Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons^™

The Lord's Providence To Work Evil For Good - Genesis 50:15-21, Elisabeth Nieshalla

Biblical Studies Student Projects

Genesis, the great first book of the Bible, concludes with a redemptive and reconciliatory scene between Joseph and his brothers that strikes the heart of those. Joseph had endured much hardship at the hands of his brothers, having been sold by them into Egyptian slavery and then thrown into prison when he was falsely accused of sexual assault by Potiphar’s wife. Through it all, however, he remained faithful to God and was entrusted with authority over all of Egypt to lead them through a famine that would have otherwise devastated the entire region. This scene in Genesis 50 testifies to …

Theology In Service Of An Ideology: A Polemic Against Peniel Rajkumar’S Dalit Theology And Dalit Liberation, Vivek K. Rallabandi

Student Publications

This paper examines Dalit (a marginalized group in India) Christian theology as articulated through Peniel Rajkumar's 2010 book, Dalit Theology and Dalit Liberation: Problems, Paradigms, and Possibilities. The paper criticizes Rajkumar's book, arguing that he errs in offering Christianity as the sole panacea to Dalits' spiritual ailments.

"The Opium Of The People" - The Effects Of Soviet State Atheism On The Muslims Of Central Asia, Joshua Hughes

Senior Theses

This thesis explores the Soviet Union’s approach to Islam in the Central Asian republics of Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan and the effects that these policies have had on believers following the collapse of the Soviet Union. As the first nation to adopt atheism as official policy, the Soviet Party-state employed many tactics to suppress Islam in the region through violence, propaganda, and strict control. Relying on existing literature written on the topic, I begin by offering a historical analysis of the attacks on Islam in the 1920s and 1930s. In an attempt to expand the scope of English-language …

Unruly Ideas: A History Of Kitawala In Congo, Nicole Eggers

Ohio University Press Open Access Books

Original oral and ethnographic sources inform this conceptual history of power in central Africa, imagined through the lens of Kitawala religious practices.

Unruly Ideas: A History of Kitawala in Congo recounts the multifaceted history of the Congolese religious movement Kitawala from its colonial beginnings in the 1920s through its continued practice in some of the most conflict-riven parts of the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo today. Drawing on a rich body of original oral, ethnographic, and archival research, Nicole Eggers uses Kitawala as a lens through which to address the complex relationship between politics, religion, healing, and violence in central …

How A Novel Research Framework Resulted In Fruitful Evangelism And Discovery: Introducing Ethnoscopy And Spiritual Patronage, L. Lynn Thigpen

Great Commission Research Journal

Faced with an unusual question from a Cambodian friend who had heard stories from God’s Word, I embarked on a quest for an answer. He worshipped an unusual and unfamiliar object and wondered whether he must abandon it to serve Christ. I knew he did, but I needed to explore the meanings ascribed to that object of worship to communicate the gospel more clearly, just as Paul did in Acts 17 while in Athens. According to Jesus’ parable of the soils in Matthew 13, fruitful evangelism involves understanding. How might individual missionaries and evangelists aid in that crucial need? With …

Disciple Making Starts At A Different Point Today, Brad Ransom

Great Commission Research Journal

Disciple-making starts at a different place today than it did forty years ago. Knocking on a stranger’s door today is unlikely to be effective for people distant from the gospel as is characteristic of today's generations. We must now view evangelism as a process and we must have a non-judgmental acceptance of all people. We must be willing to change to communicate the gospel in a way persuasive way.

Book Review: Multiplying Leaders In Intercultural Contexts: Recognizing And Developing Grassroots Potential By Evelyn And Richard Hibbert, Mark D. Wood

Great Commission Research Journal

No abstract provided.

Book Review: New Funding Models In Global Mission: Learning From The Majority World By Tim Welch, John Cheong

Great Commission Research Journal

No abstract provided.

Book Review: Christian Martyrdom: A Brief History With Reflections For Today By Edward L. Smither, Francis Kyle

Great Commission Research Journal

No abstract provided.

Seeking Sabbath In Annie Dillard's Holy The Firm, Olivia Grace Dycus

English Theses & Dissertations

Annie Dillard’s third-ever publication, Holy the Firm, asks why an omniscient God allows natural evil to occur. In this deeply poetic and mystical series of essays, Dillard explores the relationship between time, artistry, and God in the face of devastating chaos. This thesis argues that Dillard’s emphasis on the importance of time reflects a Jewish notion of Sabbath as defined by Jewish theologian Abraham Heschel. Dillard offers time and creation as medium through which to commune with God just as Heschel does in his book, The Sabbath: Its Meaning for Modern Man. Heschel defines Sabbath as the coming …

Absolution: Divine And Human, Cathal Doherty

Theology Faculty Research and Publications

This article is a contribution to an ecumenical theology of the Word, examining how divine absolution is realized in concrete human experience. It addresses both the scriptural and sacramental mediation of divine absolution, emphasizing the commonality of both resting on the power of God's word spoken in human concrete actuality. The philosophical literature concludes that human beings, in order for forgiveness to be real to them, need to hear and know that they are forgiven. In other words, for forgiveness to be complete, the wrongdoer requires an act of “absolution” (even in a secular sense), which may be verbal or …

Invoking Mirabai: Elision And Illumination In The Global Study Of Women Mystics, Nancy M. Martin

Religious Studies Faculty Books and Book Chapters

From the early nineteenth century, British scholar-officers readily compared Mirabai to European mystics as a way to come to terms with this intriguing and admired sixteenth-century woman as they attempted to order the dense weave of Indian culture and religion through the production of knowledge. And in the twentieth century she would increasingly be cited in comparative works on women’s voices, resistance, and religious lives and on global ethics and spirituality. This chapter will explore the place she comes to occupy, beginning by tracing the ways that Hindu bhakti or “devotion” maps (or does not map) onto European Christian and …

Echoes Of Creation And Salvation By The Triune God In John 9, Jungeun Lee

Masters Theses

This thesis aims to solve the enigmatic narrative of Jesus’ healing of a man blind from birth at Siloam in the Gospel of John 9, with a particular focus on verses 6–7. Within the context of intertextual connections, this story resonates with numerous narrative patterns and echoes found throughout the Bible. These intertextual connections provide important keys for interpreting this passage. By discerning the intertextual connections between this narrative and other parts of the Bible, readers will gain insight into the broader themes of Creation, Salvation, and the Trinity that are interwoven into this story. It means that this passage …

The Impact Of The Fall On Behavior, Intellect, And Emotion, Robert Monte Nelson

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this research is to explore theological doctrines surrounding the Fall and to examine the impact of the Fall on human behavior, intellect, and emotion. This research maintains that the Fall of Adam led to the corruption of the volition, intellect, and emotions of Adam and Eve, who were created in the image of a perfect and holy God, without sin, and argues that humanity’s fallen condition impacts human emotions; however, they are distinct from divine emotions and are not an aspect of the imago Dei. Therefore, this dissertation will explore the meaning of the imago Dei, the …

Review Of A Christian-Muslim Comparative Theology Of Saints: The Community Of God’S Friends, Ian Kipngeno, Habiba Abdi Dika

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.

Review Of Benedictine Options: Learning To Live From The Sons And Daughters Of Saints Benedict And Scholastica, William Droel

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.

Review Of Reading Thomas Merton And Longing For God In Haiti: Learning Wisdom In The School Of My Life, Jonathan Montaldo

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.

Review Of Writing Straight With Crooked Lines: A Memoir, Paul Pynkoski

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.

Review Of Radical Sufficiency: Work, Livelihood, And A Us Catholic Economic Ethic, Michael T. Mclaughlin

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.

Review Of Black Saints In Early Modern Catholicism, Thomas M. Landy

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.

Review Of Preventing Unjust War: A Catholic Argument For Selective Conscientious Objection, Charles J. Reid Jr.

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.

Friendship, Mysticism, And Resistance: Review Of Kindred Spirits: Friendship And Resistance At The Edges Of Modern Catholicism, William J. Collinge

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.

The Life Of An American Catholic Radical: Review Of Christian Anarchist, Ammon Hennacy, A Life On The Catholic Left, William L. Portier

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.

Just Peace Framework: A Brief Primer, Eli S. Mccarthy

The Journal of Social Encounters

This short primer will describe the basic components of a just peace framework. Then I will describe the recent trajectory of Catholic and Christian discourse on just peace, as well as engage a related discourse at the United Nations on sustaining peace.

Dangerous Religious Ideas As Threats To Solidarity: Review Of Dangerous Religious Ideas: The Deep Roots Of Self-Critical Faith In Judaism, Christianity, And Islam, John C. Merkle

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.

Religion And Global Solidarity: Review Of Toward A Global Civilization? The Contribution Of Religions, James Malarkey

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.

A Christian Case For Racial Reparations, Daniel Philpott

The Journal of Social Encounters

National healing for the persistent wounds of racism, America’s original sin, can be advanced through a national apology, reparations and forgiveness. The frequent practice of apologies and reparations around the world in the past generation provide precedent for such measures. Christianity’s teaching of reconciliation and accompanying notions of sin, repentance, forgiveness, and atonement provide a strong moral basis for these measures and resonate with the rationales through which the United States’s greatest champions of civil rights and equality have fought against racism and slavery. Because racism and slavery were supported with the sanction of the state, in the name of …

Ecological Solidarity And Sustainable Development In Africa, Ambrose Esigbemi Umetietie

The Journal of Social Encounters

Today we are faced with a challenge that calls for a shift in our thinking, so that humanity stops threatening its life support system. We are called to assist the Earth to heal her wounds and in the process heal our own ... This will happen if we see the need to revive our sense of belonging to a larger family of life (Maathai, 2010). According to John Paul II, the “threat of ecological breakdown is teaching us the extent to which greed and selfishness - both individual and collective - are contrary to the order of creation, an order …

Rethinking 2 Peter 3:10–13: An Exposition Of This Millennial Restoration And Eternal State Telescoping Prophecy, Robert H. Franklin

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Second Peter 3:10–13 is one of the most debated passages in Scripture. Understandably, the text concerns eschatology which evokes diverse perspectives. Accordingly, this dissertation will research two majority views on 2 Peter 3:10–13 and one minority view on 2 Peter 3:10–13 for which there is evidence that it was held by a few ante-Nicene fathers. After the ante-Nicene era, expositors have almost universally interpreted 2 Peter 3:10–13 as a single meaning prophecy pertaining entirely to the eternal state. A common agreement in the two majority views on 2 Peter 3:10–13 is that fire will be the means that God will …

Biblical Illiteracy In The Context Of Christian Apologetics: A Response To A Growing Concern At Faith Baptist Church Of Tyler Texas, Maurice F. Mcmillion

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This thesis project addresses Biblical Illiteracy in the context of Christian Apologetics: A response to a growing concern at Faith Baptist Church of Tyler, Texas. The focal point of this project is to rectify Biblical Illiteracy in the Context of Christian Apologetics. Pastors across America have not identified that their congregations are uninformed on the basics of Christian Apologetics. This doctoral thesis project aims to give Pastors a structured format for reducing biblical illiteracy in Christian Apologetics with their congregation by providing a curriculum that can be taught and assessed. The methodological approach will be a focus group intervention. This …