Digital Commons Network^™

Using Statistics In Church-Based Research, David R. Dunaetz

Great Commission Research Journal

Although the proper use of statistics is challenging for most people, including researchers, aggregated numeric data is often the strongest evidence that a researcher can present to support an idea. This is because statistics is such a powerful tool for detecting trends that can be observed in complex contexts such as churches. Church researchers need to understand two classes of statistics: descriptive statistics and inferential statistics. Descriptive statistics describe the different variables that are measured in a study and include the mean, the standard deviation, and confidence intervals. They also include correlations showing how these variables are related to each …

Honoring The Other: The Imago Dei As A Foundational Doctrine For How The Church Treats The Marginalized, Brett A. Desper

Doctor of Ministry

The church struggles to minister to those on the margins of society, frequently dehumanizing those it ministers to. This dissertation argues that a starting point for addressing this issue is a renewal of the imago Dei doctrine as the foundation of what it means to be human. Chapter One defines the problem by referring to two primary problem areas: poverty and displaced people. A definition of poverty is offered, and four primary approaches to alleviate poverty are examined. Causes and definitions of displacement of people from their homes are offered, and some current relief methods are evaluated. Finally, a fundamental …

Using Catholic Social Thought And The Normativity Of The Future In Responding To The Super Wicked Problem Of Climate Change, Stephanie Ann Yu Puen

Theology Department Faculty Publications

The climate crisis has been dubbed a “super wicked problem”—one where there is a sense of urgency, complicity in the problem by those who wish to solve it, and difficulty in sacrificing the short term for the long term. To respond to the difficulty of long-term thinking in addressing super wicked problems as part of SDG 13 (Climate Action), there is a need to pay attention to the narratives, norms, and values at work, and how we employ these categories in climate action. This paper discusses how Catholic social thought and the concept of the normativity of the future can …

The Operation Of The Holy Spirit In Pastoral Counseling And Chaplaincy, Elizabeth Canfield

Doctor of Ministry (DMin)

The operation of the Holy Spirit in pastoral counseling and chaplaincy is a topic that is difficult to quantify. How and where the Holy Spirit moves is often a mystery. This dissertation seeks to understand the movement of the Holy Spirit in pastoral counseling and chaplaincy in the form of a theological and literature review looking into the history of soul care/pastoral counseling and the development of chaplaincy. It also looks at who the Holy Spirit is, how the Spirit operates, and develops a theology of the Holy Spirit within pastoral counseling and chaplaincy with a focus on spiritual gifts. …

Crisis Of Youth Homelessness In Birmingham, Alabama, Velma Annette Williams

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The economic and educational conditions of Jefferson County, Alabama, have contributed significantly to the increase of homeless families with children (LaGory et al., 2018). The failures of the foster care system have exponentially increased the population of homeless youth ages 19 to 26 (Burge et al., 2021). The lack of efficient public transportation emergency and affordable long-term housing has created a permanent population of homelessness (Kelly, 2020). Within the homeless culture, the increased incidents of violence, substance abuse, and sexual and physical abuse combined with functional illiteracy create an environment that breeds repetitive behaviors that reproduce the homeless outcomes (Burge …

Wisdom City: Towards A Political Reading Of The Wisdom Genre, James E. Golec Jr.

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The contemporary conversation surrounding the wisdom genre shows a lack of consensus regarding the origin, nature, and biblical use of wisdom. This situation can be improved through reading the biblical wisdom genre politically, revealing the principles that create and sustain a God-fearing society. The hermeneutical key to accomplish this task begins with the claim that the book of Proverbs presents itself as a ‘city in a book.’ The outline of Proverbs, especially via the first nine chapters, introduces coherence between the concept of wisdom and an archetypal city. Second, the book provides a transformative engine, which can be found in …

Organizing And The Revitalization Of American Catholicism, Richard L. Wood

Sociology Faculty and Staff Publications

American Catholicism today struggles to sustain its longtime character as a truly “public religion”—that is, a religious tradition with a vital presence within the public sphere in the US. Reinvigorating Catholicism in the US will require both internal renewal and new approaches to public life, both of which will require continuity with the deep tradition and significant reorientation of ecclesial dynamics. This paper argues that specific, faith-based community-organizing practices can help renew the public voice of Catholicism. In adopting such practices and inflecting them through Catholic commitment to theologically coherent processes of leadership formation, American Catholicism can reinvigorate parish life …

Why Were There No Jokes After The 2021 Meron Crowd Crush? On Israeli “Joking Relationships”, Tsafi Sebba-Elran

Jewish Folklore and Ethnology

The vast research literature on disaster jokes demonstrates that no calamity is too horrific to be followed by jokes that typically recontextualize traumatic events and channel the threatening voices that these events provoke. Why, then, did no jokes circulate after the deadliest civil disaster in Israel’s history, which occurred on Mount Meron during the Lag Ba’Omer celebrations in April 2021? Drawing upon the ethnographic concept of “joking relationships,” this essay documents representations of ultra-Orthodox Jews (Haredim) in contemporary Israeli memes and explains the restraint that Israeli society shows toward this group with whom the Meron disaster is associated. …

The Meaning Of Life’S Broken Fragments: A Constructive Theology Of Fragmentation Grounded In Dietrich Bonhoeffer’S Theological Ethics, Meghan Toomey

Dissertations

Understood comprehensively, Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s legacy offers contemporary American Catholicism a contextual approach to theological ethics that can meaningfully inform the development of an ethics of resistance to totalitarian and pseudo-religious forces that dominate U.S. politics today. Unfortunately, Catholic scholarship on Bonhoeffer overall has failed to grasp the full scope of his work and to incorporate his biography and the historical and theological context in which he lived. This dissertation brings Bonhoeffer into dialogue with modern and postmodern American Catholic theological contexts, specifically engaging Bonhoeffer’s concept of analogia relationis, his incarnational Christocentrism, and his embrace of contextual ambiguity. This dissertation is …

Multiracial Congregations: Transformative Or Status Quo?, Michelle Dodson

Dissertations

This dissertation aims to begin to clarify whether Protestant, multiracial churches are in fact challenging racism and, if so, how. To this end, my study turns its attention to social engagement. What role, if any, do these churches play in their larger social contexts? Are they socially engaged in ways that challenge racial injustice? Do they foster this type of social engagement in those who attend? These are some of the questions this study begins to answer. This is an ethnographic study of four congregations in Chicago, IL. Through a careful study of each congregation’s racial discourse and their understanding …

A Womanist Narrative Ethics Of Survival: An Exploration In African American Meaning Making, Lashaunda Janeice Reese

Dissertations

This project creates a womanist narrative ethics of survival framework using literary analysis, sociological and theological comparisons, and reflections on moral dilemmas in fiction and history. Steeped in the African American woman’s experiential perspective, this framework provides an alternative viewpoint through which to examine and analyze ethical issues arising in the context of marginalized bodies. Integrating the Christian faith, the history of chattel slavery in the United States, and the expanding field of African American literature and literary theory, this work posits that fiction provides a rich platform to work through thick moral dilemmas, affording a concrete ethical framework to …

Review Of Chadian Sister Engages Kansas City Youth About Peace And Justice/ Citoyenne Du Monde En Construction A Kansas City, Tiffany Hunsinger

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.

Review Of Our Trespasses: White Churches And The Taking Of American Neighborhoods, Peter R. Gathje

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.

Review Of Thoman Merton’S Tree Of Life: The Growth Of A Radical Ecologist, Paul Pynkoski

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.

Review Of Merton And Hinduism: The Yoga Of The Heart, Dhinakaran Savariyar

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.

Review Of Islamophobia: What Christians Should Know (And Do) About Anti-Muslim Discrimination, Carl Chudy

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.

Review Of The Call: The Spiritual Realism Of Sargent Shriver Review Of Spiritualizing Politics Without Politicizing Religion: The Example Of Sargent Shriver, William Droel

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.

Emmanuel Mounier’S Four Books On Communitarian Personalism: Engaging With Existentialism, Marxism, And & Teilhard De Chardin, Joe Holland

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.

Review Of Sermons On The Parables, Wendy L. Pohlhaus

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.

Review Of Monastic Ecological Wisdom: A Living Tradition, Katherine Howard

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.

Review Of Spiritual Audacity: The Abraham Joshua Heschel Story, John C. Merkle

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.

Cosmic Partnership: Hildegard Of Bingen’S Vision Of An Integral Ecology, Almut Furchert

The Journal of Social Encounters

Though Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179), Benedictine Abbess and polymath, canonized and proclaimed Doctor of the Church in 2012, has been named a patron of ecology, only fragments of her ecological philosophy exist. This article attempts to introduce Hildegard’s polyphonic work by outlining her theology of viriditas as the green thread that connects her cosmological, anthropological, and ethical theory and to show how it constructs the relationship between humanity and creation as a cosmic partnership. Hildegard's striking visual style is not only inspired by her appreciation of the natural world, but deeply grounded in her theology. This theology entails an ethical …

Peace Bishops: Lessons From Dom Hélder Câmara In Brazil: Inquiry, Teaching, And Aesthetics, Louis Edgar Esparza

The Journal of Social Encounters

This essay explains how Dom Hélder Câmara, archbishop of Olinda and Recife, used the traditions of critical inquiry, Catholic social teaching, and cultural aesthetics to advocate for the poor in the northeast of Brazil during the military dictatorship of 1964-1985. It details the adversity that Câmara and others in his position faced, providing some historical context for those events. Drawing from social movement and theological sources, the article then proceeds to highlight critical inquiry, Catholic social teaching, and cultural aesthetics as driving forces in Câmara’s work.

Recommended List Of References On Sudan And Darfur, Mawa Mohamed, Ronald Pagnucco

The Journal of Social Encounters

We have compiled a list of recommended readings focusing on Sudan and Darfur. While this list provides valuable insights into key topics and issues, it is by no means exhaustive. There are many more scholarly works, articles, and reports that offer further depth and understanding. This compilation is intended as a starting point, and we encourage further exploration to gain a more comprehensive perspective on the complexities of Sudan and Darfur.

Agents Of Change: Women’S Leadership In Peacebuilding And Social Transformation In Abu-Shouk Camp, Mawa Mohamed, Shamsia Ramadhan

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.

Sustainable Tourism As A Tool For Post-Conflict Economic Reconstruction. A Situational Analysis Of Sudan, Lorenzo Belotti

The Journal of Social Encounters

As Sudan is grappling with a conflict that is taking its toll on the economy and is displacing millions of individuals, pathways to a sustainable reconstruction of the country are needed for the stability of a future peace. Tourism in Sudan has been confined to small initiatives during all its history, despite the invaluable heritage that its territory holds. This article aims at investigating the potential of tourism as an engine for the sustainable development of the country and the improvement of the livelihoods of local communities, as it has been for other nations in recent history. The main goal …

The Response Of Macroeconomic Variables To Government Spending Shocks In The Sudanese Economy 1989-2019: Comparing The Structural Shocks (Dsge Approach) And Impulse Response (Svar Model), Hassan Tawakol A. Fadol

The Journal of Social Encounters

The importance that different (approaches and models) to modeling the macroeconomy place on theoretical coherence compared to their capacity to match the data and the quality of the econometric model description varies. Dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) models are more theoretical, whereas vector autoregression (SVAR) models provide a better match to the data. For developed economies, there are well-established publications on measuring the response of economic indicators to government spending shocks and aggregate macroeconomic activity. In addition, such empirical studies in emerging nations are scarce. This research seeks to fill this void by utilizing the DSGE model and the SVAR …

The Revolution Is Not Over: Sudanese Female Asylum Seekers And Refugees In Belfast, Dianne Kirby

The Journal of Social Encounters

Female Sudanese asylum seekers and refugees in Belfast were instrumental in establishing a women’s collective, Anaka. The original goal was provision of a safe space where the founders could help women confronting the harshness of the asylum system alone and afraid, as they had been. The endeavour to mitigate the hard realities of a challenging system in a hostile environment led to the collective becoming an advocacy and campaigning group. The ethos was one of participation and empowerment, deploying skills, creative capacities and political insights forged in the fight for Sudanese democracy. The key issues confronting female refugees -- housing, …

Darfur’S Armed Movements: Evolution Of Roles And Relations With Actors In Light Of The April 15 War, Marwan M. Hamza

The Journal of Social Encounters

This research comes in eight main sections, comprising a historical background of the conflicts in Sudan in general and Darfur in particular; an intro to armed movements active in Darfur the research team have monitored; and an extensive analysis of interviews the team conducted with members of the armed movements, independent actors and the native administrations.

Focusing on the Darfuri armed movements’ evolution of roles during the April 15 War, an analysis of respondents’ responses highlights varying takes on the impact of the Juba Peace Agreement (JPA). While some deems it futile as to resolve conflicts, others admittedly view it …

Sudan’S Current Conflict: Implications For The Bordering Regions And Influence Of The Key Regional/International Actors, Raimundo Gregoire

The Journal of Social Encounters

Since the beginning of the latest violent crisis, which began in April 2023, Sudan has been suffering the consequences of an armed conflict, that is worsening the humanitarian crisis and sociopolitical instability. In this context, it is worth analysing how this conflict affects the neighbouring region and the influence of the nearby countries and regional and world powers. The aim of this paper is to present the consequences of this conflict for Sudan’s neighbours and the degree of interference of the external powers in Sudan. In relation to this latter issue, it will be established if the foreign presence is …