Christianity Commons^™

A Bounded Affinity Theory Of Religion And The Paranormal, Joseph O. Baker, Christoper Bader, F. Carson Mencken

Sociology Faculty Articles and Research

We outline a theory of bounded affinity between religious experiences and beliefs and paranormalism, which emphasizes that religious and paranormal experiences and beliefs share inherent physiological, psychological, and ontological similarities. Despite these parallels, organized religious groups typically delineate a narrow subset of experiences and explanatory frames as acceptable and True, banishing others as either false or demonic. Accordingly, the theory provides a revised definition of the “paranormal” as beliefs and experiences explicitly rejected by science and organized religions. To demonstrate the utility of the theory, we show that, after controlling for levels of conventional religious practice, there is a strong, …

Implementing Vocational Training At Escuela Quiteña De Estudios Bíblicos, Joshua K. Marcum

Doctor of Ministry Theses

This DMin project addressed the problem of the absence of a viable training model to equip graduates of EQEB (Escuela Quiteña de Estudios Biblicos) for self-sustaining ministry. Based upon a theology of vocation, the project implemented and evaluated the inclusion of a technical-skills component to EQEB’s current seminary training. The project followed the integration of sixteen EQEB students in the vocational program implemented during the 2015-2016 school year. Qualitative research data gathered from five group interviews with these students, my own field notes, and a faculty interview provided the substance upon which I based the project´s findings. Over a seven-month …

Principles Of Incorporating Spirituality Into Professional Clinical Practice, Thomas G. Plante

Psychology

Incorporating spirituality into contemporary professional clinical practice has become more common in recent years most notably with the popular interest of mindfulness meditation, mindfulness based stress reduction, and yoga in particular. However, many other spiritual and religiously based assessment and treatment approaches have also been successfully utilized with a great deal of evidence-based research to support their use and effectiveness. The purpose of this brief article is to outline several guiding principles for those professionals interested in integrating spiritual and religious wisdom and approaches into their professional clinical practices in the spirit of diversity and multiculturalism sensitivity and respect. Psychology …

Exploding The Nuclear Family, Howard Schaap

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

No abstract provided.

French Women In Art: Reclaiming The Body Through Creation/Les Femmes Artistes Françaises : La Réclamation Du Corps À Travers La Création, Liatris Hethcoat

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

The research I have conducted for my French Major Senior Thesis is a culmination of my passion for and studies of both French language and culture and the history and practice of Visual Arts. I have examined, across the history of art, the representation of women, and concluded that until the 20^th century, these representations have been tools employed by the makers of history and those at the top of the patriarchal system, used to control women’s images and thus women themselves. I survey these representations, which are largely created by men—until the 20^th century. I discuss pre-historical …

Formulating A Covenant Of Discipleship For The Membership Of The Gwinnett Church Of Christ, David Chisholm

Doctor of Ministry Theses

This project addressed the lack of a covenant of discipleship for the membership of the Gwinnett Church of Christ (GCC). The purpose of the project was to develop such a covenant document to help all the members of GCC better live out the process of becoming more like Jesus. To provide a theological foundation for this project, I explored discipleship in the exhortation sections of the book of Hebrews, which specifically addresses the need for greater commitment and intentionality amongst a community of faith. I also explored the theoretical framework of how formulating a discipleship covenant document could create progress …

Race And Policing On The Second Anniversary Of Ferguson, Donald Roth

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

"There’s a tendency to make each civilian death an indictment of all police and to make each officer death the fault of those who dare criticize police."

Posting about ­­­­­­­­changes in law enforcement from In All Things - an online hub committed to the claim that the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ has implications for the entire world.

http://inallthings.org/race-and-policing-on-the-second-anniversary-of-ferguson/

Between The World And Me, Michael Brown, And White Imagination, Howard Schaap

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

"What can we do as Christians to support each other across racial lines?"

Posting about racial divide in America from In All Things - an online hub committed to the claim that the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ has implications for the entire world.

http://inallthings.org/between-the-world-and-me-michael-brown-and-white-imagination/

Why I'M Not Voting (For President), Donald Roth

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

"Choosing not to vote is not (necessarily) failing to engage the political system, and, while I hope I don’t feel compelled to do it again in the future, I am confident in my decision not to vote for a candidate for president this coming election."

Posting about ­­­­­­­­reasons for not voting in this year's presidential election from In All Things - an online hub committed to the claim that the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ has implications for the entire world.

http://inallthings.org/why-im-not-voting-for-president/

Voting For Gary Johnson, Adam Adams

Staff Work

"Governor Johnson’s fiscally conservative views, and socially liberal views give him a unique space for common ground in a divided Congress."

Posting about ­­­­­­­­this year's Libertarian party candidate for president from In All Things - an online hub committed to the claim that the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ has implications for the entire world.

http://inallthings.org/voting-for-johnson/

Review Of Murzaku's "Monasticism In Eastern Europe And The Former Soviet Republics", Robert P. Marko

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

No abstract provided.

Lessons Of Life, C. William Pollard

C. William Pollard Papers

In this outline from a speech at the 2016 InterAct/Delta One Workshop in Nashville, TN, Pollard provides thirteen "lessons of life" for the participants to learn from and reflect upon.

National And Confessional Image Of Bosnia And Herzegovina, Ivan Cvitković

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

No abstract provided.

The Significance Of The Role Of Religion In The Bosnian Conflict Of The 1990s: The Town Of Foča As A Case Study, Louis Tozer

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

No abstract provided.

Frontmatter, Paul Mojzes

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

No abstract provided.

The Role Of Religion In The Formation Of Ukrainian Identity In Galicia?, Jan Ladzinski

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

No abstract provided.

The Romanian Iron Guard: Fascist Sacralized Politics Or Fascist Politicized Religion?, Jordan Meale

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

No abstract provided.

Review Of Morris' "When Brothers Dwell In Unity: Byzantine Christianity And Homosexuality", Nonka Bogomilova

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

No abstract provided.

The War In Ukraine As A Test For The Global Christian Community: A Trail Of Solidarity, Freedom, And Peacekeeping, Mykhailo Cherenkov

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

No abstract provided.

Ethnic And Religious Homogenization In The Bosnia And Herzegovina And The Process Of Reconciliation, Zorica Kuburić

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

No abstract provided.

Review Of Raber's "Ministries Of Compassion Among Russian Evangelicals", Sharyl Corrado

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

No abstract provided.

Contributors To Indian Catholicism: Interventions And Imaginings, Mathew Schmalz

Journal of Global Catholicism

Contributors to Indian Catholicism: Interventions and Imaginings, the inaugural issue of the Journal of Global Catholicism.

Authority, Representation, And Offense: Dalit Catholics, Foot Washing, And The Study Of Global Catholicism, Mathew Schmalz

Journal of Global Catholicism

In reflecting on a sharp scholarly exchange at a conference, this article explores issues of authority, representation, and offense in global Catholic and South Asian Studies. Focusing on the act of foot washing by Dalit Catholics, the article examines how scholarly offense is linked to particular claims of representational authority. The article also puts this discussion within the context of contemporary debates about Western portrayals of Indian culture and society.

The Tying Of The Ceremonial Wedding Thread: A Feminist Analysis Of “Ritual” And “Tradition” Among Syro-Malabar Catholics In India, Sonja Thomas

Journal of Global Catholicism

This article presents a feminist analysis of patriarchy persisting in Catholicism of the Syro-Malabar rite in Kerala. The article specifically considers the impact of charismatic Catholicism on women of the Syro-Malabar rite and argues that it is important to interrogate this new face of religiosity in order to fully understand how certain rituals are allowed to change and be fluid, while others, especially concerning female sexuality, are enshrined as “tradition” which often restricts the parameters for women’s empowerment and may reinforce caste and patriarchal hegemonies preventing feminist solidarity across different religious- and caste-based groups.

Dalit Catholic Home Shrines In A North Indian Village, Mathew Schmalz

Journal of Global Catholicism

This article examines three Catholic home shrines in a Dalit community in North Indian and argues that it is misleading to think that home shrines and other collections of material objects are somehow static conveyors of meaning. “Meaning” can mean many things or nothing at all, depending upon the terms we are using and the scholarly methods we deploy. The crucial aspect of Dalit Catholic home shrines is that they are literally open to interpretation and reinterpretation, to touching and being touched. Their significance—their meaning—depends not on decoding their structure or symbolic logic, but interacting with them as part of …

The Grace Of God And The Travails Of Contemporary Indian Catholicism, Kerry P. C. San Chirico

Journal of Global Catholicism

This essay discusses the challenges faced by Indian Catholicism, particularly as it seeks to adapt to and in contemporary, post-colonial India through the process or program of what is called inculturation, a self-conscious program of adaptation to Indian religion and culture. Since Indian Catholicism is constituted by so many irreducible persons-in-relation, the article focuses on the life of the Catholic priest, Swami Ishwar Prasad in whose life we may chart something of the inculturation movement and the Catholic tradition as it is found in North India region, in one rather long and rich lifetime connecting two centuries. The article seeks …

In Continuity With The Past: Indigenous Environmentalism And Indian Christian Visions Of Flora, James Ponniah

Journal of Global Catholicism

This article considers whether Indian Christianity can be said to have a distinctive ecological vision. The first two parts of the article examine Christian environmentalism in two native forms of Indian Christianity: Tamil Christianity and Tribal Christianity. Continuing with the theme of conformity to the local culture—though of the elite—the third part of the article investigates how Christian Ashrams function as dynamic centers for ecological praxis. The last part of the article considers how contemporary Indian Christian communities can respond to the ecological challenges confronting them.

Antoniyar Kōvil: Hindu-Catholic Identity At The St. Anthony Shrine In St. Mary’S Co-Cathedral, Chennai, Pj Johnston

Journal of Global Catholicism

This article combines ethnographic description of the practices of Hindu and Christian visitors of the St. Antony Shrine in Chennai with the observation that this material cannot be understood using the standard world religions paradigm that essentializes Christianity as exclusivistic. Drawing upon the visual and material culture of the shrine in light of premodern and Vatican II templates for inculturation and the negotiation of religious difference, the article highlights overlap between Tamil Hinduism and the Tamil Popular Catholicism of the site to argue that the beliefs and practices documented should inform descriptive and normative accounts of Catholic Christianity. Because Tamil …

How To Fly A Horse: The Secret History Of Creation, Invention, And Discovery (Book Review), Kevin Timmer

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

Reviewed Title: How to Fly a Horse: The Secret History of Creation, Invention, and Discovery by Kevin Ashton. New York: Doubleday, 2015. 336 pages. ISBN: 9780385538596.

The God Dimension In Leadership, Erich Baumgartner

Journal of Applied Christian Leadership

One of the most challenging insights of the servant leadership approach for christian leaders is the fact that god himself chose to approach humanity that way. Christian theology has long maintained that who god is determines how he acts. Jesus dying on the cross for humanity reminds us of the inexhaustible mystery that by his very nature god is a servant. the nature of god—more specifically his Trinitarian nature—is the central paradigm of thought in this issue of JACL. Does God’s Trinitarian nature have anything to say to Christian leaders about leadership? Get ready for some meaty reading.