Rhetoric and Composition Commons^™

Blessing And Sending The Church Into The World For The Sake Of The World, Using Congregational Blessings As A Missional Enterprise, Michael Harbour

Doctor of Ministry Theses and Dissertations

This thesis project equipped the elders to function as a community of men called and authorized by God to bless and send his people into the world for the sake of the world. They were equipped through seven sessions of theological reflection on Scripture and reflection on narratives of those who have offered pastoral blessings. The sessions also included an examination of templates and the opportunity to practice writing and speaking blessings. The elders have been speaking a shepherd’s blessing as the last liturgical act of the Sunday assembly. In this project, missional and textual focus was given to the …

If Your God Has Really Spoken To You… Then All The World Must Hear It: The Discourses Of Revelation And Satire In Salman Rushdie’S The Satanic Verses, Conrad William

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

In his essay, “Is Nothing Sacred?”, Salman Rushdie lays out a place for literature as an arena in which various perspectives may interact. He thereby provides a context for the controversy regarding his books, most particularly The Satanic Verses. Despite his claims, however, literature, as Rushdie conceives it, operates not simply as an arena for discourse but similarly as a rule-maker, controlling the discourse which operates within its bounds. The Satanic Verses, in particular, suggests that revelation as it passes through unstable and hybrid human language loses its authority and power to speak purely or dogmatically. In so …

Biblical Truth And Theological Education: A Rhetorical Strategy., Patrick R. Keifert

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

'Olah: The Rhetoric Of Burnt Offerings, James W. Watts

Religion - All Scholarship

The ‘olah offering receives pride of place in most lists of sacrifices in the Hebrew Bible, including the ritual rules of Leviticus. Its prominence in these texts suggests that the writers expected its mention to have an effect on their audience. This rhetorical effect must be evaluated and understood before the references to the `olah can be used to reconstruct ancient religious practices reliably. A comparative analysis of the rhetoric about the `olah suggests that its priority burnished the image of priests as devoted selflessly to divine worship and drew attention away from their economic interests in the sacrificial system …

The Bible And Theological Education: A Report And Reflections On A Journey, Patrick R. Keifert

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Living Waters: An Invitation To Contemplative Spirituality For The Quail Springs Church Of Christ, Wyatt E. Fenno

Doctor of Ministry Theses and Dissertations

This project addressed an acknowledged need for ministry action to promote and facilitate communal spiritual formation in the present and future life of the Quail Springs Church of Christ. The focus of the project was to present a model of contemplative spirituality determined to be accessible to the ministry context at Quail Springs. In addressing the problem of community fragmentation at Quail Springs, this model was offered as a means of grace to deepen faith and strengthen relationships in church life at Quail Springs. A pilot group of six women and six men served as the working group for this …

An Inquiry Into Discourse Choices As Indicators Of Gender Attitudes In A Non-Profit Conservative Christian Business, Dawn Marie Kruger

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This paper is an inquiry into the discourse styles of men and women who work together in a conservative Protestant Christian business. Many conservative Protestant Christian churches teach that the Bible forbids women from holding positions of authority over men. Yet in the communications department of this particular business, women fill the top three management positions, supervising a mixed-gender staff of 15. Research has shown that men and women subconsciously use language markers that indicate personal attitudes toward the same and the opposite genders. This research project draws on that information while it analyzes the oral and electronic discourse of …

Language As A Tool For Self-Inquiry, Alice Elizabeth Griffin

Theses Digitization Project

This thesis examines he areas of consciousness and language that are implemented within the oral teaching tradition of the spiritual lineage of Ramana Maharshi. It examines how language is used by the teacher's consciousness to assist their student's development towards their own enlightened state of consciousness.

Story-List-Sanction: A Cross-Cultural Strategy Of Ancient Persuasion, James W. Watts

Religion - All Scholarship

Persuasion motivated the creation of many ancient Near Eastern texts. Persuasion was not limited to particular genres of discourse and literature but was frequently a stimulus leading authors to combine gemes to create more persuasive forms. In this process, the rhetorical capacities of many different kinds of liiterature were harnessed for overtly persuasive purposes. One such rhetorical strategy combined three kinds of materials-stories, lists and sanctions-to influence its audience's ideas and behaviors. It shaped the form and content of texts from a wide variety of periods and cultures in the ancient Near East and eastern Mediterranean, including the foundational scriptures …

“’National Apostasy,’ Tracts For The Times, And Plain Sermons: John Keble's Tractarian Prose.”, Robert Ellison

English Faculty Research

John Keble is perhaps best known for The Christian Year and his work as Professor of Poetry at Oxford from 1831 to 1841. In this essay, I argue that his prose is worthy of study as well. I focus on "National Apostasy," the sermon that John Henry Newman saw as the inauguration of the Oxford Movement; the 8 pieces he contributed to the Tracts for the Times; and his many contributions to the Plain Sermons, by Contributors to the "Tracts for the Times."

Prophecy And Anti-Popery In Victorian London: John Cumming Reconsidered, Robert Ellison, Carol Herringer

English Faculty Research

John Cumming (1807-1881) was the popular minister of the Crown Court Church of Scotland in London's Covent Garden. This article examines his views on the end times and the Roman Catholic Church, two of the favorite subjects of his preaching.

Leadership Development In The Christian Church And Churches Of Christ In Northeast Nebraska, Wayne Dykstra

Doctor of Ministry Theses and Dissertations

This project/thesis focuses on the leadership needs of the Christian Churches and Churches of Christ in northeast Nebraska in general and of Wakefield Christian Church in particular. The leadership context of Wakefield Christian Church was analyzed utilizing a congregational profile inventory, the presentation of a leadership development course, an evaluation instrument, and conversations and interviews of the church leadership. The success or failure of organizations will depend upon the quality of the leadership. The objective of this project was to provide a leadership course which would produce better leaders who could make a difference in the kingdom of God and …

The Legal Characterization Of Moses In The Rhetoric Of The Pentateuch, James W. Watts

Religion - All Scholarship

The force of law depends on the authority of its promulgator. Self-characterizations by lawgivers play a vital role in persuading hearers and readers to accept law and in motivating them to obey it. Pentateuchal laws therefore join narratives in characterizing law-speakers as part of a rhetoric of persuasion. They present, however, two speakers of law, one divine (YHWH) and the other human (Moses). I will show that this dual voicing of pentateuchal law has two effects: it restricts Deuteronomy's prophetic characterization of Moses to the narrower definition of prophecy presented in the previous books, while it uses Moses' scribal role …

Epideictic Rhetoric And The Formation Of Collective Identity: Nineteenth-Century Mormon Women In Praise Of Polygamy, Robbyn Thompson Scribner

Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, I will proceed as follows: my first chapter will be a general overview of epideictic rhetoric, focusing on the limitations of how it has traditionally been viewed and understood by theorists. At the end of that chapter I will establish a working definition of epideictic which extends traditional views about how epideictic can function in certain types of writings, focusing on the important role of the speaker in epideictic rhetoric and how it can work in enabling a community to create a collective identity. In the remainder of the thesis, I will analyze two texts in which …

The Legal Characterization Of God In The Pentateuch, James W. Watts

Religion - All Scholarship

The Pentateuch develops God's character in stories of divine creation and destruction, promise and fulfillment, battle and redemption. The laws of Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers supplement such direct characterization by the impressions provided by YHWH's speech. Speeches always indirectly characterize their speaker by providing the basis for inferring the kind of person who talks this way. So the law codes voiced directly by God provide a powerful impression of the divine character.

The Revealed Word And The Struggle For Authority: Interpretation And Use Of Islamic Terminology Among Algerian Islamists, Leif Stenberg

Book Chapters / Conference Papers

No abstract provided.

Psalmody In Prophecy: Habakkuk 3 In Context, James W. Watts

Religion - All Scholarship

The psalm in Habakkuk 3 resembles songs in Exodus 15, Deuteronomy 32 and 33, Judges 5 and 2 Samuel 22 in its archaic linguistic formations and vocabulary stock, victory hymn form, and appearance outside of the Psalter. Unlike these hymns set within prose narratives, however, Habakkuk 3 appears within a book of prophetic poetry structured in a liturgical and dramatic fashion. Habakkuk, therefore, offers an ideal case for the comparative study of prophetic and narrative composition through the use of the same literary device. The results of such a comparison reveal a sophisticated text which mixes inherited generic conventions to …

The Nature And Authority Of Scripture : Historical Sources And Theological Engagement For Congregational Awareness And Reflection, Carson Reed

Doctor of Ministry Theses and Dissertations

For many Christians, biblical authority is rooted in the concept of inerrancy or in the historical veracity. But within a increasingly post-modern culture, the church faces a crisis in both of these foundations. The modern presuppositions that undergird the inerrancy doctrine and the historical-critical method are showing distinct cracks in the once seamless confidence placed in both approaches. Additionally, for Churches of Christ, understandings about the nature and authority of Scripture area just below the surface of a number of issues confronting congregations. This project/thesis seeks to address this growing dilemma within the context of the Westlake Church of Christ …

Public Readings And Pentateuchal Law, James W. Watts

Religion - All Scholarship

References to reading are remarkably sparse in the Hebrew Bible. Though the variety of forms and styles in the biblical books attests an ancient literary culture in Israel, there is little explicit mention of reading prophecy and virtually no references to reading hymns or history. Most references to reading portray the reading of law.

Such references provide valuable insights into how the Pentateuch's writers expected their work to be read. Reading expectations make up the components of genre and shape the conventions used by writers to compose their works. Thus accounts of law readings also illulllinate the ancient literary conventions …

Rhetorical Strategy In The Composition Of The Pentateuch, James W. Watts

Religion - All Scholarship

The Hebrew Bible rarely depicts the reading of books or documents, but when it does, it usually portrays public readings of entire law codes. Whether by Moses, Joshua, Josiah or Ezra, law readings to public assemblies play prominent roles in various biblical books. It is not my intention in this essay to discuss Israel's tradition of law readings in depth, but rather to explore its implications for the form of Israel's extant laws as found in the Pentateuch. The tradition of public law readings points out the rhetorical function of law in ancient Israel. The accounts of readings depict these …

Assessing Patterns Of Disengagement And Re-Entry In Two Local Congregations Of Churches Of Christ, David Mitchell Malone

Doctor of Ministry Theses and Dissertations

This study investigates two congregations among Churches of Christ with a prototype instrument adapted from questions used in a national survey (The Unchurched American, The Princeton Religion Research Center, 1978). The ministry objective for this project thesis is to generate an assessment instrument to be used as a tool for ministry between active and inactive church members.

Specific questions addressed are: what are the patterns of disengagement and re-entry in two local congregations connected with Churches of Christ? Is the disengagement of teenagers and young adults (age 13-24) in each local congregation measurably greater than other recognized age categories over …

A Biblical Program For Building New Self-Love In African American Males And Fathers, Anthony Roach Sr.

Doctor of Ministry Theses and Dissertations

A training program for building new self-love in African American males and fathers was developed, taught, and implemented. The author made a conscious effort to employ an integrative approach to the curriculum, using both the resources of theology and psychology in its framework.

Leadership In Churches Of Christ In Argentina: Expectations Of National Christians For The Use Of Power By Church Leaders, William Alan Richardson

Doctor of Ministry Theses and Dissertations

From the earliest arrival of Spaniards in Argentina, strong authoritarian leaders have provided the predominant model for leadership in all arenas. This project/thesis sets out to discover the effects of this history upon the expectations of Argentine Christians for leaders and leadership styles in the churches of Christ, investigating three key questions: Do Argentine Christians prefer authoritative or participa- tive systems of organization in the church? What system of organization is actually employed in the churches of Christ? Is change required?

In order to answer these questions, the study was initiated with an overview of the history of Argentina and …

Preservation Of The Writing Approaches Of The Four Gospel Writers In The Joseph Smith Translation Of The Bible, Donald Joseph Miles

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis analyzes additions to the gospels in the Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible. To assess the appropriateness of the JST additions, the thesis examines Joseph Smith's additions to verify whether they parallel the approaches of the original gospel writers to their audiences. There is strong indication that material added to the King James Version by the Joseph Smith Translation is consistent with the approaches of the original gospels to their audiences. Chapter one shows that the JST Matthew, like the KJV Matthew, is concerned with showing that Jesus fulfills Old Testament prophecy. Chapter two finds that JST Mark …

Inspiring A Church To Dream, Jerry Austin Jenkins

Doctor of Ministry Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Symbolic Action And Persuasion In The Book Of Mormon, Keith H. Lane

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis contends that the Book of Mormon can be profitably read from a rhetorical perspective. It employs Kenneth Burke's ideas concerning language, texts, and his method of dramatistic analysis, to reveal certain persuasive aspects of the Book of Mormon, and to urge action in response to the persuasion of the Book of Mormon.

Chapter one discusses common ways of reading scripture, and explains some of the inadequacies of these approaches. It gives a rationale of a rhetorical approach that concerns itself with action, and recommends this approach for the Book of Mormon. Chapter two applies a rhetorical reading to …

A Weaverian Analysis Of The Secular Humanism/Christianity Arguments, Colleen Deborah Ryan

Masters Theses

Since the Renaissance, the unclearly defined movement known as "Humanism" has been a part of society. However, it is only recently that the movement itself has caused significant controversy. What is responsible for this sudden outbreak of humanism hysteria? Is it even to be classified as a problem? To many, especially the Catholic church and many fundamentalist groups, it presents an overt threat.

A vital area of controversy centers around education and the fight between a religious-based curriculum and the more recent secular studies. The issues, it appears, are often obscured by the rhetoric. Indeed, Karl Wallace sees rhetoric as …

How I Spent My Summer Vacation: Three Essays On Place And Meaning, Reed Evan Richards

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis consists of three personal essays and a postface, in part experiments in genre, mode, and structure, and in large part explorations of the meanings of specific places in culture and on the self-definition of the observer-writer, the first essay being set in Florida and centered at Disneyworld; the second consisting of fragments of observations along the route from St. Augustine to Washington, D.C., and ending with a brief fiction; the third, a speculative/anti-speculative rumination over many things, including meaning, death, faith, and enshrinement, and set in Illinois, Missouri, and South Africa; and the postface a theoretical/descriptive theoretical defense …

Stylometry And Wordprints: A Book Of Mormon Reevaluation, Brian Curtis Roberts

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is a project which investigates the science of stylometry and wordprints; the analysis of writing style characteristics. The focus is placed on reexamining a wordprint study done by Wayne Larsen and Alvin Rencher wherein the Book of Mormon was analyzed against texts by those who are purported to have written it. The difference in this study from the first was that new wordprint definitions were developed using a junction grammar program created by Eldon Lytle, the 1830 edition of the Book of Mormon was employed as the base text, the phrase "it came to pass" was deleted and …

Literary Portraits Of The Pharisees In The Gospels Of Mark And Matthew, Michael R. Cosby

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Due to the often inadequate methodology employed by scholars studying the pre-A.D. 70 Pharisees, new approaches are needed for analyzing the primary sources. Careful attention must be given to the literary genres of the four ancient sources of information on the Pharisees: the Psalms of Solomon, the New Testament, the writings of Josephus, and the rabbinic literature. As an example of such sensitivity to the ancient authors’ purposes in writing and to the literary genres they employed in conveying their information, this study uses the Gospels of Mark and Matthew as test cases.

Careful analysis of authorial purpose, as revealed …