Digital Commons Network^™

Liturgical Worship And Soulcare: Foundation And Ministry, Dustin Thomas Parker

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Throughout twenty plus centuries of Liturgical Worship, there have been two significant demands on those who teach and facilitate worship. The first call is for that worship to be faithful and orthodox, a continuation of the worship that has been handed down from those whose lives were marked by it. The second demand is to be relevant—that whatever is done be done in such a manner as to impact lives. This second call is a request that the souls of people who are led in worship be changed, healed, and matured. Through careful historical research and modern interviews, this dissertation …

Full Issue

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Farms Staff Welcomes Newcomers

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

Mary Mahan, a recent graduate in English from BYU, joined the FARMS editorial team in August as an assistant editor. An English usage class at BYU sparked Mary's interest in pursuing editing, and she worked several months as an editor for BYU English professor Don Norton before joining FARMS. Mary comes from Centerville, Utah. She enjoys mountain biking, playing the guitar, and listening to the Eagles. We are pleased to have her help with the Foundation's increasing editorial workload.

Research Opportunities Widen Fund-Raising Focus, Noel B. Reynolds

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

We appreciate the interest you have shown and the support you have given to our plans for a new FARMS building. We thought you might like an update on those plans.

“All One In Christ Jesus:” Physical And Moral Equality In Galatians 3:28, Kevin Mcginnis

Journal of Religious Competition in Antiquity

Galatians 3:28 has often been interpreted as a slogan or baptismal formula that is disconnected from Paul's argument in the letter. It is also often pointed to as evidence of a radically egalitarian lifestyle among early Christians, one in which ethnic, social class, and gender differences are erased in favor of complete social and political equality. This article argues that Gal 3:28 does fit well with Paul's argument about the necessity of baptism for gentiles, but not circumcision, to be included as part of God's salvific plan. It also makes the case that the equality suggested in 3:28 has to …

Full Issue

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Meet Farms

Insights: The Newsletter of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

Three men are lounging around a table. All of them are relaxed. All of them smile a lot. The talk is nonstop. And they all fairly bristle with energy.

Counselors’ Spirituality, Attitudes Toward Suicide, And Self-Efficacy In Conducting Suicide Risk Assessment, Tayler Hendrix

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The present study aimed to explore the relationship between perceived spiritual support and counselor self-efficacy in conducting suicide risk assessment, and the moderating effects of attitudes about suicide on this relationship. Based on existing theory and empirical evidence, perceived spiritual support was hypothesized to have a positive predictive relationship with counselor self-efficacy in performing suicide risk assessment; further, four different constructs pertaining to attitudes toward suicide were also hypothesized to moderate the strength and direction of this relationship. A sample of Master’s level clinicians and advanced standing Master’s graduate students (N=132) completed on online survey containing instruments measuring perceived spiritual …

The Struggle Is Real: Constructing Liberative Meaning Making That Facilitates Black Student’S Authentic Identity Formation And Navigation Through Predominately White Institutions, Felicia Marie George

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation focuses on how Black students’ use of navigational capital reflects a quest for complex subjectivity that facilitates authentic identity formation and navigation through a private, predominantly white, four-year, R1 institution (PWI’s). A qualitative study that used portraiture methodology was conducted to collect stories of the lived experience and perceptions of two Black senior undergraduate students who attended a PWI. Their stories provided the foundation for constructing liberative meaning making (LMM), an ethic of praxis that uses a hermeneutics of listening to heighten students’ awareness of and living from interiority. The concept engages De La Torre’s theory of liberative …

Truth U, Justice U, Jesus U, Joseph Clair

Faculty Publications - George Fox School of Theology

Excerpt: "College and university professors in the liberal arts (humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences) are almost entirely left-leaning, liberal, or progressive, and this is especially true among faculty in the humanities and social sciences. Insofar as political party affiliation is representative, the statistics are stunning- roughly 12: I Democrat to Republican in the humanities and social sciences nationally, and this ratio is even more pronounced in certain selective schools (Brown University takes the cake with 60:1).1 Students who attend liberal arts colleges or universities (that is, non-trade, nonvocational schools that require core curricula and keep an array of majors …

Evangelical Prayer Beads: An Opportunity To (Re)Introduce The Use Of Prayer Beads To Evangelicals, Dan Alex Payne

Doctor of Ministry

I see an opportunity today for Evangelicals to become familiar with contemplative practices such as labyrinths, centering prayer, Lectio Divina, and prayer beads. The purpose is to foster interest in early Christian contemplative practices, particularly the use of prayer beads. Section One lays out how this project benefits Evangelicals who recognize the need for a more holistic approach to faith rooted in ancient Christian discipline. Evangelicals tend toward an overly intellectualized faith, which can be rectified through a tactile, kinesthetic approach to prayer like those afforded via prayer beads.

This undertaking considers that wearing bead bracelets has often become a …

That Ye Might Feel And See: Touch In The First Day Of Christ's Ministry, Dan L. Belnap

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

"God Put It Into My Heart": Omen-Seeking And Divine Communication Narratives In Contemporary American Protestantism, Emma Crisp

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

This project examines omen-seeking practices within Protestant Christianity in the U.S. Intermountain West. It collates and analyzes the results of ethnographic research into the ways that mainline Protestants experience, interpret, and talk about their personal spiritual experiences. The project finds that divinatory and other omen-seeking practices exist in this context but are not recognized or discussed as divinatory due to the conflation of divination with sortilege and the prevalence of prayer as the primary solicitation method for Protestant forms of augury. Emic categories of omen are distinguished not through generation method (such as the solicited/unsolicited distinction proposed by Tom Mould), …

Queer Crises: Movements From Queerness And Feelings Of White Religion In The United States, Austin Williams Miller

Communication ETDs

Anchored by contemporary crises surrounding queer and trans people in the United States, I employ movements from queerness within an affective queer phenomenological framework to understand how arrangements of “white religion” (Schaefer, 2015, p. 63), a process whereby U.S. American Christian forms escape ideology into religious affective economies in the United States, relegate queer people “to the background… to sustain a certain direction” (Ahmed, 2006, p. 31). I assemble a queer rhetorical context analyzing white religious space in documentary film, secular sexual regulation through contemporary U.S. legal contexts around marriage, and settler colonial Christian nationalist political imaginations to critique how …

Discipling The Whole Person, Scott R. Ward, David Sedlacek, Rogelio Paquini, Jasmine Fraser

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Transition And Transcendence: An Approach To Constructive Transgender Theology With Insights From Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza And Karl Rahner, Maggie Nadalin

School of Theology and Seminary Graduate Papers/Theses

Recent attempts at theology impacting transgender individuals from the Catholic bishops in the United States have not only angered and disheartened many but have also failed to address transgender individuals as human persons. Relying on motifs devoid of scientific dialogue, the bishops’ attempts at applying theology to individuals of transgender experience ignores decades of research in both the worlds of the physical and social sciences.

This paper is an attempt to frame the discussion around transgender individuals in a space where theology and science are able to dialogue for their mutual enrichment. Drawing from the experience of the author as …

Intergenerational Model Of Discipleship, David Lyn Sampson

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Some of God’s most prominent spiritual leaders are characterized by their deep intergenerational connections. People like Moses and Joshua, Elijah and Elisha, Paul and Timothy, and Jesus and John exemplify it. In this study, “intergenerational” means creating opportunities for intentional dialogue and interaction cross-generationally to foster mentoring and biblical discipleship. This research aims to create an intergenerational model of ministry that will encourage churches to embrace intergenerational discipleship concepts. It is not uncommon for church ministry to seem like silos, with people compartmentalized according to age or phases of life. Silo ministry can hinder individuals from forming generational relationships. Unfortunately, …

Counseling By Default: A Study Of Pastoral Burnout Among Liberian Pastors, Helen Gibson-Newman

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Many Liberians turn to their pastors for help before considering going to a professional counselor. Pastoral counseling in Africa, especially in Liberia, is framed within African life and thought based on appropriate backgrounds that are evident in cultural assumptions and practices. Hence, pastoral counseling in Liberia assumes a cultural background central to the holistic Christian life that connects all dimensions of one’s social and spiritual life. Thus, the Liberian view of pastoral counseling is distinctly African, with a unique blend of noticeable Liberian values, traditions, and cultural practices based on a combination of its American and indigenous African heritage. The …

Evangelistic Mentorship To Address Youth Decline At Dawn Baptist Church, Rickey Wesley Dover

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This paper presents an intervention addressing young adults’ tendency to leave the church after adolescence. This thesis project proposes that false conversion in a person’s formative years drives young adult church departure. For those who have a relationship with Christ, the most probable cause for departure is the lack of sanctification and growth due to an absence of biblical training. Therefore, this project designed and implemented an evangelical mentorship program specifically designed for youth in the church. While the research approach focuses more on quantitative methods, it also has qualitative elements. This research is qualitative in many of the self-reflections …

Canadian Lutheran History: Remembering Today, For The Sake Of Tomorrow, Karen Kuhnert

Consensus

No abstract provided.

Consideration Of The Affirmation And Appeal, With Appreciation For The Work Of Norman J. Threinen, Gordon A. Jensen, Karen Kuhnert, Donald W, Sjoberg, Stephen Larson

Consensus

This Panel was convened on October 25, 2022, as part of the Webinar Series “For the Sake of the Gospel” hosted by the Remembering Today for the Church of Tomorrow Project in partnership with Martin Luther University College and Lutheran Theological Seminary. The intention was to address the Affirmation and Appeal of 1970, to reflect upon the contributions of Norman J. Threinen, and to respond to CHAT questions from Webinar participants.

On Home, Homelessness, And Existential Transit, Héctor A. Acero Ferrer

Consensus

No abstract provided.

The Biblical Worldview And Libraries, Gregory A. Smith

Faculty Publications and Presentations

This essay documents the process and outcomes of a structured, group-based effort used to explore the connections between the biblical worldview and librarianship. Participants in the inquiry process included the author (as moderator) and seven of his colleagues. The process entailed examining four “frames” of the biblical narrative (Creation, Fall, Redemption, and Consummation) and eliciting implications for the realm of libraries. The biblical worldview was found to provide remarkably practical theory concerning libraries, accounting for their existence across diverse cultures worldwide; plausibly explaining virtues, flaws, opportunities, and challenges; and prescribing principles through which Christians can advance God’s kingdom through library …

Causality, Agency, And Moral Responsibility In Nikaya Buddhism, Soo Lam Wong

Comparative Philosophy

In this paper, I aim to examine the relationship between the Buddhist notions of causality and agency, the questions of whether the Buddhist notion of causality affirms causal determinism and whether the Buddhist notion of agency affirms libertarian free will, the implications of the Buddhist notions of causality and agency for moral responsibility, and the implications of the Buddhist rejection of the metaphysical self for agency and moral responsibility. My claim is that although the question of whether the early Buddhist notions of causality and agency affirm causal determinism and libertarian free will respectively remains open, they are compatible with …

Dualism And Psychosemantics: Holography And Pansematism In Early Buddhist Philosophy, Federico Divino

Comparative Philosophy

In the Indian philosophical debate, the relationship between the structure of knowledge and external reality has been a persistent issue. This debate has been particularly prominent in Buddhism, as evidenced by the earliest Buddhist attestations in the Pāli canon, where reality is described as a perceptual defection. The world (loka) is perceived through cognition (citta), and the theme of designation (paññatti) is central to the analysis of the Abhidhamma. Buddhism can be viewed as navigating between nominalism and cognitive normativism, as it deconstructs language, which is seen as an obfuscating element that separates the subject from the world. In this …

Apologetics And Popular Culture Phenomena: A Critique Of Ted Turnau's Method Concerning Anime, Matthew Hunter Hamilton

Masters Theses

Limited work has been performed in the field of Christian apologetics and popular culture, much less the intersection between anime and Christian apologetics. One scholar who has attempted to broach this gap has been Ted Turnau, who has developed a five-step diagnostic method for apologetically engaging popular culture phenomena. However, his method contains key flaws. Using the work of Thomas Lamarre, a scholar in the field of anime studies, a central contention will be made: that the material and technology of anime have processes that affect how viewers inhabit and orient themselves in the world, which in turn influences their …

Spiritual Abuse In Augusta, Georgia: Reconciling The Spiritually Abused To The Local Church, James A. Getts

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this action-based research project was to address the absence of a therapeutic process wherein pastoral counselors at Life Management Group (LMG) can responsibly attempt to reconcile spiritually abused Christians to a local church in Augusta, Georgia. One hundred percent of clients citing spiritual abuse in LMG’s pastoral counseling department were abstaining from any religious activity within a community of faith at the outset of this project. Data was researched at the international, national, state, and local levels. The researcher concluded that published research related to the topic of spiritual abuse is theoretical in nature only and not …

Marital Quality And Marital Satisfaction In Protestant Haitian Americans Vs. Non-Christian Haitian Americans, Frantz Lamour

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The current study examined perceptions regarding marital satisfaction as described by Protestants Haitians Americans and non-Christian Haitian Americans. Participants were selected from married Christian and non-Christian couples that have been married for over five years within the age range of 25-53. The study used the Religion-Adapted Cognitive Behavioral Therapy theory (R-CBT) framework. R-CBT is a well-known theoretical framework that integrates religious interventions in the therapeutic relationship to educate clients about the triangular relationship between thoughts, feelings, behaviors, and cognitive restructuring (de Abreu Costa & Moreira-Almeida, 2022). Religion-Adapted Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (R-CBT) incorporates cognitive behavioral therapy methods from the perspective of …

Cosmic Hamartiology: Using An Apocalyptic Paul Hermeneutic To Exposit Chaos Monster Passages, Peter Terrell Bingham Jr.

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Ancient mythology, precisely that of the Ancient Near East, includes the treacherous characters of chaos monsters who cause disorder due to their destructive supernatural influence in the natural world. Scripture includes chaos monsters of various sorts that cause the same destruction in the wake of their cosmic work. While an array of methodologies has been developed to study chaos monsters in the Ancient Near East considering their sources—i.e., Mesopotamian, Babylonian, Akkadian, etc.—there is a lack of a Biblical hermeneutic to adequately exposit chaos monster passages in Scripture. In the Apocalyptic Perspective on Paul, scholars have sought to develop a way …

A Hermeneutic Phenomenological Study Exploring Leadership Efficacy: Understanding The Impact Of Shame In Christian Leaders, Matthew James Williamson

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This hermeneutic phenomenological study explored the Christian leader’s experience of shame within organizations and its impact on their leadership efficacy. For this study, shame is defined as a deep sense of internal, negative pressure that typically elicits a subconscious desire to suppress or deflect. Since every organizational leadership role has a degree of accountability, emotional risk is potentially present in all negotiable interactions. This paper investigated the social/cultural encouragement of shame and potential avoidance of shame when emotional risk and failure are perceived. Brené Brown’s (2006) Shame Resilience Theory inspired this study. This theory is aligned with the purpose of …