Digital Commons Network^™

A Modest Homestead: Life In Small Adobe Homes In Salt Lake City, 1850-1897, Veronica Anderson

BYU Studies

J. Spencer Fluhman, Kathleen Flake, and Jed Woodworth, eds., To Be Learned Is Good: Essays on Faith and Scholarship in Honor of Richard Lyman Bushman (Provo, Utah: Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship, Brigham Young University, 2017)

Saints, Slaves, And Blacks: The Changing Place Of Black People Within Mormonism, Alison Palmer

BYU Studies

Saints, Slaves, and Blacks: The Changing Place of Black People within Mormonism, by Newell G. Bringhurst, 2d ed. (Salt Lake City: Greg Kofford Books, 2018)

Full Issue

BYU Studies

No abstract provided.

Mark’S Young Man And Homer’S Elpenor: Mark 14:51-52, 16:1-8 And Odyssey 10-12, Sungchan Moon

CGU Theses & Dissertations

Mark obviously says that all of the disciples of Jesus desert him and flee (Mark 14:50). Mark, however, introduces a young man as a new character who was following Jesus like other disciples and fled naked before Jesus’s suffering. This young man is the most enigmatic character in Mark. In particular, the young man never appears in other Gospels. For this reason, the young man’s identity and his conduct has been a topic of longstanding dispute among scholars.

Some regard him as historical figures, one of Jesus’ own disciples like John the son of Zebedee, James the Lord’s brother, or …

Prosocial Religion And Games: Lost & Found, Owen Gottlieb, Ian Schreiber

Articles

In a time when religious legal systems are discussed without an understanding of history or context, it is more important than ever to help widen the understanding and discourse about the prosocial aspects of religious legal systems throughout history. The Lost & Found (www.lostandfoundthegame.com) game series, targeted for an audience of teens through twentysomethings in formal, learning environments, is designed to teach the prosocial aspects of medieval religious systems—specifically collaboration, cooperation, and the balancing of communal and individual/family needs. Set in Fustat (Old Cairo) in the 12th century, the first two games in the series address laws in Moses Maimonides’ …

The Abinadi Narrative, Redemption, And The Struggle For Nephite Identity, Daniel L. Belnap, Dan Belnap

Faculty Publications

Though there is no question that the Book of Mormon’s primary purpose is to impart an understanding of the gospel of Jesus Christ, this message is generally embedded by its editors and authors in very distinct historical and political settings. This is particularly true of Mormon, who often crafted his narratives so that a given prophetic ministry intersected and interacted with the sociopolitical concerns of the contemporary Nephite population. One such concern emerging again and again in Nephite history was their identity or relationship as Israel.

Denominational Incompatibility And Religious Pluralism: A Non-Pluralist Response To A Pluralist Critique, Matthew Stinson

Global Tides

Religious Pluralism is the view that no one religion is correct, and no religion enjoys special status in relation to the Ultimate. Recently, Samuel Ruhmkorff has defended Religious Pluralism from what we'll call 'The Incompatibility Objection': many religions appear to make incompatible claims about ultimate reality, and therefore they cannot all be true. Ruhmkorff defends Religious Pluralism from the incompatibility problem by applying a “subsets of belief” defense that non-pluralists may use in response to denominational differences within a religion. He argues that non-pluralists are faced with denominational incompatibility within whatever religion they are asserting is uniquely true. He further …

Can God Know Tomorrow?, Jacob Kristian Bergman

Honors Program Theses

This paper examines the compatibility of God's foreknowledge and human free will. To narrow the focus of this question, this paper will focus on a branch of this debate by analyzing the arguments of Open Theism. By analyzing the claims made within Open Theism, with respect to its proposal that God can be omniscient while granting free will, it will be possible to determine if this claim is a valid argument as to how humanity can have free will without limiting the scope of God. This paper will focus on an Open Theist critique of the traditional understanding of God’s …

Abhiṣiktānanda: A Reception History1, Enrico Beltramini

Journal of Hindu-Christian Studies

In this article, I present an evaluation of the scholarly reception history of Abhiṣiktānanda. I argue for an identifiable threefold division in Abhiṣiktānanda scholarship: the earliest biographies and appraisals focused on his ‘spiritual search;’ a second wave of scholarship stressed Abhiṣiktānanda’s role as a pioneer in the interreligious dialogue; and, most recently, a third ‘turn’ has emerged in which a generation of scholars are concentrating on ‘internal’ Christian doctrinal critiques of Abhiṣiktānanda’s theology. I also suggest that today’s escapable and perplexing Abhiṣiktānanda is not necessarily the same Abhiṣiktānanda who inspired scholars in the past.

Volume 31, Full Contents, Jhcs Staff

Journal of Hindu-Christian Studies

No abstract provided.

The Niles-Merton Songs: A Performance Guide Of Selected Songs, Brittany C. Benningfield

Theses and Dissertations--Music

The Niles-Merton Songs is a two-opus collection of twenty-two songs by John Jacob Niles setting the poetry of Thomas Merton. The songs are beautiful but contrast from his more popular works in poetry and composition. This project explores reasons why these songs are rarely performed, and gives an overview and analysis of ten selected pieces. The document includes a brief introduction, biographies of Niles and Merton, information detailing Niles’s compositional process, and the technical and artistic requirements for performing the songs, including appropriate age and voice type.

Following The Man Of Sorrows: A Theology Of Suffering For Spiritual Formation, David Russell Beach

Doctor of Ministry

Suffering. Salvation’s conduit. People are often reluctant to talk about suffering, unable to find words. This reluctance usually lasts until, in the midst of crisis, the only way ahead is through suffering. In these crises, people typically reach out to caregivers— pastors and priests, counselors and social workers. But what if the same reluctance affects these caregivers? What if they, too, are often unable to find adequate words? Jesus—Man of Sorrows—makes plain the imperative of taking up our cross. How is this accomplished? This dissertation offers an answer, a theology of suffering focused on spiritual formation—formation into the image of …

Satanic Influences In The American Christian Church In A Post-Modern Consumer Society, Jerry F. Ressa

Doctor of Ministry

This study seeks to propose evidences as to how and why the contemporary Christian church is satanically influenced, resulting in pain and suffering from devastating personal dysfunctions, interpersonal conflicts and divisions. This situation presents a great dilemma facing many, if not most, Christians in that they simply do not understand and are unaware of profound life altering significances of the spiritual battle being waged for souls and the satanic deceptions that draw people away from God. Satan, his fallen angels, and demons influence Christians and others through his primary tools of deceit and deception, delivered to the culture through media, …

The Psalms Of The Spirit: A Study Of The Divine Use Of Ruach In The Book Of Psalms, Charles H. Gaulden

Selected Faculty Publications

dissertation is a theological study of the divine spirit (רוּ חַ ) in the bookof Psalms, more specifically within Psalms 51; 104; 139; and 143. By the expres-sion “divine use of רוּ חַ ,” the theological focus is narrowed to רוּ חַ in close lan-guage connection to Yahweh himself with various personal expressions such as “his spirit, your spirit, your good spirit, your holy spirit, and your noble spirit.” The research begins in division one with an analysis of all non-divine uses of רוּ חַ in the Psalms that have been variously translated in connection with “an-gels, breath, human disposition, …

When God Was A Bird: Christianity, Animism, And The Re-Enchantment Of The World, Mark I. Wallace

Religion Faculty Works

No abstract provided.

Foreword To Putting God On The Map, Robert Masson

Theology Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

Locating Palestine’S Summer Residence: Mandate Tourism And National Identity, Andrea L. Stanton

Religious Studies: Faculty Scholarship

The carving up of the Ottoman Levant into British and French Mandates after World War I introduced new realities for the inhabitants of the region. This article uses Lebanese tourism and the promotion of Lebanon as a tourist destination to Palestinians of all religious backgrounds as a case study to investigate the challenges and potentials of the new Mandate structures. Using Palestinian government archives and newspapers, it examines how Lebanon was marketed to Palestinian vacationers. It concludes by suggesting that tourism, with its mixture of private and government sector interests, serves as a key node for observing the messy process …

Expanding And Refining Christian Interpretations Of Rāmānuja, John B. Carman

Journal of Hindu-Christian Studies

In the last century there has been a remarkable expansion of studies of Rāmānuja by scholars outside the Śrīvaiṣṇava community. This paper concentrates on the contributions of some Christian scholars. Many of the earlier studies focused on Rāmānuja’s opposition to Śaṇkara’s interpretation of the Vedanta, with Roman Catholic scholars tending to favor Śaṇkara and Protestant scholars Rāmānuja. The Belgian Jesuit Pierre Johanns argued for a Christian reinterpretation of the Vedanta that would merge the truths in the different Hindu schools, giving primary importance to Śaṇkara, but modifying the Hindu teaching through the distinctive Christian doctrine of “creation out of nothing.” …

Raça, Jinshu, Race: Whiteness, Japanese-Ness, And Resistance In Sūkyō Mahikari In The Brazilian Amazon, Moana Luri De Almeida

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation presented an analysis of how leaders and adherents of a Japanese religion called Sūkyō Mahikari understand and interpret jinshu (race) and hito(person) in a particular way, and how this ideology is practiced in the city of Belém, in the Brazilian Amazon. The teachings of Sūkyō Mahikari classify humanity into five races (yellow, white, red, blue/green, black/purple) and five religions (Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism). In this classification, the original humans - hito, the kingly race ōbito, and the God-given supra-religion sūkyō - deteriorated into ningen (people), the other races, and shūkyō (religions) along an …

Women In Music: Letting A Long Story Be Long Contemplating Women’S Sonic, Musical, And Spiritual Experiences In Prehistory, Deborah J. Saidel

Theses and Dissertations

Situated within deep history, this study explores the auditory and spiritual lives of Paleolithic women. It considers their personal agency in mediating the spiritual power of sound and how doing so contributes to a multifaceted musicality. The theoretical framework involves a wide spectrum of topics, from ways of rethinking the writing of history and reckoning with time, to sound studies and the study of acoustics in ancient sites, to a critical examination through a feminist lens of normative disciplinary scholarship in anthropology and archaeology, religious studies, and musicology. I explore potential audio-visual-lithic relationships for their implications for deepening an understanding …

Congretional/Methodist Church In Macedonia, Paul Mojzes

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

Prior to the end of the Balkan Wars of 1912-1913 and during portions of World War I, the territory of Macedonia was served by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (hereafter ABCFM) with headquarters in Boston, Massachusetts. The form of Protestantism promoted by ABCFM was Congregationalism but in the Balkans, they called their churches Evangelical, which is often used as a synonym for Protestants. After the end of World War I, the ABCFM was unable to continue to financially support and staff this mission field outside of Bulgaria as proper and turned their work in Macedonia (which had …

Rudolf Otto’S Encounter With Rāmānuja As A Model For Comparative Theology, Hugh Nicholson

Journal of Hindu-Christian Studies

Among his more noteworthy achievements, Rudolf Otto introduced Vaiṣṇava theism, Rāmānuja’s Viśiṣṭādvaita in particular, to a broader theological audience. In this paper, I argue that despite the well-known shortcomings of Otto’s comparative work, in particular, his tendency to essentialize the compared traditions and his presumption of Christian superiority, Otto’s encounter with Rāmānuja and Vaiṣṇavism nevertheless anticipates some of the characteristic features of the contemporary practice of Comparative Theology. The article describes how Otto’s work on Vaiṣṇavism exemplifies two such features of the new Comparative Theology in particular. The first of these is this discipline’s concern with problematizing the often invidious …

Book Review: Teaching Interreligious Encounters, Stephanie Corigliano

Journal of Hindu-Christian Studies

Book review of Teaching Interreligious Encounters. Edited by Marc A. Pugliese and Alexander Y. Hwang. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017, 368 pages.

Does God Have A Body? Rāmānuja’S Challenge To The Christian Tradition, Jon Paul Sydnor

Journal of Hindu-Christian Studies

The Christian tradition’s core theological assertion is the embodiment of God in the person of Jesus Christ. Yet, even while asserting God’s incarnation in space and time, the tradition has usually denied embodiment unto the Godhead itself. Theologians have based this denial on Jewish iconoclasm, Greek idealism, and inferences from God’s omnipresence, transcendence, and infinity. This speculative essay will argue that Hindu Śrīvaiṣṇava theologian Rāmānuja successfully addresses these concerns. He argues for the embodiment of an omnipresent, transcendent, and infinite personal God. Rāmānuja largely derives his arguments from the Hindu scriptures. Nevertheless, their rational explication and internal coherence render divine …

What Is Mormon Transhumanism? And Is It Mormon?, Gregory L. Smith

Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship

Some sources have described Mormonism as the faith most friendly to the intellectual movement known as Transhumanism. This paper reviews an introductory paper by the past President of the Mormon Transhumanist Association. A syllogism that purports to show that Mormonism is compatible with — or even requires — Transhumanism is analyzed. The syllogism’s premises are shown to misunderstand or misrepresent LDS scripture and doctrine. The proffered Transhumanist conception of “human nature” and the perspective offered by LDS scripture are compared and found to be incompatible. Additional discrepancies between the Transhumanist article’s representation of LDS doctrine and the actual teachings of …

Orson Scott Card’S “Artifact Or Artifice”: Where It Stands After Twenty-Five Years, Jeff Lindsay

Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship

When Orson Scott Card wrote “The Book of Mormon: Artifact or Artifice?” in 1993, he applied keen skills as an author of fiction to help readers understand how to detect the many hidden assumptions an author brings into a text. Subtle details such as the choice of what to explain or what not to explain to readers can quickly reveal the era and environment of the author. The value of Card’s analysis is reconsidered in light of extensive Book of Mormon studies since 1993 and has been found, for the most part, to have withstood the test of time well, …

“If I Pray Not Amiss”, David L. Clark

Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship

In 2nd Nephi, it is suggested that the Lord answers prayers but that requests made in prayer should not violate some kind of standard that would make them “amiss.” This undefined standard most likely excludes many prayers requesting immunity from those conditions of mortality which all mortals accepted and embraced with great enthusiasm in the great Council in Heaven. However, except for limited latter-day explanations of that great conference, our eager acceptance of all details of the conditions of mortality did not carry over into mortal memory. Consequently, when we request exemption from those conditions joyfully endorsed in premortal time, …

Directions For Mormon Studies In The Twenty-First Century, Isabella Markert

BYU Studies

Patrick Q. Mason, ed., Directions for Mormon Studies in the Twenty-First Century (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 2016)

A Genealogical Turn: Possibilities For Mormon Studies And Genealogical Scholarship, Amy Harris

Mormon Studies Review

There is a growing scholarly field, crucial to Mormon studies, that scholars of Mormonism have yet to engage with: the history of genealogical practices. Mormon studies contains a robust and mature literature on the history of temple theology and the importance of kin to Mormon teachings.1 The connections between this flourishing scholarship and genealogical practices are largely missing, however. Scholarly history of genealogy is currently enjoying a rebirth—a renaissance that comes at a fortuitous time for Mormon studies.

Foundations Of The Restoration: Fulfillment Of The Covenant Purposes, Richard Neitzel Holzapfel

BYU Studies

Craig James Ostler, Michael Hubbard MacKay, and Barbara Morgan Gardner, eds., Foundations of the Restoration: Fulfillment of the Covenant Purposes (Provo, Utah: BYU Religious Studies Center; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2016)