Browsing Divinity School by Submit Date
Now showing items 1-20 of 264
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“All We Had Was God and Each Other”: How the Transformational Leadership of Black Clergywomen Disrupts Male Dominance and Patriarchal Normativity in the Black Church
(2022)Despite the significant contributions made by African American women since the Black Church's founding, titles like pastor, bishop, and reverend for centuries have been freely awarded to men while being restricted to women. ... -
Playing Along with Esther: What Christian Readers Can Learn from Jews
(2022)In this dissertation, I attend to historical receptions of Esther MT to illustrate problematic trends in the Christian use of the book and to identify avenues for the development of ethically responsible modern Christian ... -
The Mystery of Christ in You: Christology, Anthropology, and Participation in Thomas Aquinas and John Wesley
(2022-08)The subject of Christological approaches to theological anthropology has been a renewed area of study for biblical and theological scholarship in recent years. While Marc Cortez (Wheaton College) has been leading much of ... -
Double Exclusion to Double Embrace: Caring for the Spiritual Care Needs of Transgender, Gender Non-Conforming, and Nonbinary People and Communities
(2022)Transgender, gender non-conforming, and nonbinary people have historically had a bad relationship with Christianity. We have experienced rejection, physical harm, and spiritual violence justified in the name of faith. Such ... -
A Restorative Model: Jeremiah's Prophetic Response to Displacement in Washington, D.C.
(2022)ABSTRACTThis thesis is offers exilic texts as the basis for restoration for communities traumatized by displacement. The scriptural focus for the thesis is Jeremiah 30-33, the Book of Restoration. The purpose of the thesis ... -
Keeping it Beta: Social Innovation & The Black Church. A Case for Strategy, Design & Social Change.
(2022)God created . . . and it was good. People of faith are a part of God’s work of creation that from the beginning of time has created and innovated without fail. A mantra of the ecumenical Black Church is that we serve a God ... -
Food, Justice, and the Church: How Local Churches Can Better Serve Black Communities Through Food Pantries—and Why They Should
(2022)This thesis seeks to examine how churches might better practice Jesus's command to “love your neighbor” (Matt. 22:37) through food pantries that primarily serve Black communities. Although churches believe they exemplify ... -
The Possible Church: Stories of Those Who Have Led White Churches into a Multiethnic Reality
(2022)As the number of multiethnic churches in the United States continues to rapidly increase, predominantly white congregations perpetually struggle to contribute to this trend. Stories of formerly white churches achieving a ... -
Fumbling With Love: The First Step Toward Cultivating A Beloved Community A Bible Study Addressing Four Psychological Barriers to Racial Reconciliation
(2022)This thesis explores some key reasons why it is often very difficult for Christians to love “racially” different Christians. Examining over eighty years of neuroscience and psychological research reveals key understandings ... -
What Role Does The Black Church Play in Reducing recidivism
(2022)AbstractThe correctional system in the United States has long demonstrated an unequal system that affects people of color, especially the Black male. This system has created a new form of slavery that continues to plague ... -
God’s Journey Home: Toward a Theology of Migration and Home from the Americas
(2022)This dissertation explores the meaning and importance of migration and home for the Christian Life in the context of modernity and the colonial history of the Americas. In doing so, it offers a constructive theological proposal ... -
Toward an Ecclesiology of Presence: Understanding the Church as a Thin Place Where Heaven Touches Earth through the People of God
(2022)In a world that often seems to be burning around us, both literally and figuratively, it is difficult to notice a single burning bush. In a world deafened by the noise of the loudest and most powerful voices, the still ... -
Transformed by Missions: Studies in the Sacrificial, Formational, Holistic, and Transformational Aspects of Missions
(2022)The work of missions has been integral to the church’s identity since Jesus commissioned his followers to make disciples, to teach, to baptize, and to tend to the needs of his people. In the long history of the church, missions ... -
Building a New Aesthetic for the Black Church Funeral: “Hello Black Church, I Am the Green Funeral”
(2022)The care of creation is the responsibility of all Christians. Consequently, the Black Church has a role to play and must attend to its responsibilities seriously. In this thesis, I take a comprehensive look into rituals ... -
Repairing Community
(2021)ABSTRACTThe 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 ... -
Fatherless Church: Addressing the Issue of Father Absence Through Divorce in the American Church
(2022)Fatherlessness may be one of the most critical issues facing American society. With the increasing prevalence of divorce in the twentieth century, more and more children face the harsh reality of growing up without their ... -
The Stories We Tell Ourselves; Narrative Repentance and True Stories of God, Self, Church, and Creation
(2022)This thesis outlines how a Christian leader can guide the faithful to live their life rightly in light of true stories of God, self, Church, and Creation. Each of us perceives, contextualizes, and interprets our experiences ... -
A Reimagination of Liberation and Reconciliation in the Black Theology of James H. Cone and J. Deotis Roberts: An Intergenerational and Interracial Analysis
(2021)AbstractThe inability of black and white Christians to bear compelling and sustained witness to God’s love and justice in American society is reminiscent of Churchill’s sentiment concerning Russia: it is “a riddle, wrapped ... -
Slow Communion: Habitus-changing Formation for Multiethnic Churches
(2021)Multiethnic churches could be places of healing and profound witness to the reconciliation found in Christ. Unfortunately, our habitus, that interior framework that shapes the way we conceive of the world, is not currently ... -
IS HUMAN PREDATION ON OTHER SPECIES AN ACCOMMODATION OF THE FALL OF CREATION OR PART OF GOD’S INTENDED PLAN FOR CREATION?
(2021)The scriptural witness has indications that it is acceptable to kill animals for food but also indicates that originally human beings were vegetarians and will be yet again when this world is claimed as part of God’s kingdom. ...