Religion Commons^™

Counteracting Systemic Racism The Role Of The Multiethnic Church, Janice Wilson

Doctor of Ministry

The study explores how the multiethnic church can be a healing agent to counteract systemic racism in a multiethnic church in Richardson, Texas. Systemic racism is a critical issue confronting human society today. In recent years, the global community has united in condemning any form of racial discrimination, particularly against persons of African heritage.

The multiethnic church encourages ecumenism that transcends the racial barriers that have been inherent in Christian worship in the United States. For one, the study suggests that church officials could ease the advancement of the multiethnic church by increasing awareness of systemic racism to members of …

A New Paradigm For Ministry In The World: Spiritual Care Services Of Maine, Lori H. Whittenmore

Doctor of Ministry

With dwindling church attendance in the State of Maine, people’s spiritual needs are often unattended to, especially in times of struggle. Clergy are serving shrinking congregations with shrinking budgets, leading to reduced hours. They don’t often have time to provide pastoral care to their flock, let alone people outside of their flock. This project creates a mechanism to organize a chaplain team and make them available by contract to organizations and their staff and clients. I have conceptualized, designed, and birthed a community-based per diem chaplain/spiritual care organization that can match the world’s soulful need with professional, competent chaplains.

The …

The Inevitable Church, Min Choi

Doctor of Ministry

The Inevitable Church is a YouTube channel about the semiotics of digital technological forces and how they are shaping the future of church and culture. Its aim is to be a repository of resources and videos that models and teaches the unique principles and strategies required to navigate our modern mediums of communication and connection.

The NPO statement for this project is: The modern network revolution is shifting our primary medium for social interdependence from print to digital, which is reforming our social and cultural structures and creating a critical need for innovation in ministry strategies, recontextualization of orthodox Biblical …

Discovering Life Through Loss And Grief, Darcy L. Hansen

Doctor of Ministry

In times of loss, communities of faith come alongside bereaved individuals to offer support. That support is often short lived. When the casseroles stop, grieving people feel isolated and underserved in communities of faith when pastors and community members are ill-equipped and unprepared to care for them.(2)

The reason pastors and community members are ill-prepared to care for those grieving is historically, culturally, and theologically complex. Tackling such complexity is beyond the scope of this project. Implementing Occam’s Razor, where the simplest solution, with the least moving parts, suffices, enables me to address my NPO in a creative way.(3)

For …

Building A Successful Young Alumni Program Through Mentoring At The King's University, Kathleen Dian Busch

Doctor of Ministry

The transition from university to the workplace, can be a difficult for young alumni. Many graduates are often confused and lost after graduation. While some seem to have a life plan, and a clear direction, others are left wondering where to turn after that degree is granted them. Helping new graduates navigate the transition from university to career is an important role of the alumni office. For those who graduated in the past two years during the pandemic, this transition has been even more difficult. With fewer career opportunities available, work from home orders, and mass lay-offs in many industries, …

The Battle Against Human Sex Trafficking: A Faith-Focused Approach Toward Making A Difference, Nancy Vanderroest

Doctor of Ministry

The lack of Christian involvement in the fight against human sex trafficking is evident when researching the various causes faith-based organizations focus on. The causes have often been denomination or single-entity driven. Yet, the focal point should be cause-driven and compassion-led. For Christians, the key is to uncover the will of God to find where God is at work—and then to join Him there.

This dissertation reviews how Christian entities have often shied away from the battle against human sex trafficking because of the scope of the problem and because of the sexual stigma attached to it. Yet, Christ embodied …

Foursquare Path: A Discipleship Journey Rooted In The Foursquare Gospel, Timothy Lee

Doctor of Ministry

The International Church of the Foursquare Gospel (the Foursquare Church) was founded by Aimee Semple McPherson on the foundational teachings of Jesus Christ as Savior, Baptizer with the Holy Spirit, Healer, and Soon Coming King. The early history of the Foursquare Church was marked by incredible signs and wonders, culturally sensitive and impactful global missions, and dynamic church growth. This was the fruit of a movement full of people who deeply shared a clear and passionate understanding of what it meant to be Foursquare. In the past two decades, however, there appears to have been a steady decline in the …

The Shimmering Cathedral: Extraordinary Spiritual Experiences And The Meaning We Make Of Them, Seth Daniel Jones

Doctor of Ministry

This project portfolio presents the formational work for a book about Extraordinary Spiritual Experiences (ESEs). The project seeks to create a spiritual cartography which helps guide clergy, professionals, interested persons, and experiencers as they navigate ESEs and the subsequent process of making meaning from such experiences, particularly in the context of Christian faith, but by no means limited to it. By way of a novel exploration of the structure of an ESE event and stories from scripture, it is hoped that pathways for creating a safe space to share ESEs in group settings will blossom. In the context of the …

Teaching The Art Of Sacred Storytelling For Use In Ministry, Abbylynn Haskell

Doctor of Ministry

Storytelling is of immense value in ministry today for enriching preaching, liturgy, teaching, worship, pastoral care, mission, evangelism and discipleship. I serve as a part-time pastor in rural Maine and have a passion for using storytelling in all these aspects of ministry. I observed an opportunity for teaching storytelling in my local ministry schools and churches.

I designed a curriculum for oral storytelling instruction that includes teaching techniques for sharing personal experiences and the re-telling of myths, legends, wisdom, folklore and Biblical stories for use in preaching, ministry, mission and pastoral care. This storytelling educational program consists of online and …

Discovering & Raising The "Trafficking Awareness Level" (Tal) In Avalon, Ron L. Eroen

Doctor of Ministry

“Awake, O sleeper, arise from the dead, and Christ will make you aware.” Eph. 5:14

Earlier this year I stopped at a table under a sign reading “January Is Human Trafficking Awareness Month.” The table’s material did awaken me to the scope of human trafficking (global), the amount of money traffickers are making (billions), and where to send money to help fight the problem – but there was little information on being more aware of human trafficking within MY town. A lifetime focus on community safety helped me realize that a high level of awareness of the signs of trafficking …

Contextualized Marketplace Ministry, Jamilah Merrick

Doctor of Ministry

The United States has conducted genocide and weaponized its institutions by the perpetuation of structural racism against African Americans both historically and contemporarily. These methods have been co-opted covertly and overtly by governmental entities, institutions, and Americans themselves. Though the Federal government and individual states have initiated potential policies on reparations, the United States has failed to implement systematic reforms. To address these disparities, my NPO states: The historical persistence of structural racism and genocide against African Americans nullifies fiduciary reparations until comprehensive reforms are adopted.

Based on the research methodology and iteration processing, my NPO concentrates on African Americans …

Landscape Design And Architecture Of Wooden Churches In Ukraine, Valentyna Kuryliak, Volodymyr Dudarets, Valeriy Bulatov

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The article examines the features of landscape design and architecture of wooden churches in Ukraine. Analysis of literary sources shows that the sacred wooden architecture of Ukraine is a source of inspiration for artists, art historians, writers, and other people interested in church buildings made of wood. During the research process, it was found that the natural landscape exactly complements the architecture of wooden temples, creating a natural environment for worshiping God. It is important to emphasize the following features, highlighted in the study of temple structures made of wood on the territory of Ukraine. First, the builders carefully selected …

Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church: Foundation And Beginnings In Post-War Germany, Vladyslav Fulmes

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church (UAOC) met many obstacles regarding its activities from the Soviet and German occupation regimes. Due to persecution and oppression, the hierarchy and clergy of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church decided to emigrate. Preserving the canonical episcopate, the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church began a new stage of existence in emigration, ushering a new period of activity of UAOC. This study is relevant to modern historical science since the study and introduction into the scientific sphere of new archival documents and memoirs of contemporaries gives an opportunity to establish a coherent picture of the activities of the UAOC …

Religious Beliefs Of World Boxing Champions As A Factor Of Influence On Ukrainian Society In The Context Of Social Responsibility, Bogdan Synchak, Petro Livak, Olga Kuvaldina

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The issue regarding the influence of mass media on the public consciousness is one of the priorities in the times of the digitalization of the information space. Great sports such as professional boxing are world-famous and have a wide resonance in the media. As a result, scientists are paying attention to the study of factors of influence that arise during the information coverage of sporting events. Religious beliefs are a conditional plane of differentiation of different worldview systems, but in the 21st century, they are harmoniously integrated into the colors of different cultures, nationalities, and states. Celebrities’ religious beliefs can …

Church, State And Human In The Process Of Secularization, Metropolitan Luke (Andriy Kovalenko)

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

This article examines the processes of socio-cultural change under conditions of secularization. The conditions for the appearance of several secularization areas are considered, and the features of their formation and their current state are revealed. Analysis of the anthropological factor in the processes of secularization is carried out and its role in the process of desecularization is shown. Within the framework of secularization, there has been an expansion of the possibilities for a person to determine his or her understanding of the connection with God. As a result, a new socio-religious population stratum has formed: those who consider themselves believers, …

Book Review: Anna Niedźwiedź And Kaja Kajder, Eds., Mapy Miasta: Dziedzictwa I Sacrum W Przestrzeni Krakowa / Maps Of The City: Heritages And The Sacred Within Kraków’S Cityscape., Christopher Garbowski

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The book Maps of the City is the result of an exhibition at The Seweryn Udziela Ethnographic Museum in Kraków that was held between November 2017 and February 2018. As the subtitle makes clear, the exhibition focused on the place of heritage and the sacred within Kraków’s cityscape, together with the relationship between the two, both for the city’s residents and visitors. The latter group includes pilgrims. The curator of the exhibition was Anna Niedźwiedź, a cultural anthropologist at Jagiellonian University and author of The Image and the Figure: Our Lady of Częstochowa in Polish Culture and Popular Religion (2010). …

Frontmatter, Quaker Religious Thought, No. 135, Jon R. Kershner

Quaker Religious Thought

ABOUT THIS ISSUE

There are moments of change and turbulence and anxiety and outrage that punctuate our lives, whether anticipated or not. There are also times when we, as a human community, are confronted on a corporate level with shared experiences of anxiety and ambiguity, anger and angst. As I think back on what has transpired since I wrote the editorial for the Spring issue of QRT in February, I am struck by how quickly our lives can change and how suddenly we as a society may be called to adapt to new realities, like wearing a face mask, and …

Contributors-Quaker Religious Thought, No. 135, Jon R. Kershner

Quaker Religious Thought

No abstract provided.

Review Of Mock, M. S. Worthy: Finding Yourself In A World Expecting Someone Else, (Herald Press, 2018)., Jessica Kershner

Quaker Religious Thought

The Christian message should be a simple one. God loves us. We accept that love and then are able in return to love God and the world. God loves, we accept and then love in return. “What does the Lord require of us but to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with our God.” So why does it have to be so complex? In Melanie Springer Mock’s book, Worthy, she dives in to many different ways Christian culture, literature, family and church expectations, and even sometimes our own messages about God, get in the way of the …

Review Of Marty Grundy, A Call To Friends: Faithful Living In Desperate Times (San Francisco: Inner Light Books, 2020), Lorraine Watson

Quaker Religious Thought

This short but timely book was written at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, which began in 2020 and continues today in 2022. It, along with the myriad of other ills facing our world, constitutes the desperate times during which Marty Grundy calls us to faithful living. She hearkens back to the early Quakers of the 1600s and their apparent knowledge of the “Truth that we are loved unconditionally and are called to live lives of integrity and love,” the antidote to “the horrible things we humans inflict on ourselves, on each other, on pretty much all living things, and …

Why On Earth Does “Tongue(S)” Become Ecstatic Speech?, Ekaputra Tupamahu

Faculty Publications - Portland Seminary

This chapter deals with the history of interpretation. Why is the phenomenon of “tongue(s)” in the New Testament understood today as ecstatic speech? In the history of interpretation, there are two major modes of reading the phenomenon of speaking in tongue(s) in the New Testament: the “missionary-expansionist” and the “romantic-nationalist” modes of reading. The earliest readers of the New Testament up until those of the mid-nineteenth century commonly understood the phenomenon of tongue(s) as a miraculous ability to speak in foreign languages—often called xenolalia—for the purpose of expanding Christianity and preaching the gospel. The shift in understanding began to …

Between Text And Sermon: Ephesians 6:10-20, Ekaputra Tupamahu

Faculty Publications - Portland Seminary

Gun violence is a serious problem in the United States. Mass shootings are now almost daily occurrences, and no one, not even Christians, seems to know how to stop them. Last year, the Pew Research Center found that although almost half (48%) of Americans consider gun violence as “a very big problem in the country today,” and about “40% of Americans live in a household with a gun.”1 People are divided on this issue along geographical and rural/urban lines, political ideologies, religious convictions, gender, and so on.

Review Of David Lewis, A World From The Lost: Remarks On James Nayler's Love To The Lost And A Hand Held Forth To The Helpless To Lead Out Of The Dark (Inner Light Books, 2019), Carole Dale Spencer

Quaker Religious Thought

James Nayler has been an enduring enigma to historians. He’s been considered a madman and a saint. A variety of perspectives and interpretations, often conflicting, from political, sociological, psychological, theological, and literary standpoints have been offered; but one undeniable fact about Nayler that historians can agree on is that he was a charismatic figure. His charisma rivaled George Fox in the earliest period of the Quaker movement. But he was largely lost in the dustbins of Quaker history until the twentieth century, when four modern biographies were written as well as numerous scholarly articles in Quaker journals. And he continues …

Frontmatter, Quaker Religious Thought, No. 138, Jon R. Kershner

Quaker Religious Thought

ABOUT THIS ISSUE

Welcome to the Spring 2022 issue of Quaker Religious Thought! Included in this issue are original theological and historical reflections on Quaker practice. The first three articles were given at the January 2022 Quaker Theological Discussion Group panel, “Quaker Approaches to Understanding the Holy Spirit: Pneumatologies in Global Perspective.” Grace Ji-Sun Kim’s article presents an important study of the Korean term han as it applies to the contemporary climate discussion in her article, “Climate Change and the Personal Presence of God.” She contends that an adequate view of the Holy Spirit can help address damaging relationships toward …

Decolonizing Quaker Moves To Innocence: What Would It Take To Decolonize The “Quaker Peace Testimony”?, Tom Kunesh

Quaker Religious Thought

To start talking about “decolonizing the quaker peace testimony,” we must first presume a previously colonized or colonial something, and then to presume quakerism acknowledges it participates in colonization and that that participation is problematic. But quakerism in general—apart from one article, one ad hoc working group, and several yearly meetings’ “repudiation” of roman catholic doctrines of discovery—has not directly addressed its robust participation in the anglo-american colonial past in the United States and elsewhere (genocide, land theft, racial cleansing, broken treaties, concentration of indigenous people into reservations, and re-education through “indian” boarding schools, a.k.a. assimilation camps), the present reality …

Addressing Nurse Burnout, Matthew Panattoni

Doctor of Ministry

The following is an abstract identifying the need, problem, and opportunity for the specific ministry context presented. Key insights emerged and guided the research leading up to the final developments of the project. The project description gives a snapshot of the research and conclusions. The project was developed in response to the NPO: Addressing the need for spiritual resilience to create a positive impact on nurse burnout for rural healthcare nurses providing home health and hospice services.

Key insights were to, first, gain nuanced understanding of rural nurse context; second, define a rural nurse’s values; and, third, seed further visionary …

Eugenicists, Quakers, And Rufus Jones, 1893-1938, David Harrington Watt

Quaker Religious Thought

During his lifetime, Rufus Jones’s skills as a writer, speaker, and organizer won him a great many admirers. In the first half of the twentieth century, Jones was one of the most-admired Quakers in the world. Jones was also, as scholars such as Leigh Schmidt and Matthew Hedstrom have shown, one of the more influential liberal Protestants in the United States. In the early decades of the twentieth century, a great many American liberal Protestants avidly embraced what they thought of as the “science” of eugenics. Thus far, however, Jones’s attitudes toward eugenics have not attracted a great deal of …

Oregon Yearly Meeting And The Peace Testimony, Part Ii: Relationship With The American Friends Service Committee, 1938-1954, Cherice Bock

Quaker Religious Thought

Reflecting its twin heritage in the nineteenth century holiness movement and Quakerism, Oregon Yearly Meeting (OYM) grappled with its identity as it weathered the tumultuous years surrounding World War II (WWII). In Part I of this article, I presented findings from interviews and archival research regarding OYM men’s draft choices in these decades, as well as the emphasis placed on the Quaker peace testimony by the yearly meeting. I concluded that OYM held a strong and relatively integrated understanding of themselves as both Quakers and evangelicals throughout this time period, consistently displaying evangelism, social action, and conscientious objection to war …

Contributors-Quaker Religious Thought, No. 136, Jon R. Kershner

Quaker Religious Thought

No abstract provided.

Review Of Drew Lawson, Movings Of Divine Love: The Love Of God In The Letters Of John Woolman (San Francisco: Inner Light Books, 2020), Jon R. Kershner

Quaker Religious Thought

John Woolman (1720–1772) is well-known to many Quakers. The tailor, schoolteacher, farmer, and Quaker minister worked to free humans from enslavement at the hands of his fellow Quakers. He criticized and rejected the machinations of the British imperial economy and he refused to pay war taxes. He also wrote a journal that has been received as a classic of spiritual autobiography. While less read than his journal, Woolman also wrote essays, many of which were published during his lifetime. Woolman also wrote many letters. Unfortunately, these letters are not readily available for general consumption. They are mostly in manuscript form …