Digital Commons Network^™

Full Issue, Number 34, Fall 2011

Intersections

No abstract provided.

Gift And Calling: A Lutheran Perspective On Higher Education, Darrell Jodock

Intersections

No abstract provided.

The Body Of The Goddess: Women’S Trans-National And Cross-Religion Eco-Spiritual Activism, Laura Corradi

Societies Without Borders

A counter-tendency to the virtualization of social relations and the deepening of the separation between body, mind and spirit may be represented by the re-birth of Goddesses’ worship, which calls for a re-embodiment of women’s spirituality and feminist politics. This work starts from representations of the body of the Goddess – in different ages and parts of the world – in their relation with the four elements. Through the iconological analysis of female divinities we realize that each of them also represents specific aspects of womanhood. An exploratory research on the contemporary religious experience of the Goddess indicates the existence …

From Reading To Revering The Good Book, Or How The Word Became Fossil At The Creation Museum, Susan L. Trollinger

English Faculty Publications

Given the complexity of this sacred text and the intensity with which Protestants have sought to glean its truths from it, it is not surprising that Luther’s “dangerous idea” yielded countless splits, schisms, and sects. Whereas once there was the Church, Protestants dedication to reading the Scripture for themselves has brought an endless variety of theologies, practices, and fellowships with no end in sight. While every one of these groups claims (whether explicitly or implicitly) that they alone have the true word of God, none has been able to arrest the flow of interpretations. With everyone free to read the …

Witnessing To Christ In A Pluralistic World Christian Mission Among Other Faiths, Lalsangkima Pachuau, Knud Jorgensen

Edinburgh Centenary Series

"The relationship of Christian faith and mission to other living faiths is a core issue in contemporary mission. In a world where plurality of faiths is increasingly becoming a norm of life, insights on the theology of religious plurality are needed to strengthen our understanding of our own faith and the faith of others ... As part of the study process, position papers and case studies were invited from a wide range of contributors representing various theological positions, confessional traditions and denominational bodies. The position papers are reflections on the theme by scholars belonging to Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Protestant-Conciliar, …

Regulating Religious Freedom In Africa, Rosalind I.J. Hackett

Emory International Law Review

In this Essay, using a wide-ranging set of examples, I wish to provide some background on the emergent discussion on limitations on religious freedom in Africa, especially how these relate to the current debates on family law that are the subject of this Symposium. My general objectives are (1) to consider the legitimate and illegitimate ways in which African state and non-state actors seek to regulate religious practice; (2) to examine how particular religious groups may be disproportionately affected by these measures; (3) to demonstrate how interference with manifestations of religion often leads to abuses of related rights and freedoms …

Radicalization Into Violent Extremism I: A Review Of Social Science Theories, Randy Borum

Journal of Strategic Security

In discourse about countering terrorism, the term "radicalization" is widely used, but remains poorly defined. To focus narrowly on ideological radicalization risks implying that radical beliefs are a proxy—or at least a necessary precursor—for terrorism, though we know this not to be true.Different pathways and mechanisms of terrorism involvement operate in different ways for different people at different points in time and perhaps in different contexts. This article explores the problems in defining radicalization and radicalism, and suggests that radicalization—and more specifically, involvement in terrorism—might best be viewed as a set of diverse processes. It goes on to review several …

Modern Myth In Performance: Claiming Identity Through A Reading Of Fantasy Withcraft, Jessica Satterwhite Gray

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In this dissertation, I create a Wiccan dramaturgical lens to analyze three key fantasy sites: The Wizard of Oz film and stage adaptations (especially the Broadway musical Wicked), The Chronicles of Narnia film and theatrical adaptations, and the Harry Potter films and paratheatrical adaptations. These three fantasy stories have significant cultural impact and strong images of folkloric witches. My alternative reading shows how a subgroup can appropriate popular images for their own identity formation. I will analyze how signs, themes, and narrative tropes that otherwise seem ancillary or even anti-witch become highlighted and privileged, creating a different but equally legitimate …

Constructing Hindu Religioscapes: Guruism And Identity In South Asian Diasporic Fiction, Sukanya Gupta

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This project draws attention to the modern phenomenon of Guruism. I demonstrate that gurus in South Asian fiction are no longer adopting Guruism for the purposes of religion alone. In the novels I analyze, gurus use religion as a tool to resist dominant power structures, to strengthen/protect themselves in communities that stereotype, to access social/financial mobility and to obtain political power. The actions of these religious leaders have both positive and negative effects, as gurus ultimately desire authority to determine how South Asian communities conceive Hinduism, the function of Hindu religious institutions, and the role that Hinduism must play in …

The Social Ethic Of Religiously Unaffiliated Spirituality, Siobhan Chandler

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Since the sixties, sweeping social change has led to a massive restructuring of North American religious life. This includes the emergence of privatized forms of religiosity that operate without an institutional context. This trend is captured by the growing prevalence of individuals who describe themselves as ‘spiritual but not religious’. Despite its popularity, critics worry that privatized religiosity is undermining more socially responsive forms of traditional religious engagement. They think that private religion does not lead to the types of face-to-face interactions needed to build social trust and foster a vibrant public sphere. In short, they think it lacks social …

Personal Knowledge And The Inner Sciences, Martin Zwick

Complex Systems Faculty Publications and Presentations

This paper conceptualizes spiritual disciplines as sciences. It uses this conceptualization to probe into the similarities and differences between modern science and religious tradition, and into the cultural significance and possible future impact of the “new religions”. The paper draws upon the ideas of Michael Polanyi as a possible bridge between science and religion, and proposes that these ideas are relevant not only to the major Western religions, but to Eastern and non-mainstream Western religions as well. Imagining science as a spiritual path, or gnosis, would challenge an exclusivist understanding of scientific knowledge, and suggest the relevance of such knowledge …

The Emerging Church - Part 2: Epistemology, Theology, And Ministry, Fernando Canale

Journal of the Adventist Theological Society

No abstract provided.

Editor's Introduction, “To Cheer, To Raise, To Guide”: 22 Years Of The Farms Review, Daniel C. Peterson

Review of Books on the Book of Mormon 1989–2011

No abstract provided.

The Emerging Church Part 1: Historical Background, Fernando Canale

Journal of the Adventist Theological Society

No abstract provided.

Genocidal Religion, Steven Leonard Jacobs

Journal of Hate Studies

There is no more egregious hateful behavior than that of genocide. There is no more uncomfortable thought than that of religion as a participating factor in the perpetration of genocide, though religious studies scholars come late to any discussion of genocide. This paper, an initial foray into a much longer and more in-depth book-length project, and whose author is desirous of collegial feedback ([email protected]), is a preliminary conversation addressing four precipitating factors: (1) tribalism, (2) religious exclusivism, (3) privileged access to the divine, and (4) a particularistic and parochial reading of sacred texts. It will also attempt, by way of …

Be United, Be Virtuous: Composite Culture And The Growth Of Shirdi Sai Baba Devotion, Karline Mclain

Faculty Journal Articles

In one popular devotional poster the Indian god-man Shirdi Sai Baba (d. 1918) gazes out at the viewer, his right hand raised in blessing. Behind him are a Hindu temple, a Muslim mosque, a Sikh gurdwara, and a Christian church; above him is the slogan, “Be United, Be Virtuous.” In his lifetime, Shirdi Sai Baba acquired a handful of Hindu and Muslim devotees in western India. Over the past several decades, he has been transformed from a regional figure into a revered persona of pan-Indian significance. While much scholarship on religion in modern India has focused on Hindu nationalist groups, …

The Walker War Reconsidered, Ryan Elwood Wimmer

Theses and Dissertations

In July of 1853, Chief Wakara's band of Utes clashed in a series of violent confrontations with the Mormon settlers. This conflict is known as the Walker War. Many complex factors contributed to this war. After some earlier violence between Mormons and different bands of Utes between 1847 and 1851, the Mormons continued their quick expansion settling on Ute lands. From 1851 to 1853 Mormon and Ute relations continued to decline as Mormons expanded their settlements occupying Ute hunting grounds. In addition to these land encroachments, new laws were enacted regulating trade between the Spanish and Utes by Brigham Young. …

The Current Crisis In Protestant Theological Education In The Former Soviet Union, Mark R. Elliott

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

No abstract provided.

Spirituality And The God Question, Sandra Marie Schneiders

Jesuit School of Theology

The tenth anniversary of this excellent journal is not only a good occasion to celebrate its present stature and the tireless, talented leadership of its founder and editor Douglas Burton–Christie but, at least for some of us, to recall with affection and appreciation the initial venture, Christian Spirituality Bulletin: The Journal of the Society for the Study of Christian Spirituality, which began in 1993 and became Spiritus, A Journal of Christian Spirituality in 2000. And it also provides the opportunity to raise a question for the present and the future which is perhaps subtly revealed in the continuity and discontinuity …

The Sage Page Fall 2010, Winthrop University Honors Association

The Sage Page (2009 - 2021)

Inside this Issue:

Relay for Life Kiva
Why I Chose Honors… What Honors Has Done for Me...
Congratulations, May 2010 Graduates
WUHA!, - A Semester in Pictures
Welcome, Class of 2014!
Honors Symposia SRHC
Study Abroad: South Africa and Ireland

Anthropology, Saint Mary's College Of California

Undergraduate Academic Catalog

No abstract provided.

Where Have All The Utopias Gone? Ritual, Solidarity, And Longevity In A Multifaith Commune In New Mexico, Linda Prueitt Hansen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Utopian experiments creating new forms of community have dotted the globe throughout human history. Despite grandiose visions, a majority of communal experiments have faded quickly into oblivion. A wealth of scholarship has focused on reasons why communes typically fail. My research of an ecumenical commune in northern New Mexico examines what has facilitated its perpetuation for over 42 years. I participated in this community for different periods of time for over three years. With the assistance of a resident oral historian, I was able to expand my study into a diachronic view that spanned decades. I conclude that there are …

From Socialism To Capitalism: A Winding Road, Richard D. Cudahy

Chicago Journal of International Law

Three great economic shifts have shaken the world in the last thirty or forty years. The Soviet Union, the torch-bearer of socialism, after engaging in an inner-generated perestroika (reconstruction), increasingly veered toward a stronger role for the market until it moved to full-blown capitalism. At about the same time, China, another beacon of socialism, also moved inexorably toward a socialist market economy and eventually to a virtually capitalist approach. But the Soviet Union, now fragmented, with the Russian Republic its remaining flagship, moved politically toward an imperfect democracy and suffered a painful economic decline. Meanwhile, China retained the authoritarian rule …

Vampirism, Vampire Cults And The Teenager Of Today, Megan White, Hatim A. Omar

Pediatrics Faculty Publications

The aim of this paper is to summarize the limited literature on clinical vampirism, vampire cults and the involvement of adolescents in vampire-like behavior. The various definitions of clinical vampirism are outlined and the emergence of vampire cults from Gothic culture is examined. Further, the clinical features of cult behavior, the attraction to cults, the risk factors for cult involvement, and the clinical management of cult members are discussed. Additionally, vampire popular media is briefly introduced and a case study presented.

About The Struggle Between The "Lower" And "Upper", Viktor Yelenskyy

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

No abstract provided.

An Effective Leadership In Raising Evangelical Leaders For Korean Churches: A Case Study Of C. Daniel Kim's Leadership, Sangho Seo

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this project is to illuminate the process and results of how one man facilitated the transition from a denominational church leader to become an "evangelical leader." The man is C. Daniel Kim at Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary. The researcher of this project was a student and was assigned one of committee members, serving Korean Baptist Church of Lynchburg under his evangelical leadership. Based on literature reviews, surveys, and personal perspectives this paper will delineate influences of C. Daniel Kim's leadership as evidenced by Korean graduates.

Interview With Dr. Yuri Reshetnikov, Leader Of State Committee On Nationalities And Religions, Taras Antoshevskyy

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

No abstract provided.

Nearer Neighbors: Unitarian Universalism, Liberal Protestantism, And Eclectic Faith-Assembly, Garrett M. Rapp

Honors Projects

Unitarian Universalism (UUism), the product of unification between the sects of Unitarianism and Universalism in the 1960s, owes much to its nineteenth-century provenance among various increasingly liberal groups of Protestantism. In my paper I describe Unitarianism’s differences and similarities with nineteenth-century Protestantism by means of the common trends and developments of secularization. I will argue that the mode of eclecticism that modern UUism employs to differentiate itself from its liberal Protestant progenitors preserves Christian preconceptions of the nature of fulfillment and religious truth. Additionally, I will discuss some of the assumptions inherent in UU’s eclectic process of faith-construction, and argue …

2010 Empowered21 Global Congress On The Holy Spirit Program, Empowered21 Committee

Empowered21 Global Council

The program for the first Empowered21 conference on the Holy Spirit held on the campus of Oral Roberts University April 8-10, 2010. Led by Dr. Billy Wilson, the executive director and char for E21, the conference included five general, learning conversations from next-gen leaders from around the world. Speakers included

• Jack Hayford
• Mark Rutland
• Tommy Barnett
• Claudio Freidzon
• A.E. Adeboye
• Ulf Ekman
• Niko Njotorahardjo
• Margaret Court
• Billy Joe Daughtery

A scholars track was hosted by Dr. Vinson Synan with 30 papers presented by Spirit-empowered scholars on a variety of topics. These were compiled into the book Spirit-empowered Christianity in the …

The Art Of Creative Conflict Resolution: A Critical Evaluation Of Approaches To Post-Conflict Reconstruction In Northern Uganda, Lindsay Mcclain

Pursuit - The Journal of Undergraduate Research at The University of Tennessee

The Acholi of northern Uganda, whose cultural heritage is rich in literature and the performing arts, are emerging from more than two decades of war, and there is a desire and need to nurture a culture of peace. Over the last four years, numerous organizations and individuals in Uganda have incorporated the arts into conflict resolution, community reconciliation, and psycho-social healing. These creative approaches, designed to encourage reconciliation, have varied enormously, as have the degrees to which northern communities have accepted and taken ownership of them. A careful analysis of their resonance and impacts has been largely overlooked and underrepresented …