Digital Commons Network^™

Happiness Groups As A Strategy For Transforming A Chinese Church From Attractional To Missional, Mingsheng Qin

All Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This project established that the love of God is the foundation of mission and evangelism. God loves people and calls Christians to participate in His redemptive mission. God calls Christians to bless them and make them a blessing to others. The church is believers who are gathered to bring nonbelievers to God. The nature of the church is missional. A missional church engages every believer to participate in the Great Commission. The incarnation of God demonstrates God’s love and reveals the model of mission and evangelism. The incarnational approach is entering other people’s worlds as Jesus Christ entered the world …

Signs And Christology In John 6:1-21 In Light Of Jewish And Greco-Roman Frames Of Reference: Prophet, King, And Revealer Of God, Craig R. Koester

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Graduate Catalogue 2021-2022, Seton Hall University

Graduate Catalogues

No abstract provided.

Undergraduate Catalogue 2021-2022, Seton Hall University

Undergraduate Catalogues

No abstract provided.

The Crown Of Creation, David Rolph, Jo Ann H. Seely

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

The Seelys discuss the well-known concept of the universe as a temple, and link the creation story to the temple drama. They explore how God, in creating the universe, had the same roles the temple drama gives to Adam and Eve as archetypes of each man and woman (that of king, priest, and artisan), and how man, by participating in the temple drama, is raised to be the image of God, thus becoming the real crown of creation, participating in God’s creation by procreation.

Abraham’S Amen And Believing In Christ: Possible Applications In The Book Of Mormon Text, Loren Spendlove

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

Following the discovery of delocutive verbs and their likely usage in the Hebrew Bible, Meredith Kline proposed that the verb האמין (he’emin) in Genesis 15:6 — traditionally interpreted as a denominative verb meaning “he believed” — should be understood as a delocutive verb meaning “he declared ‘amen.’” Rather than reading Genesis 15:6 as a passive statement — Abraham believed in Yahweh — Kline argued that we should interpret this verse in the active sense, that Abraham vocally declared his amen in Yahweh’s covenantal promise. In this light, I have analyzed various passages in the Book of Mormon that utilize similar …

2021 - 2022, Gardner-Webb Academic Catalog, Gardner-Webb University

Academic Catalogs (Combined Undergraduate & Graduate)

2021 - 2022, Gardner-Webb University Academic Catalog. William Downs, president.

Luke Was Not A Christian: Interdisciplinary Perspectives On The Jewish Authorship Of Luke And Acts, Joshua Paul Smith

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation challenges the long-held assumption that the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles were written by a gentile Christian, arguing instead that the author of these texts was an educated follower of “the Way” who was raised and enculturated within a Hellenistic Jewish context. Advancing from a consciously interdisciplinary perspective, it probes the question of Lukan authorship variously from reception history and social memory theory, intertextuality studies, thematic analysis informed by historical and literary criticism, and incorporates emerging insights from the field of cognitive linguistics. It concludes with a reflection upon some of the potential ethical …

Trump Was Trumped Long Ago: Or, The Legacy Of Leadership In The Book Of Ecclesiastes, W. Creighton Marlowe

The Asbury Journal

Around the globe at any moment in history we witness a world in which numerous nations simultaneously struggle with the person or party in power. Often, we hear senior citizens long for a return to “the good old days.” But biblical anthropology reminds us that everyone by nature is sinful (willingly disobedient to God’s laws); and Qoheleth corrects those who long for a past golden age, because such thinking is not realistic. There never has been a government under which people were not oppressed, even the Hebrew theocracy of the Old Testament. Over the centuries, whether in the East or …

The Seven Churches Of United Methodism, Revisited, John Lomperis

The Asbury Journal

The United Methodist Church is on the verge of what is expected to be a primarily two-way schism. But the denomination is already rather divided between seven main sub-churches: the global regions of Africa, Europe, and the Philippines, and the four main ideological factions within the United States (American traditionalists, the genuine Methodist middle, institutionalist liberals, and liberationist progressives). Each of these subchurches has important internal divisions, but also distinct characteristics setting them apart. Recognizing the particular features of each is crucial for understanding how the coming schism will impact and is being prepared for by different United Methodists.

From The Archives: Phebe Ward Goes To The Mukti Revival- The Papers Of Ernest F. Ward

The Asbury Journal

No abstract provided.

Escuchando Otras Voces: Más Allá De Las Historias De Misiones Tradicionales: Un Estudio De Caso De El Salvador, Robert A. Danielson, Kelly J. Godoy De Danielson

The Asbury Journal

En su mayor parte, la historia de la misión se ha centrado en el trabajo y el esfuerzo de los misioneros y no tanto en los misionados, aquellas personas y comunidades a las que asistieron. Esta es una falla en el campo que debe corregirse, pero ¿cómo lo logramos? Este artículo propone un proceso de dos pasos. Primero, leyendo de cerca las historias tradicionales y los documentos primarios, podemos enfatizar y resaltar los roles y las voces de los misionados. En segundo lugar, mediante el uso de entrevistas de historia oral podemos capturar pensamientos y actitudes esenciales de personas y …

Books Received

The Asbury Journal

No abstract provided.

The Ark And The Tent: Temple Symbolism In The Story Of Noah, Jeffrey M. Bradshaw

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

Jeffrey M. Bradshaw compares Moses’ tabernacle and Noah’s ark, and then identifies the story of Noah as a temple related drama, drawing of temple mysticism and symbols. After examining structural similarities between ark and tabernacle and bringing into the discussion further information about the Mesopotamian flood story, he shows how Noah’s ark is a beginning of a new creation, pointing out the central point of Day One in the Noah story. When Noah leaves the ark, they find themselves in a garden, not unlike the Garden of Eden in the way the Bible speaks about it. A covenant is established …

The Impact Of Religious Ritual Initiation On Males, David Mcmillan

Regis University Student Publications (comprehensive collection)

The following paper is focused on revealing the influence that religious ritual initiations/rites of passages have on males from the religions of Islam, Christianity, and Judaism. In the first section of the paper, I explain why it is important that the influence that religious ritual initiations have on males be studied. The second section covers the literature that was used to obtain my research results. The third section explains how the methodologies of content analysis and semiotics were incorporated into my research. In the fourth section, I reveal that practices such as self-control and discipline are common traits in how …

“All Can Partake, Freely”, Daniel C. Peterson

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

The Interpreter Foundation welcomes faithful ideas, insights, and manuscripts from people of all backgrounds. In this brief essay, I share some that were recently shared with me regarding Lehi’s vision of the tree of life, as recorded in 1 Nephi 8. Among other things, Lehi seems to have been shown that the divine offer of salvation extends far beyond a small elite. As Peter exclaims in the King James rendering of Acts 10:34, “God is no respecter of persons.” Other translations render the same words as saying that he doesn’t “play favorites” or “show partiality.” The passage in James 1:5 …

Poesy And Prosody In The Book Of Mormon, Robert F. Smith

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

Robert Smith makes the case that “poetic art in the Book of Mormon is highly developed” — you just need to have the eye to recognize it. Though many readers are aware of the stunning examples of chiasmus in the Book of Mormon, thanks to the pioneering work by John W. Welch, fewer are acquainted with the other important forms of parallelism that pervade the text, often placed strategically to highlight the importance of a particular passage. Smith also shows why apocalpytic texts, sometimes thought to originate at a later period, can be found, for example, in the first chapter …

The Origin And Purpose Of The Book Of Mormon Phrase “If Ye Keep My Commandments Ye Shall Prosper In The Land”, Taylor Halverson

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

We are told in the Title Page of the Book of Mormon that the Book of Mormon was revealed in our day “to show unto the remnant of the house of Israel what great things the Lord hath done for their fathers; and that they may know the covenants of the Lord, that they are not cast off forever.” Hence, the covenantal context, structure, and logic of the Book of Mormon demand further consideration, exploration, and elucidation. A prosperous starting point is the phrase “If ye keep my commandments ye shall prosper in the land.” This covenantal phrase is used …

A Wesley Bibliography [Tenth Edition], Kenneth J. Collins

Academic Books

No abstract provided.

The Calvin Forum: Summer 2021, Calvin Theological Seminary

Calvin Theological Seminary Forum (2002- )

CONTENTS - Vol. 28. No. 2, SUMMER 2021

Main Features: 3 - 25 years & Counting!

4 - Women-In-Office: What is the CRCNA position, how did we get here, and what does it mean?

8 - Partners in the Gospel

12 - Twenty-Five Years on: Just look at what God has done!!

18- My Calling

22- Following step by step

26- Moments in ministry formation 30- Songs of Redemption

Calvin Seminary News:32 - New Books

34- Distinguished Alumni

Full Issue

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

No abstract provided.

Nephi’S Gethsemane: Seventeen Comparisons From The Literary Record, Taylor Halverson

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

This note explores a literary comparison between Nephi’s confronting of Laban and shrinking from the act of shedding blood, to Jesus’s experience in the Garden of Gethsemane of shrinking from the act of shedding blood. Comparing these two stories suggests that we can profitably read Nephi’s experience with Laban as Nephi’s personal Gethsemane.

Types Of Repetition And Shadows Of History In Hebraic Narrative, Alan Goff

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

Modern readers too often misunderstand ancient narrative. Typical of this incomprehension has been the inclination of modern biblical critics to view repetitions as narrative failures. Whether you call such repetitions types, narrative analogies, type scenes, midrashic recurrences, or numerous other names, this view of repeated elements has dominated modern readings of Hebraic narratives for at least 200 years. Robert Alter, who introduced a new yet antique understanding of repetitions in the Hebrew Bible in the 1980s, began to reverse this trend. Such repeated elements aren’t failures or shortcomings but are themselves artistic clues to narrative meaning that call readers to …

Joseph Smith As A Book Of Mormon Storyteller, Brian C. Hales

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

For nearly 200 years, skeptics have promoted different naturalistic explanations to describe how Joseph Smith generated all the words of the Book of Mormon. The more popular theories include plagiarism (e.g. of the Solomon Spaulding manuscript), collaboration (with Oliver Cowdery, Sidney Rigdon, etc.), mental illness (bipolar, dissociative, or narcissistic personality disorders) and automatic writing, also called “spirit writing, “trance writing,” or “channeling.” A fifth and currently the most popular theory posits that Joseph Smith possessed all the intellectual abilities needed to complete the task. A variation on this last explanation proposes that he used the methods of professional storytellers. For …

Full Issue

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

No abstract provided.

Adam, Eve, The Book Of Moses, And The Temple: The Story Of Receiving Christ’S Atonement, Bruce C. Hafen, Marie K. Hafen

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

The authors begin by the highlighting the importance of Book of Moses research that has discovered plausible findings for its historicity, rendering it at least reasonable to give the benefit of the doubt to sacred premises — even if, ultimately, the choice of premises is just that, a choice. Emphasizing the relevance of the Book of Moses to the temple, they note that the Book of Moses is not only an ancient temple text, but also the ideal scriptural context for a modern temple preparation course. Going further, the authors address an important question raised by some who have asked: …

Calvin Theological Seminary Academic Catalog 2021-2022, Calvin Theological Seminary

Seminary Academic Catalogs

No abstract provided.

Toward A Supernatural Biblical Hermeneutic, Alberto I. Bonilla-Giovanetti

The Asbury Journal

Many people who live and learn in the west, including Christian laity and scholars, inadvertently accept a materialistic cosmology in which the material world is all that exists, with the exception of God. This perspective is contrary to how the majority of ancient and modern people view the world. This essay seeks to analyze how this materialistic worldview is seen in biblical studies, and then proposes that biblical scholars should presuppose a supernatural worldview as a key aspect of their hermeneutics.

An Evangelical Theology Of Religions, Timothy C. Tennent

The Asbury Journal

This is a reprint of chapter seven of Dr. Tennent’s book Invitation to World Missions (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications 2010) published with permission from Kregel Publications and Dr. Tennent. It provides an evangelical response to the issue of a theology of world religions, especially as a critique and corrective of the classical paradigm of exclusivism, inclusivism, and pluralism as initially developed by Alan Race and later refined by Paul Knitter. Tennent argues that the paradigm itself is problematic and needs to be nuanced to include a broader theological framework beyond issues of soteriology as well as a recognition of …

The Reception Of Hagar In The Writings Of Origen, John Chrysostom, And Augustine, Mariah Case

MA in Religion Theses

The premise of this thesis is to explore the reception of the Hagar stories through three prominent early Christian thinkers -Origen, John Chrysostom, and Augustine of Hippo - in order to evaluate the theological significance she had for those particular contexts. Hagar functions predominately as a symbol in contexts where group identity, power, and ideology are contested. The hermeneutical and theological stances of the authors are examined to expose and mitigate the religious conflict occurring in their historical location. The resulting interpretations of Hagar and her story vary from Christianization of the character to outright scorn and rejection of the …