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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Megachurches And Economic Development: Pastoral Interpretations Of Internal And External Expectations On Church Behavior, Ashley E. English Dec 2019

Megachurches And Economic Development: Pastoral Interpretations Of Internal And External Expectations On Church Behavior, Ashley E. English

The Journal of Faith, Education, and Community

What sorts of economic development activities do megachurches engage in, and what rationale do leaders give for this behavior? This study provides theoretical guidance for answering this research question through an investigation of megachurches’ extra-role behaviors (ERB) in economic development activities. ERB is a “behavior that attempts to benefit the organization and that goes beyond existing role expectations” (Organ, Podsakoff & MacKenzie, 2006, p. 33). This field study includes an online survey completed by 42 megachurch senior or executive pastors in the Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown Metropolitan Statistical Areas and 23 follow-up telephone interviews. The researcher used these data …


Loving Thyself And Well-Being: What Does God Have To Do With It?, Derek De La Peña Ph.D. Dec 2019

Loving Thyself And Well-Being: What Does God Have To Do With It?, Derek De La Peña Ph.D.

The Journal of Faith, Education, and Community

The current study is both exploratory and conceptual in nature and considers the controversial topic of “self-love” from both Christian and positive psychology viewpoints. Adaptive and maladaptive concepts of self-love are considered with Christian participants (n = 467) who listed God as the most important factor to happiness (Type I, n = 133) and a second group (Type II, n = 334) who considered some other factor as more important. Statistical significance was evident between groups with Type I participants scoring higher for meaning in life, engagement, and life-satisfaction measures in addition to a number of biblically-based character qualities (e.g. …


Hate Speech, Prejudice, And Biblical Interpretations, Dianne Dentice Dec 2019

Hate Speech, Prejudice, And Biblical Interpretations, Dianne Dentice

The Journal of Faith, Education, and Community

There has been a long legacy of hate speech, prejudice, and the use of various scriptures from the Bible to uphold anti-Semitic and race based ideologies in the United States. The institution of slavery was based on economic gain for white plantation owners and the southern aristocracy prior to the Civil War. In order to justify enslavement of Africans, rhetorical devices were used to assure inferior status. Many white Christians believed their slaves could be controlled by conversion to Christianity and some actually believed they might even be able to achieve salvation if they did what they were told and …


Existential Anthropology And The Transformation Of The Existential Situation Into Religious Meaning: The Rise And Similarities Of Religion And The Arts, Patrick Scott Smith, M.A. Dec 2019

Existential Anthropology And The Transformation Of The Existential Situation Into Religious Meaning: The Rise And Similarities Of Religion And The Arts, Patrick Scott Smith, M.A.

The Journal of Faith, Education, and Community

The social forming elements to the existential situation provide the basis from which springs all things human, where seemingly disparate functions within the social dynamic—in this instance, art and religion—find common genesis. An aspect of the existential situation is the development of complete memory and awareness because of the human state of physical vulnerability. In the following essay, starting with remembrance, we will see how the existential complex itself helps to form notions of art and religion; how impediment-to-will and exertion become essential elements to the formulation of religious ritual and fashion; and finally, we will take a look at …


The Journey Of A Spiritual Migrant: An Autoethnography On Leaving American Evangelicalism, Joel Mcreynolds Dec 2019

The Journey Of A Spiritual Migrant: An Autoethnography On Leaving American Evangelicalism, Joel Mcreynolds

The Journal of Faith, Education, and Community

The support of Donald Trump by many evangelical Christian voters during the 2016 election was seen as a betrayal of core beliefs by the author, who grew up in a non-denominational evangelical church during the 1990s and 2000s. The cognitive dissonance experienced by the author after the 2016 election plunged him into a whirlwind reconsideration of his Christian upbringing. Using autoethnography, a research method that employs self-reflection and personal experience as a qualitative research tool, the author analyzes his own social media posts, journal entries, and creative writing to trace his exit from American Evangelicalism in this deeply personal account. …


How Hugging Mom Teaches Me The Meaning Of Love And Perhaps Beyond, Ethan Trinh Feb 2019

How Hugging Mom Teaches Me The Meaning Of Love And Perhaps Beyond, Ethan Trinh

The Journal of Faith, Education, and Community

Hugging mom is unconventional in a traditional Vietnamese family. I write this piece to articulate my thoughts to describe different ways to look at the meanings of hugging. During my writing process, I use a walking meditation as a Buddhist practice to calm my mind so that I can see my true self and a clearer picture of different layers of the act of hugging. I believe hegemonic gender roles and patriarchy happen everywhere in the world, not particularly in Vietnam. I do not plan to devalue my home country’s cultural values in this paper. This is not the purpose …