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Utah State University Commencement, 2017 – Main Campus, Utah State University

Commencement Programs

130th Annual Commencement of Utah State University.

Reality Meets Fiction, Nicholas M. Balcells

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The development of a film rooted in family conflicts and an exploration of the nature of authorship.

Full Issue, Number 45, Spring 2017

Intersections

No abstract provided.

Room At The Table: Reflections On Identity And Inclusion From A Lutheran-Friendly Muslim, Rose Aslan

Intersections

No abstract provided.

Religion In The Age Of Trump, Daniel A. Morris

Intersections

No abstract provided.

Islam In Saudi Arabia: The Homogeneous Portrayal And Heterogeneous Reality, John Rogeberg

Masters Theses

The objective of this thesis is to apply commonly held statistics in the world of missiology regarding folk Islamic practices to the least likely country for such practices to be found, Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia is believed by most to be the birth-site of an austere, strict, orthodox form of Islam, responsible for the nature and nurture (education, promotion, and financing) of Islamic extremism. Conversely, I posit that through tracing the development of Wahhabism and its current global influence on Islam, its literalist interpretation becomes a profitable tool for the student of anthropology, missiology, and cross-cultural studies to gain a …

Reaching Transcendental Meditation Followers For Jesus: Christian Meditation And Cultural Contextualization, Ashley Boyles

Masters Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to build on to research pertaining to Christian meditation, the Transcendental Meditation movement, and theological contextualization for possible evangelism strategy to reach adherents of TM. The first chapter begins with the purpose of the thesis as well as its limitations and research methods to be involved, with a layout of the rest of the thesis. In the second chapter, the literature review examines material from several different perspectives: Christianity, TM, the TM turned Christian, and the nonreligious field of science. The third chapter includes historical background on Transcendental Meditation, its interaction with Western culture, …

167th Commencement, Spring

Commencement Programs

Spring Graduate/Doctoral Graduation Ceremony: Saturday, May 6, 2017, 12:45 p.m. at University of Dayton Arena.

Spring Undergraduate Graduation Ceremony: Sunday, May 7, 2017, 9:45 a.m. at University of Dayton Arena.

Commencement 2017, Sacred Heart University

Commencement Programs

Program for the Graduate and Undergraduate ceremonies held May 13-14 2017.

Opaque Redemption: Whiteness, Theology, And The Politics Of The Human, Timothy Mcgee

Religious Studies Theses and Dissertations

Who can save us from redemption? Some of the earliest accounts of the African slave trade claimed that slavery saved those marked by the “perdition” of soul, mind, and body (G. E. de Zurara). Postcolonial critics argue that colonization (F. Fanon), orientalism (E. Said), and even liberal democracy (T. Asad) have operated as violent projects of redemption. At the center of these modern politics of redemption, or of modernity as a project of redemption, is a racial figure of the human, what Sylvia Wynter calls Man. This dissertation, Opaque Redemption: Whiteness, Theology, and the Politics of the Human, …

Theological Function As The Key To Israelite Religious Distinctiveness In The Ancient Near East : The Holy Place As A Case Study, Samuel C. Long

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Intellectual, Ethical, And, Spiritual Dimensions Of The Islamic Thought, Ambreen Sohani

Honors Theses

The intellectual inquiry and acquisition of knowledge have always been integral to Islam, right from the first revelation recorded by the Qur’an. This paper aims to examine how the origin, role, and purpose of intellect have been understood in Islamic thought from its inception and through its subsequent evolution. It further aims to discuss the role and purpose that intellect and ethics ought to serve in the faith and lives of contemporary Muslims. Muslim philosophers based their ideas on teachings of the Qur’an and teachings of Prophet Muhammad. They utilized their intellect to share this significant knowledge with their contemporary …

Is Jesus Of Nazareth The Predicted Messiah? A Historical-Evidential Approach To Specific Old Testament Messianic Prophecies And Their New Testament Fulfillments, Douglas Scott

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The primary purpose of this dissertation is to establish if critically acceptable historical-evidential reasons exist for believing that Jesus Christ is the direct fulfillment of the specific OT messianic texts included in the study. The study presupposes many of the conclusions of historical-critical scholarship and employs historical-evidential criteria to evaluate the evidence and attempt to establish the historical warrant for affirming such belief. Secondarily, this study seeks to find minimal facts related to these specific OT prophetic texts. To qualify as a minimal fact, two conditions must be met: (1) there must be more than adequate scholarly evidences usually consisting …

Professional Identity Formation Throughout The Curriculum: Lessons From Clergy Education, Larry A. Golemon

Mercer Law Review

Clergy education is undergoing radical transformation in the United States due to changes in the profession, the religious communities served, and the larger landscape of higher education. Many reformers of theological education question whether the education of pastors, priests, and rabbis should be considered "professional" education at all. Some call for less competence training and more formation of theological habits of interpretation and reflection; others advocate for more practical and contextual training of skills and role-formation; and others emphasize the formation of personal character and religious piety. Yet most of these reformers agree that the formation of pastoral and professional …

Using Learning Analytics To Predict Academic Success In Online And Face-To-Face Learning Environments, Lisa Janine Berry

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

This learning analytics study looked at the various student characteristics of all on-campus students who were enrolled in 100 and 200 level courses that were offered in both online and face-to-face formats during a two-year period. There is a perception that online education is either not as successful as face-to-face instruction, or it is more difficult for students. The results of this study show this is not the case.

The goal of this study was to complete an in-depth analysis of student profiles addressing a variety of demographic categories as well as several academic and course related variables to reveal …

Hans Mol’S Sociology Of Religion: Reflection On The Relationship Between Identity And The Sacred As Applied To Bosnia And Herzegovina, Tomislav Tadić

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

"The transformed character of religiosity requires a transformation in the scientific methodology where we are trying to capture the complex socio-ontological, epistemological and socio-anthropological granulations which form such a divergent term as religion. The importance of the theoretical interventions of Mol, from the standpoint of the history of sociology, lies in recognizing the reconstructing form within the discipline that needs to synthetically and polythetically understand the phenomenon which it explores."

Volunteer Management In Faith-Based Organizations, Cheryl Regina Coleman

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Faith-Based Organizations (FBOs) rely heavily on volunteers to carry out their mission, making volunteer labor fundamental to an organization’s business operations and outcomes. A review of the literature revealed a significant gap in managing volunteers effectively in a nonprofit, faith- based setting. The standard business management practices typically employed when managing volunteers lack effectiveness in nonprofit FBO environments. Employing for-profit management practices to managing volunteer labor in nonprofit settings is especially challenging given the uniqueness of nonprofit organizations that rely on volunteer over paid labor. Challenges include the organization’s values, mission, identity, social goals, outcomes, and ideological characteristics. The purpose …

The Regis Santos: A Teaching Collection At 50 Years, Tom Riedel

Jesuit Higher Education: A Journal

Father Thomas J. Steele, S.J. (1933-2010), a professor of English at Regis College for nearly 30 years, started the Regis Collection of New Mexico and Colorado Santos in 1966 when, as a Ph.D. candidate at the University of New Mexico, he bought his first santo (saint) in a secondhand store in Albuquerque. The santo tradition of Christian folk art flourished in New Mexico from the late 18th century through the mid-19th century, then as a revival art in the early 20th century. The tradition continues as a strong and diverse contemporary expression of faith and artistic enterprise. Fr. Steele donated …

The Southeastern Librarian V 65, No. 1 (Spring 2017) Complete Issue

The Southeastern Librarian

No abstract provided.

Laudato Si’ And The Consumption Challenge: Giving Students A Visceral Exercise In Saving Our Planet, Susan Jacobson, Bill Weis, Abigail B. Schneider

Jesuit Higher Education: A Journal

Laudato Si’ is arguably the most comprehensive, powerful, and influential manifesto in the canon of environment stewardship. Pope Francis calls for nothing short of upending our consumer culture in the service of saving the planet. Gandhi’s plea to “live simply so that others may simply live” is the Pope’s ultimate admonition in his encyclical and the essence of his call to action on behalf of human survival. The following discussion highlights an innovative and powerful classroom experience pioneered in one of Regis University’s capstone interdisciplinary seminars. The transformational learning outcomes of this Consumption Challenge (the name of the assignment) eclipsed …

Samantha Reynolds, Carol Gay Recognized For Excellence In Teaching, Kassidy Taylor

UNH Today Archive

No abstract provided.

Today And Yesterday, Vol. 41, Summer 2017, Illinois State University, Department Of History

Today and Yesterday

Newsletter of the Illinois State University Department of History

The Relationship Between Amanatul Ummah Islamic Boarding School And Local Community’S Religiosity, Asep Saifuddin Chalim

Jurnal Pendidikan dan Pembelajaran

Many studies conducted by prominent scholars found that Islamic boarding school in Indonesia have been playing its roles not only in religious and education matter but also in the other areas, such as social, economic and environment. This study sought to analyze the impact of the presence of Islamic boarding school on the religiosity of surrounding Muslim communities the object of the study is households who live in seven villages surrounding the Islamic boarding school Amanatul Ummah, Mojokerto regency, East Java Province, Indonesia. To measure the level of Muslim religiosity, the study used the value of the Five Pillars of …

A Literature Review Of The Development, Purposes, And Religious Variations Of The Funeral Ritual, Codi Leigh Smith

Selected Honors Theses

In the past, funerary rituals have been viewed as an important aspect in social society that were shaped by culture and need. However, now American society has become one of death avoidance that strives to ignore the subject and devalue the funeral ritual. Within this paper it is argued that participating in funerary rituals are of societal value for they are beneficial for those who are living. This is done through a review of literature that addresses rituals and their relation to symbols, the history, purposes, benefits, and drawbacks of funeral practices, and the death rituals of four major world …

Volume Cxxxiv, Number 21, April 28, 2017, Lawrence University

The Lawrentian

No abstract provided.

Commencement Ceremonies, University Of North Florida

Commencement Printed Materials

Program for the Spring Commencement ceremonies.

A Study Of The Effectiveness Of The Crisis Care & Counseling Course Within The Special Operations Forces At The Joint Special Operations University, Mary Ann Quartetti

Doctor of Education (Ed.D)

The Special Operations Forces have experienced a surge in PTSD and suicides in the past several years, now surpassing conventional military branches. Due to the attached stigma for seeking help from mental health professions and potential negative career effects, military personnel are more likely to seek counseling from their unit chaplain. The U.S. military does not require chaplains to have a counseling degree or certification in counseling as a prerequisite to performing duties as a chaplain, although most Masters of Divinity programs do include some counseling courses. The military does provide limited training to its chaplains in counseling. Special Operations …

Divine Embodiment And Women’S Resistance In Sri Lanka: Opposing The Ideologies Of Nation And Empire, Olivia Dure

2017 Claremont Colleges Library Undergraduate Research Award

This thesis articulates how the divine possession of women in Sri Lanka enacts resistance against the imposition of colonial rule and nationalist politics. Women’s lives are implicated in active histories of violence, spanning from the brutality of colonial rule to the continued forms of violent regulation inherent to Sri Lanka’s multi-decade conflict. My work aims to show how divine possession, through a subversion of ritual hierarchies both within the space of ritual and outside of it, counters the hegemony of empire. To do this, I look to how divine possession inhabits bodies previously consumed by colonial rule and nationalist ideology, …

Vista: April 27, 2017, University Of San Diego

USD Vista (1965-)

No abstract provided.

Beyond The Bucket List: Identity-Centered Religious Calling, Being, And Action Among Parents, David C. Dollahite, Loren D. Marks, Taleah M. Kear, Brittany M. Lewis, Megan L. Stokes

Faculty Publications

From a positive family psychology perspective, this study explores identity-centered religious calling, being, and action among parents of youth, that is, what religious parents believe they are called to be and to do in relation to their adolescent children. Twenty-nine Christian, Jewish, and Muslim families of youth (N = 58) were asked what they considered most important for them "to be" and "to do" as parents of faith. Qualitative analyses were conducted to determine major themes of responses. Parents indicated they believed they were called to be (A1) an example, (A2) authentic, and (A3) consistent; called to provide their …