Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons^™

A Christian Case For Racial Reparations, Daniel Philpott

The Journal of Social Encounters

National healing for the persistent wounds of racism, America’s original sin, can be advanced through a national apology, reparations and forgiveness. The frequent practice of apologies and reparations around the world in the past generation provide precedent for such measures. Christianity’s teaching of reconciliation and accompanying notions of sin, repentance, forgiveness, and atonement provide a strong moral basis for these measures and resonate with the rationales through which the United States’s greatest champions of civil rights and equality have fought against racism and slavery. Because racism and slavery were supported with the sanction of the state, in the name of …

Ecological Solidarity And Sustainable Development In Africa, Ambrose Esigbemi Umetietie

The Journal of Social Encounters

Today we are faced with a challenge that calls for a shift in our thinking, so that humanity stops threatening its life support system. We are called to assist the Earth to heal her wounds and in the process heal our own ... This will happen if we see the need to revive our sense of belonging to a larger family of life (Maathai, 2010). According to John Paul II, the “threat of ecological breakdown is teaching us the extent to which greed and selfishness - both individual and collective - are contrary to the order of creation, an order …

Rethinking 2 Peter 3:10–13: An Exposition Of This Millennial Restoration And Eternal State Telescoping Prophecy, Robert H. Franklin

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Second Peter 3:10–13 is one of the most debated passages in Scripture. Understandably, the text concerns eschatology which evokes diverse perspectives. Accordingly, this dissertation will research two majority views on 2 Peter 3:10–13 and one minority view on 2 Peter 3:10–13 for which there is evidence that it was held by a few ante-Nicene fathers. After the ante-Nicene era, expositors have almost universally interpreted 2 Peter 3:10–13 as a single meaning prophecy pertaining entirely to the eternal state. A common agreement in the two majority views on 2 Peter 3:10–13 is that fire will be the means that God will …

Biblical Illiteracy In The Context Of Christian Apologetics: A Response To A Growing Concern At Faith Baptist Church Of Tyler Texas, Maurice F. Mcmillion

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This thesis project addresses Biblical Illiteracy in the context of Christian Apologetics: A response to a growing concern at Faith Baptist Church of Tyler, Texas. The focal point of this project is to rectify Biblical Illiteracy in the Context of Christian Apologetics. Pastors across America have not identified that their congregations are uninformed on the basics of Christian Apologetics. This doctoral thesis project aims to give Pastors a structured format for reducing biblical illiteracy in Christian Apologetics with their congregation by providing a curriculum that can be taught and assessed. The methodological approach will be a focus group intervention. This …

Queer Crises: Movements From Queerness And Feelings Of White Religion In The United States, Austin Williams Miller

Communication ETDs

Anchored by contemporary crises surrounding queer and trans people in the United States, I employ movements from queerness within an affective queer phenomenological framework to understand how arrangements of “white religion” (Schaefer, 2015, p. 63), a process whereby U.S. American Christian forms escape ideology into religious affective economies in the United States, relegate queer people “to the background… to sustain a certain direction” (Ahmed, 2006, p. 31). I assemble a queer rhetorical context analyzing white religious space in documentary film, secular sexual regulation through contemporary U.S. legal contexts around marriage, and settler colonial Christian nationalist political imaginations to critique how …

The Decalogue Of Justice: A Covenantal Application Of Biblical Justice, Andrew Mark Adil

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This dissertation aims to establish a biblical theology of justice (מִשְׁפָּט), ascertaining the commands and references to justice in Scripture are comprehensively and exclusively rooted in the Moral Law of the Torah, summarized in the Ten Commandments, and embedded in the Covenant of Grace (Old and New), making it binding on New Covenant believers and inextricably attached to the church’s Great Commission mandate. To this end, the study examines the concept of justice in the OT and the Moral Law, contrasting Reformed evangelical hermeneutics with the modern iteration of Liberation Theology in connection with the application of biblical justice. Additionally, …

(Dis)Locating Meaning: Toward A Hermeneutical Response In Education To Religiously Inspired Extremism, Farid Panjwani

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

A key epistemological assumption in the ideologies of many of the groups termed extremist is that there is an unmediated access to a Divine Will. Driven by this assumption, and facilitated by several other factors, a range of coercive actions (including violence) to force others into submission to the perceived Will of God are seen as justified by some of these groups. A consideration of how religion is discussed in various contexts, from seminaries and schools to media and policy discourses, shows that this assumption about unmediated access to Divine Will is widely shared and that most children grow up …

The Warning Passages In Hebrews: Exhortations Written Using Deliberative Rhetoric To A Community Of Faith, Edgardo Rafael Báez

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Different interpretative approaches (historical-cultural, social-scientific, intertextual, oral-critical, rhetorical) and methodologies are applied when the so-called warning passages in the book of Hebrews get interpreted. Inevitably, these different interpretative methodologies have created different perspectives or views that the original author may not have intended and that the audience may not have gathered. The author of Hebrews was seeking to help the audience of his writings understand a new position through his extensive use of the Greek word κρείττων (kreittōn). Similarly, a Greek background is also evident because of the tremendous use of classical rhetoric within the Epistle. In addition, it is …

A Hermeneutic Phenomenological Study Exploring Leadership Efficacy: Understanding The Impact Of Shame In Christian Leaders, Matthew James Williamson

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This hermeneutic phenomenological study explored the Christian leader’s experience of shame within organizations and its impact on their leadership efficacy. For this study, shame is defined as a deep sense of internal, negative pressure that typically elicits a subconscious desire to suppress or deflect. Since every organizational leadership role has a degree of accountability, emotional risk is potentially present in all negotiable interactions. This paper investigated the social/cultural encouragement of shame and potential avoidance of shame when emotional risk and failure are perceived. Brené Brown’s (2006) Shame Resilience Theory inspired this study. This theory is aligned with the purpose of …

Apologetics And Popular Culture Phenomena: A Critique Of Ted Turnau's Method Concerning Anime, Matthew Hunter Hamilton

Masters Theses

Limited work has been performed in the field of Christian apologetics and popular culture, much less the intersection between anime and Christian apologetics. One scholar who has attempted to broach this gap has been Ted Turnau, who has developed a five-step diagnostic method for apologetically engaging popular culture phenomena. However, his method contains key flaws. Using the work of Thomas Lamarre, a scholar in the field of anime studies, a central contention will be made: that the material and technology of anime have processes that affect how viewers inhabit and orient themselves in the world, which in turn influences their …

A Theistic Critique Of Secular Moral Nonnaturalism, Dale Eugene Kratt

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This dissertation is an exercise in Theistic moral apologetics. It will be developing both a critique of secular nonnaturalist moral theory (moral Platonism) at the level of metaethics, as well as a positive form of the moral argument for the existence of God that follows from this critique. The critique will focus on the work of five prominent metaethical theorists of secular moral non-naturalism: David Enoch, Eric Wielenberg, Russ Shafer-Landau, Michael Huemer, and Christopher Kulp. Each of these thinkers will be critically examined. Following this critique, the positive moral argument for the existence of God will be developed, combining a …

A Companion Guide For The Discipleship To Missional Community (D2mc) Program, Jedidiah T. Maschke

Doctor of Ministry Major Applied Project

This Doctor of Ministry (DMin.) Major Applied Project (MAP) offers a companion guide for the discipleship training program called D2MC (Discipleship to Missional Community) taught by PLI, a leadership development organization that works primarily with the LCMS. The D2MC program is based on the training pioneered by Mike Breen through 3DM. The companion guide shows how the methods and practices taught by PLI are soundly based in Scripture and confessional Lutheran theology and offers some personal insights and devotional thoughts. The companion guide was distributed and field tested with volunteer participants through and with the approval of PLI. Participants in …

Restoration Quarterly: Vol. 65, No. 3

Restoration Quarterly

PDF of the cover of Restoration Quarterly: Vol. 65, No. 3.

This repository hosts selected Restoration Quarterly articles in downloadable PDF format. For the benefit of users who would like to browse the contents of RQ, we have included all issue covers even when full-text articles from that issue are unavailable. All Restoration Quarterly articles are available in full text in the ATLA Religion Database, available through most university and theological libraries or through your local library’s inter-library loan service.

Review Of "Come, Lord Jesus", H. Michael Shultz Jr.

Liberty Theological Review

This review examines John Piper's 2023 Come, Lord Jesus. The book is shown to be a valuable contribution to the broader eschatological field, and a particular contribution to the Historic Premillennialist camp.

The Influence Of The Gospels Of Matthew And Luke On Carl F. H. Henry’S Kingdom Theology, Michael Cunningham

Liberty Theological Review

Carl F.H. Henry was a leading theologian of American Evangelicalism and prominent voice in the Neo Evangelical movement of the twentieth century. His prominent book The Uneasy Conscience of Modern Fundamentalism (1947) persuaded conservative evangelicals to avoid the separatist inclinations of fundamentalism. He, instead, championed a biblically based brand of cultural engagement rooted in the kingdom theology found in the Gospels. Harnessing the “Already, but not yet” view of the kingdom popularized by Herman Ridderbos and George Ladd, Henry effectively engaged culture during a tumultuous twentieth century. This paper will begin with a survey of the historical legacy of Carl …

Platonism’S Influence On The Hermeneutic Of Augustine: Exploring The Philosophical Roots Of Augustine’S Interpretive Approach, Kent T. Maitland

Liberty Theological Review

This paper contends that Augustine was a significant contributor to the “Spiritual Vision Model” of the Christian conception of heaven described by Craig Blaising. This model is premised on the Platonic understanding of perfection in which the soul unites with the Good, and heaven is primarily a cognitive state in which the individual possesses perfect spiritual knowledge. This model also provides a rational basis for favoring a figurative or spiritualized interpretation of Scripture over its literal meaning. Augustine’s early life and conversion reflects a commitment to the SVM’s Platonic ideals, as demonstrated in his deference to Cicero, his journey into …

Moralistic Therapeutic Deism: A Classical Critique, Michael W. Cunningham

Liberty Theological Review

In 2005, American sociologist Christian Smith coined the term “Moralistic Therapeutic Deism” in his book, Soul Searching, The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers. At the time, this phenomenon was heralded as a new “religion” for emerging generations, yet it ascribes to no formal text, deity, or doctrine. It serves as a self-focused compilation of secular philosophy, politics, culture, and spirituality flavored with fragments from popular religions. While there is no formal MTD doctrine, there are five affirmations: (1) A God exists who created and ordered the world and watches over human life on Earth, (2) God wants …

King Charles' Character Education: His Australian School, Now And Then, Elizabeth Summerfield

The Journal of Values-Based Leadership

As a 17 year old in 1966, the then Prince Charles, spent two terms at Geelong Grammar School in Victoria, Australia. He described the experience as the best part of his secondary schooling, and formative of his character. The School was founded in the 1850s as an educational institution of the Anglican Church. By the twenty-first century it became a leading exponent globally of the Positive Education (PE) movement, which has its foundation in Positive Psychology (PP). Critics of PE have argued that it diminishes, even supersedes, the tenets of the School’s Anglican tradition. This paper tests the School’s assertion …

Biraha, Atreyee Majumder

Articles

Excerpt:

'The followers of Swami Shri Haridasji live in the sand-laden compound of Tatiasthan and assemble in song with devotees from the general public every evening. This musical tradition is called samaaj gaayan. They first sing facing the deity and then turn to their teacher, who arrives at the assembly a little later. Mobile phones and other technology are strictly forbidden.

This poem is an out-take from my ongoing ethnographic research in Vrindavan—the sacred geography of Krishna worship in the Bhakti tradition in northern India. This poem came from the evenings spent in the Tatiasthan shrine watching evening musical performances, …

The Fall And Rise Of Bengali Muslim Conciousness: Conceptualising The Identity Of The Bangla Universal, Habib Khan

Theses and Dissertations

The emergence of modern-nation states saw the end of the empirical era of exploitation and exercise of inherent racist tendencies towards the 'other'. However, the effect of that colonial system is still ever-present in the creation and governance of these newly independent states. While every new state aims to be 'modern', they adopt the international legal framework of the West as their own - a system they had initially wanted to escape. The concept of Muslim universality in the form of the ummah should have freed Pakistan from the shackles of its former colonial masters. Instead, this phenomenon was replaced …