Religion Commons^™

Evolving Faith: Wanderings Of A Mormon Biologist, Steven L. Peck

Maxwell Institute Publications

Believers and scientists have long wrestled over the relationship between science and faith. Steven L. Peck, an acclaimed Latter-day Saint author and scientist, demonstrates in this new book that both science and faith are indispensable tools we can use to navigate God’s strange and beautiful creation. Evolving Faith is a collection of technical, personal, sometimes whimsical essays about Mormon theology, evolution, human consciousness, the environment, sacred spaces, and more.

With the mind of a scientist, the soul of a believer, and the heart of a wanderer, Peck provides welcome companionship for women and men engaged in the unceasing quest for …

Postponing Heaven: The Three Nephites, The Bodhisattva, And The Mahdi, Jad Hatem

Maxwell Institute Publications

Christianity, like other world religions, surprisingly acknowledges the existence of a plurality of human messiahs. In this comparative work, philosopher Jad Hatem examines Mormonism’s Three Nephites, Buddhism’s Bodhisattva, and Islam’s Mahdi—distinctive messianic figures who postpone Heaven, sacrificially prolonging their lives for the benefit of humankind.

Originally published in French, this translation includes two additional papers written by Jad Hatem dealing with aspects of Latter-day Saint belief and a new interview between Hatem and Latter-day Saint philosopher James E. Faulconer.

A Seminar For Building Strong Marriages And Healthy Relationships In South Bend Hispanic Seventh-Day Adventist Church, Ronald Rojas

Doctor of Ministry Projects

Problem

Despite the high biblical ideals for marriage and the divine power that is available to enable marital commitments to endure, the Seventh-day Adventist church recognizes the possibility that some individuals will not survive in marriage. Over the past 35 years (1974-2009) there has been a decline in the percentage of couples still in their first marriage (from 81% in 1974 to 58% in 2009) among Adventists in North America, which is very similar to the decline in percentage of married couples (from 82% in 1970 to 48% in 2010) in the United States (U.S. Census Bureau, 2010). As a …

Contextualized Biblical Preaching Program For Young Adult Lay Preachers In Kenya, Fenades Obinchu

Doctor of Ministry Projects

Problem

The Seventh-day Adventist Church in Kenya has the highest membership in the East Central African Division (ECD) with an average of one pastor for 1,136 members. Not only is the membership high and increasing, but each pastor has an average of seven churches (as of 2013) (General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, 2003-2013). The majority of the membership is comprised of youth (13-17 years) and young adults (18-30 years). Even though youth and young adults comprise the majority of the membership, there is minimal level of active participation and low commitments from them in the life of the church, especially …

A Discipleship Project For New Members At The St. John's Seventh-Day Adventist Church, Wayne Rupert Knowles

Doctor of Ministry Projects

Problem

During the first decade of the 21st century, a review of the ministry structure of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in St. Johns, Antigua, was done. It revealed that there was a need for a systematic plan to nurture new members into leaders. Although there were new converts classes held and materials were available for study, there were few organized plans within the church that would assist new members to become spiritually mature and equipped for ministry. This lack of structure has resulted in very few people being prepared to serve in the ministries of the church. Something needed to …

A Soul Care Teaching And Discipling Model To Aid Millennial Youth In Developing Healthy Relationships With God, Self, And Others In The Nottingham Central Seventh-Day Adventist Church, Georgina Miller

Doctor of Ministry Projects

Problem

A large proportion of youth and young adults classified as Millennials (also known as Generation Y) within the Adventist Church worldwide are hurting because of lack of acceptance, love, and healthy self-worth. This youth group has issues with trusting others, especially society at large and authority figures, due to negative experiences in their past, which has painfully scarred them. They have an unhealthy view of who God really is based on the dysfunctional role models they have grown up with and see around them. The church’s limited ability to connect and relate with the postmodern culture, due to a …

The Development And Implementation Of A Community-Based Evangelism Model In The Word Of Life Seventh-Day Adventist Church In Memphis, Tn, Fred Batten Jr.

Doctor of Ministry Projects

Problem

Studies (Arn, 1988) reported that over 80% of churches in America are in a period of stagnation or decline relative to growth. Despite the mega-church trend in America, most churches will not add one person to the membership rolls in a given year (Sylvia, 2004). A safe conclusion is that attendance is also on a downward trend. Research (Burrill, 2007) suggests that from historical bases the Seventh-day Adventist church does a good job in the area of evangelism. In 2006 the statistical report of the world Adventist church highlighted that over 3,000 people joined the church through baptism on …

A Modular Graduate Course In Christian Leadership With An Emphasis On Servant Leadership For The Inter-American Adventist Theological Seminary (Iats), Raquel Yridamia Rodriguez

Doctor of Ministry Projects

Problem

An issue of major concern in Adventist universities in the territory of the Inter- American Division is the lack of training in the subject of leadership at the undergraduate level. The curriculum focuses more on the biblical and spiritual areas, while it neglects to offer those classes that develop leadership skills. Since pastors are the model leaders for their congregations, this course on Christian leadership, with an emphasis on the "servant-model," will help to train pastors in this area, hopefully coping with the current leadership training deficiency.

Method

A theoretical foundation was established for suggesting and developing a servant …

Enhancing The Quality Of Friendship In Married Couples' Relationships In The Madison, Tennessee Hispanic Sda District, Nathan Delima

Doctor of Ministry Projects

Purpose

The purpose of the study was to explore the possibility of enhancing the friendship of certain married couples in the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the Madison, Tennessee Hispanic District. This project resource should add to the academic field of study by possibly helping pastors, family educators, and church family life leaders to consider using this project to help enrich the relationships of married couples. It will likely provide resource information for those doing projects or working with married couples.

Justification for the Project

There is a need to nurture the friendship of the married couples within the churches of …

Brazilian Adventist Women And Their Needs: Toward Theological-Missiological Education With An Initial Curriculum Proposal, Hanny Brcic Guzman

Doctor of Ministry Projects

Problem

Brazilian Adventist women have had limited access to theological-missiological education, partly because of a hierarchical, male-centered biblical interpretation of gender relations as applied to female teaching and learning experiences within the community of faith. Although the church intends to involve women in a kind of ministry that assumes a hierarchical paradigm, this remediative action is limited to motivation, outreach, and Christian piety.

Method

This theological-missiological non-formal curricular intervention provides access to theological education as well as role models for women in the church. It attempts to transform this restrictive scenario by the interpretation of the perspective and values of …

Developing Men/Fathers As Spiritual Leaders In The Home In Kitsap County, Washington, Tobin K. R. Dodge

Doctor of Ministry Projects

Problem

The Adventist church, along with most religious organizations today, struggles to develop a multigenerational faith vision and practice among its believers. Fewer Adventist youth and young adults appear to have an Adventist worldview or share the churches core values. They are often absent from general church life and worship. The research that has led to this project addresses men/fathers as being a primary solution in faith transmission and spiritual nurture of the next generation. Yet, the current vacancy of fathers in the homes and churches has created some of the greatest social needs in American society today. Literature is …

A Membership Retention Strategy For The Maranatha Seventh-Day Adventist Church, Conrad St. George Duncan

Doctor of Ministry Projects

Problem

For the past three decades, pastors and lay leaders of the Maranatha Seventh-day Adventist Church, situated in the city of Miami Gardens, Florida, USA, have fostered the longing for a comprehensive discipleship strategy that is geared toward new member retention. Although church leaders have attempted to address the problem of attrition, due to the lack of effective discipleship, by hiring full time Bible workers, forming new member classes, and creating ministry opportunities, a sustainable, competency-driven, and user-friendly curriculum did not emerge. Due to a combined growth rate of 29. 4% in membership, between the years 2002-2012, a comprehensive discipleship …

Desarrollo E Implementacion De Un Seminario De Mayordomia Biblica Para Pastores Adventistas Del Septimo Dia De La Asociacion Colombiana Centro Occidental, Mario Nino

Doctor of Ministry Projects

Problem

Administrators of the Seventh-day Adventist Church (SDA) in the West Central Colombian Conference (WCCC) have requested a seminar on stewardship to facilitate the preaching, teaching, and better understanding of the biblical stewardship. The Conference is interested in fulfilling the command “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned” (Mark 16:15-16). However, the lack of financial resources has become a challenge to fulfill this mission. Due to this situation, the WCCC reduced the number of pastors between 2005-2009, …

Equipping Church Leaders To Minister To Abused And Oppressed People, Marion Winifred Duncan

Doctor of Ministry Projects

Problem

Miles (2011) maintains that no church community is "immune" to situations of abuse, "yet" he said, "pastors still receive very little training in this area" (p. x). As a result, many victims of abuse are seen to experience secondary victimization on top of the trauma that brought them to their church for help in the first place. This secondary victimization has been caused by the utilization of simplistic scriptural solutions to complex life situations. These solutions are well known in the churches and commonly used, having been handed down from generation to generation. The pastors who use them are …

A Strategic Marketing Plan For Community Ministries At The Toronto West Seventh-Day Adventist Church, Allan Roy Chichester

Doctor of Ministry Projects

Problem

The Toronto West Seventh-day Adventist Church is a large church that has a membership of 1,306, located in a very diverse urban community of Etobicoke North in Toronto, with variety in ethnicity, language, culture and religion. In the church’s neighborhood, there is a growing immigrant population that is currently in flux due to the constant demographic transition. This certainly poses a number of challenges for this church because there are so many varying ethnic and cultural groups that make ministering to this community very difficult. The church has tried to reach its neighbors by hosting community services events such …

A Program For Increasing Personal Reflection From A Biblical Perspective For Spiritual Growth At The Topeka Wanamaker Seventh-Day Adventist Church, George Mclain Goddard

Doctor of Ministry Projects

Problem

Shortly after arriving as the new pastor of the Wanamaker church I noticed the appearance of spiritual immaturity and disunity among members and stress between members and leaders. People gave time and talent to the church, yet complained about each other’s actions. It seemed that misperceptions of self, others, and God among members blocked spiritual development toward the maturity and unity that Christ prayed for (John 17). The root of the problem seemed to be perceptual. A developmental program was needed that would be accessible to people across the broad spectrum of understanding and move them toward Christian maturity …

Programa De Capacitacion Para Involucrar Al Nuevo Creyente En La Testificacion En La Asociacion De Allegheny West, Walter Castro

Doctor of Ministry Projects

Problem

The purpose of this study was to analyze the results of a training program for the new believers of the Allegheny West Conference of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. The AWC was established in 1967, and for more than 30 years there was no Hispanic presence throughout its vast territory that covers almost four states. When they managed to establish some Hispanic groups of believers, it was neither because of soul winning, nor because of a clear established witnessing plan, nor a large evangelistic effort or a strategic evangelistic plan to reach a new area. The records indicate that most …

Making Disciples: Applying Steps To Christ In The Glenorchy Seventh-Day Adventist Church, Mark Falconer

Doctor of Ministry Projects

Problem

The spirituality of a large percentage of church members at the Glenorchy church in Tasmania, is primarily based on knowledge about God with little concept of how biblical spirituality interacts with daily life. A recent Natural Church Development survey revealed passionate spirituality and loving relationships scored extremely low and revealed a profound need to engage spiritually with God on a daily basis. The members of Glenorchy Church have a high regard for Scripture and the writings of Ellen White, and therefore have read Steps to Christ, but few have experienced the transformational presence of God in their daily lives …

A Family Enrichment Workshop To Enhance Communication Skills Among African-American Families At The Berean Seventh-Day Adventist Church In Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Robert L. Davis Sr.

Doctor of Ministry Projects

Problem

Research has established that healthy communication skills contribute to marital and family satisfaction among African-Americans. African-American families, in particular, are in need of communication skills and enhancement resources that address their specific ethnic and cultural dynamics. The Berean Seventh-day Adventist Church is a predominately African-American church located in the Belfair community of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Currently the Seventh-day Adventist Church does not provide any researched family enrichment resources that address the specific dynamics of African-American Seventh-day Adventist families, which makes it necessary for research, resources, and programs to be developed that assist Seventh-day Adventist African-American families with healthy communication …

Development Of Lay Leadership Through Teleconferencing In The Early Bird Bible School, Choong Hwan Lee

Doctor of Ministry Projects

Problem

As a pastor in local South Korean Adventist churches in the United States, I tried several times to train and nurture members, but there was not much fruit. I discovered that the activities of lay leaders in these churches were steadily declining. Although there are many causes, the most serious challenge is a lack of leadership development training for lay leaders. And then, when leadership training is provided, the program fails to promote an evangelistic passion and ultimately causes a deficit of training for future church leaders. Even when churches do provide the program, many Korean Adventists cannot attend …

A Worship Model To Blend Cultural Differences At The Los Angeles Spanish-American Seventh-Day Adventist Church, Rogelio Paquini-Ledesma

Doctor of Ministry Projects

Problem

The membership of the Spanish-American Seventh-day Adventist Church (SASDAC), in Los Angeles is culturally diverse; it includes immigrants from several Latin American countries, as well as Hispanics born in the U.S. Currently, the mixture of cultures, worship traditions, and language brought to the church setting by immigrants do not blend well with the worship style and language of church members raised in this country. Hispanics born in this country do not feel confortable in a worship service led in Spanish and tend to leave the Hispanic church. As a result, the church has lost many members and tithes and …

Exploring The Principles Behind Effective Collaborative Ministry On Multi-Point Charges In The Peninsula-Delaware Conference Of The United Methodist Church, Drew Mitchell Christian

All Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Peninsula-Delaware Conference of the United Methodist Church covers the Eastern Shore of Maryland and the State of Delaware. The area, known as the “Birthplace of Methodism,” has 451 churches. Many churches are older, small membership congregations and are not able to afford their own pastor. Many pastors serve multiple congregations as part of a United Methodist Charge. As issues in surrounding communities become more complex, attendance declines, and resources diminish, congregations must work together in order to make a significant impact on their communities and fulfil the Great Commission. Throughout biblical history there are examples of God calling His …

Learning From Experience: A Critical, Collective Process Following International Short-Term Mission Travel, Nancy Vigander Winfrey

Educational Studies Dissertations

This qualitative dissertation seeks to explore the impact of short-term mission (STM) travel on American Christian volunteers, leveraging the small group structure already present in many churches. Using a participatory action research approach, small groups from two different Protestant churches engaged in cycles of dialogue, reflection and action. The group process was framed by Habermas’ concept of communicative space with emphasis on emotional knowing, cognitive reasoning, and creative expression. Data were collected from session recordings, written documents and process field notes. Content and process analyses were guided by transformative and situated learning theories. Findings were unique to each congregational group, …

A Member Of No Community? Theology After Wittgenstein, Brad Kallenberg

Theology and Religious Studies Faculty Publications

The study of Wittgenstein has spawned a new sort of Christian theology. A growing list of theologians have discovered in Wittgenstein a therapy for conceptual confusion and tips for how to go on, not only in religious faith and practice, but also in the practice of theology as an academic discipline. This is not to say that such thinkers have succeeded in turning Wittgenstein into an instrument of apologetics or that Wittgenstein has “delivered” them from the grip of their own religious particularity. No; they have learned from Wittgenstein the skill of silence. Their theology, like Wittgenstein’s philosophy, comes to …

Ecclesial Practices, Colin M. Mcguigan, Brad Kallenberg

Theology and Religious Studies Faculty Publications

In this chapter, we first provide an overview of the place of practice in some of the most prominent recent epistemologists of religion; second, we give an account of an ordinary practice (engineering) to flesh out a general conception of the importance of practice in training cognizers for skilled perception; third, and last, we connect the results of this inquiry with renewed theological and philosophical interest in the ‘spiritual senses’ tradition. The upshot of these reflections is the conclusion that an adequate account of social practices already anticipates the possibility that ecclesial practice might contribute to an epistemic transformation capable …

Practicing To Aim At Truth: Theological Engagements In Honor Of Nancey Murphy, Ryan Newson, Brad Kallenberg

Theology and Religious Studies Faculty Publications

Well-meaning evangelicals unfamiliar with Nancey Murphy’s philosophical theology frequently worry that her work in philosophy of mind has the effect of depriving us of our souls. When such an objection is voiced after a speaking engagement, Murphy’s “reassurance” is predictable: “Don’t worry! There is nothing to be lost; we never had souls to begin with!”

Underneath her wry reply is a deep concern that philosophical confusion about “having a soul” is seriously undermining Christian discipleship. For example, it has become second nature for many Christians to hold that the soul is more important than the body; regardless of the state …

Extraordinary Love In The Lives Of Lay People, Dennis M. Doyle

Theology and Religious Studies Faculty Publications

The College Theology Society (CTS), initially called the Society of Catholic College Teachers of Sacred Doctrine, was founded mainly by religious and clergy in the early 1950s to support those who taught college-level theology to Catholics in non-seminary settings. Sometimes CTS, in comparison with another group, is said to be relatively more lay-oriented. What this actually means, I think, is that for the CTS, the college classroom, populated mainly by lay people, was the primary locus for carrying out the task of teaching theology.

The main goal was to promote the religious formation of Catholic lay people. Given some of …

We Do Not Know How To Love: Observations On Theology, Technology And Disability, Jana Marguerite Bennett

Theology and Religious Studies Faculty Publications

Does technology enable those who are disabled to be fuller members of society, or does it ultimately seek to eradicate disability and so promote a kind of eugenics against those who are disabled? In the late 1990s and early 2000s, literature and debate on this question ran rampant. A common example is that of cochlear implants, which endured much debate at the time within the Deaf community regarding whether they eradicate an impairment— or whether implants actually do away with entire communities of the Deaf and thus displace an important minority culture. Yet, very little is written today on this …

Otto Semmelroth, Sj, And The Ecclesiology Of The ‘Church As Sacrament’ At Vatican Ii, Dennis M. (Dennis Michael) Doyle

Theology and Religious Studies Faculty Publications

This essay will demonstrate how Otto Semmelroth’s preconciliar work on the Church as sacrament connects with several ecclesiological themes that would later be developed in Lumen Gentium. These themes include the importance of a lay-inclusive Church, the universal call to holiness, the relationship between Mary and the Church, a Trinitarian ecclesial spirituality, and the use of sacrament as a fundamental category for organizing and interpreting a variety of images and concepts of the Church.'

First will come an attempt to take the measure of Semmelroth’s significant impact on Lumen Gentium within the context of the myriad contributions made by a …

Vatican Ii And Intellectual Conversion: Engaging The Struggle Within, Dennis M. (Dennis Michael) Doyle

Theology and Religious Studies Faculty Publications

In 1980 I took a course with Joseph Komonchak entitled “The History and Theology of Vatican II” at the Catholic University of America. True to the title, Komonchak was doing history and theology together at the same time on a class-by-class basis. He would bring in documents from the Council and from the times leading up to it, often in Latin, and he would talk about how his goals as a theologian required him to work in a historical manner. To understand Vatican II, or the Church itself for that matter, required not just understanding theological concepts but also grasping …