Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons^™

Buddhist Phenomenology And The Problem Of Essence, Jingjing Li

Comparative Philosophy

In this paper, I intend to make a case for Buddhist phenomenology. By Buddhist phenomenology, I mean a phenomenological interpretation of Yogācāra’s doctrine of consciousness. Yet, this interpretation will be vulnerable if I do not justify the way in which the anti-essentialistic Buddhist philosophy can countenance the Husserlian essence. I dub this problem of compatibility between Buddhist and phenomenology the ‘problem of essence’. Nevertheless, I argue that this problem will not jeopardize Buddhist phenomenology because: 1) Yogācārins, especially late Yogācārins represented by Xuanzang do not articulate emptiness as a negation but as an affirmation of the existent; 2) Husserl’s phenomenological …

On The Evolutionary Origins Of Religious Belief, Robert Duane Howard

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Religious belief is a byproduct of evolutionarily designed cognitive mechanisms. The ubiquity of religious belief and experience across human cultures is explained by our common human psychology; our domain-specific cognitive mechanisms give rise, collectively, to the phenomenon of byproduct religious belief/experience. In this thesis, I will examine what I call religion-generating cognitive mechanisms, and I will argue that byproduct raw god-beliefs are developed by cultures into refined god-beliefs. These refined god-beliefs are co-opted by evolutionary processes and are cultural adaptations. My conception of “religious belief” in terms of raw and refined god-beliefs allows a disambiguation of the term “religion,” and …

Exploring The Relationship Between Attachment Style, Stress Perception, And Religious Coping In The Evangelical Missionary Population, Laurie Tone

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This cross-sectional survey design study examined the relationships between attachment style, stress perception and religious coping in a sample of 267 cross-cultural, evangelical missionaries. No significance for effect for attachment style on perceived stress was found. However, both age and gender demonstrated significant effects on perceived stress. There was also a significant association between perception of stress and religious coping, independent of attachment style. Religious coping accounted for a small amount of the variance in perception of stress. The vast majority of the sample reported patterns of positive religious coping, which was not influenced by attachment style. A new tool …

The Initiation Of Growth-Focused Relationships Involving Healthy Accountability, Stephen L. Shaffer

Discernment: Theology and the Practice of Ministry

This paper summarizes a Doctor of Ministry project thesis conducted in 2011 that introduced healthy accountability within growth-focused relationships to shape an emergent spiritual growth culture at the Carbondale Church of Christ. The theological basis for the intervention (1) uses Romans 12 to establish the Christian community, not the individual, as the ultimate vision of fully realized human life and (2) asserts that spiritual growth, following Alasdair MacIntyre’s definition of a practice, must involve virtues such that the means of growth are reflective of the desired ends of growth. The positive results demonstrate the effectiveness of healthy accountability, illuminate participants' …

Paul Tillich And The Possibility Of Revelation Through Film, Kutter Callaway

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a book review of Paul Tillich and the Possibility of Revelation through Film by Jonathan Brant.

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 …

Mere Christian Theism And The Problem Of Evil: Toward A Trinitarian Perichoretic Theodicy, Ronnie Campbell

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

There is perhaps no problem confronting Christian theism more than that of the problem from evil. Evil in the world is not merely a problem for the Christian worldview, however, but also for various other metaphysical systems. This project takes up a comparative analysis of four major worldviews—naturalism, pantheism, process panentheism, and theism—and argues that of the four, theism provides not only the best explanation for the phenomena of evil in the world but it also gives an overall thicker worldview response to the challenges that evil presents. But theism in-and-of-itself is not enough. A specific form of theism is …

A Musical Homiletic: Drawing On The Sonic Dimensions Of The Word And Spirit, Thomas H. Troeger

Yale Journal of Music & Religion

The article begins by addressing two primary areas of concern: 1. Can music communicate meaning, and if so, how? 2. Can theological realities be expressed through music and other artistic forms whose primary medium is not language? The author then lays out a schema featuring four different aspects of developing a musical homiletic, starting with the simplest and moving to the most complex. (1) Preachers can speak in a way that captures the musicality of human conversation: its sonically engaging use of inflection, volume, pace, and timbre. (2) Preachers can interpret the theological and poetic meaning of the texts that …

Singing The Sermon: Where Musicology Meets Homiletics, Emmett G. Price Iii

Yale Journal of Music & Religion

From the beginning of the Christian Church, singing and preaching have served as major tools of communication. In fact, they remain the most utilized methods of articulating and explicating personal and communal theologies across the diverse and expansive expressions of Christianity.

From the life, ministry, and legacy of Jesus Christ through the teachings of the Apostle Paul, the roles and functions of singing and preaching are well known but not well studied as a unit. From the foundational writings of the early Church Fathers through the various theses of the reformers, the acts of singing and preaching have been studied …

Should Southern Baptists Baptize Their Children?: A Biblical, Historical, Theological Defense Of The Consistency Of The Baptism Of Young Children With Credobaptistic Practices, Robert Matz

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Southern Baptists have expressed increasing degrees of alarm over allegedly rising rates of child baptisms. As a result, an increasing number of Southern Baptists have argued that the baptism of young children is inconsistent with Southern Baptists’ understandings of credobaptism and a regenerate church membership. Against these allegations, this dissertation asserts that children can be converted and when converted they should be baptized. The first chapter of this dissertation argues that water baptism is prescriptively contemporaneous with Spirit baptism. It establishes such based on the relationship between water and Spirit baptism as seen in the seven direct references to Spirit …

How John Nelson Darby Went Visiting: Dispensational Premillennialism In The Believers Church Tradition And The Historiography Of Fundamentalism, William Vance Trollinger

William Vance Trollinger Jr.

In the United States the history of John Nelson Darby's dispensational premillennialism is intimately tied up with the history of fundamentalism. It is difficult to talk about dispensational premillennialism in the believers church tradition in the twentieth century without making some reference to the fundamentalist movement. In fact, the two distinguishing marks of fundamentalist theology have been the doctrine of biblical inerrancy and the eschatological schema known as dispensationalism. It is thus rather surprising that historians have de-emphasized dispensational premillennialism in explaining the history of fundamentalism. I think that this is a mistake. But to explain why I think this …

All Suffer The Affliction Of The One: Metaphysical Holism And The Presence Of The Spirit, Brad Kallenberg

Brad J. Kallenberg

When Copernicus and Galileo proposed that the earth circled the sun and not the 217 other way around, Christian believers faced the difficult prospect of surrendering a long-held belief that had seemingly undeniable support from the biblical text. After all, Joshua reported that the sun, not the earth, stood still; what could this mean if not that the sun orbited the earth? Today, centuries later, believers unanimously hold a heliocentric view of the solar system and are somewhat embarrassed by the ignorance of our pre-Enlightenment brothers and sisters. Ironically, however, such embarrassment masks the possibility that we ourselves may one …

Gustavo GutiéRrez – Liberation Theology & Marxism, Todd Cameron Swathwood Jr

The Kabod

Since 1968, liberation theology has emerged as a prominent feature of religion and politics, particularly in South America. Originally stemming from the writings of Peruvian priest Gustavo Gutiérrez, this at-once theological and overtly political ideology decries the institutionalized violence of the world’s capitalist society on the poor and oppressed, and argues that God is particularly concerned with the plight of the suffering masses. Christians should therefore make assistance of these poor souls their highest priority, and advocate for any and all methods of alleviating suffering, especially those that work from the premise that society must be toppled and rebuilt for …

The Kingdom Of God And The Holy Spirit: Eschatology And Pneumatology In The Vineyard Movement, Douglas R. Erickson

Dissertations (1934 -)

This dissertation explores the relationship between eschatology and pneumatology in the Vineyard movement. The Vineyard movement is a growing expression within the evangelical Protestant tradition that seeks to combine the core doctrines of Evangelicalism with the experience of the gifts of the Spirit that is often associated with Pentecostalism. As a relatively new faith expression, the Vineyard has not received a great deal of academic interest, and thus much of its core theological commitments have not yet been explored. I shall argue that the central theological distinctive of the Vineyard is their understanding of the inaugurated, enacted, eschatological kingdom of …

Essay: "“Never The ‘Twain Shall Meet: Disorienting East And West In Teaching And Scholarship.", James Shields

Other Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

A Comparison Of The Christological Praxis Of Søren Kierkegaard And Pope Francis, Alex Juguilon O.S.C.

Obsculta

Although faced with different needs and warrants from different eras, both Søren Kierkegaard and Pope Francis challenged the Christian populous of their times to live authentically. For the two, Christianity is a way of existence that transcends doctrine and speculation. Authenticity is predicated upon an internal transformation that is manifested externally by the way one relates to others. This paper outlines the unique approach each man takes to this challenge.

Gifting Freedom To The Samaritan: Considerations On Access To Both The Sacramental Event And Salvation For Those Who, For Whatever Reason, Find Themselves Outside The Church, And The Consequences Of Identity For The Church In Gifting Such Access, C. A. Chase

School of Theology and Seminary Graduate Papers/Theses

This thesis gives consideration to issues surrounding the question of access to salvation, and to sacramental event, for contemporary ‘Samaritans’ – those persons who, for whatever reason, find themselves outside the Church. To chart such access, attention must be afforded, not only to the historical pronouncements of the Church, but also, most importantly, to the voiced laments and insights of these Samaritans themselves, enduring their dissonance and respecting their critique, both theological and ecclesiastical. Through such colloquy, a return to the Samaritan in Luke who offers hope to the exigencies of access, and leaves to linger an ecclesiastical question of …

A Biblical Guide To Maximizing Great Commission Emphasis By Transforming Your Church Government, Marcus W. Bridges

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

After learning 3500-4000 churches close their doors each year, Ed Stetzer believes, "the church will not change until the pain of staying the same becomes greater than the pain of change." This project will compare Congregation-led churches to Elder or Board-led churches to explore the need for changing the practical operation of the church in attempts to fulfill the Great Commission. The thoughts presented will provide a guide for church leaders, pastors, and church planters to adopt the style of governing policies that best results in for Jesus Christ. There will be fifty pastors polled from Congregation and Elder-led churches …

Mind Within The Body The Presence And Importance Of Mental Health Within Traditional Tibetan Medicine, Reta Flynt

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The purpose of this Independent Study Project was to identify aspects of mental health within the traditional Tibetan medical system that are both taught in the classroom and carried out in clinical practice, with a primary focus on the importance of maintaining mental health. Throughout the research process, aspects of illness etiology, diagnosis, treatment processes, and influence from Tibetan Buddhism were found to be deeply connected in maintaining mental health within patients of Traditional Tibetan medicine. As well, much emphasis was found on the mind's influence on the physical wellbeing of an individual, suggesting that mental and physical health are …

An Existential Interpretation Of The Doctrine Of Holiness, Mildred Bangs Wynkoop

Wesleyan Holiness Books

The purpose of this book is three-fold. First, to analyze and evaluate the status of the "holiness" message today. In this analysis the problems raised by the preaching of holiness will be faced squarely. Then, a fresh examination of the Scriptures will be attempted upon which the holiness message is based. Finally, a constructive theological statement will be proposed in which, it is hoped, some of the most serious questions will find a satisfactory answer.

This is not a book for the scholar primarily though it is hoped he will find it worth his time to examine either to approve, …

The Trinity: Paradigm For Mission In The Spirit, A. H. Mathias Zahniser

Papers

No abstract provided.

Christ, The Son Of The Living God: The Theme Of The Chiastic Structure Of The Gospel Of Matthew, S. Joseph Kidder

Journal of the Adventist Theological Society

No abstract provided.