Digital Commons Network^™

Cultural Intelligence Development And Study Abroad: The Effect Of Destination, Luke Zirkle

Senior Honors Theses

Cultural intelligence (CQ) is an emerging field in a globalized world. As the world becomes increasingly interconnected, study abroad opportunities at higher educational institutions have become widely-accepted means for developing students’ CQ. While a number of variables seem to impact CQ development through study abroad programs, one variable seems as yet to have been largely unexplored. This research examines anonymous archival data from juniors in Liberty University’s Global Studies program during the spring semesters of 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019 to observe a potential pattern that suggests the role of a study abroad host-culture on the student’s CQ development. Though …

The Exclusivity Of The Christian Faith: A Case For Christ-Alone In A Culture Of Relativism, Brandon Keith Sinclair

Masters Theses

The proposition of absolute and exclusive truth in a culture permeated by relativism is among the most important discussions of today. The answer to this dilemma is imperative. Relativism has not only taken captive secular society, it has infiltrated the thinking of many professing Christians. The traditional Christian message has always been one of exclusivity and Christ-alone. The challenge for the Christian Apologist in a culture of relativism is three-fold: Establish the existence of absolute and exclusive truth, nullify the arguments presented by relativism as unreasonable, illogical, and fallible, and to make a solid case for the unsurpassable uniqueness of …

Raising Consciousness: Challenging Diversity In Christian Publishing, Michael Omari Johnson

Masters Theses

The Christian publishing industry has overlooked the importance of diversity, particularly its impact on black American audiences. While studies show that diversity and inclusion can lead to more innovation through problem-solving, there persists a paradox where a lack of opportunities, disparities in wealth and employment and systemic prejudices can play a role in the ethnic and racial homogeneity of the Christian publishing industry. Thus, there are many barriers preventing people of color from emerging to the market, reflecting in the storytelling, content creation and audience of African-descent followers.

Identifying Risk Factors For And Responding To Religious/Spiritual Distress In Transplant Patient Populations, Amber Nicole Ryman

Masters Theses

Due to the advancement of organ transplant technology, more people are able to receive a second chance at life through organ donation. In 2019, the United States conducted close to 40,000 transplants and this represents close to 40,000 people experiencing various states of healthcare crisis. Chaplains have the opportunity, and responsibility, to care for the religious/spiritual well-being of these transplant patients and their caregivers as they navigate the unique processes and challenges that transplantation entails. It is the argument of this thesis that risk factors for spiritual distress in transplant populations need to be identified as early as possible, in …

Arguments From Evil And The Parenting Style(S) Of God, Kyle Dean Gazlay

Masters Theses

In scholarly debates there are two primary positions on whether a God who is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnibenevolent can coexist with the presence of evil in the world. Atheists claim that God and evil do not coexist, while theists proclaim that God and evil can and do coexist. Atheists have used arguments from evil as a chief weapon against the existence of God and evil. Within arguments from evil, atheists create arguments that take an evidential or probabilistic stance on the matter. These arguments are called evidential arguments from evil. The evidential arguments from evil will use parent analogies to …

Contextualized Songwriting In The Japanese Church, Katie Ann Mcwilliams

Masters Theses

The Christian Church of Japan has very few songs written in their own language and style. Most songs are translated from English or another language. While Japan is a very westernized country, this is a problem because things can get lost in translation and these songs are not always representative of their musical style. Furthermore, they have a unique voice of worship that is currently missing from the global Church. My research project was intended to identify songwriters and encourage songwriting for the local church with the intention of expanding the Japanese voice in the global context and raising awareness …

High Strength, Stiffness, And Toughness Polypropylene Composite For A Football Helmet Shell, Paul Savas

Liberty University Research Week

No abstract provided.

Old Testament Election: God’S Exclusive Means Of Bringing About Global Redemption, Parker Williams

Senior Honors Theses

This thesis will seek to explore the doctrine of election as it appears in the Old Testament. It will attempt to provide a robust, biblical conception of the doctrine, shedding light on its nature and purpose, viewing the Bible as a singular story of God’s redemptive work. It will consider and assess election as God’s act of divine prerogative—being at times individual but primarily corporate. While inherently partial, effort will be taken to defend the doctrine against common objections this partiality draws. Rather, it will be shown that as the means by which He initiated His gracious plan of salvation, …

The Origins Beliefs Of Christian College Students, Emily Wilkinson

Senior Honors Theses

Many studies have focused on creation and evolution in academia, origins beliefs and biblical interpretation, and how students respond to origins challenges. The author then conducted a phenomenology of Christian college students’ origins beliefs, factors that influence those beliefs, and impacts that the beliefs have on students’ lives. Methods included a 44-Item Big Five Inventory and semi-structured interviews. Participants were eight residential undergraduate students at a Christian university who were currently or previously in a creation studies course. Results indicated that all participants held to young-earth creationism, and that family, Christian faith, education, personality, and academic major influenced the development …

American God Story: Creating Shared Cultural Context With Popular Television, Timothy Joseph Rosenberger

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Believers increasingly encounter a stark divide between their cultural contexts and those of the people they seek to evangelize. This divide is particularly pronounced in popular culture where the television, movies, music, and books that appeal to Christians often are radically different than those that appeal to mainstream Americans. Without a shared cultural language, and a shared network of cultural touch points, it can be challenging to form meaningful connection between, and amongst, church members and unchurched community members. This study pioneers an intervention in which church members, and unchurched community members, come together to view popular television episodes and …

Declining Church Attendance: Five Reasons Why Millennials Have Stopped Attending Church, Charles Eugene Sumpter

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

During the past decade, every denomination has recorded a decline in church attendance despite a continual increase in the US population. Research organizations including the Barna Group, Pew Research, and the Hartford Institute of Religion Research conducted an untold number of surveys providing statistics that ascertain reasons for declining church attendance and why people are leaving the church. Failure to address the issue of declining attendance will lead to more church failures and an increased number of people with no church affiliation. This research document will review data from the Barna Group, Pew Research, and the Hartford Institute of Religion …

The Date Of The Muratorian Fragment: An Inference To The Best Explanation, John F. Lingelbach

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Three hundred years after its discovery, scholars find themselves unable to identify the more likely of the two hypotheses regarding the date of the Muratorian Fragment, whether it is a late second- to early third-century composition or a fourth-century composition. In light of the lingering problem of the Muratorian Fragment’s date and its significance, a new study has been conducted, and this dissertation features an exposition of that study’s conduct and findings. The study sought to break the impasse and identify the more likely of the two hypotheses regarding the date of the Fragment—that it is either a late second- …

Where Is God In Symbolic Exchange? A Theo-Semiological Analysis Of The Sons Of Anarchy, Alex Justin Holguin

Masters Theses

This thesis attempts to uncover the religious nature of communication by re-visioning and situating French psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan’s theory of communication within a Christian theological context. By critically engaging Lacan’s theoretical concepts of the Imaginary, the Symbolic, and the Real within this context, the thesis is able to access the intersection of rhetorical semiotics, psychoanalysis, and Christian theology to have a more fruitful understanding of how meaning is exchanged between subjects. Lacan’s inter-disciplinary affirmation of rhetoric and psychoanalysis has been able to produce incredible explanatory potential for how meaning, as the bedrock of speech and communication, operates through the psyche …

Amos 3:3-8: A Case Study Of The Function Of Rhetorical Questions In Amos, Matthew Bovard

Liberty University Research Week

Graduate

Textual or Investigative

The Matthew 16:13-18:20 Chiasm As The Fountainhead Of Matthean Proto-Ecclesiology, Nicholas A. Dodson

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The only two instances of the Greek term ἐκκλησία (usually translated “church”) found in the Gospels are in Matthew 16:18 and 18:17. These two passages have been examined, debated, and interpreted in a number of ways by various scholars. The present dissertation presents considerable exegetical evidence that these two uses of ἐκκλησία are actually part of a larger literary structure called a chiasmus, which connects the passages in which Matthew 16:18 and 18:17 are found. Because these are highly significant ecclesiological passages, this study further develops the connection of the chiastic structure to other foundational ecclesiological passages, namely the Matthean …

Leadership Factors That Influence Church Growth For Western North Carolina Churches Of God, Harold Jordan

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this project is to identify and describe the essential leadership factors required to stimulate and sustain church growth for Church of God churches operating in Western North Carolina. This will be accomplished using a grounded theory research approach. Sample (N = 30) analysis of statistics provided by the Western North Carolina State Offices of the Church of God showed 3% of the churches in this region to have recorded significant overall growth in attendance and membership (=>10% per year) from April 1, 2014 to April 30, 2016. Few of the sampled churches recorded benchmark conversion growth …

Effectiveness Of Religious Cognitive Behavior Therapy For The Treatment Of Clinical Depression In Religious People: A Single-Case Research Design Analysis, Richard Mark Cozart

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This study used a single-case research design analysis to investigate the efficacy and effectiveness of the Duke University Center for Spirituality, Theology and Health (Duke Center)’s religious cognitive behavior therapy (RCBT) with four deeply religious Christians reporting moderate to severe depression. Literature suggests that religious individuals prefer interventions that reflect their religiosity and experience at least equal recovery rates compared to the use of conventional cognitive behavior therapy (CBT); however, they may not have access to effective religious treatments in customary religious venues, and there is a lack of understanding of why such individuals respond to religious treatments. The four …

Mackie's Arguement For The Infinite Man, Abigail J. Basile

Quaerens Deum: The Liberty Undergraduate Journal for Philosophy of Religion

Theists and non-theists alike have toiled with the characteristics of the Judeo-Christian God and how they may or may not be contradictory with the existence of evil. Some philosophers, such as J. L. Mackie, have decided that God and evil cannot coexist, mainly because the existence of evil means that any God is unable to keep evil and suffering away from His beloved creation, and such a limited God is no God at all. But Mackie’s argument rests on flawed foundation. Mankind is necessarily finite because even the infinite God cannot do the logically impossible and create the infinite—nothing infinite …

Truth-Makers And The "Grounding Objection" To Molinism, Tyler Crown

Quaerens Deum: The Liberty Undergraduate Journal for Philosophy of Religion

One of the most discussed topics on the nature of God, in Christian circles today, is the subject of God’s knowledge. There are a few popular positions today that are engaged in a serious debate as to what the true biblical and philosophical position on the nature of God’s knowledge is. One such position, which has become increasingly popular and has found support among many leading Christian philosophers, such as Alvin Plantinga, Thomas Flint, and William Lane Craig, is called Molinism. While Molinism does have an abundance of supporters, there are many detractors as well. Calvinist’s, Thomists and open theists …

The Effects Of Media On The American Perceptions Of Islam From 2001-2012, Brently Pustelak

Senior Honors Theses

This study seeks to understand the correlation between the average American's understanding of a Muslim and the portrayal of Muslims in relevant news events. After defining terms and reviewing previous literature, two news sources will be used to compare various historically-significant events. The major events to be studied are the September 11 attacks of 2001, the American involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the “Arab Spring”. Precedent literature shall be used to determine a baseline understanding of common American perceptions of Muslims. From the baseline understandings of American perceptions and the established definitions regarding Muslims, a connection will be drawn …

A Study Of Apostasy Through Scripture: A Biblical Theological Approach, Marissa Fast

Senior Honors Theses

Apostasy is a subject that has been an intriguing question for many biblical scholars. This thesis examines apostasy from a biblical theological approach, meaning the Bible, and not Systematic Theology, has priority. First, the subject of apostasy within the covenantal context of the Old Testament is examined. Examples are given and discussed while the themes that can be gathered from this discussion are also be touched upon. Then texts addressing this issue within the New Testaments are examined and expanded upon. Finally, a conclusion of what the Bible has to say on the subject of apostasy is made.

A Divine Selection: An Exegetical Analysis Of Vocational Calling, Timothy Nguyen

Senior Honors Theses

Within Christian circles, the ‘calling’ of the vocational minister is frequently abused and misunderstood and muddled by the lack of Scriptural evidence for the overused term. The focus of this research is to observe first, the current cultural climate surrounding the nature of calling, and second, to compare this understanding to the authoritative Scriptural teaching on the subject in both the Old and New Testaments. This analysis reveals that the “internal” vocational call to minister is absent from the Bible and must be replaced by an alternative the Scripture directly teaches. It is concluded that God gives man the desire …

Understanding Muhammad's Interaction With The Church, Devonte Narde

Montview Journal of Research & Scholarship

My research focuses on understanding Muhammad’s (the Islamic prophet) interaction with what he perceived to be the Christian church to find out why his understanding of Biblical narratives and theology is incorrect. With this information, Christians should reintroduce Christian scripture and theology to Muslims since Muhammad’s rejection of Christian doctrine is based on associating wrong texts as authoritative Christian teaching. The following questions that shape this research are: What possible sources did Muhammad use to learn about biblical narratives and themes? What did the first Muslims think about the canonical gospels of Jesus? How did early Muslims view the teachings …

Soteriology In Mainstream Monotheistic Religions: The Messiah Conundrum, Jay Fox

Masters Theses

For the promotion of the Gospel, this study seeks to examine Soteriology in Mainstream Monotheistic Religions: The Messiah Conundrum. This decidedly charged topic critically researches the philosophy of salvation doctrine, or soteriology, within major monotheistic religions. The highlighted problem is the Messiah conundrum, with critical research on each doctrine for epistemological significance of a savior and their beliefs surrounding salvation. This mystery of where, or who humans turn to for salvation, is vitally important when considering the principle of sufficient reason in today’s hermeneutic and apologetic circles. The purpose fueling this thesis is the resolute documenting of beliefs of major …

The Ideologies And Outcomes Of The French And American Revolutions, Donald D. Palmer

Masters Theses

One effective way to compare the fruits of biblical Christianity with modernism is to contrast the ideologies and outcomes of the American and French Revolutions. Pre-revolutionary America was rich with biblical influence. Adherents of both Protestantism and Deism sought a “Christian society,” and while revolutionaries drew from both biblical Reformation and secular Enlightenment thought, much of the latter was biblical thought in secular form. Ministers employed the Bible extensively to support the Revolution. This relative theological consensus encouraged religious practice and a political system that accommodated dispute. Human rights were secure thanks to man’s subordinate position under God. Even after …

Understanding Muhammad’S Interaction With The Church, Devonte Narde

Liberty University Research Week

Undergraduate

Textual or Investigative

Comfort, Comfort: Reexamining The Historical Context Of Isaiah 40:1-11, Matthew Bovard

Liberty University Research Week

Graduate

Textual or Investigative

The Importance Of Language In Cross-Cultural Interaction, Lacy Norton

Senior Honors Theses

Language and culture are connected. Because of this connection, people have a preferred language with which they have an emotional or cultural connection. In Latin American cultures, it is beneficial to speak to a person in their preferred language. Using a person’s preferred language as opposed to any other language will facilitate a deeper connection with that person, cross cultural barriers that may separate them, and be more effective when attempting to share the gospel.

Overcoming Hidden Shame To More Effectively Connect With God And His People, Colleen Lou Worrell

Masters Theses

This research project was designed to help Christians identify and overcome hidden shame so that they would be able to enjoy a more authentic connection with God and as an extension, to His people. I chose this topic because Christians are often seen by non-Christians as being judgmental, critical and unloving. This behavior does not reflect the transformation and behavior mandated in Romans 12 and other similar scriptures. Because these behaviors are sinful, the investigation began with a review of mankind’s first sin in the garden of Eden. Out of that review, I discovered that shame is commonly found alongside …

Attitudes Towards Care Of Dying Patients Among Sophomore, Junior, And Senior Pre-Licensure Nursing Students At A Christian University While Controlling For Religiosity, Diane Bridge

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

There is a need for nurses who can effectively care for dying patients. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the attitudes of nursing students towards providing care of dying patients while controlling for religiosity. The study used a quantitative causal-comparative research design using two administered questionnaires, the Frommelt’s Attitudes Towards Care of the Dying (FATCOD B) and the Duke University Religion Index (DUREL). A convenience sample of 417 residential undergraduate nursing students were used in this study. The sample consisted of 137 sophomore, 142 junior, and 138 senior pre-licensure nursing students who attended a large Christian university located …