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Hilltopics: Volume 1, Issue 11, Hilltopics Staff

Hilltopics

Religion:  What happened to tolerant, loving Christianity? Page 2.

Movies:  Kinsey is a great excuse to drink and talk sex, as if you need one, page 4.

Politics: An inauguration trip can be more valuable than any civics class, page 2.

Campus:  The familiar chiming of the Fondren bells seems to be gone, page 3.

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].

“Symbolism Of Language: A Study In The Dialogue Of Power Between The Imperial Cult And The Synoptic Gospels”, Sharon Matlock-Marsh

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Long before the writings of the New Testament gospels, where Jesus was being proclaimed as the Son of God, and Savior, the world existing under the influences of Hellenism resulting from the conquests by Alexander the Great in 323 BCE, had already been well acquaint

ed with and expected to hear certain symbolic language in determining titles for their divine ruler the emperor. Living within a cosmological framework, i.e., a sacred cosmos, the citizens of the empire accepted the emperor as the manifestation of divinity in the world. This belief existed for centuries prior to Christianity as a reality that …

Religion And Crime: A Study Of Inmates In State And Federal Prisons In The United States., Dhanalakshmi Thirumalai

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Persistent high levels of crime in this country have provided support for the need for public programs that help in reducing crime rates through effective interventions. Spirituality and religion are considered to play a major part in determining an individual's attitude towards committing a crime. This study analyzed if inmates in State and Federal prisons in the US are involved in prison religious activities and personal prayers in order to determine if criminality (measured by offense type) of inmates affects their participation in religious activities. Based on logistic regression analysis, gender, race, and marital status of inmates were found to …

Gathering The Flock And Marginalizing The Sheep: The Origins Of A Christian Deaf Liberation Theology, Sophara Sok

Undergraduate University Honors Capstones

The Christian religion plays an important role in the lives of many deaf and hearing Americans as a source of security and spirituality; however Deaf people have values, a worldview, and sensory preferences that differ in a significant ways from hearing people. This paper argues that those differences lead to an underlying predicament brimming with ideological conflicts between being a culturally Deaf person and a Christian. A new religious movement derived from Liberation Theology promises a resolution to the identity/ideological struggle for Deaf Christians but will succeed only if educational and religious institutions make a concerted effort to teach Deaf …

Global Religions: An Introduction, Jim Lewis

Biblical and Theological Studies Faculty Works

Ten essays contextualize Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, African Religion and Local Religious Societies within the category globalism. The “bookends” are a prefatorial introduction followed by three concluding chapters on theoretical issues (ch 9), the antiglobilization movement’s impact on religion (ch 10), and the future of religion (ch 11).

Defined By Spirituality?, Michael W. Higgins

Mission & Culture Publications

Pierre Elliott Trudeau was a man of intense, intelligent, and reflective faith, and this critical dimension of the man needs to be rightly considered when assessing his role and impact on Canadian society.

Mw 708 Introduction To World Religions, Terry C. Muck

Syllabi

David S. Noss. A History of the World’s Religions. Tenth Edition. New York: Prentice Hall Publishing Company, 1999. Terry C. Muck. The Mysterious Beyond: A Guide to Studying Religion. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1993. (Get from instructor)

White Knight?: Can The Commerce Clause Save The Religious Land Use And Institutionalized Persons Act?, Lara A. Berwanger

Fordham Law Review

No abstract provided.

Shembe, Ancestors, Or Christ?: A Missiological Inquiry Into The Status And Role Of Jesus Christ In The Amnazaretha Church, Kwa Zulu Natal, South Africa, Edley Joseph Moodley

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Teaching Freud In The Language Of Our Students: The Case Of A Religiously Affiliated Undergraduate Institution, Diane Jonte-Pace

Religious Studies

If the psychoanalyst must speak in the language of the patient, we, the teachers of Freud and religion, surely must teach in the language of our students. Who is Freud-and what is religion-in this language? The answer depends in part on academic context: Freud is taught in religious studies departments at public universities, private unaffiliated colleges, and religiously affiliated seminaries, colleges, and universities. This essay describes a course on "Religion in the Theories of Freud and Jung" at a religiously affiliated West Coast university with approximately four thousand undergraduate students.

Witness And Worship In Pluralistic America, John F. Johnson, Joel Okamoto, Charles Arand, David Adams, Richard Warneck, Andrew H. Bartelt, Paul Raabe, William Schumacher, Paul Robinson, James Voelz, Robert Kolb

Ebooks

American society in the twenty- first century poses a myriad of challenges for the church as it seeks to be an effective witness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Among these challenges is an increasingly pluralistic cultural and religious context.

Religion And Animals: A Changing Scene, Paul Waldau

State of the Animals 2003

For protections to evolve to include nonhuman species, religions— through their leaders, their institutions, and above all their believers— must take seriously the important role that they have played, and certainly will continue to play, in humans’ engagement with the lives beyond our species line. Religions have such a central role in the transmission of basic images and values regarding living beings that, without their help, the problem of the species line will not be solved in this century. A central question for this century is whether influential religious institutions will continue to convey images that radically and absolutely dismiss …

Public Funding For Theological Training Under The Free Exercise Clause: Pragmatic Implications And Theoretical Questions Posed To The Supreme Court In Locke V. Davey, Katie Axtell

Seattle University Law Review

Part II of this Note presents the factual background and procedural history of Davey v. Locke. Part III discusses the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment. Section A provides a basic background on the Supreme Court's free exercise jurisprudence. Section B applies the Court's precedent to Davey, and concludes that the Ninth Circuit sidestepped a true "prohibition" analysis. Sections A, B, and C of Part IV discuss the differing neutrality examinations within free exercise, free speech, and establishment jurisprudence, respectively. Section D discusses the overlapping application of neutrality criteria in establishment and free speech funding cases. Section E concludes …

Darwin, Design, And Disestablishment: Teaching The Evolution Controversy In Public Schools, Jay D. Wexler

Faculty Scholarship

The controversy over teaching evolution in public schools is once again hot news. Ever since the Supreme Court decided in 1987 that Louisiana could not constitutionally require teachers to give equal time to teaching creation science and evolution, critics of evolution have adopted a variety of new strategies to change the way in which public schools present the subject to their students. These strategies have included teaching evolution as a "theory" rather than as a fact, disclaiming the truth of evolutionary theory, teaching arguments against evolution, teaching the allegedly nontheistic theory of intelligent design instead of creationism, removing evolution from …

Religion, Politics, And The 2000 Presidential Election: A Selective Survey And Tentative Appraisal, Daniel O. Conkle

Indiana Law Journal

Symposium on "Law, Morality, and Popular Culture in the Public Sphere" at the Indiana University School of Law-Bloomington, April 6, 2001.

Wrongful Life? The Strange Case Of Nicholas Perruche, M. Therese Lysaught

Institute of Pastoral Studies: Faculty Publications and Other Works

No abstract provided.

Preparing For The Clothed Public Square: Teaching About Religion, Civic Education, And The Constitution, Jay D. Wexler

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

Nothing Is Written: Fundamentalism, Revivalism, Reformism And The Fate Of Islamic Law, Hamid M. Khan

Michigan Journal of International Law

Part of any Muslim's effort to return to their religious past usually involves an invocation of Islamic law, or what has been termed the Shari'ah. This Note intends to cursorily examine Islamic law-where it was, and where it is going. More specifically, this Note will examine a growing fracture within the Islamic community and how a fissure among so-called fundamentalists will ultimately influence an understanding of Islamic law.

Framing The Public Square, Jay D. Wexler

Faculty Scholarship

For at least the past decade or so, law-and-religion scholars have vigorously debated the issue of whether it is proper for American citizens to rely on religious reasons when talking about and reaching decisions on issues of public concern, including law. Those who argue that religion should be kept out of such decisionmaking and discourse contend that reliance on religious reasons: (1) violates principles of separation of church and state, (2) unfairly excludes nonbelievers from meaningful participation in public discourse, (3) creates unacceptable divisiveness, and (4) risks the domination of Christian beliefs in public discourse to the detriment of religious …

Preparing For The Clothed Public Square: Teaching About Religion, Civic Education, And The Constitution, Jay D. Wexler

Faculty Scholarship

Although law and religion scholars have long argued about whether American culture marginalizes religious belief, many important indicators suggest that religion indeed plays a prominent role in contemporary American life. America is an extremely religious nation. Polls consistently show that about ninety percent of Americans continue to believe in God, and both church attendance and membership remain at high levels. This religiosity, moreover, spills out into the public square. A great many Americans rely on religious reasons when thinking and talking about public issues. Ninety percent of the members of Congress, by one report, consult their religious beliefs when voting …

Islam: An Introduction And Bibliography, James A. Toronto, Cynthia Finlayson

BYU Studies

Long before the events of September 11, 2001, BYU Studies began working on this special issue focusing on Islam. The authors and editors who worked on this issue have tried to capture the spirit of a religion that provides guidance to the lives of millions of people worldwide. The ever expanding influence of Islam extends to the prominent and often controversial role that Islam plays in contemporary politics. In addition, Muslim theology, scripture, art, science, and communal values have made significant contributions to world civilization. And in quiet yet significant ways, dialogue and contact between Latter-day Saints and Muslims have …

How To Talk About Religion, James Boyd White

Law Quadrangle (formerly Law Quad Notes)

It is of enormous importance to learn to talk about religion well, if only for the obvious political and practical reason that religious divisions, both within nations and among them, are olten intractable and bitter, and mutual understanding very difficult to attain

Mapping 'New' Geographies Of Religion: Politics And Poetics In Modernity, Lily Kong

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This article reviews geographical research on religion in the 1990s, and highlights work from neighbouring disciplines where relevant. Contrary to views that the field is incoherent, I suggest that much of the literature pays attention to several key themes, particularly, the politics and poetics of religious place, identity and community. I illustrate the key issues, arguments and conceptualizations in these areas, and suggest various ways forward. These 'new' geographies emphasize different sites of religious practice beyond the 'officially sacred'; different sensuous sacred geographies; different religions in different historical and place-specific contexts; different geographical scales of analysis; different constitutions of population …

Book Review: Meeting Of Minds: Intellectual And Religious Interaction In East Asian Traditions Of Thought, Irene Bloom, Joshua Fogel, Deborah A. Sommer (司馬黛蘭)

Religious Studies Faculty Publications

Meeting of Minds: Intellectual and Religious Interaction in East Asian Traditions of Thought, a volume of eleven essays written in honor of Wing-tsit Chan and William Theodore de Bary, proposes to explore how Confucian and Neo-Confucian traditions have responded to and have influenced other traditions (Buddhist, Taoist, folk, Japanese nativist, and so on) in China and Japan. The essays are arranged first geographically (seven articles on China precede four on Japan) and then roughly chronologically. All essays, save one, describe Sung or post-Sung developments. A few sentences per essay must suffice in this review. [excerpt]

Campus Assembly Minutes 03/15/2001, Campus Assembly

Campus Assembly

No abstract provided.

Relational Learning For A Sustainable Future: An Eco -Spiritual Model, Mary Elizabeth Westfall

Doctoral Dissertations

We are facing unprecedented environmental challenges as we enter the new millennium as human choices and practices have repeatedly led to environmental degradation. Increasingly there are individuals and groups seeking to address this environmental crisis and move toward more sustainable patterns of living. But in order to make alternative choices it will be essential to draw upon the wealth and variety of human capabilities.

For nearly 350 years Western culture has looked to reason and rationality to provide truth and direction. The affective side of being human, feelings, intuition, love, care, wonder, mystery and hope have largely been devalued. In …

Doing Theology In The City, Paul Fitzgerald

Special Topics, General

The task of theology is often a lonely endeavor. The hush of the library or the archives, the still of the chapel, and the quiet discipline of one's desk are places where theological research and writing unfold, most often in solitary concentration. The classroom on the protected college campus or seminary, the academic conference in large hotels, and even the cherished conversation in the homes of colleagues do open the theologian to other minds and hearts so that theories and insights may be tested in dialogue. However, these exchanges are often located in affluent social contexts which cannot reveal the …

Factors Affecting Enrollment And Retention At The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter -Day Saints St George Institute Of Religion, John Savage Naegle

UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to identify those factors that influence the decision of young, single, adult members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints ages 18--30 to be involved or not in the institute program; For Institutes to be effective in their charge to involve all young, single adults it would be helpful to understand why potential Institute students do one of the following: (1) Enroll in and complete an institute class. (2) Enroll in and stop attending an institute class. (3) Do not enroll in an institute class; Because the Church Educational System was asked …

Varieties Of Religion-Family Linkages, John R. Snarey, David C. Dollahite

Faculty Publications

The 4 articles in this special issue make important contributions to both family and religious studies as well as to their interface. This commentary begins by considering 4 unifying themes present across all of the articles, including meaningful religion-family linkages, the importance of gender differences in the faith-family interface, the significance of intergenerational relationships, and the need for better theory. The authors then discuss the unique major strength and secondary limitations of each study. Finally, the commentary focuses on two challenges inhibiting the contemporary study of religion and the family–a relative lack of racial and religious diversity in samples and …

Religious Organizations And The Death Penalty, Robert F. Drinan

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

Over the past several years, many questions have been raised concerning the application and effectiveness of the death penalty. Ironically, the Catholic Church, a long-time supporter of the death penalty, has become one of the most vocal critics of the death penalty. In this Essay, Father Robert F. Drinan documents the Church's new-found opposition to the death penalty, and discusses the influence the Church will have on the future of the death penalty.