Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Nahal Rimmonim: An Intermediate–Middle Bronze Age Village And Pottery Workshop In The Jezreel Valley, Karen Covello-Paran, Yotam Tepper

'Atiqot

The excavations at Naḥal Rimmonim exposed a stratified rural settlement spanning the Intermediate and Middle Bronze Age III. Stratified remains—including domestic structures, installations, a pottery workshop and burials—demonstrate diachronic shifts in site function and organization. The Intermediate Bronze Age strata exhibit substantial domestic activity with evidence of localized adaptation to marshy conditions. In the Middle Bronze Age I–II phases, a specialized potters’ workshop and later domestic structures highlight evolving intrasite spatial planning and craft production, likely tied to economic interactions with nearby Tel Megiddo. Elite tombs with prestige goods from the Middle Bronze Age III, signal socioeconomic ties to urban …

“Shihin Fr” Oil Lamps: Technology From Scratch, Yehoshua (Yeshu) Dray, Ilana Gonen

'Atiqot

Recent excavations at Shiḥin, near ancient Ẓippori (Sepphoris) in Lower Galilee (Isarel), have revealed evidence of a Roman-period ceramic oil-lamp production workshop. The findings include a pottery kiln, lamp molds and industrial waste, prompting a reevaluation of oil-lamp production technologies and introducing new research questions. These questions were explored through experimental archaeology aimed at reconstructing manufacturing methods. This article focuses on the production technology of the Shiḥin FR oil lamps, distinguished by their unique designs and limited production period (70–135 CE). These chalk-mold-designed lamps were examined through high-resolution 3D scanning, reverse engineering and experimental archaeological practices, including mold carving, lamp …

The Jewish Chalk-Vessel Industry In Galilee And The Golan, Yonatan Adler

'Atiqot

This study explores archaeological remains of the Jewish chalk-vessel industry in Galilee and the Golan during the Early Roman period. It examines recent excavations at ‘Einot Amitai, Reina and Lower Wadi es-Sufera, focusing on raw materials, manufacturing techniques and typologies of vessels produced at these sites. The study also looks at the chronology of this industry, exploring when chalk-vessel production in the north first began and when it ended. Throughout the paper, the archaeological remains from the northern sites are compared and contrasted with findings from Jerusalem-area workshops. Finally, the study investigates what the archaeological remains analyzed here may indicate …

Khirbat Khudash (Bet Arye): A Royal Olive Oil Production Center In The Kingdom Of Israel, David Eitam

'Atiqot

Khirbat Khudash (Ḥudaš; modern-day Bet Arye), a small planned and fortified Iron Age IIB site with numerous oil presses, was discovered during a survey of the southwest Samaria Highlands by the author in 1979–1980 and subsequently excavated. The discovery and study of Khirbat Khudash, along with the nearby similar sites of Qla‘, Khirbat Deir Daqla and Kurnet Bir et-Tell—and their comparison to other Iron Age II rural settlements in southwest Samaria—illuminates a little-known but significant economic activity of mass-produced olive oil controlled by the Israelite Kingdom in the eighth century BCE. The site and pressing installations are described here, with …

Perfume-Making And Craft-Knowledge Transmission In The Middle Assyrian Period, Yu Song

'Atiqot

This paper examines the art of perfume making during the Middle Assyrian period, focusing on the perfume recipes unearthed in the Temple of Aššur. These recipes serve as a lens through which we can observe the evolution of crafting knowledge, transitioning from practical application to written documentation, facilitated by the intermediary role of perfumers. Concurrently, the perfumed oils detailed in these recipes bear connections to royal rituals, shedding light on the consecration of Assyrian royal power. I argue that the transmission of craft knowledge and techniques is intricately linked to the ascent of the Assyrian Empire and the evolution of …

Secondary Use Of Textiles For Wick Production In Light Of The Finds From The Intermediate Bronze Age Cemetery At Newe Efrayim, Naama Sukenik, Yonah Maor, Yaniv Agmon, Yossi Elisha, Gilad Itach

'Atiqot

Three Intermediate Bronze Age wicks discovered in the Newe Efrayim cemetery constitute some of the earliest known archaeological evidence of wick use, an essential object for lighting, yet lacking distinctive features, as it was intended to be burned, making it a rare find. The exceptional preservation of the wicks sheds light on both preservation issues and the technological aspects of wick production in antiquity. The wicks were made from textiles, indicating the maximal reuse of a valuable raw material after it had served its original purpose. These finds offer evidence of material recycling in the ancient world. It is likely …

The Development Of Tin Bronze In The Southern Levant During The Bronze Age, Ilana Peters, Yotam Asscher, Naama Yahalom-Mack

'Atiqot

The paper surveys the development of the use of tin bronze in the Southern Levant, outlining its emergence in the late Early Bronze Age until its eventual predominance in the Late Bronze Age. As there are no tin or arsenical copper sources in the region, the paper discusses the potential sources based on archaeological and textual evidence, including recent analytical data, reflecting a possible correlation between the changes in metal sources and the shift from arsenical copper to tin bronze.

Researching Chalcolithic Ivories From The Southern Levant: Craft Items For Ritual, Prestige And Exchange, Harel Shochat, Liora Kolska Horwitz, Avishay Levi-Hevroni, Martin D. Pasternak, Pablo Betzer, Daniel Varga, Yael Abadi-Reiss, Olga Negnevitsky, Ilan Naor, Ianir Milevski

'Atiqot

The Late Chalcolithic period in the Southern Levant, mainly the Ghassulian culture (mid-fifth–mid-fourth millennia BCE), heralded a new and unique trajectory in craft specialization, with ivory objects, including figurines, tools and vessels, among the outstanding ones. Hippopotamus and elephant ivory, probably of varied geographic provenience, were the raw materials employed. This paper presents two recently excavated ivory caches from the Late Chalcolithic sites of Ḥorbat Raqiq and Yavne (East), and reviews Chalcolithic ivories from this region. Additionally, a systematic microscopic analysis to determine the taxonomic identification of raw material and typological classification of each artifact is presented, offering novel perspectives …

Pursuing Life-Giving Creativity, Donald Roth

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

"In studying creativity, I’ve found that it’s often more about the types of questions we ask than waiting for inspiration to strike."

Posting about innovation from In All Things, an online hub that offers insight into maintaining and faithful and orthodox Reformed Christian worldview while fearlessly engaging in every aspect of contemporary life – until all is made new.

Pursuing Life-Giving Creativity

Peeking Inside The Black Box: Demystifying Artificial Intelligence, David J. Mulder

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

No abstract provided.

Distributed Sovereignty: Law, Community, And Authority In The Political Theories Of Al-Māwardī, Al-Juwaynī, And Al-Fārābī, Ahmet Çelik

Dissertations - ALL

ABSTRACT This dissertation examines the concept of sovereignty in classical Islamic political thought through a comparative analysis of three major thinkers—al-Māwardī (d. 450/1058), al-Juwaynī (d. 478/1085), and al-Fārābī (d. 339/950)—each representing a distinct epistemic tradition: jurisprudence (fiqh), speculative theology (kalām), and philosophy (falsafa). Employing a conceptual and textual methodology, the study reconstructs a theory of distributed sovereignty in Islamic thought, in which political authority is not centralized in a singular sovereign but dispersed across three interrelated domains: legitimate authority, lawgiving, and governance. Drawing on primary texts—including al-Aḥkām al-Sulṭāniyya, Tashīl al-Naẓar, Ghiyāth al-Umam, al-Madīna al-Fāḍila, al-Siyāsa al-Madanīyya, Kitāb al-Milla, and Iḥṣāʾ …

Fertile, Social, Dangerous, Sacred, Gift, And System: Religion, Salt City Harvest Farm, And The Future Of Human Shit, Sarah Elizabeth Nahar

Dissertations - ALL

Shit, the taboo term for the human excreta that exits the anus, can be understood as sacred. Shitting, the vulgar verb to describe the act of discarding solid excreta, can likewise be understood as religious ritual activity. This counters the Dominant Social Paradigm (DSP) in the United States (US) of the placement of shit as profane, and shitting as unceremonial. An aim of this dissertation is to reclaim the word shit from the realm of what the DSP has rendered invisible and unspeakable, and spark rigorous academic discussion about it in the context of Religion and Environmental Studies. The DSP …

Reframing Creativity: Learning From Grandpa Mulder, David J. Mulder

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

"Creativity is bigger and richer and more comprehensive than just making art—as Grandpa Mulder’s approach taught me."

Posting about ­­­­­­­­applying creative skills to teaching from In All Things, an online hub that offers insight into maintaining and faithful and orthodox Reformed Christian worldview while fearlessly engaging in every aspect of contemporary life – until all is made new.

Reframing Creativity

Sermón-1 Corintios 12:14-31, Orlando Ramírez

Ayudas para sermones

Sermón-1 Corintios 12:14-31

Dragon Guitars And Sexy Zombies: Tracing The Meta-Motion Of The Naga Motif In Northeast Thailand, Aaron Michael Stanley

Dartmouth College Master’s Theses

Abstract

This thesis traces the evolving symbolism of the Naga motif (a mythic water serpent) in Northeast Thailand through a framework I call meta-motion, which maps symbolic persistence of this cultural signifier and boundary marker across four cultural horizons—animist (Z), Hindu–Khmer (B), Buddhist (A), and modern/global (C). Like electrons in quantum super position, symbolic motifs circulate as overlapping “waves” of potential meaning and are concretized into cultural “particles” only when recruited for specific ritual, commercial, or political purposes. I add a bookend extension to Chang’s Hindu-Buddhist (B/A) typology with the addition of Horizons Z and C in order to make …

A Religious Etiology Of Genito-Pelvic Pain And Pain With Penetration, Emily L. Carlson

Theses and Graduate Projects

Pelvic pain during penetration (PPDP) has been described using various diagnostic terms, including vaginismus, dyspareunia, and vulvodynia. The most recent and comprehensive classification is Genito-pelvic pain/penetration disorder (GPPPD) which is characterized by psychological distress associated with pain during or in anticipation of vaginal penetration (DSM-5-TR; American Psychiatric Association [APA], 2022). The etiology of PPDP is multifactorial, involving a complex interplay of biological, psychological, and relational factors. Religious and cultural influences may play a significant role in shaping individuals’ experiences of sexual pain. This study investigated the etiology of PPDP in relation to the religious influences among women raised in Judeo-Christian …

Tradition, Critque, And The Modern Moral Lingua Franca: A Lutheran Articulation Of Human Rights Language, Christian B. Dollar

Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation

The language of subjective, individual rights has become the primary way of speaking about the rights and wrongs of human life together. Since the end of World War II, one subset of this language—that of human rights—has achieved a global influence. The various Christian traditions of the west have, in large part, adopted this language of human rights to articulate and supplement their assorted social teachings. Yet, the adoption of human rights language has been contested by a dedicated cadre of Roman Catholic and Protestant theologians concerned about the potentially anti-Christian implications inherent in the grammar of rights. Christian rights …

Why Seek Profits?: A Missional Perspective On Business, Jooho Lee

All Faculty Open Access Publications

There are plenty of good reasons to be suspicious about profit-seeking. There are also good reasons to be suspicious about attempts to justify the pursuit of profits by focusing solely on the value of profits or of the work that produces the profits. Nevertheless, there is a good reason for the Christian to engage in profit-seeking: it can be a way to participate more fully in the missio Dei. Profit-seeking plays a central role within the market process by communicating and incentivizing a certain way of relating to the material and social world. When we realize profits in ways that …

Buddhism For Thinkers, Chang-Seong Hong, Sun Kyeong Yu

MSU Authors Collection

This book is an introduction to Buddhist philosophy. It uses the methods of analytic philosophy to approach the major topics of Buddhism.

Considering The Implications Of Tariffs, John Visser

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

"As we continue to evaluate the role of tariffs, we should do so in the context of broadly improving the global trading system."

Posting about ­­­­­­­­ethical economic policies from In All Things, an online hub that offers insight into maintaining and faithful and orthodox Reformed Christian worldview while fearlessly engaging in every aspect of contemporary life – until all is made new.

Considering the Implications of Tariffs

An Examination Of The Purity Culture Beliefs Scale And The Interaction Of Religiosity, Purity Culture Beliefs, And Pornography Use In A Census-Matched United States Sample, Kaelyn R. Griffin

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The impacts of purity culture have been documented in the prevalence of abstinence-only sex education, perception of personal value tied to virginity, and shame and guilt related to sexual behavior. Similarly, models of moral incongruence often examine religiosity as a contributor of distress related to sexual behavior and pornography use, likely tapping into the influence of purity culture without directly naming its presence. This distinction is crucial due to the variety of religious beliefs and practices, some including purity culture and those without sexually restrictive beliefs and practices. Despite this, standardized measures for researching purity culture are limited. Ortiz (2018) …

Understanding The Role Of Drug Offenses And The Death Penalty In Iran, Cyrus Zarganj

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Since the 1979 revolution, the Islamic Republic of Iran has been governed by Islamic laws devised by Shia Muslim clerics, significantly influencing the nation's legal framework in both criminal and civil contexts. The death penalty in Iran covers a broad spectrum of offenses, many of which would not be considered capital crimes or even crimes globally. This extensive application of the death penalty is an instrument of social control during periods of political tension, indicating a direct relationship between the regime's stability and the enforcement of extreme punitive measures. Despite some reduction in the visibility of executions due to international …

Stewardship, Generosity, And Percentage Giving Changing Attitudes On Financial Generosity Through Bible Study Concerning The Tithe For The New Testament Christians Of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church In Kingman, Az, Timothy A. Barkett

Doctor of Ministry Major Applied Project

The Church today finds itself navigating a landscape shaped by economic uncertainty, generational shifts, and a growing sense of spiritual indifference. Within this context, generosity continues to serve as a profound expression of both faith and mission. The research presented in this project affirms that when generosity is taught with a spirit of grace, rooted in Scripture, and exemplified by leadership, it has the power to bring renewal—not only to individual believers but also to entire communities. In an era characterized by financial anxiety and spiritual consumerism, the biblical and theological foundations of stewardship and generosity provide both a necessary …

Cybersecurity: Digital Stewardship In A Violent World, Rocky K. C. Chang

University Faculty Publications and Creative Works

This paper defines cybersecurity based on the principle of biblical stewardship. The focus of this principle is God, not the technologies, who is the creator and owner of cyberspace and everything in it. Humankind is called by God to steward them by protecting the digital property of our neighbors in cyberspace from malicious attacks. In the context of cybersecurity, a neighbor can be any individual cyber user, practitioner, educator, organization, tech company, or even hacker. However, as argued from the perspectives of human sin and human finitude, the defending stewards can never win over evil in this spiritual battle. Instead, …

A Place For Ancient Philosophy In Axial Age Historiography, John R. Shook

Comparative Philosophy

Long-standing debates over historiographical approaches to the Axial Age have distracted the history of philosophy from its own disciplined inquiry into the breadth and depth of ancient thought beyond the Greeks. The philosopher Karl Jaspers offered a vista for seeing commonalities among ancient innovations and discerning continuities along history to modern times. That dual agenda divided Axial historiography with the question of whether axiality reflects creativities of ancient systems or have modern reflections created images of axiality. A singular chronology for humanity encourages a mode of philosophical history open to providential designs, epochal turns, spiritual evolutions, psychological leaps, or cognitive …

Moral And Ethical Nature In Confucian Liang-Zhi And Islamic Fitra: Comparative Perspectives On Innate Morality, Yanrong Shi

Comparative Philosophy

This article offers a comparative philosophical analysis of Confucian liang-zhi (innate moral knowledge) and Islamic fitra(primordial nature), focusing on their accounts of innate morality and moral epistemology. Drawing on classical Confucian sources—especially the praxis-oriented interpretation of Wang Yangming—and foundational Islamic texts and commentary, the study demonstrates that both traditions posit an inborn moral faculty grounding ethical universality and responsibility. Wang Yangming’s liang-zhi is conceived as an innate moral principle that, under the imperative of zhi (to actualize or extend), is continually activated through moral practice. In parallel, fitra is understood as a God-given orientation to truth, cultivated and safeguarded through …

Understanding Tariffs, John Visser

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

Posting about how tariffs work­­­­­­­­ from In All Things, an online hub that offers insight into maintaining and faithful and orthodox Reformed Christian worldview while fearlessly engaging in every aspect of contemporary life – until all is made new.

Understanding Tariffs

Book Review: "Lamb Of The Free: Recovering The Varied Sacrificial Understandings Of Jesus's Death", Nathan Cantu

Liberty Theological Review

Book Review for Andrew Remington Rillera's Lamb of the Free.

Visio Dei, Vision Pro: Beatific Vision And Technological Singularity, John Paul Arceno

Liberty Theological Review

This paper offers a retrieval of the classical Christian theology of beatific vision. The reason behind this is the challenges posed by the progress of digital technology, including Artificial Intelligence, Virtual Reality, and robotics, which are prevalent today. This rapid progress somehow threatens the classical view of beatific vision with its version of technological singularity. Hence, the retrieval of the beatific vision, which is grounded in divine ontology, is much needed. The paper is divided into three parts: (1) Visio Dei, which discusses the doctrine of beatific vision, (2) Vision Pro, which discusses technological singularity, and (3) conclusion, which …

Biblical Church Governance: Returning To Plural-Elder Congregationalism From Policy-Based Governance Models, Jacob R. Ray

Liberty Theological Review

This paper critiques the growing adoption of policy-based governance models in local church contexts and argues for a return to plural-elder congregationalism as the most biblically faithful and historically rooted model of church government. While policy-based governance, derived from John Carver’s framework for nonprofit leadership, offers administrative strengths such as consistency, accountability, and efficiency, its application within the church often results in the diminishment of biblically mandated roles—particularly the deacon—and fosters a corporate rather than ecclesial culture. The author contends that such models misunderstand and misapply the New Testament offices of elder and deacon, violating the biblical pattern of shared …