Arts and Humanities Commons^™

On The Resurrection Of Microbes: An Eco-Christological Approach To The Resurrection, Denys Janiga Osb

Obsculta

This article attempts to bring ecology and Christology into conversation through a transdisciplinary approach. It looks at the pastoral implications of eco-anxiety, resurrection ecology in the field of biotechnology, Church teaching on the Resurrection, and concludes by initiating an interpretation of the resurrection appearances in the Gospel of Luke through the lens of the microbiome.

Christ In You Is Your Hope Of Glory: Exploring Colossians In The Sunday Lectionary, Maggie Nadalin

Obsculta

This paper was submitted in the Fall of 2022 as an assignment for LTGY 421: The Liturgical Year and the Word of God, exploring the use of Paul's letter to the Colossians in the lectionary cycle.

One Subject, Two Natures, Three Modes Of Predication, Andrenique Rolle

Obsculta

This article is on the development of language about Jesus' humanity and divinity while describing the historical progression of the church through the first four ecumenical councils.

The Fall And Natural Suffering, Andrew Banacos

Obsculta

Evolutionary theory poses several questions for Christian notions of origins: 1) common ancestry of all creatures rather than monogenesis; 2) the violent history of evolution as a challenge to the notion of a fall from paradise into sin, death, and suffering; and 3) the relationship between suffering and evil in light of evolutionary process. This paper seeks to address the concept of the fall in the context of dialogue between evolution and the Christian faith.

Widening The Lens From Genesis 19:5 To Genesis 18 And 19: A Remedy For Transmitted Blindness, Kelly Olson

Obsculta

This article is the product of an exercise in scriptural interpretation. The text of Genesis 18 and 19 were chosen due to an awareness of a common theme propagated by culture and the desire to better understand the content of the text using tools of interpretation that connect ancient text with contemporary human experience in hopes to open access to a diverse population that nurtures and elevates creation rather than divide and harm marginalized populations.

Two Churches, One Vision: Sacred Architecture As A Reflection Of Benedictine Values And Liturgical Reform, Katheryn Wethli

Obsculta

This piece compares the architecture of the worshipping spaces of Saint Benedict's Monastery's Sacred Heart Chapel and Saint John's Abbey Church; presenting how the worshiping spaces uplift their monastic communities’ Benedictine values and demonstrate their monastic call towards evangelizing the Gospel in the modern world, highlighting the liturgical reforms of the mid-20th century.

Isaiah 7:10-25: The Climax Of The Messianic Expectation, Thong K. Tran

Obsculta

Is there a man called Messiah who was promised by God? Did he come? Or will he come? Isaiah gave the most straightforward prophecy — Isaiah 7:10-25 — about him. Since then, a lot of efforts have been made to figure out "Who is he?" However, to acknowledge Jesus as the only fulfillment of the messianic expectation, a possibly correct interpretation is not enough. One also needs a leap of faith.

Incarnate Spirits: The Embodied Roots Of Worship, Henry O. Widdicombe

Obsculta

Spirituality is “how the Spirit of Jesus enables Christians to grow into fullness with God in this life and in particular historical circumstances.” The role of the community is definitive in shaping the spirituality of an individual and the interior dynamism of spirit is contextualized by incarnate experience. This piece employs the thought of Bernard Lonergan, SJ bolstered with the work of two Lonergan scholars, Ian Bell and Timothy Brunk, on the notion of a “worshipful” pattern of experience.

Teresa Of Avila's Inward Journey To Spiritual Growth, Anne Cahill

Obsculta

This essay describes the basic structure of Teresa's understanding of spiritual growth as depicted in her seven "dwelling places" in the Interior Castle. It places emphasis upon where God invites our cooperation (cooperative grace) and where God acts alone(operative grace). It includes how this spiritual growth affects our prayer, and our relationships with other people.

The Role Of Darkness And Trial In Spiritual Growth As Described In The Cloud Of Unknowing, Carrie O'Neil-Smith

Obsculta

This essay was written in Professor Michael Rubbelke's class titled "Growing into God: Spiritual Development in the Christian Tradition." The piece looks at darkness and trial and three resulting fruits of spiritual growth: humility, knowledge of one's true nature, and an experience of God's pure love as described in the fourteenth century work The Cloud of Unknowing.

How To Talk About God: Origen And Gregory Of Nazianzus On Divine Transcendence And Theological Language, Coleman S. Kimbrough

Obsculta

This article discusses the doctrine of God of the early Church Fathers Origen and Gregory of Nazianzus. According to these two theologians, the tension between God's transcendence and God's immanence conditions the language we use to name and describe God. Such "God-talk" is necessarily limited by the ontological divide between the human and the divine. Using Origen and Gregory as reference points, I examine how the precise and careful use of apophatic, cataphatic, and analogical language is necessary to properly account for both God's eternal nature and God's work in the material world.

Contributor Bios, Obsculta Editors

Obsculta

No abstract provided.

"Get Me The Girl For A Wife": Feminist Readings Of Genesis 34-35, Jacqueline Sanchez-Small Osb

Obsculta

This essay, originally written for “The Hebrew Scriptures: History, Theology, and Controversy,” considers the story of the rape of Dinah, exploring the text’s history and its traditional interpretations. Drawing on the work of Phyllis Trible’s Texts of Terror, the piece proposes a feminist and liberatory reading of the passage, one that centers the personhood of Dinah and the other women of the story.

Patient Response To Find New Meaning In Familiar Language, Kelly Olson

Obsculta

This piece is a reflection of the ongoing controversy of feminism in a patriarchal society. The reflections in this essay are limited to the conversation of male versus female body but it should be understood this is not intended to overlook or undermine the diverse spectrum of gender expression. While there is much needed to be said, explored, contemplated and shared regarding gender identity in the Body of Christ, this reflection addresses the female narrative in scripture.

A Central Task Of Theology: Authenticity In Relationship With God, Lydia Mattern

Obsculta

This work is a reflection on the beautiful mystery of Theology and what it means to be in authentic relationship with God. It is a cumulative piece of noteworthy ideas taught by Dr. Kristin Colberg in Thinking Theologically, a class that changed Lydia's life. It demonstrates that Theology is a vehicle used to come to understand God.

Nonviolent Communication: A Foundational Skill For Ministry, Mary L. Parks

Obsculta

A need for more formation has been identified during the continental phase of the Synod on Synodality. Furthermore, a conference of the Catholic Nonviolence Initiative has observed a lack of time devoted to nonviolence in existing Catholic formation. This paper will demonstrate how incorporating Nonviolent Communication (NVC) into formation will meet these needs.

Keeping Covenant: The Story And Scholarly Scrutiny Of David And Goliath, Peter Tran

Obsculta

The story of David and Goliath is a tale of courage, duty, and faith in God. What is taken for granted, however, is whether or not David was actually the one who killed Goliath. Some critical scholars have begun to question the long-standing claim that David defeated Goliath. So, who really killed him and what are the theological implications? A thorough examination will shed light on this question.

Jesus' Identity As "The Son Of God" Revealed In The Narrative "The Transfiguration Of Jesus" (Mark 9:2-8), Hang T.H. Nguyen Op

Obsculta

This article is an exegesis of the narrative “The Transfiguration of Jesus” in Mark 9: 2-8, the powerful evidence of Jesus’ full identity as the “Son of God” and the manifestation of His glorious state that are inseparable from his suffering, death, and resurrection. His final triumph must take place in and through his suffering and death. Thus, we, as his followers, are invited to participate in the future triumph and glory of God by following his “way” to gain the promised glory.

Self-Revelation Of God In Jesus Christ As Love And The Kingdom Of God In Walter Kasper's Jesus The Christ, Hang T.H. Nguyen Op

Obsculta

This article is an examination of the Christology of Walter Kasper, a German Catholic cardinal and theologian. Through his work of Jesus the Christ, Kasper shows God’s self-revelation as love in the person Jesus Christ – the earthly and the exalted Jesus, who brings to human beings the message of his Kingdom, in which they can attain salvation, joy, peace, and justice.

This Is The Way: Christian Asceticism Alive In The Star Wars Universe, David Allen Osb

Obsculta

This article is a creative reflection on how the Desert Fathers, especially St. Antony, could be compared in a pastoral way to the Jedi Masters found in the Star Wars Film and Television Canon.

A Brief Analysis Of Contemporary Confucianism's Research On Feminine Topics, Jingzhi Pan

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

Although Confucianism has been recognized as a world religion for more than a hundred years today, recent research, which studies it as a religion, still seems numbed to or ignores day-to-day feminine topics like sexual crimes, domestic violence, male patronize, and even gendered religious value itself. More often, even if they announce they are studying the religion, people study Confucianism as a philosophy, an ethic, a phenomenon, a political strategy…everything else but a religion with transcendent values like other world religions. This essay will overview the research of contemporary Confucian feminine topics and analyze and argue their utilities in helping …

A More Medieval Vision Of God, Louis Markos

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

A review of Chris R. Armstrong, Medieval Wisdom for Modern Christians: Finding Authentic Faith in a Forgotten Age with C. S. Lewis (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Brazos, 2016). 272 pages. $19.99. ISBN 9781587433788.

A Plea For Reasonable Discourse About Lewis’S Views On Evolution, Charles A. Huttar

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

A review of Jerry Bergman, C. S. Lewis: Anti-Darwinist: A Careful Examination of the Develop- ment of His Views on Darwinism (Eugene, Oregon: Wipf and Stock, 2016). xxiii + 136 pages. $21.00. ISBN 9781532607738.

C. S. Lewis On Atheism, Joel D. Heck

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

Lewis had a lot to say about atheists and atheism, mentioning the topic at least seventy-eight times in at least thirty books and essays. Having been an atheist himself, he understood Christianity from—as he put it—the outside. He held many of the same positions that atheists did in the 1910s and 1920s and for many of the same reasons that still influence people today. Although he did not compose any sort of systematic description, definition, or formal reaction to atheism, we can glean a great deal from his writings. Perhaps most important of all, Lewis knew quite a few atheists …

Mere Christianity And The Moral Argument For The Existence Of God, Christopher A. Shrock

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

C. S. Lewis’s moral argument for the existence of God from Mere Christianity has been called the “most widely-convincing apologetic argument of the twentieth century.” It is concise and commonsensical. But Lewis’s argument has come under heavy fire in past decades, most notably from John Beversluis and Erik Wielenberg. This article offers an alternative reading on which the moral argument from the opening chapters of Mere Christianity is not only valid but also original and defensible. Unlike other moral arguments, Lewis deals in neither metaethics nor moral pragmatics. So he avoids prickly objections related to Divine Command Theory and accusations …

The Neo-Platonic Christianity Of C. S. Lewis, Richard L. W. Clarke

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

I shall attempt to show how Lewis’s fusion of Platonism with Christianity gives rise to his belief, metaphysically speaking, that the physical universe is not all there is but, rather, “transposes” (as he terms it) a greater non-physical or spiritual reality and is, as such, part of a divinely-ordained, orderly, and purposeful scheme of things. I shall also argue that for Lewis, epistemologically speaking, knowledge of this grand design and the place of humans therein is conveyed not through the human senses, at least as these are conventionally conceived, but, rather, through our higher reason, which is capable of objective …

Review Of C. S. Lewis’S Mere Christianity: A Biography, Bruce R. Johnson

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

A review of George M. Marsden, C. S. Lewis’s Mere Christianity: A Biography, Lives of Great Religious Books Series (Princeton, 2016). 262 pages. $24.95. ISBN: 9780691153735.

Review Of Discussing Mere Christianity: Exploring The History, Meaning, & Relevance Of C. S. Lewis’S Greatest Book (Dvd), Jeff Gissing

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

A review of a DVD and discussion guide: Devin Brown, Discussing Mere Christianity: Exploring the History, Meaning, & Relevance of C. S. Lewis’s Greatest Book (Grand Rapids, 2015). 120 pages. $12.99. ISBN: 9780310699842. Eric Metaxas (host), Discussing Mere Christianity: Exploring the History, Meaning, & Relevance of C. S. Lewis’s Greatest Book, DVD (Grand Rapids, 2015). 170 minutes. $49.99. ISBN: 9780310699859.

The Family In The Holy Qur'an: Reality And Challenges, Dr. Ali Abdul Aziz Sayour

Faculty Peer-Reviewed Papers | بحوث هيئة التدريس المحكمة

No abstract provided.

Is This Our Story? Is This Our Song?: Discovering The Formational Experiences Of Black Christians In Predominantly White Churches, Christopher Lynn Shields Ii

DMin Project Theses

This May 2023 Doctor of Ministry project thesis at Lipscomb University explores the formative stories of Black Christians in Predominantly White churches. What has become of the Ministry of Reconciliation widely adopted in evangelical circles? What are the experiences of Black Christians in predominantly White Churches, many of whom have mirrored racialization in America? This project focuses on the synthesis of these two horizons and offers a critique, call, and creative reflection for readers of this project.

Chapter one serves as an introduction to the work and provides context of the researcher. Chapter two will theologically reflect on the ministry …