History of Christianity Commons^™

How Martin Luther Transformed Marriage, Trevor O'Reggio

Faculty Publications

Martin Luther’s views on marriage and the family revealed a radical departure from the traditional Catholic views of his times. He elevated marriage and the family to a place of honor and respectability at a time when the single life and celibacy were celebrated as a higher state of spirituality. He denounced celibacy as a cause of lust, rather than an aid to chastity. He advocated a moderate view on divorce at a time when divorce was almost impossible. He provided counsel to couples and those contemplating marriage. He encouraged priests to marry, and followed his own advice by getting …

Justification By Faith According To The Old Testament: In The Footsteps Of The Reformers, Richard M. Davidson

Faculty Publications

Martin Luther asserted that “if we lose the doctrine of justification, we lose simply everything.” Luther believed that justification is “the article with and by which the church stands, without which it falls.” In the preface to his Forty-Five Theses drawn up in 1537, Luther makes this impassioned plea: “The article of justification is the master and prince, the lord, the ruler, and the judge over all kinds of doctrines; it preserves and governs all Church doctrine and raises up our conscience before God. Without this article the world is utter death and darkness.” John Calvin considered the doctrine of …

Pl-1 The Waldensians: A Story Of Faith And Survival, Kathleen Demsky

Celebration of Research and Creative Scholarship

The history of the Waldenses, an ancient group of Christians who resided in the mountain valleys of Piedmont, Italy, is a complicated story of faith and survival. Piecing this history together is difficult because so many Waldensian records were destroyed by papal powers. This study seeks to present a comprehensive perspective on the origins of the Waldenses and their relationship to Christian Scripture, while viewing the Waldenses as examples for modern Christians. The Waldenses were of apostolic origin, inhabiting the Valleys long before the advent of Peter Waldo, their alleged founder, and did not consider themselves reformers. They were among …

Political And Religious Groups In The Days Of Jesus Christ, Harold Willmington

The Second Person File

No abstract provided.

The Correlation Between Catholicism And Roman Tourism, Madeline Handler

Selected Honors Theses

Religious pilgrimage is one of the oldest forms of tourism, and following the death of Jesus Christ, Rome became a central hub for visitation from Christ followers. Because of this phenomenon, the subsequent thesis is a study regarding the potential correlation between Catholicism and the Roman tourism industry based on previous published literature, as well as a survey presented at the time of visit to Rome during a trip made in May 2017. The literature includes in-depth analysis of European tourism, marketing, Roman tourism, and Catholicism history and pilgrimages. Survey development was established from the studies made. Fifty international travelers …

Calvin Theological Journal (Vol 52 No 2 - November 2017), Calvin Theological Seminary

Calvin Theological Journal

From the Editor: Karin Maag - 149 / Articles: Genevan Psalms in Javanese by Yudha Thianto - 151 / Reengaging Figural Interpretation: The Impact of Erich Auerbach by James W. Skillen - 181 / Blessing and Glory: Abraham Kuyper on the Beatific Vision by Hans Boersma - 205 / Sermon: “Heaven: The Present Reality”—A Sermon on Hebrews 12:18–29 by Laura Smit - 243 / Short Studies: Why a Bavinck Institute? Why at Calvin Seminary? by John Bolt - 251 / Comparing Spirit Hermeneutics by Craig Keener with Classic Pentecostal Hermeneutics by Dean Deppe - 265 / Interpreting Figural Interpretation: A …

Martin Luther’S Spiritual Practice Was Key To The Success Of The Reformation, Marion Goldman, Steven Pfaff

Sociology Faculty Articles and Research

"On Oct. 31, 1517, Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the door of Germany’s Wittenberg Castle Church and inadvertently ushered in what came to be known as the Reformation.

In his theses, Luther explicitly attacked the Catholic Church’s lucrative practice of selling papal indulgences that promised individuals they could purchase absolution from their sins and hasten their way into heaven.

This was far more than a simple critique of the indulgence trade. Luther challenged the Church’s overall authority. Over the next century, Luther’s ideas seeded upheavals and transformed the Western world by diminishing the Church’s power and introducing new …

Honoring Christ, Subverting Caesar : Relevance-Historical Reconstruction Of The Context Of Ephesians As An Honorific Discourse Praising Jesus The Great Benefactor, Benson Goh

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Christus Exemplar: The Politics Of Virtue In Lactantius, Jason Matthew Gehrke

Dissertations (1934 -)

This dissertation offers an historical and doctrinal account of Lactantius’s principal work, The Divine Institutes. Lactantius’s opening remarks shape the central question: Why does he respond to violent political suppression with an elite discourse on virtue (virtus); and how does that discourse address Lactantius’s persecutors from the perspective of his Christian predecessors? To answer the question, this dissertation tells the story of how “power theology,” received through the classical tradition, came to ground Latin moral, political, and religious discourses, first among traditional Roman “pagans,” and then in the pre-Nicene Latin Christianity Lactantius represented in the era of Diocletian and Constantine. …

The Ancient Waldenses: Did The Reformation Predate Luther?, P. Gerard Damsteegt

Faculty Publications

While significant attempts to reform the Roman Catholic Church had taken place before Martin Luther, Luther with his 1517 work, the Ninety-Five Theses, is widely acknowledged to have started the Reformation. But there were others, before Luther, who preached similar reforms but did not succeed in changing the Roman Church of their time. To the names of Jan Hus, Peter Waldo, and John Wycliffe we may also add a nearly forgotten group of reformers—the ancient Waldenses.

Fixing Ground Zero: Race And Religion In Francis Lawrence’S I Am Legend, Michael E. Heyes

Journal of Religion & Film

Francis Lawrence’s I Am Legend is a complex intertext of Matheson’s novel of the same name and its two previous film adaptations. While the film attempts to depict racism as monstrous, the frequent invocation of 9/11 imagery and Christian symbolism throughout the film recodes the vampiric dark-seekers as radical Islamic terrorists. This serves to further enshrine an us/Christians vs. them/Muslim dichotomy present in post-9/11 America, a dichotomy that the film presents as “curable” through the spread of Christianity and the fall of Islam.

Dark Arts And Other Wicked Ideas: Harry Potter, Banned Books And Intellectual Freedom, Michele Mcdaniel, Ryan Mcdaniel

Twenty Years of Harry Potter: Celebrating a Phenomenon

Come explore intellectual freedom during Banned Books Week (Sept. 24-30) with this enchanted perspective inspired by Harry Potter.

Identifying certain ideas as dangerous - and therefore banned or otherwise restricted - is a perennial phenomenon, manifesting throughout every time and culture. When reading the Harry Potter series, one encounters the Restricted Section in the Hogwarts Library, where the reader is informed that books about the Dark Arts and how to defend oneself against them are found. However, only those sufficiently matured and prepared may read the restricted materials, and then only under the close supervision and guidance of a wiser …

Christ And The Cradle: The Explanatory Power Of Christian Theism For Basic Moral Sensibilities On The Ontology Of Children, Jeffrey Robinson

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

We have excellent reasons to take moral intuitions about the moral treatment of children seriously. In fact, this gives us excellent prima facie reason to believe in God as the best explanation of, say, the inherent dignity of people, including children. But when we look to the past, we see that often children have been horribly treated and not accorded worth. And today, still, there are lots of disturbing trends as to how they’re treated, which invariably reflect deficient worldviews. Ultimately, it’s not just theism we need, but something more, arguably Christian theology, which makes great sense of our best …

Stewards Of God’S Mercy: Vocation And Priestly Ministry In Africa, Jordan Nyenyembe

Journal of Global Catholicism

A reflection on the tasks of priestly ministry in Africa with specific reference to the example and exhortation of Pope Francis. Among the issues addressed and critiqued are Western “cultic” understandings of the priest and the, the “Igwe Syndrome" which likens the priest to a chief.

Contested Moral Issues In Contemporary African Catholicism: Theological Proposals For A Hermeneutics Of Multiplicity And Inclusion, Stan Chu Ilo

Journal of Global Catholicism

Drawing upon the broad work of Vatican II and Pope Francis’ Evangelicum Gaudium the article proposes how a hermeneutic of multiplicity and inclusion could help hold in balance the tension between tradition and innovation, universal principles and specific contextual application for Catholicism in Africa. Among the issues addressed are cultural relativism, natural law theory, and polygamy.

Communicating The Justice And Peace Of God In Africa Today, Walter Ihejirika

Journal of Global Catholicism

Engaging with the work and theories of Arnold van Gennep and Victor Turner, the article charts out a spirituality of communication within Nigerian Catholicism. Discussing the intersection between various forms of media and community, the article argues for the utilization of media in the pursuit of social justice and the dismantling of inequalities.

Inculturation Of Liturgical Music In The Roman Catholic Church Of Igbo Land: A Compositional Study, Benedict Nwabugwu Agbo

Journal of Global Catholicism

A study of inculturation, composition and music among Catholics in Igboland, Nigeria. The article insects with contemporary discussions of inculturation/enculturation after Vatican II and the recommendation of St. John Paul II in his Ecclesia in Africa.

Editor's Introduction, Marc Roscoe Loustau

Journal of Global Catholicism

Introduction to African Catholicism: Contemporary Issues: Volume: 1, Issue 2 of the Journal of Global Catholicism

The Nature Of God & Predestination In John Davenant's Dissertatio De Praedestinatione Et Reprobatione, Jonathan Roberts

Theses

This paper is an exposition and defense of John Davenant's critique of the lapsarian understanding of the ordering of God's decrees. I evaluate Davenant's use of theology proper in his critique of said debate and contend that if Davenant is correct about divine simplicity and divine immutability, his critique of lapsarianism is successful.

Martin Luther And Extra Ecclesiam Nulla Salus (“Outside Of The Church There Is No Salvation”): Did Luther Really Abandon Cyprian?, Darius Jankiewicz

Journal of the Adventist Theological Society

"... careful study of the Luther’s writings reveals that, while he repudiated many Catholic ways of understanding and conducting church, and while he attempted to harmonize ecclesiastical structures and sacramental theology with the foundational principles of Protestantism, he was essentially unable to break away from medieval modes of thinking. Notwithstanding his rejection of the Catholic emphasis on the visible church, he struggled to free himself from reliance on institutional structures for salvation. Ultimately, Luther affirmed the necessity of the visible church for salvation. In His wisdom, Luther believed, God had decreed the church to be the means of grace, without …

John Huss And The Origins Of The Protestant Reformation, Trevor O'Reggio

Journal of the Adventist Theological Society

"Was Jan Hus a forerunner of the Protestant reformation, did he anticipate the reformation–absolutely. Through his teachings on the supreme authority of scriptures he challenged and defied the then unchallenged authority of the papacy and the church by providing an alternative authority. This position would become one of the central foundational teachings of the 16th century reformers. Huss also, like the Protestant reformers, recognized the need to release the scriptures from the control of the scholars, the church, and the language of Latin by making the scriptures available to the people in their own language. This was then reinforced by …

The Wurker-Gibson Bible Collection And The 500th Anniversary Of The Reformation, Lawrence W. Onsager, Terry Dwain Robertson

Faculty Publications

As part of the celebration of the 500^th anniversary of the Reformation, Terry Robertson and I decided to highlight the James White Library’s copy of Luther’s 1534 Bible, the role of Chester Gibson in donating the Bible to Andrews and the story of Paul Wurker, who collected this particular Bible and the other Bibles which we are calling the Wurker-Gibson Bible Collection.

Ecofeminism: The Path Towards Healing The Earth, Jamie Thompson

Dialogue & Nexus

The concept of the patriarchy, or any concept in which one group dominates another, is inseparable from the formation of human kind’s domination of nature. This domination of nature has led to the current the ecological crisis humanity faces. Those who deny climate change can admit to the massive amounts of pollution, trash, and deforestation. Despite this worsening economic crisis, those in power have been slow to react. Women can ultimately provide and lead the movement to solve this ecological crisis through the growing movement of Ecofeminism. In the philosophy of Ecofeminism, individuals recognize and reject western dualistic thinking that …

South Carolina Conference Journal 2017, United Methodist Church. South Carolina Conference

South Carolina Conference Journal

THE JOURNAL OF THE SOUTH CAROLINA CONFERENCE OF The United Methodist Church Southeastern Jurisdiction

VOLUME I 2017

Price: $35.00 per year paid in advance by subscription only (Volumes I and II included)

Edited for the Conference by KENNETH L. NELSON Secretary of the Annual Conference

TD Convention Center Greenville, South Carolina

June 4-7, 2017

Martin Luther's Legacy: Inspiring For 500 Years And Counting, Jack Vander Slik

Pro Rege

No abstract provided.

Literary Theories Of Circumcision, A. W. Strouse

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

“Literary Theories of Circumcision” investigates a school of thought in which the prepuce, as a conceptual metaphor, organizes literary experience. In every period of English literature, major authors have employed the penis’s hood as a figure for thinking about reading and writing. These authors belong to a tradition that defines textuality as a foreskin and interpretation as circumcision. In “Literary Theories of Circumcision,” I investigate the origins of this literary-theoretical formulation in the writings of Saint Paul, and then I trace this formulation’s formal applications among medieval, early modern, and modernist writers. My study lays the groundwork for an ambitious …

Supplanting The Wrong With The Right: A Synoptic Overview Of Christian And Islamic Reactions Towards The Subject Of Heresy, Brett G. Barnard

Lawrence University Honors Projects

Whenever there is a faith that is claiming to be the “one true religion,” just what is it that defines that most sinister of opposition known as “heresy?” Is it the choices made by these aforementioned “heretics” to hold beliefs that are contrary to the mainstream? Or is the way in which “orthodox” authorities have historically asserted their own superiority while legally eliminating the competition? When overlooking monotheistic belief systems that claim universal theological authority, such as Christianity and Islam, what stands out the most is the fact that the greatest threat almost always comes not from exterior rivals, but …

Ignatius: A Guide For Congregational Discernment, Benjamin Gensic

Discernment: Theology and the Practice of Ministry

Congregations find themselves living in transformative times, but transformation is often an act of subtraction, which means congregations find themselves living in anxious times as well. Within this context, it is tempting for congregations to base decisions on either financial constraint or political expediency. However, such superficial discernment is incapable of guiding congregations wishing to respond to God’s activity in the world. This author argues that Ignatius of Loyola provides congregations with an alternative.

To accomplish this, the author walks the reader through the basic principles of Ignatian spirituality and discernment, making suggestions for how these can impact congregational decision-making …

Christus Satisfactor: An Anselmian Approach To The Doctrine Of Atonement, David M. Mahfood

Religious Studies Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation, I develop and defend a revised satisfaction account of the Christian doctrine of atonement based primarily on the thought of St. Anselm of Canterbury. The project thus has both a historical and a normative dimension, since I offer an interpretation of Anselm, and then derive from it an account of the atonement as a candidate for how Christians ought to think about and understand what God has accomplished in Christ on our behalf.

I begin, in Chapter 2, by examining the most common way of framing the doctrine of atonement today, which I call the “atonement theory …

Volume 3 Editorial, Daniel Brannan

Dialogue & Nexus

No abstract provided.