Religion Commons^™

The Politicization Of Religion And The Sacralized Balkan Nations Regarding Bosnia And Herzegovina, Faruk Hadžić

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

Ethnic, national, and confessional affiliation in ex-Yugoslavia add to political radicalization. As a form of political power, politicized religions are, psychologically speaking, unconscious non-faith. Due to new national-state theoretical inadequacy, (i.e., nationalism as an ideology), religion is used as an instrument of socialization and legitimization of new national-political state subjects. When nation and religion become “controversial” identification and mark others as potentially dangerous, through a policy that allegedly aims to "affirm" and "protect" its people and their faith, then in local historical and current circumstances, it essentially implies antagonism in the most dramatic conflicts. The historical revisionism and the memory …

Flexible Leadership In A Changing World, Petr Cincala

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Landscape And Lore: River Acheron And The Oracle Of The Dead, Lashante St. Fleur

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In order to explore the cultural relationships between people, landscape, memory and ritual, this master’s thesis focuses on the Acheron River in Epirus, Greece, long believed to harbor an entrance into Hades, the Greek underworld. Various entrances into the chthonic, or subterranean land of the dead, are peppered throughout Greece, with each tied to their own local myths, legends, folklore and cults. According to those traditions, Hades could be accessed from several terrestrial rivers thought to be connected to Oceanus, the primordial world-encompassing river surrounding all of creation. Flowing forth from River Ocean were all above- and underground rivers and …

Creative Nothingness: Dada As Art, Politics And Religion In Interwar Japan, James Mark Shields

Faculty Journal Articles

The decades immediately following the Meiji Restoration of 1868 saw Japan rapidly develop as a “modern” nation — replete with industrial technology, a powerful and sophisticated military, a burgeoning capitalist economy, a broad based educational system, and, by the early twentieth century, a massive influx of contemporary Western political, philosophical, literary and artistic ideals, including socialism, anarchism, and nearly all variations of avant-garde art and aesthetics. By the end of the Meiji period, however, with the crackdown on leftist activities in the wake of the High Treason Incident (1910–1911) and the slow but steady accretion of Japanese imperialist ideology through …

Experiencing God: Engaging Elementary-Aged Children In Corporate Worship, Laura Rushing Hancock

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The engagement of children in meaningful worship has been neglected, despite the investment of modern churches in essential safety protocols and digital media in children’s ministry. The twenty-first-century consumerist mindset is driving worship design, essentially undermining the worship leader’s role as the shepherd of a child-centered and Christ-focused approach. Many churches are neglecting the biblical instruction to cast vision and express value for children’s corporate worship. A sense of awe and wonder is notably absent in many corporate services designed for children. Drawing upon biblical principles, educational theory, and corporate worship practices throughout history, this qualitative historical study seeks to …

The Rise Of Corporate Individualism In Twenty-First Century Worship, Russell Allen Robbins

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Western society has experienced a monumental paradigm shift which has influenced the way in which the church worships in the twenty-first century. Postmodernism has led to an increasingly self-focused individualism in corporate worship which overvalues personal experience and undervalues the communal aspect of corporate worship. Despite much discussion concerning postmodern generations, the influence of postmodern thought upon the rise of corporate individualism in worship has yet to be examined. The purpose of this qualitative, historical study is to examine the factors that have led to the rise of corporate individualism in worship, the indications of corporate individualism in worship, and …

The Old Testament Precedent For The Role Of The Worship Leading Choir, Justin Alan Mclaughlin

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

God designed mankind to find fulfillment through worship of him in corporate praise and worship. Detailed plans for corporate worship are outlined in the Old Testament Pentateuch, Books of History and Kingdom Books, especially as related to guidelines for worship in the Tabernacle and Temple. Despite the many biblical examples of the importance of corporate singing and the use of choir in worship, many contemporary evangelical congregations are finding just reason to abandon the use of choirs in any strategic role in facilitating or leading of worship. Thus, establishing the need to discover, determine and articulate the biblical role choir …

Combatting Secular Humanism: Creating A Strategy To Teach Theology And Apologetics To High School Students, Chad J. Brown

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

In today’s society, there are more distractions than ever before. Students graduate from high school and often face worldview attacks from their professors. Many times, students do not have a solid enough understanding of a biblical worldview to respond confidently. The postmodern culture has created a gap between student’s emotional need and the intellectual need for a solid biblical foundation. Secular humanism has become a dominating worldview in our culture, and this project will formulate a strategy to teach theology and apologetics to high school students to combat secular humanism. Discipleship is training of a person’s mental, emotional, and spiritual …

A Strategy For Conducting Evangelism And Discipleship With The Unchurched In The Cane Bay Plantation Residential Development’S Restricted Communities In Summerville, Sc, John Paul Tornifolio

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The late Twentieth and early Twenty-first Centuries witnessed an unprecedented rise in the numbers of families moving into restricted, residential communities, seeking security, an improved quality of life, and high property values. These communities hinder traditional churches from fulfilling the Great Commission. Homeowners’ associations disallow door-to-door neighborhood evangelism. Zoning laws prevent churches from erecting buildings for church services and discipleship programs. This research studies the effectiveness of small group ministries, using non-traditional evangelism and discipleship methods, as a counter measure to these hindrances. The study results found small groups are an effective method of fulfilling the Great Commission in restricted, …

Recognizing And Overcoming The Problem Of Individualism In A Local Church, Michael John Jackson

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Individualism, the concept that a person’s own thoughts and interests are ethically paramount over any governmental system, can be a problem in a church, especially a small church where changes in numbers can directly affect the church’s ability to carry out its vision and mission. This project will look at a rural Illinois church to show how it handles the problem of individualism, specifically in its leaders, by emphasizing the biblical concepts of the body of Christ and the family of God. The project will include an interview with a Bible college president who has researched church leadership to talk …

A Biblical System For Growth In Traditional Churches Through Evangelism And Discipleship, Marcus Denton Floyd

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The prominence of self-centered philosophies in today’s culture has infiltrated the minds of contemporary believers and has produced a difficult context for urban traditional churches to function in because many parishioners are gravitating away from churches that faithfully proclaim the selfless nature of being a disciple of Jesus Christ. The thesis project will contend that the erosion of truth can be opposed through a systematic process that underscores biblical concepts, which have been proven to be effective. Additionally, the thesis will demonstrate the importance of churches being spiritually healthy to gain and retain members by interacting with the scriptural mandate …

The Influence Of Charismatic Worship Forms In The Local Evangelical Church In The 21st Century In The United States, Kyle Edward Grizzard

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Despite a continued desire to understand the direction of worship liturgy in the American evangelical church culture, many scholars are unable to identify the influence of charismatic worship forms in various evangelical churches in the United States. This research is important for understanding the future of worship in the local evangelical church in America and will aid in determining the theology, liturgy, and philosophy of worship and its practices. Guided by scholars of worship in both charismatic and traditional evangelical worship cultures, this qualitative historical research study provides insight to the worship culture in current evangelical worship. Perspectives on behavior, …

Frontmatter (Volume 40, Issue 7), Paul B. Mojzes

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

No abstract provided.

Using Church History Documents In Your Classroom, Keith A. Erekson

Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

Each of the standard works was compiled from previous historical documents. The Bible emerged from letters and writings selected and evaluated over hundreds of years. Joseph Smith received revelations for more than a decade before some were published in the Doctrine and Covenants. Members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles selected some of Joseph Smith’s other writings for inclusion in the Pearl of Great Price. Mormon and Moroni abridged Nephite records to prepare the plates that Joseph Smith translated as the Book of Mormon.

Feeling God's Love, Lindon J. Robison

Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

Some of my family and friends have separated themselves from the gospel. Their reasons vary. However, they often share a common concern: if God loves all his children, all the time, everywhere, and no matter what—why can’t I feel it? In response to this question, I wrote this essay. In doing so, I found President Russell M. Nelson’s conference talk on divine love to be an important resource. President Nelson states that “while divine love can be called perfect, infinite, enduring, and universal, it cannot correctly be characterized as unconditional.” In grappling with the concept of conditional love and …

A Method For Evaluating Latter-Day Saint History, Anthony R. Sweat, Kenneth L. Alford

Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

Historical claims about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are repeatedly shared in classrooms, conversations, books, manuals, videos, podcasts, and online in a variety of ways. There is no shortage of information about the history of the Restoration. When you learn about Church history from these various sources, however, how do you know which claims to accept and which to question? Are all perspectives about Church history accurate and trustworthy? And, if all historical sources are not of the same value and veracity, what guidelines can be used to differentiate them?

Forging Alternatively Sacred Spaces In Singapore's Integrated Religious Marketplace, Orlando Woods

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This paper expands the notion of sacred space within the geographies of religion by arguing that spaces of religious praxis need to be understood in relation to the broader spatial logics within which they are embedded. Given that the spatial logics of urban environments tend to be secular and neoliberal in nature, it considers how religious groups respond to the realities of the marketplaces in which they operate by forging “alternatively sacred” spaces. These spaces augment the appeal of religious groups in non-religious ways, thus making them more competitive players in a religious marketplace. Specifically, it explores how independent churches …

Introduction, Catherine Gomes, Lily Kong, Orlando Woods

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Contemporary society is evolving at a pace never experienced before. Existing human processes of movement and settlement are becoming more frequent, whilst advances in technology have given rise to new processes of digitally-mediated connection, community-building and content-creation. Religion intersects with all of these processes; guiding them, and being transformed by them in turn. Indeed, in the two decades or so since Rudolph’s (1997, p. 1) observation that ‘religious communities are among the oldest of the transnationals’, research into the role of religion amongst diasporic and migrant communities around the world has ‘exploded’ (Johnson 2012, p. 95).

The Story Of The Restoration Continues: Insights Into Saints, Volume 2, Matthew J. Grow, Scott A. Hales, Lisa Olsen Tait, Angela Hallstrom

Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

On 12 February 2020, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints released the second volume in the Saints series. Subtitled No Unhallowed Hand, this volume begins with the Latter-day Saints leaving Nauvoo, Illinois, in early 1846, shortly after thousands of Church members received their endowments in the partially completed Nauvoo Temple. It tells the story of the settlement of territorial Utah and the surrounding areas; the expansion of missionary work around the globe, with a particular emphasis on Europe and the Pacific; the gathering of Saints to the American West; the lived reality of plural marriage and the national …

Being Divine Or Devilish: Which Is The Destroyer Riding Upon The Waters?, Seth N. Hord

Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

As Joseph Smith and several elders traveled from Missouri to Ohio, a series of events occurred that led some of the early Saints to be wary of traveling by water. The journey of Joseph and the elders started uneventfully as they traveled by canoe up the Missouri River, but by the third day contention and hard feelings developed within the group. At a particularly difficult stretch of the river, one of the canoes reportedly hit a hazard in the water (an uprooted tree called a sawyer) and nearly capsized. The group was frightened and made camp on the bank of …

Teaching Students To Deal With Questions And Doubts: A Perspective And A Pattern, Elder Bruce C. Hafen

Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

The Church Board of Education’s 2019 “Guidelines for Strengthening Religious Education” include this new language among the “purposes” of religious education—to “strengthen [students’] ability to find answers, resolve doubts, respond with faith, and give reason for the hope within them in whatever challenges they may face.”

Full Issue

Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

No abstract provided.

Review Of Martyrs Of Hope, John Thiede

Theology Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

Development Of Chaplaincy In Independent Ukraine: Current State And Trends Of Development, Nataliia Ishchuk, Oleksandr Sagan

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The preconditions and difficulties of the formation of the chaplaincy movement in contemporary Ukraine are systematized in this paper. It is shown that for a significant period of time after the proclamation of Ukraine’s independence, chaplaincy developed mainly by private initiatives of individual clergy or public organizations. In the first years of Ukraine’s independence, the main obstacles to its development were the atheistic legacy of the Soviet Union, ideological clichés, and the lack of a legal framework for the implementation of pastoral work. Nevertheless, as early as the 1990s, the chaplaincy ministry began to receive legal justification, significant international support, …

Journal Review: Illuminatio/Svjetionik /Almana: The Journal For New Ideas., İbrahim Karataş

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

This is a review of the first issue of the academic online journal Illuminatio (Svjetionik in Bosnian and Almanar in Arabic). It began publication in 2020, and will be published twice a year by Al-Wasatiyya Center for Dialogue based in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The journal is bilingual and appears in Bosnian and English. The Editor-in-Chief is Mustafa Cerić, who was the Grand Mufti of Bosnia and Herzegovina from 1999 to 2012 and holds a Ph.D. in Islamic Studies at the University of Chicago. The other editors and the advisory board of the journal are prestigious local and international scholars of …

Digital Occult Library, Alexis Brandkamp

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This capstone project is a website, titled Digital Occult Library, hosted by the CUNY Commons and built with WordPress. The site address is:

digitaloccultlibrary.commons.gc.cuny.edu

It features (in this iteration) twenty-five unique pages with information on and discussion of occult and esoteric topics. It also hosts a forum that can be accessed and utilized by anyone, not just those registered on the Commons. The purpose of the site is to inform three types of interested parties on the highlighted topics: a general audience with no current knowledge of the occult, practitioners of esoteric traditions, and academics. Not only is the …

Místicas Y Disidentes: Feminismo Teresiano En La Literatura Latinoamericana Del Siglo Xx, Almudena Vidorreta

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation addresses for the first time a gender-based approach to the understanding of Spanish mystic Saint Teresa’s role as a symbol of feminism, language identity and creative writing theorization in 20^th-century Latin American literature. Saint Teresa (1515-1582) was not only a model in her role as an intellectual for authors such as Delmira Agustini (1886-1914), Gabriela Mistral (1889-1957), Victoria Ocampo (1890-1979), Alfonsina Storni (1892-1938), Juana de Ibarborou (1892-1979), Teresa Wilms Montt (1893-1921), Dulce María Loynaz (1902-1997), Silvina Ocampo (1903-1993), Mercedes García Tudurí (1904-1997) y Alejandra Pizarnik (1936-1972), among others, but also a literary referent for those who …

Is This A Christian Nation?: Virtual Symposium September 25, 2020, Roger Williams University School Of Law

School of Law Conferences, Lectures & Events

No abstract provided.

Multiplex Network Ties And The Spatial Diffusion Of Radical Innovations: Martin Luther’S Leadership In The Early Reformation, Sascha O. Becker, Yuan Hsiao, Steven Pfaff, Jared Rubin

ESI Publications

This article analyzes Martin Luther’s role in spreading the early Reformation, one of the most important episodes of radical institutional change in the last millennium. We argue that social relations played a key role in its diffusion because the spread of heterodox ideologies and their eventual institutionalization relied not only on private “infection” through exposure to innovation but also on active conversion and promotion of that new faith through personal ties. We conceive of that process as leader-to-follower directional influence originating with Luther and flowing to local elites through personal ties. Based on novel data on Luther’s correspondence, Luther’s visits, …

Public Attitudes Toward Xenotransplantation: A Theological Perspective, Vic Mccracken

Bible, Missions and Ministry

Among the myriad factors contributing to public attitudes toward xenotransplantation, religious belief offers a complex picture. In April 2019, xenotransplantation researchers at the University of Alabama-Birmingham conducted a focus group conversation among 12 area religious leaders. This article offers a theological analysis of the transcript of this conversation. The details of the interactions among the focus group participants sheds light on the manner in which theological belief shapes attitudes toward xenotransplantation. While participants generally recognized and affirmed the potential benefits of xenotransplantation, their support was tempered by an array of concerns emerging from a theological narrative that shaped their moral …