Christian Denominations and Sects Commons^™

The Education Of Methodists: Unexpected Outcomes, Taylor Schmalz

Bound Away: The Liberty Journal of History

From its founding, the heart of the Methodist church was education. John Wesley believed in the education of Christians, and the church sought out to give everyone a religious education. Two educational initiatives from leaders of the Methodist Church had long lasting ripple effects on American society as a whole. These unexpected outcomes had a large hand in helping social movements, the economy, and advancing medical initiatives. Looking at the Methodist Book of Concern and the Free African Society as case studies can show the Methodists as leaders in education and creating change in societal issues during the process. Methodist …

America's Founding Theology, Michael Payne

Bound Away: The Liberty Journal of History

Building off of Mark David Hall's thesis that America had a Christian founding, this paper seeks to explore the theology of this Christian founding. While acknowledging that Enlightenment and English Common Law also influenced American founding thought, the paper seeks to look specifically at America's theological outlook. It concludes that American founding theology was overwhelmingly Reformed but with some key influences from the Baptist, Quaker, and even Catholic traditions. These influences can be found in the writings of the founders as well as in America's founding documents such as the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. The point of the …

Between Devotion And Doctrine: Religion, Law, And The Struggle For Compliance During The War Of Regulation, Cynthia D. Hatch

Bound Away: The Liberty Journal of History

The Sandy Creek Baptist Association played a vital role in North Carolina's religious and political landscape before the Revolutionary War, with many Regulators connected to it. The Regulator movement is most recognized for its resistance to the Royal Governor of North Carolina, William Tryon, and his oppressive actions against the colony's residents. Many Regulators shared a common bond through their affiliation with the Sandy Creek Baptist Association in present-day Liberty, North Carolina. Under the leadership of Reverend Shubal Stearns and Reverend Daniel Marshall, the Sandy Creek Baptist Association helped establish a network of Baptist churches throughout the state. As political …

Religious Liberty In The American Republic: How A Catholic Family Influenced Religious Freedom In The United States, Darien J. Garland

Bound Away: The Liberty Journal of History

The American Revolution was a call for both individual freedom and freedom from British Rule. Tyrannical rule, taxation without representation in Parliament, and British military control of the colonies were all central to the Revolution, as was the emphasis on individual rights. One such right sought by the American colonists was the right to practice a religion of their choosing – but there was much debate about how freedom of religion would apply in the colonies. Ironically, the same freedom of religion which was central to the Revolution was not equally applied to all religions – in the colonies, Catholicism …

Charity Begins At Home: A Case Study Of Rural Western Pennsylvania During The Great Depression, Jacob A. Battle, Colin J. Wood, Christian E. Mumpower

Bound Away: The Liberty Journal of History

Rural Pennsylvania is often neglected when discussing the world-shaping events of the Great Depression. This study addresses a significant gap in historical research by exploring how a small-town in Pennsylvania, New Bethlehem, survived and even thrived during the Great Depression. New Bethlehem, situated in the fertile Redbank Valley, built its settlement on local resources and rural communalism. During the Depression, the townsfolk banded together through wealthy philanthropy, backyard gardens, and homegrown charity to withstand the crippling implications of the event. By examining church records, newspaper archives, and conducting oral interviews, this article reveals the resilience and resourcefulness of rural Pennsylvanian …

Direct And Mediating Relationships Between Divine Grace, Legalism, And Mental Health, Branwyn H. Mccormick

Senior Honors Theses

Positive psychology has popularized the integration of religious ideas into psychological treatment. According to the literature, the experience of divine grace is correlated with favorable mental health outcomes, whereas legalistic attitudes are correlated with adverse mental health outcomes. It has also been found that the experience of divine grace is a mediator between legalism and mental health. However, the constructs of divine grace and legalism have both been relatively unexplored aside from a few studies using Latter-day Saints (LDS) populations. The current study seeks to analyze relationships between divine grace, legalism, and mental health using a conservative evangelical Christian population. …

Charge The Cockpit Or Die: An Anatomy Of Fear-Driven Political Rhetoric In American Conservatism, Daniel Hostetter

Senior Honors Theses

Subthreshold negative emotions have superseded conscious reason as the initial and strongest motivators of political behavior. Political neuroscience uses the concepts of negativity bias and terror management theory to explore why fear-driven rhetoric plays such an outsized role in determining human political actions. These mechanisms of human anthropology are explored by competing explanations from biblical and evolutionary scholars who attempt to understand their contribution to human vulnerabilities to fear. When these mechanisms are observed in fear-driven political rhetoric, three common characteristics emerge: exaggerated threat, tribal combat, and religious apocalypse, which provide a new framework for explaining how modern populist leaders …

Taking Dominion To End Dominion: The Mennonite Influence On The End Of Russian Serfdom, H. Michael Shultz Jr.

Bound Away: The Liberty Journal of History

Serfdom in Russia was abolished in 1861, only 76 years after the first Mennonites were invited into Russia by Catherine II. By examining the lifestyle of the Mennonites who settled in the agriculturally productive “New Russia” (modern-day Ukraine), as well as the impact that the Mennonites had on the Imperial family, peasantry, and government, it is evident that the Mennonites played a recognizable role in bringing about the abolition of serfdom across the empire.

Moralistic Therapeutic Deism: A Classical Critique, Michael W. Cunningham

Liberty Theological Review

In 2005, American sociologist Christian Smith coined the term “Moralistic Therapeutic Deism” in his book, Soul Searching, The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers. At the time, this phenomenon was heralded as a new “religion” for emerging generations, yet it ascribes to no formal text, deity, or doctrine. It serves as a self-focused compilation of secular philosophy, politics, culture, and spirituality flavored with fragments from popular religions. While there is no formal MTD doctrine, there are five affirmations: (1) A God exists who created and ordered the world and watches over human life on Earth, (2) God wants …

The Intersection Of Consumerism And The View Of The Christian Church In American Evangelicalism, Nathaniel Mumau

Senior Honors Theses

American Evangelicalism is a religious category that describes a wide variety of Christian denominations and their churches in the United States of America. Church attendance overall has declined, and rates of church membership have plummeted even faster. At the heart of this issue is a misunderstanding of the role the local church is meant to play in the lives of Christians. In modern American society, consumerism is essential to every part of living and thus has confounded the view of the church in the lives of evangelical Christians. The church is viewed as a product to be experienced and at …

Finding The Historical Church: A Pursuit In Futility, Tyler Skywalker

Senior Honors Theses

Many Protestants today have been disenchanted with Protestantism due to the great degree of denominationalism which is rife within the tradition. This disenchantment has led some Protestants to explore the Catholic and Orthodox churches, because of their apparent historicity. Within modern Christianity, a claim to be the historical church can be a powerful apologetic for several denominations. However, because of the influence of various factors, political and otherwise, no modern church can accurately claim to be the historical church. Consequently, Christians ought to look to Scripture as the sole authoritative source of doctrine and use church structures similar to the …

In Defense Of Conciliar Christology, Jesse G. Alker

Liberty Theological Review

Pawl, Timothy. In Defense of Conciliar Christology: A Philosophical Essay (Oxford Studies In Analytic Theology). Oxford University Press. 2016. ISBN-13: 978-0198765929. 288 pages. $120.00.

The Ecclesiastical Role Of Women During The Reformation, Emily Thomas

Senior Honors Theses

Women have held various positions of authority in the church. During the Protestant Reformation (1517-1600), women grew in religious influence through breaks with cold traditionalism, offering greater interpretive power to women. Through an examination of literature from both primary and secondary sources, views concerning the scope and depth of women’s expositional authority will be discussed, with specific analyses on Marie Dentire, Argula von Grumbach, and Anna Zwingli. The conclusion follows that the source and role of women’s authority in the church realm varied between Catholicism and Protestantism. The former provides respect of femininity given its emphasis on the Virgin Mary, …

Palestinian Evangelical Christian Music In Bethlehem, Israel/Palestine, Abby Smith

Senior Honors Theses

Often the story of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is portrayed as Jewish vs. Muslim, Hebrew vs. Arab. There is little room in the international dialogue for minorities such as Arab Christians. Though Palestinians have a rich culture of Arabic musical and poetic heritage, they are unable to produce their own new songs. In this study I interviewed three members of Immanuel Evangelical Church on their experiences and opinions on local Christian worship. The findings show that Palestinian Christians may feel unable to write worship music because of a prevalent feeling of inadequacy and a lack of musical training. I propose several …

Manumission In Virginia: The Anti-Slavery Legacy Of John Lynch, Stephen A. Langeland

Helm's School of Government Conference - 2021-2024

This paper is in no way an apology for the institution of slavery in any form. In fact, it is a reiteration of Biblical doctrine and natural rights philosophy that posit all humans are created equal. The institution of slavery knew few bounds throughout recorded history and was as ubiquitous and durable as the activities of marriage or warfare, practiced by every culture and religion (Drescher 2009, 7-8, 12-39). Negro slavery specifically was an institution in all colonies of the New World at some point in history (Davis 1969, vii). The morality of slavery was an unquestioned fact of life …

Arabic Christian Theology: A Contemporary Global Evangelical Perspective, Sherene N. Khouri

Liberty Theological Review

Andrea Zaki Stephanous, Arabic Christian Theology: A Contemporary Global Evangelical Perspective, Zondervan, 2019 (ISBN 978-0-310-32026-5), 493 pp. $34.99.

Unity In Christ: An Annotated Bibliography, Kelly E. Budd, Madison S. Schmidt

Liberty Theological Review

A review of the recent book publications related to the spring theme, "Unity in Christ." We include the following titles.

• Alma, Hans et al. Moral and Spiritual Leadership in an Age of Plural Moralities.
• Anatolios, Khaled. Deification through the Cross: An Eastern Christian Theology of Salvation.
• Barrett, Matthew. Canon, Covenant and Christology: Rethinking Jesus and the Scriptures of Israel.
• Beck, William David and Mike Licona. Raised on the Third Day: Defending the Historicity of the Resurrection of Jesus.
• Chia, Edmund Kee-Fook. Confucianism and Christianity: Interreligious Dialogue on the Theology of Mission.
• Emerson, Matthew Y. He …

Book Review: Lori D. Ginzberg. Women And The Work Of Benevolence: Morality, Politics, And Class In The Nineteenth-Century United States. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1990., Merritt A. Morgan

Bound Away: The Liberty Journal of History

Lori D. Ginzberg's 1990 work, Women and the Work of Benevolence: Morality, Politics, and Class in the Nineteenth-Century United States, focuses on the ideas and socially benevolent practices of Protestant women of the prosperous middle and upper-middle-class during the 1820s to the 1880s in the northeast region of the United States. The author analyzes how contemporaries affirmed these values in women's benevolent work, which also promoted their status and brought about significant social changes in American culture.

John Eliot: A Successful Application Of Missiological Methodology, Brent Meyers

Bound Away: The Liberty Journal of History

For many seventeenth-century explorers and settlers arriving in the “New World,” new and exciting opportunities arose not only for building new lives for themselves, but also to spread their Christian faith. John Eliot, a Puritan missionary from Widford, Hertfordshire, England, engaged in conversion efforts among the Amerindians of New England, employing "missiological methodology," or proselytizing the natives while simultaneously subjugating them to European cultural norms. His work, while mixed in its effects, anticipated many aspects of modern missionary movements.

The Rp Church And The 1918 Pandemic Over A Century Later, Congregations Are Being Affected In Similar Ways, Nathaniel Pockras

Faculty Publications and Presentations

Quarantine. Wearing a mask. Keeping safer at home. Pandemic. No public worship. Closing and reopening. Many of us think of these far more often than we did a year ago, since we have never experienced anything comparable to COVID-19. But many of us have heard about the great Spanish Flu pandemic at the end of World War I, and we know that a lot of these concepts were important then.

Wherein To Catch The Conscience Of The Queen: Dystopian Politics In Elizabethan Drama, Helen Fielding

Senior Honors Theses

Though established English history portrays Elizabeth I (1533-1603) as uniting England under the new Protestant religion, recent historical evidence reveals that extensive counter-currents still existed. This thesis examines how the politico-religious beliefs of Elizabethan and Jacobean playwrights manifest themselves in their drama, particularly through imagery and allusions. It draws especially from Frances Yates to assert that imagery of white magic, Christian Cabala, and alchemy in these dramatists’ works refers to the pure imperial reform movement of Elizabeth’s reign, and also from Clare Asquith to illuminate a reading of Shakespeare as a playwright who encoded in his plays a Catholic message …

The Distortion Of The Trinity: An Investigation Of The Trinity As Evidenced In The Teachings Of Three Major Religions, Laken Hendron

Masters Theses

The nature of the Trinity is a central and salvific doctrine within biblical Christianity. The divine nature of the person of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit is pertinent to Christian teachings and a proper understanding of God is crucial to authentic worship and belief. Cults or heterodoxic religions, such as Mormonism, Jehovah's Witnesses, and Oneness Pentecostalism have discounted, distorted or dismissed the Three-in-One doctrine of the Trinity, as found in classical Christian theism. These false doctrines can affect teachings about justification, sanctification, the role and work of the cross and an understanding of the nature of God. The …

Understanding Muhammad's Interaction With The Church, Devonte Narde

Montview Journal of Research & Scholarship

My research focuses on understanding Muhammad’s (the Islamic prophet) interaction with what he perceived to be the Christian church to find out why his understanding of Biblical narratives and theology is incorrect. With this information, Christians should reintroduce Christian scripture and theology to Muslims since Muhammad’s rejection of Christian doctrine is based on associating wrong texts as authoritative Christian teaching. The following questions that shape this research are: What possible sources did Muhammad use to learn about biblical narratives and themes? What did the first Muslims think about the canonical gospels of Jesus? How did early Muslims view the teachings …

A Study On The Influence Of Seasonal Feast Ministries On The Church Growth: The Case Of Seoul Shindo Church, In Hwan Kim

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this study is to suggest an alternative method for church growth based on the seasonal feast ministry. The Korean church experienced a quantitative revival unprecedented in the world. Recently, however, the reality is that many Korean churches lost their lively dynamics as they failed to strive to meet, and consequently their members gradually decreased. In this context, the researcher emphasizes the importance of feast ministries as an alternative method for church growth, based on the idea that feasts found in the Bible were days that gathered people. For this, the researcher will investigate feasts found in the …

Setting The Record Straight, Nathaniel Pockras

Faculty Publications and Presentations

The Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America has existed since the 18^th century, and the actions of its governing Synod are published in annual minutes, but the actions have never been recorded in a single catalogue. An organizational schema is proposed, improving on the schemata of similar catalogues for other Presbyterian denominations: actions are listed chronologically and assigned subject headings to facilitate the creation of a thesaurus. Inclusion criteria are specified, and the catalogue is described in a manner approachable without specialized training.

Developing A Strategic Model For Deacons As Servant Leaders Within New Church Plants, Christopher Webb

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The office of deacon is vital within the local church and often varies from one congregation to another. There are many misconceptions concerning the role and responsibilities of deacons. The Bible clearly defines deacons as those who function as servant leaders. The purpose of this project is to address the biblical, theoretical, practical and personal observations that will assist new church plants in equipping potential candidates for the office of deacon, as servant leaders. The project will address vital areas of deacon ministry that will include; discovering the history of deacon ministry, the biblical qualifications for a deacon, the relationship …

Nurturing Church As A Biblical Strategy To Recover A Healthy Church Within South Korean Churches, Jinwook Kang

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

There are many churches in South Korea, but not too many healthy churches. A healthy church should have a proof of early church from the Acts. It is impossible to be a healthy church only with a number of people, buildings, programs, and new church planting. The goal of this thesis is to suggest healthy biblical church using early church as a model and propose strategy. This study will first take a look at what is a healthy biblical church. A healthy biblical church is a nurturing church. Conventional church has a lot of nurturing programs, but this thesis compares …

The Aging Process And How That Affects Judgement And Choices In Youth Ministry, Ricky Harris

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This thesis will explore the correlation between developmental life stages and how these stages affect student ministers’ approaches to ministry in southern Baptist churches. The rationale for this thesis is to help student ministers realize that longevity in their vein of ministry is achievable and also to provide a guide for how they may process aging in ministry. Search committees will be able to use this information while seeking to fill this staff position, considering the needs of their congregation and students. Books and journals will be reviewed for content on developmental life stage characteristics. Student ministers will be surveyed …

A Study Of The Principles Of Missional Pastoral Leadership For South Korean Churches, Ilkeun Lee

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Since 2000, the Korean Church has increasingly lost public confidence. The reason for this is that pastors have focused on church growth. They have entirely missed the essence of missional ecclesiology. However, the church is generated from the mission of the triune God to redeem all creation. The church should not be identified as a building or a place but as the people of God who are to be sent into the world to participate in the mission of God. The purpose of this thesis project is to present the principles of missional pastoral leadership for an existing Korean church …

A Study On The Use Of Church Building Space On Sundays And Weekdays: The Case Of Yongin Jeil Church, Byeong Im

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The objective of this study is to propose alternatives for better utilizing church space. It aims to help the church space serve multiple purposes during weekdays in addition to Sundays, and meet the needs of both the local community and the next generation. In many places in South Korea, the church buildings are too big to deliver the pastoral philosophy and the spirit of the times. Consequently, the South Korean public oppose building large churches. Furthermore, the church buildings are typically used only during the weekends, an inefficient use of space for their size. In order to improve such use, …