Digital Commons Network^™

Aṣ-Ṣadaqah Al-MunaẓẒAmah (Institutionalised Ṣadaqah) And Social Welfare Programmes In Al-Hayat Relief Foundation, Nigeria, Oyekolade Sodiq Oyesanya, Asif Olatubosun Azeez

Journal of King Abdulaziz University: Islamic Economics

Conventional fiscal mechanisms in Nigeria have struggled to address persistent multidimensional poverty and financial exclusion, necessitating the development of alternative institutional models. Aṣ-Ṣadaqah al-Munaẓẓamah (institutionalised Ṣadaqah) presents a promising model for resource mobilisation and sustainable community support, yet empirical assessments of its effectiveness remain limited. This study assessed the capacity of aṣ-Ṣadaqah al-Munaẓẓamah to promote socio-economic development, using Al-Hayat Relief Foundation as a case study. A convergent parallel mixed-methods design was adopted, comprising 664 valid quantitative responses using a census-based sampling and 10 purposively selected staff interviews. Data were gathered through a validated questionnaire, which demonstrated high internal consistency …

Did Paul Preach “Another Jesus?” Gospels, Spirits, And The Christ Myth In 2 Corinthians 11.4, Nathaniel P. Desrosiers

Journal of Religious Competition in Antiquity

No abstract provided.

I Never Thought I'D Be The Professor!, Kayko Driedger Hesslein

Consensus

Tracing progress and persistent challenges regarding women in church leadership, this reflection examines how structural barriers, societal caregiving expectations, and a lack of mentorship affect female clergy and seminary professors in the ELCIC. Highlighting the transformative impact of feminist Lutheran theology, the analysis calls for intentional structural support, financial resources, and institutional shifts to cultivate female scholars.

The Road To Emmaus, Lisa Smith

Consensus

No abstract provided.

Does Reporting Of Israeli Organ Harvesting Constitute Blood Libelous Folklore, And Why Does It Matter?, Simon J. Bronner

Jewish Folklore and Ethnology

Global news reporting of “organ harvesting” by Israeli soldiers for medical institutions in the twenty-first century is analyzed as “newslore,” defined by folklorist- journalist Russell Frank as “folklore that comments on, and is therefore indecipherable without knowledge of, current events.” Built on hearsay, the reports, especially in the Arab press during the Israel-Hamas War, begun in 2023, have connections to a complex of antisemitic “blood libel” narratives in Europe about Jews violating the bodies of Christian children. The accusations of organ harvesting invoked a number of antisemitic tropes that were visually conveyed globally through memes and posts on the internet, …

Cultural Humility, Reformation Of Power Structures, And Cultural Competence As Seeds And Fruits Of Interculturality, Doug Herbek

Obsculta

This piece examines how interculturality both promotes and is fostered by cultural humility, reformation of power structures, and development of cultural competence. As we pursue interculturality, we incarnate the Gospel. In the process, local church leadership becomes inclusive and integrative, worship becomes more heartfelt, and community and unity are fostered as we celebrate our differences.

Dam Negotiations: Water, Diné Sovereignty, And The Navajo Dam, George Smith

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

On July 30, 1958, contractors working for the Bureau of Reclamation broke ground on the Navajo Dam, located about 35 miles east of Farmington, New Mexico. Diné Tribal chairman Paul Jones had called the dam a “new hope for [his] people,” anticipating increased agricultural and industrial capacity from irrigation and flow management. Though officially approved in 1962, the contingent Navajo Indian Irrigation Project (NIIP) that was to provide those many of those benefits remained to be completed in 2024. By contrast, the San Juan Chama Project (SJCP), the other project contingent upon the dam, diverted water from the San Juan …

“No Hen Should Herald The Dawn Lest Misfortune Follow”: Gender, History, And Power Sima Guang’S Comprehensive Mirror, Zoe Ngan

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

It was not a particularly notable occasion when Emperor Gaozong 高宗 of the Tang dynasty (AD 618–907) established Wu Zetian 武則天 as a mid-ranked concubine in 654. Emperors, throughout Chinese history, were polygamous rulers who acquired no shortage of concubines per the Rites of Zhou 周禮, an ancient ritual text which proposed that rulers obtain 121 wives and consorts. Wu’s nomination signified the unpredictability of imperial favour and almost certainly did not turn heads when her appointment occurred.

“I, Too, Want To Be Free”: Women And The Birth Control Movement In Utah, 1914–1940, Evelyn Wilcox

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

Like many other women, I too, want to be free,” explained a 33-year- old Utah woman in a 1925 letter to Margaret Sanger, a prominent leader in the birth control movement. This woman, whose name is unknown, was married to a 78-year- old man with whom, she thought, “in her ignorance,” that she would never have any children—she was proven wrong. With six children under the age of eight at the time and wanting to prevent having more, this woman’s predicament reflects Sanger’s mission to inform everyday women of birth control so they could make their own reproductive choices. After …

Christianity Behind The Iron Curtain: How Creative Arts Gave A Voice To The Voiceless, Riana Johnson Wills

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

In 1988, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) held celebrations across the Soviet Union to mark the Millennium of Christianity in Russia, commemorating a thousand years since the baptism of Rus in 988. While this was a monumental day for Christians, many believers across the Soviet Union felt a sense of dissonance. For decades, religious freedom and worship had not been privileges they enjoyed. Thousands of Christians suffered for their belief. The communist regime began in 1922 with Vladimir Lenin. The USSR built upon Marxist ideology where atheism is a fundamental and they expected nationwide compliance to these ideologies. …

Rationed Victory: A Study Of American Civilian Rationing In World War Ii, Alex Moulder

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

In any conflict or competition it is often said that the winner is “fueled to victory.” This could come as a result of training, diet, stamina, support from others, or sheer willpower. Even small variations in any of these elements can have significant consequences and affect outcomes. The same can be said about civilians during wartime, especially during the largest conflict of the twentieth century, World War II. The war cemented the United States as a global power, thanks in part to its massive economy, technologies, and industries, which helped to overcome the war of attrition against the Axis powers. …

Beyond Self-Defense: A Critical Analysis Of The Biden Administration’S Application Of ‘Just War’ Theory In The Israel-Hamas War, Thomas Elias

Graduate Student Research Symposium

Abstract

The Israel-Hamas war has ignited critical questions regarding the justification for violence, particularly the right to self-defense. Harm to Palestinian noncombatants and the conflict’s prolonged duration has contributed to critiques and doubts about Israel’s military operations and the Biden administration’s substantial military aid post-October 7th. The war’s extensive destruction and dehumanization creates a stark tension with the Biden administration’s invocation of just war theory. This paper critically analyzes the Biden administration’s use of just war theory in supporting the Israel-Hamas war, investigating how Christian theological ethics on just war and self-defense have been utilized and misapplied since October 2023. …

Bridging The Generational Gap: Enhancing Unity And Engagement In The Church, Lesley H. Booker

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The contemporary church is increasingly characterized by the presence of multiple generations worshiping and serving together, each bringing distinct values, communication styles, expectations, and approaches to faith. While this diversity presents significant opportunities for spiritual growth and community development, it can also create challenges that hinder unity, participation, and effective ministry. This study examines the generational gap within the church and explores strategies for enhancing unity and engagement among members from different age groups. Using a qualitative research approach, the study investigates the perceptions, experiences, and interactions of church members across generations. Data were collected through interviews, focus groups, and …

Lament Shift: Utilizing Biblical Lament As A Reframing Process To Help Church Members Of First Baptist Church Of Lumberton, Mississippi, Cope With Emotional Distress, Paul Wiseheart

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this DMIN action research project was to address the problem that church members at First Baptist Church of Lumberton, Mississippi (FBCL) were unprepared to use biblical lament as a meaning-making coping practice to manage emotional distress. The thesis statement was that if FBCL church members participated in Lament Shift, they would report greater preparedness to manage emotional distress. Lament Shift is a curriculum-based program designed to equip FBCL church members to use biblical lament as a meaning-making coping practice in the context of a four-week peer support group. The study used a pre-experimental mixed methods design and …

Exploring The Practice Of Mindfulness In Ministry Among Kansas Assemblies Of God Clergy, Angela K. Sartain

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Interest in integrating mindfulness into Christian counseling and pastoral practice increased; however, very little research has documented its experience among Assemblies of God clergy. This phenomenological study explored the lived experiences of Kansas Assemblies of God clergy who have engaged mindfulness within a ministry context. Based on acceptance and commitment therapy and mindfulness-based cognitive therapy, viewed through a Christian lens; the research examined understanding, adaptation, and practice regarding worship, leadership, and pastoral care. Data from in-depth interviews with Kansas Assemblies of God clergy were analyzed thematically and patterns of meaning and practice were discovered. The results revealed how Kansas Assemblies …

Implementation Of The Clinician’S Guide To Spiritual Recovery From Fetal Loss, Donald K. Eckhardt Jr.

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Obstetricians and midwives care for a surprising number of patients experiencing perinatal loss each year, yet they lack formal training in grief support. Lack of training heightens their stress, anxiety, and burnout, especially when chaplain support is unavailable. Miscarriage, stillbirth, and neonatal death profoundly affect families, and healthcare providers share in their pain as they deliver the deceased baby and offer comfort, counseling, and hope. This project’s creator hypothesized that enhancing providers’ knowledge of grief support and biblical Scripture as well as highlighting how God’s grace and love can ease guilt, grief, anxiety, and depression would reduce provider burnout while …

A Virtual Coach Model For Christian Leaders: Addressing Burnout And Other Mental Health Challenges, Hillary Arlene Hinds

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The demands placed on pastoral leaders have increased immensely, and according to Eser (2025), this has caused emotional exhaustion, declining mental health, and feelings of isolation that threaten their well-being and ministry. Data on pastoral leadership burnout and the extent to which a coaching approach is used to assist them in addressing mental health challenges in Canada are limited. This research reported on the use of Whitmore’s (1980) GROW model contextualized within a biblical worldview to mitigate burnout with a group of pastoral leaders (N = 5) in Saskatchewan, Canada. Findings from this research, though from a small population, were …

A Next Generation Ministry Milestone Model For Strategic Discipleship At Warren Grovetown, Brandy L. Behne

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This Dissertation-in-Praxis addressed the need to shift from a siloed ministry model to a cohesive milestone model for the Next Generation ministry at Warren Grovetown in order to build a more parent-equipping driven ministry with a strategic discipleship plan. The rationale for this project stemmed from the exodus of young adults leaving the church following high school graduation and the deficit of parents understanding how to be spiritual leaders in their homes as their children matured from infants through young adulthood. The current siloed model highlighted the need for ministry cohesiveness as children developed through preschool, children, and student ministry, …

Exploring The Relationship Between Divine Grace And Guilt/Shame Among Christians With Same-Sex Attraction, Christopher Tyler Carroll

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This study examined the experiences of guilt, shame, and divine grace as they relate to Christians with same-sex attraction (SSA). Although divine grace, defined as unmerited favor and love given by God, has been linked to favorable psychological outcomes in general samples, it is unclear whether experiencing divine grace protects Christians with same-sex attraction from guilt and shame. The Perceptions and Experiences of Grace Scale (PEGS), Factor 1 and The Guilt and Shame Experience Scale (GSES) were used to assess whether an association exists between these variables. Findings from multiple regression models indicated that experiencing divine grace does not significantly …

See-Judge-Act In The Age Of Viral Violence: Moral Agency, Praxis, And Social Media, Thomas Elias

Graduate Student Research Symposium

More and more, young adults are encountering war and violence through an unrelenting stream of social media images and videos: bombed apartment blocks, civilians fleeing airstrikes, and acts of political violence. Psychological research links exposure to unfiltered depictions of war with heightened trauma symptoms. In the age of social media, people undergo the moral processes online in response to war, terror, and injustice. While these platforms amplify global awareness, they also strain the capacities of moral agents to see clearly, judge responsibly, and act meaningfully. Drawing on Catholic social thought, digital ethics, and psychological research, this project explores how viral …

Promises Fulfilled: 114-Year-Old Alelia Murphy’S Life Of Faith And Resilience, Jacqueline B. Koonce

The Journal of Faith, Education, and Community

Alelia Murphy was the oldest living person in the United States, turning 114 in July 2019 until her death in November 2019. She and her family credit her longevity to her faith in God. This premise is explored through her words as she stated she had not seen everyone she needed to see and compared that statement to Simeon from the Bible who did not die until he saw the Messiah. Alelia Murphy also had not seen everything. She was seeing the relative success of her much admired, former President Barack Obama, and she had just met me, her great …

Our Children Are Sacred: Faith, Disability Justice, And Educational Hope, Charles E. Becknell Jr., Pricella Morris, Monique Matute-Chavarria, Deirdre A. Williams

The Journal of Faith, Education, and Community

This manuscript examines how Black families interpret dis/ability through faith, caregiving, and communal life using Sacred Narrative Inquiry (SNI), a collaborative approach that treats family stories as sources of sacred and cultural knowledge. Grounded in disability theology and informed by Black liberation theology and Womanist epistemology, the study explores how families understand dis/ability as sacred and embodied, shaped by struggle, endurance, and hope. Through shared storytelling and collective interpretation, the analysis identifies recurring patterns of early moral formation, embodied knowledge that precedes institutional recognition, faith as a sustaining practice under constraint, and moments of recognition that affirm dignity and interrupt …

Reflections: The Journey Continues, Jerry L. Pitts

Faculty Publications and Presentations

Reflections: The Journey Continues is a deeply moving memoir of faith, loss, love, calling, and the quiet strength that carries a life forward when everything familiar has been shaken. In this powerful continuation of Reflections: My Personal Journey, Dr. Jerry L. Pitts invites readers into the chapters that followed his first book—the ones marked by profound suffering, unexpected grace, and a renewed sense of purpose.

This memoir traces the season when Jerry’s life was transformed by his late wife Janice’s four‑year battle with cervical cancer. With honesty and tenderness, he recounts the surgeries, treatments, setbacks, and moments of courage …

Illuminating Sanja Matsuri: Lived Religion And Festival Practice In Asakusa, Caleb R. Merckle

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines Sanja Matsuri, a major Shintō and Buddhist festival in Asakusa, Tokyo, through the lenses of lived religion, participant observation, autoethnography, and anthropology. Departing from institution-centered approaches, it foregrounds the experiential dimensions of festival participation, showing how physical devotion, collective movement, and festive intensity function as expressions of spiritual meaning. Ethnographic fieldwork conducted in 2023 and 2025 included participant observation, informal interviews with local and foreign participants, and Reflexive Discourse Analysis of fieldnotes and bilingual transcripts. Analysis reveals a dynamic interplay between formal sacralization strategies — such as mitama-ire rituals and structured processions — and spontaneous, informal participant …

Jainism And Catholicism – Dialoguing Spiritually, Bryan Lobo

Journal of Global Catholicism

The inter-spiritual dialogue between Jainism and Catholicism lends itself towards discovering similarities and dissimilarities between the two spiritualities. Recognizing this discovery, this paper, without claiming to be exhaustive as regards the spiritual themes, discusses the chosen themes to facilitate greater reflection and potential to re-discover elements that can help the growth of understanding and practicing the preferred spirituality.

Islam And Catholicism: Theology And Practice Of Inter-Spiritual Dialogue, Felix Koerner

Journal of Global Catholicism

This article explores foundations, preconditions, aims, persons, groups, practices, methods, texts, and criteria of Muslim–Christian inter-spiritual dialogue. In-ter-spiritual dialogue thrives within the network of other dialogical forms: dialogue of life and collaboration, of theological and practical understanding. This article argues that the spiritual dimension of dialogical encounter may itself constitute a critical site of moral reflection, enabling participants to perceive injustice more clearly and to respond to it more responsibly. Nevertheless, the integrity of in-ter-spiritual dialogue depends upon the cultivation of trust, candor, and a shared orientation toward mutual enrichment and spiritual purification. Where dialogue is subordinated to extrinsic strategic …

The Dialogue Of Spiritual Experience In Buddhist-Christian Encounter, S Mark Heim

Journal of Global Catholicism

Can one learn more about one’s own religion through the practices of another? My positive answer to this question is illustrated in this paper by reflection on aspects of the Buddhist practice of emptiness, in specific connection with Christian under-standing of our lives as creatures. The Buddhist meditative practices I have in mind have several things in common. They are introspective (activated in one person’s inner consciousness) and premised on the Buddhist understanding of emptiness (specifically “no self ” teachings). Buddhist introspective practice takes at least three broad forms. One of these is a meditative analytical awareness of the contents …

The Virtue Of Hope In Sports Through Spe Salvi And Its Role In Faith, Resilience, And Character Formation In Student-Athletes, Hansson G. Labisig, Arvin D. Eballo

Movement and Being: The Journal of the Christian Society for Kinesiology, Leisure and Sports Studies

Pope Benedict XVI, in Spe Salvi, presents hope as a transformative and redemptive virtue that enables believers to live and suffer differently, rooted in faith in God. He writes, “The one who has hope lives differently.” This study develops a theological-pastoral framework for integrating the virtue of hope into the faith formation of student-athletes within Catholic educational institutions, positioning sport as a genuine locus theologicus for Religious Education and evangelization. Employing the See–Judge–Act methodology, it draws from Spe Salvi, Aquinas’s Summa Theologiae, and the Vatican document Giving the Best of Yourself, in dialogue with C. R. Snyder’s psychological theory …

2025-2026 Annual Report: Leadership, Spirituality & Education, Muslim Student Life

Muslim Student Life

This annual report provides a concise overview of the Muslim Chaplaincy and its initiatives and programs for Muslim students during the 2025-2026 academic year. It showcases only a select few of the programs and accomplishments of the Muslim community at Syracuse University and beyond.

Author Biographies, Obsculta Editors

Obsculta

No abstract provided.