of Active Listening, Sharing Scripture, Offering Prayer, And Providing Follow Up At St. Paul Lutheran Church In Wood River, Il, David Martin Arthur Schultz

Doctor of Ministry Major Applied Project

Schultz, David, MA. “Equipping lay elders with the spiritual care skills of active listening, sharing scripture, offering prayer, and providing follow up at St. Paul Lutheran Church Wood River, IL.” Doctor of Ministry. Major Applied Project, Concordia Seminary, 2022. 122 pp.

Spiritual care is vitally important for all people. Unfortunately, too often those who are commissioned to provide spiritual care lack the necessary skills to help others. This MAP explores how a lay elder seminar might equip the lay elders of a congregation with the spiritual care skills of active listening, sharing scripture, offering prayer, and providing follow up. This …

Gospel Impact And Stewardship Tool (Gist): Visual Mapping To Discover Gospel Imperatives For Strategic Ministry Decisions, Martin Edward Lee

Doctor of Ministry Major Applied Project

Lee, Martin Edward “Gospel Impact and Stewardship Tool: Visual Mapping to Discover Gospel Imperatives for Strategic Ministry Decisions.” Doctor of Ministry. Major Applied Project, Concordia Seminary, 2021. 260 pp.

This research project and the resulting Gospel Impact and Stewardship Tool (“GIST”) addresses congregational stewardship deficits from a systems perspective, with a shared-stewardship imperative for all leaders and members of a congregation, instead of focusing stewardship on the individual. The GIST Ministry Map provides a visual picture of how individual ministries are interconnected. This project illustrates how a learning environment, and the GIST visual ministry mapping process, help improve strategic decision-making …

The Contemporary Situation Of Elderly People In Ethiopia And The Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus, Tsigewengel B. Uddo

Master of Art Theology Thesis

Uddo Tsigewengel B. “The Contemporary Situation of Elderly People in Ethiopia and the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus.” MA Thesis, Concordia Seminary, 2022. 100pp.

The Church is God’s agent to serve God’s people in the church and society at large. The scope of the Church’s ministry comprises all ages: young, adult, and elderly. Culturally, in Ethiopia, children and close family members are responsible for caring for the elderly, therefore, the church has not given satisfactory attention to holistic elderly care. Moreover, current societal change and globalization have negatively affected the indigenous family-support system for the elderly. As a result, many …

Adult Catechesis: Cognition And Application For The Christian Life, Jason D. Gudim

Doctor of Ministry Major Applied Project

Gudim, Jason D. “Adult Catechesis as Formation and Habitus for the Christian Life.” Doctor of Ministry. Major Applied Project, Concordia Seminary, 2021. 127 pp.

The Small and Large Catechisms are a central part of confessional Lutheran theology. Catechism instruction is built into the practice of confirmation. But for many Lutherans, catechesis stops at confirmation, with some never opening their catechisms again. Built into the Great Commission as a disciple-making process are both baptizing and teaching. Catechesis fits the model in that the people of God are guarding the truth of Scripture that has been handed down to them generation by …

Perfect Love Casts Out Fear: Exploring The Effectiveness Of A Person-Centered Disability Awareness Seminar In A Congregational Setting, Joshua H. Jones

Doctor of Ministry Major Applied Project

People with disabilities and their families frequently experience barriers toward inclusion and belonging in multiple spheres of life. These barriers are also present in Christian congregations. However, many congregations express a godly desire to love people with disabilities and their families without these obstacles.

The Old and New Testaments provide examples of how God’s people sought to love people with disabilities in their midst creatively and intentionally in response to God’s gracious actions, invitation, and command. Recent research in disability studies routinely highlight the necessity of being attentive to the uniqueness of each person with disabilities and his or her …

Fortuita Misericordia:
 Luther On The Unchosen Figures In The Patriarchal History As Shown In His Lectures On Genesis, Chan-U "Vincent" Kam

Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation

In this study, we attend to Luther’s Lectures on Genesis with a specific focus—Luther’s idea of fortuita misericordiaand his view of the unchosen figures in Genesis, including Cain, Hagar, Ishmael, Esau, and the Egyptians. We suggest that Luther’s use of fortuita misericordia and his treatment of the unchosen exemplify the highpoint of his evangelical theology.

Fortuita misericordia can be understood in two ways, one personal, and another salvation-historical. Regarding the person, fortuita misericordia is part of Luther’s explanation for why God generously spared some from deserved punishment, and instead provided temporal subsistence and blessings. Regarding salvation-history, fortuita misericordiaopens …

Jesus In, With, And Under The Spirit: The Spirit's Presence And Activity In Christ In The Sacrament Of The Altar, Brian A. Gauthier

Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation

Contemporary theological scholarship has seen a turn toward pneumatology and the use of a pneumatological lens for exploring and [re]considering Christian doctrines. Spirit Christology has long been considered the first major, successful work in this movement of scholarship which has come to be called Third Article Theology.

This study proposes to consider the Lord’s Supper pneumatologically through use of a Trinitarian Spirit Christology. Three primary aspects of a traditional account of the Lord’s Supper will be the subject of pneumatological reimagining. Spirit Christology will inquire into the Spirit’s presence and activity in the presence and activity of Jesus through his …

The Source And Application Of Thomas Müntzer's Theology Of Divination In His Marginal Notes On Tertullian, Roger Drinnon

Master of Sacred Theology Thesis

Drinnon, Roger A. “The Source and Application of Thomas Müntzer’s Theology of Divinization in His Marginal Notes on Tertullian.” Thesis, Concordia Seminary, 2021. 101 pp.

Traditional Lutheran and Marxist interpretations of Thomas Müntzer inadequately account for Müntzer’s theology and practice. The doctrine of the order of creation tied Müntzer’s theology and practice together. According to the order of creation, the goal of the material world was to return to God at the end of time. Müntzer’s writings on the order of creation stated the doctrine was the central tenet of Christianity. By returning to God, Müntzer believed the creation would …

In Search Of The Best Practices In Preaching On Christian Stewardship, Mitchel Schuessler

Doctor of Ministry Major Applied Project

Pastors are challenged to preach Christian stewardship within their parishes in a way that they not only overcome the personal and congregational biases against stewardship sermons, but will also assist their congregations to the grow in their knowledge of stewardship and help them to become better Christian stewards. This project sought to find pastors that have discovered ways to preach stewardship that increased the congregational stewardship life and assisted individual members to become better stewards. This study intends to help the parish pastor to learn how to address stewardship on a regular basis, be more confident in his preaching of …

The Role Of The African Church In The 21st Century Global Mission: A Case Study Of The Eecmy Global Mission Venture And Economic Mindset, Wondimu M. Game

Master of Art Theology Thesis

Jesus Christ inaugurated and commissioned his church to be a missionary until the end of the world. Thus, the church is missionary by her very nature. The modern mission paradigm was from the West to the rest. But, in this 21^st century, the mission has shifted from the global North to the global South; this massive shift has anchored the global South as the heartland of Christianity and the force of mission. This mission shift also demands the paradigm shift of both global north and south. Although the African church has played a pivotal role in the church history, …

“I Said, You Are Gods”: Pastoral Motives Manifest In Patristic Citations Of Psalm 82:6, Charles Schulz

Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation

The early church fathers frequently cited Ps. 82:6 (LXX 81:6), “I said, You are gods and all sons of the Most High,” a passage Jesus himself quoted (John 10:34) to defend his own title as the Son of God. Scholars agree that the patristic use of verse underwrote the developing doctrine of deification, which promised that Christians would become “gods” in some sense by bearing God’s image and likeness and participating in Christ and his saving work. In order to deepen and focus our understanding of the significance and role of this passage for patristic theology—and particularly for pastoral practice—this …

Falling Far From The Tree? God's Rejection Of Cain Outside The Garden Of Eden (Genesis 4:1-16), Mark Remington Squire

Master of Sacred Theology Thesis

Squire, Mark R. “Falling Far from the Tree?: God’s Rejection of Cain Outside the Garden of Eden.” S.T.M. Thesis, Concordia Seminary, 2018. 105 pp.

This thesis offers a review of the history of interpretation of the account of Gen 4:1–16. Specifically, the focus of this thesis regards the question of why God favored Abel and his sacrifice and not Cain and his sacrifice. The paper provides an original translation of Gen 4:1–16, as well as translation notes. The historical interpretations of the answer to the question of why God favored Abel over Cain are grouped into three broad categories: Cain’s …