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Towards A Renewed Theology Of Personal Agency: Origen’S Theological Vision And The Challenges Of Fatalism And Determinism, Bernard B. Poggi

Jesuit School of Theology Dissertations

In our own contemporary context, there seems to be nothing more important than for a person to be able to speak about their achievements as being specifically their own. Yet it seems that due to two trends found in theology and science, it is increasingly difficult to talk about individual agency. The first trend which undercuts human agency is found in theological fatalism.¹ We will look at the case of theological fatalism found in Islamic thought in the idea of qadar, the power of God by which everything is commanded.² The second trend comes to us on account …

Rigor In The Multicultural Psychology Of The Whole Person: Embracing The Challenge, Glenn Hartelius, Marie I. Thouin-Savard, Courtenay Richards Crouch

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

n/a

C.S. Lewis And The True Myth: A Reconciliation Of Theology, Philosophy, And Mythology, Courage Lowrance

Masters Theses

C.S. Lewis was both a student of pagan philosophy and mythology and a Christian. He never was divided between these two pursuits in his life, though he gave the latter its proper priority. What allowed Lewis to keep this balance was his idea of the gospel as the True Myth, an idea that helped lead to his conversion and remained at the core of his thinking throughout his life. By this idea of True Myth, Lewis was able to not only unite the pagan myths to Christian truth, but also the rest of human thought as well. Thus, in order …

Re-Imagining Embodiment And The Self In People With Traumatic Spinal Cord Injuries: A Narrative Approach, Namitha Kumar, Sangeetha Menon

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

Traumatic spinal cord injuries from accidents cause physical and social suffering, pain and loss. After an initial period of physical and psychological trauma, the individual begins to cope and successfully crosses over. Crossing over as a term used in the spinal cord injury register refers to positive adaptation—physical, psychological and social. This paper is based on a qualitative narrative study of the lived experiences of individuals negotiating spinal cord injuries in the Indian context wherein the disability is no longer the location of inability, tragedy, pain, and loss, but one of creative possibilities. As individuals re-imagine embodiment and self, a …

A Neurotheological Approach To Spiritual Awakening, Andrew B. Newberg, Mark R. Waldman

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

A neurotheological approach suggests an analysis of spiritual awakening experiences by combining phenomenological data with neuroscience. This paper presents a synthesis combining information on the thoughts, feelings, and experiences associated with spiritual awakening experiences and neurophysiological data, primarily from neuroimaging studies, to help assess which brain structures might be associated with these experiences. Brain structures involved with emotions correlate with emotional responses while areas of the brain associated with the sense of self appear to correlate with the key feature of these experiences in which an individual loses the sense of self and feels intimately connected with God, universal consciousness, …

Redefining The Roles Of The Rural Levites In Deuteronomy, James Douglas Wilson

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Soteriology In Mainstream Monotheistic Religions: The Messiah Conundrum, Jay Fox

Masters Theses

For the promotion of the Gospel, this study seeks to examine Soteriology in Mainstream Monotheistic Religions: The Messiah Conundrum. This decidedly charged topic critically researches the philosophy of salvation doctrine, or soteriology, within major monotheistic religions. The highlighted problem is the Messiah conundrum, with critical research on each doctrine for epistemological significance of a savior and their beliefs surrounding salvation. This mystery of where, or who humans turn to for salvation, is vitally important when considering the principle of sufficient reason in today’s hermeneutic and apologetic circles. The purpose fueling this thesis is the resolute documenting of beliefs of major …

Religious Literacies As Social Practice: A Latterday Saint Perspective, Eric D. Rackley

Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

Although we are learning more about how young people make sense of religious truths, there is a conspicuous dearth of research examining the meaning-making practices of Latter-day Saint youth. As a result, it is unclear, for example, how Latter-day Saint youth read scripture. What’s working for them? What’s not? How do we know? “Faith without understanding” may be the sardonic standard for religious literacy in the United States, but I am confident that in the Church we can do better. We can help youth develop faith and understanding. Without a clearly articulated conception of religious literacy, however, the Church may …

Laudato Si’: Integral Ecology And Preferential Option For The Poor, Alexandre A. Martins

Theology Faculty Research and Publications

This essay examines Pope Francis’s encyclical Laudato si’ from a Latin American perspective and its reception in this part of the world, especially in Brazil. It focuses on two aspects of Laudato si’: its dialogical approach, and the connection it makes between ecological issues and poverty. These two aspects allow us to understand Francis’s proposal of integral ecology and how the preferential option for the poor becomes central to his perspective. In addition, this essay explains how Latin American theology and pastoral experience are present in Pope Francis’s thought.

The Problem Of The Stigma Of Marxism For Christian Advocacy Writers Whose Focus Is Historical, Social Inequalities, Kandy Crosby-Hastings

Masters Theses

Christian advocacy writers seek to advocate on behalf of and empower the marginalized. Christian advocacy writers who focus on historical, social inequalities reveal oppressions from history in order to advocate for the oppressed in similar circumstances in today’s world. They must be willing to learn from all scholarship that reveals the hardship and oppression endured by the exploited of society. There is often a stigma associated with the use of Marxist sources for reasons that include Karl Marx’s own anti-religious, anti-Semitic, pro-revolution, and reductionist ideas and the later association of Marxism with Soviet Communism. Christian advocacy writers must understand both …

A Neurotheological Approach To Spiritual Awakening, Andrew B. Newberg, Mark R. Waldman

Marcus Institute of Integrative Health Faculty Papers

A neurotheological approach suggests an analysis of spiritual awakening experiences by combining phenomenological data with neuroscience. This paper presents a synthesis combining information on the thoughts, feelings, and experiences associated with spiritual awakening experiences and neurophysiological data, primarily from neuroimaging studies, to help assess which brain structures might be associated with these experiences. Brain structures involved with emotions correlate with emotional responses while areas of the brain associated with the sense of self appear to correlate with the key feature of these experiences in which an individual loses the sense of self and feels intimately connected with God, universal consciousness, …

Jailangkung: Indonesian Spirit-Basket Divination, Margaret Chan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Chinese spirit-basket divination, which dates to the fifth century, would have been lost to the world had it not been reincarnated as Indonesian jailangkung. The term is the homophonic rendition of the Chinese cai lan gong [菜篮公, vegetable basket deity] and unambiguously links the Indonesian practice with the Chinese. Contemporary Chinese divinatory methods have replaced the clumsy basket planchette with the handier tri-forked branch or a pen held in the medium’s hand, but a spirit-basket still features in jailangkung and remains the key element in involutions of the prototype. For example, Nini Thowong’s spirit-possessed doll, is essentially an anthropomorphic effigy …

An Overview Of Four Traditions On War And Peace In Christian History, Joseph J. Fahey

The Journal of Social Encounters

This essay examines four traditions on war and peace that have developed in Christian history. They are: Pacifism, Just War, Total War, and World Community.Pacifism characterized the earliest Christians; Just War appeared in the late fourth and fifth centuries; Total War in the eleventh century; and World Community began in the sixteenth century. All four positions continue today and are held by people who sincerely call themselves Christian.

Surveying The Landscape Of Theories And Frameworks Used In The Study Of Sport And Religion: An Interdisciplinary Approach, Zachary T. Smith, Steven N. Waller Ph.D.

Movement and Being: The Journal of the Christian Society for Kinesiology, Leisure and Sports Studies

Religion and sport is a bourgeoning and maturing interdisciplinary area of study. As the volume of research conducted about topics related to the interface of religion and sport, attention to sound research methods, including the use of relevant theories and theoretical/conceptual frameworks becomes essential. Scholars such as Stausberg and Engler (2014) have posited that the methods used in religious studies (including theory and frameworks) are not as rigorous as those utilized in social science related fields. The imperative then becomes to use theories and frameworks from social science related disciplines such as leisure studies, sports studies and sport psychology to …

Functioning Religiously, Brent A. Smith

Open Access Publishing Support Funded Articles

No abstract provided.

Liminal Spirituality: Why Religion Is Changing And How Churches Can Respond, Savoy Stevens

Seminary Masters Theses

This thesis examines the dynamic factors influencing religious disengagement in the United States and identifies five best practices for churches interested in responding to the growing number of “nones” and “dones.” Placing religious disengagement within the framework of Christian history, relative to the cyclical nature of religious movements, it confirms the occasion and purpose of the ensuing “liminal spirituality” and explores what many scholars suggest is a new era of Christian history. Factors influencing religious disengagement considered include; the impact of post-modern and metamodern cultural logic, the role of doubt in personal faith formation, the ways in which the Church …

Agreeing To Submit: Authority Constructions In Modern Sunni Islam, Trevor E. Wolff

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In the modern age, Sunni communities are often claimed to be in a moment of crisis. However, despite outward arguments about this crisis, Sunni communities are more accurately described as within a state of transformation. By analyzing constructions of authority from Sayyid Qutb, the clerical establishment of Saudi Arabia, and the greater American Muslim communities, Sunni theology is best seen as seeking out methods to transform and re-center authority within Sunni communities.

Historical Analysis Of Leadership Theory In The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-Day Saints And Its Educational System, Kevin D. Whitehead

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

An organization’s leadership theory acts as a collection of primary guiding characteristics which influence its identity and direction. Developing leaders has always been important for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Historically, the Church has promoted leadership ideals for all its members through various aspects of its doctrine and organization. This study provides an analysis of multiple leadership texts produced by the ecclesiastical and educational wings of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The study helps to reveal how Latter-day Saint leadership theory has developed over time. This study considers the unfolding of Latter-day Saint leadership …

A Gifting Of Sweetgrass : The Reclamation Of Culture Movement And Naiits, An Indigenous Learning Community, Wendy L. Peterson

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Mission Research

Journal of Adventist Mission Studies

No abstract provided.

Jesus As Mwalimu: Christology And The Gospel Of Matthew, Alan Howell, Robert Andrew Montgomery

Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

Critical Contextualization: A Case Study Of Lobi Funeral Rites In Burkina Faso, Boubakar Sanou

Journal of Adventist Mission Studies

"It is very difficult to be relevant in our Christian witness if we do not know and address the issues with which the people we are trying to reach are wrestling. For the gospel to meaningfully engage recipients with the purpose of transforming their worldviews, Christian witnesses must always encode the biblical message in such a way that its content remains faithful to biblical principles but also makes sense to its receptors in terms of its relevance. Such new experiences often challenge them in their social location. The rationale for this is that because the gospel is always received from …

Can I Get An “Amen”? Affirming The Contemporary Ghanaian Usage Of Amen, Agana-Nsiire Agana

Journal of Adventist Mission Studies

"Altogether then, the claim that amen as used in the instances we have discussed is inappropriate is found to lack firm biblical or etymological foundation. Neither does the suggestion that if it is a vestige of African worship culture then that provides a reasonable ground for thus condemning it. While it is recognized that amen is often babbled from mental laxity, it is suggested that the problem lies not in amen, as a word, but in the person, as a worshipper. Amen is a rich word, capable of communicating a spectrum of positive human intellectual and emotional responses to worship; …

The Reality And The Apparent: Worldviews And Missiological Strategies, Cristian Dumitrescu, Hatsarmaveth Venkaya

Journal of Adventist Mission Studies

"Worldview is an abstract concept used for identifying a set of assumptions people use to organize their view of reality. Conceptualizing worldview is a challenging task. Nobody has seen a worldview, but everybody has one. A worldview informs a person’s interpretation of reality, their cosmology, and determines their actions and reactions. Charles Kraft (1988) considers worldview as the “center control box” of a person’s life and communal culture. Most assumptions reflect one’s unverified beliefs and answers to fundamental questions, such as who they are and who others are, how people should relate to each other, what causes things to happen, …

Critical Contextualization: Case Studies From Cambodia, Bruce L. Bauer

Journal of Adventist Mission Studies

"Those of us involved in world mission must be at the forefront to encourage local people to develop local expressions of their faith. When I hear people rejoice about the fact that regardless of where they travel in the world the Sabbath school and church service order of worship, the songs sung, and the way of doing church is the same, I do not rejoice, I groan. For that means that the foreign visitor is comfortable, but how about the local people? Are they comfortable with the often foreignness of Adventist worship? We can and must do better to allow …

Leonardo Boff’S Social-Environmental Ecology Exposition, Analysis, And Appropriation For Lutheran Theology, Alan Furst

Master of Art Theology Thesis

Furst, Alan Diego. “Leonardo Boff’s Social-Environmental Ecology: Exposition, Analysis, and Appropriation for Lutheran Theology.” MA Thesis, Concordia Seminary, 2018. 107pp.

Ecological issues throughout the world present an urgent need for a deepened theological approach to the doctrine of creation. In fact, recent studies have shown that such issues point to a more serious problem with the entire system at work shaping social relations today. This situation calls Christian theologians to rethink the doctrine of creation in light of ecological issues. This includes Lutheran theologians, who still need to address the current situation involving ecological issues and to offer reflections and …

"Yarovoy Law" Struck The Protestants: An Interview With The Historian Of Religions, Elena Glavatskaya, Elena Glavatskaya

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

Elena Glavtaskaya is a professor of history at Ural Federal University in Yekaterinburg, Russia. She has defended her Kandidatskaya dissertation in 1992 and her Doktorskaia dissertation in 2005 at the university. She has also led several research projects focused on the religious landscape of the Urals and Siberia and is currently leading the research project, “Ethno-religious and demographic dynamics in mountainous Eurasia around 1900,” supported by the Russian Science Foundation. Her latest articles are “Nobody Pressed Hard, and People Listened to the Message of the Kingdom,” “Jehovah's Witnesses» of the Sverdlovsk Oblast: a historical and anthropological research,” published in Quaestio …

Facultamiento Transgresivo: Queerificando Las Espiritualidades
 De Las Mak Nyahs De La FundacióN Pt
 En Kuala Lumpur, Malasia, Joseph N. Goh

Conexión Queer: Revista Latinoamericana y Caribeña de Teologías Queer

The article explores the transgressive empowerment of mak nyahs —male-to- female transsexuals— by queering their spiritualities to reveal the multiple, migratory movements of gender identities. The essay seeks to expose the heterosexist persecution of mak nyahs that assume monolithic forms of Islamic religiosity. In so doing, it argues that the interminable resistance and transgression of oppressive sexual and gender normativities form a migratory praxis of power shifts that generate empowerment for the mak nyahs. The objective of such an exploration is to reveal and name in a more articulate fashion the passion and alacrity with which mak nyahs live and …

Kezar, Jovanna (Fa 1153), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 1153. Student paper titled “Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village: The Shakers Today” in which Jovanna Kezar details her visit to the Shaker community located near Poland, Maine. Kezar gives a brief, albeit thorough, history of the Shaker experienceas it relates to spirituality, organization, and guiding principles such as mottos, beliefs and practices, forms of worship, and governmental structure. Kezar also describes her trip to the Shaker village and provides color photographs and slides of buildings and photographs along with newspaper clippings, postcards, and assorted stationery.

Charismatic Renewal And Miracular Sensitivity At A Catholic Marian Apparition Site In Poland, Konrad Siekierski

Journal of Global Catholicism

Almost 70 years after the Mother of God appeared in a series of visions at the pastures near the village of Mazury in south-eastern Poland, this ‘abundant event’, in Robert Orsi’s terms, still attracts the attention of Polish Catholics. Drawing on my research on the recent revival of the apparition site in Mazury, I examine the current penetration of Polish Catholicism by the charismatic movement. As I discuss it, this trend reinvigorates, but also reshapes, what Andrzej Hemka and Jacek Olędzki call the ‘miracular sensitivity’ of Polish believers, traditionally dominated by Marian devotion.