Digital Commons Network^™

Faithful Dialogue In A Divided World, Jennifer Vermeer

The Voice

No abstract provided.

The Good Design Of Limits, Teresa Terhaar

The Voice

No abstract provided.

Students Embrace Their Home Away From Home, Jennifer Vermeer

The Voice

No abstract provided.

An Empirical Analysis Of Cooperation Among Muslim Countries: The Case Of Indonesia-Pakistan Preferential Trade Agreement, M Jaenudin, Emil Haraki, Aam Slamet Rusydiana

Journal of King Abdulaziz University: Islamic Economics

This study evaluates the impact of the Indonesia–Pakistan Preferential Trade Agreement (IPPTA) on bilateral trade using the gravity model of international trade. Annual time series data from 1990 to 2023 are analysed through unit root testing, bounds testing, and Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) estimation to examine both short- and long-run effects. The model includes four variables: bilateral trade, GDP of Indonesia and Pakistan, geographical distance, and a dummy variable for IPPTA to compare trade performance before and after the agreement’s implementation. The results indicate that Indonesia’s GDP has a positive and statistically significant impact on bilateral trade in both the …

A Very Long-Term Analysis Of Cash Awqaf In Eastern Thrace: Capital, Socioeconomic Groups, And Temporal Shifts, 1544-1917, Bora Altay

Journal of King Abdulaziz University: Islamic Economics

This study examines the institutional and financial dynamics of cash Awqaf in the Eastern Thrace region of the Ottoman Empire, presenting a long-term quantitative analysis that extends beyond Istanbul. This analysis aims to clarify the evolution of capital levels, founders’ profiles, and the functions of cash Awqaf from the sixteenth to the early twentieth centuries. To address the paucity of regional data, a novel dataset encompassing cash Awqaf in Edirne, Kırklareli, and Tekirdağ from 1544–1917 was developed. The analysis integrates the longitudinal trends in waqf capital with the socioeconomic characteristics of the founders and the evolving allocation of waqf revenues. …

Conundrums In The Realization Of Healthcare And Education Through Waqf In Nigeria, Isa Olawale Solahudeen

Journal of King Abdulaziz University: Islamic Economics

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 3 and 4 emphasize the importance of good health and quality education, respectively. However, based on available progress report released by Nigerian government, implementations of SDGs 3 (Good Health) and 4 (Quality Education) in the country were not promising. The unpleasant situation requires collaborative efforts of private sector. Meanwhile, waqf, an Islamic philanthropic instrument, has the potential to contribute significantly to the realization of these goals in Nigeria. Several conundrums hinder the effective utilization of waqf for healthcare and education. This paper identifies and examines some challenges ranging from lack of awareness, parochialism, religious …

Assessing Universal Basic Income: An Islamic Historical And Maqāṣidī Perspective, Abdulazeem Abozaid, Saqib Hafiz Khateeb

Journal of King Abdulaziz University: Islamic Economics

The constant concern for ensuring that the basic needs of every human are met has prompted various steps with an aim to promote equality. This concern has eventually led to an increasing demand to guarantee a reasonable standard of living. Some economists have recently revisited the concept of Universal Basic Income (UBI) that has caught the interest of some governments and policy makers. This paper investigates the concept of UBI from historical, legal (Islamic), and Maqāṣidī perspectives. It traces the conceptual origins of UBI back to the Islamic society since the early Islamic history. Adopting a conceptual–analytical methodology, the paper …

C. S. Lewis’S Lost French Doctorate, Anne-Frédérique Mochel-Caballero

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

Before the American Narnia films, C. S. Lewis was virtually unknown in France. Even today, his fame is nowhere near the level it has reached in the English-speaking world, be it in academia, among Christians, or in popular culture. The number of French doctoral theses or books on Lewis is extremely small. As for the French translations of his books, many of them are now out of print. However, this was not always the case. Lewis has never been as well-known in France as in Britain or America, but during his lifetime he achieved a certain fame in secular universities, …

Re-Dating An Inklings Photograph, Harry Lee Poe

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

Perhaps the most delightful and helpful introductory biography of C. S. Lewis is Walter Hooper’s Through Joy and Beyond: A Pictorial Biography. Published in 1982, it was the first book I reviewed for an academic journal as a freshly minted PhD graduate. The lavish presence of photographs takes the reader into the world of Lewis from his earliest childhood until his death in 1963. Hooper probably knew more about Lewis and his works than any other person, but even Hooper had to make educated guesses from time to time, which very rarely proved wrong.

Jesus’S View On Church Unity And Leadership: A Comparative Study Of His Views Against The Old Testament And Pauline Models In Addressing Leadership-Driven Divisions Within The Togolese Assemblies Of God Church, Sidibé-Néwendé Kamassé

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This paper will analyze the lack of alignment between Jesus's view of kingdom-centered unity and the pattern of leadership, and how these differences have affected the rule of the church according to biblical history. The paper further examines the problem of divisions driven by leadership in the modern churches, especially those in the Togolese Assemblies of God Church (TAGC). The thesis argues that Jesus's unique teachings on the Kingdom of God can be viewed as both the key organizational principle defining ecclesial leadership and unity and the final leadership paradigm that wrestles with the Old Testament and Pauline models of …

Evaluating Theories On End-Of-Life Dreams And Visions With Similar Phenomena In Trauma-Related Populations, Christopher Channy Vinson

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

A grounded theory approach was used to conduct a study on participants (N=24) who were veterans with trauma-related dreams or who had a near-death experience. Research questions were designed to qualitatively examine the lived experiences of dreams and visions in a non-end-of-life setting. This allowed the data to give greater insight into the end-of-life phenomenon and deepen the body of knowledge on dreams and visions in general. A survey consisting of the PTGI-SF, LuCiD, NExS, and the Greyson NDE, along with open-ended survey questions designed to record dream narratives for a thematic analysis, was used. The dream narratives were coded …

Lessons In Surrender: Living With Chronic Illness, Danielle Wyenberg

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

"My experience with chronic illness has pushed me to lean on my community, stripped away layers of pride and certainty, and forced me to find a much greater peace with human limits and mortality."

Posting about hope in difficult circumstances ­­­­­­­­from In All Things, an online hub that offers insight into maintaining and faithful and orthodox Reformed Christian worldview while fearlessly engaging in every aspect of contemporary life – until all is made new.

Lessons in Surrender

Infinite Line, Infinite Knowledge: The 'Spera' And Organized Chaos In Lambert's Encyclopedia, The 'Liber Floridus', Ava Romano

Theses and Dissertations

The Liber Floridus is a medieval encyclopedia renowned for its program of circular diagrams, or sperae. Inside this manuscript of 190 chapters, these diagrams frame and embody written knowledge, revealing a connection between encyclopedism and life in the Benedictine monastery by creating a coherent visual organization of chapters.

Main Areas Of International Activity Of Ukrainian Christian Churches, Yuliia Kondratiuk, Olha Hordiichuk, Iryna Vitiuk, Oleh Sokolovskyi

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The article analyzes the international activities of the main Christian denominations in Ukraine (the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, and Protestant denominations) in the context of the Russian-Ukrainian war, which has been ongoing since 2014 and became full-scale in 2022. The war has radically changed the priorities of all denominations: from classical ecumenism and missionary work to mass humanitarian aid, the protection of religious freedom, and countering Russia's use of religion as an instrument of aggression. Despite repression, the destruction of more than 630 religious buildings, and the deaths of dozens of clergy, Ukrainian churches have …

Modern Australian Liturgies, Angela M. Mccarthy

Pastoral Liturgy

No abstract provided.

The Easter Vigil - 4 April 2026, Gerard Moore

Pastoral Liturgy

No abstract provided.

The Most Holy Body And Blood Of Christ (Corpus Christi) - 7 June 2026, Ann-Maree O'Beirne

Pastoral Liturgy

No abstract provided.

A Project To Prepare Women As Theological Educators In Papua New Guinea And The Solomon Islands, Jenny O'Brien

Pastoral Liturgy

No abstract provided.

Twenty-Eighth Sunday In Ordinary Time - 11 October 2026, Angela M. Mccarthy

Pastoral Liturgy

No abstract provided.

All Saints Day - 1 November 2026, Gerard Moore

Pastoral Liturgy

No abstract provided.

Prodigal Daughters: The Crisis Facing Generation Z Women, Kristin Brouwer

Doctor of Ministry

Why are Generation Z women (born approximately between 1997 and 2012), increasingly leaving organized Christian religion in the United States? This question became personal in my office at a Christian liberal arts college, where national statistics took on the faces and stories of students I teach and mentor. For the first time in American history, young men are now more religious than young women, and nearly four in ten Gen Z women identify as religiously unaffiliated. Yet their departure is not primarily a rejection of God; it is a rejection of distorted representations of God, faith, and church.

Drawing on …

The Importance Of Mental Health Education In The Black Church: Exploring Mental Health And Trauma Through A Biblical Lens, Navita Kj Johnson-Belcher

Doctor of Ministry

The Black church has historically served as a cornerstone for African American spiritual and communal life yet faces significant challenges in addressing mental health needs rooted in generational trauma and systemic oppression. This dissertation explores the crisis of silence surrounding mental health in Black church contexts, where stigma, pastoral limitations, and historical mistrust of institutional systems create barriers to healing. Through examination of biblical perspectives on suffering, church-based mental health programs, and emerging digital ministry models, this study demonstrates that online platforms can effectively integrate trauma-informed care with theological education.

The research presents a digital, trauma-informed, biblically-based, mental health education …

Good Grief: Implementing Solace And Support Of Bereavement Ministry Within A Resource-Constrained Church In Chicago, Illinois, Celeste Haynes

Doctor of Ministry

Grief is a universal human experience that occurs at some point in everyone's life. This body of work explores the various benefits of implementing a bereavement support ministry in a resource-constrained church in Chicago, Illinois. The research will outline how a bereavement ministry can offer emotional support, spiritual guidance, and provide educational resources, community building, outline a budget proposal, and a grant opportunities, partnership with local agencies, training for volunteers, and practical help to bereaved members in a church, as well as the bereaved community.

Bereavement is an inevitable part of the human experience, and churches have historically served as …

Women In Leadership Seminar Series, An Integrated Approach, Diane B. Tuttle

Doctor of Leadership

Need Problem Opportunity (NPO) Statement

Women of faith aspiring to leadership positions in the nonprofit sector need to be strategically equipped with specialized knowledge, experience, and interpersonal awareness.

Key Insights That Emerged From Research

When this journey began, I envisioned my project focusing on executive leadership transitions in nonprofit organizations. However, through interactive discovery in this doctoral program, I realized that the scope was too narrow. Women at different career levels wanted to learn, grow, and have opportunities to connect with other women. This led me to develop a seminar series intended for women interested in personal and professional growth. …

Sabbath For Everyone: A Guidebook For Practicing Rest, Ryan Thorson

Doctor of Leadership

While Sabbath practices are central to God’s design for human flourishing, Compassion Church currently lacks a shared, accessible formation pathway that supports individuals and households in practicing Sabbath in sustainable, life-stage–appropriate ways within the demands of contemporary life and ministry.

This doctoral project responds to that need by developing and testing a Sabbath formation guidebook designed to help individuals and communities engage Sabbath as a gift through the practices of stopping, resting, praying, and playing. A key insight emerging from the research is that Sabbath is not merely a discipline to be mastered but a relational space in which God …

Wellspring For Renewal And Transformation In Ministry, Deborah Cundey Owen

Doctor of Leadership

Ministry leaders increasingly experience burnout and isolation within performance-driven leadership cultures in the United States that fail to cultivate self-awareness, resilience, and spiritual formation. This Need/Problem/Opportunity (NPO) emerged through stakeholder engagement, expert interviews, and academic research, revealing that leaders are not primarily lacking ministry skills but the emotional, spiritual, and relational capacity to sustain those skills in healthy ways.

Several key insights shaped the project. Burnout is less a function of workload than of identity; leaders operating from performance rather than belovedness are spiritually and neurologically vulnerable. Emotional regulation functions as spiritual formation. Concepts such as differentiation, non-anxious presence, undefended …

Beyond Rugged Individualism: A Narrative Intervention For Men Languishing In Isolation, Chad Edward Warren

Doctor of Leadership

My NPO (Need, Problem, or Opportunity) addresses the problem that an exceptional number of men in Northwest Montana languish due to prolonged social and emotional isolation.

Across my research, the key insight was that isolation is sustained not only by personal circumstances but also by the cultural narratives that form men’s identities and expectations. Stories function as “maps of meaning,” shaping what men perceive as strength, weakness, and the good life. In this context, rugged individualism, understood as a self-reliance and isolation narrative that prizes toughness and minimal dependence, can foster admirable grit while also reinforcing shame around vulnerability, help-seeking, …

Evangelistic Preaching Essentials: Inviting The Next "Yes", Julie Ann O'Hara

Doctor of Leadership

Churches within the seventy-eight districts of the USA/Canada Region of the Church of the Nazarene do not have consistently effective evangelistic preaching. Evangelistic preaching is central to the denomination's historical identity, rooted in the holiness tradition of gospel proclamation that invites response. Educational pathways for ordination provide limited exposure to evangelistic preaching, relying instead on local-level practice, and opportunities are frequently limited. Consequently, many developing preachers enter ministry with passion but little experience in evangelistic proclamation.

Research conducted in response to the NPO highlighted several insights. First, growth in preaching requires repeated practice, not simply exposure to content. Second, practice …

Addressing Pornography Use Among Christian University Students: A Small Group Study Curriculum, Jeffery P. Styer

Doctor of Leadership

In the world of 24/7 access to the internet, it has been determined that Christian universities have students who struggle with a habit of viewing pornography impacting current and future relationships, with God, self, and others. These students graduate and are sent out into the world where they continue to struggle with pornography use and its accompanying guilt and shame. It is an injustice for the university and the church (worldwide) not to address this problem.

Research for this project confirms that pornography use is an issue both inside and outside the church. Christians are quick to identify pornography as …

Exploring Young Adult Absence Within Inner-City Churches In Syracuse, New York, Daren Christopher Jaime

Doctor of Leadership

Young adults (ages 25–39) in inner-city churches of Syracuse, New York are experiencing increasing disenfranchisement, resulting in diminished participation, increased distrust, and a significant absence from congregational life. Research conducted for this project revealed that young adult disengagement is shaped by generational disconnects, institutional rigidity, cultural irrelevance, and broader social disruptions intensified by the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing political and socio-economic instability. The findings also highlighted a major desire among young adults for authenticity, credible leadership, and spaces where their lived experiences are acknowledged rather than dismissed.

This project is situated within my ministry and vocational context which integrates …