Christianity Commons^™

"Turn In Your Bible To...": Examining Rhetorical Agency In Sermonic Discourse, Marshall Thomas Covert

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Rhetorical agency is an ideologically contentious facet within communication and rhetorical research. While its importance in scholarship can be traced back to early works by Kenneth Burke and Pierre Bourdieu, debate continues regarding the source of agency, how it is enacted in rhetorical application and communication, and who/what can claim responsibility for the communication practices one may utilize in enacting their respective levels of agency. Thus, the ways in which the rhetoric of popular, influential individuals/antecedents affects the rhetorical agency and invention practices of those without significant levels of influence must be examined. American Christianity, in particular the culture created …

When God Dies: Deconversion From Theism As Analogous To The Experience Of Death, William David Simpson

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

In this thesis, I explore the psychological and experiential aspects of the shift from a supernatural theistic worldview (specifically born-again Christianity) to a
philosophically naturalistic and atheistic worldview in the context of the religious
landscape in the U.S. I posit that certain features of this transition, which is known as "deconversion,” can be thought of as potentially analogous, both psychologically and subjectively, to the experience of another's death as an objective environmental change. I provide anthropological and psychological evidence that believers often experience the God of born-again Christianity as an independently existing and active agent in the world. The similarities …

Kierkegaard & Natural Religion, William Stewart

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

According to Kierkegaard, the knowledge of God begins with the recognition of various truths about oneself. Every individual, just by virtue of being human, has the capacity to develop an intuitive awareness of God. In this thesis, I explore the nature of this knowledge. In chapter one, I introduce a number of ideas important for understanding Kierkegaard's phenomenology of religious belief, including his distinction between objective and subjective reflection, his method (indirect communication), and his psychology. The first chapter concludes with a description of the range or domain of "natural religion." In the next chapter, I analyze the structural or …

The Metaphysical & Epistemological Theories Of C.S. Lewis, Richard Ryals

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

C. S. Lewis is very concerned about the naturalist assumptions which underlie much of modern knowledge. He attempts to show that the naturalist philosophy, when taken to its logical conclusion, undermines the validity of our reasoning processes and our moral judgments. He then attempts to offer an alternative philosophy which can serve as an adequate basis for our reasoning and ethics.

Lewis sees three basic metaphysical possibilities: naturalism, dualism, and theism. Naturalism views the natural process as the ultimate reality. Everything that exists is either a part of or a product of this process. Dualism asserts that there are two …

Faith, Reason And Scripture In The Theology Of Donald G. Bloesch, David R. Coward

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Donald G. Bloesch, an American theologian and seminary professor, is a leading spokesman for contemporary Protestant evangelicalism, a theological position that lies somewhere between fundamentalism and neo-orthodoxy. Heavily influenced by the German theologian, Karl Barth, Bloesch employs a methodology in which theology is based on revelation alone, unsupported by philosophy or the arguments of human reason. For Blosech, revelation is basically alien to human culture and human thought-forms. Because of this, revelation cannot be comprehended by reason, but only by faith. Bloesch’s view leads to a dichotomy between faith and reason, a dichotomy that ultimately lessons the impact of his …

Narrative-Rhetorical Structures In Revelation: Developing A Thematic Model, J. Webb Mealy

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The rhetoric of narration employed by John in the composition of Revelation was analyzed as a key to interpretation. This analysis was carried out in the context of two test passages, 20:11-21:10 and 6:1-8:5. in the first passage, the single vision-scenes of the Last Judgment (20: 11-15) and the descent of the New Jerusalem (21:1-10) were examined for internal structure and mode of narration, and each was found to be structured in a relatively static, pictorial and descriptive mode rather than a temporal, event-oriented mode. Certain commonly alleged anomalies in the order of the text and other exegetical problems were …

Human Love And Divine Love: The Platonic Matrix In C.S. Lewis, Laura Case

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

A comparison of the writings of Plato and C.S. Lewis reveals a common idea that human love is not sufficient for man. An examination of Plato’s Symposium and Lewis’s Till We Have Faces and The Four Loves, in particular, shows that both writers illustrate that man must ascend the ladder of love in order to meet the source of all love: Divine Love. Concerned with man’s innate needs and ethics, both Plato and Lewis argue that there is a universal principle of goodness known to all men of all cultures. Lewis argues, especially in The Abolition of Man, that man …

Literary Models In Biblical Hermeneutics, Robert Drake

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

In this paper we will examine, in survey fashion the hermeneutical programs formulated by supernatural orthodoxy,¹ the natural religion school,² and the attempts to find an alternative to these in the post-Enlightenment period of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. A preliminary overview is in order to map out the direction of the discussion and to suggest a common uncritical assumption held by all major programs, viz, the use of non-biblical literary models for interpreting the immanent character of the Scriptures.

1. Orthodoxy has reference to the Protestant interpretation of the Bible which accepted the possibility of divine intervention …

Ua12/2/37 Time, Wku Western Religious Council

Student Organizations

Newsletter printed for Christian Emphasis Living Week at WKU. Includes information regarding speakers for conference and schedule of events.

Ua3/1/4 Speeches & Ideas Book, Henry Cherry

WKU Archives Records

Notebook created by Henry Cherry entitled Talks Made at Morning Exercises. It contains handwritten speeches, clippings of sermons, poetry, cartoons and illustrations. Many pages were blank, those pages were not digitized. Page numbers match pdf file.

• A Dream Dreamed Over 37
• A Proposition from Epictetus 58
• A Railroad Man’s Prayer 2
• A Scientific Demonstration 54
• A Valuable Reminder, Ram’s Horn, nd 90
• A Vision, np, nd 37
• A Wasted Life 55
• An Important Question, Ram’s Horn, nd 86
• Bab’s Liberal Sermon – Worship in Church & In Green Fields Compared, np, 7/30/1896 7
• Baptist & Reflector, Vol. X, No. 9, …