Religion Commons^™

The Wedding At Cana (John 2:1-11): Reading The Text In The Cultural Context Of Ephesus, Craig R. Koester

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Babylon And New Jerusalem In The Book Of Revelation: Imagery And Ethical Discernment., Craig R. Koester

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Image Of The Beast From The Land (Rev 13, 11-18): A Study In Incongruity, Craig R. Koester

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Sing A New Song To The City: Ambient Rhetoric And Urban Hymns, Adam J. Copeland

Faculty Publications

Hymns are a key component of how Christians express their faith. But many of these hymns do represent the rhythms and sensibilities of an older and largely agrarian world. Using the concept of “ambient rhetoric,” Adam Copeland suggests that it is time for other hymns that represent the ethos of daily life in an increasingly urbanized world, hymns that will speak to the realities of urban culture.

The Neighbor, Mark A. Granquist

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Image Of The Beast From The Land (Rev 13, 11-18): A Study In Incongruity., Craig R. Koester

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Who Speaks For (Or Against) Rome? Acts In Relation To Empire, Matthew L. Skinner

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

A Participatory God For A Participatory Culture: Christian Theological Perspectives On Networks, Dwight J. Zscheile

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Genre, Theology, And The God Of The Psalms, Rolf A. Jacobson

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Miracles As Evidence For The Existence Of God, Alan G. Padgett

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Passover Sign: The People See The Prophet-King, Randal D. Reynolds

Master of Arts Theses

No abstract provided.

Opening To Revelation: Building Discernment Processes From Practices That Best Inform Communal Decision Making, Chris Alexander

Doctor of Ministry Theses

This sequential explanatory mixed methods research project investigates the spiritual discernment processes of a Christian congregation in the United Church of Christ. The study identifies most utilized and most helpful practices of spiritual discernment within the areas of prayer, conversation, community, and media. This research shows how engaging spiritual practices influences participation in decision making by Christian congregations.

Looking Back To Move Forward: Youth Ministry And Its Effect On The Faith And Christian Practices Of Today's Adults, Andrew A. Taylor

Doctor of Ministry Theses

This mixed methods explanatory research project investigated the effectiveness of youth ministry practices in shaping, or failing to shape, adult Christian faith. Fifty-nine former youth group members from three congregations were surveyed, and six were interviewed: two active Christians, two inactive Christians, and two non-Christians. Results revealed the active Christians had experienced a personal sense of God’s presence and witnessed God’s activity in the public sphere. This suggests that youth ministry would do well to utilize practices that encourage adolescents to experience and articulate a sense of God’s presence in both their personal lives and in the world around them.

A Congregation Engaging In Missional Dialogue: Strengthening Discernment Amid Diversity Through Healthy Congregational Dialogue, Jeffrey M. Wilson

Doctor of Ministry Theses

This transformative mixed-methods modified Participatory Action Research (PAR) project was used to investigate and affect healthy and faithful discernment and decision-making in a diverse congregation within the reality of being the body of Christ in mission. Data were collected utilizing baseline and end-line surveys, recorded and transcribed meetings and interviews, and memos. The data revealed that people who engaged in the research process grew in their perception of the congregation as being healthy and faithful in discernment and decision-making. This research shows that mutual responsibility, respect, trust, and interdependence between leaders and congregation members helps us focus on God’s mission …

Generous Leaders, Generous Congregations: A Study Of The Relationship Between The Financial Generosity Of Congregational Leaders And The Financial Generosity Of Their Congregations, Ryan D. Brodin

Doctor of Ministry Theses

This sequential explanatory mixed methods comparative case study research project explores personal financial generosity in pastors and Congregational Council members of five suburban mainline congregations to discover what influence their generosity has on the congregations they lead. This research involved a survey of all the leaders, interviews with each pastor, focus groups with Congregational Council members, and financial statistics for each congregation. Although there are many insights in this research project regarding financial generosity in leaders and congregations, the results do not show a direct influence of the personal financial generosity of the leaders on the financial generosity of the …

Walk Me To The Gate: Christian Practices Of Accompaniment With People Who Are Dying And Their Families, Yolanda Kali Denson-Byers

Doctor of Ministry Theses

This mixed-methods concurrent triangulation research project asks, “What practices should we incorporate into the hospice ministry of Fellowship Lutheran Church in order to help dying people and their families experience a peaceful death with love?” Utilizing two focus groups, four interviews, and a congregational census, this project finds that research participants are terrorized by death and are hungry for hospice and bereavement ministries provided by their community of faith. This exploratory project illuminates the specific practices which missional congregations may utilize to empower the priesthood of all believers to create a beloved community which points to the hope of resurrection.

Empathy As Sacred Ethic: A Chaplain's Perspective On Difficult End Of Life Cases, Peter L. Bauck

Doctor of Philosophy Theses

Because of our increasingly intercultural world, it can be difficult for patients, families, and medical teams to decide on what they should do for patients who are, in the medical team’s opinion, near the end of life. The family and medical team can hold disparate beliefs and values around what they should do for the patient. Ethics committees often get involved in these difficult end of life cases.These cases are also emotionally charged, especially for the family as they wrestle with the intensity of their loved one’s situation and try to decide what to do. Because of the emotional intensity …

Countertransference As Koinonia, Karin A. Craven

Doctor of Philosophy Theses

This thesis inquires after the lived-through experience of community in the congregation by the pastoral leader. It is predicated upon the multiple self whose plurality is understood through psychoanalytical and postcolonial theories as well as by developmental processes illumined by interpersonal neurobiology. The phenomenological inquiry into one pastor’s experience of community in the congregation yielded in vivo themes – movement, joy, and open; connect, conflict, and centering; table, hospitality, love, and diversity -- that were understood broadly from the wondering perspective of desire. Closer theoretical analysis of these in vivo themes from theological, psychological, and interpersonal neurobiological conceptual categories was …

Some Basics Of Document Retention And Records Sampling, Paul Daniels

Ask the Archivist

No abstract provided.

Ask The Archivist: What Makes A Useful Church Archives?, Paul Daniels

Ask the Archivist

No abstract provided.

The Impact Of Social Media On Adolescent Grief, Kathryn Knutson

Children, Youth, and Family (CYF) Papers

No abstract provided.

I Believe, Lord Help My Unbelief: The Thin Christology Of Austin Adolescents, Brianna Morris-Brock

Children, Youth, and Family (CYF) Papers

No abstract provided.

A Dialogue On Disaster: Antichrists In Jewish And Christian Apocalypses And Their Medieval Recensions, Natalie Latteri

Theology & Religious Studies

This paper examines textual and iconographic representations of antichrist personae in medieval Christian and Jewish manuscripts. Through a common language of polemics, Christians and Jews conflated antichrist personae to represent a more generalized category of apocalyptic antagonist that reflected the most significant temptations and threats to each respective religious community. As will be argued here, the greatest temptation and threat for Christians and Jews alike were those posed by members of the other religious group

2017 Perihelion - Oru Yearbook, Holy Spirit Research Center Oru Library

Perihelion: ORU Yearbooks

The Oral Roberts University Student Yearbook, the Perihelion, is produced by ORU Media and Communications department.

The images and files are copyrighted to Oral Roberts University and cannot be reproduced in any form without permission from ORU administration.

Dvd Study Guide For "God’S Glory, Neighbor’S Good: The Story Of Pietism", Mark Safstrom

Scandinavian Studies: Faculty Scholarship & Creative Works

This study guide was written by Mark Safstrom and Michelle Clifton-Soderstrom to accompany the documentary film, "God’s Glory, Neighbor’s Good: The Story of Pietism" (2017). Pietisten Inc. is the publisher and Vision Video is the distributor for this DVD. This study guide is intended as a resource for teachers and pastors to facilitate post-viewing discussion of a 75-minute overview of the history of Pietism. This episode is divided into three main chapters, which have brief summaries. The questions for these chapters have been further divided into smaller sections, to allow flexibility for viewing in shorter installments and allow greater time …

Silliness And Stillness: A History Of Covenant Point Bible Camp In Michigan's Upper Peninsula, Mark Safstrom

Scandinavian Studies: Faculty Scholarship & Creative Works

"Silliness and Stillness" tells the history of Covenant Point Bible Camp, located in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Founded in 1926, it has primarily served the congregations of the Swedish Mission Covenant (now Evangelical Covenant Church), and represents the broader revival movements that produced that denomination in the nineteenth century. The story of this camp is also part of the history of the Christian camping movement that developed throughout the twentieth century in the United States and Canada. In addition to being an anniversary book for the particular community that calls the camp "home," it also presents the theological background …

Theology In Practice: Context For Minister Formation, Brady Bryce

Graduate School of Theology

No abstract provided.

Guest Editor's Introduction, Sherlynn Allen-Harris

The Journal of Traditions & Beliefs

No abstract provided.

Acknowledgments And Disclaimer, Regennia N. Williams

The Journal of Traditions & Beliefs

No abstract provided.

The Rule, Marylou And Jerome Bongiorno

The Journal of Traditions & Beliefs

No abstract provided.