Practical Theology Commons^™

Número 3: Ascensión De Nuestro Señor - 25.06.2000

Estudios Exégeticos Homiléticos

04.06.2000 – Ascensión de Nuestro Señor – Efesios 1:17-23 – Néstor Míguez
Presentación y ampliación: Ricardo Pietrantonio

11.06.2000 – Pentecostés – 1 Corintios 12:3-13 – Néstor Míguez
Presentación y ampliación: Ricardo Pietrantonio

18.06.2000 – Trinidad – Romanos 8:14-17 – Néstor Míguez
Presentación y ampliación: Ricardo Pietrantonio

25.06.2000 – Hebreos 9:11-15 – Néstor Míguez
Presentación y ampliación: Ricardo Pietrantonio

Número 2: Textos Para El Mes De Mayo De 2000

Estudios Exégeticos Homiléticos

07.05.2000 – Hechos 3:13-15 (+ 4:8-12; 9:26-31; 10:25-26.34-35.44-8)
Severino Croatto

14.05.2000 – Hechos 4:8-12; 1 Juan 3:1-2; Juan 10:11-18; Salmo 118:1.8-9.21-23.26.28-29
Severino Croatto

21.05.2000 – Hechos 9:26-31; 1 Juan 3:18-24; Jn 15:1-8; Salmo 22:26-28.30-32
Severino Croatto

28.05.2000 – Hechos 10:25-26.34-35.44-8; 1 Juan 4:7-10; Jn 15:9-17; Salmo 98:1-4
Severino Croatto

Número 1: Cuarto Domingo De Cuaresma - Segundo Domingo De Pascua

Estudios Exégeticos Homiléticos

02.04.2000 – 4º DOMINGO DE CUARESMA – Juan 3,14-21 – René Krüger

09.04.2000 – 5º DOMINGO DE CUARESMA – Juan 12,20-33 – René Krüger

16.03.2000 – DOMINGO DE RAMOS – Filipenses 2,5-11 – René Krüger

20.04.2000 – JUEVES SANTO – Exodo 12:1-14 – Mercedes García Bachmann

21.04.2000 – VIERNES SANTO – Juan 19,16-30 – René Krüger

22.04.2000 - VIGILIA PASCUAL – ISAÍAS 55:1-11 – Mercedes García Bachmann

23.04.2000 – DOMINGO DE PASCUA – Juan 20:1-18 – Mercedes García Bachmann

30.04.2000 – 2º DOMINGO DE PASCUA – Hechos 4:32-35 – Mercedes García Bachmann

Número 10: Primer Domingo Después De Epifanía - Cuarto Domingo Después De Epifanía

Estudios Exégeticos Homiléticos

07.01.2001 – Primer Domingo después de Epifanía – Mercedes García Bachmann Isaías 43:1-7, Salmo 29, Hechos 8:14-17, Lucas 3:15-17,21-22

14.01.2001 – Segundo Domingo después de Epifanía – Mercedes García Bachmann Isaías 62:1-5; Salmo 36:5-10; 1 Corintios 12:1-11; Juan 2:1-11

21.01.2001 – Tercer Domingo después de Epifanía – Mercedes García Bachmann Nehemías 8:1-3.5-6.8-10; Salmo 19; 1 Corintios 12:12-31a; Lucas 4:14-21

28.01.2001 – Cuarto Domingo después de Epifanía – Mercedes García Bachmann Jeremías 1:4-10; Salmo 71:1-6; 1 Corintios 13:1-13; Lucas 4:21-30

Deepening Community: Dispelling The Myth Of Small Through A Gospel Of The Small, Sarah R. Cordray

Doctor of Ministry Theses

This transformative, mixed-methods research project utilized a modified PAR in order to strengthen inter-relationships of a congregation and with its community. Intentional small acts of conversation and listening were utilized as the main tool to implement change, as participants were awakened from the myth of small-town living, in which assumptions of connectedness were made. This project was deepened through the use of key theoretical, biblical, and theological lenses, such as: community, social capital, open systems theory, transformational leadership, hearing, incarnation, perichoresis, and a sense of belonging. Results revealed a deepened sense of community, a growing awareness of inter-relationships, key differences …

The Neighbor, Mark A. Granquist

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

A Participatory God For A Participatory Culture: Christian Theological Perspectives On Networks, Dwight J. Zscheile

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Opening To Revelation: Building Discernment Processes From Practices That Best Inform Communal Decision Making, Chris Alexander

Doctor of Ministry Theses

This sequential explanatory mixed methods research project investigates the spiritual discernment processes of a Christian congregation in the United Church of Christ. The study identifies most utilized and most helpful practices of spiritual discernment within the areas of prayer, conversation, community, and media. This research shows how engaging spiritual practices influences participation in decision making by Christian congregations.

Looking Back To Move Forward: Youth Ministry And Its Effect On The Faith And Christian Practices Of Today's Adults, Andrew A. Taylor

Doctor of Ministry Theses

This mixed methods explanatory research project investigated the effectiveness of youth ministry practices in shaping, or failing to shape, adult Christian faith. Fifty-nine former youth group members from three congregations were surveyed, and six were interviewed: two active Christians, two inactive Christians, and two non-Christians. Results revealed the active Christians had experienced a personal sense of God’s presence and witnessed God’s activity in the public sphere. This suggests that youth ministry would do well to utilize practices that encourage adolescents to experience and articulate a sense of God’s presence in both their personal lives and in the world around them.

A Congregation Engaging In Missional Dialogue: Strengthening Discernment Amid Diversity Through Healthy Congregational Dialogue, Jeffrey M. Wilson

Doctor of Ministry Theses

This transformative mixed-methods modified Participatory Action Research (PAR) project was used to investigate and affect healthy and faithful discernment and decision-making in a diverse congregation within the reality of being the body of Christ in mission. Data were collected utilizing baseline and end-line surveys, recorded and transcribed meetings and interviews, and memos. The data revealed that people who engaged in the research process grew in their perception of the congregation as being healthy and faithful in discernment and decision-making. This research shows that mutual responsibility, respect, trust, and interdependence between leaders and congregation members helps us focus on God’s mission …

Generous Leaders, Generous Congregations: A Study Of The Relationship Between The Financial Generosity Of Congregational Leaders And The Financial Generosity Of Their Congregations, Ryan D. Brodin

Doctor of Ministry Theses

This sequential explanatory mixed methods comparative case study research project explores personal financial generosity in pastors and Congregational Council members of five suburban mainline congregations to discover what influence their generosity has on the congregations they lead. This research involved a survey of all the leaders, interviews with each pastor, focus groups with Congregational Council members, and financial statistics for each congregation. Although there are many insights in this research project regarding financial generosity in leaders and congregations, the results do not show a direct influence of the personal financial generosity of the leaders on the financial generosity of the …

Walk Me To The Gate: Christian Practices Of Accompaniment With People Who Are Dying And Their Families, Yolanda Kali Denson-Byers

Doctor of Ministry Theses

This mixed-methods concurrent triangulation research project asks, “What practices should we incorporate into the hospice ministry of Fellowship Lutheran Church in order to help dying people and their families experience a peaceful death with love?” Utilizing two focus groups, four interviews, and a congregational census, this project finds that research participants are terrorized by death and are hungry for hospice and bereavement ministries provided by their community of faith. This exploratory project illuminates the specific practices which missional congregations may utilize to empower the priesthood of all believers to create a beloved community which points to the hope of resurrection.

Empathy As Sacred Ethic: A Chaplain's Perspective On Difficult End Of Life Cases, Peter L. Bauck

Doctor of Philosophy Theses

Because of our increasingly intercultural world, it can be difficult for patients, families, and medical teams to decide on what they should do for patients who are, in the medical team’s opinion, near the end of life. The family and medical team can hold disparate beliefs and values around what they should do for the patient. Ethics committees often get involved in these difficult end of life cases.These cases are also emotionally charged, especially for the family as they wrestle with the intensity of their loved one’s situation and try to decide what to do. Because of the emotional intensity …

Countertransference As Koinonia, Karin A. Craven

Doctor of Philosophy Theses

This thesis inquires after the lived-through experience of community in the congregation by the pastoral leader. It is predicated upon the multiple self whose plurality is understood through psychoanalytical and postcolonial theories as well as by developmental processes illumined by interpersonal neurobiology. The phenomenological inquiry into one pastor’s experience of community in the congregation yielded in vivo themes – movement, joy, and open; connect, conflict, and centering; table, hospitality, love, and diversity -- that were understood broadly from the wondering perspective of desire. Closer theoretical analysis of these in vivo themes from theological, psychological, and interpersonal neurobiological conceptual categories was …

The Impact Of Social Media On Adolescent Grief, Kathryn Knutson

Children, Youth, and Family (CYF) Papers

No abstract provided.

I Believe, Lord Help My Unbelief: The Thin Christology Of Austin Adolescents, Brianna Morris-Brock

Children, Youth, and Family (CYF) Papers

No abstract provided.

Luther Seminary: It Takes A Village, Adam J. Copeland, Jason Misselt

Faculty Publications

The authors describe how, framed within an initiative to equip faith leaders and congregations around matters of stewardship, Luther Seminary’s Economic Conditions Facing Future Ministers (ECFFM) program has emerged as part of the work of the seminary’s Center for Stewardship Leaders. The ECFFM initiative focused on conducting new research and strengthening current campus programs in order to decrease student debt through building financial literacy, stewardship training, and financial support.

White Religious Educators Resisting White Fragility: Lessons From Mystics, Mary E. Hess

Faculty Publications

Decades of work in dismantling racism have not yielded the kind of results for which religious educators have hoped. One primary reason has been what scholars term “white fragility,” a symptom of the structural racism which confers systemic privilege upon White people. Lessons learned from Christian mystics point to powerful ways to confront and resist the siren call of such formation and instead to make resisting racism an integral part of Christian identity for White people.

A Tribute To Frederick J. Gaiser: Upon His Retirement As Editor Of Word & World, Mark A. Throntveit

Faculty Publications

This tribute to Frederick Gaiser at the end of his term as editor of Word & World comes from a longtime colleague and collaborator in the publication of this journal. Mark Throntveit is the Book Review Editor of this journal, and the Elva B. Lovell Professor of Old Testament at Luther Seminary.

Sabbath And Creation, Kathryn M. Schifferdecker

Faculty Publications

Work and rest, planting and letting lie fallow—these are the rhythms by which both we and the earth are sustained, as on creation’s first Sabbath. “Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy.…Six days you shall do your work, but on the seventh day you shall rest.” It is, of course, a word of law. For those who have ears to hear, however, it is also a word of promise.

Preaching John 8:31-36: Reforming Contexts Then And Now, Karoline M. Lewis

Faculty Publications

The Gospel reading for Reformation Sunday is always John 8:31–36, yet preaching on this passage tends to overlook the critical contexts in which this pericope is located. Preaching John 8:31–36 on Reformation now will demand a careful analysis of the role of the passage in the Fourth Gospel, both as a means by which to respect its literary integrity as well as invitation to how it might shape a new hermeneutic for a new day.

Sanctification In Adolescence: How Karl Barth’S Two-Fold Critique Of The Church Could Influence Youth Ministry Practices Today, Joel Vander Wal

Master of Theology Theses

No abstract provided.

Preaching Texts Of Multiple Masculinities To A World Of Multiple Masculinities, Cameron B. R. Howard

Faculty Publications

Today’s preachers proclaim the word into a world that is fraught with dissonances about the expectations of gender roles. The Bible itself demonstrates a similar complexity, though sometimes in different modes. Ultimately, an exploration of biblical masculinity can offer preachers and their congregations new ways of navigating those intersections between the ancient text and our world today.

Preaching As Foolishness, Steven D. Paulson

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Joy Of The Lord Is Your Strength: How Your Passions Can Serve God's Mission In The World, Jay Grave

Doctor of Ministry Theses

This participatory action research project utilizes praxis events to enhance the understanding of Lutheran vocation in relationship to joy bringing activities. The research question driving this project is,

How would a participatory action research (PAR) intervention utilizing praxis events encourage congregational members to recognize and exercise their own gifts and passions as avenues of joyous participation in God’s mission in the world?

Data were collected through baseline and end-line interviews, transcribed meetings of a journey team, and census surveys. Data revealed that participation did yield a positive change effect on the understanding of joy bringing passions to enhance the missional …

Wesleyan Missional Small Groups: Three Crucial Attributes, David Werner

Doctor of Ministry Theses

Mixed methods (simple exploratory and participatory action research) study explored ways congregations can draw upon both the United Methodist heritage and the missional approach to foster spiritual formation using small groups that make sense to the postmodern culture and lead to behavior changes.

Three crucial attributes of vital, faith-forming small groups are: creating authentic community (belonging – engaging one another), engaging the Holy Spirit (believing – engaging God), and helping participants make applications to their daily lives (behaving – engaging real life). Congregations must do the hard work of contextualizing these and hold all three together for small groups to …

Cultivating The Holy Callings Of Ordinary Saints: The Church At Work For The Life Of The World, Jeffrey A. Eisele

Doctor of Ministry Theses

The Christian Church has long struggled to make better connections between Sunday and Monday by effectively equipping the priesthood of all believers for living out its faith in the world. This thesis reports the results of a participatory action research project aimed at cultivating connections between faith, baptismal callings, daily work, and the missio Dei through several congregational interventions. The results showed the effectiveness of cultivating a congregational culture through worship, faith formation activities, service, and especially small groups, for the purpose of strengthening congregation members’ witness in the workplace.

Preaching From A Biblical Anthropology: Sources And Methods For Correlating The Gospel And The Human Condition, Paul N. D. Miller

Doctor of Ministry Theses

Preachers’ understandings of the human condition are foundational to preaching that is faithful and effective, yet are often unreflective or dogmatic. Biblical anthropology provides both revelation about humankind and a variety of perspectives, aiding the preacher in addressing diverse situations. Topics explored: Old Testament anthropology undergirding the New; the fundamental unity of the human being; the differentiation of law, sin, and human nature; the doctrine of theological anthropology; law and gospel preaching. Research draws on preachers’ journals and listener feedback surveys to identify and demonstrate patterns of creative proclamation of the human situation and a corresponding Gospel response.

Coram Deo Et Coram Mundo: The Two Kinds Of Righteousness As A Normative Framework For The Description, Interpretation, And Healing Of Shame, Barson Lahivelo Mahafaly

Doctor of Philosophy Theses

Contemporary pastoral theologians, though describing and interpreting shame from an interdisciplinary perspective, drawing both from theology and psychology, tend to propose healing for shame only from a theological perspective. Transposing Martin Luther’s doctrine of the two kinds of righteousness into an interdisciplinary framework, this work proposes that pastoral theologians need to describe and interpret shame as well as suggest strategies for its healing from both theological and social-scientific perspectives.

Luther distinguishes between two kinds of righteousness, one passive and the other active. Passive righteousness is the righteousness of Christ bequeathed to us through the Word and the Sacraments (baptism and …

Relational Pastoral Care And Counseling: A Practical Theological Exploration Of Relational Spirituality And Grief, Joel A. Jueckstock

Doctor of Philosophy Theses

What is the relationship between relational spirituality and grief? This dissertation pursues this question by employing a practical theological method for practitioners of pastoral care and counseling when tending to unique grief experiences. Grief is understood in terms of contemporary bereavement science. Relational spirituality is developed as an interdisciplinary, interpretive lens with the capacity to describe how individuals relate to the sacred in light of four dimensions: human-human, human-God, God-human, and inner Trinitarian. The outworking of these dimensions suggests a relational approach to interdisciplinary dialogue. Applying relational spirituality to individuals’ unique grief experiences produces a process of care for tending …