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Calvin Theological Journal (Vol 57 No 2 - November 2022), Calvin Theological Seminary

Calvin Theological Journal

From the Editor: Karin Maag - 211 / Articles: Reforming the Fast: Luther, Zwingli, and Calvin on Fasting by K. J. Drake - 213 / John Preston on the Purpose and Place of the Natural Knowledge of God by Richard A. Muller - 247 / The Christian Reformed Synod of 1924: Unfinished Business on Common Grace, Part 1 by John Bolt - 271 / The Biblical Expectation of Christ’s Return: A Compelling Motivation for Local and Global Mission by Zachary King - 313 / Sermon: Anticipating Heaven: A Sermon on 2 Corinthians 5:1–6, 16–21 by Peter Jonker - 345 / …

P-23 2 Peter, Information Literacy, And Theological Discourse, Terry Dwain Robertson

Celebration of Research and Creative Scholarship

The pedagogical mission of academic librarianship embraces information literacy. “Information literacy is the set of integrated abilities encompassing the reflective discovery of information, the understanding of how information is produced and valued, and the use of information in creating new knowledge and participating ethically in communities of learning.” (https://www.ala.org/acrl/standards/ilframework) The Association of College and Research Libraries proposes a Framework for teaching information literacy, including knowledge, practices, and dispositions--addressing both the consumption and production of information.

In 2 Peter, the knowledge, practices, and dispositions of the faith community (2 Pet 1), contrasted with those of the false teachers (2 …

The Image Of God: A Reflection Of Order And Suitability In Design, Mary D. Mckenzie

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

In the history of biblical interpretation and dogmatic speculation, the “image of God” in humanity has proved remarkably prolific as a source of exegetical and theological discussion. In Genesis 1:26–27, the Bible expounds that God created man in His own image, and in His image, he created male and female. The literature on this topic continues to be overwhelming despite several exhaustive treatments spanning decades among biblical scholars. The act of posing several questions resulted in different answers from various sources. For example, what exactly is the image of God? Is the image of God spiritual or physical? Is the …

Restoration Jewish Evangelism: A Dispensational Paradigm For Jewish Evangelism, Justin R. Woods

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Local Jewish populations within proximity of U.S. churches are perishing in their need to hear the Christian gospel. Obstacles to Jewish evangelism have festered through the centuries. Modern scholarship has held culpable the supersessionist traditions from the early church fathers and carried over to the present day. Dispensational pastors and scholars have acted on the front lines to correct this grievance. Restoration Jewish Evangelism (RJE) supplies a template of Jewish evangelism centered on a dispensational view of Romans 9—11. The goal of this project includes strengthening the parishioners’ situational awareness and self-confidence to engage in sharing the gospel of the …

Semitic Residue: Semitic Traits That Indicate Early Source Material Behind The Gospel Of Matthew, Brian Gray Chilton

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Skeptics have often argued that the Gospels were written too late to have contained any valuable information about Jesus. Furthermore, the likes of Rudolf Bultmann and the Jesus Seminar claim that very little can be known about the voice of the historical Jesus. However, this work argues that the oral traditions stemming from community-based transmission provides a basis to hold that the oral traditions that undergird the finished Gospels are much earlier than the written texts themselves. Using the Gospel of Matthew as a test case and seven criteria to gauge the strength of residue, this study argues that the …

Submission To The State As An Act Of Submission To God: A Call For Total Submission Within The Nature And Commands Of God, Jesse David Krystowiak

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Christians must view their interactions with the state as a direct line of submission to the supremacy of God's own rule. Within God's call to submit to those in positions of civil leadership is the understanding that one's submission to the state is placed within the confines of bringing glory to God on the basis of God's nature and commands.

Re-Imagining And Rechanneling Youth Potential Through The Lens Of The Hofstede Cultural Dimensions Model, Olaotse Obed Gabasiane

Journal of Adventist Mission Studies

No abstract provided.

Apologetics And Disability: Reframing Our Response To The Question Of Suffering, Rochelle Scheurermann

Great Commission Research Journal

A prominent question that is asked when people consider God is how to account for suffering if God is good and all-powerful. For Christians, answering this question is a major part of apologetic and evangelistic training. But what if the way we have traditionally approached this question is not good news for everyone? This paper examines the suffering question in light of disabilities and suggests a new way to engage in apologetics that is centered in creation (not fall) and celebrates the gifts and opportunities that come through a diversity of ability.

The Emotionally Competent Pastor, Kevin Spratt

Journal of Applied Christian Leadership

A pastor with high emotional intelligence is more likely to be successful in the skills required to lead a church, which will likely produce a healthier church. Stated another way, a lack of emotional intelligence is a potential predictor of pastoral leadership failure, which could lead to an unhealthy church. Current church authors and researchers miss emotional intelligence as a key leadership competency. This article raises the importance of emotional intelligence and suggests that an emotionally intelligent pastor who is both self-aware and socially aware can relationally lead a church well.

Principles To Guide An Adventist Theology Of Dreams And Visions With Missiological Implications, Bruce L. Bauer

Journal of Adventist Mission Studies

I offer this article to begin and encourage dialogue on an Adventist theology of dreams and visions. The paper will have five sections: Dreams and Visions in the OT, NT, and writing of Ellen White; the Purpose of God-Given Dreams and Visions; Warnings about Dreams and Visions Not Inspired by God; Missiological Implications of Dreams and Visions among Muslims; and Practical Suggestions.

Theology Matters, Jiří Moskala

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Jericho: A Case Study For 21st Century Urban Evangelism, Gideon Petersen

Journal of Adventist Mission Studies

No abstract provided.

Present And Post-Pandemic Theology: What And How We Will Teach And Preach, Seventh=Day Adventist Theological Seminary

Current: Faith Meets Life and Culture

No abstract provided.

The Role Of Spiritual Formation In Leadership Development, Craig M. Poole

Harding School of Theology Dissertations and Theses

No abstract provided.

Then Sings The Church A New Song, Ian D. Bula

Masters Theses

The collective life of the Ancient Israelites was defined by a tumultuous journey through the desert as the primary setting where God continuously sought a relationship with them. Their liberation from Egyptian bondage was the central element that resulted from God’s self- revelation and action toward His people. Their response to Him in worship reflects the nature instilled in all humankind to respond in many ways to divine action. One of these ways is through the use of music. Music has accompanied the worship of God’s people since the time of the Patriarchs. The Exodus was the experience that sprung …

The Kindness And Severity Of God: A Defense Of The Conquest Of Canaan, Jordan Peter Ballard

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The Conquest of Canaan has become a hot-button issue in Christian apologetics because of the moral dilemma it poses. Would an all-loving God command the wholesale slaughter of the Canaanite men, women, and children? Christians throughout the centuries have grappled with this problem and have offered many interpretations to alleviate the tension between God’s love and God’s wrath displayed in the Conquest. This dissertation defends a straightforward reading of the account: God really did command the destruction of the Canaanites, and the Israelites carried it out as described in the pages of the Old Testament. When understood in its biblical, …

Mashiah: Messianism In Jewish Apocalyptic Literature Of The Second Temple Period, Fred R. De Leon

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

This Thesis challenges notions that have dominated biblical scholarship for more than a hundred years. Up until the end of the twentieth century scholars uniformly believed that the concept of a suffering Messiah was not part of early first century CE Judaism. It was believed to a be a Christian creation. There is however startling evidence of messianic precursors to Jesus, including one who is introduced as the 'Prince of the Congregation' in recently published fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls. This is not surprising since the authors of the Tanakh lay the groundwork for an evolving and malleable concept …

Archbishop Denis Hurley: ‘Ecclesiastical Che Guevara’ Or ‘Guardian Of The Light’?, Anthony Egan

The Journal of Social Encounters

Archbishop Denis Hurley, OMI (1915-2004) was a major figure in mobilising the Catholic Church’s struggle against apartheid in South Africa. Rooted in Catholic Social Thought and an active participant and implementer of Vatican II, he led by example, moving the Southern African Catholic Bishops Conference (SACBC) into one of the foremost religious defenders of human rights. His theological skills and personal courage translated in ecumenical and interfaith activities that served justice and peace. He supported conscientious objectors and faced prosecution for exposing state atrocities in Namibia.

Queer(Y)Ing The Hermeneutic Role Of Heteronormativity In Ecclesial Identity: The Pcc’S Human Sexuality Report As A Case Study, M. Beth Mccutcheon

Consensus

No abstract provided.

Small Group Participant Perceptions Of Discipleship Development In Multisite Churches: A Mixed Methods Study, Risha D. Bailey

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Researchers indicated a clear and steady decline in discipleship development within the Body of Christ (Baldwin, 2016; Lynn, 2014; Saunders, 2009). However, the vision for the church, outlined within the Great Commission, remains the same; it warrants the conversion, production, and reproduction of Christ’s disciples in all nations. The small group ministry and multisite churches are at the intersection of discipleship development, leading to effective disciple making. While small groups have been endorsed by many as the premier vehicle that helps the church fulfill its mission, multisite churches are heralded as those experiencing rapid growth with strong communities of faith …

Reading Igor Stravinsky's Poetics Of Music In Christian Higher Education, John Macinnis, Mark Peters

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

This article presents the composer Igor Stravinsky (1882–1971) as an historical educator in the context of the Charles Eliot Norton Lectures on Poetry at Harvard University (1939–1940), published as The Poetics of Music in the Form of Six Lessons. As music professors at North American institutions of Christian Higher Education, the authors each read Stravinsky’s Poetics with students in music classes. We describe here our different pedagogical methods and how we employ Stravinsky’s Poetics to form students with Christian approaches to culture-making.

Addressing The Issue Of Low Discipleship Among Adults, Sylvestre Bea

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This research aims to help EndTime Christ Discipling Ministries identify the root causes for low levels of adult discipleship. It supports the church’s collective construction of measurable actions that members can implement to fulfill its disciple-making mandate effectively. The literature review reveals that many churches experience this problem, identify common causes, and discuss diverse solutions that better fit churches with predominantly North American culture. However, EndTime Christ Discipling Ministries is composed of mostly African immigrants and their families, and no literature specifically addresses its immediate context. As a result, the remedies proposed to tackle the discipleship challenge are not fully …

Secrets And Watchers: A Markan Demonology, Christopher W. Peters

Liberty Theological Review

Mark’s use of a secrecy motif is well known to commentators. This article explores the messianic secret by analyzing its most common violators, the demons of the Gospel of Mark. Mark’s various exorcism accounts function to provide a working demonology of the Evangelist, and this biblical theology is correlated with other extant Second Temple Period Jewish literature, primarily 1 Enoch and its Watchers tradition. Mark relies upon both Leviticus and the Book of Watchers to describe the function and identity of demons, explaining their own supernatural knowledge of the identity of Christ, knowledge which necessitates his commands to keep silent. …

An Examination Of Biblical Archaeology’S Impact On Exegetical And Theological Method With Attendant Case Study, Donald C. Mcintyre

Liberty Theological Review

The chief concern of this paper is to examine how one can integrate archaeological data into the exegetical and theological processes so that one might profitably learn how to understand and rightly apply the text. This paper will argue that archaeology informs the exegetical process through providing historical and literary context to the study of the Bible when properly understood, and that it can also be useful in the theological process as one seeks to rightly integrate illumination from other sources. After an analysis of how archaeology can be rightly integrated in the exegetical and theological processes the paper will …

An Evaluation Of 2 Peter As A Testament, Joel Thomas

Liberty Theological Review

The authorship of 2 Peter is one of the most disputed areas of NT studies. There are many facets to this issue. This paper will address the contention by many scholars that 2 Peter is testamentary in nature and is therefore pseudepigraphal. The various testamentary genres will be analyzed for characteristics, and then those characteristics will be compared to 2 Peter to determine whether 2 Peter is testamentary in nature and the likelihood that it is pseudepigraphal. The conclusion of this study is 2 Peter does not meet the characteristics of any testamentary genre and that it is in fact …

Three Reasons To Praise The Creator From Psalm 8: A Biblical Theology With Attention To Intertextuality, Donald Mcintyre

Liberty Theological Review

Psalm 8 serves as the first creation hymn of the Psalter, and as such is worthy of an exegetical and theological analysis. This analysis will begin with an exegesis of the text, since exegesis rightfully precedes theologizing.[1] The exegesis will include a translation, examination of the historical and literary contexts, the genre classification, structure, and discussion of the literary features with special attention given to parallelism and conclude with a brief exposition. After the requisite exegetical analysis has been completed, a theological synthesis will be commenced progressing from the psalms location in its microstructural setting to its use in …

Junia As A Female Apostle In Romans 16:7 : A Literature Review Of Relevant Sources From 2010 To Present, Matt H. Hamilton

Liberty Theological Review

Ever since Bernadette Brooten’s seminal article in 1977, there has been a heated (and sometimes violent) debate over the identity and function of Junia(s) in Rom. 16:7. While recent years have seen tentative consensus in certain areas, such an outlook belies the deep and nuanced arguments which still exist. This essay will attempt to address a hole in the literature, namely a comprehensive review of the Junia debate since 2010. It will do this by cataloguing the discourse into four categories: the Name-Gender Debate, the Syntax-Grammar Debate, the Rhetoric-Context Debate, and the Apostleship Debate. After this analysis, comments will be …

Transitions In Collegiate Church Music Pedagogy: Developing A Pedagogy For Undergraduate Modern Worship Curriculum, Christopher Andrew Brown

Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning for Christians in Higher Education

Church music pedagogy has a rich history dating back to the 9^th century and is rooted in scripture and ancient traditions. Changes over the centuries have been gradual with incremental transitions; however, since the introduction of pop and rock musical stylings to church settings almost sixty years ago, changes have been swift and dramatic. The advent of modern worship has left Christian higher learning institutions scrambling to find a place where the curriculum would be useful and relevant to the modern 21^st century Church. This paper seeks to examine the historical background of Christian church music pedagogy while …

A Theological Framework For Reflection On Artificial Intelligence, Michael D. Langford

SPU Works

The theological questions before us in a digital age are pressing. What does God think of AI? Is AI good or evil? Will AI save us? What sort of future will AI give us? In what follows, I want to briefly introduce a few theological concepts that will hopefully help equip us for theological reflection on AI. We will begin with the question of epistemology, or how it is that we come by knowledge; in the realm of theology, this centers on revelation. We will then touch on the doctrine of creation, including the understanding of what it means to …

Biblical Literacy: An Expositional Christ-Centered Approach To Bible Study, Paula K. Offutt

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This action research aimed to examine biblical literacy from an expositional Christ-centered approach to Bible study. Using a triangular curriculum design focusing on scriptural theology, Bible study methodology, and a transformative approach to Christ-centered learning, the action research results revealed that an expositional Christ-centered approach increases biblical literacy. The researcher garnered data by hosting four bi-weekly Bible study sessions employing pre-and-post assessments to capture participants' current and post-state of biblical literacy. The validity and reliability of the pre-and-post assessments were determined by a focus group that reviewed the measurement tools and provided feedback confirming the trustworthiness and dependability of the …