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Hearts Perfected In Love : A Wesleyan Pursuit Of Christian Perfection Through The Practice Of The Means Of Grace, B. Keith Allen

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

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 …

The Sabbath In The Old Testament, Dana M. Pike

Faculty Publications

The scriptures consistently depict the significance of sacred space and sacred time in the lives of the Lord’s covenant people. Sacred time is still experienced today, as in the past, through commemorations and celebrations on specific days that are dedicated to God and thus regarded as holy. These days punctuate the passing of ordinary or common time and are intended to help bring focus and clarity to relationships with the divine.

Middle Savannah River: An A/R/Tographic Ecopedagogical Ethnography Experimenting With Rhizomatic Perspectives, Lisa Augustine-Chizmar

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

This research is an experiment in perspective. Using the four commonplaces (Schwab, 1978), I practiced letting the Savannah River teach me what there is to know about the water, the land, the people, and the other entities that depend on ki through artistic, ethnographic, and ecopedagogical lenses. The ethnographic findings describe the social actors that depend on ki and give a voice to the River. The a/r/tographic findings display the River on a canvas map through two hundred years using paint, clay, photography, video, abstract acrylics, and fabric. Together, these methods contribute to a unique ecopedagogical journey. This word cloud …

American Religious Liberty Without (Much) Theory: A Review Of Religion And The American Constitutional Experiment, 5th Edition, Nathan S. Chapman

Scholarly Works

Book review of Religion and the American Constitutional Experiment, 5th ed. By John Witte Jr., Joel A. Nichols, and Richard W. Garnett. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2022. Pp. 464. $150.00 (cloth); $39.95 (paper); $26.99 (digital). ISBN: 9780197587614.

Healing A Broken Spirit, David Sedlacek, Beverly Sedlacek

Faculty Publications

Abuse of any kind as well as significant losses such as death of a loved one can result in a broken spirit (Proverbs 15:13, 17:22). However, we have a wonderful God who heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds (Isaiah 51:3). He often leads us into communities where we can experience being seen, soothed, safe, and secure. This chapter describes the experience of brokenness and the process of healing integrating both biblical and interpersonal neurobiological perspectives.

Book Review: Animal Care In Japanese Tradition: A Short History, James Stone Lunde

Asia Pacific Perspectives

No abstract provided.

The Theological Method Of Friedrich Schleiermacher, Jordan P. Ballard

Liberty Theological Review

What Friedrich Schleiermacher is most known for is his theological method of deriving doctrine from religious experience. He believed that religious piety is to be found in the “feeling of absolute dependence”, and all subsequent doctrines must be discovered through reflection upon religious experience. Understanding and critiquing Schleiermacher’s theological method requires examining his theological influences, his “feeling of absolute dependence,” and a few examples from his systematic theology. In the end, Schleiermacher’s theological method is ingenious but misguided because it is based on a faulty religious epistemology of human experience. What is needed instead is an objective standard of truth …

Shepherds And Hirelings In John 10: An Intertestamental Correction, Donald C. Mcintyre

Liberty Theological Review

This article will examine the Good Shepherd discourse attempting to analyze whether the Pharisees were in purview as false-shepherds as commonly assumed and finding that interpretation lacking. Given the events of inter-testamental history, septuagintal usage of μισθωτὸς, and the setting of the discourse occurring during the feast of dedication, this article will find that Jesus is drawing a contrast between the foreign false-shepherds found in the political rulers, as well as the hireling pharisee and himself as the true shepherds. Through a careful reading of the text, it becomes apparent that Jesus is not solely disappointed in the Pharisees actions, …

Saint Jude's, December 25, 2022

Saint Jude's

A newsletter published for Deaf Catholics in Waltham, MA

Saint Jude's Finding Aid

Who Is At The Manger?, Kayla Harris, Neomi Deanda

Marian Library Faculty Publications

For many Christians around the world, celebrating the Nativity, or the birth of Jesus Christ, is the most important part of the Christmas season.

Among the most common Christmas traditions are small sets of figures depicting Joseph, Mary and Jesus that are displayed in individual homes, and live reenactments of the manger scene in communities and churches. While Nativity sets focus on the holy family, they can also include an angel, the three wise men bringing gifts, shepherds or some barnyard animals.

Around the world, it is common to see particular cultural and religious traditions incorporated through the materials used, …

On Natural Evil: Augustine, Plantinga, And Hick, Andrew James Delaney

Masters Theses

This paper examines the philosophical problem of natural evil. Natural evil in the world creates a stumbling block between people and their faith in God. What can be said of the coexistence of God and evil in the world? The purpose of this paper is to address the criticisms of Christianity in light of natural evil and to share several theistic responses to the problem of natural evil. Specific considerations are made to the greater context of the story of humanity. Alvin Plantinga's free-will defense is evaluated first as a foundation for discussion. Contributions from Augustine, John Hick, William Rowe, …

Through The Looking Glass: Worship Music With Indigenous Sounds In Los Angeles And Manila, Maria Rica Bartolome Silbol

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Despite the Philippines’ wonderful indigenous music and talents, Manila Baptist and Los Angeles Baptist churches do not utilize indigenous sounds in typical worship practices. This paper contends that the untapped resources of cultural sounds may contribute to a dynamic worship experience that resonates more effectively as Filipino. This study investigates the absence of indigenous sound in two Filipino Baptist churches from Los Angeles and Manila (QC). It analyzes relevant ethnic music components and each church’s response to the fusion of indigenous and traditional music in the worship experience. The explanatory sequential mixed method will focus on an artistic-creative study to …

Non-Christian, Japanese College Students’ Perspectives Of Engaging With God Through The Participatory Components Of Christian Worship, Jacqueline Leigh Bencke

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This study seeks to examine the extent to which non-Christian college students in Japan perceive their engagement with the biblical God while participating in daily chapel services at Kyūshū Lutheran College. The research employs a mixed-methods approach, analyzing survey and focus group data to explore whether a relationship exists between students’ participation in chapel committee activities and their perceived spiritual engagement. Responses to Lynn Underwood’s Daily Spiritual Experience Survey, the Centrality of Religiosity Scale, and the Centrality of Buddhist Religiosity Scale are combined to create a general spiritual profile of respondents. Worship leaders and missionaries who are in positions of …

The Jewish Basis For The Born Again Experience In John 3, Francis-David Athelstan Scalzo

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The dissertation’s objective will be to analyze what Nicodemus—as a Pharisee who was knowledgeable of the Hebrew Bible and the prevalent Jewish theology of his period—should have understood, given his position, concerning Jesus’ teaching of being born again. By examining the Old Testament (the TaNaK) and Intertestamental Jewish theology, it will be argued in the dissertation’s six chapters how Nicodemus, as a prominent Pharisaical religious instructor, should have understood the concept of spiritual rebirth as well as the scriptural significance of water and the Spirit, including the guidance and obedience inherent in Jesus’ teaching on the wind. As an introduction …

Regresando De Narnia: Entre La Encrucijada De Armarios Y Templos, Hugo Córdova Quero, Saúl Serna Segura, Jorge A. Aquino Ph.D., Miguel H. Diaz

Conexión Queer: Revista Latinoamericana y Caribeña de Teologías Queer

This issue of Queer Connection presents the work of authors who have left the infancy of Narnia, covering topics ranging from queer poetics, honest conversations about sexuality in the Roman Catholic Church, and online Eucharists to the deconstruction of Islamic texts for the acceptance of queer people. All of these studies point toward liberation and societal transformation. In Christianity, the TLL has made reflecting on oppression and liberation possible. Still, its novelty lies in reflecting faith elaborated within a practice of liberation done by oppressed people through their movements. In this sense, liberation is transformation and change, a new world …

Reflections Of A «Recovering Outer Catholic», Jorge A. Aquino Ph.D.

Conexión Queer: Revista Latinoamericana y Caribeña de Teologías Queer

This essay comments on the long-deferred need for Latinx Catholic theologians to resist Roman Catholic teaching on sexuality by taking it out of the margins and integrating it as a co-equal topic of theological reflection. Based on the author’s 2014 presidential address to the Academy of Catholic Hispanic Theologians of the United States (ACHTUS), it reviews the challenges — pastoral, theological, social, and psychological — of confronting homophobia and the exclusion of queer subjects by the Roman Catholic Church.

Textos Islámicos: Una Fuente Para La Aceptación De Las Personas Queer En La Sociedad Musulmana Mayoritaria, Muhsin Hendricks

Conexión Queer: Revista Latinoamericana y Caribeña de Teologías Queer

This article seeks to reveal that Islam, at its core, does not condemn non- heterosexual sexual intimacy. On the contrary, it accepts it as part of a divine plan. In its true sense of peace and justice, Islam accepts a person’s sexual orientation as an intrinsic part of their biological and psychological makeup. He shows that the prohibition of same-sex marriages in Islam does not come from the Koran but from the legal construction of marriage and that sexual relations are both gendered and hierarchical. However, his study does not focus on Qur’anic texts that can be interpreted in support …

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 …

How Much Should Or Can Science Impact Theological Formulations? An AshʿArī Perspective On Theology Of Nature, Shoaib Ahmed Malik, Nazif Muhtaroglu

All Works

There have been many developments in the field of science and religion over the past few decades. One such development is referred to as ‘theology of nature’ (ToN), which is the activity of building or revising theological frameworks in light of cont...

Pastor As Poet Of The Soul, Zachary J. Luben

Discernment: Theology and the Practice of Ministry

The church finds itself in a culture that challenges the idea of divine action in the world—one of the results of living in a secular age. We are more likely to talk about “good luck” or “coincidence” than we are about God acting in history. Charles Taylor calls this the immanent frame—that we have constructed a social view that frames our lives without the supernatural. In addition, Hartmut Rosa describes modernity as social acceleration, which puts us out-of-sync in our relationships to others and the world. For the pastor, these cultural and social forces at work often lead …

Noted With Honor: Intersections Between Theology, Music Therapy, Psychotherapy, And Original Music Compositions For Hospice Patients, Stanton Nelson

Doctor of Pastoral Music Projects and Theses

This thesis investigates the intersections between theology, music therapy, and psychotherapy when creating a music composition that honors a hospice patient’s walk of faith. A pioneer organization inspiring this thesis is Swan Songs in Austin, Texas, where musical moments are created for the patient and family. However, its model is primarily based on collating previously composed pieces for recitals without a personalized honoring of the patient’s witness of faith. Noted with Honor is an emerging non-profit organization that creates an original work that reflects upon the testimony of the patient and forms a new narrative towards the end of one’s …

John O’Malley And Jesuit Education: A Journey Into Humanism, Cristiano Casalini, Alessandro Corsi

Jesuit Higher Education: A Journal

This article reflects upon the impact of the work of John W. O’Malley, S.J. (1927–2022), on the field of the history of Jesuit education. In The First Jesuits (1993), O’Malley provided an innovative approach to the subject that refuted some long-standing preconceptions about the way Jesuit schools and universities had originally developed. The approach that he took to to the topic throughout the 1990s and 2000s allowed him to identify two intertwined educational traditions at the heart of the Jesuit pedagogical model: the humanistic tradition of the Renaissance period, based on the Isocratic concept of pietas, and the scholastic …

Remembering John O'Malley, S.J., John J. Degioia

Jesuit Higher Education: A Journal

No abstract provided.

Growing In Faith, Sarah Moss

The Voice

No abstract provided.

A Biblical Theology Of Water, Eric Robert Waller

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Numerous “water related terms” are utilized in Genesis 1-2 such as, “the deep, “the waters,” “water,” “sea,” seas,” “stream,” “river,” “flow,” “flows,” and “rain.” Arguably similar, Revelation 21-22 uses the terms “water of life,” “river of the water of life,” “thirsty,” “spring, ” and “lake.” That the traditional Protestant canon is bookended with such similar terminology appears to create an inclusio that demands further inquiry within the canon to seek supplemental, complementary, and even potentially contrasting and conflicting evidence supporting a biblical theology of water. While commentary on every canonical water related text or term would be a daunting task …

An Examination Of The Influence Of Attitudes Toward Linguistic Diversity And Immigration Status On The Pastor’S Engagement In Multicultural Ministry, Juan Antonio Seda

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

With the growth in cultural diversity comes the opportunity to reach and minister to people from different cultural backgrounds. This diversity also highlights the challenges pastors and ministry leaders face in implementing efforts to reach people from diverse ethnic, linguistic, and cultural backgrounds. Additionally, the pastor and ministry leader must understand how socio-political, theological, and biblical factors influence opinion and interaction with culturally diverse people. This cultural and linguistic interaction requires cultural humility, “a process of reflection and lifelong inquiry, involves self-awareness of personal and cultural biases as well as awareness and sensitivity to significant cultural issues of others. Core …

Vbc Young Families Initiative, Andrew Ryan Scoggins

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This research project is designed for Victory Baptist Church in Weatherford, Texas, to reach young families. The purpose is to design and implement a plan that educates, equips, and engages individual church members to evangelize young families in Weatherford. The necessity of this research is evident in the face of consequences surrounding the past three years involving the pandemic and a leadership change at VBC. The intervention is mobilizing the members of VBC to reach young families. This mobilization centers around training the membership to reach young families. Using surveys and questionnaires with the membership reveals what are the thoughts …

Religious Education: Necessary For Perfection, Daniel Skinner

Aristos

No abstract provided.

An Exploration Of The Garden Metaphor In The Poetry Of Song Of Songs, Kizito Jasper

Harding School of Theology Dissertations and Theses

No abstract provided.