Religion Commons^™

Advent Devotional Guide 2021, Belmont University

Advent Devotional Guides

No abstract provided.

The Streaming Era Ruined Our Free Time. Is It Too Late To Reclaim It?, Conor M. Kelly

Theology Faculty Research and Publications

During the Covid pandemic, my young children discovered "The Jetsons," thanks to a meme suggesting that the futuristic TV cartoon from the 1960s was "more accurate than expected" (see online yoga, virtual doctor visits, etc.). Television is an intrinsically passive medium, which means it can never generate what psychologists deem an "optimal experience"-the state of enjoyment that emerges when an activity perfectly balances our skills with the challenges of the task at hand. Major changes in the sphere of work, from the living minimum wage advocated by Catholic social teaching to guaranteed vacations and paid parental leave, could give us …

Face As The Image Of God In The Jewish Pseudepigrapha, Andrei Orlov

Theology Faculty Research and Publications

From a Jewish text, known to us as 2 Enoch,we learn interesting details about Adam’s creation. Both recensions of 2 Enoch 44 tell us “the Lord with his own two hands created humankind; in a likeness of his own face (в подобии лица своего), both small and great, the Lord created [them].” It is intriguing that 2 Enoch departs here from the traditional reading attested in Genesis 1:26–27, where Adam was created, not in a likeness of God’s face, but after His image (tselem).  In view of this departure, the author of one of the English translations …

Review Of Catholic Perspectives On Sex, Love, And Families, Conor M. Kelly

Theology Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

“Emotion, Executive Dysfunction, And Agency: Can Emotional Disability Impair An Agent’S Likelihood Of Virtue?” In Faith & Virtue Formation: Christian Philosophy In Aid Of Becoming Good, Edited By Adam C. Pelser And W. Scott Cleveland, Kevin Timpe

University Faculty Publications and Creative Works

No abstract provided.

The Manifestation Of Inner-Gender Oppression In Margaret Atwood’S The Handmaid’S Tale As Results From Intentional Patriarchal Power Structures, Aliyah Browning

Capstone Showcase

Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale has long been studied for its cautionary warnings about sexist ideologies that exist between men and women; seldom has it been so closely analyzed for instances of inner gender oppression. Inner-gender oppression, which this thesis seeks to define and highlight through the novel’s context, offers artificial forms of power to those in oppressed classes, enough to attract women themselves to participate in the indoctrination and policing of their own sex. This essay highlights the ways in which Atwood’s dystopian society parallels sexist beliefs held by societies past and present.

Finding The Child: Exploration Into Pedagogical Foundations In The Roman Catholic Church, Erica L. Saccucci

Dissertations

Children are important members of society. Their membership as participants in humanity has gotten lost at times throughout history. Children have a particular type of dependency in relationships with the adults around them. This means that adults need to understand children in a different light; from the perspective of the child. In Roman Catholic social ethics, children are always understood as under the authority of their parents. Rarely are children understood in a way that gives them dignity in their subjectivity. This work provides a historical review of the theological ethics of child in the Roman Catholic Church from both …

Best Practices For Transformational Discipleship In North Dakota Assembly Of God Churches, Jack Donald Jones Iii

All Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The researcher constructed this project to discover best practices for transformational discipleship in the local church. The researcher provided the theological and biblical framework for transformational discipleship from Romans 12, exploring current literature on discipleship models and discipleship practices in the Assemblies of God denomination. The researcher created the project instrument from two sources: literature identifying recommendations of best practices for transformational discipleship in the local church and participants’ views regarding discipleship. The researcher then traveled to the North Dakota Network District Sectional meeting. Questionnaires were distributed and face-to-face interviews were conducted. The data was then analyzed and coded for …

All Things New : A Theological And Exegetical Study Of Ḥādāš With Special Emphasis On Isaiah 40-48, Deborah Lynn Endean

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Spiritual Metrics : Accounting For Spiritual Transformation In International Development, George Nduati Woki

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

When God Gets Angry: Towards A Theology Of Divine Wrath, Lukas Daeubler

Master's Theses

Topic

One of the most significant concerns regarding the character and love of God is God’s wrath, especially in the Old Testament. For many, it is impossible to believe in a God who punishes and kills rather than a God who shows compassion and love for all people. They neglect either the violent parts of the Bible, since they seem to contradict the image of a loving God displayed in the Gospels. This of course directly questions the integrity of God and His word. As a response, some theologians have published papers on this topic, but many Christians and denominations …

Reframing Hegemonic And Fragmented Identities Through Subjective In-Betweenness: A Postcolonial Political Theology Of Care And Praxis In Ethiopia’S Era Of Identity Politics, Rode Shewaye Molla

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Modern Ethiopian imperial religious and political evangelization generated and imposed externally-defined hegemonic fictive identities on all Ethiopians. This fictive identity (based on Amhara) contributes to current identity politics that cause ethnic violence, political instability, war, identity fragmentation, and, most of all, the elimination of in-between spaces where boundaries of identity can be crossed for peaceful co-existence. This dissertation integrates the study of Ethiopian religion and politics to advocate the restoration of in-between spaces and in-between subjectivities of Ethiopians. In-between spaces include political, social, religious, and geographical spaces that enable Ethiopians to live as a diversified community with solidarity, equity, care, …

Methodology Of Al-'Izz Bin 'Abd Al-Salam Regarding The Sources Of Islamic Jurisprudence, Methods Of Derivation And Its Jurstic Impact: A Study On Chapter Of Al-Tasarrufat, Hesham Atta Mohamed Mahgoub Ibrahim

Student Works (2020-2029)

In term of outstanding, imam al-Izz ibn Abd al-Salam surpassed other scholars of his time. With reference to al-Shafi'i school, He was the ultimate authority to the school. This status has been testified by his student such as al-Qarafi, Ibn Daqiq al-'Id, and other scholars of his time recognised him the imam. Al-Subki also aknowledged his leadership through his writings. In term of outstanding works, Imam al-Izz bin Abd al-Salam produced books related to the rulings of evidence, namely al-Imam fi Bayan Adillah al-Ahkam, Qawa'd al-Ahkam and Majaz al-Qur'an in order to elaborate the evidence, its methodology and rulings deduction. …

Playing At The Crossroads Of Religion And Law: Historical Milieu, Context And Curriculum Hooks In Lost & Found, Owen Gottlieb

Articles

This chapter presents the use of Lost & Found – a purpose-built tabletop to mobile game series – to teach medieval religious legal systems. The series aims to broaden the discourse around religious legal systems and to counter popular depiction of these systems which often promote prejudice and misnomers. A central element is the importance of contextualizing religion in period and locale. The Lost & Found series uses period accurate depictions of material culture to set the stage for play around relevant topics – specifically how the law promoted collaboration and sustainable governance practices in Fustat (Old Cairo) in twelfth-century …

Twentieth-Century Orthodox Reception Of Aquinas, Marcus Plested

Theology Faculty Research and Publications

The reception of Aquinas in the twentieth century must be understood in the context of the experience of political instability, exile, and Communist oppression that affected, in one way or another, virtually all the theology of the period. In this century, the anti-Westernism of the Russian Slavophiles reaches something of a peak, with Aquinas routinely held up as an archetypal representative of a theological tradition quite foreign to that of the Orthodox Church. That said, there are a number of examples of a more nuanced and less polemical approach to Aquinas that serve to provide hope for a less confrontational …

Global Bioethics In A Pandemic: A Dialogical Approach, Alexandre A. Martins

Theology Faculty Research and Publications

In this short essay, I present a work in progress of a research project on the COVID-19 pandemic and the ethical issues that this pandemic and the way it has been handled have raised for clinical practices and public health measures.

From Quandary Cases To Ordinary Life: New Opportunities To Connect Social Ethics And Health Care Ethics, Conor M. Kelly

Theology Faculty Research and Publications

In Christian bioethics, the call for a greater integration of social ethics and medical ethics is a popular refrain, yet lasting progress toward this goal has been elusive, in part due to the traditional emphasis on quandary cases in medical ethics. This article develops an alternative approach to moral discernment in health care, employing a theological interpretation of solidarity to promote greater social consciousness in ordinary health care decision making. This shifts the ethical analysis from abstract scenarios to everyday choices, elevating the moral significance of seemingly mundane concerns like antibiotic use and diet and exercise.

Ambition And Leading Teams Effectively, Nicholas R. Ruport

All Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The problem that this project addressed was the impact of ambition and ambitious leaders in relation to team effectiveness. In response to this problem the researcher explored the biblical foundations of ambition and ambitious leadership, with special interest in one’s ambition being aimed at knowing God more fully, fulfilling God’s mission, and glorifying God. He reviewed literature related to CliftonStrengths, team leadership, and the practice of the first-among-equals in teams with attention to the CliftonStrength of Competition and its connection to ambition. He conducted two case studies by way of interviews with four pastors who had Competition as a top …

An Analysis And Comparison Of The Missional Doctrine Hermeneutics Of Kevin J. Vanhoozer And Veli-Matti KäRkkäInen, With Emphasis On Their Notions Of God, Eschatology, And Mission, Elmer Arrais Guzman

Dissertations

This dissertation analyzes Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen’s and Kevin J. Vanhoozer’s theological method, in order to understand its structural elements, and thereby to facilitate comprehension of their missional doctrinal hermeneutics, and the ramifications of those hermeneutics for the construction and development of Christian theology. Missional doctrinal hermeneutical models conceive the missional dimension of doctrine in various ways. Some privilege the maintenance of theological identity cohering with the foundational sources of theological authority. Others privilege theological constructions that assimilate the context and the missional situational framework of understanding. This dissertation strives to examine the diverging missional hermeneutics of Kärkkäinen and Vanhoozer, the foundational …

The Genre Of A Meal: The Prototypical Instantiation Of The Lord's Supper In 1 Corinthians 11: 17-34, Paul Olatubosun Adaja

Dissertations

1 Corinthians 11:17-34 contains the earliest reference to the celebration of the official meal of the early Christians, commonly known today as the Lord's Supper or the Eucharist. In this passage, Paul addresses what he considered to amount to abuses of this Christian practice (1 Cor 11: 17-22). The idea that the Lord's Supper as it was celebrated in the city of Corinth is a variant of the Greco-Roman meal tradition is a well-established position among scholars today. It is also a position I agree with, but only partially. The contribution of this dissertation to scholarship in this field will …

Slavery, The Enslaved, And The Gospel Of Matthew: A Narrative, Social-Scientific Study, Jonathan Hatter

Dissertations

This project combines social-science methodology with a narrative critical reading strategy in order to explore the use of slave language in the Gospel of Matthew. I argue that the core of Matthew's slave metaphors is not the rendering of service (to God or to others) or “slave” as an honorific title but rather "slavery" serves primarily as a metaphor for obedience and radical humility. Adopting sociologist Orlando Patterson's definition for slavery as a base model, I show that Matthew's portrayal of enslaved characters tends to conform to the prevailing views of the larger Hellenized Roman world (that is, slavery is …

God And Rescuer, Clinton Neptune

Dissertations

I argue that the best concept of God, for the purposes of inquiring into God's existence and nature, is one derived from considering the human predicament and how to satisfy the existential yearning of human inquirers. Other popular methods of conceiving of God, such as some perfect being theologies and scriptural theologies, miss this vital motivational component in their God-concept construction. The concept of God on offer in this project, God as Rescuer, characterizes a being who is willing and able to rescue humanity from the predicament of the possibility of personal death, moral failure, and apparent gratuitous evil. It …

An Eco-Theology For Korean American Presbyterian Churches, Yale Park

Dissertations

Although Asian perspectives and philosophical heritage may carry ecological values, the Korean American Protestant Churches (KAPC) seem uncaring the current global climate crisis. Nor have their theological views on nature been developed adequately. I hypothesize that one of the reasons for the disinterest is KAPC’s anthropocentric views on humans. The Korean American immigrant churches, taught by traditional and conservative theology, recognize humans as disconnected from the rest of creation. Humans are treated and emphasized almost as the telos of God’s whole creation. The worthlessness of humans before God is affirmed, but ironically humans are always seen higher than any other …

Kandhamal Riot 2008 : Its Impact On Current And Future Christian Community, Lalit Kumar Nayak

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Emerging Dimensions Of Mission In A Global Body : Tracking And Evaluating Partnerships Between American Congregations And Their Global Counterparts, Daniel Richard Hunter

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Hero And His Temptress : A Re-Analysis Of The Ancient Near Eastern Expression Of The K2111 "Potiphar's Wife Motif" In Light Of Judges 16, Alison K. Hawanchak

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Beyond Comparison : A Process For Comparing Israelite And Ancient Near Eastern Literature, Brian Thomas Shockey

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Exclusivity Of The Christian Faith: A Case For Christ-Alone In A Culture Of Relativism, Brandon Keith Sinclair

Masters Theses

The proposition of absolute and exclusive truth in a culture permeated by relativism is among the most important discussions of today. The answer to this dilemma is imperative. Relativism has not only taken captive secular society, it has infiltrated the thinking of many professing Christians. The traditional Christian message has always been one of exclusivity and Christ-alone. The challenge for the Christian Apologist in a culture of relativism is three-fold: Establish the existence of absolute and exclusive truth, nullify the arguments presented by relativism as unreasonable, illogical, and fallible, and to make a solid case for the unsurpassable uniqueness of …

The Sower, The Story & Kingdom Space In The Gospel Of Mark, Susan Lankowski

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The kingdom of God is an ambiguous term that Jesus does not explicitly define. Traditional scholarship has explained the kingdom in terms of its social, cultural and time aspects. Recent scholarship is examining the spatiality of the kingdom of God to uncover its characteristics as a “space.” Spatiality seeks to understand how humans interact with space. Space captures the experience of human life and activity and stories, and storytelling reveal that experience. It is at the intersection of space and storytelling that this project examines the kingdom of God. The Gospel of Mark is a story that grew from an …

The North Sky And The Otherworld: Journeys Of The Dead In The Neolithic Considered, Frank Prendergast

Book/Book Chapter

The majority of Irish passage tombs (c. 230) predominantly date to the Middle Neolithic (c. 3600–3000 BC). A small number of summit cairns may also contain passage tombs because of their round form, proximity and intervisibility. The island’s passage tombs and related cairns share distinguishing characteristics – elevated siting, visibility and long-range views of distant horizons in varying directions of the compass. This chapter presents the findings of the first scenic analysis of the horizon and views at these sites recorded at an island scale. The method uses measured orientations of horizon sectors related to observed variation in horizon range. …