Religion Commons^™

Selection Perception: Views On The Theory Of Evolution Among Residents Of Moshi, Tanzania, Robin Waterman

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The theory of evolution is a major tenet of biological science and has many practical applications, particularly in agriculture, medicine, and conservation. Nevertheless, there is significant opposition to the theory and its incorporation into school curricula, largely on religious grounds. This disconnect between public opinion and scientific opinion has been studied at length in the US and to some extent in other industrialized nations, but little is known about the issue in other communities around the world. This paper will use the town of Moshi, Tanzania as a case study in community views and knowledge about the theory of evolution. …

Church And State In Rwanda: Catholic Missiology And The 1994 Genocide Against The Tutsi, Marcus Timothy Haworth

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

During the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, over one million Tutsis were killed by the government of Rwanda and Hutu extremists. In this study, I address two questions: (1) did the Church, as an institution, offer a convincing counter-narrative to the dominant ideology of racialized ethnic identities of twentieth century European colonialism in the present-day nation-state of Rwanda? If it did not, why not? And, (2) what role, if any, did the Church, as an institution, play, in promoting a “social imagination” that valued religious identity, or truths, over the dominant European colonial ideology, and later the nationalistic narrative of …

Religion And Identity In A Globalized Morocco, Jennifer Morgan Hekking

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The focus of my independent research project is on the variety of religious identities among Moroccan youth, with youth being defined as people under 30 years of age. Prior to my interactions with human subjects, I consulted numerous literary resources to establish the context of my study. I investigated religious identity, globalization, individuation, the phenomenon of the Arab “youth bulge,” and youth culture. After this literature analysis, I constructed an interview guideline of about 20 questions for my youth subjects with the help of my advisor. I used all of the questions on this guideline in my four in-person interviews …

Thangka Painting: An Exploration Of Tibetan Buddhism Through Art, Hannah Slocumb

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Thangka painting is an ancient Tibetan Buddhist art form which depicts Buddhist deities. The deities must be made in very specific proportions, as it is believed that the deities can inhabit the paintings and thus the painting must be of the utmost beauty. Thangkas have a variety of uses, but they are mostly used as a means of gaining merit, in death rituals, during meditation, and in Buddhist ceremonies. In order to learn more about Tibetan Buddhism, I spent two and a half weeks studying thangka painting. I learned the entire process of creating a thangka, from the creation of …

The Mountain Stands: An Autoethnographic Inquiry Into Zulu Christians' Approaches To Spiritual Health, Makayla Lagerman

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Spiritual health is a vital component of individual wellness that can be described in many ways; most commonly, it is thought of as the connectivity of the inner spirit to others, the world, transcendental beings, and more. From personal experience, I know that the state of my spiritual wellbeing can greatly impact my physical and mental health. For this reason, actively considered how to think about spiritual health for one of the first times in my life.

This project sought to explore Zulu Christians’ approaches to spiritual health in concurrence with my own. This was done by interviewing one Swazi …

Sacred Springs: Perceptions Of Religion And Water In Village Communities Of Uttarakhand, Juliet Risko

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This study explores the rural area of Pauri Garhwal in Uttarakhand to gain an understanding of the relationship between traditional societies and their natural environment – including perceptions of water in the community, the aspect of religious rituals involving such resources, and the impact that these factors have on the overall health of the community. Originally, the water body of interest was the Ganga, with the complex layers of spirituality surrounding her waters. However, upon visitation to the community, it was discovered that natural springs held a much greater importance to the individual and collective lives in the area. Through …

Reconciling Universal Salvation And Freedom Of Choice In Origen Of Alexandria, Lee W. Sytsma

Dissertations (1934 -)

Origen has traditionally been famous for his universalism, but many scholars now express doubt that Origen believed in a universal and permanent apocatastasis. This is because many scholars are convinced that Origen’s teaching on moral autonomy (or freedom of choice) is logically incompatible with the notion that God foreordains every soul’s future destiny. Those few scholars who do argue that Origen believed in both moral autonomy and universal salvation either do not know how to reconcile these two views in Origen’s theology, or their proposed “solutions” are not convincing. In this dissertation I make two preliminary arguments which allow the …

The Media Matrix Of Early Jewish And Christian Literature, Nicholas Andrew Elder

Dissertations (1934 -)

This study compares two seemingly dissimilar ancient texts, the Gospel of Mark and Joseph and Aseneth. The former is a product of the nascent Jesus movement and influenced by the Greco-Roman βίοι (“Lives”). It details the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of a wandering Galilean. The latter is a Hellenistic Jewish narrative influenced by Jewish novellas and Greek romances. It expands the laconic account of Joseph’s marriage to Aseneth in Genesis 41 into a full-blown love story that promotes the romantic, theological, and ethical incentives of spurning idols and converting to Judaism. Generically, theologically, and concerning content the two texts …

Confidential Publics: Digital Reconciliation And Queer Muslim Identities, Mariam Mustafa

Masters Theses

In this paper, I trouble constructions of community through exploring temporal spatial configurations of support for queer-identified Muslims living in America. I assert that when community is not something one can physically access, use of the internet to create temporary spaces of community is critical in assessing identity reconciliation between intersectional conflicting identity. As it relates to queer Muslims, where there is a distinct lack of public community, the level of crisis some individuals face is explored through their use of online vehicles to establish social support systems that would otherwise not be available. My paper provides a framework in …

A Message From Antioch And Moravia To The West, Barry Hudspeth

Masters Theses

This qualitative thesis study, “A Message From Antioch and Moravia to the West,” explores the North American Church’s role in the global missions arena and seeks to develop a streamlined strategy for engaging in cross-cultural evangelism in the twenty-first century. A qualitative case study of the first-century Christian church and Moravian church of the eighteenth century provides data on actions conducted to spread Christianity from a central geographical location outward to the known world in their respective eras of Christian history. These two case study analyses looked at how the Gospel was spread during each point in history followed by …

Reframing Identity In The Age Of Authenticity, Daphne Edmonston

Masters Theses

Many in American culture have either actively or passively adopted the idea that authenticity is one of the highest virtues, if not the highest. The cultural ideal of authenticity states that personal identity and meaning are found within oneself. Being true to ‘the real you’ is the path to meaning, pleasure, and flourishing. This way of framing personal identity proves to be insecure, unstable, and leads to a lack of flourishing. In contrast, a Christian view of authenticity provides stability and security and leads to the possibility of flourishing in this life as well as for eternity. There is a …

The Parable As Mirror: An Examination Of The Use Of Parables In The Works Of Kierkegaard, Russell Hamer

Dissertations (1934 -)

This dissertation focuses on an exploration of the use of parables in the works of Soren Kierkegaard. While some work has been done on Kierkegaard’s poetic style, very little attention has been paid to his metaphors, despite their prevalent use in his works. Much of the scholarship instead treats his parables as mere examples of philosophical concepts. In this work, I argue that Kierkegaard’s parables function primarily to cause the reader to see him or herself truly. The parables work like mirrors, reflecting our true selves back onto ourself. In this way, the parables prompt Kierkegaard’s readers to overcome the …

Eighteenth-Century Forerunners Of Vatican Ii: Early Modern Catholic Reform And The Synod Of Pistoia, Shaun London Blanchard

Dissertations (1934 -)

This dissertation sheds further light on the nature of church reform and the roots of the Second Vatican Council (1962-65) through a study of eighteenth-century Catholic reformers who anticipated Vatican II. The most striking of these examples is the Synod of Pistoia (1786), the high-water mark of "late Jansenism." Most of the reforms of the Synod were harshly condemned by Pope Pius VI in the Bull Auctorem fidei (1794), and late Jansenism was totally discredited in the increasingly ultramontane nineteenth-century Catholic Church. Nevertheless, many of the reforms implicit or explicit in the Pistoian agenda - such as an exaltation of …

Hoc Est Sacrificium Laudis: The Influence Of Hebrews On The Origin, Structure, And Theology Of The Roman Canon Missae, Matthew S. C. Olver

Dissertations (1934 -)

One area of study that received a newfound level of attention during the twentieth century’s Liturgical Movement was the relationship between the Bible and liturgy. The Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, Sacrosanctum concilium, highlights the importance and centrality of this relationship, declaring that “[s]acred scripture is of the greatest importance in the celebration of the liturgy” (SC 24). The broad movements of ressourcement and la nouvelle théologie, particularly figures such as Jean Daniélou and Henri de Lubac, emphasized the deep unity between Scripture and the very text of liturgical rites and argued that the liturgy is an expression of spiritual …

A Recent Attempt To Disprove The Resurrection Of Jesus And Supernatural Beliefs, Gary R. Habermas

Faculty Publications and Presentations

The Miracle Myth by the University of Wisconsin philosopher Larry Shapiro addresses Jesus’ resurrection and supernatural beliefs in the context of the miracles question. This Review Article outlines briefly Shapiro’s argument, including some critical responses.

“Torah In The Mouth”: An Introduction To The Rabbinic Oral Law, Avram R. Shannon

Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

One of the primary characteristics of modern Judaism, as it developed from its earliest forms, is the acceptance of what is commonly known as the oral law. Over the thousands of years of Jewish/Christian interaction and discourse, Christians—including Latter-day Saints—have tried to understand the oral law and how it relates to their own beliefs and practices. In the historical relationship between Christianity and Judaism, this has sometimes led to the propagation of anti-Semitic beliefs, even unknowingly. When teaching about Judaism, whether in the context of the New Testament or world religions, it is important for Latter-day Saint teachers and religious …

Abish, Theophanies, And The First Lamanite Restoration, Matthew L. Bowen

Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

Abish and her secret conversion to the Lord “on account of a remarkable vision of her father” “many years” before the conversion of Lamoni’s household (Alma 19:16–17) emerge at a crucial moment in the Lamanite conversion narratives (Alma 17–27). In terms of a timeline of events, this “remarkable vision” stands first in a sequence of visions that result in the conversion of numerous Lamanites. Moreover, these visions, and the mass conversions that follow, precipitate seismic events on the landscape of Lamanite-Nephi history as Mormon recounts it. He mentions Abish’s name, gives a brief biography, and references the “remarkable vision of …

Sitting Enthroned: A Scriptural Perspective, Jennifer C. Lane

Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

Putting scriptural texts into historical and cultural context has the potential to open up new insights and reveal what may have been hiding in plain sight. By allowing what might seem familiar in a modern perspective to be seen in the new light of a different cultural world, the ancient meaning can become clear.

Oh, Lilah, R. A. Montross

Student Publications

"Oh, Lilah" is a feminist retelling of the story of Samson and Delilah. It is a verse poem divided into five sections. It is narrated by Delilah, putting a unique, contemporary twist on the renowned Biblical tale.

Rediscovering The Theology Of Lay Ministry And Presenting A Pastoral Plan: “The Integral Christian Formation Of Lay Leaders” For The Catholic Church In Tamil Nadu, India, Bernard Joseph Viagappan

LMU Theses and Dissertations

Even after the Vatican II has categorically revealed the role and the place of the laity in the Church, there is so much of resistance and cynicism prevailing among the clergy and the people in the Indian Church about this clarion call of the Council. Around 90% of Catholics keep themselves passive in their faith practice. As we delay the promotion of active and full use of the lay potential, the greater the chance and number of the lay faithful losing their faith. A strong feeling of insecurity in the clergy leads to distrust of lay talents and charisms and …

Serbian Orthodoxy Between Two Worlds, Marko P. Djurić

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

Orthodoxy has, by the Providence of God, been placed between Western Christianity, and Sunni Islam. Church nationalism (phyletism) has always been present in political and linguistic nationalism in the former Yugoslavia. The relationship between Serbian Orthodoxy, with Islam and Western Christianity is not satisfactory. In order to become satisfactory, it would be important for the Orthodox Church to create a new theology which would, primarily, be a theological (Orthodox) response to the signs of the times. However, this has not become the reality as of yet.

Two Types Of Crisis In Central And Eastern Europe, András Máté-Tóth

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

In contemporary public discourses, the term “crisis” is often used. Anything and everything might be named or categorized as a crisis. Thus, the term seemingly becomes devalued. I, however, argue that after some differentiation, it is possible to speak about crisis in regards to our societies in Central and Eastern Europe.

In social theory, the term "crisis" is currently used not primarily to describe one particular societal phenomenon, but rather the entire area of today’s society and culture. Crisis, for social theorists, seems to be the fundamental phenomenon which serves as a main theoretical framework to understand the contemporary societal …

Interdisciplinary Team-Based Pastoral Care Model For Estonian Healthcare Institutions: The Professionals' Insight And The Model Adjustments, Liidia Meel

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The current article addresses the application potential of an interdisciplinary team- based pastoral care model in Estonian healthcare institutions. To support the inclusion of pastoral care in Estonian healthcare institutions, the initial model of interdisciplinary team-based pastoral care was created as a theoretical construction. The current article deals with the model applicability and aims to adjust the model to be adaptable to different healthcare institutions in Estonia. To inform the model adjustments, a qualitative research was conducted in three Estonian hospitals that have included pastoral care provision in different organizational forms. The expert sample consists of pastoral caregivers of these …

Methodism In Macedonia Between The Two World Wars, Paul B. Mojzes

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

After World War I ended, the part of Macedonia commonly called Vardar Macedonia was incorporated into the new Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes (subsequently renamed Yugoslavia). It was officially proclaimed to be a part of Serbia as the Serbian government did not recognize a separate Macedonian nationality. Some 10 stations of the American Board, including the Bitola Girls' School, were in this area. The American Board attempted to maintain a semblance of unity in the Balkan Mission, but Greece, Bulgaria, and Yugoslavia were on such unfriendly terms that this was not feasible. For a while the American Board was …

Mobilizing Habesha Immigrant Churches In Greater Boston : Training Servant Leaders For Transformation And Growth, Mulualem Kaba

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Impact Of Leadership Matters Course On Christian Leaders, Crispus Christian

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Chaos And Clairvoyance : Apollo In Asia Minor And In The Apocalypse, Andrew Jonathan Coutras

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Insights Into The Translation And Interpretation Of The Targum To The Book Of Jeremiah, Meng Loeng Yip

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Resisting The Devil’S Instruments: Early Modern Resistance Theory For Late Modern Times, David Henreckson

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

In the midst of religious conflict in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, a number of prominent Protestant theologians and lawyers wrote on the collective moral obligation to resist systemic injustice. My essay focuses on Johannes Althusius, who offers a theological account of the political com­munity and its obligation to preserve the ·common good and resist injustice. Thinking alongside Althusius, I will consider not only the conditions that may prompt acts of resistance but also the lawful means and ends of resistance. In other words, how might resistance be carripd out rightly? By whom? And to what end? Finally, …

Protestants And The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church: In Search Of Inclusive Solutions, Mykhailo Cherenkov

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

Post-Soviet Protestants, having gotten used to living in coexistence with an atheistic society over the course of 70 years, have discovered something new in the years since Ukraine gained independence—Orthodox tradition. It did not happen at once, but the first attempts have been made at reclassifying the relationship between Protestants and Orthodox as other, not foreign. However, the Orthodox other is not the only other. In dialogue with the official Orthodox Church, it is easy to lose sight of the diversity within Orthodoxy (Orthodox churches are “other” to each other), and also the coexistence in the same cultural arena of …