History of Christianity Commons^™

Six Days Of Twenty-Four Hours: The Scopes Trial, Antievolutionism, And The Last Crusade Of William Jennings Bryan, Kari Lynn Edwards

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The academic study of the Scopes Trial has always been approached from a traditional legal interpretation. This project seeks to reframe the conventional arguments surrounding the trial, treating it instead as a significant religious event, one which not only altered the course of Christian Fundamentalism and the Creationist movement, but also perpetuated Southern religious stereotypes through the intense, and largely negative, nationwide publicity it attracted. Prosecutor William Jennings Bryan's crucial role is also redefined, with his denial of a strictly literal interpretation of Genesis during the trial serving as the impetus for the shift toward ultra-conservatism and young-earth Creationism within …

Santo Toribio: The Rise Of A Saint, Thomas G. Evans

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Santo Toribio (1900-28) was canonized by the Roman Catholic Church in 2000 as a martyr of Mexico's bloody Cristero Rebellion. He enjoyed a modest local following for decades after the Rebellion as many of the other Cristero martyr-saints did. However, around the time of his canonization, a new identity began to emerge different from that of martyr; he became the patron saint of immigration. For believers, Santo Toribio helps mitigate the criminal nature of this act by showing God's approval and blessing. He places the pain and social distortion of Border crossing in Roman Catholic contexts of holiness and divine …

God's Glass Ceiling: Women's Education In Christian Fundamentalist Higher Education Institutions, Melissa Graves

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Fundamentalists have historically held complex relationships with education and with women. This thesis examines the intersection of the three topics through a case study approach by looking at the education of women at fundamentalist institutions Bob Jones University, Liberty University, and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Historically, fundamentalists have expressed great suspicion towards education and intellectualism. Fundamentalists insisted on a literal interpretation of the Bible. Moreover, they created fundamentalist universities and colleges so that parents could send their sons and daughters away to school without worrying that their children would abandon their faith. This thesis argues that fundamentalist schools approach the …

Sub-Ordination: Mary Magdalene, The Church, And The Ordination Of Women, Richard Bishop

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Roman Catholic Church maintains that it cannot ordain women to the priesthood due to a lack of biblical warrant. The Church therefore relies upon the traditional concept of a Bridegroom-Bride relationship (read: Christ and His Church), which they say can only be maintained if a male priest serves as the representative of the invisible Christ for his Bride during the Eucharist. In this essay, we shall explore the role and treatment of Mary Magdalene and women in early texts and show that they actually did have prominent positions within at least some early Christian communities. Texts were altered, and …

A Church Growth Study Of Churches In North East India, Clinton Brazle

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Church of Christ in North East Indian began as an indigenous movement among the Khasi tribe as an effort to restore New Testament Christianity. The movement is under fifty years old. It grew normally and rapidly until division occured among the leaders in 1963, when the growth rate dropped drastically. The movement has spread now to the Garos, Mizos, Mikirs, Nagas, Assamese, Kukis, and especially the Paites and Manipuree. There is a growing ethusiam among a few Christians which may eventually spread through many of the tribes of North East India and beyond.

Examination of the above-mentioned tribes of …

Newman The Master Prose Writer, Aline Pepin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis, submitted to Xavier University in partial fulfillment of requirements for a Bachelor of Arts degree in English in 1932, presents a biographical and critical study of John Henry Newman, examining his life and identifying him as the master prose writer of the Victorian Age. Pepin traces Newman's early education, his fellowship at Oriel College, his ordination as an Anglican deacon, and his rise to leadership within the Oxford Movement through the "Tracts for the Times," before turning to his 1845 conversion to Roman Catholicism, his ordination as a Catholic priest, his founding of the Birmingham Oratory, his tenure …

The Catholic Spirit In Modern Poetry, Anna Marie Lacaze

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis, submitted to Xavier University in partial fulfillment of requirements for a Bachelor of Arts degree in Education in 1932, traces the revival of Catholic spirit in modern English poetry following its suppression after the Protestant Reformation. Lacaze argues that this revival began with the Oxford Movement of the nineteenth century and its leader, John Henry Newman, whose conversion to Catholicism and subsequent writing exercised a lasting influence on English literary and religious culture.

The thesis opens with an account of Newman's life, his role in the Oxford Movement, his 1845 conversion, and his major prose works, including "Apologia …

The Authenticity Of Benson's Historical Novels, Estelle T. Bell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the historical accuracy of Robert Hugh Benson's historical novels "The King's Achievement," "Come Rack! Come Rope!," and "By What Authority," arguing that despite their fictional romantic elements, these novels authentically portray the historical relationship between the English and Catholic Churches during the reigns of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I. Bell opens by distinguishing the aims of the historian from those of the novelist, then situates Benson biographically as a convert from Anglicanism to Catholicism whose religious sensibility shaped his literary work.

Drawing on the "Lingard-Belloc History of England" as an authoritative historical source, the thesis traces the …