The Spread Of Buddhism During Ancient China, Emma Englehart

Senior Theses

Stories contain the power to be able to pull people in and engulf them with the teachings and enjoyment they possess. Storytelling is used in many different manners and one of those is through religion. It is through the telling of stories, and eventually the writing of them, that major religious beliefs have successfully spread to other parts of the world instead of staying in one place. Buddhism is one of the religions that is well-known and practiced by many because of the spread of its stories to other parts of the world, especially Asia. In ancient China, Buddhism flourished …

Music And Islamic Reform, Amanda Pierce

Senior Theses

Music in the Islamic world is being used as a tool for change. Islam is going though a period of major reform, and music is a way to get people all over the world to listen. Though music is prohibited among conservative groups, the Sufis and Islamic youth are spreading ideas of nonviolence and love both to audiences within the religion and to outsiders. The introduction of music has been met with heavy resistance by orthodox members of the religious community, but it has also brought change and success.

The Theology Of William Hordern: Living By Grace, Gordon A. Jensen

Consensus

No abstract provided.

Unlocking A Narrative: Stories Of Islam And Peacebuilding And Conflict Transformation, Jeremy Sinensky

Capstone Collection

This paper, “Unlocking a Narrative: Stories of Islam and Peacebuilding and Conflict Transformation,” highlights largely repressed and ignored experiences and information related to peacebuilding and conflict transformation within Islam, conveyed through eight semi-structured, in-depth interviews with a diverse range of self-identified Muslims as well as relevant academic literature on the subject. I elected to focus on the research question of: “How can Islam be understood as a tool or lifestyle used for peacebuilding and conflict transformation endeavors?” so as to raise awareness of a largely invisible body of knowledge (within dominant social circles, popular media, and the breadth of …

Strategic Study Abroad: A Program Proposal For Continued Faith Development Of Chi Alpha Students Studying Abroad, Erin Leonard

Capstone Collection

With around 28,000 individual participants, Chi Alpha is a diverse network of Christian students on U.S. college campuses. By regularly meeting in groups and collectively reaching out to the community, students develop their faith and build lasting relationships.

Faith development is an integral part of Chi Alpha students’ lives. Yet, because community is an important aspect in faith development, studying abroad can cause challenges. Students expressed missing accessible Christian peer support and mentorship while abroad. They further expressed disconnection from their faith and felt their spirituality had declined while studying abroad.

As study abroad participation has been increasing over the …

Confirmation Of Prophecy By Proxy: Audience Anticipation And Reception Of The 2014 Movie Left Behind And Its Relevance To The Dispensational Premillennialist Worldview, Andrew R. Burns

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Media has the potential to legitimize or spread a belief system to the general public. The 2014 movie Left Behind is an example of a deliberate attempt at promoting the belief system referred to as dispensational premillennialism (DPM), or belief in the imminent rapture of Christians. Producers of Left Behind (2014) sought to promote DPM to the general public, hoping for a mass conversion. Online discussion and interviews were gathered and interpreted qualitatively. Content analysis of audience anticipation and reception show believers were as concerned with the conversion of the general public via this movie than the movie itself. Differences …

Return To Political Theology, Joshua D. Hawley

Notre Dame Law Review

My aim in what follows is to employ N.T. Wright’s powerful and provocative analysis of Paul’s political gospel as a critical perspective on the foundational claims of the Great Separation. Because the very possibility of political theology is disputed in many quarters, I begin in Part I with a defense of political theology as critical theory. In Part II, I turn to Paul’s political gospel, tracing Wright’s reconstruction of its central terms, including the Pauline critique of empire. In Part III, I explore—briefly—the affirmative political vision Pauline theology makes possible, with particular focus on that theology’s unique form of political …

Ua68/11/1 Philosophy & Religion News, Vol. 7, No. 3, Wku Philosophy & Religion

WKU Administration Documents

WKU Philosophy & Religion newsletter regarding activities of faculty, staff, students and alumni.

A Way Forward: An Alternative Way For Understanding What The Bible Is And How It Is Understood, Joshua Scott

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Christianity in America is in decline. Millennials are leaving the evangelical churches of their youth in droves, but they aren’t leaving the idea of God or spirituality. Statistics show that the theology of the fundamentalist/conservative evangelical church is contributing to this exodus of Millennials, particularly when it comes to issues of environment, sexuality, and violence. This thesis explores the roots of fundamentalist theology—particularly their understanding of what the Bible is, and how it is to be understood—and how this theology is practically worked out in their approach to the three issues mentioned above. Finally, I offer an alternative framework for …

College Basketball In Kentucky, Religion, And Distinguishing Between The Two: Concerns And Cautions For The Conversation On The Religiosity Of Sports, Matthew A. Sheffield

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Academic analysis of sport and religion is still in an early and formative phase. Only in the past fifty years has the conversation of sport and religion substantially been revealed as subject matter for serious academic work. This thesis includes literature from various scholars interested in religion and sport, contemplation on the religious nature of college basketball in the state of Kentucky, and challenges for leading scholars arguing over the notion of sport as a form of religion. The first half of the thesis presents the narrative of the increasingly growing academic debate over considering sport a religious phenomenon. The …

Interview With Reverend Bill Maloney, Edward Seitz

Chicago 1968

Length: 122 minutes

Interview with Reverend Bill Maloney by Edward Seitz

Rev. Maloney begins by explaining how, by virtue of their location alone, his church was at the center of the Conspiracy Seven [aka Chicago Seven] trial, when protesters, press and police would meet inside their building. He then talks about his childhood in East Liverpool, Ohio, growing up a very observant Lutheran family, participating in his high school newspaper and theater, and later, his college radio station. He recalls his time at Youngstown State University studying philosophy and sociology, his experiences in seminary school at Hammond Divinity School, and …

Violence For A Peaceful End: Rhetorical Violence, Fundamentalist Eschatology, And The Interpretive Tradition Of Revelation, Tommi Karin Waters

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

With the rise of extremist fundamentalist groups, such as ISIS, it is important to note similar happenings in other traditions. This thesis traces the interpretive tradition of the Book of Revelation, from its composition in 90 C.E. through the dispensationalist usage of it by John Nelson Darby in the 19th century, and how its modern use by American Christian fundamentalist groups leads to rhetorical violence, including feelings of marginalization and societal targeting, and creation of insider/outsider dynamics with those outside the tradition. While rhetorical violence—language and behaviors that harm others and that occur so regularly that they often become routinized …

Modal Logic And Ontological Arguments, Alex Yousif

Masters Theses

In this thesis I will evaluate various modal ontological arguments for the existence of God. I will evaluate Kurt Gödel’s modal ontological argument (as preserved by his student Dana Scott), and Anthony Anderson’s emendation of it. I will conclude that both Gödel’s argument and Anderson’s emendation fail. I then propose a revised version of C’Zar Bernstein’s ontological argument. I conclude that while this argument is not rationally compelling, it is more plausibly sound than not. Finally, I will demonstrate that some extant general objections to modal ontological arguments are unconvincing.

Shepherding Electric Sheep: A Roman Catholic Response To The Emerging Challenge Of Transhumanism, Joshua St.Onge

Master of Arts in Religious Studies (M.A.R.S. Theses)

Transhumanism is a philosophical, political, and social movement that asserts that human well-being will be dramatically improved through the radical integration of new technologies into the human body and/or through the replacement of the organic human body with a synthetic 'body.' Ray Kurzweil, a dynamic, articulate, and leading transhumanist, offers an anthropological understanding that represents the main strand of transhumanist though about the human person: humans are patterns of information that can adjust themselves, and overcoming limitations is the defining human characteristic. This anthropology is implicit in many aspects of Western civilization already: law, medicine, and the military are a …

The Theology And Agency Of Love As The Substance Of Kingian Non-Violent Philosophy And Activism., Matthew Quainoo

Senior Honors Projects

The theology of Love focuses on King’s understanding of God as love:

A Research Abstract (Project Summary)

Problem: Almost 50 years after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., controversy continues to swirl around the motivational forces that inspired the nonviolence approach employed by King in his fight for equality for African Americans, the economically disadvantaged and victims of injustice through peaceful protest. Some scholars argue that Kings was inspired by such advocates of nonviolence such as Mahatma Gandhi and Buddha Shakyamuni. Others believe that Dr. King’s philosophy of nonviolence was an expression of the Christian theology of God …

Full Issue, No Author

Verbum

This is the full issue of Volume 12, Issue 2 of Verbum, published in Spring 2015 by the REST Club at St. John Fisher College. Articles from this issue are available as separate PDFs at http://fisherpub.sjfc.edu/verbum/vol12/iss2/

From Spiritualists To Neopagans: Complicating American Religious Pluralism, Clara Marie Schoonmaker

Theses - ALL

This thesis explores the relationship between minority religions and American religious pluralism, an ideology which supports religious equality and functions through social norms and legal mechanisms. Examining American religious pluralism’s responses to efforts by nineteenth-century Spiritualists and contemporary Pagans to gain social recognition and political rights produces new insights into the nature of American religious pluralism. I argue that conceiving of American religious pluralism as a project with inherently Protestant Christian investments challenges its ability to support religious equality and exposes the ways in which it actively works to marginalize minority religions due to their inconsistency with the beliefs and …

Jesus And Tiberius: An Examination Of Source Reliability, Timothy B. Chrisman

Liberty Theological Review

Since the introduction to the critical method of studying the Old and New Testament in the nineteenth century, doubt has been thrown on the historical reliability of the biblical narrative accounts, especially the four Gospels. Yet, far less scrutiny and denigration have been applied to historical sources written during the time of the Roman Empire. A comparison, then, is proposed. It would be beneficial to compare the sources that detailed the life and ministry of Jesus of Nazareth, namely, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John and the four sources which chronicled the life of Tiberius, emperor of the Roman Empire during …

The Mystical Union Of Infant Baptism: How Baptists Contributed To The Idea Of Race By Their Rejection Of Infant Baptism, Isaiah E. Jones

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

In the first three centuries CE, the sacrament of baptism proved to be a universal tool which united people beyond age, race, or ethnicity as we understand it today. To put it simply, the theological meaning of baptism was reinforced by the sacrament of infant baptism. That is to say that the Christian faith was for all, irrespective of one’s race, age, or social-status. This openness to Christianity changed in the early modern period. In the seventeenth century the Baptists rejected infant baptism, for a more rational faith based on Enlightenment and Romantic assumptions. What the Baptists did not realize …

Of Dogs And Disciples: Gentiles And The Discourse Of Identity In The Gospel Of Matthew, Angela D. Ingram

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

This thesis examines some of the ways that the narrative of the Gospel of Matthew functions rhetorically, within the context of a broader first-century Jewish-Christian discourse of identity, to construct insider identity—i.e., to construct disciples—in relation to non-Jews. The focus, in particular, is on two key tensions regarding non-Jews in the narrative context of the gospel: 1) the tension between the negative stereotypical "Gentiles" of Jesus discourse and the very positive portrayal of some Gentile characters in the narrative; and 2) the tension between the two commissions of Jesus to his disciples, between his first command to "go nowhere among …

Life Itself, Daniel Ross Goodman

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of the movie "Life Itself" (2014), Steve James' documentary about the life of film critic Roger Ebert.

The Predestination Debate: A Harmony Of Corporate Election And Individual Election, Bradley Smith

Senior Honors Theses

The topic of predestination has been discussed throughout church history in the work of men like Augustine, Pelagius, Calvin, Arminius, and Barth. Corporate election seeks to reconcile some problematic areas of Calvinistic and Arminian theology by arguing that in the same way that God chose the nation of Israel through His election of Abraham, so He also chose the Church through His election of Jesus Christ. Despite this view’s seemingly convincing evidence, Scripture points far beyond its main tenets. God’s unconditional election of individuals ought to be foundational to the understanding of corporate election. This study will discuss and interact …

The Old Testament 30 Years Later: Consistency And Change, Alice Laffey

HCAA Continuing Education Day

The answer depends on the question. The question depends on underlying assumptions. The first part of the “class” will describe the methods used to interpret the Old Testament in the early part of the Christian era, in response to the Enlightenment and, for Catholics, Vatican II and, more recently in the developed world, as a consequence of post-modern culture. This first part of the “class” will serve as an Introduction to the second part in which pre-modern, modern, and post-modern assumptions, methods and approaches will be applied to the book of Ruth. “Students” are encouraged to read the book of …

The Gospel According To Nephi, Noel B. Reynolds

Faculty Publications

2 Nephi 31 was written by Nephi as a grand finale to his small plates and was placed at the end to signal its premier importance. It is the centerpiece of his concluding sermon as signaled by a series of inclusios. It is presented as a flashback to the great vision received by both Lehi and Nephi in the first camp in the wilderness—over forty years earlier. But only here are we told for the first time that when Nephi witnessed the baptism of Jesus Christ in that early vision, he was simultaneously team-taught the gospel of Jesus Christ by …

Documentary As Exorcism: Resisting The Bewitchment Of Colonial Christianity, Michael Broyles

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a book review of Documentary as Exorcism: Resisting the Bewitchment of Colonial Christianity by Robert Beckford.

Eucharistic Imagery In Film: Two Patterns Of Usage, Caesar A. Montevecchio

Journal of Religion & Film

In Christian tradition, the primary effects of the Eucharist are the formation of koinonia and the facilitating of metanoia. Metaphorically, these effects make the Eucharist a symbol of community building and personal transformation. However, the way that such symbolic meaning is emplotted in film can vary between two distinct approaches. Augmentative usage uses Eucharistic symbols to deepen and amplify narrative instances of community building, such as by family gathering or reconciliation between characters, or character growth. In ironic usage, Eucharistic symbols elicit standards of virtue and goodness that help critique actions or events that damage koinonia or prevent characters …

An Evil Threat To Marriage, Children And The Future: Queer Theory, "The Passion Of The Christ," And Evangelical Political Rhetoric, Richard Wolff

Journal of Religion & Film

This article employs queer theory to analyze Mel Gibson’s film The Passion of the Christ (2004) for its portrayal of queer characters (Satan and Herod) in contrast with non-queer (Pilate and Claudia, Seraphia, Simon the Cyrene, and Mary, Christ’s mother), and how it depicts the former as evil and the latter as good. In particular, these contrasts involve self-indulgent or predatory sexual expression versus a healthy marital relationship, and evil versus loving influences over children, who represent hope for the future. Finally, the article looks at the film’s heavy marketing to American evangelicals and how the symbolic representations in the …

African Initiated Churches : The Case Of The Igreja Evangelica Amor De Deus, Romanos 5 : 5, Em Mocambique : (Love Of God Evangelical Church, Romans 5 : 5, In Mozambique), Philip H. Troutman

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Dasaran: A Medium For Grief In Bali, Anna Spencer

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Coming to Bali, I knew that I wanted to understand a sliver of the experiences that people have after a loved-one dies. Of course, there is no one way that people in Bali or anywhere process the loss of a loved-one, yet I am continually fascinated by how people understand and cope with the many feelings that occur after someone dies.

My interest in this topic started out of necessity my junior year of high school when I attended three funerals in ten days. The first was for an elderly friend, then one for my teammate’s father, and the last …

"Make My Joy Complete": The Price Of Partnership In The Letter Of Paul To The Philippians, Mark Avery Jennings

Dissertations (1934 -)

My study challenges the consensus that there is no discernable, single purpose that shapes the entire epistle to the Philippians. I argue that Paul writes Philippians with the sole intent of persuading the church to maintain its exclusive partnership with him and his gospel mission. I examine each section of Philippians using standard historical-critical methods, rhetorical criticism, and social-scientific methods. Special attention is given to those passages where the majority of scholars have argued that Paul has changed subjects. The grammatical imperatives (especially those in 1:27; 2:2, 12, 14, 29; 3:17) factor significantly in this analysis. After surveying the scholarship …