Browsing Divinity School by Issue Date
Now showing items 1-20 of 102
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Karl Barth and the Beauty of God
(2017)ABSTRACTThis dissertation examines the theme of beauty in the theology of Karl Barth and explores its fruitfulness for the practice of theology and two key areas of the Christian life. It offers a close, contextual reading ... -
The Future of Christian Identity in the Episcopal Church
(2017)Recent surveys show that the number of Americans who claim no affiliation with a church body has doubled in the last decade. In addition to the unaffiliated, those who are affiliated with a church body are spending less ... -
Reading Scripture in the Wake of Christ: the Church as a Hermeneutical Space
(2017)In this dissertation I offer a constructive account of the church’s role in the process of reading and understanding Scripture. This task has become especially relevant due to the recent popularity of “ecclesial hermeneutics.” ... -
Probing LAUDATO SI' For a New Spirituality in a Technocratic Culture
(2017)Pope Francis’ 2015 social encyclical Laudato si’ provides a challenging, helpful, and timely lens through which to view this cultural moment. By analyzing the reception of this encyclical, its structure and sources, and ... -
Towards a Reconciling Church in South Africa
(2017)This paper seeks to locate the church as a role player in the ongoing discussion around reconciliation within the South African context. Seeing as reconciliation is understood and applied in different ways by different ... -
"Whatever Happened to Grace?: Reclaiming Grace in the 21st Century Church"
(2017)Membership in white mainline Protestant churches in the United States has declined over the past fifty years, particularly in recent years as an increasing number of people choose to define themselves as “nones” (meaning ... -
The Rationale for and Guide to Using Hip-Hop Music as A Vehicle to Spiritual Formation for Black Male Youth
(2017)This thesis provides a hip-hop based curriculum that the black church can use to engage young black men in spiritual formation. Due to the negative lyrics heard in hip-hop music, many churches have rejected this style of ... -
Word and Witness: A Theological Account of the Life and Voice of Mercy Amba Oduyoye
(2017)Theology is dense and multifaceted. It is a dense foray into questions of faith and praxis; it merges multiple interpretations of spiritual wisdom with human expression and action. It holds the progression of relational ... -
Common Bound: The Small Groups of Methodism
(2016)The system of small groups John Wesley established to promote a proper life of discipleship in early Methodist converts was, in many respects, the strength of the Methodist movement. Those who responded to Wesley’s initial ... -
Coming Home: A Historical Assessment of Private Domestic Space as the Primary Locus of Christian Hospitality
(2016)Coming Home: A Historical Assessment of Private Domestic Space as the Primary Locus of Christian HospitalityABSTRACT Subject ... -
In Whose Image: The Emergence, Development, and Challenge of African-American Evangelicalism
(2016)The current era of American Christianity marks the transition from a Western, white-dominated U.S. Evangelicalism to an ethnically diverse demographic for evangelicalism. Despite this increasing diversity, U.S. Evangelicalism ... -
A REPRESENTATIVE OUTSIDER AND THE INCLUSION OF THE OUTSIDER IN ACTS 8:26-40
(2016)In Luke’s two volumes, Luke is not interested only in Gentiles and those with high social status but also in the marginalized and those who are outsiders. This dissertation seeks to read Luke’s concern for outsiders and ... -
Infused: Millennials and the Future of the Black Church
(2016)Deep societal trends impact the religious fervency and participation of millennials in the Black Church. Many young adults, though remaining Christian, have fallen away from their faith communities, finding them irrelevant ... -
The Didache and Traditioned Innovation: Shaping Christian Community in the First Century and the Twenty-First Century
(2016)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 ... -
Leading from the Edge: Marginal Leadership at Cultural Crossroads
(2016)If a church reflects its larger community, it will have more dynamic interactions among different people. Current U.S. communities consist of very diverse people who have different socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds. ... -
Who Do You Say I Am?: African American Women Clergy and the Construction of Ministerial Identity
(2016)The purpose of this study was to examine how African American women in ordained ministry construct and develop ministerial identity in the context of the Black Church. This study employed a qualitative multicase study ... -
Makarios Now: Plundering Athens and Hippo
(2016)A Christian doctrine of happiness differs greatly from contemporary and pseudo-Christian conceptions of happiness, which are measured subjectively and by the accumulation of external goods. In order to develop a fresh ... -
Creative Destruction: Towards a Theology of Institutions
(2016)A theology of institutions is dependent upon an imagination sparked by the cross and shaped by the hope of the resurrection. Creative destruction is the institutional process of dying so that new life might flourish for ... -
Christ the Mediator and the Idol of Whiteness: Christological Anthropology in T. F. Torrance, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and Willie Jennings
(2016)This dissertation asks how the theological anthropologies of T. F. Torrance, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and Willie Jennings help Christians diagnose and subvert the idolatry of our current racial imagination. It concludes that ... -
Let the Community Say, "Amen": 2020 Vision for Christian Community Development in Northeast Central Durham, NC
(2016)AbstractChristian 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 ...
