Religion Commons^™

The Mass Exodus Of Black Millennials From The Black Church: In Search Of Biblical Blackness, Jacqueline A. Trim

Doctor of Ministry

A mass exodus of Black millennials away from the Black churches of the African diaspora has taken place in recent years. There is a plethora of reasons for this given by the Black millennials, spiritual authors/researchers, and the spiritual leadership of the Black church. The most important of these reasons has been put forward by Black millennials that the Bible and Christianity are irrelevant to the social, economic, and political issues of their lives and they want no part of it. This research is undertaken to investigate the real cause(s) of this exodus and to determine where the responsibility lies …

Reviving A Dying Church: The Role Of Leadership, Jane Thayer

Faculty Publications

A pastor known for his church planting skills was brought into a declining/dying church in Maryland, USA, and with his leadership team, turned the church around in three-and-a-half years. A case study method was used to explore this pastor and congregation’s willingness to “pay the cost” to bring new people into the church. They focused on children’s ministry, evangelism, discipleship, prayer, small groups, meals, and vision—knowing why they engaged in each ministry.

Exodus Allusions In The Midsection Of The Gospel Of Matthew, Cedric E. W. Vine

Faculty Publications

Matthean scholarship is divided as to whether the first recipients of the Gospel considered themselves to be part of early formative Judaism. Within the context of this debate, this study calls for the recognition of multiple exodus allusions in the midsection of the Gospel. These allusions reveal an Evangelist who either anticipated the possible need for withdrawal from hostile host communities or, equally plausibly, affirmed an ongoing separation process.

Spirits In The Clinic: A Case Study, John Holbrook

Journal of Adventist Mission Studies

No abstract provided.

Reformed Worship (Rw) 147 - Ascension / Pentecost (March 2023), Reformed Worship Editors

Reformed Worship Magazine

Editorial: Christ has Ascended, the Spirit's Come...Now What? by Joyce Borger....2

The Fruit of the Spirit: Connecting Ascension and Pentecost by Joyce Borger....3

Prayer for the Fruit of the Spirit by Hilary Ritchie....10

Ascension and Pentecost by Brian Hehn....11

Songs of Young and Old by Michael Huerter....14

Worship Series: Psalm 23 by Bethany Besteman and Kathryn Ritsema Roelofs....18

Q&A: Preaching Culture by John D. Witvliet....29

Listening to the Book We Love....31

For Pastors: Pulpit Care by Scott Hoezee....34

The Apostles' Creed and the Christian Year by Faye Dykema....36

Worship and Mission …

Pure And Undefiled Religion: Ministry To Widows In The American Church Today, Holli R. Reeves

Theology Undergraduate Work

Within the more than 300,000 Christian congregations in the United States, very few ministries exist for the marginalized, especially for widows. Considering that over 900,000 adults in the United States are widowed each year, the lack of care and support available within Christian congregations for widows is alarming. The neglect of care and support available for widows within Christian congregations in the United States today is specifically important to address as care for the marginalized—the orphan, the widow, and the foreigner—is a frequent topic in the Bible and, therefore, a subject especially near to the heart of God. This research …

Practicing Presence: How The Local Church Should Target Poverty Of Solidarity With Their Neighborhood’S Youth, Sarah Lowder

Theology Undergraduate Work

A high school student attends a youth group at a local church in his neglected neighborhood. He participates in Bible studies, youth group events, and experiences an altar-call moment to accept Christ into his heart. The church was there to help him live like Christ and grow spiritually. He gets to know God at an early age through the church; however, as he graduates high school, the connection with the church starts to dwindle. One day, he finds himself in jail, still struggling with his life's physical, mental, and social factors. This is the true story of Nick, a young …

Contextualizing The Gospel For Young Urbanites, Reylourd Reyes

Journal of Adventist Mission Studies

No abstract provided.

Healing And Exorcism, Meghan Henning

Books and Book Chapters by University of Dayton Faculty

The study of the Synoptic Gospel healing and exorcism stories has been dominated by contemporary medicalized ways of viewing the human body. This essay challenges those approaches, which assume that there are universal ideals of the body that transcend time and space, and privileges approaches which seek to rigorously contextualize the healing and exorcism stories amid ancient conceptions of the body. One primary way in which ancient conceptions of the body differ from the contemporary is through the ancient overlap between healing and exorcism. This essay argues that one should view exorcisms as ancient healing narratives. Through comparison with other …

Increasing Conceptual Clarity Of Act Interventions For Burnout: A Novel Workshop For Women In Ministry, Lydia Hogan

Doctor of Psychology (PsyD)

The purpose of this study is threefold; to address a gap in the literature concerning mechanism of change of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) interventions for burnout, to create an evidence-based burnout intervention for women in ministry, and to propose a theory of burnout etiology and recovery. Participants in this novel 6-week online ACT-based workshop showed significant improvement in burnout, particularly those who endorsed higher pre-intervention burnout. Change in burnout scores was inconsistently mediated by changes in psychological flexibility across dimensions of personal burnout, work burnout, and client burnout as measured on the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory. Findings of this study …

Economic Peacemaking A New Master's Degree In Community Economic Development, Brian Humphreys

Doctor of Ministry

This two-part project is in response to the NPO that Christian leaders struggle to understand how to address complex, ever changing-socioeconomic needs and, if solved, the church would thrive and better address needs in the community. The research for this project confirmed that Christians and church communities increasingly encounter socioeconomic challenges in their efforts to serve their neighbors. Undergraduate students at a Christian university were found to be passionate about addressing these challenges which they also witness in their respective communities. These students also reported low levels of awareness of best practices in economic development and advocacy and policy. The …

Impressions And Arrows: Forming Faithful Preteen Hearts, Wes Gallagher

Doctor of Ministry

This project seeks to address the following NPO: Christian parents in today’s culture need resources and training to face the challenge and have conversations with their pre-teen children about matters of God and faith. Today's Christian parents often struggle to share their faith and values with their children. Parents feel that their own relationship with God is too shallow, that their calendar is too full, and that their relationship with their children is inadequate. Several reassurances surfaced from this research. First, parents and extended families really do have an impact on the faith of their children. Of course, involvement in …

Beginnings Of The Nuevo South: Mexican Migration In 1970s And 1980s Mississippi, Isabel Loya

Master's Theses

Mexicans and Mexican Americans have been present in Mississippi since the early twentieth century with a large increase in the 1970s. The majority of the scholarship surrounding Mexican migration focuses on the 1990s leaving a historiographical gap concerning this earlier period of significant population growth. This thesis argues that Mexican migrants during the 1970s and 1980s were uniquely affected by Mississippi’s racial climate due to their ambiguous status in a Black and white society, where they fit in neither category. The examination of tactics by businesses, like B.C. Rogers Poultry plant, show the impact recruitment had on migrants’ living conditions …

I Was Looking For God: A Study Of Wehrmacht Personnel And Their Personal Relationships With Religion, Christopher Bishop

Master's Theses

The Wehrmacht was Germany’s fighting force in the field during World War II. Its brutality and discriminatory practices rivaled that of the Nazi paramilitary and police units dispatched alongside them in newly conquered areas during this conflict. Coming from a society that was not at all unfamiliar with Christianity, some within the Wehrmacht related to Christianity in some form and attempted to use it to either justify actions or make sense of the world around them.

While considerable scholarship exists on the Nazi Party’s relationship to Christianity as a convenient propaganda tool for both soldier and civilian alike, the historiography …

Nationalist And Non-Nationalist Christianity In The United States, Aaron Epperson

University Honors Theses

Christian nationalism has broken into the American news cycle over the last few years through its connection to former President Donald Trump, and it's closely associated with violent events like the January 6th insurrection and the Charlottesville, VA, Unite the Right rally. However, its close association with Trump and depiction in a 24-hour news cycle makes defining what Christian nationalism is--and is not--difficult for those unfamiliar with nationalism and the broader American Christian tradition. This paper hopes to briefly explore what Christian nationalism is within the United States through an exploration of nationalism itself and a discussion of nationalist and …

Worldview Themes Among Arab Muslim Women, Linda Smith

Journal of Adventist Mission Studies

No abstract provided.

Foot Washing, Zacchaeus, And What I Learned About Contextualization, Amy Whitsett

Journal of Adventist Mission Studies

No abstract provided.

Using Tonga Proverbs In Presenting Biblical Concepts, Johan Siachibila

Journal of Adventist Mission Studies

The Tonga tribe, located in the Southern part of Zambia, is rich in cultural communication. The Tonga people often use proverbs to communicate important ideas with each other, to solve problems among themselves, during common conversations, and when teaching Tonga children. They also are proud that their proverbs are a source of wisdom, with every phase of life having important proverbs attached to them. The Tongas have more than 500 proverbs, however, in this article I will only look at some of them to illustrate how they could be used in presenting biblical principles in the Tonga cultural setting. This …

Two Unlikely Missionaries: A Study In Narrative Theology, Jo Ann Davidson

Journal of Adventist Mission Studies

No abstract provided.

From The Alps To The Pampas: The Missionary Work Of Jean Vuilleumier In South America (1895-1901), Eric E. Richter

Journal of Adventist Mission Studies

No abstract provided.

Full Issue

Journal of Adventist Mission Studies

No abstract provided.

Editorial, Bruce L. Bauer

Journal of Adventist Mission Studies

No abstract provided.

Salvation In Hinduism, J. L. Samir

Journal of Adventist Mission Studies

The teachings of Hinduism have existed for thousands of years and continue to influence many cultures, especially those of South Asia. The philosophical teachings of Hinduism are complex and attractive to its adherents; however, the Hindu faith is easily misunderstood by many Westerners. Christianity as a religious institution was mostly developed in the context of a Western worldview. In contrast, Hinduism and its teachings are solely built on an Eastern philosophical and religious system dating back to the eighth century BCE. This article seeks to understand the teachings of salvation as found in the Bhagavad Gita and to contrast those …

Innocent Perpetrators Or Guilty Victims? The Modern Victim Cult Vs. The Sacrifice Of Christ, Zsolt Szabo

Pro Rege

No abstract provided.

Siouxland Miscellany, James C. Schaap

Pro Rege

No abstract provided.

The Soldier, The Parliamentarian, The Statesman, And The Historian, Keith C. Sewell

Pro Rege

No abstract provided.

Woke Capitalism: How Corporate Morality Is Sabotaging Democracy And A World Of Three Zeros: The New Economics Of Zero Poverty, Zero Unemployment, And Zero Net Carbon Emissions (Book Reviews), Marc L. Andreas

Pro Rege

Reviewed Titles: Woke Capitalism: How Corporate Morality is Sabotaging Democracy by Carl Rhodes (Bristol University Press) 2021, 240 pp. ISBN: 9781528211665; and A World of Three Zeros: The New Economics of Zero Poverty, Zero Unemployment, and Zero Net Carbon Emissions by Muhammed Yunnus (New York: Public Affairs Press) 2017, 304 pp. ISBN: 9781610397575.

Faith And Reason And The Reformations (Book Review), Keith C. Sewell

Pro Rege

Reviewed Title: Faith and Reason and the Reformations by Terence J. Kleven. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, Lexington Books, 2022. ISBN: 978179360688-4, 252 pp.

The Holy Spirit And Christian Experience (Book Review), Justin Bailey

Pro Rege

Reviewed Title: The Holy Spirit and Christian Experience by Simeon Zahl. Oxford University Press, 2020. 272 pp. ISBN: 9780192882387.

A Guide To Secondary Scholarship For Pure Land Buddhism Using Japanese Periodicals, Rebecca A. Stover

Journal of East Asian Libraries

This paper presents the process of locating Japanese language periodicals relating to Pure Land Buddhism and compiles a bibliography of open-access Japanese language sources for students in the process of Japanese Language acquisition. The paper attempts to scaffold the research process for students in the process of language acquisition and function as a guide to finding information.