Digital Commons Network^™

The Building Of The Toyko Temple, Conan P. Story

Mormon Pacific Historical Society

This is a story of the building of the Tokyo Temple, the first temple built in Asia by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is not a history, although I hope it will shed some historical light on a few aspects of this magnificent temple. It is simply my story—what I saw and did, and what I learned about this House of the Lord as it rose from the ground and was dedicated in 1980. I like to tell this story starting in 1948 because that is when the Lord began to reveal His plan for where …

Question 89 - What Are The Facts Regarding The King James Bible?, Harold Willmington

101 Most Asked Questions

No abstract provided.

Historical Models Of Engagement To Teach Mission In The Complex Public Arena, Santha Jetty

Papers

No abstract provided.

Procedural Violations In The Trial Of The Woman Taken In Adultery, Steven T. Densley Jr.

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

The story in John 8 of the woman taken in adultery is sometimes used to argue that Jesus was lenient toward sin and that we should be too. However, when placed in its broader context, we can see the story is not one in which Christ shows indifference or contempt for the law, but rather utmost respect for it.

Feasting On The Book Of Mormon, Stephen O. Smoot

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

The Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship has recently published a new study edition of the Book of Mormon. Edited by Grant Hardy, the Maxwell Institute Study Edition (MISE) incorporates important advances in Book of Mormon scholarship from the past few decades while grounding the reader’s experience in the text of the Book of Mormon. The reformatted text presented in the MISE improves the readability of the Book of Mormon, while footnotes, charts, bibliographies, and short explanatory essays highlight the strides made in recent years related to Book of Mormon scholarship. The MISE is a phenomenal edition of the …

The Record Of My Father, Clifford P. Jones

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

In 1 Nephi 1:16–17, Nephi tells us he is abridging “the record of my father.” The specific words Nephi uses in his writings form several basic but important patterns and features used repeatedly by Nephi and also by other Book of Mormon writers. These patterns and features provide context that appears to indicate that Nephi’s abridgment of Lehi’s record is the third-person account found in 1 Nephi 1:4 through 2:15 and that Nephi’s f irst-person account of his own ministry begins in 1 Nephi 2:16.

Hope As A Strategy: Messianism In The Philosophy Of Emmanuel Levinas, Gary Ray Sunshine

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This essay is an explication of the role of messianism, often expressed as hope, in the work of Emmanuel Levinas. Levinas's single philosophical project from 1933 until his passing in 1996 was to establish ethics as first philosophy. This effort was in opposition to the primacy of ontology in the work of Martin Heidegger. Levinas uses a phenomenological method similar to Heidegger's to establish messianic hope as a fundamental human motivation. Throughout Levinas's work, he borrows a religious vocabulary from his Jewish heritage that he resets into a philosophical domain. He takes a religious concept of messianism, specifically Jewish formulations …

Cities Of Refuge, John R. Spencer

2019 Faculty Bibliography

No abstract provided.

"Femme Fatales Of Faith": Queer And "Deviant" Performances Of Femme Within Western Protestant Culture, Kelsey Waninger Minnick

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Women and queer folk are changing the religious landscape of Christianity in America, and the scope of visibility for these figures and their apostolic endeavors is widening as more and more Christians are seeking out communities rooted in doctrines of love and connection rather than exclusion and hegemonic piety. Thinking on this phenomenon, this dissertation focuses on the intersectional dilemmas of faith practice and rhetorical discourse with Western Christianity, particularly as it revolves around those female pastors and clergy - considered "dangerous" by many within the church - who are advocating for a more inclusionary church space. By conducting a …

Nature Of The Crescent: Humans And The Natural World In Genesis 1-11 And Mesopotamian Mythology, Bryton A. Smith

Honors Papers

This capstone thesis examines the human-nature relationship in the Genesis primeval history (Gen. 1-11) and compares it to the human-nature relationship in the Mesopotamian Enuma Elish, Atrahasis, and Epic of Gilgamesh myths. Despite common threads running in the two sources of mythology, I argue that Genesis is the only text that portrays humans in a religiously and royally authoritative position that includes responsibility for nature. To clarify, modern Jewish or Christian thought on Genesis in relation to the environment is not the focus of this study. Instead, this study examines Gen. 1-11 in the context of the ancient Near East, …

The Mushroom, The Frog, And The Rainbow Of Desire: A Participatory-Psychedelic Spiritual Emergence, Gregg Lahood

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

This article will explore a spiritual emergency through a myth or fairy tale that emerged at the same time I had a frightening brush with death. Two days before the accident I had ingested psilocybin mushrooms. Michael Washburn, among other transpersonal theorists, will be used to interpret, amplify and re-frame this potential ‘psychotic episode’ with ‘borderline features’ into something more, perhaps, on the threshold of a shamanic initiation in a liminal state. The mythic sequence in my story anticipates the death-rebirth (perinatal pattern) and evolution of consciousness in the LSD research of Stanislav Grof; an evolution given epic participatory elucidation …

Question 96 - What Supernatural Elements May Be Seen Regarding The Historical Accuracy Of The Bible?, Harold Willmington

101 Most Asked Questions

No abstract provided.

Comparing Phonemic Patterns In Book Of Mormon Personal Names With Fictional And Authentic Sources: An Exploratory Study, Brad Wilcox, Bruce L. Brown, Wendy Baker-Smemoe, Sharon Black, Dennis L. Eggett

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

In 2013 we published a study examining names from Solomon Spalding’s fictional manuscript, J. R. R. Tolkien’s fictional works, and nineteenth-century US census records. Results showed names created by authors of fiction followed phonemic patterns that differed from those of authentic names from a variety of cultural origins found in the US census. The current study used the same methodology to compare Book of Mormon names to the three name sources in the original study and found that Book of Mormon names seem to have more in common with the patterns found in authentic names than they do with those …

Welding Another Link In Wonder’S Chain: The Task Of Latter-Day Saint Intellectuals In The Church’S Third Century, Nathan B. Oman

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

This is a challenging moment for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- day Saints. Both its efforts at retention and missionary work are less effective than they have been in the past. At this moment, what is the most important task facing Latter-day Saint intellectuals? In contrast to those who argue that faithful thinkers and writers should focus either on defending the faith or providing criticisms of the Church’s failings, this essay argues that the Latter-day Saint clerisy should focus on celebrating the Restoration and finding new language in which to express what makes the Restored Gospel of Jesus …

Defining Choices Redefined: Heroic Life Narratives Of Taiwanese Buddhist Monastics, Hillary Crane

Faculty Publications

The Taiwanese Buddhist monastics in this study confront negative stereotypes that dominate within their wider societal context, and they challenge these stereotypes by positing counter-narratives. After exploring the monastics’ interest in proselytizing both to me and to a wider audience as a context that influences the interview encounter, this chapter focuses on the monastics’ response to negative stereotypes and their endeavors to craft a new, positive image of monastics. I argue that they employ the heroic trope of the da zhangfu (大丈夫, ‘great man’) to reconceive as heroic the life choices they have made that wider Taiwanese society characterizes as …

The Stromata Vol. 61, No. 1, Calvin Theological Seminary

Stromata (1956-2020)

Inside This Issue

5- Finding Hope while Struggling by Isaias D’Oleo-Ochoa

7- Liturgical Theology in the Psalter by Andrew J. Belcher

22- Plantinga’s Ontological Argument of God by Jung-Yao Wang

43- Worshipping with Our Children by Sewon Jang

Neither Libertarian Nor Compatibilist, Richard A. Muller

CTS Faculty Publications and Creative Activity

The present essay addresses Paul Helm's most recent attempt to assimilate the thought of such Reformed scholastics as Francis Turretin to the 'compatibilism' of Jonathan Edwards. Helm has misunderstood a series of important scholastic distinctions concerning the relationship of intellect and will in the older faculty psychology, and the relationship of foundational or, as I identified it, 'root' indifference in the will to its multiple potencies. He has, accordingly, failed to register how Reformed orthodox understandings of free choice outlined in recent scholarship affirm both a simultaneity or synchronicity of potencies or capacities of the will and a diachronicity of …

A Critical Comparative Scriptural Analysis Of Genesis 1:1-5 Based On Hebrew, Aramaic, Syriac, Greek, And Coptic Manuscripts, Edens Elveus

CGU Theses & Dissertations

A translation of Gen. 1:1-5 may seem to be both close and far at the same time from the original Hebrew text because of historical, geographical, theological, cultural, philological, and linguistic reasons. The scribes who translated the biblical narrative of the creation of light from Hebrew to a lingua franca of their time had a translation technique. They knew what they were doing. They provided a translation that the people of their time (d’alors) could understand, depending on a consideration of the milieu where they lived, and the jargon used to express their ideas – straight or in a zigzag …

“Stepsons And Stepdaughters”: Chosen Communities, Religion, Faith, And Lgbt Liberation, John Michael Erickson

CGU Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation explores the new roles the LGBT movement took on in place of religious and faith-based communities. The new discourse behind the LGBT rights movement’s recent popularity and credibility in popular culture in the U.S. created a generation of activists who grew up both within and outside of religious communities that affirmed an individual’s sexuality as an important part of their identity rather than a sinful one. While newer generations of both closeted and open LGBT individuals and religiously affiliated men and women grew up knowing about the fight for and against gay marriage, equal rights, and fair and …

Equipping The Congregation Of East Belmont Baptist Church In Belmont, North Carolina For Outreach Through The Development And Implementation Of An Active Prayer Ministry, Jeff Dean Taylor

Doctor of Ministry Projects

In a local congregation, joining the spiritual practice of prayer with the ministry of outreach provides the church with an effective ministry tool to connect the congregation to its community and beyond. The East Belmont Baptist Church searches for effective ways to carry out the mission of making Christ known to others by equipping themselves through study and sermons to use prayer as a ministry in the community. Through the presence and power of the Holy Spirit, congregational members meet people where they are and minister to them through intercessory prayer.

Neuman, Tamara. Settling Hebron. Jewish Fundamentalism In A Palestinian City. Philadelphia, Pa: University Of Pennsylvania Press, 2018., Ilana Maymind

Religious Studies Faculty Articles and Research

A review of Tamara Neuman's Settling Hebron. Jewish Fundamentalism in a Palestinian City.

A Deconstruction Of Puritan Ideology Through The Works Of John Winthrop, Anne Bradstreet, And Mary Rowlandson, Rocco S. Fazzalari

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Originated by Jacques Derrida, deconstruction analyzes the relationship between text and meaning. This thesis applies Derrida's theory of deconstruction to three early American Puritan figures: John Winthrop, Mary Rowlandson, and Anne Bradstreet. By questioning the conceptual distinctions known as oppositions in Puritan ideology through the works of these aforementioned individuals, this thesis questions and corrupts the binaries within each text used. The emergence of new meaning through a deconstruction of Puritan ideology establishes a valid site from which to explore radical, repressed, historical, cultural, and theological narratives of religious prosperity. By enforcing narratives from Derrida's Of Grammatology, post-structuralist ideology will …

“Members” Of Christ: Myth, Morals, And Masculinity In Puritan New England, Rebecca Farias

History Theses

No abstract provided.

Book Reviews, Timothy J. Christian, David Nonnenmacher Jr., Michael Tavey, Matthias P. Gergan, Matthew Haugen, Zachariah S. Motts, J. Russell Frazier, Robert A. Danielson, J. R. Wright, Christopher Ashley, Scott Donahue-Martens

The Asbury Journal

No abstract provided.

An Ancient Hope: Matthew’S Use Of Isaiah To Explicate Christianity’S Mission To The Nations, Jerry Breen

The Asbury Journal

No abstract provided.

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.

Multiethnic And Missional: God’S Heart For An Integrated And Diverse Church, Justin Saul Hiebert

All Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The American church is largely segregated and homogenous. This has not only stunted the growth of the church but led to an ineffective and limited mission vision. The contemporary American church must reclaim the biblical mandate to be both ethnically diverse and missionally minded. Through a qualitative research methodology this research project focuses on creating a healthy and sustainable multiethnic identity and leadership structure. Through interviewing and visiting some of the leading multiethnic churches of the Central Valley of California, the researcher lays out a clear understanding and argument for multiethnic churches. This paper examines the book of Acts, interviewing …

Journal In Entirety, David R. Bauer, Lindy D. Backues, Kenneth W. Brewer, Anthony J. Headley

The Journal of Inductive Biblical Studies

No abstract provided.

Remembrance And Return, Ted Vaggalis, Daniel C. Peterson

Interpreter Foundation Books

The essays collected here honor and celebrate our friend, colleague, and teacher, Louis Midgley. Many of us know him from his time at BYU, where he taught political philosophy in the Political Science Department. But he was a great friend and mentor, and his influence extended well beyond the campus. In my own case, after I left BYU to pursue graduate studies in philosophy, Lou made sure to keep in touch with me, helping me to negotiate the obstacles one encounters in graduate school, asking about my family, as well as sharing lessons and spiritual experiences in order to keep …

Strategy To Retain Second Generation Immigrants At The Bethlehem French Seventh-Day Adventist Church In New Jersey, Emile Duvivier

Doctor of Ministry Projects

Problem

Bethlehem French Seventh-day Adventist Church in East Orange, New Jersey, has been facing the challenges of any typical church located in urban environments in this post-millennial world. The church is confronted with member depletion in general, and the young people, in particular. The problem of retention has plagued our congregation in a manner that stagnated our exponential growth. A large percentage of the children who were born and raised in the church is leaving the Seventh-day Adventist faith after college. The Bethlehem French Seventh-day Adventist Church has not been exempted.

Method

To resolve the problem, I have put in …