Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Forming Generous Disciples : Effective Strategies For Creating A Culture Of Generosity, David M. Loleng

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

An Integrated Preaching Design : A Methodological Framework For Preaching In The Indian Context, Ancy John

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Healthy Pastor : Surviving In Ministry Without Losing Your Soul, Terry L. Roberts

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

A Standardized Approach To Analyzing Multi-Cultural Presentations Of Christian Worship, Kevin Michael Segner

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

With the growth of the internet, worship pastors can share fine art presentations of the gospel message from cultures worldwide. Since all cultures belong in the kingdom of God, pastors may struggle to validate fine arts performances according to scriptural standards. One of the concerns is the range of interpretations that come from a lack of formal analysis in the literature. Some critics write about fine arts performances based on their own experience and opinion. This may indicate a gap in literature where there is no uniform standard for evaluating those works. Rather than take time to research presentations, a …

The Worship Leader: Intentional Worship Equilibrium Of A Christ-Centered Perspective On College Campus And In The Community, Wayne Darrell Ravenell

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Because of the diversity of collegiate cultures, Christ is depicted in various ways on campus; hence this study focuses on the gospel choir leadership influence. The impacts of Christ-centered gospel choir leadership are demonstrated in this qualitative study, as well as how it will lead to academic and community leadership influence. This study investigates the impact of collegiate gospel choir leadership on campus and local community worship. College and university gospel choirs from Charleston, South Carolina, provide the context for this qualitative study. This vital research takes a phenomenological approach to the impacts of mentorship and development of a collegiate …

Surviving The Affair: A Qualitative Phenomenological Case Study Of The Strategies Couples Utilize To Repair Their Marriage Successfully After The Occurrence Of Infidelity, Kimberly J. Youngblood

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This research explores couples' strategies in reconstructing their marriage after infidelity, thereby avoiding divorce. The research questions provide a clear focus on the discovery process through a phenomenological design and the use of semi-structured interviews. The literature review illustrates the history of marriage, fidelity, infidelity, predictors, general reasons for infidelity, the impact on the marriage, and tools utilized by couples who successfully repair their marriage after infidelity. The methods section provides a framework for implementing the study and includes details about the process of recruiting participants, interviewing participants, transcript review, codes, and theme development. The presentation of the findings illuminates …

Christians Must Reach Out To The Oppressed, Robert F. Stamps

Say Something Theological: The Student Journal of Theological Studies

This paper recommends that the Catholic Church reflect on its past and current exclusion of women from the diaconate and exclusion of those who identify as LGBTQI from full participation in the Church. This paper argues the early Catholic church was enriched and broadened by women who served in many roles including as leaders of the church in their communities. In the two millennium since then women, individually and collectively, have continued to enrich the church both theologically and as exemplars of Jesus’ message to serve the poor. This paper also argues that Saint Paul did not condemn same-sex attraction …

An Analytical Exegesis And Critique Of Justo González' Christology Offered In “The Word Made Flesh” From Mañana: Christian Theology From A Hispanic Perspective, Dillon Cook

Say Something Theological: The Student Journal of Theological Studies

The following is a brief synopsis of my research concerning the Hispanic Liberation Theologian, Justo L. González' Christology rendered in one specific chapter, "The Word Made Flesh," of his book Mañana: Christian Theology from a Hispanic Perspective. However, it must be noted that what is argued here is limited in scope. What this is, is essentially a brief evaluative summary. González is a particular theologian that has not been read in full yet (including other works), therefore, González' arguments that I have critiqued may be sufficiently buttressed in other chapters post or prior to this particular chapter analyzed. Yet, …

Passion-Resurrection Foreshadowing In Luke 2:41–52: A Fresh Proposal, Stephen R. Mead

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, I argue in favor of the minority scholarly position that Luke 2:41–52 is literarily crafted to foreshadow the passion-resurrection. To make this case, I first address the most prominent technical issue levied against the foreshadowing reading: whether the phrase “after three days” should be read as a resurrection allusion (2:46). Through a Synoptic comparison to the Gospel of Matthew and the proposal of an under-appreciated parallel to Luke’s phrase in Acts 9:9, I demonstrate why the allusive reading suits Luke’s stylistic tendencies when evoking the resurrection symbolically. Next, I engage with the most pressing methodological issue facing …

Evangelism Through Online Gaming : Communicating To Gen Z Beyond The Church Walls, Michael A. Mcmullen

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Consulting For Church Health : A Look At The Effectiveness Of David Vaughn Consulting For Independent Christian Churches, Jason D. Lykins

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Growing A Megachurch Staff's Discipleship Understanding, Michael A. Wooton

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Do Mass-Produced Apologetics Help Spiritual Conversations? Testing Mama Bear Apologetics With Millennial Mothers, Joshua S. Johnson

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Narrative Preaching For Millennials : Inviting The Next Generation Into God's Story, Daniel J. Jones

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Ministry Mentoring Matters : Best Practices For Mentoring New Pastors, Keith Koteskey

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Five-Fold Paradigm : Effects Of The Five-Fold Experimential Course Equip, Nathaniel Dean Mcwherter

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Challenge Of Change : A Qualitative Analysis Of Pastors As Change Agents, Joshua O. Gale

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Holistic Pastoral Care In Dhading District : An Evaluation Of The Pastoral Care Practice In Dhading District Of Nepal, Yohannan Thomas

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Attention, Reflection, And Contemplation: Approaching The Divine Through Romantic Poiesis, Katelynn Tyner

English Undergraduate Honors Theses

Often the techniques of the said and the unsaid work together. This paper will explore ways in which poets embrace iconophilic or iconoclastic postures toward divine poiesis. One objective will be to focus on the arrangement of an abundance of images into itineraries and poetic landscapes. Another objective will be to demonstrate how these patterns of cultivation can be related to a divine poiesis. Through poetry, there are ways of attending to, reflecting on, and contemplating divine images that can return us to forms of participation with the sacred. First examining poetic attention, I identify poets who demonstrate …

Wonders In The Deep: Faith And Religious Practice In The Shipboard Writings Of American Sailors, 1810-1859, Valerie Sallis

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

While stereotypes of sailors as immoral, godless ne’er-do-wells flourish in mainland historical accounts, little attention has been paid to the records left by sailors that document their own faith and religious practices. This thesis examines the logbooks, journals, and diaries written by American sailors while at sea, sounding the depth of sailors’ religious beliefs through their own words. While American seamen certainly drank, swore, and caroused, sailors also frequently captured in their writing a much more religious nature than the mainland expected of them. Sailors’ position as highly mobile laborers on the ultimate borderlands—the sea itself—impacted their religious practice and …

The Mystagogical Catechesis Of Narsai Of Nisibis: Mēmrē 39 And 38 In Their Syriac Context, Jordan Ryan Turney

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is a study of Narsai of Nisibis’s mēmrē on the sacraments of the baptismal liturgy that situates these mēmrē in their Syriac theological context and presents them as an important witness to Late Antique Christian mystagogy. Narsai is a significant figure in the Syriac Christian tradition, yet he has received comparatively little scholarly attention, especially in the West. However, an increase in editions and studies of Narsai’s work over the last century has led to a further awareness of his influence on Syriac Christianity. Several scholars have pointed out that these mēmrē bear a resemblance to other Late …

Becoming Stewards Of Attention: A Theological Appeal, Joshua Gorenflo

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The widespread compromising of attention currently taking place in our digital age is, at least in part, a theological issue necessitating a theological response, which invites an examination of the human person in relation to God. Familiar within the biblical narrative and throughout Christian tradition, I suggest that when the role of steward functions as the operative paradigm for humans, the claims made upon their lives have profound implications for attending within the digital age. More specifically, the steward’s attention becomes a tangible expression of authority and accountability in representation of God’s image to the rest of creation. In pursuit …

A Reader’S Guide To Worship And Liturgical Studies, David Kneip

Discernment: Theology and the Practice of Ministry

The history of writing about worship in the Christian tradition is almost as old as the tradition itself, and it shows no sign of abating anytime soon. As a result, readers may find it difficult to know where to begin reading, and how to evaluate books that are popular or otherwise available to them. This annotated bibliography aims to assist readers in navigating the huge field of Christian publishing in worship studies, both by offering specific book recommendations and by demonstrating some of the different sub-categories that one might examine in attempting to choose what to read or study. The …

Identity Formation And Powerful Narrative: What The Church Can Learn From Disney, Janie Fisher

Master of Art Theology Thesis

This thesis explores a phenomenon I first observed while working for The Walt Disney Company in Florida. Many people seem to be dedicated to Disney in a distinctly religious way, giving the company their time, money, abilities, and heart. Disney is one of the most successful organizations in America, and they have mastered the art of storytelling in their films and theme parks. These stories can be used for identity formation, as they teach people who they are, what the world is like, and how they ought to live. Disney uses religious means to help their fans feel as if …

Il Complesso Allontanamento Di Boccaccio Dal Cristianesimo E Dal Giudizio, Olivia Jane Lomax

Honors Theses

Il Decameron di Giovanni Boccaccio presenta un gruppo di giovani che fuggono da Firenze per rifugiarsi nella campagna nel 1348 durante la Peste Nera. La brigata, come viene chiamato il gruppo, è composta da 7 giovani donne e 3 giovani uomini. Boccaccio introduce questo gruppo in fuga dalla peste di Firenze attraverso il commovente discorso di Pampinea. Lei sottolinea alle sue amiche l'importanza di proteggere la propria vita. Boccaccio inizia il Decameron con la proposta di una giovane donna forte, che implora altre giovani donne di prendere controllo delle loro vite: “ ‘Donne mie care, voi potete, cosí come io, …

The Faith Of Jesus, Hang T.H. Nguyen Op

Obsculta

According to Jon Sobrino, a theologian of Liberation Theology, Jesus has faith since He is a believer “like ourselves,” the model of faith, the one upon whom we have to keep our eyes fixed to live our faith. In another reference, Sobrino insists that “Jesus was an extraordinary believer and had faith. Faith is Jesus’ mode of being,” and “Faith describes the totality of the life of Jesus.” J. Sobrino’s view on Hebrews 12:2 does not conform with that of the Catholic traditional faith on the immediate and intimate relationship between Jesus and the Father. The essay is the arguments …

Spiritual Friendship: Learning To Be Friends With God And One Another, Hank Voss

Sacred Roots Spiritual Classics

Aelred’s Spiritual Friendship focuses on being God’s friend expressed through three conversations with different friends. Aelred draws upon his friendships both with contemporaries and with authors who lived centuries before. This work provides an antidote to our contemporary milieu which, though replete with unremitting communications, propels toward individualism, autonomy, and loneliness. What Spiritual Friendship affords is a guide toward “holy and life-giving” friendships fruitfully marked by joy and happiness.

Professor Hank Voss amplifies a voice from the 12th century that explored Christian friendship in Scripture, in creation (reason), in church teachings (tradition), and in his own practice of spiritual friendship …

Language As Communion, James C. Schaap

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

"Language is a profound and almost magical gift of God, a gift of mystery and deep human importance."

Posting about the complexity of language 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/language-as-communion/

Songs Of The Son: Exegetical Method, Christology, And Piety In Reformation And Post-Reformation Interpretations Of Select Messianic Psalms, Maarten Kuivenhoven

CTS PhD Doctoral Dissertations

The case for continuity between the Reformation and Reformed Orthodoxy receives a significant contribution from the examination of select Messianic Psalms in the commentaries of Wolfgang Musculus, William Ames, Johannes Cocceius, and Matthew Henry. This contribution is found through the examination of three lines of thought— exegetical method, Christological development, and the formulation of piety.

The consistent employment of prophecy in order to understand the sensus literalis as the Christological reading of the text seems to indicate continuity. The usage of typology also furthers this argument as these interpreters identified various persons or objects as types of Christ. By using …

Developing Ethical Training Curriculum For University Short-Term Missions, Elizabeth P. Sutphin

Honors Scholars Collaborative Projects

This thesis addresses common problems associated with short-term mission (STM) trips and the gaps in existing training materials for these trips. The research throughout this project is designed to inspire community-specific training materials for college students participating in domestic STM trips through their universities. The final chapter of this thesis includes the framework for a sample curriculum to promote sustainable STM work — providing cross-cultural communication techniques and relationship-building tools to avoid harming the communities students seek to serve.