Digital Commons Network^™

First Christian Voices: Practices Of The Apostolic Fathers, Michael T. Cooper

Sacred Roots Spiritual Classics

What were the most important practices in the early church? In this volume, Michael Cooper arranges the writings of the Apostolic Fathers into eight themes that provide deeper understanding about the subjects important to the disciples of the New Testament apostles.

First Christian Voices examines the written testimonies of the late first and second centuries to discover what animated the church in the face of internal and external struggles and growth as the gospel extended to the boundaries of the Roman Empire.

Mission With Prophetic Power: The Journal Of John Woolman, Evan B. Howard, John Woolman

Sacred Roots Spiritual Classics

In Mission with Prophetic Power, Evan Howard introduces us to his good friend John Woolman (1720–1772). In this autobiographical record of his life, Woolman describes his charismatic, contemplative, and evangelical spirituality as he practiced a lifestyle of fair trade (justice) and minimalism (simplicity). Encounter testimonies of the “operations of divine love” in Woolman’s record of the goodness of God.

80th Annual Pepperdine Bible Lectureship--Harbor: God Loves Forever (2023), Mike Cope

Pepperdine Bible Lectures: Programs

Program booklet for the 80th Annual Pepperdine Bible Lectures, held at Pepperdine University in Malibu, California, May 2-5, 2023. The Pepperdine Bible Lectures is an annual event hosted by Pepperdine University featuring a wide variety of lectures and classes on topics and themes in the Bible and Christianity.

Mike Cope, Lectureship Director

Evan Woods, Rachel Higgins, and Tami Williamson, Lectures Team

Renewing A Nation: The Impact Of The African Diaspora On The African American Family, Culture And The Black Church, Lolita R. Gilmore-Randall

Doctor of Ministry

Despite the notion the past can never be removed, disassembled or altered, variant versions of African American history continue to serve as a fluid document in time without accountability, acknowledgement, or consciousness of the liabilities associated with the African diaspora. Studies show an estimated 12.5 million African men, women, and children were forcibly transported as part of the transatlantic slave trade, an egregious act that remains impactful to this day. African Americans represent 12% of the American population, but constitute 2.3 million, or 34%, of the total 6.8 million in correctional facilities. Though African American children make up 14% of …

Increasing Parental Participation In The Spiritual Formation Of Children At Spencer Baptist Church In Spindale, North Carolina, Kelly Settlemyre

Doctor of Ministry Projects

A program was created at Spencer Baptist Church in Spindale, NC to increase parental involvement in spiritual formation in the home. The 5-week program sought to connect spiritual identity with parental actions and confidence. The project focused on spiritual formation and then examined biblical mandates of family discipleship as well as examples of biblical family formation. Resources were given to participants for use within the family. Surveys measured the quantitative effectiveness of the program, while group participation provided qualitative insights. At the conclusion, there was a significant increase in participation in the spiritual formation of children in the home.

Pastor Self-Perceived Preparedness And Training To Model And Lead Sensitivity In Their Congregations And Spiritually Lead Lgbtq Individuals: A Qualitative Study Of Pastors Of The Potomac Ministry Network Of The Assemblies Of God, Tina L. Boswell-Stickley

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Pastors are responsible for creating welcoming atmospheres within their church buildings and congregations. Societal changes have raised questions about pastors’ preparedness to do so, particularly regarding the LGBTQ community. This qualitative study interviewed lead pastors from the Potomac Ministry Network (PMN) of the Assemblies of God regarding their self-perceived preparedness to model sensitivity and minister to the LGBTQ community. It explored pastor training, experiences, perceptions, and needs to serve this population better. Interviews were transcribed, indexed, coded, and analyzed to identify themes and better understand the dynamics regarding this issue. Results are reported, including limitations, discussions, recommendations, and identified needed …

Mindfulness Traps And The Entanglement Of Self: An Inquiry Into The Regime Of Mind, Richard Dixey, Ronald E. Purser

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies Advance Publication Archive

Mindfulness meditation can provide salutary therapeutic benefits, as well as lead advanced practitioners to states of calm and equanimity. In this paper, we argue that such forms of meditation may subtly entrap practitioners in circular, self-reflexive feedback loops. Because these meditation traps fail to clearly discern the operations of mind, they offer a temporary oasis of peace within an unaltered dualistic realm of mind that leaves the root delusion of self-identity intact. Drawing upon Tarthang Tulku’s seminal book Revelations of Mind, we present what he refers to as the “regime of mind,” the processes of cognition, identification and re-cognition in …

Cognitive Illusion, Lucid Dreaming, And The Psychology Of Metaphor In Tibetan Buddhist Dzogchen Contemplative Practices, Michael R. Sheehy

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies Advance Publication Archive

A classic set of eight similes of illusion (sgyu ma’i dpe brgyad) are employed recurrently throughout Indian and Tibetan Buddhist literature to illustrate the operations of cognition, its correlative perceptions, and experiences that emerge. To illustrate a Buddhist psychology of metaphor, the fourteenth century Tibetan scholar and synthesizer of the Dzogchen (rdzogs chen) or Great Perfection system, Longchen Rabjam Drimé Ödzer (1308-1363), composed his poetic text, Being at Ease with Illusion. This work on illusion is the third volume in Longchenpa’s Trilogy of Being at Ease (Ngal gso skor gsum) in which he presents a series of Dzogchen instructions on …

Slides On Thomas More's Warning To Readers, Travis Curtright

Printing and the Book During the Reformation: 1450-1650, an NEH Summer Seminar for College and University Teachers

Slides on Thomas More's Warning to Readers, from A Treatise on the Passion (1534)

The Church Surviving Crisis An Examination Of Leaders' Disaster Response, Joel A. Tudman

Doctor of Ministry

In March of the year 2020, the church would change drastically and quickly. In-person gatherings shifted to online worship. The pandemic fostered change for the church and it had to adapt to a digital era overnight. Abrupt change of such for churches and other organizations called for business meetings and a change in the application of the vision. Some churches upgraded audio and video equipment to facilitate their vision effectively and some closed their doors. The world has seen many crises and the church has always long suffered right along with the world. When a crisis strikes the world like …

Developing A Shared Ecclesial Identity Utilizing Story-Based Elements With First Baptist Church, Gainesville, Georgia, Jeremy T. Shoulta

Doctor of Ministry Projects

The Body of Christ is challenged to, “be like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind” (Philippians 2:2). How then could a congregation, comprised of individuals harboring diverse cultural worldviews, discover and live into this reality? Through various individual and group exercises, participants sought to determine whether story elements have the power to serve as a true sense-making device within an ecclesial setting. The results indicate that that a majority of participants found the story-based framework beneficial in regards to their personal understanding of the work of First Baptist Church.

Learning To Cope With Grief Through The Use Of Biblical Creativity With The Community Of First Saints Community Church, Patricia Watson

Doctor of Ministry Projects

Supporting those who are grieving has long been a complicated process for church communities and pastors. This project investigated whether introducing a creative activity to a grief support group could help participants view their loss through a lens of faith and clinical aspects of grief. Although further studies will strengthen this hypothesis, a four-week curriculum was conducted with five participants at First Saints Community Church in Leonardtown, MD. Results from quantitative and qualitative analyses showed that there was a benefit to those participants.

Student Handout: Early Modern Readers And Thomas More’S Treatise On The Passion, Travis Curtright

Printing and the Book During the Reformation: 1450-1650, an NEH Summer Seminar for College and University Teachers

Lesson Plan and Handout for Thomas More's Warning to Readers, from his Treatise on the Passion

Spanish Modernization And English Translation To "Prefacio Al Lector" In Historia Particular De La Persecucion De Inglaterra, Y De Los Martirios Mas Insignes Que En Ella Ha Auido, Desde El Año Del Señor 1570 : En La Qual Se Descubren Los Efectos Lastimosos De La Heregia, Y Las Mudanças Que Suele Causar En Las Republicas... / Recogida Por El Padre Fray Diego De Yepes...En Madrid : Por Luis Sanchez, 1599., Carmela Mattza

Printing and the Book During the Reformation: 1450-1650, an NEH Summer Seminar for College and University Teachers

Spanish modernization and English translation to "Prefacio al lector" in Historia particular de la persecucion de Inglaterra, y de los martirios mas insignes que en ella ha auido, desde el año del Señor 1570 : en la qual se descubren los efectos lastimosos de la heregia, y las mudanças que suele causar en las Republicas... / recogida por el Padre Fray Diego de Yepes...En Madrid : por Luis Sanchez, 1599.

The Bible As Book, Allison Brown

Printing and the Book During the Reformation: 1450-1650, an NEH Summer Seminar for College and University Teachers

teaching unit, book history course

The Words Of Gad The Seer: An Apparently Ancient Text With Intriguing Origins And Content, Jeff Lindsay

Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship

A long-overlooked Hebrew document from an ancient Jewish colony in Cochin, India, purports to contain the words of Gad the Seer. Professor Meir Bar-Ilan has translated the text into English and has stirred interest in the fascinating document. At least two other English translations are also now available. Here we examine the story of the coming forth of the text and some issues of possible interest to Latter-day Saints, including some of Bar-Ilan’s insights in evaluating the antiquity of disputed texts. Bar-Ilan’s translation of this intriguing document and his related publications may be valuable for anyone with an interest in …

Chains Shall He Break: A Vision For Reconciling Worship, Kyle Joseph Harmon

Seattle Pacific Seminary Projects

In the Evangelical church, there is a disparity between the worship of the church and a lack of care for the marginalized and oppressed in American society. Though their worship proclaims freedom, chains being broken, and captives set free, the church does little to advocate for the actual poor and disenfranchised. Because of these and other reasons, the American evangelical church has come to resemble something other than both its heritage and the Body of Christ described in Scripture. Instead, it has become a cloistered, segregated, echo chamber for those who agree on orthodoxy to retreat into and sense the …

“I Will Come To You”: An Investigation Of Early Christian Beliefs About Post-Ascension Visitations Of The Risen Jesus, Timothy Gervais

Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship

While later Creedal Christians have come to view “the Ascension” recorded in the first chapter of Acts as a conclusive corporeal appearance of the Resurrected Lord, earliest Christians do not appear to have conceived of this appearance as “final” in any temporal or experiential sense. A careful investigation of canonical resurrection literature displays a widespread Christian belief in continued and varied interaction with the risen Lord relatively late into the movements’ development. Stringent readings of Luke’s account of the Ascension in Acts suggesting that Christ will not return until his second coming fail to consider the theological rhetoric with which …

Doctrine And Covenants 21: Metanarrative Of The Restoration, Steve L. Olsen

Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship

Joseph Smith dictated Doctrine and Covenants 21 at the inaugural meeting of the Church of Jesus Christ on April 6, 1830. The present study examines the literary craftsmanship of the revelation to plumb the depths of its role in the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The analysis explores the meaning of patterns of usage in the text from the most specific (diction, syntax, figures of speech) to the most general (tone, rhetoric, and structural logic). The hypothesis of this study is that Doctrine and Covenants 21 provides a metanarrative of the Restoration — that is, a set of …

Internal Family Systems (Ifs) Therapy: Non-Pathologizing Healing For Inner Peace, Sylvia Hill

Issues in Religion and Psychotherapy

Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapy is a new approach to healing of the wounds and burdens caused by trauma, neglect and other relational injuries. The history of the development of IFS is outlined. The basic assumptions of IFS are shared. The roles parts take on in response to trauma are explained. The process of working with parts to bring about healing are described. Research on IFS is listed followed by a brief discussion of how IFS can fit within a Christian framework. Two case studies are provided to illustrate IFS being used in conjunction with Christian beliefs.

A Biographical Sketch-Book Of Nineteenth-Century Methodist Ministers, Preachers, Missionaries And Exhorters At Work In Great Britain, The Americas, And Other Parts Of The World, Samuel J. Rogal

Academic Books

No abstract provided.

Interviews In Support Of For The Whole World : A Century Of Mission At Asbury Theological Seminary, John Steven O'Malley

Seminary History Documents

No abstract provided.

Ancient Names In The Book Of Mormon, Matthew L. Bowen

Interpreter Foundation Books

Through many years of scholarly exploration, Matthew Bowen has unveiled new layers of meaning in many Book of Mormon passages in which the use of names appears to employ literary tools of ancient Hebrew writers, including a wide variety of wordplays. Every chapter here breaks substantial new ground in terms of revealing how Book of Mormon authors wove proper names and titles, along with their meanings, into their writings.

Stained Swords: A Psalm Of Redemption, Loren Blake Spendlove

Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship

The author proposes a novel ideal for understanding the stained swords of the Anti-Nephi-Lehies that involves repetition, parallelism, and metaphoric Hebrew wordplay.

An Important New Study Of Freemasonry And The Latter-Day Saints: What's Good, What's Questionable, And What's Missing In Method Infinte, Jeffrey M. Bradshaw

Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship

There is much to celebrate in this important new study of Freemasonry and the Latter-day Saints. To their credit, the authors have succeeded in creating a work that is richer than earlier studies of the subject, probing many previously unexplored hints of Masonic influence on Latter- day Saint life and thought from the beginning of the Restoration through the end of the nineteenth century. That said, the book’s dauntingly broad survey suffers from uneven quality on some of the many topics it ambitiously tackles. While recognizing the study’s considerable merits, its shortcomings must also be considered. For this reason, I’ve …

Meta Social Technology And Religion: A Media Ritual Theory Critical Discourse, Maurice Emelu

2023 Faculty Bibliography

This paper explores the proposition that Meta social media and technology functions as a ritual platform and concludes affirmatively. It identifies and critically evaluates ritual elements on Meta’s platform. Employing media ritual theory in the context of religion, it analyzes the Meta for Faith homepage. Consequently, the investigation delves into Meta's role in enhancing or diminishing the sacred rituals integral to religion, one of society's oldest cultural institutions. The discussion expands by considering the implications of Meta for Faith offerings in religious rituals. Thus, this study contributes to the ongoing discourse on the increasing social technology mediatization in the rapidly …

#Choosetochallenge: Covid-19, Community Research, And The Canaanite Woman, Ma. Marilou S. Ibita, Maricel S. Ibita

Theology Department Faculty Publications

This study theologises on the Urban Poor Women and Children with Academics for Reaching and Delivering on UNSDGs in the Philippines (UPWARD-UP) Project research team’s collaboration with the Alliance of Peoples’ Organisation Along the Manggahan Floodway (Alliance), Philippines. We posit that the theological process of see-judge-act, enhanced with evaluate-celebrate/ritualise, using feminist biblical characterisation in interpreting Matthew 15:21-28, serves as a spiritual resource for Christians working for the urban poor realisation of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. The Canaanite woman challenged Jesus’ identity and mission impacting on Christology and ecclesiology. This characterisation makes her …

Explore, Winter 2023, Vol. 23: Contemplatives In Action, Ignatian Center For Jesuit Education

explore

• Contemplatives in Action - Aaron Willis
• The Jesuit Tradition - Paul A. Soukup, S.J.
• The Challenge of Authority - Sally Vance-Trembath
• Practice Confronting Theory - Brian Buckley
• But They Maintain the Fabric of the World (SIR 38:34) - James Nati
• Pluralistic Presentations of Ignatian Goods - Madeline Ahmed Cronin
• What Impact Do I Want My Work To Have? - Ezinne D. Ofoegbu
• How Can Venture Capital Funding Still Be So Sexist? - Laura L. Ellingson
• How Beauty Can Inspire a Sense of Duty - Aleksandar Zecevic
• Listening for the Power of a Jesuit Education - Alison M. Benders
• Ignatian Center …

The Bright And Morning Star, Breck M. England

Interpreter Foundation Books

The temple is a place of revelation. For me, that has always been a striking reality. It struck me again one day as I sat in the temple instruction room for the presentation I had seen before so many times—and I saw something new. I was reflecting on the many visions of the prophets, experiences we call “apocalypses,” when the Lord opens the veil to show them the entire panorama of His plan of happiness. I thought of Abraham, Enoch, Moses, Lehi, and Joseph Smith, and how they described the grand spectacle of creation, tribulation, atonement, and exaltation that I …

Textures Of Purāṇic Transmission: A Contemporary Vernacular Exposition Of A Sanskrit Purāṇa, Sucharita Adluri Ms.

Philosophy and Religious Studies Department Faculty Publications

It is well known that, contrary to the transmission of the Vedas, the purāṇas continually incorporated ever more information as they circulated as oral texts for centuries. This flexible nature has led to their denotation along with epics as ‘fluid texts’ or textual and/or cultural ‘process[es]’. Integral to popular consumption of purāṇic lore were the exegetes—expounders who were trained in reciting and interpreting the purāṇas and who incorporated material both oral and written in their delivery in temples or other performance spaces. Bailey notes that ‘fully understanding the purāṇa as a cultural phenomenon in the development and transmission of Hindu …