Digital Commons Network^™

Schende's "Calling And Vocation: From Martin Luther To The Modern World Of Work" (Book Review), Stefana Dan Laing

The Christian Librarian

No abstract provided.

Doing The Good In The Apostle Paul's Ethical Vision, T. Luke Post

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Leadership Development For Micro-Communities : Developing Leaders In United Methodist Micro-Communities, G. Anthony Mcphail Jr.

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Sickness And Healing : A Critical Analysis Of The Responses Of Christians Within The Methodist/Wesleyan Tradition In Cap-Haitian, Haiti, Guenson Charlot

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

We Have A Gospel : A Critique Of Salvation Narratives In The Salvation Army In Australia, Laithe J. Greenaway

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Phd Dissertation As Camino, Mark Slatter

Jesuit Higher Education: A Journal

This article identifies some of the psychological, ethical, and spiritual undertows of the dissertation process in view of the following themes: the dissertation as discipleship and Christian vocation, psychological healing and “Shadow work”, establishing a healthy work asceticism, strategic and spiritual facets to writing, and concluding remarks on research as self-appropriation for theological renewal. Is there more at stake then getting through the defense?

The Logic Of Intersubjectivity: Brian Mclaren’S Philosophy Of Christian Religion, Darren M. Slade

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

To survey harsh criticisms against Brian Douglas McLaren (1956‒), readers gain the inaccurate impression that he is a heretical relativist who denies objective truth and logic. While McLaren’s inflammatory and provocative writing style is partly to blame, this study also suspects that his critics base much of their analyses on only small portions of his overall corpus. The result becomes a caricature of McLaren’s actual philosophy of religion. The thesis of this dissertation is simple: McLaren is, in fact, a rationalist and empiricist, who utilizes irony, humor, generalization, and ridicule to disturb those expressions of faith common to mainstream, Western …

"We Are Strangers In This Life": Theology, Liminality, And The Exiled In Anglo-Saxon Literature, Nathan John Haydon

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In “‘We Are Strangers in this Life’: Theology, Liminality, and the Exiled in Anglo-Saxon Literature,” I analyze the theme of exile in the theological literature of the Anglo-Saxon era as a way of conveying the spiritual condition of eschatological separation. The anthropological theory of liminality will be applied in this dissertation as a way of contextualizing the existence of the exiled, and the multiple ways in which exile is enacted. The intervention of the theory of liminality in this dissertation offers a methodology and vocabulary for assessing what exile means in terms of a spiritual identity, how it operates in …

Anthropology Embedded In Worldview Studies: Modernity’S Failure And The Response Of Christian Philosophy Of Life In A Postmodern Age Of Expressivism, Nathan Sexten

Senior Honors Theses

This thesis examines two divergent streams of thought in Christian philosophy of life represented by the works of Francis Schaeffer and James K. A. Smith in an effort to help Christians live in a postmodern culture. Schaeffer and Smith ultimately address differing, but complementary, realms of anthropology and the human experience. To see how these two authors might complement each other effectively, this thesis will analyze each author’s work and then explore whether or not the application of Smith's liturgical anthropology and utilization of phenomenology can improve Schaeffer’s system of thought and the worldview concept.

Goddesses: Mysteries Of The Feminine Divine By Joseph Campbell, Ed. Safron Rossi, Carl Badgley

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

No abstract provided.

Subverting The Nature Of Thing: Gender Agency In Spiritual Systems And Contemporary Performances Of Zimbabwe's Shona People, Rujeko S. Dumbutshena

Theatre & Dance ETDs

Gender, ritual and performance in the Shona cultures of Zimbabwe, are inexorably linked. They demonstrate how the flexibility of the Shona spiritual systems offers agency to ritual leaders and practitioners. The story of Murumbi Karivara, a Shona rainmaker from the 19th Century, provides the inspirational imagery for the researcher’s Masters of Fine Arts thesis concert DE RERUM NATURA - the way things are (performed on September 2 and 3, 2018). The researcher positions herself among contemporary Shona artists living in Zimbabwe and abroad who negotiate the spaces they occupy during ceremonies, on concert stages, and in institutions; to find autonomy …

How Embodied Human Creatures Converse Online, David Edwards

Grapho : Concordia Seminary Student Journal

Have you ever noticed just how much you can learn about what a person has going on in life without asking them a single question? All you have to do is hop on Facebook, scroll through twitter, or scan Instagram and you can see updates on everything! From the birth of a first child to the death of a loved one, from their favorite new show to Fantasy Football failures, it is pretty easy to learn a lot about a person and their life today with only so much as a couple of clicks on a screen or a keyboard.

Engaging Sacred Space And Experiencing God In The Mountains: A Study Of The Non-Traditional Worship Environment Of Mountain Cathedrals, An Ecumenical Meetup Group Based In Albuquerque, New Mexico, Brendan Isaiah Nixon

Geography ETDs

This paper focuses on the non-traditional Christian worship site of Mountain Cathedrals in Albuquerque, New Mexico. I argue that affectual and emotional responses are elicited from the congregants of Mountain Cathedrals through the process of sacralization. It is shown that Christian worship in a non-traditional outdoor setting affects the ways in which the congregants engage with, participate in, and create sacred space. I survey current literatures of sacred space, the contemporary Christian church, and non-traditional worships spaces. Using the literature as a backdrop, I utilize Mountain Cathedrals as a case study for understanding the ways in which sacred space is …

The Dynamic Of Belief And Unbelief As Developed In Dostoevsky Crime And Punishment And Its Rthe Dynamic Of Belief And Unbelief As Developed In Dostoevsky Crime And Punishment And Its Relevance For Contemopary Life Elevance For Contemopary Life, Santiago García Pintos

Jesuit School of Theology Dissertations

A laudable piece of writing often generates significant movements within the reader, sometimes even altering one’s approach to reality. This thesis is a study of the Russian novel Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky. My overall conclusion is that the classic offers a first-hand vision of God’s presence in our everyday reality. Through the work Dostoevsky proposes a God who is present to the poor and acts in a special way through them. Even in the most miserable of contexts, God is seen as present and active in the lives of the suffering and the outcast. From this analysis I …

The Inculturation Of Taiwanese Catholicism: The Yanshui Holy Spirit Church, Aloysius Ming-Te Hsu

Jesuit School of Theology Dissertations

Taiwanese Catholicism shows the signs of regression from previous efforts on inculturation of Christian arts. The images of Jesus and saints displayed in public still retain their Western features. However, Taiwanese-indigenized Christian arts have made progress in the last few decades. The Yanshui Holy Spirit Church is a very important example. The Catholic Church has also highlighted the importance of making an authentic local Church, especially after the Second Vatican Council. The Federation of Asian Bishop's Conferences (F ABC) has made concrete guidelines for building an Asian local Church, which is in dialogue with the life reality of the Asian …

College Ethnic Catholic Communities: Ethnoreligious Pathways For An Intercultural Church, Kyle Ko Francisco Shinseki

Jesuit School of Theology Dissertations

When children of Catholic immigrants leave their families and ethnic Catholic communities for multiethnic colleges, they often encounter a sense of alienation. As this experience challenges their sense of identity, the resources typically available on their respective campuses either offer a de-ethnicized version of their religious identity or a secularized version of their ethnic identity. College ethnic Catholic communities offer them a space where they can explore the intersection of their faith and ethnicity, selectively integrate and adapt aspects of their ethnoreligious heritage received from their families and faith communities, and construct a second generation ethnoreligious identity.

Through interviews, surveys, …

Óscar Romero: A Liberative Model For Engaging With The Homeless In Cleveland, Maxwell Linnville

Masters Essays

No abstract provided.

Theravāda “Missionary Activity”: Exploring The Secular Features Of Socio-Politics And Ethics, Christopher Scott Brugh

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The purpose of this thesis is to comprehensively explore Theravāda missionary activity. The philological, textual, theoretical, and ethnographic methods used to investigate the historical, sociopolitical, religious, and ethical aspects of early Theravāda, the U.S. Vipassanā (Insight) meditation movement, and modern Burmese Theravāda revealed nuanced meanings in the descriptions of these adherents’ endeavors with respect to proselytizing, converting, and the concept of missionary religions. By exploring the secular features that contributed to their religious appearances, a more developed contextualization of Theravāda “activity” reshapes understandings of the larger concept of missionary religions. I argue that what has been maintained in the establishment …

The Church Discipleship: Real Praxis, Omar Rojas

Masters of Theological Studies

This paper presents a holistic model for effective discipleship. Definitions of discipleship used by several ecclesiastical denominations as well as a secular perspective are examined, but biblical examples and principles of discipleship serve as the platform to achieve spiritual knowledge and its purpose. The current state of discipleship in a sample of some of the denominational Christian churches in the West is presented in order to understand the necessary changes that need to be made. In the same manner, this paper offers some elements of healthy discipleship from around the world that provide a fresh way to integrate real discipleship …

The לֵב†Of The Lectures: Human Embodiment, Rhetoric, And Adolescent Spiritual Formation In Proverbs 1–9, Logan T. Thompson

Harding School of Theology Dissertations and Theses

No abstract provided.

The Theological Anthropology Of St. Gregory Of Nyssa, Marcus Mccormick

Harding School of Theology Dissertations and Theses

No abstract provided.

Endangered Danger: Christianity, Affect, And Harmless Snakes In Samoa, Ariel Abonizio G. S.

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The Candoia bibroni (Pacific Boa), is a non-venomous Samoan snake that recently become an endangered species, possibly due to human killing on sight. This interdisciplinary research investigates how Pacific Boa came to be perceived as dangerous animals that need to be killed. Following snake tracks through the history of Samoa and into the present, this research suggests that the relationship between Samoans and the Pacific Boa questions the simple binaries of real/imagined, material/semiotic, subjective/objective, and material/immaterial. Particularly with the introduction of Christianity by missionaries in the early-1800s, the Pacific Boa snake came to inhabit the liminal space between these apparent …

Mind Over (What Doesn’T) Matter: De-Stigmatizing Mental Health From Senegalese Women’S Perspectives, Jenna Marks

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

As a matrilocal and collectivist society, Dakar is an urban space where the woman is at the center. With this in mind, it is possible to understand all the pressures women in urban Senegalese society face. Women are the center of the household, thus being responsible for the family, finances, and the social aspect of welcoming visitors. In addition to these factors, women in Senegal also deal with community expectations and responsibilities since there is larger emphasis on the community, rather than the nuclear family in Senegalese society. This paper examines how these two aspects of Senegalese society (matrilocality and …

Calvin Theological Journal (Vol 54 No 1 - April 2019), Calvin Theological Seminary

Calvin Theological Journal

From the Editor: Karin Maag - 9 / Articles: From Glory to Glory: 2 Corinthians 3:18 in Biblical-Theological Perspective by Dane C. Ortlund - 11 / The Grammar of Revival: The Legacy of Jonathan Edwards’s Teleological Language in Religious Affections (1746) by Obbie Tyler Todd - 35 / Religious Freedom and the Pancasila-Based State of Indonesia: A Neo-Calvinist Idea of Principled Pluralism by Benyamin F. Intan - 57 / Reprioritizing the Lord’s Supper among the Reformed by Jelmer Heeren and Maarten Wisse - 91 / Sermon: “A Sure Sign”—A Sermon on 1 Corinthians 11:17–34 and Exodus 24:1–11 by David Vroege …

Block Adoption: Evaluating The Impacts Of Neighborhood Care On Church Attendance At House Of Joy, Victor King

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

When a church plateaus, it is a major indication that the church is no longer adding new members. This is a dangerous stage for any church to be. If nothing is done to turn the situation around, the church will likely head down toward decline and death. This Thesis project addresses the problem of stagnation in church attendance. The Thesis project examines how block adoption can be used as an evangelism strategy to reach the people who live in the same community where a local church is located. The thesis project shows how block adoption can be planned and implemented. …

Toward An Adventist Theology Of Urban Mission, Gary Krause

Journal of Adventist Mission Studies

"As the Adventist Church looks at modern cities, the vista can be overwhelming. The city is an enigmatic phenomenon, a conglomeration of hundreds of disparate cultures, languages, and people groups. It is a complex and complicated place, resistant to easy categorization or description. Just as soon as one feels one is getting a grip on the nature of a city, a street corner is turned and another unfamiliar world opens up. The way the church views the city is of fundamental importance to the way it conducts its urban mission; therefore, in this chapter I will propose a theological window …

Youth Participation In Urban Mission And Ministry, Michelet William

Journal of Adventist Mission Studies

"The God of Scripture consistently called faithful youngsters to participate in his redemptive mission on earth. The mission of God is not only carried out by young men and women but also intentionally aims at reaching out to them. Drawing on biblical examples, this article advocates a youth-focused approach to urban ministry whereby young people are both actors and recipients of all activities. Youth participation is beneficial for society because their alienation is a cause of social and political disruption, of gang formation and criminal behavior in many contexts. Youth participation is beneficial for the church because, as reported in …

The Life Of Donald Mcgavran: Coming Of Age, Gary L. Mcintosh

Great Commission Research Journal

In the mid-1970s, criticism of the Church Growth Movement gradually began to wane. Donald McGavran reduced his teaching load to halftime, although he continued to teach for another decade. McGavran and Win Arn continued teaming together on books and films, and even Peter Wagner turned toward a focus on North American Church Growth. The Church Growth Movement came of age, and it would flourish throughout the remainder of the 1970s and into the 1980s.

TawḥĪDic Allah, The Trinity, And The Eschaton: A Comparative Analysis Of The Qualitative Nature Of The Afterlife In Islam And Christianity, Kevin M. Richard

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

A theological doctrine of eternal life raises certain qualitative and existential questions. Considering the unfathomable duration, one may rightly ask, what will that experience be like and will it meet the experiential needs of human beings so that there are no intimations of boredom. Eternity, then, creates a potential existential problem for humanity. The problem is potential because eternity creates a certain need, a need which can concisely be stated in this way: quality must overcome quantity. Both Christianity and Islam teach human beings are intended to live forever so both religions must overcome this problem if eternal life within …

"It Is Our Own Thing": The Expression Of And Limits To Enculturation At St. Joseph's Anglophone Parish, Kayleigh Kaminski

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Down a small side street in the heart of Yaoundé, Cameroon, St. Joseph’s Anglophone Parish houses worshippers from the Northwest and Southwest regions of the country. Its members bring their cultural traditions to the church in the process of enculturation, and mass is filled with clergy-sanctioned elements of traditional culture, but beyond its walls, people still carry out the traditional practices that are deemed as “non-Christian” by the Church. This study seeks to examine the ways that traditional culture manifests itself both inside and outside St. Joseph’s Anglophone Parish, exploring the ways in which tradition is translated in the church …