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Full-Text Articles in Christianity

Mission Statements: Evaluating Faith-Based Organization’S Missional Effectiveness In Monrovia, Liberia, Jessica Kryzer Dec 2015

Mission Statements: Evaluating Faith-Based Organization’S Missional Effectiveness In Monrovia, Liberia, Jessica Kryzer

Masters Theses

Mission statements of faith-based organizations in Monrovia, Liberia are essential to carrying out the Two Great Commandments and the Great Commission within the work of the organizations. By presenting and evaluating the presence of the TGC and the GC within the statements it can be determined whether the programs and funding are sufficiently affected by the solidity of the mission statement and core values.


A Strategy Of Ministry For Small Korean-American Church Growth: Centered On Tallahassee Korean Community Presbyterian Church, Ju Yang Dec 2015

A Strategy Of Ministry For Small Korean-American Church Growth: Centered On Tallahassee Korean Community Presbyterian Church, Ju Yang

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Many small Korean-American churches have difficulties. The small number of members causes financial problem and causes member burn out. Also a lot of church members have difficulty which comes from the difference of language and culture in America. The purpose of this thesis project is to provide a strategy to help small Korean-American churches to grow and be more effective. Tallahassee Korean Community Presbyterian Church will be used as a model. Even though this is not an exceptionally successful church, it has potential for growth. First, literature research about church growth, worship, homiletics, leadership, and discipleship will be processed based …


An Examination Of The Prosperity Gospel: A Plea For Return To Biblical Truth, Aaron Phillips Oct 2015

An Examination Of The Prosperity Gospel: A Plea For Return To Biblical Truth, Aaron Phillips

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The prosperity gospel teaches that the Bible promises health, wealth and uncommon success to all believers. A problem surfaces when the prosperity that is promised does not materialize to all members of the congregation. In examining the validity of this teaching, extensive writings, books, articles and sermons by leading proponents, have been reviewed. Additionally, interviews with at least one hundred pastors inform this writing. The purpose of the research is to furnish contemporary, active insight to this project. The conclusion of this writer is that the prosperity gospel offers an unbalanced application of scripture, which results in a departure from …


Canonical Development And The Early Church Fathers: Establishing The Validity And Elevating The Weight Of Accurate Textual Citations, Chris Davis Oct 2015

Canonical Development And The Early Church Fathers: Establishing The Validity And Elevating The Weight Of Accurate Textual Citations, Chris Davis

Masters Theses

The predominant theory of textual criticism known as “reasoned eclecticism” often engages the NT manuscripts in a manner that is not truly eclectic. Instead, the modus operandi is often to overlook textual witnesses from manuscript families that do not agree with the favored Alexandrian text-type. At the same time, in cases where the early church fathers seem to cite passages from these other known families, their words are often discounted and removed as evidence for a particular reading. This thesis deals predominantly with the second issue, and it addresses a number of foundational issues that lead to such a flawed …


An Organic Model Of Leadership Development For The Rural, Traditional Church, Douglas Brooks Oct 2015

An Organic Model Of Leadership Development For The Rural, Traditional Church, Douglas Brooks

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This thesis project examines the nature of leadership development relating to an organization known as the local body of Christian believers. This study reveals that the average believer lacks confidence in his or her ability to clearly define what it means to be a Christian, what is required of a believer in the areas of discipleship and leadership, and how to be a disciple maker. Pursuant to completion of this thesis project, the pastor will progressively develop each member of the local body of believers at Woodland Trails Baptist Church into servant leaders who make disciples. The questionnaire results of …


Evidence For The Historical Jesus: Is The Jesus Of History The Christ Of Faith?, Gary R. Habermas Jun 2015

Evidence For The Historical Jesus: Is The Jesus Of History The Christ Of Faith?, Gary R. Habermas

Faculty Publications and Presentations

The subject of the Historical Jesus is perhaps the most popular religious topic in settings such as university and seminary classrooms, written volumes, and doctoral dissertations. Unlike many of these more formal situations, the question-and-answer format utilized throughout this text allows plenty of space to develop additional angles. Hence, the backtracking, necessary repetition, as well as viewing the subject matter from a variety of perspectives allow the conversation to deepen significantly before moving ahead. In the process, it is our hope that new ideas will be expressed and developed. The overall purpose is to provide a historical context for the …


Through A Glass Darkly: Defining Love In A Nation Of Tolerance, Jonathan T. Hogue May 2015

Through A Glass Darkly: Defining Love In A Nation Of Tolerance, Jonathan T. Hogue

Senior Honors Theses

This paper features an original one-act drama Through a Glass Darkly and analyzes its constructs and themes. The play, written in the contemporary style, depicts the tension between homosexuals and Christians in American culture through emphasizing the contrasting interpretations of love between both communities. It tells the story of Ben, a young gay man struggling to find fulfillment, whose new-found friendship with a Christian named Adam causes him to reevaluate his understanding of love. The play explores the variations of love in an attempt to not only answer what love truly means, but rather what form of love carries the …


The Celtic Way: Order, Creativity, And The Holy Spirit In The Celtic Monastic Movement, Fiona Leitch May 2015

The Celtic Way: Order, Creativity, And The Holy Spirit In The Celtic Monastic Movement, Fiona Leitch

Senior Honors Theses

The Celtic monastic movement lasted hundreds of years and is responsible for much of the spread of Christianity to the West. Much of the movement’s success can be attributed to the Celtic Christians’ understanding of the importance of the role of creative culture and order as well as an openness and responsiveness to the leading of the Holy Spirit. It is these three things working in tandem that influenced the success of the Celtic monastic movement. Although the movement ended a thousand years ago, it can offer guidance and wisdom for carrying out ministry today. A case study of Cuirim …


Illness And God's Will, John Sherret Apr 2015

Illness And God's Will, John Sherret

Senior Honors Theses

Originally, God never put sickness on people. After the fall, the early history of man as recorded in the Bible further demonstrates Him refraining to use sickness. However, once the law was instituted God began to use sickness as a punishment. In the Old Testament, sickness was always defined as a curse and never a blessing. It was used by God to curse people for disobeying the law. In the New Testament, God was seen healing the multitudes instead of cursing them. Through the atonement of Jesus, believers have been redeemed from the curse of the law (Galatians 3:13). Healing …


The Resurrection Of Jesus: A Clinical Review Of Psychiatric Hypotheses For The Biblical Story Of Easter, Joseph Bergeron, Gary R. Habermas Jan 2015

The Resurrection Of Jesus: A Clinical Review Of Psychiatric Hypotheses For The Biblical Story Of Easter, Joseph Bergeron, Gary R. Habermas

Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary (1973-2015)

Jesus’ resurrection to bodily life after death by crucifixion is foundational to orthodox Christianity. The disciples had encounters with Jesus after his crucifixion which caused them to believe he had been bodily resurrected to life again. Psychiatric hypotheses have been proposed as naturalistic explanations for his disciples’ beliefs, which include hallucinations, conversion disorder, and bereavement experiences. Since they propose hallucinatory symptoms that suggest the presence of underlying medical pathology, clinical appraisal of these hypotheses for the disciples’ encounters with the resurrected Jesus is warranted. Psychiatric hypotheses for the disciples’ belief in Jesus’ resurrection are found to be inconsistent with current …


From Patristics To Postmodernity: Does A Message Still Exist?, Douglas Taylor Jan 2015

From Patristics To Postmodernity: Does A Message Still Exist?, Douglas Taylor

Other Graduate Scholarship

Dr. David Wheeler once advised that while not all are called to be an evangelist, all Christians are called to be evangelical. Although some may counter that postmodernity is waning, the question remains how one might be evangelical in a postmodern world. The concept that no metanarrative exists has been one of the pillars of postmodernity, and as such challenges the premise that Scripture contains an overarching story encompassing all of mankind. If Dr. Wheeler was correct, and all are called to be evangelical, then the question that would seem to require answering is how one might begin to address …


Why William Rowe’S Argument From Natural Evil Fails, Douglas Taylor Jan 2015

Why William Rowe’S Argument From Natural Evil Fails, Douglas Taylor

Other Graduate Scholarship

Atheists in the vein of William Rowe have put forth arguments suggesting that the presence of evil counts against the existence of God. In particular, Rowe has advanced two lines of reasoning for his position, one being taken from an actual historical case of moral evil, and one case being a hypothetical natural evil. This paper seeks to interact with the proffered fictitious case whereby Rowe contends that even nature argues against the existence of God. If it is possible to demonstrate that Rowe’s argumentation fails, namely that if a greater good can be identified in relation to his submitted …


Evangelism And Social Concern In The Theology Of Carl F. H. Henry, Jerry Ireland Jan 2015

Evangelism And Social Concern In The Theology Of Carl F. H. Henry, Jerry Ireland

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This study examines evangelism and social concern in the theology of Carl F. H. Henry. Henry stands not only as the most important figure in the re-awakening of evangelical social concern, but also a leading thinker among Evangelicals on the theological foundations that should guide this movement in its life and practice. Henry, building on the work of Abraham Kuyper (although with some significant differences), sought to recapture the Reformed emphasis on a worldview approach to the Christian faith. Thus, Henry emerges as a key and oddly understudied figure in the re-awakening of evangelical social action. Yet, his balanced approach …