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Front Matter

Denison Journal of Religion

No abstract provided.

Front Matter

Denison Journal of Religion

No abstract provided.

Front Matter

Denison Journal of Religion

No abstract provided.

Adventist Church Leadership And Religious Liberty In India: Impact On Mission And Ministry, Santosh Kumar

Journal of Adventist Mission Studies

India, consisting of several diverse communities, operates on various religious sentiments, norms, expectations, cultures, and worldviews. Each culture and worldview developed, nurtured, and was organized in a community that recognized the importance of religious tolerance—tolerances that keep India united and yet diverse. Religious tolerance in India respects and allows the various religions to exist and practice within the same community.1 However, if this norm is broken, the resulting actions can result in unexpected consequences. There are several cases where tolerance was breached due to religious standards, views, or beliefs, causing chaos in a community.

The Seventh-day Adventist Church has become …

Emigration, Home, Identity: An Ethnological Examination Of The Identity Of Jewish Emigrants From Czechoslovakia, Peter Salner

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

Stretnutie (The Meeting) is a group formed in October 2004 by Jewish emigrants from Bratislava (the capital of Slovakia) who fled Czechoslovakia following the invasion of the Warsaw Pact armies in August 1968. The original intention behind its founding was to hold a reunion that would bring together people who, forty years after emigrating, lived in Israel, in different states across Europe and North America, and in Australia. The meeting took place in May 2005 in Bratislava, drawing over 200 participants. Encouraged by this initial success, the group and its website continued its activities, and it remains operational to this …

Complete Spring Issue

Journal of Applied Christian Leadership

No abstract provided.

New Perspectives On Church Planting, W. Jay Moon, Richard Doss

Journal of Applied Christian Leadership

No abstract provided.

Church Revitalization: Fashioning Church For Growth, Willie Lee Wormack

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This thesis research project is an approach to resolve the issues of the critically declined and dying Friendship Baptist Church whose membership cannot support a viable ministry. Friendship Baptist Church exists with minimal infrastructure at 38503 Mosstown Road, Dade City, Florida, in the rural Lacoochee, Florida area. Friendship Baptist Church needs a visionary plan with leadership and team support directed to assist with church development and growth. The case study approach will implement exploration on the meanings and beliefs of Christianity for the church in the church’s social setting. Investigations about cultural associations of faith with the church is engaged …

Intercultural Mentorship As A Leadership Role, Daniel Nae

Journal of Adventist Mission Studies

Intercultural mentorship requires special knowledge, skills, and attitudes (Osula and Irvin 2009; Dominguez Garcia 2012:109-116; Crutcher 2006:67- 74). Leader mentoring in intercultural contexts entails a way of living that inspires the mentee to develop a “similar mentoring mindset” (Rayford 2014:15). This article describes the importance of intercultural mentoring as a leadership role. The study starts with an evaluation of Osuna and Irvin’s model of cultural awareness. Then, it explores the concept of intercultural competence in mentoring, describes and illustrates the leader mentoring relationship in an intercultural context, and applies the concept to a university setting.

Preparing The Next Generation For A Pluralistic World: The Need To Teach Systematic Theology To Christian Youth, Terrance Jermayne O'Neil

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The continuation of Christianity is rooted in the historical practice of the preceding generation theologically educating the next generation. This process has led to the spreading of the gospel throughout the world. However, in recent years, the Christian church has watched an entire generation walk away from the faith. Many youths who affirmed their faith in Christ are abandoning their confessions and practice. The challenges and skepticism of a pluralistic and relativistic culture have questioned historic Christianity. Regretfully, Christian youth are unable to respond theologically and accurately with confidence. The church has failed to prepare them. This study sought to …

Do You Have To Be A Calvinist In Order To Be A Kuyperian? In Memoriam John H. Kok, Eduardo Echeverria

Pro Rege

No abstract provided.

Anti-Reductionist Christian Philosophy In The Twentieth Century: Owen Barfield And The Neo-Calvinists, Jamin Hubner

Pro Rege

No abstract provided.

Review Of Imitating Christ In Magwi: An Anthropological Theology, David A. Hoekema

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.

Vile Methods: Bridging Divides And Expanding Churches' Understanding Of Creativity, Tyler Jack Kaufmann

Doctor of Ministry

Over the last 25 years, technology has made learning, sharing information, and connecting easier than ever before. Humans, especially in North America, have access to unprecedented amounts of information, ways to interact, and tools for relationship building. Yet, in the United States, humans find themselves in one of the most polarized times of the last 50 years. At the same time, the US church has been in major membership decline and its societal influence has decreased. Great numbers of the poorest US Americans are leaving the church and with that exodus gaps between social classes are widening as less spaces …

Winsome Wounds: A New Perception Of Pastoral Suffering, Stephanie Hurd

Doctor of Ministry

Pastors may view their divine calling as quid pro quo assurance against personal suffering. Yet everyone suffers. Seminaries train pastors in the technical skills required for ministry, but hermeneutics and homiletics do not help a pastor who is wounded. Churchcraft is about thriving as a leader in a church environment and acquiring the navigational tools, experiential knowledge, and soft skills to do so. Section 1 establishes the problem: Misperceptions about typical pastoral suffering, the disorientation it causes, and the lack of tools needed to respond in a productive way. Section 2 presents possible responses such as Stoicism, Legalism, Epicureanism, increasing …

A Taste Of The Kingdom: Re-Imaging And Re-Articulating Kingdom Community, Jay J. Anderson

Doctor of Ministry

Modern churches find themselves in liminal cultures, requiring new understandings of ecclesia (re-imaging) and new approaches to communication (resigning). They also find themselves in the midst of a collapse of traditional community realities, including neighborhoods. The express intention of this researcher of lifetime PNW zip-codes is to encourage and inspire Pacific Northwest Jesus gatherings to reimage kingdom community. Each zip code contains unique cultural components, all of which need the life-giving inbreaking of the Kingdom of God. My contention is that when Jesus gatherings re-image kingdom community, freshly articulate ecclesiology, and appropriately flavor their communities with local terroir, each zip …

Combating Ministry Burnout By Honoring Human Limitations, Dominic Abaria

Doctor of Ministry

The risk of burnout threatens anyone working in human-service vocations but presents an especially volatile risk for those in ministry. This threat is compounded by the confluence of technological advances, performance-based identities, and a frugality mentality prevalent within nonprofit organizations, including churches and parachurch organizations. Since the early 1980s, the three common elements of burnout have been observed and analyzed in the field of psychology: emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced personal accomplishment. However, most approaches to treating burnout only seek to mitigate symptomology without treating the underlying cause.

This dissertation explores the development of a burnout culture in the United …

Re-Enchanting Adolescence: Using Story To Give A New Generation Fresh Hope, Susan Stratton

Doctor of Ministry

The repercussions of four distinct world shifts—the Reformation, Renaissance, Enlightenment, and the Scientific Revolution—has produced a narcissistic culture that impedes Gen Z’s ability to cultivate a transcendent personal narrative that is open to authentic spiritual formation. This “immanent buffered self,” so prominent in western culture, is taking a toll on the spiritual lives of 21st-century individuals of every age. The devastation in Gen Z, the newest generation, has severe consequences for the health of Gen Z and also for the church. One in three young adults do not believe in a Divine Being, and those young adults who are in …

Conflict Between The Clergy And The Laity In The Quaker Church In Kenya, John Muhanji

Doctor of Ministry

The Quaker church missionaries came to Kenya as part of the West's Christian movement to the dark continent. Historians have usually referred to the Society of Friends' spiritual life as quietism, which did not resonate well with African spirituality which was disregarded by the missionaries as evil. Africans unquestioningly believe in the supreme creator of the universe and humanity. There is no ethnic group in Africa that does not have a specific name for a supreme God.1 Therefore, the Quaker belief that "there is that of God in everyone" was not considered by the Western missionaries that Africans believed in …

Changing The Story Of White Supremacy In The Church: Towards A Trauma-Informed Model Of Racial Reconciliation, Andrea Saccoccio

Doctor of Ministry

The lack of identifiable progress regarding racial reconciliation since the 1960s has become increasingly evident in the growing mainstream appeal of extremist views on race in the wake of the Obama administration and intense rise in racial tensions across the country. The seeming impotence of the church to effectively speak into this climate has sparked renewed conversation in how the church engages racial reconciliation, particularly in an approach that considers how white evangelicals can recognize themselves as key factors in both the problem and the solution. Additionally, there is a growing interest in the role that trauma plays in these …

From Recreational To Sacramental: Observing Past Entheogenic Practices And Considering Their Potential Application In The Future Of Christianity, Heath Hollensbe

Doctor of Ministry

This dissertation aims to consider whether Jesus followers in North America could begin to adopt entheogens as items of sacramental worship.

Section One will describe the opportunity on the horizon for the institutional church in North America.

Section Two will focus on alternative readings of biblical texts and look at the basis of convictions about entheogenic use. By looking at the history of entheogens around the world, I attempt to show that entheogenic use is not a new trend to adopt, but part of religious history.

Additionally, I will present a proposed path forward on culture-wide adoption of entheogens.

Section …

Contextualizing And Defending The Gospel For Gen Z: A Chastened Rationalistic Approach To Christian Apologetics, Harry Edwards

Doctor of Ministry

This dissertation seeks to provide a solution to the declining Evangelical influence in the United States, particularly among Generation Z. The rise in number of those who do not subscribe to a particular religion (“nones”) has doubled in the last five years even amidst a steady church attendance and participation in religious activities. The popular Evangelical evaluation of this problem includes the idea that the cause is a lack or an insufficient amount of theology taught and learned. The popular response has been to increase theological knowledge churches and other places of learning. I am proposing, however, given the post-modern …

How Christians Of The First Centuries Experienced Epidemics, Maryna Lukashenko, Lidiya Biletska

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The article examines the ethical responses of the Christian communities of the first centuries to the challenges of the Antonine Plague and the Plague of Cyprian. During these times, the institutionalization and development of the Christian church took place, and thus the strategies of its social service and behavior in the conditions of acute social crises and trials were developed. Already during the first epidemics, the Christian communities showed a radically different attitude to the sick and sufferers than was accepted in the society of that time. This attitude was based on Christian love and charity, self-sacrifice and service to …

Eudaimonic Happiness As A Convergence Point For Religion And Medicine: The Ukrainian Context, Uliana Lushch-Purii

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The paper is aimed to present arguments for consideration of eudaimonic happiness as a convergence point between religion (Christian denominations) and medicine in the contemporary world in general and Ukraine in particular. Similarities between eudaimonic definition of happiness and traditional interpretation of happiness as a virtuous good life in historic Christianity are shown. The present tendency of modernized Christian denominations in Ukraine to elaborate a secular context of happiness concept is traced. Based on analysis of contemporary religious information resources and documents, it is shown that nowadays the majority of Christian denominations in Ukraine concur in considering happiness with others, …

Attitudes Of Medical Students Towards Artificial Termination Of Pregnancy And Euthanasia In The Context Of Christian Ethics, Iryna Vasylieva, Kateryna Hololobova, Olha Nechushkina, Viacheslav Kobrzhytskyi, Serhii Kiriienko, Anna Laputko

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

Medical students’ attitudes towards issues associated with the beginning and end of human life are analyzed using interdisciplinary approaches and empirical material (statistics, sociological surveys). The purpose of this article is to determine the peculiarities of Christian morality’s influence on the attitudes of contemporary Ukrainian medical students towards the issues of artificial termination of pregnancy and euthanasia. Based on a comparative analysis of the evaluative judgments of three groups of respondents (group 1 — those who consider themselves Christians; group 2 — respondents who are undecided about religious belief; group 3 — those who consider themselves non-believers), a complex relationship …

Handbook For The Deceased: Re-Evaluating Literature And Folklore In Icelandic Archaeology, Brenda Nicole Prehal

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The rich medieval Icelandic literary record, comprised of mythology, sagas, poetry, law codes and post-medieval folklore, has provided invaluable source material for previous generations of scholars attempting to reconstruct a pagan Scandinavian Viking Age worldview. In modern Icelandic archaeology, however, the Icelandic literary record, apart from official documents such as censuses, has not been considered a viable source for interpretation since the early 20th century. Although the Icelandic corpus is problematic in several ways, it is a source that should be used in Icelandic archaeological interpretation, if used properly with source criticism.

This dissertation aims to advance Icelandic archaeological theory …

Introduction, Miguel H. Diaz

Theology: Faculty Publications and Other Works

This inaugural volume of the new Orbis series “Disruptive Cartographers,” The Word Became Culture includes original essays by leading scholars who lay out the issues and parameters of God-talk latinamente. In addition to the series editors, contributors include Nestor Medina, Jean-Pierre Ruiz, and María Teresa (MT) Dávila.

Personhood, Threshold And Equality, Benjamin Leon Williamson

Quaerens Deum: The Liberty Undergraduate Journal for Philosophy of Religion

Whether abortion and infanticide are permissible has been debated for a long time in philosophical literature and continues to this day. In this paper, I will assume without argument that one’s view about the moral status of the fetus and newborn will determine what side he/she comes down on in this debate. I am also proceeding with the assumption that personhood is not a conventional or linguistically effective device that has little or no connection to reality. Persons exist and personhood itself is real. With that being said, I will defend a more controversial claim that will undoubtedly stir a …

Augustine's Diverse Epistemology: Love, Reason, And Presupposition, Joseph Carson

Quaerens Deum: The Liberty Undergraduate Journal for Philosophy of Religion

In Saint Augustine’s works, especially in The City of God, The Confessions, and On Free Choice of the Will, he offers three features integral to his epistemology: love, reason, and presupposition. By love, Augustine argues that virtuous lovers of God will know the Truth more than those with disordered loves. By reason, Augustine held that reason must guide the journey to Truth. By presupposition, Augustine claimed that the search for Truth only starts from Christian doctrine. While modern philosophers might see a tension when simultaneously holding these three principles in his epistemology, Augustine claimed they were mutually …

The Increasing Significance Of Religious Tourism: A Case From Uttar Pradesh, India, Aruna Dhamija

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

Tourism, in its numerous forms is a major source of income for various nations. India is no exception to this. Within some countries, a few states bring the major chunk of tourists. Uttar Pradesh is one such state for India which, on the virtue of its diversity, population and geographical size, has been at the forefront of attracting tourists from not only the country but globally. There has been a consistent shift in the profile of visiting tourists as they have displayed a marked change from those seeking recreational activities to those who visit a tourist destination owing to its …