Digital Commons Network^™

Ross Dean Blasingame Papers, 1958-1969, Ross Dean Blasingame

Center for Restoration Studies Archives, Manuscripts and Personal Papers Finding Aids

No abstract provided.

Finding Aid For Ross Dean Blasingame Papers, (1958-1969), Abilene Christian University Special Collections And Archives

Ross Dean Blasingame Papers

Finding aid for the Ross Dean Blasingame Papers, (1958-1969).

William Mardell Lynch Papers, 1939-2003, William Mardell Lynch

Center for Restoration Studies Archives, Manuscripts and Personal Papers Finding Aids

Finding aid for the William Mardell Lynch Papers, 1939-2003.

Finding Aid For Claude Adrian Guild Papers, (1939-1992), Abilene Christian University Special Collections And Archives

Claude Adrian Guild Papers

Finding aid for the Claude Adrian Guild Papers, (1939-1992).

Orem Church Of Christ (Orem, Utah) Records, 1946-2006, Orem Church Of Christ

Center for Restoration Studies Archives, Manuscripts and Personal Papers Finding Aids

No abstract provided.

God’S Faithfulness To Promise: The Hortatory Use Of Commissive Language In Hebrews, David Ripley Worley

ACU Brown Library Monograph Series

David Worley's 1981 Yale University dissertation--revised with foreword by James Thompson and bibliographical addendum by Lee Zachary Maxey--explores the use commissive language, promises, and hortatory literature in the book of Hebrews. The author concludes that the use of commissive language in the book of Hebrews was not prompted by criticisms within the church over a delay in God’s promise keeping; rather that our author seized upon God’s commissive activity and the behavior of promisees of scripture as a way of emboldening a people tempted to withdraw from one another and from God to endure social and financial difficulties and to …

Handbook Of Christian Denominations In Zambia, A Personal Perspective, Chester Woodhall

Stone-Campbell Books

No abstract provided.

Preaching Christ In Zambia And Congo, Chester Woodhall

Stone-Campbell Books

No abstract provided.

2019 - Sorrow, Hope And Joy: Life In The Mountains And Valleys Of The Psalms, Abilene Christian University

Lectureship and Summit Programs

Abilene Christian University’s 2019 Summit is designed to remind how the spiritual foundation of praying, singing and meditation helps contemporary disciples flourish during times of despair, hope and joy. In the Psalms we encounter words, music and emotions for private and communal worship times. Although sometimes neglected in the 21st century, the Psalter supplies power to transform lives by bringing God’s kindness and mercy into our world.

Just as the Psalms were the hymn book for Jesus and his followers, at Summit 2019 we will examine the many ways in which they provide a steady, sustained foundation for healthy Christian …

Ethel Lorraine Webb Small Papers, 1960-1980, Ethel Lorraine Webb Small

Center for Restoration Studies Archives, Manuscripts and Personal Papers Finding Aids

No abstract provided.

A Renaissance Of The Visual Arts In Worship For Churches Of Christ, Heather Heflin Hodges

Doctor of Ministry Theses and Dissertations

This Doctor of Ministry thesis presents the results of a project in which a group of four artists from across the United States met via video conference to create liturgical art activities that can be integrated into the Sunday morning worship for Churches of Christ. The problem identified at the beginning of the project was a lack of integration of the visual arts in worship in Churches of Christ. I understood this lack to be due in part to an iconoclastic heritage in Protestantism as well as a focus on rational intellectualism and desire for simplicity in worship as a …

Dwayne Dale Vanrheenen Papers, 1962-2015, Dwayne Dale Vanrheenen

Center for Restoration Studies Archives, Manuscripts and Personal Papers Finding Aids

No abstract provided.

Carl Brecheen Papers, 1955-2009, Freddy Carl Brecheen

Center for Restoration Studies Archives, Manuscripts and Personal Papers Finding Aids

No abstract provided.

Bible As Notepad. Tracing Annotations And Annotation Practices In Late Antique And Medieval Biblical Manuscripts, Liv Ingeborg Lied, Marilena Maniaci, Jeff Childers

Graduate School of Theology

The present volume provides a comparative look at the contents and layout features of secondary annotations in biblical manuscripts across linguistic traditions. Due to the privileged focus on the text in the columns, these annotations and the practices that produced them have not received the scholarly attention they deserve. The vast richness of extant verbal and figurative notes accompanying the biblical texts in the intercolumns and margins of the manuscript pages have thus been largely overlooked. The case studies gathered in this volume explore Jewish and Christian biblical manuscripts through the lens of their annotations, addressing the various relationships between …

Divining Gospel: Classifying Manuscripts Of John Used In Sortilege, Jeff Childers

Graduate School of Theology

The texts of Christian scripture find their way into a variety of ancient artifacts. The manuscript form has been the most widespread, yet manuscripts manifest distinct patterns of organization and structure according to their different purposes. Many include companion texts sharing the page with that of scripture—texts that gloss, provide commentary, give liturgical direction, or otherwise assist the reader in understanding or using scripture. In many instances, pages containing scripture have acquired additional texts over the years–e.g. marginal notes, corrections, claims of ownership, prayers, and fragments of other texts. One of the least well-studied phenomena is the sort of artifact …

Elders Intentionally Developing Future Leaders Through A Mentoring Program At The Central Church Of Christ In Topeka, Ks, Terry Kitson

Doctor of Ministry Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this project was to implement an Elder Mentoring Program for the Central Church of Christ in Topeka, KS. In the first chapter, the context for this project, the Central Church of Christ, is described. The theological constructs for the project were drawn from The Book of Pastoral Rule written by Gregory the Great 590 C.E. and built upon by the application of contemporary Christian authors, and Biblical examples. The three key concepts taken from The Book of Pastoral Rule are contemplation, pastoral care, and mentoring. The third chapter reviews project methodology and mentoring curriculum. The findings and …

Spiritual Transformation At Austin Christian Church, David Hooper

Doctor of Ministry Theses and Dissertations

This project was designed to meet a need at the Austin Christian Church (ACC) for enhancing the spiritual formation of new converts to Christianity by providing clear direction for mentors seeking to disciple others into the image of Christ. The scope of this project is focused directly on taking the first steps toward a deliberate pathway for spiritual formation by establishing the foundational principles. The apostle Paul’s pastoral theology provides the theological rationale for the project. Theosis, the theologically rich description of the Christian transformative process, also informs the theological foundation for the project. Drawing on the work of Richard …

Evaluating “Discovery Bible Study” In An Evangelism Program At African Christian College, Floyd Vidler

Doctor of Ministry Theses and Dissertations

The problem addressed in this project emerges from my understanding of evangelism. For me evangelism must include proclamation, discipleship, a reliance on the Holy Spirit, and the utilization of small groups. I see DBS as accomplishing these goals, and the problem of this work was to demonstrate whether this is true in the context of African Christian College and the surrounding area.

I used a method called participatory action research. I made it my goal to learn all that I could about DBS and then share this material in a classroom setting with my students at ACC. We then participated …

2018 - Wholeness In A Broken World: Together Through The Power Of The Spirit, Abilene Christian University

Lectureship and Summit Programs

Our theme this year, drawn from Ephesians, is "Wholeness in a Broken World: Together Through the Power of the Spirit."

A special feature of this year's Summit will be the formal launching of the Carl Spain Center for Race Studies and Spiritual Action.

Theme speakers will guide our hearts and minds in examining ways in which themes from Ephesians can lead us toward wholeness in today's broken world.

Key speakers include: Randy Harris, Alan Jacobs, Jordan and Matt Dooley, Jerry Taylor, and Don McLaughlin.

Practicing Missional Hospitality In A Suburban Church, Kevin Stewart

Discernment: Theology and the Practice of Ministry

The West Houston Church of Christ is typical of many churches in North America that struggle to relate in meaningful ways to the surrounding culture. Over thirty years West Houston changed from a small, vibrant young church with a thriving family-like atmosphere to a large church in a new building, yet mourning its loss of family connections. It was struggling to find a new identity. In this article I discuss the ingrained sense of family that has served as the identity of West Houston and explore both theological and practical ways—specifically those involving missional hospitality—through which a church can navigate …

Learning To Pray The Lord’S Prayer For Spiritual Transformation At Tachikawa Church Of Christ, Naoyoshi Fukushima

Doctor of Ministry Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACT

This thesis describes a project to lead the members of Tachikawa Church of Christ to learn and experience the power and blessings of praying the Lord’s Prayer for spiritual edification and maturity. The program consisted of eight weeks of learning the meaning of the Lord’s Prayer and doing spiritual exercises. To provide a theological foundation for this project, I delivered eight sermons on the Lord’s Prayer with strong emphasis on the relational nature of the prayer.

Those who engaged in the spiritual exercises were given opportunities to experience joy, peace, and correction as they tried to live in harmony …

A Blessing To All Nations: Examining Call Narratives In The Hebrew Bible, Brianna Rideout

Honors College

In the New Testament, Jesus tells his followers to go into the world and preach the good news of the kingdom of God. One aspect of this kingdom is God’s love for all creation. However, the missional call in the Old Testament has been largely ignored. Some Old Testament scholars have argued in favor of a mission to the nations in the Hebrew Bible on the basis of Isaiah 40-55. Others have argued against it saying that the prophetic message here is for reform directed toward their own community. Still, the genre of the call narrative and its role in …

Restoring גלה Ii From Exile: Discovering The Homonyms Spelled ג-ל-ה By Examining Their Usage In The Hebrew Bible, Josiah D. Peeler

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the evidence in the Hebrew Bible of the ancient Hebrew lexeme גלה. The aim is to determine how many roots are represented by the spelling ג-ל-ה in the Hebrew Bible. With the help of verbal valency theory, I examine the complementation patterns of גלה.

Previous attempts to understand the ancient Hebrew גלה focus on semantics. I challenge this approach and suggest that semantics alone is insufficient for understanding גלה (Chapter 1). Thus, I incorporate the clausal syntax of גלה with attention to גלה’s appearance in the different binyanim and the different complement patterns that accompany גלה’s different …

From Beginning To The End: Humans As Caretakers And Co-Creators Of Nature, Amber Grothe

Dialogue & Nexus

Followers of the Christian faith ought to reconsider their role as being created in the ‘image of God,’ their interpretation of the Apocalyptic literature, and the relationship between the two. Different interpretations of these two narratives in Biblical literature (the Creation and the End Times) can create and support the view of humans as care-takers of Earth. A different perspective of the Creation story and Apocalyptic literature can lead to a different view of humans and their role in nature. By realizing their equivalence with nature and nature’s true ownership by God, humans are demoted from nature’s tyrannical kings to …

Neuroscience, Materialism, And The Soul: Limit Questions, Jeremy M. Aymard

Dialogue & Nexus

In light of recent discoveries in neuroscience linking the mind to physical processes, Christian philosophers have resorted to a more materialistic view of the human person, using neuroscience as support for their view that an immaterial soul does not exist. In this essay, I will point out a major flaw in the logic for defending a materialistic view, argue that either a bipartite or tripartite view of the human person is more aligned with Scripture, and hopefully point towards a more reliable means for attaining truth regarding human nature and the soul.

Intelligent Design: Should We Teach It?, Sarah-Kate Oliver

Dialogue & Nexus

Belief about the origins of the universe and mankind is an important aspect of most world religions. While many ‘progressive’ Christians view the Genesis accounts of creation as mythical or allegorical, some ‘fundamentalist’ Christians claim it is a literal and historical account of the origins of life. The scientific community, on the other hand, views Darwin’s Theory of Evolution as the definitive explanation of the origin of all species on Earth including humans. As science has continued to line up behind evolution, it has been integrated into the public school curriculum. The question examined by this paper is: should the …

Toward Just Hospitality, Ron Bruner

Discernment: Theology and the Practice of Ministry

The ministry of Jesus moved through times of seeking justice, sharing hospitality, and withdrawing for prayer. Though inescapably “other” because of his divine identity, he sought solidarity with humans by becoming human and interacting with humanity through hospitable practices. The Ancient Mediterranean customs of hospitality were well-defined, but Jesus took this powerful cultural framework and changed its practice so that it produced reconciliation and justice.

This work briefly reviews the practice of hospitality in the time of Jesus. It also presents the work of scholars identifying linguistic markers that would have cued readers in the Ancient Mediterranean to recognize a …

Ignatius: A Guide For Congregational Discernment, Benjamin Gensic

Discernment: Theology and the Practice of Ministry

Congregations find themselves living in transformative times, but transformation is often an act of subtraction, which means congregations find themselves living in anxious times as well. Within this context, it is tempting for congregations to base decisions on either financial constraint or political expediency. However, such superficial discernment is incapable of guiding congregations wishing to respond to God’s activity in the world. This author argues that Ignatius of Loyola provides congregations with an alternative.

To accomplish this, the author walks the reader through the basic principles of Ignatian spirituality and discernment, making suggestions for how these can impact congregational decision-making …

Cruciformity, Differentiation, And Christian Spiritual Formation, David Hooper

Discernment: Theology and the Practice of Ministry

This paper is an examination of two seemingly counterintuitive concepts in Christian spiritual formation. The concept of cruciformity presents the goal of spiritual formation as kenosis, or “emptying oneself of self.” The differentiation of self, as presented in Systems Theory, defines maturity as possessing a clear sense of self. Cruciformity, with its call to kenosis, does not seem to value individuality, making it susceptible to the trappings of enmeshment that emerge from an unbalanced focus on others. Cruciformity seems to judge differentiation as being too balanced, reserving for itself a degree of self-focus that would be deemed inappropriate. It is …

Human Evolution And Divine Agency, Alexandra Rakestraw

Dialogue & Nexus

Modern Christians often find themselves at a crossroads when confronted with the two predominant understandings of human and universal origins. Plain sense readings of Genesis lead many to believe in a historical six-day creation that occurred in the past ten thousand years while proponents on the other side of the spectrum use current scientific understanding to support a creation that occurs through evolutionary means. How one views human origins has a profound impact on one’s concept of how God works in the cosmos. In this paper, I will lay out a background to better understand the characters of Adam and …