Christianity Commons^™

Our Own Devices, Joseph Clair

Faculty Publications - George Fox School of Theology

A flickering glow welcomed me to my university’s chapel service. Votive candles? If only. No, these were glowing smartphones, as thick as fireflies on a summer’s evening. It was a scene of tremendous absurdity, like a man watching TV while making love to his wife: distracted people distracting themselves during a sacred act. It struck me as oddly understandable (I even joined them to check my email during the sermon), yet also as the foretaste of some looming spiritual crisis. So much has been written lately about the perils of smartphone use that I’m reluctant to join the chorus. Yet …

Reclaming Compassion: How Compassion Moved From Virtue To Benefit, And How To Move It Back, Jon Talbert

Doctor of Ministry

This dissertation examines the growing movement of compassion that has developed and emerged in the 21st century and its impact on the current landscape of society. Section 1 takes a closer look at how compassion moved from a virtue to a benefit, and the expectation of reward that subtly crept into the developmental psyche of the culture. Section 2 traces that benefit-mentality into the seven domains of culture, including: Business, Faith, Government, Social Sector, Education, Arts & Entertainment, and the Media. Section 3 introduces a new line of thinking that reestablishes compassion to its purest form by identifying the makeup …

Extending The Table: A Strategic Guide Of Missional Renewal For A Declining Congregation, Phillip Vaden Faig

Doctor of Ministry

The Lord took Ezekiel to the Valley of Dry Bones and asked him, “Son of Man, can these bones live?” (Ezekiel 37:3) Many churches in the large metropolitan cities of North America are looking over the Valley of Dry Ministries and asking essentially the same question, “Can these ministries live again?” The decline of the church in large metropolitan cities of the United States has been dramatic. It is not an unusual sight to drive through a major city and see church buildings that were once filled with congregants either shuttered and repurposed or with only a small remnant of …

Rediscovering The Bible For Involvement And Insights For Spiritual Growth For The Restoration Church Member, John F. Woodward

Doctor of Ministry

This dissertation proposes that many individuals in the Restoration Church, an early nineteenth-century American church movement founded by Barton Stone and Alexander Campbell that today includes hundreds of Churches of Christ/Christian Churches, are experiencing spiritual malnourishment, while finding in the tradition a lack of resources, rhetoric, or guidance to stem the hunger. Section 1 describes the influence of contextualization, tracing the history of the Restoration Movement back to its early philosophical and social influences that resulted in a rationalist and Biblicist interpretation of the Bible that focused primarily on conversion and church organization, while distracting attention from spirituality and divine …

Spiritual Renovation Through Accountability: A Contemporary Look At John Wesley's Class Meeting And His Admonition To Watch Over One Another In Love, Robert Marshall

Doctor of Ministry

The dissertation asserts that Christ-focused small groups, particularly in the Pacific Northwest, can be a primary means of spiritual transformation while developing a sense of belonging in the Body of Christ. Without these small groups, public Christian worship can be little more than sentimentality. The term, small groups, describes small gatherings of Christ’s followers who “watch over one another in love that they may help each other to work out their salvation.”

Section 1 introduces the topic of a disconnect between the Church’s promise to be a transforming community and the spiritual emptiness and loneliness asserted by many. Three challenges …

Spiritual Direction With Children The Next Natural Step In The Christian Historical Progression Of Children's Spiritual Formation, Lacy Finn Borgo

Doctor of Ministry

Children without a listening and guiding companion miss opportunities to build upon their connection with God and others. Historically, from a western Protestant viewpoint, Christians have struggled to understand or acknowledge, much less encourage, the reciprocal nature of a child’s life with God. Supporting the reciprocal nature of a child’s life with God includes acknowledging their full humanity by embracing childhood as a fully human state and therefore their need for a whole person spiritual formation. The institution of Sunday School, Godly Play, and the Children’s Spirituality Movement have each helped us to understand, acknowledge and encourage a child’s life …

Mysterium Tremendum Restored In The Life Of The Preacher, Sunggu Yang

Faculty Publications - George Fox School of Theology

What is your most unforgettable preaching experience? Did it happen just last week or last year? Or did it happen five or ten years ago? For me it happened immediately after my graduation from my M.Div. program.

I had arrived in New Haven from Atlanta after a twenty-hour drive to attend Yale Divinity School. I am rather a slow driver, and it had taken me almost three days and about ten fast food hamburgers to get to New Haven. That very afternoon, I got a phone call from the deacon of a local Korean American Methodist church. He said that …

Ann Austin, Jeannine Graham

Faculty Publications - George Fox School of Theology

The story of the Quaker Ann Austin is a story of resilience and resolve despite unremitting opposition. Mid-seventeenth-century colonial America was a paradox of settlers who braved perilous seas to escape persecution and find religious freedom in the colonies. Yet some of those same groups ironically became inhospitable, even hostile, to other immigrants seeking similar freedom to practice and promote their religious beliefs. Ann Austin, mother of five children and described as a woman "stricken in years:' traveled with fellow Quaker Mary Fisher, an unmarried former maidservant, to the colonies by way of Barbados aboard the ship Swallow. Fueled with …

Come Hell Or High Water? Scientific Progress And Ethics, Travis Pickell

Faculty Publications - George Fox School of Theology

There is a perception among some today that science is necessarily equated with progress because it is dedicated to advancing knowledge; but ethics is mostly about applying abstract ideals to questions whose answers should be clear to most people, and mostly just results leads to red tape and process-driven institutional review boards. If anything, for people who hold this view, the real purpose of “ethics” seems to be to impede science, progress and human flourishing.

The Ramallah Friends Meeting: Examining 100 Years Of Peace And Justice Work, Maia Carter Hallward

Quaker Religious Thought

No abstract provided.

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.

Spirituality Of Peacemaking, Jean Zaru

Quaker Religious Thought

No abstract provided.

The Ramallah Friends School: 150 Years Of Endurance, Understanding, And Good Teaching, Gordon Davies

Quaker Religious Thought

No abstract provided.

Contributors--Quaker Religious Thought, No. 127

Quaker Religious Thought

No abstract provided.

Accompaniment In Palestine, Jessy Hampton

Quaker Religious Thought

No abstract provided.

Front Matter, Quaker Religious Thought, No. 127, Howard R. Macy, Max Carter

Quaker Religious Thought

No abstract provided.

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.

Love Wins: Quaker Activism In Israel And Palestine, Jennifer Bing, Lucy Duncan

Quaker Religious Thought

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.

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.

Review Of "A Faith For The Generations: How Collegiate Experience Impacts Faith" And "Emerging Adulthood And Faith", David M. Johnstone

Publications from Student Life & Spiritual Life

No abstract provided.

Review Of Radeljić And Topić'S "Religion In The Post-Yugoslav Context", Branko Bjelajac

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

No abstract provided.

No Country For Foreigners: Christian Praxis In Croatian Migration Crisis, Branko Sekulić

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

No abstract provided.

Frontmatter, Paul B. Mojzes

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

No abstract provided.