Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Restoring Relationship: How The Methodologies Of Wangari Maathai And The Green Belt Movement In Post-Colonial Kenya Achieve Environmental Healing And Women's Empowerment, Casey L. Wagner

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The effects of the colonial project in Kenya created multi-faceted damages to the land and indigenous people-groups. Using the lens of ecofeminism, this study examines the undergirding structures that produce systems such as colonization that oppress and destroy land, people, and other beings. By highlighting the experience of the Kikuyu people within the Kenyan colonial program, the innovative and ingenious response of Wangari Maathai's Green Belt Movement proves to be a relevant and effective counter to women's disempowerment and environmental devastation in a post-colonial nation. The approach of the Green Belt Movement offers a unique and accessible method for empowering …

An Exploratory Study Of Campus Ministries Affiliated With Churches Of Christ In Ghana, Frank Obeng Essien

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Churches of Christ in Ghana commemorated 50 years of the Restoration Movement in Ghana in 2012. As part of the historical development of this community in Ghana, the number of individuals who have accessed higher education through the various institutions of higher learning in the country have increased significantly. This development also led to the emergence of campus churches to meet the spiritual needs of members of this faith-tradition as they pursue academic interests on the various university campuses. This development notwithstanding, almost no literature exists which provides a record of the historical evolution of these campus churches and …

Secular But Not Superficial : An Overlooked Nonreligious/Nonspiritual Identity., Daniel G. Delaney

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Since Durkheim’s characterization of the sacred and profane as “antagonistic rivals,” the strict dichotomy has been framed in such a way that “being religious” evokes images of a life filled with profound meaning and value, while “being secular” evokes images of a meaningless, self-centered, superficial life, often characterized by materialistic consumerism and the cold, heartless environment of corporate greed. Consequently, to identify as “neither religious nor spiritual” runs the risk of being stigmatized as superficial, untrustworthy, and immoral. Conflicts and confusions encountered in the process of negotiating a nonreligious/nonspiritual identity, caused by the ambiguous nature of religious language, were explored …

To Write A Life : Three Women In History., Justy Louise Engle

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This creative and critical hybrid dissertation explores the spiritual connections between three women in distinctly different time periods: contemporary America, nineteenth century America and early fifteenth century France. The overall dissertation explores the autogenealogobiography, what the author defines as the self-writings of women composed within a specific time period in relation to the current moment and generations of ancestral women. The objective of the creative texts is to record the spiritual journeys of life for the women who will come after for the purpose of encouraging careful observation of history so that women will be able to note and internalize …

The Apocalypse Of Pseudo-Ezra: Syriac Edition, English Translation, And Introduction, Laura Locke Estes

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The text that this thesis examines is most commonly referred to by modern scholars as the Apocalypse of Pseudo-Ezra (Ps.-Ezra). It is a historical apocalyptic text that claims authorship by the biblical character Ezra, but there is no question that it is the pseudonymous product of a much later Syriac-speaking Christian author who writes in response to the Arab conquests and subsequent consolidation of Arab political and religious dominance under the caliphate. Ps.-Ezra is a brief work, but an enigmatic one, and has received only scant scholarly attention. Although nineteenth- century translations based on three individual manuscripts were made into …

Zealous Until Death: "Voluntary Martyrdom" And The Martyrs Of Lyons, Matthew R. Anderson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

For decades, many scholars have been uncomfortable with the idea that some early Christians were eager to die. This led to the creation of the category “voluntary martyrdom” by which modern historians attempted to understand those martyrs who provoked their own arrest and/or death. Scholars then connected this form of martyrdom with an early Christian movement known as Montanism. Thus, scholars have scoured martyr accounts in an attempt to identify volunteers and label them Montanists. The Letter from the Churches of Vienna and Lyons and the martyrs it depicts did not escape such scrutiny. I contend that the martyrs in …

(En)Visioning Resistance: Applications Of The Battlefield Myth In The War Scroll As A Window Into The Theological Development Of The Community, James Prather

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The War Scroll (1QM) from Qumran is a composite document and is the result of a complex redactional process. It is the goal of this thesis to provide a historical proposal for the redaction of 1QM based on conflicting eschatological combat theology found within. Beginning with the earliest roots of ancient Israelite combat mythmaking and its continued evolution into the late Second Temple Period, writers appropriated and adapted the Israelite Battlefield Myth to envision theologies of resistance against oppression. Looking at the various adaptations and the social milieu in which each was written, it is possible to identify different trajectories …

Epistemology In The Churches Of Christ: An Analysis And Critique Of Thomas B. Warren, Derek Estes

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis seeks to understand at least one prevalent religious epistemology in the Churches of Christ by exploring the work of Thomas B. Warren. To accomplish this goal, I first offer a descriptive analysis of Warren’s theory of knowledge followed by an assessment of its strong and weak points. Ultimately finding his epistemology unsatisfying, I conclude the thesis by highlighting recent developments in religious epistemology that might point the way forward in accounting for knowledge of God in a theologically and philosophically robust way.

The Indwelling Of The Holy Spirit And Human Intentionality: A Constructive Proposal, John R. Kern

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

How does the Holy Spirit, by indwelling believers, guide them to act in ways that contribute to their spiritual progress? In this thesis, I will argue that, by indwelling believers, the Spirit redirects their intentionality towards their ultimate end in union with God, thus placing believers in the best possible position for acting in ways that contribute to that end. If the Spirit guides believers in the spiritual life on a day-to-day basis, then such guidance must connect with the actual processes by which humans generally act (especially intentions). Thus, by exploring the indwelling of the Spirit, grace, and human …

‘Untruths And Propaganda’ – Churches Of Christ, Darwinism, And The 1985-1986 Acu Evolution Controversy, Paul A. Anthony

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In 1985-1986, Abilene Christian University endured what one observer called the worst attack in “size, nature and intensity” on a university affiliated with Churches of Christ. The flashpoint was whether two biology professors were teaching evolution as fact without refutation. The university denied it, but the controversy raged for two years. Left unanswered was the most basic of questions: Did ACU professors actually teach evolution without a creationist rebuttal? Which leads to another: Why in 1985 – 130 years after the publication of On the Origin of Species and 60 years after ACU had fired a professor who questioned readings …

Race, Rebellion, And Arab Muslim Slavery : The Zanj Rebellion In Iraq, 869 - 883 C.E., Nicholas C. Mcleod

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In the ninth century, enslaved Africans from the east coast of Africa, called the Zanj, revolted for nearly fifteen years in southern Iraq against their Arab slave masters and challenged the social order of the Abbasid Empire. This thesis is a socio-historical investigation on the role that race played in starting the Zanj Rebellion of 869 C.E. It examines the Arab Islamic slave trade and the racial stratification experienced by blacks in the early centuries of Islamic history in conjunction with the Zanj Rebellion. The thesis applies a structural framework for analyzing race, to demonstrate the racialization process, prevalent racial …

"Puritan Hypocrisy" And "Conservative Catholicity" : How Roman Catholic Clergy In The Border States Interpreted The U.S. Civil War., Carl C. Creason

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis analyzes how Roman Catholic clergy in the Border States—Missouri, Kentucky, and Maryland—interpreted the United States Civil War. Overall, it argues that prelates and priests from the region viewed the war through a religious lens informed by their Catholic worldview. Influenced by their experiences with anti-Catholicism and nativism as well as the arguments of the Catholic apologist movement, the clergy interpreted the war as a product of the ill-effects of Protestantism in the country. In response, the clergy argued that if more Americans had practiced Catholicism then the war could and would have been avoided. Furthermore, this thesis illustrates …

Intertextual Discourse And The Problem Of God: The Intersection Of The Speeches Of Job And Deuteronomy, James Kipp Swinney

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Common understandings of the books of Job and Deuteronomy cast them as contradictory documents. Some scholarship concurs with this view. Despite this understanding, scholarship has not thoroughly investigated the relationship of these two texts. The book of Job carries allusion and references to much literature in the Hebrew Bible and the ancient Near East. In this thesis, I argue that the speeches of the character Job create a constructive dialogue with the book of Deuteronomy. While the views of the books are not identical, I argue that the speeches of Job largely evidence affirmation of Deuteronomy rather than derision or …

Angels With Leather Wings: An Ethnography Of The Christian Motorcyclists Association, Richard Vincent O'Connell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

For two years I rode with a group of bikers. For those two years we rode together, ate together, and prayed together. The bikers with which I rode were members of the Christian Motorcyclists Association and they believe that they have a mission to evangelize the world of American bikers.

The resulting ethnography is a study of a little known, little understood and little studied segment of the American evangelical Christian movement. Recent academic study posits that Americans in larger numbers are experiencing religion, spirituality, and faith differentially than in the past, as reflected in gradually decreasing numbers of Americans …

Pilgrimage, Spatial Interaction, And Memory At Three Marian Sites, Katherine Rousseau

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Global mediation, communication, and technology facilitate pilgrimage places with porous boundaries, and the dynamics of porousness are complex and varied. Three Marian, Catholic pilgrimage places demonstrate the potential for variation in porous boundaries: Chartres cathedral; the Marian apparition location of Medjugorje; and the House of the Virgin Mary near Ephesus. These three places are porous in that they emplace the interactions of different groups, fostering the permeability of boundaries between categories of pilgrimage and tourism, commercial place and devotional place, and cultural and spiritual value. They also show varied degrees of spatial porousness, either topographically or in their connection to …

Circumcising The Mouth Of Moses: The Idolatrous Status Of Yahweh's Mediator Among The Idols Of Ancient Mesopotamia, Amy L. Balogh

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The thesis of this dissertation is that in the defining moment in which he is transformed from "uncircumcised of lips" to "god to Pharaoh" (Ex 6:28-7:1), Moses is best understood as Yahweh's idol, undergoing a status change akin to the induction ritual for ancient Mesopotamian idols, the Mīs Pȋ ("Washing/Purifying of the Mouth"). To make this point, I argue that Moses and idols be compared with respect to their status as mediator between divine and human realms. With their respective status changes, not only are idols and Moses transformed on an ontological level, but so are their relationships to their …

Lonely Mystics: A Practical Theological Analysis Of Emerging Post-Secular Spiritualities, Paula J. Lee

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In 1981, Catholic theologian Karl Rahner wrote about the increasingly lonely experience of the individual seeking an experience of God, a reaction to the continuing decline of church attendance and religious adherence. This prediction echoes today in the emergence of a plethora of spiritual offerings available to individuals outside of religious institutions. This suggests that many are seeking resources for spiritual wellbeing that were previously found or at least anticipated through religious affiliation. Two points of contention between emerging and traditional Christian spiritualities are centered on the locus of authority and the role of community, areas this dissertation explores.

"Spirituality" …

Identifying Spiritual Themes In Narratives Of Young Adults Who Have Aged Out Of Foster Care: A Qualitative Study, Kerri Jane Tokarski

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Each year up to thirty thousand young adults age out of foster care in the United States. Historically research has focused on more tangible issues for this population (e.g., employment, education, etc.). Recent research addresses more intangible issues (e.g., quality of their relationships, resilience, etc.). This study reviews and then furthers such research by doing qualitative research to conduct nine loosely structured interviews with young adults who aged out of foster care to (1) discern if and how they made meaning of their experiences and (2) identify if there are spiritual themes within those narratives. This project used a qualitative …

The Limits Of Human Flourishing: Reconstructing Theological Anthropology In Light Of Cognitive Disability, David N. Scott

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The concept of human flourishing currently holds a position of prominence within Christian theology. Numerous theologies assert that a person enjoys the fullness of humanity, not through conformity to an essential nature, but through being a living demonstration of what human being can become. This approach to theological anthropology has proven especially useful for advocacy on behalf of marginalized groups. Nevertheless, because this approach identifies human being with the capacity for purposive agency, it remains incapable of affirming the full humanity of persons with profound cognitive disabilities. These persons lack abilities that purposive agency presupposes, such as self-representation, language, and …

(Re)Turning Warriors: A Practical Theology Of Military Moral Stress, Zachary Moon

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The concept of military moral injury emerged in the past decade as a way to understand how traumatic levels of moral emotions (not posttraumatic fear) generate moral anguish experienced by some military service members. Interdisciplinary research on moral injury has included clinical psychologists (Litz et al., 2009; Drescher et al., 2011), theologians (Brock & Lettini, 2012), ethicists (Kinghorn, 2012), and philosophers (Sherman, 2015). This dissertation uses a pastoral theological method (Doehring, 2015a; Graham, Walton, & Ward, 2005) that draws upon life experience--memoirs written by veterans (Boudreau, 2008; Goodell, 2011; Mehl-Laituri, 2012; Peters, 2014)--to identify the inadequate understanding of moral identity …

To Have Done With Forgiveness: Capitalism, Christianity, And The Politics Of Immanence, Timothy Snediker

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This essay seeks to formulate a critical account of the genealogical link between capitalism and Christianity by interrogating the ontology and the processes of subjectivization which subtend these two apparently disparate social and political formations. To this end, I make use of the philosophical thought of Gilles Deleuze, in particular his readings of Spinoza, Foucault, Nietzsche, and Sacher-Masoch. The central themes of the essay--the identity of God and money, and the vicissitudes of the creditor-debtor relation--culminate in a theory of a theodicy of money, which deploys an apparatus of forgiveness in order to obscure and displace the stakes and …

The Entanglement Of Anzaldúan Materiality As Bodily Knowing: Matter, Meaning, And Interrelatedness, Robyn Henderson-Espinoza

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This project weaves together the theoretically rich and diverse work of ancient materialist philosophers, modern philosophy which advanced a theory of monism, and contemporary philosophies that further extends monism into new terrain, including 'new materialism.' While monism is a strand of this project, the core features of this project are materiality and bodies; these two concepts create the particular entanglement and central thrust of this project, which is becoming. While this project is conceptually organized around matter and bodies, and a particular notion of becoming traced from ancient through contemporary thought, this project, also, introduces the importance of Gloria Anzaldúa …

The Myth Of The Saving Power Of Education: A Practical Theology Approach, Hannah Kristine Adams Ingram

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

U.S. political discourse about education posits a salvific function for success in formal schooling, specifically the ability to "save" marginalized groups from poverty by lifting them into middle- class success. The link between education and salvation is grounded in the historic relationship between Christianity and the establishment of public education in the United States. Initially, churches invested in schooling to form a Christian society. Today, the public institutions of education operationalize the ideology of meritocracy and promise individual success in the economic realm. Discourse analysis of political speeches and charter school programs demonstrates that education primarily offers its salvation to …

Continuity And Contradistinction: A Geography Of Religion Study Of The Ancient Near Eastern Storm-God Baal-Hadad, Jewish Elijah, Christian St. George, And Muslim Al-Khiḍr In The Eastern Mediterranean, Erica Ferg Muhaisen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

For at least the past 800 years in the Eastern Mediterranean, communities of Muslims, Christians, and Jews have venerated three important figures: Christian St. George, Muslim al-Khiḍr, and Jewish Elijah. This is paradoxical, considering that common wisdom, and even religious studies discourse, suggests that Muslims, Christians, and Jews are distinct and separate, and particularly in the contentious Levant. Moreover, the figures there also share 'peculiar' characteristics: associations with rain, greenness, and fertility. One past study of this phenomenon argued that the figures' similarities arose from the fact that they were each a continuation of an important earlier regional religious figure: …