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Religious Naturalisms, Carol W. White

Other Faculty Research and Publications

This article focuses on recent developments in religious naturalism in the twenty-first century, building on Jerome Stone’s 2008 study of its resurgence in the mid-twentieth century. I introduce religious naturalism as a synthesis of naturalistic ideas that often depart from traditional forms of religious thinking, defining it as a capacious, ecological religious worldview grounded in the observational conviction that nature is ultimate. I also describe different models of religious naturalism, focusing on the key ideas found in the influential publications of contemporary religious naturalists (e.g., Ursula Goodenough, Donald Crosby, Loyal Rue, among others). While acknowledging specific points of emphasis, I …

Religious Non-Affiliation: Expelled By The Right, William Vance Trollinger

Books and Book Chapters by University of Dayton Faculty

For the past century, the bulk of white evangelicalism has been tightly linked to very conservative politics. But in response to social and cultural changes in the 1960s and 1970s, conservative white evangelicalism organized itself into the Christian Right, in the process attaching itself to and making itself indispensable to the Republican Party. While the Christian Right has enjoyed significant political success, its fusion of evangelicalism/Christianity with right-wing politics—which includes white nationalism, hostility to immigrants, unfettered capitalism, and intense homophobia—has driven many Americans (particularly, young Americans) to disaffiliate from religion altogether. In fact, the quantitative and qualitative evidence make it …

Latin American Immigrants: A Cry For Liberation, Julio César De León

Say Something Theological: The Student Journal of Theological Studies

The United States, due to its economic stability and abundant opportunities (among other reasons), has attracted many immigrants from across the globe, but particularly those from Latin America. The reality is that while many immigrate under more favorable circumstances, the majority of Latinos/as (usually the ones most in need) embark on a dangerous journey, overcoming the difficulties they encounter on the way. Although there is great hope in having arrived to the U.S., for those who make it to the other side of the frontier, their suffering often continues as their social status becomes that of undocumented immigrants. Through the …

The Book Of Hours For A 21st Century World, Francesco Fimiani

Say Something Theological: The Student Journal of Theological Studies

This ‘Book of Hours’ project begins on the Monday hours of the Dead all the way to the Sunday Hours of the Trinity and is inspired almost entirely by the 1440 Book of Hours of the Dutchess Catherine of Cleeves. This project is the sum product of a semester’s worth of instruction from my Medieval Religious Thought and Practice class taught by Professor Anna Harrison. The main purpose of this art installment is to show that even though they originate from a society highly unlike ours today, facing issues that medieval people couldn’t even begin to imagine, they can be …

Advent Devotional Guide 2021, Belmont University

Advent Devotional Guides

No abstract provided.

Modeling The Effects Of Religious Belief And Affiliation On Prosociality, Luke Galen, Ross Gore, F. Leron Shults

VMASC Publications

To what extent do supernatural beliefs, group affiliation, and social interaction produce values and behaviors that benefit others, i.e., prosociality? Addressing this question involves multiple variables interacting within complex social networks that shape and constrain the beliefs and behaviors of individuals. We examine the relationships among some of these factors utilizing data from the World Values Survey to inform the construction of an Agent-Based Model. The latter was able to identify the conditions under which - and the mechanisms by which - the prosociality of simulated agents was increased or decreased within an "artificial society" designed to reflect real world …

Face As The Image Of God In The Jewish Pseudepigrapha, Andrei Orlov

Theology Faculty Research and Publications

From a Jewish text, known to us as 2 Enoch,we learn interesting details about Adam’s creation. Both recensions of 2 Enoch 44 tell us “the Lord with his own two hands created humankind; in a likeness of his own face (в подобии лица своего), both small and great, the Lord created [them].” It is intriguing that 2 Enoch departs here from the traditional reading attested in Genesis 1:26–27, where Adam was created, not in a likeness of God’s face, but after His image (tselem).  In view of this departure, the author of one of the English translations …

Developing A Discipleship Program For Chinese Speaking People To Create A Core Team For The “Abiding Christ Net” Via Zoom Video Conference, Sung Sub Song

Doctor of Ministry Projects

Problem

The Seventh-day Adventist Office of Archives, Statistics, and Research (ASTR) data in December 2019 showed that among the 1.4 billion population in the Mainland China, there were 467,516 Adventist members, and the population per Adventist member ratio was about 3,000:1. Furthermore, there are about 50 million Chinese people living overseas. As a result, there is a great need to efficiently and effectively spread the Gospel to nearly 1.45 billion Chinese people around the world. In July 2020, the online Chinese discipleship network, ACN, was established to create a global Chinese discipleship network by connecting and utilizing Spirit-filled human resources, …

An Evangelism And Discipleship Pathway To Address The Cultural And Worldview Distance Between The Preston Seventh-Day Adventist Church And The White British Culture In Preston, Jeff Keith Couzins

Doctor of Ministry Projects

Problem.

The UK Preston Seventh-day Adventist Church in the North England Conference is a predominantly Black church situated in a White British city. The Church has seen a numerical increase of almost 25% since 2013, but only one person from this growth was from the majority culture population, a group who tend not to be attracted to traditional Adventist forms of evangelism. The hypothesis for this project, therefore, is that when the cultural and worldview distance between church members and individuals in society is reduced, it is easier for the Christian witness to then explain the Kingdom of God. Also, …

The Other’S Humanity With Or Without The Other’S Religiosity, Retief Müller

University Faculty Publications and Creative Works

Taking Wentzel van Huyssteen’s work on early human uniqueness in relation to symbolic or religious awareness as a starting point, this article raises a question whether an implicit connection between humanity and the capacity for religiosity had anything to say about how one could evaluate the so-called other’s religion and their humanity. Does the recognition of the other’s full humanity demand an equal recognition of their religiosity, or are these separable? Rather than attempting to answer this hypothetically, the question is approached historically. The article touches on how the capacity to evaluate religion from the outside emerged in modernity and …

The Green Gītā: Connecting Ontology, Soteriology, And Environmental Ethics, Supratik Sen

Journal of Hindu-Christian Studies

No abstract provided.

Dios Proveerá: El Diezmo, La Ofrenda Y Nuestra Vida Espiritual, Felix Cortez

All Books

Dios proveerá recopila, organiza y presenta en forma sencilla, clara y honesta, os principios bíblicos sobre los cuales se fundamentan la naturaleza, práctica y uso del diezmo y las ofrendas en la iglesia Adventista del Séptimo Día. También contiene estudios sobre asuntos relacionados con la posición de Elena de White, el reglamento adventista sobre el uso del diezmo y una reflexión sobre la promesa de Dios en Malaquías 3:8–12. Esta obra es una guía práctica y breve de lo que la Biblia dice respecto a los diezmos y las ofrendas, y cómo estos impactan la calidad de nuestra vida espiritual.

God Will Provide: Tithes, Offerings, And Our Spiritual Life, Felix Cortez

All Books

No abstract provided.

The Gospel For Everyone: A Study In The Gospel Of Luke On The Inclusion Of Marginalized Social Groups, Hebert Davi Liessi

All Books

Salvation is a broad and controversial issue. The author of the third gospel, Luke, wrote in a socially inclusive approach to Jesus Christ's salvation. His focus is that the gospel serves all people, including groups marginalized by society to dominant groups. Through reading this book, you can see the social groups, the different methodologies, and the results of the salvation offered by Jesus Christ.

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.

Young Disciples In The Marketplace : A Marketplace-Based Discipleship Program For The United Methodist Young Adults Of The Zambales District, Cristine Carnate Atrero

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Spiritual Metrics : Accounting For Spiritual Transformation In International Development, George Nduati Woki

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

When God Gets Angry: Towards A Theology Of Divine Wrath, Lukas Daeubler

Master's Theses

Topic

One of the most significant concerns regarding the character and love of God is God’s wrath, especially in the Old Testament. For many, it is impossible to believe in a God who punishes and kills rather than a God who shows compassion and love for all people. They neglect either the violent parts of the Bible, since they seem to contradict the image of a loving God displayed in the Gospels. This of course directly questions the integrity of God and His word. As a response, some theologians have published papers on this topic, but many Christians and denominations …

The Removal Of Sin In Second Temple Jewish Literature, Odiaka Walker

Master's Theses

Problem

This thesis explored the Second Temple literary background of the concept that Jesus appeared at the end of the ages to take away sin, in Heb 9:26. As such, the research question which guided the paper was: what did Old Testament and Intertestamental writers believe about the removal of sin at the end of the ages? The answer to this question infers other questions: who would remove sin? From where would sin be removed? How was sin defined? How would sin be removed? When would sin be removed (are there time specifications involved)?

Method

The terms ἀφαιρέω, ἀφίημι, ἀπαλείφω, …

In/Voluntary Surrogacy In Genesis, David J. Zucker

The Asbury Journal

This article re-examines the issue of surrogacy in Genesis. It proposes some different factors, and questions some previous conclusions raised by other scholars, and especially examining feminist scholars approaches to the issue in the cases of Hagar/Abraham (and Sarah), and Bilhah-Zilpah/Jacob (and Rachel, Leah). The author examines these cases in the light of scriptural evidence and the original Hebrew to seek to understand the nature of the relationship of these complex characters. How much say did the surrogates have with regard to the relationship? What was their status within the situation of the text, and how should we reflect on …

Journal In Entirety

The Asbury Journal

No abstract provided.

Drunk In The Spirit: Eschatology, Soteriology, And Ecclesiology, Matt Ayars

The Asbury Journal

There are a number of New Testament passages that associate the concepts of the new age of the Spirit, believer unity, covenant membership, and indwelling of the Holy Spirit with the symbols of the temple, Christ’s body, the Eucharist, table fellowship, and drinking wine. This article explores these associations and their theological implications with particular attention lent to the metaphor of drinking the Holy Spirit and its implications for soteriology, ecclesiology, and eschatology.

Journal In Entirety

The Asbury Journal

No abstract provided.

Lincoln Among The Methodists, Samuel J. Rogal

The Asbury Journal

While not a professed member of any religious denomination, the relationship between Abraham Lincoln and the Methodist Episcopal Church of his time is important, both in terms of their views on the abolition of slavery and the political rise of the number of Methodists in the United States. This article charts the course of that relationship from before Lincoln’s Presidency, his election campaign against Peter Cartwright ... this was when the rise of Methodism was to have serious implications politically because of thebrapid size, growth, and moral views of the church.

A Model Of Mission By And For The Marginalized: Cezms Missions To The Deaf, Thomas Hampton

The Asbury Journal

This paper shares the untold stories of three missions to the deaf and mute in India and Sri Lanka. Prior to Indian independence, three of the first schools in the country focused in the deaf were founded by the women of the Church of England Zenana Missionary Society (CEZMS). Their locations were Palamcottah, in Tirunelveli, India, Mylapore, in Chennai, India, and Kaitadi, near Jaffna, Sri Lanka. Each of these schools has adapted over time and continues to serve deaf students today with local leadership. there is a wider interest in the factors which allowed missionary institutions to transition to local …

Conformed To The Image Of Christ: An Intertextual Study Of The Significance Of Pauline Image-Vocabulary Passages For Paul And The Gentile Problem, Errol Lobo

Theses

To investigate Paul’s thought on the Gentile problem is to ask how, in Paul’s understanding, the Gentiles have come to be included as the recipients of the blessings promised to Abraham’s descendants when, in fact, they are not Abraham’s descendants. Constructing a satisfactory response, however, is fraught with difficulty. Paul’s theological assertions concerning his Gentile mission do not always fit neatly together and the variegated nature of Pauline scholarship has made his thought on the Gentile problem appear differently across many perspectives. Is Paul’s Gentile mission best understood through the Jewish “eschatological pilgrimage” tradition, as some scholars suggest? Or is …

Editor’S Introduction, Gopal Gupta

Journal of Hindu-Christian Studies

No abstract provided.

A Natural Dialogue Partner: Sri Ramakrishna’S Anekānta–Vijñānavedānta And Claim To Avatārhood As A Resource For Hindu-Christian Studies, Jeffery D. Long

Journal of Hindu-Christian Studies

No abstract provided.

Constructing A Hindu Black Theology, Akshay Gupta

Journal of Hindu-Christian Studies

No abstract provided.

Viewpoint: Vaishnavism: Monotheistic Or Not?, Steven J. Rosen (Satyaraja Dasa)

Journal of Hindu-Christian Studies

No abstract provided.