Religion Commons^™

Back To The Garden : Church Planting In An Anglican Context Through Missional Communities, David Zachary Lloyd

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Together For The City : Transdenominational Collaboration As A Model For City Engagement, Neil Powell

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Strategic Oversight Leadership That Produces Church Planting Networks : The Affective, Cognitive, And Behavorial Characteristics Of Oversight Leadership And Their Application To A Church Of England Resourcing Church In Leicester, Sami Lindsey

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Evaluating The Ministry To The Aged Of The United Methodist Church In Liberia And Its Impact On The Lives Of The Senior Citizens In The Church, E. Julu Swen

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Imagine All The People : Strategies Toward The Majority Of Uk Baptist Churches Effectively Starting New Christian Communities Through Fruitful Evangelism, Alex Harris

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Great Latino Unchurching : Reaching Latinos In A Secular Age, AndréS Zelaya

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Becoming A Healthy Small United Methodist Church : A Tongan Pastor's Perspective, John Sione H. Tu'uta

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Church Revitalization : A Rediscovery Of Mission And Passion, Jonathan F. Fuller

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Impact Of Lay Leadership Being Equipped To Cultivate Leadership Pipelines, Develop A Multiplication Mindset, And Pour Into Other Leaders, Andrew D. Erwin

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Leadership Development : Transforming And Equiping Pastors With Renewed Knowledge, Skills, And Tools To Enhance Biblical Leadership, Probhudan Hira

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Discovering A Preacher's Voice : How Pulpit Preachers Find Their Style And Voice, William Brian Mercer

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

What Is This Place: Encountering The Body Of Christ In Prison And Church Through Sacrament And Ritual Musicking, Bryan Black

Doctor of Pastoral Music Projects and Theses

Churches in the United States have faced institutional decline due in part to an unprecedented half-century of intense cultural shift and digital acceleration. Many leaders responded to this disorientation with technical fixes that have exacerbated divisiveness rather than addressing the underlying crisis of alienation and loneliness. Driven by fear of decline, communities of faith have forsaken their alterity of purpose and become lost in the marketplace as a “purveyor of religious goods and services” (George Hunsberger). This thesis considers the imagery of Huub Oosterhuis’s hymn “What Is This Place?” in theological dialogue with the Voices of Hope—a choir of female …

Singing Unity—Performing Ecumenism: Musicking And Ecumenical Prayer Through The Lens Of Performance Studies, David James Anderson

Doctor of Pastoral Music Projects and Theses

This thesis examines the foundational call to Christian unity, communal prayer for unity, and the practice of ecumenism through pastoral musicking and performing unity through the lens of performance studies. It asks the question: Can we sing and perform Christian unity? The ecumenical call is considered from ecumenical documents of both the Protestant and Roman Catholic traditions since the Second Vatican Council. Ecumenical worship is considered a performance of unity viewed through the lens of performance studies with scholarship from ritual, liturgical, and church music studies. Two distinct services of ecumenical prayer are considered as “performances of unity.” One service …

"Female Faithfulness Encouraged": Gendered Piety In Early American Print, Kadienne Sizemore

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Following the American Revolution, membership in Baptist churches grew exponentially and the influence of the Baptist persuasion was significant. As one of the fastest-growing Protestant denominations in early America, Baptists and their interests were often indicative of larger trends in religiosity. Conceptions of piety, including beliefs surrounding submission, faithfulness, and duty, were central to the structure of Baptist congregations and their proximate communities. This paper explores the role of gender in the discussion, presentation, and justification of Baptist notions of piety in their publications during the Early American Republic. To build on the work of historians exploring female autonomy in …

The Divine Comedy: A Work Of Medieval Mythology, Jamie Alexander

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Prior to The Divine Comedy (1308-1321), ideas about Purgatory were in the early stages of development. Purgatory had loose rituals surrounding its existence and it lacked depiction in written works. Yet in the following centuries, the fear of Purgatory and the practices of penance and indulgences reached a fever pitch, ultimately leading to the Protestant Reformation. Purgatory as a celestial location, and not just the “purgatorial fires” of the Bible, only began to develop in the twelfth century, but its fearful description and imagery in The Divine Comedy not only solidified previously nebulous understandings of Purgatory, but also increased anxiety …

Cultivating Land And Love For God: Agrarian Life In Benedictine Women’S Communities In The United States, Mother Maria Evangelista Fernandez Osb

Yale Divinity School Theses

Using qualitative research within the discipline of Practical theology, this study explores the agrarian practices of five Benedictine women’s communities in the United States: the Abbey of Regina Laudis, Our Lady of the Rock Priory, the Abbey of St. Walburga, Immaculate Heart of Mary Abbey, and the Abbey of Our Lady of Ephesus. I focus on the interconnected nature of communal land cultivation and prayer while creating a conspectus of agrarian life for American Benedictine nuns in 2024. The paper unfolds in three parts: the first situates the research context and interpretive framework drawing on hermeneutic phenomenology within Practical theology. …

Transcendence In Kierkegaard And Barth, Andrew Myrick

Honors Theses

This paper examines the theological intersections and divergences between Karl Barth and Søren Kierkegaard, focusing on their conceptualizations of God's transcendence. Barth, influential in the twentieth century, viewed divine knowledge as accessible only through Jesus Christ's revelation, critiquing any historical or metaphysical bases for such knowledge. He was significantly influenced by Kierkegaard, who emphasized paradox and the "infinite qualitative distinction." This study traces Barth's evolving thoughts on transcendence across his works, including his critiques of Kierkegaard in his later years. While some scholars suggest a shared theological trajectory based on transcendence, this paper argues for nuanced differences, engaging with the …

Mystical Life And Altered Consciousness: Comparing The Subtle Paths And Trance States Of St. Teresa And Patañjali, Dana Tarasavage

Say Something Theological: The Student Journal of Theological Studies

The study of mysticism is said to be the study of the ineffable, and thus by its nature, difficult to define. Yet the structured paths and trance states described by St. Teresa of Ávila in Interior Castle and Patañjali in the Yoga Sūtra demonstrate meticulous and thoughtful explanation of mystical practices and phenomena. This paper situates these texts, mystic guidebooks in their respective traditions, in conversation, examining and comparing the path towards, experience within, and the effect of mystical trances. It employs a balanced approach to essentialism and highlights the shared features of mystical life as a vantage point from …

Prison Parts: The Theological-Ethical Problem Of Using Prisoners As Living Organ Donors, Eryn Reyes Leong

Say Something Theological: The Student Journal of Theological Studies

This paper is a theological and ethical reflection of Massachusetts House Bill 2333, which would reduce prison sentences on the condition that state prisoners donate bone marrow or an organ. Looking specifically at agency and bodily integrity as the two facets of imago Dei that are implicated by House Bill 2333, I address the crucial question: Does House Bill 2333 distort the dignity of prisoners as imago Dei by incentivizing living prisoners to donate their body parts in exchange for freedom? Using Margaret A. Farley’s justice framework articulated in Just Love: A Framework for Christian Sexual Ethics (2006), this paper: …

Evaluating “Grit” (Genuine Relationships, Intergenerationally Tied) Groups At The Highland Church Of Christ: An Intergenerational Enhancement Of Small Group Community Life, Beth Ann Fisher

Doctor of Ministry Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACT This project, Evaluating “GRIT” (Genuine Relationships, Intergenerationally Tied) at the Highland Church of Christ: An Intergenerational Enhancement of Small Group Community Life is a response to the request for intergenerational partnership in worship, fellowship, and ministry by the university students at Highland Church of Christ in Abilene, Texas. The church’s robust small group life was a logical place to create a vehicle in which intergenerational partners could ride for a determined period in pursuit of their common goals of furthering Highland’s mission and vision. The “Genuine Relationships, Intergenerationally Tied” or GRIT groups were formed by combining existing small groups …

Protocols For Enhancing The Role And Value Of Spiritual Care Resources In The Metropolitan Nashville Police Department, Garrett Harper

Doctor of Ministry Theses and Dissertations

This thesis addresses the assessment of innovative practices in police chaplaincy. The purpose of the project intervention is to develop protocols that can guide police chaplains through an assessment process. The intervention relies on practical theology as exemplified through the ministry of chaplaincy. This ministry comprises police chaplains offering spiritual comfort to persons encountering critical incidents involving violence, accident, or other trauma-intensive events and situations. Adoption of innovations can allow police chaplains to be more effective in fulfilling many outward-focused tasks such as delivery of death notifications. I conclude that: (1) police chaplaincy is amenable to use of protocols to …

Hand In Hand, May-June 2024

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Houses Built For Gods: Articulations Of Urban Hokora In Kyoto, Steele Engelmann

Anthropology Undergraduate Honors Theses

Amidst the urban landscape of Kyoto, Japan, there are thousands of hokora, small neighborhood shrines. This study uses social theories of pilgrimage and space to examine the articulation of hokora, community, and personal desire. As sites of local pilgrimage, hokora form networks of communal, but also individual, aspirations across the urban spiritual landscape of the city. This thesis argues that communities are connected to the larger social structures of Kyoto through hokora. As such, neighborhoods are reproduced and displayed through their hokora’s entanglements with the urban, social, and religious landscapes of Kyoto. Therefore, this study deploys an ethnographic approach to …

The Controlled Narrative Of “Jane Roe:” Norma Mccorvey’S Life Beyond The 1973 Trial, Eleanor G. Strickland

Honors College Theses

Norma McCorvey, Jane Roe of Roe v. Wade, 1973, wrote two memoirs twenty years after the Supreme Court trial that surrounded her third pregnancy. These memoirs (I Am Roe, 1994, and Won by Love, 1997), along with the recent documentary AKA Jane Roe (2020), provide an insight into McCorvey’s life and how she was used by politicians and civilians during and after the influential trial. McCorvey lived a complicated life and was constantly being pulled in different directions spiritually, politically, and personally. This thesis shows how McCorvey attempted to re-write the narrative of her life using …

Ludamus: An Exploration Of Musical Improv And Spirituality In Christian Theology And Praxis, Will Parker

Yale Divinity School Theses

This project examines the practice of musical improv and group vocal improvisation as an accessible method for Christian worship, formation, and theological reflection, focusing on the Episcopal Church. It explores musical improv’s potential for community-making and transformation through overlapping elements necessary for improv and love: play, attentiveness, acceptance, self-giving, and trust. This paper also gives attention to the loneliness epidemic, one of the most pressing global problems in the wake of COVID-19, and how musical improv in a faith context might serve to help alleviate social, psychological, and existential loneliness by helping people connect with each other, themselves, and God. …

“Taste And See . . .”: The Eucharist As Immersive Theatre, Vincent Lin

Yale Divinity School Theses

A ceremonial Eucharist bears striking resemblance to immersive theatre, both involving the creation of a delineated space, the prioritization of bodily senses, and emphasis on audience participation. These similarities are not accidental; rather, a ceremonial Eucharist is immersive theatre. Two key arguments are discussed: First, drawing on performance studies, we classify historical eucharistic liturgies through the lens of “doubleness,” moving beyond simplistic categorizations in previous literature. This approach reveals the contemporary Anglican liturgy as theatre, where the event of the Eucharist and the eucharistic elements (the bread and cup) “perform.” Second, utilizing immersive theatre research, we explore how immersive characteristics …

Equipping For Impact : Assessing Onboarding Strategies For Church Planting Success, Andrew Brown

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Bedeviled Beauty: My Journey Through White American Theater Institutions, J'Aila C. Price

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Game console: Oculus Quest

World: American Theater Institutions

Player: Minority

Place: United States

Level: “Ain’t no way.”

This thesis explores the contrast between the Westernized philosophies ingrained in my education and my identity as a Black female artist. It sheds light on the difficulties of pursuing higher education in the arts and the gaps that arise from limited exposure to culturally diverse Black resources, revealing the systemic issues in Western performance education. The paper also discusses the insights gained from my journey as a Black female artist, focusing on my thesis performance of Blood at the Root, which is …

“How Are We Refocusing Our Lives On God?”: Implementing The Lenten Vision Of Sacrosanctum Concilium On A High School Campus, Michael Ashley-Mennis

Say Something Theological: The Student Journal of Theological Studies

In many Catholic high schools, students discuss Lent with a focus on their actions associated with penance, fasting and almsgiving as a self-denial Olympics without understanding the true purpose. This causes students to robotically move through the motions of Lent instead of internalizing it as a period of preparation for Baptism and penance. This paper will propose a program, for the Catholic high school setting, on how to implement the Second Vatican Council’s vision of Lent, as outlined in Sacrosanctum Concilium. The paper begins by exploring the history and development of Lent throughout the centuries. It then examines the …

The Co-Dependent Arising Of Liberation: An Exploration Of Buddhist Thought And Social Justice Models, Emily Ward

Say Something Theological: The Student Journal of Theological Studies

The language of liberation is prevalent in both spiritual and activist communities: the intersection of these practices, of liberating ourselves on the planes of embodied existence and beyond, interests me deeply. While the limitations of language are frequently expounded in Buddhism, the similarities between Buddhist and social justice terminology are what initially piqued my interest in exploring how key ideas from each field could be enhanced by mutual understanding. While much work has already been done in the field of Socially Engaged Buddhism, I hope to contribute to it by examining two models I have found useful in teaching racial …