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“The Calamity That Should Come”, Richard E. Bennett

Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

Speaking at Brigham Young University in 1981, Ezra Taft Benson, then President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, remarked as follows:

I realize this is an unpleasant topic on which to dwell. I take no delight in its portrayal, nor do I look forward to the day when calamities shall come with increasing number upon humanity. But these words are not my own; the Lord has spoken them. Knowing what we know as his servants, can we hesitate to raise a warning voice to all who will listen that they may be prepared for the days ahead? Silence in …

Review Of Akšamija's "Letter Pismo, Brief, List, Risālah", Paul Mojzes

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

No abstract provided.

Interpretations Of Jesus And The Virgin Mary In The Quran And The Bible: A Possible Contribution To Muslim-Christian Cooperation?, Jon Armajani

The Journal of Social Encounters

This essay explores Muslim and Christian understandings of Jesus and his mother Mary, which may provide a basis for possible cooperation between the two religious communities. The similarities and differences in views are discussed, with an understanding that there are differences in views not only between but also within the two religious communities. The essay concludes with a discussion of seven types of interreligious dialogue as articulated by Sallie B. King, and how they apply to Muslim-Christian dialogue related to Jesus and Mary.

The Good Life: Descriptors Of Change In Roma Pentecostal Communities In Serbia And Croatia, Melody J. Wachsmuth

Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology

Studies in specific geographical contexts have shown that the spread of Pentecostalism’s impact on Roma communities is twofold: it is linked to social change including a rise of education levels, literacy, decrease in crime, better relationships with the majority culture, and also is instrumental in the fostering of a “trans-national” identity and revitalization of their respective Roma identities. However, Pentecostalism cannot be considered a formula that intersects with a Romani community with consequential predictable results— in fact, in Southeastern Europe, Romani Pentecostalism is growing at a much slower rate than that of its counterparts in Western Europe and in places …

Teaching Students About Finding Their Religious Justice Roots, Dean Johnson

Philosophy Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Colombian Readings Of Paradise Lost: Gabriel García Márquez’S Literary Conversation With John Milton, Daniela M. Maestre, Angelica Duran

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Englishman John Milton’s epic poem Paradise Lost has twenty European Spanish translations. Despite the high number of translations, three Latin American writers, one Mexican and two Colombians published three more versions. Our project seeks to discover what motivated the Colombian translators to publish more versions of Paradise Lost, as part of the influence of Milton’s works in Colombian literature in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. There is little information about Colombian readings of this epic poem: we do not yet know how Colombians read the epic poem and why. To get a better sense of Colombian reception of Paradise Lost, …

Who Are The Apistoi? Symbolic Boundaries And Anthropological Language In 2 Cor 6:14-7:1, Nii Addo Kobina Abrahams

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

Joseph A. Fitzmyer’s “Qumran and the Interpolated Paragraph in 2 Cor 6:14-7:1,” originally published in 1961, argued that 2 Cor 6:14-7:1 was an interpolation from an undiscovered Qumran text. Fitzmyer’s thesis was the prevailing scholarly opinion for over a decade, and while several counter-arguments have convincingly challenged Fitzmyer’s theory, scholars are still hard-pressed to explain how the passage fits into its context. Not only does 6:14-7:1 seem to lack any organic connection to the verses immediately prior or following, but it also contains unique vocabulary and what seems to be uncharacteristic use of standard Pauline terms. However, all of these …

Amici Curiae Brief Of Scholars Of Mormon History & Law In Support Of Neither Party, Anna-Rose Mathieson, Nathan B. Oman

Briefs

No abstract provided.

Communicating The Justice And Peace Of God In Africa Today, Walter Ihejirika

Journal of Global Catholicism

Engaging with the work and theories of Arnold van Gennep and Victor Turner, the article charts out a spirituality of communication within Nigerian Catholicism. Discussing the intersection between various forms of media and community, the article argues for the utilization of media in the pursuit of social justice and the dismantling of inequalities.

Editor's Introduction, Marc Roscoe Loustau

Journal of Global Catholicism

Introduction to African Catholicism: Contemporary Issues: Volume: 1, Issue 2 of the Journal of Global Catholicism

Our Christian Nation: White Supremacy And The Making Of An American Theology, Sophia Driscoll Gamber

Religious Studies Summer Fellows

What does it mean to be a “Christian nation,” a nation which is blessed by God above other nations? This moniker of divinity and chosen-ness has been in some way attached to the American project since its conception, though many in the ensuing years have criticized American life and culture as distinctly un-Christian. Furthermore, what does it mean to be American? To trace citizenship back to the origins of the nation reveals a sense of American-ness which is bound to whiteness. Since our earliest foundations, white supremacy has been in a close symbiotic relationship with our structures of government and …

“ America Reads” And The Book Of Mormon, D. Todd Christofferson

Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

Between 1828 and 1831, the American Bible Society launched an aggressive campaign to put a copy of the Old and New Testament in every American home. During those three years, over 500,000 copies of “the Good Book” were printed and distributed across the country, illustrating just how much Protestant Americans considered themselves to be a God-fearing and Bible-believing people. At the same time of the American Bible Society’s ambitious initiative, a young man named Joseph Smith from upstate New York was translating and printing an additional sacred book of scripture, eventually published as the Book of Mormon.

Full Issue

Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

No abstract provided.

Discussing Difficult Topics: The Mountain Meadows Massacre, Patrick Q. Mason, Thomas A. Wayment

Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

Wayment: Lead us up to Mountain Meadows, maybe not focusing as much on the event itself but on the forces that lead up to that. What was happening?

Mason: The Mountain Meadows Massacre was the tragic culmination of several different historical forces in early Mormonism. I do not think you can dissociate what happened at Mountain Meadows from the experience of the Saints earlier, before they got to Utah. You have to understand it in the context of what happened to them, especially in Missouri and in Illinois. I teach courses on religion, violence, and peacebuilding, and we …

End Matter

Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

No abstract provided.

Catholicism And New Media: Context, Characteristics, Choices, Raul Botha

Masters Essays

No abstract provided.

Black Lives, Sacred Humanity, And The Racialization Of Nature, Or Why America Needs Religious Naturalism Today, Carol W. White

Faculty Journal Articles

Embedded in persistent representations of people of African descent as inferior beings or subpar humans are problematic notions of animality, race, and nature in the U.S., or a lethal combination of intimately conjoined white supremacy and species supremacy. Confronting these processes is a model of African American religious naturalism, which presupposes human animals’ deep, inextricable homology with each other and with other natural processes. Building on the ideas of Anna J. Cooper, W. E. B. du Bois, and James Baldwin, this model of religious naturalism emphasizes humans as sacred centers of value and distinct movements of nature itself where deep …

A God Worth Worshiping: Toward A Critical Race Theology, Duane Terrence Loynes Sr.

Dissertations (1934 -)

Theologian James Cone has declared that White supremacy is the American Church’s greatest, original, and most persistent sin. Although the Church has engaged in numerous attempts to remedy racism, theology still seems to witness to a God that stands relatively unopposed to the status quo of racial injustice and marginalization. This dissertation begins with the claim that Christian theology still operates from the normativity of whiteness. I will argue that, although the Church has made admirable progress with regard to racial justice, the attempts have been at the surface: the underlying structural logic of White supremacy remains intact. My thesis …

Engaging Romans: An Exegetical Analysis Of Romans 1:26–27, Michael Younes

Masters Essays

No abstract provided.

Joseph Smith And The Recovery Of “Eternal Man”, Robert L. Millet

Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

Truman Madsen has been a hero of mine for many years, stretching back half a century to when I was serving in the Eastern States Mission. Several of his talks to the New England missionaries and members made their way into our mission. Truman had a way of blending seamlessly his academic training in philosophy and religion and his spiritual knowledge and conviction. He paid a significant price to learn by study and also by faith (D&C 88:118), and it was that concentrated and consecrated effort that allowed him, like his Master, to teach as one having authority (Matthew 7:29; …

Review Of Joseph Smith’S Seer Stones, Joseph M. Spencer

Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

In 1961, Hugh Nibley published The Myth Makers, a creative analysis of Joseph Smith’s critics that exhibits what then-Elder Gordon B. Hinckley called a “Puckish delight” in satirizing those among the Prophet’s contemporaries who had unkind things to say about him. In the book, Nibley imagines a deposition, held preparatory to “the case of the World versus Joseph Smith.” The chairman of the deposition questions the critical witnesses in a sardonic critique of the reliability of the sources. In one scene, the chairman asks to “hear about the peepstone,” and he gets an earful. The witnesses clamor for attention, vying …

Developing Teenage Testimonies: Programs And Pedagogy With Spiritual Impact, John Hilton Iii, Anthony Sweat

Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

One of the key objectives of religious educators is to facilitate spiritual growth that leads to the making and keeping of covenants. This purpose is stated in various ways by different organizations of the Church. For example, “the purpose of the Young Women organization is to help each young woman be worthy to make and keep sacred covenants and receive the ordinances of the temple.” The objective statement of Seminaries and Institutes (S&I) states in part, “Our purpose is to help youth and young adults understand and rely on the teachings and Atonement of Jesus Christ, qualify for the blessings …

Redefining The Roles Of Women And Sexual Ethics In The Roman Catholic Church, Kenneth Nauert

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

The Second Vatican Council was one of the most seminal councils in the history of the Roman Catholic Church, and had far reaching and engaging effects on the wider universal institution. One of the most important outcomes of Vatican II was not the reforming of orthopraxy, but the dialogue that developed within the Church regarding specific issues, two of which are the transforming dynamic of women’s roles in Church life and of Catholic sexual ethics. The decades following Vatican II became a new era of religious dialogue amongst Catholic scholars and theologians, which established new discussions on women’s ordination and …

Research As Inquiry, Social Justice, And The Particularist Challenges Of Religious Traditions In An Age Of Terror And Hate, Desirae Zingarelli-Sweet

Librarian Publications & Presentations

No abstract provided.

Evil And Theodicy In Hinduism, Sunder Willett

Denison Journal of Religion

Willett explores the ways in which Hinduism uniquely deals with ideas related to evil and theodicy. First, Willett describes the context behind the two terms “evil” and “theodicy.” He explains that because of its ambiguous definitions, the term religion complicates our understanding of the term evil. Likewise, the Christian perception of evil creates significant problems when trying to consider the way that evil is a part of or related to other religions. Willet describes theodicy as the attempt to answer questions concerning the overwhelming amount of evil in the world and how one can “reconcile the belief of a good …

Harnessing Shakti: The Social Implications Of Vedic And Classical Hindu Interpretations Of Female Power, Olivia Cox

Denison Journal of Religion

This essay argues that the role of women in Hindu culture during different time periods has not been defined by theological change so much as social and political change. The concept of Shakti, or woman's power, has always been present in Hindu theology, but the way in which that power has been understood differed depending on the socio-historical context. For instance, the relative stability of the Vedic period and the emphasis on domesticity and family during that period made for an atmosphere in which women were of the utmost importance. Therefore, their power was available in private life as well …

Cardinal Bernardin: A Framework For Consistency, Katie St. Clair

Denison Journal of Religion

This essay illuminates the tension that exists for many religious people as they consider the appropriate amount of overlap between their personal convictions and public, often political, decisions. Bernardin was the former Archbishop of Chicago and a member of the Second Vatican Council. He made recognizable efforts to enact the doctrines of Guadium et Spes, the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World. This document is famous for its declaration that the Church's aim is to "read the signs of the times and interpret them in light of the Gospel." Bernardin exemplified this notion by writing extensively on …

Religion And Genocide Nexuses: Bosnia As Case Study, Kate E. Temoney

Department of Religion Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Social scientists have been involved in systematic research on genocide for over forty years, yet an under-examined aspect of genocide literature is a sustained focus on the nexuses of religion and genocide, a lacuna that this article seeks to address. Four ways religion and genocide intersect are proposed, of which two will receive specific attention: (1) how religious rhetoric and (2) how religious individuals and institutions foment genocide. These two intersections are further nuanced by combining a Weberian method of typologies, the Durkheimian theory of collective violence, and empirical data in the form of rhetoric espoused by perpetrators and supporters …

Tower Of Babel, Al Klingler

Denison Journal of Religion

Klinger reinterprets the Tower of Babel narrative to turn it from a story that speaks simply about god's punishment of human arrogance to a story that integrates that notion with perspectives that focus on environmentalism and diversity. Klinger warns against the temptation to oversimplify biblical narratives. He claims that the story of the Tower of Babel is a perfect example of how frequently this occurs. Klinger does not completely discredit the original interpretation of the story, but he does posit that a fuller understanding of the story could be reached by allowing more than one theory to be engaged in …

Thine Is The Kingdom: The Political Thought Of 21st Century Evangelicalism, Joanna Tice Jen

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Despite renewed attention to religion and ethics in political theory, there is a notable absence of inquiry into evangelicalism. Social scientists have studied Christian right policy in the late 20th century, but how has the movement shifted in the new millennium and what are the theoretical beliefs that undergird those shifts? By reading popular devotional writings as political texts, this dissertation distills a three-part evangelical political thought: 1) a theory of time in which teleological eternity complements retroactive re-birth; 2) a theory of being wherein evangelicals learn to strive after their godly potential through a process of emotional self-regulation; and …