Religion Commons^™

Reconstructing Hope And Resilience Among Kenyan Adolescent Immigrants, Julius Mwangi

Doctor of Ministry Projects and Theses

The study "Reconstructing Hope and Resilience Among Kenyan Adolescent Immigrants" explores Kenyan immigrant families' challenges in the United States and their impact on their adolescent children. It proposes a community-led mentoring program incorporating emotional intelligence competencies and faith to support adolescents' success. Additionally, the study advocates for a new immigrant parent-mentoring program to help them navigate the complex legal process to accelerate their immigration and successful acculturalization. The research contains selected Bible narratives that identify parental responsibilities towards their children and discourses on their successful utility or lack thereof. The study argues that parents and the community have a responsibility …

Visit The Imprisoned: A Heuristic Inquiry Into The Experiences Of Catholic Detention Ministry Volunteers, Christopher Tran

Education (PhD) Dissertations

There exists a wide breadth of literature in regards to the harmful and dehumanizing impact of incarceration on human development and dignity. Through my years as a volunteer in detention ministry, I have witnessed firsthand these effects particularly on youths who have been incarcerated. My experiences have led me to wonder then, “Why does the prison system still exist to harm people despite the array of research condemning its practices?” Through this pondering, I critiqued the larger systems at play: the prison-industrial complex, the sociopolitical rhetoric of “tough on crime,” and the overall demonization of this population. As a response …

Reinventing Holistic Healthcare: Pastoral Perspectives Of Biblical Insights For The American Healthcare System, Leanne Michelle Bergey

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this case study was to examine pastoral perspectives of Biblical healthcare. These perspectives are essential to consider due to the long history of the connection between spirituality and healthcare and the church’s successful intervention worldwide for increasing healthcare outcomes. Since the church has been successful worldwide at creating faith-based organizations that meet community needs, it is vital that research focus on how churches might continue this success within the United States. This study used semi-structured interviews to examine the research questions of 1) What is the Biblical responsibility of healthcare? 2) How does culture influence the role …

Living A Better Story: The Lived Narrative Apologetic In The Book Of Acts, Cedric Lemar Thomas

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Is it possible to articulate an apologetic practice from the account of Luke-Acts, which is not among the current popular Christian apologetic practices within contemporary apologetic scholarship? Can one consider the narratives in this history of Acts as a description of apologetic methodology, a sort of a first Christian apologetic practice demonstrated by Jesus and then replicated by His disciples? The answer is yes. The historical work of Luke offers an early apologetic practice in which the story of Scripture, the narrative of God, witnessed incarnationally through the life of Jesus and continued by the early church. Like Scripture, the …

The Role Of The Law In The Sanctification Of The Believer Today: A Brief Introduction To Pronomianism, Benjamin John Stepan Szumskyj

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

In recent years the theological term “pronomianism” has emerged within lay scholarship and academia. While still evolving as a concept, it is the doctrine that affirms the ongoing and universal nature of all God’s commandments, to be practised literally and non-literally (by way of principlism and paradigm), as opposed to a theological framework that designates only the “moral” as operative and those that are “civil and ceremonial”, as redundant. This dissertation contends that pronomianism is an accurate and credible doctrine of interpretation in which the Jewish and Gentile believers in Jesus Christ are to abide by all the commandments of …

Do Not Neglect To Show Hospitality To Strangers: Developing And Implementing A Program Of Home Hospitality At Furnace Creek Baptist Church, Philip D. Bramblet

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The researcher identified the lack of intentional interaction for the sake of the gospel between members of Furnace Creek Baptist Church in Rocky Mount, VA and people in the local community as an issue that should be addressed. This problem was addressed by developing and implementing a program of home hospitality with members of FCBC. Hospitality in private homes was identified as an important and biblical method of increasing interaction between the church and the community that has been neglected in doctoral action research. Many hospitality projects have addressed the corporate hospitality dynamic, but few have dealt with Christian hospitality …

Autism And The Body Of Christ: Understanding, Accommodating, And Accepting Autistic Believers In The Church, Kaitlyn Cook

Senior Honors Theses

Autism is a neurotype that causes a different set of strengths and weaknesses and thus should be embraced and accommodated within the church. Not only are autistic believers able to grasp Christian concepts, but they also have different perspectives and skills that can be instrumental in building up the church. Promoting a correct view of autism and accommodating neurodiversity within the church will allow autistic believers to follow God’s command to be part of a body and build up the church. The church can employ several strategies to create an accessible environment for believers on the spectrum, including creating sensory-safe …

The Bible And Mental Health: Towards A Biblical Theology Of Mental Health, Robert D. Mcbain

Salubritas: International Journal of Spirit-Empowered Counseling

No abstract provided.

The Soul Of Desire: Discovering The Neuroscience Of Beauty, Longing, And Community, Rebekah Bled

Salubritas: International Journal of Spirit-Empowered Counseling

No abstract provided.

Faithful Integration: The Importance Of Worldview, Hermeneutics, And Theology For Christian Counseling, Nicole C. Biller

Salubritas: International Journal of Spirit-Empowered Counseling

Efforts to integrate faith with psychological science and counseling have been present within Christian graduate programs for decades; however, questions remain about how to do this effectively. A brief review of integration efforts and a survey of the experience of graduate students within these programs reveal a desire to further model this practical integration within the classroom. Possible solutions emphasize a biblically informed worldview, intentionally crafted hermeneutics, and well developed theology, which can lead to faith-informed counseling practices.

Pentecostal Hope In The Age Of Covid-19, Peter Althouse, Audrey E. Mccormick

Salubritas: International Journal of Spirit-Empowered Counseling

This research sought to identify how Pentecostals and charismatics responded to the Coronavirus pandemic. Specifically, what role did eschatology play in provoking hope, and how did theologies on healing influence responses? Data revealed that Pentecostals were generally not casting their responses to the pandemic as a millennial expectation of a better future but were grieving their losses and seeking to provoke hope amidst suffering. While minimal miraculous healings were reported, healing was cast primarily as the ongoing presence of defiant hope amidst trauma, grief and suffering. We propose that grief and grieving is an eschatological response to loss and death.

Exploring How Pentecostals Preach About Depression, Robert D. Mcbain

Salubritas: International Journal of Spirit-Empowered Counseling

A qualitative analysis was completed on twelve sermons into how Pentecostal preachers talk about depression from the pulpit using the Assemblies of God (AG) as a purposive sample. Findings illustrate that preachers talked about faulty thinking as the source of depression and interpreted depression as a transformative journey occurring within the context of a God encounter where the believer fixed their faulty thinking. While the way the preachers interpreted depression is not without critique, the article suggests that preaching about depression as a journey of encounter may help listeners frame their depression experiences within a narrative framework that helps them …

The Role Of Spirituality In The Lives Of Counselors: Reframing The Focus, Greg A. Meyer

Salubritas: International Journal of Spirit-Empowered Counseling

The term spirituality is often hard to hear without prior, preconceived ideas and bias attached to it, and is often used interchangeably with other words, depending on one’s past and culture. The field of counselor education and supervision has also used the term in ambiguous ways, which has led to apprehension and a lack of clarity with which the term is taught and understood. This paper explains the historical focus of spirituality within the counselor education field, then redefines the focus towards the lives of counselors, but more specifically the lives of counseling students and the impact counselor educators might …

Full Issue Salubritas 3 (2024), Editors Salubritas

Salubritas: International Journal of Spirit-Empowered Counseling

No abstract provided.

Review Of Oneness Pentecostalism: Race, Gender, And Culture. Edited By Lloyd D. Barba, Andrea S. Johnson, And Daniel Ramírez, Peter Althouse

Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology

Reviews | 143 Oneness Pentecostalism: Race, Gender, and Culture. Edited by Lloyd D. Barba, Andrea S. Johnson, and Daniel Ramírez. University Park, PA: The Pennsylvania University Press, 2023. 282 pp.

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Peter Althouse

A Pneumatology Of Race In The Gospel Of John: An Ethnocritical Study. By Rodolfo Estrada Galvan, Iii., Harold A. Gutierrez

Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology

A Pneumatology of Race in the Gospel of John: An Ethnocritical Study. By Rodolfo Estrada Galvan, III. Eugene, OR: Pickwick, 2019. 362 pp.

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Harold Gutierrez (hgutier2@oru.edu) is a PhD student in Contextual Theology at Oral Roberts University, Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA. He currently serves as intercultural ministries director for the BC/Yukon District of PAOC and is an adjunct faculty member at Summit Pacific College in Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada.

Review Of Tongues Of Fire: A Systematic Theology Of The Christian Faith. By Frank Macchia., Michael D. Young

Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology

Tongues of Fire: A Systematic Theology of the Christian Faith. By Frank Macchia. Eugene: OR: Cascade Books, 2023. 478 pp.

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Michael Young (mdyoung@seu.edu) currently serves as an adjunct professor at Pacific Rim University in Honolulu, Hawaii, USA.

Review Of Pentecostal Orthodoxy: Toward An Ecumenism Of The Spirit. By Emilio Alvarez., Samuel Hogan

Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology

Pentecostal Orthodoxy: Toward an Ecumenism of the Spirit. By Emilio Alvarez. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2022. xiv + 174 pp.

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S. Slade Hogan (slade111s@oru.edu) is a PhD student in Contextual Theology at Oral Roberts University, Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA, and Pastor of the Community Church of Milton, Milton, New Hampshire, USA.

Covid-19 And Church Attendance Behavior Trends: Evidence From Ghanaian Pentecostal-Charismatic Churches, Justice A. Arthur, Lydia Andoh-Quainoo

Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology

The concept of religious economy views churches as corporate entities, pastors as marketers offering a range of products, and church members as consumers whose preferences shape the goods and services provided by ministers. Within this framework, church members react quickly to changing economic, social, and cultural conditions. The COVID-19 pandemic has not only had an economic impact, with job losses and financial struggles, but has also brought about social and cultural changes that have affected consumer behavior in many areas of life worldwide. For instance, during the pandemic, church gatherings were restricted or prohibited, socializing was replaced with social distancing, …

Pentecostalism And Current Development In West Africa: Reimagining The Pentecostal Landscape, Politics, And Vision, Fred Cudjoe Adadey, Yisa Barnabas

Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology

A growing body of literature on African Pentecostals in sub-Saharan Africa is highlighted in this article, highlighting a more defined contribution of African Pentecostals to the development landscape. Until recently, the African Pentecostal development landscape recorded little visibility at the national level, on the assumption that their experience only highlights cultural and theological relevance. However, this emerging visibility has identified, as a conceptual category, an imaginary social space with practical ramification. Based on a critical analytical review of literature, this article examines the shift from traditional Pentecostal theology to a more focused attention on the social transformation created by a …

Managing Financial Sector Crisis: Do “Faith” And “Leave It To God” Matter?, Rebecca Attah, Christine Avortri, Emmanuel Appah, Alexander Preko

Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology

The purpose of this study is twofold: first, to elucidate the understanding of two religious concepts related to the financial sector clean-up among bank customers; and second, to explore how these concepts have been employed as strategies to mitigate the impact of financial sector clean-up shocks in Ghana. This qualitative research is anchored in the theory of belief and meaning-making theory, utilizing purposive and snowball sampling methods, with twenty-eight in-depth interviews for data gathering. The findings of this study revealed that financial sector clean-up customers understood religious faith as “aggressive faith,” “passive faith,” and “offensive faith,” which were found to …

Holiness As Wholeness In Afro- Pentecostal Tradition: A Theological Perspective, Ivan L. Hartsfield Dr

Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology

Using the Church of God in Christ (COGIC) as the exemplar, I explore the theological rationale that undergirds the COGIC priority of holiness as a prescription for human wholeness. By wholeness, I mean human flourishing of the total person. For the COGIC, “Salvation is a deliverance from dangers and enemies.” Through the democratization of what was historically reserved for spiritual heroes, namely the designation of “saint,” common people of little means were immediately uplifted. They grabbed ahold of this moniker, which redefined them and identified their new place of spiritual residence in Zion. By faith, they expected to experience a …

The Prayer Tongue And The Jesus Prayer: The Witness Of Abbot David Geraets, Clyde Glandon

Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology

To my knowledge Abbot David Geraets (1935–2012) of the Pecos Benedictine Monastery has been the only Christian witness and writer, past or present, to join the practice of the ancient Jesus Prayer and the prayer tongue. He simply says that “repeating the name of Jesus can become a masterful art of glossolalia prayer.” Abbot David’s statement is not found as such in the centuries of Eastern Orthodox literature about the Jesus Prayer. Nor is such a joining found among classical Pentecostal Christians who, while fully familiar with the prayer tongue and with life and power in Jesus’ name, commonly have …

A Proposed Pentecostal Quadrilectic: Explorations For Asian Pentecostal Hermeneutics, Lora Angeline E. Timenia

Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology

Developing a general framework for Asian Pentecostal hermeneutics is necessary for a continent where the Holy Bible is “Scripture among scriptures.” Although Pentecostal Christianity in Asia is growing, interpreting Scripture in a manner relevant to local contextual realities is necessary to propagate grassroots theologies. As such, the current Pentecostal hermeneutical triad of Spirit-Scripture-Community (Archer) or Spirit-Word-Community (Yong) needs further articulations of a reader’s tradition and cultural/ethnic contexts. The concept of an interpretive “Pentecostal community” needs clarification in the Asian setting where multiple interpretative communities exist. This study proposes a framework that recognizes the dialectical role of the text’s context and …

“Study To Show Thyself Approved”: An Analysis Of Oral Roberts’ Personal Copy Of The Commentary On Exodus By Umberto Cassuto, Daniel D. Bunn Jr

Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology

Having happened upon what was previously Oral Roberts’ personal copy of the commentary on Exodus by Umberto Cassuto, I observed his active interaction with the volume by way of notes and underlines. I determined to analyze his interaction with it. This essay shares the results of the analysis of that book. It begins with a brief overview of his personal life during the time in which he possessed the commentary. Then, it makes observations about his interaction, showing specific examples. Finally, it will look more intently at a sermon in which his use of the commentary is made explicit.

Editorial - Spiritus 9.1 (Spring 2024), Jeffrey S. Lamp

Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology

No abstract provided.

Front Matter Spiritus 9.1 (Spring 2024), Spiritus@Oru.Edu

Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology

No abstract provided.

Full Issue Spiritus 9.1 (2024), Spiritus@Oru.Edu

Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology

Spiritus 9.1 (Spring 2024) full issue. Edited by Jeff Lamp, Ph.D.

Ripe For The Harvest: Developing Servants Through Spiritual Formation At Fairhaven Church Of Rootstown, Vincent A. Maltempi

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This action research project addresses the need to develop committed Christian servants within a church ministry context by utilizing a spiritual formation initiative focused on service as a means towards and evidence of spiritual formation and development. Fairhaven Church of Rootstown had not been instructed on the fundamental need for members to serve together. Consequently, service within the church was not a necessary part of discipleship or its spiritual growth plan. The purpose of this intervention was to create and implement a three-fold spiritual development initiative focused on Christian service that includes a sermon series, a midweek study, and a …

Book Review: Intergenerational Christian Formation, Second Edition, Chelsea Stirman

Discernment: Theology and the Practice of Ministry

Intergenerational Christian Formation, second ed., by Holly Catterton Allen, Christine Lawton, and Cory L. Seibel. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2023. 336 pages, $40.