History of Religion Commons^™

Making Religion Acceptable In Communist Romania And The Soviet Union, 1943-1989, Ryan J. Voogt

Theses and Dissertations--History

This dissertation focuses on religious gatherings in communist Romania and the Soviet Union, 1943-1989. Church was one of the few opportunities for voluntary associational life and is invaluable for the study of power, ideology, and belonging in an everyday social setting. This project is based on archival documents and memoirs, uncovering how state officials and religious representatives struggled to establish religious practice that would be acceptable to all. Although ideologically atheist, state officials regarded some religious gatherings as acceptable and others unacceptable, but not due to utterances of beliefs or performance of traditional sacraments, but because of social aspects: how …

A Multi-Causal Approach To The Thirty Years’ War, Ethan Haan

Grand Valley Journal of History

The Thirty Years’ War was arguably the most consequential war of the Wars of Religion and of the wider European conflicts in the 17th century. The historiography on the causes of the war has been present ever since literature on the conflict became available shortly after its cessation. Since 1900, the debate over the underlying motivations has intensified and has become muddied in some areas. This study aims to summarize and clarify the previous positions that historians have taken on what caused the war, from religious urges to socio-economic and political factors. This study also attempts to clearly define where …

Eleff On Shapiro, 'Changing The Immutable: How Orthodox Judaism Rewrites Its History', Zev Eleff

Hebrew Theological College Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

“Confederate Soldiers In The Siege Of Petersburg And Postwar: An Intensified War And Coping Mechanisms Utilized, 1864- Ca. 1895”, Matthew R. Lempke

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis crafts a narrative about how Confederate soldiers during the siege of Petersburg experienced an intensified war that caused them to refine soldierly coping mechanisms in order to endure. They faced increasing deprivations, new forms of death, fewer restrictions on killing, dwindling fortunes, and increased racial acrimony by facing African American soldiers. In order to adjust, they relied on soldierly camaraderie, Southern notions of honor, letter writing, and an increasingly firm reliance on Protestant Christianity to cope with their situation. Postwar, these veterans repurposed soldierly coping mechanisms and eventually used institutional support from their states. Camaraderie, honor, literary endeavors, …

The New Wine: Spirit, Transformation, And Gender In The U.S.-Mexico Borderlands, 1960-1990, Jacob Aaron Waggoner

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The Charismatic Catholic Renewal (CCR)—known in Mexico as the Renovación Cristiana en el Espíritu Santo—saw Roman Catholic believers experience ecstatic spiritual practices native to neo-Pentecostalism. At first highly ecumenical, CCR emerged from loosely organized prayer meetings in the late 1960s and early 1970s to become a coherent movement by around 1975. Like many developments after the Second Vatican Council, CCR represented an effort to revitalize the Church by re-centering and empowering the laity. Reflecting a broader reactionary shift in the 1980s, the Renewal gradually shed its potentially liberating elements. This transition was especially notable in the context of the U.S.-Mexico …

Spiritual Journeys: A Study Of Ifá /Òrìṣà Practitioners In The United States Initiated In Nigeria, Tony Van Der Meer

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

The purpose of this study is to understand the culture of one of the newest branches of traditional Yorùbá Ifá/Òrìṣà practice in the United States from practitioners born in the United States that were initiated in Nigeria, West Africa.The epistemology of the Ifá/Òrìṣà belief system in the United States has been based on the history and influence of Regla de Ocha or Santeria that developed out of Cuban innovation and practice.This is an ethnographic and auto-ethnographic study that pulls from participant observation, field notes, interviews, and photos as data.The central question of this dissertation is what are the challenges and …

The King And The Land: A Geography Of Royal Power In The Biblical World, Stephen C. Russell

Publications and Research

The King and the Land offers an innovative history of space and power in the biblical world. Stephen C. Russell shows how the monarchies in ancient Israel and Judah asserted their power over strategically important spaces such as privately-held lands, religious buildings, collectively-governed towns, and urban water systems. Among the case studies examined are Solomon's use of foreign architecture, David's dedication of land to Yahweh, Jehu's decommissioning of Baal's temple, Absalom's navigation of the collective politics of Levantine towns, and Hezekiah's reshaping of the tunnels that supplied Jerusalem with water.

By treating the full range of archaeological and textual evidence …

The Russian Mission: Seventh-Day Adventism, Bolshevism, And The Imminent Apocalypse, 1881 - 1946, Garett B. Tree

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The first Adventist missionaries made their way into Russia in the late 1880’s, where they experienced imprisonment, exile, and sometimes both. The scope of my thesis concerns the Seventh-Day Adventist Church and how Adventist missionaries and leaders endeavored on the Russian Mission. Using the writings, letters, and correspondence of these missionaries, as well as the myriad Adventist periodicals, I explain and analyze the evolution of the Mission from its inception to the end of the Second World War. In what ways did Adventist missionaries or Adventist media outlets abroad understand, explain, or justify the Russian Mission and its hardships? What …

Theories Of The Self, Race, And Essentialization In Buddhism In The United States During The “Yellow Peril,” 1899-1957, Ryan Anningson

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This dissertation is an intellectual history tracing developing notions of the Self in Buddhism through Buddhist publications during the years from 1899-1957. I define this time period as the Era of the Yellow Peril, due to common views in the United States of an Asian “other” which formed a larger clash of civilizations globally. 1899-1957 was marked by pessimism and dread due to two World Wars and the Great Depression, while popular and academic cultures argued for the validity of race sciences, and the application of these “sciences” through eugenics. Buddhism in the United States was created through a global …

On Saints, Sinners, And Sex In The Apocalypse Of Saint John And The Sefer Zerubbabel, Natalie Latteri

Theology & Religious Studies

The Apocalypse of St. John and the Sefer Zerubbabel [a.k.a Apocalypse of Zerubbabel] are among the most popular apocalypses of the Common Era. While the Johannine Apocalypse was written by a first-century Jewish-Christian author and would later be refracted through a decidedly Christian lens, and the Sefer Zerubbabel was probably composed by a seventh-century Jewish author for a predominantly Jewish audience, the two share much in the way of plot, narrative motifs, and archetypal characters. An examination of these commonalities and, in particular, how they intersect with gender and sexuality, suggests that these texts also may have functioned similarly as …

Who Really Said What? Mobile Historical Situated Documentary As Liminal Learning Space, Owen Gottlieb

Articles

This article explores the complexities and affordances of historical representation that arose in the process of designing a mobile augmented reality video game for teaching history. The process suggests opportunities to push the historical documentary form in new ways. Specifically, the article addresses the shifting liminal space between historical fiction narrative, and historical interactive documentary narrative. What happens when primary sources, available for examination are placed inside of a historically inspired narrative, one that hews closely to the events, but creates drama through dialogues between player and historical figure? In this relatively new field of interactive historical situated documentary, how …

Ambassadors For The Kingdom Of God Or For America? Christian Nationalism, The Christian Right, And The Contra War, Lauren Frances Turek

History Faculty Research

This essay uses the concept of Christian nationalism to explore the religious dynamics of the Contra war and U.S.–Nicaraguan relations during Ronald Reagan’s presidency. Religious organizations and individuals played crucial roles on both sides in the war in Nicaragua and in the debates in the United States over support for the Contras. Evangelistic work strengthened transnational ties between Christians, but also raised the stakes of the war; supporters of the Sandinistas and Contras alike alleged a victory by their adversary imperiled the future of Christianity in Nicaragua. Christian nationalism thus manifested itself and intertwined in both the United States and …

Hidden Jews Of The Balkans, Joshua A. Futtersak

Capstones

The history of the Jewish people is one filled with trials, triumphs, and often devastation. Many believe themselves to be educated in Jewish history, but we often have blind spots in our research and schooling. This project aims to look at just one region of Jewish history to tell the stories that are not usually told.

The Balkan region is incredibly diverse in its ethnicities and cultures. The history of the Jews in this region expresses that diversity. This project focuses on the unique stories of the Jewish communities in Bosnia, Serbia, and Greece. These stories of survival and perseverance …

The Catholic Church, Catalyst For Change: Taking The Black Community Of Rock Hill, Sc From The Twentieth To The Twenty-First Century, 1946-2016, Sandra Ludwa

Graduate Theses

The Roman Catholic Oratorians came to Rock Hill, South Carolina in 1935 with the mission to minister to the poor, underprivileged, and disadvantaged of all races and creeds, and to spread the good news of Catholicism. During the past eighty-one years, the Catholic Church has had a tremendous effect on where the community stands today. It was, and remains, significant because it improves economic, social, educational, and vocational conditions for the black community in particular. The church is ever changing, growing, and evolving to meet the needs of its congregation and community, and is quite different from the Catholic Church …

December 2016, Temple Shalom Synagogue Center

Newsletter Archive

Contents: Chanukah Party; From the Rabbi; President's Message; Book Group; Announcements; Community Notices

The Temple Character Of Early Christianity, Matthew Higdon

Graduate Theses

I will argue that early Christianity more or less comprehensively envisioned itself, across varying traditions, to be a human-temple community, or a series of such communities; and that this word picture, this symbol, to a certain extent ordered their social life and aspirations. I propose three interlocking aspects to this priestly sociology. First, there is the element of unity. From the beginning, the temple model promoted unity, and it became particularly important later among very disparate groups of people within the church Second, the cultic motif generated a fresh kind of priestly ethics appropriate to the self-understanding of the movement. …

Bearing The Double Burden: Combat Chaplains And The Vietnam War, John Donellan Fitzmorris Iii

Dissertations

Throughout the period of the Vietnam War, soldiers and Marines of the United States Military were accompanied into the combat zones by members of the clergy who were also part of the military. These chaplains attempted to bring God to the men in the field by providing spiritual and moral support through worship services and certain counseling duties. A number of chaplains, however, believed so strongly in their ministry that they refused to simply stay “on base” and instead shouldered their packs and journeyed with their troops into the most perilous combat zones. In so doing , these combat chaplains …

French Women In Art: Reclaiming The Body Through Creation/Les Femmes Artistes Françaises : La Réclamation Du Corps À Travers La Création, Liatris Hethcoat

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

The research I have conducted for my French Major Senior Thesis is a culmination of my passion for and studies of both French language and culture and the history and practice of Visual Arts. I have examined, across the history of art, the representation of women, and concluded that until the 20^th century, these representations have been tools employed by the makers of history and those at the top of the patriarchal system, used to control women’s images and thus women themselves. I survey these representations, which are largely created by men—until the 20^th century. I discuss pre-historical …

Eleff On Katz, 'Bringing Zion Home: Israel In American Jewish Culture, 1948-1967', Zev Eleff

Hebrew Theological College Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Initiating Race: Fraternal Organizations, Racial Identity, And Public Discourse In American Culture, 1865-1917, John D. Treat

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Drawing on ritual books, organizational records, newspaper accounts, and the data available from cemetery headstones and census records, this work argues that adult fraternal organizations were key to the formation of civic discourse in the United States from the years following the Civil War to World War I. It particularly analyzes the role of working-class white and African-American organizations in framing racial identity, arguing that white organizations gave up older, comprehensive ideas of citizenship for understandings of Americanism rooted in racism and nativism. Counterbalancing this development, now-forgotten African-American fraternal organizations were among the earliest advocates of Afrocentrism. These organizations, form …