Christianity Commons^™

Stewardship, Generosity, And Percentage Giving Changing Attitudes On Financial Generosity Through Bible Study Concerning The Tithe For The New Testament Christians Of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church In Kingman, Az, Timothy A. Barkett

Doctor of Ministry Major Applied Project

The Church today finds itself navigating a landscape shaped by economic uncertainty, generational shifts, and a growing sense of spiritual indifference. Within this context, generosity continues to serve as a profound expression of both faith and mission. The research presented in this project affirms that when generosity is taught with a spirit of grace, rooted in Scripture, and exemplified by leadership, it has the power to bring renewal—not only to individual believers but also to entire communities. In an era characterized by financial anxiety and spiritual consumerism, the biblical and theological foundations of stewardship and generosity provide both a necessary …

Cybersecurity: Digital Stewardship In A Violent World, Rocky K. C. Chang

University Faculty Publications and Creative Works

This paper defines cybersecurity based on the principle of biblical stewardship. The focus of this principle is God, not the technologies, who is the creator and owner of cyberspace and everything in it. Humankind is called by God to steward them by protecting the digital property of our neighbors in cyberspace from malicious attacks. In the context of cybersecurity, a neighbor can be any individual cyber user, practitioner, educator, organization, tech company, or even hacker. However, as argued from the perspectives of human sin and human finitude, the defending stewards can never win over evil in this spiritual battle. Instead, …

Understanding Tariffs, John Visser

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

Posting about how tariffs work­­­­­­­­ from In All Things, an online hub that offers insight into maintaining and faithful and orthodox Reformed Christian worldview while fearlessly engaging in every aspect of contemporary life – until all is made new.

Understanding Tariffs

Book Review: "Lamb Of The Free: Recovering The Varied Sacrificial Understandings Of Jesus's Death", Nathan Cantu

Liberty Theological Review

Book Review for Andrew Remington Rillera's Lamb of the Free.

Visio Dei, Vision Pro: Beatific Vision And Technological Singularity, John Paul Arceno

Liberty Theological Review

This paper offers a retrieval of the classical Christian theology of beatific vision. The reason behind this is the challenges posed by the progress of digital technology, including Artificial Intelligence, Virtual Reality, and robotics, which are prevalent today. This rapid progress somehow threatens the classical view of beatific vision with its version of technological singularity. Hence, the retrieval of the beatific vision, which is grounded in divine ontology, is much needed. The paper is divided into three parts: (1) Visio Dei, which discusses the doctrine of beatific vision, (2) Vision Pro, which discusses technological singularity, and (3) conclusion, which …

Biblical Church Governance: Returning To Plural-Elder Congregationalism From Policy-Based Governance Models, Jacob R. Ray

Liberty Theological Review

This paper critiques the growing adoption of policy-based governance models in local church contexts and argues for a return to plural-elder congregationalism as the most biblically faithful and historically rooted model of church government. While policy-based governance, derived from John Carver’s framework for nonprofit leadership, offers administrative strengths such as consistency, accountability, and efficiency, its application within the church often results in the diminishment of biblically mandated roles—particularly the deacon—and fosters a corporate rather than ecclesial culture. The author contends that such models misunderstand and misapply the New Testament offices of elder and deacon, violating the biblical pattern of shared …

God And Indiana Jones, Andrew Hronich

Liberty Theological Review

This article explores the implications of the divine authorial analogy in relation to theological determinism, offering in place of the divine authorial analogy the divine playwright analogy. The divine playwright analogy brings into conversation issues regarding informed consent in conjunction with the problem of involuntary suffering. Understanding God in terms more akin to a playwright than an author thereby bestows greater dignity and autonomy upon God's creatures, allowing for improvisation within the broad parameters of God's providence. Hence, the divine playwright analogy maintains the beneficial aspects of the divine authorial analogy, such as the commitment to God's ontological priority over …

The Problem Of Selective Miracles, Andrew Hronich

Liberty Theological Review

The problem of evil designates an umbrella of similarly related arguments linked together by family characteristics. Within this larger genus, the problem of selective miracles stands apart as a particularly underdeveloped species of argument that analytical and philosophical theologians have failed to adequately reckon with. By contextualizing this peculiar argument within an adequate metaethical framework, this article synthesizes a deontological framework with the elucidating work of John Peckham and his cosmic warfare theodicy. It further repudiates alternative approaches to the problem of selective miracles proffered by consequentialists and process theologians. In sum, the article contends that Peckham's cosmic warfare theodicy …

In Grief We Need Each Other, Derek Schuurman

University Faculty Publications and Creative Works

In the face of grief, human connections provide a far deeper comfort than new AI developments.

Taking A Closer Look: Research As Worship And Service, Angela Kroeze Visser

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

"... as we learn about the world we live in, we also learn about the one who has created and upholds it."

Posting about ­­­­­­­­looking deeply and thinking critically from In All Things, an online hub that offers insight into maintaining and faithful and orthodox Reformed Christian worldview while fearlessly engaging in every aspect of contemporary life – until all is made new.

Taking a Closer Look

Tracing חֶסֶד And Ἔλεος: A Prototype Theory And Componential Analysis Of Covenantal Loyalty And Divine Mercy Across The Pentateuch, Septuagint, Targums, And New Testament, Jarritt B. Tadlock

Masters Theses

This thesis explores the semantic and theological dimensions of the Hebrew term ḥesed and its Greek counterpart eleos through a comparative intertextual and linguistic analysis. Utilizing prototype theory and componential analysis, the study examines occurrences of ḥesed in the Masoretic Text and Targum Onkelos, alongside eleos in the Septuagint and New Testament, to trace the development of divine-human relational language across textual traditions. The findings reveal that ḥesed consistently embodies covenantal loyalty and divine mercy, while its frequent rendering as eleos in the Septuagint emphasizes compassion within a Hellenistic framework. In the New Testament, eleos both preserves and reconfigures ḥesed’s …

Echoes Of Redemption: What Typology Reveals About The Significance Of Isaac In The Aqedah, Jacob A. Lugo

Masters Theses

In this thesis, I outline a problem of logical consistency within the typological interpretation of the Aqedah narrative in Genesis 22. I also attempt to provide a more consistent interpretation that still seeks to remain faithful to the text while recognizing how this account fits into the overall narrative of Scripture.

In times past, the literature on this topic has been saturated with the identification of Isaac as a type of Christ; this is seen most readily in the Early Church Fathers’ interpretation. I also explore other modern readings to demonstrate the multiplicity of understandings that have arisen regarding this …

A Phenomenological Study Of Christian And Non-Christian Views On Human Dignity Among Marginalized Persons In Essex, Md, Jeffrey K. Belcher

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to understand Human-Dignity views among marginalized persons living in Essex, MD, with Human Dignity being rooted in a biblical worldview, and how these views potentially relate to marginalized persons’ perceived experiences of marginalization. For the purposes of this study, Human Dignity is founded upon principles expressed in Genesis Chapters 1 and 2, and is defined as all people, made in the image of God, created to live in relationship with God, called to reflect the nature and character of God, as possessing intrinsic worth based upon God’s purpose for and calling upon …

Pass It On: Developing Children's Identity With Biblical Storytelling At First Baptist Church Of Sanford, Caleb Mccord

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

In a culture where many youths are not only leaving the church but also facing psychological issues like identity crises, it is important that children develop their identity as God’s Word prescribes rather than the preference-based identities pushed by secular parties. To best ensure this development, then it is essential that children receive biblical storytelling from both the church and also the parents at home, the latter of which is underutilized in many modern Christian homes. This thesis posits that if parents are made aware of the need for biblical identity development and trained to do so, then they will …

Gender In Translation: How The Contemporary Bible Is Challenging Androcentric Language In Translation Through Gender-Accurate And Feminist Hermeneutical Lenses, Matthew T. Gennard

Masters Theses

This Thesis surveys the changing practice of gender-accurate translation from the late nineteenth century to the present, with special consideration for the three key principles of gender-accurate translation: Generic ‘he,’ androcentric lexemes, and pronoun substitution. These focus areas are derived from an analysis of the five translation guidelines produced during the late twentieth-century gender-neutral controversy. The loss of individuality when introducing pronominal interchange or the masculine representative hermeneutical lens has left scholars divided on gender-accurate practices. This study surveys the sociohistorical development of the feminist hermeneutical lens and the changing linguistic trends of contemporary language, which challenge androcentric assumptions in …

Pigs For The Dispossessed Goat Demon: Jesus’ Exorcism In Mark 5 And Animal Interest, Michael Joseph Gossett

Masters Theses

This thesis explores how a historical-literal reading of Mark 5:1-20 can be defended against objections that claim Jesus caused or allowed unnecessary animal suffering. Contextual insights gleaned from 2nd Temple Watchers Traditions and Greco-Roman polytheism illuminate plausible symbolic value present in the deaths of the Gerasene swine. The context of Mark 5:1-20 presents a supernatural conflict compatible with Christian theology and rebel angel theodicies. Jesus’ actions concerning the Gerasene pigs are not necessarily unjustifiable examples of animal mistreatment.

That's So Vanilla: Recovering Wonder In A Culture Of Discontent, Jeff Ploegstra

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

"We crave what we do not have, and once we possess it, it fades into the ordinary."

Posting about appreciating every blessing from God from In All Things, an online hub that offers insight into maintaining and faithful and orthodox Reformed Christian worldview while fearlessly engaging in every aspect of contemporary life – until all is made new.

That's So Vanilla

A Holy And Subversive Imagination, Amanda Benckhuysen

CTS Faculty Publications and Creative Activity

No abstract provided.

Does Change In Faith Maturity Reflect Maturation? Establishing Strict Measurement Invariance For The Faith Maturity Scale Across Time, Hiroki Matsuo, Tyler Greenway, Grant B. Morgan, Sarah A. Schnitker

University Faculty Publications and Creative Works

Despite its early focus on religious development and faith maturation, the psychology of religion and spirituality field underutilizes longitudinal designs; work is needed to reduce barriers to the longitudinal study of the processes by which faith matures. As a first step, the present study examines the invariance structure of the Faith Maturity Scale across three time points to assess the reliability and structure of the scale over time. The confirmatory factor analytic method was used to examine data from 572 college students. Configural, metric, scalar, and residual/strict models were tested. Findings support the full strict residual longitudinal invariance model, providing …

Volume 11 Issue 11 (Aug 1912)

The Soul Winner

No abstract provided.