Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons^™

"If You Are Willing To Receive It": The Presentation Of John The Baptist As Elijah In Matthew's Gospel, Aaron Goldstein

Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation

Goldstein, Aaron, J. “‘If You Are Willing to Receive It’: The Presentation of John The Baptist as Elijah in Matthew’s Gospel.” Ph.D. diss., Concordia Seminary, 2021. 214pp.

In Matthew’s Gospel, John the Baptist demonstrates a viewpoint of himself and Jesus, in their respective roles in the in–breaking kingdom of heaven, which is correct, but also insufficient. An exploration is undertaken to better understand this phenomenon.

With John identified in the Gospel as ‘Elijah who is to come,’ Malachian texts concerning expectations for Elijah’s return are examined. From this context, three figures emerge, each with an expected role: ‘My messenger’/Elijah, the …

The Source And Application Of Thomas Müntzer's Theology Of Divination In His Marginal Notes On Tertullian, Roger Drinnon

Master of Sacred Theology Thesis

Drinnon, Roger A. “The Source and Application of Thomas Müntzer’s Theology of Divinization in His Marginal Notes on Tertullian.” Thesis, Concordia Seminary, 2021. 101 pp.

Traditional Lutheran and Marxist interpretations of Thomas Müntzer inadequately account for Müntzer’s theology and practice. The doctrine of the order of creation tied Müntzer’s theology and practice together. According to the order of creation, the goal of the material world was to return to God at the end of time. Müntzer’s writings on the order of creation stated the doctrine was the central tenet of Christianity. By returning to God, Müntzer believed the creation would …

In Search Of The Best Practices In Preaching On Christian Stewardship, Mitchel Schuessler

Doctor of Ministry Major Applied Project

Pastors are challenged to preach Christian stewardship within their parishes in a way that they not only overcome the personal and congregational biases against stewardship sermons, but will also assist their congregations to the grow in their knowledge of stewardship and help them to become better Christian stewards. This project sought to find pastors that have discovered ways to preach stewardship that increased the congregational stewardship life and assisted individual members to become better stewards. This study intends to help the parish pastor to learn how to address stewardship on a regular basis, be more confident in his preaching of …

Melchizedek: Exposing His Character And Its Biblical-Theological Implications, Wesley Nottingham

Liberty Theological Review

Commentators have long recognized the mystery of Melchizedek, noting “that Melchizedek appears in the narrative out of nowhere and just as quickly is gone.” In light of the nature of this Melchizedek figure, the task for a deep reader of Scripture becomes not only identifying who this figure is as he appears in Genesis, but also drawing out the biblical-theological implications of his presence. To determine how to best understand Melchizedek as well as his presence within the canon, the most effective approach is to examine the text in which he first appears—Genesis 14:18-20—and examine its interplay with another key …

The Glory Of The Lord Whose Likeness Is As The Appearance Of A Human Being/Adam: A Study Of Ezekiel’S Son Of Man/Adam Anthropology, Timothy R. Schmeling

School of Theology and Seminary Graduate Papers/Theses

Ezekiel has often been criticized as a dehumanizing book. Still it is alternative humanisms that have done so much to dehumanize mankind with the totalitarianism of self-deifying individualism or the totalitarianism of collectively-imposed manmade metanarratives. Far from being a dehumanizing book, the objective of the son of man/Adam is certainly to purge his hearers of all anthropologies of autonomy and license, but this Adamic priestly prophet does this to eschatologically resurrect in them an anthropology of dependence and true freedom. Reasserting the creation theology and anthropology of Genesis, Ezekiel insists that authentic humanism, Edenic humanism (i.e., the original humanism), is …

Saga Beyond The Gate: Chapter One, The Coming Of The Gate Ghost, Tristan B. Miller

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

“Saga Beyond the Gate: Chapter One, the Coming of the Gate Ghost” explores performance sculpture used as religious ritual. My work emphasizes ritual, creation myths, relics, physical manifestations of lived religion, and the power of narrative belief. One often turns to religion, science, or spirituality, to seek answers to questions about being a conscious entity, and one’s journey to the end. This saga uses scripts from all three of these schools of thought, placing the world of the Gate Ghost into tangible reality, as a play on a stage. Artefacts represent objects of power and mystery. Characters embody morality tales, …

Tale Of Two Judiths: Queering Judith With The Works Of Judith Butler, Kat S. Lewis

Religious Studies Honors Projects

Biblical texts play a significant role in shaping expectations for behavior based on gender in Western societies. In my queer reading of the Book of Judith, I argue that Judith’s performance of gender is fluid and gender expansive. I use reader-response criticism to interpret Judith in conversation with the works of Judith Butler and Saba Mahmood on gender performativity, drag, and agency. This queer reading of Judith provides representation of gender expansiveness in biblical texts and explores queer possibilities in Judith as a way to challenge and subvert a patriarchal, heterosexist gender binary.

Skepticism Of God's Justice And Ways In The World In Job And Ecclesiastes, Andrew O'Neill

Undergraduate Theses

The biblical books of Job and Ecclesiastes have mystified and entranced readers of Hebrew and Christian scripture for thousands of years. This is done almost effortlessly due to their exploration of the themes of justice, fairness, and God’s relationship with human beings. These topics were relevant at the time they were written and are still relevant in the twenty first century. This thesis presentation will discuss how these two books represent a shift in biblical thinking towards God’s justice and ways in the world and will discern what implications the text’s conclusions pose for people reading these texts as scripture …

Book Reviews - Spiritus 6.1 (Spring 2021), Daniel King, Michael A. Donaldson, Robert Mcbain, Christopher J. King, Cletus L. Hull, Iii, Daniel D. Isgrigg

Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology

Reviews

Edith Prakash. Yesterday, Today, and Forever: The Extraordinary Life and Ministry of Tommy Lee Osborn. Daniel King ............................................175

Chris E. W. Green. Sanctifying Interpretation: Vocation, Holiness, and Scripture. 2nd ed. Michael A. Donaldson .................................................................177

Leulseged Philemon. Pneumatic Hermeneutics: The Role of the Holy Spirit in the Theological Interpretation of Scripture. Robert D. McBain......................180

Daniela C. Augustine. The Spirit and the Common Good: Shared Flourishing in the Image of God. Christopher J. King .................................182

William Blaine-Wallace. When Tears Sing: The Art of Lament in Christian Community. Cletus L. Hull, III .....................................184

Gene L. Green, Stephen T. …

Pentecostalism And Coronavirus: Reframing The Message Of Health-And-Wealth In A Pandemic Era, J. Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu

Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology

One of the global effects of the COVID-19 pandemic is the religious responses that it has generated. For contemporary Pentecostalism in particular, which is a religion that preaches and teaches a theology of human flourishing through the principles of prosperity, the negative effects of the coronavirus on people proved a theologically challenging endeavor. Pronouncing curses on evil or blaming Satan for it in human life has always been part of the means to achieve health and wealth for contemporary Pentecostals. This is very much the case in Africa where the instrumentalist use of religion as a means of personal and …

Covid-19, Science, And Race: A Black Pentecostal Engagement, David Daniels

Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology

A Black Pentecostal engagement of COVID-19, science, and race points towards a rapport between the Spirit-empowered Movement and health sciences where religious and secular (science) actors are respected agents in the public arena with each offering valuable perspectives and resources to pivotal conversations about public health in this case. In this article, it is argued that the Church of God in Christ (COGIC) represented in the episcopal letters of Bishop Charles E. Blake, Sr., the presiding bishop of COGIC from 2007 to 2021, demonstrate a religious perspective that possesses a critical perspective on engaging health science during the COVID-19 pandemic. …

The Limited Impact Of Pentecostal Interracialism On Systemic Racism In The Usa, Harold D. Hunter

Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology

The centennial of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre demands a careful review of the impact of systemic racism on Christian communities. This study starts by looking at early Pentecostal interracialism in the USA. There is a striking difference between those churches that founded the Pentecostal Fellowship of North America (PFNA) and those who were not invited or even barred. The renewed ascendancy of white supremacy forces a review of black Pentecostal victims who suffered discrimination, violence, even death. Pentecostals who would extend Jim Crow laws into the heavenly realm need to revisit the founders’ emphasis on repentance, reform, and restitution.

Pentecostal Culture, Or Pentecost Of Culture?: Transformation, Paradigms, Power, Unity, Dimitri Sala Ofm

Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology

This article will explore the relationship between Pentecostals and the broader cultures we inhabit. It will acknowledge that, like all religion, Pentecostalism can tend to create a culture within itself (a “Pentecostal culture”), which at times effects a withdrawal of its adherents from the surrounding world. This necessitates a conscious decision, first to navigate away from that tendency where it exists, and then to define a positive role for Pentecostalism within culture, viz., the transformation of civilization (a “Pentecost of culture”). Thereby the article proposes a more extensive definition of the baptism of the Spirit, looks at how God is …

Towards A Pentecostal Conscientizing Praxis Of Mass Culture Engagement: Contrasting Pneumatologies Of Amos Yong And Simon Chan, Monte Lee Rice

Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology

This essay notes promises and problems with Pentecostal cultural engagement through its dualistic “spiritual warfare” cosmology. I propose a promising foray by forging Amos Yong’s and Simon Chan’s theologies of cultural engagement. For both employ their Asian particularities towards addressing cultural phenomena in manners that distinguish their contrasting yet I shall argue, complementary pneumatologically themed theologies of culture. Yet neither have engaged methodological disciplines of cultural analysis and critique. In response this essay suggests a Pentecostal conscientizing praxis of mass culture engagement, in conversation with Amos Yong and Simon Chan. This essay concludes by suggesting need for discerning possible prophetic …

Global Poverty And Transnational Pentecostalism In The Middle East, Eric N. Newberg

Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology

Driven by the impact of global poverty, large numbers of documented and undocumented workers from Eastern Europe, Asia, and Africa have migrated to countries in the Middle East. Many of these migrant workers are Pentecostals. The article provides a survey of Pentecostalism in the Middle East and reports on the findings of ethnographic research on transnational Pentecostals in the Levant and the Arabian Peninsula. Compelled by the pressures of globalization, these migrants find better economic prospects as contract workers than they could as free laborers in their home countries. Transnational Pentecostals in the Middle East derive spiritual, social, economic, and …

The Name Of Jesus In Luke-Acts With Special Reference To The Gentile Mission, James Shelton

Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology

Peter declares “There is no other name . . . by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12); yet later he says, “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation, anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him” (10:34–35a). Are there then those among the Gentiles who follow God without hearing the name of Jesus, or are all who have not heard the name lost? The question, often posed in “either/or” discourse terms, fails to understand the meaning and scope of the name of Jesus and the urgency of the mandate …

Three Unique Theological Themes Of Oral Roberts’ Preaching, Julie Ma

Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology

The study examines three unique theological themes of Oral Roberts: “Seed-faith,” healing of the whole being, and the “Fourth Man.” Since his message was a reflection of his theology, I also investigate his theological formation, informed particularly by his experiences such as miraculous healing.

In Memoriam: Dr. James B. Buskirk (1933–2020), James Shelton, Arden C. Autry Phd, Sally Jo Shelton

Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology

James Buskirk is honored as the founding Dean of ORU’s Graduate School of Theology. A Master of Arts degree was already in place; Buskirk was tasked with establishing a Master of Divinity, a Doctor of Ministry, and a PhD in theology—each fully accredited. During his tenure, faculty and student numbers increased along with denominational diversity. The MDiv and DMin achieved accreditation. The PhD was not started, however, as Oral Roberts dealt with competing financial priorities. Roberts’ declared decision not to offer a PhD led to Buskirk’s departure. He remained on good terms personally with Roberts. Buskirk’s effect on others is …

Editorial - Spiritus 6.1 (Spring 2021), Jeffrey S. Lamp

Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology

No abstract provided.

Front Matter- Spiritus 6.1 (Spring 2021), [email protected]

Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology

No abstract provided.

Full Issue - Spiritus 6.1 (Spring 2021), [email protected]

Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology

The full issue of Spiritus 6, vol 1 (Spring 2021)

A Literary Analysis Of The Origin Of Human Embryonic Stem Cells, Its Advancements, Philosophical, Ethical, Sociocultural, And Political Aspects; An Investigation Of The Underlying Attributes That Affect One’S Views On Hesc Research To Resolve Turkey And Brazil’S Hesc Policy, Religious, And Cultural Conflicts, Haleema Shamsuddin

Honors Scholars Collaborative Projects

Human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) are cells derived from 5-day human embryos and are self-renewing cell lines that change into any type of cell in the body, a trait called pluripotency. hESCs have almost unlimited clinical and medical research potential. Despite the great therapeutic promise of hESC research, it comes with a controversial ethical debate due to its involvement with the destruction of the human embryo. The central argument revolves around the question of whether or not these human embryos should be ascribed equal moral status to fully developed humans. This thesis aims to analyze the origin and advancements of …

Restoration Quarterly: Vol. 63, No. 2

Restoration Quarterly

PDF of the cover of Restoration Quarterly: Vol. 63, No. 2.

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.

Christianity On The Way: An Eastern Orthodox-Pentecostal Dialogue On The Journey Of Salvation, Raphael J.T. Twitchell

Masters of Theological Studies

We seek to develop a theological means of reconnecting the sojourners of the Way with each other through a recognition of common Christ-followership. Since no human life begins with the same conditions as any other, no two journeys with Christ will be the same, yet it is still the same Spirit who leads them all. This is a mystery which we will explore by peering through the theological framework of an Eastern Orthodox portrayal of the Way and bringing it into dialogue with Pentecostalism and Mysticism. This study seeks to show that the Way which Christ calls us to follow …

Calvin Theological Journal (Vol 56 No 1 - April 2021), Calvin Theological Seminary

Calvin Theological Journal

From the Editor: Karin Maag - 9 / Articles: Church and State in the Swiss Reformation by Jordan J. Ballor - 11 / “Unto the Fullness of Christ”: Organism and Dogma in James Orr by Todd Statham - 37 / Body and Soul: Baptismal Solidarity at a Funeral by Laura de Jong - 67 / Sermon: “Be Filled with the Spirit!”—A Sermon on Ephesians 5:15–21 by Denise L. Posie - 87 / Short Study: Sins of Omission: An Ethical Analysis by Gregory Mellema - 93 / Book Reviews - Scripture and Interpretation: Bauckham, Richard, Who Is God? Key Moments …

Paul Ricoeur And Biblical Hermeneutics: Narrative, Genre, And Self, Collin Angell

Senior Theses

In short, this thesis seeks to develop a biblical hermeneutic centered on one central axis, based on the philosophy of Paul Ricoeur. That central axis is narrative. The Bible is written in various genres, ranging from prophecy to wisdom to hymn. The goal of this thesis is first to show how a biblical hermeneutic that treats narrative as the central mode of discourse informs a better understanding of the other biblical genres of discourse, and thus of the Bible as a whole. Furthermore, this thesis takes an existentialist direction by taking the narrative-centered biblical hermeneutic and deriving from it a …

Creation Costs: Hermeneutical And Scientific Repercussions Through The Lens Of The Day Age And Young Earth Views, Mark Alan Langner

Doctor of Ministry (DMin)

Genesis’s creation narrative is crystal clear: God is eternal and preeminent, humankind is made in his image, and all nature results from God’s spoken word. Christocentric truth bursts forth from the opening words of creation, reality transcended by the Son of God. However, particularly in the years following the beginnings of Darwinian theory, questioning of the biblical creation narrative and variant versions of that narrative has exponentially expanded. This project is intended to biblically and systematically underscore the supernatural attributes of the Creator and the inerrancy of the Bible that God inspired, to determine hermeneutical and scientific costs associated with …

The (Un)Holy Bible: Slavery, Female Objectification, And Harm, Natalia A. D. Martins

Senior Theses

This project further elucidates the ability that the Biblical text has of being used as a justification for immoral actions. By using a textualist approach, we find that analyzing the effects that the literal text could have if used to justify action, allows us to see what Scriptural-based morality is subject to at all times. We approach this matter by classifying Scriptural interpretations under a spectrum that varies by degree. This is useful to see that the lowest bar for an action to be theologically justifiable, is whether it is in accordance with a literal reading of the Biblical text. …

The Calvin Forum: Summer 2021, Calvin Theological Seminary

Calvin Theological Seminary Forum (2002- )

CONTENTS - Vol. 28. No. 2, SUMMER 2021

Main Features: 3 - 25 years & Counting!

4 - Women-In-Office: What is the CRCNA position, how did we get here, and what does it mean?

8 - Partners in the Gospel

12 - Twenty-Five Years on: Just look at what God has done!!

18- My Calling

22- Following step by step

26- Moments in ministry formation 30- Songs of Redemption

Calvin Seminary News:32 - New Books

34- Distinguished Alumni

Restoration Quarterly: Vol. 63, No. 1

Restoration Quarterly

PDF of the cover of Restoration Quarterly: Vol. 63, No. 1.

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.