Digital Commons Network^™

Becoming The Buddha: The Ritual Of Image Consecration In Thailand, Donald K. Swearer

Religion Faculty Works

Becoming the Buddha is the first book-length study of a key ritual of Buddhist practice in Asia: the consecration of a Buddha image or new Buddha," a ceremony by which the Buddha becomes present or alive. Through a richly detailed, accessible exploration of this ritual in northern Thailand, an exploration that stands apart from standard text-based or anthropological approaches, Donald Swearer makes a major contribution to our understanding of the Buddha image, its role in Buddhist devotional life, and its relationship to the veneration of Buddha relics. Blending ethnography, analysis, and Buddhist texts related to this mimetic reenactment of the …

Saving God, Robert Masson

Theology Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

Noah’S Younger Brother Revisited: Anti-Noachic Polemics And The Date Of 2 (Slavonic) Enoch, Andrei Orlov

Theology Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

Issues In "Intermediate" Models Of Origins, Jim Gibson

Journal of the Adventist Theological Society

No abstract provided.

Programa De Crescimento Da Igreja Para O Território Da União Sul-Brasileira, Jose Santos Filho

Doctor of Ministry Projects

Problem

The Seventh-day Adventist Church in the South Brazil Union territory (SBU) has become known for its quantitative growth. However, as one analyzes the population size of that region, the conclusion is that much more still needs to be done. Studies made by Christian Schwarz in several countries indicate that the number and quality of members may increase provided that certain biblical principles of church growth are implemented.

Method

The research was done through extensive analysis of previous studies regarding church growth. Biblical perspectives, as well as existent literature on the development of churches, lay ministry, pastoral leadership, training, and …

Discovering A Contextualized Model For Training Japanese Cross-Cultural Ministry, Stephen Wesley Dupree

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Biblical Interpretation And The Shaping Of Religious Worlds: A Study Of Bible Study For Critical Contextualization, Mark J. Hatcher

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Towards Heterogeneous Faith Communities: Understanding Transitional Processes In Seventh-Day Adventist Churches In South Africa, Alan Parker, Ph.D.

Faculty Works

This dissertation examines racial transition toward heterogeneity in three Seventh-day Adventist congregations in South Africa. This dissertation aims to uncover social factors involved in this change as well as to set forth a theological direction with application to the local faith community.

The first section examines recent studies and literature on multiracial congregations, indicating a possible breakdown between theory and practice. Using insights from Kuhn, Gadamer, Habermas, and Geertz, a critical correlational approach is proposed using narrative, community-based praxis, dialectical thinking, and eschatological vision. The theological methods of Groome and Browning are combined to suggest a four-phase approach to practical …

Cybergnosticism? A Study Of Contemporary Christian Faith Communities In Cyberspace, Graham Hill

Theses

This dissertation explores the research question 'What gnostic-like elements are present within Christian faith communities?' The research methodology is qualitative. It involves the examination of Gnostic documents and secondary scholarly sources on Gnosticism, and the detailed analysis of primary source with texts presented at the seventeen designated online contemporary Christian faith communities.

John Wesley's Anthropology: Traditional And Innovative Elements, Charles W. Christian

The Asbury Journal

Article was printed with the title spelled wrong:

John Wesley's Anthropoogy: Traditional and Innovative Elements

Rites Of Passing: Foucault, Power, And Same-Sex Commitment Ceremonies, Ladelle Mcwhorter

Philosophy Faculty Publications

According to Catherine Bell, "The popular contention that ritual and religion decline in proportion to modernization has been something of a sociological truism since the mid-19th century". Conventional wisdom maintains that ritual practices just don't hold central importance in the lives of those raised in the industrialized world as compared with the importance such things had for our distant ancestors or for our contemporaries in non-industrial societies. Some have contended that this is because ritual tends to be strongly correlated with pre-scientific cosmological beliefs that our society has for the most part outgrown. But for whatever reason, " [c]omparatively speaking," …

Book Review: "Yoga And Psychology: Language, Memory, And Mysticism", Bradley Malkovsky

Journal of Hindu-Christian Studies

A review of Yoga and Psychology: Language, Memory, and Mysticism by Harold Coward.

How The Numbers Matter: Demographics And The Future Of Hindu-Christian Dialogue, Francis X. Clooney

Journal of Hindu-Christian Studies

In Religious Demography of India, Bajaj, Joshi, and Srinivas analyze Indian census data from 1871 to 1991, in order to assess the shifts in demography in religious identity in India and on that basis make predictions about the future. They look closely into the data regarding the various states of India and even the individual districts of those states. The book, coming in two parts, invites readers to study the data for themselves: the first 175 pages offer an analysis of census data, but pp. 179-346 are comprised entirely of tables reporting data, thus enabling readers to make up …

2000-2002 Book Awards

Journal of Hindu-Christian Studies

Every three years, the Society for Hindu-Christian Studies honors a recent work in the field with the Society's book award. This year, at the Annual Meeting of The American Academy of Religion, the Society honored Corinne Dempsey's Kerala Christian Sainthood: Collisions of Culture and Worldview in South India. Along with Dempsey's work, three of the finalists for this year's award are reviewed below: Francis X Clooney's Hindu God, Christian God: How Reason Helps Break Down the Boundaries between Religions, Thomas Forsthoefel's Knowing Beyond Knowledge, and Peter van der Veer's Imperial Encounters: Religion and Modernity in India and …

A Bibliographic Essay On Hindu And Christian Dalit Religiosity, Mathew N. Schmalz

Journal of Hindu-Christian Studies

In his now classic novel Untouchable, Mulk Raj Anand portrays the life of a sweeper named Bakha. Bakha works cleaning latrines at the Cantonment, imitates the British "tommies" in his attire, and negotiates the differing spaces in which is Untouchability is defined. After an incident during which Bakha inadvertently touches a caste Hindu in the street, Bakha wanders through town. During his wanderings, he first meets a Christian missionary who speaks almost incomprehensibly about Jesus. Bakha then listens to a speech by Mahatma Gandhi and while he finds the Mahatma's vision compelling, his mind turns to reflecting upon how …

Negotiating Toleration: Engagement, Enforcement, And The Politics Of Recognition, Matthew S. Weinert

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

Toleration and Identity: Foundations in Early Modern Thought by Ingrid Creppell. New York: Routledge, 2003. 212pp.

and

How the Idea of Religious Toleration Came to the West by Perez Zagorin. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2003. 371pp.

The Social Effects Of Psychism: Spiritual Experience And The Construction Of Privatized Religion, Marty Laubach

Sociology and Anthropology Faculty Research

What is the relationship between spiritual experiences and privatized religion? This study defines spiritual experiences in terms of “psychism,” or psychic intrusions in the stream of consciousness that are not perceived by the actor as originating within the “self.” Intrusions interpreted as psychism are regarded by the actor as having the same facticity as empirical experience and are regarded as “proof” of an esoteric belief system. Psychism originated beliefs are therefore resistant to refutation or change, and support spiritual autonomy. Psychism theory is tested using 1988 GSS data on religious beliefs, where psychism is measured using GSS questions on “paranormal” …

Students' Perception Of Their First Experience Of The Sacrament Of Penance Within The Archdiocese Of Perth, Western Australia, Janine Sanzone

Theses : Honours

This study examined the perceptions of year three children of their first experience of the Sacrament of Penance within the Archdiocese of Perth in light of contemporary developmental research. In the Archdiocese of Perth, the Catholic Church's present practice is to prepare students to receive Penance in Year 3 when they have reached the "age of reason' (7 years). The theology behind the Catholic Church's decision to administer Penance at the age of reason is also investigated. The work of developmental psychologists, particularly Kohlberg and Fowler, underpins this investigation of the cognitive, moral and spiritual development of the sample population. …

Présupposés Idéologiques Et Discours Critique Dans Présence Francophone, Lydia Martel

Présence Francophone: Revue internationale de langue et de littérature

This paper illustrates the way Humanities’ categories have allowed us to read traces of cultural crossing in African fiction since the 70s. Many articles published in Présence Francophone turn the 19th century’s anthropological model around, whilst others oppose Judeo-Christian and African myths. Some propose a monolithic vision of identity, until in-between positions appear, revealing the many elements of identity in a much easier way. Among these components, the Western and African modes of knowing are pointed out by studies relying on the works of Lévi-Strauss, Bachelard and Bakhtine.

From Biology To Consciousness To Morality, Ursula Goodenough, Terrence W. Deacon

Biology Faculty Research

Social animals are provisioned with prosocial orientations that operate to transcend self-interest. Morality, as used here, describes human versions of such orientations. We explore the evolutionary antecedents of morality in the context of emergentism, giving considerable attention to the biological traits that undergird awareness and our emergent human forms of mind. We suggest that our moral frames of mind emerge from our primate prosocial capacities, transfigured and valenced by our symbolic languages, cultures, and religions.

Portions of this article were given by Deacon in a paper at the forty-ninth annual conference of IRAS, “Is Nature Enough? The Thirst for …

Political Correctness Today, Joseph Ellin

Center for the Study of Ethics in Society Papers

Paper presented to the Center of the Study of Ethics in Society Western Michigan University, November 14th, 2003.

Bishop Bo Harald Giertz-Pietism And The Ordo Salutis-The Office Of The Holy Ministry, The Word, And Soul Care, Eric Andrae

Master of Sacred Theology Thesis

Though acknowledged as one of the most influential European churchman of the past century, and widely lauded in American Lutheran circles as the author of the acclaimed The Hammer of God, much remains to be learned in the U.S. of Bishop Emeritus Dr. Bo Harald Giertz (Gothenburg [Goteborg] diocese, Church of Sweden, served 1949-1970) and of his theology, especially concerning the specific doctrine which served as the foundation of the novel, the Order of Grace. Furthermore, interest in Giertz in America is increasing rapidly: several translation projects are underway, a film based on the first chapter of The Hammer of …

Religion Vs. Spirituality: A Contemporary Conundrum, Sandra Marie Schneiders

Jesuit School of Theology

The problem with which this essay is concerned is perhaps peculiar to contemporary first world western culture. It is, like many of our cultural problems such as inclusivity, addictions, and family breakdown, ironically a product, to a large extent, of our unprecedented abundance, leisure, and freedom. The problem is the relationship between religion and spirituality.

'To Be As God': Biblical Reflections On The Sexual Revolution (Article), William Kurz

Theology Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

Dostoevsky: The Mantle Of The Prophet, 1871-1881 And Dostoevsky The Thinker, Rodney Delasanta

Providence: Studies in Western Civilization

No abstract provided.

Book Review Of A Letter That Has Not Been Read: Dreams In The Hebrew Bible, By Shaul Bar, Jiri Moskala

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

When The Church Was A Family: Revisioning Christian Community In Light Of Ancient Social Values, Joe Hellerman

Journal of the American Society for Church Growth

Some might attribute the relational crises characterizing our churches solely to individual sin and selfishness. Sin and selfishness, however, have been around since Adam. Why the radical increase in relational breakdown in our society and in our churches today? Something bigger is in the works, and it has to do with the unique orientation of modern Western culture, especially contemporary American society. Ours is a culture which insists to its own destruction that the dreams, goals, and personal fulfillment of the individual deserve a higher priority than the well-being of any group (natural family or church body) or relationship (friendship …

The Enduring Black Church And Its Critics: A Book Review Of Omar Mcroberts's Streets Of Glory, Kenneth D. Johnson

Trotter Review

This review examines several theses and methodologies regarding Black Church activism and contribution to community economic development in an economically depressed inner city neighborhood as presented in Omar McRoberts's Streets of Glory (University of Chicago Press, 2003). It finds the questions of interest, but empirical support for many of the author's theses lacking when considered from a cross-comparative national perspective.

Legal Scholarship And Membership In The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-Day Saints: Have They Buried Both An Honest Man And A Law Professor In The Same Grave?, Michael K. Young

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

"Review Of Catholic Principles For Interpreting Scripture: A Study Of The Pontifical Biblical Commission’S The Interpretation Of The Bible In The Church", Dale Launderville Osb

School of Theology and Seminary Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.