Religion Commons^™

Moving Past: Making Space For Memory After The Boston Marathon Bombing, Austin Thomas Jacobs

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

In the aftermath of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, visitors from across the US and the world descended on Boston to pay their respects to the three people who were killed and the more than 260 who were injured at the race's finish line. The public commemorated the tragedy in multiple and diffuse spaces, both physical and virtual. In recognition of this fact, I use the changing location of the spontaneous shrine as an organizing structure for this study, analyzing the memorialization in three "movements,” each of which corresponds to a physical relocation of the shrine itself in the weeks …

Disciplining Yoga: Foucauldian Themes In Sivananda Yoga Practice, Mark E. Eaton

Publications and Research

This paper considers the yoga practices at the Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Center as “disciplinary” practices. Yoga has a long history of being interpreted as “discipline”; this paper will consider how it is disciplinary and what is being disciplined. To this end, this paper will frame Sivananda yoga as a discipline from two perspectives: Sarah Strauss’ characterization of yoga as an “oasis regime”; and Michel Foucault’s view of discipline as minute “carceral” elaborations of power. These approaches are contrasted and ultimately, following Foucault, yoga disciplines are understood as being constitutive of the subject. The disciplinary character of yoga at the Sivananda …

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 …

Utah’S Role In Protecting The Mormon Trail During The Civil War, Kenneth L. Alford Ph.D.

Faculty Publications

This chapter (from the 2015 book “Far Away in the West: Reflections on the Mormon Pioneer Trail” published by the Brigham Young University Religious Studies Center) sets the stage for Utah Territory’s role protecting the Mormon Trail during the Civil War by outlining the Utah War (1857-1858). This essay begins by comparing and contracting Washington, DC’s wartime interest in the trail with that of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and Utah Territory. The essay then outlines the changing parties who were responsible for the trail between 1861 and 1865 – the U.S. Army (spring-summer 1861), no one …

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 …

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 …

Attending To Reality: Iris Murdoch On The Moral Good, Ante Jeroncic

Faculty Publications

Even a scant acquaintance with current cultural and philosophical trends will readily point to a widespread predilection for subjectivist forms of moral reasoning. By “subjectivist” I refer to various non-cognitivist and constructionist paradigms in moral philosophy and popular parlance that reduce ethical statements to expressions of individual or collective preferences, feelings, or prejudices stripped of any object-given normativity. Th e following are but some of the factors that fuel such perspectives: the proverbial fact/value dichotomy and anti-realist sentiments pervading large swaths of analytic philosophy; poststructuralist and postcolonial “genealogies” that tie the language of universal morality to discourses of power, patriarchy, …

Bodies Bending Boundaries: Religious, Spiritual, And Secular Identities Of Modern Postural Yoga In The Ozarks, Kimberley J. Pingatore

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

Modern postural yoga is an amalgamation of practices that continues to defy traditional explanatory models that understand religious, spiritual, and secular to be mutually exclusive categories. In this project, I conduct in-depth interviews with yoga instructors in the Ozarks. In these interviews, I asked my informants to explain how they understand religious, spiritual, and secular. I then asked if and how they would use those words to describe yoga. These interviews revealed that religious, spiritual, and secular are not mutually exclusive, but are instead related, blended, and connected, especially when used to describe yoga. These findings inform my proposed explanatory …

The Christian Farmers Federation Of Ontario: Integrating Christian Principles With The Practicality Of Farming, Suzanne M. Armstrong

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This thesis examines the Christian identity and characteristics of the Christian Farmers Federation of Ontario (CFFO), a general farm organization active in the diverse agricultural sector of Ontario, Canada. It highlights the intersection of religion and farming that emerged from interviews and participant observation within this group. The thesis probes what it means for them to be responsible Christian farmers in contemporary agriculture. Christian and secular scholars from three key areas of scholarship—Dutch immigration to Canada, agriculture of the middle or family farming, and Christian stewardship—help to contextualize their responses.

The CFFO was founded as a Dutch neo-Calvinist organization within …

The Reinvention Of The Canadian Armed Forces Chaplaincy And The Limits Of Religious Pluralism, Michael T. Peterson Rev. Dr.

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The Reinvention of the Canadian Armed Forces Chaplaincy offers an analysis of how an historically Christian religious organization, one prominently sited within an important Canadian institution, adapted to pluralism. This research is the first to examine Canada’s military chaplaincy since Benham Rennick’s (2011) more broadly focused study of the role of religion in the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF). My study is the first to focus specifically on the chaplaincy and on the ways in which it has sought to develop and maintain a pluralist identity. I trace the process by which a legacy Christian institution developed a self-image as a …

Canadian Christian Nationalism?: The Religiosity And Politics Of The Christian Heritage Party Of Canada, Leah A D Mckeen

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

In this dissertation I examines the worldview and concerns held by members of the Christian Heritage Party of Canada (CHP) as a means of understanding Canada’s Christian Right. I present a perspective of Canada’s Christian Right that challenges assumptions made about this religio-political ideology by showing how the political choices made by members of the CHP make sense within the members’ context. The CHP is a federal political party, first registered in 1986, that markets itself as “Canada’s only pro-life party.” Although the party was initially developed by a group of conservative Protestants and Roman Catholics, the majority of its …

Masjids, Ashrams And Mazars: Transnational Sufism And The Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Fellowship, Merin Shobhana Xavier

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

The Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Fellowship is a community that formed in relation to the Tamil teacher Muhammad Raheem Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (d. 1986). Bawa’s teachings attracted diverse followers- those with Islamic inclinations, those from Jewish, Hindu and Christian backgrounds, and those seeking to transcend religious creeds. With his passing and no appointed successor, the communities that developed during Bawa Muhaiyaddeen’s lifetime rely now on the institutions and spaces established by him. These include a mosque and burial shrine (mazar) in Pennsylvania and an ashram and shrine in Sri Lanka. This case study of the Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Fellowship and its parallel …

Religion And Human Trafficking, Mary Graw Leary

Scholarly Articles

Human trafficking is a global form of victimization which transcends all geographical boundaries. It is also a form of objectification that strikes at core values of human dignity, protection for the vulnerable, and accountability for the exploiter. As such, it is a form of victimization that demands both a global solution and grass roots actors.

Religions throughout the world stand in a uniquely advantageous position to aid in the fight against trafficking. As global institutions, their reach is broad. As grass roots organizations, their influence runs deep. As moral voices of the community their impact can be profound.

This piece …

Religious Issues In The Ukrainian Media After Euromaidan, Maksym Balaklytskyi

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

No abstract provided.

Problems Of Teaching Religion In Public Schools In Bulgaria Today: Retrospective And Prospective, Nonka Bogomilova

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

No abstract provided.

Kazakhstan: Religious Freedom Survey, March 2014, Mushfig Bayram, John Kinahan

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

No abstract provided.

Kyrgyzstan: Religious Freedom Survey, November 2014, Mushfig Bayram, John Kinahan

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

No abstract provided.

Kyrgyzstan: "Draconian" Proposed Religion Law And Administrative Code, Mushfig Bayram

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

No abstract provided.

Robot Saints, Christopher B. Swift

Publications and Research

In the Middle Ages, articulating religious figures like wooden Deposition crucifixes and ambulatory saints were tools for devotion, techno-mythological objects that distilled the wonders of engineering and holiness. Robots are gestures toward immortality, created in the face of the undeniable fact and experience of the ongoing decay of our fleshy bodies. Both like and unlike human beings, robots and androids occupy a nebulous perceptual realm between life and death, animation and inanimation. Masahiro Mori called this in-between space the “uncanny valley.” In this essay I argue that unlike a modern person apprehending an android (the uncanny human-like object that resides …

Catholic Action In Twentieth-Century Oregon: The Divergent Political And Social Philosophies Of Hall S. Lusk And Francis J. Murnane, Ian Alan Berge

Dissertations and Theses

Catholic Action was an international movement that encouraged active promotion of the Catholic faith by ordinary believers. While the idea gained force at a local level in Italy in the early twentieth century, Pope Pius XI gave the philosophy official Church approval in 1931. Catholic Action served as a major intellectual and religious force among American Catholics from the Great Depression until the transformations in Catholicism caused by the Second Vatican Council from 1962 to 1965. The program encouraged American Catholics both to promote the practice of the faith among fellow Church members and to express Catholic teachings in the …

In Memoriam: Helen Hull Hitchcock (1939-2014), Gerard V. Bradley

Journal Articles

Helen Hull Hitchcock — “HHH” to her countless fans and many collaborators — died in Saint Louis on October 20, 2014. She leaves behind four daughters, six grandchildren, her husband (the distinguished historian and long-time SCSS Board member James Hitchcock), and numerous apostolic works. Among those which were both timely and which shall stand the test of time are Women for Faith and Family, which she founded and directed, and Adoremus Bulletin, which she founded and edited, in both cases up until her death.

Polycarp's Dilemma: A Discussion Of Nicholas Wolterstorff's The Mighty And The Almighty: An Essay In Political Theology, Richard W. Garnett

Journal Articles

The Mighty and the Almighty: An Essay in Political Theology. By Nicholas Wolterstorff. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012. Pp. 190. $94.00 (cloth). ISBN: 9781107027312. $29.99 (paper). ISBN: 9781107673809.

From the Review

In March of 2014, a distinguished group of scholars from a variety of institutions and disciplines gathered at Notre Dame Law School to discuss and appreciate Nicholas Wolterstorff's 2012 book, The Mighty and the Almighty: An Essay in Political Theology. This stimulating conversation, like several other similar events at Notre Dame in recent years, was convened and supported by the Law School's Program on Church, State, and …

Re-Specifying The Sacred Values Scale, Adon Lee Neria

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

An object or value becomes sacred when a person feels compelled to protect and admire it. When a person holds a Sacred Value (SV) they are less likely to accept compromises, or "taboo tradeoffs," to that value and will behave less rationally to protect it from perceived slights. Though research on SV has replicated well, there has yet to be a popularized scale measuring it. A previous attempt at developing a multidimensional scale for measuring the degree to which a person holds any value as sacred was made that resulted in a 15-item measure. Though this version demonstrated good predictive …

Desenvolvimento De Liderança Sustentável, David K. Penno

Faculty Publications

Organizações que crescem precisam desenvolver novos líderes continuamente. O crescimento não pode ser sustentado a menos que um número crescente de homens e mulheres sejam capacitados para servir em importantes funções de liderança, à medida que a organização se torna maior e mais complexa. Moisés descobriu através do conselho de seu sogro que não conseguiria liderar Israel sozinho. A tarefa era simplesmente grande demais (Êx. 18). Uma coisa é treinar e mentorear líderes, e cada líder deveria estar fazendo isso, mas uma organização deve embutir em sua cultura um sistema de desenvolvimento contínuo de líderes para substituir aqueles vão embora …