History of Christianity Commons^™

Reading The Signs Of The Time: Three Voices In The Confessional Lutheran Church As They Relate To Segregation, Racism, And Apartheid In South Africa From 1900–1978, Christoph Dietrich Weber

Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation

Weber, Christoph, Reading the signs of the time: “Three voices in the confessional Lutheran Church to segregation, racism, and apartheid in South Africa from 1900–1978.” Ph.D. diss., Concordia Seminary, 2022. 425 pp.

According to August Vilmar, reading the signs of the times was an essential task of all pastors and theologians. It was a part of their prophetic task to interpret the world and its context with the word of God and to proclaim the voice of the church in law and gospel. The three theologians analyzed in this dissertation: Karl Meister, Hermann Sasse, and Friederich W. Hopf respected Vilmar …

Revival Today: America’S History Of Biblical Revival And Its Modern Application, Matthew Musser

Senior Honors Theses

There is a need for revival within the church today. Christian revivals are becoming less and less popular in the current times. Is this due to a subtle shift in America’s culture? Or is this decline of religious revival the result of something deeper? This thesis will seek to discover the biblical foundations of revival in American history. First, it will analyze some of the biblical revivals that took place in the Old Testament, Gospels, and Book of Acts. Then it will transition into how these biblical principles have been the cornerstone for many of the great revivals in American …

The Worship Battle: Reaching Generations Z And Alpha In American-Based Nigerian Pentecostal Churches, Charles O. Folami

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Despite great strides by Nigerian Pentecostal pastors to bring worship values, concepts, practices, and behaviors to establish and lead churches in the United States, they have been unsuccessful in retaining or reaching the young adults, specifically Generations Z and Alpha. Nigerian Pentecostal pastors have produced many followers and churches, capturing Nigerian immigrants in their locality. Their congregations have heavily focused on adults with little or no succession plan. This study examines existing literature on African Pentecostal pastors' success in America and their operations in connecting with adult immigrants, which is unsuccessful in connecting and retaining Generations Z and Alpha. Guided …

Contrasting The Faith Responses Of The Royal Official And Thomas In The Gospel Of John And Their Implications For Discipleship, Edward W. Watson

Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology

John pens his Gospel in such a way that, like his included characters who encounter Jesus, his readers are being confronted with the person of Jesus and the totality of his revelation. Also like the characters, John’s readers must make decisions regarding the divine truth being revealed through the gospel as they read the text and experience Jesus for themselves. This study examines the two characters of the royal official and Thomas in the Gospel of John, examining how each character responds to the testimony of Jesus and how their differing faith-responses provide instruction for modern discipleship.

Review Of Quoting Corinthians. By Edward Watson And Martin Culy, Cletus L. Hull, Iii

Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology

Review of Quoting Corinthians. By Edward Watson and Martin Culy. Eugene, OR: Pickwick Publications, 2018. 171 pp.

By Cletus Hull.

Review Of A Theology Of Hope: Contextual Perspectives In Korean Pentecostalism, By Sang Yun Lee, Robert S. Oh

Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology

A Theology of Hope: Contextual Perspectives in Korean Pentecostalism. By Sang Yun Lee. Baguio City, Philippines: Asia Pacific Theological Seminary Press, 2018. xiv + 271 pp.

by Robert Oh.

Review Of A Pentecostal Commentary On Revelation By Jon K. Newton., Michael Blythe

Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology

A Pentecostal Commentary on Revelation (Pentecostal Old Testament and New Testament Commentaries). By Jon K. Newton. Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 2021. 426 pp.

Review by Michael Blythe

Review Of Pneumatology And Union: John Calvin And The Pentecostals, By Peter Ross, Audrey Mccormick

Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology

No abstract provided.

Azusa Street And The Lost Doctrine Of Humility, Michael Blythe

Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology

This article delves into original source material from the Azusa Street Revival to rekindle an awareness of the heavy emphasis that participants placed on humility as a deep and vibrant experience, both as a precondition for receiving the fullness of the Spirit and as an ongoing Pentecostal encounter. Re-lighting the Pentecostal fire is necessary to respond to the struggles of the movement in North America where disillusionment with “triumphalism” has created an uncertain future. Voices from the past and present echo the imperative that the Holy Spirit experience should be balanced by personal sacrifice. A revival of deep self surrender …

An Examination Of New Apostolic Movement Terminology: Correlating The Five-Fold Ministry And The Bureaucratic Management Model, Volker Krüger

Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology

There is a new understanding within the Pentecostal- Charismatic tradition of the five-fold ministry role as a concept for deploying effective leadership. The so-called New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) movement establishes an alternative approach within today’s Christianity, one that is noticeably different from the traditional leadership models in Protestantism, Roman Catholicism, and the evangelical traditions. The model argues that churches and Christian ministries need effective leadership models that are theologically grounded in the doctrine of the offices of apostle and the five-fold ministry as described in the New Testament. The NAR model is a church governance concept that claims to be …

Spirit-Empowered Liturgy: The Role Of The Holy Spirit In Traditional Christian Worship, Seth Whitaker

Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology

Sometimes perceived as dead ritual in contemporary Christian churches, liturgy provides a time-tested means of experiencing the empowerment of the Holy Spirit in corporate worship. When understood within its own historical use, liturgy, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, enables a community of faith to consistently remember and participate in God’s saving acts in history, culminating in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, and actively look forward to the eschatological hope of Jesus’ return. Like the banks of a river, liturgy plays an important role to effectively facilitate the consistent and reliable movement of the Holy Spirit in …

Is Wisdom Silent?: Apophatic Glossolalia, Ryan Lytton

Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology

Drawing on both similarities and disagreements between the apophatic theology of Dionysius and Gregory of Nazianzus, I will demonstrate how glossolalia can be better understood through the lens of apophatic theology. Gregory and Dionysius both recognize the failure of human language, but each follows that concept to a different conclusion. Dionysius switches from categories of knowledge to categories of experience and focuses the mystical life on ascetic practices in the hopes that they promote an experience of God’s presence. Pentecostals, with our emphasis on experience, often find a kinship with thinkers like Dionysius. In contrast, Gregory of Nazianzus switches from …

“Even The Dark Is Light To You”: Reconsidering The Doctrine Of Sin And The Problem Of Evil, Chris E. W. Green

Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology

How did evil come to be? Who is to blame for it? Why did God allow it to happen? Familiar answers, and the traditional doctrines that they represent, can and often have been understood—and perhaps more often misunderstood—to bad, even disastrous effects. So, after a brief sketch of the traditional Augustinian doctrine of evil as received through John Wesley’s teaching, which in one form or another shaped the deep structures of American Pentecostal theology and spirituality, I propose an alternative, one that holds that evil is truly nonsensical and so inexplicable; that no one is to blame for its advent, …

Editorial: 5 Year Assessment, Jeffrey S. Lamp

Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology

With the publication of last fall’s issue of Spiritus, we drew to a close the fifth year of publication since we rebooted the journal in 2017. The Editor, Dr. Jeff Lamp assess the progress and impact of the journal.

Front Matter: Spiritus 7.1 (Spring 2022), Jeffrey S. Lamp

Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology

Table of Contents and front matter.

Full Issue: Spiritus 7.1 (Spring 2022), Jeffrey S. Lamp

Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology

The full issue of the Spring 2022 issue of Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology

Coping With Defeat: Sunni Islam, Roman Catholicism, And The Modern State. Jonathan Laurence (Princeton, Nj: Princeton University Press, 2021). Pp. 606. $35.00 Paper. Isbn: 9780691172125, Jared Rubin

Economics Faculty Articles and Research

A book review of Coping with Defeat: Sunni Islam, Roman Catholicism, and the Modern State by Jonathan Lawrence.

Japanese-English Translation: Katayama Hiroko—Jesus And Simon Peter (June 1953), Christopher Southward

Comparative Literature Faculty and Student Scholarship

Translation of 「イエスとペトロ」、片山廣子著、昭和２８年６月

Source: Aozora Bunko (a digital archive of public-domain Japanese-language works)

General website: https://www.aozora.gr.jp

Current text: https://www.aozora.gr.jp/cards/001346/files/50159_41222.html

Dante's Inferno In The 21st Century, Ethan Chebi

Italian 347: Out of Florence: Dante in Exile

No abstract provided.

Books Jesus Read: Learning From The Apocrypha, Robert F. Lay

Sacred Roots Spiritual Classics

In Books Jesus Read, Robert Lay takes his readers on a guided tour of the Apocrypha—Jewish history, stories, and wisdom written in the four hundred years between the Old and New Testaments. These are some of the writings Jesus and other first century Jews would have known. For anyone wanting to better understand Jesus and the New Testament, look no further than the books Jesus himself may have read.

This book provides a wonderful service in making the OT Apocrypha accessible to non-specialists. These ancient Jewish texts are rich devotionally, and they provide essential background for the proper interpretation …