Browsing by Subject "character"
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Item Open Access A Matter of the Heart: Developing Empathic Skills in Church Teachers(2020) Andrews, Michael WayneChristian teachers lead godly change in the lives of people whom they influence. The preparation of people to lead as teachers in the church requires the development of inner character that is consistent with Christian purposes. One of the fundamental attributes of this sort of character is empathy because it engages the heart in all of its dimensions. My argument in this thesis is that the qualities of empathy can be used as a means to highlight specific practices and skills that Christian teachers need. Helping Christian teachers to cultivate such practices and skills provides them with a more sustainable foundation than any set of teaching techniques found in teacher training materials. This approach enables the church’s education program to effectively shape people’s hearts to follow Christ and serve one another.
Drawing upon a broad selection of literature that includes narrative theology, adult educational philosophies, developmental psychology, and business leadership perspectives, this study begins by examining the nature of empathy and spiritual practices. I propose that a teaching ministry is most effective when it encompasses two specific practices that cultivate identity and integrity. A practice of formative presence highlights the incarnational nature of the teacher’s role and identity, and a practice of resilient trust establishes a framework for building and sustaining integrity. Both of these are patterns of communal action in which the benefits of God’s presence and power are made available to people. Furthermore, these practices depend on some underlying skills that help Christian teachers develop empathy. My discussion includes three specific skills: reception is a collaboration between people that communicates acceptance and understanding; reflection is a way of fostering shared meaning-making; and response is a type of action that expresses accountability with collective wisdom. When these practices and skills are wrapped in empathy and empowered by God’s Spirit, godly character and shared learning are cultivated in both teachers and students.
Item Open Access A Matter of the Heart: Developing Empathic Skills in Church Teachers(2020) Andrews, Michael WayneChristian teachers lead godly change in the lives of people whom they influence. The preparation of people to lead as teachers in the church requires the development of inner character that is consistent with Christian purposes. One of the fundamental attributes of this sort of character is empathy because it engages the heart in all of its dimensions. My argument in this thesis is that the qualities of empathy can be used as a means to highlight specific practices and skills that Christian teachers need. Helping Christian teachers to cultivate such practices and skills provides them with a more sustainable foundation than any set of teaching techniques found in teacher training materials. This approach enables the church’s education program to effectively shape people’s hearts to follow Christ and serve one another.
Drawing upon a broad selection of literature that includes narrative theology, adult educational philosophies, developmental psychology, and business leadership perspectives, this study begins by examining the nature of empathy and spiritual practices. I propose that a teaching ministry is most effective when it encompasses two specific practices that cultivate identity and integrity. A practice of formative presence highlights the incarnational nature of the teacher’s role and identity, and a practice of resilient trust establishes a framework for building and sustaining integrity. Both of these are patterns of communal action in which the benefits of God’s presence and power are made available to people. Furthermore, these practices depend on some underlying skills that help Christian teachers develop empathy. My discussion includes three specific skills: reception is a collaboration between people that communicates acceptance and understanding; reflection is a way of fostering shared meaning-making; and response is a type of action that expresses accountability with collective wisdom. When these practices and skills are wrapped in empathy and empowered by God’s Spirit, godly character and shared learning are cultivated in both teachers and students.
Item Open Access An Honest Dissertation: Exploring the Roles of Culture and Character in Shaping Individual Dishonesty(2015) Mann, HeatherThe question of what leads an individual to act dishonestly interests researchers, policy-makers, and lay-people alike. While a growing body of research suggests that dishonest behavior is typically limited, and reflects a balance of internal and external incentives, important questions remain unanswered. To what extent is honest behavior guided by stable, internal factors (i.e. moral character), and to what extent is it shaped by situational factors? This question is the subject of continuing and recently revived debate. To what extent do socio-cultural factors impact dishonesty, and to what extent is dishonesty universal? Casual observation suggests significant cross-cultural variation in terms of specific dishonest behaviors (e.g. soliciting bribes), but this source of variation has received little research attention. In five related research chapters encompassing three studies, I explore questions about character and culture using empirical research methods. Using a behavioral die task, I find similar patterns of dishonest behavior across individuals from different countries, though within-country differences are also observed. Using survey data, I find that internal sanctions are the most important deterrent of dishonesty across cultures. In addition, I find that that specific dishonest behaviors vary across cultures, and according to domains. Domain-specific dishonesty and socio-cultural influences are also evident in a study involving socially connected pairs of individuals. I conclude that dishonest tendencies may be best characterized as both universal and culturally sensitive. Furthermore, moral character may be construed as a multidimensional construct, expressed differently across different domains of life.
Item Open Access Irresistible Reasons, Immovable Minds, and the Miracle of Rational Persuasion(2014) Martin, StephenMy dissertation is about good arguments and why they fail to persuade. Besides being a common experience of everyday life, this is an old worry of Plato's that continues to motivate two contemporary lines of research. The first concerns what makes something a good argument, and the second concerns what a mind must be like to be moved by one. Together, these lines guide my project and divide it into two parts. Part I is about good reasons, specifically epistemic reasons. In my first chapter, I defend epistemic instrumentalism, the position that epistemic reasons are good reasons only relative to one's epistemic preferences. I acknowledge that epistemic instrumentalism opens the door to a terrible proliferation of incompatible preferences, but claim that this is merely a potential problem, and not an actual problem to be solved. In my second chapter, I discuss the nature of reasonhood, and argue, contrary to orthodoxy, that there is no compelling reason to accept the skeptic's claim that, because of the inconsistency of three very basic epistemic preferences, it is impossible for any position to be conclusively safe to hold. Part II is about immovable minds. Immovable minds are minds that are unpersuaded by good reasons. In my third chapter, I argue that for good reasons to be persuasive, the properties that make them good reasons must be identified, through habituation, with other desirable qualities like pleasure or success. Identifying the merits of good reasons with other rewards cultivates intellectual character, and intellectual character, as I argue in my final chapter, remains worth cultivating, notwithstanding situationist doubts about the existence of character and intuitionist concerns about human rationality.
Item Open Access The Rediscovery of Resident Aliens – the Virtuous Leadership of Shaping God’s Faithful People: Implications for the Korean Churches of the 21st Century(2021) Kim, DaweThis thesis presents the ecclesiology of Resident Aliens as an alternative to overcome the crisis of the Korean church and focuses on the ways to establish a Christian community through “virtuous leadership”. This thesis points out the crisis situations facing Korean churches in the 21st century as a culture of quantitative growthism, secularization, an increase in “dones (Ga-na-an saints or group)”, “nones”, and a fall in credibility. This thesis compares and analyzes solutions to those crises and various ecclesiology proposed during the last 20th century and demonstrates why the community-centered and countercultural church model shown in Resident Aliens is still how biblically viable, relevant, and balanced it is. Furthermore, this thesis recognizes that the essence of the crisis of the church is not the lack of out-reach to the world, but of Christians who are not sufficiently equipped with virtues. Therefore, this thesis suggests ways to shape God's faithful people through the virtuous leadership.
Item Open Access The Rediscovery of Resident Aliens – the Virtuous Leadership of Shaping God’s Faithful People: Implications for the Korean Churches of the 21st Century(2021) Kim, DaweThis thesis presents the ecclesiology of Resident Aliens as an alternative to overcome the crisis of the Korean church and focuses on the ways to establish a Christian community through “virtuous leadership”. This thesis points out the crisis situations facing Korean churches in the 21st century as a culture of quantitative growthism, secularization, an increase in “dones (Ga-na-an saints or group)”, “nones”, and a fall in credibility. This thesis compares and analyzes solutions to those crises and various ecclesiology proposed during the last 20th century and demonstrates why the community-centered and countercultural church model shown in Resident Aliens is still how biblically viable, relevant, and balanced it is. Furthermore, this thesis recognizes that the essence of the crisis of the church is not the lack of out-reach to the world, but of Christians who are not sufficiently equipped with virtues. Therefore, this thesis suggests ways to shape God's faithful people through the virtuous leadership.