Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons^™

Psalms In Our Lamentable World, Don Saliers

Yale Journal of Music & Religion

Where are worshipers in Christian communities to go with their experiences and observations of violence, injustice, and other forms of suffering? Historically, a central source of realistic faith-based responses to tragedy has been the Psalter, broadly defined as a set of biblical psalms arranged by date to be individually and collectively read, sung, and prayed. Recent scholarship on psalms has focused on lament and complaint, and questions regarding the presence of trauma and violence in religious traditions have shown such psalms to be particularly relevant to contemporary culture.

This article examines three “psalms of lament,” Psalms 13, 42/43, and 88, …

Bach's Christmas Oratorio, Bwv 248, And The Jews, Daniel R. Melamed

Yale Journal of Music & Religion

It has been recognized since the nineteenth century that most of the poetic arias and choruses in J. S. Bach’s Christmas Oratorio BWV 248 are parodies of music composed to other texts. In the early twentieth century it was claimed that at least one gospel narrative chorus was also derived from extant music, a hypothesis subsequently expanded to include several such movements said to be parodies as well. The claims are flimsily argued and are unlikely on source-critical grounds, but they have stuck, persisting in scholarly writings, reference works, and popular literature.

The origin of this idea is a 1916 …

Buddhism As Performing Art: Visualizing Music In The Tibetan Sacred Ritual Music Liturgies, Jeffrey W. Cupchik

Yale Journal of Music & Religion

The eleventh-century Tibetan female ascetic, Machik Labdrön (1055-1153), developed a Vajrayāna (Tantric) Buddhist meditation method called Chöd (Tib. gCod, Eng. “to cut”) and associated ritual practices as a means of eliminating “self-grasping,” which is defined as the mistaken instinct of regarding one’s “self” and all phenomena as intrinsically, or independently, existent. Her musical-meditation method became renowned across Central Asia during her lifetime, and Chödritual practices and liturgies have been transmitted from teacher to disciple in unbroken lineages until today. The ritual is now well known globally, with Tibetan Lamas, nuns, and empowered exponents teaching widely, across a transnational …

The Logical Problem Of Evil And The Limited God Defense, Darren Hibbs

Quadrivium: A Journal of Multidisciplinary Scholarship

Formulated theories on the Logical Problem of Evil, the Evidential Problem of Evil and the Limited God Defense.

Return To Me: Lenten Reflections From Holy Cross (2015), Office Of Mission, College Of The Holy Cross

Office of Mission Publications

This reflection booklet was prepared by the Office of Mission at the College of the Holy Cross to serve as a prayer aid throughout the liturgical season of Lent. Within these pages are the unique voices of many people from the Holy Cross community: faculty, staff, students, alumni, administrators, members of the Board of Trustees, benefactors of the College and Jesuits. Each contributor reflects on the readings prescribed for the Mass of the day and while we hope that their own prayers help you to pray, we hope, too, that the reflections contained herein might also help you to return …

What Christians Need No Longer Defend: The Political Stakes Of Considering Antinomianism As Central To The Practice And History Of Theology, Colby Dickinson

Theology: Faculty Publications and Other Works

Through a brief history of antinomian thought within the modern period, and the inspection of two contemporary responses to the ‘antinomian impulse’, I refocus the antinomian debate as being, not necessarily a heretical endeavor, but rather a dialectic between history and memory, structure and experience. Rather than portray antinomianism as a threat to the system which needs to be removed, perhaps we can learn to perceive it as a ‘weak messianic force’ moving through all constituted (religious) identities, not, then, as the end of ‘Christianity’ as an organized religion, but its original proclamation, ever in need of greater reformation.

Why Teach Theology?, Susan Ross

Theology: Faculty Publications and Other Works

No abstract provided.

Answering Your Question: The Bible And Traditional Beliefs, Benjamin J. Lappenga

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

"Christians must acknowledge that our readings of Scripture are subject to criteria for determining their validity."

Posting about ­­­­­­­­Biblical interpretation from In All Things - an online hub committed to the claim that the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ has implications for the entire world.

http://inallthings.org/answering-your-question-the-bible-and-traditional-beliefs/

Answering Your Question: Tension Between Science And Genesis, Neal Deroo

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

"Before we can meaningfully engage with interpretations of Genesis, it may be helpful to think more about the nature of Biblical authority: how is the Bible authoritative, and what does it mean to be obedient to that authority?"

Posting about the issue of origins and the age of the earth from In All Things - an online hub committed to the claim that the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ has implications for the entire world.

http://inallthings.org/answering-your-question-tension-between-science-and-genesis/

Cultivating A Religionless Social Imaginary: Youth Ministry In A Secular Age, Jason Lief

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

"Is there any hope for those who have abandoned the church and the beliefs of their youth? More importantly, how will the Christian community engage those who turn their back on religious belief and practice?"

This paper will argue that the response and focus of the Christian community should not be to call young people back to the church, or to traditional forms of Christianity, instead the Christian community must embrace a radical form of secularity that is the outworking of protestant Christianity. This is a form of Christianity that navigates a middle road between the two idealist positions: much …

The Trinity: Paradigm For Mission In The Spirit, A. H. Mathias Zahniser

Papers

No abstract provided.

Ladders, Fr. Randy Roche

Spiritual Essays

No abstract provided.

The Absolving Word : Luther's Reformational Turn, Matthew W. Mccormick

Master of Theology Theses

No abstract provided.

Menorah Review (No. 82, Winter/Spring, 2015)

Menorah Review

Books in Brief -- Conservative Judaism at a Crossroads? -- Franz and Edith Rosenzweig: Hero and Heroine -- Have You Heard This One? -- Judaism in Israel -- Moreshet: Guide for the Perplexed by Moses Maimonides -- My Friend and I -- They Will Revere His Glory in the East (Isaiah 59:19) -- Zachor

Study Guide For Dietrich Bonhoeffer's "Life Together", Kerry Irish

Faculty Publications - Department of History and Politics

"The study begins with a short essay on Bonhoeffer’s life that explains the context of his work, especially Life Together. The study guide is organized in five parts, easily read in weekly installments. There is also a short conclusion."

Deep In The Burbs : A Participatory Action Research Project Exploring How The Social Trinity Impacts Spiritual Formation In Suburban Elca Congregations, Steven P. Thomason

Doctor of Philosophy Theses

Deep in the Burbs is a participatory action research project that gathered members from three upper-Midwest suburban ELCA congregations to explore how engagement with the social Trinity might impact the research team’s ideation or praxis of spiritual formation. The research team pursued this question through the practice of Dwelling in the Word—specifically in select passages from the Upper Room Discourse (John 13-17)—various modalities of communicative learning, and communicative action projects in the community. The data indicate three major themes that became important to the research team: the essential nature of relationships, the necessity of reflection, and the awareness of the …

“Leonard Swidler’S Influence On The Work Of An American Evangelical And On Romanian Academia.”, Michael Jones

Faculty Publications and Presentations

No abstract provided.

The Resurrection Of Jesus: A Clinical Review Of Psychiatric Hypotheses For The Biblical Story Of Easter, Joseph Bergeron, Gary R. Habermas

Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary (1973-2015)

Jesus’ resurrection to bodily life after death by crucifixion is foundational to orthodox Christianity. The disciples had encounters with Jesus after his crucifixion which caused them to believe he had been bodily resurrected to life again. Psychiatric hypotheses have been proposed as naturalistic explanations for his disciples’ beliefs, which include hallucinations, conversion disorder, and bereavement experiences. Since they propose hallucinatory symptoms that suggest the presence of underlying medical pathology, clinical appraisal of these hypotheses for the disciples’ encounters with the resurrected Jesus is warranted. Psychiatric hypotheses for the disciples’ belief in Jesus’ resurrection are found to be inconsistent with current …

Why William Rowe’S Argument From Natural Evil Fails, Douglas Taylor

Other Graduate Scholarship

Atheists in the vein of William Rowe have put forth arguments suggesting that the presence of evil counts against the existence of God. In particular, Rowe has advanced two lines of reasoning for his position, one being taken from an actual historical case of moral evil, and one case being a hypothetical natural evil. This paper seeks to interact with the proffered fictitious case whereby Rowe contends that even nature argues against the existence of God. If it is possible to demonstrate that Rowe’s argumentation fails, namely that if a greater good can be identified in relation to his submitted …

Stop Worrying About The Millennials*: *And Learn To Love Them Instead, Andrew Root

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.