Christian Denominations and Sects Commons^™

“You Must Prophecy Again”: The Mission Of God’S People In Revelation 10–14, Adenilton Tavares De Aguiar

Andrews University Seminary Studies (AUSS)

This is a dissertation abstract.

The Clarity And Obscurity Of Inspired Writings: A Historical Survey From Late Antiquity To Early Nineteenth- Century America, Denis Kaiser

Andrews University Seminary Studies (AUSS)

Throughout Christian history, pastors, scholars, and church leaders have discussed whether, or to what extent, Scripture is clear or obscure. This article surveys the views on the clarity and obscurity of Scripture as advocated by Christian writers in five eras from late antiquity to early nineteenth-century America. Writers in the Protestant tradition have generally objected to the common notions among Roman Catholics that Scripture is obscure, consists of a four-fold sense, and that normative teaching authority is in the hands of the magisterium. Lutheran, Reformed, and Pietist scholars have generally emphasized the importance of having an educated clergy that understands …

Editorial Vol 60 No. 2, Martin F. Hanna, Oliver M. Glanz

Andrews University Seminary Studies (AUSS)

This is the Editorial

Table Of Contents Vol 60.2, Auss

Andrews University Seminary Studies (AUSS)

This is the Table of Contents

Restoration Quarterly: Vol. 67, No. 3

Restoration Quarterly

No abstract provided.

Dry Bones Can Live Again : Best Practices For Replanting Independent Christian Churches, R. Steve Bolin

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Ukrainian Orthodox Church Clerics And Activists Under Suspicion, Under Investigation, Sanctioned, Detained, And/Or Convicted For Collaboration With Russia Or For Promotion Of Russian War Narratives, Mark R. Elliott

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The Context

On August 20, 2024, President Volodymyr Zelensky signed Bill #8371, “On the Protection of the Constitutional Order in the Sphere of Activity of Religious Organizations,” passed by the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine’s legislature. As a measure of wartime national security its provisions include a ban on the staunchly pro-Putin Russian Orthodox Church. It also requires the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), historically subordinate to the Moscow Patriarchate, to sever all ties with its parent church and to prevent its congregations from abetting the Russian war effort against Ukraine.

Religious Situation In The Occupied Territory Of Donetsk Region, Roman Dodonov, Andrii Fesenko, Volodymyr Glazunov, Igor Kapritsyn, Olesia Stoliarchuk

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The article is devoted to the analysis of dynamics of the religious situation and its impact on the population of the temporarily occupied territory of the Donetsk region in the period from 2014 to 2024. When analyzing the religious situation in the occupied territory, it should be borne in mind that after the beginning of the armed conflict in the Donetsk region, the territory under the control of anti-Ukrainian forces has been constantly changing. The study of the peculiarities of religious processes in the Donetsk region in the light of occupation reveals not only aspects of politics and socio-cultural dynamics, …

Hybrid War: The Influence Of The Russian Orthodox Church On The Ukrainian Media, Oksana Lytvynchuk, Andrii Shevchuk, Zoriana Hrytsyshena

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

This article examines the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) as a key instrument of hybrid warfare against Ukraine. It analyzes the ROC's primary strategies for influencing Ukraine's information space, particularly through religious rhetoric manipulation and the exploitation of ecclesiastical structures to disseminate pro-Kremlin narratives. The study identifies key mechanisms of the ROC's media influence, including direct control over religious media outlets, active participation of clergy in promoting Russian propaganda narratives, financial backing of pro-Russian media projects, and systematic disinformation campaigns about Ukraine's religious landscape.

Key findings demonstrate the destructive consequences of this hybrid warfare: exacerbation of interfaith tensions leading to societal …

Investigating The Relationship Between Education And Health Choices Of Seventh-Day Adventists, Safary Wa-Mbaleka, Shannon M. Trecartin, Duane C. Mcbride

Adventist Human-Subject Researchers Association

No abstract provided.

Adventist Health Across Cultures, Katia Reinert

Adventist Human-Subject Researchers Association

No abstract provided.

Belief In The Pre-Advent Judgment And The Local Resonance Of Global Misinformation Issues, Mennen Pearl C. Talibong, Ray Opao

Adventist Human-Subject Researchers Association

Concerns about misinformation among Adventist students were significantly linked to belief in the Pre-Advent Judgment, unlike among faculty. This study highlights that theological conviction may influence sensitivity to information suppression. Findings suggest that theological education could promote discernment and reduce vulnerability to conspiracy thinking.

Enditnow Impact Study Findings, Shannon M. Trecartin, René Drumm, Petr Cincala, Ellen Nogueira Rodrigues, Yazmik Cantillano, Kayla-Hope Bruno, Lalramliani Ralte

Faculty Publications

In January 2025, researchers at Andrews University (AU) initiated a study to evaluate Seventh-day Adventist churches’ engagement with the 2024 Abuse Prevention or enditnow Sabbath. The purpose of the study was initially to assess visibility and participation through the publicly available digital platforms of the sampled churches. The findings from that investigation were reported to the Departments of Archives and Statistics and Women’s Ministries in June 2025. The study’s scope expanded when researchers received a faculty research grant from Andrews University’s Office of Research to further investigate how Adventist churches across the NAD participate in the enditnow Sabbath. This report …

Head Of Roses, Remy Levine

University Honors Theses

Head of Roses is a slow-burn religious horror novel, the first five chapters of which constitute this thesis project. In order to examine its themes -- that of grief and trauma, guilt and shame, motherhood, religion and faith, and the redemptive power of love -- the novel carefully subverts religious horror genre conventions regarding the traditional roles of protagonist and site of horror. Head of Roses deconstructs these genre archetypes with an inverted narrative: the protagonist inadvertently produces the horrific element and the religious institution become the victims. Rather than addressing tensions in faith through demonic or occult subject material, …

Seeing Through The Incense Smoke: Understanding The Meanings Of Ancestral Rites In Vietnam For The Sake Of A Pastoral Approach In Christian Mission, J.P. Cima

Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation

Cima, J.P. “Seeing Through the Incense Smoke: Understanding the Meanings of Ancestral Rites in Vietnam for the Sake of a Pastoral Approach in Christian Mission.” Ph.D. diss., Concordia Seminary, 2025. 285 pp.

The veneration of ancestors at family altars has long been a defining feature of everyday Vietnamese life that poses a critical missiological problem for Christian mission in Vietnam. May Christians participate in ancestral veneration rituals? Current and historical responses to this question, among Protestants and Catholics alike, have not been uniform. Moreover, many responses have been based on assumed or oversimplified understandings of the rites’ meaning which recent …

God And Psychology: How The Early Development Of Famous Psychologists Influenced Their Work, Chris Dinwiddie

Salubritas: International Journal of Spirit-Empowered Counseling

No abstract provided.

Beyond The Clinical Hour: How Counselors Can Partner With The Church To Address The Mental Health Crisis, Michelle Taylor

Salubritas: International Journal of Spirit-Empowered Counseling

No abstract provided.

A Theology Of Hope For Missing Persons And Lost Causes, Joelle Yanko

Salubritas: International Journal of Spirit-Empowered Counseling

This paper explores how unresolved tragedies—particularly missing person cases and lost causes—serve as profound reflections of the human condition and reveal the necessity of Christian eschatological hope. Missing person cases touch the deepest questions of the human soul and reveal a deep, universal longing for justice and resolution—longings that cannot be fully met within the bounds of this present life. Drawing from theological reflection, the paper argues that both suffering and miraculous resolution ultimately point toward a greater hope found in the Christian vision of union with God. This future-oriented hope, grounded in the resurrection of Christ, invites believers to …

Exploring Biblical Language In Trauma Processing, Kathy B. Hoppe

Salubritas: International Journal of Spirit-Empowered Counseling

Clients may often find themselves struggling with accessing traumatic experiences in therapy, thereby developing an avoidance of trauma that impedes healing. Strategies for reducing trauma processing may be difficult to identify effectively. This project suggests several means by which therapists can utilize the language of scripture, including scriptural narrative, metaphor, and poetry, as a therapeutic intervention with conservative Christian clients who are pursuing trauma processing. The proposed approach assists clients in explaining their traumatic events in a secure setting, hence preventing the common hyperarousal symptoms that are upsetting. The treatment can enhance the effectiveness of evidence-based practices. It incorporates several …

Walking In Promise, Living In Reality: Exploring The Mental Health Implications Of The Pentecostal Discourse Of Divine Calling, Robert D. Mcbain

Salubritas: International Journal of Spirit-Empowered Counseling

Pentecostalism places a strong emphasis on the discourse of divine calling, where individuals believe they are purposefully created, guided, and empowered by God to fulfill a specific mission. This sense of calling profoundly shapes Pentecostals’ sense of identity and purpose. Using Grounded Theory, this study analyzes open, in-depth interviews with Pentecostals in the U.S. to explore the impact of the Pentecostal discourse of divine calling on their mental health. The metaphor of ‘walking in’ one’s calling emerges as the central theme used by participants to explain the interaction between their perception of divine calling, their lived realities, and their mental …

I Am My Body: Post-Traumatic Embodying And The Unexpected Disinterring Of Childhood Spiritual Neglect, Cathy Rowan

Salubritas: International Journal of Spirit-Empowered Counseling

This autoethnographic paper investigates how an embodying approach (Focusing) unexpectedly impacts the author’s spiritual formation in the undoing of childhood relational trauma, which had resulted in a dissociative embodiment reaction. This enlivening and deepening spiritual formation process is described by means of a five-step metaphor, moving from “no-body” (dissociative disembodiment) to “I am my body” (the experience of the bodily indwelling) as her spiritual formation evolves from just intellectual belief to an embodying, experiential Christian spirituality. This life-long process is viewed through various lenses, including children’s spirituality research, trauma theology, faith development models, the writings of Thomas Merton and the …

Hoping Forward, Haley R. French

Salubritas: International Journal of Spirit-Empowered Counseling

No abstract provided.

Front Matter Salubritas 4 (2025), Editors Salubritas

Salubritas: International Journal of Spirit-Empowered Counseling

No abstract provided.

Full Issue Salubritas, Editors Salubritas

Salubritas: International Journal of Spirit-Empowered Counseling

No abstract provided.

Reason And All My Senses: Surveying The Post Enlightenment Frame Of Reason Through Contemporary Philosophy, Cognitive Psychology, And Cognitive Linguistics, Joshua T. Lowe Rev. Dr.

Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation

This dissertation argues that Christian theology and practice are aided and enriched by a more complete understanding of reason by surveying recent studies and views in theology, philosophy, cognitive psychology, and cognitive linguistics. Since the Enlightenment, Christian theology has assumed widely the Enlightenment model of human reason as ideally acontextual, that is, free from constraints of contexts, and therefore universal, that is, applicable in all contexts. Recent developments from a variety of perspectives challenge this model of rationality. Some challenge the acontextualism of the Enlightenment understanding by showing how it arose from and depends on a context, and that context …

Shepherds Of Loss: Religion And Grief In The Shenandoah Valley, Ewan Benjamin

Honors Projects

This study explores the relationship between faith leaders and religious communities with the human experience of grief, death, and loss. Inspired by the researcher's own experience, this paper argues that the United States has a generally uncomfortable relationship with death and hypothesizes that religious traditions can serve to assist with grief in a positive way. After interviewing six religious leaders in the Shenandoah Valley, two themes arose: the mystery of death and the concept of "making space" for the grieving, dying, and dead. In the paper's conclusion, the faith leaders make known their own concerns with death in the United …

A Sacrifice On The Altar Of Unity: The Loss Of Black Identity In The Unification Of Kynett And Lagrange First Umc., Rebecca Sue Wishnevski

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the 1996 merger of Kynett United Methodist Church, a historically Black church, and LaGrange First United Methodist Church, a traditionally White church in LaGrange, Kentucky. The study provides insight into nonurban Black churches, showing that while they may have smaller congregations in smaller towns, the Black church remains central to Black life and connection like its urban contemporaries. Methods for collecting primary source material relied heavily on oral histories performed by the researcher with Black and White individuals attending said churches and their experiences during the merger. The study reveals that although unification promised a modern building …

An Exploration In Using Aesthetic Creative Modalities In Professional Supervision, Linda Young

Doctor of Ministry Theses and Dissertations

This project examines the integration of aesthetic and creative modalities into professional supervision, traditionally dominated by conversation-based methods. Drawing on over thirty years of experience in education, ministry, and supervision, it addresses the need for more creative, diverse, expressive, and reflective tools to be used in professional supervision practice. The study proposes a theoretically and theologically grounded curriculum to equip supervisors in postgraduate training with creative approaches that enrich learning, insight, and practice within the evolving landscape of professional supervision in Australia.

Initiating Partnership With The Persecuted Church, Cristian Istrate

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Origin Of Community As Experienced By Intercollegiate Athletes At Benedictine Institutions Of Higher Education: A Hermeneutical, Phenomenological Hybrid Study, Barbara Rezac

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

This study focuses on the phenomenon of community experienced at Benedictine colleges and universities and its impact on the faith, character, and human development of recent alumni who participated in intercollegiate athletics on campus. Benedictine education, based on the 1,500-year-old Rule of Saint Benedict, is guided by ten hallmarks which seek to build wisdom cultivated in community. This study specifically examines the extent of the lived experience of community through the lens of former intercollegiate athletes (alumni from the past ten years) and the perceived influence of the hallmarks on their post-graduate lives. I contacted mission leaders, athletic directors, and …