Religion Commons^™

“Members” Of Christ: Myth, Morals, And Masculinity In Puritan New England, Rebecca Farias

History Theses

No abstract provided.

The Dynamics Of Interfaith, Rachel Koehler

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

Today, there is an ongoing debate within and between different faiths regarding the correct way to interact with religious diversity. For example, exclusive language is found in several religions, which states that individuals can only experience the Ultimate through a specific faith practice. This belief directly challenges the relevance of interreligious dialogue, but a spectrum exists amongst adherents of different faith communities in how they understand religious diversity amid absolute truth claims in their own tradition. The goal of this research is to illustrate this debate so readers have a foundation on which to build. Then, the Center for Interfaith …

Review: Mette Ramstad. Conversion In The Pacific: Eastern Polynesian Latter-Day Saints’ Conversion Accounts And Their Development Of A Lds Identity. Kristiansand, Norway: Høyskoleforlaget, 2003., Amanda Hendrix-Komoto

Mormon Studies Review

Mette Ramstad’s Conversion in the Pacific: Eastern Polynesian Latter-day Saints’ Conversion Accounts and Their Development of a LDS Identity was published in 2003. Although it is over a decade old, it remains a refreshing, smart contribution to the field. Unlike many scholars of Mormonism, Ramstad is not a historian. Instead, she writes as an anthropologist of religion. The result can be a bit disconcerting for individuals used to narrative histories. Like many social scientists, she categorizes the experiences of her subjects and uses them as case studies for understanding concepts that have been important to the academic study of religion. …

Review: Mark Ashurst-Mcgee, David W. Grua, Elizabeth A. Kuehn, Brenden W. Rensink, And Alexander L. Baugh, Eds. The Joseph Smith Papers: Documents, Volume 6: February 1838-August 1839. Salt Lake City, Ut: T He Church Historian’S Press, 2017)., Angela Bell

Mormon Studies Review

The most recent volume of The Joseph Smith Papers, Volume 6 is a contribution long-awaited by students of Mormon history, members of faith traditions, and scholars of American religion. The collection chronicles the tumultuous time in Mormon history from Joseph Smith Jr., and Sidney Rigdon’s removal from Kirtland, Ohio, in early 1838 through the establishment and early settlement of Nauvoo, Illinois, during the spring and summer of 1839. In the tradition of the first f ive volumes of documents, this work compiles all known documents written, dictated, and received by the prophet from February 1838 to August 1839 and provides …

Review: Marjorie J. Spruill. Divided We Stand: The Battle Over Women’S Rights And Family Values That Polarized American Politics. New York: Bloomsbury, 2017., Colleen Mcdannell

Mormon Studies Review

With polarization in American politics possibly at an all-time high, historians frantically search the past for the origins of our current malady. When did we become so alienated as a people, and why is it that we seemingly cannot understand each other’s behaviors? Marjorie J. Spruill provides another reflection on how we came to be what we are in Divided We Stand: The Battle Over Women’s Rights and Family Values that Polarized American Politics. Spruill sees gender as the theoretical place where we need to begin our exploration and the 1970s as the defining years. Passing up the easy targets …

We Believe In You!, Merrimack College

Merrimack College Publications

Created by the Grace J. Palmisano Center for Campus Ministry

Discerning Our Posture And Imagination: A Delphi Study Of Leaders In The Northwest Washington Synod Of The Evangelical Lutheran Church In America, Jana Marie Schofield

Doctor of Ministry Doctoral Projects

This qualitative research engaged clergy and lay leaders from the Northwest Washington Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) to determine the posture and imagination necessary for leaders navigating the uncharted future of the Lutheran church in the Northwest. To face the unknown adaptive challenges associated with this volatile and complex future, this study attempted to identify how clergy and lay leaders should be postured and what imagination they should possess to minister in the next five years.

This study was rooted in grounded theory and utilized a Delphi method to achieve consensus regarding approaches to leadership. The …

Ecclesiology And Adaptive Change: A Qualitative Study Of Christian Church (Disciples Of Christ) Congregations In The Northwest Regional Christian Church, Kara Lynn Markell

Doctor of Ministry Doctoral Projects

This project was conceived and executed as a survey of congregational leaders in the Northwest Regional Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), to create a grounded theory related to the connection between ecclesiological beliefs and adaptive change. The study’s findings are based on data collected using a Delphi process that began with a short series of open-ended questions. Participants were asked to identity the nature and mission of the Church and to imagine their congregation in five years. Congregational pastors, elders, and board members provided data which was synthesized into common ecclesiological themes and possibilities for adaptive change. An Audience Review …

Inclusion And Religious Engagement In A Multicultural Church: A Multi-Case Study Of The Experience Of Immigrant Filipino Volunteer Church Workers In Select Parishes In The Archdiocese Of Seattle, Frank Dennis B. Savadera

Doctor of Ministry Doctoral Projects

This qualitative study investigates the relevant descriptions that first-generation immigrant Filipino volunteer church workers use to characterize their adopted multicultural parish. Further, it investigates how these descriptions influence their views on inclusion and religious engagement in their communities. The study hopes to generate faith and encourage theological reflections on: (1) persons’ capacities to encounter and embrace the “other”; (2) capacities for multiple-mindedness and recognition of a multiplicity of gifts; and (3) the call to embody and participate in the Trinitarian communion.

The central research questions asked are as follows: (1) How do first-generation immigrant Filipino volunteer parish workers in the …

Minister As Mentor: A Biblical Model For The Preparation Of A Mentoring Ministry At First Baptist Church In Reidsville, North Carolina, Thomas Leroy Barksdale Ii

Doctor of Ministry Projects

A preparation model was developed to equip mentors to effectively engage, encourage, and guide community youth. Members of the Christian faith have a responsibility to reach out and impact positively the next generations of leaders. Potential mentors were led through developmental sessions to prepare for the mentor relationships. Surveys, journal entries, pre-posttests, and questionnaires measured the effectiveness of the developmental weekly sessions and engagement.

Lowering The Anxiety Level Of The Participants Of The First Baptist Church, Morganton, Nc, Tyler P. Roach

Doctor of Ministry Projects

This project was developed for the purpose of lowering the anxiety level of the participants of the First Baptist Church, Morganton, NC. It will be accomplished by providing a baseline awareness of their anxiety level and introducing tools to bring their baseline down. The tools used were Bible stories, Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, Family Systems Theory, and centering prayer. The tools were presented in the form of a Friday night and Saturday morning retreat. Data was collected in three different ways. The Beck Anxiety Inventory was used during the retreat to track baseline anxiety. An essay questionnaire was given a month …

Faithful And Fearless: Major Howard Egan, Early Mormonism And The Pioneering Of The American West, Brett D. Dowdle

BYU Studies

As he did with his earlier biographies—My Best for the Kingdom: His- tory and Autobiography of John Lowe Butler, a Mormon Frontiersman and Stand by My Servant Joseph: The Story of the Joseph Knight Family and the Restoration—the late William G. Hartley reminds us of the value and importance of studying the lives of ordinary Latter-day Saints without ecclesiastical position in Faithful and Fearless: Major Howard Egan, Early Mormonism and the Pioneering of the American West. Similar to the stories of both Butler and the Knight family, Hartley shows that, when examined closely, Egan’s life was far …

The Book Of Mormon: Another Testament Of Jesus Christ, Maxwell Institute Study Edition, Roger Terry

BYU Studies

The Maxwell Institute’s study edition of the Book of Mormon is both an update and an expansion of Grant Hardy’s The Book of Mormon: A Reader’s Edition, published in 2003 by the University of Illinois Press. Among the many differences between the two volumes, I find two most significant. First, the base text for the Maxwell Institute edition is the 2013 version of the Book of Mormon, used currently by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. A Reader’s Edition used the 1920 version because it was the most recent edition available in the public domain. The Church …

Kalaupapa: The Mormon Experience In An Exiled Community By Fred E. Woods (Provo, Utah: Religious Studies Center,, Emily Cook

BYU Studies

As Hansen’s Disease (also known as leprosy) spread rapidly throughout Hawaii in the nineteenth century, the Kalaupapa peninsula was selected as an “isolation settlement for confirmed cases” of leprosy and the location of “a receiving hospital where suspected cases could be treated” (20–21). These individuals were essentially exiled, and one might think that such an isolated community would be a place of loneliness, but Kalaupapa: The Mormon Experience in an Exiled Community explores how, instead, the community was built on love and inclusion and began to thrive and became a sacred space. According to author Fred E. Woods, professor of …

From The Editor, Robert A. Danielson

The Asbury Journal

No abstract provided.

The Spirit Of Methodism: Missionary Zeal And The Gift Of An Evangelist, Philip R. Meadows

The Asbury Journal

The church does not need more vital congregations, but rather a few vital Christians, whose vitality is not measured in terms of institutional effectiveness, but by missionary zeal. This zeal is a hungering and thirsting for just one thing: the glory of God and the salvation of souls. It cannot be manufactured, but can only be caught from those who have been gifted by the Spirit to continue the charism of their founder, and fanned into flame. Without this type of Christian, there is no movement, and there is no Methodism. John Welsey's most important legacy was not his doctrine …

Journal In Entirety

The Asbury Journal

No abstract provided.

A Fresh Expression Of "And Are We Yet Alive?", George Hendricks, Kelli Taylor

The Asbury Journal

The paper addresses the decline in membership and overall societal influence of The United Methodist Church. In response to these life-threatening developments, new forms of ministry are emerging within the church. Many of these new ministries are grouped under a program called "Fresh Expressions" which began in the Church of England and are effectively being implemented in American Methodism. Storefront churches are discussed, bi-vocational ministers are considered and the concept of the "Third Place" as a form of ministry is introduced. Three focused interviews are utilized to understand the need and necessity for changes in the way The United Methodist …

Advocating For Dreamers: A Wesleyan Approach To U.S. Immigration Reform, Rebekah Clapp

The Asbury Journal

This paper argues that Wesley's theology supports radical hospitality toward all U.S. immigrants, regardless of documentation. Specifically, the emphasis John Wesley placed on loving one's neighbor forces us to consider the immigrant's well being alongside our own. Additionally, his understanding of liberty calls for Christians to support human flourishing for all people. Further, Wesley's argument that all humanity is to be considered equal rejects any idea of superiority or supremacy as justification for withholding hospitality. Finally, in John Welsey's daily spiritual practices, he emphasized care for society's most vulnerable members- who must, in contemporary times, include the immigrant. In John …

Ecclesia Semper Sanctificanda: Historic Models Of Catechesis And The Cultivation Of Social Holiness, Jonathan A. Powers

The Asbury Journal

This study aims to show how the maintenance of holy life and love in the church requires intentional and continual cultivation by the church. If the church is to be continually sanctified then it must intentionally invest in the sanctification of its members. The article examines three historic examples of catechesis in order to exhibit models whereby the church has taken seriously the task of forming disciples who display holiness of heart and life. This article looks at the Didache and On the Apostolic Tradition, as well a John Wesley's use of societies, class meetings, and band meetings to …

Thus Sayeth The Matthean Lord: Exploring The Intersection Of The Quest For The Historical Jesus And The Proclaimation Of The Biblical Jesus, Edward T. Wright

The Asbury Journal

The themes of Biblical Studies and mission meet in a significant way at the intersection of the quest for the historical Jesus (an aspect of biblical studies) and the proclamation of the biblical Jesus (an aspect of the mission of the Church). This intersection undoubtedly occurs in the context we currently find ourselves, the evangelical seminary setting. This paper explores a passage, Matthew 4:-11, that has both significant theological content but also some rather difficult historical issues. When confronted with this type of problem, is it possible to navigate the passage in such a way that the historical Jesus and …

Growing Up In America's Segregated South: Reminiscences And Regrets, Mark R. Elliott

The Asbury Journal

In this personal essay, originally given as an address delivered at the Sakharov Center, a human rights NGO in Moscow, Russia, on June 2, 2017, the author contemplates a lifetime of experience in the Southern United States and the prejudices and racism that he saw during that time. He relates these experiences to similar issues in Russia today, adding a Christian plea for equality and fair treatment for all people by the Christian community, and also calling on the Church to stand in opposition to racism and anti-Semitism wherever it appears.

Of Children's Teeth And Missions: The Papers Of Martha R. Jones, Robert A. Danielson

The Asbury Journal

No abstract provided.

Book Reviews, Timothy J. Christian, David Nonnenmacher Jr., Michael Tavey, Matthias P. Gergan, Matthew Haugen, Zachariah S. Motts, J. Russell Frazier, Robert A. Danielson, J. R. Wright, Christopher Ashley, Scott Donahue-Martens

The Asbury Journal

No abstract provided.

The Theme Of Mission In Matthew’S Gospel From The Perspective Of The Great Commission, David R. Bauer

The Asbury Journal

No abstract provided.

An Ancient Hope: Matthew’S Use Of Isaiah To Explicate Christianity’S Mission To The Nations, Jerry Breen

The Asbury Journal

No abstract provided.

Epistemological Foundation For Contemporary Theology Of Mission: Trajectories From A Conversation Between J. Andrew Kirk And John Hick, Sochanngam Shirik

The Asbury Journal

No abstract provided.

The Capital Of Methodism: The New York Station: 1800-1832, Philip F. Hardt

The Asbury Journal

No abstract provided.

Wesleyan Soteriology And The New Perspective Of Paul: A Comparative Analysis, Matt Ayars

The Asbury Journal

No abstract provided.

Caring For The Masses: Insights From John Wesley On Spiritual And Physical Healing, R. Jeffrey Hiatt

The Asbury Journal

No abstract provided.