Digital Commons Network^™

A Critical Comparative Analysis Of The Ecclesiologies Of Carl F. H. Henry And James H. Cone Through The Lens Of Social Consciousness: Towards A Liberative Ecclesiology, Phyllis D. Johnson

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The doctrine of the Church has remained a controversial and enigmatic topic for centuries. Since its inception, scholars have debated the doctrine of the Church, challenged its boundaries, and questioned its role in society. As contemporary society evolves, the Church encounters multifaceted challenges, compelling it to adapt while maintaining its spiritual mission. To address this concern, this study analyzes the ecclesiologies of Carl F. H. Henry and James H. Cone through the lens of social consciousness. A critical comparative analysis provides the most dynamic framework for examining these perspectives. By exploring probable theological points of convergence and divergence, this study …

The Error Of Replacement Theology, Its Significance For Christians Today, And Its Theological Implications For Participants In The Vintage Truth Bible Study, Jeffery Bruce Kinley

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The nation of Israel regularly makes geopolitical and cultural headlines, and antisemitism continues to increase on a global scale. This carries profound theological and practical implications regarding Israel’s relationship and relevance to the Church. This DMin action research project was designed and implemented to evaluate the impact of replacement theology on approximately thirty participants in the Vintage Truth Bible Study. Through a sustained, eight-week study examining the tenets of replacement theology, along with Scripture’s teaching on God’s relationship with and covenants to Israel, and prophecies regarding that nation’s future, the doctrine was addressed. The research combined thorough biblical exposition, three …

Bridging Machine Learning And Islamic Scholarship: A Study In Hadith Translation And Similarity Analysis, Asiyah R. Speight

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

Translation of Islamic religious texts poses unique challenges requiring both linguistic and theological expertise. This study explores the application of neural machine translation (NMT) models to Arabic-English hadith translation while analyzing semantic similarity patterns across different human translations. Using the complete Sahih Bukhari corpus (7,550 hadiths) as the primary dataset, we adopt a dual approach combining transfer learning and comprehensive neural network analysis to demonstrate the critical impact of corpus size on model performance.

First, we fine-tune a pre-trained MarianMT Arabic-English translation model on the full Sahih Bukhari corpus, comparing models trained on 40 hadiths versus 7,550 hadiths. Performance is …

¡El Cielo Es Una Habitación Llena De Mujeres Gordas Riendo!, Lisa Isherwood

Conexión Queer: Revista Latinoamericana y Caribeña de Teologías Queer

This article examines a pervasive yet often overlooked form of abuse against women: the lifelong regulation of bodily size and shape. While acknowledging the horrific rise in domestic physical violence during the United Kingdom’s lockdown, the focus shifts to the normalized pressures of patriarchal control that women internalize from an early age. Such control disguises itself as concern or benefit, yet inflicts profound personal and spiritual harm. Approaching the issue from a Western perspective, the article argues that, within an incarnational faith, the disciplined body becomes the very site of resistance where transformative divine power is located in human experience.

Religion And Human Rights In The Realities Of The Russian-Ukrainian War, Andrii Marchenko

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The article is devoted to the peculiarities of the relationship between religion and human rights in the context of the Russian-Ukrainian war. It is noted that Russia’s expansion results in a decrease in religious freedom in the temporarily occupied lands, a narrowing of the scope of this fundamental norm. At the same time, the author emphasizes not only the violations of the rights and freedoms of believers in the temporarily occupied territories of the country caused by external factors, but also some internal problems of the socio-religious life of modern Ukraine.The article analyzes the actions of the Ukrainian authorities to …

“Mysterium Tremendum Et Fascinans”: Melian’S And Lúthien’S Numinosity, Alexandra (Oleksandra) Filonenko

Mythopoeic Society Seminar Proceedings

At the heart of all the positive changes in Middle-earth, and at the starting point for undoing the great evil wrought by male characters (divine or otherwise), are two female characters: Melian the Maia and her daughter Lúthien. They form a kind of mythological complex of mother and daughter goddesses, similar to that of Demeter and Persephone. Melian, as a static, maternal figure, forms a sacred centre of Beleriand to which all in need of protection gravitate, while Lúthien, representing a dynamic principle, can be considered the greatest hero of Tolkien’s Legendarium, performing feats unmatched by any male character. Yet …

Environmental Beliefs Among Evangelical Leadership, Jeffrey Stark

Dissertations

There has been consensus among climate scientists for over a decade about the reality of human caused climate change. Even with this consensus, the public understanding of this issue remains divided based on factors generally unrelated to the science. Evangelical Protestants are one group which consistently polls as more skeptical of climate change. This is true not only when compared to the general population but also when compared to other religious demographics. Most large-scale surveys of evangelicals assume the demographic to be a monolith and do not attempt to break the demographic down further. In this mixed methods study, we …

White Horse Village: A Northern Utah Ufo Narrative, Melissa Petersen

All Graduate Reports and Creative Projects, Fall 2023 to Present

In the early 1960's a group of UFO believers, called Christ Brotherhood Inc., established themselves in Smithfield Canyon, UT and called their commune White Horse Village. A main house was built where the leader of the group lived and two or three smaller cabins were erected for the believers. Without running water they used an outhouse among them and built a small church where they would meet for lectures. Their beliefs centered around the popular movement of New Age spirituality of the time, which included scientific explanations for Christian beliefs including a belief in benevolent aliens as modern angels. Their …

A Roadmap For Equipping Saints For The Work Of Ministry At Sugar Land Church Of Christ, Lewis Anthony Parker Iv

Doctor of Ministry Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this project was to create a roadmap for a process that invites and equips saints at Sugar Land Church of Christ to work in ministry. As part of the research process, a design team was empaneled and met for eight sessions, during which participants offered valuable insight into Sugar Land’s ministry context. This data informed the final roadmap. Ephesians 4, which discusses the importance of every member getting involved in ministry, serves as the foundation of this project. The work of every member is for the edification of the entire group, and the calling and gift of …

A Faith-Based Approach To Mental Health Challenges, Patrick Leblanc

Doctor of Ministry Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACT

This project sheds light on mental health issues within the Black community and the need for faith communities to intentionally address mental health issues in communities of color. Black men are oppressed by an interplay of cultural, historical, societal, and economic factors that impact their well-being. Racial discrimination and oppression are non-medical drivers exacerbating mental health disorders among Black men. The influences of culture and faith fabricate barriers to help-seeking behavior, and mistaken perceptions of masculinity cause many men to suffer in silence. To begin erasing derogatory perceptions of mental health disorders, faith communities need to increase mental health …

The Spiritual Care Of Hospice Patients With Cognitive Deficits, Shane Sullivan

Doctor of Ministry Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACT How can a hospice chaplain know whether their presence and ministry make a meaningful difference when visiting patients with dementia or other serious cognitive impairments? This project thesis seeks to answer that question conclusively. The theological foundation of this project centers on the doctrine of the imago Dei—the image of God—as it relates to individuals who are dying with cognitive deficits. Specifically, it explores how a person who is helpless and near death continues to reflect the image of God. The project intervention described here is the creation of a specialized training guide for hospice chaplains at Bridge Hospice …

Provenance: The History Of Ownership Of A Valued Object Or Work Of Art Or Literature, James C. Schaap

Pro Rege

No abstract provided.

Volume 12 Issue 3 (Dec 1912)

The Soul Winner

No abstract provided.

Exploring The Role Of Christian Religiosity In The Acceptance Or Rejection Of Ai Chatbot Use Among Faculty At Church Of Christ Universities, Amos Gutierrez

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Higher education institutions are navigating the benefits and challenges of generative AI chatbot use and preparing faculty and students to engage with these tools ethically and responsibly. The problem is that there are many challenges and barriers to using these technologies in higher education, and Christian higher education institutions must also address context-specific considerations regarding mission and vision rooted in biblical faith and practice. The purpose of this quantitative, nonexperimental, cross-sectional study using confirmatory factor analysis and multiple regression through structural equation modeling was to examine faculty perceptions of AI chatbots and how Christian religiosity moderates acceptance. An online survey …

By The Numbers: Numeracy, Religion, And The Quantitative Transformation Of Early Modern England (Book Review), Calvin Jongsma

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

Reviewed Title: By the Numbers: Numeracy, Religion, and the Quantitative Transformation of Early Modern England by Jessica Marie Otis. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2024. 264 pp. ISBN: 9780197608777.

Seasons Of Change, Danielle Wyenberg

Pro Rege

No abstract provided.

Longingly, Jennifer Vermeer

Pro Rege

No abstract provided.

Worth, Danielle Wyenberg

Pro Rege

No abstract provided.

More Than Peyote: Trauma, Healing, And The Politics Of Indigenous Cultural Survival In The Age Of Psychedelic Colonialism, Christine Diindiisi Mccleave

Indigenous Studies

This dissertation examines the intersection of peyote religion, historical trauma, and the emergent psychedelic movement through a critical Indigenous lens. Centering peyote as both a sacred medicine and a symbolic flashpoint, the study highlights how contemporary psychedelic policy, practice, and commercialization perpetuate settler-colonial paradigms and threaten Indigenous cultural survival. While mainstream narratives frame psychedelics as tools for healing, this research emphasizes how such framing often obscures deeper histories of dispossession, cultural appropriation, and epistemic violence. Using a mixed-methods approach, including 50 anonymous survey responses, 13 qualitative interviews, and a 6-person focus group, this study amplifies the voices of tribal citizens …

Creation To Covenant: The Chronicler's Use Of Genesis Narratives In Shaping Israel's Post-Exilic Identity, Dalton J. Harmon

Senior Honors Theses

This thesis examines the Chronicler’s (the unknown author to whom biblical scholars have attributed the composition of: the Book of Chronicles, the Book of Ezra, and the Book of Nehemiah to) use of Genesis narratives—namely the Covenant of Works—in the formation of the social, political, and religious identity of post-exilic Israel. By using a covenant-theological and intertextual approach with special attention to the Septuagint, this study demonstrates that the Chronicler does not merely retell Israel’s history but deliberately reinterprets it according to theology established in creation. The analysis begins with Genesis 1–3, where Adam’s federal headship and the blessing–curse logic …

Martial Arts Studies: A Commentary On The Exploration Of Consciousness In Modern Martial Arts, James H. Sutton

Journal of Conscious Evolution

The rapid globalization of martial arts has reconditioned how the beliefs, customs, and philosophies of traditionally based systems are interpreted and applied in modern practice. As contemporary scholarship struggles to accommodate the cultural histories, myths, and traditions that permeate the perception of martial arts in modern contexts, the focus of inquiry has shifted towards explaining cultural variations in practice rather than understanding the nature of self-awareness derived from self-practice. Consequently, the deeper meanings of martial arts as pathways to personal and transpersonal awareness are often invalidated in favor of objective and verifiable explications. In short, the role of consciousness is …

Parental Grief And Loss After Gender Transition: Navigating Ambiguous And Disenfranchised Loss In Latter-Day Saint Families, David Haralson, Chelsea Johnson, Jeff Bennion, Orion Maxfield

Issues in Religion and Psychotherapy

Parents of transgender or gender nonconforming children sometimes experience profound grief and loss, particularly within religious communities that hold specific doctrines regarding gender. This article examines the unique challenges faced by parents in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) when a child undergoes gender transition. By exploring the concepts of ambiguous loss and disenfranchised grief, we aim to provide a framework for understanding these parents' emotional experiences. The intersection of LDS doctrines and policies on gender with contemporary gender theories creates complex emotional environments for families to navigate. We present the Integrity and Investment Model as …

Helping Clients Grieve The Loss Of Their "Happily Ever After", Karen J. Gilmore, Joseph Chamberlain

Issues in Religion and Psychotherapy

ABSTRACT

Helping Clients Grieve the Loss of Their “Happily Ever After”

One of the most prominent attacks on marriage comes in the form of pornography and sex addiction. In this article I will explore what pornography and sex addiction is, why it can be highly addictive, how pornography and sex addiction can impact the marriage and lead to betrayal trauma, and how to understand the losses that can come from this type of trauma as well as the ensuing grief which may accompany this process. Additionally, I will identify ways to understand how grief presents in betrayal trauma, how to …

Maurine Dewsnup, Myrna J. Layton

Faculty Publications

Grace Maurine Dewsnup (February 8, 1909 – February 1, 1998) was a Utah piano soloist, dance accompanist, composer, music theorist and teacher.

More Than A House, Charles Veenstra

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

"In order to be a home, a family must follow certain principles which are laid in creation: husband and wife together with children if God provides them."

Posting about belonging 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.

More Than a House

Experiments In Church-Based Research, David Dunaetz

Witness

No abstract provided.

Untethered Spiritual Care: Fortifying Warfighter Fitness In The Era Of Great Power Competition, Charles R. Bruner

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

As the operational paradigm shifts from the large counter-insurgency missions of the Global War on Terror to agile combat employment characterized by untethered operations in potential locations such as the Pacific Theater, robust spiritual fitness will become increasingly more vital. Those most at risk for spiritual wounding and moral injury due to their experiences will be Airmen assigned to small, forward-deployed Mission Ready Airman (MRA) teams who must generate combat aircraft in austere locations with minimal supplies and far from support, including religious and spiritual support. This research project examines the problem of providing effective, robust point-of-care spiritual support without …

I Was In Prison And You Educated Me: A Missiological Analysis, Paul H. De Neui

Witness

No abstract provided.

Joint Journal Between Witness And The Great Commission Research Journal 2025, Thomas W. Seckler, David Dunaetz

Witness

No abstract provided.

2025 Joint Journal Between Witness And The Great Commission Research Journal, Thomas Seckler, David Dunaetz

Witness

No abstract provided.