Religion Commons^™

The Influence And Use Of Daniel In The Synoptic Gospels, Reimar Vetne

Dissertations

Scholars have always been aware of influence from the book of Daniel in the Synoptic Gospels. Various allusions to Daniel have been discussed in numerous articles, monographs and commentaries. Now we have for the first time a comprehensive look at all the possible allusions to Daniel in one study.

All the cases are discussed and given an assessment of either 'no allusion', 'uncertain allusion', 'possible allusion', 'probable allusion', or 'certain allusion'.

After reviewing the most common terminology and methodology used in scholarship in the area of literary influence (ch. 1), the bulk of the cases are discussed one by one …

Ezekiel 5:5-17 And Theodicy: A Theological Investigation Of The Character Of God, Paul Onyango Wahonya

Dissertations

The question of the character of God has been an issue of contention among many biblical scholars, particularly when considering the severe punitive actions that he unleashes upon humanity from time to time. This contention makes it imperative to reexamine the biblical corpus to ascertain its portrayal of YHWH's character in the light of his harsh and severe judgments.

The exegetical examination of Ezek 5:5-17 in the context of Ezek 1-24 has revealed that YHWH is a God who upholds the terms of the covenant. When his people breach the covenant stipulations, as the Israelites did, he takes appropriate disciplinary …

A Missiological Study Of The Phenomenon Of Dual Allegiance In The Seventh-Day Adventist Church Among The Yoruba People Of Nigeria, Paul Adekunle Dosunmu

Dissertations

Problem

Many Africans and members of other traditional societies of the world who still hold to a supernaturalistic and spiritualistic worldview visit diviners, shamans, spiritualistic herbalists, and the traditional medicine men and women who use enchantments, divination, charms, invocation of the spirit world, etc. They engage in such practices for various reasons which include, to diagnose and treat various ailments, both physical and psychological which plague their clients, a quest to know the future through divination, and also for the preparation of different kinds of charms and medicines. Christians, including some Yoruba Adventists, also engage in such consultations, a practice …

The Sabbath In The Pentateuch: An Exegetical And Theological Study, Mathilde Frey

Dissertations

Many studies have explored the seventh-day Sabbath in the Pentateuch from historical-critical, theological, and historical perspectives. However, systematic contextual exegesis and close reading of the pentateuchal Sabbath texts have been neglected. This dissertation investigates literary features of these passages in their respective contexts and develops an integrated Sabbath theology from the viewpoint of the Pentateuch as a whole.

In chapter 1, an overview of literature on the biblical Sabbath introduces the topic and describes the methodology of the study. Chapters 2 to 5 explore specific contextual, stylistic, and linguistic elements of the pentateuchal Sabbath pericopes, which contribute to expression of …

Religion, Science, And The Conscious Self: Bio-Psychological Explanation And The Debate Between Dualism And Naturalism, Paul J. Voelker

Dissertations

This dissertation approaches metaphysical and metaethical questions concerning the nature of the human person, the existence and nature of God, and the nature of moral judgment through contemporary neuroscience, cognitive science, scientific moral psychology, and analytic philosophy of mind. Contrary to proposals that seek a harmonious integration of "religion and science" this dissertation argues that contemporary bio-psychological sciences give one ample reason to be skeptical of many of the metaphysical and metaethical claims embedded in religious traditions like Christianity and Buddhism. The first three chapters of the dissertation focus on the metaphysical issue of mind-body dualism while the fourth chapter …

The Principle Of Subsidiarity And Catholic Ecclesiology: Implications For The Laity, Kathryn Reyes Hamrlik

Dissertations

This dissertation examines the principle of subsidiarity as articulated within the body of Catholic social thought, and explores its validity within the governance structure of the Catholic church. Special attention is given to the status and role of the laity, and the implications of subsidiarity with regard to lay authority and decision-making in the church. Chapter One outlines some problems with ecclesial governance today, discusses the current status and role of the laity, and proposes an application of subsidiarity in the church. Chapter Two provides an overview of how the laity has been understood throughout church history to the present …

Filiación-Fraternidad: The Hope Of Human Existence In Light Of Global Disparity. Exploring The Theological Anthropologies Of Karl Rahner And José Ignacio González Faus., Scott M. Myslinski

Dissertations

This dissertation argues that there is a need for Christian theology to critically re-examine human existence through social and structural categories in response to the current direction of globalization which threatens the humanization of human existence. Specifically, there exists a need for a contemporary Christian theological anthropology that is in dialogue with the social sciences and that attempts to develop an understanding of human sin, grace, and redemption in structural and social categories in order to offer an alternative vision of what it means to be human in light of the prevailing anthropology that is at the heart of the …

So That Love May Be Safeguarded: The Nature, Form, And Function Of Obedience As A Heuristic Device For The Theology Of Hans Urs Von Balthasar, Daniel Paul Burns

Dissertations

Hans Urs von Balthasar's literary body of work is enormous. His style is erudite and often abstruse. As a result, it is often difficult to systematize and arrange his work into coherent and consistent categories. This dissertation offers the singular category of obedience as a heuristic device to help render the entire von Balthasarian corpus more understandable. For von Balthasar, the word "obedience" is multivalent and rich in meaning. It cuts across all aspects of human relationships, of human relationships with God, and even God's relationship with Himself. This dissertation claims that the meaning of the word "obedience" is central …

Theology As Improvisation: Using The Musical Metaphor Of Attunement To Think Theologically, Nathan Crawford

Dissertations

This project places itself within the tradition of Christian theology which has sought to think about its thinking of God. In so doing, the tradition has seen it necessary to do this thinking in light of one's contemporary situation. Thus, this project carries this line of thought through by thinking the thinking of God within the contemporary context. The thesis of the project is that theology is improvisation. This thesis is advanced through an analysis of the idea of attunement in both theology and improvisation.

The project articulates the nature of theology as improvisation by analyzing the nature of attunement …

Trilectic Of Testimony: A Phenomenological Construal Of The Eucharist As Manifestation-Proclamation-Attestation, Donald Lee Wallenfang

Dissertations

This thesis seeks to revolutionize thinking the sacrament, in particular the Eucharist. Instead of construing the Eucharist in terms of substance or symbol, the Eucharist is construed phenomenologically as manifestation-proclamation-attestation. In this way, the particular emphases of Catholic (manifestation), Jewish and Protestant (proclamation, attestation) thought converge around the question of the phenomenality of the religious phenomenon, specifically the Eucharist-phenomenon. Representative of each of these three faith traditions, the following prominent thinkers are placed in dialectical confrontation: Jean-Luc Marion (Catholic, manifestation), Paul Ricoeur (Protestant, proclamation/attestation) and Emmanuel Levinas (Jewish, proclamation/attestation). Building on the seminal work of Louis-Marie Chauvet, Symbole et sacrement: …

A Diachronic Analysis Of The Use Of Scripture In The Variant Versions Of The Apocryphon Of John, David Creech

Dissertations

This dissertation explores at length the Apocryphon of John's ambivalent treatment of the Jewish and Christian scriptures. Although Moses is explicitly corrected at five points in the text--four times mentioned by name (NHC II 13,18-21; 22,22-25; 23,3-4; and 29,6-10) and one time by inference (NHC II 21,9-14)--the Genesis account of creation is nonetheless the basis for the Apocryphon's cosmogony and anthropogony. It is argued that the Apocryphon's uneven treatment of the Bible is the result of a development of the text in the midst of a dispute with other early catholics.

Long-Term Relationships Between Religiousness And Posttraumatic Stress Response Following Resource Loss From Hurricane Katrina, Amy Katherine Chamberlain

Dissertations

The experience of living through Hurricane Katrina and the resulting losses incurred from the storm have had lasting effects on residents of the United States Gulf Coast. One way in which survivors of Hurricane Katrina have attempted to cope with the resulting stress of such loss is through religious means. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of resource loss on the resulting stress reactions for survivors, particularly in light of the impact religiosity, religious social support, and religious coping have on long-term stress responses to the disaster. Literature shows that these religious factors have been found …

Agape And Personal Knowledge, Peter Eric Bergeron

Dissertations

The aim of this dissertation is to explore the connection between love and personal knowledge and what Jesus' life and teaching reveal about the relationship between these. I want to distinguish that form of love or caring that makes relationships personal from those forms, like benevolence or compassion, where the concern is impersonal. It is commonly thought in contemporary Western culture that the autonomy necessary for mature moral agency or for the realization of one's unique personal identity is diminished by the influence of other persons. In contrast, I argue that the relational image of love, or agape, in the …

Principles Of Church-State Relationships In The Writings Of Ellen G. White, Marcio D. Costa

Dissertations

The Topic

Since the beginnings of Seventh-day Adventism there have been real or perceived tensions between two contrasting perspectives of church-state relationships: (1) the “eschatological view” that a union of church and state will lead to persecution in the times preceding the second coming of Christ, and (2) the “temporal view” that in order to accomplish its mission in the present, the church needs to work in an independent, but non-conflictual relationship with the state as far as it can do so without violating its primary allegiance to God.

The Purpose

In order to discover Ellen G. White’s position on …

Evaluation Of The Formal And Informal Curricula Of The North American Division Evangelism Institute, Calvin Novaraj Joshua

Dissertations

Purpose. The purpose of this study was to conduct a formal program evaluation of the North American Division Evangelism Institute (NADEI). The goal of NADEI is to equip pastors and laity for ministry. It developed over 30 years, and has presented formal and informal educational programs during that time. This helped it emerge as an indispensable unit in the North American Division (NAD), Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary (SDATS), and Andrews University (AU). However, the programs of NADEI had not been evaluated.

Method. This study followed an Evaluative Case Study Design to evaluate the formal and informal programs of NADEI. Formal …

The Interpretation Of The Lord's Prayer, Q 11:2b-4, In The Formative Stratum Of Q According To The Literary And Cultural Perspectives Afforded By The Affixed Aphorisms, Q 11:9-10, 11-13, Richard Wendel

Dissertations

The Lord's Prayer is one of the most discussed texts within the Christian scriptures (Matt 6:9-13/Luke 11:2b-4). Most commentators have focused on the Matthean version of the prayer and have overlooked the source from which it comes: Q and its context. Both canonical versions of the prayer alter it and place it in different literary settings. This re-contextualizing of the original prayer has produced interpretations that either obscure or reinterpret the message from Q. These efforts have been overly influenced by extraneous source material, often subject to certain interpretative tendencies involving Jewish prophetic, Jewish intertestamental apocalyptic literature, and/or Christian eschatological …

An Analysis Of Teacher Satisfaction In The Seventh-Day Adventist Church Schools In Zimbabwe, Silas Masuku

Dissertations

Problem. Various studies have been conducted internationally on teacher satisfaction in private and public schools. Similar studies have also been done in Seventh-day Adventist church schools around the world. The importance of teacher satisfaction is crucial for the stability of education institutions in shaping students for success in their communities. The purpose of this study was to analyze perceptions of the level of satisfaction on factors deemed important to teachers in Seventh-day Adventist church schools in Zimbabwe. This research study also considered the pattern of teacher turnover in the schools.

Methodology. A stratified random sample of 442 teachers from …

An Evaluation Of Health Behavior Change During A General Education Health Course, Lynn M. Merklin

Dissertations

Problem. There have been no studies as to the effectiveness of the one-credit general education health course at Andrews University, Fit for Life, in promoting the adoption of healthy lifestyle behaviors. Because behavior change is a process that occurs over time, any measurement of student health behaviors must be sensitive enough to detect the early stages of behavior change as well as the behaviors themselves.

Method. The purpose of this study was to determine the degree to which students enrolled in Fit for Life adopted the health behaviors promoted in the course, evidenced by progress through the stages …

Correlation Between The Leadership Practices Of Lead Ministers And The Workplace Spirituality Of Their Churches As Reported By Church Members, Richard A. Devost

Dissertations

Purpose. People seek for meaning in their work and lives. Researchers have recently conceptualized the experience of meaning at work under the construct workplace spirituality, which describes people's experience of both their work and their workplaces from a spiritual perspective. Recent research in organizations has found a relationship between the spirituality of the leaders and the workplace spirituality of the work units.

Christians often expect their churches to be spiritual workplaces where work will bring a sense of deep spiritual well-being and meaning. Pastors are spiritual leaders in their congregations. However, it is unclear if the practices associated with positive …

Cosmic Conflict As A Hermeneutical Framework For Mission Theology In The Old Testament, Cristian Dumitrescu

Dissertations

This research aims to rediscover mission as taught by the Old Testament and to show how that mission is consistent with God's loving and just character as reflected in the whole Bible. Toward this end, the research surveys assumptions that influence Old Testament mission theology and evaluates ways in which current theologies of mission and theological currents relate to the unity and continuity of the Bible. With this background, the study then proposes a comprehensive theological framework that preserves the unity of God's character and his mission.

Chapter 1 shows how the traditional understanding of centrifugal and centripetal mission is …

Haima In Hebrews, Hermann V. Kuma

Dissertations

Problem. The focus of the dissertation is the significance of the term αἷμα (“blood”) in the Epistle to the Hebrews and how the author of Hebrews uses the term to formulate the argument and message of the Epistle. The dissertation traces the scholarly blood debate involving blood as life or death which began in the last decade of the nineteenth century and eventually fizzled out in the mid-1950s. Recognition of the ambivalence of blood, symbolizing both life and death, is necessary to understand the message of Hebrews.

Method. The dissertation provides a discussion of the concept of blood in the …

A Comparative Analysis Of The Kingdom Of God In The Writings Of George Eldon Ladd And Ellen G. White, Changyoung Lee

Dissertations

Abstract. Since Seventh-day Adventist eschatology is often perceived as seriously deviating from other Evangelical eschatological views, it would be desirable and fitting to discover whether significant agreement or disagreement exists between Evangelical eschatological views in regard to the Kingdom of God. The purpose of this study was to make an analytical comparison of the concept of the Kingdom of God in the writings of two representative Evangelical voices, George Eldon Ladd, a well-known Baptist theologian, and Ellen G. White, a significant Adventist writer, in order to understand the similarities and differences that exist between the concepts of the Kingdom of …

The Origin, Development, And History Of The Norwegian Seventh-Day Adventist Church From The 1840s To 1889, Bjorgvin Martin Hjelvik Snorrason

Dissertations

This dissertation reconstructs chronologically the history of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Norway from the Haugian Pietist revival in the early 1800s to the establishment of the first Seventh-day Adventist Conference in Norway in 1887.

The present study has been based as far as possible on primary sources such as protocols, letters, legal documents, and articles in journals, magazines, and newspapers from the nineteenth century. A contextual-comparative approach was employed to evaluate the objectivity of a given source. Secondary sources have also been consulted for interpretation and as corroborating evidence, especially when no primary sources were available.

The study concludes …

Clergy Family Systems Training And How It Changes Clergy Leadership Attitudes And Practices, Michael J. Aufderhar

Dissertations

Problem. Clergy persons without an awareness of their family system patterns and reactivity often exercise their leadership in unhealthy ways that are damaging to their congregations. This study described changes in leadership attitudes and practices experienced by clergy participants in a Family Systems training program conducted by Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary.

Method. This qualitative case study followed a narrative design. I collected data while participating in the program and 3 years later conducted semi-structured person-to-person interviews with all participants who were willing and available. The data also include drawings by each participant depicting their experience before and after the intervention. …

A Historical-Contextual Analysis Of The Final-Generation Theology Of M. L. Andreasen, Paul M. Evans

Dissertations

Topic

This study analyzes the teaching of the early twentieth-century Seventh-day Adventist writer M. L. Andreasen regarding a final-generation perfection that vindicates God in the great controversy between good and evil, comparing Andreasen’s views with related concepts in the writings of previous Adventist writers.

Purpose

The study has the limited objective of attempting to trace possible antecedents for Andreasen’s final-generation theology in the writings of other Adventists, in order to determine the degree of uniqueness or variance in Andreasen’s views. By means of this historical-contextual analysis, relationships are clarified between Andreasen’s views and those of other prominent Adventist writers, such …

Theology Of Blindness In The Hebrew Scriptures, Ray Mcallister

Dissertations

Problem: A number of passages in the Hebrew Scriptures discuss blindness. Scholars have studied them individually, but not with a view to developing a theology of blindness. The purpose of the present dissertation, then, is to analyze theological implications of blindness in the Hebrew Scriptures systematically.

Methodology: This dissertation systematically analyzes blindness in the Hebrew Scriptures against their ancient Near Eastern background. The study looks at cultic implications, causation, social justice, healing, and social and religious meanings of blindness. Both physical and metaphorical aspects of blindness are examined. First, blindness in the ancient Near East is considered, with emphasis on …

An Investigation Of The Relationship Between Community Connectedness And Congregational Spiritual Vitality, Rhonda Louise Whitney

Dissertations

Problem. Discussion over how to achieve church growth has been prominent over the first decade of this century and the last half of the 1900s as membership growth in mainline Christian denominations faltered to flat or negative growth. Membership growth in the Oregon Conference of Seventh-day Adventists over the past 10 years has also flattened. Church leaders have responded by putting increased resources and emphasis on evangelism. At the same time, some megachurches that have developed multiple connections with their communities have seen spectacular growth.

Method. This study was conducted to determine if there is a relationship between levels …

I Am Black And Beautiful: An Examiniaton Of The Black Coptic Church As The Manifestation Of Liberation Theology, Leonard Mckinnis

Dissertations

What does the Black Coptic Church have to offer the study of Black theology? This is the essential question this dissertation seeks to examine through a descriptive and constructive analysis. I submit the doctrinal formulation of black liberation theology is locatable within the Black Coptic Church, which was founded, and still boasts its largest membership in Chicago. This is the tradition that has informed my own faith background and has played a tremendous role in my earlier theological convictions. In fact, I was attracted to this tradition as a young child because it seemed to offer its adherents a sense …

Business Ethics And Global Age Cosmopolitanism, Isaias Ramon Rivera

Dissertations

This dissertation is a study of business ethics and business education. It is particularly focused on the Business Administration degree and the business ethics literature, while also considering university students, professors, and business practitioners. The key problem I address is how to create and teach an ethics of Global Age Cosmopolitanism (GAC). I approach this problem through a philosophical analysis focusing on political, economic, and educational principles. It is my hope that such an ethics will cause university professors and students to become engaged citizens who seek to solve the many problems that affect society and to sustain structural justice …

An Overarching Defense Of Kant's Idea Of The Highest Good, Alonso Villaran

Dissertations

The main goal of this dissertation is to develop an overarching defense of Kant's idea of the highest good, against the criticisms pointed out in the English-speaking world, within the framework of the so-called "Beck-Silber controversy."

As it is known, since the second half of the last century, when the "Beck-Silber controversy" started, Kant's idea of the highest good has been subject to a massive attack. These attacks motivated, in turn, the emergence of a counterforce of defenders, a group that I attempt to join through this work. Particularly, I have identified six criticisms against Kant's idea of the highest …