Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Swallowing The Camel By Wintering In Florida, David Schelhaas

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

"Within the totality of life lived before the face of God these are pleasures that are the good gifts of God. I know this intellectually; I just have to convince my conscience."

Posting about challenging our lifestyles from In All Things - an online journal for critical reflection on faith, culture, art, and every ordinary-yet-graced square inch of God’s creation.

https://inallthings.org/swallowing-the-camel-by-wintering-in-florida/

Deliverance, Anna Bennett

The Main Thing Devotional

No abstract provided.

Lessons From The Ozone Hole, Carl P. Fictorie

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

"Good science works with evidence from creation, follows logically from that evidence, and avoids bias on the part of the scientist."

Posting about current environmental challenges from In All Things - an online journal for critical reflection on faith, culture, art, and every ordinary-yet-graced square inch of God’s creation.

https://inallthings.org/lessons-from-the-ozone-hole/

Stella Thompson Nelson And Effie Thompson Harlan Papers, (1898-1925), Stella Thompson Nelson, Effie Thompson Harlan

Center for Restoration Studies Archives, Manuscripts and Personal Papers Finding Aids

Finding aid for the Stella Nelson and Effie Harlan Papers, (1889-1925).

5 Questions For Christians To Ask About Online Courses And Degrees, Leah A. Zuidema

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

"Learners are whole people, and this should be reflected in online learning, too."

Posting about evaluating online courses and programs from In All Things - an online journal for critical reflection on faith, culture, art, and every ordinary-yet-graced square inch of God’s creation.

https://inallthings.org/5-questions-for-christians-to-ask-about-online-courses-degrees/

The Gateway To Freedom, Anna Bennett

The Main Thing Devotional

No abstract provided.

Spiritual Friendship In The Works Of Ambrose, Augustine, Aelred: Retrieving The Wealth Of The Great Tradition In Service To The Evangelical Poor, Hank Voss

2019 Evangelical Theological Society

No abstract provided.

A Mixed Methods Approach To The Implementation Of Simple Church At Greenhouse Community Church, Jeff Michael Wheeland

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The majority of Evangelical Churches in America are declining. The majority of Christian and Missionary Alliances churches in America are also declining. Greenhouse Community Church of the Christian and Missionary Alliance in Houston, Texas was in decline. Greenhouse Community Church lacked a simple discipleship plan. Thom Rainer and Eric Geiger wrote Simple Church and discovered after conducting research that vibrant, growing churches in America had a simple discipleship plan, whereas declining and plateaued churches had a complex plan or no plan at all. A mixed methods approach of both quantitative and qualitative research was applied to the congregation at Greenhouse …

Bewitching Power: The Virtuosity Of Gender In Dekker And Massinger's The Virgin Martyr, Thomas Fish

Faculty and Research Publications

This paper considers Thomas Dekker and Philip Massinger’s play The Virgin Martyr (1622) in light of scientific notions of the female body circulating during the period to illustrate how the performance of martyrdom manifested a performance of gender virtuosity, elevating it to the status of the supernatural or divine. Like well-known female martyrs from the period, such as Anne Askew, the protagonist, Dorothea, takes on characteristically male attributes: she assumes the role of the soldier and defies scientific understanding of the female gender by sealing her phlegmatic “leaky” body and exuding divine heat that defies her cold, wet “nature." The …

Missional Metamorphosis: How Identity, Presence, And Praxis Are Reshaping Disciple Making Within Post-Christian Contexts, Justin Thomas Wester

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The American Church’s current disciple-making paradigm is struggling to engage post-Christian contexts with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Despite American society’s steady trending away from a biblical worldview, dwindling church attendance, and declining religious affiliation, the American Church is still operating under a disciple-making paradigm conducive for the Christendom era. What changes must occur to help churches break away from an antiquated paradigm and embrace a more contextually appropriate expression? This project helps to answer that question by capturing and expressing how changes in ecclesial identity, contextual presence, and corporate praxis are altering disciple-making paradigms within post-Christian contexts. Utilizing quantitative …

Believers But Not Followers: The Unstoppable Misconduct And Neglect Of Christians Outside Ministries Duties, Fabio Delgado

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Christianity is embedded in moral conduct, values, and norms which require believers to project a Christ-like nature. While the whole concept of Christianity is embodied in faith and righteousness, the current generation of believers has exhibited an increased state of secularism which contradicts biblical morals and drifts them further from the religious faith. This research stems from the increasingly common notion of “believers but not followers,” where Christians wittingly abandon their ministerial duties and engage in misconduct. The selection of this topic emanates from the deep concern regarding the rising trend of hypocrisy among believers and mainly propagated by events …

Declining Church Attendance: Five Reasons Why Millennials Have Stopped Attending Church, Charles Eugene Sumpter

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

During the past decade, every denomination has recorded a decline in church attendance despite a continual increase in the US population. Research organizations including the Barna Group, Pew Research, and the Hartford Institute of Religion Research conducted an untold number of surveys providing statistics that ascertain reasons for declining church attendance and why people are leaving the church. Failure to address the issue of declining attendance will lead to more church failures and an increased number of people with no church affiliation. This research document will review data from the Barna Group, Pew Research, and the Hartford Institute of Religion …

Genesis 10 & 11: A Theological And Geographical Framework For The Mission Of Paul, Jackson Scott Richardson

Masters Theses

The aim of this thesis is to offer a holistic solution to the purpose problem. Current scholarship has yet to provide a perspective that accounts for both the theological perspectives of Paul’s missional work and geographical plans of Paul’s missionary journeys. By establishing the Table of Nations and the Tower of Babel as a common factor from which Paul’s theological perspectives and geographical decision making derive, this study will build a foundation from which future work can gain insight into Pauline thought and encourage a renewed emphasis on understanding Genesis 10 and 11 when considering biblical study of the New …

Prodigal Theology For An Anxious Age: A Review Of On The Road With Saint Augustine, Aj Funk

Student Work

"Smith suggests that to be human is to be a refugee, longing for home, never quite being satisfied."

Posting about the book On the Road with Saint Augustine from In All Things - an online journal for critical reflection on faith, culture, art, and every ordinary-yet-graced square inch of God’s creation.

https://inallthings.org/prodigal-theology-for-an-anxious-age-a-review-of-on-the-road-with-saint-augustine/

Go Outside And Play!, Erin Olson

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

"We know that play is good for kids’ mental, emotional, and physical health, but what about for adults?"

Posting about ­­­­­­­­the benefits of enjoyable activities from In All Things - an online journal for critical reflection on faith, culture, art, and every ordinary-yet-graced square inch of God’s creation.

https://inallthings.org/go-outside-and-play/

Health, More Than A Biological Issue: Talking About Holistic Health, Jordan Helming, Luralyn M. Helming

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

"As a society, we often ignore psychological, social, and spiritual health, focusing on the much more objective biological health. Doing so is a disfavor to ourselves, because humans encompass all four aspects."

Posting about ­­­­­­­­health for the whole person from In All Things - an online journal for critical reflection on faith, culture, art, and every ordinary-yet-graced square inch of God’s creation.

https://inallthings.org/health-more-than-a-biological-issue-talking-about-holistic-health/

Looking Back At The Evolution Of James Cone’S Theological Anthropology: A Brief Commentary, Sekhmet Maat

History, Political Science, Geography, and Africana Studies Faculty Research

Reverend Dr. James Hal Cone has unquestionably been a key architect in defining Black liberation theology. Trained in the Western theological tradition at Garrett Theological Seminary, Cone became an expert on the theology of Twentieth-century Swiss-German theologian Karl Barth. Cone’s study of Barth led to his 1965 doctoral dissertation, “The Doctrine of Man in the Theology of Karl Barth,” where he critically examined Barth’s Epistle to the Romans and Church Dogmatics. His contemporaries and more recent African American theologians and religious scholars have questioned the extent to which Karl Barth’s ideas shaped Cone’s Black theology. The purpose of this brief …

A New Catechism For The Digital Age, Bruce D. Baker

SPU Works

Preaching and teaching in our digital age demands theological reflection to answer challenging questions raised by exponential technologies. Can an AI become conscious? Is AI intelligent, really? Can a robot sin? Can we program morality? Can we upload our minds? Is transhumanism a technical possibility? Do we need to rethink eschatology? In this paper I hope to contribute to a constructive dialog. I suggest this catechism format as a means to support the need of the Church to teach sound theological doctrine with respect to these challenging questions. By no means do I wish to imply that this catechism is …

Read It And Weep: A Review Of The Fool And The Heretic, Carl P. Fictorie

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

"These scientists have been dialoging for several years, demonstrating how two Christians with very different origin viewpoints can talk to each other peacefully, with respect."

Posting about ­­­­­­­­the book The Fool and the Heretic from In All Things - an online journal for critical reflection on faith, culture, art, and every ordinary-yet-graced square inch of God’s creation.

https://inallthings.org/read-it-and-weep-a-review-of-the-fool-and-the-heretic/

A Whole-Person Model For Biblical Integration In Business, John D. Delano

Business Administration Faculty Publications

This paper presents a whole-person model for doing biblical integration in business with applications in the field of information systems. The proposed model consists of five questions arranged in a circular fashion, starting with the identification of an ethical issue and the secular worldview associated with it. The model then asks, “Who is God?” in the context of the ethical issue. This is followed by the question, “What biblical principles/commands apply?” Then, the model asks for a decision of whether we accept, reject, or redeem the secular worldview. The model then continues the process to bring the question back to …

Witnessing At Work When It's Taboo To Talk About Religion, Michael E. Cafferky

Faculty Works

This article explores an alternative to traditional approaches to evangelism in the workplace. it presents an approach based on using the language of business alone in conversations with coworkers, suppliers and customers. While it is often taboo to talk about religion in secular organizations, opportunities exist for believers to be not just silent witnesses but rather explicit verbal witnesses to Jesus Christ. Business conversations naturally present opportunities to champion the theological identity and character traits of Jesus Christ without mentioning his name.

Bridge-Building In Sioux County, Mary Beth Pollema

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

"Recently, I had the opportunity to talk with Alex Vasquez, director of Young Life in Sioux County, about his work in the community. He is speaking from several platforms that allow him to serve as a “bridge builder” between cultures within Sioux Center."

Posting about ­­­­­­­­partnering with immigrants in our communities from In All Things - an online journal for critical reflection on faith, culture, art, and every ordinary-yet-graced square inch of God’s creation.

https://inallthings.org/bridge-building-in-sioux-county/

Cardinal Newman's Pilgrimage, In His Own Words, Robert Ellison

English Faculty Research

This is the text of a presentation given at Marshall University on October 14 and 17, 2019, to commemorate the October 13 canonization of John Henry Cardinal Newman. As the title suggests, it draws largely upon his autobiography, an autobiographical novel, and his published letters to trace the trajectory of his religious life, from the earliest glimmers in his mid-teens to his conversion to Catholicism at the age of 44.

I Am Second, Anna Bennett

The Main Thing Devotional

No abstract provided.

Fundamentalism Turns 100, A Landmark For The Christian Right, William Vance Trollinger

History Faculty Publications

These days, the term “fundamentalism” is often associated with a militant form of Islam.

But the original fundamentalist movement was actually Christian. And it was born in the United States a century ago this year.

Protestant fundamentalism is still very much alive. And, as Susan Trollinger and I discuss in our 2016 book, it has fueled today’s culture war over gender, sexual orientation, science and American religious identity.

The Significance Of Story: A Review Of On Reading Well, Shelbi Gesch

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

"In reading Prior’s book, I was given a fresh view on books I’d already read, and was encouraged even more to read those I hadn’t, despite the abounding spoilers."

Posting about the book On Reading Well from In All Things - an online journal for critical reflection on faith, culture, art, and every ordinary-yet-graced square inch of God’s creation.

https://inallthings.org/the-significance-of-story-a-review-of-on-reading-well/

The Earliest Magdalene: Varied Portrayals In Early Gospel Narratives, Edmondo Lupieri

Theology: Faculty Publications and Other Works

In the early writings produced by the followers of Jesus, Mary Magdalene is connected with key events in the narrative regarding Jesus: his death on the cross, his burial, and his resurrection. At first sight, her figure seems to grow in importance through time. Her name and figure, indeed, are completely absent from the oldest extant texts written by a follower of Jesus, the authentic letters of Paul. This is particularly striking, since 1 Cor 15:5–8 contains the earliest known series of witnesses to the resurrection, but only men are named specifically.

God As Patron And Proprietor: God The Father And The Gospel Of Matthew In An African Folk Islamic Context, Alan Howell, Robert Andrew Montgomery

Bible & Ministry Faculty Research and Publications

While Patron-Client dynamics may seem strange to Westerners, characteristics of that system are shared by the cultures of the New Testament and the Makua-Metto people of Mozambique. The way that the Gospel of Matthew presents God as Father points to the social realities of the time which highlighted God’s role as Patron. This line of thinking resonates with the Makua-Metto and provides a powerful way of communicating about God to a folk Islamic people.

Finding A Common Ground Between Theology And Women’S Reproductive Rights: Assessing The Societal Levels Of Influence Of Religion On The Sexual And Reproductive Health Of Women, Natalie Montufar

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The principle aim of this study is to explicate and elucidate the intersection between religious beliefs and practices and Sexual and Reproductive Health throughout distinct levels of society in the developing world. A literature review identified relevant peer-reviewed and grey literature on religious beliefs held on sexuality and procreation, the landscape of influence of religion on laws and policies at a national and international level, the effects of religion on individual sexual behavior, and modern interventions aiming to be culturally and religiously sensitive. The intricacies and nuances of three Abrahamic faiths were assessed to highlight the dogma of sacred texts …

Pastoral Counseling And The African American Churches Of Metro Atlanta: Breaking The Stigma Associated With Asking For Help, Lasonja Chanta Richardson

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

A stigma exists in the African American Christian community that seeking counseling services displays a lack of faith and therefore is unspiritual; however, as a new generation emerges with more liberal views on counseling and the role of the church, an opportunity to define pastoral counseling as an acceptable practice is emerging. The current lack of pastoral counseling in the African American church is negatively affecting the spiritual health of the church but offering counseling services will increase spiritual maturity. African American churches must re-evaluate their stance on pastoral counseling and begin to emphasize pastoral counseling as not only acceptable, …