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Book Review: Politicization Of Religion, The Power Of State, Nation, And Faith: The Case Of Former Yugoslavia And Its Successor States, Sergej Beuk

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

Although many scientific studies that dealt with the conflict in former Yugoslavia and its consequences have been published in the last 20 years, editors Gorana Ognjenović and Jasna Jozelić’s book Politicization of Religion, the Power of State, Nation, and Faith: The Case of Former Yugoslavia and its Successor States, and eminent scholarly contributors, produced a work of strong theoretical and analytical depth. In the beginning, it is clear to the reader that the book will not merely deal with general definitions or already known theories. It will also provide essential paradigms related to the historical, legal, social, and cultural background …

Angels And Sub-Divine Supernatural Beings: Their Characteristics, Function, And Relationship To God And Humanity In Deuteronomy-Kings, Joni Amanda Mcguire-Moushon

Dissertations

This research analyzes selected passages in Deuteronomy-Kings in order to determine the characteristics and roles of supernatural sub-divine beings within these books. Then this data is compared with the angelology of the Second Temple period in order to identify the similarities and the extent of the differences between them.

Deuteronomy contains references to supernatural sub-divine beings, such as “demons” and “holy one(s)”. While Deuteronomy affirms the existence of sub-divine beings, it forbids the Israelites to worship them. In the books of Joshua and Judges, there is awareness of supernatural beings and their roles as warriors, messengers, and tormentors. However, in …

Advent 4 Series C 2018, Phillip L. Brandt

Sunday's Sermon

This PDF comments on the Propers for the Fourth Sunday in Advent, Series C and offers ideas for proclamation and preaching.

After The Fall: Tsuji Zennosuke And The Creation Of Bukkyōshugi Kokushi, James Mark Shields

Faculty Journal Articles

Tsuji Zennosuke 辻善之助 (1877–1955), the dominant figure in Buddhist historical scholarship in Japan from the 1930s until the mid-1950s, is known to have employed a broad range of sources in order to provide a comprehensive analysis of his subject. This essay examines Tsuji’s conception of Buddhist history in relation to the emer- gence of both National Historical Studies (kokushigaku 国史学) and so-called State Shintō (kokka shintō 国家神道) and argues against the image of Tsuji as an “objec- tive historian” resistant to nationalist trends in historical scholarship. In fact, Tsuji was involved in the creation of an alternative, “Buddhistic” national history, …

Telling The Good News, Allyson R. Escobar

Capstones

In light of recent clergy abuse scandals, cover-ups and leadership shake-downs, it is a divided time in the Catholic Church: but this isn’t the whole story. My final capstone project is a critical essay of how Catholicism (and religion overall) is represented in mainstream media--particularly in secular news publications and entertainment (horror films) in the United States. By examining the coverage and how conversations differ within members of the Catholic Church--from journalists and critics to active Catholics, religious men and women--this project calls for greater accountability, fairness, faith representation in all media, and the overall claim that there are Catholic …

2018 Advent Devotional, Christian Jones, Austin Wellhousen, Justin Cullen, David Edwards, Benjamin Hayter, Coleman Geraci, Caleb Weight, Brian Muldowney, Kyle Will, Ian Thormodson, Samuel Fink, Will Fredstrom, Bradley Wellik, Nicholas Gonzalez, Ryan Maser, Alex Lahue, Chad Bolosan, Alvaro Witt Duarte, Gregory Moffitt, Adam Rodriguez, Luke Scheele

Other Student Publications

2018 Advent Devotions written by the students of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis

Statement Of Black Catholic Clergy Caucus, Black Catholic Clergy Caucus

Journal of the Black Catholic Theological Symposium

No abstract provided.

Religion And Globalization: Crossroads And Opportunities, Alexander Chumakov, Mikhail Sergeev

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

A conversation between the First Vice-President of the Russian Philosophical Society, Doctor of Philosophy, Professor of Moscow State University, Alexander Chumakov and the editor of the special series "Contemporary Russian Philosophy" at Brill, the Nertherlands, Doctor of Philosophy, Professor Mikhail Sergeev.

Dayananda Saraswati And The Colonial Machines: Vedic Reformation, European Science, And Modernity In Colonial India, David Tauber

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

The relationship between European science and religion has varied considerably through time and among different traditions. This monograph attempts to catalogue one such variant by exploring the context entrance of European science into the Indian subcontinent, at the beginning of the British colonial period, by focusing on how a single religion leader drew upon European notions of science in building his reformed Vedic theology. Dayananda Saraswati (1824-83) spent much of his life traveling northern India as an itinerate ascetic and ultimately founded an intellectual lineage that was instrumental in the Indian Independence movement. Despite having no formal British education included …

The Religious Persecution Of Christians, Novella L. Crudup

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The thesis project addressed the religious persecution of Christians in Kenya, East Africa, and the United States. The problem is that Christians deny Christ to avoid persecution. There is a need for a proposed solution that emphasizes the need to believe that persecution is a reality, and that every believer should anticipate and prepare for it. Furthermore, the proposed solution should emphasize that God has a purpose for allowing Christians to face persecution. The methodology used for this project was qualitative analysis. The researcher applied the content analysis approach towards interpreting the data that was collected from thirty-one participants completing …

B-2 Same-Sex Marriage And The Apocalyptic Consciousness Of Seventh-Day Adventism, David Hamstra

Celebration of Research and Creative Scholarship

Arguments made for and against affirming same-sex marriage in Seventh-day Adventism rely on typical moral background presuppositions about immanent and transcendent goods identified by Charles Taylor in his philosophical genealogy of A Secular Age. Arguments made only in terms of marriage’s immanent goods have the potential to diminish the plausibility of a uniquely Adventist way of imagining the transcendent: apocalyptic consciousness focused on the immanent/imminent restoration of Eden by Jesus Christ following the second coming. Comparing marriage to the this-worldly and next-worldly benefits of divergent Adventist Sabbath-keeping practices foregrounds the availability of immanentized moral presuppositions to make sense of …

Church History, Liberty, And Political Morality: A Response To Professor Calhoun, Ian Huyett

Washington and Lee Law Review Online

In his address, Professor Calhoun used American Christian abolitionism to illustrate the beneficial role that religion can play in political debate. Surveying the past two millennia, I argue that Christian political thought has protected liberty in every era of the church’s dramatic history. Along the way, I rebut critics—from the left and right—who urge that Christianity’s political influence has been unhelpful or harmful. I also seek to show that statements like “religion has no place in politics” are best understood as expressions of arbitrary bias.

Oral Roberts’ Impact On The Korean Healing Movement, Yeolsoo Eim

Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology

Oral Roberts casts a large shadow of influence upon the healing movements and theology of Korea. Oral Roberts University’s outreach to Korea through the Doctor of Ministry program impacted the local Korean church with the message of healing. Today, there are over 200 ORU alumni in Korea, many of whom graduated from the Doctor of Ministry program during 1992–2012. This article will reflect on the impact of the ORU Doctor of Ministry program in Korea through the stories of several of the most significant graduates.

A Biographical Study Of Joshua, Harold Willmington

Old Testament Biographies

No abstract provided.

A Biographical Study Of Nehemiah, Harold Willmington

Old Testament Biographies

No abstract provided.

The Future Growth Of Global Christianity And Yoido Full Gospel Church: Its Potential Role In The New Context, Wonsuk Ma

Great Commission Research Journal

Christians have long recognized the amazing growth of Yoido Full Gospel Church. It has been a pioneer in the Church Growth Movement and has set an example in its dependence on prayer and the work of the Holy Spirit. The church faces challenges/opportunities in the future as it relates to the church growth in the Global South, the changing culture in South Korea, and the Pentecostal/charismatic movements around the world.

Imagining Demons In Post-Byzantine Jerusalem: John Of Damascus And The Consolidation Of Classical Christian Demonology, Nathaniel Ogden Kidd

Dissertations (1934 -)

This dissertation traces the consolidation of a classical Christian framework for demonology in the theological corpus of John of Damascus (c. 675 – c. 750), an eighth century Greek theologian writing in Jerusalem. When the Damascene sat down to write, I argue, there was a great variety of demonological options available to him, both in the depth of the Christian tradition, and in the ambient local imagination. John’s genius lies first in what he chose not to include, but second in his ability to synthesize a minimalistic demonology out of a complex body of material and integrate it into a …

The Logic Behind Suicide Terrorism And Its Connection To Islam, Sarah Minnick

Senior Honors Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to analyze suicide terrorism and to examine the logic behind it. The thesis will examine recent Islamic suicide terrorism and why it is so successful. This paper will also attempt to define suicide terrorism and explain how it functions.

The first half of this thesis reviews a short history of suicide terrorism to show the logic behind it. It will begin with the Old Testament and continue throughout history until the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City. This thesis will discuss the motivation for terrorist organizations to …

Calvin S. Smith: 'Utah’S Fighting Chaplain', Kenneth L. Alford Ph.D.

Faculty Publications

This article shares the World War I experiences of Chaplain Calvin S. Smith, son of Latter-day Saint Church President Joseph F. Smith. From 1910-1913 he served as a missionary from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Chaplain Smith was one of three Latter-day Saint chaplains who served in WWI. After commissioning, he reported for service to Camp Lewis, Washington. He saw extensive combat during three major offensives: St. Mihiel, Meuse-Argonne, and Lys-Scheldt with service in France and Belgium. He was wounded twice. This article portrays the daily combat life of an American division chaplain, burial duty, support operations, …

Protest And Progress: Black Seventh-Day Adventist Leadership And The Push For Parity [Book Review] / Calvin Rock, Trevor O'Reggio

Faculty Publications

Rock has carefully crafted and persuasively argued a historically well-documented and powerful account of the struggles of African-Americans to achieve some level of equality and justice within the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Because of the paucity of this information within the larger Adventist historiography, his book is a much-needed work that fills a vacuum. It should be read by all Adventist leaders concerned about justice and equality within the organization.

Intimations Of A Spiritual New Age: Ii. Wilhelm Reich As Transpersonal Psychologist. Part I: Context, Development, And Crisis In Reich’S Bio-Energetic Spiritual Psychology, Harry T. Hunt

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

Wilhelm Reich is the focus of this second in a series of papers on a group of independent figures from the 1930s into the 1950s—also including Jung, the later Heidegger, Toynbee, Bergson, Teilhard de Chardin, and Simone Weil—who in the context of those years of crisis articulated overlapping visions of a future “New Age” spirituality that might in some more distant future serve to balance and even transform a globalizing materialism and disenchantment with traditional religion. The later Reich developed a highly original version of a “vitalistic” transpersonal psychology, as his “religion for the children of the future,” which needs …

Intimations Of A Spiritual New Age: Ii. Wilhelm Reich As Transpersonal Psychologist. Part 2: The Futural Promise Of Reich’S Naturalistic Bio-Energetic Spirituality, Harry T. Hunt

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

This is the second part of a consideration of the later Wilhelm Reich as anticipating a future planetary-wide “New Age” form of this-worldly spirituality in ways overlapping with figures from the same era of Western crisis from the 1930s through the 1950s, including Jung, Toynbee, Bergson, Heidegger, Teilhard de Chardin, and Simone Weil. Where the first part of this treatment of Reich as transpersonal psychologist traced his evolution from his bio-energetic psychotherapy to a Weberian this-worldly mysticism of a universal life energy, his cosmic orgone, with its attendant features of conflicted “spiritual emergency,” this second paper seeks to further develop …

The Moral Fog Of War: Vietnam Through Cracked Reformed Glasses, Sylvan Gerritsma

Pro Rege

Editor’s Note: A version of this article was published in the proceedings of a biennial conference of the Association for the Advancement of Dutch American Studies (DUTCH AMERICANS AND WAR: UNITED STATED AND ABROAD, edited by Robert Swierenga, et.al., Van Raalte Press, 2014. They have granted us permission to publish this version, though we are responsible for any errors not in the original publication. Also, a part of this article was published in Christian Courier, November 14, 2016, no. 3044, which also gives us permission to publish, though we assume responsibility for all errors from the original.

And A Cloud Of Witnesses, James C. Schaap

Pro Rege

No abstract provided.

Examining Keswick For Benefits To Chaplain Resilience Ministry, Caleb Walker

Masters Theses

The Keswick Convention movement, which began in Keswick, England in 1870 and emphasized deeper knowledge and experience of God, has often been criticized and marginalized in evangelical theological circles. The structure of the conferences, with an emphasis upon six major theological themes and their application for daily Christian living, seems to have value for many attendees in deepening their Christian life. This study examines the potential benefits of the Keswick themes with particular application to the military chaplaincy setting and the issue of spiritual resilience. By examining criteria for resilience (steadfastness, perseverance, courage, and recuperation) and utilizing a qualitative research …

Chapel: A Space Between Faith And Learning?, Ryan Mcilhenny

Pro Rege

No abstract provided.

An Overview Of Four Traditions On War And Peace In Christian History, Joseph J. Fahey

The Journal of Social Encounters

This essay examines four traditions on war and peace that have developed in Christian history. They are: Pacifism, Just War, Total War, and World Community.Pacifism characterized the earliest Christians; Just War appeared in the late fourth and fifth centuries; Total War in the eleventh century; and World Community began in the sixteenth century. All four positions continue today and are held by people who sincerely call themselves Christian.

Writing A Moral Code: Algorithms For Ethical Reasoning By Humans And Machines, James F. Mcgrath, Ankur Gupta

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

The moral and ethical challenges of living in community pertain not only to the intersection of human beings one with another, but also our interactions with our machine creations. This article explores the philosophical and theological framework for reasoning and decision-making through the lens of science fiction, religion, and artificial intelligence (both real and imagined). In comparing the programming of autonomous machines with human ethical deliberation, we discover that both depend on a concrete ordering of priorities derived from a clearly defined value system.

Trinity, Freedom, And Evil: The Importance Of The Triune Nature Of God In The Problem Of Evil, Seth Pryor

Masters Theses

This thesis presents an abductive argument for a trinitarian conception of God as opposed to a unitarian conception especially when juxtaposed against the problem of evil. On the whole, this author argues, the Trinity has more conceptual resources to answer the problem of evil by granting freedom of the will to its creation, specifically the will to go against God, by himself consisting in an inherently relational ontological structure of three persons yet the same being that would grant such a capability.

“A Kindred Sigh For Thee”: British Responses To The Greek War For Independence, Susannah Morrison

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

No abstract provided.