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Full Issue Spiritus 8.1 (2023), [email protected]

Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology

No abstract provided.

Pop Spirituality In The Context Of Nepal, Kalinda Benson

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

In this research report, Pop Spirituality in the Context of Nepal, I look to add clarity to what it means to be “spiritual” and how that has been applied historically in context of Nepal. This paper focuses on what has led up to our modern day perceptions on spirituality. In the first section of the paper, I briefly describe what I mean when I say, “pop spirituality” or a “modern spirituality.” I define spirituality and how it differs from religion, a religion, and what secularization is. I want to acknowledge that there are many types of spirituality that exist of …

Natalia, Dereck Daschke

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of Natalia (2023), directed by Elizabeth Mirzaei.

Under G-D, Dereck Daschke

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of Under G-d (2022), directed by Paula Eiselt.

A Still Small Voice, Dereck Daschke

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of A Still Small Voice (2023), directed by Luke Lorentzen.

The Pod Generation, Dereck Daschke

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of The Pod Generation (2023), directed by Sophie Barthes.

Plan C, Dereck Daschke

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of PLAN C (2023), directed by Tracy Droz Tragos.

Onyx The Fortuitous And The Talisman Of Souls, Dereck Daschke

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of Onyx the Fortuitous and the Talisman of Souls (2023), directed by Andrew Bowser.

Smoke Sauna Sisterhood, Dereck Daschke

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of Smoke Sauna Sisterhood (2023), directed by Anna Hints.

Divinity, Dereck Daschke

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of Divinity (2023), directed by Eddie Alcazar.

Beyond Film: #Mejew: Antisemitism, Authentic Representation And Jewish Identity In Hollywood, Dereck Daschke

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a report on the Sundance Film Festival panel from the BEYOND FILM program: "#MeJew: Antisemitism, Authentic Representation and Jewish Identity in Hollywood" which occurred in Park City on January 22, 2023.

Mamacruz, Dereck Daschke

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of MAMACRUZ (2023), directed by Patricia Ortega.

Aum: The Cult At The End Of The World, Dereck Daschke

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of AUM: The Cult at the End of the World (2023), directed by Ben Braun and Chiaki Yanagimoto.

First Christian Voices: Practices Of The Apostolic Fathers, Michael T. Cooper

Sacred Roots Spiritual Classics

What were the most important practices in the early church? In this volume, Michael Cooper arranges the writings of the Apostolic Fathers into eight themes that provide deeper understanding about the subjects important to the disciples of the New Testament apostles.

First Christian Voices examines the written testimonies of the late first and second centuries to discover what animated the church in the face of internal and external struggles and growth as the gospel extended to the boundaries of the Roman Empire.

Til Valhall: The Formation Of Nordic Neopagan Identity, Religiosity, And Community At A Norwegian Heavy Metal Festival, Padraic M. Fitzgerald

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A major draw of Nordic Neopaganism is the great degree of personal freedom practitioners have in the construction and performance of their spiritual identity. Nordic Neopaganism has no central hierarchy or unifying dogmatic system to dictate such endeavors. Instead, practitioners draw from the tradition’s body of “lore” -- the historical accounts, archaeological records, pre-Christian myths, folklore, and folk traditions from the Nordic cultural area -- to inform their religiosity. The works of visual artists, musicians, and scholar-practitioners inspired by elements of this body of lore serve to further constitute it. This lore provides the basis and inspiration for religious identity …

Faithful Democracy: Synthesising Religious And Political Practice In The Sydney Alliance, Rosemary Hancock

IES Papers and Journal Articles

This article examines the role religious institutions, communities, and individuals might play in democratising 21st-century cities. Based on participatory action research with the Sydney Alliance, a broad-based community organisation in Sydney, Australia, I examine how a civil society coalition attempts to draw religious communities into the political life of the city, the way religious culture and space shapes the political culture of the coalition, and the challenges faced by the coalition in working across religious and nonreligious difference. I argue that political coalitions like the Sydney Alliance that work across diverse worldviews are pulled in two different directions: the effort …

The Christian Liberal Arts Tradition Can Appeal To Christians And Non-Christians Alike, Joseph Clair

Faculty Publications - George Fox School of Theology

College and university professors in the liberal arts (humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences) are almost entirely left-leaning, liberal, or progressive, and this is especially true among faculty in the humanities and social sciences. The trend is even more pronounced in certain selective schools. Students who attend liberal arts colleges or universities often adopt more liberal or progressive points of view as a result of their education. There are many great literary depictions of this transformation and the ensuing alienation that often results when such students return home from college. (My favorite is in Flannery O’Connor’s short story “Revelation,” where …

Toward A Greater Appreciation Of The Word Adieu In Jacob 7:27, Godfrey J. Ellis

Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship

The phrase “Brethren, adieu” (Jacob 7:27) has been criticized over the years as an obvious anachronism in the Book of Mormon. That criticism holds no validity whatsoever, as others have pointed out, since many English words have French origins. It’s worth considering, though, a deeper meaning of the word. In French, it carries a nuance of finality — that the separation will last until a reunion following death (à Dieu, or until God). This deeper meaning of adieu appears to have been known by Shakespeare and frontier Americans although the second meaning is not generally recognized by English speakers today. …

Show Us How You Do It, Jonathan Underwood

Tenor of Our Times

Published in 2008, Edward J. Robinson’s Show Us How You Do It: Marshall Keeble and the Rise of Black Churches of Christ in the United States, 1914-1968 poses a thesis that Marshall Keeble had such a strong impact on the formation of African American Churches of Christ in the twentieth century because of his willingness to work alongside white supporters of his ministry, thus making two fellowships within the Churches of Christ that reflected the broader racial, social, and religious context of the United States. Robinson accomplishes defending his thesis by first describing Keeble's upbringing and influences in the church. …

Kirtan In The Americas: Music And Spirituality In A Transcultural Whirlpool, Gustavo Moura

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Kirtan (Sanskrit: कीर्तन; IAST: Kīrtana) is a broad term referring to various forms of devotional singing commonly done in South Asian traditions. It is a core practice in the Hindu and Sikh faiths that is becoming increasingly popular around the world among people of all ethnicities. Beyond its expected propagation within Hindu and Sikh diasporas, kirtan is also spreading among members of new religious movements such as ISKCON and the 3HO/Sikh Dharma, who may engage in this practice as part of their daily cultivation. Even more broadly, a form of what has been called “neokirtan” has been gaining popularity in …

Representation Of Religious Minorities In Lithuanian Confessional Education, Iveta Klimavičiūtė

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

This article analyzes the situation of religious minorities in a Christian dominated sociopolitical environment in Lithuania through the confessional religious education (RE) system. Representation of religious minorities based on confessional model thus raises questions on majority and minority religions’ coexistence, whilst the latter neither legally, nor normatively experience such linkage with the State as majorified religion does. The empirical part of the study, based on content analysis of curricula and teaching aids, reveals that although tolerance of other religions is mentioned, there is also a visible hegemony of the Roman Catholic Church, and of Christianity in general. Non-traditional religious communities …

Christian Denominations On The Territory Of Ukraine In The First Half Of The 20th Century (1900-1939), Fedir Prodanyuk

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The article examines the state of Christian denominations in the territory of Ukraine in the first half of the 20th century. It has been established that the Christian religion occupied an important place in the life of Ukrainian society. However, the period of prosperity and oppression simultaneously fell in the first 40 years of the 20th century. The confessional policy of the Soviet Union, which came to replace the tsarist authorities, gave a limited privileged position for some Christian churches while creating harsh conditions for other denominations. As a rule, these were Protestant movements, but the Orthodox Church also experienced …

Review: Don Argott, Dir. Keep Sweet. 44 Blue Productions, 2021., Stephanie Griswold

Mormon Studies Review

The recent documentary Keep Sweet, directed by Don Argott and produced by Glenn Meehan (not to be confused with the 2022 Netflix documentary Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey), recounts the producer’s experiences meeting members of the historically Fundamentalist Mormon community in Southern Utah known as Short Creek. The film is advertised as “rare access to current FLDS members” from “a producer embedded for over a decade.” The film follows the producer, Meehan, as he meets ex-members and followers of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (FLDS) and depicts their experiences with the changes in their …

Reivew: Mark S. Diamond And Andrew C. Reed, Eds. Understanding Covenants And Communities: Jews And Latter-Day Saints In Dialogue. Provo, Utah: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, In Cooperation With The Central Conference Of American Rabbis, New York, 2020., Yaakov Ariel

Mormon Studies Review

Scholars, students, and religious leaders who take interest in interfaith dialogues, and especially in the interactions between Latter- day Saints and Jews, will welcome Understanding Covenants and Communities: Jews and Latter-day Saints in Dialogue. The compilation demonstrates both a continuation of and a breakthrough in the long history of the exchanges between the two communities of faith.

Mai Bhago And Amrita Devi Bishnoi: Women Of Strength, Sowmya Ayyar

Monsoon: South Asian Studies Association Journal

Mai Bhago (1670-1720), also known as Bhag Kaur, distinguished herself on the battlefield to defend the Sikh faith. Amrita Devi Bishnoi (d. 1730) is said to have sacrificed her life with 362 others to protect the Khejari trees in the Rajasthan desert. Both women continue to inspire social justice and ecological activism.

Organizing (Eternal) Identity And Identification: An Upward Glance Into Religious Institutions, Casey M. Stratton

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This dissertation disrupts at least two religious spaces: First, scholars religiously adhering to (social) scientific norms, and second, people identifying with religious organizations (i.e., churches). First, we begin constructing a theoretical lens using poststructural ideas offered by Foucault, Derrida, and Bakhtin to read and disrupt (religious) discourse. Second, we complicate organizational identification as a concept, deeming it fixed and fluid—a paradox within religious discourses that endorse Truth and Perfection. Here, we draw from the communication constitutes organization (CCO) approach. Third, we further curate the lens by applying poststructuralism, identification, and CCO in a specific context: The Church of Jesus Christ …

Raj Karega Khalsa! - The Evolution Of The Sikh Identity, Vineet Mehmi

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Generally, religion has served as a method of creating a unique identity and history for many groups across history. This concept is especially true for the Sikh community, to the point that they have carved their own niche across the different places they inhabit in the world, whether that be their homeland of Panjab or their extensive population in places like Canada or the United Kingdom. However, this expansion and development of their culture did not come without a cost, formed through countless battles, martyrdom, and revolutions. Chardi Kala, a foundational idea in Sikhi that refers to eternal optimism even …

The Book Of Revelation In Nafe (Kwamera): William Watt’S Translations And Loanwords, Lamont Lindstrom

Pacific Studies

William Watt, Presbyterian missionary on Tanna (1869–1910), published a Nafe (Kwamera) language translation of the KJV New Testament in 1890. He had earlier produced Kwamera versions of the Gospels as soon as linguistic skills permitted, but the full New Testament translation was not completed until the late 1880s and printed in Glasgow during a mission leave (1889–1890). Watt worked with island pundits, and he relied on his wife Agnes’s linguistic expertise. Revelation’s allusions and obscurities presented significant difficulties of translation. I offer a close reading of Watt’s translated book of Revelation—Nari Kenamsasani (sasani means “display”)—tracking his grammatical choices, his …

Vol. 45 No. 2 (2022): Pacific Studies Full Issue, The Jonathan Nāpela Center For Hawaiian And Pacific Islands Studies

Pacific Studies

Pacific Studies is published two times a year by The Jonathan Nāpela Center for Hawaiian and Pacific Studies, Brigham Young University Hawai‘i #1979, 55–220 Kulanui Street, Lāʻie, Hawai‘i 96762, but responsibility for opinions expressed in the articles rests with the authors alone. Subscription rate is US$40.00 yearly, payable to The Jonathan Nāpela Center for Hawaiian and Pacific Studies. The Jonathan Nāpela Center for Hawaiian and Pacific Studies (formerly The Pacific Institute) is an organization funded by Brigham Young University Hawai‘i. The Center assists the University in meeting its cultural and educational goals by undertaking a program of teaching, research, and …

Review Of The Routledge Handbook Of Pentecostal Theology, Tabitha Turpin

Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology

The Routledge Handbook of Pentecostal Theology. Edited by Wolfgang Vondey. New York, NY: Routledge, 2020. 464 pp.