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Re-Veiling The Revealed: Insights Into The Psychology Of “Enlightenment” From The Kabbalah, B. Les Lancaster

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

I explore psychological aspects of a mystically-awakened state as depicted in the Kabbalah. This awakened state is portrayed using imagery of light and is associated with wisdom. The path towards the state entails intense hermeneutic work, and the core characteristic of the awakened person is the ability to see into that which is concealed—be it in scriptural texts, fellow humans, or the outer world. The primary distinction between this kabbalistic state and awakened states as portrayed in recent psychological and perennialist conceptions is the importance of cognitive and intellectual components in the former. I argue that cultural constructions of spiritual …

Transcendence From Below: The Embodied Feminine Mysticism Of Marion Woodman, Lora L. Menter

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

This article outlines the mystical path followed by Jungian analyst and author Marion Woodman. It unpacks the mystical aspects of Jungian psychology and uses Woodman’s life as a lens to view how the practice of mysticism can operate within alternative psycho-religious belief systems. Woodman deeply embraces mysticism as a transformative, feminist practice by focusing her work on healing the psycho-spiritual effects of patriarchy and the associated repression of women and the body. This paper also discusses how Woodman’s mystical revelations have begun to affect the epistemological foundation of Jungian psychology in a way that echoes the embodied and enactive perspective …

A Neurotheological Approach To Spiritual Awakening, Andrew B. Newberg, Mark R. Waldman

Marcus Institute of Integrative Health Faculty Papers

A neurotheological approach suggests an analysis of spiritual awakening experiences by combining phenomenological data with neuroscience. This paper presents a synthesis combining information on the thoughts, feelings, and experiences associated with spiritual awakening experiences and neurophysiological data, primarily from neuroimaging studies, to help assess which brain structures might be associated with these experiences. Brain structures involved with emotions correlate with emotional responses while areas of the brain associated with the sense of self appear to correlate with the key feature of these experiences in which an individual loses the sense of self and feels intimately connected with God, universal consciousness, …

Review Of Lengthening Our Stride: Globalization Of The Church, D. Brent Smith

Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

Lengthening Our Stride: Globalization of the Church, published in January 2018 by the BYU Religious Studies Center and Deseret Book, builds upon the landmark 4 April 1974 address of President Spencer W. Kimball to LDS regional representatives in which he, in the initial months of his presidency, called upon the Church and its leaders to “lengthen our stride” and “enlarge our vision” in taking the gospel to “all nations.” Edited by Reid L. Neilson, assistant Church historian, and Wayne D. Crosby, director of Global Support and Acquisitions in the Church History Department, the book includes twenty-one addresses presented in …

Soteriology In Mainstream Monotheistic Religions: The Messiah Conundrum, Jay Fox

Masters Theses

For the promotion of the Gospel, this study seeks to examine Soteriology in Mainstream Monotheistic Religions: The Messiah Conundrum. This decidedly charged topic critically researches the philosophy of salvation doctrine, or soteriology, within major monotheistic religions. The highlighted problem is the Messiah conundrum, with critical research on each doctrine for epistemological significance of a savior and their beliefs surrounding salvation. This mystery of where, or who humans turn to for salvation, is vitally important when considering the principle of sufficient reason in today’s hermeneutic and apologetic circles. The purpose fueling this thesis is the resolute documenting of beliefs of major …

Contributors -- Quaker Religious Thought No. 131

Quaker Religious Thought

No abstract provided.

An Overview Of Four Traditions On War And Peace In Christian History, Joseph J. Fahey

The Journal of Social Encounters

This essay examines four traditions on war and peace that have developed in Christian history. They are: Pacifism, Just War, Total War, and World Community.Pacifism characterized the earliest Christians; Just War appeared in the late fourth and fifth centuries; Total War in the eleventh century; and World Community began in the sixteenth century. All four positions continue today and are held by people who sincerely call themselves Christian.

A Linked Coptic Dictionary Online, Frank Feder, Maxim Kupreyev, Emma Manning, Caroline T. Schroeder, Amir Zeldes

College of the Pacific Faculty Presentations

We describe a new project publishing a freely available online dictionary for Coptic. The dictionary encompasses comprehensive cross-referencing mechanisms, including linking entries to an online scanned edition of Crum’s Coptic Dictionary, internal cross-references and etymological information, translated searchable definitions in English, French and German, and linked corpus data which provides frequencies and corpus look-up for headwords and multiword expressions. Headwords are available for linking in external projects using a REST API. We describe the challenges in encoding our dictionary using TEI XML and implementing linking mechanisms to construct a Web interface querying frequency information, which draw on NLP tools to …

Surveying The Landscape Of Theories And Frameworks Used In The Study Of Sport And Religion: An Interdisciplinary Approach, Zachary T. Smith, Steven N. Waller Ph.D.

Movement and Being: The Journal of the Christian Society for Kinesiology, Leisure and Sports Studies

Religion and sport is a bourgeoning and maturing interdisciplinary area of study. As the volume of research conducted about topics related to the interface of religion and sport, attention to sound research methods, including the use of relevant theories and theoretical/conceptual frameworks becomes essential. Scholars such as Stausberg and Engler (2014) have posited that the methods used in religious studies (including theory and frameworks) are not as rigorous as those utilized in social science related fields. The imperative then becomes to use theories and frameworks from social science related disciplines such as leisure studies, sports studies and sport psychology to …

Functioning Religiously, Brent A. Smith

Open Access Publishing Support Funded Articles

No abstract provided.

Agreeing To Submit: Authority Constructions In Modern Sunni Islam, Trevor E. Wolff

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In the modern age, Sunni communities are often claimed to be in a moment of crisis. However, despite outward arguments about this crisis, Sunni communities are more accurately described as within a state of transformation. By analyzing constructions of authority from Sayyid Qutb, the clerical establishment of Saudi Arabia, and the greater American Muslim communities, Sunni theology is best seen as seeking out methods to transform and re-center authority within Sunni communities.

Historical Analysis Of Leadership Theory In The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-Day Saints And Its Educational System, Kevin D. Whitehead

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

An organization’s leadership theory acts as a collection of primary guiding characteristics which influence its identity and direction. Developing leaders has always been important for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Historically, the Church has promoted leadership ideals for all its members through various aspects of its doctrine and organization. This study provides an analysis of multiple leadership texts produced by the ecclesiastical and educational wings of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The study helps to reveal how Latter-day Saint leadership theory has developed over time. This study considers the unfolding of Latter-day Saint leadership …

Is Slumdog Millionaire A Retelling Of The Ramayana? (Hindi), William L. Blizek, Michele M. Desmarais

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a Hindi translation of the article that appears in English in this same issue.

Is a banner with a picture of Rama and Sita on it and the word, “Ramayana,” the only link between the film Slumdog Millionaire and the great Hindu epic? In this paper we explore elements in the film that correspond to elements in the Ramayana. There is no one-to-one correlation, and some relationships between the two are, in fact, mirror images. However, there are enough correlations and influences to suggest that the film might be considered a retelling of the Ramayana. We also acknowledge …

Sacred Time In The Work Of Makoto Shinkai, Kassandra I. Schreiber

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This thesis looks at two works of anime director, writer, and producer Makoto Shinkai and examines how they create sacred experiences through the visual and narratological construction of time. Mircea Elaide’s concept of eternal return is joined with Gilles Deleuze’s film theory of Time-Images and time crystals to analyze the creation of sacred moments: moments of rejuvenation and reorientation. Not only are the two films, 5 Centimeters per Second and Your Name, read through the lens of these theories but these movies also illustrate how anime is unique art form that is well suited for the manipulation of time and …

Early Latter-Day Saint Martyrs: The Jesse Woods And Armela Shanks Berry Family, Shauna Timpson Johnson

Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

On 10 August 1884, three Mormon missionaries, Elders William S. Berry, Henry B. Thompson, and John H. Gibbs, met at the house of James Condor in Cane Creek, Tennessee, for Sunday worship services. They had just finished singing a hymn when a mob rushed up to Condor’s front gate. Historian B. H. Roberts described the dramatic scene:

Elder Gibbs had just taken up his Bible . . . when a man disguised—which afterward proved to be David Hinson—came in at the front door, crossed the room, took down a shotgun suspended on hooks over the back door, and then took …

End Matter

Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

No abstract provided.

Full Issue

Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

No abstract provided.

Dealing With Difficulty In Scripture: Divine Violence In The Book Of Mormon, Andrew C. Smith

Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

Latter-day prophets have implored and continually encouraged members of the Church to make daily and habitual study of the scriptures a priority in their lives. One of the most important reasons for this is the fact that it is through the scriptures that one learns the most about the life and teachings of the Savior and how to follow him. “What manner of men had ye ought to be? Verily I say unto you, even as I am” is Jesus’s scriptural call to each of us (3 Nephi 27:27).1 When we consider our relationship with Jesus, especially as our exemplar …

“After This Manner Did He Speak”: Mormon’S Discourse On Faith, Hope, And Charity, Charles Swift

Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

Literary scholar Richard Dilworth Rust calls Mormon’s discourse in Moroni 7 “one of the most tightly woven and forceful sermons in the Book of Mormon.” It is a masterful example of a prophet not simply stating doctrinal truth but building a case for it. Mormon creates an argument that begins with teachings that seem almost completely unrelated to what he ends up saying in his conclusion, yet the argument is so tightly constructed that each step beautifully and powerfully leads to the next.

Front Matter

Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

No abstract provided.

Getting To Know Saints: The Story Of The Church Of Jesus Christ In The Latter Days, Steven C. Harper, Scott Hales, Casey Paul Griffiths

Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

Griffiths: The purpose of this meeting is to explain a little bit about what Saints is and how teachers can use it. Scott, can I start with you? Can you tell us a little bit about Saints and what it is intended to do?

Hales: Saints is a new four-volume narrative history of the Church. It covers Church history from 1815 to the present. Each volume culminates in the completion of a temple and shows Latter-day Saints making and keeping sacred covenants. The first volume covers the organization of the Church and the early years of the Restoration. It begins …

Christianity And Gambling: An Introduction, Massimo Leone

Occasional Papers

Religions hold complex relations with games and, in particular, with gambling. The article focuses on Christianity. On the one hand, the history of this religion shows a tendency to condemn games as source of distraction from spiritual rectitude and to stigmatize gambling, above all, as opening to metaphysical randomness and, as a consequence, as challenge to the idea of divine omniscience. On the other hand, Christianity has also sought to reinterpret games, and even gambling, as possible occasion for moral improvement and as useful distraction from the hardship of monastic life. A theological perspective that reaches its peak in Thomas …

The Methodist Church In Yugoslavia From 1945 To 1965: A Case Study Of An Ecumenical Protestant "Free Church" In A Hostile Environment, Paul B. Mojzes

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

Though in size resembling a sect, the Methodists of the former Yugoslavia functioned as a Protestant “Free Church” due to its international structural connection with a large worldwide Methodist Church. After disparate beginnings in the two locations, the Methodist of Vojvodina began to function in 1898 while in Macedonia, the former Congregationalist (called Evangelical) began their work in 1870 but were transferred to the Yugoslavia Methodist Mission Conference after World War I. In Vojvodina, most of the members were of German and Hungarian ethnicity who had already been Protestants before they joined the Methodists while in Macedonia, the members were …

Catholic Documents 101: Resources For Parts 3 And 4, Andrew Kosmowski

Marian Library Faculty Presentations

This list of resources accompanied the presentation "Catholic Documents 101: A Theological Librarian’s Guide to Identifying, Locating, and Using the Documents of the Catholic Church."

Catholic Documents 101: A Theological Librarian’S Guide To Identifying, Locating, And Using The Documents Of The Catholic Church, Andrew Kosmowski

Marian Library Faculty Presentations

Over the course of 2,000 years, theologians have accreted mountains of writings on every aspect of the Christian faith. While even devoted students of Christian doctrine likely will not have time to scale all of the peaks in a single academic lifetime, they cannot afford to skip completely over one of the highest summits: the documents of the “teaching arm” of the Catholic Church, the Magisterium, which safeguards the deposit of faith and interprets controversies in light of it. Those approaching doctrinal matters, such as the atonement and the virgin birth, from a Protestant perspective may find it beneficial to …

Review Of Bryan D. Lowe, Ritualized Writing: Buddhist Practice And Scriptural Cultures In Ancient Japan, Ronald S. Green

Philosophy and Religious Studies

No abstract provided.

Towards A Destructive, Unmonumental, Queer Hagiography: FéLix GonzáLez Torres And The Spiritual- Activist Potential Of Destruction, Daniel Santiago SáEnz Tabares

Conexión Queer: Revista Latinoamericana y Caribeña de Teologías Queer

This article presents an examination of two artworks by the late Cuban- American artist Félix González Torres, focusing primarily on the destructive strategies and theological potential of his work. After describing the activist and counter-monumental dimensions of «Untitled» (Portrait of Ross in L.A.) (1991) and «Untitled» (Lover Boys) (1991), the author examines these two pieces, as well as the artist’s life more generally, through the lens of queer martyrdom and queer theology to postulate a hagiographic take on González Torres’ life and oeuvre. Far from a definitive biographical study, this analysis is the result of interdisciplinary research mixed with …

Charismatic Renewal And Miracular Sensitivity At A Catholic Marian Apparition Site In Poland, Konrad Siekierski

Journal of Global Catholicism

Almost 70 years after the Mother of God appeared in a series of visions at the pastures near the village of Mazury in south-eastern Poland, this ‘abundant event’, in Robert Orsi’s terms, still attracts the attention of Polish Catholics. Drawing on my research on the recent revival of the apparition site in Mazury, I examine the current penetration of Polish Catholicism by the charismatic movement. As I discuss it, this trend reinvigorates, but also reshapes, what Andrzej Hemka and Jacek Olędzki call the ‘miracular sensitivity’ of Polish believers, traditionally dominated by Marian devotion.

Editor's Introduction, Marc R. Loustau

Journal of Global Catholicism

No abstract provided.

Evangelicalism And Capitalism: A Reparative Account And Diagnosis Of Pathogeneses In The Relationship, Jason Paul Clark

Faculty Publications - Portland Seminary

No sustained examination and diagnosis of problems inherent to the relationship of Evangelicalism with capitalism currently exists. Where assessments of the relationship have been undertaken, they are often built upon a lack of understanding of Evangelicalism, and an uncritical reliance both on Max Weber’s Protestant Work Ethic and on David Bebbington’s Quadrilateral of Evangelical priorities. This then gives rise to misunderstandings and faulty prescriptions for the future of Evangelicalism. This thesis seeks to remedy this situation by providing a robust diagnostic, not to refute Evangelicalism, but as a reparative. This reparative attends to the faulty responses of either over-dichotomising capitalist …