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Divine Impassibility: A Comparison Of Weinandy's And Culpepper's Perspectives On Whether God Suffers, Elizabeth Flynn

Aristos

From being generally regarded as a philosophical and theological impossibility, since the late nineteenth century the idea that God suffers has become popular and attractive among a vast array of Christian theologians. Due to this shift, many theologians no longer see the need to argue for it and divine passibility has even been called the ‘new orthodoxy.’ The matter has not yet been laid to rest and is made more complex because the terms ‘suffering’ and ‘impassibility’ are used with a variety of connotations.

At the heart of the debate is the desire to assert God’s personalised love for all …

Philosophy Of History, Historical Jesus Studies, And Miracles: Three Roadblocks To Resurrection Research, Benjamin C. F. Shaw

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Jesus’ resurrection is considered by many to be a historical event, but objections are often raised regarding to such inquiry into the past. Philosophy of history is thus an important field in which various roadblocks to resurrection research have been raised. These philosophical questions related to the study of the Jesus’ resurrection have become more prominent recently and seek to undermine the very act of historical inquiry into Jesus’ resurrection specifically and the past more generally. Accordingly, the issues addressed here have implications beyond resurrection research. This work seeks to identify and assess three common roadblocks to such research. The …

On Vias Negativa And Positiva In John’S Dialectical Theology—Apophatic And Kataphatic Thrusts In Philo And Within The Johannine Tradition, Paul N. Anderson

Faculty Publications - George Fox School of Theology

The Vias Negativa and Positiva are evident in Jewish Scripture and Philo, but they also come across dialectically in the Fourth Gospel.1 Indeed, connections between these writings and the Fourth Gospel abound, as Peder Borgen and others have shown over the years, but this particular subject of overlap is an intriguing one. 2 Of special interest here are the apophatic and kataphatic thrusts of John’s historical, theological, and compositional interests with relation to the 9LD 1HJDWLYD and the 9LD 3RVLWLYD , as played out within histories of John’s situation and composition. Put simply, John’s presentation of Jesus and his ministry …

Disillusionment And Fear: The Impact Of Zambia’S Religio-Political Climate On Sexual And Reproductive Health Organisations, Margaret Anderson

Southern African Journal of Policy and Development

Various trends affect the operations of civil society organisations related to sexual and reproductive healthcare (SRH) in Zambia. Firstly, there is a dramatic unmet need for SRH services, and organisations are scrambling to meet this need in the face of many barriers. This is coinciding with increasing political repression on civil society, especially targeting civil society organisations (CSO) with politically sensitive underpinnings. A Christian demographic and institutional revival is reshaping the social and moral framework of the Republic. This research investigates the context of SRH organisations in Zambia and assesses how organisations related to SRH are impacted by the religious-political …

Memory In Christian Education: Reflections On Book X Of St. Augustine's Confessions, Terry Kleven

Pro Rege

Editor's Note: Dr. Kleven presented this paper at the Prodigal Love of God Conference, April 2019, in celebration of the 400th anniversary of the Canons of Dort, sponsored by Dordt University and co-sponsored by the Lilly Fellowship Program, as a regional conference. He originally presented aspects of the paper at the Thirty-Eighth Annual Atlantic Theological Conference on June 24th-27th, 2018, St. Paul's Church, Sackville, New Brunswick, Canada.

The Development Of A Comprehensive Biblical Worldview In Undergraduate Students Who Attend A Regionally Accredited Christian University Located In A Church Setting, Nell Ivy Prince

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The problem this study addresses is that Christian undergraduate Generation Z students at Southeastern University’s Bayside Regional Campus (SEUB) do not have a comprehensive biblical worldview. This was confirmed when a worldview test taken by SEUB students at the beginning of this study revealed that zero students part of this study had a biblical theist worldview, and 15 percent had a moderate Christian worldview. This problem is widespread among universities as a 2018 study from Barna revealed that only 4 percent of Gen Z engaged Christians have a biblical worldview. This study proposes that students who attend a regionally-accredited Christian …

The International Rise Of Afro-Brazilian Modernism In The Age Of African Decolonization And Black Power, Abigail Lapin Dardashti

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Two competing artistic representations of Brazilian blackness emerged from 1966 to 1988. The first began in 1966 when the Brazilian government positioned itself as a leading diplomatic partner for newly independent African nations by showcasing black Brazilian art in West Africa. Through exhibitions, the Brazilian Foreign Ministry aimed to highlight the country’s presumed homogeneous identity and absence of racism. The second definition arose through the work of artists inspired by U.S. social rights activism, who founded Brazil’s civil rights movement in 1975. Brazilian artist-activists combined symbolism from U.S. Black Power, African liberation movements, and Afro-Brazilian culture to denounce racism in …

(Re)Inscribing Meaning: Embodied Religious-Spiritual Practices At Croagh Patrick And Our Lady’S Island, Ireland, Richard Scriven, Eoin O'Mahony

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

Responding to calls for critical interrogations of pilgrimages, our paper examines how different religious meanings are (re)inscribed in spaces through the performance of annual events in a post-secular context. This focus reveals how pilgrims’ embodied practices are fundamental to continuing definitions of these locations as sacred places. Using accounts of the Croagh Patrick and Our Lady’s Island pilgrimages in Ireland, we trace the movement of people in these spaces focusing on how meanings are forged, refracted, and challenged through the performances. These mass embodiments assert traditional understandings of Christian worship and looser spiritual interpretations, while simultaneously involving secular concerns. The …

Kuasa Atas Ruang Pembebasan’: The Resilience Ofwomen In Sasak Culture, Lucky Wijayanti

International Review of Humanities Studies

The Sasak tribe on Lombok island - West Nusa Tenggara, have traditional values and are applied through the social structure of their communities in daily life. Some existing customary values place women in irreplaceable positions. Even so, the existence of financial needs makes them work abroad as laborers, which indirectly results in the occurrence of divorce and early marriage. This is a problem for Sasak women in terms of survival in the Sasak culture. An ethnographic approach derived from Malinowski, the opinion of Svasek, and the value system framework from Kluckhohn are used in this study. This research concludes that …

Gregory Of Nazianzus’ Concept Of “Knowable” Transcendence, William Orbih

Obsculta

This paper outlines Gregory of Nazianzus’ thought on the knowability of transcendence and according to the Cappadocian Father, what knowing God entails. Beginning with a critical appraisal of what William Placher means by the domestication of Transcendence and his expressed dismay over “trivial images of God” in contemporary theology arising from overconfidence in the human capacity to understand God’s nature and the human ability to talk clearly and precisely about God after the seventeenth century. Arguing that Gregory articulated this problem long before Placher, this paper is an appraisal of Gregory’s response to an issue previously well articulated by Placher.

From Environmental Activism To Environmental Education A Historical Overview, Evaluations And A Suggestion For A Path Forward For The Religious Institutions As Partners For A Global Green Shift, Tom Sverre Tomren

Consensus

In this article, the author shows how all the major world religions have engaged in climate and environmental activism by developing theology and practical projects for more than fifty years. Using metadata from the European Social Survey, he shows that members of all religious traditions in Europe have become increasingly positive to the environment and nature. Especially noticeable is the increased engagement of Protestant Christians. Tomren uses a case study from the Lutheran Church in Norway to show how religious actors have a great influence on their own members. Against this background, the author argues that religious institutions should see …

Adam, Dust Of The Earth: A Paradise Received And Incomplete In The Biblical Accounts Of Creation. Some Philological Observations On The Creation Accounts, Jean Koulagna

Consensus

In Christian thinking about climate and environment issues, Dogmatic theology has often seemed to precede the exegesis of biblical texts. And when it is suggested, this exegesis is usually based on previously formulated theological conclusions. In other words, exegesis is there to support ethical stands that are no doubt laudable, but have been already established. Under these conditions, it becomes difficult to analyze those texts as they are and to understand them within the historical and anthropological contexts in which they were produced. This article attempts to break this trend by suggesting philological observations concerning the creation accounts in Genesis. …

Religious Environmental Stewardship, The Sabbath And Sustainable Futures In Africa: Implications For Sustainability Discourse, Ben-Willie Kwaku Golo

Consensus

In terms of goals and approaches, the potentials of religion and faith communities have had a prolonged marginalisation from the rather intense academic and political engagements in the suitability discourse with a consensus on the concept of sustainability as both an approach and a goal. In this paper, I argue that the highly religious African context would require a religiously inspired and phrased recourse towards a comprehensive sustainability, rather than a solely secular concept of environmental sustainability. This is much more so when environmental sustainability is largely a secular vision of a religious one – environmental stewardship. Ignoring the beliefs, …

The Ecumenical Promise Of Eco-Theology, Chad Rimmer

Consensus

No abstract provided.

Sustainability And Religion, Chad Rimmer, Mary (Joy) Philip

Consensus

No abstract provided.

Ecology And Christian Education: How Sustainability Discourse And Theological Anthropology Inform Teaching Methods, Chad Rimmer

Consensus

This paper will sketch theoretical synergies between sustainability discourse and a Christian ecotheological approach to religious education, and point to pedagogical possibilities for bridging the two disciplines. Theology and natural science operate with certain anthropological assumptions. Those underlying anthropologies inform the teaching methods of environmental and religious education. Anthropologies that conceive of human being outside of ecological relationships are a root problem of our current ecological crisis. Many economic, political and social discourses colonize people from the land, particularly children, exacerbating the root causes of sustainability. This paper affirms that linking sustainability discourse and religious education is a way to …

Sustainability And Climate In Religion: A Case Of Study Of The Green Churches Network In Africa (Toile Des Églises Vertes En Afrique) Teva, Marcel Ngirinshuti

Consensus

Faced with the ecological crisis, many churches are involved in the search for concrete solutions. Since 2016, the Green Churches Network in Africa (TEVA), a network of churches, denominational structures and associations, which are committed to caring for the "common home" (planet-earth) in Africa. This organization currently has (as of 2019) 1,808 parishes grouped into 19 churches in 12 African countries. The vision of TEVA is to reach 2020 green parishes by the end of 2020. Starting with the fact that ecological questions are often perceived as utopian and very complex, TEVA aims to promote knowledge of African ecological issues …

Of Pillars And Foundations: Seven Thesis Statements Concerning The Hermeneutics Of The Pentateuch, Gerald A. Klingbeil

Faculty Publications

The study of the composition of the Pentateuch has been at the center of critical scholarship since the nineteenth century. While there is general agreement that the Graf-Wellhausen documentary hypothesis, as originally presented, is untenable, most of current Pentateuchal research has worked within the framework of the existence of divergent sources that underwent a number of editorial changes. Considering the basic physical law of input determining output, this study challenges the basic presupposition of the existence of divergent sources and calls for a fresh approach to the hermeneutics of the Pentateuch that approaches the biblical text on its own terms …

A Way Of Life: Trauma And Resilience Among Muslim Sexual Minorities In Cape Town, South Africa, Afshan Kamrudin

Anthropology Theses and Dissertations

Ask any Cape Town Muslim “what is Islam?”, and the first words that will come out of their mouths will be, “Islam is a way of life”. Among Muslim sexual minorities, the answer is resoundingly the same. Stating that Islam is a way of life indicates there are prescribed rules and codes of conduct that one must follow in order to be a Muslim. As such, the experience of these prescriptions and expectations are culture specific and context-dependent. The purpose of this dissertation is to explore the ways in which Muslim sexual minorities living in Cape Town, South Africa experience …

Hinduism As A Political Weapon: Gender Socialization And Disempowerment Of Women In India, Aindrila Haldar

Master's Theses

There is a growing use of religion as a political tool to control Hindu women in India, contributing to a rise in gender inequality. Immediate authoritative patriarchal domains such as household and politics, continuously speak of “protecting” Hindu women by disregarding their voices and needs. Consequently, potentially creating a loss of agency among women. This research will use inductive reasoning to understand the position of Hindu women in modern Indian society. Particularly, through the understanding of the involvement of religion in the political and household sphere. Hindu women are highly influenced by the expectations of what being an ”ideal” woman …

Texts, Language, And History In The Madhab-Law Tradition: A Study Of The ShāfiʿĪ School, Tarek Ghanem

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis advances the study of the legal literature from the madhhab-law tradition by way of studying the Shāfiʿī literary tradition and its two most authoritative classics. These two works are al-Nawawī’s (d. 676/1278) digest Minhāj al-ṭālibīn and Ibn Ḥajar al-Haytamī’s (d. 974/1567) commentary on it, Tuḥfat al-minhāj. This study will provide a typology of the development of the Shāfiʿī juristic texts. The typology is based on an indigenous and coherent periodization centered around an analysis of the intellectual and social developments within the Shāfiʿī legal tradition, not the classical Eurocentric periodization scheme. The main objective of this typology is …

Investigation Of The "Cultural Appropriation" Of Yoga, Olivia Bartholomew

Honors Projects

With our world becoming increasingly globalized and cosmopolitan, practices that were once very traditional and spiritual are much different when they confront Western societies. Many yoga instructors and practitioners around the world are concerned about the issue of cultural appropriation within their practice. The researcher defines cultural appropriation to mean the process of a dominant culture manipulating aspects of a marginalized culture for its benefit. Traditionally, yoga comes from India, but it has become popularized throughout the world in our recent human history. Through interviews with nine yoga instructors, each from different yogic traditions, who teach in a variety of …

A Preferential Option For God: A Catholic Feminist Argument For Not Throwing The Baby Out With The Bathwater, Jane A. Terlesky

LMU Theses and Dissertations

In this paper I explore what Catholic feminist Ignatian spirituality can contribute to the conversation between faith and culture, conversation that is too often muddied by vague and superficial argument and by an ‘us’ vs ‘them’ attitude driven by extremes to which the majority do not belong. The secular and the religious spring from a common past, though they exist now within the nova effect of spiritualities available today in our modern Western or North Atlantic, “secular 3” world. The 500-year-old Ignatian Exercises can be a coherent voice speaking in the cacophony of the contemporary context especially when a feminist …

(Re-)Making The State: Religious Zionism, Religious Violence, And Israel In The 21st Century, Abe Asher

Religious Studies Honors Projects

Israel’s triumph and seizure of land in the Six-Day War paved the way for a religious Zionist movement based around territorial conquest exemplified by the ideology of Meir Kahane. Over the next 30 years, but particularly during the Oslo period in the mid-1990s, that movement organized and used targeted religious violence to gain power and solidify its place in Israeli society. Building on Shaul Magid’s work, I propose that Kahane’s ethics of violence have been adopted by or allowed to flourish within the modern State of Israel — a response to historic and present Jewish precarity centered on ethnocentric survival.

Demonology According To The Universal Church Of The Kingdom Of God Three Important Aspects And A Lutheran Response, George Felten

Master of Art Theology Thesis

Felten, George, C. “Demonology According to the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God: Three Important Aspects and a Lutheran Response.” MA Thesis, Concordia Seminary, 2020. 145pp.

Demonology should not be the center of a church’s theological center or modus operandi, but it should not be denied or avoided either. While the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God (IURD), a prominent neo-Pentecostal Brazilian church, makes too much of demonology, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Brazil (IELB) seems to make too little of it. Yet this need not be the case. This thesis will analyze three aspects of IURD’s demonology, …

Nature And The Spirit: Tri Hita Karana, Sacred Artistic Practices, And Musical Ecology In Bali, Hao Huang, Joti Rockwell

EnviroLab Asia

Bali is notable for the degree to which music, dance, and visual art permeate everyday life--a result of historically rooted and continuously evolving religious philosophies and rituals. With this context in mind, we wondered what role the arts play, and can play, in addressing environmental concerns.

Discovering The Role Of Desire In Ignatian Spirituality For Discernment Of Vocation In The Jesuit Candidate House Of Vietnam, Pham Dinh Cu

Jesuit School of Theology Dissertations

Many candidates in the Jesuit Candidate House of Vietnam have shared that their vocation began with desires. We do not judge whether they are good or bad desires, but we can sure that those desires were influenced by various factors: culture, society, traditions, family background, and so on. This study is the discovering that in Ignatian spirituality, desire can direct people to God, giving them a foundation and criterion for discerning their vocation. Desire can also transform their spiritual life.

First, it presents an overview of the Vietnamese context, including the Catholic Church, religious vocations, and Jesuit vocations and presents …

The Contribution Of The Catholic Church To Post-Civil War Conflict Resolution In Chad, Rimasbé Dionbo Jean Claude

Jesuit School of Theology Dissertations

I argue that if Chadian society continues to feel the effects of the 1979 civil war, then it is because solutions or an adequate method of approaching the conflict have not been applied. On the one hand, there is a lack of clear political will in the management of the battle, and on the other hand, civil society, including the Church, has not been sufficiently involved in the process of conflict resolution. For there to be social harmony, the Chadian people need a consequent reconciliation. Because of the influential presence of the Catholic Church in Chadian society, we consider it …

Re-Imagining An African Family Ecclesiology In Dialogue With Ratzinger’S Christo-Pneuma Communion Ecclesiology, Tegha Afuhwi Nji

Jesuit School of Theology Dissertations

This thesis seeks to elaborate an African ecclesiology that brings into conversation African notions of family and Ratzinger’s theological reflection on koinōnia. The model of Church-as-family was popularized by the 1994 Synod of African Bishops, and since then it has been espoused by numerous African theologians, who view it as the African response to the communion ecclesiology elaborated by the Second Vatican Council.

This thesis, however, seeks to present a unique perspective of Church-as-family. In the first place, while the prevalent African family ecclesiologies tend to present the aspect of communion or fellowship in ways that undermine the institutional …

Towards A Pastoral, Apologetic Approach To La Santa Muerte Devotion, Henrry Christopher Mendez Fajardo

Jesuit School of Theology Dissertations

Death is and will continue to be a most intriguing reflection topic. It is interesting to note how the topic of death extends its reach to different areas of study which range from the most biological and material to the most philosophical and spiritual. Undoubtedly, death does not cease to be an event rooted in all aspects of our material reality, since life only makes sense in relation to death.

In recent decades in some Latin American contexts, devotion to the personification of death has increased significantly. In a special way, this devotion has gained greater strength and relevance in …