Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons^™

Editors' Notes, Stuart Love, D'Esta Love, Jim Street

Leaven

No abstract provided.

After Utopia: Isaiah 56-66 On Faith And Adversity, Mark W. Hamilton

Leaven

No abstract provided.

Christian Justification After Nihilism, Joel Meyer

Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation

Meyer, Joel P. "Christian Justification after Nihilism." Ph.D. diss., Concordia Seminary,2012. [235] pp.

This dissertation addresses the problem that nihilism presents to Christian faith and life. North Atlantic Christians live in an age when nihilism is a normal condition. The world does not appear to have one clear and unquestionable meaning. Instead, each of us has convictions about the world that we hold dear. But we realize that other people hold drastically different convictions than our own, and we have no absolute way of determining the validity of one set over another. So they appear to us as values, rather …

Book Reviews

Liberty Theological Review

Review by Russell Meek of Existential Reasons for Belief in God: A Defense of Desires and Emotions for Faith by Clifford Williams. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2011, 188 pp., $22.00.

Review by A. Chadwick Thornhill of The King Jesus Gospel: The Original Good News Revisited by Scot McKnight. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2011, 177pp., $19.99 USD.

Where Is Your Faith? Luke 8.22-25, Corleen Parmelee

Leaven

No abstract provided.

Youth Ministry: A Letter To A New Christian, Caleb S. Cage

Leaven

No abstract provided.

Reexamining The Place Of Public Confession Of Sins In A Reformed Context., Matthew John Webber

CTS Master of Theology (ThM) Theses

A dangerous tendency plagues the scripturally mandated practice of confession within many mainline Christian churches. The danger is that the theological thrust of the practice has been ignored or compromised in such a way that the manner in which confession is practiced ignores fundamental elements which underlie the need for confession, specifically public confession performed before one's fellow believers. It is especially evident that the confession of one's sins, which once took place in pubic before the ecclesial body, has seen a significant amount of change within the Reformed context. The focus of this essay is to identify the theological …

Seeing With Feeling, Michael W. Higgins

Mission & Culture Publications

Book review by Michael W. Higgins.

Haughey, John C. In Search of the Whole: Twelve Essays on Faith and Academic Life. Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press, 2011.

Impacting The Orienting System: The Role Of Theological Education In Influencing Socio-Cultural Images Of God, Anne K. Gatobu

The Asbury Journal

Theological educational has classically been associated with educating pastors for local church ministries, non-pastoral ministries and theologians for higher education. In this article I postulate that the role of theological education goes beyond these practical ministry perception to the shaping of societal images of God expressed through the orienting system.

In the first part of the article I argue that one's faith formation is closely related to one's development of God's image. This is not an isolated process, but an appropriation of God's image disseminated through nurture by one's immediate family and society at large. The proliferation of all these …

Machen And The Gospel, John V. Fesko

Pro Rege

No abstract provided.

Update - June 2011, Loma Linda University Center For Christian Bioethics

Update

In this issue:

[ Clinical Bioethics and Religion: Robert Orr's Medical Ethics and the Faith Factor ]
-- Forging a Path for Christian Ethics (Review)
-- A Passionate, Faith-Inspired Physician - Ethicist (Review)
-- Excepts from Robert Orr's Medical Ethics and the Faith Factor

-- 2012 Jack W. Provonsha lecture opens the Alumni Postgraduate Convention
-- Editorial

[ Claritás - Clarity in Ethics Essay Contest - White Coats: Purple Pens ]
-- First-place 2010 essay winner, Gregory A, Lammert, School of Medicine, Loma Linda University

-- Dental Ethics at Loma Linda University
-- Non-violent Revolution: Blessed Are the Peacemakers
-- …

A Theology Of Religious Change, David J. Zehnder

Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation

Zehnder, David, J. “A Theology of Religious Change.” Ph.D. diss., Concordia Seminary, 2011. 218 pp.

This essay sets up a dialogue between the sociology and psychology of religious change (conversion’s human side) and conversion (theologically defined) to prove that empirical research into change experience, ideology as an attracting force to religion, and social networks’ influence on conversion does not threaten theology’s assertions but can help to clarify theology’s tasks in communicating to various audiences. Science helps theology through a correlational model of interaction developed in the study. The correlational method first asks of science: Why do people change religiously? Once …

Coaching Pastors Of Faith Evangelical Church Of The Philippines Churches For Church Growth, Brent Hunter Burdick

ATS Dissertations

Research has shown that one effective means of improving leader effectiveness in business and education is coaching. Coaching involves asking questions, exploring options, providing guidance, and training in skills. Ministry is enhanced by coaching. This research explored the impact coaching six pastors in the Faith Evangelical Church of the Philippines churches had on the numerical and spiritual growth of the churches they pastor. The study focused on the key leadership factors of preaching, personal spiritual maturity, and multiplication of small groups plus two survey-determined factors. The hypothesis was that as the pastor advanced in leadership skills and effectiveness in these …

Dancing With Heretics: Essays On Orthodoxy, Questioning And Faith, Darren M. Edwards

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

While much has been written about the conflicts, supposed or actual, between logic and faith, science and religion, few accounts of the personal turmoil these conflicts can cause exist. Likewise, many of these nonfiction accounts are written from a distinctly polarized place leaning either to science or faith.

In this thesis, I mix research and history with memoir and a sense of poetry to explore my personal experience with this conflict. At its outset, I hoped for this project to capture my struggle as an orthodox member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) in dealing with …

Experiencing The Spirit: The Magnificat, Luther, And Feminists, Lois E. Malcolm

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Justification By The Faithfulness Of Jesus Christ, Chad Harrington

The Asbury Journal

This essay focuses on Paul's description of justification by faith in Galatians 2:16. Scholars such as J.D.G. Dunn and N.T. Wright have recently challenged more traditional perspectives on justification. This essay appropriates some of these challenges to Paul's letter to the Galatians. The problem for Paul is that some Christians are distorting the gospel (Gall:7) and excluding Gentiles Christians (2:12-13). Paul's solution is gospel reorientation. Instead of being a Torah-focused church, he instructs the Galatian church to be Christ-centered. This essay examines justification, works of law, and faith/fulness to reveal Paul's rhetorical purposes by analyzing socio-rhetorical backgrounds and literary, grammatical, …

Subdivided By Faith? An Historical Account Of Evangelicals And The City, Mark T. Mulder, James K.A. Smith

University Faculty Publications and Creative Works

In an echo of Michael Emerson and Christian Smith’s study of evangelicals and the racialized society (detailed vividly in Divided by Faith), Mark T. Mulder and James K. A. Smith attempt to trace the history and literature concerning evangelicals and their relationship to the city. While there exists an interesting literature about general urban antipathy in the U.S., the authors contend religion remains a salient and under-examined component within that phenomenon. This paper calls for more theologically-nuanced studies regarding evangelicals, anti-urban bias, and geographical habits. Mr. Mulder is Assistant Professor of Sociology and Mr. Smith is Associate Professor of Philosophy …

Jesus Christ As Poetic Symbol: Wilhelm Bousset’S Contribution To The Faith-History Debate, Brent A. R. Hege

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

Wilhelm Bousset, a leading member of the religionsgeschichtliche school and author of a seminal work on early Christology, Kyrios Christos, is typically regarded by reviewers of his work as a classic nineteenth-century liberal who sought a secure foundation for faith in the historical Jesus. However, this view of Bousset fails to appreciate the significant development of his theological perspective on the relationship between faith and history, a perspective that underwent a profound shift due to the influence of the English historian Thomas Carlyle and the Kantian philosopher Jakob Friedrich Fries. It is the influence of these two figures that enables …

Geschichte Und Historie: The Problem Of Faith And History, Brent A. R. Hege

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

Faith at the Intersection of History and Experience is the first study in English of the theology of the German Lutheran theologian, Georg Wobbermin (1869–1943), who has been called a “captain of the liberal rearguard.” Widely read and discussed in his own lifetime, Wobbermin’s theology fell into obscurity as dialectical theology rose to prominence in the years following the First World War.

Hege presents the major themes of Wobbermin’s theology, particularly his analysis of the relationship between faith and history and his development of a religio-psychological theological method that places faith at the intersection of history and experience. Wobbermin’s critiques …

Church And Society: The Laurence J. Mcginley Lectures, 1988-2007, Avery Cardinal Dulles, S.J., Robert P. Imbelli

Religion

One of the leading theologians of our time, Avery Cardinal Dulles, S.J., has written and lectured on a wide range of topics across his distinguished career, and for a wide range of audiences. Integrating faith and scholarship, he has created a rich body of work that, in the words of one observer, is “both faithful to Catholic tradition and fresh in its engagement with the contemporary world.”

Here, brought together for the first time in one volume, are the talks Cardinal Dulles has given twice each year since the Laurence J. McGinley Lectures were initiated in 1988, conceived broadly as …

A Legacy Of Mercy, Lois Eveleth

Mercy Illuminates

No abstract provided.

The Modal Gap: The Objective Problem Of Lessing's Ditch(Es) And Kierkegaard's Subjective Reply, Matthew A. Benton

SPU Works

This essay expands upon the suggestion that Lessing's infamous ‘ditch’ is actually three ditches: temporal, metaphysical, and existential gaps. It examines the complex problems these ditches raise, and then proposes that Kierkegaard's Fragments and Postscript exhibit a similar triadic organizational structure, which may signal a deliberate attempt to engage and respond to Lessing's three gaps. Viewing the Climacean project in this way offers an enhanced understanding of the intricacies of Lessing's rationalist approach to both religion and historical truth, and illuminates Climacus's subjective response to Lessing.

Invitation To The Table Conversation: A Few Diverse Perspectives On Integration, Natalia Yangarber-Hicks, Charles Behensky, Sally Schwer, Kelly Schimmel Flanagan, Nicholas J.S. Gibson, Mitchell W. Hicks, Cynthia Neal Kimball, Jenny H. Pak, Thomas G. Plante, Steven L. Porter

Psychology

This article represents an invitation to the "integration table" to several previously underrepresented perspectives within Christian psychology. The Judeo-Christian tradition and current views on scholarship and Christian faith compel us to extend hospitality to minority voices within integration, thereby enriching and challenging existing paradigms in the field. Contributors to this article, spanning areas of cultural, disciplinary, and theological diversity, provide suggestions for how their distinct voices can enhance future integrative efforts.

Beyond Violence: Religious Sources Of Social Transformation In Judaism, Christianity, And Islam, James L. Heft, S.M.

Religion

In an age of terrorism and other forms of violence committed in the name of religion, how can religion become a vehicle for peace, justice, and reconciliation? And in a world of bitter conflicts-many rooted in religious difference-how can communities of faith understand one another?

The essays in this important book take bold steps forward to answering these questions. The fruit of a historic conference of Jewish, Christian, and Muslim scholars and community leaders, the essays address a fundamental question: how the three monotheistic traditions can provide the resources needed in the work of justice and reconciliation.

Two distinguished scholars …

Managing As If Faith Matters, Center For Catholic Studies, Seton Hall University

Center for Catholic Studies Faculty Seminars and Core Curriculum Seminars

As part of the Lilly Endowment "Theological Exploration In Vocation" grant awarded to Seton Hall University, the Center for Catholic Studies sponsored a four-day seminar open to administration, faculty and staff to discern and situate their managerial role as a unique and transformative vocation.

Managing in a university setting poses critical personal questions: As a manager, what kind of person should I strive to become? What kind of organization should I, as a manager or employee, strive to build and maintain? Has my managerial education and formation contributed to a moral outlook that privatizes my faith and insulates my managerial …

De Poenitentia Et Evangelio Coming Together And Coming Clear In Luther's Theology, Korey Maas

Master of Sacred Theology Seminar Papers

These three breakthroughs - the understanding of God's righteousness, law and gospel, and repentance - are not noted here arbitrarily. While the present examination is concerned primarily with tracing Luther's changing theology of repentance, we can not do so as if this doctrine existed in isolation, standing and falling on its own. Any understanding of repentance, Luther's not excepted, is intimately entwined with one's understanding of God's righteousness and the gospel- and most importantly, how these meet in one's conception of the person and work of Christ.

A Study In The Theology Of Carl Fr Wisloff With Particular Focus On Faith And The Means Of Grace In The Bestowal Of Salvation, Eugene Boe

Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation

The general topic for this work is the relation of faith and the means of grace in the bestowal of salvation. The Lutheran Church from her beginning has believed, confessed and taught that we are saved by grace through faith alone. This is stated briefly in the Augsburg Confession, Article IV.

Our churches also teach that men cannot be justified before God by their own strength, merits, or works but are freely justified for Christ's sake through faith 2 when they believe that they are received into favor and that their sins are forgiven on account of Christ, who by …

Mary's Magnificat: Sources And Themes, Lawrence Frizzell

Selected Works of Lawrence E. Frizzell

In the 1961 meeting of this Society, the Basilian biblical scholar, James Terence Forestell, reflected upon the biblical background of the Magnificat. He declared that it is not merely a patchwork quilt of Old Testament texts. "The Magnificat is a new hymn with its own unity of inspiration, but the words do reflect a whole stream of O.T. piety, which is not to be isolated in a few texts." He studied the background possibilities in the Jewish Scriptures for every significant term in the hymn.I will stand with him against the assessment of the Jesuit Scripture scholar, Joseph A. Fitzmyer, …

Luther's Teaching Of "Faith" In His Catechisms, Randy Asburry

Master of Sacred Theology Seminar Papers

In this paper we will examine Luther's understanding of faith in the following ways. First, we will define "faith" by unpacking its meaning. We will ask, "Who believes and in what do they believe?" Second, we will look at Luther's language of faith in his Catechisms and catechetical writings. We will note how he changes his language of faith depending on which part of Christian teaching he is explaining. Third, we will examine Luther's grammar of faith-his use of grammatical subjects, verbs, and objects-in the Small Catechism. And finally, we will see how Luther combines the teachings of the Christian …

Ministratores Verbi In Fidem Remissionis Gospel And Ministry In Luther's Writings To 1520, William Schumacher

Master of Sacred Theology Seminar Papers

The scope of this study is explicitly and intentionally (and hence, perhaps, artificially) limited to Luther's early writings, up to and including the milestone works of1520. It will seek to pay attention to detail, but makes no claim of being exhaustive. We will explore how Luther came to confess the gospel when speaking about the office of the holy ministry. Or, to put the question another way, what happened to the doctrine and vocabulary of the ministry when the gospel began to make itself heard in Luther's thinking, teaching, and preaching?