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An Examination Of Biblical Archaeology’S Impact On Exegetical And Theological Method With Attendant Case Study, Donald C. Mcintyre

Liberty Theological Review

The chief concern of this paper is to examine how one can integrate archaeological data into the exegetical and theological processes so that one might profitably learn how to understand and rightly apply the text. This paper will argue that archaeology informs the exegetical process through providing historical and literary context to the study of the Bible when properly understood, and that it can also be useful in the theological process as one seeks to rightly integrate illumination from other sources. After an analysis of how archaeology can be rightly integrated in the exegetical and theological processes the paper will …

Why Edmund Burke Is Important, Keith C. Sewell

Pro Rege

No abstract provided.

Praying For The South: Catholics And The Confederacy, Thomas Richardson

Masters Theses, 2020-current

This thesis examines the distinctiveness of Southern Catholic support of the Confederacy during the American Civil War, with a geographic emphasis on Virginian Catholics. During the antebellum decades, the Catholic Church in America thrived despite facing increasing hostility from the largely-Protestant United States. In response to these challenges, Catholics learned to support their state and federal governments whenever and wherever they could as a means to defuse anti-Catholic attacks. This led Catholics to condone (and involve themselves in) American racialized slavery, even after the Church itself condemned the practice. Seen in this light, Catholics who fought for and supported the …

Growing A Megachurch Staff's Discipleship Understanding, Michael A. Wooton

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Peter, The Apostle To The Gentiles? First Peter’S New Covenant Missional Strategy To Bless The Nations, Cole Victor Laing

Masters Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to further develop the message of First Peter within the context of the Apostle Peter’s life and witness. The majority of modern scholars suggest that First Peter is written to a predominantly Gentile audience. This begs the question as to why the apostle to the circumcised (Gal. 2:7) writes to a group of Gentile believers. The study aims to show that Peter, in fact, played a significant role in the earliest church’s mission to the Gentiles. Peter’s exhortation in his first epistle is to a group of believers who are suffering because of their …

A Pneumatological Theology And Christological Philosophy Of Church Conflict For The Post-Pandemic Western Church To Outlive, Outlast, And Outlove, Scott Bowman

Doctor of Ministry (DMin)

Church conflict is increasingly at the forefront of denominations as they suffer internal and external conflict. The need to develop a better perspective and manage relationships in church conflict may depend on the church’s theology. The research of this project seeks to establish a pneumatological theology in dialogue with family systems theory and Christological philosophy of church conflict. The theology of church conflict is divided into four sections: reason, experience, history, and scripture. The Christological philosophy centers on Jesus’ conflicts as every passage in the book of Luke is examined through the lens of conflict. A contextually transferrable Spirit-empowered theology …

The Shimmering Cathedral: Extraordinary Spiritual Experiences And The Meaning We Make Of Them, Seth Daniel Jones

Doctor of Ministry

This project portfolio presents the formational work for a book about Extraordinary Spiritual Experiences (ESEs). The project seeks to create a spiritual cartography which helps guide clergy, professionals, interested persons, and experiencers as they navigate ESEs and the subsequent process of making meaning from such experiences, particularly in the context of Christian faith, but by no means limited to it. By way of a novel exploration of the structure of an ESE event and stories from scripture, it is hoped that pathways for creating a safe space to share ESEs in group settings will blossom. In the context of the …

The Pauline Tradition, Benjamin L. White

Publications

No abstract provided.

Adventist Culture In The Ussr, Dmitrii Fokin

Master's Theses

Any religion, including Christianity, is not only a system of beliefs and doctrines, but also patterns of behavior that make up a certain culture of its followers. The degree of development of religious culture and involvement in it largely determines the self-identification of members of communities of various denominations. It can be expressed through the following markers: everyday behavior, the presence of specific vocabulary, the formation of oral, musical, visual and written creativity of a particular religious movement. This is true of Seventh-day Adventist culture as well.

Statement of the Problem

However, to date there is no full-fledged study on …

Memory, Trauma, And Religious Identity, Petro Kotliarov, Valentyna Kuryliak, Stefaniia Demchuk

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The so-called ‘memorial turn’ triggered a huge shift in historical studies of the late 20th century. It brought into focus stories of the ‘small people’ previously left out from the ‘grand narrative.’ For post-Soviet countries, the memorial turn can be perceived as an indicator of changes in society associated with the opportunity and interest of previously oppressed social groups and religious movements in finding their "roots," when the reconstruction of personal history becomes the history of the church and strengthens collective identity. In this essay, we attempted at reconstructing the traumatic history of the "little" people in the context of …

Unbelief And Revolution And Challenging The Spirit Of Modernity (Book Review), Keith C. Sewell

Pro Rege

Reviewed Titles: Unbelief and Revolution by Guilllaume Groen Van Prinsterer, translated by Harry Van Dyke. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2018. 267 pp. ISBN: 9781683592280. Challenging the Spirit of Modernity: A Study of Groen Van Prinsterer's Unbelief and Revolution by Harry Van Dyke. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2018. 345 pp. ISBN: 9781683593201.

Women In Religio-Cultural History: A Reflection On Their Representation In Hugo Hinfelaar’S Scholarly Work In Zambia,1960s To 1990s, Nelly Mwale, Joseph Chita

Zambia Social Science Journal

Although Catholic missionary historians have contributed to the writing of Zambia’s many histories, the attempt at documenting women’s place in religio-cultural history in the country has been overshadowed by the prominence of masculine histories. Using the example of Hugo Hinfelaar who captures women’s histories in his scholarly work, this article explores the representation of the place of women in the religio-cultural history of Zambia in order to highlight Hinfelaar’s contributions to the study of women and to Zambia’s religio-cultural history. Informed by African feminist theory, it draws on a historical study which utilises document review and analyses the data through …

Reviewing Called To Teach: Excellence, Commitment, And Community In Christian Higher Education, Nathan French

Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning for Christians in Higher Education

No abstract provided.

The Forgotten Disciples: The Faithful Witness Of Women In Early Christianity, Jessica C. Hughes

Liberty Theological Review

At its earliest, Christianity is a religion of respect and dignity for women. This paper examines the experience and contributions of women to Christianity, beginning at the time of Christ and continuing to through to approximately 300 A.D., or shortly before the Nicene Creed was developed. This paper demonstrates the way the church, from the outset, has largely relied on the contributions and gifts of women in order to fulfill its mission. This paper then applies this historic context to the American church in issues of life and gender, concluding that it is the recognition and partnership with women, not …

The Glory Of The Lord Whose Likeness Is As The Appearance Of A Human Being/Adam: A Study Of Ezekiel’S Son Of Man/Adam Anthropology, Timothy R. Schmeling

School of Theology and Seminary Graduate Papers/Theses

Ezekiel has often been criticized as a dehumanizing book. Still it is alternative humanisms that have done so much to dehumanize mankind with the totalitarianism of self-deifying individualism or the totalitarianism of collectively-imposed manmade metanarratives. Far from being a dehumanizing book, the objective of the son of man/Adam is certainly to purge his hearers of all anthropologies of autonomy and license, but this Adamic priestly prophet does this to eschatologically resurrect in them an anthropology of dependence and true freedom. Reasserting the creation theology and anthropology of Genesis, Ezekiel insists that authentic humanism, Edenic humanism (i.e., the original humanism), is …

Global Poverty And Transnational Pentecostalism In The Middle East, Eric N. Newberg

Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology

Driven by the impact of global poverty, large numbers of documented and undocumented workers from Eastern Europe, Asia, and Africa have migrated to countries in the Middle East. Many of these migrant workers are Pentecostals. The article provides a survey of Pentecostalism in the Middle East and reports on the findings of ethnographic research on transnational Pentecostals in the Levant and the Arabian Peninsula. Compelled by the pressures of globalization, these migrants find better economic prospects as contract workers than they could as free laborers in their home countries. Transnational Pentecostals in the Middle East derive spiritual, social, economic, and …

Songs For The Journey: The Music Of Pilgrimage, Joshua Taylor

Doctor of Pastoral Music Projects and Theses

Pilgrimage has been a part of Christian experience since biblical times. Creating new stories, pilgrimage affords sacred travelers experiences that transcend nationalism, denominational identity, and cultural borders melding their individual constructs of meaning with communal experiences to create new insights. On these pilgrimages, music has played a significant role in the development of community. While pilgrimage is an independent act, it is also a shared existence with other pilgrims with music serving as a bridge between these two realities. With an estimated 100 million people undertaking pilgrimages at the beginning of the twenty-first century, the rediscovery of pilgrimage, and the …

Charismatic And Expository Preaching: A Case Study Of Two Preaching Methods Within The Local Church, Lewis D. Mathis

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Preaching by far is the primary tool used within the Body of Christ to spread the gospel throughout the world and draw people to the ecclesia (church). For centuries the fundamental approach to heralding the Word of God has been rooted in expository preaching. This theologically sound approach has been shadowed by the rise of the Charismatic Movement and its preaching. Therefore, this thesis project study foci will be on "Charismatic and Expository Preaching: A Case Study of Two Preaching Methods within the Local Church." This study is necessary to determine if these two forms of preaching can co-exist or …

Shared Oversight: Equipping Elders To Shepherd The Flock, Eric Michael Hartman

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Leadership structures vary greatly across various faith traditions, but how much flexibility is biblically warranted? Far from being silent, the Bible is descriptive and prescriptive with regard to a plurality of leadership within a congregation. These elders, also called overseers, are to shepherd the flock (Acts 20:17, 28). The problem is that there is often lack training to that end. This study constructed a process for training elders and/or potential elders within a congregation to better understand the nature of plurality and parity of those tasked with caring for God’s people. The four training sessions covered the following: (1) The …

Biblical Concepts In Action: A Case For Discipleship In The Worship Ministry, Wendall D. Reed

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this qualitative historical study is to examine the discipleship of the worship ministry in the local church according to biblical principles of discipleship. Despite the biblical examples of discipleship benefits, worship ministry personnel are often not included in discipleship efforts from church leadership. The leadership and the congregation alike may assume their spiritual maturity. The preaching ministry and the worship ministry are the most public act of worship viewable by congregants. Some worship ministry volunteers and staff may feel they are expected to have already been discipled and may be reluctant to pursue discipleship engagement. This study …

How Bavinck Responds To The Challenges Of The Theory Of Evolution: The Primacy Of Biblical Revelation, Isaias D'Oleo Ochoa

CTS Student Publications and Creative Works

In his discussion of evolution, Bavinck offers a modified theory of development, rooted not under a mechanistic and naturalistic worldview, as Darwin does, but under a “theistic-friendly” framework. This article argues that Bavinck’s discussion of evolution as a whole endorses a modified Aristotelian/ Thomistic framework in order to understand the theory of development, and thus overcomes the challenges raised by Darwin’s naturalistic worldview to biblical revelation.

All Things New : A Theological And Exegetical Study Of Ḥādāš With Special Emphasis On Isaiah 40-48, Deborah Lynn Endean

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

All Victims Matter. Reconciliation Of The Balkan Faiths And Peoples: An Assessment Of Recent Progress, Vjekoslav Perica

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

Excerpt: "Overall, the recent progress toward reconciliation of the peoples and faiths in the Balkans is good news. The moderates within ruling nationalists’ ranks marginalized the extremists domestically and found support abroad, notably in the European Union, which is interested in fostering greater stability in the troubled southeastern periphery, as well as from the Vatican, both during the pontificate of John Paul II and under Pope Francis, with his ambitious ecumenical agenda concerning the Eastern Orthodox sister church."

Who Is Leading Our Churches In Worship And Are They Ready? A Study On Worship Leading In The Free Will Baptist Denomination, James Anthony Cooper Sr

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Since the institution of Old Testament-Temple corporate worship, there has been someone assigned the task of leading congregational worship. The Chronicler records King David’s divisions of the sons of Asaph to be “set apart for service…under the direction of their father in the music in the house of the Lord.”1 Although for some churches, a full-time, salaried position is not feasible or there may not be enough existing duties to justify a paid position. In this case, the responsibility of leading worship falls to a person in the congregation who might have any type of background in music or an …

Preaching And Teaching: An Integrative Evaluative Approach To Christian Practices At Fil-Am Sda Church, Ernst Jacques

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

In this thesis, biblical expository preaching is defined as the exegetical method that brings out the theological nuances of a narrative biblical passage in relation to content and context. Biblical expository preaching in the USA is facing a significant theological challenge as churches are becoming culturally diverse. Research has shown that theological understanding plays a great role in Christian spiritual formation; it has also shown that believers are generally more receptive to sermons that are contextualized. This thesis project aims to determine how biblical expository preaching can make sense to believers and spur them on to spiritual maturity in a …

Archaeology And Biblical Inspiration, Garry Leo Hill

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The thesis project topic is on Inspiration and Bible Archaeology. The project's main reason is a perceived lack of confidence in the Bible’s stories being real. The project addresses this worldview, which causes this belief to influence our church members. The study includes an explanation of the post-modern world view concerning the certainty of historical events. A Biblical viewpoint is addressed, and the relationship with this to Bible inspiration is explored. A survey is given to individual members of the congregation, which gives questions concerning these issues. Two interventions are then presented, one in which the debates concerning the United …

The Intergenerational Worship Model: Youth-Specific Benefits, James Alan Lott

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

King David declared that one generation should proclaim the goodness of the Lord to another, yet what David writes of cannot take place in an age-segregated setting. Multiple generations must be present. Much progress has been made regarding the church’s acknowledgment of the significance of an intergenerational worship (IGW) model. Though each generation is precious to God and created in His image, IGW holds considerable benefits for churched youth, as it is one of the few places in society where youth can intentionally connect with older generations. Despite the importance of youth engagement in IGW, there is a limited amount …

Experiencing God: Engaging Elementary-Aged Children In Corporate Worship, Laura Rushing Hancock

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The engagement of children in meaningful worship has been neglected, despite the investment of modern churches in essential safety protocols and digital media in children’s ministry. The twenty-first-century consumerist mindset is driving worship design, essentially undermining the worship leader’s role as the shepherd of a child-centered and Christ-focused approach. Many churches are neglecting the biblical instruction to cast vision and express value for children’s corporate worship. A sense of awe and wonder is notably absent in many corporate services designed for children. Drawing upon biblical principles, educational theory, and corporate worship practices throughout history, this qualitative historical study seeks to …

Jesus, The Last Scapegoat: A Chinese-Indonesian Christian Theological Imagination For Peacebuilding And Reconciliation, Hans Harmakaputra

The Journal of Social Encounters

After enduring the systematic oppression under Suharto’s three-decade regime (1967-1998) in Indonesia through discriminatory policies, Chinese-Indonesians suffered an enormous loss in the 1998 riots that signified the end of Suharto’s regime. Many Chinese-Indonesians were killed, raped, and displaced. A few years later, the new government abolished the discriminatory policies against Chinese-Indonesians, and they started to enjoy equality as citizens of Indonesia. However, negativities that resulted from the traumatic experiences cannot be diminished easily. This essay suggests a Chinese-Indonesian Christian theological imagination of Jesus’ crucifixion that aims to deal with communal trauma and contribute to the peacebuilding and reconciliation efforts. This …

Jesus's Son Of Man Strategy In Mark: The Allegorical "Idiomatic Vs. Messianic" Chess Match And Lessons For Christian Apologetics, Toni Evelyn Perry

Masters Theses

Played out against the background of a chess game allegory, this thesis argues two key components to discovering Jesus’s self-identity in the Gospel of Mark. The first is that Mark’s depiction of Jesus’s Son of Man self-designation as a messianic interpretation is more plausible than its contemporary idiomatic interpretation. The second is that Jesus reveals His hidden Son of Man identity in Mark via a threefold strategic approach, which not only embodies His intent and mission through serving, suffering, and glorification, but also serves as a paradigm for the Christian witness and discipleship. The fourfold purpose of this study is …