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Interdisciplinary Convergence To God: A Supplement To The Big Bang & God– An Astro-Theology, Theodore Walker

Perkins Faculty Research and Special Events

Here is a December 2022 supplement to the 2015 book—The Big Bang and God: An Astro-Theology wherein an astronomer and a theologian offer a study of interdisciplinary convergences with natural theology both in the scientific researches of Sir Fred Hoyle and in the philosophical researches of Charles Hartshorne and Alfred North Whitehead, thereby illustrating a constructive postmodern trend (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015) by Theodore Walker Jr. and Chandra Wickramasinghe, with editing and co-authoring by Alexander Vishio.

Biology, astronomy, astrobiology, cosmology, and theology converge when the word “God” refers to “that than which none greater can conceived” (St. Anselm), …

A Tribute To John W. O'Malley, S.J., Brenna Moore

Jesuit Higher Education: A Journal

No abstract provided.

"Suitable Truth" Art Project Unites Disciplines, Sarah Moss

The Voice

No abstract provided.

Going Back To School Four Decades Later, Ana Timmer

The Voice

No abstract provided.

Student Reflections On The Essential Role Of The Holy Spirit In Counseling Education, Jessica P. Vetal, Kyle N. Stueber, Jaymi E. Davis

Salubritas: International Journal of Spirit-Empowered Counseling

This article examines the unique position in which emerging counselors find themselves, as they seek to enter the professional field amidst a worldwide pandemic and numerous other national and global hardships. From a student perspective, the authors survey the distinctive traits of Christian counseling education, Christian counseling, generally speaking, and the importance of theological and spiritual formation for the emerging counselor. More specifically, the authors discuss three theological concepts that have been identified as critical in the development of their Christian counselor identity, foundation, and future practice. The first theological consideration is the essential role and ministry of the Holy …

Spiritual Intelligence And Personality, Jayne Ann Harder, Andrew S. I. D. Lang, Leighanne Locke, J. Bryan Osborne, Aleksandra Turtova, Enrique F. Valderrama-Araya, Stephen R. Wheat, Jan H. R. Wörner

Salubritas: International Journal of Spirit-Empowered Counseling

This study quantifies the relationship between measures of spiritual intelligence and personality traits. A random sample of 240 undergraduate students from a mid-sized private Christian university in the West South-Central United States were administered both the SISRI-24 survey instrument for spiritual intelligence as well as the Pathway U survey for HEXACO personality traits. Statistically significant positive correlations were found between critical existential thinking and openness to experience; personal meaning production and extraversion, agreeableness, and conscientiousness; transcendental awareness and extraversion, agreeableness, openness to experience, and conscientiousness; and conscious state expansion and extraversion, agreeableness, openness to experience, and conscientiousness. Statistically significant negative …

Spirit-Centered Counseling And Second-Order Change: The Cpr Model, Bill J. Buker

Salubritas: International Journal of Spirit-Empowered Counseling

Building upon a previous exploration of Spirit-centered counseling, which described its purpose as expanding the redemptive pattern of God’s story by following the transformative wisdom of Jesus (Buker, 2021; Decker et al., 2021), this paper offers a model that conceptualizes how such a process might be facilitated. Depicting it via the three general phases of connection, perception, and redemption (CPR), the CPR model draws on the concept of second-order change to describe the epistemological shift that occurs when the transformative wisdom of Jesus is embraced. Spirit-centered counseling is portrayed as helping clients experience similar shifts by deconstructing the …

Pentecostal Spirituality And Counseling, Edward E. Decker Jr., Haley R. French, Stephen Parker

Salubritas: International Journal of Spirit-Empowered Counseling

The relationship between pentecostal spirituality and counseling remains underdeveloped. This article applies various aspects of pentecostal theology and spirituality to counseling. After briefly orienting readers to pentecostalism and defining pentecostal spirituality, the authors identify five elements of pentecostal spirituality that illumine the way pentecostal clinicians think about and practice counseling and therapy: a pneumatological imagination, narrative structures, counselor affections (dispositions), Spirit empowerment, and Spirit-directed change.

Full Issue Salubritas 2 (2022)

Salubritas: International Journal of Spirit-Empowered Counseling

Full issue of Salubritas, Volume 2

An Examination Of The Influence Of Attitudes Toward Linguistic Diversity And Immigration Status On The Pastor’S Engagement In Multicultural Ministry, Juan Antonio Seda

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

With the growth in cultural diversity comes the opportunity to reach and minister to people from different cultural backgrounds. This diversity also highlights the challenges pastors and ministry leaders face in implementing efforts to reach people from diverse ethnic, linguistic, and cultural backgrounds. Additionally, the pastor and ministry leader must understand how socio-political, theological, and biblical factors influence opinion and interaction with culturally diverse people. This cultural and linguistic interaction requires cultural humility, “a process of reflection and lifelong inquiry, involves self-awareness of personal and cultural biases as well as awareness and sensitivity to significant cultural issues of others. Core …

A Correlational Study Evaluating The Connection Between Servant Leadership Behavior And Authentic Happiness In A Parachurch Ministry, Brian Thomas Guinther

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this quantitative correlational study was to understand if a relationship exists, either positively or negatively, between servant leadership behaviors and authentic happiness in chaplains who serve in a para church chaplain ministry. Servant leadership is frequently thought to be related to a decrease in the leader's happiness and enjoyment of their professional as well as personal life because leading as a servant involves giving up power and privileges that the role of leader typically includes. This study's sample was comprised of individuals currently engaged in a Christian chaplain ministry who serve public safety departments, industry, healthcare, the …

Gendered Pastoral Care: A Hermeneutic Phenomenological Study Of The Lived Experiences Of Parishioners, Joshua D. Phelan

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Pastoral care has a rich theological history which guides modern care applications. Pastoral care is generally understood as helping acts meant to guide believers toward spiritual formation (Clebsch & Jaekle, 1983). Gendered pastoral leadership could have an impact in how pastoral care is experienced by church parishioners. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the lived experiences of twelve parishioners who had received pastoral care under both a male and a female lead pastor at three churches. Eagly’s (1987) social role theory served as a theoretical framework for this study. This research utilized personal interviews to collect data …

How Police Chaplains Can Facilitate Building And Maintaining Trust With Law Enforcement: Through The Ministry Of Presence, Marjorie Abrahams Dent

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

CPP Chaplaincy Corps is a ministry that provides spiritual, emotional, and mental support to its law enforcement personnel. Their function is to enhance the well-being and quality of life of the police officers as they serve and protect the citizens of their city, by offering a listening ear, a supportive presence, and providing individual pastoral care. This project seeks to determine if the newly organized CPP Chaplaincy Corps can be successful in facilitating the process of building trust with law enforcement through the Ministry of Presence and Pastoral Care. It also documents the progress and changes that have been made …

Improving Lay Helper Effectiveness: Teaching Living Prayer As A Gateway To A Focused Kingdom Lifestyle, Mark R. Painter

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

It is common for those entering counseling at the Lake Church Counseling Center to lack intimacy with God. When one lacks intimacy with God, they are in imminent danger of becoming influenced exclusively by the world's thinking in one or more areas of life. It is the effort of the LCCC to provide services to those suffering from emotional, spiritual, relational, and personal development struggles. Initially, the counseling center treats such conditions using Living Prayer to help clients strengthen their connection with God and transition to behaviors influenced only by the kingdom of God. This project aims to help Lake …

Older Adults And Digital Technology For Worship Service During A Pandemic At Saint Paul's Baptist Church In Richmond, Virginia, Donnie Lewis Smith

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused the church to move from in-person worship to digital, online, and virtual worship services. This thesis project aims to determine if going to an alternative worship platform has presented problems for the elderly and senior Saint Paul’s Baptist Church members. Because of the large number of seniors at Saint Paul’s, the church’s leadership must be ready to help in any way to ensure that all members can participate in worship services during these unprecedented times. Since there is no projected timetable for when and if the church will return to worship services as we know …

Beyond The Call Of Duty: Supererogation Towards An Apologetic Approach In The Us Navy, Donald Anthony Baker Iii

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Members of the US Navy subscribe to common values outlined in the Sailor’s Creed, a shared dictum of foundational ideals that burdens all persons within the organization to follow. Honor, courage, commitment, excellence, and fairness are explicit organizational values written therein that codify the standard values expected of all Sailors regardless of rank or other designators. For Christians serving in the US Navy, how can they present the tenets of the Gospel in a manner appropriate, and legal, for a professional, secular work environment such as the military but are consistent with the biblical imperative to give a defense of …

A Study On Why People Lack Dedication And Focus During Church Worship And Service Time, Maxine Head White

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The researcher chose the topic of this thesis because members of Last Days Ministries (LDM) lacked dedication and focus during church worship and service. The project aimed to discover what caused LDM members to lack commitment and focus during worship and service time and to find a way to alleviate the problem among LDM members. This thesis project includes four themes from doing this project, of which three concern distractions. Those distractions came from cell phones, spontaneous distractions, and satanic distractions. Cell phone distraction was at the top of the list of distractions that disrupted the church and kept LDM …

Leadership Culture: An Effective Leadership Strategy For Church Growth And Spiritual Maturity, Sikiru A. Asifatu

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

In every organization, leadership culture patterns require a constant assessment to ensure members adhere to corporate practices. In church settings, leadership culture not only creates change but also transforms ministry strategy. Often, church leaders do not perceive culture as the driving force behind effective ministry operations. At Gateway Church, the researcher encountered church growth issues that other ministries struggle with as well, from organizational structure to leadership style. These problems will continue to be a challenge unless the church reinvents an effective leadership strategy focusing on ministry development. This research aims to address the leadership development issue at Gateway Church …

Understanding And Encountering The Ethics Of Self And Others In Autoethnography: Challenging The Extant And Exploring Possibilities, Niroj Dahal, Bal Chandra Luitel

The Qualitative Report

In cultural and institutional contexts, autoethnography examines personal and professional experiences. While conducting and representing autoethnography, these considerations raise ethical challenges for self and others. This expository paper examines and explores the various forms of the ethics of self and others in autoethnography in South Asian contexts. Furthermore, ethical positions in an autoethnographic inquiry are presented and explored by challenging the extant and exploring the possibilities. Moreover, ethical standards are maintained based on the first author's experiences. We also realized that the emerging challenges of the ethics of self and others in autoethnography are ongoing and real. Likewise, we brought …

What Roles Do Reason And Revelation Play In The Knowledge Of The Trinity, According To St Thomas Aquinas?, Matthew Anslow

Aristos

The Holy Trinity is viewed, within the Catholic tradition, as “the central mystery of the Christian faith and life.” Given the importance of the doctrine, this paper explores to what extent, and by what means, humans are capable of knowledge of the Trinity. It summarises Thomas Aquinas’ account of the knowledge of the Trinity, beginning with an outline of Aquinas’ understanding of the place of revelation and reason in the knowledge of God in general. From there, the paper notes Aquinas’ denial of the ability of human reason to discern the Trinity before turning to his primary reason for this …

An Inclusive Framework For Ministry: Fostering The Spiritual Formation Of Children In A Multicultural Church, Jennifer Reinsch Schroeder

Doctor of Ministry Theses and Dissertations

This project thesis was designed to foster the spiritual formation of children in a multicultural church. A diverse team was assembled to design a curriculum to be used with volunteers in a children’s ministry context. Through seven two-hour sessions held over eight weeks in the spring of 2022, the curriculum development team first examined what it means to embody a multicultural perspective of the gospel while at the same time investigating the negative impact of a White, Eurocentric expression of Christianity. Next, they collaborated to develop a theological construct that centered around (1) the idea of being created in the …

The Greatest Teacher: Modeling Jesus In Urban Education, Harley Rusk

Senior Honors Theses

Several key best practices from urban education research are reflected in the pedagogy of Jesus Christ, providing a practical foundation for Christian educators in urban schools. Related to the prevalence of poverty and trauma are the practices of learning students’ backgrounds to better interpret behavior, which Jesus reflects by healing before teaching, and holding high standards, demonstrated in Jesus’ interaction with the rich man and the Sermon on the Mount. Related to racial diversity are the practices of addressing implicit bias, a crucial part of being Christlike, and connecting instruction to students’ culture, like Jesus did through parables. Christians can …

A Patchwork Community : Exploring Belonging, Gender Roles, And God's Gifts Among Progressive American Mennonites, Christa D. Mylin

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This dissertation demonstrates that progressive Mennonites in southern Pennsylvania struggle to find belonging within their congregations due to the fluid nature of Mennonite affiliations. Mennonites critically examined their institutions and relations with each other, and this critique often led to schism. This research addresses how a recent schism among progressive Mennonites led some people to experience nonbelonging and highlighted other conflicting values that people had within their conference. An overview of Mennonite history demonstrated that Mennonites have often formed separate fellowships when disagreements could not be resolved. However, this history also demonstrated that Mennonites have been adept at interpreting their …

Review — Olga M. Segura, Birth Of A Movement: Black Lives Matter And The Catholic Church, Laryssa D. Herrington

Journal of the Black Catholic Theological Symposium

No abstract provided.

Welcome: Notes On The Church As A Community Of Reception, Joseph S. Flipper

Journal of the Black Catholic Theological Symposium

The Second Vatican Council affirmed the retrieval of communion ecclesiology and the significance of the local church. Correlating with its communion ecclesiology, questions arose concerning the reception of conciliar teaching. According to Yves Congar, in accordance with the essential conciliarity of the church, reception is a creative process of discernment and assimilation. Black Catholics following the council similarly developed a theology of the local church and a theology of reception. I argue that US Black Catholic theologians and pastors described reception as welcome of the Word of God and hospitality toward those who bear the Word.

Review — Patrick Saint-Jean, The Crucible Of Racism: Ignatian Spirituality And The Power Of Hope, Alex Mikulich

Journal of the Black Catholic Theological Symposium

No abstract provided.

Bonhoeffer: Pacifism And Resistance Revisited With Help From Karl Barth, Roger Newell

Faculty Publications - George Fox School of Theology

This essay will look at some details of Bonhoeffer’s reflections on pacifism and resistance, with special attention to the influence of Karl Barth on his path. I will also look at the implications for our own troubled times as the Church again responds to war in Europe.

Periodization At Qumran And Its Importance For Understanding Hellenistic History, Kenneth Atkinson

Faculty Publications

Periodization, the belief that God has divided history into fixed segments of time, frequently appears in Second Temple Period Jewish literature. It is especially popular in the Qumran texts, whose authors often display an interest in apocalyptic historiography to explain and categorize historical occurrences. The writers of the Dead Sea Scrolls frequently use periodization to uncover and comprehend historical events. These writings often couple this doctrine with apocalyptic eschatology, specifically the use of Scripture to organize history into discrete historical periods to calculate the end of days. The present study briefly highlights periodization in the Dead Sea Scrolls in light …

Galla Placidia And The “Daughter Of The Queen Of The South”: The Historical Consequences Of A Late Roman Interpretation Of Daniel 11, Kenneth Atkinson

Faculty Publications

The tragic story of the Roman Empire’s decline and fall has captivated the imaginations of countless artists, scholars, and filmmakers, among others. The many rulers of the Roman Empire—regardless of whether they were competent or not to hold office—dealt with insurmountable problems such as frequent invasions, numerous civil wars, attempted coups, unchecked immigration, racism, economic downturns, inept government officials, political corruption, changing values, religious violence, and sexism. Yet, despite overwhelming odds, the Roman Empire managed to survive these and other threats until September of 476 A.D. when a Roman of Gothic origin, Odoacer, forced the emperor Romulus Augustulus, to abdicate. …

The Role Of Metropolitan Andrei Sheptytskyi In The Formation Of Ukrainian National Identity, Iryna Krasnodemska

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The article examines the main statehood ideas and views of the socio-political and Church figure, Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytskyi’s contribution to the struggle for the establishment of an independent, united Ukrainian state. The impact of the Metropolitan’s activity as the hierarch of the Greek Catholic Church on the Ukrainian national spiritual revival in Ukraine (at the end of the 19th to middle 20th century) is clarified as the solid foundation which was laid by his ecumenical ideas. The judgment of A. Sheptytskyi regarding the necessary prerequisites for building a strong, independent Ukraine, and his ideas about reforming state authorities, the Church, …