Christianity Commons^™

Americanized Catholicism? A Response To Thomas Schärtl, Dennis M. Doyle

Religious Studies Faculty Publications

I stand in fundamental agreement with what Thomas Schärtl has said in his article describing recent trends in US Catholicism. I am a lifelong Catholic and a lifelong Democrat. I felt personally distressed and discouraged by the support given to Mitt Romney and the Republicans by some leading US Catholic bishops. Most of this support may have technically passed the legal test of being nonpartisan, but undeniably it functioned in a partisan manner, as did the attacks launched on President Obama in the midst of a campaign to defend religious liberty. Schärtl’s analysis of these trends as reflecting marketing strategies …

Answering Your Question: Calvinism And Reformed, Neal Deroo

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

"'Reformed' is a larger umbrella term encompassing a strand of thought and church history that emerged in Christianity as a result of the Protestant Reformation."

Posting about terms used to define belief systems 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/answering-your-question-calvinism-and-reformed/

Common Sense Theology: An Analysis Of T. L. Carter's Interpretation Of Romans 13:1-7, Joshua Alley

Senior Honors Theses

Common sense theology has been a part of American theology since the time of the Revolution when Evangelicals incorporated ideals from the Scottish didactic Enlightenment into their thought. This paper deals with the work of one particular author, T. L. Carter, and his interpretation and exegetical work on Romans 13:1-7. It deals with the two major presuppositions of his common sense theology, namely that interpretations of any passage of Scripture will adhere to common sense and will result in a value-based ethic. Following this is an analysis of both the strengths and weaknesses of Carter's methodology.

What’S The Deal With Corporate Prayer In Church?, Jeremy M. Kimble

Biblical and Theological Studies Faculty Publications

Corporate prayer in a local church setting can feel like a mundane item in the midst of a worship service. However, such a practice allows for a unique opportunity for the leadership of the church to instruct and intercede for the congregation in specific ways. This is a part of the worship service that is often overlooked and given very little thought, but I would encourage pastors to be intentional and thorough as they approach this sacred moment with their people. Here are some key thoughts on the practice of corporate prayer.

Phenomenology, The Spirits Of The Age, And The (Religious) Task Of Philosophy, Neal Deroo

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

The presenter states that philosophy in general—and phenomenology in particular—remain predominantly academic endeavors, done by professional philosophers, to professional philosophers, for professional philosophers and that the key to changing this situation and so to recover the public nature of the phenomenological enterprise is to reconceive the task of philosophy as the 2 discernment of the spirits of the age in which we find ourselves. To do this, he highlights two distinct elements of phenomenological methodology that enable it to perform such a task: first, its epistemological claim that the matters to be investigated must be both taken on their own …

Augustinian Approach To Holistic Christian Pedagogy, Adam Schultz, Neal Deroo

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

Presenters explain how in their CORE philosophy class they seek to demonstrate that their students' real life-spiritual life distinction is symptomatic of a dualism endemic to contemporary Christianity (section 1), and that their reading of Augustine's Confessions can provide a unified and holistic corrective to it (section 2) and that doing so helps students see a more radical vision of Christian faithfulness, one that calls for a holistic, life-wide response to the work of Christ that will not allow for an easy distinction between ‘spiritual’ life and everyday life (section 3).

The Lord Is There: Christian Views Of The Temple In The First Century Ad, Jonathan Wells

Masters Theses

During the first century, Yeshua (Jesus) and the original Christians viewed the temple as God's dwelling place on earth. Informed by the Hebrew Bible, which they saw as the Holy Scriptures, they continued to hold the temple in high regard. The writings of the New Testament display the thoughts of the first Christians and the teachings of Yeshua concerning their understanding of the Jerusalem temple. This study explores the views of the temple in the New Testament and other Christian writings from the first century to demonstrate that most Christians and especially the writings of the New Testament continue to …

Sphere Sovereignty, Neal Deroo

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

"This is the idea that different parts of creation have legitimately different rules, tasks, and duties, given them by God for the proper functioning of the world. "

Posting about Abraham Kuypers views on sphere soverignty 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.

inallthings.org/sphere-sovereignty/

TawḥĪDic Allah Or The Trinity In View Of Inherent Human Relatedness, Brian Scalise

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This dissertation is an inquiry into the nature of the Deity in view of human relationships. Human relationships exist and are definitive of what it means to exist as a human. In this sense, human relating is an inherent aspect of the experience of humanity, i.e., they are inescapable. Does the Christian doctrine of Trinity or Islam's doctrine of Tawhidic (monadic) Allah more adequately account for the existence of human relationships and their inescapability? This question is analyzed by comparing the Tawhidic nature of Allah with the Trinitarian nature of God in order to evaluate and clarify which doctrine is …

Experiencing Our Only Comfort: A Post-Reformation Refocus In The Heidelberg Catechism, Jan Van Vliet

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

Last year marked the 450th anniversary of the publication of the Heidelberg Catechism. In celebration of this momentous occasion and as a reminder of the contemporary applicability of this highly-regarded confessional document, this essay examines the earliest and most complete Puritan commentary extant: that of second-generation Puritan thinker William Ames (1576–1633), protégé of William Perkins (1558–1602), the “father” of the Puritan movement. We examine methodological considerations and two topical issues that arise when the venerated Catechism is placed in the hands of a practically oriented, post-Reformation divine for whom theology was none other than “living to God”: Theologia est doctrina …

Transforming Conflict Through Insight, Center For Catholic Studies, Seton Hall University, Kenneth Melchin

Center for Catholic Studies Faculty Seminars and Core Curriculum Seminars

No abstract provided.

Does The Bible Have A Big Story? Well, Only If We Don't Know The End!, David E. Fredrickson

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Emerging From The Shadows: Civil War, Human Rights, And Peacebuilding Among Peasants And Indigenous Peoples In Colombia And Peru In The Late 20th And Early 21st Centuries, Charles A. Flowerday

Anthropology Department: Theses

Peacebuilding in Colombia and Peru following their late-20^th and early 21^st century civil wars is a challenging proposition. In this study, it becomes necessary as indigenous peoples and peasants resist domination by extractive industries and governments in their thrall. Whether they protest nonviolently or rebel in arms, they are targeted for human-rights violations, especially murder, disappearance and displacement. The armed actors, state, insurgency, paramilitaries or drug traffickers, destroy civic institutions (local or regional government) and the civil (nonprofit) sector and replace them with their own authoritarian versions. Therefore, peacebuilding has emphasized rebuilding civic institutions, civil society and local …

The Focus Of Elisha's Ministry On Atypical, Faithful Individuals, Eunice Chung

Masters Theses

The focus of Elisha's ministry is upon atypical individuals. Understanding the distinct atypical character focus of the Elisha narrative is important, for it connects to God's overall plan to make all peoples know Him. Just as the foreign general, the destitute widow, and the powerful woman all recognize the power of Yahweh through the work of the prophet, so God desires all unlikely characters, regardless of ethnicity or socio-economic standing, to recognize His greatness. Therefore, the thesis will argue that the apostasy of Israel leads Elisha's ministry to focus on unlikely characters, women and a Syrian general, whose faith starkly …

Noetic Apologetics: A Contemporary Approach In Comparison To Historic Apologetic Methods, Enuel Hernandez

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Many are intrigued by the fundamental questions of life. Questions of origin, moral, and purpose are just a few of these. Christians have endeavored throughout the centuries in the task of apologetics to give sound answers to these questions. The history of Christianity has shown that apologists answered objections and inquires about their religion. Many techniques have emerged to direct apologists in explaining their faith. However, there seems to be no unifying process for doing apologetics. This study examines the different apologetic methods and exposes their strong and weak points in order to develop a more efficient strategy. The research …

Roosevelt, Boy Scouts, And The Formation Of Muscular Christian Character, Gordon J. Christen

Religious Studies Honors Projects

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, many prominent Christians and political leaders saw a degenerative influence in industrializing America. For them, urban culture had eroded gender roles, personal strength, and moral fiber. So-called “Muscular Christians” prescribed physical exertion and wilderness experience to cure these ills. I argue that these values were embodied in idealized characters such as Theodore Roosevelt, Jesus, and the Boy Scout to give a form to cultural remedies. In the process, they became the terms upon which proper Americanism, and proper Christianity, were constructed.

The Message In Our Music : What Popular Congregational Songs Say About Our Beliefs, Neal W. Woodruff, Mark A. Frisius

Faculty Scholarship and Creative Work – Music

Congregational singing is a source of basic theological instruction, both reflecting and shaping what we believe. It is crucial, therefore, that we say what we believe when we sing. In this study, the authors focused on the songs most accessed by users of the Christian Copyright Licensing, Inc. (CCLI) service between 2006-2012. Twenty songs were identified as having received significant usage during this time period.

The results of this study found that a representative sampling of the lyrics of the most popular congregational songs did not sufficiently express foundational concepts of the Christian faith. Although individual congregations may have a …

The German Peasants’ War: The Intersection Of Theology And Society, Zachary Tyree

Senior Honors Theses

This paper examines the way that Reformation theology, particularly that espoused by Martin Luther, impacted German society. Sixteenth-century German society was very hierarchical in nature, with the Roman Catholic Church at the top, followed by the nobility, and finally the peasants, who suffered economic and political plight. Luther’s break from the Church in 1517 and the subsequent years brought tension to society. Developments extending from that break challenged the social hierarchy. One of the major social consequences of the Protestant Reformation, which was rooted in Luther’s theology, was the Peasants’ War. Luther criticized the peasants for the uprising, based on …

Restoring Life-Giving In A Life-Taking World, Melissa G. Cone

Senior Honors Theses

“Restoring Life-Giving in a Life-Taking World” examines women’s roles as life-givers in Exodus 1-2. The stories of the Hebrew midwives, Jochebed, Pharaoh’s daughter, and Miriam are paradigmatic of God’s use of unlikely characters to accomplish His creational plan. Through the life-giving actions of each of these women, God preserved His plan to deliver His people by preserving the life of their deliverer, Moses, and in turn, preparing for the ultimate deliverer, Jesus Christ.

This thesis reveals the life-giving actions of the women in Exodus 1-2 and their strategic position to influence change in their society. The paradigm of God giving …

We Are Our Stories: Narrative Dimension Of Human Identity And Its Implications For Christian Faith Formation, Rolf A. Jacobson

Faculty Publications

Increasingly, representatives of diverse disciplines have come to a significant consensus about human identity. Each of us constructs and lives in a narrative that is, in fact, us. If this is the case, we will need an outside source to construct a narrative that is both good and true—one to which and in which we can give our lives. Such a story is given us in Holy Scripture and in the collective memory of the church.

I Am Who I Am: The Book Of Exodus And African American Individuality, Joseph L. Kirkenir

Student Publications

Scholars often attempt to construct collective ideologies in order to generalize the beliefs and views of entire populations, with one target population frequently being the African American community during the latter half of the nineteenth century. Unfortunately, doing so fails to recognize the individuality of the population’s members and, especially in the case of the country’s oppressed Blacks, establishes a system where assumed notions and ignorant ideas abound. One might argue that the popularity of the book of Exodus in the time’s African American expressive outlets indicates that there did exist a collective ideology based upon the biblical narrative. However, …

Sacra Domus: The Anglican House Church In Theology And Context, Alan Andraeas

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The author is an evangelical Anglican priest with a recently formed sacramental house church. Though the house church movement is gaining popularity, no formal guidelines or methodologies exist which address this trend from a liturgical and sacerdotal perspective--even within his diocese. Because of this void, he will examine the following critical issues:

* What are the scriptural foundations for mandating the use of liturgy?

* What are the biblical, theological, and historical precedents for house churches?

* Can there be a complementary union between priestly liturgy and the house church model?

Without guidance from other `reference parishes,' the need for …

Appreciating The Mystery Of "Three Persons" And "One Substance": A Study Of Tertullian's Legacy Concerning The Historical Development Of The Doctrine Of The Trinity, Brandon Walker

Masters Theses

Tertullian of Carthage is hailed by many as the most influential Western theologian prior to Augustine, and his most impressive theological contributions involved Trinitarianism and Christology. This study is a thorough investigation of the extent to which Tertullian influenced subsequent Trinitarian theologians and writers in the Western tradition. It explores how Tertullian repeated and expanded existing arguments popularized by earlier apologists and theologians. It also identifies those original features of Tertullian's theological vocabulary and reasoning which subsequent Western pre- and post-Nicene theologians found most valuable as Trinitarian doctrine progressed toward its maturity. This analysis concludes with an evaluation of Tertullian's …

Engaging Capitalism With Wesleyan Theology, Paul R. Koch, Kevin Twain Lowery

Faculty Scholarship – Economics

In this paper presented at the Wesleyan Theological Society Annual Meeting in March 2014, two professors from Olivet Nazarene University – one from the field of Economics and the other from Theology – address the intersection of Wesleyan theology and ethics with the theoretical foundations of capitalism. The paper consists of four major sections:

• A Wesleyan voice in the capitalist jungle
• The compatibility of capitalism and Wesleyan thought
• Elements of Wesleyan theology most relevant to capitalism
• Toward a Wesleyan approach to free market economics

Justification And Sanctification In The Southern Baptist Church In West Virginia; Implications In Worship And Practice Of Faith, Todd Hill

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this project is to investigate the doctrines of justification and progressive sanctification and its implications in the Southern Baptist Churches in West Virginia. In the Southern Baptist Churches in West Virginia, there seems to be much confusion concerning the subject of justification and sanctification in the life of the believer. This confusion appears to grow out of a misunderstanding of sanctification and its relationship to justification from the error of Roman Catholic doctrine of blending justification and sanctification. The result of this study will expose the disparity of understanding concerning these doctrines and produce a teaching resource …

Hauerwas On Hauerwas: Review Of 'Approaching The End: Eschatological Reflections On Church, Politics, And Life', William L. Portier

Religious Studies Faculty Publications

Stanley Hauerwas has achieved singular preeminence among theologians in the United States as a public intellectual. Writing on subjects from Christian ethics to law, pacifism, bioethics, and political philosophy, he has provided bountiful fodder for academics while managing to leave footprints in the general culture-he is surely one of very few theologians ever to appear on Oprah. Any new book bearing Hauerwas' name is noteworthy, and the latest one doesn't disappoint.

The End(S) Of Art: Faith-Learning Integration Statement, Lex Thompson

Faith Learning Integration Papers

This essay demands something that is a little bit theology and a little bit art, and can only address a little bit of each. The material that follows does not presume to speak universally or systematically for either. Not only would such a thing be folly, but it would also be impossible. Systematic theology and systematic aesthetics are always a mess. Multiple volumes are written trying to sort out impossible situations gotten into by trying to systematize God, humanity, the world, the imagination, images and the complex of relationships that exist between them. We need to hold onto some of …

What Kind Of Confession Is The Augsburg Confession?: "I Shall Speak Of Your Decrees Before Kings, And Shall Not Be Put To Shame" (Psalm 119:46), Steven D. Paulson

Faculty Publications

What is the genre of the Augsburg Confession? Knowing this identifies the meaning and use of the document historically and presently. The confession is apocalyptic, despite the disparaging place this genre has held in recent theology. The case comes especially from Martin Luther’s own correspondence of the time and his later recollection of the events given in his 1542 Genesis lectures. In the Genesis lectures Luther connected Augsburg to the conflict Rebecca had come to in the case of primogeniture and Jacob. The first table of the commandments came into strange conflict with the second: the law of authority conflicting …

Money, Religion, And Tyranny: God And The Demonic In Luther's Antifragile Theology, Guillermo C. Hansen

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Eternal Punishment As Paideia: The Ekphrasis Of Hell In The Apocalypse Of Peter And The Apocalypse Of Paul, Meghan Henning

Religious Studies Faculty Publications

Much of the history of scholarship on “hell” has been devoted to tracing genetic relationships between older texts and more recent ones, typically based upon generic elements or the specific features of hell’s landscape. This paper suggests a new direction for classics and New Testament study, focusing instead on the rhetorical function of hell in antiquity. This paper argues that the ancient conventions of descriptive rhetoric were at work in the depictions of Hell that we find in the Jewish and early Christian apocalypses. It begins with a definition of these rhetorical devices by examining the Progymnasmata as well as …