Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons^™

The Homecoming Of The Negro Spirit: Black Spiritual Intelligence As A Structural Form Of Intelligence, Quincy Brown

CMC Senior Theses

In Is Spirituality an Intelligence? Motivation, Cognition, and the concern of Psychology of Ultimate Concern, Robert Emmons develops a case for spirituality as a form of intelligence. His thesis claims that spiritual intelligence is a “set of capacities and abilities that enable people to solve problems and attain goals in their everyday lives”: “the capacity for transcendence; the ability to enter into heightened spiritual states of consciousness; the ability to invest everyday activities, events, and relationships with a sense of the sacred; the ability to utilize spiritual resources to solve problems in living; and the capacity to engage …

Women In Ministry: How Conflicts Between God's Purpose And Church Doctrine Impact The Efficacy Of Female Church Leaders, Nicole L. Davis

Department of Conflict Resolution Studies Theses and Dissertations

The following research was a biographical narrative that examined the lived experiences of male and female church leaders and their perspectives on the social, moral, and religious implications of female church leadership. The purpose of this research was to explore the ideologies and identities of women leaders within the faith ministry, the definitions of ministry and leadership, the role of women in church ministry, and their understanding of marketplace ministry. I employed conflict resolution theories relating to power, change, and mental modeling as the basis of analysis for evaluating the impact of church policies and practices on the utilization of …

The Baptist Tradition And Religious Freedom: Recent Trajectories, Samuel Kyle Brassell

Honors Theses

For my thesis, I have focused on the recent religious freedom bill passed in Mississippi and the arguments and influences Southern Baptists have had on the bill. I used the list of resolutions passed by the Southern Baptist Convention to trace the history and development of Southern Baptist thought on the subject of religious freedom. I consulted outside scholarly works to examine the history of the Baptist tradition and how that history has influenced modern day arguments. I compared these texts to the wording of the Mississippi bill. After conducting this research, I found that the Southern Baptist tradition and …

Martin Luther: Master Of Paradoxes, Trevor O'Reggio

Faculty Publications

Martin Luther, the great German and Protestant reformer sees himself as following this biblical tradition of speaking in paradoxes. This paradoxical quality about Luther’s theological ideas evades easy explanation or simplistic interpretation. Some consider that Luther’s theological genius enabled him to view both sides of an issue. Others stumble over his paradoxical and apparently conflicting statements. The purpose of this paper is to analyze and critically evaluate some of Luther’s usage of paradoxes in his writings.

Grace At The End Of Life: Rethinking Ordinary And Extraordinary Means In A Global Context, Conor M. Kelly

Theology Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

Catholic Social Ethics And Public Health: Searching For A Liberating Bioethics, Alexandre Andrade Martins

Theology Faculty Research and Publications

This article argues that the option for the poor offers an ethical imperative to analyze bioethical issues that are not restricted to the traditional discussion on the use of medical technology and the health professional-patient relationship. The author presents a bioethics in a liberationist key that integrates Catholic social teaching into healthcare issues and ethical challenges to promote justice through a public system based on the right to healthcare. This essay be­gins by examining the option for the poor, presented by Catholic social teaching, and how it relates to healthcare. Then, it analyses data and studies showing the relationship between …

The Leftist Political Parties In Light Of Simone Weil's Criticism: The Workers' Party Case, Alexandre A. Martins

Theology Faculty Research and Publications

Given the socio-political context of Latin American countries and their leftist and center-leftist parties that had governed some countries since the beginning of the 2000’s, this essay will present Simone Weil’s anthropology of a rooted people towards social justice guided by a spirituality of supernatural justice. This anthropology supports her criticism of political parties that this essay will use to examine the Brazilian context and its Workers’ Party that gov­erned the country for over thirteen years and ended its tenure after a process of impeachment. Although Simone Weil seems to be pessimistic as to whether multiparty or monoparty political systems …

John’S Gospel And The Ethics Of Freedom And Love, Alexandre A. Martins

Theology Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

Toward Engaging The Secular: Charles Taylor's Modern Social Imaginaries, Human Flourishing, And Theological Method, Jenifer A. Daley

Dissertations

Increasing secularization seems to fly in the face of Christian proposals for a Scripture-only principle for theology. The question that this dissertation explores is "How will Christian theology tackle the resulting church-society impasse in a way that is both faithful to Scripture and intelligible contemporaneously without appearing to privilege one aspect over the other?" That is, "What form should theological method take to efficaciously engage the secular?" This study suggests that the answer might lie in an innovative fusion of Scripture with borrowed concepts from secular culture. Thus, this dissertation responds to the problem of the need for robust, multidimensional …

Wood, Todd Charles, And Darrel R. Falk, The Fool And The Heretic: How Two Scientists Moved Beyond Labels To A Christian Dialog About Creation And Evolution. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2019. 201 Pp. Softcover. Usd 16.99., Gary W. Burdick

Andrews University Seminary Studies (AUSS)

No abstract provided.

Ordered Steps, Or, The Wards Of India : A Biograpy Of The Lives Of Ernest Fremont Ward And Phebe Elizabeth Cox Ward, Missionaries To India, 1880-1927, Ethel Ellen Ward

Heritage Material

No abstract provided.

Finding God In Community, S. Joseph Kidder, Jonny Wesley Moor

Faculty Publications

"God exists in community. Before the angels, before the universe, before perhaps time itself, the Father, Son, and Spirit shared a continuous love that can exist only in community.¹ Community is God’s primal manifestation of existence and reality. When God created humanity, He intended for us to be able to relate to Him, so the Lord made us male and female (Gen. 1:27), counterparts equal but distinct in community. Jürgen Moltmann argues that truly knowing something involves being able to participate with that entity.² For example, rather than learning physics merely to recite formulas and laws, …

Toward A Biblical Theology Of God's Presence In Christian Theology: A Study Of How Difference Interpretations Of The Divine Presence Affect Liturgy, Karl Tsatalbasidis

Dissertations

Problem

In spite of the universal agreement on the importance of the divine presence as the central aspect of liturgy, there are three conflicting ways in which the presence of God relates to liturgy. They broadly correspond to the main liturgical traditions: Sacramental (Roman Catholic), Kerygmatic (Protestant) and Charismatic (Pentecostal and Interdenominational). In our current situation, how does this universal agreement about the presence of God as the central aspect of liturgy relate to the conflicting means by which congregations assess his presence?

Purpose

The purpose of this study was (1) to describe how the three diverging views relate the …

"Let Us Make 'Adam": An Edenic Model Of Personal Ontology, Marla A. Samaan Nedelcu

Dissertations

Personal ontology studies human constitution and human nature, an increasingly debated topic in Christian theology. Historically, the most prominent models of personal ontology in Christian theology have been substance dualist models. More recently, physicalist models have offered prominent alternatives.

This dissertation studies the conflict of interpretations between these two major model groupings. By applying a canonical theology, it then presents an Edenic model of personal ontology that can address the current conflict of interpretations. To achieve this end, the dissertation briefly analyzes substance dualism and physicalism according to the rubrics of constitution and nature, using a model methodology. It then …

The Language Of The Spirit In The Book Of Mormon, Noel B. Reynolds

Faculty Publications

This study provides students of the Book of Mormon with the first comprehensive analysis of the many ways in which the word spirit is used in that volume of scripture. It demonstrates how the titles Holy Ghost, Spirit of God, Spirit of the Lord, Holy Spirit, and the Spirit are used interchangeably to refer to the third member of the God. It also shows that the Holy Ghost was understood to be a separate being. The analysis is thoroughly integrated with scholarly studies of references to the spirit ( rûah ) in the Hebrew Bible. The functions of the Holy …

Beneficial Mourning By Inmates Who Have Lost A Significant Person, James Bradley Shoemaker

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Incarceration is already replete with loss before someone of significance to an inmate dies. The prison environment challenges every aspect of grieving, and failing to effectively mourn pathologizes grief, reduces quality of living, and results in behaviours that cause recidivism. It is a poignant interaction between this researcher in his role as a chaplain and a particular inmate that provides the impetus for this study. This study begins with a qualitative meta-synthesis that examined 10 qualitative articles and dissertations published over the last 30 years to explore how some inmates manage to effectively grieve the loss of a significant person. …

Covenant: An Exploration Of Restorative Justice In The Los Angeles Unified School District, Isaac Cardenas

Say Something Theological: The Student Journal of Theological Studies

No abstract provided.

Toward A Systematic Theology Of The Sanctuary: Part 1, John C. Peckham

Faculty Publications

This article is part one of an essay that offers some preliminary thoughts regarding the relationship of the sanctuary and systematic theology, focusing on just a few aspects which expose the relationship between the two. This article considers the nature of theological systems, issues related to an Adventist system of theology, and the relationship between fundamental theology and the sanctuary in particular, with attention to some broad, competing views of the sanctuary that are integrally related to the way one conceives of broader theological principles. This sets the stage for the second article, which will conclude the essay by discussing …

Eternal Now: Recent Time Loop Movies And The Sanctity Of The Moment, John C. Lyden

Journal of Religion & Film

I will examine three time-loop films—Source Code (2011), About Time (2013), and Before I Fall (2017)—to suggest that while they all look to this world as the place where meaning can be found, they do not entirely reject transcendence. The hero of Source Code actually transcends the cycle only when he accepts to exist in it fully, suggesting a view like Buddhism that one only finds transcendence when one stops looking for it. In About Time the hero learns that he must accept certain things that he cannot change, and that his ability to relive the past without changing …

Neo-Gnosticism At The Movies, Michael Kaler

Journal of Religion & Film

A number of American films released in the mid/late 1990s drew on, or have been discussed in the context of, gnosticism—a loose, imprecise umbrella term usually applied to a number of heterodox early Christian literary traditions. The Matrix is the most famous of this group of films, which also includes such films as Pleasantville, Dark City, The Truman Show, and Thirteenth Floor. This curious trend would not have been possible had it not been for the emergence of gnosticism in mainstream culture generally; as well, gnosticism’s emphasis on the spectacular, constructed and ultimately illusory nature of apparent reality became especially …