Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons^™

Can You Hear Me Now? Effective Preaching In A Post-Church Culture, Randall Dean Ahlberg

All Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This project addressed the need for preaching principles that more effectively communicate to those living in the realities of our current cultural. In examining the sermons of the apostle Paul, it was evident that he significantly contextualized his message to his various audiences, demonstrating for all preachers the need to engage in not only good exegesis of the text but in good exegesis of the audience. The researcher attempted to gain a better understanding of the culture of the community surrounding his church in Andover, Minnesota and ways to communicate clearly to this culture. The primary tool used was a …

Narratives Church: A Missional Church Planting Path For Cultivating A Unified Theological Vision, Mark Miller

All Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research project focused on the development of a unified theological vision for the missional movement with specific attention given to the United States. The researcher conducted a thorough investigation of Scripture and current biblical material in order to discern the barriers existing within the missional movement. The researcher looked at key areas that shape the missional church planting movement: leadership development, theological interpretation of the early church, church planting methods and practice, ecclesiology, and the application and interpretation of Ephesians 4:11. Four church planting organizations participated: North American Mission Board (NAMB), Acts 29 Network, Association of Related Churches (ARC), …

Can The Church Of God Pursue Ethnic Diversity In Leadership?, Fijoy Linord Johnson

All Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Church of God denomination has more than seven million members in 185 nations and territories. More than 36,000 congregations serve around the world. The Church of God denomination has been in existence for 130 years and in its entire historyno person of color served on the International Executive Committee until the year 2008.The question this project explored is how can the Church of God promote cultural diversity in leadership? The lives of Joseph, Jonah, and Jesus and the Antioch Church were studied to seek God’s view of diversity. A study was conducted on the importance of diversity and inclusion …

Multiethnic And Missional: God’S Heart For An Integrated And Diverse Church, Justin Saul Hiebert

All Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The American church is largely segregated and homogenous. This has not only stunted the growth of the church but led to an ineffective and limited mission vision. The contemporary American church must reclaim the biblical mandate to be both ethnically diverse and missionally minded. Through a qualitative research methodology this research project focuses on creating a healthy and sustainable multiethnic identity and leadership structure. Through interviewing and visiting some of the leading multiethnic churches of the Central Valley of California, the researcher lays out a clear understanding and argument for multiethnic churches. This paper examines the book of Acts, interviewing …

Out Of The Shadows: Socially Engaged Buddhist Women, Karma Lekshe Tsomo Phd

Theology and Religious Studies: Faculty Scholarship

In this volume, stories about the experiences of women in remote regions like Mongolia and Zangskar appear alongside essays on philosophy and history. The fact that so many different voices are included and valued is profound testimony to Buddhist women’s diversity in terms of their educational background and approach to social concerns. It is an immense privilege to honor the hard work that these women are doing to benefit society, even against great odds. We are pleased to highlight these achievements, so that readers can learn more about the Buddhist traditions and the vibrant communities of Buddhist women practitioners around …

Why We Listen To Sermons (Calvin Shorts), Scott E. Hoezee

Calvin Press

Why do we listen to sermons? Where did sermons come from? How has preaching managed to survive and thrive across so many years and in so many cultures? Most Christians listen to a sermon every week. But what is a sermon? How does it relate to the Bible, and how does the Holy Spirit work through the 354 million new sermons that are preached every year? This book makes the claim that the Spirit of God likes to work through the Word preached. As it explores that claim, it looks at the history of preaching and current-day practices. It provides …

The Law Of Moses: An Overview, Dan Belnap

Faculty Publications

During the last week of his life, Christ was confronted by a group of Jewish authorities who asked him, “Master, which is the great commandment in the law?” (Matthew 22:36). Christ’s answer, that one should love God with all one’s heart, soul, and might (Deuteronomy 6:5), as well as one’s neighbor as oneself (Leviticus 19:18), was then followed by the assertion “On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets” (Matthew 22:40). Clearly, in Christ’s day the law of Moses was regarded as providing crucial instruction regarding one’s behavior both with one’s fellow man and with God, and …

The Language Of The Spirit In The Book Of Mormon, Noel B. Reynolds

Faculty Publications

This study provides students of the Book of Mormon with the first comprehensive analysis of the many ways in which the word spirit is used in that volume of scripture. It demonstrates how the titles Holy Ghost, Spirit of God, Spirit of the Lord, Holy Spirit, and the Spirit are used interchangeably to refer to the third member of the God. It also shows that the Holy Ghost was understood to be a separate being. The analysis is thoroughly integrated with scholarly studies of references to the spirit ( rûah ) in the Hebrew Bible. The functions of the Holy …

Martin Luther: Master Of Paradoxes, Trevor O'Reggio

Faculty Publications

Martin Luther, the great German and Protestant reformer sees himself as following this biblical tradition of speaking in paradoxes. This paradoxical quality about Luther’s theological ideas evades easy explanation or simplistic interpretation. Some consider that Luther’s theological genius enabled him to view both sides of an issue. Others stumble over his paradoxical and apparently conflicting statements. The purpose of this paper is to analyze and critically evaluate some of Luther’s usage of paradoxes in his writings.

Finding God In Community, S. Joseph Kidder, Jonny Wesley Moor

Faculty Publications

"God exists in community. Before the angels, before the universe, before perhaps time itself, the Father, Son, and Spirit shared a continuous love that can exist only in community.¹ Community is God’s primal manifestation of existence and reality. When God created humanity, He intended for us to be able to relate to Him, so the Lord made us male and female (Gen. 1:27), counterparts equal but distinct in community. Jürgen Moltmann argues that truly knowing something involves being able to participate with that entity.² For example, rather than learning physics merely to recite formulas and laws, …

Jagoda Duvnjak & Ana Komso, Marija Maracic, Josipa Karaca

SICANJE

No abstract provided.

A Phenomenology Of Flesh: Heidegger, The Body, And The Work Of Art, Trisha Famisaran

CGU Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation begins by asking, what is the body, and how does one develop an understanding of the body? In this study, I aim to rework the notions of discursive practices and material phenomena, seeking to examine the relationship between the two in light of the work of art, so conceived within the philosophy of Martin Heidegger, in an attempt to deal with the question: “what is the body?” This dissertation avoids reifying certain normative descriptions of the body or constraining the matter of the body as strictly the effect of discursive power. I attempt a phenomenological observation about subjectivity …

Philosophy Of Religion, Ryan Baker

Undergraduate Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

The Theological Significance Of The Relations Of Freedom And Time In The Sciences And Humanities: An Evaluation Of The Contributions Of David Bohm And Pauli Pylkko, Michael F. Younker

Dissertations

The concepts of freedom and time underlay all other philosophical and theological questions. This dissertation addresses the natures and relations of freedom and time and their impact upon theological reflection, primarily through the works of the philosopher of science, David Bohm and the philosopher of the humanities, Pauli Pylkkö. These two representatives come from the two competing cultures of the sciences and humanities, which illustrate the deep philosophical conflict that has emerged between these cultures concerning the natures of freedom and time. Specifically, the paradigmatic contributions of Albert Einstein's four-dimensional 'timeless space-time' (with timeless freedom) alongside Bohm, on the one …

Awana Together: Empowering Parents As Spiritual Mentors For Their Children, Sara-Jane Heacox Sosa

All Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The post-Christian culture in the United States presents a significant challenge to the spiritual growth of adults and children. At Plymouth Covenant Church, ministry leaders recognized that young parents often lacked a biblical foundation. Many did not feel competent to lead their children spiritually. These parents needed a vibrant personal faith as well as good role models and encouragement. As a result, ministry leaders designed a more effective way to empower parents as spiritual mentors for their children. They created a new ministry that would provide personal faith development for parents, a supportive faith community, family-focused programming, and solid biblical …

Good Places For All (Calvin Shorts), Mark D. Bjelland

Calvin Press

This short book invites readers into a deeper understanding of cities and suburbs and the challenges they face. Because places play such an important role in human well-being, loving our neighbors includes caring for and cultivating good places for all. Despite their great prosperity, North American communities are beset with challenges: fiscal crises, concentrated poverty, fragmentation and division, failing schools, unaffordable housing, and lack of community feeling. Good Places combines a biblical framework with an exploration of how cities, neighborhoods, housing markets, and transportation systems work. Readers will find themselves challenged to extend Christian hospitality beyond the walls of their …

The Homecoming Of The Negro Spirit: Black Spiritual Intelligence As A Structural Form Of Intelligence, Quincy Brown

CMC Senior Theses

In Is Spirituality an Intelligence? Motivation, Cognition, and the concern of Psychology of Ultimate Concern, Robert Emmons develops a case for spirituality as a form of intelligence. His thesis claims that spiritual intelligence is a “set of capacities and abilities that enable people to solve problems and attain goals in their everyday lives”: “the capacity for transcendence; the ability to enter into heightened spiritual states of consciousness; the ability to invest everyday activities, events, and relationships with a sense of the sacred; the ability to utilize spiritual resources to solve problems in living; and the capacity to engage …

John Calvin’S Two-Fold Notion Of Faith And The Possibility Of Faith Formation: The Emerging Genevan Church’S Understanding Of Faith And Its Relation To Pastoral Care, Isaias D'Oleo Ochoa

CTS Student Publications and Creative Works

The purpose of this study is to explore John Calvin’s two-fold notion of faith in the 1559 edition of the Institutes and its central implications for pastoral theology in the emerging Reformed tradition, in order to reclaim a broader and contextualized understanding of pastoral care and its relation with faith formation. To that end, this article will focus on the ways the emerging mid- sixteenth century Reformed church in Geneva applied the Calvinian notion of faith to pastoral theology. Some applications of such an understanding for the church today are also explored, especially for the modern American-Dutch Reformed church.

Should We Read Bavinck's The Philosophy Of Revelation As An Apologetic-Of-Despair Work?, Isaias D'Oleo Ochoa

CTS Student Publications and Creative Works

In dealing with arguments against the Christian faith in his book The Philosophy of Religion, Herman Bavinck uses a series of argumentative strategies. One of these strategies is the apologetic of despair. This study tries to figure out whether this strategy tends to be observed in most essays of the book or its use is only circumstantial.

Hell As ‘Heterotopia’: Edification And Interpretation From Enoch To The Apocalypses Of Peter And Paul, Meghan Henning

Books and Book Chapters by University of Dayton Faculty

Otherworldly journeys are a challenging object of study for the contemporary historian because they do not seem to resonate with the post-enlightenment worldview that bolsters scientific academic inquiry. And yet, even if we do not imagine heaven and hell in the same way that ancient thinkers did, the impulse to create “otherworlds” is still very much alive. With every new technology humans open the possibility of new spaces with complex relationships to the spaces that already exist. Here, before we think about the reception of 1 Enoch in the apocalypses, I would like to take a moment to propose a …

Covenant: An Exploration Of Restorative Justice In The Los Angeles Unified School District, Isaac Cardenas

Say Something Theological: The Student Journal of Theological Studies

No abstract provided.

Advent Devotional Guide 2019, Belmont University

Advent Devotional Guides

No abstract provided.

The Emergence Of A Lay Esprit De Corps: Inspirations, Tensions, Horizons, Christopher Pramuk

Jesuit Higher Education: A Journal

Likening the Ignatian tradition as embodied at Jesuit universities to a family photo album with many pages yet to be added, the author locates the “heart” of the Ignatian sensibility in the movements of freedom and spirit (inspiration) in the life of the community. There are no fixed entry points or criteria of inclusion and exclusion for Ignatian lay educators save a desire to share in the questions proper to all the university disciplines that pull us toward a horizon beyond ourselves. Nevertheless a number of creative tensions endemic to Jesuit apostolic life from the beginning and also new challenges …

A Survey Of The Pneumatology Of Ellet Joseph Waggoner In His Published Books And Pamphlets From 1883 – 1916, Ingram R. London

Papers

The ministry of Ellet J. Waggoner and Alonzo T. Jones made an indelible mark on the Seventh-day Adventist Church and its theology through their proclamation of what has been coined “The 1888 Message.” In consequence, Waggoner has been studied extensively in Adventist academia as well as by laypersons. However, much of this study has focused on biographical data, interpersonal conflict between Waggoner and Ellen White, and most of all, Waggoner’s soteriology and Christology.

Despite the intense interest in Waggoner, no study to date has been published with a systematic explanation of Waggoner’s pneumatology. The purpose of this study was to …

Moral Ecology, Disabilities, And Human Agency, Kevin Timpe

University Faculty Publications and Creative Works

This paper argues that human agency is not simply a function of intrinsic properties about the agent, but that agency instead depends on the ecology that the agent is in. In particular, the paper examines ways that disabilities affect agency and shows how, by paying deliberate attention to structuring the social environment around people with disabilities, we can mitigate some of the agential impact of those disabilities. The paper then argues that the impact of one’s social environment on agency isn’t restricted only to those agents that have disabilities, but also characterizes all human agency. All of our agency is …

Redemptive Penology Vs. Exclusive Retributive Justice, Samuel Chuks Japhets

Masters Theses

Grounded on long-standing penal notions of exclusive retributivism inherited from classical theorists, Ancient Near East lex talionis, and theonomist penology, the United States federal sentencing and corrections system aims to administer just desert sentences on offenders, to curtail crimes. This exclusively retributive model of criminal sanction is, presumably transformative and innately capable of dispensing holistic justice to society, victims, and criminals. However, the preponderance of high rates of recidivism raises the question of whether this exclusively retributive doctrinal framework that drives the federal penology empirically results in a redemptive administration of penal justice, especially to the offender. Given the traditional …

God's Mercy And Justice In The Context Of The Cosmic Conflict, Romero Luiz Da Silva

Master's Theses

Problem

When it comes to the right balance concerning God’s character of mercy and justice in relation to His dealings with sin in its different manifestations, a number of theologians, as well as Christians in general, have struggled to harmonize the existence of these two attributes in all God’s actions toward sinners. This difficulty has led many to think of divine mercy and justice as attributes that cannot fit together in what is called the cosmic conflict between good and evil. This, therefore, demands a theological study based on Scripture as a whole to draw solid findings in response to …

“There Are No Dharmas Apart From The Dharma-Sphere”: Shakya Chokden’S Interpretation Of The Dharma-Sphere, Yaroslav Komarovski

Department of Classics and Religious Studies: Faculty Publications

As is well known to contemporary scholarship and demonstrated by the works contained in the present volume, the Tibetan term zhentong (gzhan stong, being empty of other) refers not to any one unanimous view or system of thought but to a wide variety of philosophical theories formed primarily in India and Tibet. Those theories are often contrasted with rival rangtong (rang stong, being empty of self)¹ theories in their interpretations of reality, buddhahood, path, and other elements of the Buddhist worldiew. While many of those elements are equally open to the zhentong and rangtong interpretations, …

The Baptist Tradition And Religious Freedom: Recent Trajectories, Samuel Kyle Brassell

Honors Theses

For my thesis, I have focused on the recent religious freedom bill passed in Mississippi and the arguments and influences Southern Baptists have had on the bill. I used the list of resolutions passed by the Southern Baptist Convention to trace the history and development of Southern Baptist thought on the subject of religious freedom. I consulted outside scholarly works to examine the history of the Baptist tradition and how that history has influenced modern day arguments. I compared these texts to the wording of the Mississippi bill. After conducting this research, I found that the Southern Baptist tradition and …

Toward Engaging The Secular: Charles Taylor's Modern Social Imaginaries, Human Flourishing, And Theological Method, Jenifer A. Daley

Dissertations

Increasing secularization seems to fly in the face of Christian proposals for a Scripture-only principle for theology. The question that this dissertation explores is "How will Christian theology tackle the resulting church-society impasse in a way that is both faithful to Scripture and intelligible contemporaneously without appearing to privilege one aspect over the other?" That is, "What form should theological method take to efficaciously engage the secular?" This study suggests that the answer might lie in an innovative fusion of Scripture with borrowed concepts from secular culture. Thus, this dissertation responds to the problem of the need for robust, multidimensional …