Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

History of Christianity Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

9,369 Full-Text Articles 3,344 Authors 2,805,229 Downloads 166 Institutions

All Articles in History of Christianity

Faceted Search

9,369 full-text articles. Page 1 of 97.

Hospitality: Areas That Are Effective In Creating A Desire For A Visitor To Connect To Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, Brent M. Hartwig 2023 Concordia Seminary - Saint Louis

Hospitality: Areas That Are Effective In Creating A Desire For A Visitor To Connect To Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, Brent M. Hartwig

Doctor of Ministry Major Applied Project

This major applied project explores hospitality offered by the local congregation. Biblical hospitality is implicitly and explicitly commanded in scripture. Balancing the Missio Dei and two kinds of righteousness will keep us on the straight and narrow theologically when pursuing hospitality.

When churches offer hospitality, we are feeding, clothing, visiting, providing, and welcoming our neighbor. Our Redeemer wants to continue serving the community as a family-oriented, mission focused, hospitable congregation. We are doing the feeding, clothing, and providing through many efforts in the community. We are active with the local homeless shelter and crisis center. For the MAP, we wanted …


Behind The Numbers: A Traditional Church Faces A New America, Larry Vogel 2023 Concordia Seminary, St. Louis

Behind The Numbers: A Traditional Church Faces A New America, Larry Vogel

Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation

The dissertation examines membership data for The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) from the mid-1970s to the present. It considers the analysis of LCMS decline by two scholars, George Hawley and Ryan MacPherson, who independently proposed that LCMS membership decline was internal in causation due to diminished birthrates and fewer young families. While acknowledging the reality of such internal decline, this dissertation argues that the lack of external growth is a greater cause for LCMS decline. Its lack of external growth is due primarily to the racial and ethnic homogeneity of the LCMS and its failure effectively to evangelize the increasingly …


Embodied Superintendence: The Person Of The Preacher In Lutheran Homiletics Especially In Relation To Cultural Identity, Dennis Matyas 2023 Concordia Seminary, St. Louis

Embodied Superintendence: The Person Of The Preacher In Lutheran Homiletics Especially In Relation To Cultural Identity, Dennis Matyas

Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation

Over the past several decades, the greater homiletical academy has progressed from questions of authority to dialogics to identity, both of the preacher and of the hearers. Within this timeframe, modern Lutheran homiletics has stayed relatively silent on considerations of the person of the preacher, opting instead for certain foundational homiletical truths including the efficacy of the Word of God, the proclamation of justification, and the authority of the Ministerium. After recovering the consideration of the person of the preacher as a foundational Lutheran homiletic, this work explores the formational significance of the preacher’s cultural identity by offering a theoretical …


Women In Silence: Paul's Words About Disruptive Women In Church Gatherings, Charles Davenport 2023 Pepperdine University

Women In Silence: Paul's Words About Disruptive Women In Church Gatherings, Charles Davenport

Global Tides

This research seeks to understand the meaning behind Paul's words in 1 Corinthians 14:31-35. Paul's direct command, "women should keep silent," seems quite clear on paper, but more context is needed when contemporary churches decide how to apply these words. This article examines three theories: the passage being a rebuttal, the passage being an interpolation, and the passage having significant cultural context. After reviewing the three theories, the proposed interpretation is that Paul's command was to a specific people in one particular cultural context, not a universal command for all churches of all generations.


Καθαρός: The Pure - Setting Narrative In The Fourth-Century Roman Empire, Emma Branstetter 2023 Olivet Nazarene University

Καθαρός: The Pure - Setting Narrative In The Fourth-Century Roman Empire, Emma Branstetter

Scholar Week 2016 - present

My presentation illustrates the development of the Christian historical fiction novella named Καθαρός set in the early fourth century of Christian history closely following the events of the Great Persecution and its long-term effects on Christian communities in Asia Minor and North Africa. Previous Christian novels set in the Roman era primarily focus on the first century, and with the significant thematic potential found in later centuries after the life and resurrection of Christ, I embarked on this writing project. The research that affects my narrative is separated into four categories: the history and effects of Diocletian’s Great Persecution, fourth-century …


The Fire Of Pentecost: A Historical Reading Of Acts 2:3, Doug Ward 2023 Olivet Nazarene University

The Fire Of Pentecost: A Historical Reading Of Acts 2:3, Doug Ward

Scholar Week 2016 - present

Acts 2 is a foundational text for the Christian Church, especially for those in the Holiness tradition. Many in our tradition approach the text at face value and read the descriptions in the text as a physical description. Yet if we approach the text from a historical perspective and apply the language of God's presence to the text, a rich, new meaning emerges.


Review Of Intergenerational Missiology: An African Pentecostal-Charismatic Perspective, Vincent Anohene Appiah 2023 Oral Roberts University

Review Of Intergenerational Missiology: An African Pentecostal-Charismatic Perspective, Vincent Anohene Appiah

Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology

No abstract provided.


Review Of Genesis: A Pentecostal Commentary, Michael Blythe 2023 Oral Roberts University

Review Of Genesis: A Pentecostal Commentary, Michael Blythe

Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology

No abstract provided.


Review Of Los Profetas: The Prophetic Role Of Hispanic Churches In America, Hanna Larracas 2023 Oral Roberts University

Review Of Los Profetas: The Prophetic Role Of Hispanic Churches In America, Hanna Larracas

Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology

No abstract provided.


Review Of The Spirit Of God In The Torah: A Pentecostal Exploration. By Steffen G. Schumacher, Lora Angeline E. Timenia 2023 Oral Roberts University

Review Of The Spirit Of God In The Torah: A Pentecostal Exploration. By Steffen G. Schumacher, Lora Angeline E. Timenia

Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology

No abstract provided.


Abiding In The Vine: A Relational Model Of Spiritual Formation, Bill Buker 2023 Oral Roberts University

Abiding In The Vine: A Relational Model Of Spiritual Formation, Bill Buker

Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology

In recognizing the significance of final conversations, the information Jesus shares in his Farewell Discourse (John 13–17) is considered especially important. During this conversation, in describing the new relationship he envisioned with his disciples following the events of his passion, he employs a vine and its branches as an analogy. Three core concepts seem critical to understanding this comparison—abiding in the vine, bearing fruit, and pruning. These concepts are explored within the context of Jesus’ Farewell Discourse and defined relationally in connection with the new commandment he had just introduced. This new command to love each other as he had …


Songs As Theologizing: Annamma Mammen’S (1911–2002) Contribution In Shaping The Kerala Pentecostal Imagination, Allan Varghese Meloottu 2023 Asbury Theological Seminary

Songs As Theologizing: Annamma Mammen’S (1911–2002) Contribution In Shaping The Kerala Pentecostal Imagination, Allan Varghese Meloottu

Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology

In Indian Pentecostal theological and missiological literature, the role of Kerala Pentecostals is well documented. However, the pioneering voices that are highlighted are of men, sidelining women’s voices and contributions that shaped the grassroots Kerala Pentecostal imagination. The preacher-songwriter Annamma Mammen (1911–2002) is one such voice that impacted early Kerala Pentecostal growth. Therefore, this article, in addition to bringing forth the sidelined story of Annamma Mammen, emphasizes Mammen’s role as a songwriter and analyzes one of her early songs to highlight how her theology encapsulates early Kerala Pentecostal theological emphases (eschatological imagination, scriptural importance, contextual primacy, and Jesus-centeredness). Although Mammen’s …


Pentecostal Socio-Political Engagement And The Covid-19 Pandemic, Jonathan Cantarero 2023 Evangel University

Pentecostal Socio-Political Engagement And The Covid-19 Pandemic, Jonathan Cantarero

Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology

The coronavirus pandemic has raised important questions regarding the correct balance between religious freedom and public health. These questions have become increasingly difficult to address given the diverse reactions within the church to government-imposed restrictions on religious freedom such as limitations on public gatherings in places of worship. Nowhere has this diversity been more prevalent than within Pentecostalism. This article discusses the religious response to the pandemic in the United States within the Pentecostal Movement as gleaned through three sources: public statements, legal action, and other public activity. I suggest that Pentecostalism’s diversity in this area is consistent with its …


On Making “Universal Human Rights” Universal: The Intelligibility Of Human Rights In Jacques Maritain’S Natural Law Theory, Jeremy M. Wallace 2023 Oral Roberts University

On Making “Universal Human Rights” Universal: The Intelligibility Of Human Rights In Jacques Maritain’S Natural Law Theory, Jeremy M. Wallace

Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology

This article examines the thought and influence of Jacques Maritain, specifically his application of Traditional Natural Law (TNL) theory to the vexing challenge of what makes universal human rights universal. The author shows how TNL satisfies the preconditions for the “universality factor” needed for making human rights truly universal where rival theories such as legal positivism, New Natural Law, and Empirical Natural Law fall short.


Then Peter Stood Up: A Dialogical Narrative Analysis Of Peter’S Preparation For Spokesperson At Pentecost, Rebekah Bled 2023 Oral Roberts University

Then Peter Stood Up: A Dialogical Narrative Analysis Of Peter’S Preparation For Spokesperson At Pentecost, Rebekah Bled

Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology

Dialogical Narrative Analysis (DNA) asks, in brief, what work a story does in the context in which it is told and on the teller of the story itself. In applying DNA to Peter, this article assumes the premise that Peter’s meaning-making, or construction of the dialogical self in dynamic relationship with Jesus, positioned him to be the spokesperson who narrated the events of Pentecost. Therefore, this article seeks to understand how Jesus’ naming and accompanying statement to Peter that “on this rock I will build my church” and the unfolding narrative of Peter’s discipleship uniquely prepare Peter for this role. …


What Does “Spiritual Anointing” Have To Do With Ministry To The Poor?, William L. Lyons 2023 Oral Roberts University

What Does “Spiritual Anointing” Have To Do With Ministry To The Poor?, William L. Lyons

Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology

The Bible employs various tactics to draw readers’ attention to its message. When something new is about to happen, the clearest, direct track is sometimes preferable: “I [the LORD] am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth; do you not perceive it?” (Isa 43:19; emphasis mine). Similarly, in Jeremiah: “The days are surely coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah” (Jer 31:31; emphasis mine). Another method employed by biblical writers repeats carefully chosen words to garner attention: “‘The LORD has done great things …


Editorial: Arrive And Revive?, Jeffrey S. Lamp 2023 Oral Roberts University

Editorial: Arrive And Revive?, Jeffrey S. Lamp

Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology

No abstract provided.


Front Matter, Spiritus 8.1 (2023), spiritus@oru.edu 2023 Oral Roberts University

Front Matter, Spiritus 8.1 (2023), Spiritus@Oru.Edu

Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology

No abstract provided.


Full Issue Spiritus 8.1 (2023), spiritus@oru.edu 2023 Oral Roberts University

Full Issue Spiritus 8.1 (2023), Spiritus@Oru.Edu

Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology

No abstract provided.


Collation Model For Ms. Codex 218: [Four English Devotional Works]., Dot Porter 2023 University of Pennsylvania

Collation Model For Ms. Codex 218: [Four English Devotional Works]., Dot Porter

Collation Models

Four works written in Middle English, with passages in Latin. Texts included are Scale of perfection or Scala perfectionis, Bk. 1, ch. 19-93, and Bk. 2, ch. 1-46, by Walter Hilton; Stimulus amoris, or Prickyng of love, translated by Walter Hilton , attributed to St. Bonaventure; Amor die or Love of God; The Prick of conscience by Richard Rolle.


Digital Commons powered by bepress