Digital Commons Network^™

Use Of Invented Religions In Ukrainian Protest Movements Against Russian Orthodoxy 2018-2021, Vyacheslav Ageyev

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

Since 2018, three projects operating in the framework of “invented or parody religions” and aimed against the Russian Orthodox Church have arisen in Ukraine. The article describes their invention, practices, “belief systems,” political acts, and tries to predict whether any of these or similar projects have any future in predominantly conservative Christian Ukraine.

A Method For The Evaluation Of Song Texts In Evangelical Churches: A Crucial First Step In Developing Indigenous Songs, Kristi Jeanne Colas

Masters Theses

How important are song texts in worship services? According to the Bible, these songs have a multi-faceted role. Not only do they contain truths about God’s revelation of himself in Scripture, but they also call his people to respond with their whole being. The same song can express worship to God, teach believers truths about him, and challenge unbelievers to turn from their false gods. Therefore, the lyrical content of Christian congregational songs is of utmost importance. However, a survey of ethnodoxological literature reveals a greater focus on songs’ musical content. One reason for this may be the general emphasis …

Prophecy, Emanation, And The Mediterranean Middle Ages, Alberto Gelmi

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation explores the notion of prophecy as a semiotic construct in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam on a chronological span that runs from Late Antiquity to the 14^th century. It argues that theories of prophecy offer useful insights in the domain of rhetoric and not just in epistemology, as scholarship has predominantly contended. The first two chapters survey the trendsetting work of Augustine, al-Kindi, al-Farabi, Ibn Sina, and Maimonides, arguing that their semiotic angle on prophecy depends on a structural affinity with the metaphysical template of emanationism as formulated by Plotinus and Proclus, whose teachings went often misrepresented or …

Spiritual Well-Being - A Proactive Resilience Component: Exploring Its Relationship With Practices, Themes, And Other Psychological Well-Being Factors During The Covid-19 Pandemic In Cism-Trained First Responders, Justine Jaeger, Harvey J. Burnett Jr., Kristen R. Witzel

Faculty Publications

Research suggests spiritual resilience may ameliorate the negative effects of exposure to traumatic events among disaster mental health first responders. Our study examined the relationship between spiritual wellness and associated resilience factors among four groups of first responders (law enforcement, fire services, emergency medical services and 911 dispatchers) trained in Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) during a global pandemic. Utilizing a mixed methods-survey with transcendental phenomenological design, data was collected from 107 participants with membership in the International Critical Incident Stress Foundation (ICISF) or the Michigan Crisis Response Association (MCRA). Participants completed the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale, Spiritual Well-Being Scale-Shortened Version, …

The Stars: Mansions Made By Nature’S Hand, Megan Pickett

Convocations

The beauty of the night sky, the stories it can tell, and the “light pollution” that is increasingly hindering our view will be the topic of Lawrence University’s May 27 Honors Convocation.

Megan Pickett, associate professor of physics, will deliver the Convocation address, The Stars: Mansions Made by Nature’s Hand, at 11:15 a.m. It will be delivered virtually and is available to the public on the Honors Convocation page at lawrence.edu.

In her address, Pickett will share why light pollution, the ever-increasing brightening of the sky by artificial lighting, is a concern that has long-term economic, health, and …

‘I Am Just A Part Of The Community’: Amish And Ultra-Orthodox Women And The Third Person Perception, Rivka Neriya-Ben Shahar

Journal of Amish and Plain Anabaptist Studies

This article focuses on the third-person perception (TPP) of Amish and Ultra-Orthodox Jewish women. TPP’s central insight is that consumers believe media influences “her/him” (the third person) much more than “me” (the first person). Since media technologies pose challenges to these women’s sense of religious devotion, their TPP toward secular media contributes to the discussion about religion, gender, and media. The study uses quantitative and qualitative methodologies, including a survey, participant observation, and interviews, to answer three research questions: (1) Do Amish and Ultra-Orthodox women have the third-person perception, reflected by their estimation that the negative influence of secular media …

Young Brazilian Catholics Reaffiliating: A Case Study In The City Of Campos, Rj, Brazil, Cecilia L. Mariz, Wânia Amélia Belchior Mesquita, Michelle Piraciaba Araújo

Journal of Global Catholicism

Through a case study in Campos, a northern city of Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil, this article analyzes reports from young people who state that they have undergone a process of revival or reactivation of their Catholic faith. They all declared to have participated in the “St Andrew’s School of Evangelization.” They also mentioned having experienced an "encounter with God." Their narratives were similar to conversion accounts reported by practitioners of other religious traditions. The interviewees describe faith as a personal choice, and emphasize the need for religious study and the value of religious knowledge. To what extent these values …

Editor's Introduction, Marc Roscoe Loustau

Journal of Global Catholicism

No abstract provided.

Even In Fateful Situations A Vital Optimism Remains: Social Work “Accompaniment” With Persons With Cancer, Asta Kiaunyte, Jonas Ruskus, Roberta Telmentiene, Katherine Tyson Mccrea Professor

The Qualitative Report

To advance a social work model for working with patients with diagnoses of cancer in diverse global contexts, this paper draws from qualitative research with clients diagnosed with cancer, and their social workers, in Lithuania. As in many countries, Lithuanian social work is a new profession, finding its way to helping people through many life stressors in a unique cultural context. The threat cancer presents – of dying from a protracted and painful illness – requires social work strategies, especially because many countries lack Hospice supports. Key aspects of the findings are the life crisis that a diagnosis of cancer …

Immanent Technologies: Posthuman Digital Religion In America, John William Borchert

Dissertations - ALL

This dissertation offers a posthuman theory of the digital mediation of religion, divided between theoretical chapters on posthumanism, ritual, and new media before two case studies: one on death, one on play. First developing conceptual relationships between posthumanism and religious studies and methodological connections between new media and ritual theories, it then asks questions in the playful and experimental ritual spaces of video games and the profoundly material and ecological spaces of digital mourning objects. For example: how do digital readouts on the health of a plant fed by cremains reposition living and dead bodies? Or, how do video games …

Immanent Technologies: Posthuman Digital Religion In America, John William Borchert

Dissertations - ALL

This dissertation offers a posthuman theory of the digital mediation of religion, divided between theoretical chapters on posthumanism, ritual, and new media before two case studies: one on death, one on play. First developing conceptual relationships between posthumanism and religious studies and methodological connections between new media and ritual theories, it then asks questions in the playful and experimental ritual spaces of video games and the profoundly material and ecological spaces of digital mourning objects. For example: how do digital readouts on the health of a plant fed by cremains reposition living and dead bodies? Or, how do video games …

Commencement 2021

Commencement Programs

No abstract provided.

Rachel Cato For Wku Staff Senate, Rachel Cato

Staff Council

Campaign email soliciting votes for Rachel Cato.

Gwu Webb Connections Panel Discusses Trends In Christian Higher Education, Office Of University Communications

Gardner-Webb NewsCenter Archive

In the final Webb Connections event for the semester, Gardner-Webb University President Dr. William M. Downs welcomed a panel of guests to discuss, “A Revival in Christian Higher Education: Building A Bigger Tent.” Webb Connections is an informative series hosted by Downs and featuring experts discussing topics of national, regional and local interest.

In Memoriam: Rev. William P. Anderson, Dave Larsen

College of Arts and Sciences Newsroom

The Rev. William P. Anderson, Presbyterian minister and professor emeritus in the University of Dayton Department of Religious Studies, died May 7. He was 85.

Illinois State University Undergraduate Course Catalog, 2022-2023, Illinois State University

Course Catalogs

Illinois State University Undergraduate Course Catalog, 2022-2023. Effective May 17, 2021.

2020 Ursinus College Commencement Program, Ursinus College

Ursinus College Commencement Programs

This Ursinus College Commencement program from 2020 contains the list of speakers and order of events for the day.

Spring Commencement: May 15, 2021, University Of North Dakota

UND Commencement Programs

UND Spring Commencement program from May 15, 2021.

A Renewed Christian Sabbath, After Supersessionism And After Christendom, Abigail Woolley Cutter

Religious Studies Theses and Dissertations

This project works toward a contemporary understanding of what the Sabbath commandment can mean for Christians, in light of both the post-supersessionist developments in Christian theology since the Holocaust and a declining (Protestant) Christian hegemony in the United States. It claims that a Christian theology of Sabbath must be developed through a serious engagement with the theology of Jewish-Christian relations. It proposes the Sabbath framework as a model for cultural engagement reminiscent of the “synthesis” type laid out in H. R. Niebuhr’s Christ and Culture, but less susceptible to the alleged pitfalls of that type.

The approach to a …

Jesus Christ, Revelation Of Love: A Christology Of The Disabled Christ, Lisa Hancock

Religious Studies Theses and Dissertations

Though Nancy Eiesland’s The Disabled God first introduced the identification of Jesus as disabled in 1994, sustained reflection on the person and work of Christ as disabled remains a mostly untapped wellspring for theological reflection in disability theology. Sitting with Christ’s disabled performativity, I identify Christ as disabled in both person and work, noting that recognizing disability in Christ’s person influences understandings of Christ’s work and vice versa. Establishing my use of the cultural model of disability, which I expand for use in constructive theology with Judith Butler’s notion of performativity, I examine resonances of the Disabled Christ in disability …

May 15, 2021, Seattle University School Of Law

Commencement Programs

No abstract provided.

The Humanity Of Christ As Instrument Of Salvation In The Theology Of Thomas Aquinas, J. David Moser

Religious Studies Theses and Dissertations

Interpreters of Thomas Aquinas’s Christology have long observed the uniqueness of his claim that Christ’s human nature is “an instrument of the divinity.” For Aquinas, the mysteries of Christ’s life, the actions and sufferings he underwent in the flesh (acta et passa Christi in carne), cause our salvation in the present. And they have this effect because Christ’s humanity is a “conjoined instrument” of the divinity, united to the Logos, the second person of the Trinity, in person. By contrast, nearly all of Aquinas’s medieval contemporaries, like Bonaventure (1224-1274) as well as Aquinas himself, argued that the humanity …

Deliver Us: The New Eve, Coredemption, And The Motherhood Of God, William Glass

Religious Studies Theses and Dissertations

In what follows, I try to develop a speculative and constructive account of what Christians should say regarding whether and how Mary is a coredemptress, that is, a partner in the redemptive work of her Son. My goal is to clarify what it might mean to say Mary is a coredeemer, why anyone should say that, and what the consequences would be for Christian theology if they did. I take this doctrine to have critical importance not only for the individual loci of Christian theology (many of which are treated within) but for a meta-theological understanding of the God-world relation.

Honor Gained, Lost, And Restored: The Honor And Shame Of Jesus In The Gospel Of Mark, April Simpson

Religious Studies Theses and Dissertations

Tracing the Gospel of Mark’s full narrative trajectory, this project provides a socio-literary investigation of Jesus’s honor in the Gospel, in order to explore the relationship between honor and shame in the narrative as well as how first-century notions of honor relate to Mark’s endorsement of Jesus. For much of the narrative, the Gospel of Mark overwhelmingly features Jesus’s honor—or his status, reputation, and virtue. Beginning about halfway through the Gospel, this emphasis is paired with another: anticipation of a change of fortunes for Jesus. Then, Jesus’s fortunes do change in the spiraling shame he experiences during his arrest, trial, …

Gender As Love: A Theological Account, Fellipe Do Vale

Religious Studies Theses and Dissertations

Despite its ubiquity in nearly all academic disciplines, gender has remained a contested concept, so much so that there is considerable ambiguity regarding what makes one a woman or a man and what relation such traits have with the human body. Debates typically polarize around the positions of gender essentialism and social constructionism, though both have been shown to have serious limitations. Additionally, theologians have typically approached these debates either by understanding gender as a category for sustained investigation but finding that the tools and virtues of theology are ill-suited for doing so, or by retaining the tools and virtues …

2021 Ursinus College Commencement Program, Ursinus College

Ursinus College Commencement Programs

This Ursinus College Commencement program from 2021 contains the list of speakers and order of events for the day.

A Cabin In The Woods: A Former Statistician Responds To A Critique Of The Bayesian Version Of The Fine-Tuning Argument For God’S Existence, Adam Lloyd Johnson

Liberty Theological Review

Many theists and atheists agree that the fine-tuning argument is the most compelling argument for the existence of God. However, there are many different versions of this argument and, as with most things in life, some versions are better than others. In this paper I will respond to Neil A. Manson’s recent critique of what I call the "Bayesian Version of the Fine-Tuning Argument" for God’s existence. I will argue that the Bayesian version is a relatively poor argument but that the "Abductive Version of the Fine-Tuning Argument" for God’s existence is quite compelling.

Could It Be Reasonable To Conclude That Jesus Did It And John Wrote It Down? An Enquiry Into The Veracity Of John 7:53-8:11, The Pericope Adulterae, Thomas J. Gentry Ii

Liberty Theological Review

Broadly speaking, two types of answers to the question of whether John 7:53-8:11, the Pericope Adulterae (PA) should be considered part of the authentic biblical text have been offered by scholars. The first type includes those who conclude the PA does not report an actual account in the life of Jesus and should not be in the Bible. The second type comes from those who argue that the PA does present an account from the life of Jesus and should be in the Bible (although not all in the last group agree that the account is of Johannine origin). For …

Melchizedek: Exposing His Character And Its Biblical-Theological Implications, Wesley Nottingham

Liberty Theological Review

Commentators have long recognized the mystery of Melchizedek, noting “that Melchizedek appears in the narrative out of nowhere and just as quickly is gone.” In light of the nature of this Melchizedek figure, the task for a deep reader of Scripture becomes not only identifying who this figure is as he appears in Genesis, but also drawing out the biblical-theological implications of his presence. To determine how to best understand Melchizedek as well as his presence within the canon, the most effective approach is to examine the text in which he first appears—Genesis 14:18-20—and examine its interplay with another key …

2020 & 2021 Lynn University Commencement Program [Unofficial], Lynn University

Commencement Programs

Unofficial Lynn University Commencement Exercises Program. This program was published only on the web and can be found here. Due to COVID-19, Lynn University's Spring 2021 Commencement Exercises, were held virtually over YouTube on Saturday, May 15, 2021.

The commencement speaker was Lynn alumni Kuda Biza '09, '10, entrepreneur, author, speaker and philanthropist.

NOTE: The program available for download here was compiled and created by Lynn University's Creative Services to aid the Lynn Archives in providing an easy access commencement guide for users.