Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons^™

"Madaba Plains Project 9: The 2004 Season At Tall Al-Umayri And Subsequent Studies" [Review]/Herr, L. G., D. R. Clark., And L. T. Geraty, Owen Chesnut

Andrews University Seminary Studies (AUSS)

This is a book review by Owen Chesnut.

"Jesus And John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted A Faith And Fractured A Nation" [Review]/Du Mez, Kristin Kobes", Michael W. Campbell

Andrews University Seminary Studies (AUSS)

This is a book review by Michael W. Campbell.

Reading The Signs Of The Time: Three Voices In The Confessional Lutheran Church As They Relate To Segregation, Racism, And Apartheid In South Africa From 1900–1978, Christoph Dietrich Weber

Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation

Weber, Christoph, Reading the signs of the time: “Three voices in the confessional Lutheran Church to segregation, racism, and apartheid in South Africa from 1900–1978.” Ph.D. diss., Concordia Seminary, 2022. 425 pp.

According to August Vilmar, reading the signs of the times was an essential task of all pastors and theologians. It was a part of their prophetic task to interpret the world and its context with the word of God and to proclaim the voice of the church in law and gospel. The three theologians analyzed in this dissertation: Karl Meister, Hermann Sasse, and Friederich W. Hopf respected Vilmar …

We Are All Eve: Rescuing The Mother Of All Things From Patriarchal Interpretation And Its Implications For Modern Christian Women, Maeve Pioli

Senior Theses

For centuries, the traditional Christian understanding of the Genesis narrative has relied heavily on the patriarchal biases of historic church figures to enforce a gendered hierarchy where women are deprived of authority, voice, and agency. My thesis deconstructs these misogynistic interpretations to provide liberating, alternative readings for the Garden of Eden as well as New Testament verses that utilize Eve’s transgression to justify women’s secondary status. As a former Christian, I have witnessed the persistence of this oppressive theology, often repackaged as a “complementary” relationship between sexes where women must dutifully submit to the headship of men. Therefore, by building …

Faceless Man And Infinite God: Till We Have Faces A Subversion Of Greek Anthropocentrism, Hunter Hogsed

Senior Honors Theses

C. S. Lewis’s novel Till We Have Faces directly subverts the Greek anthropocentric view of both God and man. The Greek myths of Hesiod-Homer and platonic philosophy hold to a view of man being morally superior to the gods. The character of Orual in Till We Have Faces represents Greek anthropocentrism. Orual opens the story accusing the gods of stealing her beloved sister Psyche but, through an encounter with the madness of the divine, sees herself as the true destroyer of her sister’s face. The illusion of her own moral superiority crumbles away as she sees how her love is …

An Exploration Of The Attitudes And Expectations Of African American Congregants Regarding The Succession And Transition Of Their Senior Pastor, Tony O'Neal Hinton

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This study addressed the relevance of assessing the attitudes and expectations of African American congregants regarding the succession and transition of their senior pastor. The study focused on a local church in Baltimore, Maryland. The research assumed that including laity within the succession planning of their senior pastor would produce a healthy transition and future of the church. It further examined how the lack of succession planning within the Black church has caused challenges that could be prevented. The literature and biblical text suggest that the people’s role in the success of their leader was critical to the operation of …

From Mocker To Martyr: The Unlikely Conversion Of James The Brother Of Jesus, Brian Lewis Cunningham

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

For many years, James, the brother of Jesus, was all but neglected when it came to biblical scholarship. Around four decades ago, there was a resurgence of serious inquiry about James. Since that time, a considerable amount of scholarly material has been published about him, including a possible connection between James and a first-century ossuary box that bears his name. But one aspect of James’s life has not enjoyed such widespread discussion, namely, his conversion. The reason his conversion has been ignored is because there is so little prominent information. The only glimpse afforded to us comes from Jesus appearing …

Using Spiritual Coping For Compassion Fatigue In Emergency Responders, Elliott Dix

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This thesis project identified areas of improvement concerning compassion fatigue and spiritual coping mechanisms related to emergency responders. This research was unique because it considered how emergency responders served during the Covid-19 pandemic. The research used qualitative methods. Data collection was completed via telephone and in-person interviews. This project may influence others in the field to offer various options, including spiritual measures, when providing coping mechanisms.

The Importance Of Self-Awareness For The Prevention Of Burnout And Compassion Fatigue For Clergy, Reginald Charlestin

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Self-care is both necessary and vital to the efficiency and longevity of ministry professionals, pastors, and people in general. When a person neglects their physical, emotional, and mental state, quality of life decreases. To study the importance of self-awareness and how to prevent burnouts and compassion fatigue among clergy, this thesis used the Macedonia Worship Center leadership staff as a study subject. The researcher studied various peer-reviewed articles that have evaluated the relationship between those who work in ministry and their levels of burnout and compassion fatigue alongside their perception of self-care to understand the importance of self-awareness related to …

Creating Harmony Through A Unified Definition Of Discipleship, Dereck S. Jackson

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

It is difficult to function as one unified group in an association of churches where autonomy is central. The ninety-one churches that call Converge Northeast their association desire to start churches, strengthen them, and send people into the harvest field. However, this group of capable churches and leaders has been unable to sustain church health, lacking church growth. After bringing in new leadership, there has been a resurgence of relationship building and vision casting. What might this group of churches need to become vibrant disciple-making churches? Unity among autonomous churches will require that leaders are on the same page and …

The Greatest Conceived Being: A Trinitarian Response To Islamic Objections, Sherene Nicholas Khouri

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The Islamic golden age under the Abbasids opened up the opportunity for Christian thinkers to present several apologies for the doctrine of the Trinity in Islamic context. This study examines the status of the Arabic church in the eighth to tenth centuries, especially the trinitarian apologies of John of Damascus, Theodore Abū Qurrah, and Yaḥyā Ibn ‘Adi against Islamic misunderstanding of the Trinity and its probable cause, in order to come up with trinitarian apologetics that answer Islamic objections and that will be useful for the present day. While both Christians and Muslims agree that human beings will never be …

God-Image And Romantic Partner Relationships: Emotional Neglect And Adult Women, Danette Alene Buchanan

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Childhood emotional neglect often leads to relationship dissatisfaction, psychopathology, decline in physical health, and permanent scars from a lack of emotional validation. Women who have grown up with a history of emotional invalidation are at risk for suicide, divorce, emotional instability, unstable relationships, and a chronic belief that they are not enough. Lacking emotional attachment from parents and other primary figures, girls and young women may transition into adulthood either anxiously attached, avoidant attached, or both. This state of dysphoria may extend into their perceptions of God and other authority figures. Counselors and other professional helpers such as clergy, teachers, …

The Pandemic's Impact On The Efficacy Of Chaplaincy At The Baldwin State Prison, John Gomez

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Chaplains usually provide pastoral care for inmates, staff members, and counseling for offenders and offenders’ families. Because of the pandemic, they have not provided adequate pastoral care and counseling in their respective facilities. The restrictions imposed by the pandemic have negatively impacted the chaplain’s ability to adequately provide pastoral care and counseling in most federal and state correctional institutions. The Department of Georgia Correctional facilities, particularly at the Baldwin State prison, has also experienced this decrease in pastoral care and counseling due to the pandemic. In the Georgia Department of Corrections, all visitations, including lawyers and clergy, have been suspended …

The Intergenerational Church's Role In Family Worship, Jeremy Robert Jordan

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Throughout the Scriptures, God calls parents to teach their children to glorify God through worship. The Bible also commands all generations to encourage one another through worship and service. Throughout history, there are many examples of God’s people spending time in family worship, but over the past couple of decades, there has been a decline in parents discipling their children. A great number of parents are now expecting the church to provide the biblical training their children need. The lack of parents taking the time to teach their children and lead them in worship daily has led to high school …

An Evaluation Of The Responses Of Self-Studies For Aeth Certification Of Hispanic Bible Institutes, Marta Noemi Luna

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The current literature on accreditation of theological education institutions does not include studies focused on the self-studies phase of the accreditation processes (Hernandez et al., 2016; Ramirez, 2019; AETH, 2020b). Little information was found on the number of incomplete self-studies or incomplete certification or accreditation processes (AETH, 2020b). The purpose of this exploratory sequential study was to evaluate the AETH Certification program and the self-study responses by collecting data to determine the factors that prevent Hispanic Bible institutes from successfully fulfilling the requirements, exploring the effects on the stakeholders and the AETH Certification program. The study implemented the CIPP Evaluation …

Matthew 24-25 As Prophetic-Apocalyptic : Its Structure, Function, And Eschatology, Kennedy K. Ekeocha

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Accompaniment In Times Of Suffering: Liberating Images Of God, Carmen Ramos Carmona

LMU Theses and Dissertations

Atonement theologies of salvation are problematic for suffering victims, which calls for a change in how we imagine God and view salvation today. A distorted image of God and God's salvation deprives those in distress of finding consolation, healing, and agency through their faith. I apply a feminist critical hermeneutic of liberation that reveals that the application of CDH can accommodate violence and other forms of evil against the marginalized, women, and the natural world. It is necessary to find metaphors for God that can offer spiritual sustenance to those who suffer and reimagine an alternate idea of God's salvation. …

Lamentations For Liberation: A Theological Analysis Of The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill, Sophia Gilmour

LMU Theses and Dissertations

While exploring the history of liberation theology themes appearing in Black musician’s work (in Dr. Daniel Smith-Christopher’s class Bible and the Blues), it came to my attention that there are many more contemporary artists whose work also touches on these themes, such as Lauryn Hill. My thesis argues with the help of Black and Womanist scholars that the naming of one’s reality through musical lamentations is a healing act. Further, musical lamentation is an act to carry forth communities and provide them with healing because the act of acknowledging and lamenting the suffering of a marginalized community is liberating in …

Kwame Bediako Makes An Offer, Joel Carpenter

University Faculty Publications and Creative Works

This review essay addresses the major themes of Ghanaian theologian Kwame Bediako’s thought, as presented in Tim Hartman, Kwame Bediako: African Theology for a World Christianity. Bediako advocated examining the traditional spirituality of African peoples, studying the Bible in vernacular languages, and asking how the person and work of Jesus Christ engage local cultures. He insisted that Western theology was not central and normative to the Christian faith, and that African theology provided a better model for the development of contextual theologies worldwide.

Foedus And Testamentum: Calvin's Federal Terminology In Hebrew 8–10, J Brittain Brewer

CTS Student Publications and Creative Works

Calvin's significance in the development of federal theology has received much attention. Scholars have often neglected, however, the role that his exegesis played in his own construal of covenant ideas. More specifically, Calvin's reading of covenant in the book of Hebrews has played a negligible part in reconstructing Calvin's broader understanding of covenant. By looking closely at Calvin's exegesis and the terminological diversity in his commentaries on Hebrews 8–10, a more complex picture emerges. The federal terminology employed in these sections of his commentaries evidences exegetical sensitivity and doctrinal complexity. Calvin not only stands in the stream of Reformed covenant …

Knowledge Through Divine Light: Ghazali’S Notions Of Mystical Cognition, Maisara Maasoum Marzouk

The Undergraduate Research Journal

Illumination, or knowledge through divine light, is a type of mystical cognition that Abu Hamid Ghazali regarded to be the cause of his rescue from his famous skeptical crisis. According to him, this type of divine knowledge is the apex of knowledge, to which all other sciences are subordinate. The receptive organ of this knowledge is the heart, a divine and cognitive subtlety that is distinct though related to the physical heart. Such is done by removing the veils that obstruct divine light from reaching it by means of the science of unveiling. The disclosure of knowledge that occurs once …

Wittgenstein And Hume On Miracles, Samuel Wheeler

Undergraduate Research Symposium

In this paper, I intend to contrast the positions of Ludwig Wittgenstein and David Hume on miracles. While Hume holds that miracles are violations of laws of nature which can never be probable, Wittgenstein would reject this definition. Instead, he takes a broader stance on miracles and holds that many events which are not transgressions of laws of nature can be seen as miraculous. And the point of this is to highlight the vastly different events we call miracles. Contra Hume, Wittgenstein thinks that even some of our greatest certainties can call up in us a sense of absolute wonder …

Interpreting 9/11: Religious Or Political Event?, Fadime Apaydin

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Terrorism or violence can be triggered by a variety of circumstances, including the religious, cultural, political, or economic conditions of the social environment, as well as the perpetrator’s personal characteristics. However, studies conducted in the aftermath of 9/11 have largely described the attacks as religious events, arguing that religion inherently causes violence or that religion is the main motivation for violence. The primary argument for the approach adopted by such studies is that secular institutions are inclined to be less violent than religious ones. A second approach, on the other hand, fundamentally opposes the arguments that led to describing the …

The Continuity Mindset For Christian Mission, Jack T. Davison

Great Commission Research Journal

Missionaries from the Global North regularly serve as trainers for Christians in the Global South. From personal experience, missionaries are regularly seen as being qualified to do this work simply because of their position. Rather than missionaries assuming they are competent purely on the basis of their titles, I believe they should instead practice the Continuity Mindset for Christian Mission, a mindset that emphasizes the continuity of one’s identity and ministry in one’s home culture with one’s identity and ministry in the host culture. This practice includes elements of vulnerable mission, nonresidential mission, tentmaking, cultural intelligence, and authentic leadership. I …

Book Review: The Life And Impact Of Phil Parshall: Connecting With Muslims Edited By Kenneth Nehrbass And Mark Williams, Stephen Jester

Great Commission Research Journal

No abstract provided.

Leadership: Essential For A Church To Grow Numerically And Spiritually, Steven L. Estes

Great Commission Research Journal

This article relates the spiritual gift of leadership (Rom. 12:8) to numerical church growth. Scripture presents spiritually gifted leaders as those who received authority from God and had knowledge of his will for his people. Biblical leaders delegated effectively and encouraged those who were given tasks to accomplish. The overall scope of biblical teaching on leadership indicates that pastors/elders should have the gift of leadership. Allowing those who qualify and have the gift of leadership to emerge is crucial for the health of a church.

Writing Literature Reviews In Church-Based Research, David R. Dunaetz

Great Commission Research Journal

Because of the knowledge explosion taking place, literature reviews in church-based research are needed more than ever. Summaries and syntheses of previous research make this knowledge available to practitioners and help researchers focus on what remains unknown. In contrast to empirical studies, literature reviews rely on previously published studies to make conclusions and advance theory. These studies may include both church-based research and more general research that is not particularly Christian. In contrast to meta-analyses which focus on synthesizing statistical information, literature reviews focus on conceptual synthesis and theory advancement. To write a literature review, authors must first choose a …

An Examination Of Three Models Of Missional Communities For Sharing The Gospel With Muslims In The United States, Mike Urton

Great Commission Research Journal

Missional communities are small groups within a local church that serve those outside the church with the aim of sharing the gospel, perhaps even providing them the possibility of joining the group. Missional communities have been used effectively by local churches in reaching the surrounding community or a specific group of people. This article examines three different models of missional communities, discussing the strengths and challenges associated with each one. Based on these observations, along with observations on the evangelical Christian and Muslim communities in the United States, three recommendations are presented for helping missional communities effectively share the gospel …

Book Review: Evangelism In A Skeptical World: How To Make The Unbelievable News About Jesus More Believable By Sam Chan, Cameron D. Armstrong

Great Commission Research Journal

No abstract provided.

Book Review: Towards A Pentecostal Theology Of Praxis: A Case Study By John Mark Robeck, Norlan Josué Hernández

Great Commission Research Journal

No abstract provided.