Religion Commons^™

Program: 2025 Featured Lecture, "Abandonment And Freedom A Philosopher Looks At The Religious Life", Zena Hitz

Frank Pack Distinguished Christian Scholar Lecture Program

Program for the Twentieth Annual Frank Pack Distinguished Christian Scholar Lecture Program with the featured lecturer Zena Hitz, tutor in the great books program at St. John's College, Annapolis, Maryland.

Resonances Of Universalism In Tolkien's Legendarium, Nick Polk

Journal of Tolkien Research

Presented at the inaugural Holy Moot, a survey of a collection of passages from Tolkien's writings that demonstrate having the resonances of patristic universalism is conducted. It is then argued that all Tolkien’s writings be investigated separately in their context, comparing the location of each item under investigation with one another, and explore their connections without syncretizing them into a monolithic construct. To do this, it is argued that a hermeneutical theory rooted in the philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead is necessary. Concluding is a connecting of Whitehead's understanding of the expression of language with Tolkien’s own understanding of expression …

Wholehearted Leadership: Equipping Clergy For Healthy Leadership, Nicole Mcclurg

Doctor of Ministry

NPO Statement: Considering current training for Evangelical clergy, sustained attention to spiritual formation is often missing but essential for pastoral health and healthy, sustainable ministry.

Clergy are burning out significantly, as reported by a Lifeway Research Poll that found 100% of 1,500 pastors know colleagues that left the ministry, while 91% of pastors report experiencing burnout.¹ The research suggests that seminary does not prepare clergy for the demands of ministry or the practical spiritual needs of their congregations. Clergy struggle to maintain a solid vocational identity rooted in the Trinity amid pastoral duties. Many clergy are isolated from ongoing …

Biblical Women Reimagined A Devotional Where Women's Voices Are Heard, Natalie Karlson

Doctor of Ministry

The vocational context of this project portfolio is a small spiritual direction practice found in central Massachusetts. The directees are women who attend or have left the evangelical church for distinct reasons. One of the key issues that these women face is the dismissal or minimization of their voices. Leaders stopped these women from using their voices. The women could not ask questions, share their experiences, or make decisions about their spiritual journeys. Considering the context and stakeholder feedback, the NPO: the dismissal of women’s voices denies the evangelical church the complete revelation of God’s work among humans.

Four key …

The Soul Journey: A Response To The Evangelical Exodus, Jerome T. Daley Jr.

Doctor of Ministry

NPO Statement

Many leaving the white American Evangelical Church still long for spiritual connection but lack a “container” for pursuing formation and community.

Key Insights

Most of those caught in the Evangelical Exodus still love Jesus but have been injured by one or more of these particular malformations in the organized church: 1) political entanglement, 2) power mismanagement, 3) flawed theological narratives, 4) cultural exclusion, 5) and social justice neglect. They find themselves spiritually homeless and invisible, retaining vague yearnings for deeper connection yet emotionally exhausted by the trauma of leaving Church. My most compelling insight was that the organized …

Seven Portals Of Feminine Formation: Reclaiming The Wisdom Of The Gnostics, Kellie Wilder Daley

Doctor of Ministry

NPO Statement

Women with spiritual hunger have lost connection with their feminine goodness, their voice, and their embodied presence due to cultural and religious patriarchy.

Key Insights

The resilience of women is evident in the fact that we have endured so long within the Fundamentalist Evangelical Church—a space that is often hostile, if not outright misogynistic. Women have been conditioned to remain silent, accepting the idea, as John Piper put it, that “masculine Christianity” is God’s original design. However, normalizing Christianity as exclusively masculine creates deep harm and imbalance across spiritual, social, and psychological spheres. This dynamic establishes a rigid …

Recovering Palestinian Lives: Qudsiyya Khurshid From Mandate Palestine To Postwar Pennsylvania, Andrea L. Stanton

Religious Studies: Faculty Scholarship

This article works to recover the life story of Qudsiyya Khurshid, a once well-known Mandate Palestinian intellectual and educator, who wrote essays for publication and for broadcasting on the Palestine Broadcasting Service, while working as a principal at girls’ schools in al-Bireh and Jerusalem. One of a number of educated women active in the Mandate public sphere, she disappeared from public consciousness after the Nakba. But in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, where she had moved with her husband, a naturalized U.S. citizen, she became a prominent figure in civic work and as a community speaker on Palestinian and Middle Eastern life …

How Do I Care For Those Who Are Dying?, Todd Zuidema

Staff Work

"Often, the most important work was a ministry of presence, letting people know that they were not alone."

Posting about ­­­­­­­­offering hope at the end of earthly life from In All Things, an online hub that offers insight into maintaining and faithful and orthodox Reformed Christian worldview while fearlessly engaging in every aspect of contemporary life – until all is made new.

How Do I Care for Those Who Are Dying?

Biblical Theodicy The Evolution Of Satan As A Solution To The Problem Of Evil, Madison Estrada

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis attempts to serve two functions. The first is to discuss how the problem of evilin Christianity has been a problem not only in modernity, but also with premodern authors and editors of biblical canon. The second is to explain how the literary character of Satan has developed alongside the narrative in a way that seeks to answer to the problem of evil in the form of a literary theodicy. While it may be demonstrated in the textual evidence that this character can take away some of the ethical implications imposed on God by taking on evil himself, it …

Unmoored: Answering Social Upheaval And Historical Forgetfulness, Carl Creasman

Doctor of Ministry

There is a societal upheaval evidenced by a rise of Christian nationalism, deconstruction from the Christian faith, and a general lack of flourishing engulfing the nation, like an unmanned boat adrift at sea, unmoored from safe harbor. Both Christians and non-Christians can sense the danger of rough seas, perhaps even rugged shoals that could irreparably ruin the craft, our nation. As a College Professor, I have both seen and heard the concern about future, both one’s own personal future and that of the larger civic national structure. We have arrived here as a nation because the historical concepts and principles …

Inspire Leadership Transitions: Helping Non-Denominational Churches Navigate Senior Leadership Transitions, Andrew Heard

Doctor of Ministry

Inspire Leadership Transitions is a digital platform designed to assist senior pastors, church leaders, and churches in navigating the complexities of senior leadership transitions, particularly within non-denominational churches. At its core is a free online transition course that blends biblical wisdom with research-driven insights, offering a strategic, accessible, and spiritually grounded approach to leadership transitions. This project responds to the critical need for effective transition planning as senior pastors age, and churches face a growing leadership crisis. Research shows that most transitions occur without a strategic plan, leading to challenges that could otherwise be avoided. While denominational churches often have …

Equip Life On Purpose, Michael T. Morgan

Doctor of Ministry

The Big Top of Bel Air Church is a breathtaking space where God’s grand story unfolds, yet it has struggled to provide a unified biblical framework for discipleship. The problem, as outlined in my NPO statement, is that the Church lacks an agreed-upon common biblical framework needed to constructively engage the work God has entrusted the Church to do, resulting in silence, spiritual immaturity, and disunity. Political partisanship, fear, and a lack of relational and spiritual maturity have further strained the ability of believers to grow together in Christ.

A key insight emerged through extensive research: the Church’s struggle is …

M3: Intensive Seminars For Advancing Microchurch Methodology And Ministry, Rick Delatorre

Doctor of Ministry

NPO: The Microchurch ministry model has the capacity to enhance discipleship and cultural engagement for the Western Church in the 21st century.

The status of the Christian Church in the United States is in crisis. The traditional church in the West has declined. Church attendance is dropping, membership is shrinking, and younger generations are leaving. The data from multiple sources only confirmed my observations from decades of pastoral ministry.

My research into this phenomenon began as an exploration of the Western Church’s endeavors to fulfill the commission of Christ in discipleship. This exploration resulted in a research journey that led …

Whole Broken People Wholeness Of Life At All Ages, Brenda K. Lewis

Doctor of Ministry

NPO Statement

Experiences of lost independence or control overwhelm or block the spiritual coping mechanisms of some Independent Living residents at Givens Estates.

Key Research Insights

Deep cultural bias, denial, and a lack of realistic role models form blocks between us and healthy coping with the realities of aging. When we lose independence and control, we often lose our expected storyline, our sense of our identity, and our understanding of the role of our spiritual traditions. The Christian tradition offers rich resources for redefining our story and ourselves in ways that deepen our faith and our connection with the people …

The Hospitality Challenge: Recovering A Biblical Method For Discipling Busy People, Kristopher Clifford

Doctor of Ministry

How can the church effectively disciple career-driven, community-involved, and weekend-traveling individuals? This question shaped the focus of my doctoral project, which explores Christian hospitality as an experiential and flexible approach to discipleship. Traditional, program-based models of discipleship often fail to engage busy individuals because they rely on attendance and intellectual learning rather than practices integrated into everyday life. In contrast, hospitality, modeled by Jesus and the early church, emerges as a transformative and scripturally-rooted method of discipleship that is flexible for busy people, practical in nature, and effective in fostering life transformation.

In my ministry context at Columbia Baptist Church, …

Reimagining The Role Of Women In The Church Of Tomorrow, Adam Harbaugh

Doctor of Ministry

The need for "Reimagining the Role of Women in the Church of Tomorrow" has come from my experience serving as a Pastor in two non-denominational churches in Mid-Michigan over the last seventeen years (approximately 15 years in Saginaw, 2 years in Frankenmuth). In Saginaw, it became clear the advancement of the Kingdom was limited when women were not eligible to act on their spiritual gifts within the leadership hierarchy of the church. Practically, this meant women were not allowed to serve as Pastors, Elders, or preachers/teachers to the congregation at-large. Attempts from myself and others to illuminate the ways this …

My Omaha, John C. Lyden

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of My Omaha (2025), directed by Nick Beaulieu.

A Christian Response To Economic Inequality, Joshua E. Hollinger

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

"The crucial question is this: which methods of getting rich do we want to encourage in our society?"

Posting about using our resources for the good of others from In All Things, an online hub that offers insight into maintaining and faithful and orthodox Reformed Christian worldview while fearlessly engaging in every aspect of contemporary life – until all is made new.

A Christian Response to Economic Inequality

Adult Sexual Grooming: A Systematic Review, Christin Aletky, Bonita Sharma, Jose Carbajal, Tia Eubank

Journal of Social Work in the Global Community

Grooming is the manipulation and intimidation of people into acts that may appear consensual but are in fact exploitative and harmful, activities they would not have chosen otherwise. Different legal definitions and shifting social perspectives on consent complicate efforts to determine whether a given behavior is a result of informed consent or a response to grooming behaviors. Most studies on grooming and sexual assault focus on adults grooming and abusing children—research on adults grooming other adults is scarce. Therefore, the purpose of our study is to conduct a systematic review of current research on the grooming of adults. We used …

Following The Mission Leader: The Value Of Imitational Learning In The Training Of Apostolic Church Planting Teams At Memorial Lutheran Church In Katy, Texas, John F. Davis Jr

Doctor of Ministry Major Applied Project

Davis, Jr., John F. “Following the Mission Leader: The Value of Imitational Learning in the Training of Apostolic Church Planting Teams at Memorial Lutheran Church in Katy, TX.” Doctor of Ministry. Major Applied Project, Concordia Seminary, 2025. pp. 272

Reaching the unchurched and unbaptized in our communities with the Gospel of Jesus Christ is a huge challenge for most of our churches. In The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, the number of adults being baptized in the churches (a measure of our effectiveness in carrying out the Missio Dei) is less than one per year. To reach people who have no …

It Was Necessary That The Christ Should Suffer: The Passion Of Our Lord Foretold, Zachary Wessel, Ryan Groh, Nathan Tritch, Caleb Garman, Rory Fry, Brian Frank, Logan Fraley, Charles Schnell, Julia Witt, Grace Babbitts, Mark Squire, Jacob Garrison, Chris Atlee, Hunter Kinnison, Joel Ripke, Doglas Behling, Wil Welch, Conner Walts, Nathaniel Pekari, Joshua Hallock, Daniel Vanderhyde, J Corrigan, Henry Eising, Eric Nuss, Dan Hampton, Aaron Wade, Tim Contreras, Joe Musolino, Aine Molvik, Jacob Shepard, Biruk Chiksa, H. Scheltens, Pamela Vue, Joshua Bieri, Zach Eshelman, Zachary Stuckwisch, Joshua Kastens, Owen Dawson, Joshua Teggatz, Michael Speckhard, Noah Oloff, Caleb Zeckzer, Hayden Brown, Samuel Ledford, Karl Jacobson, Lyle Doster, Lyle Doster, Marius-Sergiu Trifa

Other Student Publications

The Passion is not simply one episode out of many in the Scriptures, but the climax of one, unified message that runs throughout. All that comes before the Passion in Scripture leads up to it, and all that comes after it flows from it. Jesus Himself said that the whole purpose and content of the Scriptures is pointing to Him and His work of salvation (John 5:39, Luke 24:25-26).

Since all of Scripture centers on Christ, it should come as no surprise that there is much fruitful fodder for meditation on Christ’s Passion even beyond the Passion accounts of the …

Easter Vigil In The Holy Night - 19 April 2025, Russ Mcdougall

Pastoral Liturgy

No abstract provided.

Ascension Of The Lord - 1 June 2025, Angela Mccarthy

Pastoral Liturgy

No abstract provided.

Fourth Sunday Of Easter - 11 May 2025, Errol Lobo

Pastoral Liturgy

No abstract provided.

Resistance, Adaptation, And Assimilation: Native American Responses To Christianization In The Great Lakes Region, 1800-1900, Noah S. Danforth

HS 390 Primary Research Papers

Analysis of the relationship between Native Americans and missionaries shifted from an early broad, sweeping praise of the missionaries, to overwhelming condemnation of their actions in the post Civil Rights political climate. Since the time of European contact, histories often fell into Hagiography; extolling the virtues of the missionaries, and their God-ordained work to save the soul of the perceived heathen Native. In the mind of many, the conversion of the Native was merely a natural result of the superiority of European-descended American culture. However, as a result of the Civil Rights Movement, a pivot away from lauditive analysis took …

Morganton Circuit Record Book, Morganton Circuit

Methodist Local Church Records

Parts of North Carolina were in the South Carolina Conference before 1870.

Volume 12 Issue 6 (March 1913)

The Soul Winner

No abstract provided.

Curso Pre-Matrimonial 2, Marcos Kempff

Matrimonio y familia

Curso pre-matrimonial 2

Good Friday Of The Lord’S Passion - 18 April 2025, Russ Mcdougall

Pastoral Liturgy

No abstract provided.

Sixth Sunday Of Easter - 25 May 2025, Joe Tedesco

Pastoral Liturgy

No abstract provided.