Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Front Matter, Spiritus 8.2 (Fall 2023), Spiritus@Oru.Edu

Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology

No abstract provided.

Full Issue, Spiritus 8.2 (Fall 2023), Spiritus@Oru.Edu

Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology

A special issue on the history of ORU College of Theology and Ministry.

Intergenerational Factors That Contribute To Millennial Church Engagement, Parker Sanderson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Millennial church attendance has declined since the beginning of the new millennium. Intergenerational ambivalence has been known to contribute to this phenomenon. Through this action research, the researcher sought to determine what intergenerational factors have led to millennials’ continued or discontinued attendance within churches. A phenomenological qualitative approach centered around interviews for this study was used to determine these intergenerational factors. The sample was taken from a 1,100-member church in a major Texas metropolitan area. The goal was to help church leaders decrease relational distancing and reduce ambivalent factors to increase millennial engagement in this local congregation.

Designing A Drama-Based Arts Ministry For The North 10th And Treadaway Church Of Christ, Curtis Alexander King

Doctor of Ministry Theses

The North 10th and Treadaway Church of Christ (“Treadaway”) is a small, predominantly African American congregation located in Abilene, Texas, home of Abilene Christian University (“ACU”) and several other institutions of higher learning. Considering ACU’s Church of Christ heritage and continued affiliation with the Churches of Christ, it is no surprise that Treadaway has often served as a “home away from home” congregation for ACU students and recent graduates who choose to remain in the city. The level of integration of the students from ACU and other local colleges into the life and ministry of Treadaway has varied greatly over …

Taking Dominion To End Dominion: The Mennonite Influence On The End Of Russian Serfdom, H. Michael Shultz Jr.

Bound Away: The Liberty Journal of History

Serfdom in Russia was abolished in 1861, only 76 years after the first Mennonites were invited into Russia by Catherine II. By examining the lifestyle of the Mennonites who settled in the agriculturally productive “New Russia” (modern-day Ukraine), as well as the impact that the Mennonites had on the Imperial family, peasantry, and government, it is evident that the Mennonites played a recognizable role in bringing about the abolition of serfdom across the empire.

The Spiritual Impact Of Disability On Parents And Caregivers, Grant Azbell

Discernment: Theology and the Practice of Ministry

This study was designed to examine the impact of disability on the faith and faith communities of parents and caregivers of persons experiencing disability. This study proceeded by asking nine parents or caregivers of persons experiencing disability a series of seven questions to evaluate the impact of disability on their faith and on their relationship to their faith community. The interviews were conducted on Zoom and the recordings were transcribed and coded to observe discernable patterns and themes amongst the participants. What emerged from the data is important for ministers, church leaders, and anyone wanting to know more about the …

Tolkien Dogmatics: Theology Through Mythology With The Maker Of Middle-Earth By Austin M. Freeman, Alex (Oleksiy) Ostaltsev

Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

The powerful and highly informative definitions that Freeman applies to Tolkien’s Middle-earth phenomenon in the title of his book create a productive interpretational framework. Myth and mythology in Inklings’ writing were always understood, in an almost Jungian way, as a cultural paradigm flexible enough to embrace the free creativity of the playful human mind and a philosophical postulate, or credo, of the humanistic religious intuition of Christianity. In Freeman’s interpretation, Tolkien’s literary myth in some ways requires a theological background, which, in its turn, leads to inevitable dogma, a statement that reveals the sensitive mechanics of literary myth as it …

Belonging In Unashamed Authenticity, Nathan R. Kitchen

Together We RISE (Making Excellence Inclusive)

In 2020, the UCLA School of Law’s Williams Institute reported that 47% of LGBTQ adults were moderately or highly religious. This equates to 5.3 million religious LGBTQ adults in America. We cannot ignore this population.

When making the transition into young adulthood, many religious LGBTQ youth feel they must make a choice between their spiritual well-being or their queerness. As a university community interested in the success of the rising generation, we can provide support for religious queer young adults through understanding:

1. What is happening in this transition and why,

2. The well-being needs of religious queer young adults …

Transformational Healing Within An Incarcerated Exile Community, David W. Phipps Jr.

DMin Project Theses

This doctorate of ministry project is the beginning foundation of a dream that I first started dreaming of while I was in prison. The dream is the development of a community in exile with the understanding that those living in exile have something to offer within the prison walls. Furthermore, those in exile have something to offer when they are released from exile. God, through Jeremiah, tells those living in exile in Babylon that they are to build communities while in exile. Through the building of communities God informs that they are to offer Shalom to each other and to …

The Decalogue Of Justice: A Covenantal Application Of Biblical Justice, Andrew Mark Adil

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This dissertation aims to establish a biblical theology of justice (מִשְׁפָּט), ascertaining the commands and references to justice in Scripture are comprehensively and exclusively rooted in the Moral Law of the Torah, summarized in the Ten Commandments, and embedded in the Covenant of Grace (Old and New), making it binding on New Covenant believers and inextricably attached to the church’s Great Commission mandate. To this end, the study examines the concept of justice in the OT and the Moral Law, contrasting Reformed evangelical hermeneutics with the modern iteration of Liberation Theology in connection with the application of biblical justice. Additionally, …

Restoration Quarterly: Vol. 65, No. 3

Restoration Quarterly

PDF of the cover of Restoration Quarterly: Vol. 65, No. 3.

This repository hosts selected Restoration Quarterly articles in downloadable PDF format. For the benefit of users who would like to browse the contents of RQ, we have included all issue covers even when full-text articles from that issue are unavailable. All Restoration Quarterly articles are available in full text in the ATLA Religion Database, available through most university and theological libraries or through your local library’s inter-library loan service.

The Influence Of The Gospels Of Matthew And Luke On Carl F. H. Henry’S Kingdom Theology, Michael Cunningham

Eleutheria: John W. Rawlings School of Divinity Academic Journal

Carl F.H. Henry was a leading theologian of American Evangelicalism and prominent voice in the Neo Evangelical movement of the twentieth century. His prominent book The Uneasy Conscience of Modern Fundamentalism (1947) persuaded conservative evangelicals to avoid the separatist inclinations of fundamentalism. He, instead, championed a biblically based brand of cultural engagement rooted in the kingdom theology found in the Gospels. Harnessing the “Already, but not yet” view of the kingdom popularized by Herman Ridderbos and George Ladd, Henry effectively engaged culture during a tumultuous twentieth century. This paper will begin with a survey of the historical legacy of Carl …

American Indian Residential Boarding Schools: Historical Trauma And The Role Of Government, Churches, And Tribes In Healing Indigenous Communities, Briana Slaubaugh

Eleutheria: John W. Rawlings School of Divinity Academic Journal

Throughout the 19^th and 20^th centuries, Native Americans and Indigenous tribes in North America faced systematic destruction of their cultures, genocide, and extreme abuse. With wars against Native Americans, forced relocation from their historic lands, and mandatory residential boarding schools where Indigenous children were forcibly separated from their parents, the social fabric of Native American communities was destroyed. These travesties were government sanctioned and enacted by churches. The American Indian Residential Schools serve as the most recent and egregious factories of abuse. The policies and actions enforced against Native Americans left a generation plagued by abuse leaving a …

New Commandments, Jacob Sussman

Masters Theses

I reach into the earth, pull out mud-encrusted objects, and recombine them to define new meanings. With every object transposed, the past breaks down; new potentials form. “New Commandments” recombines historical symbolism through an intuitive building, destroying, and merging to reimagine or re-establish meaning.

The work critiques rites of passage, masculinity, and stereotypes by deconstructing how histories, ideologies, and preconceptions form.

As a queer person raised in-between Judaism and Christianity, social preconceptions and religious expectations festered my formation. Our choice is taken away at this moment of conception. To take back autonomy, I reimagine historical, and religious symbolism and transmute …

Flores, Rigoberto Flores

Masters Theses

My name is Rigoberto Flores and I was born in Guerrero, Mexico. The work I make involves politics, immigration, cartel violence and religious themes. I’m interested in presenting these challenging and difficult concepts, to have them remain in the public consciousness. The work I produce involve charcoal drawings, textiles, print, and painting. The work I create is intended to address inconstancies in established ideas, usually involving government violence. Throughout history art has been used to promote institutional propaganda. I am searching to do the same, but to oppose those structures.

Cultivating Reproductive Small Group Leaders Within Southwest Church, Springboro, Ohio, Roger D. Hendricks

Doctor of Ministry Theses

ABSTRACT

This project was designed to address an ongoing challenge within the Southwest Church (SWC) in Springboro, Ohio. The specific challenge that SWC leaders have faced throughout the twenty-five-year history of the church is to continually increase the number of small group options within a growing congregation. Small groups have been identified as the primary vehicle for SWC members to grow as disciples of Jesus Christ. This congregational emphasis has led to the good dilemma of having more individuals willing to participate than lead weekly small groups. In the past few years, SWC leaders have identified the need for the …

Recovering A Missional Ecclesiology: A Framework For Reviving Congregational Mission Within The Baptist Union Of Victoria, Gayle Hill

Doctor of Ministry Theses

ABSTRACT This project is an intervention to develop a theological and theoretical framework

that will become the foundation for a future curriculum for recovering a missional ecclesiology for the pastors of the Baptist Union of Victoria (BUV). Despite mission being central to the overall vision of the BUV, declining numbers, the post-COVID context in Victoria, and an overarching post-Christian and pluralistic context have significantly challenged the centrality and functioning of mission across our denomination. The impetus of this project was the observation that our churches were floundering rather than flourishing in the missional space. Many chronic and acute provocations were …

Hildegard Of Bingen – 12th Century Feminist Mystic, Robert F. Stamps

Say Something Theological: The Student Journal of Theological Studies

Hildegard of Bingen is one of history’s remarkable people. Born into German nobility in 1098, Hildegard began having mystical visions at an early age and saw God as light. Hildegard chose a spiritual life and entered a religious cloister at fifteen. There she was educated, studying many subjects, including Latin and music. In 1136 Hildegard became the prioress. The confines of the cloister did not stop Hildegard from becoming a major theological force. She wrote books on theology and medicine, authored plays, and composed music. Theologically, Hildegard contributed to the development of the theological construction of the concept of purgatory. …

Exploring Theological Themes Of Bridehood In Revelation 19:6-9: An Analysis Of The Marriage Supper Of The Lamb, Riley F. Kempker

College of Theology and Ministry Dissertations, Projects, & Theses

Most people see Revelation as a book shrouded in mystery and uncertainty. As well, the various interpretations offered only add to the confusion of the book. Yet, John uses clear images and themes in his Apocalypse, on which most people can agree. The account of the Marriage Supper of the Lamb in Revelation 19:6-9 offers an open window into John’s theology of the Bride of Christ. This thesis seeks to understand John’s theological implications that arise from the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.

This thesis began in chapter 1 with a statement of the problem in understanding John’s theological implications …

Redeeming Theodicy In Job: Moving From A Classical To A Christological Framework, Jaime L. Riddle

College of Theology and Ministry Dissertations, Projects, & Theses

This thesis analyzes existing interpretations of theodicy in the book of Job, in order to suggest an alternative approach informed by the nature and mission of Christ. Much of biblical scholarship in Job has focused on a classical approach to theodicy or, in recent years, deconstructed anti-theodicy. This thesis offers an alternative approach that focuses on the Christological overtones in Job and a modern synthesis of Old and New Testament theodicy.

Chapter 1 introduces the problem of theodicy in Job, and a taxonomy of lenses traditionally used to examine Old Testament theodicy. Chapter 2 analyzes classical perspectives of Job derived …

Diving Into The Deep: A Mystical-Contemplative Leap Of Hope From The Pew, Lori A. Stanley

Say Something Theological: The Student Journal of Theological Studies

This paper focuses on the intersection of the mystical and the contemplative by engaging The Collected Works of St. Teresa of Avila with Dr. Barbara A. Holmes’ Every Shut Eye Ain’t Sleep: The Inner Life During Slavery. The conversation reveals their perspectives on the role contemplative practices have in building and sustaining community. Contemplative prayer, like God, is no respecter of status or position and encounters souls where they are. The mystical-contemplative dimension of my paper is to see whether these two works in conversation would be able to address concerns I have about anti-black narratives in my present …

Is It A Requisite For A ‘Believer’ To Be Part Of The Formal/Institutional Church?, Dillon Cook

Say Something Theological: The Student Journal of Theological Studies

For the purposes of this paper, I attempt to wrestle with the question of whether or not it is a requisite for a “believer” (which turns out to be a loaded and ambiguous term) to be a part of a formal/institutional Christian Church. This is a difficult task to accomplish, and this, I admit. There is no way to answer this, truly with certainty. But Metaphysics are rarely grounded in “certainty.” This is true for many Christian Theological tasks as well. Nevertheless, this argument will be attempted by working with and off of the Black liberation theologian and philosopher, James …

Lonergan’S Concept Of Conversion: A Path To Antiracism, Laura Boysen-Aragon

Say Something Theological: The Student Journal of Theological Studies

Racism is Christian America’s original sin. Our country’s foundation was built with the hands of more than ten million kidnapped and enslaved persons. The Catholic Church was complicit as enslavers and beneficiaries of enslaved labor as well as the marginalizing of Black Catholics. Given the limited attention that has been given to these origin stories in our country and our church, it is unsurprising that systems of racism perpetuate today. Catholic theologian and ethicist Bryan Massingale provides a definition of racism as an ethos that lives on in U.S. society. Since the murder of George Floyd, a heightened awareness of …

How Release Informs Practice: Nonattachment As A Key To The Yogic Techniques Of Patañjali’S Yoga Sūtra, Dana Tarasavage

Say Something Theological: The Student Journal of Theological Studies

This paper explores the relationship between practice and nonattachment in Patañjali’s Yoga Sūtra (YS). I examine these concepts in their original context and then view them through a modern lens, arguing that the application of nonattachment alongside yogic practices holds the key to fruitful spiritual exploration. My research shows that nonattachment is more than a secondary consideration to the main element of practice; instead, the intentionally paradoxical pairing offers nuance and grounding for a holistic Yoga practice. I begin by establishing the goal of the YS, explore the context of practice and nonattachment within it, consider how …

Nostra Aetate To Combat Anti-Judaism, Marjorie Shahani

Say Something Theological: The Student Journal of Theological Studies

This essay explores the reason the Catholic Church felt the need to release Nostra Aetate, specifically Article 4, and were they in fact successful. The intention to improve Catholic - Jewish relationship and to denounce anti-Judaism were primary. Christianity grew on the backs of centuries of anti-Judaism rhetoric expressed by Catholic Church leaders and anti-Jewish literature written by the Church fathers. All this negativity against the Jewish people contributed to the beginnings of anti-Semitism and purposely or inadvertently influenced the reality of the Shoah. These sentiments included the deicide condemnation of the Jewish people, the replacement theory or concept of …

Kenneth Tanaka And American Buddhism, Grace Laubach

Say Something Theological: The Student Journal of Theological Studies

In fairly recent history Buddhism has spread west to the United States. In doing so, it has faced many changes and transformations as people from different backgrounds have begun practicing and spreading its practices. In this process, many of the traditional aspects of Buddhism have been lost or traded for more modern ones, which has in turn led to the exclusion of many Buddhists of color from many primarily white, American Buddhist spaces. In analyzing the works of Kenneth Tanaka, the importance of utilizing both modern and traditional aspects of Buddhism within American Buddhism become clear as he discusses how …

Abortion, Buddhism, And The Middle Way: What A Buddhist View Of Abortion In Japan Can Teach Us In The United States Following The Overturn Of Roe V. Wade, Anna Grace Kalvelage

Say Something Theological: The Student Journal of Theological Studies

This paper takes up the question of whether there is a “middle way” approach in addressing the issue of abortion, particularly in light of the overturning of Roe v. Wade in the United States. It explores this question through examining how schools of Buddhism have addressed the issue of abortion in Japan, especially considering Japan’s unique history with abortion issues and the mizuko kuyo rituals, and what initially appears to be a gap in theory and practice when it comes to Buddhism and abortion. It further explores how some of the central tenets of Buddhism including karma, rebirth, and compassion …

Saint Monica’S Model Of Catholic Excellence In Augustine’S Confessions, Caelan Mckamey

Say Something Theological: The Student Journal of Theological Studies

This paper discusses Saint Augustine’s presentation of his mother, Monica, as a model Catholic throughout his Confessions. Saint Augustine utilized individuals he encountered throughout his life as models of perfect Catholicism in an effort to provide resources for his medieval contemporaries to draw from throughout their own faith journeys. As a convert himself, Augustine drew holy inspiration from his mother, Saint Monica, as he searched for life’s purpose and God’s grace. He presents his mother throughout the first nine books of the Confessions as a human woman – trapped in a loveless marriage, filled with anxiety and fear, yet …

Purchasing The Practice: How The World Of Wellness Sells Yoga As The Ultimate Self-Care, Serafina Blake

Say Something Theological: The Student Journal of Theological Studies

Yoga has the potential to bring a healing paradigm into the world and re-awaken the practitioner’s infinite capacity for love and compassion. Unfortunately, Western yoga carries many stereotypes in opposition to this understanding. In the US, yoga is more closely associated with fitness, whiteness, wealth, and youth than it is connected to a deeply complex spiritual tradition that has spanned centuries. The Westernization and industrialization of yoga has the potential to be spiritually harmful to practitioners who participate in yoga as a product to be consumed, rather than a practice to be engaged in. In addition to the Western values …

Karl Rahner And Vatican Ii: A Sacramental Vision Of The Church, Geoffrey Watson

Say Something Theological: The Student Journal of Theological Studies

This paper is an exploration of Karl Rahner’s theology, his relationship to Vatican II, and the legacy of the council. In it, I examine not only Rahner’s role in the council but also the way in which his thinking has helped move the church from a Eurocentric, hierarchical institution, concerned mainly with its own sense of authority and holiness, to a more collegial, global church that embraced its identity as a community of sinners. First, I examine the sources behind the council texts, specifically Rahner’s transcendental Thomist background, as well as his specific understanding of grace and the role of …