Digital Commons Network^™

Resiliency And Self-Care For Pastors In Japan Facing A Disaster, John G. Houlette

All Electronic Theses and Dissertations

For Japanese pastors facing a disaster, exercising resiliency and self-care is an enormous task as clergy deal with varying disaster-related attitudes, impact within the church and overwhelming need and opportunity in the community. In addition to surveying seminary students, pastors who experienced the 1995 Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake as well as pastors who lived through the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and seminary professors who train next generation pastors were interviewed using co-inquiry and a 360-degree data gathering approach. Results showed that managing stress, loss, relationships, compassion fatigue and burnout were common challenges. The data indicated that practicing resilient leadership entails …

Emerging Adulthood And Faith (Calvin Shorts), Jonathan P. Hill

Calvin Press

Is the Church losing the next generation of young people? Jonathan P. Hill critically examines this question, interpreting sociological data that takes into account the broader cultural and historical context. He challenges common assumptions and draws conclusions that are counterintuitive, complex, and encouraging.

Attending To Reality: Iris Murdoch On The Moral Good, Ante Jeroncic

Faculty Publications

Even a scant acquaintance with current cultural and philosophical trends will readily point to a widespread predilection for subjectivist forms of moral reasoning. By “subjectivist” I refer to various non-cognitivist and constructionist paradigms in moral philosophy and popular parlance that reduce ethical statements to expressions of individual or collective preferences, feelings, or prejudices stripped of any object-given normativity. Th e following are but some of the factors that fuel such perspectives: the proverbial fact/value dichotomy and anti-realist sentiments pervading large swaths of analytic philosophy; poststructuralist and postcolonial “genealogies” that tie the language of universal morality to discourses of power, patriarchy, …

Religiosity And Social Problems Among Muslim Adolescents In Southern Thailand, Suhaimee Sateemae, Tarik Abdel-Monem, Mahsoom Sateemae

University of Nebraska Public Policy Center: Publications

Substantial commentary has been written about the historical context of the Malay-Muslim minority in the deep south of Thailand. Much of the recent scholarship on the Malay-Muslim minority of Thailand has focused on the ongoing ethnic insurgency in southern Thailand, the region’s troubled history of annexation, and its relevance to Thailand’s political landscape. However, there is little empirical research on the Malay-Muslim population itself, although it is assumed that expressions of their religious identity are a fundamental aspect of collective identity formation. In an effort to fill this gap, this study explored perceptions of religiosity and risk behavior among Muslim …

Mapping Neo-Atheist And Other Recent Attacks On The Character Of God: A Case Of Theodicy, Jiří Moskala

Journal of Adventist Mission Studies

No abstract provided.

Writing Commentary As Ritual And As Discovery, James W. Watts

Religion - All Scholarship

This study combines rhetoric, ritual studies, and comparative scriptures studies to open new avenues for understanding both biblical texts and their cultural history as a scripture. Labelling commentary as ritual, specifically as a ritualized genre of text, leads to the observation that commentary not only contributes to the Bible’s status as a scripture, it depends on that status as well. Ritual theories provide explanations for the dynamic interaction of tradition and innovation in commentary writing. Analysis of commentary writing and reading as a form of ritualizing the semantic dimension of a scripture provides a step forward in understanding how religious …

Full Issue, Vol. 1, No. 1

Andrews University Seminary Student Journal

No abstract provided.

A Biblical And Missiological Framework For Cross-Cultural Mission: A Case Study Of The Lobi Funeral Rites In Burkina Faso, Boubakar Sanou

Dissertations

Problem

Converts to Christianity in traditional contexts often face pressure to continue traditional rituals and practices which sometimes contain unbiblical elements. Non-selective performance of traditional practices can produce dual allegiance and syncretism. Such is the case with Lobi Seventh-day Adventists concerning their traditional funeral rites of passage. Some core elements of these traditional funeral rites, in which all community members are expected to fully participate, conflict with biblical teachings on the human condition after death.

Method

This dissertation starts by laying the theoretical and theological basis for addressing the problem. The dissertation then uses ethnographic research of funeral rites among …

Moving Past: Making Space For Memory After The Boston Marathon Bombing, Austin Thomas Jacobs

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

In the aftermath of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, visitors from across the US and the world descended on Boston to pay their respects to the three people who were killed and the more than 260 who were injured at the race's finish line. The public commemorated the tragedy in multiple and diffuse spaces, both physical and virtual. In recognition of this fact, I use the changing location of the spontaneous shrine as an organizing structure for this study, analyzing the memorialization in three "movements,” each of which corresponds to a physical relocation of the shrine itself in the weeks …

The Christian Farmers Federation Of Ontario: Integrating Christian Principles With The Practicality Of Farming, Suzanne M. Armstrong

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This thesis examines the Christian identity and characteristics of the Christian Farmers Federation of Ontario (CFFO), a general farm organization active in the diverse agricultural sector of Ontario, Canada. It highlights the intersection of religion and farming that emerged from interviews and participant observation within this group. The thesis probes what it means for them to be responsible Christian farmers in contemporary agriculture. Christian and secular scholars from three key areas of scholarship—Dutch immigration to Canada, agriculture of the middle or family farming, and Christian stewardship—help to contextualize their responses.

The CFFO was founded as a Dutch neo-Calvinist organization within …

Canadian Christian Nationalism?: The Religiosity And Politics Of The Christian Heritage Party Of Canada, Leah A D Mckeen

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

In this dissertation I examines the worldview and concerns held by members of the Christian Heritage Party of Canada (CHP) as a means of understanding Canada’s Christian Right. I present a perspective of Canada’s Christian Right that challenges assumptions made about this religio-political ideology by showing how the political choices made by members of the CHP make sense within the members’ context. The CHP is a federal political party, first registered in 1986, that markets itself as “Canada’s only pro-life party.” Although the party was initially developed by a group of conservative Protestants and Roman Catholics, the majority of its …

Further Developing Transpersonal Psychology As A Science: Building And Testing Middle-Range Transpersonal Theories, Harris L. Friedman

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

Further developing transpersonal psychology as a science has been impeded by the over emphasis on two approaches to building theory, namely grand theories that attempt to explain everything and mini-theories that avoid explaining much of anything. In between these extremes are “middle-range” transpersonal psychology theories that can better allow for scientific progress. They bracket metaphysical and supernatural approaches common in transpersonal grand theories, and accept the possible generalizability of findings commonly rejected by transpersonal mini-theories. The transpersonal construct of self-expansiveness illustrates one way that middle-range transpersonal theories can lead to a program of cumulative empirical research and empirically informed practices. …

Transpersonal Psychology And An Agnostic Experiential Exploration Of Mediumship And The Ostensible Phenomenon Of Life After Death, Elliot Benjamin

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

This paper presents results of an autoethnographic personal experiential research study of mediumship and the ostensible phenomenon of life after death. The researcher’s experiences center on his attempt to make contact with his deceased brother, as part of a doctoral research project. The researcher concludes with a skeptical interpretation of the phenomenon of medium-facilitated communications regarding the deceased; he suggests these are likely to involve cold reading, sensory cues, coincidence, and subjective validation rather than constituting genuine evidence of life after death. The researcher’s conclusions leave room for the possibility of a paranormal interpretation, though this is not favored.

Preaching As A Cultural Formation Tool, Jason P. Esposito

All Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The problem addressed by this project is a lack of awareness some pastors have of the power their preaching has to shape their church culture. In response to this problem the researcher explored the biblical foundations of preaching with a special interest in the Hebrew understanding of learning and its role as a culture creator. He reviewed literature related to homiletics and communication theory with special attention to cultural formation in organizations and churches. He conducted case studies by way of interviews to determine whether members of his church, Crossway, perceived this connection between preaching and cultural formation. He interviewed …

Justice Without Solidarity? Collective Identity And The Fate Of The "Ethical" In Habermas' Recent Political Theory, Andrew J. Pierce

Presidential Seminar on the Catholic Intellectual Tradition

No abstract provided.

In The 'Lógos' Of Love: Promise And Predicament In Catholic Intellectual Life, Una M. Cadegan, James Heft

History Faculty Publications

In the 'Lógos' of Love: Promise and Predicament in Catholic Intellectual Life, the title of the September 2013 conference cosponsored by the Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies at the University of Southern California and by the University of Dayton, was inspired by a somewhat unlikely pair: Walker Percy and Pope Benedict XVI. The lógos of love, according to Benedict in his 2009 encyclical, Caritas in Veritate, is where “[t]ruth opens and unites our minds ... the Christian proclamation and testimony of caritas”—that Latin word inadequately translated into English as “charity” but which refers to the fullness of love made possible …

Book Review: The Wheel Model: Catalyzing Sustainable Church Multiplication Movements By Frank Schattner, Ariel Lee

Great Commission Research Journal

No abstract provided.

“Glimpses Of Jesus Through The Johannine Lens—An Introduction And Overview Of John, Jesus, And History, Volume 3”, Paul N. Anderson, Jaime Clark-Soles

Faculty Publications - George Fox School of Theology

In November 2010, Professor Gregory Sterling opened the joint session between the John, Jesus, and History Group and the Historical Jesus Section of the Society of Biblical Literature by correctly acknowledging that the two disjunctions levied by David F. Strauss of Tübingen a century and a half ago were largely accepted by Jesus researchers and New Testament scholars in the 19th and 20th centuries. First, Strauss argued that the Jesus of history must be divorced from the Christ of faith. Second, given some irreconcilable differences between the Synoptics and John, and the three-against-one reality, one must choose between the Synoptics …

Church Growth Before Mcgavran: The Methodological Parallels Of John Wesley, Bob Whitesel

Great Commission Research Journal

This article will look at methodological parallels between John B. Wesley and Donald A. McGavran. The influence of both men arose during similar social shifts that were accompanied by a perception of ecclesial apathy. Parallels will be demonstrated in McGavran’s principles of 1) conversion as a priority, 2) effective evangelism as a process model, 3) the danger of redemption and lift, 4) the importance of multiplication, and 5) pragmatism in methodology. A final section will look at the legacy of these two men and will suggest how identification can help retain focus on principles rather than on contextually-bound tactics.

Reproduction, Gwynn Kessler

Religion Faculty Works

No abstract provided.

A Trickster In Disguise: Reading A New Type Of Satan In 2 Corinthians, Miranda Julia Rutherford

Honors Papers

This paper examines three brief mentions of Satan in 2 Corinthians by comparing them with representations in two longer pseudepigraphal texts: the Testament of Job and the Greek Life of Adam and Eve. Although the Satan of 2 Corinthians is often read in tandem with other mentions of an apocalyptic evil figure, I argue that this Satan bears a greater resemblance to the Satan portrayed in the Testament and the Life. In these three texts, Satan's moral alignment is ambiguous: although he often acts for nefarious purposes, he does not oppose God on a cosmic scale as apocalyptic Satan figures …

Teachers’ Understanding Of Imago Dei, Beverley Norsworthy, Christina Belcher

International Christian Community of Teacher Educators Journal

Often education is viewed pragmatically as that of preparing students for life as employees. Another view is that education is about enabling human beings to flourish. The pragmatic and flourishing paradox has consequences for national citizenship. For Christian teachers, critical to such an approach would be the manner in which their teaching practice is informed and shaped by a Christian worldview. Such shaping involves an applied knowledge with reference to understanding people, and particularly students as “Imago Dei.” This research presents a pilot study in which 120 teachers in Christian schools in New Zealand and Canada were invited, via an …

Unknowing, Knowing: And The Link With Scripture In Pseudo-Dionysius’S Mystical Theology, Cleran Hollancid

Journal of the Adventist Theological Society

No abstract provided.

Unrealized Expectations : A History Of Christian Union Mission And World Gospel Mission's Work Among The Nembi And Melpa People Of Papua New Guinea, Ruth Ann Tipton

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Embarrassing And Alluring Biblical Giant, Brian R. Doak

Faculty Publications - George Fox School of Theology

No abstract provided.

Moved By The Spirit: Evangelical Presbyterian Woman In The Early Modern Atlantic World, Chasity Dominique Hunt

Online Theses and Dissertations

Revivalism existed as a cultural feature within Scottish Presbyterian society decades before the famous transatlantic revivals of the eighteenth-century. Although many aspects of those revivals have been examined, such as the Holy Fairs, historians and scholars have largely overlooked the extensive body of memoirs and accounts featuring Scottish Presbyterian women in Scotland and the greater Atlantic world, and their experiences within these revivals. This study seeks to uncover the relationship of those women to evangelicalism and revivalism as it exists as a cultural event embedded with symbols. In order to accomplish that goal, this paper looks at the history of …

Theologizing Place In Displacement : Reconciling, Remaking And Reimagining Place In The Republic Of Georgia, Curtis Elliott

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

A Brief Overview Of Al Jinn Within Islamic Cosmology And Religiosity, Vivian A. Laughlin

Journal of Adventist Mission Studies

No abstract provided.

Scripture And Context: An Evangelical Exploration, Craig S. Keener

The Asbury Journal

No abstract provided.

Response To Reviews Of Quakering Theology, David L. Johns

Quaker Religious Thought

No abstract provided.