Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons^™

“Man, Don’T Feel Like A Woman”: Christian Scriptural Interpretations, The Binary Gender System, And How They Can Lead To Misogyny And Homophobia, Alyssa Froehling

Audre Lorde Prize

This paper utilizes different analyses of scripture to argue that a binary gender system is not inherent in Christianity. Contemporary societal norms placed onto Christianity contribute to the oppression of women and those in LGBTQ+ communities.

Spiritual Journeys: A Study Of Ifá /Òrìṣà Practitioners In The United States Initiated In Nigeria, Tony Van Der Meer

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

The purpose of this study is to understand the culture of one of the newest branches of traditional Yorùbá Ifá/Òrìṣà practice in the United States from practitioners born in the United States that were initiated in Nigeria, West Africa.The epistemology of the Ifá/Òrìṣà belief system in the United States has been based on the history and influence of Regla de Ocha or Santeria that developed out of Cuban innovation and practice.This is an ethnographic and auto-ethnographic study that pulls from participant observation, field notes, interviews, and photos as data.The central question of this dissertation is what are the challenges and …

Scriptural Foundations For Academic Disciplines: A Biblical Theme Approach, Michael E. Cafferky

Faculty Works

This article presents the thesis that major themes of the Bible can form the biblical foundation for academic disciplines as taught in Christian primary schools, secondary schools and undergraduate and graduate studies in higher education. The Bible is not a comprehensive encyclopedia of knowledge; however, its perspective offers a deeper theological and philosophical basis for any academic discipline.

This article is reproduced/used/uploaded with permission from The Journal of Adventist Education®.

Refractions Through The Secular: Islam, Human Rights And Universality, Zara Khan

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Universal human rights (HR) are often theorized as philosophically neutral. Because they do not espouse any particular theory of the human being, it is argued, they can be reasonably appropriated by all. In this thesis, I explore HR’s universality claim, by focusing on the discourse’s secular foundation. In the universal human right to freedom of religion, I find a distinctly modern grammar of ‘religion,’ one that separates ‘religion’ from politics and power, law from morality, and the public and private realms. The modern concept of religion also espouses a secular theory of the human, insofar as the human is defined …

Judaism And The West, Robert Erlewine

IWU Authors Bookshelf

From Indiana University Press:

Grappling with the place of Jewish philosophy at the margin of religious studies, Robert Erlewine examines the work of five Jewish philosophers—Hermann Cohen, Martin Buber, Franz Rosenzweig, Abraham Joshua Heschel, and Joseph Soloveitchik—to bring them into dialogue within the discipline. Emphasizing the tenuous place of Jews in European, and particularly German, culture, Erlewine unapologetically contextualizes Jewish philosophy as part of the West. He teases out the antagonistic and overlapping attempts of Jewish thinkers to elucidate the philosophical and cultural meaning of Judaism when others sought to deny and even expel Jewish influences. By reading the …

The Oval Office Is Ready For Madame President: Predictors And Support, Brittney E. Souza

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

The 2016 United States Presidential Election brings the revolutionary idea of a woman president with the Democratic candidate of Hillary Clinton. The current opposition for a woman president has been generalized gender stereotypes that she will be incompetent, too sensitive, temperamental and fickle with other world leaders. Many studies show that these arguments lack evidence in current female leaders and many commanding women in democracies have proven to be sufficient leaders to their male counterparts. Judeo-Christian traditions have permeated political voting and has acted as an important role in American public opinion on issues like abortion and same-sex marriage. These …

Centralization And Its Discontents: Exploring The Relationship Between Measures Of Moral Development, Happiness And Technology Driven, Centralized Ways Of Being, Kirsti Svendsen

Ph.D. Dissertations (Open Access)

This interdisciplinary, qualitative dissertation offers an exploration into possible intimate relationships between recently expanding, technology driven forms of centralization of our social institutions and a supposed decline in moral development and happiness among Americans today.

According to Jacques Ellul, technology in itself is not the problem. Instead, he believes the tragedy is that the new idea or spirit of technique , technical efficiency and economic progress, which may have started with the Industrial revolution, and has become the western world s new "religion", the new salvation for humanity. Ellul and other thinkers suggest that the single-minded focus on material progress …

"Introduction" To Theology And Science Fiction, James F. Mcgrath

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

What is the difference between a god and a powerful alien? Can an android have a soul, or be considered a person with rights? Can we imagine biblical stories being retold in the distant future on planets far from Earth? Whether your interest is in Christianity in the future, or the Jedi in the present--and whether your interest in the Jedi is focused on real-world adherents or the fictional religion depicted on the silver screen--this book will help you explore the intersection between theology and science fiction across a range of authors and stories, topics and questions.

Throughout this volume, …

Leisure Studies And Christian Scholarship: Two Solitudes?, Paul Heintzman

Movement and Being: The Journal of the Christian Society for Kinesiology, Leisure and Sports Studies

This paper examines the interrelationships between scholarly Christian writings on leisure and leisure studies literature. As an academic field of study leisure studies is a fairly recent development, however throughout Christian history leisure has been considered by Christians such as Augustine, Aquinas, Luther and Calvin. A number of observations can be made from a review of these two bodies of literature. First, although numerous books have been written in recent decades by Christian scholars on the subject of leisure, very few of these scholars have been leisure studies scholars, and in most cases, these Christian writings have not made reference …

Thinking Nature, "Pierre Maupertuis And The Charge Of Error Against Fermat And Leibniz", Richard Samuel Lamborn

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation is to defend Pierre Fermat and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz against the charge of error made against them by Pierre Maupertuis that they errantly applied final causes to physics. This charge came in Maupertuis’ 1744 speech to the Paris Academy of Sciences, later published in different versions, entitled Accord Between Different Laws Which at First Seemed Incompatible. It is in this speech that Maupertuis lays claim to one of the most important discoveries in the history of physics and science, The Principle of Least Action. From the date of this speech up until the end …

Covenant, Kingship, Grace, Sacrifice, And Prophetism In The Old Testament, Rickie S. Scott

The Kabod

This essay examines the major themes of covenant, kingship, grace, sacrifice, and prophetism that reoccur throughout the Old Testament and contribute to a proper understanding of the ancient biblical text. Through covenant, God reveals his divine nature and relates to his people. Through kingship, God reveals his plan for Israel. Through grace, God loves his chosen people and shows them mercy, and through sacrifice, God cleanses and sanctifies the Israelites. Finally, through prophetism, God discloses his divine calling for the Israelites. Each of these themes exposes God’s self-revelation and contributes to an enhanced understanding of the Old Testament.

Evaluating The Authenticity Of The Gospels, James O'Brien

Spring 2015, Faith and Science

Today, moderns, as well as biblical scholars, have a hard time accepting the possibility that the Gospels are authentic. The idea that a document composed two thousand years ago could be trusted is dismissed as absurd. However, this assumes that there is no evidence suggesting the contrary. Richard Bauckham, in his book, Jesus and the Eyewitnesses, rejects this “gratuitous doubt” and provides a novel contribution to our knowledge of the historical Jesus. This book has awakened scholars to the possibility that the skepticism of form criticism is not only uncritical but also unwarranted. Contra to popular opinion in the …

Occupy Judaism: Religion, Digital Media, And The Public Sphere, Ayala Fader, Owen Gottlieb

Articles

This article provides an analysis of Occupy Judaism, an explicitly religious expression of Jewish protest, which occurred simultaneously with Occupy Wall Street, the direct-democracy movement of 2011. Occupy Judaism, like Occupy Wall Street, took place both in physical spaces of protest in New York City and digitally, through mobilizing and circulating debate. The article focuses on the words and actions of Daniel Sieradski, the public face and one of the key founders of Occupy Judaism, supplemented by the experiences of others in Occupy Judaism, Occupy Wall Street, and Occupy Faith (a Protestant clergy-led initiative). We investigate what qualified as religion …

A Teleological Exploration Of The Plausibility Of Moral Knowledge, Kevin Lebel King Jr.

Masters Theses

Natural selection seems to offer a compelling case for the development of evaluative judgments independent of evaluative facts. If such a case can be made, then how do moral judgments correlate to moral facts? It seems that there would be no tight connection from judgments to truth and moral judgments would be unwarranted. Gilbert Harman realized the implications of a probable non-moral genealogy. Richard Joyce goes on to provide a probable non-moral genealogy that would epistemically undermine moral judgments as Harman thought. Joyce argues that in a naturalistic world natural selection can account for moral judgments, but that the truth …

Against A Process View Of Divine Patience, Luke Asher

Global Tides

When one chooses to tolerate suffering, waiting calmly without reacting emotively or physically, he is demonstrating the virtue of patience. Process theology claims that the patience of God is more or less identical to the experience of human patience. That is, when we sin and rebel against God, He refrains from smiting us, that we might repent and return to Him. In other words, God demonstrates patience when he restrains Himself temporally from interfering with or punishing mankind, waiting for their repentance. Such an explanation of divine patience may seem intuitive, but the patience of God is much greater, much …

Finding A Resolution : Religion's Role In Resolving Man's Internal Dyad., Marianna Michael

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Theses

No abstract provided.

A Basis Of The Civil War: The Theological Views Of Nineteenth Century Christians On The Justification Of Slavery, Shaniqua Janeè Wells

Honors Theses

Views on the morality of slavery have produced a paradox within the Christian community. Historically, the issue of slavery has been analyzed tremendously by means of economic and cultural factors. The religious analysis of the institution of slavery has been overshadowed by secular motives. This paradox on the morality of slavery causes disunity within the Christian faith. Christianity, as a monotheistic religion, emphasizes the purpose that one God has for His people. Therefore, the multiplicity of views on God’s intentions for the treatment of human beings cannot be allowed in the Christian community. The abolitionists’ and activist’s views must be …

Explaining Consciousness: An Argument Against Physicalism And An Argument For Theism, Benjamin Dobler

Honors Projects

Consciousness, the mental phenomenon of our subjective experience of the world, has long been the subject of philosophical debate. The world we experience is full of sights, sounds, taste, smells, and feelings--phenomenal experiences. As the vehicle of phenomenal experience, consciousness is one of the most familiar and readily accessible features of our world, and perhaps the hardest to deny. Yet science tells us that our world is entirely composed of matter and energy, and physical phenomena can be explained as just that. In Part I, I argue that consciousness stands wholly at odds with this scientistic worldview, providing evidence against …

Establishing A Solid Foundation Through An Identity In Christ, Matthew S. Pedersen

Senior Honors Theses

An identity in Christ is the only solid foundation on which adolescents or adults can build their life. Identity is a major building block in a person’s life. Individuals with an unhealthy identity as a result of the culture will need to make many changes to this foundation in order to keep an accurate view of their lives. The definition of identity can show examples of negative consequences of an unhealthy identity. An identity based on the views of culture can show areas of weakness. Examining what the Bible says about man before and after a relationship with Christ will …

Investigating The Reliability Of Eyewitness Testimony In The Case Of The Resurrection, Stephen Rogers

Spring 2015, Faith and Science

No abstract provided.

The Gospel In Singapore - The Impact Of Civil Religion And Civil Law, Mark Madson

Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation

Madson, Mark, J. “The Gospel in Singapore: The Impact of Civil Religion and Civil Law.” Ph.D. diss., Concordia Seminary, 2015. 240 pp.

The author explores the development of civil religion in the Republic of Singapore, paying special attention to its sources in English common law, Confucianism, and the Peoples’ Action Party (PAP) ideology of economic pragmatism. Colonial and modern civil religious law, including the Maintenance of Religious Harmony Act of 1990, serve as the basis for analyzing the interaction of the state and traditional religious traditions. The Singapore Story, as told by Lee Kuan Yew and the PAP, provides a …

Why Is Boko Haram Succeeding?, Agbonkhianmeghe E. Orobator

Theology Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

The Imam And The Pastor: Attempts At Peace In Nigeria Using Interfaith Dialogue, Jinelle Piereder

Laurier Undergraduate Journal of the Arts

No abstract provided.

Un Cuento Satírico En Medio Del Debate Sobre El Darwinismo En México, Miguel A. Fernández Delgado Mafd

Alambique. Revista académica de ciencia ficción y fantasía / Jornal acadêmico de ficção científica e fantasía

Charles Darwin's theory of biological evolution of species was accepted or rejected by Mexican scientists, including Gabino Barreda, representative of Comte's philosophy. It was also included by Justo Sierra in a history book for the Escuela Nacional Preparatoria, a decision which raised a lot of criticism from conservative groups. It is also discussed the implications of social Darwinism in the early Twentieth Century Mexico. The document we offer is a satire published in those years, which resembles the tone of Swift's Gulliver Travels.

Can All Religions Live In Peace?, Antony Das S. Devadhasan

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Can All Religions Live In Peace?

Religion is identified as one of the main factors that divide humanity. Pluralists like, John Hick identify the conflicting truth claims or the doctrines of different religions as the basis for religious exclusivism. Hick accuses the exclusivists of being epistemically arrogant and morally oppressive. His remedy for eradicating exclusivism is that every religion with conflicting truth claims should reinterpret these claims so as to share an outlook with other religions. Alvin Plantinga, a critic of Hick, contradicts Hick on behalf of a believer or an exclusivist.He argues that for a believer his beliefs are …

Emerging From The Shadows: Civil War, Human Rights, And Peacebuilding Among Peasants And Indigenous Peoples In Colombia And Peru In The Late 20th And Early 21st Centuries, Charles A. Flowerday

Department of Anthropology: Theses and Student Research

Peacebuilding in Colombia and Peru following their late-20^th and early 21^st century civil wars is a challenging proposition. In this study, it becomes necessary as indigenous peoples and peasants resist domination by extractive industries and governments in their thrall. Whether they protest nonviolently or rebel in arms, they are targeted for human-rights violations, especially murder, disappearance and displacement. The armed actors, state, insurgency, paramilitaries or drug traffickers, destroy civic institutions (local or regional government) and the civil (nonprofit) sector and replace them with their own authoritarian versions. Therefore, peacebuilding has emphasized rebuilding civic institutions, civil society and local …

The Grammar Of Choice: Charles Dickens's Existential Idea Of Religion, Hai Na

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation challenges the received opinion that Charles Dickens's religious thinking is merely sentimental and philanthropic. Instead, I argue that there is in his works a very consistent "existential" sense of religion, especially in his mature novels. To be religious for him does not lie in the adherence to dogma or the study of theological arguments, but in the crucial choices people make every day. In order to illustrate this "existential" sense of religion, I analyze, in the first chapter, relevant works by Kierkegaard, Carlyle, George Eliot, and Dostoevsky, in order to establish the context in which Dickens's religious views …

Does Religion Have A Role In Criminal Sentencing?, Jack B. Weinstein

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Indigenization Of Christian Worship In Urban Liberia : A Key To Christian Discipleship In The United Methodist Church Of Liberia, Isaac Chukpue-Padmore

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Awful/Awful: An Archive Of Light Embarrassments, Teysha Vinson

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

The difficulty of representing intangible religious ideas is at the core of Awful/Awful: An Archive of Light Embarrassments. Through an interest in how light is discussed in the Bible as a symbol for God and his fellowship, I make imagery that both repulses me and intrigues me but never do I get to the point where I feel the work encapsulates any answers. Instead, the photographs are questions, archived, unable to represent this light of God on their own without being trite or obtuse. The arranged work on the walls consists of these photographs plus a few ephemera from my …