Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons^™

Augustine Of Hippo: A Historical Theology Evaluation, Zachary Monte

Scholar Week 2016 - present

Historical Theology Survey Critique: Augustine of Hippo evaluates how current historical theology survey texts understand and present the theology of Augustine. The texts will be examined to assess the following: the accuracy of presentation on discussed topics, the specific theological topics which Augustine addressed which are excluded in the surveys, and if there is any discernible theological bias on the part of the authors. The historical theology surveys that are focused on within this research paper include Greg Allison’s Historical Theology: An Introduction to Christian Doctrine, Justo González’s A History of Christian Thought, and Alister McGrath’s Historical Theology: An Introduction …

Pastors And Politics: Considerations For Missional Church Leaders Addressing Political Matters, Matthew Stinson

Seaver College Research And Scholarly Achievement Symposium

We live in a politically divided time. Long-standing questions about the political role of the church have taken on a renewed interest for American Christians who see this political divide widening and have trouble reconciling their beliefs with the platforms of either major party. How ought Church leaders, seeking to lead missional congregations, speak to our current political context?

This paper lays out a framework for political engagement by missional Church leaders. It first offers a definition of a missional church and a missional church leader. Second, it surveys some of the various approaches to Church and State relations in …

B-2 Same-Sex Marriage And The Apocalyptic Consciousness Of Seventh-Day Adventism, David Hamstra

Celebration of Research and Creative Scholarship

Arguments made for and against affirming same-sex marriage in Seventh-day Adventism rely on typical moral background presuppositions about immanent and transcendent goods identified by Charles Taylor in his philosophical genealogy of A Secular Age. Arguments made only in terms of marriage’s immanent goods have the potential to diminish the plausibility of a uniquely Adventist way of imagining the transcendent: apocalyptic consciousness focused on the immanent/imminent restoration of Eden by Jesus Christ following the second coming. Comparing marriage to the this-worldly and next-worldly benefits of divergent Adventist Sabbath-keeping practices foregrounds the availability of immanentized moral presuppositions to make sense of …

Wrap-Up Report, Wonsuk Ma

Empowered21 Scholars' Consultations

No abstract provided.

Discovering The Current Opinions Of The Lesbian, Gay, Bi-Sexual, Transgender, And Questioning Individuals Towards The Evangelical Protestant Churches, Joseph Dagostino

Scholar Week 2016 - present

This research addressed the current opinions held by the LGBTQ community toward Evangelical Protestant churches. As a Pastor of a church that is concerned about this subject, the researcher developed and implemented a survey instrument that attempted to discover the over-all opinions, differences among sexual orientations in opinions, factors that encouraged and discouraged LGBTQ individuals’ involvement within Evangelical Protestant churches, and various levels of involvement by the participants in Evangelical Protestant churches. The researcher used the services of Survey Gizmo to distribute the survey tool amongst those self-identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning to complete the survey instrument. …

Spirituality: Take Me To A Higher Place, Kane Stanglin, Alexandra Mendez, Laura A. Eads, Kyle Crosslin

Collin College Undergraduate Interdisciplinary Student Research Conference

Panel Chair: Marta Moore

Papers Presented:

"The Acceptance of Fate from a Man of God" by Alexandra Mendez

"Acceptance Is Peace" by Kane Stanglin

"Hindu Beliefs in Bhagavad-Gita" by Laura A Eads

"Analysis of 'The Sovereignty of Goodness of God'" by Kyle Crosslin

Obligations Of Grace, Mark E. Roberts

Empowered21 Scholars' Consultations

Grace obliges recipients to respond in gratitude and obedience to God, the giver of grace. While the New Testament emphasizes God's grace given through Jesus Christ in a New Covenant with believers, the Old Testament emphasizes grace more than many Christians recognize. Grace is expressed in the Old Testament especially through God's free choosing of Abraham as the "father of the faithful," through divine covenants with Abraham, with the divinely constituted nation of Israel, and with the governing house of David. Such grace abounds when God's covenanted people fail to keep their covenant, yet God, after disciplining the covenant people …