Arts and Humanities Commons^™

John Woolman's Aesthetics Of The Stranger, Jay David Miller

Faculty Publications - Department of English

Language about strangers, including ‘the heart of a stranger’ specifically, appears with frequency throughout the writings of John Woolman. This article argues that the stranger, inspired to a great extent by passages from the Bible, was a central philosophical and theological concept around which Woolman’s thought was gathered. For Woolman the stranger also functioned as a literary figure that united various parts of his work in what I refer to comprehensively as an aesthetics of the stranger. Ultimately, Woolman writing about strangers reflected his understanding of Jesus Christ as a stranger, which was the ground from which all his thinking …

The Church Surviving Crisis An Examination Of Leaders' Disaster Response, Joel A. Tudman

Doctor of Ministry

In March of the year 2020, the church would change drastically and quickly. In-person gatherings shifted to online worship. The pandemic fostered change for the church and it had to adapt to a digital era overnight. Abrupt change of such for churches and other organizations called for business meetings and a change in the application of the vision. Some churches upgraded audio and video equipment to facilitate their vision effectively and some closed their doors. The world has seen many crises and the church has always long suffered right along with the world. When a crisis strikes the world like …

Towards A Literary History Of Quaker Writing In The Atlantic World, Jay David Miller

Faculty Publications - Department of English

Among eighteenth-century Quaker writers, John Woolman was idiosyncratic, as illustrated by the fact that in his journal he recorded an ac-count of his own death. Needless to say, this was not usually done. Instead, it was conventional for posthumously published Quaker journals to include not only an autobiographical narrative of spiritual development but also additional material written by qualified Friends offering further testimony and giving details about how and when the author died. The first printing of Woolman’s journal in his posthumous Works (1774) is accompanied by such material about his 1772 death in York, England, but this was not …

Environmental Aesthetics And Environmental Justice In Jonathan Edwards’S Personal Narrative And John Woolman’S Journal, Jay David Miller

Faculty Publications - Department of English

This essay examines the relationship between Christian theology, environmental aesthetics, and environmental justice in colonial America. As opposed to the work of secular writers from the early republic like J. Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur and Thomas Jefferson, the Christian environmental aesthetics of Jonathan Edwards and John Woolman have potential to address questions of environmental justice in American literary history, such as tenant exploitation, African enslavement, and Indigenous displacement. Edwards, however, worked in a pastoral literary tradition, which limited his ability to imagine environmental justice due to his commitment to the doctrine of election. Woolman, on the other hand, worked …

Born-Again Engineering: Evaluating Human Impact On Ecosystems, Ben D. Giudice

Faculty Publications - Biomedical, Mechanical, and Civil Engineering

The quest stood upon the edge of a fillet knife. My feet cried out concerning my madness and folly—ten miles of hiking, one wader leg filled with Cowhee Creek, used boots overly snug, blisters inevitable. I had probed and prodded every bit of frog water I could find on this beautiful Alaskan creek. No sign of silver salmon. It began in February as an idle comment over church coffee in the fellowship hall in Oregon’s Willamette Valley. “I’m turning forty this fall,” I said to my friend Chris. He wore his characteristic Sunday wool vest, his bald head gleaming in …

The Decline In Black Men's Church Attendance: The Role Of Male Presence In Church And The Family, Gregory James Tate

Doctor of Ministry

The Black Church in the United States has historically played a significant role in the community providing a sense of belonging and purpose. However, there has been a significant decline in the attendance of Black men in the church. Despite being the largest ethnic group to attend a place of worship, 70-80% of Black men do not attend church services, either in-person or online. This trend is concerning, especially since over 80% of those who do not attend consider themselves religious and believe in a higher power. This paper explores the reasons for this trend and its effects. Chapter 1 …

Frontmatter, Quaker Religious Thought, No. 137, Jon R. Kershner

Quaker Religious Thought

ABOUT THIS ISSUE

Welcome to Quaker Religious Thought! This issue contains papers that were delivered at the November 2020 Quaker Theological Discussion Group meeting. The general topic of the sessions was ministry and the second panel, featured in this issue, addressed the question: “What is a Quaker theology of vocational ministry, and how is it enfleshed/embodied in community?” The resulting conversation addressed the wide array of contexts in which ministry takes place, challenges of ministry in a Quaker context, and testimonies to the role of discernment in guiding and supporting ministry. A hearty thanks to our authors, Ben Brazil, Robin …

Frontmatter, Quaker Religious Thought, No. 140, Jeffrey Dudiak

Quaker Religious Thought

The theme of this issue of Quaker Religious Thought is “Quakers and Place.” The issue opens with an essay by Cherice Bock that explores a Quaker theology of place against the background of the climate crisis and colonialism. Grounding her analyses in Jewish and Christian theologies of place, Cherice then seeks to understand what constitutes the experience of a “sense of place,” before encouraging Quakers to undertake an intentional practice of place-making, and this for the sake of contributing to flourishing and resilient, local communities in this crucial historical moment. Rather than living “off” the land in an exploitative way, …

Contributors - Quaker Religious Thought, No. 137, Jon R. Kershner

Quaker Religious Thought

No abstract provided.

Unspoken Rules: Barriers To Quaker Worship For Disabled People, Greg Woods

Quaker Religious Thought

In this paper, I will examine how Quakers can be more supportive of disabled people in their congregations. First, I will start by stating a couple of premises, so that the reader and I are on the same page regarding what I mean by disability liberation theology and why I am using identity-first language throughout the paper. Second, I will provide some autobiographical information about my experiences as a disabled person within Quakerism. Third, I will talk about the expansive nature of the Inward Light of Christ. Fourth, I will explore the power dynamics within Quaker worship and how this …

Lucretia Mott: Isaiah 58, Mark Bredin

Quaker Religious Thought

In a sermon at Cherry Street Meeting on 31 March in 1850, Lucretia Mott drew upon Isaiah 58:6–7, 13 and James 2:15 for inspiration against sentiments expressed by Isaac Watts (1674–1748), views that led, she believed, to complacency towards the poor and the slave. She perceived such to be an outrage to the God of the biblical prophets. More precisely, Lucretia’s evocation of Isaiah 58 in her address resulted in an intensification of her already developed sympathy for the poor, motivating her to social engagement for justice. In making this argument I consider: (1) what it means to read the …

Remembering T. Vail Palmer, Jr., Paul N. Anderson

Quaker Religious Thought

One of the premier Quaker theologians of the last half century or more, Thompson Vail Palmer, Jr. passed away on February 6th. Vail was one of the founding members of the Quaker Theological Discussion Group, contributing to its original vision and momentous significance. He edited issues 39–47 of Quaker Religious Thought (1974–78), and he co-edited issues 47–54 with Dean Freiday (1979–82), who then succeeded him as editor. In addition to over a dozen essays, comments, and reviews contributed to QRT over more than four decades, Vail also published several important essays and books.¹

Many Healings Of The Woman With The Flow Of Blood, Ekaterina Lomperis

Faculty Publications - Portland Seminary

With the emergence of the modern quest for the historical Jesus, theologians began increasingly questioning traditional views of Jesus as a healer of human bodies. While a growing suspicion of Jesus’s role as a literal healer of the body is commonly traced to the influence of the Enlightenment, in this essay, I will suggest that the roots of this theological marginalization run deeper, in the sixteenth-century Protestant Reformations, when supernatural did not yet equal superstitious. The essay will examine two representative exegeses of the healing of the woman with the flow of blood in Mark 5:25–34, offered by Martin Luther …

Transgenerational Wellness: Trauma Informed Christian Spiritual Formation, Winford Amos

Doctor of Ministry

Certain mindsets, processes, and practices produce health inequities and disparities including poor spiritual health. Young adults between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five years old are experiencing challenges with mental health and substance use resulting in a high rate of suicides and overdose related deaths. Many are experiencing co-occurring substance use and mental health challenges and have a history of trauma. There are limited options available for integrated treatment. Accessibility to services is very difficult due to limited providers and limited resources at this age. Church attendance has decreased significantly for young adults which limits the capacity of the church …

Transcendent Accountability And Pro-Community Attitudes: Assessing The Link Between Religion And Community Engagement, Sung Joon Jang, Matt Bradshaw, Charlotte V. O. Witvliet, Young-Il Kim, Byron R. Johnson, Joseph Leman

Faculty Publications - College of Social Work

Prior research has established a positive relationship between religiosity and civic engagement but focused on public religiosity rather than private religiosity without explaining the relationship. We examined private religiosity as well as public religiosity in relation to community engagement, explaining the religiosity-community engagement relationship with two understudied mechanisms: ‘‘transcendent accountability’’ (seeing oneself as accountable to God or a higher power for one’s influence on other people or the environment) and pro-community attitudes. For this examination, we applied structural equation modeling to analyze data from a nationally representative survey. We found that survey respondents who believed in a higher power, privately …

Vocation As Story, Story As Vocation, Ben Brazil

Quaker Religious Thought

On a frigid December morning in Indiana, a man named Dave Jetmore discovered that his daughter’s pet goat had died. Not wanting to upset his little girl—much less broach the topic of death—Jetmore planned to tell his daughter that “Billy” had simply gone to live somewhere pleasant. Inventing that story was the easy part; the harder part was hiding the body. First, Jetmore tried to bury the goat, but the ground had frozen hard as rock. Next, he had his son fling the body from the pickup to a snowbank, which failed to conceal anything. Time was growing short. And …

The Conflict Is Inherent: A Quaker Theology Of Vocational Ministry, Robin Mohr

Quaker Religious Thought

“I’m wrestling with the nagging feeling that God is calling me to this ministry of hospitality and encouragement: this work of bringing Friends together, convening learning communities, facilitating conversations and supporting Friends on their spiritual journeys, which brings me such joy and fulfillment and peace. Aren’t I really supposed to be doing this all the time? Am I disobeying God’s leading by spending so much of my time earning a secular living? Or is the desire to devote myself to a full-time, ‘hireling’ ministry a distraction? A temptation?”¹

This tension is familiar to many Quakers who are seeking to …

Review Of Michael Birkil, Quakers Reading Mystics (Brill, 2018), Mark Bredin

Quaker Religious Thought

Birkel’s book, at one level, is a searching historical enquiry establishing the possible direct influence of John Cassian on Robert Barclay, Jeanne Guyon on Sarah Lynes Grubb, Johannes Tauler on Caroline Stephen, Jacob Boehme on Rufus Jones, and Buddhist mysticism on Teresina Rowell Havens. He emphasizes his study to be “strongly shaped by…the principles of historical study” (8). His conclusion is, indeed, rooted in the language of historical probabilities, such as “based on incontestably solid ground” (100) or “are more tentative” (100).

Contributors - Quaker Religious Thought, No. 140, Jeffrey Dudiak

Quaker Religious Thought

No abstract provided.

Frontmatter (Volume 45, Issue 5), Jeffrey Dudiak

Quaker Religious Thought

No abstract provided.

Breaking The Unwritten Rule That We Do Not Talk About Power: Claiming Religious Creativity, Vibrancy, And Right Relationship In Quaker Community By Living In That Life And Power, Windy Cooler

Quaker Religious Thought

Why do Quakers avoid addressing and healing shame? The underlying fear is that if we are not seen as “good,” we will lose our sense of belonging in a community that places immense pressure on its members to uphold certain standards—or so it is widely believed. The perception that one is powerless to fully embrace one’s identity due to the fear of rejection is rarely articulated directly; instead, it manifests as dysfunctional behavior within the system, a topic I’ll delve into further later on. I would also like to posit that goodness is often conflated with innocence, the idea that …

Welcoming The Stranger: The Spiritual Authority Of Quaker Women, Rhonda Pfaltzgraff-Carlson

Quaker Religious Thought

Many Quaker meetings in the United States struggle with attracting and retaining newcomers. While it is true that demographics matter (i.e., Friends are largely older, affluent, cis-gender, and white), a less recognized spiritual factor also affects the growth of our meetings—spiritual authority. While spiritual authority is distributed along the gender continuum, this paper focuses on the spiritual authority of women.1 This focus is particularly important given the preponderance of women in unprogrammed meetings. Friends who are women limit their spiritual development, as well as that of their meetings, when they and the Friends around them do not exercise their spiritual …

Contributors, Jeffrey Dudiak

Quaker Religious Thought

No abstract provided.

Nativity Of The Lord, Paul N. Anderson

Faculty Publications - George Fox School of Theology

Can you imagine the feelings of Mary and Joseph, forced by a foreign government to travel a hundred miles for a census in the midst of winter, when Mary is about to give birth?

First Sunday After Christmas Day, Paul N. Anderson

Faculty Publications - George Fox School of Theology

Luke's Christmas story not only features babies and parents, it also focuses on the elderly. When I was a student at Trinity Lutheran Seminary, one of my fellow students asked me to help with his preaching on the encounter with Simeon and Anna in the temple. We sang "Old Friends," by Simon and Garfunkel, and then he preached on this passage from Luke.

D. Elton Trueblood: Dean Of American Religious Writing, Paul N. Anderson

Faculty Publications - George Fox School of Theology

It is with great delight that HarperCollins has given the Trueblood family permission to republish any of Elton Trueblood's books that they should choose. Harpers had published thirty of his books between 1936 and 197 4, and Elton's momentous volumes earned him the title of "Dean of American Religious Writing" in the middle-to-late 20th century. I had already edited and published his book on Lincoln under a new title, with a new foreword by award-winning journalist Gustav Niebuhr, timed to coincide with the Lincoln movie that came out in 2012. 1 Elton's most important book, A Place to Stand, then …

"Foreword" To A Place To Stand, Paul N. Anderson

Faculty Publications - George Fox School of Theology

Known as "the Dean of American Religious Writing," D. Elton Trueblood did for American audiences something similar to what C.S. Lewis achieved in Britain. He helped believers em­ brace their faith and to give an account for the hope that is with­ in them (I Peter 3: 15). Author of thirty-one books, followed by a half-dozen collections of his essays, Trueblood also encouraged generations of other emerging writers so that his influence was multiplied many times over. Addressing such issues as the vitali­zation of the church and the equipping of the laity for ministry, he did more to inspire "thinking …

The Christian Liberal Arts Tradition Can Appeal To Christians And Non-Christians Alike, Joseph Clair

Faculty Publications - George Fox School of Theology

College and university professors in the liberal arts (humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences) are almost entirely left-leaning, liberal, or progressive, and this is especially true among faculty in the humanities and social sciences. The trend is even more pronounced in certain selective schools. Students who attend liberal arts colleges or universities often adopt more liberal or progressive points of view as a result of their education. There are many great literary depictions of this transformation and the ensuing alienation that often results when such students return home from college. (My favorite is in Flannery O’Connor’s short story “Revelation,” where …

Misreading C. S. Lewis On Friendship: The Charges Of Sexism, Secrecy, And Snobbery, Jason Lepojärvi

Faculty Publications - George Fox School of Theology

C. S. Lewis’s published writings comprise some forty-odd books in multiple genres, hundreds of essays, and thousands of letters. The theme that arguably rises above other themes is love, and within the family of different kinds of love, the love of friendship holds prominence. Although Lewis is often credited for accessible writing, there exists a number of popular misunderstandings about his ideas of friendship in particular. Several writers—theologians, philosophers, and literary scholars—have leveled serious charges against Lewis’s understanding of friendship. This article will evaluate three of these charges in more detail, those of sexism, secrecy, and snobbery. The article shows …

The War In Ukraine And Political Theology In Poland, Christopher Garbowski

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

In the broadest of terms, political theology can be defined as “the analysis of political arrangements (including cultural-psychological, social, and economic aspects) from the perspective of God’s ways with the world.”¹ Since the world changes, as do the politics accompanying them, political theology is of necessity a dynamic branch of the theological enterprise. The editors to the second edition of The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Political Theology note a number of such changes that justify the expanded second edition of their handbook, including—what is most pertinent for understanding political theology at present in Poland—“the discourse on religion and violence, …