Digital Commons Network^™

Soci 130s.01: Sociology Of Alternative Religions, Robert W. Balch

University of Montana Course Syllabi

No abstract provided.

Visualizing The Transition Out Of High-Demand Religions, Summer Anne Myers

LMU Theses and Dissertations

This research uses a questionnaire and a bridge drawing directive to explore the lived experience of transitioning out of a high-demand religion. Subjects include disaffiliated Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and Fundamentalist Protestants who were recruited through a dedicated website via limited promotion in online communities for disaffiliates. Visual and textual responses are analyzed through qualitative coding, with additional analysis performed on the artwork using Hays and Lyons’ (1981) bridge drawing criteria. Results reveal the psychological, social, behavioral, identity, and existential effects of disaffiliation. Results also produce seven emergent themes: ambivalence; embracing uncertainty; social justice; simultaneous transitions; freedom and constraint; growth; and …

In The Spirit Of Mary, Eric F. Spina

President's Blog: From the Heart

My family has never felt more warmly embraced than from the Marianists, who have a way of deeply touching lives.

Sr. Hannah: Handling Change, Jakob Weiss

Ask a Sister: Interview Wisdom from Catholic Women Religious

Sister Hannah is a woman religious I interviewed recently about her life and experiences. Our interview focused primarily on her thoughts about modern-day changes in the Catholic Church.

Work Of A Nation: Christian Funerary Ecumenism And Institutional Disruption In Swaziland, Casey Golomski

Anthropology

This article traces how contemporary funerary practices—foodways, prayer and burial cooperative participation—configure a Christian public culture in Swaziland that draws from ordinary citizens’ religious, ritual and political work and membership in diverse Christian churches. This kind of grassroots ecumenism importantly challenges the potency of orthodox institutional ecumenical projects of religious elites in the Kingdom. These projects include attempts to legislate Christianity as an official religion and the building of a national interdenominational church, both of which have failed to materialize. Exploring this emergent tension between religious institutions’ ideological goals versus communities’ practical engagement on pressing social problems invites a rethinking …

A Critical Interpretation Of Olivier Roy: On Globalization, The Cosmopolitan And Emerging Post-Secular Religiosities, Joshua Rey Ramos

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

My thesis is that secularization transforms religion into religiosity. In other words, the secular breaks apart religion, or rather, 'deculturates' religion from a cohesive, collective body embedded within a particular society and within a traditional culture towards an individuated, and existential experience of faith within the autonomous religious subject. There are various reasons for this shift, as there are various consequences. Globalization, which is modernization writ large, is the dominant paradigm through which I conceptualize these changes. The theorist whose work I use as a lens to interpret secularization, religion and societal transformation is Olivier Roy. Roy's theories are of …

Justin Between Paul And The Heretics: The Salvation Of Christian Judaizers In The Dialogue With Trypho, Benjamin L. White

Publications

Justin Martyr makes the surprising concession in the Dialogue with Trypho 47 that Gentile Christians who convert as proselytes to Christ-believing Judaism “will likely be saved.” Given Justin’s larger project in the Dialogue of creating a Verus Israel distinct from historical Judaism, his admission of salvation to these ultimate Judaizers is hard to understand. The following article examines this fissure in his project by positioning Justin in tension between Paul and Marcion. Dialogue 47, which takes up the relationship between Christ-faith and the law, is shot through with the language of Galatians and Romans 14–15, and Justin tends in a …

Why Did Northern Israel Fall To The Assyrians? A Weberian Proposal, Taylor Halverson

Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship

This article is centered on possible causes for the fall of Israel and, secondarily, Judah. The topic is not new. The very destruction of these ancient kingdoms may be the cause for the production of much of the Biblical literature that drives our interpretive enterprise. My proposal is that Max Weber’s socio political theories of power and domination, sometimes called the tripartite classification of authority, may provide a fruitful lens by which to understand some of the reasons Judah persisted for more than a century after the fall of Israel. Specifically, I wish to investigate whether the lack of routinization …

The Power In Multiplying: Growth In New Religious Movements, Nicole Wrobel

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Starting in November of 2016, a documentary series aired on the original network A&E where it continues to capture the attention of thousands of viewers in America. Scientology: The Aftermath, starring the well-known King of Queens and Dancing with the Stars actress Leah Remini and former senior executive of the church of Scientology International and Sea Organization Mike Rinder, aim to reveal the "truth" that hides behind the church of Scientology. The show interviews ex-practitioners who claim their lives have been deeply impacted by the church and who want to assist in revealing the shocking stories of abuse and harassment …

Timing The Translation Of The Book Of Mormon: "Days [And Hours] Never To Be Forgotten", John W. Welch

BYU Studies

This paper aims to stimulate specific thinking about the intense and complex events during which the Book of Mormon was translated in 1829. Encouraged initially by Elder Neal A. Maxwell, and building on my chapter in the second edition of Opening the Heavens, this article strives to be as precise as possible about the timing of the events and progress of the Book of Mormon translation during the months and days it took place. In 1834, Oliver Cowdery wrote, “These were days never to be forgotten—to sit under the sound of a voice dictated by the inspiration of heaven, …

Book Review - Destroyer Of The Gods: Early Christian Distinctiveness In The Roman World, By Larry W. Hurtado, Wayne Brindle

Faculty Publications and Presentations

No abstract provided.

Full Issue

BYU Studies

No abstract provided.

Bringing Religious Naturalists Together Online, Ursula W. Goodenough, Michael Cavanaugh, Todd Macalister

Biology Faculty Research

Religious Naturalism is a concept that has developed largely in the academy, in trade books, and on several on-line sites that avoid using the term religious. This chapter describes our two-year experience launching the Religious Naturalist Association (RNA), an on-line community that has attracted > 400 members from 47 states in the US and 28 countries. We lift up the challenges and the advantages of exploring the religious naturalist orientation in a virtual context.

Edna Jean Green Revival Meetings, Edna Jean Horn

Edna Jean Horn (1909-1984)

This is a flier for a revival meeting at the Assembly of God church in Elkton.

Edna Jean Horn Evangelistic Meeting Flier - Grace Reformed Church, Edna Jean Horn

Edna Jean Horn (1909-1984)

No abstract provided.

Hear Miss Edna Jean Green Flier, Edna Jean Horn

Edna Jean Horn (1909-1984)

No abstract provided.

Edna Jean Horn Poster - Edinburg, Indiana, Edna J. Horn

Edna Jean Horn (1909-1984)

A poster from a Edna Jean Horn revival at the Assembly of God church in Edinburg, Indiana.

Leadership Development Among Youth In Latino Congregations: The Relationship Of Religious Participation To Social Service Involvement And Engagement In Leadership Tasks, Elizabeth Tamez Mendez

Dissertations

Problem

Personal observations and anecdotal accounts attest that some of the young people in U.S. Latino churches are developing as leaders within their congregations. This seems to come as a result of the organic or less-formalized leadership development dynamics and practices present within Latino congregations, where leaders often develop by being actively involved in leadership actions without necessarily first following a curriculum of study, completing a training program, or fulfilling a set of theological education requirements. In this way, many are acquiring roles and responsibilities by which they actively contribute towards local congregational and community life, and by which they …

Measuring Religiosity In A Religiously Diverse Society: The China Case, L. Luke Chao, Fenggang Yang

Department of Sociology Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Celebrating The Work Of John W. Welch, Steven T. Densley Jr.

Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship

In this collection of articles gathered in honor of John W. Welch, a wide variety of subjects are explored by authors from many different disciplines. Like the work of Professor Welch himself, these articles draw on scholarship from varied fields of study and provide many interesting and valuable insights.

Religious Identity Formation: Constraints Imposed On Religious Institutions And Implications For The Meaning Of Religious Affiliation, Marc Von Der Ruhr, Paul Ngo, Joseph P. Daniels

Economics Faculty Research and Publications

Religiosity in the United States remains a strong social force. The United States persistently demonstrates higher religious participation than Europe. Some recent trends documented by the Pew Research Center in its 2008 and 2015 publications on the U.S. religious landscape, however, cite evidence that different religious groups are experiencing very different trends in participation. These trends show a recent and significant decline among many moderate Protestant denominations but a modest increase in participation at fundamentalist churches. The Pew Research Center similarly documents significant inconsistencies between what a religious hierarchy teaches versus what individuals personally choose to believe. For example, and …

Extreme Overvalued Beliefs: How Violent Extremist Beliefs Become “Normalized”, Tahir Rahman

Open Access Publications

No abstract provided.

Latina/O Conversion And Miracle-Seeking At A Buddhist Temple, Stephen M. Cherry, Kemal Budak, Aida I. Ramos

Faculty Publications - Department of Sociology

The growing diversification of the US Latino religious’ experiences calls for scholarly attention beyond Protestant or Catholic categories. This study begins to answer this call. Using interview data with 26 Latinos collected over 2 years of observation at the True Lama Meditation Center (TLMC) in Houston, Texas, we describe how Latinos who convert to Buddhism or actively attend the temple while also continuing to attend Christian services (both Catholic and Protestant) see themselves and understand their religious identities and practices. We then explore the reasons for their conversion or changes in religious identities and practices through various theoretical lens. Although …

Book Reviews

East Texas Historical Journal

No abstract provided.

Revolution Through Revelation: Jim Jones And The Peoples Temple In American Cultural History, Alexandria Ryan Sowers

Online Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the influence of American culture on Jim Jones and the Peoples Temple. While most scholarship applies a religious, sociological, or psychological approach to understating the Jonestown tragedy, this paper endeavors to understand the man, his church, and the event through the lenses of American cultural history. Specifically, this analysis looks at the influence of Pentecostalism, egalitarianism, and socialism as well as cultural events such as the civil rights movement on the Reverend Jim Jones and the Peoples Temple church. Using FBI documents gathered during the investigation into the murder of the congressman Leo Ryan at Jonestown, audio …