Digital Commons Network^™

God And Indiana Jones, Andrew Hronich

Liberty Theological Review

This article explores the implications of the divine authorial analogy in relation to theological determinism, offering in place of the divine authorial analogy the divine playwright analogy. The divine playwright analogy brings into conversation issues regarding informed consent in conjunction with the problem of involuntary suffering. Understanding God in terms more akin to a playwright than an author thereby bestows greater dignity and autonomy upon God's creatures, allowing for improvisation within the broad parameters of God's providence. Hence, the divine playwright analogy maintains the beneficial aspects of the divine authorial analogy, such as the commitment to God's ontological priority over …

The Problem Of Selective Miracles, Andrew Hronich

Liberty Theological Review

The problem of evil designates an umbrella of similarly related arguments linked together by family characteristics. Within this larger genus, the problem of selective miracles stands apart as a particularly underdeveloped species of argument that analytical and philosophical theologians have failed to adequately reckon with. By contextualizing this peculiar argument within an adequate metaethical framework, this article synthesizes a deontological framework with the elucidating work of John Peckham and his cosmic warfare theodicy. It further repudiates alternative approaches to the problem of selective miracles proffered by consequentialists and process theologians. In sum, the article contends that Peckham's cosmic warfare theodicy …

Deuteronomy And Ane Worldview Apologetics In A Postmodern Context, Eric Mcconnell

Liberty Theological Review

Postmodern Christianity seeks to divorce the miraculous and divine elements from Scripture and shape biblical morality in a way that relates to postmodern culture. Responding to Postmodern Christianity’s errors requires a consistent literal hermeneutic in one’s exegesis and a sound biblical framework in one’s apologetic method. The message of Deuteronomy presents a possible paradigm for this task, as its contents present a culturally-relevant polemic against false maxims and errant religion that God’s people faced within their own milieu. Moses’ polemic in Deuteronomy 4 presents a paradigm that would be employed by the prophets to counter the faulty syncretistic worldview that …

Taking A Closer Look: Research As Worship And Service, Angela Kroeze Visser

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

"... as we learn about the world we live in, we also learn about the one who has created and upholds it."

Posting about ­­­­­­­­looking deeply and thinking critically from In All Things, an online hub that offers insight into maintaining and faithful and orthodox Reformed Christian worldview while fearlessly engaging in every aspect of contemporary life – until all is made new.

Taking a Closer Look

Tracing חֶסֶד And Ἔλεος: A Prototype Theory And Componential Analysis Of Covenantal Loyalty And Divine Mercy Across The Pentateuch, Septuagint, Targums, And New Testament, Jarritt B. Tadlock

Masters Theses

This thesis explores the semantic and theological dimensions of the Hebrew term ḥesed and its Greek counterpart eleos through a comparative intertextual and linguistic analysis. Utilizing prototype theory and componential analysis, the study examines occurrences of ḥesed in the Masoretic Text and Targum Onkelos, alongside eleos in the Septuagint and New Testament, to trace the development of divine-human relational language across textual traditions. The findings reveal that ḥesed consistently embodies covenantal loyalty and divine mercy, while its frequent rendering as eleos in the Septuagint emphasizes compassion within a Hellenistic framework. In the New Testament, eleos both preserves and reconfigures ḥesed’s …

Echoes Of Redemption: What Typology Reveals About The Significance Of Isaac In The Aqedah, Jacob A. Lugo

Masters Theses

In this thesis, I outline a problem of logical consistency within the typological interpretation of the Aqedah narrative in Genesis 22. I also attempt to provide a more consistent interpretation that still seeks to remain faithful to the text while recognizing how this account fits into the overall narrative of Scripture.

In times past, the literature on this topic has been saturated with the identification of Isaac as a type of Christ; this is seen most readily in the Early Church Fathers’ interpretation. I also explore other modern readings to demonstrate the multiplicity of understandings that have arisen regarding this …

The Gospel To The Ends Of The Earth: The Role Of The Temple And Mission In The Expansion Of The Church As Seen Through Stephen’S Sermon In Acts 7, Robert Franquiz

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this dissertation is to answer the research question: How does Stephen’s sermon in Acts 7 set a theological trajectory for the church by redefining the temple and reimagining the mission of the early church, thus propelling the church into a global movement? The findings help to fill a gap in scholarship regarding the view of the new temple as the early church moved away from the temple in Jerusalem and into mission. The research question was addressed by the study, which employed a biblical-theological hermeneutic design, incorporating Particular hermeneutics related to intertextuality to achieve a faithful exegesis …

Authentic Disciples Of Christ: An Exegetical Analysis Of Jesus’S Expectations Of His Disciples’ Behaviors, Jessika S. Sandel

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The fulfillment of the Great Commission demands that the Church possess a clear and objective understanding of what constitutes a disciple. Because the New Testament does not present a specific definition of a disciple, local churches adopt culturally-shaped paradigms—conversion-only evangelism, curriculum-driven frameworks, or programmatic models—that fragment the biblical vision and conflate orthodoxy and orthopraxy. This study addresses this tension by articulating a biblically-formed composition of a disciple, arguing that authentic disciples do not merely confess belief but are Spirit-formed witnesses to Christ’s redemption, reflecting his identity through enduring faith marked by love, obedience, perseverance, and gospel proclamation. Motivated by theological …

The Indications Of The Need For Training For Biblical Worship Principles In Evangelical Churches In Texas, Carlos Benson

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Despite numerous Evangelical churches in Texas, most churchgoers hold limited ideas about what defines worship. There is a shortage of biblically principled teaching in the Evangelical Church, particularly in the areas of First and God-honoring worship and its practices, including the Great Commission. This research primarily defines and explores the current state of worship in the Evangelical Church. This research examines how the original Adam and Eve beings, created to worship, have transformed into present-day worshipers. Today's worshipers include Sunday-only attendees, schedule-driven individuals, and spiritually drained souls, with a particular focus on those in Texas. This study will also provide …

Biblical And Spiritual Disciplines And The Worship Leader, Milagros Rodriguez Trinidad

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Despite the expectation of spiritual leadership from worship leaders, many of them may struggle with consistently practicing biblical and spiritual disciplines. This qualitative study examines the need for spiritual preparation, the importance of spiritual community, and the spiritual life of the worship pastor/leader, all of which are central to the spiritual health of worship leaders. To build and grow in the daily practice of spiritual disciplines and to mature in spiritual formation, worship leaders must have a correct understanding of these disciplines and a humble spirit to self-evaluate their presence through the lens of Scripture. This understanding is crucial not …

Island Transformation: A Missional Approach To Cultivating A Jesus Culture On The Transitory Island Of South Padre., Matthew A. Wyatt

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The following DMin action research project explores the transformative potential of a missional approach to cultivating a Jesus culture within the transitory community of South Padre Island. The research addresses the challenge faced by OneTwo Church, where many members, entrenched in the local island culture, find themselves ill-equipped to evangelize effectively to a transient population. This paper contends that by implementing a unique missional model, the church can instigate cultural transformation from within through strategic engagement in missional evangelism. Equipping OTC with this distinctive model will shift the community’s paradigm from passive island participants to active missional agents. Central to …

A Strategic Study Seeking To Increase Tithe And Offering At The Ephesus Seventh-Day Adventist Church, Harlem, New York, Silburn I. Reid

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This doctoral thesis explores the complex relationship between church members and financial giving at the Ephesus Seventh-day Adventist Church. The study aims to understand why members refrain from contributing to tithes and offerings by examining their trust in local church leadership and the denomination at large. The study identifies several underlying reasons for the reluctance to give by using qualitative and quantitative research methods, including surveys, teaching seminars, and participant group observations. These are grouped into three primary themes: transparency, education, and dissatisfaction with church governance. One of the key findings was that the lack of trust in church leadership …

A Strategy For Helping Mother And Daughter Churches Foster A Healthy Symbiotic Relationship, Timothy Blazer

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This action research project explores the dynamic relationship between mother churches and daughter churches within the context of church multiplication, with particular emphasis on the mutual benefits and shared challenges that emerge throughout the planting process. Central to the study is the guiding research question: “Will applying biblical principles of church planting partnership between mother and daughter churches enable church plants to thrive and flourish?” While much of the existing literature centers primarily on individual church planters, this study focuses on how mother churches and their church plants can experience growth and vitality through intentional and collaborative partnerships. The purpose …

A Teleoisrael And The Μυστήριον Of Mercy: The Identity Of Πᾶς Ἰσραήλ And The Apocalyptic Realignment Of God’S Covenant People In Romans 9–11, James Matthew Nowotny

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This dissertation explores the meaning of Paul's assertion in Romans 11:26 that "all Israel will be saved," situating it within the broader theological and literary context of Romans 9–11. The study addresses the complex question of Israel’s identity in Paul’s writings, arguing that Paul envisions a future eschatological salvation for ethnic Israel that coheres with God’s covenantal promises while incorporating Gentile believers into the redemptive plan through union with Christ. Utilizing exegetical analysis, intertextual engagement with the Old Testament, and investigation of Second Temple Jewish conceptions of Israel, the study proposes a nuanced model termed TeleoIsrael—a theological construct reflecting the …

Gender In Translation: How The Contemporary Bible Is Challenging Androcentric Language In Translation Through Gender-Accurate And Feminist Hermeneutical Lenses, Matthew T. Gennard

Masters Theses

This Thesis surveys the changing practice of gender-accurate translation from the late nineteenth century to the present, with special consideration for the three key principles of gender-accurate translation: Generic ‘he,’ androcentric lexemes, and pronoun substitution. These focus areas are derived from an analysis of the five translation guidelines produced during the late twentieth-century gender-neutral controversy. The loss of individuality when introducing pronominal interchange or the masculine representative hermeneutical lens has left scholars divided on gender-accurate practices. This study surveys the sociohistorical development of the feminist hermeneutical lens and the changing linguistic trends of contemporary language, which challenge androcentric assumptions in …

Pigs For The Dispossessed Goat Demon: Jesus’ Exorcism In Mark 5 And Animal Interest, Michael Joseph Gossett

Masters Theses

This thesis explores how a historical-literal reading of Mark 5:1-20 can be defended against objections that claim Jesus caused or allowed unnecessary animal suffering. Contextual insights gleaned from 2nd Temple Watchers Traditions and Greco-Roman polytheism illuminate plausible symbolic value present in the deaths of the Gerasene swine. The context of Mark 5:1-20 presents a supernatural conflict compatible with Christian theology and rebel angel theodicies. Jesus’ actions concerning the Gerasene pigs are not necessarily unjustifiable examples of animal mistreatment.

An Exegesis Of Matthew 18:15-17 And The Hermeneutical Challenges Of Unrepentant Sexual Immorality, Jennifer Morris

Masters Theses

Sexual immorality (πορνεία) is mentioned twenty-five times in the New Testament. In one of the earliest cases of church discipline, Paul addresses a particular example of sexual immorality, namely incest, where a member of the Corinthian church is engaging in consensual sexual relations with his father’s wife (1 Cor. 5, New International Version).¹ Church discipline can be viewed with a negative connotation; however, disciples of Christ understand He rebukes and disciplines those He loves (Heb. 12:6; Rev. 3:19) through His Word (“rebuking” and “correcting” in 2 Tim 3:16).² Thus, the scriptural basis for church discipline practices are the …

Pneuma And Logos: Strengthening Sermon Preparation Through A Spirit-And-Word Approach To Biblical Exegesis, Natalie Barnoske

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Powerful preaching results from honoring the Word and Spirit as active participants in the sermon preparation process. However, the influence of postmodernism and the lack of resources clarifying this convergence point have led to a polarization of perspectives in biblical exegesis. Therefore, this DMIN action research project designed, implemented, and evaluated a Pneuma and Logos Approach to biblical exegesis based on five essential pillars of hermeneutics, derived from William Oliverio’s Pentecostal Hermeneutics in the Late Modern World. By integrating inductive skills of biblical exegesis with holistic habits of Lectio Divina, this project proposes that stronger sermon preparation skills can be …

An Implementation Of Theological Concepts: Bridging The Gap From Childhood To Adult Christian Education, Lajune A. White

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

New Jerusalem Church has the pleasure of teaching Bible stories in the children’s church and Sunday school. However, after the children age out of these spaces, they do not transition to the adult classes; they sit in the hallways. Suppose they continue this practice after aging out of the children’s classification and do not engage with fellow believers in the discipleship process. Will they remain connected to their faith-based community? The problem is whether their behavior is due to the absence of theological content in the Bible curriculum used to teach them in children’s church and Sunday school. The purpose …

A Holy And Subversive Imagination, Amanda Benckhuysen

CTS Faculty Publications and Creative Activity

No abstract provided.

A Favor De Vida, Contra Aborto, Jeffery Gibbs

Artículos educación teológica

A favor de vida, contra aborto

Building Capacity For Born-Digital Archives Through Accessioning Workflows At The Friends Historical Library, Emily Higgs Kopin, J. Hutchison, James E. Truitt

Library Staff Works

Large archival institutions have contended with the challenges presented by born-digital materials for much longer than smaller institutions, with the latter only recently beginning their own attempts to manage these items. This case study details the process of starting a born-digital archival accessioning program and iteratively designing workflows scalable for a small institution. We review our approach to acquiring storage space and assessing our existing born-digital holdings and needs, lay out our initial accessioning workflow, discuss our processes of documentation and iteration, and reflect on tensions with archival education and best practices. By sharing this case study, we aim to …

76 | Maresha Iv: The Subterranean Complexes Of The Hellenistic City, Ian Stern

IAA Reports—Monograph Series of the Israel Antiquities Authority

This volume provides an archaeological study of 152 subterranean complexes at ancient Maresha, including an overview of the site, geological background, typological analysis of chamber types, and documentation of all surveyed installations. Two brief excavation reports offer insights into material culture and daily life during the Hellenistic period. Carved decorative elements—such as niches, altars, reliefs, and betyls—highlight religious diversity and cultural syncretism among Maresha’s residents. Twenty-one inscriptions, mostly Greek with three Semitic, provide rare direct evidence of the activities, identities, and experiences of individuals who used these underground spaces, adding a human dimension to the material findings. Special attention is …

Concordia Seminary Magazine Summer 2025, Vicki Biggs

Concordia Seminary Magazine

Bearing Witness to the Truth

Does Change In Faith Maturity Reflect Maturation? Establishing Strict Measurement Invariance For The Faith Maturity Scale Across Time, Hiroki Matsuo, Tyler Greenway, Grant B. Morgan, Sarah A. Schnitker

University Faculty Publications and Creative Works

Despite its early focus on religious development and faith maturation, the psychology of religion and spirituality field underutilizes longitudinal designs; work is needed to reduce barriers to the longitudinal study of the processes by which faith matures. As a first step, the present study examines the invariance structure of the Faith Maturity Scale across three time points to assess the reliability and structure of the scale over time. The confirmatory factor analytic method was used to examine data from 572 college students. Configural, metric, scalar, and residual/strict models were tested. Findings support the full strict residual longitudinal invariance model, providing …

Volume 11 Issue 11 (Aug 1912)

The Soul Winner

No abstract provided.

Full Circle: Historiography, Missiology, And Theology In Lin Yutang’S From Pagan To Christian, Teng-Kuan Ng

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

Lin Yutang (1895–1976) is renowned for bridging the Chinese and Western worlds through his prolific writings, but the vital role of religion in his intercultural endeavors remains underappreciated. This article situates his seminal work of religious reflection, From Pagan to Christian (1959), within the context of World Christianity, defined as both movement and method. Lin’s departure from the Christianity of his youth into Chinese religions—and back again to the church in his later years—presents timely insights for the study of religious change and pluralism in global modernity. Analyzing the text’s decolonizing, dialogical, and polyphonic dimensions, this article brings Lin’s spiritual …

Submissive Daughters, Empowered Daughters: Conduct Rhetoric And Evangelical Women’S Authority, Carrie Hill

All Dissertations

Submissive Daughters, Empowered Daughters: Conduct Rhetoric and Evangelical Women’s Authority explores how evangelical women rhetors navigate and rework patriarchal religious expectations through what I term conduct rhetoric. Building on the tradition of conduct literature, this project broadens the genre to include multimodal platforms—literature, radio/podcasts, television, and social media—used to instruct women in evangelical norms. Rather than passively accepting patriarchal constraints, evangelical women rhetors strategically adopt and reframe these constraints to construct rhetorical authority. Central to this study are two terms: affected piety and performative dissonance. Affected piety describes how women rhetorically present submission as the grounds for their …

Japan’S Military Transformation In Abe Era: A Revolution Or Something Else?, Ganesh Aji Wicaksono, Tangguh Chairil

Journal of Strategic and Global Studies

After the World War II, Japan has been adopting a pacifist Constitution and established the Japan Self-Defense Forces (JSDF) for narrow self-defense operations. The JSDF are restricted from having offensive military weapons. However, Japan’s pacifism and restrained security policy have been evolving recently, especially during the term of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (2012-2020). The latest example is Japan’s plan to enable forward defense and counterstrike. This paper explores the transformation of Japan’s military through the revolution of military affairs (RMA) concept. The findings suggest evolutionary transformation of Japan’s military rather than revolutionary. The factors explored include international and domestic factors. …

Unveiling The Shadows: Exploring The Roles Of The Dark Web And Encrypted Messaging Apps In Facilitating Online Terrorist Networks, Eziho Promise Ogele

Journal of Strategic and Global Studies

The paper examines the pivotal roles of the Dark Web and encrypted messaging apps in enabling online terrorist networks. These platforms have become essential tools for extremist groups, empowering them to communicate, coordinate, and share intelligence securely. The Dark Web, a hidden portion of the internet, provides a secure conduit for terrorist organizations to emerge, operate, and coordinate activities anonymously. This digital haven enables terrorists to share resources, plan operations, and execute attacks as part of their secret operations strategy. Encrypted messaging apps, such as Telegram and WhatsApp, offer an additional layer of security, allowing terrorists to send messages anonymously …