Religion Commons^™

Perrin's "The Kingdom Of God: A Biblical Theology For Life" (Book Review), Craig Rosenbeck

The Christian Librarian

No abstract provided.

Wells' "Walk Humbly: Encouragements For Living, Working, And Being" (Book Review), Robert Lancaster

The Christian Librarian

No abstract provided.

Examining Kamma/Karma Doctrine In The Buddhist Jātakas, Chandrabhan P. Yadav

Articles

Several scholars have seriously challenged the cherished egalitarian ethos of Buddhism after Ambedkar’s political as well as academic engagement with Buddhism. However, most have not explored Buddhist sources to examine the nitty gritty of the kamma/karma question.

The Theological Implications Of Κατάπαυσίν And Σαββατισμὸς In Hebrews 3:7–4:11, Sean M. Best

Masters Theses

This thesis will argue that rest in Hebrews is entering into humanity’s rightful place, ruling over creation with God, in the full image of God, as intended by God since the seventh day. Rest in the book of Hebrews is a vitally important theme. The word for rest in Greek is κατάπαυσίν and is used eight times in Hebrews 3–4. The definition of rest determines the crux of understanding the warning passage by the author of Hebrews. The basic lexical definition of this word is “rest” or “resting place.” While a basic gloss of the Greek term κατάπαυσίν is easy …

A Review By Kenneth Atkinson Of Alexandria And Qumran: Back To The Beginning, By Kenneth Silver, Kenneth Atkinson

Faculty Publications

Kenneth Silver (a.k.a. Kenneth A. K. Lönnqvist), is a historian and professional archaeologist, who has lived and worked for decades in the Near East. With extensive publications on Hellenistic and Roman archaeology, history, and numismatics, Silver is the director of a survey and mapping project in Northern Mesopotamia studying the border zone between the late Roman/ Byzantine Empires and Persia. Author of numerous publications on Qumran and related topics, Silver’s lengthy monograph proposes that the documents and type of library found at Qumran were based on models derived from Egypt. The main thesis of the volume is that Pythagorean philosophy …

Called To Serve: Understanding The Role Of The Woman’S Mission Decision Narrative In Latter-Day Saint Culture And Belief, Rachel Ross

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

In my thesis I explore the role of mission decision narratives of women in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Before 2012, women could not serve missions until age 21. Once the minimum age was changed to 19 in October of 2012, many more women were able to serve on mission as the opportunity was less likely to disrupt their education or romantic relationships. In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, missions are seen as a priesthood duty for men but a matter of choice for women. This ability to choose and the narrative that follows …

The Intersection Of Ministry And Mental Health: Worship Leaders With Depression, Benjamin Bartow Harrison

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Despite the fact the mental health issues are becoming more destigmatized among those in society, pastors and other church staff still face unique challenges when seeking treatment for mental health issues. This study considers the perspectives of ministers who often struggle in silence with depression. This qualitative historical research study will identify the unique challenges faced when battling depression that have not yet been studied concerning the lives of worship leaders in various stages of such mental health issues. Time demands, financial challenges, and stigma have emerged as common themes through exploration of a small body of existing literature and …

A Phenomenological Understanding Of A Calling With Implications For Pastoral And Vocational Education, Thomas R. Connors

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to describe the experiences of calling for seasoned pastors. Guiding the research were four related sub-questions: (a) How do seasoned pastors describe their initial experiences of calling? (b) How do they describe the ways in which they have critically reflected on their experiences of calling ? (c) How do seasoned pastors describe their subsequent actions that have resulted from their calling? (d) HAnd, how do seasoned pastors describe the development of their calling? A purposeful sampling of 11 pastors who have for six or more years functioned as a full-time pastor were engaged …

Mentorship Of The Female Worship Leader, Tammy L. Jarboe

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

In recent years, some evangelical churches have seen a rise in the number of females involved in worship ministry leadership. Despite the female worship leader’s significant call to ministry, many challenges still exist in fulfilling God’s call on her life. Some of these challenges include clarity of call, difficulties in a male-saturated work environment, and perceived lack of opportunities for ministry. Additionally, some female worship leaders feel marginalized by the reluctance of churches to ordain them to the ministries in which they already serve. Although this paper will not address the question of whether women should or should not be …

Eradicating Recidivism: Evangelism For African American Men Impacted By Mass Incarceration, Anthony Mark Berry

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The Prison Industrial Complex impacts 2.3 million people, affects the poor, and the nation's minority family's ability to retain a sense of unity. These data impact community health with the absence of the father figures, lack of power to gain viable income, and in some cases, the right to vote. The issue decimates African American young men. This topic is needed because the research suggests a cyclic nature of excavation of human capital by incarceration and is depleting communities of capital by jailing wage earners from the Black community. Voting capital is dwindling in some states where felony crimes remove …

De Serpiente A Santo: La Cara Maleable Del Diablo En La Literatura Hispana, Crosby Tinucci

World Languages and Cultures Student Papers and Posters

In biblical literature, the devil serves as an archetype of evil. He appears as a deceptive serpent, a roaring lion and a vanquished dragon. Each one of the great charlatan’s faces serves to add levels of meaning to this complex character. Like biblical authors, Hispanic authors have incorporated this archetype in their own literary works in distinct ways, taking advantage of its complexity and levels of meaning. During the Middle Ages in Spain, Gonzalo de Berceo incorporated the devil as a figure of deception and enmity in Los milagros de Nuestra Señora. Two centuries later, in the Spanish baroque …

Foreword To This Special Issue, Beth Admiraal

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

"The door that opens up to religious freedom does not always lead to expected places. Our contributors, reflecting on the past thirty years for religion in Romania, note both the joys and tribulations of freedom."

Transnational Migration And Ethnic And Religious Renewal Amongst The Ethnic German Minority In Romania, Ovidiu Oltean

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

"The normalization of inter-ethnic relations after the fall of communism and the establishment of a rather inclusive minority regime has opened up new possibilities for the ethnic and religious minorities in Romania. Social, cultural and religious life has seen a pluralization and revival that was not possible during communism. Ethnic minorities developed new forms of cultural and ethnic expression and gained new leveraging instruments in relation to the ethnic Romanian majority. As Romanian society has grown more pluralistic, not only has political and cultural life developed and become more diverse but also religious forms of expression and religious organizations have …

An Evaluative Framework For The Improvement Of Religious Practice In The Context Of Pluralism, Benjamin Ford Dardas

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Pluralism presents a troubling epistemic problem in that the inability to determine whether or not significant portions of a given religion’s cosmological and metaphysical belief set actually correspond to reality. Within this standstill there seems to be no way to prove yet alone maximize the epistemic rationality of continued religious practice, as each religion will claim to have a unique source of knowledge the others do not. However, if we set aside these unverifiable disputes, there remains an often underemphasized common thread: religions each have a conception of how this world ought to be. These conceptions involve how members of …

Developing An At Risk Youth Prevention Model In Local Church, Norman Dwight Vick

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Congregations must be spiritually positioned to receive and pass on the Gospel baton to all believers. This work will concentrate on those that are at risk for emotional disorders, particularly at the stage of adolescence. This effort will point to the young with emotive challenges that will assist them in being able to pass on the faith constructively and wholesomely. This dissertation will utilize an analytic approach that consists of multi-components related to mental health classifications and disorder, therefore, Christian leaders should be looking beyond secularism to provide support for adolescents who are at risk. Given the presence of millions …

Racism In Southeast Texas Churches: A Plan For Reconciliation And Healing Among Its Church Community, William James Carter

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

A cursory look at many churches in the United States will show many local Churches are segregated by ethnicity and people groups. When this is done, it gives the appearance that the Church is broken because certain groups choose not to celebrate with others of different ethnicities. The problem is that there is a considerable reality to the appearance. With that, it is the intent of this project to examine the reasons for the divide. In order to determine the reasons, a survey will be provided, and classes taught examining the reasons for the divides. Additionally, this project will seek …

A Phenomenological Exploration Of Women’S Attitudes Towards Women Mentoring Other Women In The Church, Natasha Amy Pettigrew

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This qualitative phenomenological study explores the attitudes and views of women towards mentoring other women in the church for discipleship purposes. Although there are many benefits to women entering into a mentoring relationship for discipleship purposes, including spiritual growth, increase in the practice of spiritual disciplines, staying grounded in the Christian faith, and experiencing deeper intimacy with Christ, there is still a significant percentage of women who are not doing so. The researcher surveyed 37 Christian women between the ages of 18 and 65 to explore their attitudes and views towards women mentoring one another in the church for discipleship …

Acts Of The Holy Spirit In Leadership: A Case For Holy Leadership In The Church, Jeffrey James Boone Sr

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of the research is to remove worldly leadership from, Abundant Life Community Christian Church (ALCCC), and to replace it with a biblical leadership model. Biblical leadership is spiritual and holy. Biblical leadership is predicated upon Jesus Christ's leadership example and teachings. The first-century Apostles’ leadership modeled the words and works of Jesus Christ. The problem of secular leadership at ALCCC is the cause of stagnation and declination of the church. Worldly leadership at ALCCC is the root cause of inefficiency, ineffectiveness, in-house fighting, strife, division, rivalry, preeminence, predominance, lack of humility, outreach neglect, evangelism neglect, and unproductivity. The …

A Phenomenological Study Of Early Resignation Among Southern Territory Salvation Army Officers, Everette F. Platt

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study was to understand early resignation of Salvation Army officers in the Southern Territory by investigating their lived experiences with the phenomenon. The theories guiding this study were role identity, as it explains the differences in perceptions and actions that accompany a role and emotional intelligence (EI), which refers to a generic competence in perceiving emotions, both in oneself and in others. The central research question addressed how former Salvation Army officers in the Southern Territory perceive that their officership experiences impacted their decision to resign early. The subquestions for this study addressed (a) …

A Christ-Centered, Attachment Based, Church Program For The Healing Of Father Wounds, Stephen J. Madosky I

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Father wounds have devastated the hearts of men as to make impotent their effectiveness as fathers, leaders, and ministers of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This dissertation used Christ- centered attachment-based theories to develop a church-driven program that includes discipleship disciplines along with counseling techniques to help develop a more secure relational attachment to God and therefore producing psychospiritual benefits, such as a greater love of self, others, and God. This research evaluated the efficacy of the development of this Christ-centered, attachment-based church program for the Healing of Father wounds. This program development looks to secure the participants’ attachment to …

The American Unreformation: The Undoing Of American Evangelical Prominence And The Rise Of The Religiously Unaffiliated Nones, H G. Walker

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

With over sixty percent of Protestant churches in America experiencing either plateaued or declining numbers, the ineffectiveness or outright inattention to evangelistic efforts is magnified by the aggressive growth of the Nones population; therefore, this dissertation project seeks to answer one central question related to the current increase in the number of Americans identifying as religiously unaffiliated: Are there identifiable religious resurgence mechanisms in American religious history that address the current rise of the Nones and if initiated would facilitate future religious resurgence? Lower levels of religious affiliation reveal a weakening of the heart of the Evangelical position on evangelization …

Decolonizing And Indigenizing Liberation Theology, Allen Jorgenson

Luther Faculty Publications

This chapter considers how liberation theology might be informed by spiritualities and worldviews from the First Peoples of North America, sometimes called Turtle Island. In so doing, I reference teachings, treaties and ceremonies from the community nearest me, the Six Nations of the Grand River Nation, whose members are Haudenosaunee.

In what follows I first provide an apologia for this project before imagining how each verb of the liberation hermeneutic of “see, judge, act” might be informed, in turn, by the Haudenosaunee Dish With One Spoon Wampum, the Two Row Wampum, and the Condolence Ceremony. In so doing, I will …

Cultivating An Attitude Of Gratitude, Donald Roth, Erin Olson, Kayt E. Frisch

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

"Everything that we do in our lives should be rooted in our thankfulness for the immense gifts we receive from our God."

Posting about practicing gratefulness from In All Things - an online journal for critical reflection on faith, culture, art, and every ordinary-yet-graced square inch of God’s creation.

https://inallthings.org/cultivating-an-attitude-of-gratitude/

Book Review: The Victory Of The Cross: Salvation In Eastern Orthodoxy, Paul Crego

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The Victory of the Cross: Salvation in Eastern Orthodoxy is the latest book by James R. Payton, Jr., emeritus professor of history at Redeemer University College in Ancaster, Ontario, Canada. His previous books include Light from the Christian East: An Introduction to the Orthodox Tradition. He also edited A Patristic Treasure: Early Church Wisdom for Today.

Martin Luther And The Creation Of The Myth Of Modernity, Christine Helmer

Consensus

No abstract provided.

Faith And Science, Kate Harper

Consensus

No abstract provided.

Processing Trauma In The Hebrew Bible, Carol A. Mcmullen

Consensus

From a contemporary perspective, many of the colourful characters in the Hebrew Bible may have experienced various levels of trauma which affected their thoughts, feelings and behaviours as recorded in the text. As part of a scholarly tradition of applying modern diagnostic terminology to historical personalities, this study connects various Biblical stories to an implicit theme of trauma that runs through much of the larger Jewish narrative. Such exploration provides a unique perspective in contrast to more traditional biblical interpretations that have largely ignored these specific aspects of trauma. Strategies of coping, healing, survival, and resilience can be further gained …

Family Therapy: Clearing Paths In The Namibian Context Towards A Clearer Pastoral Counselling Model, Hendrik Rudolf Tjibeba

Consensus

No abstract provided.

Sermon: Job 12:7-9, Mary (Joy) Philip

Consensus

No abstract provided.

Historical And Contemporary Explorations In Neurotheology, Kate Harper

Consensus

This paper explores the field of Neurotheology. Neurotheology is a discipline that was developed in the 1980s and is thriving today; studies on the brain and meditation and/or spiritual practices are on the rise (Newberg, 2018). This paper provides a cursory look at the field and considers some of the historical foundations that played an indirect role in its development.