Learning To View Christianity As True Myth And How It Should Influence Both Our Thinking And Our Actions,
2025
Liberty University
Learning To View Christianity As True Myth And How It Should Influence Both Our Thinking And Our Actions, Joshua Jaccob Hazeldine
Masters Theses
Often, Christianity and the Scriptures are viewed through either a purely academic lens or an emotionally based lens. While both methods have value and use, they also have major flaws that can hinder our growth and understanding. This thesis presents a more effective approach to understanding the Scriptures and our Christian faith. By combining both the heart and the mind, we have a method that can see the truth and logic of Christianity without missing the wonder and amazement of Christianity. This method was called True Myth by C.S. Lewis, for it acknowledges the total truth of everything in Christianity …
Review: Who Will You Become? An Ignatian Introduction To Catholic Theology By Conor M. Kelly And Ryan G. Duns, Sj,
2025
Fairfield University
Review: Who Will You Become? An Ignatian Introduction To Catholic Theology By Conor M. Kelly And Ryan G. Duns, Sj, Mary Kate Holman
Jesuit Higher Education: A Journal
No abstract provided.
Shaping The Soul: Spiritual Formation Practices In The Development Of Leaders, Ministers And Ministry Workers At First Mt. Olive Freewill Baptist Church,
2025
Liberty University
Shaping The Soul: Spiritual Formation Practices In The Development Of Leaders, Ministers And Ministry Workers At First Mt. Olive Freewill Baptist Church, Kion D. Bolden
Doctoral Dissertations and Projects
This Doctor of Ministry thesis project examined how structured spiritual formation practices can cultivate attentiveness to God and strengthen ministry readiness among leaders within a congregational context. The project addressed a critical need in the ministry field: many leaders serve faithfully but lack sustained rhythms of reflection, Scripture meditation, and contemplative rest that foster long-term spiritual vitality. The purpose of the study was to design, implement, and evaluate an eight-week Spiritual Formation Program integrating journaling, Scripture meditation, fasting, service, and contemplative prayer within a supportive cohort model. The goal was to determine whether consistent engagement in these practices measurably deepened …
The Divine Disciplinarian: God As The Model Father,
2025
Liberty University
The Divine Disciplinarian: God As The Model Father, Jacob Daniel Jones
Doctoral Dissertations and Projects
A pastor is responsible for instructing a congregation regarding biblical information and instruction. When a person is unsure of what the Bible teaches on a topic, the pastor can preach sermons and teach lessons that convey biblical truth. The growing congregation of Nevada Free Will Baptist Church consisted of believers who had been away from church for some time and new converts, resulting in a lack of biblical literacy due to their limited exposure to biblical truth. One area where congregants were uninformed was biblical parenting. This study addressed the problem of biblical illiteracy regarding parenting. It informed participants about …
Being Intentionally Intergenerational At Empowerment Unlimited Church,
2025
Liberty University
Being Intentionally Intergenerational At Empowerment Unlimited Church, Barbara Lynne Muse
Doctoral Dissertations and Projects
Intergenerational interaction is foundational to the ongoing vitality and long-term sustainability of the church community. Theological perspectives underscore the importance of families and individuals from diverse age groups engaging in mutual sharing, learning, and caring. Such intentional interactions foster intergenerational relationships that not only strengthen the sense of community but also address the spiritual needs of all members, regardless of age. This action research project seeks to help the EUC church become more intergenerational, creating opportunities for members to experience meaningful spiritual growth while forming lasting bonds across generations. Instead of centering church life around a single generation, churches must …
In His Own Words? An Argument For Jesus As The Origin Of The Antithesis Formula In Matthew 5:21–48,
2025
Liberty University
In His Own Words? An Argument For Jesus As The Origin Of The Antithesis Formula In Matthew 5:21–48, Michael W. Herbert
Doctoral Dissertations and Projects
This dissertation explores the origin and authenticity of the antithesis formula, “You have heard that it was said…[OT reference]…but I say to you…,” which appears only in the Gospel of Matthew (Matt 5:21–48). This uniqueness of the antithesis formula contributes to it being one of the most intriguing yet contentious New Testament phrases. As such, there is no scholarly consensus regarding the origin of the antithesis formula. The relevant English language literature presents theories concerning the origin of the antithesis formula that generally conform to form-critical, source-critical, and redaction-critical approaches. However, this literature lacks an extended argument for this formula …
Edenic Themes Of Creation And Exile In The Book Of Jonah And Their Impact On Evangelical Exegesis,
2025
Liberty University
Edenic Themes Of Creation And Exile In The Book Of Jonah And Their Impact On Evangelical Exegesis, Christopher R. Walker
Masters Theses
This thesis examines how the Book of Jonah uses imagery drawn from the Garden of Eden and how these themes shape the way evangelicals read the book. Rather than treating Jonah as a simple moral tale, the study argues that the narrative is intentionally crafted to further highlight Jonah’s disobedience and the book's theological claims, using Edenic imagery. Chapter One considers the question of “Why did Jonah run to Tarshish”? After considering the intertextual links, it appears that Jonah ran specifically to Tarshish for its Eden-like possibilities. Chapter Two focuses on the non-human agents in the book. The wind, ship, …
A Critical Comparative Analysis Of The Ecclesiologies Of Carl F. H. Henry And James H. Cone Through The Lens Of Social Consciousness: Towards A Liberative Ecclesiology,
2025
Liberty University
A Critical Comparative Analysis Of The Ecclesiologies Of Carl F. H. Henry And James H. Cone Through The Lens Of Social Consciousness: Towards A Liberative Ecclesiology, Phyllis D. Johnson
Doctoral Dissertations and Projects
The doctrine of the Church has remained a controversial and enigmatic topic for centuries. Since its inception, scholars have debated the doctrine of the Church, challenged its boundaries, and questioned its role in society. As contemporary society evolves, the Church encounters multifaceted challenges, compelling it to adapt while maintaining its spiritual mission. To address this concern, this study analyzes the ecclesiologies of Carl F. H. Henry and James H. Cone through the lens of social consciousness. A critical comparative analysis provides the most dynamic framework for examining these perspectives. By exploring probable theological points of convergence and divergence, this study …
The Call For Wailing Women In Jeremiah 9:17: Biblical Theology Of Mourning Within The Context Of Repentance,
2025
Liberty University
The Call For Wailing Women In Jeremiah 9:17: Biblical Theology Of Mourning Within The Context Of Repentance, Nwabuogo N. B. Okafo
Doctoral Dissertations and Projects
The Hebrew Bible features numerous accounts of mourning that reveal it as a significant aspect of the ancient Near Eastern burial customs. Biblical mourning involves an established process of grieving the loss of a dead person by his or her family and community (Deut 34:8; 2 Sam 1:11–12). The Bible also mentions other forms of mourning besides grieving the loss of the dead. Penitential mourning is the expression of sorrow resulting from awareness of personal or corporate sin (Joel 2:12–14; Ezra 10:6). Penitential mourning could be personal or corporate (2 Sam 12:13, 16; Ezra 9:3–4). Corporate mourning involving donning of …
The Error Of Replacement Theology, Its Significance For Christians Today, And Its Theological Implications For Participants In The Vintage Truth Bible Study,
2025
Liberty University
The Error Of Replacement Theology, Its Significance For Christians Today, And Its Theological Implications For Participants In The Vintage Truth Bible Study, Jeffery Bruce Kinley
Doctoral Dissertations and Projects
The nation of Israel regularly makes geopolitical and cultural headlines, and antisemitism continues to increase on a global scale. This carries profound theological and practical implications regarding Israel’s relationship and relevance to the Church. This DMin action research project was designed and implemented to evaluate the impact of replacement theology on approximately thirty participants in the Vintage Truth Bible Study. Through a sustained, eight-week study examining the tenets of replacement theology, along with Scripture’s teaching on God’s relationship with and covenants to Israel, and prophecies regarding that nation’s future, the doctrine was addressed. The research combined thorough biblical exposition, three …
Advent Season And God’S Unchanging Purposes,
2025
Calvin Theological Seminary
Advent Season And God’S Unchanging Purposes, Isaias D'Oleo-Ochoa
CTS Student Publications and Creative Works
Christian Advent, or Adventus, is the four-week period before Christmas in the Christian liturgical year. Each week encompasses one of the following themes: hope, peace, joy, and love. The Advent season serves as a remembrance of Christ’s incarnation, inviting us to reflect on God’s promises of liberation and salvation. I find a powerful connection between Advent and God’s unchanging purposes since the Advent season is not only about remembrance but also about expectation. We expect Christ’s return. Considering this, I see Advent as a great time to meditate on God’s purposes, which help us prepare our hearts for Christ.
¡El Cielo Es Una Habitación Llena De Mujeres Gordas Riendo!,
2025
Universidad de Gales, Trinity St David
¡El Cielo Es Una Habitación Llena De Mujeres Gordas Riendo!, Lisa Isherwood
Conexión Queer: Revista Latinoamericana y Caribeña de Teologías Queer
This article examines a pervasive yet often overlooked form of abuse against women: the lifelong regulation of bodily size and shape. While acknowledging the horrific rise in domestic physical violence during the United Kingdom’s lockdown, the focus shifts to the normalized pressures of patriarchal control that women internalize from an early age. Such control disguises itself as concern or benefit, yet inflicts profound personal and spiritual harm. Approaching the issue from a Western perspective, the article argues that, within an incarnational faith, the disciplined body becomes the very site of resistance where transformative divine power is located in human experience.
Pensar Desde Los Márgenes: Travesías Teológicas Desde Cuerpos, Fronteras Y Disidencias En La Obra De Hugo Córdova Quero,
2025
Institute Sophia
Pensar Desde Los Márgenes: Travesías Teológicas Desde Cuerpos, Fronteras Y Disidencias En La Obra De Hugo Córdova Quero, Anderson Fabián Santos Meza
Conexión Queer: Revista Latinoamericana y Caribeña de Teologías Queer
This essay offers an interpretive reading of Hugo Córdova Quero’s theological work from a third-person perspective, avoiding a laudatory or autobiographical tone. Based on queer and decolonial Trinitarian theology, the text traces a path that articulates biblical hermeneutics, migration studies, popular culture, queer theory, and pastoral praxis. The work is read as a relational and pilgrimage project. In this difference, displacement, and violated bodies do not constitute a theological problem, but rather an epistemic place from which to rethink the sacred, community, and justice.
Travesías Y Disidencias: Queerizando/Cuirizando La Hermenéutica Bíblica,
2025
Institute Sophia
Travesías Y Disidencias: Queerizando/Cuirizando La Hermenéutica Bíblica, Hugo Córdova Quero, Anderson Fabián Santos Meza, Cristian Mor, Jorge A. Aquino Ph.D.
Conexión Queer: Revista Latinoamericana y Caribeña de Teologías Queer
This essay proposes to queer biblical hermeneutics as a critical theological intervention that is not limited to the creative rereading of texts, but questions the epistemic and political conditions that regulate interpretation. From a situated and embodied perspective, it affirms that queer bodies and lives do not constitute a pastoral or doctrinal problem, but rather an epistemological place from which to rethink the sacred, authority, and community. In dialogue with Spanish-speaking ecclesial and academic contexts, the analysis is presented as a rigorous and vital intervention that opens fissures, disrupts consensus, and vindicates hermeneutical plurality as theological power.
Charity Begins With Zoning Reforms,
2025
Calvin University
Charity Begins With Zoning Reforms, Mark D. Bjelland
University Faculty Publications and Creative Works
When my family moved to Michigan over a decade ago, we were looking for something more than a three-bedroom house in our price range. We wanted a place of beauty, refreshment, and welcome for our children and guests. As newcomers to the state, we took the location seriously. Our previous house lost value due to its small-town setting, so we worried about future property values. As an urban geographer, I mapped changes in demographics and housing prices and created bike and bus travel-time maps from work and schools.
A Roadmap For Equipping Saints For The Work Of Ministry At Sugar Land Church Of Christ,
2025
Abilene Christian University
A Roadmap For Equipping Saints For The Work Of Ministry At Sugar Land Church Of Christ, Lewis Anthony Parker Iv
Doctor of Ministry Theses and Dissertations
The purpose of this project was to create a roadmap for a process that invites and equips saints at Sugar Land Church of Christ to work in ministry. As part of the research process, a design team was empaneled and met for eight sessions, during which participants offered valuable insight into Sugar Land’s ministry context. This data informed the final roadmap. Ephesians 4, which discusses the importance of every member getting involved in ministry, serves as the foundation of this project. The work of every member is for the edification of the entire group, and the calling and gift of …
The Spiritual Care Of Hospice Patients With Cognitive Deficits,
2025
Abilene Christian University
The Spiritual Care Of Hospice Patients With Cognitive Deficits, Shane Sullivan
Doctor of Ministry Theses and Dissertations
ABSTRACT How can a hospice chaplain know whether their presence and ministry make a meaningful difference when visiting patients with dementia or other serious cognitive impairments? This project thesis seeks to answer that question conclusively. The theological foundation of this project centers on the doctrine of the imago Dei—the image of God—as it relates to individuals who are dying with cognitive deficits. Specifically, it explores how a person who is helpless and near death continues to reflect the image of God. The project intervention described here is the creation of a specialized training guide for hospice chaplains at Bridge Hospice …
Creation To Covenant: The Chronicler's Use Of Genesis Narratives In Shaping Israel's Post-Exilic Identity,
2025
Liberty University
Creation To Covenant: The Chronicler's Use Of Genesis Narratives In Shaping Israel's Post-Exilic Identity, Dalton J. Harmon
Senior Honors Theses
This thesis examines the Chronicler’s (the unknown author to whom biblical scholars have attributed the composition of: the Book of Chronicles, the Book of Ezra, and the Book of Nehemiah to) use of Genesis narratives—namely the Covenant of Works—in the formation of the social, political, and religious identity of post-exilic Israel. By using a covenant-theological and intertextual approach with special attention to the Septuagint, this study demonstrates that the Chronicler does not merely retell Israel’s history but deliberately reinterprets it according to theology established in creation. The analysis begins with Genesis 1–3, where Adam’s federal headship and the blessing–curse logic …
Islamic Political Anti-Theology: A Discursive Practice Of Contingency Beyond Sovereign Politics,
2025
University of Denver
Islamic Political Anti-Theology: A Discursive Practice Of Contingency Beyond Sovereign Politics, Jason Andrus
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Contributing to the field of political theology from outside the European Christian tradition, this dissertation develops a description of the distinct logics that Islamic theology generates from its metaphysical assumptions. These logics in turn make possible a discourse of political anti-theology where politics operates through contingency rather than sovereignty. Political theology scholarship has excavated how modern politics derives from secularized Christian theological concepts—particularly transcendent sovereignty. This study demonstrates that Islamic theology's absolute insistence on divine transcendence (tawhid) produces something fundamentally different: a politics that renders sovereign authority conceptually impossible. I identify this discursive practice of political anti-theology through …
From Transactional To Transformational: Cultivating A Theologically Robust Learning Experience For Upper School Senior Bible Classes,
2025
Liberty University
From Transactional To Transformational: Cultivating A Theologically Robust Learning Experience For Upper School Senior Bible Classes, Linus Nguyen
Doctoral Dissertations and Projects
The problem at Holy Ground Christian Academy is that its approach to senior-level Bible classes is transactional rather than transformational for life and godliness. With parents feeling pressured to find effective educational options for their children and teachers facing growing demands from administrative duties, education urgently needs a new vision. Parents want their children to succeed and leave a lasting impact on society, while educators seek purpose in their careers. Modern educational trends push schools toward a utilitarian, transactional approach to learning, and private Christian college-preparatory schools are no exception. Within the Christian college-preparatory setting, Bible classes often struggle with …
