Digital Commons Network^™

Dressing The Witch: Clothing, The Body, And Accusations Of Witchcraft In Puritan New England, Rachel Murrell

CGU Theses & Dissertations

Though this infamous period in American history has been examined numerous times, this paper aims to analyze the role in which “soft culture,” in particular dress and clothing, played in the search for witches amongst Salem women in 1692. Of necessity to this analysis is a thorough examination of early American material culture and the role in which early New Englanders interacted with newfound notions of materiality. This analysis examines two distinct points of contention at the crux of this cultural turn: the maintenance of and visual adherence to rigid social class standards through clothing and the visual interpretation of …

Playing At The Crossroads Of Religion And Law: Historical Milieu, Context And Curriculum Hooks In Lost & Found, Owen Gottlieb

Articles

This chapter presents the use of Lost & Found – a purpose-built tabletop to mobile game series – to teach medieval religious legal systems. The series aims to broaden the discourse around religious legal systems and to counter popular depiction of these systems which often promote prejudice and misnomers. A central element is the importance of contextualizing religion in period and locale. The Lost & Found series uses period accurate depictions of material culture to set the stage for play around relevant topics – specifically how the law promoted collaboration and sustainable governance practices in Fustat (Old Cairo) in twelfth-century …

Mormon Performance/Performing Mormonism: At The Intersection Of Mormon, Theatre, And Performance Studies, Megan Sanborn Jones

Mormon Studies Review

The Nauvoo Dramatic Association was founded in 1844 to respond to a growing demand for culture and entertainment in the booming young Illinois city. Organized by Joseph Smith, the company was directed by Thomas A. Lyne, a recent convert and professional actor from Philadelphia. The first offering of the society was advertised for performance in the newly dedicated Masonic Hall on April 24, 1844. All were invited to attend Pizarro, or The Death of Rolla, a “rational amusement with usefulness.”1 While the performance was postponed until April 26, 1844, due to heavy rains, the wait did not lessen the positive …

An Evangelism And Discipleship Pathway To Address The Cultural And Worldview Distance Between The Preston Seventh-Day Adventist Church And The White British Culture In Preston, Jeff Keith Couzins

Doctor of Ministry Projects

Problem.

The UK Preston Seventh-day Adventist Church in the North England Conference is a predominantly Black church situated in a White British city. The Church has seen a numerical increase of almost 25% since 2013, but only one person from this growth was from the majority culture population, a group who tend not to be attracted to traditional Adventist forms of evangelism. The hypothesis for this project, therefore, is that when the cultural and worldview distance between church members and individuals in society is reduced, it is easier for the Christian witness to then explain the Kingdom of God. Also, …

Cultural Intelligence Development And Study Abroad: The Effect Of Destination, Luke Zirkle

Senior Honors Theses

Cultural intelligence (CQ) is an emerging field in a globalized world. As the world becomes increasingly interconnected, study abroad opportunities at higher educational institutions have become widely-accepted means for developing students’ CQ. While a number of variables seem to impact CQ development through study abroad programs, one variable seems as yet to have been largely unexplored. This research examines anonymous archival data from juniors in Liberty University’s Global Studies program during the spring semesters of 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019 to observe a potential pattern that suggests the role of a study abroad host-culture on the student’s CQ development. Though …

The Traditional Latin Mass Movement And The Unity Of The Church, Dennis M. Doyle

Theology and Religious Studies Faculty Publications

Pope Francis' recently imposed restrictions on the celebration of the Traditional Latin Mass need to be understood in relation to the emergence of a Traditional Latin Mass movement, that movement's antagonism toward the liturgical and ecclesial reforms of the Second Vatican Council, and important points of consistency in the efforts of various popes to safeguard the unity of the church. Those in the movement often offer valid points of critique, but in our present age of polarization they have become ever more an extremist group. They are encouraged to give up their devotion to a now antiquated form of worship, …

Much More Than A Reader: The Latest In Chiastic Studies For Interested Scholars And Lay Readers Alike, Steven L. Olsen

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

This collection of essays represents the latest scholarship on chiasmus. They were selected from papers delivered at an academic conference at Brigham Young University in 2017. Articles reflect both “the state of the art” and the state of the technique in chiastic studies.

Faith Down The Rabbit Hole: A Critical Rhetorical Interrogation Of Q-Anon And Parasitic Christianity, Nate Carlson

Masters Theses

Over the course of the last six years, the conspiracy theory community known as Q-Anon has risen to prominence across the internet, coming to encapsulate a significant portion of the United States’ conservative and protestant populations. This study applies the act of Critical Rhetoric as proposed by McKerrow (1989) to the Q-Anon “drops”; message board posts wherein Q, the enigmatic leader of Q-Anon, preached conspiratorial ideology and misinformation to his followers. A pattern of Christian theology being usurped and retooled by Q as a method of faith-based political radicalization emerged throughout the texts, and this phenomenon was named “Parasitic Christianity.” …

Building An Ignatian Ummah: The Experience Of Muslim International Students At An American Jesuit University, Csilla V. Samay

LMU Theses and Dissertations

In 2020, over a million international students enrolled at universities in the United States. A significant percent come from Muslim-majority countries whose governments sponsor their education abroad. As overall international enrollments decrease, recruiting this population remains attractive to U.S. institutions. International students face the challenge of entering higher education in a foreign country and culture, navigating their education during a time of political battles over immigration and issues of diversity. Muslim students face prejudice and exclusion due to Islamophobia in the U.S. Universities have a responsibility to understand and fully support students from whom they benefit financially.

This study examined …

The Hero And His Temptress : A Re-Analysis Of The Ancient Near Eastern Expression Of The K2111 "Potiphar's Wife Motif" In Light Of Judges 16, Alison K. Hawanchak

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Queering Pentecost(Alism): Advocating For Inclusion Of Affirming Pentecostal Congregations, Telaireus Herrin

Conexión Queer: Revista Latinoamericana y Caribeña de Teologías Queer

Modern understandings and constructions of sexuality challenge the heteronormative hegemony of most Christian denominations. Pentecostalism faces similar challenges. For LGBTIQ+ Christians, affirmative congregations have been places of refuge to counter destructive doctrines and teachings related to sexuality, marriage, membership, and participation in the church. The taxonomy of Pentecostalism typically includes four movements within Pentecostalism. I postulate a fifth type of Pentecostalism —Affirmative Pentecostal Congregations— which disrupts and dismantles exclusive constructions of sexuality and affirms an inclusive faith.

The New Digital Media: Opportunities For Church Sound Recording, Songwriting, And Music Publishing, Christopher Andrew Brown

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The new digital media, particularly streaming music, has made the original record industry model antiquated. Now it is possible for independent artists to be their own label and publisher and through streaming platforms, have a national or global reach. This new model also applies to churches with some church leaders considering beginning a songwriting ministry and producing original worship music, Church record labels are not new; in fact, there is precedent for this extending back to the Jesus Movement of the late sixties. Although research and literature covering changes in the old music paradigm and new opportunities are plentiful, there …

Warfare And Welcome: Practicality And Qur’Ānic Hierarchy In Ibāḍī Muslims’ Jurisprudential Rulings On Music, Bradford J. Garvey

Yale Journal of Music & Religion

While much ink has been spilled by musicologists on the legal standing of music in Islamic jurisprudential scholarship, few scholars have offered as comprehensive a view as Lois Ibsen Al-Faruqi. Thirty-five years after her major works on this issue, this article seeks to reassess her model of musical legitimacy within Muslim scholarship. Al-Faruqi places Qur’ānic recitation at the apex of a unidirectional continuum of sound art, with genres less similar to the recitation of the Qur’ān located progressively further away from it. Based on fieldwork in the Sultanate of Oman in 2015-17 and engaging with recent reinvigorations on the anthropological …

Ukraine Orthodoxy Autocephaly: Social And Value Challenges, Oleksandr Brodetskyi, Iryna Horokholinska, Mykola Lahodych

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The article is devoted to the relevant aspects of the canonical autocephalous status acquisition process for Ukrainian Orthodoxy. The resonant events of the last two years are considered when crucial decisions had been made that led to the emergence of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine as autocephalous on the basis of the Patriarchal and Synodal Tomos granted by the Ecumenical Patriarchate and its acting Primate Patriarch Bartholomew. Sociocultural, geopolitical, and moral aspects of the corresponding processes are conceived. The national and cultural role of the functioning of Ukraine Orthodox Church is considered. The authors analyze the current religious and political …

Architectural Features Of Protestant Churches From The 16th To The 21st Centuries In Ukraine, Valentyna Kuryliak, Petro Kotliarov, Mykhailo Fedorenko

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The article discusses the way the creeds of Protestants are reflected in their sacred architecture on Ukrainian lands. It investigates the evolution of the architecture of Protestant churches and religious buildings in Ukraine from the sixteenth to the twenty-first century. Three periods in the formation and development of Protestantism in Ukraine are distinguished: the magisterial reformation, the classical currents of Protestantism (Calvinism, Lutheranism), and late Protestant currents (Baptism, Pentecostalism, Adventism). The article establishes that the church architecture of Protestant denominations in each of these periods was influenced by the particular teachings of the Protestants themselves, the dominant political ideology, and …

Ukraine As A Religious Destination, Olga Borysova, Tetiana Huzik, Liudmyla Fylypovych

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The article is devoted to the state, development, and prospects of religious tourism and religious pilgrimage in Ukraine. Based on the interesting and eventful history of this country, and the presence of many sites of spiritual and religious evolution of peoples on its territory, the authors suggest that Ukraine may become a religious destination under certain conditions. The article briefly describes the history of pilgrimage from the ancient Rus' to the modern Ukraine. After 70 years of communist bans on religion and pilgrimage, religious life as well as religious tourism has been restored significantly in independent Ukraine. But this industry …

A Reader's Guide To Youth Ministry, Jeremy D. Smith, Steve Bonner, Walter Surdacki

Discernment: Theology and the Practice of Ministry

Youth ministry scholarship over the past 20 years has offered an array of works impactful to scholars, parents, church leaders, and youth workers. Because of the growing number of robust writings, we have compiled an annotated bibliography intended to guide this wide range of readers in overview of the most impactful works for youth ministry scholarship and practice.

Moral Continuity Is A Social-Philosophical, Historical Phenomenon, Matlyuba Qaxxarova, Mavluda Raximshikova

The Light of Islam

The purpose of the article is to study specifc aspects of the pattern of continuity, its place and role in the formation of moral values and social development, as well as to determine the importance of the continuity of moral values in the life of modern society based on spiritual and moral heritage. The issues of social development and continuity, dialectical and synergetic development according to inheritance law are covered. One of the main types of inheritance is the inheritance of moral values; on the basis of the spiritual and moral heritage, its essence, patterns of development and signifcance in …

Gender And Patriarchy In The Films Of Muslim Nations: A Filmographic Study Of 21st Century Features From Eight Countries, Candace Mixon

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a book review of Patricia R. Owen, Gender and Patriarchy in the Films of Muslim Nations: A Filmographic Study of 21st Century Features from Eight Countries.

Consuming Bollywood, Anjali Gera Roy

Journal of Religion & Film

Hindi popular cinema, marked with sartorial, visual and material excess, has paradoxically portrayed acquisition of wealth or unregulated consumption as inimical to the Chaturvarga philosophy, or the idea that an individual should seek four goods – Artha (wealth), Kama (pleasure), Dharma (duty) and Moksha (renunciation) - in moderation in order to lead a balanced life. While its visual imagery is largely oriented towards Artha or pleasure, Dharma, in its meaning as duty, has been the prime motivation of Hindi or Bombay cinema’s characters and structures the cinematic conflict and action. However, Hindi cinema appears to have undergone a phase-shift in …

The Challenges And Future Of Spiritan Mission, Phung Manh Tien C.S.Sp.

Spiritan Horizons

No abstract provided.

Make Yourselves Gods: Mormons And The Unfinished Business Of American Secularism, Michael Hubbard Mackay

BYU Studies

Borrowing its title from Joseph Smith’s far-reaching Nauvoo theology, Make Yourselves Gods is somehow even more provocative than its title. The average Latter-day Saint reader will chafe under its vocabulary, struggle through its detailed contributions to the study of secularism, and be at odds with its use of queer critique. Furthermore, to the average reader’s disdain, this book will be chewed and discussed for a generation to come. It is not likely to be forgotten.

The Limits Of The Ethnographic Turn, Bharat Ranganathan

Religion Faculty Publications

This article reflects on the ethnographic turn in recent comparative religious ethics (CRE). Comparative religious ethicists should be lauded because they privilege engagement with non-Western intellectual sources. Such engagement is important since it undermines the erroneous view that non-Western sources are either soft or are part of someone else's commitments and therefore irrelevant. Yet some recent comparative work stops at merely describing these non-Western sources, moving ethics away from its normative tasks. If CRE is to remain relevant to broader conversations in moral and political theory, comparative religious ethicists should perform two tasks: they should evaluate the object under consideration …

“The Jews Love Numbers”: Steven L. Anderson, Christian Conspiracists, And The Spiritual Dimensions Of Holocaust Denial, Matthew H. Brittingham

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

From his pulpit at Faithful Word Baptist Church (Independent Fundamental Baptist) in Tempe, AZ, fundamentalist preacher Steven L. Anderson launches screeds against Catholics, LGBTQ people, evolutionary scientists, politicians, and anyone else who doesn't share his political, social, or theological views. Anderson publishes clips of his sermons on YouTube, where he has amassed a notable following. Teaming up with Paul Wittenberger of Framing the World, a small-time film company, Anderson produced a film about the connections between Christianity, Judaism, and Israel, entitled Marching to Zion (2015), which was laced with antisemitic stereotypes. Anderson followed Marching to Zion with an almost 40-minute …

Religious Organizations Under Quarantine: Ukrainian Realities, Petro Kraliuk, Igor Bogdanovskiy, Kateryna Yakunina

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

On March 11, 2020, quarantine restrictions were introduced in Ukraine due to the COVID-19 pandemic. They concerned all spheres of public life, including the religious sphere. Accordingly, all religious organizations in Ukraine had to adapt to the new rules and conditions of their liturgical practice. A dialogue at the state-church level took place immediately after the introduction of the quarantine. Some spokesmen for religious organizations (Greek Catholics, Protestants) called for a consolidation of efforts to support the population under conditions of the spread of the coronavirus disease.

The article analyzes the situation of religious organizations under the conditions of the …

Introduction, Catherine Gomes, Lily Kong, Orlando Woods

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Contemporary society is evolving at a pace never experienced before. Existing human processes of movement and settlement are becoming more frequent, whilst advances in technology have given rise to new processes of digitally-mediated connection, community-building and content-creation. Religion intersects with all of these processes; guiding them, and being transformed by them in turn. Indeed, in the two decades or so since Rudolph’s (1997, p. 1) observation that ‘religious communities are among the oldest of the transnationals’, research into the role of religion amongst diasporic and migrant communities around the world has ‘exploded’ (Johnson 2012, p. 95).

The History Of Early Modern Medicine In New Spain, El Primero Sueño, And Poet Sor Juana Inés De La Cruz, Daniel Hughes

Grand Valley Journal of History

This essay analyzes poetry and other writing by Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz in the context of themes from Greco-Roman antiquity and the historical development of medicine in seventeenth century New Spain, now Mexico. Sor Juana’s El Primero Sueño, a Spanish language poetic silva, exhibits copious references to writers from classical antiquity, including Aristotle and Ovid. Establishing a context steeped in ideas from Greco-Roman antiquity, Sor Juana invokes the medical and philosophical legacy of foundational physician Galen of Pergamon. She also expands upon his ideas into the human anatomical realm, reflecting the increased early modern prominence of …

Study On The Implementation Of The Regulations Of Terrorism Activities In Social Media, Angga Dewanto Basari, Muhammad Syauqillah, Asep Usman Ismail

Journal of Strategic and Global Studies

The legal scope of the Terrorism Law and the Information and Electronic Transactions Law in Indonesia is considered as lacking to cover the problem of cybercrime in social media. Aside from literature review, this paper is also supported by data from direct interview with the Head of Counterterrorism Special Detachment 88 (Densus 88 AT) of Indonesian National Police. The data found out that the Terrorism Law is a repressive response towards terrorism crimes that have already occured, but less preventive to future crimes. The existence of laws in Indonesia is often one step behind its crime. The difference of perception …

Imperial Myths, Abject Devotion: Mapping Affect In New Mexican Visual Culture And Discourse, N. C. Lira-Pérez

American Studies ETDs

New Mexican visual art and culture, as molded by state-sanctioned endeavors, is often casted in order to conceal the tension, conflict, and violence of settler colonialism and imperialism. Widely known myths of empire, such as the Tricultural myth, create a visualizing enterprise through which settler colonial logics transit and create political material reality. This thesis explores the following questions: How do New Mexican Hispanos and queer Chicanxs position themselves in relation to the logics of settler colonialism and empire? How are they positioned in relation to settler colonialism and empire? On the one hand, I argue that the state of …

Literacy Sponsorship And Official Paratexts: Promoting Character Literacy Through The For The Strength Of Youth Booklets (1965-2011), Daniel S. Malinconico

All HCAS Student Capstones, Theses, and Dissertations

Literacy sponsors continue to play a dynamic and integral role in acquiring and learning literacy knowledge and skills (fluency) within discourse communities. This thesis examines how a religious literacy sponsor, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, utilizes the For the Strength of Youth (FSOY) publications and official paratexts to actively promote religious literacy and character development in the lives of adolescents. This thesis focuses specifically on the 2011 edition of the FSOY to explore the impact that recent advancements in digital technology have had on the evolution of the main-body text and official paratexts. A textual and paratextual …