Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons^™

Book Review: Motus Dei: The Movement Of God To Disciple The Nations Edited By Warrick Farah, David H. Campbell

Great Commission Research Journal

No abstract provided.

Book Review: Turning Points In The Expansion Of Christianity: From Pentecost To The Present By Alice Ott, David Thiessen

Great Commission Research Journal

No abstract provided.

Great Commission Research Journal Fall 2022, David R. Dunaetz

Great Commission Research Journal

No abstract provided.

Theology Matters, Jiří Moskala

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

A Feminist Political Theological Ethics Of Formation: Being And Becoming Christian In The Face Of American Christian Nationalism, Sara Wilhelm Garbers

Dissertations

Feminism, Formation, New Political Theology, Political Theology, Preaching, Theological Ethics

Toward An Eco-Cosmopolitanism: Wendell Berry And Ecowomanism In Conversation, Wade Casey

Dissertations

Agriculture, Alice Walker, bell hooks, Ecology, Theology, Wendell Berry

From Post-Pantheism To Trans-Materialism: D. T. Suzuki And New Buddhism, James Mark Shields

Faculty Contributions to Books

In modern Western thought, pantheism remains a powerful if controversial undercurrent. Recent re-evaluations of the work of Baruch Spinoza (1632–1677) point to pantheism’s radical implications for metaphysics, epistemology, ethics and politics. Pantheism (Jp. hanshinron 汎神論) also has significant valence within Japanese Buddhist modernism, particularly in the work of scholars and lay activists who articulated the outlines of a New Buddhism (shin bukkyō 新仏教) from the 1880s through the 1940s. For these thinkers, pantheism provided a “middle way” between materialism and idealism, as well as between theism and atheism. In the postwar period, lapsed radical turned Buddhist Sano Manabu …

Japanese Buddhist Women In Hawai‘I: Waves Of Change, Karma Lekshe Tsomo

Theology and Religious Studies: Faculty Scholarship

Beginning in the latter half of the nineteenth century, successive waves of Japanese Buddhist immigrants settled in the Kingdom of Hawai‘i, bringing with them a variety of Japanese Buddhist schools and traditions. Overcoming many hardships, Japanese immigrant women worked with great devotion to help establish numerous temples in the Hawai‘i through Buddhist women’s associations known as Fujinkai. These dedicated women not only maintained ancestral Buddhist practices but also integrated Japanese Buddhist, native Hawaiian, and other cultural elements in ways that were entirely new. Persevering through the war years and through successive waves of cultural adaptation, they transmitted and protected Buddhist …

Supernatural Evil As Evidence For The Existence Of God, Shane Stone Geisler

Masters Theses

This study challenges widely held beliefs about the supernatural realm. Those who believe the supernatural realm exists tend to accept there is a personable higher power at work in our world. The naturalistic worldview denies the existence of anything or anyone beyond our physical universe. This paper will first inform the reader of a history of beliefs in the supernatural. Next, an innovative approach will be taken to provide evidence for the supernatural world. Finally, the evidence will be examined to determine its reliability and identify common themes found throughout the research. The information provided is not intended to be …

Choosing Evidence Over Theory: How The Evidence For The Resurrection Undermines A Priori Arguments Against Miracles, Benjamin D. Graber

Masters Theses

For centuries, the prevailing arguments against miracles have been based on David Hume and others’ a priori arguments. These theoretical arguments continue to be debated as they are not especially persuasive to those who are ideologically opposed. Because these arguments are theoretical in nature, they exclude the possibility of miraculous events. As such, there are two ways of arguing against a priori arguments. First, one can argue from an opposing theoretical viewpoint and debate the logic within the arguments. Second, one can argue for the probability of one miraculous event. If one event can be proven likely to have occurred, …

Marian Library Newsletter: Issue No. 72, University Of Dayton. Marian Library

Marian Library Newsletter

• Year in review
• Ukrainian Marian Collection
• Exhibit: Juggling for Mary
• Marian Library Fellowships: Reports from scholars
• Report from A Vision of Faith exhibit
• Recent acquisitions
• Reorganization of reading room
• Statue conservation
• Profile on archivist Kayla Harris
• Marian Library usage the numbers

Holy Impairment: The Body As The Nexus Of Apocalyptic Ekphrasis In Acts 2:1–13, Meghan Henning

Theology and Religious Studies Faculty Publications

This article reads Acts 2:1–13 as an example of apocalyptic ekphrasis, bringing together disparate imagery for rhetorical effect. In particular, the Septuagint imagery of theophany is combined with the imagery of divine healing that was associated with the god Asclepius. I explore the imagery of the divided tongue that rests on bodies and transforms them, an element of Acts 2:3 that many interpreters have given up trying to explain. The visual association of snakes and healing was prevalent not only at the shrines devoted to Asclepius but broadly in a variety of contexts outside the shrines. This complex of imagery …

The Orthodox Theology Of Modernity: Problem Statement And Prospective Tasks, Hennadii Khrystokin, Vasyl Lozovytskyi

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The article studies the problem of Orthodoxy's attitude to modernity. The concept of the theology of modernity–a new section of the social theology of the church, which considers the specifics, main trends, problems, and tendencies of modernity–is proposed. The theology of modernity raises questions about the possibilities, boundaries, and ways of renewal of the church. The concept of the theology of modernity is a set of methods, approaches, and discourses that allow us to comprehend modernity, carry out its assessment by means of Orthodox theology, and find its religious potential for the actualization of Christianity in our time. The analysis …

Contemplative Vision: Visual Language In The Sermons Of Johannes Tauler, Joshua P. Reifsteck

Master of Sacred Theology Thesis

Reifsteck, Joshua P. “Contemplative Vision: Visual Language in the Sermons of Johannes Tauler.” STM Thesis, Concordia Seminary, 2022. 91 pp.

Johannes Tauler conceives of thought, contemplation, and mystical experience in visual ways, and this conception manifests in visual language and metaphor throughout Tauler’s preaching corpus. This visual language is influenced heavily by Neoplatonic conceptions of contemplation and the One, and by an interior-exterior tension within Tauler’s anthropology which is especially significant for his portrayal of the senses. This thesis focuses especially upon a group of Middle High German words related to the verb schoͮwen. These words are technical terms, …

Buddhist Socialism In China, 1900–1930: A History And Appraisal, James Mark Shields

Faculty Contributions to Books

Although it is only in recent decades that scholars have begun to reconsider and problematize Buddhist conceptions of “freedom” and “agency,” the various thought traditions of Asian Buddhism have for some centuries struggled with questions related to the issue of “liberation,” along with its fundamental ontological, epistemological and ethical—if not economic and political—implications. With the development of Marxist thought in the mid to late nineteenth century, a new paradigm for thinking about freedom in relation to economics, history, identity and socio-political transformation found its way to Asia, where it soon confronted traditional religious interpretations of freedom as well as competing …

God Alone Is Good And Wise: A Free Will Defense For The Logical Problem Of Moral Disagreement, Maria Carolina Reis Baeta

Masters Theses

Moral disagreement is commonly regarded as a threat to objective morality in academic literature and popular culture and perhaps one of the most significant objections against the Christian theistic moral theory. Some skeptics argue that, since people diverge about what is right and wrong, and in doing so, they provoke moral evil and human suffering, the Christian view that an all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-good God is behind morality is inconsistent. Numerous questions about the revelation of God's moral law, God's power to prevent moral disagreement, and even the reasons for creating a world with such moral disagreements lead people to …

Defending The Resurrection Of Jesus Through The Reliability Of The Credible Witnesses, Gregory K. Cherven

Masters Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to illuminate the fact that there is sufficient evidence for the resurrection of Jesus Christ through the reliability of the credible witnesses. Although physical evidence is lacking, it does not mean there is not sufficient evidence. Is it necessary to have physical evidence to secure a conviction? Criminal cases will be explored in which murder convictions were secured without the recovery of a dead body, physical evidence, or a confession. The convictions were secured based solely on witness testimony. The eye-witnesses of the resurrection of Jesus are evaluated through a modern lens and there …

Apologetic Properties Of Archaeology, Scott Christopher Reynolds

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Scholars are divided over the idea of archaeology providing more information than anthropomorphic data about people groups. In the Levant, biblical archaeology used the Bible to connect artifacts with biblical accounts; however, scholars began to believe that interpretation was being forced to fit the biblical accounts. Apologists began to embrace more technical results and archaeology and different schools of apologetics began to see a place for archaeology in the study of apologetics. The most accepting form of apologetics is the Cumulative Case Apologetic, as it blends into its apologetic argument anything needed to further the argument. However, the ability of …

The Kindness And Severity Of God: A Defense Of The Conquest Of Canaan, Jordan Peter Ballard

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The Conquest of Canaan has become a hot-button issue in Christian apologetics because of the moral dilemma it poses. Would an all-loving God command the wholesale slaughter of the Canaanite men, women, and children? Christians throughout the centuries have grappled with this problem and have offered many interpretations to alleviate the tension between God’s love and God’s wrath displayed in the Conquest. This dissertation defends a straightforward reading of the account: God really did command the destruction of the Canaanites, and the Israelites carried it out as described in the pages of the Old Testament. When understood in its biblical, …

Church Stigma: Healing A Wounded Reputation In The Community, Ryan Shane Ward

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

MWBC developed a pernicious stigma in their community that consumed their reputation, making it virtually impossible to witness because of the negativity encompassing the church. If the stigma was not remedied, it was apparent that the church would struggle to be a light for Christ in the community and keep its doors open. The methodology of this research project successfully designed a model that revived the church and restored its reputation in the community. Sources on revitalization are abundant, but unearthing sources on how a church might restore a stigma or wounded reputation in the community to a holy character …

A Christian Perspective On Islam's Origins: Its Religion, Founder, And Practices, German Matos

Masters Theses

The many years of exposure to Islamic believers in the five boroughs of New York State, but more specifically, the Bronx, set a precedent for this thesis to comprehensively analyze the religion of Islam by investigating the Abrahamic monotheistic connection to its historical origins and religious practices. The methods used in this thesis to prove Islam’s legitimacy as an Abrahamic monotheistic heir consisted of sources like the Qur’an, hadith, and tafsir texts translated from Arabic into English. The simultaneous usage of Jewish, Christian, Islamic, and authoritative secular sources was used to scrutinize Islam’s theological and historical claims to formulate a …

“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 …

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transexual (Lgbt) U.S. Latinx Catholics And The U.S. Catholic Church: A Critique Of Certain Aspects Of Roman Catholic Moral Teaching In Light Of A Latinx Theological Anthropology, Leonardo Daniel Mendoza

LMU Theses and Dissertations

This Capstone Research Project aims to address the certain aspects of Roman Catholic moral teaching. Throughout this project I argue that when it comes to the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transexual and Queer (LGBTQ+) Catholics, the moral teaching is essentially corrupt. This paper begins by providing an overview of current Catholic teaching relevant to LGBTQ+ persons. In the second section I focus on the lived experience on the Latinx LGBTQ+ community in the United States to demonstrate several flaws in Catholic moral tradition. I place a special emphasis on the Latinx LGBTQ+ community in Florida as I base my argument on …

Pottery Horizons Of The Jalul Ceramic Assemblage In The Iron Age Iia-C From Square G4 In Its Historical And Geographical Context, Michael Christian Orellana Mendez

Andrews University Seminary Studies (AUSS)

This is a dissertation abstract.

"Four Kingdom Motifs Before And Beyond The Book Of Daniel" [Review]/Perrin, Andrew B., And Loren T. Stuckenbruck, Eds., Rodrigo Galiza

Andrews University Seminary Studies (AUSS)

This is a book review by Rodrigo Galiza.

Foundational Missionaries Of South American Adventism [Review] Plenc, Daniel O., Silvia C. Scholtus, Eugenio Di Dionisio And Sergio Becerra, Eric E. Richter

Andrews University Seminary Studies (AUSS)

This is a book review by Eric E. Richter.

“Nebuchadnezzar, My Servant”: A Reexamination Of The Honorific Title “Servant Of The Lord"”, Ian S. Reyes

Andrews University Seminary Studies (AUSS)

Moses, David, and Joshua are all designated the honorific title “servant of YHWH” in the HB. Even a cursory reading of the HB texts involving these figures would leave little surprise as to why they are bestowed this exclusive moniker. There are only ten individuals who are given this title in the MT, and of these ten, the majority of them do not raise questions, except one—the sixth-century Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar. Some have argued that his inclusion in this list is a result of a scribal error, or that it is limited in scope, as only a description of function. …

Editorial Vol 59:2, Martin Hanna, Oliver Glanz

Andrews University Seminary Studies (AUSS)

This is the Editorial by Co-Editors Dr. Martin Hanna and Dr. Oliver Glanz.

Table Of Contents

Andrews University Seminary Studies (AUSS)

Table of Contents Vol 59:2.

"Introducing The Pseudepigrapha Of Second Temple Judaism" [Review]/Gurtner, Daniel M, Rodrigo Galiza

Andrews University Seminary Studies (AUSS)

This is a book review by Rodrigo Galiza.