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Faith Across Cultures: Research On Mormonism In Oceania, Ian Barber

Mormon Studies Review

Oceania describes the largely marine Pacific basin divided (on moot ethnographic grounds) between Polynesia in the east and Melanesia and Micronesia to the southwest and northwest respectively. The continent of Australia lies on Oceania’s southwestern border. T he first Oceanic settlers arrived in the western Pacific tens of thousands of years ago from Asia. Human settlement of the increasingly depauperate and largely noncontinental islands in eastern Melanesia to Polynesia and Micronesia was accomplished within the last five thousand years. The remote Eastern Polynesian islands were colonized largely if not entirely within the last millennium. These vastly different time scales of …

Review: Julie K. Allen. Danish But Not Lutheran: The Impact Of Mormonism On Danish Cultural Identity, 1850–1920. Salt Lake City: University Of Utah Press, 2017., Margit Egdal

Mormon Studies Review

America’s status as a land with a large and diverse immigrant population has long contrasted with the relatively homogenous populations of Europe. However, this situation has changed dramatically throughout Europe in recent decades. In Denmark, migrant workers and refugees from across Europe, Africa, and Asia have made for a more multicultural society.

Curiously Unique: Joseph Smith As Author Of The Book Of Mormon, Brian C. Hales

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

The advent of the computer and the internet allows Joseph Smith as the “author” of the Book of Mormon to be compared to other authors and their books in ways essentially impossible even a couple of decades ago. Six criteria can demonstrate the presence of similarity or distinctiveness among writers and their literary creations: author education and experience, the book’s size and complexity, and the composition process and timeline. By comparing these characteristics, this essay investigates potentially unique characteristics of Joseph Smith and the creation of the Book of Mormon.

Islam, Christianity, Traditional Religions And Power Politics In Northern Nigeria Since Pre-Islamic Period, Emmanuel M. Abar

Dissertations

Problem

Currently in Northern Nigeria, religious interaction among the three major religious traditions, Islam, Christianity, and African Traditional Religion, is marred by violent religious conflicts. Also, competing concepts of religious legitimacy, which appeal to the historical heritage of Nigeria, are often used to validate and justify the violation of religious freedom. Does the current state of religious interaction among the various religious groups reflect the true heritage of religious interaction in Northern Nigeria? Or is it possible that the history of the interaction between African Traditional Religions, Islam, and Christianity in the past might actually be a heritage that points …

The Nature Of David's Kingship At Hebron: An Exegetical And Theological Study Of 2 Samuel 2:1-5:5, Christian Vogel

Dissertations

The account of David’s reign at Hebron found in 2 Samuel 2:1—5:5 constitutes a somewhat neglected, yet crucial part of the David narrative, chronicling David’s first years as king. This dissertation investigates these chapters by means of a close reading of the Hebrew text in order to gain a better understanding of the nature of David’s kingship as it is presented in this literary unit. The review of scholarly literature on 2 Samuel 2:1—5:5 conducted in Chapter 1 reveals that not much attention has been given to a careful and in-depth exegesis of this literary unit. Instead, most of the …

John Calvin’S Two-Fold Notion Of Faith And The Possibility Of Faith Formation: The Emerging Genevan Church’S Understanding Of Faith And Its Relation To Pastoral Care, Isaias D'Oleo Ochoa

CTS Student Publications and Creative Works

The purpose of this study is to explore John Calvin’s two-fold notion of faith in the 1559 edition of the Institutes and its central implications for pastoral theology in the emerging Reformed tradition, in order to reclaim a broader and contextualized understanding of pastoral care and its relation with faith formation. To that end, this article will focus on the ways the emerging mid- sixteenth century Reformed church in Geneva applied the Calvinian notion of faith to pastoral theology. Some applications of such an understanding for the church today are also explored, especially for the modern American-Dutch Reformed church.

Epistemological Foundation For Contemporary Theology Of Mission: Trajectories From A Conversation Between J. Andrew Kirk And John Hick, Sochanngam Shirik

The Asbury Journal

No abstract provided.

Beyond Justice: Reading Alma 42 In The Context Of Atonement Theories, Mark D. Ellison

Faculty Publications

In Alma 42, Alma teaches his son Corianton about the atonement in a statement laden with legal vocabulary. Terms such as law, judged, just, justice, injustice, punishment, probationary, and penitent dominate the message, in company with such concepts as the execution of the law, the infliction of punishment, and punishment being affixed to violation of law. By all appearances, Alma sets forth what theologians call a juridical view of atonement (one concerned with the administration of justice). The problem as Alma states it is that “all mankind were fallen” and because of disobedience were “in the grasp of justice” and …

In Objection To Error: A Wesleyan Reflection On The Regrettable State Of The United Methodist Church, Charles Stehlik

Masters Essays

No abstract provided.

Review: Lincoln A. Mullen. The Chance Of Salvation: A History Of Conversion In America. Cambridge, Ma: Harvard University Press, 2017., Ben Wright

Mormon Studies Review

This bold and exciting book convincingly demonstrates how the crucible of the nineteenth century transformed American religion from something inherited to chosen. Conversion drove this rise of religious choice, and Lincoln Mullen asserts that despite the great variety of conversion experiences, “conversions have created a common understanding of religion as choice” (p. 9). Mullen even acknowledges that most Americans in the nineteenth century remained in the religious tradition into which they were born, but by the end of the century, Americans came to think of even this stasis as a conscious choice. Whether they changed traditions or remained, by the …

Mormon Studies In Africa, Amy Hoyt

Mormon Studies Review

Mormon studies, as understood by scholars, includes the scholarly examination of all of the traditions that have stemmed from Joseph Smith Jr. This essay will review the state of the field of Mormon studies in Africa and pay particular attention to two of these traditions, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Community of Christ, formerly known as the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Constructing A Theology Of Relational Life Through The Themes Of Creation, Incarnation, And Re-Creation As An Alternative To Current Categories Of Religions, Andrew Tompkins

Dissertations

This dissertation argues that current categories of religions are overly reliant on Western Enlightenment-based presuppositions and academic thinking that creates barriers in understanding God’s desire for all people to have abundant life. Many theologians and missiologists utilize these inherited categories without first subjecting them to the biblical canon. As a result, the theological and missiological discourse on religions is often grounded in extra-biblical presuppositions rooted primarily in an overly high view of human reason that do not accurately portray a biblical approach to relational life. These presuppositions do not accurately portray a biblical approach to relational life. I, therefore, compared …

To Be The Body Of Christ: Discipleship (Solidarity) And Eucharist, M. Shawn Copeland

Institute of Liturgical Studies Occasional Papers

In this presentation, I explore the relation between discipleship as solidarity and Eucharist. To this end, the Gospel of Luke sets the scriptural parameters, as the story of the disciples on the way to Emmaus and their experience of recognizing Jesus at table in the breaking of bread is narrated only in this Gospel. Written in the final decades of the first century and addressed to a community of mixed social and economic standing, Luke’s narrative has come under critique for its tendency to convey double-messages and its ambiguity toward women and the poor. New Testament scholar Sharon Ringe has …

Full Issue

Issues in Religion and Psychotherapy

No abstract provided.

Between Identity And Truth: A Christ-Centered Perspective On Emotion, Mauro Properzi

Issues in Religion and Psychotherapy

Emotions are receiving a lot of attention in both academic and popular circles. In fact, our culture is increasingly characterized by emotionality in thought, expression, and personal interaction, with some positive but also many negative consequences. How should Christians respond to these developments in the secular culture? A Christ-centered approach to the emotions is the general theological foundation on which we need to ground our reflections and decisions about their nature and significance. Specifi- cally, by deepening our understanding of Jesus’s teachings on His identity, telos, life-giving reality, and sanctifying power, as aptly described in John 14:6, we may experience …

Spatial Changes Of Pilgrimage Centers In Pilgrimage Studies – Review And Contribution To Future Research, Justyna Liro, Izabela Sołjan, Elżbieta Bilska-Wodecka

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

Pilgrimages and pilgrimage centres are a subject of research often undertaken from the perspective of geographic sciences. Geographical research on pilgrimage movement and sanctuaries is important due to its focus on the spatial aspect. This article analyses the current state of research on pilgrimage centres. The main trends of the current studies include: the phenomenon of pilgrimage in terms of religion, society, culture and tourism; as well as its impact, including on the development of the settlement and; studies of pilgrimage centres, in particular their impact on space in various spatial and temporal scales, as well as; the conclusions drawn …

After The Fall: Tsuji Zennosuke And The Creation Of Bukkyōshugi Kokushi, James Mark Shields

Faculty Journal Articles

Tsuji Zennosuke 辻善之助 (1877–1955), the dominant figure in Buddhist historical scholarship in Japan from the 1930s until the mid-1950s, is known to have employed a broad range of sources in order to provide a comprehensive analysis of his subject. This essay examines Tsuji’s conception of Buddhist history in relation to the emer- gence of both National Historical Studies (kokushigaku 国史学) and so-called State Shintō (kokka shintō 国家神道) and argues against the image of Tsuji as an “objec- tive historian” resistant to nationalist trends in historical scholarship. In fact, Tsuji was involved in the creation of an alternative, “Buddhistic” national history, …

Myth And Monstrosity: Teaching Indigenous Films, Ken Derry

Journal of Religion & Film

The past few times that I have taught my course on religion and film I have included a number of Indigenous movies. The response from students has been entirely positive, in part because most of them have rarely encountered Indigenous cultural products of any kind, especially contemporary ones. Students also respond well to the way in which many of these films use notions of the monstrous to explore, and explode, colonial myths. Goldstone, for example, by Kamilaroi filmmaker Ivan Sen, draws on noir tropes to peel back the smiling masks of the people responsible for the mining town’s success, …

Combining Faithfulness With Learning: Avoiding The Path Of Secularization At Brigham Young University, J. Gordon Daines Iii

Theses and Dissertations

Most research universities in the United States began as religiously affiliated institutions. Beginning in the late 19th century and continuing over the course of the 20th century, the vast majority of these institutions engaged in a process of secularization through which faith moved from the center of academic life to the periphery. This paper elucidates a conceptual framework for understanding how and why Brigham Young University did not follow the path of secularization that so many research universities, originally religious in nature, pursued. It examines the steps that the university and its sponsoring institution (The Church of Jesus Christ of …

After Faith, Hope, And Love: The Unique Divergence Of Asceticism By Gregory The Great And Maximus The Confessor, Caleb N. Zuiderveen

Theses and Dissertations

In the late sixth and early seventh centuries, asceticism continued as a frequent expression of Christian devotion. Despite communications between the Eastern and Western Churches and a common patristic foundation, theology in the East and West during this time diverged on the results of asceticism. This paper explores this divergence by examining two theologians, Gregory the Great and Maximus the Confessor. Current scholarship has examined Gregory the Great and Maximus the Confessor on their own, yet the dialogue between each tradition and its implications remains understudied. Thus, this study contextualizes Gregory the Great’s On the Song of Songs and Maximus …

Oral Roberts And The Hebrew Bible, Eric N. Newberg, Samuel Hogan

Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology

Oral Roberts held a favorable view of Jewish people and viewed the restoration of the state of Israel as the fulfillment of biblical prophecy. This article recounts a key facet of the Jewish outreach of the Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association, the Hebrew Bible project. In collaboration with Myron Sackett, Oral Roberts sponsored the publication of a Hebrew Bible (Old and New Testaments) and distributed it in Israel and other countries. Roberts was motivated by a desire to play a major role in the conversion of the Jewish people in the last days. By means of exhaustive research of relevant source …

Religion Crossing The Frontiers: Nigerian Pentecostal Dynamics In The Western World, Jacob Kehinde Oladipupo

Great Commission Research Journal

This article examines how the Pentecostal movements in Africa and most especially in Nigeria are experiencing fast growth and how African Pentecostals are speaking on the global scene, especially in Europe and America in the twenty-first century. This kind of Pentecostal reverse mission from Africa to the Western countries that brought Christianity to Africa in the eighteenth century is not without strengths and weaknesses. This article unveils the nature of the Nigerian Pentecostal movements in the diaspora and how much impact the movements are making in the Western cultures of Europe and America. The passion of the African immigrants’ churches …

Review Of Sacred Space: Exploring The Birthplace Of Mormonism, Daniel H. Olsen

Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

When I was asked to read and review Michael MacKay’s Sacred Space: Exploring the Birthplace of Mormonism, I was expecting to read a straightforward history of Fayette, New York, the story of the founding of Mormonism in Fayette, and the efforts of the LDS Church to purchase and restore the Peter Whitmer Sr. home where, Church members have been told, the Church was organized on 6 April 1830. However, I was quite surprised, as I imagine most Church members would be, to read that the location of the establishment of Mormonism is highly contested within some Mormon history circles. Some …

The Problem Of The Stigma Of Marxism For Christian Advocacy Writers Whose Focus Is Historical, Social Inequalities, Kandy Crosby-Hastings

Masters Theses

Christian advocacy writers seek to advocate on behalf of and empower the marginalized. Christian advocacy writers who focus on historical, social inequalities reveal oppressions from history in order to advocate for the oppressed in similar circumstances in today’s world. They must be willing to learn from all scholarship that reveals the hardship and oppression endured by the exploited of society. There is often a stigma associated with the use of Marxist sources for reasons that include Karl Marx’s own anti-religious, anti-Semitic, pro-revolution, and reductionist ideas and the later association of Marxism with Soviet Communism. Christian advocacy writers must understand both …

A Gifting Of Sweetgrass : The Reclamation Of Culture Movement And Naiits, An Indigenous Learning Community, Wendy L. Peterson

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Christians And Jerusalem In The Fourth Century Ce: A Study Of Eusebius Of Caesarea, Cyril Of Jerusalem, And The Bordeaux Pilgrim, Stephen David Green

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis addresses Constantine's developments of the Roman province of Palaestina. It analyzes two important Christian bishops, Eusebius of Caesarea and Cyril of Jerusalem, and one nameless Christian traveler, the Bordeaux pilgrim, to illuminate how fourth-century Christians understood these developments. This study examines the surviving writings of these Christian authors: the Bordeaux Itinerary, Cyril's Catechetical Lectures, and Eusebius's Ecclesiastical History, Onomasticon, Preparation of the Gospel, Proof of the Gospel, and the Life of Constantine, and the archaeological remains of several Constantinian basilicas to interpret their views of the imperial attentions that were being poured …

Argument Is War : Relevance-Theoretic Comprehension Of The Conceptual Metaphor Of War In The Apocalypse, Clifford T. Winters

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Hauge’S Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran Synod In America And The Continuation Of The Haugean Spirit In Twentieth-Century American Lutheranism, Thomas E. Jacobson

Doctor of Philosophy Theses

This thesis explores the history and enduring legacy of Haugeanism in American Lutheranism, a tradition that has been overlooked in the scholarship of recent decades. Originally, this lay-led Norwegian movement sought to enhance the spiritual life of Norwegian Lutherans within the established church and was fueled by the revival activity of Hans Nielsen Hauge in Norway. It became transplanted on American soil with the immigration of the nineteenth century. The interaction in America between the low-church Haugeans and their more formal counterparts rooted in the state church of Norway reveals that a sense of friction existed between the two emphases …

The Core Relation Between Hospitality (Philoxenia), Dignity And Vulnerability In Orthodox Christian Bioethics: A Contribution To Global Bioethics, Rabee Toumi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In a pluralistic world, reaching consensus in matters of bioethics has proved to be difficult, especially with the political polarization that nurtures inimical differences. This dissertation argues that a middle ground can be identified between the plurality of value systems in contemporary bioethics based on an anthropological approach. This middle ground that reflects commonalities of the human condition can be explored in relation to the foundational principles of Orthodox Christian anthropology. To identify this middle ground the analysis discusses the core relation between hospitality, dignity, and vulnerability as a contribution to global bioethics.

In general, based on Orthodox Christian theology …

Postwar Churches Of Christ Mission Work: The Philippines As A Case Study, Brady Kal Cox

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

There was a large increase in the number of Churches of Christ missionaries and missionary efforts following World War II (WWII). There were also significant changes and developments in American religious culture following WWII—Churches of Christ were not exempt from these changes. This study examines the question of how postwar developments in American religion influenced missionary efforts of American Churches of Christ by looking at examples of American missionaries in the Philippines.

The study relies heavily on primary sources, including letters and news reports from archival collections, Churches of Christ periodicals, and email correspondence with people familiar with the main …