Liturgy and Worship Commons^™

The History Of Graduate Theological Education At Oral Roberts University, Larry Hart, Bill Buker

Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology

This article traces the history of graduate theological education at Oral Roberts University from its initial inception in 1963 up until 2018 when a significant transition occurred. Special attention is given to the rebirth of the seminary in 1976 under the leadership of Jimmy Buskirk and the following seasons of its evolution under subsequent deans. From a seminary approved by the United Methodist Church to train candidates for ministry in that denomination to one reflecting a primarily Pentecostal ethos to its current role of serving the Spirit-empowered Movement, the Graduate School of Theology and Ministry (GSTM) has maintained ecumenical diversity …

Into Every Person’S World: The Oru Bible Institute Program, Sam Barsoum, Paul King

Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology

This article describes the history, development, mission, and impact of the ORU Bible Institute program over its thirty-year history. Different phases of the program are presented: beginnings of the program, curriculum development, and program expansion; features of the program; global impact through international development; times of crisis, re-evaluation, and recovery; adjustments, stabilization, and growth to the present; and the long-term impact of the ORU Bible Institute program

A Review Article Of Jonathan Root, Oral Roberts And The Rise Of The Prosperity Gospel, Daniel D. Isgrigg

Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology

This review article discusses the new biography of Oral Roberts by Jonathan Root. It situates the book in the field of recent Oral Roberts studies and discusses its contributions to the life of this well-known twentieth-century religious figure. It also critically assesses the assumptions of the book related to its framing of Oral Roberts as contributing to the “rise of the prosperity gospel.”

Oral Roberts And Billy Graham: A Friendship That Influenced The Christian World, John Paul Thompson

Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology

No abstract provided.

Editorial: Theology, Shaping The Soul Of The Faith Community, Wonsuk Ma

Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology

An editorial by Wonsuk Ma introducing the special issue on the ORU College of Theology and Ministry.

Editor's Note, Jeffrey S. Lamp

Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology

No abstract provided.

Front Matter, Spiritus 8.2 (Fall 2023), [email protected]

Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology

No abstract provided.

Full Issue, Spiritus 8.2 (Fall 2023), [email protected]

Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology

A special issue on the history of ORU College of Theology and Ministry.

Designing A Drama-Based Arts Ministry For The North 10th And Treadaway Church Of Christ, Curtis Alexander King

Doctor of Ministry Theses and Dissertations

The North 10th and Treadaway Church of Christ (“Treadaway”) is a small, predominantly African American congregation located in Abilene, Texas, home of Abilene Christian University (“ACU”) and several other institutions of higher learning. Considering ACU’s Church of Christ heritage and continued affiliation with the Churches of Christ, it is no surprise that Treadaway has often served as a “home away from home” congregation for ACU students and recent graduates who choose to remain in the city. The level of integration of the students from ACU and other local colleges into the life and ministry of Treadaway has varied greatly over …

Restoration Quarterly: Vol. 65, No. 4

Restoration Quarterly

PDF of the cover of Restoration Quarterly: Vol. 65, No. 4.

This repository hosts selected Restoration Quarterly articles in downloadable PDF format. For the benefit of users who would like to browse the contents of RQ, we have included all issue covers even when full-text articles from that issue are unavailable. All Restoration Quarterly articles are available in full text in the ATLA Religion Database, available through most university and theological libraries or through your local library’s inter-library loan service.

A Companion Guide For The Discipleship To Missional Community (D2mc) Program, Jedidiah T. Maschke

Doctor of Ministry Major Applied Project

This Doctor of Ministry (DMin.) Major Applied Project (MAP) offers a companion guide for the discipleship training program called D2MC (Discipleship to Missional Community) taught by PLI, a leadership development organization that works primarily with the LCMS. The D2MC program is based on the training pioneered by Mike Breen through 3DM. The companion guide shows how the methods and practices taught by PLI are soundly based in Scripture and confessional Lutheran theology and offers some personal insights and devotional thoughts. The companion guide was distributed and field tested with volunteer participants through and with the approval of PLI. Participants in …

Restoration Quarterly: Vol. 65, No. 3

Restoration Quarterly

PDF of the cover of Restoration Quarterly: Vol. 65, No. 3.

This repository hosts selected Restoration Quarterly articles in downloadable PDF format. For the benefit of users who would like to browse the contents of RQ, we have included all issue covers even when full-text articles from that issue are unavailable. All Restoration Quarterly articles are available in full text in the ATLA Religion Database, available through most university and theological libraries or through your local library’s inter-library loan service.

Hospitality: Areas That Are Effective In Creating A Desire For A Visitor To Connect To Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, Brent M. Hartwig

Doctor of Ministry Major Applied Project

This major applied project explores hospitality offered by the local congregation. Biblical hospitality is implicitly and explicitly commanded in scripture. Balancing the Missio Dei and two kinds of righteousness will keep us on the straight and narrow theologically when pursuing hospitality.

When churches offer hospitality, we are feeding, clothing, visiting, providing, and welcoming our neighbor. Our Redeemer wants to continue serving the community as a family-oriented, mission focused, hospitable congregation. We are doing the feeding, clothing, and providing through many efforts in the community. We are active with the local homeless shelter and crisis center. For the MAP, we wanted …

Positive Factors Related To The Decision To Study For The Office Of The Ministry By Men Of The Lutheran Synod Of Nicaragua (Iglesia Luterana Sínodo De Nicaragua/Lutheran Church—Canada), Edmund Auger

Doctor of Ministry Major Applied Project

Auger, Edmund D. “Positive Factors Related to the Decision to Study for the Office of the Ministry by Men of The Lutheran Synod of Nicaragua (Iglesia Luterana Sínodo de Nicaragua / Lutheran Church—Canada).” Doctor of Ministry. Major Applied Project, Concordia Seminary, 2023. 128 pages.

The Lutheran Church throughout the world needs a continuing supply of men to serve as faithful pastors in the public ministry of the Gospel. The identification and spiritual formation of candidates for Word and Sacrament ministry is critical for the young national church body, Iglesia Luterana Sínodo de Nicaragua (Lutheran Synod of Nicaragua).

This project is …

There Is A Place For You And Your Little Ones: Homiletics And Liturgy In View Of Pregnancy Loss, Joseph Michael Baumgarten

Doctor of Ministry Major Applied Project

Baumgarten, Joseph M. There is a Place for You and Your Little Ones: Homiletics and Liturgy in View of Pregnancy Loss. Doctor of Ministry. Major Applied Project, Concordia Seminary, 2022. 81 pp.

Pregnancy loss and the grief that follows is more common than most people think. However, there is a gap in resources, discussion, and care for those who have experienced such losses. This is true in wider culture as well as in the church. While there are a few resources available, they are limited. This project addresses the church’s ability to provide proper recognition of pregnancy loss, the validation …

Embodied Superintendence: The Person Of The Preacher In Lutheran Homiletics Especially In Relation To Cultural Identity, Dennis Matyas

Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation

Over the past several decades, the greater homiletical academy has progressed from questions of authority to dialogics to identity, both of the preacher and of the hearers. Within this timeframe, modern Lutheran homiletics has stayed relatively silent on considerations of the person of the preacher, opting instead for certain foundational homiletical truths including the efficacy of the Word of God, the proclamation of justification, and the authority of the Ministerium. After recovering the consideration of the person of the preacher as a foundational Lutheran homiletic, this work explores the formational significance of the preacher’s cultural identity by offering a theoretical …

What God Has Joined Together: The One Threefold Purpose Of Marriage, David Frayne Shudy

Master of Sacred Theology Thesis

Modern married couples and marriage-minded individuals are often left awash in a sea of confusion aimlessly groping about for a purpose for their marriage, with disastrous societal results. Whereas long-standing Christian tradition has taught a unified threefold marital purpose of three equal elements—procreation, mutual help, and remedy for sin—Enlightenment thinkers and their ideological descendants have introduced a hierarchical marriage teleology with a self-chosen purpose (usually companionship) at the top in order to correct for an alleged countervailing overemphasis on procreation in premodern marital teleology.

This thesis will challenge the claim of a relative deficiency in the companionate aspect of premodern …

Recovering A Missional Ecclesiology: A Framework For Reviving Congregational Mission Within The Baptist Union Of Victoria, Gayle Hill

Doctor of Ministry Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACT This project is an intervention to develop a theological and theoretical framework

that will become the foundation for a future curriculum for recovering a missional ecclesiology for the pastors of the Baptist Union of Victoria (BUV). Despite mission being central to the overall vision of the BUV, declining numbers, the post-COVID context in Victoria, and an overarching post-Christian and pluralistic context have significantly challenged the centrality and functioning of mission across our denomination. The impetus of this project was the observation that our churches were floundering rather than flourishing in the missional space. Many chronic and acute provocations were …

The Voice Of One Crying In The Wilderness, Megan Kenyon

MFA in Visual Art

I am a Midwestern, Christian, and feminist artist. I make work about the beautiful, broken, and absurd ways in which American evangelical culture influences lives, especially women’s lives. I’m dragging everything into the light by deconstructing and critiquing the world in which I live, move, and have my being. I do this by harnessing prophetic imagination and incarnational space to shine a light on how patriarchy infects evangelical Christian theology and practice. Using prophetic imagination through photographic self-portraiture and text (my own and found texts using the Bible), I seek to make plain the effects of white, Christian patriarchy on …

Christ In You Is Your Hope Of Glory: Exploring Colossians In The Sunday Lectionary, Maggie Nadalin

Obsculta

This paper was submitted in the Fall of 2022 as an assignment for LTGY 421: The Liturgical Year and the Word of God, exploring the use of Paul's letter to the Colossians in the lectionary cycle.

Tell Me The Old, Old Story: An Educational Curriculum For Junior Week At Christian Youth Encampment, Justin Lance Simmons

Doctor of Ministry Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this project was to create a curriculum framework for the Junior Week of camp at Christian Youth Encampment (CYE) in DeRidder, LA. The initial step in this project was to develop information on the ministerial context of CYE by investigating its history and interviewing those who have experienced camp both as campers and staff. Next, an examination of theological and theoretical foundations was made, considering the history of narrative in the instruction of children both for Israel and the church. Also, the concept and practices of narrative and its usefulness as a pedagogical tool were explored. Using …

Missional Renewal In A Large And Established Suburban Western Church, Michael Stevens

Doctor of Ministry Theses and Dissertations

This thesis addresses the topic of missional renewal at Clovercrest Baptist Church (CBC), specifically focusing on participating in the mission of God through simple, memorable, and reproducible missional practices. The identified problem is a lack of process or framework for enhancing participation in God’s mission and churchwide missional renewal at CBC, a large suburban Western church. The purpose of this project intervention is to develop a resource guide of missional practices that facilitate participation in the mission of God at CBC towards missional renewal. This intervention is guided by the theological foundation that God is a God of mission. He …

Redeeming Theodicy In Job: Moving From A Classical To A Christological Framework, Jaime L. Riddle

College of Theology and Ministry Dissertations, Projects, & Theses

This thesis analyzes existing interpretations of theodicy in the book of Job, in order to suggest an alternative approach informed by the nature and mission of Christ. Much of biblical scholarship in Job has focused on a classical approach to theodicy or, in recent years, deconstructed anti-theodicy. This thesis offers an alternative approach that focuses on the Christological overtones in Job and a modern synthesis of Old and New Testament theodicy.

Chapter 1 introduces the problem of theodicy in Job, and a taxonomy of lenses traditionally used to examine Old Testament theodicy. Chapter 2 analyzes classical perspectives of Job derived …

Exploring Theological Themes Of Bridehood In Revelation 19:6-9: An Analysis Of The Marriage Supper Of The Lamb, Riley F. Kempker

College of Theology and Ministry Dissertations, Projects, & Theses

Most people see Revelation as a book shrouded in mystery and uncertainty. As well, the various interpretations offered only add to the confusion of the book. Yet, John uses clear images and themes in his Apocalypse, on which most people can agree. The account of the Marriage Supper of the Lamb in Revelation 19:6-9 offers an open window into John’s theology of the Bride of Christ. This thesis seeks to understand John’s theological implications that arise from the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.

This thesis began in chapter 1 with a statement of the problem in understanding John’s theological implications …

Liturgical Practices For Full Participation: Creating Opportunities For Engagement In Corporate Worship For People Living With Intellectual Disabilities At The Mooroolbark Salvation Army, Catherine Jane Spiller

Doctor of Ministry Theses and Dissertations

The Mooroolbark Salvation Army is a place of welcome and acceptance for people with disabilities. However, people with intellectual disabilities often have limited opportunities for engagement in corporate worship. The act of worship is a practice everyone should be able to participate in, but barriers often limit engagement for people with disabilities. This project thesis explored and sought to address these barriers and create opportunities for full participation for people with intellectual disabilities. A small diverse group of people from the Mooroolbark Salvation Army came together for ten weeks commencing in February 2022 to consider how to attend to engagement …

Review Of Intergenerational Missiology: An African Pentecostal-Charismatic Perspective, Vincent Anohene Appiah

Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology

No abstract provided.

Review Of Genesis: A Pentecostal Commentary, Michael Blythe

Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology

No abstract provided.

Review Of Los Profetas: The Prophetic Role Of Hispanic Churches In America, Hanna Larracas

Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology

No abstract provided.

Review Of The Spirit Of God In The Torah: A Pentecostal Exploration. By Steffen G. Schumacher, Lora Angeline E. Timenia

Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology

No abstract provided.

Abiding In The Vine: A Relational Model Of Spiritual Formation, Bill Buker

Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology

In recognizing the significance of final conversations, the information Jesus shares in his Farewell Discourse (John 13–17) is considered especially important. During this conversation, in describing the new relationship he envisioned with his disciples following the events of his passion, he employs a vine and its branches as an analogy. Three core concepts seem critical to understanding this comparison—abiding in the vine, bearing fruit, and pruning. These concepts are explored within the context of Jesus’ Farewell Discourse and defined relationally in connection with the new commandment he had just introduced. This new command to love each other as he had …