Digital Commons Network^™

Activities Of The Jehovah's Witnesses Organization As A "Litmus Test" For Religious Freedom In Ukraine, Roman Bogachev, Yana Tsymbalenko, Olena Leovkina, Igor Bogdanovskiy

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The article deals with the history and present stage of activities of the Jehovah's Witnesses organization in Ukraine. The attitude and actions of a state and the majority of its population towards the activities of the Jehovists and other non-traditional religious communities is viewed as a “litmus test,” which reveals how successfully the principle of religious freedom and freedom of conscience is implemented in public policy. It is emphasized that, unlike during the Soviet period, when the Jehovists were persecuted for their beliefs and missionary work, a required legal framework for free development of this religion has been created in …

Relationship Between Religion And Native American Identity, Gennaro W. Milo

Graduate Research Posters

The purpose of this study was to determine whether there is a relationship between religious affiliation and Native American Identity. Based on the findings of this study, a component of a Native American's Identity is their religious affiliation. To contribute to the research on Native American and Alaskan Native identity, this study targeted the teenage demographic of ages 12 to 19 years old. Over growing concern, expressed by tribal elders, about a loss of cultural identity amongst teens, this study investigates a connection between a teen’s sense of identity and their religious affiliation (Quigley, 2019). This study used a multiple-choice …

The Black Church: A Place Of Refuge – A Place Of Prayer, William F. Spencer

Masters Essays

No abstract provided.

Non-Religious Influence Of The Ukrainian Orthodox Church Of The Moscow Patriarchate On Ukrainian Society, Bogdan Synchak, Maksym Balaklytskyi, Volodymyr Dudarets

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The relevance of the study is provided by the Russian military invasion of Ukraine, more specifically, the hybrid nature of the war that Russia has been waging against Ukraine since 2014. The use of information technologies along with military force, among other things, provides for the involvement of the churches of the Moscow Patriarchate as an additional tool for the spread of destructive ideological influence in Ukraine. Attention to the non-religious influence of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP) on Ukrainian society is being updated against the background of the ideological confrontation between the Russian and Ukrainian worldview systems in …

Worldview Origins—Part 2: The Role Of Religion, The Bible, And Culture, Joseph Kidder, Katelyn Campbell Weakley

Journal of the Adventist Theological Society

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Using Transformational Preaching And Life-Skill Seminars To Promote Conversation And Dialogue On Abuse And Family Violence At Mount Olive Seventh-Day Adventist Church In Toronto, Jacqueline D. Peart

Doctor of Ministry Projects

Problem

Domestic violence is a hidden crime globally and it is a problem at the Mount Olive Seventh-day Adventist Church. Very often, the abusers and the abused are from the same family. Children who grow up in homes where physical and mental abuse is prevalent tend to become abusers or marry abusers. Members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church are not immune and need emotional healing from abuse and family violence. However, Christian communities typically appear silent on the issues of abuse and family violence.

Method

An exploratory process was devised to research the benefits of transformational preaching and life-skill seminars …

Book Reviews

The Asbury Journal

No abstract provided.

Hierarchy And Responsibility In Media: Cults, Culpability, And Culture, Max Hargett

Online Theses and Dissertations

This is a descriptive research project that investigates how popular entertainment media portrays cults. My intention is to see how the selected films and television shows portray issues of hierarchy and culpability within the cult and to explore how the genre and theme of the content was utilized in order to evoke certain reactions and sentiments in the audience. The selected films were The Sacrament, Martha Marcy May Marlene, and Midsommar. The selected television shows were Waco and American Horror Story: Cult. Each film and series is given its own analysis. Findings indicate that a common theme of the rigid …

Religion Has A Public Relations Problem: Integrating Evidence-Based Thinking Into Clinical Practice, Thomas G. Plante

Psychology

Religion and religious institutions receive a great deal of negative, rather than positive, attention and press. This creates an impression, for the casual observer, that religion and associated institutions are a plight on the planet. It is critically important for evidence-based research and best practices in clinical services to be well known and utilized within professional psychotherapy practice. Clinicians must be mindful of the many advantages of religious engagement for physical, mental, and community health and wellness. Psychologists, and other mental health professionals, tend to be secular and nonreligious and receive little, if any, training on religious diversity that may …

Concept Mapping To Identify Threshold Concepts Of The Missional Church Paradigm, Andrew M. Causey

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Exit Of 15-19-Year-Olds From Glory Outreach Assembly (Goa) : Best Practices For Reversing The Trend, John Njoroge Kareithi

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Knowledge, Attitude And Behavioral Change : A Study Of Youth In Deliverance Church Ong'ata Rongai, Peter Keffar Njogah

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Sustaining Spiritual Change In Wesleyan-Holiness Systems Of Discipleship In Selected Congregations In Illinois, U.S.A., Stephen J. Descalzo

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Spiritual Intelligence: The Next Intelligence Tool For Conflict Resolution Practitioners?, Peter Tokar

Department of Conflict Resolution Studies Theses and Dissertations

Abstract Spiritual intelligence is currently being utilized with positive results in many professional communities, yet it is practically unknown within the conflict resolution and peacebuilding communities, at least by name. Recent national polls have demonstrated a high percentages of Americans still embrace a spiritual dimension to their humanity. Although church attendance has been on the decline for the past couple decades, polls show that even the Millennial Generation and GenZ are still interested in spirituality, though in a non-ecclesiastically organized way. Although significant sensitivities remain in society and culture concerning the separation of church and state, literally millions of Americans …

Three Miles Per Hour: Shifting From Performance To Heart Orientation Among Seventh-Day Adventist Pastors, Royce A. V. Odiyar

Master's Theses

This thesis examines the presence and impact of performance orientation among Seventh-day Adventist pastors. It identifies multiple factors involved in perpetuating performance orientation and includes strategies to shift from performance to heart orientation in life and pastoral ministry. Using a mixed-method design, this research collected qualitative data via focus groups and quantitative data via an online survey. There was a total of eight focus groups with thirty-three participants, and the online survey gathered fifty-one responses. Focus group participants and survey respondents included both men and women from North America who were ethnically diverse. The research revealed significant concerns regarding pastoral …

The Significance Of Hosea 13:11: A Study Of The Monarchy In Ancient Israel, Tuo Wang

Master's Theses

Problem

In Hosea 13:11, God said that "I gave you a king in My anger and took him away in My wrath." Why did God say that? What is the meaning of this expression? It is obvious that God expressed a negative view in this verse. Regarding the reason, why God held such an attitude, there are four common understandings: (1) because of the sins of the Israelites, (2) because the Israelites did not trust God in demanding a king for themselves, (3) because God wanted to give the Israelites a lesson in their disobedience, (4) because God denied the …

Adventist Culture In The Ussr, Dmitrii Fokin

Master's Theses

Any religion, including Christianity, is not only a system of beliefs and doctrines, but also patterns of behavior that make up a certain culture of its followers. The degree of development of religious culture and involvement in it largely determines the self-identification of members of communities of various denominations. It can be expressed through the following markers: everyday behavior, the presence of specific vocabulary, the formation of oral, musical, visual and written creativity of a particular religious movement. This is true of Seventh-day Adventist culture as well.

Statement of the Problem

However, to date there is no full-fledged study on …

Multilayered Agency And Religion: A Study Of The Catholic Bishops Conference Of The Philippines (1986–1998), Christian Santos

Theses

The present thesis examines the core issue of how to understand and situate the agency of a religious actor in International Relations (IR). This is investigated through a case study of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) in two comparative policy contexts: agrarian land reform and family planning. The CBCP is a permanent institution within the Catholic Church as a collective of the bishops of the Philippines. The research employs analytic eclecticism as the method to integrate select works from four principal scholars: Colin Wight, Adrian Pabst, Atalia Omer and Mariano Barbato. Wight’s tripartite multilayered framework of agency …

Memory, Trauma, And Religious Identity, Petro Kotliarov, Valentyna Kuryliak, Stefaniia Demchuk

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The so-called ‘memorial turn’ triggered a huge shift in historical studies of the late 20th century. It brought into focus stories of the ‘small people’ previously left out from the ‘grand narrative.’ For post-Soviet countries, the memorial turn can be perceived as an indicator of changes in society associated with the opportunity and interest of previously oppressed social groups and religious movements in finding their "roots," when the reconstruction of personal history becomes the history of the church and strengthens collective identity. In this essay, we attempted at reconstructing the traumatic history of the "little" people in the context of …

From Stumbling Blocks To Stepping Stones What America Can Learn From Germany About Reconciliation, Melissa Dalton-Bradford

BYU Studies

On December 7, 1970, while in Poland to sign the Warsaw Treaty, German chancellor Willy Brandt visited the memorial to the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. The towering stone and bronze monument commemorates the bloody confrontation between Polish resistance groups and German military that took place on the eve of Passover in April 1943, when seven hundred Jewish insurgents wielding only pistols and homemade grenades fought against the well-equipped SS, who, in the end, leveled and incinerated the entire ghetto. More than seven thousand Jews died in that uprising, and an additional forty-two thousand were rounded up and deported to concentration camps. …

Saving A Child (Exodus 1-2), Kevin L. Tolley

Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

Exodus is arguably the most essential book in the Hebrew Bible because it depicts the pivotal events in Israel’s history and the definitive institutions of its religion. These themes have reverberated through all subsequent Jewish and Christian history.[1] Nahum Sarna wrote that the Exodus narrative “profoundly influenced ethical and social consciousness” in the Torah and was the “motivation for protecting and promoting the interests and rights of the stranger and disadvantaged of society.”[2]

Religious Literacy Practices For Young Readers, Eric D. Rackley, Rebekah Kay Strain

Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

Although much of our gospel knowledge depends upon our interactions with scripture, misconceptions about reading it persist. One of the most enduring is the illusion of comprehension in which young readers mistakenly believe that reading words is sufficient to understand ideas.[1] To understand the important insights embedded in scripture and other complex texts, “reading must go considerably beyond the words alone.”[2] Words are sketches of ideas—not ideas themselves—so no text, however descriptive or eloquent, can include all the information necessary to understand its most compelling truths. For young readers to take full advantage of scripture and have the truths of …

Religion And Sexual Orientation As Predictors Of Utah Youth Suicidality, W. Justin Dyer, Michael A. Goodman, David S. Wood

BYU Studies

Adolescent suicide rates have increased substantially over the last two decades; suicide has become the second leading cause of death for adolescents and young adults since 2017. Some areas in the U.S. have experienced particularly large rises in suicide. For example, according to the Utah Department of Health, there was a 136.2 percent increase in suicides among Utah youth age 10–17 from 2011 to 2015, compared to an increase of 24 percent nationally.

“No Matter Where You’Re From, We’Re Glad You’Re Our Neighbor”: Enacting Justice Initiatives And Community Formation In Faith-Based Organizations, Jenna M. Smith

Senior Independent Study Theses

Faith-Based Organizations (FBOs) in the United States offer a variety of services and influence social dynamics within their communities, specifically in northeast Ohio. Churches, service agencies, and ministries often pursue immigration advocacy initiatives and ground their work in religious doctrine, using frameworks such as ‘hospitality’ and ‘welcoming the stranger’ to motivate their own initiatives and connect with uninvolved or antagonistic populations. Due to current climates of political polarization and dehumanizing rhetoric in immigration dialogues, this study seeks to analyze the ways in which religious actors define and enact community and explore the contributions of the groups in which they serve. …

Economic Models Of Church Life: Three Nudges Towards Better Behaviour, Stephen Bullivant

Theology Papers and Journal Articles

Economic ideas have long shed light on diverse spheres of social and cultural life. Religion is no exception and has spawned a large and thriving subfield. However, whereas recent decades have famously witnessed a ‘behavioural’ turn in economics – with Nobel prizes going to two pioneers of the field, Daniel Kahneman in 2002 and Richard Thaler in 2017 – there has yet to be significant work done in the ‘behavioural economics of religion’. This is a shame; there are good reasons for thinking that behavioural-economic theories and findings might be particularly well suited to illumine several areas of practical church …

Isaac Newton As A Prophetic Interpreter, Kenneth Jørgensen

Dissertations

Throughout his life, Sir Isaac Newton was deeply dedicated to the science of decoding biblical apocalyptic writings. To understand and appreciate Newton's prophetic scheme, it will be advantagous to have a certain grasp of what sources and ideas might have influenced him. No comprehensive study before this one has helped us see Newton from that perspective. A survey of the development of canonical apocalyptic hermeneutic and interpretation, beginning before the time of Christ and ending with Newton, shows that four distinct systems of hermeneutics had developed by that time. Historicism was the earliest and the preferred system among Protestants until …

The Sin Of Racism, Ray Almanza

LMU Theses and Dissertations

This project examines the history of racism in relation to the Catholic Church. This history amounts to an indictment of the Roman Catholic Church not only as a neutral party in the historical emergence of white supremacy, but a directly linked cause of racism. First, it describes how racism emerged in its modern manifestation in three major dimensions which include the geopolitical, economic, and social. Then, it centers on two general forms of analysis, a cultural analysis, and a philosophical analysis. Drawing on insights from Liberation Theology, various themes are highlighted as they apply to the discussion of race in …

How Shame Shapes Church Planting : Exploring Impacts On Gospel Receptivity Among Emerging Adults, Robert Mark Montgomery

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Chapter 3. A First Love: Usa Spiritans And African Americans, Michael Grey C.S.Sp.

Spiritan Horizons

No abstract provided.

"Because God Said So": A Thematic Analysis Of Why People Denounce Black Greek-Letter Organizations, Mea Ashley

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Today, Black Greek-letter organizations (BGLOs) struggle to use empirical data to address financial burden, elitism, hazing, relevance in social justice issues, and the anti-BGLO movement. The anti-BGLO movement frames this study. The movement stems from beliefs that secret societies, fraternities, and sororities are anti-Christian. Society will continue to question the relevance and importance of BGLOs if they cannot overcome the issues plaguing them. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to ascertain why members are leaving BGLOs, in case the organizations find the anti-BGLO movement to be a threat to organizational vitality. Through thematic analysis, 18 YouTube testimonials from denouncers …