Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Engaging The Religious Dimension In Significant Adolescent Literature, Rickey Cotton

Selected Faculty Publications

This article discusses the religious dimension in contemporary adolescent novels of recognized merit. It notes psychological and sociological studies indicating that religion is a significant factor in the actual lives of both adults and adolescents and observes that consequently it can be expected that quality literature will reflect this reality. A functional definition of religion was used to address the practical and varied ways religious or religious-like dynamics are engaged by adolescent characters. Religion was defined as whatever individuals do to come to grips with profound existential issues—questions dealing with ultimate issues. An examination of works by three major writers …

Bhaktivedanta Swami's American Scripture, Christa Marie Lasher

Religious Studies Theses

This essay explores ISKCON’s religious text A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada’s commentary on the Bhagavad Gita, the Bhagavad Gita As It Is, as an American scripture. This commentary expressed a philosophy which attracted ISKCON’s American converts and gave voice to the protest they had against the larger American culture. Using Thomas Tweed’s theory of dissent, I show how the Bhagavad Gita As It Is gave the American converts of the 1960s and 1970s a language of dissent in the larger American conversation and allowed them to create an alternative American identity. In this way, the Bhagavad Gita is an American text.

Our Personal Core Identity: A Wesleyan Perspective, Jim Boetcher

The Asbury Journal

Humans have many relational identities that vary with changes in relationships such as being a mother or a daughter, but one's core identity remains independent of these social roles. This paper explores human personal core identity theologically by drawing on Methodism as it existed under the leadership of John Wesley, and scientifically by using three cutting edge scientific research projects: The Human Family Tree and The Human Genome Project present empirical evidence that all humans are genetically related and only one race exists - the human race. Discovering Ardi: Changing Our Understanding of Human Origins shows that humans did not …

Identity Formation For Conciliatory Existence: How We Perceive The Other, Chris Kiesling, Lalsangkima Pachuau

The Asbury Journal

In this article we interface mission, theology and psychology in an exploration of what hinders and what enables conciliatory existence. Whereas common approaches to reconciliation focus on redressing past wrongs, we propose identity formation that would prevent such wrongs. We consider how people integrate elements of their social context into a social identity that influences how they perceive "the other."

Understanding this to be divine action that transforms psychological processes, we draw from all three disciplines to understand the dynamics of how we come to see the other.

Biblical theology provides penetrating narratives into the nature of fallen humanity and …

An Aboriginal Missiology Of Identity Reclamation: Towards Revitalization For Canada's Indigenous Peoples Through Healing Of Identity, Wendy Peterson

The Asbury Journal

This essay concerns the failure by Canada's Indigenous people to fully apprehend and embrace the Christian doctrine of imago Dei. The concern is founded upon the negative self-perception and perceived inferiority of Aboriginal peoples as less-than the Caucasian majority. Is this a failure of transmission on the part of missionaries, or is it a failure of reception on the part of Aboriginals? The premise is that both the theology of mission and the practice of mission with Aboriginal people must take into account the issue of self-perception and the problem of identity formation. The question is asked, Is there a …