Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Environmental Beliefs Among Evangelical Leadership, Jeffrey Stark

Dissertations

There has been consensus among climate scientists for over a decade about the reality of human caused climate change. Even with this consensus, the public understanding of this issue remains divided based on factors generally unrelated to the science. Evangelical Protestants are one group which consistently polls as more skeptical of climate change. This is true not only when compared to the general population but also when compared to other religious demographics. Most large-scale surveys of evangelicals assume the demographic to be a monolith and do not attempt to break the demographic down further. In this mixed methods study, we …

A Faith-Based Approach To Mental Health Challenges, Patrick Leblanc

Doctor of Ministry Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACT

This project sheds light on mental health issues within the Black community and the need for faith communities to intentionally address mental health issues in communities of color. Black men are oppressed by an interplay of cultural, historical, societal, and economic factors that impact their well-being. Racial discrimination and oppression are non-medical drivers exacerbating mental health disorders among Black men. The influences of culture and faith fabricate barriers to help-seeking behavior, and mistaken perceptions of masculinity cause many men to suffer in silence. To begin erasing derogatory perceptions of mental health disorders, faith communities need to increase mental health …

The Spiritual Care Of Hospice Patients With Cognitive Deficits, Shane Sullivan

Doctor of Ministry Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACT How can a hospice chaplain know whether their presence and ministry make a meaningful difference when visiting patients with dementia or other serious cognitive impairments? This project thesis seeks to answer that question conclusively. The theological foundation of this project centers on the doctrine of the imago Dei—the image of God—as it relates to individuals who are dying with cognitive deficits. Specifically, it explores how a person who is helpless and near death continues to reflect the image of God. The project intervention described here is the creation of a specialized training guide for hospice chaplains at Bridge Hospice …

White Horse Village: A Northern Utah Ufo Narrative, Melissa Petersen

All Graduate Reports and Creative Projects, Fall 2023 to Present

In the early 1960's a group of UFO believers, called Christ Brotherhood Inc., established themselves in Smithfield Canyon, UT and called their commune White Horse Village. A main house was built where the leader of the group lived and two or three smaller cabins were erected for the believers. Without running water they used an outhouse among them and built a small church where they would meet for lectures. Their beliefs centered around the popular movement of New Age spirituality of the time, which included scientific explanations for Christian beliefs including a belief in benevolent aliens as modern angels. Their …

Islamic Political Anti-Theology: A Discursive Practice Of Contingency Beyond Sovereign Politics, Jason Andrus

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Contributing to the field of political theology from outside the European Christian tradition, this dissertation develops a description of the distinct logics that Islamic theology generates from its metaphysical assumptions. These logics in turn make possible a discourse of political anti-theology where politics operates through contingency rather than sovereignty. Political theology scholarship has excavated how modern politics derives from secularized Christian theological concepts—particularly transcendent sovereignty. This study demonstrates that Islamic theology's absolute insistence on divine transcendence (tawhid) produces something fundamentally different: a politics that renders sovereign authority conceptually impossible. I identify this discursive practice of political anti-theology through …

Martial Arts Studies: A Commentary On The Exploration Of Consciousness In Modern Martial Arts, James H. Sutton

Journal of Conscious Evolution

The rapid globalization of martial arts has reconditioned how the beliefs, customs, and philosophies of traditionally based systems are interpreted and applied in modern practice. As contemporary scholarship struggles to accommodate the cultural histories, myths, and traditions that permeate the perception of martial arts in modern contexts, the focus of inquiry has shifted towards explaining cultural variations in practice rather than understanding the nature of self-awareness derived from self-practice. Consequently, the deeper meanings of martial arts as pathways to personal and transpersonal awareness are often invalidated in favor of objective and verifiable explications. In short, the role of consciousness is …

Our Teens Are Not Okay, But They Can Be: An Application Of The Family Firo Method To Improve Parent-Adolescent Communication About Suicide, Janene Pack Lpc, Cmhc, Peder Schillemat

Issues in Religion and Psychotherapy

This article explores the critical role of parent-teen communication in the mental well-being of teenagers, with a particular focus on its connection to suicide risk. A particular focus is on teens who live in Utah as the suicide rate for Utah teens and young adults is almost twice the national average. Despite the focus on families and religion in Utah, a significant number of teens continue to struggle with loneliness, hopelessness, and even thoughts of suicide. One key contributing factor to this struggle is the lack of open, supportive communication between Utah teens and their parents. The absence of effective …

Parental Grief And Loss After Gender Transition: Navigating Ambiguous And Disenfranchised Loss In Latter-Day Saint Families, David Haralson, Chelsea Johnson, Jeff Bennion, Orion Maxfield

Issues in Religion and Psychotherapy

Parents of transgender or gender nonconforming children sometimes experience profound grief and loss, particularly within religious communities that hold specific doctrines regarding gender. This article examines the unique challenges faced by parents in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) when a child undergoes gender transition. By exploring the concepts of ambiguous loss and disenfranchised grief, we aim to provide a framework for understanding these parents' emotional experiences. The intersection of LDS doctrines and policies on gender with contemporary gender theories creates complex emotional environments for families to navigate. We present the Integrity and Investment Model as …

Helping Clients Grieve The Loss Of Their "Happily Ever After", Karen J. Gilmore, Joseph Chamberlain

Issues in Religion and Psychotherapy

ABSTRACT

Helping Clients Grieve the Loss of Their “Happily Ever After”

One of the most prominent attacks on marriage comes in the form of pornography and sex addiction. In this article I will explore what pornography and sex addiction is, why it can be highly addictive, how pornography and sex addiction can impact the marriage and lead to betrayal trauma, and how to understand the losses that can come from this type of trauma as well as the ensuing grief which may accompany this process. Additionally, I will identify ways to understand how grief presents in betrayal trauma, how to …

Pauline Style And A Biblical Theology, Andrew Whitney Perkins

Masters Theses

Advances in biblical linguistics, especially in the Greek of the New Testament, have provided a means for a better understanding of the text of Scripture. Advances in Greek lexicography, syntax, verbal aspect, discourse analysis, exegetical and hermeneutical methods, and the historical background behind the gospels and letters of the New Testament have greatly increased interpreters’ ability to determine what the text meant from both the writers and to the recipients of those documents. However, Christian theology, especially Systematic Theology, has remained mostly static, unaffected by these advances, and by a more accurate understanding of the biblical text. This thesis affirms …

Ministerial Perspectives On Approaches To Caring For A Traumatized Congregant To Enhance Spiritual Development, Tonya B. Perry

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to describe experienced Christian Ministers’ experiences caring for a traumatized congregant from various countries worldwide. The criterion for participation was an experienced minister with 15 years of experience, at least 40 years old, and who ministered to three types of traumas. The two main theories guiding this study were Bowlby’s (1969, 1982) attachment theory and Fowler’s (1981) development of faith with references to Erickson’s (1958/1962) psychosocial development, Maslow’s (1954) Hierarchy, and cognitive behavior theory (Beck, 1952; Ellis, 1962). The three main research questions were: How does an experienced Christian minister describe their experiences …

Cv: Christie Billups (Theology, Peace And Justice Studies), Christie Billups

Theology Department Faculty Curricula Vitae

No abstract provided.

Investigating The Relationship Between Noun Classes And Plant Folk Taxonomy In Chasu Language Of Kilimanjaro Region In Tanzania, Peter Rabson Mziray

Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences

The current study investigates the relationship between noun classes and plant folk taxonomy in Chasu (G 22). The study focuses on two objectives: the first objective is to describe the plant folk taxonomy in Chasu and the second objective is to determine the relationship between noun classes and plant folk taxonomy in Chasu. Data were collected from rural villages in Same and Mwanga districts by using free listing, field interviews (jungle-walk-and-identify), and written texts containing Chasu plant names. The findings reveal that Chasu folk taxonomy reflects different ethnobotanical categories; including a unique beginner which is mmea/mimea ‘plant(s)’, and three life …

Witnessing A Wounded World: A Theology Of Ecological Trauma, Timothy A. Middleton

Theology

A crucial intervention at the intersection of ecotheology and trauma theology

We are in the midst of a global ecological crisis. At times, the scale of the suffering involved can be hard to fully comprehend. The whole planetary ecosystem feels out of kilter. Meanwhile, trauma theorists, and society at large, have become increasingly aware of the incidence of trauma in a growing variety of contexts. In Witnessing a Wounded World, Timothy Middleton asks what might be gained by viewing ecological suffering through the lens of trauma.

By bringing concepts and methodologies from trauma theology to bear on questions that …

Home And Religion, Emma Alexandra Grimley, Orlando Woods, Lily Kong

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

This chapter explores how religious practices and identities intersect with the home as both a construct and physical locale and surveys the social science literature on religion in/and the home. We argue that the shifting space-times of religious practice reflect and influence the changeable and porous boundaries between public and private space, the home and beyond the home. This influence is shown by reference to three areas of focus: the home as a private space of and for religion; the use of religion to cross social and spatial boundaries of home; and the reconfiguration of the home in religious practice …

A Theology Of Public Witness For Churches Of Christ In The 21st Century, Collin Packer

Discernment: Theology and the Practice of Ministry

In a time of increasingly divisive rhetoric and polarization, churches are facing new challenges that threaten their unity and mission. Churches of Christ find themselves in a peculiar position in this cultural moment. We do not bear the negative baggage associated with Evangelicalism’s drift into Christian nationalism and an enmeshment with the Religious Right. And yet, our witness has been muted through our silence pertaining to matters of public life and ethics. In this paper, I set out to investigate the historical reasons for our silence and to suggest a theology of public witness for Churches of Christ in the …

Staying Connected To The Vine As A Means Of Leading Worship In A Christ-Like Manner, Paul Edward Bryant

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

With a society focused on performance-driven worship, most worship leaders today have difficulty maintaining a God-focused, Christ-centered, and Spirit-filled worship experience during worship services. Worship leaders are having difficulty leading worship because they do not follow Christ daily to produce fruit that will help the leader effectively lead worship that honors God. This qualitative research explores the Bible, explicitly using John 15:1-11, Galatians 5:22-23, and 1 Corinthians 2:14-15 as the foundation for the worship leader to remain in Christ to produce the fruit of the Spirit and lead with Godly wisdom and understanding. Worship and leadership textbooks and dissertations covering …

From The Heaviest, Dirtiest Depths To The Washy Ambient Clouds: Guitar Timbre In/As Schismogenesis In North American Christianity, Joshua K. Busman, Nathan Myrick

Yale Journal of Music & Religion

This essay argues that within the socio-cultural context of North American Christianity, the timbral qualities of electric guitar, with its long lineage as a site of cultural values conflict and identity negotiation, serves a theological function in the emerging and cohering sonority of digital worship. Using as comparative case studies the timbral qualities of delay and ambience as promoted and sold by Worship Tutorials as representing normative sonic values for these Christians, on the one hand, and the dialectic and schismatic deployment of distortion by the band My Epic on the other, we suggest that these timbral qualities become important …

Contributors

Jewish Folklore and Ethnology

Contributors to Volume 4.

From A Shtetl House To An Urban Apartment: The Soviet Jewish Home Negotiated, Transformed, And Reimagined, Anna Kushkova

Jewish Folklore and Ethnology

This essay argues that despite the powerful forces of assimilation, official campaigns against Jewish religion/languages, and grassroots/state antisemitism, the “Jewish home” did not disappear, as is sometimes assumed, but continued to present a site of Jewish ethnic production and transmission, creativity, and resistance during the Soviet regime. In the Soviet Union, especially in the postwar period, Jewish ethnic culture was forced to leave the public sphere, where it became unwelcome and even dangerous, and withdrew into the less visible space of domestic interiors. The degree of Jewish public presence varied geographically: the situation was generally better in the Baltic Republics, …

Hiding From Kohanim: Covering Hands, Faces, And Children With A Tallit During The Priestly Blessing, Zvi Ron

Jewish Folklore and Ethnology

When the priestly blessing is performed as part of prayer services in both Ashkenazic and Sephardic communities, many of the members of the congregation can be seen covering themselves with their tallit, and also covering their children. The practice evolved from the Talmudic reference of not looking at Kohanim while they recite this blessing in the Temple, because of the Divine Presence resting on their hands and the belief that looking at it would damage a person’s vision. Later authorities expanded this to blessings outside the Temple as well, leading to the practice of Kohanim covering themselves and their outstretched …

“Holy Trash” And The Tears Of The Deceased: The Emotional Role Of Genizot For The Jewish Communities Of Central Europe, Nathanael Riemer

Jewish Folklore and Ethnology

Since the 1980s, more than seventy genizot (Heb., repositories) have been rediscovered in former synagogues of Central Europe. A genizah is a room in or near a synagogue where damaged, discarded, or heretical texts and sacred relics are stored. This essay examines where, when, and why genizot developed in Central Europe. It also analyzes the emotional significance of the genizot for their respective communities. Historical and literary sources show that genizot were placed in the synagogue attics of Jewish metropolises from the seventeenth century at the latest and were usually not ritually buried. Smaller communities in rural regions adopted this …

Contributors

Jewish Folklore and Ethnology

Contributors to Volume 3.

“Have I Asked The Name Of That Fish?”: Synagogue Humor In Contemporary Hungary, Richard Papp

Jewish Folklore and Ethnology

Jews who remained in Hungary after the Shoah almost completely abandoned their religious life because of the communist regime’s politics of assimilation. After the regime change in 1989, synagogue attendance rose and a renewed interest in ethnic-religious traditions was evident among Hungarian Jews. However, not knowing the ethnic traditions, they were unable to follow the religious commandments. Ethnographic observation in a synagogue in Budapest shows that ensuing communal tensions were eased by humor. Humor also became a marker of identity in the synagogue, by which even those who did not fully follow religious norms identified themselves as “imperfect but religious …

Theorizing Rabbinic Folklore: The Miraculous Sleep Of The Holy Man, Gal Sela

Jewish Folklore and Ethnology

The miraculous sleep (ATU 766) is a well-known, recurring tale-type observed in Abrahamic folktales since the Second Temple period. This study compares variants of ATU 766 on three levels of analysis: as a popular tale in Jewish, Christian, and Muslim writings from late antiquity and early medieval times; as a Jewish rendition; and as a multiple tale-type in rabbinic literature. The analysis engages with Dan Ben-Amos’s critical work concerning the use of syntactic methods in folklore studies to analyze Midrash and Aggadah. The essay offers a new theoretical perspective on rabbinic folklore using the notions of tale-type, ecotype, …

Editorial: Jewish Cultural Scholarship And Scholars—And Their Institutions—Under Duress, Simon J. Bronner, Amy K. Milligan, Tsafi Sebba-Elran

Jewish Folklore and Ethnology

The editors of Jewish Folklore and Ethnology (JFE) express concern about intimidation and estrangement of Israeli and Jewish professors in the international academic community after the surprise attack by Hamas in southern Israel on October 7, 2023. The editors point out that these types of hurtful antisemitic incidents against Israeli and Jewish academics preceded the attack, and they call on their colleagues and administrators to voice their outrage at the harassment, boycotts, and violence against Israeli and Jewish academics in addition to the suppression of Jewish studies, and their adverse effects on scholarship as well as Jewish students and their …

Communities Of Practice: Aging, Emergency Management, And Churches In Rural Clackamas County, Oregon, Lukas Robert Aberle

Dissertations and Theses

As the population of the United States ages, questions arise of how to best care for older adults in daily life and emergency situations. This research looks at the daily activities of churches to see how they affect everyday and emergency care practices. As a collaboration with Clackamas County government, I researched the relationship between churches and care through participant observation and interviews during the summer of 2024 to understand congregations’ support for older members, the role of church congregations in emergency management, and the implications of the decline in religious participation alongside aging in the United States. I found …

Subjectivity And Decolonisation In The Post-Independence Novel And Film, Heather Bigley

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a book review of Sarah Jilani, Subjectivity and Decolonisation in the Post-Independence Novel and Film (Edinburgh University Press, 2024).

Lived Islam In Films: Faith-Based Resilient Responses Of Syrian Refugees, Jumana S. Al-Ahmad

Journal of Religion & Film

This article provides educators in fields such as Middle Eastern studies, refugee studies, cultural and Islamic studies with a framework from documentaries to challenge stereotypes about Muslim refugees and migrants. Using the framework of lived Islam, the article explores how Syrian Muslim migrants, as seen in documentaries, draw on their faith to build resilience that enables them to continue striving for better lives. Resilience is defined as the ability to overcome challenges and catastrophes, envision solutions, and lead a purposeful life. This article conceptualizes resilience not only as a personal trait but also as a collective tool for survival and …

77 | Khirbat ‘Amra: A Rural Site From The Hellenistic To Early Islamic Periods In The BeʼEr Sheva‘ Valley, Itamar Taxel, Noé D. Michael

IAA Reports—Monograph Series of the Israel Antiquities Authority

This volume constitutes the final report of the large-scale salvage excavations directed by Gil Tahal on behalf of the IAA in 1993–1994 at the site of Khirbat ‘Amra, in the north-central area of the Be’er Sheva‛ Valley. The excavations revealed architectural remains and finds dated mainly to the Hellenistic until the Early Islamic periods, in addition to scantier remains or isolated finds from the Chalcolithic period, the Iron Age II and the Ottoman period. Khirbat ‘Amra is one of the largest multiperiod sites in the Be’er Sheva‛ Valley, specifically in the Byzantine and Early Islamic periods. Furthermore, Tahal’s excavations were …