Digital Commons Network^™

Cultivating A Decolonial Feminist Integral Ecology: Extractive Zones And The Nexus Of The Coloniality Of Being/Coloniality Of Gender, Melissa Pagán

Journal of Hispanic / Latino Theology

No abstract provided.

Mitre And Sword: Fighting Norman Bishops And Clergy, Timothy R. Martin

Obsculta

This thesis examines Norman bishops and abbots, either as armed combatants, or commanders of military forces in Normandy, and later in England after 1066. Focusing primarily on the roles of bishops, other accounts of martial feats by other Norman clergy are also examined. The use of justified force and later the sanctioned use of violence by secular clergy is explored to better understand the rational perceived by the clergy when acting as ‘soldiers of God. These accounts of Norman bishops participating in combat show a natural progression of a tradition that was discouraged by reformers but embraced by secular rulers.

Religious Nationalism And The Coronavirus Pandemic: Soul-Sucking Evangelicals And Branch Covidians Make America Sick Again, Peter Mclaren

Education Faculty Articles and Research

This article investigates the response to the coronavirus crisis by Evangelical Christian nationalists in the USA. The article outlines the curious mediaverse of religious nationalism—its post-truth and fake news aspects in particular—links religious nationalism to American exceptionalism, and analyzes conflicts between secular and religious authorities. Drawing upon some lessons from the past, the article addresses the wider implications of Christian nationalism on American politics, and capitalist ideology, as it has been played out virally in the corporate media. The article shows that the ideological underpinnings of evangelical Christianity prevent its proponents from understanding the virus in an historical and materialist …

Investigation Of The "Cultural Appropriation" Of Yoga, Olivia Bartholomew

Honors Projects

With our world becoming increasingly globalized and cosmopolitan, practices that were once very traditional and spiritual are much different when they confront Western societies. Many yoga instructors and practitioners around the world are concerned about the issue of cultural appropriation within their practice. The researcher defines cultural appropriation to mean the process of a dominant culture manipulating aspects of a marginalized culture for its benefit. Traditionally, yoga comes from India, but it has become popularized throughout the world in our recent human history. Through interviews with nine yoga instructors, each from different yogic traditions, who teach in a variety of …

When Worlds Collide: Charlie Hebdo And Islam In The 21st Century, Mildred Morse

Honors Theses

Caricatures are entrenched in French socio-political identity. That identity has shifted due to internal and external forces, but the most important event for the socio-political identity of France in the 21st century is the attacks at Charlie Hebdo in January 2015. The event and the responses to it reignited the ideas of incompatibility of France and Islam, furthering the schism between French society and the integration of Islam. The nature of the memory of Charlie Hebdoand its effect on the perception of Islam before January 2015 and after necessitates the question, “How does Charlie Hebdo reveal contradictory ideas of …

Jesus And The Roman Centurion (Matthew 8:5–13), H. Douglas Buckwalter

BYU Studies

At the time I was doing my post-graduate work in New Testament studies at Kings College at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland, my wife gave birth to our second child, a son. Under the National Healthcare System that was provided, we were periodically visited at home by a district nurse. As our son grew a little older, she began to bring colored toy blocks for him to play with. At first, she would randomly pick out any colored block, say a blue block, and see if he could associate color and pick out the same colored block. In time …

Adolescent Spiritual Formation: Practical Theology As A Filter For Youth Ministry, Jeremy Smith

Doctor of Ministry Theses and Dissertations

There seems to be a disconnect between the practice and scholars of youth ministry. Historically, the practice of youth ministry has been overly concerned with method, creating multiple approaches, each with its own inherent shortcomings. Responding to this overemphasis on method, scholars of youth ministry have argued for a more theological framework, assuming that the problem lies within a lack of theological education among youth ministry practitioners. In 2001 youth ministry scholarship made a case to place the field of youth ministry under the discipline of practical theology in hopes of grounding the practice of youth ministry in theology. Over …

Born-Again On Sundays: Exploring Narratives Of Belief And Performances In A Belizean Methodist Church, Katharine Serio

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

If you are only at church services on Sunday and do not actively practice your religious faith every day, are you “born again” every day? Reverend Rebecca Lewis of Wesley Methodist Church in a small town in Belize preaches active participation in the church and encourages her congregation to attend all religious events, pray rigorously, and read the Bible actively, but how does the congregation listen to her and react to her sermons? “Born-Again on Sundays” is an ethnographic account that draws on anthropological theories of belief and vernacular religion, performance and narrative, and poverty and reflexivity to explore the …

The Enduring Hold Of The Bible On Modern Literature: Exploring The Fall Narrative As A Conceptual Metaphor For American Literature In John Steinbeck’S East Of Eden, Lauren Stotsky

Undergraduate Honors Theses

There is no greater work of literature, perhaps, than the Bible. The Bible has shaped and influenced more literature, art, and culture than any other work in our time. The effects of the Bible’s words are still woven into modern literature today, illustrating that the Bible’s themes, allegories, parables, fables, metaphors, and characters are things that we humans are unable to depart far from even many decades later. One of the very first stories in the Bible, found at the beginning in Genesis, tells of Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve’s depiction as the first kind of our species and …

Spraying Religion: (Anti-)Religious Graffiti Of The Post-Socialist Transition, Mitja Velikonja

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

This article discusses graffiti and street art concerning religion, part of the author's much broader and continuous research on contemporary political graffiti and street art in post-socialist Central and Eastern Europe, from the Baltics to the Balkans, from Prague to Moscow, comprising over 20 years of systematic fieldwork.

“This Is How You Navigate The World”: Impacts Of Mormon Rhetoric On White Queer Members' Identity Performances, Ben Brandley

Communication ETDs

The Mormon Church is one of the fastest growing and most conservative religious organizations in the world. The Church’s conservatism has meant that its rhetorics, doctrines, and discourses have cultivated a culture of queerphobia and anti-queer sentiments. By interviewing 15 transgender, bisexual, and gay Mormons who are active in the Church, I conducted a critical thematic analysis that yields insights and critiques into how Mormon rhetoric impacts the identity performances and relationships of queer members. Using queer theory and Whiteness as conceptual and theoretical lenses, the analysis revealed four major themes: 1) queerness as non-identity, 2) the primacy of divine …

Islamic Revivalism And Democracy In Malaysia, Ashton Word, Ahmed Abd Rabou

DU Undergraduate Research Journal Archive

The paper examines democracy and secularism in Malaysia, a state rooted in Islam, and how it has been implemented in a country with a majority Muslim population. It briefly outlines how Islam was brought to the region and how British colonialism was able to implement secularism and democratic practices in such a way that religion was not wholeheartedly erased. Indeed, peaceful decolonization combined with a history of accommodating elites served to promote a newly independent Malaysia, to create a constitutional democracy which declares Islam as the religion of the Federation, and simultaneously religious freedom. Despite the constitution, the United Malays …

Revolutionary Critical Pedagogy Is Made By Walking: In A World Where Many Worlds Coexist, Peter Mclaren, Petar Jandrić

Education Faculty Books and Book Chapters

Postdigital Dialogues on Critical Pedagogy, Liberation Theology and Information Technology presents a series of dialogues between Peter McLaren, a founding figure of critical pedagogy, and Petar Jandric, a transdisciplinary scholar working at the intersections between critical pedagogy and information technology. The authors debate the postdigital condition, its wide social impacts, and its relationship to critical pedagogy and liberation theology, as part of a transdisciplinary effort to develop a new postdigital revolutionary consciousness in the service of humanity. Throughout the dialogues we see how McLaren's thinking on critical pedagogy and liberation theology have developed since the publication of Pedagogy of Insurrection, …

Night Of The Witch: Alternative Spirituality, Identity And Media, Andreana Tarleton

LSU Master's Theses

This thesis works to understand the relationships witches and conjurors have with the film and television depictions of them. Employing the method of film critique, I argue that the witch stands as a cultural symbol in the US of women and femmes with power, and that their stories serve as lessons to these populations about what it means to be an acceptable woman or femme, while simultaneously creating and perpetuating stereotypes of magic practitioners. Then, using the combination of hashtag ethnography, in-person and video interviewing and internet surveys, I argue that #witchblr and #witchesofcolor, as well as the space of …

Reformation Of Confessional Spiritual Educational Institutions Of Ukraine: Containment Factors And Leadership Experience, Petro Kraliuk, Nadiya Sukhova

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The main tendencies, prospects, and complexity of reforming confessional, educational establishments in Ukraine have been systematized and substantiated here. Based on statistics, their quantitative and qualitative characteristics are being examined. Their evolution has been traced from the final years of the Soviet Union to recent days. Currently there are 204 establishments of this kind operating in Ukraine. Due to their large number, they are mostly small. Most of them have dozens of students studying there. Usually, they lack complete and qualified teaching staff and adequate facilities. Orthodox, Catholics, Protestants, Jews, Muslims, and representatives of other denominations get theological education there. …

The Moving Image And The Time Of Prophecy: Trauma And Precognition In L. Von Trier’S Melancholia (2011) And D. Villeneuve’S Arrival (2016), Luca Zanchi

Journal of Religion & Film

Both the deferred recurrence of post-traumatic symptoms and the foresight granted by prophetic vision bring about a disruption of temporality and generate a chronological discontinuity which is often formally rendered as narrative discontinuity. This similarity produces an interpretive ambiguity that is central to the films, Melancholia (2011) by Von Trier and Arrival (2016) by Denis Villeneuve. Both movies begin by hinting at the post-traumatic origin of visions and then gradually shift towards a prophetic explanation. In addressing these two case studies, this article approaches prophecy and its temporality from a narratological perspective, integrating the critical parameters of trauma-theory with the …

Skyfall: The "Aliens Sequence" In Monty Python's Life Of Brian, Robert Cousland

Journal of Religion & Film

Despite its brevity and science fiction genre, Terry Gilliam's "aliens sequence" in Monty Python's Life of Brian functions in at least three ways: It is a brilliant parody of Star Wars and other space epics. It addresses concerns that were of profound significance for the religion of Jesus' day and, finally, and it significantly challenges the Christian premise of a divinely ordained purpose underlying Jesus' life.

In Memoriam Terry Jones (1942-2020)

From Iowa To Italy, Kate Henreckson

The Voice

No abstract provided.

Imaging Politics And Professional Culture In Managing Islamic University Libraries In Indonesia, L. Nurdin, Sri Rohyanti Zulaikha

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

The concept of imaging politics and professional culture are two approaches that influence and control each other in managing library performance. This research is conducted by initially looking at imaging politics that operates on aspects of academic qualifications, library accessibility, and institutional governance among three libraries. These institutional images are analyzed through three patterns of imaging politics, i.e. mirror of reality, map of reality, and simulacrum of reality, albeit this last pattern is not found. The second analysis is based on professional culture that functions as a ballacing system. Professional culture in library management shows itself as a referential standard …

Professionals: Any Room In God’S Ministry?, Andrew C. Von Maur

Faculty Publications

As Christian professionals, the activity of architects is steeped in technicalities. They are expected to work a lot of hours; leaving them no extra time for actual “ministry.” In such an environment, with hardly enough time for family or personal Bible study, can they possibly be missionaries? “Yes, we can,” says a professional in this field.

Beauty For Ashes: Reflections On Aesthetic Experience And Suffering, Douglas Gilmour

Verbum Incarnatum: An Academic Journal of Social Justice

In this essay, I examine the relationship between aesthetic experience and suffering, and I specifically explore how and why the former can potentially serve to meliorate the severity of the latter. Of course, that art and beauty can provide a certain measure of comfort and healing to the afflicted is a universally acknowledged truth; however, the reasons why this should be so could be considered an equally universal mystery. “I feel we understand too little about the psychology of loss,” writes Arthur Danto, “to understand why the creation of beauty is so fitting a way of marking it.” By exploring …

Music Therapy As A Treatment For Female Adolescents With Childhood Abuse, Janice M. Dvorkin Psy.D, Acmt, Sierra Belmares

Verbum Incarnatum: An Academic Journal of Social Justice

This article describes the preference to using receptive music therapy as a modality for helping an adolescent who has PTSD from childhood abuses. Adolescence is a difficult period during the life span. The second stage of separation/individuation provides challenges to almost all adolescents. This article contains a description of the adolescent behaviors of someone who is experiencing the consequences of PTSD. Along with an explanation of why receptive music therapy is an effective therapy with this population is a case study.

The Others (2001) By Alejandro Amenábar In The Light Of Valentinian Thought, Fryderyk Kwiatkowski

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

The article offers a Valentinian interpretation of the Hollywood film The Others (2001). A particular attention is paid to the ways in which cinematic motifs and narrative elements of the film draw on myths, ideas and symbolic imagery present in Valentinian works, especially in the Gospel of Truth (NHC I, 3) and the Gospel of Philip (NHC II, 3). In the course of the heuristic analysis, the paper argues that although the film employs Valentinian ideas, it depicts different understanding of the world. This issue is addressed in the last part of the article by situating the film within broader …

Farmer, Priest, And Poet: Knowledge Transmission And Wisdom In Works And Days And Gelimu, Duoduo Xu

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

This paper aims at a comparison between a classic poem from ancient Greek literature, the Works and Days by Hesiod, and ancestral records of hemerology from Daba Culture, entitled Gelimu, collected during my fieldwork in South-West China. Both traditions use constellations to mark important dates throughout the year, providing similar instructions on how to deal with daily work in the fields. Moreover, their mnemonic strategies and formulaic verses reflect their origins from oral traditions passed down from generation to generation. Starting from these basic similarities, the author analyzed the roles of Daba priests, the calendars authors, and Hesiod, the …

Revisiting "Home" In Ghanaian Poetry: Awoonor, Anyidoho And Adzei, Gabriel Edzordzi Agbozo

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

The idea of “home” is a significant occurrence in postcolonial literature, as it connects to other ideas as identity, nationhood, and culture. This paper discusses “home” in Ghanaian poetry focusing on three well-regarded poets: Kofi Awoonor, Kofi Anyidoho, and Mawuli Adzei. These poets come from the Ewe ethnic group, and engage with the Pan-African project in both their scholarly and creative expressions. Drawing on John Berger, Sara Dessen, and Ewe thought on the afterlife, this paper suggests two major types of “home” in the works of these three poets: the physical, and the metaphysical. Physical “home” refer to the Wheta …

Feminist Theology And The Fantastic In Jewish Poetics And Children's Literature (1960s–Present), Meira S. Levinson

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation traces the development of Jewish fantasy rhetoric in post-WWII British and American literature, focusing on three genres: kabbalistic Beat poetry, children’s fantasy, and graphic novels/comics. Despite increasing scholarly attention to all these areas, little work has focused on fantasy rhetoric or issues of gender and sexuality within non-canonical Jewish literature, or on interplays of religion and fantasy in children’s literature. Jewish kabbalistic poetry and children’s fantasy speak to each other in their mutual engagements with the otherworldly, mystical and monstrous, interrogations of gender, and complex portrayals of feminist theological potentialities. I identify and analyze Jewish-hermeneutic themes and methodologies …

Rhetoric And Race - Background And Assignment - Shu Mlk Symposium 2020, Jon Radwan

CHDCM Publications

Provides an overview of Rhetoric and describes the historical development of Race as a rhetorical construct. Offers two associated assignment options: a digital audio interview plus video debrief on contemporary racism, and/or an essay on 21st century abolitionist rhetoric. - Jon Radwan and Angela Kariotis

Immortal Combat: Iconoclasm And The Hebrew Bible, Albert L. Mcclure

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Biblical iconoclasm is any biblical text that describes the disruption of religious observances by physical violence against cult materials. This can include removing cult objects from their appointed places, god-napping divine bodies, outright destruction, cult reform, etc. Biblical iconoclasm, understood this way, is one component of the Hebrew Bible’s iconic politics. Other components of biblical iconic politics – like Idol Parodies, Bildersverbot, and aniconism – have been well studied in the past thirty years. Biblical iconoclasm has not shared the popularity of its collaborators in this respect. This dissertation is necessary because no extended study of iconoclasm in the Hebrew …

“Dialogical Offense:” A Postcolonial Womanist Deconstruction Of The Colonial Experience Of African American Women Through U.S. Institutional Apparatus Known As Criminal Justice Policy, April Michelle Woodson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Black female experience in the United States is a colonized existence. This project’s analysis is specific to the North American U.S. geographic space and is not a diasporic project. Black women suffered from the greatest increase in the percentage of inmates incarcerated for drug offenses in the 1980’s and 1990’s which is the period of criminal justice policy formation and implementation on which this project is focused.

This project is uniquely situated in the overlap between womanist ethics and postcolonial feminist imagination and extends scholarship in both discourses by showing that there is an interwoven line between the colonial-to-contemporary …

The Books Of Margery Kempe And Alice Rowley: Literate Religious Expression And Women In Late Medieval England, Carol Lynne Hemmingway

Dean's Leadership Council Library Research Prize

No abstract provided.