Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons^™

I Was Looking For God: A Study Of Wehrmacht Personnel And Their Personal Relationships With Religion, Christopher Bishop

Master's Theses

The Wehrmacht was Germany’s fighting force in the field during World War II. Its brutality and discriminatory practices rivaled that of the Nazi paramilitary and police units dispatched alongside them in newly conquered areas during this conflict. Coming from a society that was not at all unfamiliar with Christianity, some within the Wehrmacht related to Christianity in some form and attempted to use it to either justify actions or make sense of the world around them.

While considerable scholarship exists on the Nazi Party’s relationship to Christianity as a convenient propaganda tool for both soldier and civilian alike, the historiography …

Medical Leave And Unrealistic Ministry Expectations A Study At Zion Lutheran Church, Aaron G. Flatau

Doctor of Ministry Major Applied Project

A medical leave of absence due to a kidney transplant resulted in feelings of guilt and failure for a pastor when he was unable to fulfill his desired ministry tasks. These feelings of guilt and failure were speculated to be unwarranted.

To determine if these feelings were unwarranted, this paper researched sickness as presented in the Bible. Biblical research found illness to be a personal reminder of a global fall, found a link between forgiveness of sin and healing of sickness, and examined illness in the context of the Kingdom of God. Historical examination found that illness within the context …

The Effects Of Postmodernism On Southern Baptist Churches And Teaching Of Biblical Truth: Quantitative Research Method, Darren Ray Mitchell

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Absolute truth has been denied within the current philosophical ideals as post-modern thought has sought to alter that concept by denying its existence (Siniscalchi, 2011). Post-modern thinking and philosophy have entered and influenced how some churches and denominations are teaching biblical truths and principles (Enns, 2008). The purpose of this phenomenological study is to explore how Southern Baptist pastors perceive any post-modern influences in their churches and its effect on how the church presents and teaches biblical truth. This study looks at post-modern thinking, how it has infiltrated the church, and how it has influenced how the church presents biblical …

Airplane Hangars And Triple Hills: Renovation, Demolition, And The Architectural Politics Of Local Belonging At The Our Lady Of Csíksomlyó Hungarian National Shrine, Marc Roscoe Loustau

Journal of Global Catholicism

In 2019, Pope Francis, leader of the global Catholic Church, celebrated an outdoor Mass at the Our Lady of Csíksomlyó Hungarian national shrine in Romania. When the Franciscan Order that runs the shrine published renovation plans for the altar where the pope would appear, the Facebook post received over 800 outraged comments, including one man who asked, “How can such a beautiful Hungarian symbol, so perfectly integrated into the landscape, be humiliated like this?” By situating these expressions of outrage in the history of Eastern European material politics, I argue that the aesthetic value the commentators were defending – a …

Girls’ Education And Child Marriage In Central Africa | Insights From Qualitative Fieldwork Part Ii: The Republic Of Congo, Jean-Christophe Boungou Bazika, Wolf Ulrich Mféré Akiana, Quentin Wodon

Journal of Global Catholicism

Child marriage is defined as a formal or informal union before the age of 18. As in much of sub-Saharan Africa, the prevalence of child marriage remains high in the Republic of Congo (RoC), in part because educational attainment for girls is low. Based on qualitative fieldwork, this article looks at communities’ perceptions of child marriage and girls’ education and their suggestions for programs and policies that could improve outcomes for girls. The article also discusses potential implications for Catholic and other faith-based schools, as well as faith leaders.

The Parish Choir Movement And Generational Festivals In Romania’S Socialist Period: New Community Festivities In Transylvania’S Gheorgheni (Gyergyó) Region, Eszter Kovács

Journal of Global Catholicism

Among the post-1945 East European socialist regimes, Romania and Poland were the only countries where the Catholic Church—despite government interventions, controls, and bans—managed to play a significant social and political role in community life. This case study provides an ethnographic description of the parish choir movement and graduating class reunions, called “generational festivals” in Hungarian, in the Gheorgheni (Hu: Gyergyó) region in the 1970s and 1980s. The gatherings will be analyzed in the context of everyday life, the socialist system’s distinctive shortage economy, and official limits on religious activity that characterized the era. I will first describe the world of …

Developing A Shared Ecclesial Identity Utilizing Story-Based Elements With First Baptist Church, Gainesville, Georgia, Jeremy T. Shoulta

Doctor of Ministry Projects

The Body of Christ is challenged to, “be like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind” (Philippians 2:2). How then could a congregation, comprised of individuals harboring diverse cultural worldviews, discover and live into this reality? Through various individual and group exercises, participants sought to determine whether story elements have the power to serve as a true sense-making device within an ecclesial setting. The results indicate that that a majority of participants found the story-based framework beneficial in regards to their personal understanding of the work of First Baptist Church.

Introduction: Imagined And Real Ai, Michael Paulus

SPU Works

The increasing role and power of artificial intelligence in our lives and world require us to imagine and shape a desirable future with this technology. Since visions of AI often draw from Christian apocalyptic narratives, current discussions about technological hopes and fears present an opportunity for a deeper engagement with Christian eschatological resources. This book argues that the apocalyptic imagination can transform how we think about and use AI, helping us discover ways artificial agency may help us create a better world.

Blurring The Lines Between "Good" And "Bad" Religion: John Modern's Neuromatic, Jessica A. Johnson

Philosophy Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Arendt And Christianity: On Love And The World, Logan Andrew Daly

West Chester University Master’s Theses

Hannah Arendt criticized the Christian faith for what she saw as an inherent wordlessness or ascetic attitude. She believed this focus on the afterlife was an afront to her political philosophy and kept people from participating in the public sphere. This thesis is a selective exploration of Arendt’s criticisms against the Christian faith and aims to show that there is a way of reconciling the respective belief systems, allowing an Arendtian to benefit from Christian ideas and a Christian to improve themselves with the assistance of Arendtian concepts. The project is split into two chapters. Each chapter focuses on a …

Between Choice And Compulsion: An Examination And Critique Of The Evolution Of 'Original Sin', Matthew James Wynn

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

“Why are we the way that we are?” is one of the hardest questions to answer because it requires grasping the origin of human beings. This has left philosophers and theologians in century-long debates on forming a “cosmogony of ontology” (i.e., how the origin of the universe informs the human condition). The concept, “original sin” was developed by a North African theologian named Augustine (354 – 430 CE). Augustine’s reading of Genesis 3, and inaccurate translation of Romans 5:12, taught that a person is born morally culpable for a fault antecedent to their existence. This way of thinking about the …

Organizing (Eternal) Identity And Identification: An Upward Glance Into Religious Institutions, Casey M. Stratton

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This dissertation disrupts at least two religious spaces: First, scholars religiously adhering to (social) scientific norms, and second, people identifying with religious organizations (i.e., churches). First, we begin constructing a theoretical lens using poststructural ideas offered by Foucault, Derrida, and Bakhtin to read and disrupt (religious) discourse. Second, we complicate organizational identification as a concept, deeming it fixed and fluid—a paradox within religious discourses that endorse Truth and Perfection. Here, we draw from the communication constitutes organization (CCO) approach. Third, we further curate the lens by applying poststructuralism, identification, and CCO in a specific context: The Church of Jesus Christ …

Correlates Of Christian Religious Identification And Deidentification Among Sexual And Gender Minorities: A U.S. Probability Sample, G. Tyler Lefevor, Lauren J. A. Bouton, Edward B. Davis, Samuel J. Skidmore, Ilan H. Meyer

Psychology Faculty Publications

Using a U.S. nationally representative sample of 1,529 sexual and gender minorities (SGMs), we examined the demographic and developmental correlates of Christian religious deidentification. We found that SGMs who were older, Black, cisgender men, and/or lived in the American South were more likely to identify as Christian in adulthood, relative to other SGMs. Those who were never Christian reported being more out to family and friends at earlier ages than those who were raised Christian. SGMs who were raised Christian, but did not identify as Christian in adulthood reported, more adverse childhood experiences and bullying than other SGMs. Sexual minorities …

Raj Karega Khalsa! - The Evolution Of The Sikh Identity, Vineet Mehmi

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Generally, religion has served as a method of creating a unique identity and history for many groups across history. This concept is especially true for the Sikh community, to the point that they have carved their own niche across the different places they inhabit in the world, whether that be their homeland of Panjab or their extensive population in places like Canada or the United Kingdom. However, this expansion and development of their culture did not come without a cost, formed through countless battles, martyrdom, and revolutions. Chardi Kala, a foundational idea in Sikhi that refers to eternal optimism even …

Student Reflections On The Essential Role Of The Holy Spirit In Counseling Education, Jessica P. Vetal, Kyle N. Stueber, Jaymi E. Davis

Salubritas: International Journal of Spirit-Empowered Counseling

This article examines the unique position in which emerging counselors find themselves, as they seek to enter the professional field amidst a worldwide pandemic and numerous other national and global hardships. From a student perspective, the authors survey the distinctive traits of Christian counseling education, Christian counseling, generally speaking, and the importance of theological and spiritual formation for the emerging counselor. More specifically, the authors discuss three theological concepts that have been identified as critical in the development of their Christian counselor identity, foundation, and future practice. The first theological consideration is the essential role and ministry of the Holy …

Pentecostal Spirituality And Counseling, Edward E. Decker Jr., Haley R. French, Stephen Parker

Salubritas: International Journal of Spirit-Empowered Counseling

The relationship between pentecostal spirituality and counseling remains underdeveloped. This article applies various aspects of pentecostal theology and spirituality to counseling. After briefly orienting readers to pentecostalism and defining pentecostal spirituality, the authors identify five elements of pentecostal spirituality that illumine the way pentecostal clinicians think about and practice counseling and therapy: a pneumatological imagination, narrative structures, counselor affections (dispositions), Spirit empowerment, and Spirit-directed change.

The Yellow Qipao, Feibi Wang

Honors Projects

This is a creative project centered around the pre-production of a short film about queer Asian American Christianity and the research that went into it. The synopsis of the script written for the short film is a life in the day of Aspen. Aspen prepares for church and is indecisive of the clothes they want to wear, because they are gender non-conforming. They come out to their mom and there is conflict. My research going into this project consists of researching media representation of queerness, Asian American identity, and Christianity, and how the three identities intersect in Aspen’s life and …

Refining The Eden Community’S Pathways For Shaping Regenerative Christian Culture In The Apprenticeship For Regenerative Culture, Laura Callarman

Doctor of Ministry Theses and Dissertations

This Doctor of Ministry thesis presents a project designed to meet a need of the Eden Community, an intentional Christian community, regarding the pathways it uses to shape regenerative Christian culture among college students in its apprenticeship program, ARC. In this thesis, I connect the pragmatic aims of the Eden Community to theological foundations regarding the importance of ecclesial diversity and creative contextualization, features that empower the church to embody a variety of life-giving “alternative stories” with the capacity to present the gospel as truly good news to the entire world.

In this project, a team of nine stakeholders met …

An Inclusive Framework For Ministry: Fostering The Spiritual Formation Of Children In A Multicultural Church, Jennifer Reinsch Schroeder

Doctor of Ministry Theses and Dissertations

This project thesis was designed to foster the spiritual formation of children in a multicultural church. A diverse team was assembled to design a curriculum to be used with volunteers in a children’s ministry context. Through seven two-hour sessions held over eight weeks in the spring of 2022, the curriculum development team first examined what it means to embody a multicultural perspective of the gospel while at the same time investigating the negative impact of a White, Eurocentric expression of Christianity. Next, they collaborated to develop a theological construct that centered around (1) the idea of being created in the …

Biopolitics And Belief: The Impacts Of Religious Attitudes On Reproductive Rights In The U.S., Katlyn Barbaccia

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

On June 24, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled to overturn Roe v. Wade (1973)—a groundbreaking case that legalized the right to have an abortion—which signified a deep rift in the nation between the opinions of its lawmakers and citizens in the wake of a widening partisan gap. Biopower, according to Foucault, can be defined as the governing of bodies wherein citizens are stripped of bodily autonomy and are closely regulated by the nation-state. Manifested in political consequences, this can be defined as biopolitics, or when the nation-state’s ideas are made into a reality in the political realm. …

Prolegomena To A Buddhist(Ic) Critique Of Capitalism, James Mark Shields

Faculty Contributions to Books

Not even three decades removed from Francis Fukuyama’s post-Cold War proclamation of the “End of History,” the Western world is now undergoing a crisis of conscience – at the very least – with respect to both capitalism as an economic system and neoliberalism as its less-recognized but ever-present ideological foundation. The financial crisis of 2008, the subsequent Great Recession, the Occupy movement(s) of 2011, the 2016 challenge of self-styled Democratic Socialist Senator Bernie Sanders for the Democratic nomination, and growing anxiety about the fate of the planet, particularly among the young, have opened up new avenues of critique, and brought …

The Method Is The Message: Communicating For Individual Behavior Change Toward Disciple Multiplication, Jeffrey Keith Mcdaniel

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this ethnographically informed, comparative embedded case study was to understand the lack of disciple-making movements for congregations at three evangelical churches representing the East Coast, Midwest, and West Coast of the United States. The theories guiding this study were Latour’s actor–network theory and Bandura’s social cognitive theory as they provide a theoretical framework to understand the influence of culture on the creation of meaning followed by the influence of meaning on individual behavior. The primary research question that guided this study asked, How can a church organization communicate to increase disciple multiplication? To answer this question, a …

Collaborative Constructions: Designing High School History Curriculum With The Lost & Found Game Series, Owen Gottlieb, Shawn Clybor

Articles

This chapter addresses design research and iterative curriculum design for the Lost & Found games series. The Lost & Found card-to-mobile series is set in Fustat (Old Cairo) in the twelfth century and focuses on religious laws of the period. The first two games focus on Moses Maimonides’ Mishneh Torah, a key Jewish law code. A new expansion module which was in development at the time of the fieldwork described in this article that introduces Islamic laws of the period, and a mobile prototype of the initial strategy game has been developed with support National Endowment for the Humanities. The …

“It's So Normal, And … Meaningful.” Playing With Narrative, Artifacts, And Cultural Difference In Florence, Dheepa Sundaram, Owen Gottlieb

Articles

This article considers how player interactions with religious and ethnic markers, create

a globalized game space in the mobile game Florence (2018). Florence is a multiaward-

winning interactive novella game with story-integrated minigames that weave

play experiences into the narrative. The game, in part, explores love, loss, and

rejuvenation as relatable experiences. Simultaneously, the game produces a unique

experience for each player, as they can refract the game narrative through their own

cultural, identitarian lens. The game assumes the shared cultural space of the player,

the player-character (PC), and the non-player-character (NPC) while blurring the

boundaries between each of these …

Call For Papers - Special Issue "Solidarity In Theory And Practice"

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.

Review Of Faith-Based Organizations In Transnational Peacebuilding, Timothy Seidel

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.

Review Of Social Justice And Subsidiarity: Luigi Taparelli And The Origins Of Modern Catholic Social Thought, William J. Collinge

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.

Classics Revisited Review Essay: The Prophets By Abraham Joshua Heschel, John C. Merkle

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.

Review Of Joseph Bernardin: Seeking Common Ground, William Droel

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.

Bishop Thomas Gumbleton And Pax Christi Usa's Contribution To The 1983 United States Catholic Bishops’ Pastoral Letter, "The Challenge Of Peace: God's Promise And Our Response", Joseph J. Fahey

The Journal of Social Encounters

This essay is a personal reflection on the contribution that Bishop Thomas Gumbleton and Pax Christi USA made to the creation of the U.S. Bishops’ 1983 pastoral letter on peace. It begins with the early history of Pax Christi USA and discusses activities through the years that led to the U.S. Bishops’ letter on peace in 1983. These activities include: Call to Action 1976; Bishops’ Masses for Peace; the Pax Christi USA Disarmament Commission; a discussion of the debate on May 1-3, 1983 on the letter that resulted in a 238-9 vote in favor of the letter; pastoral letters published …