History of Religion Commons^™

Tianjin Report 1, Anthony E. Clark

History Faculty Scholarship

Research report on the Roman Catholic Vincentian Library in Tianjin, China. Closed in 1951 by the Chinese government.

Menorah Review (No. 72, Winter/Spring, 2010)

Menorah Review

A Philosopher Rediscovers His Jewish Roots -- An Extraordinary Rabbinic Life -- An Interpretation of Isiah 6.8-10 -- Books in Brief: New and Notable -- Moreshet: From the Classics -- The Noah Affair -- Who Owns and Who is Responsible for a Soul?

Book Review: The Ordeal Of Thomas Barton: Anglican Missionary In The Pennsylvania Backcountry, 1755-1780, David L. Preston

Adams County History

The Ordeal of Thomas Barton is a highly informative read that I recommend for anyone interested in the history of eighteenth-century Pennsylvania. Scholars will find the book useful for its many connections to the histories of settlement, religion, politics, Indian diplomacy, and warfare on the Pennsylvania frontier. The book's author, Gettysburg College English professor James P. Myers, Jr., has written the most deeply researched account of Barton's importance in eighteenth-century religion and politics, and has contributed some of the finest overall scholarship on early Pennsylvania in recent years. Based in Huntington Township in what is now Adams County, and later …

Peculiar Portrayals: Mormons On The Page, Stage, And Screen, Mark T. Decker, Michael Austin

All USU Press Publications

In a time when Mormons appear to have larger roles in everything from political conflict to television shows and when Mormon-related topics seem to show up more frequently in the news, eight scholars take a close look at Mormonism in popular media: film, television, theater, and books.

Some authors examine specific works, including the Tony-winning play Angels in America, the hit TV series Big Love, and the bestselling books Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith and The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint. Others consider the phenomena of Mormon cinema and Mormon fiction; the use of the …

Innovation And Entrepreneurial Spirit: Leonard J. Arrington And The Impact Of New Mormon History, John H. Brumbaugh

Arrington Student Writing Award Winners

Writing Mormon history has never been as easy as putting ink on paper. The historian Linda Sillitoe explained, “History is crucial in Mormonism.” David Bohn elaborated on the former observation, “Every attempt to undermine the historical authenticity of the foundational events of the Mormon past constitutes an assault on Latter-day Saint self-understanding.” Thus the reconstruction of Mormon history occurs in a spiritually-charged arena. At the center of the conflict within the Mormon historiography stands a farm boy from Idaho, Leonard J. Arrington. This man carried the study of Mormonism into new areas of scholarly acceptance. His entrepreneurial spirit led to …

Knowing The Man In History, Genevieve Draper

Arrington Student Writing Award Winners

The sixteenth annual Leonard J. Arrington Mormon History Lecture was dedicated to knowing the man in the history. In researching and recording history, Arrington contributed to our honestly understanding the past. In keeping his own diary, Arrington contributed to the understanding of what is now history to us. Many of the anecdotes revealed in the lecture, such as the story of his original prize hens and rooster, what he paid for them and his eventual return, record a time little likely to occur again. The common practices of the day become surprising customs to future generations.

Leonard Arrington’s diaries are …

Disposing Ofnon-Disposable Texts, James W. Watts

Religion - All Scholarship

These concluding reflections on the essays in The Death of Sacred Texts consider evidence that the disposal of secular books also evokes serious concern. There is an inherent tension in most literate cultures between the idea of a book or enduring text on the one hand and the possibility of its disposal or destruction on the other. Disposing of books transgresses inhibitions reinforced by family, school, media, and government. The concern for book preservation involves respect for culture(s), veneration of traditions, and, at its root, the preservation of cultural values. Factors other than information preservation are at work here. The …

Great Plains Region From Encyclopedia Of Religion In America, Volume 2, Robert H. Stoddard

Geography Program: Faculty Publications

To understand the religions of a region, it is helpful to examine its environmental characteristics and the history of human occupation of that land because interpretations and forms of worship often reflect the environment with which believers cope. Although characteristics of the natural environment are intricately incorporated into most ancient religions, this relationship may be less obvious in religions with creeds and set of beliefs enunciated by historic figures. Here focus is on how the religious history of the Great Plains distinguishes it from other parts of America.

Religious Experiences In New England, Douglas L. Winiarski

Religious Studies Faculty Publications

This chapter examines the shifting language of conversion in New England Congregationalism - the bastion of Puritan culture in North America - from the period of settlement in the 1630s to the eve of the Civil War. Evidence is drawn from a database of more than a thousand church-admission narratives from nearly three dozen communities scattered across Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Hampshire. Throughout this period, most Congregational ministers remained committed to a Calvinist theology that emphasized innate human depravity, unconditional election, limited atonement, and irresistible grace. Yet the importance of conversion - the sacred calculus through which God winnowed saints …

Soldiers Of Conscience : Conscription And Conscientious Objection In The United States And Britain During World War I, Timothy Mark La Goy

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Conscience and the freedom to exercise conscience have long been cherished civil liberties in western democracies. However, during World War I, traditional concepts of conscience and conscientious objection to military service were challenged by the demands of conscription and militarism in the United States and Britain. This dissertation examines the definition, context, and exercise of conscience by conscientious objectors (COs) during the war. This study finds that conscience existed in a dynamic state. COs were compelled by changing circumstances to reevaluate and restate their objections as they responded to changing circumstances in army camps, guardhouses, and prisons.

Die Darstellung Der Evangelischen Kirche Als Eine Neue Familie In Erich Loests Nikolaikirche, Beth A. Roberts

Honors Projects

Throughout the end of the 1980s the Lutheran Church in the German Democratic Republic (GDR) experienced a surge of attendance and social activism in an otherwise secularized society. Research shows that the church was the sole island of dissent within the communist GDR. St. Nicolas Church in the city of Leipzig became the prototype of social involvement; visionary pastors opened their doors to every citizen and provided a space for congregations to voice concerns, organize interest groups, and plan peace protests. The construction of an open environment in which citizens could speak and interact gave rise to a greater sense …

How Dangerous, The Protestant Stranger? Huguenots And The Formation Of British Identity C. 1685-1715, Lisa Clark Diller

Faculty Works

No abstract provided.

Brief History Of Religion In Northeast Ohio, A, George W. Knepper

Cleveland Memory

This monograph presents a concise but comprehensive look at the history of religion in Northeast Ohio. Starting with the early settlers from New England, Professor Knepper traces the increasingly diverse mixture of faiths that now characterize the life of the sacred in Northeast Ohio. In doing this, Professor Knepper is drawing on a lifetime of study into Ohio's history. Original publication date 2002.

Not All Autobiography Is Scholarship: Thinking, As A Catholic, About History, Una M. Cadegan

History Faculty Publications

My premise in this essay is that the historian of religion who is a believer has a distinctive need for conscious reflection on this autobiographical connection. Without conscious reflection, it is too easy fall into cheerleading on the one hand or score-settling on the other. is even easier, perhaps, to lapse into self-indulgence-hence the caveat of my title, which is aimed primarily at myself. Thinking about the roots of my work as an historian has made me more consciously attentive to doing the work of the historian, as historian, well. Thinking about where that work has taken me not only …

Tianjin Report 2, Anthony E. Clark

History Faculty Scholarship

Research report on the Roman Catholic Vincentian Library in Tianjin, China. Closed in 1951 by the Chinese government.

Calvin And Conciliation, Alexander S. Haines

CMC Senior Theses

The popular conception of John Calvin today is as a divisive figure within Christianity, who vehemently opposed some beliefs while demanding rigid acceptance of others. In this thesis, I intend to investigate the accuracy of that conception by exploring how Calvin approached ecumenicalism theologically and practically. This will cover Calvin's understanding of the Church, his cooperation and disagreements with other Christians, and evaluate what Calvin might contribute to an ecclesiology useful for the Church today. Calvin has gained a poor reputation in modern times both for participation in historical events, including the execution of Servetus, and also for the association …

The Sixth Tseten Zhabdrung, Jigme Rigpai Lodro, Nicole Willock

Philosophy Faculty Publications

(First Paragraph)

Jigme Rigpai Lodro ('jigs med rigs pa'i blo gros), the Sixth Tseten Zhabdrung (tshe tan zhabs drung), was born on May 31, 1910, the twenty-second day of the fourth month of the iron dog year in the fifteenth rab byung cycle. He was the second youngest of eight children born to his father Yang Cai, whose Tibetan name was Lobzang Tashi (blo bzang bkra shis), and his mother, Lhamotar (lha mo thar). His birthplace, Yadzi (ya rdzi), is more commonly known today by its Chinese name, Jishi Town (Jishi zhen 积石镇) in today's Xunhua Salar Autonomous County of …

The Foundations And Early Development Of Mormon Mission Theory, David Golding

CGU Theses & Dissertations

This study seeks to answer a fundamental question facing missiologists and historians of Mormonism: given their sustained preoccupation with converting others to Mormonism and their thriving tradition of missionary work, how do Mormons conceive of their mission? By focusing on the theoretical frame in which Mormon missionaries imagined the non-Mormon world, prepared for missionary engagement, and derived their expectations for their mission work, this study aims to illuminate the development of Mormon missionary activities and explain the processes by which Mormons fashioned for themselves a missional character. Beginning with Joseph Smith and the emergence of his missional thought and ending …