Digital Commons Network^™

A Sacramental Model For Digital Ecclesiology: Theological Retrieval For A Mediated Church, Caleb J. Atha

Senior Honors Theses

The widespread proliferation of digital technologies has opened the door to new ecclesiological questions and challenges for the Christian denominations that have integrated these technologies into their community life and liturgical practices. American evangelicalism is proposed to be especially susceptible to the aforementioned challenges due to its ecclesiological emphases and general posture towards digital media. Using Marshall McLuhan’s seminal insights in media theory, this work argues that the role of digital media in the church shows a significant congruence with Christian sacramental theology. The concept of the digital church is analyzed through McLuhan’s tetrad framework and its weaknesses are highlighted. …

“Every Mother A Missionary”?: The Vlogs Of Mormon Mothers, Celia Golden

Departmental Honors & Graduate Capstone Projects

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) places high expectations on mothers because their role in the church is to rear children into godly adults. When their lives are made public through social media, Mormon mothers online avoid religious expectations by withholding information about their Mormon faith and scarcely showing their husbands on-camera. Mormon husbands are expected to be the providers for the family, but as demonstrated through mothers’ vlogs on Instagram, husbands’ erasure allows for mothers to market their expertise to others as a paid product to earn their own revenue. Through descriptive coding, this study …

Reinterpreting Catuṣkoṭi In Contemporary Philosophy: Tensions Between Non-Classical Logic And East Asian Buddhist Soteriology, Ronald S. Green

Philosophy and Religious Studies

This study aims to evaluate the reinterpretation of the concept of catuṣkoṭi (tetralemma) in contemporary philosophy, particularly within the discourse of non-classical logic, and to compare it with traditional interpretations found in East Asian Buddhism. The research addresses the tension between modern logical approaches—such as those proposing the addition of a fifth truth value (ineffability)—and soteriological frameworks within traditions like Mādhyamaka, which emphasise the function of liberating individuals from conceptual entanglements. This study employs qualitative methods, incorporating hermeneutic and comparative approaches, along with close textual analysis of classical primary sources, including the Mūlamadhyamakakārikā, and the works of East Asian Buddhist …

Religious Scrupulosity: The Law And The Gospel, Robert J. Chester

Senior Honors Theses

The clear distinction of the law and gospel for the salvation and justification of an individual, highly affects the minds, beliefs, and lives of those who suffer from religious scrupulosity. Religious scrupulosity is known as obsessional fears of thinking or behaving immorally against one’s religious beliefs. Religious scrupulosity affects many in the church, and is a form of obsessive/compulsive thought that can form due to improper emphasis of gospel truth. The way the church preaches and emphasizes certain points of the gospel can change the perception and understanding of many people in the world. The evident distinction between law and …

Lived Experiences Of Adult Christian Men Navigating Religious Beliefs And Internet Pornography Use, Chiante' Josiah Jemison

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Religious individuals who engage in pornography use often experience guilt, shame, and cognitive dissonance, creating internal conflict that may lead to anxiety, depression, and strained personal and spiritual relationships. Guided by cognitive dissonance theory, this qualitative phenomenological study explored the lived experiences of 15 adult Christian men (ages 18-44) who struggled with problematic internet pornography use and scrupulosity. Data were collected through semistructured interviews and analyzed using Yin’s five-step process to identify recurring themes. Findings revealed that faith served both as a source of strength and a contributor to emotional distress, with participants experiencing cycles of guilt, secrecy, and relapse. …

Recovering The Lost Art Of Medicine: A Role For Ignatian Spirituality, Cecilia Motherway

College Honors Program

Throughout history, medicine or healing has been deeply associated with religion and spirituality, from the ancient Greek healing god Asclepius to the medieval monastic medical tradition and beyond. This lies in their common cause: addressing the vulnerability of our human existence. Humanity has long recognized that our suffering and death raise existential questions concerning our mortality that may require perspectives greater than biology and rationality can provide. However, at the turn of the 20th century, as medical technology rapidly advanced, raising the average global life expectancy by decades, the medical field removed all non-scientific, non-secular influences to position itself as …

The Cultivation And Harvesting Of Parasocial Relationships For Evangelism: An Exploratory Multiple Case Study Of Pastors’ Use Of Video On Social Media, Larry D. Witzel

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The digital transformation of society has resulted in people living much of their lives online. Some believe the command of Jesus to “go into all the world” necessarily includes entering the digital realm for evangelistic purposes, particularly as the effectiveness of traditional evangelistic methods has declined. This research explored the communication techniques used for digital outreach by seven pastors on social media to cultivate parasocial relationships and the calls to action they used to harvest these relationships evangelistically. This qualitative multiple case study analyzed public video communication and other social media, comparing these pastors’ online ministry with the known techniques …

Ecclesiological Support For Veterans Suffering From Moral Injury: A Phenomenological Study, Douglas Guy Wood

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

For many military service members, the cost of their service is through the psychological, physiological, emotional, sociological, and spiritual scars from the trauma of conflict. This trauma is most associated with the diagnoses of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Moral Injury (MI). Existing literature primarily focuses on a humanistic underlying philosophy to symptoms and patient care or uses a non-specific definition/categorization of religion/spirituality (e.g., Ames et al., 2019; Hill et al., 2000; Sharma et al., 2017). Studies have addressed psychological, physiological, emotional, and sociological healing (e.g., Åkerblom et al., 2020; Drescher et al., 2011; Gray et al., 2012; Nash & …

Examining The Relationship Of Neuroticism And The Three Dimensions Of Religious/Spiritual Doubt Through The Mediating Role Of Intolerance Of Uncertainty, Michael E. Mullins

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Research on religious/spiritual (r/s) struggles, such as doubt, has increased over the past two decades and is important because of links between these struggles and negative holistic outcomes. The problem is there are Christian adults with r/s doubts that lead to negative outcomes, and there is a lack of research that examines how the personality trait factor of neuroticism and the dispositional factor of intolerance of uncertainty (IU) affect r/s doubt. The aim of this study was to examine the possible mediating influence of IU upon neuroticism and r/s doubt (including the three dimensions of r/s doubt: factual, emotional, and …

Spiritual Formation In The Pentecostal African American Church: What Factors Most Influence Perceptions, Gloria Fayetta Carroll

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this qualitative, multiple case study involved a sample size of 12 participants was to explore how believers perceived their own spiritual formation journey and whether length of time as a practicing Christian and regular attendance at worship services had any impact on their perceptions. The research occurred in four predominantly African American Pentecostal Churches in Oakland, California with participant interviews and sermon observations. The central research question sought a deeper understanding of how African American believers in the Pentecostal church grow spiritually through learning and practicing of the spiritual disciplines and if the variables of time and …

The Impact Of Implementing A House System At East Richland Christian Schools: A Dissertation-In-Praxis, Travis Johnson Mckinley

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This dissertation-in-praxis examines the implementation of a House System at East Richland Christian Schools (ERCS), a private Grades 7-12 institution in Saint Clairsville, Ohio, to address deficiencies in the traditional small group model, including limited student engagement, leadership development, spiritual growth, and school spirit. Grounded in Burns’ (1978) Transformational Leadership Theory and biblical principles, the study replaced gradeand gender-segregated groups with four randomized, co-ed houses (Amare, Fidem, Spero, Veritas) for 50 students and eight teachers. The project aimed to create a spirited Christian community through weekly competitions, leadership opportunities, and spiritual activities. Using a mixed-methods approach under the Stake Model, …

Chaos And The Human Experience: An Intertextual Study Of Job, Qohelet, And Jonah, Andy Tse Chang

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Hermann Gunkel’s landmark work Schöpfung und Chaos was a pioneering work in biblical studies, largely in part because it highlighted the importance of considering the language, culture, and context of the broader Ancient Near East with regard to Old Testament imagery. While Gunkel’s claims that the Genesis 1 account of creation was borrowing from Ancient Near East myths is now largely rejected, still, the enduring value and legacy of Gunkel’s work is that biblical scholars see the importance of contextual studies in exegeting the Old Testament texts, as well as how to apply the material exegetically to the Old Testament. …

Sanctification Of Marriage And Positive Religious Coping May Help Couples Be Resilient From Stress's Negative Influence, Amanda Sue Bills

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Marriage is the building block of society and as such is an important developmental stage. Unfortunately, studies suggest that stress could be harmful to marriages. However, many resilient factors have been found to protect marriages from stress such as good communication, secure attachments, gratitude and optimism, and religion. The Bible teaches that marriage was founded by God and is a sacred institution. Further, stress should be expected in life, is useful for learning and growth, and God will help his followers to cope with it. The current quantitative study sought to discover if viewing marriage as sacred and using positive …

Assessing The Elements Of Worship From The Experience Of Seventh-Day Adventist Believers Participating In Local Multi-Generational Churches Located On The Campus Of An Educational Institution, Daniel Biaggi

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This dissertation assesses the elements of worship from the experience of Seventh-day Adventist believers participating in local multi-generational churches located on the campus of an educational institution. The research aims to understand which elements of corporate worship are meaningful and practiced by participants of diverse ages and what makes these elements significant in their opinion. The study employs a mixed-methods approach, combining quantitative and qualitative data to examine how church participants prioritize different elements of worship and whether these preferences vary by age group and campus context. This survey also sought to identify specific worship elements that might be perceived …

The Role Of Timing Of Developmental Trauma And Impacts On Attachment In African-Caribbean American Women: A Holistic Perspective, Zinetta Renee Baker

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Prior studies have shown that developmental trauma exposure in childhood negatively impacts attachment neurocircuitry, increasing risk for insecure attachments in adulthood, and deemed more prevalent among females and minorities, such as African American women. However, studies that specifically focus on ethnocultural contexts, initial developmental trauma exposure during specific developmental ages, and impacts on attachment, including attachment to God in African-Caribbean American women are limited. This study fulfilled those gaps in the literature by examining age of initial developmental trauma exposure and impacts on attachment with self and God in African-Caribbean American adult women with developmental trauma histories. Bioecological systems theory, …

Determining The Mental Health Climate Of The Ministers Of Christian Churches In Metro Vancouver After The Reopening Of The Churches Since Covid-19 Closure, Lap Cho Chan

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The burnout of ministers is real. Ministers are human, just like everyone else in the world. Too many people (such as church officials and leaders) underestimate the adverse effects of burned-out ministers in their churches. The pandemic had a huge impact on all the churches in Metro Vancouver, Canada. Ministers experienced exceptionally high stress and anxiety after the reopening of churches after the COVID-19 closure. Thus, the purpose of this DMIN action research project is to use the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), surveys, questionnaires, and interviews to research, qualify, and quantify the mental health climate of ministers in Metro Vancouver. …

Pastoral Counselors And The Implementation Of Eye Movement Desensitization And Reprocessing, Robyn Jarrell

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The problem is that since EMDR is not practiced at CCC, it decreases the quality of care and extends the number of counseling sessions. If Christian Counseling Center’s counselors use Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing psychotherapy for trauma clients, then an increase in counseling quality will be demonstrated by decreased sessions. The study also sought to reveal EMDR's value to clients’ counseling sessions, given that CBT is the standard therapeutic approach in pastoral counseling settings. Qualitative methods included journaling, questionnaires, and focus groups. Two pastoral counselors completed the necessary training and adhered to EMDR procedures while treating eleven clients using …

Lead Pastor Stress: A Quantitative Study Of The Effects On Mental Health, Marriage, Family, And The Church, Sherri Lee Bergeron

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The church’s lead pastor has many roles and responsibilities, from teaching the Word of the Lord, baptisms, counseling sessions, and leading a staff. These are not the lead pastor’s only role; the majority also have a family, children, and a spouse at home who also need their attention. A balance must be considered between the ministry, family, and marriage. If this balance is off or the pastor becomes overwhelmed with any or all the three, their mental health may suffer and can cause depression and anxiety if not dealt with appropriately (Christianity Today, 2022). Lead pastors, while in ministry, have …

Spiritual Disciplines And Christian Formative Education: Tools To Jump-Start Spiritual Formation And Eliminate Stagnation, Darrick J. Willis

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The researcher aims to uncover the fundamental causes of spiritual stagnation, particularly the tendency to over-rely on established traditions, and to assess the detrimental effects of this phenomenon on the life and activities of the church. Spiritual formation is the process through which Christians are transformed into the likeness of Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. Intentionality and growth are paramount for believers, as neglecting these elements can lead to spiritual stagnation. Contemporary literature emphasizes that spiritual formative education is central to fostering intentionality. The correlation between increased knowledge and a heightened desire to learn is crucial; both …

Empowering Kansas City Veterans Administration Chaplains: A Spiritual Leadership Toolkit For Nursing Staff Support, Leonard Gicheru

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This doctoral research project addresses the critical issue of burnout among nursing staff at the Kansas City Veterans Administration (KCVA). Burnout is often worsened by a lack of spiritual support, thereby negatively impacting both the well-being of nurses and the quality of patient care. This project study aims to mitigate these challenges by implementing a spiritual leadership resource toolkit, tailored to equip KCVA chaplains with creative strategies to provide spiritual care for nurses.

Based on Spiritual Leadership Theory and guided by biblical principles, this project explores how structured spiritual direction can improve the resilience and emotional well-being of nursing staff. …

Addressing Subjective Reasoning Through Renewed Pathways: Church Discipline, Anthony F. Williams

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Skyline Baptist Church adopts a subjective approach to the removal of members through its church discipline process. This means that decisions regarding church discipline and the removal of members are not strictly governed by objective doctrine or biblical alignment but are instead influenced by individual circumstances and the specific context of outside influence. This project seeks to establish objective measures grounded in scriptural understanding, promoting biblical alignment and mutual accountability within the congregation. The existing research provides valuable insights that contribute to the broader Christian mission; it aims to cultivate a more united and devoted commitment that reflects the teachings …

Converting Membership Into Discipleship: A Spiritual Formation Program In Discipleship For Rural African American Churches, Ernest L. Williams Sr.

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This thesis project addresses the need for rural African American churches to focus on spiritual formation and discipleship for their parishioners. Churches that emphasize the importance of the gospel and believers’ daily commitment to it represent progress toward discipleship. Discipleship creates a connection between worship and lifestyle. Churchgoers, particularly African American Christians in rural settings, may struggle to understand and practice discipleship. Historically, church worship and attendance have been prioritized in this faith community. However, Sunday worship that fails to provide a plan for daily spiritual formation may contribute to the issue. If the gospel is not the church’s primary …

Transformative Teaching: Enhancing Spiritual Growth In The I'M A Part Church Through Prison Ministry Program Insights, Arlen K. Parham

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The research project strived to equip the leadership of small churches with the tools to improve spiritual maturity among church members by utilizing a holistic, evidence-based curriculum developed with transformative teaching from prison ministry insights. The goal is to bring an evidence-based prison curriculum from a correctional setting and implement it in a church setting to improve spiritual maturity. The congregants of the I’m A Part Church agreed to be a test model. The curriculum will advance the church’s mission to invest in others by creating a vetted transformative teaching program. The addition of the transformative teaching curriculum is geared …

Modelling The Fear Of God In C.S. Lewis's The Chronicles Of Narnia, Brett Roscoe

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

This article employs insights from cognitive approaches to literature to study how The Chronicles of Narnia evoke a religious affect known in the Christian tradition as the “fear of the Lord.” It first does what Guillemette Bolens calls a "kinesic analysis" of the books, focusing on the gestures, movements, and facial expressions related to the fear of Aslan, and then it interprets this fear in the context of Rudolf Otto’s The Idea of the Holy, a book C. S. Lewis claims had a large influence on him. Lewis, like Otto, was concerned with religious experience, specifically with how his …

Direct And Mediating Relationships Between Divine Grace, Legalism, And Mental Health, Branwyn H. Mccormick

Senior Honors Theses

Positive psychology has popularized the integration of religious ideas into psychological treatment. According to the literature, the experience of divine grace is correlated with favorable mental health outcomes, whereas legalistic attitudes are correlated with adverse mental health outcomes. It has also been found that the experience of divine grace is a mediator between legalism and mental health. However, the constructs of divine grace and legalism have both been relatively unexplored aside from a few studies using Latter-day Saints (LDS) populations. The current study seeks to analyze relationships between divine grace, legalism, and mental health using a conservative evangelical Christian population. …

Sounds Of Solidarity Pan Africanism, Internationalism, And The Black Experience At Blue Note Records, Nathan Neher

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

Blue Note Records is considered one of the most prolific and influential independent American jazz record labels of the mid- twentieth century. The label was founded in 1939 by German- Jewish immigrant Alfred Lion who had fled Nazi Germany. Lion’s longtime friend, Francis Wolff, would later also leave Germany to join Lion and help with photography and other business affairs.1 Originally recording traditional jazz and swing groups, Blue Note transitioned to modern jazz in 1947, eventually helping facilitate the development of hard bop, post- bop, and avant- garde jazz in the mid- twentieth century.2 Lion played a prominent role in …

“Radio . . . What [Is It] Doing To Our Children?” The Impact Of Radio On Families During The Golden Age Of Broadcasting, Samuel Pulsipher

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

Eerie string music, a dark cackle of laughter, and then a sinister voice says, “Who knows what evils lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows.”3 Suddenly, an interruption by the Goodrich Man. He has something to say about Goodrich tires with their lifesaving tread and blow- out protection: “So, play safe, equip your car with Goodrich, safety Silvertown!” The Goodrich- Man is ushered out by organ music as our hero Lamont Cranston, the Shadow, is introduced. He is heralded as a man of wealth and science who devotes his life to righting wrongs, protecting the innocent, and punishing …

An Investigation On Food Restriction In The Medieval British Church, Cope Makechnie-Hardy

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

When Seaxburh, Queen of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Kent, retired to her sister’s newly established religious house at Ely in 665 she was a physically broken woman, with “wan cheeks from fasting” and a body frail from years of food restriction.1 Already throughout her life Seaxburh had used her body as an integral part of her devotion to Christ, and after arriving at Ely “signed her stomach with the mark of Christ so that she might not burden it with food.”2 Nearly six hundred years later, Saint Elizabeth of Hungary would engage in a similar practice, referred to by historians …

An Exploration Of The Intersection Of Religious And Sexual Identities Among Millennials Who Have Left The Evangelical Church, Mishell Lopez

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Church attendance rates have decreased for evangelical churches over the last decade, with the most notable decline among millennials. This decline is attributed to millennial shifts away from traditional views and new understandings of identity. The purpose of this basic qualitative study was to explore how millennials who have left evangelical churches describe their sexual and religious identities. Tajfel and Turner’s social identity theory and Crenshaw’s intersectionality theory, focusing on an individual’s identity and the groups to which they belong, informed its theoretical framework. These theories offered perspective on the experiences of those who carry intersecting identities within churches that …

The Fear Of Yahweh: Introducing Scripture’S Wisdom Literature For Biblical Counseling, Alexander Lee

Senior Honors Theses

Biblical wisdom literature is one of the most neglected areas of Scripture related to biblical counseling. Biblical counseling is formulated on the sufficiency of Scripture, so a deeper examination of any area of Scripture is sure to enlighten the biblical counselor. Wisdom in biblical counseling was introduced through an examination of the fear of Yahweh. A proper fear of Yahweh connects the counselee with the revelation of Jesus Christ in the New Testament, leading to a transformation of the client’s character toward a flourishing life. An existing case study was examined, highlighting how these findings can be implemented in the …