Digital Commons Network^™

Sacred Violence: Religion And Terrorism, Jessie Hill, Adam F. Kimney

Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law

No abstract provided.

Spirituality And Aging In Social Work: State Of The Art And Future Possibilities, Holly Nelson-Becker, Edward R. Canda

Social Work: School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Other Works

This article identifies the unique contributions social work has made to the study of spirituality and religion in relation to aging, based on respect for their diverse expressions. Definitions of religion and spirituality that particularly relate to late life are provided. The study of spirituality and aging is situated in four historical phases ranging from sectarian origins (1890s to 1920), to professionalization and secularization (1920s-1970s), to renewed interest (1980s to mid 1990s), to the current phase characterized by transcending boundaries. Interdisciplinary research by social workers is prevalent. Topics of study include a wide range of religious and nonreligious spiritual perspectives, …

A Hidden Life, Matthew N. Schmalz

Religious Studies Faculty Scholarship

A reflection on the murder of Marzena Ladiejewska, a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the College of the Holy Cross, in Cheshire, Connecticut. The article reflects on Marzena Ladiejewska’s Catholic spirituality and the impact of her death.

Catholic Identities In Central Florida, Ann Marie Boleslawski

Rollins Undergraduate Research Journal

Sacraments are a foundational part of ritual and doctrine with the Roman Catholic Church. The sacrament of Anointing of the Sick is performed by a priest with the use of prayer and blessed oils, which focuses on preparing an individual for death or for resorting health. The purpose of this research was to observe two local parishes and understand how their practice of Anointing of the Sick translated into a ministry that works in conjunction with local members, nursing homes, and hospitals. Key elements include understanding how ministers are trained, how information about these programs is spread, and what specific …

Religion Through Ritual, Catherine M. Bell

Religious Studies

This chapter addresses the ramifications of, as well as strategies for, teaching ritual as a central feature of religion. This marks an important change in the approach to teaching both religion and ritual, and one of the functions of this book is to address specific issues that this change poses to teachers and scholars. It is a continual challenge to imagine how to teach religion, using ritual, in introductory courses, in courses on specific traditions, and in advanced classes that include more of the theory of the field and extended individual projects. Teaching religion with a significant focus on ritual …

Review Essay: Religion And Politics 2004-2007, Leslie C. Griffin

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

Religion And The Academy: Report On The Western Conference On British Studies Roundtable, Robert Ellison

English Faculty Research

This article is a report of a roundtable I moderated at the 2006 meeting of the Western Conference on British Studies. It proposes some directions religious studies might take in the 21st century; it is also the first publication to mention of the British Pulpit Online, an emerging digital resource for the study of the sermon from 1688-1901.

Twentieth Century Approaches To Defining Religion: Clifford Geertz And The First Amendment, Barbara Barnett

University of Maryland Law Journal of Race, Religion, Gender and Class

No abstract provided.

African Religious Integration In Florida During The First Spanish Period, Christopher Beats

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is an examination of the unique conditions for African-descended slaves in St. Augustine, Florida, during the First Spanish Period. St. Augustine was an important garrison at a remote point in the Spanish Empire at the edge of a hostile frontier. As such, economics were less a priority than defense. Slaves, therefore, received different treatment here than in English colonies or even other Spanish colonies. Due to the threat of Protestantism, religious adherence was more important as a test of loyalty than ethnicity and slaves and freed-people were able to integrate better than in other Spanish holdings. In order …

Turning The Hearts Of Fathers To Their Children: Why Religious Involvement Can Make A Difference, Loren Marks, David C. Dollahite

Faculty Publications

Charles Dickens, the English author and keen observer of human affairs, wrote of revolution-era France: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." In many ways, Dickens' dichotomy regarding "the best of times" and "the worst of times" captures the state of contemporary American fatherhood. Many fathers are more highly involved with their children than the fathers of past generations. Conversely, many other fathers are disconnected from or uninvolved with their children. For many of the fathers who are highly involved in their children's lives, their religious faith is a motivational influence.

An Analysis Of Origen’S Charismatic Ideology In His Commentary On The Gospel Of John, Kimberly W. Logan-Hudson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis aims to examine whether Origen projects a charismatic ideology within his Commentary on the Gospel of John. Five characteristics will be utilized during the process: (1) Charismatic authority is given directly from God and only God; (2) Those who have been chosen sought and maintain the position; (3) Individuals must recognize this authority along with others; (4) Those with charismatic authority must mediate God's word for others; (5) This authority may only belong to individuals within the one body of the church. In analyzing Books 1, 2, 6, and 10 along with these five characteristics, the thesis will …

The Proliferating Sacred: Secularization And Postmodernity, Donald Surrency

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

When analyzing the role religion plays in contemporary American society, one is forced to address the notion of secularization. This is a term that broadly refers to the marginalization of religious influence in culture and society that began at the outset of the Enlightenment, sometime during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, but, as Peter Berger argues, can actually be traced back to the times of the great Israelite prophets who emerged during the Axial Age (800-200 BCE). Throughout the available literature, proponents of the secularization thesis extend the marginalization of religious influence from the societal level to the level of …

How Religious Couples Perceive The Influence Of God In Their Marriage, Michael A. Goodman, David C. Dollahite

Faculty Publications

This article builds on the work of Annette Mahoney and her colleagues regarding "sanctification of marriage" by focusing on religious married couples' perception of God's involvement in their marriages. The study includes qualitative analyses of indepth interviews with 32 middle-aged Christian, Jewish and Muslim couples married an average of twenty years. Couples' views of God's purposes influenced the pathways and processes of perceived divine involvement in their marriages. The extent and pathways in which couples perceived God to be involved in their marriage correlated with specific beliefs and practices. Several patterns emerge and a theoretical model is proposed to illustrate …

Indoctrination, Diversity, And Teaching About Spirituality And Religion In The Workplace, Donald W. Mccormmick

Organization Management Journal

The author reflects on his experience and discusses problems in teaching a course about spirituality and religion in the workplace. Sometimes indoctrination happens when professors treat their own spiritual ideology as the truth, or they require students to engage in religious practices in class. Indoctrination is teaching people “to accept a system of thought uncritically.” The management education literature has little to say about indoctrination. Indoctrination can be avoided by (1) ensuring informed consent, (2) designing learning activities for students from all spiritual perspectives, (3) teaching about the topic (instead of taking the “how to” approach), (4) presenting diverse spiritual …

Book Review: Hsieh Liang-Tso And The Analects Of Confucius: Humane Learning As A Religious Quest, Thomas Selover, Deborah A. Sommer (司馬黛蘭)

Religious Studies Faculty Publications

Hsieh Liang-tso is the first volume to explore Chinese traditions in the Academy Series sponsored by Oxford and the American Academy of Religion. Most previous titles in the series focus on Christianity, which perhaps explains Selover’s attention to the perspectives of comparative religions and comparative theology in his introduction. There he briefly traces the history of the issues concerning the religious dimensions of the Chinese literati tradition and outlines a comparative framework for approaching eleventh-century Chinese thought. Inspired by Robert Neville’s Beyond the Masks of God, Selover focuses in the introduction on four themes—scripture, tradition, reason, and experience. This framework, …

Policing Sexuality In America’S Churches: Theological, Congregational, And Political Influences On Regulation Of Same-Sex Behavior, Demoya R. Gordon

Sociology Honors Projects

Despite recent interest in examining church growth and decline, sociologists have not engaged in research aimed at determining what factors influence congregational doctrine. I analyzed factors affecting congregations' likelihood of adopting rules concerning same-sex behavior by testing several hypotheses related to potential influences. To do this, I used a nationally representative sample of congregations. I found that, in addition to theology and political ideology, church demographics and political developments influence church doctrine. These findings demonstrate that despite the existence of a formal church-state separation, congregational policy may not be immune to the influence of external social and political developments.

Acts 2:42 In 2006: Examining Small Group Discussion In An American Mega-Church, Sheri Guseman Edd

Dissertations

During the last century, Americans have become increasingly isolated from one another, resulting in feelings of loneliness and creating a void of community (Frazee, 2001). However, as attendance at mainline churches continues to decline (Stafford, 1998), attendance and participation in mega-churches, defined as those serving more than 2,500 individuals and offering a multiplicity of services, continues to increase (http://www.hirr.hartsem.edu/org ). One popular explanation for this phenomenon is that mega-churches are often characterized by an organized small group ministry---something absent in more traditional churches. Although this trend has clearly swept the nation (Gladwell, 2005), related research on the efficacy of the …

Finding Thomas, Candace Schilling

Illinois Wesleyan University Magazine, 2002-2017

Professor of Religion April DeConick’s search for the true Gospel of Thomas brings insight into what the earliest Christians believed about Jesus.

A King Who Devours His People: Jiang Zemin And The Falun Gong Crackdown: A Bibliography, Michael J. Greenlee

International Journal of Legal Information

In July 1999, the government of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) began an official crackdown against the qigong cultivation group known as Falun Gong. Intended to quickly contain and eliminate what the PRC considers an evil or heretical cult (xiejiao), the suppression has instead created the longest sustained and, since the Tiananmen Square protests of June 1989, most widely known human rights protest conducted in the PRC. The Falun Gong has received worldwide recognition and support while the crackdown continues to provoke harsh criticism against the PRC as new allegations of human rights …

Too Much, Too Little: Religion In The Public Schools, Jay D. Wexler

University of Maryland Law Journal of Race, Religion, Gender and Class

No abstract provided.

Economics As A Science: Robert Nelson's Economics As Religion, Thomas S. Ulen

Case Western Reserve Law Review

No abstract provided.

Understanding The Purpose Of Creation Accounts, Terry Ball

Faculty Publications

Jeopardy is a popular and longrunning TV game show in the United States. It is somewhat unusual in the world of game shows. In typical game shows, contestants are asked questions and then awarded money for providing correct answers. But, in Jeopardy that process is reversed: the contestants are given the answers and then receive money for correctly providing the questions. For example, contestants might be given the answer "a biblical measurement of volume approximately equivalent to eight gallons." The contestant who first correctly asks the question "What is an ephah?" would then be awarded money. Unlike much of what …

Federalism And Faith, Ira C. Lupu, Robert W. Tuttle

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

Should the U.S. constitution afford greater discretion to states than to the federal government in matters affecting religion? In recent years, a number of commentators have been asserting that the Establishment Clause should not apply to the states. Justice Thomas has embraced this view, while offering his own refinements to it. Moreover, the Supreme Court's decision in Locke v. Davey (2004) ruled that a state did not run afoul of the Free Exercise Clause when it refused to subsidize religious studies, in a context in which the Establishment Clause would have permitted the subsidy.

This paper offers a focused (re)consideration …

Introduction To How Should We Talk About Religion?: Perspectives, Context And Particularities, James Boyd White

Other Publications

This book had its genesis in a faculty summer seminar held in the year 2000 at the University of Notre Dame, under the auspices of the Erasmus Institute. Our topic was the subject of the present book, which asks, as the title suggests, how we should talk about religion, especially in the languages of our various academic disciplines. The idea of the seminar was to collect a dozen people from very different fields and backgrounds, each of whom in his or her professional work has faced this question in a significant way. Each member of the seminar was responsible for …

Too Much, Too Little: Religion In The Public Schools, Jay D. Wexler

Faculty Scholarship

The current state of religion in the nation's public schools is odd indeed. On the one hand, the courts have consistently held that public school teachers may not lead their students in an organized prayer. Yet on the other hand, most people seem to agree that there is no problem with those same teachers leading their students in the Pledge of Allegiance, an exercise that asks students on a daily basis, not only to explicitly recognize the existence of a single god, but also to link the nation's very identity to that highly contested theological proposition. Likewise, despite the fact …

The Lived Experience Of God And Its Evolution In Children And Adolescents, Anne P. Devenish

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Children's and adolescents' spirituality is important, especially to those entrusted with their education. To effectively nurture children's spirituality, parents, teachers, and ministers would benefit in knowing how young people experience God, what they think about God and how they relate to God: in effect, their lived experience of God. Learning about these phenomena could help greatly in communicating with children and adolescents about God. This study aims to build on the work of those who have investigated elements of the spirituality of children and adolescents in a qualitative way.

Wooster Magazine: Fall 2005, Lisa Watts

Wooster Magazine: 2001-2010

This edition of the Wooster Magazine was published in the fall of 2005. The magazine begins with an introductory piece by the editor, Lisa Watts, on her experience with the mentorship program. The Viewpoint section touches on the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. John Dean '61 opened the 2005 Wooster Forum series by criticizing the Bush administration. The radio station, now called WOO 91, has been undergoing renovations for the past year and they are finally complete. Five student leaders in religious groups on campus are featured from page ten to fifteen. Four alumni that work some way with religion are …

Religious Schools: For Spirit, (F)Or Nation, Lily Kong

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

In this paper I draw attention to the study of 'unofficially sacred' sites in geographies of religion, which provide significant insights into the construction of religious identity and community, and the intersections of sacred and secular. I show that such sites deserve as much attention as places of worship (the more conventional focus in the geographical study of religion) in our understanding of the place of religion in contemporary urban society. In particular, using the case of Islamic religious schools in Singapore, I examine how Muslim identities and community are negotiated within multicultural and multireligious contexts, and particularly within one …

Hilltopics: Volume 1, Issue 21, Hilltopics Staff

Hilltopics

Campus: Men with Integrity tackles issues of sexual assault and rape, page 3.

Politics: Republicans have squandered their political victory, page 2.

Culture: Eli Manning is not Pope John Paul II: Hero worship gone too far, page 3.

Religion: What do genetics, a cow, and the anti-Christ have in common? Page 4.

On the web: Go to www.smu.edu/honors/hilltopics to read all of the stories in this issue and more. You can also submit your thoughts to [email protected].

Hilltopics: Volume 1, Issue 13, Hilltopics Staff

Hilltopics

World:  Dependence on foreign oil jeopardizes our future, page 2.

Campus:  RLSH solution to Boaz GPA is a lame as the grades themselves, page 3.

Religion:  Why canʼt we all get along?  Christians should unite, page 3.

Technology:  SMU computer help desk not always very helpful, page 4.

Be Heard: Have something to say?  Send your thoughts to [email protected].  Want to get involved?  Hilltopics is looking for next yearʼs editors.