Browsing by Author "Freeman, Curtis W"

This thesis introduces readers to the rich tradition of the ecumenical movementand explores how emerging new strategies can benefit congregations as well as facilitate healing in our fractured and divisive world. It argues that the same principles used in ecumenical dialogue can and should be used in the local church. First, the history and significant steps and missteps of the ecumenical movement are briefly examined, before turning to the contemporary strategies of receptive, spiritual and kenotic ecumenism. Then, the paper considers 21st century examples of thriving ecumenical ministries, including survey feedback that provides an intimate look at how one church (Snowmass Chapel) has committed itself to unity across various denominations. Finally, a process is provided for effective ecumenical leadership both within, and outside of, the local church context. Ecumenical work takes courageous leaders who are willing to acknowledge difference without judgement, listen deeply, and be committed to Christian unity in love. The ecumenical movement has made significant strides in the past century and half, yet it has not made a significant move into the local church. This thesis argues that by introducing the concept of ecumenism to local congregations, leaders can initiate change that has far-reaching impacts across all areas of life.

Many Christians struggle to be significantly formed by their faith through the traditional practices and ministries of the local church. The prevalence and power of competing voices in our culture create exhaustion and fragmentation. Busy schedules, work demands, and extracurricular activities add to this struggle, monopolizing many households’ time and availability. Acknowledging the continual decline in church attendance and engagement across denominational affiliations and traditions, and current research that clearly reveals the necessity of the institutional church for faith development, I will explore some of the ways the church can begin shifting its faith formation practices to help congregants rediscover the deep center of their being in Christ and grow in their faith.

Mining the depths of the Christian tradition, I will explore how the church can expand its educational ministries by reinstituting the ancient process of catechesis, which is how the church practiced faith formation for its first three centuries of existence. Arguing that the home is the primary source of faith and values, I will provide the church a method for extending the catechumenate outside the walls of the church by equipping families for the work of faith formation in the home.

Drawing from deep within the well of church history, I will examine the core Christian values of early monastic rules that believers must develop in order to participate in the life and mission of Jesus. Utilizing Aristotle’s process for cultivating virtues, I will examine the spiritual disciplines and shared practices of Augustine’s and Benedict’s rules to provide concrete steps for habituating the core Christian values in the lives of believers. As these values are fostered in the homes of believers, Christ can begin to transform their lives from the inside out. What I am proposing is an accessible method for churches to begin equipping families for how to live more fully in the way of Jesus that allows them to experience the abundance (John 10:10) that Christ promised in their homes and wherever they go.

I have observed that contemporary Christian believers and churches often have distorted views of the meaning of faith as they seek to live out their Christian life. Such distorted views can translate into a variety of forms. For example, the phrase “the faith” may collectively denote a set of doctrines or theological beliefs. It is also adopted by the prosperity gospel movement to attain health and wealth. So, how does one learn the true meaning of faith as expressed in the New Testament and avoid the distortions in today’s Christendom?This thesis looks at the lived-out definition of faith as expressed in the book Fear and Trembling, written by Søren Kierkegaard under the pseudonym Johannes de silentio. In this book, the author uses the narrative of Abraham and Isaac in the Akedah to define the concept of faith, and he states that he has never met a person with the kind of faith that Abraham possessed. However, across the North Sea, in Bristol (England), there was a contemporary of Kierkegaard whose name was George Müller. His autobiography and the annual reports published to document the donations in support of his orphanages, schools, and missionary efforts that he had received through the power of his prayers describe well his life of faith. Last year, I published a novel featuring a fictionalized George Müller set in the twenty-first century. This contemporary setting makes this exceptional character accessible to today’s culture and society while preserving the original meaning of his mission and his faith in God. My novel was positively received and “inspired” a film that is currently being developed for release in 2023. The methodology that I employ to communicate the meaning of faith to Christians consists of a teaching model for small groups known as generational mentoring. Gregory Scott Massey developed this model in his 2019 dissertation Generational Mentoring: Using Past Saints as Present Examples. As the title suggests, the author uses small groups as a setting where Christians can learn specific character qualities from the model of Christians from the past who exemplified such qualities. I have included five chapters of an original workbook designed for small groups which help leaders teach the meaning of faith: (i) as defined by Søren Kierkegaard in Fear and Trembling through the life of Abraham, and (ii) as was lived out by George Müller, both the real nineteenth-century man and the contemporary fictional character from my novel.  

This dissertation is a historical and theological investigation of one of the first American missionary women, Ann Hasseltine Judson. This project follows the recent historical shift in international and mission history toward questions of engagement, agency, and exchange to elucidate shifting identities and relational negotiation along the lines of gender, nationality, and community. Ann Judson engaged in a process of detachment and identification, or uprooting and replanting, from her formative context in the United States to her new home in Burma. Ann Judson used devotional habits and theological rationale to uproot herself from the United States and create a critical distance in order to open herself to replant in her new mission field. Her preparations to uproot guided Ann toward the type of mission Burma might offer, and included a shift in her religious tradition from Congregationalist to Baptist. Ann's change to the Baptists widened her circle of supporters, as she added a network of women's societies, congregations, and the newly formed national Baptist Triennial Convention.

Methodological tools of sociological identification, gender history, women's history, and practice theories assist to elucidate Ann's personal agency, organizing principles, and efforts to encourage the agency of others within the American Baptist Mission to Burma. Ann engaged in her context and social relations to construct and shape mission practices. She extended formative knowledge into complex practices of home- and church-making. Ann's organization of practices focused on her two goals: to establish a stable life in Burma and to participate in the birth of the Burmese church. As a foreigner, Ann sought good civic relations and the ability to openly spread Christianity with her practices of household economy and missionary diplomacy. As a missionary, Ann fashioned the practices of catechesis and community cultivation to connect and guide religious inquirers, and enable the agency and responsibility of Burmese converts within the congregation. Her theology of redemption and religious affections tinted every attempt to make sense of her environment, experience, and encounter, and she also crafted a theology of mission for the West in her historical account of the American Baptist Mission to Burma.

Abstract

Christian community development (CCD) practitioners are a growing body of contemporary Christian servant-leaders, who are committed to building beloved community in neighborhoods labeled as “under-resourced” across the country. In September 2014, nearly 3,000 CCD proponents, pastors, practitioners, and students from all across the U.S. and oversees gathered for the 26th Annual Christian Community Development Association National Conference in Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina. The theme for the conference was “flourishing.”

During the 12 months preceding the 4-day conference event, local church, and community leaders from Raleigh-Durham and vicinity gathered monthly to build relationships, plan, and coordinate the logistics. The conference provided a fresh opportunity for the Durham community to examine and consider the state of relations between the local church and the community. Local conference organizers comprised of clergy, lay persons, CEOs, executive directors of non-profit organizations, government workers, and independent residents promised to continue to meet to build upon learnings, strategize community initiatives, and seek to unify the Body of Christ in Durham.

This thesis draws upon the principles and practices espoused by CCDA and deals specifically with the lived experiences of Christian servants, churches, and institutions seeking to do good in Northeast Central Durham. The questions explored and claims made in this thesis deal with whether there is sufficient historical evidence for real community flourishing in NECD through holistic church-based community engagement. The period from 1994 – 2014 serves as the historical frame of this project while the project’s sociological scope is conscribed within a specific, 4 square-mile area of NECD.

Theologically, this thesis is grounded in the leadership concept of priestly listening and faithful Christian witness inspired by prophetic hope and practical models of church and community mutual enrichment. The core claim and final move of this thesis is that faithful and effective works of love are bound to emerge in NECD either through one or several local churches with the right catalysts. This final project illumines the embers of hope in the midst of painful realities whereby independent Christian efforts and congregational activities have and have yet to be the most powerful agents of change in ways that politicians and city governments cannot fathom. DurhamCares, Inc., a Christian non-profit organization emerges to work strategically for church-based mobilization initiatives collaborating with the community toward collective action in cooperation with government, businesses, and area non-profit organizations. There is a heightened sense of urgency in the city as tragedies in other cities draw nationwide lament and protest for justice.

Through a humble posture of listening to the community and responding faithfully to calls to action, local churches can lead the way to holistic solutions in action that address their community’s most pressing problems and highest aspirations. NECD is a vibrant playground for just such consideration and hope.

The following work explores identity from overlapping vantage points; biblical/theological, historical and practical to establish a robust understanding of identity in our present time. This thesis explores the ontological elements of God and the meaning of “image bearer” through Scripture in Genesis 1-2; Psalm 8; an overview of Wisdom Literature in Job and Ecclesiastes; and the New Testament in Ephesians and Colossians. From a historical view, this thesis focuses on the work of St. Augustine and how humanity was “naturally created” in the imago Dei. Even those that are not Christ followers share in the imago Dei, as hidden as it may be, to be discovered and set free. Through this process, we see holiness (in contradistinction to morality) as foundational to our existence and reflective of God. Holiness is expressed through love in its proper order. For Augustine, our love of God conditions our love for all other things. This establishes an objective starting point, fundamental to all Christians, a proper understanding and embodiment of the Great Commandment. Finally, by practically applying a fresh understanding of one’s identity, humanity has an opportunity to thrive by acknowledging the positive implications of the embracing and embodiment of the imago Dei.The primary methodology of this thesis is through interpreting Scripture in light of the question, “what does it mean to be created in the imago Dei?” Using the work of the early Church Fathers such as Ambrose and Augustine give interpretive grounding to passages in both Old and New Testaments. Reading both primary and secondary sources on the imago Dei and its impact upon humankind and specifically the Church. Lastly, incorporating and integrating the work of modern psychology in understanding the modern person in light of the creative work of God in the beginning to our current day.

The following work explores identity from overlapping vantage points; biblical/theological, historical and practical to establish a robust understanding of identity in our present time. This thesis explores the ontological elements of God and the meaning of “image bearer” through Scripture in Genesis 1-2; Psalm 8; an overview of Wisdom Literature in Job and Ecclesiastes; and the New Testament in Ephesians and Colossians. From a historical view, this thesis focuses on the work of St. Augustine and how humanity was “naturally created” in the imago Dei. Even those that are not Christ followers share in the imago Dei, as hidden as it may be, to be discovered and set free. Through this process, we see holiness (in contradistinction to morality) as foundational to our existence and reflective of God. Holiness is expressed through love in its proper order. For Augustine, our love of God conditions our love for all other things. This establishes an objective starting point, fundamental to all Christians, a proper understanding and embodiment of the Great Commandment. Finally, by practically applying a fresh understanding of one’s identity, humanity has an opportunity to thrive by acknowledging the positive implications of the embracing and embodiment of the imago Dei.The primary methodology of this thesis is through interpreting Scripture in light of the question, “what does it mean to be created in the imago Dei?” Using the work of the early Church Fathers such as Ambrose and Augustine give interpretive grounding to passages in both Old and New Testaments. Reading both primary and secondary sources on the imago Dei and its impact upon humankind and specifically the Church. Lastly, incorporating and integrating the work of modern psychology in understanding the modern person in light of the creative work of God in the beginning to our current day.

Abstract

How do churches thrive after they have experienced trauma caused by clergy sexual misconduct, especially in a denomination that does not provide uniform protocol and processes for a response, education, and prevention? This paper addresses the problem of clergy sexual misconduct, its impact on the entire congregation, and the role of specialized interim pastors within the context of the American Baptist Churches-USA. It examines the post-traumatic impact of this kind of breach on the local church.

This paper persuades the reader that the afterpastor, who is gifted and called to this specialized interim ministry of healing for the purpose of discerning and gathering resources to restore the church, is especially crucial in ABC churches. In the absence of a judicatory body, the afterpastor carries the responsibility to develop and implement a strategic plan that reconnects the congregation to God and to each other. Researching denominational missteps and other denominations’ responses to clergy sexual misconduct as well as case studies, led to new ways of considering a response to clergy sexual misconduct for ABC churches. Moreover, this paper proposes a collaborative leadership that includes region support and a restoration team which is critical to the success of the afterpastor and the renewal of a post-traumatic congregation. An appendix provides a resource guide for ABC churches and afterpastors to use in responding to clergy sexual misconduct.

ABSTRACT

The subject of this thesis is identifying and repairing areas of broken relationships within church leadership community. Church leaders hold in tension the notion of serving while not being served. Leaders serve the church, offering spiritual nurture and care of the congregation, while enduring the effects of broken fellowship among their colleagues. The church’s vision of leaders serving together without consideration of their emotional and spiritual needs, miss a crucial element in maintaining the well-being of the leadership community. Healthy communities give personal attention to its members, they have real conversations in the hard places, and they remain connected to their group to work through their conflicts. This thesis brings forward the argument that congregational leaders can move from a picture of fragmented interrelationships to genuine Christian unity by introducing lessons that raise their awareness of the value and gift of community. The lessons designed focus on drawing people together by honoring our differences, as we locate our sameness within our shared Christian identity. As a result of committing to the real work of repairing relationships, and dismantling the disingenuous, we find a more authentic spiritual life in community.

ABSTRACT

This thesis touches on several massive themes within Christian theology, including questions of ecclesiology, eschatology, soteriology, and missiology. Yet it is grounded in a very real and practical question. What definition of the church should guide me, as the senior pastor of an incredibly diverse Sabbath-keeping local church in the Seventh-day Adventism denomination,as we develop the strategic vision for this next season of ministry, and decide how we want to fund those goals. What should the “markers” of the church be?

In order to help narrow my focus, I will explore this question in four parts. In Chapter 1, I provide a brief history of Seventh-day Adventism, with a specific focus on the development of the doctrine of the Sabbath and the doctrine of the church, such as it is. In Chapter 2, I turn more directly to various models of the church. Using Avery Dulles as a conversation partner in hiswork Models of the Church, I examine Adventism in the light of some of the most prominent models and note which of these Adventism seems to lean towards. I then recommend a new eschatological understanding of the church that I believe could be uniquely well-suited for Adventism.

In Chapter 3 I turn to the question of the Sabbath. Given that Sabbath-keeping is considered a marker of faithfulness for most Seventh-day Adventists, I propose that the biblical Sabbath has always been about more than humanity’s faithfulness, and that the Sabbath should be seen instead primarily as a pointer to the purpose and faithfulness of God. Drawing from Sigve Tonstad’s book The Lost Meaning of the Seventh Day, I suggest a reframed understanding of the Sabbath that includes seeing the Sabbath as an indicator of God’s future purpose promised from the very beginning of creation. I suggest that the Sabbath can best be seen as a promise, grounded in the past, pointing to the future, that shapes and directs the present.

Finally, in Chapter 4, I consider how the idea of the “church as foretaste” and “Sabbath as promise” could shape the lived reality of a local community, and recommend some practices that we as a local church could explore that would help us better embody the coming kingdom of God.

Questions about the nature, purpose, and mission of the church have been asked and answered and asked again for generations. Most recently, the coronavirus pandemic has caused the longest disruption to the regular rhythms and practices of the church in recent memory. Clergy and laity alike are wondering, as we imagine what a post-pandemic life will look like, justwhat impact this new reality will have on the church, which practices will stay the same, and which will shift. A season of new beginnings is an excellent time to reconsider old assumptions, and to recalibrate where needed.

It is my hope that this thesis will be helpful in three ways. First, I hope for it to be helpful on the local church level, especially for Sabbath-keeping churches interested in a reframed perspective on the Sabbath that moves it beyond a question of obedience, to a question of meaning, liberation, and purpose. Secondly, I hope to contribute to the much needed and growing conversation within Seventh-day Adventism regarding Adventist ecclesiology. Over the past two decades, Adventist scholars have become increasingly convinced of the need to further develop our ecclesiology, but it is still a relatively recent field of study within the denomination. This thesis will offer a reframed understanding of Sabbath-keeping that is linked to an eschatologically-shaped ecclesiology.

Finally, I hope this thesis will have something to offer to the broader Christian community. The biblical concept of the Sabbath has experienced something of a renaissance in the wider Christian conversations over the past half-century. The Sabbath has been linked to creation and as a potential response to the environmental crisis; to economics, debt relief and jubilee; and to emancipation, messianic ethics, and spiritual formation. Yet while many of these Christian authors draw on themes inherent in the biblical Sabbath, very few of them have lived in communities already profoundly shaped by its counter-cultural power. We as Adventists are deeply indebted to the gift of the Sabbath; it is my hope that our lived reality can provide inspiration to others.

A precise definition for Christian spiritual formation is elusive and how it is described varies from one faith tradition to another. It also varies over periods of time, as a faith community meets the challenges which they encounter. One of the primary roles of pastoral leaders is to “make disciples” of Jesus Christ by communicating and embedding the essentials of the Christian faith into the lives of congregants and to evaluate the spiritual formation process, which guides them into spiritual maturity. Historically, methodologies concerning Christian spiritual formation have approached spiritual development in one of three ways: through ideas, through embodied habits and practices, or a combination of both.

This thesis traces spiritual formation in the African American Baptist tradition from the early twentieth century to modern time by using a typology which describes the combination of African American Baptist religious thoughts and ideas as well as the spiritual habits and practices they embodied. The spiritual formation types discussed are social, evangelical, and contemplative. Each spiritual formation type offers its own fundamental precepts from Christian Scripture, tradition, and doctrine and guides spiritual development towards a specific destination or purpose. The primary context for this research is African American Baptist churches; however, it will be drawing upon resources from the wider scope of Baptists in America and American Christianity. The questions raised in this thesis are whether there is a typology for spiritual formation that describes African American Baptist spirituality and is there a way to discern the spiritual formation types as useful indicators for guiding pastoral leadership, administration, and management. This thesis makes connections between the spiritual formation types and biblical leadership motifs in order to place spiritual formation into conversation with pastoral leadership, in hopes of discovering new ways to understand and serve the spiritual need of the congregation and community.

The methodology of this thesis employs qualitative research which includes church historical records, literary and scholarly journals, autobiographical resources, and contemporary internet source material. The theological approach taken in the thesis is to consider the hermeneutical lens that is being used by the pastoral leader, church, or Baptist organization and view the telos from their point of view. This thesis does not argue for one spiritual formation type over another but rather argues that African American Baptist spirituality utilizes all three types, most times simultaneously, but one is usually predominate with respect to the others. The claim that is made is that by discerning the spiritual formation type, pastoral leadership is empowered with insight on how to best guide and nurture spiritual formation in African American Baptist churches.

This thesis project focuses on preaching a robust theology of the cross. This work was born out of a desire to envision and enable preaching shaped by a theology of the cross that acknowledges historic theologies of the atonement, while also being informed by contemporary voices that have served to broaden the church’s understanding of God’s saving act through the cross of Jesus Christ.

A robust theology of the cross seeks to identify those aspects of atonement theologies that have been co-opted by oppressive power structures, recognizing the deeply problematic ways that theologies of the cross have supported the oppression of the weakest and most vulnerable among us. This project seeks to bring voices into the conversation that have often been marginalized in hopes of a more inclusive and faithful theology of the cross.

The methodology for this thesis reflects research through the exploration of a variety of available literary resources, engaging theologians representative of differing historic and contemporary views on the cross. In addition to surveying traditional atonement theories that have been fundamental to the church’s understanding historically, the contributions of black, liberation and feminist theologians have been engaged to develop a deeper understanding and more robust theology of the cross.

After engaging with a variety of theologians in search of a more comprehensive theology of the cross, this thesis explores the implications of a robust cruciform theology for contemporary preaching. In the final chapter I offer some examples of my own pulpit ministry that have been informed by this project.

Through engaging traditional and contemporary theologians, I have come to appreciate more fully the overlapping of theological motifs and images of the cross that are provided through the biblical narratives. This work has left me with a clear understanding that to claim one particular atonement theory to the exclusion of all others hampers any hope of developing a rich and robust theology of the cross.

The theological perspectives encountered in this work have had an impact on my life and ministry. The Christus Victor views of Gustaf Aulen have greatly expanded my understanding of Christ’s conquering work over against the principalities and powers, while the work of Charles Campbell has greatly impacted my understanding of preaching’s role in leading congregations toward a posture of resistance against the powers.

Black, liberation and feminist theologians have offered valuable critiques of traditional atonement theories, theories that have often been mishandled by the powerful, becoming tools of oppression against the weak and vulnerable. I believe my use of theological language is more faithful and sensitive thanks to their witness.

I’ve come to a deeper appreciation of the role solidarity plays in a faithful Christian witness. This work has revealed to me more fully that cross-bearing discipleship requires standing in solidarity with those who suffer unjustly, while joining in the struggle against all forms of injustice. I realize now that to stand in solidarity with the One whose death on the cross is the supreme act of solidarity with human suffering is to stand in solidarity with those who suffer, especially the weakest and most vulnerable.

I now see more clearly that the cross provides a way of seeing. To see my neighbors through the lens of the cross is to see their suffering, to see the results of injustice and to see my own complicity with systemic and institutional barriers to life-giving wholeness and freedom for all people.

This project was born out of a desire to engage in a pulpit ministry that enables and empowers a cruciform congregational character. Through this thesis project, I have come to believe more strongly than ever that faithful cross-shaped preaching is essential to casting a vision that supports a way of seeing and knowing that can open the hearts and minds of thoughtful Christian disciples, stirring imaginations to consider what it means to take up one’s cross and follow Jesus.

This thesis project focuses on preaching a robust theology of the cross. This work was born out of a desire to envision and enable preaching shaped by a theology of the cross that acknowledges historic theologies of the atonement, while also being informed by contemporary voices that have served to broaden the church’s understanding of God’s saving act through the cross of Jesus Christ.

A robust theology of the cross seeks to identify those aspects of atonement theologies that have been co-opted by oppressive power structures, recognizing the deeply problematic ways that theologies of the cross have supported the oppression of the weakest and most vulnerable among us. This project seeks to bring voices into the conversation that have often been marginalized in hopes of a more inclusive and faithful theology of the cross.

The methodology for this thesis reflects research through the exploration of a variety of available literary resources, engaging theologians representative of differing historic and contemporary views on the cross. In addition to surveying traditional atonement theories that have been fundamental to the church’s understanding historically, the contributions of black, liberation and feminist theologians have been engaged to develop a deeper understanding and more robust theology of the cross.

After engaging with a variety of theologians in search of a more comprehensive theology of the cross, this thesis explores the implications of a robust cruciform theology for contemporary preaching. In the final chapter I offer some examples of my own pulpit ministry that have been informed by this project.

Through engaging traditional and contemporary theologians, I have come to appreciate more fully the overlapping of theological motifs and images of the cross that are provided through the biblical narratives. This work has left me with a clear understanding that to claim one particular atonement theory to the exclusion of all others hampers any hope of developing a rich and robust theology of the cross.

The theological perspectives encountered in this work have had an impact on my life and ministry. The Christus Victor views of Gustaf Aulen have greatly expanded my understanding of Christ’s conquering work over against the principalities and powers, while the work of Charles Campbell has greatly impacted my understanding of preaching’s role in leading congregations toward a posture of resistance against the powers.

Black, liberation and feminist theologians have offered valuable critiques of traditional atonement theories, theories that have often been mishandled by the powerful, becoming tools of oppression against the weak and vulnerable. I believe my use of theological language is more faithful and sensitive thanks to their witness.

I’ve come to a deeper appreciation of the role solidarity plays in a faithful Christian witness. This work has revealed to me more fully that cross-bearing discipleship requires standing in solidarity with those who suffer unjustly, while joining in the struggle against all forms of injustice. I realize now that to stand in solidarity with the One whose death on the cross is the supreme act of solidarity with human suffering is to stand in solidarity with those who suffer, especially the weakest and most vulnerable.

I now see more clearly that the cross provides a way of seeing. To see my neighbors through the lens of the cross is to see their suffering, to see the results of injustice and to see my own complicity with systemic and institutional barriers to life-giving wholeness and freedom for all people.

This project was born out of a desire to engage in a pulpit ministry that enables and empowers a cruciform congregational character. Through this thesis project, I have come to believe more strongly than ever that faithful cross-shaped preaching is essential to casting a vision that supports a way of seeing and knowing that can open the hearts and minds of thoughtful Christian disciples, stirring imaginations to consider what it means to take up one’s cross and follow Jesus.

Church leaders, both lay and clergy, shape Christian community. Among their central tasks are: building communal identity, nurturing Christian practices, and developing faithful structures. When it comes to understanding the approach of the earliest Christian communities to these tasks, the Didache might well be the most important text most twenty-first century church leaders have never read. The Didache innovated on tradition, shaping the second generation of Christians to meet the crises and challenges of a changing world.

Most likely composed in the second half of the first century, the Didache served as a training manual for gentile converts to Christianity, preparing them for life in Christian community. This brief document, roughly one third the length of Mark’s gospel, developed within early Jewish-Christian communities. It soon found wide usage throughout the Mediterranean region, and its influence endured throughout the patristic and into the medieval period.

The Didache outlines emerging Christian practices that were rooted in both Jewish tradition and early Jesus material, yet were reaching forward in innovative ways. The Didache adopts historical teachings and practices and then adapts them for an evolving context. In this respect, the writers of the Didache, as well as the community shaped by its message, exemplify the pattern of thinking described by Greg Jones as “traditioned innovation.”

The Didache invites reflection on the shape and content of Christian community and Christian leadership in the twenty-first century. As churches and church leaders engage a rapidly changing world, the Didache is an unlikely and yet important conversation partner from two millennia ago. A quick read through its pages – a task accomplished in less than half an hour – brings the reader face to face with a brand of Christianity both very familiar and strikingly dissimilar to modern Christianity. Such dissonance challenges current assumptions about the church and creates a space in which to re-imagine our situation in light of this ancient Christian tradition. The Didache provides a window through which we might re-examine current conceptualizations of Christian life, liturgy, and leadership.

This thesis begins with an exploration of the form and function of the Didache and an examination of a number of important background issues for the informed study of the Didache. The central chapters of this thesis exegete and explore select passages in each of the three primary sections of the Didache – the Two Ways (Didache 1-6), the liturgical section (Didache 7-10), and the church order (Didache 11-15). In each instance, the composers of the Didache reach back into a cherished and life-giving aspect of the community’s heritage and shape it anew into a fresh and faithful approach to living the Christian life in a drastically different context.

The thesis concludes with three suggestions of how the Didache may provide a resource for the way the Church in the present thinks about training disciples, shaping community, and developing leadership structures. These conversation starters offer beginning points for a richer, fuller discussion of traditioned innovation in our current church context. The Didache provides a source of wisdom from our spiritual forebears that modern Christian leaders would do well not to ignore. With a look through the first century window of the Didache, twenty-first century Christians can discover fresh insights for shaping Christian community in the present.

This dissertation investigates the interpretation of Karl Barth’s ecclesiology from 1927 through 2015. The history of interpretation of Karl Barth’s ecclesiology has never been attempted in such a comprehensive way as what is attempted in this dissertation. That is its basic contribution.

The primary argument of the dissertation is that Barth’s ecclesiology has been mischaracterized in five different ways. The investigation reveals that Karl Barth’s ecclesiology has thrilled and puzzled interpreters. They end up characterizing Barth in a largely appreciative way or dismissive way but in whatever way, it is reductive. When all the secondary literature is investigated it is revealed that Sacramental interpreters applaud the fierceness with which he defends the importance of the church in the midst of a confused world but are disturbed by what they perceive to be his lack of attention to the institutional church. Free Church interpreters gloat in his denunciation of infant baptism and his preference for congregational polity but wonder why he is not even more firmly congregationalist. Architectonic interpreters bask in the genius of his Trinitarian and Christological descriptions of the church but then criticize him when he does not hew to their elegant explanations. Actualistic interpreters, disenchanted with the institutional church, relish his attacks on religion in his early commentaries on Romans but ignore that he calls his magnum opus, the Church Dogmatics. Missionary interpreters trumpet his emphasis on witness but play down his obsessive denunciation of syncretism. When all of this is seen, it becomes clear that Barth’s ecclesiology defies easy characterization. The specific evidence for different characterizations are identified and analyzed in light of what Barth really said. Sometimes the characterizations are due to a misreading of what Barth was saying. Other times Barth’s interpreters have identified an isolated statement that Barth developed elsewhere more adequately. The great advantage of this close analysis is to convey the complexity and nuance of ecclesiology. Someone who generally shares Barth’s approach to ecclesiology may learn what objections may be posed by other church traditions. For people critical of Barth’s ecclesiology, they can more adequately weigh whether indeed their critiques are well-founded.

The secondary argument of the dissertation, impossible to prove, is that Karl Barth’s ecclesiology is reasonably solid ecclesiology. The dissertation seeks to take seriously the major accusations hurled at his ecclesiology and they are found wanting. The dissertation concludes with what Barth wanted the church to be—over against the five schools of interpretation—practicing, local, catholic, confessing, and witnessing.

Loneliness is a common and near-universal experience that causes us to feel isolated and disconnected from others. More and more Americans experience it most or all the time. With at least 30% of the US population experiencing loneliness and 10% of lonely people suffering deeply, even before the Covid-19 pandemic set upon us in 2020, the loneliness epidemic is an issue that the whole society, including Christian communities, needs to combat. In a capitalist society that emphasizes individual freedom, autonomy, and productivity, we continue to experience economic prosperity and advancements in fields like healthcare and communication technology. At the same time, we have become more self-focused and mistrusting, while polarizing political divisions are growing ever wider. Fewer people join in social communities like church groups and sports teams, and an average person’s social network is declining. As a result, Americans are increasingly disconnected from friends, family, and neighbors. Loneliness tends to happen due to transitions such as aging, singleness, bereavements, disconnections, and a lack of connectedness, of community, and of belonging. There is a myth that elderly people are the loneliest group; the truth, however, is that young adults are the loneliest. This ongoing public crisis is not only causing people to suffer silently but also killing them literally, and the general public is not aware of it. Members of the lonely society are longing for acceptance, purpose, and love, and what they need are meaningful interpersonal relationships. Although Christ has called Christians to share the gospel and participate in his ministry of caring those who suffer and are in need, Christian communities in America are not ready to tackle the issue of loneliness. In order for them to tackle it, they must change their lens on loneliness, because it is often considered bad or undesirable by Christians. How can Christian communities create meaningful connections and transform loneliness into belonging? At the heart of the loneliness epidemic is the lack of meaningful relationships. The loneliness epidemic is a reminder that living a self-centered life is not life-giving nor sustaining. The fact that we have the loneliness epidemic despite the many opportunities to connect with one another is a reminder that we not only need stronger connections with one another, but also a deeper connection with our Creator. The loneliness epidemic is also a reminder that members of Christian communities cannot be complacent but must follow Jesus in their neighborhoods and reach out to those who are in need, including the lonely. I research loneliness from three perspectives: philosophy/theology, mental/emotional/physical/spiritual health, and the intersection of religion and health. In doing so, I explore the issues that can be beneficial to Christian communities in responding to the loneliness epidemic. I focus my research on such issues as how loneliness has an impact on individuals mentally, emotionally, physically, and spiritually; how loneliness affects demographics like young adults, the elderly, and Christian leaders; the role of psychotherapy and other interventions and approaches for reducing loneliness; and the necessary actions members of Christian communities and leaders can take part in against the loneliness epidemic. I explore the nature and dangers of loneliness from the perspectives of contemporary researchers on loneliness and theologians like Augustine of Hippo (354-430), Thomas Aquinas (1224 – 1274), and John of the Cross (1542-1591).

How do churches change? In the life of congregations, collective identity informs congregational practice which, in turn, informs collective identity, forming a reinforcing loop that artificially prevents congregations from making significant changes to their congregational practice. To change the practices would be to change the identity, and to change the identity would be to change the practices.This thesis explores the interaction of collective identity, congregational practice, and change. After a review of pertinent scholarship concerning organizational and congregational change, this study provides an in-depth analysis of three churches that have made significant changes to their congregational practice in the last decade. Employing a multiple case study methodology, the actions of these congregations are compared to one another and to existing change literature. In the end, these three congregations demonstrate how the effective use of engaging with their histories to re-story their present collective identities allowed them to meet these new changes in a way that fits with their identities. Rather than preventing them from making significant changes, the reinforcing loop of collective identity and congregational practice propelled them.