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Full-Text Articles in Arts and Humanities

The Growing Church: A Case Study In Leadership For Change, Courtny Davis Olds Oct 2017

The Growing Church: A Case Study In Leadership For Change, Courtny Davis Olds

Student Articles, Chapters, Presentations, Learning Objects

This article presents a case study of one church that has overcome the deep-seated resistance to change found in most congregations. The church’s story is told; an analysis of key themes is grounded in relevant scholarship; and insights are drawn that could inform leadership for change in other congregational settings. In keeping with the church’s name, steps associated with the cultivation of plants are used to structure the article.


Spiritual Journeys: A Study Of Ifá /Òrìṣà Practitioners In The United States Initiated In Nigeria, Tony Van Der Meer Jan 2017

Spiritual Journeys: A Study Of Ifá /Òrìṣà Practitioners In The United States Initiated In Nigeria, Tony Van Der Meer

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

The purpose of this study is to understand the culture of one of the newest branches of traditional Yorùbá Ifá/Òrìṣà practice in the United States from practitioners born in the United States that were initiated in Nigeria, West Africa.The epistemology of the Ifá/Òrìṣà belief system in the United States has been based on the history and influence of Regla de Ocha or Santeria that developed out of Cuban innovation and practice.This is an ethnographic and auto-ethnographic study that pulls from participant observation, field notes, interviews, and photos as data.The central question of this dissertation is what are the challenges and …


The Process Of Resolving Spiritual Struggle Following Adulthood Trauma, Aimee L. Keith Jan 2017

The Process Of Resolving Spiritual Struggle Following Adulthood Trauma, Aimee L. Keith

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Spiritual struggle has been described as a disruption in religious practice and spirituality resulting in questioning beliefs, experiencing discord within religious communities, decreasing spiritual practices, and experiencing painful cognitions such as the belief that one is being punished by God. This study used constructivist grounded theory to explore how women identifying as Protestant Christians at the time of the traumatic event resolve their spiritual struggles. Eleven conceptual categories, which are presented in a stage model, emerged from the data. The stages were Experiencing an Event Discordant with Beliefs, Emotional Reaction (following the traumatic event), Questioning (of beliefs, suffering and identity), …