Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons^™

Why John Piper’S Doctrine Of Salvation Is Incompatible With Scripture, Joshua Zigan

Senior Honors Theses

This thesis details and responds to a biblical contradiction created by John Piper’s soteriology. The contradiction is characterized by God’s operation in salvation according to Piper and the biblical doctrine of God’s nature. The Christian God and the inerrancy of the Bible are presupposed.

An argument is posed showing the contradiction using Scripture and Piper’s soteriology. Conclusions made are (1) that Scripture implicitly teaches that all people possess the free will to choose whether to have faith in Christ and repent, (2) no person possesses the ability to save himself, (3) faith in Christ and repentance are the only two …

The Kingdom Of Heaven In Matthew's Gospel, Jeffery Jerome Mize Sr.

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this research is to clear up the misunderstanding that exists in Matthew’s Gospel. This project focuses on clarifying how a better understanding of the differences between the “kingdom of heaven” and the “kingdom of God” in Matthew’s Gospel which in turn will impact the lives of Christians today. As this study will reveal, each phrase has a unique usage that was important to the original audience. Matthew’s aim in writing his Gospel were, not only to strengthen the spiritual disposition of his church, but also to assist his readers in rediscovering their true identity. The Jewish setting …

Vatican Ii, Liberation Theology, And Vernacular Masses For The Family Of God In Central America, Bernard J. Gordillo

Yale Journal of Music & Religion

The Second Vatican Council (1962–65) instituted reforms in the Catholic Church that included changes in language and music employed in the liturgy, inspiring a proliferation of sung vernacular masses throughout Latin America. Drawing on archival and ethnographic research undertaken in Nicaragua and the United States, this article examines three Central American vernacular masses—Misa típica panameña de San Miguelito (1967), Misa popular nicaragüense (1969), and Misa campesina nicaragüense (1975). Each mass emanated from communities founded as part of the transnational Familia de Dios (Family of God) movement, which established programs of religious education, leadership training, and community building among impoverished …

Living In The Promises And Place Of God- A Theology Of The World, Charles Arand, Erik Herrmann

Concordia Pages

This Concordia Pages explores how locating the story of salvation within the broader, biblical story of creation impacts our witness in the world. In particular, it considers how being placed alongside our fellow creatures as recipients of God’s goodness and mercy opens up the possibility for a reciprocity of witness—the way in which our lives, contingent and intertwined, allow for both Christians and non-Christians to bear witness to the work and wonder of God. In such a context, the uniqueness of the Christian witness finds renewed purchase and possibility.

Spirit Of Community: Forced Vulnerability, The Little Details As Realized Hope, And Lament As Prophetic Protest, Neomi De Anda

Theology and Religious Studies Faculty Publications

This paper presents the Holy Spirit Lecture Response to James Keenan, S.J., in 2021. The paper argues that vulnerability needs further contextualization because of power dynamics. In some situations, vulnerability is forced, even when an individual has full agency in making choices. Mary of Nazareth is used as an example as is the song "Lamento Bolivano."

Christ Is Risen, Indeed- Good News For Him And For Us, Jeffrey Gibbs

Concordia Pages

About “Christ Is Risen, Indeed: Good News for Him and for Us,” Jeff Gibbs writes:

Good Friday and Easter (along with Ascension and Pentecost) go together, one event, in a sense. Different New Testament texts invite us to emphasize now one aspect of that multifaceted reality, now another. Even when the focus is, for instance, on the death of Jesus, there is more than one thing to say about it: propitiation, ransom, redemption, casting out of Satan, a pattern for our discipleship, and so on. All are true. In this essay, however, my focus will be quite intentionally on the …

Reviews, Robert D. Mcbain

Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology

Reviews Wonsuk Ma and Kathaleen Reid-Martinez. Human Sexuality & the Holy Spirit: Spirit-Empowered Perspectives.

Robert D. McBain ................................................................................................333

Robert D. McBain. Depression, Where is Your Sting?

Cletus L. Hull, III .................................................................................................335

John R. Levison. The Holy Spirit Before Christianity.

William Lyons ......................................................................................................337

Andrew Ray Williams. Washed in the Spirit: Toward a Pentecostal Theology of Water Baptism.

Christopher J. King ..............................................................................................341

Makoto Fujimura. Art and Faith: A Theology of Making.

Martin Mittelstadt ................................................................................................343

Hannah R. K. Mather. Spirit, Scripture, and Interpretation in the Renewal Tradition.

Rick Wadholm, Jr. ................................................................................................345

Frank D. Macchia. The Spirit-Baptized Church: A Dogmatic Inquiry …

Spiritual Struggle And Spiritual Growth Of Bereft College Students In A Christian Evangelical University, Melinda G. Rhodes, Andrea C. Walker Ph.D.

Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology

This article examines spiritual struggle in bereft Christian evangelical students and how struggle might potentiate spiritual growth. The death loss of a close person can result in shattered assumptions about the world that trigger spiritual questions and struggle (Chen, 1997; Tedeschi & Calhoun, 2006; Pargament et al., 1998), and spiritual struggle can be a catalyst for growth (Lord & Gramling, 2014; Magyar-Russell et al., 2014; Pargament et al., 1998; Pargament et al., 2011). To our knowledge, spiritual growth has not been measured utilizing the actual voices of those struggling with the loss, nor has it been measured in Christian evangelical …

The Holy Spirit The Ultimate Counselor And Transformer For Healing And Wholeness: A Nepalese Perspective, Karuna Sharma

Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology

Nepal is a country with cultural and religious diversity. This country has gone through much turmoil and many crises. Since the time of the Maoist insurgency up to the recent pandemic situation, people have faced various emotions, feelings, and thoughts. These sudden devastating moments have not only affected their physical wellbeing, but has in turn affected the whole being of a person. These experiences of accusation, suffering, violence, and pain have led many to sadness, worry, anger, and fear resulting in various mental disorders. Therefore, the ministry of counseling is very important in order to help people get connected to …

Breaking Depression’S Silence Within The Church Through Friendships, Robert D. Mcbain

Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology

This article explores the silent nature of depression in the local church and suggests that developing Jesus-style friendships can break the silence. It adapts the author’s Doctor of Ministry (DMin) research project, which explored the silent nature of depression in the local church and Christianity’s interpretive healing qualities. This article argues that the church has a rich history of helping sufferers interpret their experiences of depression, but changing worldviews, the growth of the modern medical model, and the effectiveness of pharmaceuticals monopolized health and shoved the church to the periphery of the conversation. Silence became the church’s typical response, which …

Counseling In The Already, Not Yet: Reflections On The Work Of The Christian Counselor Through An Eschatological Lens, Haley Rae French

Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, this article reflects on the work of the Christian counselor through an eschatological lens, specifically exploring the notion of what it means to counsel in the “already, not yet.” The counseling process is presented as a place in which the dialectics of this eschatological tension are present and outworked. Pain and suffering are encountered and explored as the counselor stands in solidarity with the sufferer, and yet the Christian counselor also anticipates hope and the power of change in the present, particularly as ushered in by the eschatological Spirit of God. To this end, …

How Jesus Communicates #Metoo: A Perspective On Intergenerational Trauma And Healing In The Atonement, Pamela F. Engelbert

Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology

This article offers a practical theological praxis of how the church may participate in Christ’s atoning ministry of healing towards persons who have experienced sexual violence. Drawing from the theory of intergenerational trauma, it uses the mentioning of “the wife of Uriah” in Matthew’s genealogy to convey how Jesus identifies with survivors of sexual violence. The article then focuses on the hypostatic union to establish how Jesus provides ontological healing in the atonement for said survivors. It concludes by demonstrating how Matthew’s Gospel calls radical disciples to a healing praxis of listening to stories of the disenfranchised, thereby pointing towards …

Expanding God's Redemptive Fractal: Spirit-Centered Counseling And The Transformative Wisdom Of Jesus, Bill Buker

Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology

Using the image of a fractal, a Spirit-centered approach to counseling is proposed that conceptualizes the Spirit’s activity as seeking to replicate the patterns of God’s redemptive story throughout creation by facilitating deep second-order change. Involving an epistemological shift from ways of knowing shaped by the conventional wisdom of culture to a renewed mind grounded in the transformative wisdom of Jesus, this deep change is explored from the perspectives of science and Scripture. Integrating findings from systems theory with the ministry and message of Jesus, this approach to counseling emphasizes relational premises and values believed to be characteristic of the …

The Spirit, Change, And Healing: Toward A Spirit-Centered Model Of Healing, Edward E. Decker Jr., Bill Buker, Jeffrey S. Lamp

Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology

Spirit-centered counseling is an approach to counseling that makes full use of Spirit-centered spirituality as well as techniques and interventions used within Spirit-centered faith groups. An emphasis is always on the importance of being aware of, and experiencing, the Spirit and utilizing this awareness within the counseling endeavor. Three orienting assumptions are delineated to provide direction for the specific practices and methods of Spirit-centered counseling that prepare the way for Spirit-directed changes. Of special importance are the pneumatological imagination, Holy Spirit empowerment, and the development of a trialogical encounter, within which the counselor and the person seeking counseling experience the …

Editorial: A Special Issue And A New Venture!, Andrea C. Walker Ph.D., Edward E. Decker Jr., Jeffrey S. Lamp

Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology

Special editorial by Dr. Andrea C. Walker and Dr. Edward E. Decker, Jr. introducing the special issue dedicated to the subject of "Counseling and the Spirit."

Front Matter: Spiritus 6.2 (Fall 2021), [email protected]

Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology

No abstract provided.

Counseling And The Spirit: Spiritus 6.2 (Fall 2021), [email protected]

Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology

A special issue of Spiritus dedicated to exploring the role of the Holy Spirit in the Counseling profession. Guest editors, Dr. Andrea C. Walker and Dr. Edward Decker, collected essays on the subject of the Spirit and counseling in anticipation of the launch of the new ORU Counseling Journal.

Boundary Crossing By A Community Of Practice: Tibetan Buddhist Monasteries Engage Science Education, Carol M. Worthman, Ann Cale Kruger, Cindy Achat-Mendes, Tashi Lhamo, Rinchen Wangyal, Gelek Gyatso, Kelsey M. Gray

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

As a globalized world struggles with division and disinformation, engaging across difference has emerged as a major challenge to communication and collaborative action needed to address growing global challenges. As such, the initiative by Tibetan Buddhist leaders to incorporate western science in curricula for monastic education may serve as an important case study that illuminates the conditions and processes at work in genuine cultural outreach and exchange. That project, spearheaded in the Emory-Tibet Science Initiative (ETSI), involves reaching out across two quite different communities of practice, Tibetan Buddhism and science, and the willingness and ability of individuals to cross the …

Adult Catechesis: Cognition And Application For The Christian Life, Jason D. Gudim

Doctor of Ministry Major Applied Project

Gudim, Jason D. “Adult Catechesis as Formation and Habitus for the Christian Life.” Doctor of Ministry. Major Applied Project, Concordia Seminary, 2021. 127 pp.

The Small and Large Catechisms are a central part of confessional Lutheran theology. Catechism instruction is built into the practice of confirmation. But for many Lutherans, catechesis stops at confirmation, with some never opening their catechisms again. Built into the Great Commission as a disciple-making process are both baptizing and teaching. Catechesis fits the model in that the people of God are guarding the truth of Scripture that has been handed down to them generation by …

Review Of Laura W. Ekstrom, "God, Suffering, And The Value Of Free Will", Kevin Timpe

University Faculty Publications and Creative Works

No abstract provided.