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A Christian Apologetic To The Doctrine Of Grace In Shin Buddhism, Jeremy Scott Roseman

Masters Theses

This thesis offers an apologetic defense on why grace in Shin Buddhism is not comparable to that of Christianity. This is to defend the faith against those that would propagate pluralism and to defend the uniqueness of Christ himself and his superiority to that of bodhisattvas, ultimately claiming the superiority of Christianity as the truth in light of various world religions. The second purpose is to paint an accurate picture of Shin Buddhism and its meanings behind the use of the word grace. It is also needed to demonstrate fairness and respect between the two different faiths by presenting accurate …

Style As A "[M]Anner Of Seeing": The Poetics Of Gustave Flaubert, Nicole Lyn Brownfield

Masters Theses

Although Madame Bovary is considered a classic of modern realism, Gustave Flaubert would disagree with his classification as a realist, as he hardly remained loyal to a single literary genre or period. Rather, he longed to create a work of literature that would stand alone as an object of art, and to make this dream a reality he employed the techniques that he believed generated artful and expressive prose. As an author and artist, he was influenced greatly by other art forms, such as music and the visual arts, and like other authors of his time, he sought to discover …

Man Thinking The World: Contemporary American Authors And The Nobel Prize In Literature, Christopher Ryan Knight

Masters Theses

After the Swedish Academy announced that Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio was the 2008 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate, former permanent secretary Horace Engdahl sparked controversy with his comment that the "US is too isolated, too insular. They don't translate enough and don't really participate in the big dialogue of literature . . . That ignorance is restraining." This thesis evaluates the legitimacy of Engdahl's criticism by considering three American authors: John Updike, Edward Albee, and Charles Simic. Each author is evaluated as a contributor to international literary dialogue. The author, drawing from Walter Benjamin's "Theses on the Philosophy of History," …

The "Mother Tongue" In A World Of Sons: Language And Power In The Earthsea Cycle, Daniel Newell

Masters Theses

Between the years 1968 and 1972, professed feminist Ursula Le Guin penned the first three novels of The Earthsea Cycle, a fantasy series, which, at the time, appeared to be a trilogy. However, in 1990 Le Guin added a fourth book, Tehanu, to The Cycle, claiming that it was a necessary "revisioning" of the male-dominated world of Earthsea. While the original three Earthsea novels do not subvert the patriarchal society of Le Guin's fictitious world, they do reflect her feminist values. Contrary to the charges by detractors that her novels betray feminist dicta, these first three books consistently demonstrate the …

Speak Softly, But Carry A Big Stick: Tom Sawyer And Company's Quest For Linguistic Power A Sociolinguistic Analysis Of Mark Twain's The Adventures Of Tom Sawyer, Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn, And Tom Sawyer Abroad, Anne Lea Ryan

Masters Theses

Social stigma associated with the way an individual speaks is not new, and language can be a powerful divider of people. Since the Norman Conquest of 1066, researchers have noted that certain English dialects have been more esteemed than others, and it is certainly well-documented that those who spoke these prestigious varieties were the authority figures. Sociolinguists have determined that one's identity is inextricably bound with the way one speaks, and Mark Twain, a nineteenth-century realist, was aware of this concept well before sociolinguistics became a defined field of study in the 1970s. Because he profusely uses varieties of English …

God Among The Gods: An Analysis Of The Function Of Yahweh In The Divine Council Of Deuteronomy 32 And Psalm 82, Daniel F. Porter

Masters Theses

The importance of the Ugaritic texts discovered in 1929 to ancient Near Eastern and Biblical Studies is one of constant debate. The Ugaritic texts offer a window into the cosmology that shaped the ancient Near East and Semitic religions. One of the profound concepts is the idea of a divine council and its function in maintaining order in the cosmos. Over this council sits a high god identified as El in the Ugaritic texts whose divine function is to maintain order in the divine realm as well on earth. Due to Ugarit's involvement in the ancient world and the text's …

"Alfred Hitchcock Presents; `Propaganda'": A Rhetorical Study Of Alfred Hitchcock's World War Ii Propaganda Films, Jennifer Renee Brown

Masters Theses

Alfred Hitchcock is a well known filmmaker whose work has been often studied by English, communication, and film scholars. However, those examining Hitchcock seem to have pet favorites of films they deem worthy of study. This thesis examines the lesser-known propaganda films of Alfred Hitchcock made for the British Ministry of Information in 1944. Bon Voyage and Aventure Malgache each tell a story of intrigue and adventure in French territory during the German occupation and Vichy government of World War II. However, after the MOI waited almost the entire war to have propaganda made by Alfred Hitchcock, the films were …

Power Play In The African-American Home: Female Authority And Male Neglect In The Private Spheres Of Ernest Gaines's A Lesson Before Dying, Of Love And Dust, And In My Father's House, Lauren Joy Roth

Masters Theses

Ernest J. Gaines's spaces serve as sites for power negotiation, in particular within his ethnic community. Drawing from the memories of his life in the South, Gaines writes layers of significance into the spaces of the fictitious towns he creates in his novels. Rather than reducing the environment to mere background material, Gaines's private and public spaces both communicate to and inform his audience of power struggles. In his novels, A Lesson Before Dying, Of Love and Dust, and In My Father's House, the locales, the very spaces themselves, inform. The boundary markers of the private and public world both …

A Preliminary Investigation Into The Effect Of Kinesio And Athletic Tape On Skin Blood Flow Changes, Ryan Klawon

Masters Theses

This research tested the effectiveness of a relatively new therapeutic product called Kinesio tape. One of Kinesio tape's therapeutic claims is increased blood flow to the taped area and thus expediting the body's healing process (Fu et aI., 2007). The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of Kinesio tape versus athletic tape on blood flow in the upper arm during rest and immediately following submaximal exercise. Certified athletic trainers (ATC) often use regular athletic tape to limit the range of motion and stabilize a joint as opposed to providing therapeutic benefits such as increasing blood flow.

Research …

Bridging The Gap: Intercultural Friendship Between Chinese And Americans, Zhuo Feng Li

Masters Theses

This research aims to explore Chinese and American students' intercultural friendship experiences on a U.S. campus. Twenty-five Chinese international students and twenty-five U.S. nationals participated in the study. Q-methodology was adopted in this research. Three of Hosftede's cultural dimensions (low/high power distance, individualism/collective, and masculinity/femininity) and Hall's concept of low/high context culture were used as a theoretical framework for this study. First, qualities that Chinese and Americans consider important in their friendships in each of their own culture were identified. Then this study found out that long-established expectations and understanding of friendship of both Chinese and Americans were challenged while …

Jesus' Resurrection: A Historical Investigation, Benjamin C. Shaw

Masters Theses

This thesis will investigate Jesus' resurrection from a historical perspective. This investigation will begin by evaluating historical criteria that help historians determine the authenticity of past events. The historical approach to this investigation will be the minimal facts approach as pioneered by Gary Habermas. Using this approach, twelve historical facts relevant to the resurrection will be explored. We will evaluate why these twelve facts are agreed upon by a large variety of critical scholars. Next, an argument will be made demonstrating that the earliest reporting of eyewitnesses who experienced the resurrection can be traced to within three years of Jesus' …

Paths To Citizenship: A Comparative Study Of Japan, Germany And Sweden, Marisha L. Lecea

Masters Theses

This paper examines citizenship policy in Japan, Germany and Sweden in an attempt to explain why some rich, democratic nations have high rates of naturalization and non-restrictive paths to citizenship, while others have negligible rates of naturalization and very restrictive policies. Japan has a very restrictive policy while Sweden has a very open policy. Germany is a mid-level case that has moved from more restrictive to less restrictive over the last several years. In this paper I look at the explanatory potential of internal, institutional, and external variables. I use data from the W orId Values Survey to compare domestic …

Is Resurrection Atemporally Simultaneous With Death? Using Aquinas's Theory Of Eternity To Conceptualize A New Theory Of Resurrection, James T. Turner, Jr.

Masters Theses

In debates on the metaphysics of resurrection, it seems that philosophical theology is often arguing on the wrong fronts. While some philosophers and theologians spend their time arguing the feasibility of a person's bodily numerical identity at resurrection, whether or not a human being can exist apart from their body, or whether the resurrection is physical at all (among many other points of view) this thesis seeks to argue a more foundational issue: God's eternal/atemporal existence and how it affects the resurrection of mankind. If it can be shown that God's eternal/atemporal existence allows for a person to experience simultaneity …

A World With Two Moons: An Analysis Of Reader Identification, Paul Joseph Watson

Masters Theses

Utilizing Kenneth Burke's theory of Identitification, this study seeks to understand if readers of a literary work of fiction were or were not able to identify with it according to the way Burke describes identification. The study uses Paul J. Watson's Protect: A World's Fight Against Evil as the literary work upon which qualitative surveys were conducted. Five general respondents and two expert readers took the survey, which asked questions regarding the novel. Through analysis and the comparing and contrasting of these respondents' answers, conclusions were reached in regards to whether or not identification occurred between the readers and the …

Hues, Tresses, And Dresses: Examining The Relation Of Body Image, Hair, And Clothes To Female Identity In Their Eyes Were Watching God And I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, Alisha Priolo Castaneda

Masters Theses

Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God and Maya Angelou's I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings convey powerful relations between body image, hair, and clothes. Because a proper understanding of the theory of womanism provides a basis for comprehending the African American female's relation to herself and the world around her, a working definition and description of the term and its general significance to African American critical theory is provided in chapter two. The third chapter focuses on the general topic of body image in relation to black female identity and includes a more specific analysis of the …

Lofty Depths And Tragic Brilliance: The Interweaving Of Celtic And Anglo-Saxon Mythology And Literature In The Arthurian Legends, Melissa Rogers

Masters Theses

The Arthurian story has endured in the English speaking world from the Middle Ages to the modern day, with ever increasing fame. He is not just a legendary king; he is the legendary king. His literary power owes its existence to the wonderful and extraordinary themes and mystical, yet entirely English world that appear consistently in his stories. Arthur and his knights are set apart from other literary heroes because of their unique construct, a blending of two cultures into one legend. The Celts invested in Arthur a strong mythological tradition. They bestowed on the legends an Otherworldly magic, a …

"An Asylum To The Persecuted And Oppressed Of Every Nation And Religion": Dissenters And Liberals In The Drive For Religious Freedom In Virginia, Shelley Dawn Bailess

Masters Theses

The struggle for full religious liberty in Virginia encompassed nearly two decades and generated thousands of documents in the form of petitions and legislation. In spite of historical tendencies to claim primacy in the victory of liberty over establishment in matters of religion for one denomination or individual, it was a unique triangulation of religious dissenters and prominent legislators that resulted in the separation of church and state in Virginia. The ideas that brought these seemingly disparate groups together emerged from theological, as well as political ideas that were prevalent in 18th century thought. The passage of Jefferson's Statute Establishing …

Breaking Down The Walls: Divorce And The Effects It Had On A Child's Communication In Relationships Outside Of The Family, Jennifer Maddox

Masters Theses

There is no question that divorce is prevalent in our society today. This paper discussed a study about the effects divorce has on an adolescent girl's communication with adults outside of her family. The hypothesis was that divorce negatively effects a child's communication with adults outside of their family. The two methodologies used to conduct this study were Narrative Analysis and Q-sort. The ten participants for the Narrative Analysis method were asked whether they thought their parents divorce effected their communication with adults outside of their family, and whether the effect was negative or positive. They were also asked to …

An Analysis Of The Impact Of Intellectual Property Rights On Chinese Students, Bing Yang

Masters Theses

This study examined foreign Chinese students' adaptation to American intellectual property rights (IPR) in the perspective of Cognitive Dissonance Theory (CDT). Previous studies focused on historical, legal and cultural difference between China and the U.S., while Chinese students' cognition remained to be explored. Ten Chinese students from both undergraduate and graduate programs with different lengths of staying in the U.S. were interviewed individually, and interview questions were created according to the three stages of CDT. Results showed that Chinese students had eliminated their cognitive dissonances in the U.S., and some demographic and cultural factors that influenced Chinese students' cognition regarding …

Public Perception Or Media Manipulation: The Power Of The Agenda-Setting Function Of The Press Examined, Mitchell Malcheff

Masters Theses

Originally developed by McCombs and Shaw (1972), agenda-setting theory has provided a theoretical framework for numerous media bias studies. This pilot study attempted to add to that body of literature by addressing a relatively new evolution of agenda-setting theory known as second-level agenda-setting by measuring whether biased media can significantly change attitudes about a given issue. To accomplish this, participants were surveyed regarding their perceptions regarding credibility on the part of MSNBC, presented with a news package from MSNBC, and then surveyed to examine if any attitude change occurred. Significance was found to support the presence of the hostile media …

Who Maketh The Clouds His Chariot: The Comparative Method And The Mythopoetical Motif Of Cloud-Riding In Psalm 104 And The Epic Of Baal, Jordan Wesley Jones

Masters Theses

Alleging parallels between Scripture and other ancient Near Eastern texts has always been a matter of controversy. The controversy has resulted from criticism of the comparative method by those who accuse its users of being overly simplistic or reckless when applying their particular approaches to the texts. This recklessness has resulted in alleged connections that are now considered very loose, unjustified, and harmful to the context of Scripture. In order to avoid the dreaded "parallelomania" that has resulted from hasty conclusions in comparative studies, it is necessary to approach alleged comparative units in a more concrete fashion, synthesizing the best …

A Christian Augustinian Response To The Problem Of Evil In The Shinto Religion With Reference To The Thought Of Motoori Norinaga, Delia Ursulescu

Masters Theses

Despite great advances within the last few decades of Western scholarship concerning the indigenous Japanese religion, little has been written on the Shinto concept of evil. Given the overall optimistic Shinto attitude toward life, the purpose of this thesis was to analyze its view of evil with reference to Motoori Norinaga's thought in order to find out whether Shinto understands it in a realistic manner. Another aim was to compare Norinaga's position to a Christian Augustinian view to determine which one offers a more coherent and comprehensive answer to the challenge of evil. The thesis examined Norinaga's available writings and …

An Argument Against The Buddhist Concept Of Dependent Origination Through William Lane Craig’S Kalam Cosmological Argument, James David Lynch

Masters Theses

The concept of dependent origination is essential in understanding Buddhist thought, for it is central to everything that they teach and believe. Without a first cause, or God, man is left with neither sense of hope nor purpose. The central aims of this thesis are to establish that the universe has a beginning and to demonstrate that this beginning is the result of a first cause. In proving these claims to be true, William Lane Craig's kalam cosmological argument is considered. Through this argument Craig points to philosophical arguments such as the problem of actual infinites and the impossibility of …

U.S. Vs. The World: America's Color Coded War Plans And The Evolution Of Rainbow Five, Keith Thomas Ressa

Masters Theses

The thesis entitled "U.S. vs. The World: America's Color Coded War Plans and the Evolution of Rainbow Five" explains the history and necessity of the United States military's color designated war plans in light of such traditional U.S. foreign policies such as the Monroe Doctrine, and also historical cultural movements such as Manifest Destiny, as well as the evolution of the single colored war plans into the multi-colored Rainbow Plans, and ultimately their final version, Rainbow Five, the United States strategic plan for victory during World War II.

Patrick Henry: The Significance Of Harmonized Religious Tensions, Katie Kitchens

Masters Theses

This study explores the complex religious influences shaping Patrick Henry's belief system. It is common knowledge that he was an Anglican, yet friendly and cooperative with Virginia Presbyterians. However, historians have yet to go beyond those general categories to the specific strains of Presbyterianism and Anglicanism which Henry uniquely harmonized into a unified belief system. Henry displayed a moderate, Latitudinarian, type of Anglicanism. Unlike many other Founders, his experiences with a specific strain of Presbyterianism confirmed and cooperated with these Anglican commitments. His Presbyterian influences could also be described as moderate, and latitudinarian in a more general sense. These religious …

Proclaiming The Lord's Death: An Exegesis Of 1 Cor 11:17-34 In Light Of The Greco-Roman Banquet, Caleb Patton Collier

Masters Theses

From the beginning, one of the predominant elements of worship within the church was the celebration of the eucharist. Much scholarship has been done on the eucharist, examining the observance through the disciplines of church history, theology, New Testament studies, and ecclesiology. This thesis merely aims to complement current scholarship in the area of eucharistic origins. The question examined is this: "Did the Corinthian church model their eucharist observance upon the existing Greco-Roman banquet model?" In answering that question, exegetical work is presented on 1 Cor 11:17-34, the banquet is examined as to form and function, and parallels are made …

An Interdisciplinary Theoretical Interpretive Synthesis Examining The Barriers To Implementing Restorative Justice As The Standard Paradigm Of Adult Criminal Justice Within The Context Of The United States, Matthew J. Van Maastricht

Masters Theses

A systemic paradigm shift of any sort is complex and multifaceted. A systemic paradigm shift of justice is no different. The purpose of this study is to identify the barriers that exist in a systemic paradigm shift from retributive justice to restorative justice. The methodology for this study is an interpretive synthesis of literature on restorative justice and consists of primarily theoretical literature. The literature for this study came from a variety of disciplines (e.g. psychology, criminal justice, sociology, and social work) in order to obtain a holistic perspective. A tripartite analysis was conducted using three perspectives: criminal justice, social …

Writing A Chemistry Textbook That Supports Inquiry Based Learning, Sarah Jean Henning Toman

Masters Theses

The National Science Education Standards promote inquiry instruction. As teachers change how they teach, will textbooks follow suit? Is it even possible to have an inquiry-based chemistry textbook and if so, what would it look like and would students find it useful? This study conducted as part of the Target Inquiry Program at Grand Valley State University explored these questions by comparing student reactions to excerpts from a standard high school chemistry text to those of an inquiry-based chemistry text developed by the researcher. Reactions recorded in student interviews and achievement outcomes were analyzed to address the research questions. Results …

An Interdisciplinary Theoretical Interpretive Synthesis Examining The Barriers To Implementing Restorative Justice As The Standard Paradigm Of Adult Criminal Justice Within The Context Of The United States, Matthew J. Van Maastricht

Masters Theses

A systemic paradigm shift of any sort is complex and multifaceted. A systemic paradigm shift of justice is no different. The purpose of this study is to identify the barriers that exist in a systemic paradigm shift from retributive justice to restorative justice. The methodology for this study is an interpretive synthesis of literature on restorative justice and consists of primarily theoretical literature. The literature for this study came from a variety of disciplines (e.g. psychology, criminal justice, sociology, and social work) in order to obtain a holistic perspective. A tripartite analysis was conducted using three perspectives: criminal justice, social …

Discovering The Vision In Beth Moore's "Breaking Free" Message: Applying Bormann's Fantasy Theme Analysis To Evaluate The Message, April Nicole Pressley

Masters Theses

Beth Moore, Christian speaker and author, has become a prominent figure in Christian circles. She ministers to over a million people a year with her messages. Breaking Free is her "life message." This project analyzes 6 of 11 messages from Breaking Free. Using Bormann's Fantasy Theme Analysis, seven fantasies emerged from the messages, which yielded a rhetorical vision that describes what Beth Moore believes a woman should be like after hearing her message. After that analysis, the fantasies where compared to evangelical Christian doctrine. That analysis determined that Moore's underlying message is valid and acceptable to the Christian audience she …