Digital Commons Network^™

Teaching Mission In The Complex Public Arena, Robert Alden Danielson, A. Sue Russell

Academic Books

No abstract provided.

Leaves Of The Bodhi Tree From East To West: The Symbol Of The Sacred Fig Tree In Ancient India, Southeast Asia And Contemporary Contexts, Amanda J. Spradling

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This thesis examines the depiction of the Bodhi Tree, a common Buddhist symbol. Bodhi tree simply means tree of enlightenment and Buddha Shakyamuni reached enlightenment while in meditation beneath the particular tree species of ficus religiosa, or sacred fig. Though the sacred fig tree, as a native tree to India, has historically held significance, today it is principally known for its association with the Buddha, particularly his single most important life event, his enlightenment.

Tree worship and its universal practice is well understood and many studies of the Bodhi Tree explore its associated pilgrimage site, Bodh Gaya, and monument, the …

Patristics And Sociolinguistics, Cyril Hovorun

Theological Studies Faculty Works

The paper suggests a new hermeneutical take on receptive patristics. Receptive patristics means here the ways in which patristic texts are perceived in the community of patristic scholars and in ecclesiastical communities. The perceptions of the patristic materials that these two kinds of communities demonstrate are not always convergent. Their divergence can be explained on the basis of the distinction between normative linguistics and sociolinguistics. Ecclesiastical communities tend to treat the language of the Fathers and Mothers of the church in coherence with the way in which the proponents of normative linguistics treat the phenomenon of language. Patristic scholars, in …

Training Friends And Overseas Relief: The Friends Ambulance Unit And The Friends Relief Service, 1939 To 1948, Nerissa Kalee Aksamit

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This transnational case study investigates the establishment and development of training programs by two British faith-based voluntary relief organizations, the Friends Ambulance Unit (FAU) and the Friends Relief Service (FRS), during the Second World War and explores the implementation of learned skills by members of those organizations working during the immediate postwar period in the British Occupation Zone in Germany. It contributes new perspectives to scholarship on humanitarianism as it highlights both the continuities and ruptures in the approaches to and practices of humanitarian aid. It identifies the Quaker traditions that shaped the work of the FAU and FRS—particularly the …

Towards A Biblical Spirituality: Dwelling With God Through The Exodus Sanctuary-Covenant Structure, Silvia Canale Bacchiocchi

Master's Theses

Problem

Biblical spirituality was challenged from the very start of the Christian church by competing spiritual ideologies of philosophical origins. Because the interpretation of spirituality has focused on exegetical and doctrinal approaches (micro and mesohermeneutical levels), the grounding biblical macro-hermeneutical level of its basic presuppositions has been ignored. Yet this is the level that gives ultimate meaning to the meso and micro levels. This oversight constitutes a giant roadblock to understanding and experiencing true biblical spirituality, the consequences of which are devastating both for the individual believer (Matt 7:23), as well as for the mission, unity, and growth of the …

Journal In Entirety

The Asbury Journal

No abstract provided.

Editor’S Introduction, Gopal Gupta

Journal of Hindu-Christian Studies

No abstract provided.

Review Of Nathaniel Roberts’ To Be Cared For:The Power Of Conversion And The Foreignness Of Belonging In An Indian Slum, Eliza F. Kent

Journal of Hindu-Christian Studies

This article focuses on Roberts’ argument that the religiosity of urban Tamil Dalits, or “slum religion,” transcends Hindu or Christian affiliation. Roberts’ ethnography challenges the dominant discourse surrounding Pentecostal Christianity which asserts that conversion is inevitably divisive, splitting families and communities and even individuals in harmful ways that justify its tight legal regulation. To the contrary, Roberts’ fieldwork reveals how the deeply pragmatic nature of Dalit religion allows for significant individual variation and dynamism without inordinate contentiousness. To Be Cared For also contributes to scholarship on women and religion in India, sensitively illustrating the tensions and strains within urban Dalit …

Mormon Studies In Africa, Amy Hoyt

Mormon Studies Review

Mormon studies, as understood by scholars, includes the scholarly examination of all of the traditions that have stemmed from Joseph Smith Jr. This essay will review the state of the field of Mormon studies in Africa and pay particular attention to two of these traditions, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Community of Christ, formerly known as the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Book Review: Imaginations Of Death And The Beyond In India And Europe, Herman Tull

Journal of Hindu-Christian Studies

Book Review of Imaginations of Death and the Beyond in India and Europe. Edited by Günter Blamberger and Sudhir Kakar. Singapore: Springer Nature, 2018, ix + 202 pages

Islam, Christianity, Traditional Religions And Power Politics In Northern Nigeria Since Pre-Islamic Period, Emmanuel M. Abar

Dissertations

Problem

Currently in Northern Nigeria, religious interaction among the three major religious traditions, Islam, Christianity, and African Traditional Religion, is marred by violent religious conflicts. Also, competing concepts of religious legitimacy, which appeal to the historical heritage of Nigeria, are often used to validate and justify the violation of religious freedom. Does the current state of religious interaction among the various religious groups reflect the true heritage of religious interaction in Northern Nigeria? Or is it possible that the history of the interaction between African Traditional Religions, Islam, and Christianity in the past might actually be a heritage that points …

Motivation For The Sharing Of Material Possessions In Acts, Philo's De Vita Contemplativa And The Didache: A Comparative Study, Lena V. Toews

Dissertations

Luke, in the book of Acts, depicts the sharing of possessions as a practice in the Jerusalem community of the first century. Several pericopes, occurring primarily in the first part of the book of Acts, embody the idea of shared property and seem to have important parallels to other sources of the time, including the Jewish author Philo’s work De vita contemplativa, where he describes a group he calls, “Therapeutae,” and in the Jewish Christian document Didache. This study seeks to identify beliefs correlated with the material sharing practices in the community of Acts and compare them with De vita …

Archaeological Backgrounds Of The Sanctuary: A Search For Egyptian Cultural Influence In The Construction Of The Hebrew Tent-Sanctuary, Leslie Scott Baker Jr

Dissertations

Problem

Although the documented description of the construction of the tent-sanctuary appears to give it an Egyptian context in terms of the materials used and the culture of the artisans, in three distinct spheres (sacred, royal-domestic, and military), very little work has been done in comparing the descriptions in the text with the recovered archaeological fabric from Egypt and no study has, as yet, taken the next step of quantifying that comparison through a potentially-repeatable statistical analysis in an effort to determine, in an unbiased manner, the nature of the relationship.

Method

Design and frequency data of the appearing materials …

Social Cohesion Among Individuals Participating In Re-Entry Groups, Todd Reiser

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

When prisoners are released from incarceration they enter a social landscape that holds unique challenges. One of the ways humans living within social systems understand their place and role is through the mechanism of religion. This study investigates how group religious practice establishes a shared worldview among those recently released from prison; a worldview that promotes the creation of positive social cohesion which contribute to life improvements, social mobility, and social status changes. "Social networks may include friendship circles in local congregations, scripture study groups and relationships with religious leaders who serve as role models for individuals" (Kerley et al …

Toward Engaging The Secular: Charles Taylor's Modern Social Imaginaries, Human Flourishing, And Theological Method, Jenifer A. Daley

Dissertations

Increasing secularization seems to fly in the face of Christian proposals for a Scripture-only principle for theology. The question that this dissertation explores is "How will Christian theology tackle the resulting church-society impasse in a way that is both faithful to Scripture and intelligible contemporaneously without appearing to privilege one aspect over the other?" That is, "What form should theological method take to efficaciously engage the secular?" This study suggests that the answer might lie in an innovative fusion of Scripture with borrowed concepts from secular culture. Thus, this dissertation responds to the problem of the need for robust, multidimensional …

Papers Of William Arnett Arc1997-011 - Finding Aid, Ats Special Collections And Archives

Finding Aids

No abstract provided.

1. The “New Person Contested”: Atheist Humanist Vs. Catholic Worldviews On Transhumanism, Irene J. Dabrowski, Anthony L. Haynor

Praxis Publications

No abstract provided.

Virtue Ethics In Social Contexts, Kate Ward

Theology Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

The Leftist Political Parties In Light Of Simone Weil's Criticism: The Workers' Party Case, Alexandre A. Martins

Theology Faculty Research and Publications

Given the socio-political context of Latin American countries and their leftist and center-leftist parties that had governed some countries since the beginning of the 2000’s, this essay will present Simone Weil’s anthropology of a rooted people towards social justice guided by a spirituality of supernatural justice. This anthropology supports her criticism of political parties that this essay will use to examine the Brazilian context and its Workers’ Party that gov­erned the country for over thirteen years and ended its tenure after a process of impeachment. Although Simone Weil seems to be pessimistic as to whether multiparty or monoparty political systems …

A Catholic Response To “ ‘Do Not Quench The Spirit’: Charisms In The Life And Mission Of The Church”, Joseph Mueller

Theology Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

The Imperative Connection Between Scripture And Ethics In A Catholic Context, Conor M. Kelly

Theology Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

John’S Gospel And The Ethics Of Freedom And Love, Alexandre A. Martins

Theology Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

St Thomas Aquinas On Affectivity: A Way Forward For Seminary Formation, Bernard Gordon

Theses

St Thomas Aquinas on Affectivity: A Way Forward for Seminary Formation, is a theological argument that St Thomas’ teaching can be applied to the affective formation of men preparing to be Catholic priests. St Thomas’ teaching provides a very helpful understanding of affective maturity and its integral importance for a truly Christian and priestly life in the service of others. It flows from a theological anthropology that recognizes proper affective growth as an integral part of human life and interpersonal relationships. Affective maturity is an essential attribute for the seminarian to acquire because he is preparing to be a priest …

Marandiuc, Natalia. The Goodness Of Home: Human And Divine Love And The Making Of The Self. Aaras. New York: Oxford University Press, 2018. X + 214 Pp. Hardcover. Usd 99.00., Sarah Burton

Andrews University Seminary Studies (AUSS)

No abstract provided.

Harwood, Adam, And Kevin E. Lawson, Eds. Infants And Children In The Church: Five Views On Theology And Ministry. Nashville: B&H Academic, 2017. Xiv + 218 Pp. Softcover. Usd 24.99., Timothy J. Arena

Andrews University Seminary Studies (AUSS)

No abstract provided.

Schenk, Christine, Csj. Crispina And Her Sisters: Women And Authority In Early Christianity. Minneapolis: Fortress, 2017. Xx + 459 Pp. Softcover. Usd 29.00., Carina O. Prestes

Andrews University Seminary Studies (AUSS)

No abstract provided.

Worldviews: Concepts Or Narratives? An Integrative Definition To Assess Their Controlling Effect In The Biblical And Atheistic Evolutionary Models, Flavio Prestes Iii

Andrews University Seminary Studies (AUSS)

What are worldviews? What are their characteristics? How do they work? This article offers tentative responses to these questions through the integration of concepts and narratives. Using the biblical and the atheistic evolutionary narratives as case studies, it also seeks to show how worldviews have a significant, though not absolute, controlling effect on one’s perception of reality.

Being Biblical In A Pluralistic Age

Andrews University Seminary Studies (AUSS)

One way to define a disciple is “a follower of someone’s words.” In a pluralistic age, there are many words beckoning would-be disciples to particular ways of life, all promising some kind of wellness. These word-ways are ingredients of worldviews, a program or map for orienting oneself in the world. Worldviews answer core questions about human existence, often in the form of a story. This essay argues that contemporary pluralism is the result of abandoning the Bible as our control story, a loss that is as much a failure of what Charles Taylor calls the social imaginary. If this diagnosis …

The Appropriation Of The Hellenistic-Egyptian Cult Of Serapis: A Multi-Disciplinary Study Focusing On Augustus, Nero, Hadrian, Their Coinage, And Villas, Vivian A. Laughlin

Andrews University Seminary Studies (AUSS)

Dissertation Abstract

Constructing A Theology Of Relational Life Through The Themes Of Creation, Incarnation, And Re-Creation As An Alternative To Current Categories Of Religions, Andrew Thompkins

Andrews University Seminary Studies (AUSS)

Dissertation Abstract