Digital Commons Network^™

An Abundance Of Good Things : Paul Ricoeur's Cultural Imagination And A Phenomenology Of Deuteronomism, Tad C. Blacketer

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Correlation Between Pastors’ Leadership Style, Their Organizational Change Commitment, And Their Organization’S Readiness For Change, Jerusha Smith Drummond

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this non-experimental correlational study was to determine whether a relationship exists between pastors’ perceptions of transformational leadership, pastors’ organizational change commitment, and their organization’s readiness for change, controlling for gender, age, education, tenure, and geographical location of lead pastors in the South Carolina Baptist Convention (SCBC) churches. Leadership and change are intertwined; thus, pastors’ commitment to organizational change and their organization’s readiness for change highlights dynamic leadership in the management of church life. The pastor must possess a leadership style that moves the church toward organizational change while keeping parishioners in attendance. The study answers the following …

Incomparable? : Authenticating Criteria In Historical Jesus Scholarship And General Historical Methodology, Kevin B. Burr

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Early Christian Responses To Persecution And Their Implications For Christians In Northern Nigeria, Yakubu Tanko Jakada

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Spirit Possession In Luke-Acts And Modern Eyewitnesses : An Analysis Of Anthropological Accounts As Evidence For The Plausibility Of The Lukan Accounts, Joy L. Vaughan

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Judge Jesus: Interpreting Jesus’ Role As Judge In The Gospel Of John Through An Early Jewish Mindset, Jeremiah Stallman

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Jesus proclaimed that the Father gave him the authority to judge because he is the “Son of Man” (John 5:22, 27). This proclamation is spoken to an immediate Jewish audience that would have had preconceived theological beliefs concerning eschatological judgment and messianic expectation. However, these are not the preconceived beliefs of the modern reader. The modern reader of the Gospel of John will better understand John’s presentation of Jesus’ words concerning his role as messianic judge through an Early Jewish interpretive lens. The first century Jew in John’s audience would have been infused with two to three centuries of preconceived …

Revisiting The Riddle In Samaria : A Social-Scientific Investigation Of Spirit Reception In Luke-Acts In Historical Perspective, Thomas Lyons

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Investigating The Resurrection Of Jesus Christ-A New Transdisciplinary Approach, Andrew Loke

Ebooks

This book offers a new contribution by addressing issues using a transdisciplinary approach, that is, one which integrates different disciplines—in this case, historical-critical studies of the Bible, psychology, comparative religion, analytic philosophy, and theology—to create a new methodology that moves beyond discipline-specific approaches to address a problem. Utilizing an original analytical framework, I shall demonstrate that a logically exhaustive list of categories of hypotheses in relation to the claims of Jesus’ post-mortem appearances and the outcome of Jesus’ body can be formulated—indeed, this would be the first monograph on Jesus’ resurrection to demonstrate a comprehensive coverage of all the categories …

Murmuring Met With Mercy And Grace: An Examination Of The Pre-Sinai Wilderness Wanderings Traditions, Anna Rask

Master of Theology Theses

While various OT and NT authors may employ the wilderness wanderings traditions for their own purposes, the traditions themselves generally present the Israelites in a negative light. This negative presentation is primarily due to the murmuring motif. This essay revealed the stereotyped verbs and collocations of the motif in addition to the variety of forms the murmurings can take, a prominent form being an accusatory question. When the stereotyped verbs and collocations do not occur, it is the presence of an accusatory question with stereotypical content and language regarding the Israelites’ life in Egypt and their exodus that signals the …

Proclaiming Jubilee: Preaching That Sets Women Free, Jennifer Michelle Benson Moran

Doctor of Ministry Theses

In Luke 4, Jesus outlines his mission: to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and free the oppressed. Yet the marginalization and oppression of women have been structurally normalized throughout history, both in secular society as well as Christian culture. Through historical, cultural, biblical, exegetical, hermeneutical, and homiletical analysis, this study posits that a jubilee homiletic is a crucial part of embodying liberation from textual interpretations that have prioritized those who are privileged, so that women may reclaim scripture as a source of freedom.

Megachurches And Social Engagement: Public Theology In Practice [Review] / Cartledge, Mark J., Sarah L. B. Dunlop, Heather Buckingham, And Sophie Bremner., Gerson Santos

Andrews University Seminary Studies (AUSS)

Book Review

Leadership Development In Grace Church: Adding Replication Culture Elements To Its Family Culture, Timothy N. Thomassian

All Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This project addressed the problem of the lack of a systemic approach to developing potential leaders at Grace Church as it seeks to add replication-culture elements to its existing family culture. The problem was addressed in four steps: (1) exploring biblical leadership development principles using the examples of Moses and Joshua, Jesus and Peter, and Paul’s instruction to the church leaders to “equip the saints for the work of ministry,” (Eph. 4:11-12), (2) reviewing relevant books, articles, and other sources to discover leadership development principles as they relate to replication culture, (3) conducting face-to-face interviews with three leadership development pastors …

The Impact Of Presence And Touch On Church Growth, William Charles Berg

All Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This project addresses the problem of discovering whether, when churches move to be physically present in their communities and engage in appropriate touch through serving, there is a corresponding impact in confession of faith and church growth. To answer this problem, the researcher began with the incarnation and trinity as a model of presence and touch. The researcher reviewed the Gospels to identify Jesus’ use of physical presence and touch in His ministry. The researcher also looked at the impact of presence and touch on the early church in the Book of Acts. He reviewed literature that focused on the …

Liturgical Drama In The Church: An Application Of Daily Scriptural Living, Alma Lee Langley-Ward

All Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The main purpose of this research was to study the validity of using liturgical drama as a vital tool of expression in helping to make Scripture come alive for the application and transformation of lives, first of those of the researcher’s local congregation and eventually of other churches. The researcher wrote and directed a play using members of the Greater Friendship Missionary Baptist Church as actors and crew. The entire church was a participant of this research as the play was done during a Sunday morning worship service as part of the liturgy. The mixed-method approach presented the most viable …

Creator God, Humans, And Artificial Intelligence: Framework To Address Theological And Relational Issues, Tinku Thompson

All Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Technological advancements are happening at an accelerated phase. Five decades ago, no one even owned a personal computer. A decade ago, smartphones did not exist. Today there are 2.71 billion smartphone users in the world, which is more than thirty-five percent of the world’s population. Many developments have happened in the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI), Robotics, and Mixed Reality. AI is the term used to describe a machine’s ability to simulate human intelligence. Characteristics once considered unique to humans like learning, logic, reasoning, perception, and creativity are now being replicated by technology and used in every industry. The problem …

Der Brief An Die Römer [Review] / Wolter, Michael., Dominic Bornand

Andrews University Seminary Studies (AUSS)

Book Review

God, Time And The Sabbath: A Brief Historical-Theological Survey, Francis Gayoba

Master's Theses

Problem

This study takes Fernando Canale's work as a starting point, which has demonstrated that unbiblical philosophical presuppositions have undergirded many forms of Christian theology. Of specific interest to this thesis is the presupposition of divine timelessness or temporality, which may have consequences on various doctrines. This study examines the possible influence of these presuppositions on the meaning of the Sabbath, as seen in the writings of Augustine of Hippo, Thomas Aquinas, Martin Luther, John Calvin, Andreas Carlstadt, Oswald Glaidt, Andreas Fischer, Nicholas Bownd, and Theophilus Brabourne. The problem this thesis addresses is whether an observable connection can be made …

Leviathan's Knot: The High Priest's Sash As The Cosmological Symbol, Andrei Orlov

Theology Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

The Knowledge Of End-Time Prophetic Scriptures Prepares Believers At Northcliffe Baptist Church To Expect Religious Persecution, John C. Reddy

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The lack of knowledge about the end-time prophetic Scriptures and its inferences to Islamic eschatology appears to be a problem at Northcliffe Baptist Church. The purpose of this study is to raise awareness about the end-time Scriptures and prepare the congregants to expect persecution as normative in the Christian life. Islam is projected to overtake Christianity in a few decades and is proliferating at a rapid pace. The anti-parallel structure between Christian eschatology and Islamic eschatology is disconcerting. Islam denies Jesus’s divinity and advocates persecuting Christians if they do not convert to Islam. Suffering and persecution for the Lord are …

Thinking Systematically With The Scriptural Christology Of Hebrews: Contributions To The Theology Of Christ’S Threefold Office, Adriani M. Rodrigues

Andrews University Seminary Studies (AUSS)

The epistle to the Hebrews presents a rich Christology articulated in dialogue with the OT. This article assumes that the dogmatic potential of Hebrews should enrich the architecture of systematic theology. Accordingly, the study aims at identifying how the conceptual articulation of the Christology of Hebrews contributes to the theology of Christ’s threefold office. To achieve this goal, the article dialogues with categories of the munus triplex (Christ’s threefold office): prophet, priest, and king. After a short description of these categories in Christian theology, the study undertakes a systematic reading of Hebrews by first outlining its material contri- bution to …

Salvation: Contours Of Adventist Soteriology [Review] / Martin F. Hanna, Darius W. Jankiewicz, And John W. Reeve, Eds., Stephen Bauer

Andrews University Seminary Studies (AUSS)

Book Review

The Hermeneutics Of The Biblical Writers: Learning To Interpret Scripture From The Prophets And Apostles [Review] / Chou, Abner., Silvia Bacchiocchi

Andrews University Seminary Studies (AUSS)

Book Review

Revelation. Paideia: Commentaries On The New Testament [Review] / Tonstad, Sigve K., Stanislav Kondrat

Andrews University Seminary Studies (AUSS)

Book Review

Table Of Contents

Andrews University Seminary Studies (AUSS)

Table of Contents

Saying No To God: A Radical Approach To Reading The Bible Faithfully [Review] / Korpman, Matthew J., André Reis

Andrews University Seminary Studies (AUSS)

Book Review

The Sermon On The Mount And Human Flourishing: A Theological Commentary [Review] / Pennington, Jonathan., Ernest Bursey

Andrews University Seminary Studies (AUSS)

Book Review

Some Hermeneutical Principles For The Biblical Historian, Paul J. Ray Jr

Andrews University Seminary Studies (AUSS)

While the grammatical-historical method of interpretation, which focuses on the languages of the biblical text and its historical backgrounds to arrive at meaning, has long been the interpretive procedure of choice in many faith communities, modern methods of biblical study have tended to move away from text-historical, to text-exclusive or more reader-centered hermeneutics. Unfortunately, this trend has either basically removed history from the interpretive arena or left the field open to simplistic and sensationalistic historical explanations. Since one’s view of biblical history is predicated on background matters such as conceptions of revelation, inspiration, the Bible, and even history itself, I …

Christ-Centered Leadership: The Formation Of Millennials, Sean K. Wood

All Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The problem this project addressed is the perceived lack of Christocentric leadership development among millennials of Canadian churches with over one thousand people in attendance. In response to this problem the researcher explored Christ-centered leadership formation and discipleship in the New Testament and early church. The literature reviewed related to the uniqueness of millennials as it connects to leadership development. The researcher interviewed two Senior Pastors who are considered highly influential with the millennial cohort. These two leaders have both led effective church congregations in Canada during their respective twenty-plus year tenure serving the same churches. Millennial leaders who are …

The Language Of Repentance In The Book Of Mormon, Noel B. Reynolds

Faculty Publications

Efforts to understand the doctrine of repentance in the Book of Mormon have long been hampered by linguistic considerations—and especially the traditional translation provided in the King James Version of the Bible. Twentieth century studies provide a needed correction to this situation and open a wealth of potential new understandings of Book of Mormon discourse on repentance. Further, the discovery that the Book of Mormon uses the common biblical figure of speech of hendiadys repeatedly to expand and enrich the concept of repentance beyond biblical usage helps readers appreciate the ways in which repentance can be seen as the most …

Faith And Faithfulness In The Book Of Mormon, Noel B. Reynolds

Faculty Publications

The concept of covenantal faithfulness toward Yahweh that Old Testament scholars have recognized and defined over the last century turns out to be a far better account of the Book of Mormon understanding of faith in the Lord, in Jesus Christ, than are any of the competing concepts of faith that have grown out of the Christian tradition over the last two millennia. For the Nephite prophets, faith was an active concept, better understood as faithfulness—as diligent obedience to the commandments the Lord has given to those who have accepted the gospel covenant through repentance and baptism. The divine …