Digital Commons Network^™

Impact Of Traditional (Non-Affirming) Black Church Affiliation On Exploration Of Sexual Identity For Black Assigned Female At Birth Lgbq+ Individuals And The Associated Mental Health Risk, Aurielle J. Sutton

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation explored the impact of Black traditional church upbringing on the sexual and religious identity development, including the subsequent mental health risk, for Black assigned female at birth (AFAB) LGBQ+ individuals. Studies conducted on Black AFAB LGBQ+ individuals are limited, especially in terms of  assessing their experiences in sexual identity development based on religious upbringings. Studies have overlooked the experience of LGBQ+ Black AFAB individuals navigating sexual orientation development and religious and racial identities. Studies have greatly favored Black gay men and supported health risks such as HIV. In the present study, twelve Black AFAB Queer individuals participated in …

Idda, Sherry Coman

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of Idda (2026), directed by Irene Dionisio.

What Film Is Good For: On The Values Of Spectatorship, Pablo Alzola

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a book review of Julian Hanich and Martin P. Rossouw, eds., What Film Is Good For: On the Values of Spectatorship (Oakland, CA: University of California Press, 2023).

A Poetic History: Islamic And Japanese Parallels In Film, Joshua Polanski

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a book review of David Sander, A Poetic History: Islamic and Japanese Parallels in Film (Bloomsbury, 2026).

Cloud: Between Paris And Tehran: Kiarostami/Corbin/Lacan, Heba Arafa Abdelfattah

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a book review of Joan Copjec, Cloud: Between Paris and Tehran: Kiarostami/Corbin/Lacan (MIT Press, 2025).

Eternity, Leah R. Sisk

Journal of Religion & Film

This film review of Eternity was developed from an essay on how the film demonstrates the nature of choice, including William James's notion of a leap of faith.  The original essay was submitted for an undergraduate Philosophy and Religion class on American Pragmatism at Western Carolina University.

Disclosure Day, Christian Wilken

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of Disclosure Day (2026), directed by Steven Spielberg.

Nothing Is As It Should Be: Estrangement, Threshold-Crossings, And Cosmic Struggle In David Lynch’S Blue Velvet And Lost Highway, Susanne Wigorts Yngvesson

Journal of Religion & Film

This article examines estrangement as a structuring existential and aesthetic principle in David Lynch’s Blue Velvet (1986) and Lost Highway (1997). Through close, plot-attentive readings intended to remain accessible to readers unfamiliar with Lynch, it argues that the films stage three interlocking dynamics: becoming a stranger to oneself, the fracturing of the ‘ground’ of ordinary existence, and life as a cosmic struggle in which human agency is partial and contested. Paul Tillich’s The Courage to Be provides the main theological–philosophical lens, clarifying how anxiety, non-being and courage shape scenes of desire, violence and transformation. Film-theoretical work on thresholds and cinematic …

Moving On: Purgatorial Seriality And Unanswered Prayer In Lost’S “Ab Aeterno”, Christian Wilken

Journal of Religion & Film

“Ab Aeterno” (Lost, 6.09) distills the series’ religious logic with unusual explicitness by staging theodicy not as doctrine but as narrative procedure. This article argues that the episode converts Catholic sacramental form (confession, absolution, and penitential address) into a serial ethics of endurance in which closure is structurally deferred. Richard Alpert’s confession establishes a subject who seeks an authorized word that would stabilize suffering, yet the priest’s refusal (“I can’t”) installs a theology of unanswered prayer that becomes the template for Richard’s long durée of waiting. Jacob’s “cork” parable then supplies a katechontic justification of restraint: evil is not abolished …

Between Icon And State: Sergei Eisenstein's Ivan The Terrible, Milja Radovic

Journal of Religion & Film

Remembering the 80th anniversary of Sergei Eisenstein’s film Иван Грозный (Ivan the Terrible, 1944/1945), it is crucial to re-examine Eisenstein’s work, including his last film that became an unintentional ‘testament’ to cinema. Eisenstein’s mastery has been pivotal for understanding cinema and film language, the way this language operates, constructs and deconstructs and communicates historical realities. This paper focuses on a film that was made in two parts, Part I in 1944 and part II in 1945, to investigate Eisenstein’s approach to the subject of history, nation and religion. The research considers how this master of cinema contemplated intricate ideas and …

Piercing The Veil In Sinners: Theological Insights From The Juke Joint, Antonio D. Sison Cpps

Journal of Religion & Film

Celebrated as a critical and commercial success, Ryan Coogler’s genre-defying opus Sinners has also been considered as one of the most culturally significant films of 2025. It also promises to be one of the most theologically resonant films of the year. This is evinced not only in its thematic and literary bases but, importantly, in its very audiovisual language and grammar, its stylistic strategies qua film. As reasoned in this essay, Coogler’s film is a rich locus theologicus, a nexus for theological discovery and insight.Sinners kindles the hermeneutical impulse to dialogue with African American/Pan-Africa theologies exemplified by the …

Affirmative Transcendence: The Ethics Of Mazu And The Internal Expansion Of The Confucian Moral Imagination, Yu Pei

Journal of Religion & Film

This paper proposes and defends the concept of affirmative transcendence through a systematic analysis of the 2012 Chinese television drama Mazu (38 episodes, CCTV). Affirmative transcendence names a structure in which the protagonist achieves sacred status (shen 神) not by negating her human relationships but by maintaining them while exhibiting a mode of moral perception that exceeds the limits of role-based ethics. The paper argues that what is analytically distinctive about this structure is its internal character: the tradition is not rejected but exceeded, and the exceeding is accomplished through resources the tradition itself provides. The paper identifies two …

A Metaphorical Passage To God: Simone Weil And Robert Bresson, V. G. Voigt Hogg Phd

Journal of Religion & Film

VOIGT HOGG_Abstract (REVISED)_Journal of Religion & Film_30 April 2026

This article contrasts the metaphysical and religious philosopher Simone Weil’s concepts of attachment and detachment with auteur director Robert Bresson’s method of subtraction. It argues for a commonality in their philosophy and cinema, that guides the reader or viewer respectively, to perceive a metaphorical passage to God through the lived experience of suffering. The article considers by what means does Weil and Bresson share a mutual commitment to understanding the state of the soul in affliction, while also acknowledging an opposition in the interpretation of detachment in relation to suicide. The …

Documenting The Ineffable: A Comparative Analysis Of Mystical Representation In Kimiavi’S The Garden Of Stones And Western Sufi Documentary, Hessam Abedini

Journal of Religion & Film

This article examines how documentary film attempts to represent mystical experience through comparative analysis of Parviz Kimiavi's The Garden of Stones (1976) and American documentaries featuring Samuel Lewis, particularly Sunseed (1973). Rather than assuming terms like "sacred" or "authentic," the study grounds its analysis in empirical definitions from William James, historical scholarship by Carl Ernst and Annemarie Schimmel, and literary theory from Fatemeh Keshavarz. Through detailed examination of specific scenes—Darvish Khan hanging stones from dead trees, Lewis leading ecstatic dances—the article demonstrates how different cinematic strategies approach documentary's epistemological limits when confronting ineffable experience.

The analysis corrects historical misunderstandings about …

Church-Based Qualitative Research, David R. Dunaetz

Great Commission Research Journal

Qualitative research is collecting, analyzing, and interpreting subjective data to answer an important research question. It can be contrasted with quantitative research, which focuses on collecting numerical (relatively objective) data to test specific hypotheses. It is an attractive form of research in church contexts because it does not require training in statistics and can be conducted in almost all ministry settings. It is especially appropriate for topics that are under-researched, poorly understood, or involve concepts that are difficult to measure. Common problems associated with church-based qualitative research include overly broad research questions, weak descriptions of what has been observed, shallow …

When Everything Moves Faster Than The Soul: Spirituality In A Fast-Paced World, Pablo Marzilli

Great Commission Research Journal

This article analyzes one of the main characteristics of the hypermodern era in which we live: social acceleration. We live in an extremely individualistic era that forces us to be highly efficient and productive in everything we do. This social phenomenon leads to a sense of being overwhelmed; our culture demands that we maximize the use of our time, to the point where we feel that we are less productive than we actually are, even though this is objectively impossible. This culture of acceleration, which makes us live at a dizzying pace, also influences the church and reshapes our daily …

My Pilgrimage In The Growth Of The Church, Charles Van Engen

Great Commission Research Journal

I have lived a life invested in the growth of the church and forming leaders who would mobilize the church toward growth. I have sought to pay forward what others did for me. Born of missionary parents, I was raised in the state of Chiapas, in southern Mexico. From 1973 to 1985, my wife, Jean, and I served the National Presbyterian Church of Mexico in Chiapas, Mexico, in leadership formation, training evangelists, pastors, and teachers of rapidly growing churches. In 1981, I received a Ph.D. in missiology under Johannes Verkuyl at the Free University of Amsterdam. I taught Mission Theology …

Using Demographics And Psychographics To Advance The Great Commission: Lessons From The National Association Of Free Will Baptists, Edward E. Mooody Jr.

Great Commission Research Journal

For decades, marketers have used demographics and psychographics to engage different segments of the population. Psychographics refers to the study of people’s activities, interests, opinions, values, attitudes, and lifestyles to better understand and predict behavior beyond what can be learned from demographic characteristics alone (Demby, 1974; Wells & Tigert, 1971). This paper examines whether these strategies can be effectively adapted to advance the Great Commission. The practices of the early church, particularly those of the Apostle Paul, reflect principles that are consistent with contemporary demographic and psychographic analysis. In this paper, the process of using an approach to help churches …

Powerful Pulpits: Black Preachers As Cultish Leaders In The Axman Murders, 1909-1912, Lauren N. Henley

Interdisciplinary Journal of Leadership Studies

Southwestern Louisiana and southeastern Texas experienced a series of disturbingly similar ax murders from November 1909 to August 1912. In nearly every case, a black family living within a mile of the Sunset Limited line of the Southern Pacific Railroad was brutally slaughtered in their own home, victims of a surreptitious assailant. Eventually, a young black woman would take credit for some of the crimes, ushering in the language of “religious fanaticism” as a potential motive. This confession sparked an intense period of criminalization of black male preachers, with a particular focus on Pentecostal leaders in southwestern Louisiana. This article …

How The Spiritan Mission And Spirituality Can Bring Hope Today, Igono Abel Raphael Cssp

Spiritan Horizons

No abstract provided.

Forming Students For Mission Trips, William H. Christy Cssp

Spiritan Horizons

No abstract provided.

Regulating Religious Coexistence : The Intricacies Of Interfaith Cooperation In Coastal Kenya, Erik Meinema

Ohio University Press Open Access Books

Regulating Religious Coexistence offers a compelling ethnographic analysis of how Muslims, Christians, and practitioners of indigenous African religions negotiate coexistence in Kenya’s coastal region. The book conceptualizes religious diversity as a dynamic field shaped by multiple partly intersecting and partly conflicting models of interaction. These include the political secularism promoted by the Kenyan state and civil society organizations focused on interfaith harmony, forms of competition between religious groups, and pluralistic practices in which individuals draw on multiple traditions to meet spiritual needs.

Through a close examination of civil society initiatives funded by Western donors to foster peacebuilding and to counter …

The Evolution Of Faith-Based Cinema, Brittany L. Dewitt

Masters Theses

Screenwriting like any other form of writing is an art of storytelling. It is set apart from other forms of writing because an audience can experience the story come to life on screen. What makes for good, beautiful, and true as it relates to good screenwriting is the writer’s ability to not only weave a story together uniquely in a way that engages and connects the audience but doing so in a way that gives them something to discuss long after the film is over. I aim to do this in my own screenplay Forged in the Fire. As a …

“Ite Missa Est”: How Can The Altar Alter Attitudes And Actions?, Ebenezer Akesseh

Journal of Global Catholicism

This paper brings into focus the relationship between personal agency and so-

cial structure, demonstrating that what we celebrate on the altar forms within

us the proper dispositions that can help prevent the occurrence of corruption.

The first part examines corruption from a socio-cultural perspective and ex-

plains the incidence and effects of corruption. The second part discusses the

relationship between worship and the formation of actions and attitudes. It

highlights the need to embody the social implications of our celebrations. Using

responses from interviewees, the third part illustrates that the celebration of the

Eucharist shapes the commitments and conduct …

Editor's Introduction, Brent H. Otto S.J.

Journal of Global Catholicism

No abstract provided.

The Effect Of Religious Belief On Spiritual Tourism Intention: A Case Study Of Vietnamese Tourists To Thailand, Huong Thi Quynh Nguyen, Ngan Thi Huyen Nguyen

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

In this paper, religious belief was integrated into the Goal-Directed Behaviour Model, to clarify the behaviour of tourists towards spiritual tourism. Data from 516 Vietnamese tourists visiting Thailand was used for PLS-SEM analysis. The research results indicated positive relationships of religious belief to the original elements of the MGB, including attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioural control, emotion, and spiritual tourism intention. Desire was shown to be a key predictor of intention, mediating the effects of attitude, subjective norm, behavioural control, and emotion on the tourists’ intention to engage in spiritual tourism.

From Combat To Congregation: A Guide To Moral Injury For Everyday Ministers, Kristyn Demers

School of Theology and Seminary Graduate Papers/Theses

Veterans often receive inadequate ministerial care for their unique and complex spiritual needs. Therefore, everyday ministers need training in trauma-informed spiritual care and practices of moral healing. These practices need to be implemented within parish and church communities to aid in the care and reintegration of veterans into our communities. In this paper, I will: a) introduce and distinguish moral injury as a particular concern for veterans; b) offer theological and scriptural evidence of the need for proper ministerial responses to moral injury; and c) list a set of tools and resources for ministers who interact with veterans

Tracing Sehnsucht: Longing For The "Hidden Country", Charlie Reeder

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

"This thesis will argue that Lewis employs a consistent set of literary themes and biblical echoes to articulate longing throughout his career, and that his early non-Christian, and often anti-Christian, poetry, such as Spirits in Bondage: A Cycle of Lyrics (1919) and Dymer (1926), plays a formative role in shaping his later depictions of Sehnsucht. Although his theological commitments and vocabulary evolve significantly after his conversion, an engagement with a predominantly Judeo-Christian literary inheritance is apparent from the outset. A central focus here will be Lewis’s use of place. In his early poetry, recurring biblical resonances, conceptual images, and spatial …

Screwtape In Wartime, Joe Ricke

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

"This essay looks closely at the connections between Lewis’s wartime message to his listeners in his now famous, but then unlikely, sermon, “Learning in Wartime,” on 22 October 1939 and his wartime novel, The Screwtape Letters. It will range widely from biography to history to literary influences and to close reading of the texts to help reflect on its place not only in Lewis’s oeuvre but in his life and the lives of all those who, then and now, attend to the distinction between what Lewis (and, surprisingly, Screwtape) makes between the local wars of time and space and the …

Frontmatter (Volume 19 Issue 2), Bruce R. Johnson

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

No abstract provided.