Digital Commons Network^™

Christ's Crucifixion Reclamation Of The Cross, Gaye Strathearn

Faculty Publications

Twenty-three years ago, I came to BYU as a student. This was a major, life-changing event for me. My mother and grandmother had joined the Church in Australia in 1958, and I spent most of my early life growing up in a very small branch of the Church, small even by Australian standards. You can perhaps imagine my feelings of excitement at the thought of coming to live in the heartland of the Church. It was quite a novel thought that I would be able to go to Church with my roommates.

Profiles Of Selected Mormon Athletes In Professional Sports, J. Michael Hunter

Faculty Publications

“Profiles of Selected Mormon Athletes in Professional Sports” provides profiles with career highlights of over 200 Mormon athletes in professional sports, including baseball, basketball, bodybuilding, boxing, football, golf, hockey, racing, running, volleyball, and wrestling. This chapter appears in the second volume of Mormons and Popular Culture: The Global Influence of an American Phenomenon (Praeger 2013), a comprehensive treatment of Mormons and popular culture, providing an introduction and wide-ranging overview of the topic.

Sundance Film Festival / Computer Generated Imagery / Video Game Industry / Battlestar Galactica / Pageants / Stereophonic Sound, J. Michael Hunter

Faculty Publications

Many people are unaware of how influential Mormons, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), have been on American popular culture. Mormons and Popular Culture: The Global Influence of an American Phenomenon parts the curtain and looks behind the scenes at the little-known but important influence Mormons have had on popular culture in the United States and beyond. Included here are six sidebars that reveal some of the more fascinating contribution Mormons have made to American popular culture.

The Spirit-Mediums Of Singkawang: Performing Peoplehood Of West Kalimantan, Margaret Chan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Chinese New Year in the West Kalimantan town of Singkawang is marked by a parade featuring hundreds of possessed spirit-mediums performing self-mortification and blood sacrifice. The event is a huge tourist draw, but beyond the spectacle, deeper meanings are enacted. The spirit-medium procession stages a fraternity of Dayak, Malay and Chinese earth gods united in the purpose of exorcising demons from the neighborhood. The self-conscious presentation of the Chinese as brethren among pribumi [sons-of-the-soil] Dayak and Malay, proposes the Chinese as belonging to the ‘peoplehood’ of West Kalimantan.

Fluid Boundaries And The Assertion Of Difference In Low-Caste Religious Identity, Nancy M. Martin

Religious Studies Faculty Books and Book Chapters

"The boundaries of religious traditions are being actively contested in India today, though in practice their internal and external structures are fl uid and open. Each religion takes a wide array of forms, refl ecting the diversity of the communities and adherents who fi nd relevance and meaning within it, and symbols and practices fl ow readily across what prove to be very permeable and overlapping boundaries between religious traditions. However, religion has been used by the powerful to assert and maintain dominance and in national and regional communal politics, at times fanning the fl ames of extreme violence. Fundamentalists …

Mobilizing Religion And Conservation In Asia, Stephen M. Amoyemi, Andrew G. Gosler, Iris Ho, Jame Schaefer, Kwek Yan Chong

Theology Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

Exodus And Work, Theology Of Work Project, Bob Stallman

Theology of Work Project

1. Introduction to Exodus
2. Israel in Egypt (Exodus 1:1–13:16)
   • The Harshness of the Israelites’ Slave Labor in Egypt (Exodus 1:8-14)
   • The Work of Midwifery and Mothering (Exodus 1:15-2:10)
   • God’s Call to Moses (Exodus 2:11-3:22)
   • God’s Work of Redemption for Israel (Exodus 5:1-6:28)
   • Moses and Aaron Announce God’s Judgment to Pharaoh (Exodus 7:1-12:51)
3. Israel at the Red Sea and on the Way to Sinai (Exodus 13:17-18:27)
   • The Work of Justice Among the People of Israel (Exodus 18:1-27)
4. Israel at Mount Sinai (Exodus 19:1-40:38)
   • The Meaning of Law in Exodus (Exodus 19:1-24:18)
   • The Role of the Law for Christians (Exodus 20:1-24:18)
   • Instructions about …

The Value Of The Death Of Christ, Norm Mathers

SOR Faculty Publications and Presentations

No abstract provided.

Redemption, James K.A. Smith

University Faculty Publications and Creative Works

No abstract provided.

Risk Characteristics Of Healthcare Workers That Decline Voluntary Influenza Vaccination, Caroline Epler

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Significance Of The Tearing Of The Temple Curtain, Andee-Sue Clark

Verbum

In lieu of an abstract, below is the essay's first paragraph.

"Through-out the course of this paper we will explore the importance of the tearing of the curtain after Jesus’ death. This topic is of great interest because, although it is only mentioned briefly in the gospels of the New Testament, many theologians and scholars claim it holds great importance and symbolism to the Christian faith. This question is also intriguing because in order to understand and formulate an answer one must also explore aspects of Judaism, including what Jews thought of this event."

Anthropological Apologetics: A Proposal Of An Anthropological Compendium As Evidence For The Imago Dei, Jeffrey R. Dickson

Masters Theses

Evangelical scholarship has shown great admiration for the work of Gary Habermas and others in their contribution to Christian apologetics by validating the historicity of the resurrection of Jesus Christ with a list of minimal facts generally agreed to by historical and biblical scholars. This thesis will explore the methodology of the minimal facts approach and appropriate it as a tool to explore the data within the field of anthropology which offers evidence for the biblical concept of the Imago Dei. This study will focus on Wolfhart Pannenberg in his critically acclaimed work demonstrating the importance of the theological perspective …

The Fall Of "Augustinian Adam": Original Fragility And Supralapsarian Purpose, John Schneider

University Faculty Publications and Creative Works

This essay is framed by conflict between Christianity and Darwinian science over the history of the world and the nature of original human personhood. Evolutionary science narrates a long prehuman geological and biological history filled with vast amounts, kinds, and distributions of apparently random brutal and pointless suffering. It has also unveiled an original human person with animal psychosomatic heredity. This narrative seems to discredit Christianity's (Augustinian) metanarrative of the Fall-Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained. The author contends that the Augustinian story and its character of Adam are implausible, anyway, for reasons of theology and apologetics. He proposes that Christians …

Cloning And Characterization Of Hypothetical Exported Proteins From Community Associated Staphylococcus Aureus, Haninder Kaur

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

My Peace I Give Unto You Christianity's Critique Of Roman And American Exceptionalism, Ryan Tindall

HIM 1990-2015

Throughout the history of the United States, its inhabitants have looked upon their nation as a special place. In some cases, this has exceeded the natural and simple love of home and country and taken a more extreme form. Important to this bent is the tendency to see the nation, its beliefs, and its actions around the world as divinely sanctioned and inspired in some regard. This is a generally necessary component to the idea of American Exceptionalism, which views the United States as a nation with a divinely imposed mission to spread civilization, freedom, and democracy to the ends …

The Satanic Nature Of Racist “Christianity”, Susan Peppers-Bates

Journal of the Black Catholic Theological Symposium

In this paper, Dr. Peppers‐Bates ponders the persistence of individual and institutional racism among modern‐day Christians by applying the anthropological‐psychological lens of the scholar René Girard and his concepts of mimesis and the scapegoating mechanism. The message of the Gospel is incompatible with violence and hatred, yet those who embrace racial stereotyping, even as they call themselves ‘Christians’, are deaf to it.

Hell On The Range: A Story Of Honor, Conscience, And The American West, Daniel J. Herman, Taunalyn F. Rutherford

BYU Studies

In the introduction to Hell on the Range, Daniel Justin Herman informs readers that his account of Arizona's Rim Country War of the 1880s is more than revisionist critique; it is self-critique. Herman, an associate professor of history at Central Washington University, is an Arizonan who, like many growing up in the western United States, was "raised on its romance," and in his youth he viewed "Arizonans--especially cowboys--[as] made of sterner, stronger stuff than people who grew up elsewhere" (xxii). His view of Mormons and Mormonism--an important undercurrent animating much of this book--was informed by his experiences as a non-Mormon …

Characterization Of Novel Extracellular Matrix (Ecm) Proteins (Mgp And Lumican) And Their Implications In Vascular Development, Angiogenesis, And Cancer, Bikram Sharma

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Book Review: "Piety And Responsibility: Patterns Of Unity In Karl Rahner, Karl Barth And Vedanta Desika," John N. Sheveland, Reid B. Locklin

Journal of Hindu-Christian Studies

A review of John N. Sheveland's "Piety and Responsibility: Patterns of Unity in Karl Rahner, Karl Barth and Vedanta Desika" by Reid B. Locklin.

Viewpoint: Reflections On Ludic Dimensions In Hindu-Christian Scholarship, Kenneth R. Valpey

Journal of Hindu-Christian Studies

AS scholars committed to explore and illuminate the varied regions of thought and practice, text and image, or prescription and custom circumscribed by the rather curious samāsa “Hindu-Christian,” we may do well to pay more thoughtful attention to ludic features of the landscape. Several decades ago Johan Huizinga counted the inclination to play to be so definitive of being human as to merit reference to our species as homo ludens. Happily, some attention is already being given to this in the area of South Asian religion, as Selva Raj and Corinne Dempsey have shown with their edited volume, Sacred Play: …

The Malleability Of Yoga: A Response To Christian And Hindu Opponents Of The Popularization Of Yoga, Andrea R. Jain

Journal of Hindu-Christian Studies

FOR over three thousand years, people have attached divergent meanings and functions to yoga. Its history has been characterized by moments of continuity, but also by divergence and change. This applies as much to precolonial yoga systems as to modern ones. All of this evidences yoga’s malleability (literally, the capacity to be bent into new shapes without breaking) in the hands of human beings.

Mormon Media Studies Symposium - 2012, Sherry Baker

Faculty Publications

Website for the Mormon Media Studies Symposium year 2012.

Using A Healing Wheel In The Healing Journey, Rebecca L. Tadlock-Marlo

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

Mindfulness can be most comprehensively defined as a multifaceted, present-moment awareness intervention that capitalizes on self-perceptions (Gehart & McCollum, 2007; Nanda, 2009). Native American practices can be easily translated into counseling mindfulness techniques to aide in the healing journey of multicultural clients (Burks & Robbins, 2011; Durtschi,Rybak & Decker-Fitts, 2009; Garrett et al., 2011; Turner & Pope, 2009). A Medicine Wheel, or Sacred Hoop, is just one of the many ways to help individuals heal through mindfulness practices. Through the use of creating and discussing a healing wheel with clients, counselors can promote a context for understanding, respecting, and valuing …

The Banner - V. 147, No. 11 - (November 2012), Christian Reformed Church In North America

The Banner

6 - Editorial: Rich Toward God by Bob De Moor / 7 - Catch Your Breath: Resonance by Jennifer M. Parker / 8 - IMHO: Arm in Arm by Harry Kuperus / 8 - Letters to the Editor / 10 - News: Board of Trustees Endorses U.S. Asylum Legislation / 17 - Frequently Asked Questions / 18 - Can a Growing Business Sustain a Healthy Planet? by Evert Van Der Heide and Cal Jen / 21 - Next: I’m Staying by Tom Kok / 22 - Many Tribes, One Gospel by Nancy Vander Meer / 26 - The View from …

The Voice In The Whirlwind: Lessons For Job -- Randomness And Natural Evil, Richard Carlson

Conference on Philosophy and Theology

The innocent Job suffers, friends are no help, and then Job screams at Yahweh, demanding justice. The first surprise is that Yehweh responds to Job, does not criticize him but tells him he is ignorant, and then gives him a science lesson. The content of that lesson is the second surprise.

Made In God's Image! - What Does It Mean? Science And Religion In Conversation, Clifford Cain

Conference on Philosophy and Theology

How can we best interpret the traditional Christian affirmation that human beings are made in God's image in light of contact and dialogue between religion and science? And what, if any, are the environmental implications of this conversation between the two?

On Helping One's Neighbor, Bharat Ranganathan

Religion Faculty Publications

Few people doubt that severe poverty is a pressing moral issue. But what sorts of obligations, if any, do affluent people have toward the severely poor? If one accepts the idea that one has some obligations to the severely poor there still remains disagreement about the magnitude of this obligation and when it obtains. I consider Peter Singer's influential “shallow pond” argument, which holds that affluent people have greater obligations toward the severely poor than ordinary moral judgments suggest. Critics hold that Singer's view is excessively demanding and therefore untenable. I thus turn to the parable of the Good Samaritan …

Babette's Feast And The Goodness Of God, Thomas J. Curry

Journal of Religion & Film

This article attempts to answer the preeminent question Babette’s Feast invites viewers to consider: Why does Babette choose to expend everything she has to make her feast? Of the critical studies made of the film, few have considered analytically crucial the catastrophic backstory of Babette, the violence of which is implied and offscreen. Appreciation of the singularity of Babette’s own personhood and the darker aspects of her experience, and not only how she might act as a figure of Christ, are key to understanding the motivating force behind her meal and its transformative effect: That through the feast Babette lays …

Whale Rider: The Re-Enactment Of Myth And The Empowerment Of Women, Kevin V. Dodd

Journal of Religion & Film

Whale Rider represents a particular type of mythic film that includes within it references to an ancient sacred story and is itself a contemporary recapitulation of it. The movie also belongs to a further subcategory of mythic cinema, using the double citation of the myth—in its original form and its re-enactment—to critique the subordinate position of women to men in the narrated world. To do this, the myth is extended beyond its traditional scope and context. After looking at how the movie embeds the story and recapitulates it, this paper examines the film’s reception. To consider the variety of positions …

The Reenchantment Of Eschatology: Religious Secular Apocalypse In Akira Kurosawa’S Dreams, Justin Heinzekehr

Journal of Religion & Film

The possibility of nuclear destruction in the modern world has created a secular eschatology which, unlike religious eschatologies, creates nihilism and apathy rather than ultimate meaning. The Japanese film Dreams, by Akira Kurosawa, depicts this secularized eschatology as well as a counter-apocalyptic utopia. However, Kurosawa does not merely repeat the Western visions of nuclear apocalypse, but uses Japanese folk religion as a lens through which this apocalypse can be viewed. By doing so, Kurosawa creates a specifically Eastern response to nuclear destruction: a “religious secular” eschatology. Despite its lack of critical success, Dreams provides a valuable alternative for Western …