Digital Commons Network^™

The Interactions Of Faith Development, Attachment With Relational Authenticity, And Theory Of Mind In Children With Adverse Childhood Experiences, Lisa Haley

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Early exposure to adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) interrupts typical spiritual, socioemotional, and cognitive developmental trajectories. Faith Development (FD), attachment with Relational Authenticity (RA), and Theory of Mind (ToM) may serve to provide positive coping strategies for children with ACEs. Few studies explored the interactions of FD, attachment with RA, and ToM in children. Additionally, sparse research involved RA independently or in relation to attachment formation. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore how FD, attachment with RA, and ToM interact in children with ACEs. The lived experiences of children with ACEs and the interactions of FD, attachment with …

A Phenomenological Study Of Pastoral Perspectives Of Conservative Churches Effectively Serving The Disability Community, John D. Hall

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This phenomenological study explored the experience of pastors leading conservative churches engaging with and serving persons with disabilities and their families. It focused on six theologically conservative churches providing special needs ministry, with at least three distinct scheduled ministry opportunities staffed by lay leadership, meeting a minimum of quarterly, and overseen by a paid staff member. This research sought to understand the perspectives of the pastors leading these churches, focusing on their personal experiences with disability, vision implementation, and leadership development. This study explored these pastors’ leadership through the lens of Transformational Leadership Theory and whether their style demonstrates transformational …

Nature’S Sovereign: Environmental Archetypes In Isaiah’S Kingship Polemic, Christopher Ryan Sandel

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This dissertation examines how Isaiah employs environmental archetypes to advance a comprehensive kingship polemic that asserts Yahweh’s unrivaled sovereignty over all creation. The study addresses a gap in scholarship by offering the first systematic analysis of Isaiah’s environmental imagery within a unified rhetorical and theological framework. Drawing on historical, literary, and comparative ancient Near Eastern backgrounds, the study argues that Isaiah’s civilizational, cosmic, and terrestrial archetypes function as strategic instruments that dismantle rival claims to power and reorient the audience toward covenantal fidelity. Civilizational archetypes reveal the fragility of human empires and the futility of political trust. Entities such as …

Leading Like Christ: A Phenomenological Study Of The Biblical Shepherd Motif In Christian Parachurch Executive Leadership, Alex Sefton

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the lived experiences of Christian nonprofit parachurch organization executive leaders in southeastern Indiana (i.e., Decatur County and its adjacent counties). For the purpose of this study, executive leaders was defined as those who hold a top-level leadership position at an organization, and Christian nonprofit parachurch organization was defined as an organization designated under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) that advances biblical principles and social welfare. Shepherd-like leadership was generally defined as a leadership style that demonstrates relational care, personal guidance, and protection of well-being, as seen in Psalm …

From Viðkenning To Valarindi: The Enigma Of Goldberry And The River-Woman, Derek Simon

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

THIS IS A TWO-PART ARTICLE. IN ORDER TO READ OR DOWNLOAD THE OTHER PART, FOLLOW THE LINK AT THE END OF THIS ABSTRACT.

Building upon the previous examination of the eddic and skaldic contours of Goldberry’s River kenning names, this reading of Goldberry’s enigma focuses on the mythological referents of her kinship relations and their narrative consistency in the legendarium.  Tending to the intrinsic connection between “[t]he incarnate mind, the tongue, and the tale” (Tolkien, On Fairy Stories, 41), I contend that the poetics of kenning diction sustain if not demand a reading of the River-woman references mythologically through …

A Study Of Zomi Pentecostalism In Its Social, Cultural, And Political Context: A Pentecostal Quest For The Lost Paradise, Thang San Mung

College of Theology and Ministry Dissertations, Projects, & Theses

This dissertation examines the paradisal quest of the Zomi people, an ethnic Christian minority in Myanmar, through the lens of Pentecostal spirituality. Historically, the Zomi have experienced political displacement, loss of their ancestral homeland (Zogam), and ongoing marginalization. While existing scholarship has primarily interpreted Zomi struggles in terms of ethnic identity, nationalism, and socio-political resistance, this study offers a theological reorientation by interpreting Zomi paradisal longing through the Spirit-Restored Paradise framework, a Pentecostal theological model developed here. Employing a qualitative ethnographic methodology grounded in contextual theology, the research draws on semi-structured interviews with twenty-four Zomi Pentecostal participants from Myanmar and …

The Storied Life: Biblical Metanarrative And The Human Experience, Samantha Jones

25th Annual A. Paul and Carol C. Schaap Celebration of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity (2026)

The storytelling animal. This eclectic title was coined by Alasdair MacIntyre in his famous philosophical work After Virtue. Notice MacIntyre does not call man “the working animal who also tells stories,” nor the “rule following animal who enjoys the trivial pursuit of narrative.” He calls man the storytelling animal because he has discovered that stories are not the just one characteristic of the human experience, they are so much more. To be a human is to be a storyteller, and to be a storyteller is to be human. This claim is not specific to philosophers like MacIntyre, but is an …

Land Epistemic Ethic: Exploring The Complex Intersection Of Human Bodies, Land, And Identity In Middle Belt Nigeria Cosmologies, Fwangmun Oscar Danladi

International Journal on Responsibility

The Indigenous cosmologies of Nigeria’s Middle Belt emphasize the relationship between human bodies and the land, transcending Western epistemological binaries and revealing profound socio-religious insights into environmental responsibility. Practices such as the burial of newborns’ umbilical cords, often dismissed as animistic or fetishistic, embody a sacred connection to the land that emphasizes belonging rather than ownership. Using an autoethnographic approach, this study critically examines these cosmologies and identifies how the sacredness of land can serve as a repository of communal memory and potential. By reframing land not as a possession but as a relational entity, this research challenges dominant narratives …

A Phenomenological Research On The Understanding Of Morality At Birth From A Believer's Standpoint, Michelle I. Hubble

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

At birth, is a person born evil, good, or neutral? This phenomenological study aims to explore the perspective of the morality of a child at birth for adult believers in the Missionary Church. At this stage in the research, the perspective of the morality of a child at birth will be generally defined as evil, good, or neutral. The theory guiding this study was research done by Harvard, which concluded that humanity's first instinct is not to act selfishly but to cooperate in their behavior with others (Tucker, 2013). This research proposed that this alternative perspective is invalid when Piaget’s …

Brilliant Things: Directing The Heart Toward Hope, Laurel A. Koerner

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

"Together, we can cultivate an attitude of wonder, of beholding what is there, signaling the More. Renew our vision, Lord."

Posting about ­­­­­­­­noticing the good from In All Things, an online hub that offers insight into maintaining and faithful and orthodox Reformed Christian worldview while fearlessly engaging in every aspect of contemporary life – until all is made new.

Brilliant Things

Opium Of The Masses: An Analysis Of Archeobotanical Research In The City Of Tábor, Czechia And How It Potentially Influenced Forms Of Radical Hussism, Sasha Gladding

Undergraduate University Honors Capstones

Opium of the Masses performs in depth analysis of the Hussite Wars–a time period lasting from 1419 to 1436, Jan Hus, Hussite factionalism, and archeobotany. This analysis proposes that there are numerous possible contributing factors to the development of the radical Hussite teachings and ways of life. The instability of the Catholic hierarchy and the dissenting teachings of Jan Hus also likely were contributors to the development of the unique sociopolitical and spiritual practices of the radical Hussites. It is also possible that the Hussite factions residing in the Czech (then Bohemian) town of Tábor utilized opium as an entheogen …

A Globally Informed Theological Method For Locally Lived Pentecostal Theology: Worship, Witness, And Work, Kenneth J. Archer

Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology

This article advocates for a globally informed yet locally experienced “Pentecostal theology” rooted in a specific theological approach. This Pentecostal approach shapes and re/shapes lived theology. Lived spirituality-theology is relational, emphasizing proper worship of the living God (orthodoxy), effective witness (orthomartus), and productive work (orthoergon). This represents a lived theology that is both personal and communal. All of this is expressed through labor (orthoergon) and witness (orthomartus), which form our “missional work” with the Lord God for the betterment of all creation. It proposes a method focused on worship, witness, and work, which are organically connected to the spirituality of …

Spiritus 11, No. 1 (2026), Spiritus Editors

Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology

This is the full Spring issue of Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology 11, no. 1 (2026).

Numinous Matter: Time, Image, And The Sacred In Tarkovsky’S Cinema, Pamela Breda Phd

Journal of Religion & Film

In an era increasingly defined by acceleration, fragmentation, and commodification, the act of watching cinema has become subject to the same regimes of optimization that govern nearly all other domains of life. Streaming platforms quantify attention and the rhythms of visual consumption seem to be calibrated for distraction, rather than immersion. As film theorist Jonathan Beller stresses, in the contemporary attention economy, spectatorship itself becomes a form of labor enlisted into the machinery of value extraction. Within this cultural (and ocularcentric) regime to engage with the cinematic oeuvre of Andrei Tarkovsky is a radical counter-practice. Operating in the liminal space …

The Inscrutability Of Providence In Tarkovsky's Stalker, Peter G. Goldman

Journal of Religion & Film

Andrei Tarkovsky’s Stalker (1979) follows a spiritual journey that is at once literal and allegorical. The Zone, created by an alien visitation, is a place with conscious agency, and it reacts to those who enter its space. The Stalker says, rather obscurely, "it's as if we construct it according to our state of mind." How exactly the Zone responds to those who visit it is arguably the central question of the film. The Zone's agency is analogous to Providence in some sense, and the film is filled with Christian references on several levels. While most critics see Stalker as an …

Contemplative Absence: Sacred Experience In Abbas Kiarostami’S The Wind Will Carry Us And The Aesthetics Of Slow Cinema, Hessam Abedini

Journal of Religion & Film

This article examines how Abbas Kiarostami’s The Wind Will Carry Us (1999) creates sacred experience through systematic absence within contemporary slow cinema aesthetics. While previous scholarship has focused on religious content in spiritual cinema, this analysis demonstrates how formal techniques—particularly strategic concealment and extended duration—generate contemplative states without explicit religious references. Drawing on Paul Schrader’s transcendental style theory and recent slow cinema scholarship, the article traces how Kiarostami adapts Persian poetic traditions, particularly concepts of pardeh (veiling) and the interplay between bāṭin (hidden) and ẓāhir (manifest), to create meaning through what remains unseen. The dying woman who never appears, the …

Res Historica, Volume 5, Alpha Rho Epsilon Phi Alpha Theta, Lindsay Rae Smith Privette Phd

Res Historica

The 2026 journal of historical research by Anderson University students, Res Historica.

The editorial team for this edition of Res Historica was Dr. Lindsay Rae Smith Privette, Julia Ackerman, Callyn Wright, Logan Davis, and John Hinton. Cover art by Mary Beth Lee.

An Eschatological Investigation Of Fatherlessness Through A Christological Lens: Exploring Identity, Hope, And Restoration In A Fatherless Generation, Derrick Marshall

Doctor of Ministry (DMin)

This dissertation analyses the relationship between fatherlessness across generations and selected indicators of cultural development and social stability in contemporary society. It also evaluates how a local church context may function as a site of intervention to address the relational, emotional, and spiritual consequences associated with father absence. The study is conducted within LIFEchurch in El Paso, Texas, and is situated within theological reflections on sonship, identity, and restoration. The research employed a multi-method descriptive design and utilized a single Qualtrics survey instrument comprising both structured quantitative items and open-ended qualitative questions. Participants were adults affiliated with the LIFEchurch community. …

Long Live The Good King: A Niebuhrian Analysis Of Arthur’S Ethical Kingship In The Once And Future King, Camille Bewley

Tenor of Our Times

The classic The Once and Future King, written by T.H. White, is a selection of four fantasy novels with one, linear plot: the story of Arthur, the mythological King of England. Reinhold Niebuhr’s book Moral Man and Immoral Society details the Christian realism of a world in need of justice without the ability to achieve perfect application. Through good education, Arthur is well endowed with Niebuhr’s requirements for a functional society: knowledge, honor, wisdom, and compassion. Such king-like qualities make him one of the most influential mythological characters in history, and a grand exemplar for maintaining ethical goals and personal …

Fallen Light (Video Game), Joshua Do

Presentations - 2026

Problem:

•People misunderstand Lucifer’s deception

•(shown through Temptation of Jesus in Matthew 4) •Lack of engaging ways to teach theological concepts   •Background: Lucifer corrupts not through force, but subtle self-elevation and doubt   Motivation:   •Just initially wanted to make a game of how sin entered the world for fun   •Just thought it was a cool idea in general.

Solution:

•Dialogue-driven narrative game   •6+ story chapters   •10+ regions   •Focused on spiritual conflict, deception, and discernment   •Uses event-based progression   •Presents Lucifer through subtle manipulation, by being a false light by choosing self-pleasure over what is right.

Rooted Families: A Whole Family Ministry, Aubree Nelson

Christian Ministries Senior Capstone

Rooted Families is set in the context of a family dynamic: a mother, a father, and children. Parents often drop their kids off at church on Sunday, yet many feel unqualified to disciple their children at home. This paper is the philosophy of ministry for Rooted Families, which is located at First Missionary Church in Fort Wayne Indiana. The goal is to provide a framework for churches to enable them to create spaces for parents to learn and be equipped to disciple their children. This paper describes the theological, anthropological, and sociological premises that affect parents and their influence over …

Who Then Can Be Saved? A Discussion Of Views Within The Christian Tradition Concerning The Salvation Of The Non-Christian, Logan A. Davis

Honors Theses

This thesis argues that, contrary to popular conception, the Christian Tradition is not strictly exclusivist in its understanding of salvation or in its assessment of the fate of the non-Christian but rather displays a rich diversity of views. Both the Christian Tradition and the Christian scriptures are characterized by a certain ambiguity on this issue; although a definitive answer may exist, it is not easily identifiable. Given this ambiguity, the study presents a representative spectrum of theological positions within the Christian Tradition and analyzes their respective treatments of the salvation of the non-Christian. In doing so, it seeks to provide …

Reclaiming The Listening Pastor: A Pastoral Introduction To Spiritual Direction And Its Implications For A Recovery Of Pastoral Identity, Formation, And Sustainability In The Pentecostal Tradition, Hannah E.R. Sims

Doctor of Ministry (DMin)

American Pentecostalism has long been marked by spiritual vitality, yet its theology of pastoral identity remains comparatively underdeveloped. Pentecostal pastors are often recognized as Spirit-led leaders and compelling communicators, but many now find themselves functioning primarily as organizational executives or cultural personalities—roles shaped more by business strategy and therapeutic expectation than by historic practices of spiritual care. In this quiet shift, something sacred has thinned. Pastors frequently experience role confusion, spiritual fatigue, and a subtle distancing from the relational and formational heart of their vocation. This dissertation explores what has been diminished within Pentecostal pastoral identity and what might yet …

Reshaping Church Culture To Reflect The Imago Dei: A Genesis-Rooted Case Study Of Female Identity And Leadership In The Pacific Northwest, Cassandra Wilson

Doctor of Ministry (DMin)

Many Evangelical churches in the Pacific Northwest minister within a cultural environment marked by high individualism, religious disaffiliation, and contested narratives of gender and identity. This project explores how one Free Methodist congregation, Sage Hills Church in Wenatchee, Washington, has sought to embody a Genesis-anchored theological anthropology of imago Dei and ezer kenegdo in its leadership culture and congregational life. Using a qualitative case study design, the research examines how a single congregation navigates the tension between conservative church habits that restrict women’s roles and secular narratives that dissolve stable categories of gender. The study draws on an anonymous online …

Digital Discipleship And Whole-Person Flourishing: A Mixed-Methods Study At Celebration Church, John W. Wyatt

Doctor of Ministry (DMin)

This study examines how digital participation influences whole-person flourishing within the context of Celebration Church, a contemporary American megachurch, addressing a critical gap in empirical research on digital discipleship and its theological implications. Using a convergent mixed-methods design, quantitative data from the Barna ChurchPulse survey compared in-person and online participants, while qualitative data from semi-structured interviews with leaders from eighteen American megachurches were analyzed thematically. Findings indicate that flourishing outcomes are largely comparable across digital and in-person cohorts, challenging assumptions that embodied participation is inherently superior for spiritual formation; however, statistically significant differences emerged in leadership involvement, serving, and engagement …

How The Economic Mindset Impedes The Faithful Practice Of The Missional Call A Case Study Of The Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus Global Mission Endeavors, Wondimu M. Game

Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation

Wondimu M. Game, “How the Economic Mindset Impedes the Faithful Practice of the Missional Call: A Case Study of the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus Global Mission Endeavors,” PhD Dissertation, Concordia Seminary, 2026, 278 pp.

This study examines the theological and missiological foundations of the indigenous church in light of the Venn–Anderson three-self principles of self-governance, self-support, and self-propagation. While these principles have shaped Protestant mission practice, their application has often become structural and economic rather than ecclesial and theological, In some contexts, this has contributed to patterns of financial dependency and weakened local initiative due to an impoverished economic …

Therepairer_Vol29no12_Dec1924

The Repairer

No abstract provided.

Therepairer_Vol27no9_Sept1922

The Repairer

No abstract provided.

Therepairer_Vol27no8_Aug1922

The Repairer

No abstract provided.

Therepairer_Vol27no1_Jan1922

The Repairer

No abstract provided.