Religion Commons^™

Addressing The Issue Of Low Discipleship Among Adults, Sylvestre Bea

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This research aims to help EndTime Christ Discipling Ministries identify the root causes for low levels of adult discipleship. It supports the church’s collective construction of measurable actions that members can implement to fulfill its disciple-making mandate effectively. The literature review reveals that many churches experience this problem, identify common causes, and discuss diverse solutions that better fit churches with predominantly North American culture. However, EndTime Christ Discipling Ministries is composed of mostly African immigrants and their families, and no literature specifically addresses its immediate context. As a result, the remedies proposed to tackle the discipleship challenge are not fully …

Attitudes Of Major Religious Organizations In Ukraine To Abortion And Reproductive Medicine, Kateryna Karpenko, Alla Guzhva

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The attitude of the largest religions of Ukraine to reproductive medicine is determined by a variety of practical approaches, which are still in process of change between the rather strict negative official position of major religious organizations of Ukraine, on the one hand, and a rather liberal approach to reproductive medicine in secular legislation of Ukraine. The harsh negative official position of the main religious organizations of Ukraine to surrogacy and abortions is presented in a joint document adopted by the Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations. While the diversity of practical approaches of these organizations is represented by …

Catastrophic Christianity: An Iconological Study Of The Messianic Idea In American Protestant Christianity Circa 1900-1940, Adam D. J. Brett

Dissertations - ALL

A historically variegated emblem of trust and faith, the messianic idea is the offer of religion to the people for salvation from the coming catastrophe. This dissertation analyzes the messianic idea in "America." The foci of the study are popular messianic figurations that serve as heuristic devices to explicate early 20th century U.S. culture, revealing two ideological impulses that encapsulate collective responses to the anxieties of the age: authoritarian-populism and catastrophic-utopianism. Four case studies, encompassing four different genres of media, define and illustrate these ideological impulses: The Fundamentals, Superman comic books, Bruce Barton's capitalist Christianity, and The Wizard of Oz …

Macedonian Orthodox Church-Archbishopric Of Ohrid And Its Arduous Road To Autocephaly, Gjoko Gjorgjevski, Ruzhica Cacanoska, Ivan Blazhevski, Aneta Jovkovska

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The aim of this paper is to examine the recent developments related to the Macedonian Orthodox Church–Archbishopric of Ohrid, the acceptance of the canonical status by the Ecumenical Patriarchate, and the conferring of status to autocephaly by the Serbian Orthodox Church in 2022. From the ecclesiological and the liturgical aspect, the MOC-OA is no longer in isolation and is part of the family of Orthodox churches through the restoration of Eucharistic communion. The final step, the granting of a Tomos by the Ecumenical Patriarchate is expected, which would make the MOC-OA the first by all recognized and accepted autocephalous church …

A Situation Of The Crimeans Diocese Of The Orthodox Church Of Ukraine In Russian Occupied Crimea (2014-2022), Andrii Ivanets, Iryna Krasnodemska

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The article is devoted to the situation regarding the Crimean Diocese of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine after the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation. It should be noted that Orthodoxy and Islam are the most common religions on the peninsula. The Crimean Diocese of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine is the largest and most prominent among the Crimean religious organizations. The authors highlight Russia's consistent discriminatory policy toward the Ukrainian Orthodox Church–Kyiv Patriarchate/the Orthodox Church of Ukraine on the temporarily occupied peninsula, which is aimed at their gradual but rigorous expulsion from Crimea. The methods of its implementation …

Between Oriental Orthodoxy And European Modernity: Georgian Orthodox Church, Market Economy, And Social Message, Leons Gabriels Taivans

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

Excerpt: "This article aims to ask what the history of the Protestant ethic might contribute to our understanding of the contemporary relationship between Georgian Orthodoxy, economics, and capitalism. In doing so, we engage with a handful of retrospections that offer engagements with Weber regarding this interface. We begin with the key arguments advanced in The Protestant Ethic. Then we incorporate contemporary Pentecostalism into Weber's genealogical account of the rise of capitalist modernity. Thus, we hope to find parallels between twenty-first-century Pentecostalism and the seventeenth-century ascetic Protestantism as a sort of modernization paradigm.

The second part of the article is an …

Repressive Policy Of The Occupiers During Hybrid War Against Religious Communities Of Ukraine, 2014-2022, Oksana Vysoven, Yuriy Figurnyi, Valentyna Molotkina, Nina Brehunets

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The article analyzes the repressive policy of the occupiers during the undeclared Russian-Ukrainian hybrid war against the religious communities of Ukraine in 2014–2022. It has been established that the “russian world'' is a neo-imperial, geopolitical, ideological doctrine aimed at the theoretical substantiation and practical restoration of the "great historical Russia" within the borders of the Russian Empire at the peak of its power in 1914. By way of the "russian world," an important "soft power" of the Kremlin, Russia first planned to capture the mental space of Ukraine and the brains of its citizens; then, if necessary, they would deploy …

Finding Paul In The Fourth Gospel: John 8 And The Reception Of The Apostle To The Gentiles, Jason Hitchcock

Dissertations (1934 -)

The earliest extant Christian texts are not narratives of the life of Jesus but occasion-specific letters of Paul. Whether formed through Paul’s own habit of retaining copies or by the collection efforts of early followers, a corpus Paulinum circulated with remarkable speed and guided the development of a Christian literary tradition. Rudolf Bultmann convinced a generation of commentators that despite a remarkably similar theology, the Gospel of John has no literary connection to Paul’s writings. This claim bolstered the Fourth Gospel’s renown as a purportedly independent witness to local Christian tradition. But recent NT scholars have shown a Tendenz to …

“Now I Will Recall The Works Of God”: Allusion And Intertextuality In Sirach 42:15-43:33, Gary Patrick Klump

Dissertations (1934 -)

Since the discovery of the Hebrew fragments of Sirach in the Cairo Geniza, the study of influence and intertextuality has been pervasive. However, previous scholars have generally overestimated the occurrence of literary allusion, partially due to the lack of a universally accepted method and nomenclature. This dissertation addresses that issue by investigating Ben Sira’s deployment of culturally constructed registers related to the storm-god theophany, the combat myth, divine speech, and the sapiential register in Ben Sira’s Hymn to the Creator. Using a reconstructed version of the Masada Manuscript, none of the discrete parallels proposed by various scholars held up as …

Teacher Flexibility And The New Normal, Sheila Mulder

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

"The pandemic revealed the strong need for caring for the whole person and implementing informed teaching practices and principles."

Posting about ­­­­­­­­adapting to change in education 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/teacher-flexibility-and-the-new-normal/

Sympathy For The Devil: Belief In Satan And Moral Beliefs, Scott A. Desmond, Tom Clark, Christoper D. Bader

Sociology Faculty Articles and Research

Previous research suggests that religious service attendance, biblical literalism, images of God, and other measures of religion are related to moral beliefs (i.e., that certain behaviors are wrong or deviant). Given previous theory and research on spiritual appraisals (particularly demonization and desecration), we argue that belief in Satan should also predict moral beliefs. Using the first four waves of the Baylor Religion Survey, we tested the association between belief in Satan and belief in the wrongfulness of twelve different behaviors related to abortion, family matters, sexuality, and substance use. Although religious service attendance and biblical literalism were consistently related to …

The Now And The Not Yet: A Review Of The Art Of New Creation, Justin Bailey

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

"What does it mean to create art that reflects the reality of new creation, in a way that is attentive to the gritty particularities of our present moment?"

Posting about the book The Art of New Creation 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/the-now-and-the-not-yet-a-review-of-the-art-of-new-creation/

Saint Jude's, June 26, 2022

Saint Jude's

A newsletter published for Deaf Catholics in Waltham, MA

Saint Jude's Finding Aid

St. Francis Borgia Deaf Center Church Bulletin, June 26, 2022

Saint Francis Borgia Deaf Center Church Bulletin

A newsletter published for Deaf Catholics in Chicago, IL

Saint Francis Brogia Deaf Center Church Bulletin Finding Aid

Spiritual Formation For The Global Church

Liberty Theological Review

Ryan A. Brandt and John Frederick. Spiritual Formation for the Global Church. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2021. ISBN 978-0830855186. $23.78.

Secrets And Watchers: A Markan Demonology, Christopher W. Peters

Liberty Theological Review

Mark’s use of a secrecy motif is well known to commentators. This article explores the messianic secret by analyzing its most common violators, the demons of the Gospel of Mark. Mark’s various exorcism accounts function to provide a working demonology of the Evangelist, and this biblical theology is correlated with other extant Second Temple Period Jewish literature, primarily 1 Enoch and its Watchers tradition. Mark relies upon both Leviticus and the Book of Watchers to describe the function and identity of demons, explaining their own supernatural knowledge of the identity of Christ, knowledge which necessitates his commands to keep silent. …

An Examination Of Biblical Archaeology’S Impact On Exegetical And Theological Method With Attendant Case Study, Donald C. Mcintyre

Liberty Theological Review

The chief concern of this paper is to examine how one can integrate archaeological data into the exegetical and theological processes so that one might profitably learn how to understand and rightly apply the text. This paper will argue that archaeology informs the exegetical process through providing historical and literary context to the study of the Bible when properly understood, and that it can also be useful in the theological process as one seeks to rightly integrate illumination from other sources. After an analysis of how archaeology can be rightly integrated in the exegetical and theological processes the paper will …

An Evaluation Of 2 Peter As A Testament, Joel Thomas

Liberty Theological Review

The authorship of 2 Peter is one of the most disputed areas of NT studies. There are many facets to this issue. This paper will address the contention by many scholars that 2 Peter is testamentary in nature and is therefore pseudepigraphal. The various testamentary genres will be analyzed for characteristics, and then those characteristics will be compared to 2 Peter to determine whether 2 Peter is testamentary in nature and the likelihood that it is pseudepigraphal. The conclusion of this study is 2 Peter does not meet the characteristics of any testamentary genre and that it is in fact …

The Reconciliation Of Future Israel In Romans 9–11, Kent T. Maitland

Liberty Theological Review

This paper contends that supersessionism does not adequately understand the soteriological concept of reconciliation as it applies specifically to Israel because it does not correctly understand the apostolic hermeneutic. Reconciliation refers to the ending of hostility between two parties, which encompasses the removal of the root cause of the enmity in order to effect a change in their relationship from “enemy” to “friend.” While reconciliation describes the work of salvation accomplished in Christ for all humanity, it takes on additional significance when applied to Israel. In Romans 9–11, Paul highlights Israel’s enmity with God, God’s provision for removing the enmity’s …

Three Reasons To Praise The Creator From Psalm 8: A Biblical Theology With Attention To Intertextuality, Donald Mcintyre

Liberty Theological Review

Psalm 8 serves as the first creation hymn of the Psalter, and as such is worthy of an exegetical and theological analysis. This analysis will begin with an exegesis of the text, since exegesis rightfully precedes theologizing.[1] The exegesis will include a translation, examination of the historical and literary contexts, the genre classification, structure, and discussion of the literary features with special attention given to parallelism and conclude with a brief exposition. After the requisite exegetical analysis has been completed, a theological synthesis will be commenced progressing from the psalms location in its microstructural setting to its use in …

What Does The Euthyphro Dilemma Reveal About The Nature Of Allah?, Sherene N. Khouri

Liberty Theological Review

In their book, Good God: The Theistic Foundations of Morality, David Baggett & Jerry Walls discuss the nature of the God of Christianity by studying the Euthyphro dilemma. This paper shall follow Louise Antony, Walls, and Baggett’s model of the Euthyphro dilemma (Divine Command Theory) and uses it as an objective moral standard to study the nature of the theistic concept of divinity in Islam. After explaining the Euthyphro dilemma and making the distinction between voluntarism and extreme voluntarism. I shall argue that morality (what is good, right, bad, wrong, or evil) can easily be compromised on the extreme …

Junia As A Female Apostle In Romans 16:7 : A Literature Review Of Relevant Sources From 2010 To Present, Matt H. Hamilton

Liberty Theological Review

Ever since Bernadette Brooten’s seminal article in 1977, there has been a heated (and sometimes violent) debate over the identity and function of Junia(s) in Rom. 16:7. While recent years have seen tentative consensus in certain areas, such an outlook belies the deep and nuanced arguments which still exist. This essay will attempt to address a hole in the literature, namely a comprehensive review of the Junia debate since 2010. It will do this by cataloguing the discourse into four categories: the Name-Gender Debate, the Syntax-Grammar Debate, the Rhetoric-Context Debate, and the Apostleship Debate. After this analysis, comments will be …

Ancient Dying And Rising Gods: An Analysis Of Physicality, Similarity, And Causality

Liberty Theological Review

Cook, John Granger. Empty Tomb, Resurrection, Apotheosis (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2018) xvi +717 pp. ISBN 978-3-16-156503-8, 164,00 €. (=WUNT 410)

Podium Presentation: Relationships Between Nursing Stress And Perceived Importance Of Access To Chaplains During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Teresa Bigand, Adam Gaines, Sheila Doucette, Danell Stengem, Rachel Freedberg, Jamie Roney, Rosemary Timmerman

2022 Providence Nurse Research Conference

Background:

Hospital chaplains are trained to provide spiritual support to inpatients, family members, and support persons across the continuum of care. Patients receiving a chaplain visit during their hospital stay report higher satisfaction, quality of life, and spiritual well-being. Chaplain consultation during hospitalization is related to higher rates of hospice enrollment and lower rates of in-hospital deaths. Additionally, evidence suggests nurses who are employed in hospitals with staff chaplains report lower stress and compassion fatigue based on frequency of interactions with chaplains during worked shifts. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, hospital nurses providing front-line care report higher stress levels compared to …

Podium Presentation: Levels Of Compassion Satisfaction Among Prescribers, Nursing Staff, And Chaplains, Teresa Bigand, Adam Gaines, Dawn Bock, Jamie Roney, Rachel Freedberg, Rosemary Timmerman, Danell Stengem

2022 Providence Nurse Research Conference

Background:

Patient care delivered in hospitals is fast-paced, complex, and ever-changing. During the COVID-19 pandemic, nurses, prescribers, and chaplains provided front-line, whole-person care in hospital settings to patients who had decreased or no access to visitors without the use of technology while facing acute illness and difficult prognoses. During the pandemic, nurses and physicians reported increased fatigue and stress in scientific literature. Poor emotional well-being may lead to decreased compassion satisfaction. Increased compassion satisfaction may mitigate adverse occupational and patient-centered outcomes, support fewer missed days at work, lead to higher staff satisfaction, and raise patient satisfaction scores. Literature reports that …

Anger And Hope In Rural American Liturgy, Benjamin Durheim

Theology Faculty Publications

Sociologists and political scientists have published a number of studies recently dealing with the tumultuous and often angry ethos of rural and small-town America. However, while a number of scholars have recognized that the anger and resentment present in much of the atmosphere of rural and small-town America is multifaceted and deeper than a simple desire for policy change, very little scholarly work has focused specifically on the role of ritual in exacerbating or alleviating social anger in these contexts. This article argues that the liturgical cultivation of hope is a powerful antidote to the vitriol of the political atmosphere …

The Volition Of Faith And Appreciation Of Pragmatism And Existential Contributions, Sterling Courtney

The Hilltop Review

Propositions of belief depend on some degree of factual basis. Philosophical arguments vary as to whether certainty is necessary to form beliefs which can lead to compelling faith. Furthermore, if faith is a criteria for salvation, the volition of faith would be fundamental in ones’ culpability for having faith. Idealism represents the antithetical position of pragmatism and involves factual accounts in which to base beliefs, however, this paper intends to provide various considerations for pragmatic and existential philosophies by examining concerns of William James, Blaise Pascal, Soren Kierkegaard, and others. I.e., “Pascal’s Wager” is a philosophical idea used to demonstrate …

Black (Muslim) Lives Matter: African American Muslim Social Activism, Jacob C. Riccioni

The Hilltop Review

Over the past eight years, the Black Lives Matter movement has advocated for marginalized communities within the African American population and called for police brutality and anti-black racism to be abolished. With the rise of Black Lives Matter in contemporary society, I am left wondering, do African American Muslims support the Black Lives Matter movement? There is no simple answer for African American Muslim leaders and laypeople because the Black Lives Matter movement supports LGBTQ+ rights, which some Muslims do not condone, and some rallies have broken out into riots. Religious leaders and scholars are split between supporting Black Lives …

A Christian Response To Pride Month: Pride And Sabbath, Donald Roth

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

"We... confess that the world is broken in deep ways, and we don’t have to shy from the reality of the ways that people suffer and are marginalized in this world."

Posting about Sabbath as a Christian response to Pride Month 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/a-christian-response-to-pride-month-pride-and-sabbath/

Foreword To Martin Kovan, A Buddhist Theory Of Killing: A Philosophical Exposition, James Mark Shields, Dan Cozort

Other Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.