Thesis (D. Miss.)--Reformed Theological Seminary, 2001. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 217-234).

Thesis (M.F.A.)--University of California, Irvine, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 88-89).

No description available.

No description available.

Thesis (M.C.S.)--Regent College, Vancouver, BC, 2005. / Abstract and vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 151-157).

In the contemporary United States, power is exerted at both the center of society and its margins. Americans seeking political and cultural capital can cast themselves as insiders, claiming the authority of tradition, or as outsiders, claiming the prophetic voice of the oppressed. Previous scholarship has tended to portray white American evangelicals either as insiders, a theocracy-in-waiting, or as outsiders, a marginalized subculture. In practice, however, white evangelicals claim both positions and move strategically between them. Under certain circumstances, they appeal to the Christian Right’s revisionist history to claim a position at the center of the nation. Under other circumstances, they invoke threats to “Christian America” to claim a position on the margins. This ethnographic study of Christian heritage tourism in Washington, D.C., examines how white evangelical tourists use American history to construct four identities vis-à-vis the nation. Like white American evangelicals more broadly, they see themselves as founders, exiles, victims, and saviors. In addition to ethnography, I draw on intellectual history and material culture studies to account for the dynamic, contradictory, and strategic ways my subjects understand who they are. Written, verbal, and material stories about the American past are key resources white evangelicals use in shaping their identities. On Christian heritage tours and beyond, white evangelicals do history as they plot themselves into narratives about their communities and their nation. This approach, which combines “lived religion” and “lived history,” shows that white evangelicals are political shapeshifters, playing whichever part gives them the most power in a given situation. Their ability to act as both insiders and outsiders is a source of power in a nation that reveres tradition yet cheers for underdogs. While they may talk about leaving behind their outsider roles of exiles and victims, in practice white American evangelicals embrace and defend those roles just as much as they do their insider roles as founders and saviors. Their creative and strategic movement between these roles is a potent political resource that we must understand if we are to make sense of white evangelicals’ political power today. / 2020-11-13T00:00:00Z

The theme of the MTh is the research of the Christian political responsibility in terms of an evangelical position. The first step is to examine the historical political background of evangelical engagements, whereas the focus is especially on the German development. The second step analyses theologically where to locate political and social barriers. It creates an overview in what way (or to what extend) the bible shows and discusses socio-political topics. Furthermore the theological base for political actions describes (themetizes) the relation between the (institution) church and the (governing) state, the understanding of salvation and God’s kingdom and also questions of eschatology. Ahead of the evangelical approach of political theology, the last chapter describes the difference from liberation theology and models of contextual theology. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / M. Th. (Missiology)

Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / M. Th. (Missiology)

Based on a review of the academic literature, evangelical public theology often lacks a systematic, theologically grounded social ethic concerning religious liberty. The resulting impasse is one where religious liberty lacks distinctly evangelical contours. Modern and contemporary religious liberty discussions have been ceded, almost exclusively, to political and legal philosophy. At the same time, religious liberty is a foundational principle for evangelical public theology because it addresses issues of how evangelicals enter the public square as a religious people. Additionally, a doctrine of religious liberty is vital for establishing the relationship between the church and state in society. Theological warrant is needed to establish a doctrine of religious liberty on evangelical grounds, and, correspondingly, the lack of consensus or framework around religious liberty jeopardizes the possibility of developing a truly evangelical understanding of religious liberty for public theology. This dissertation seeks to remedy this gap in evangelical public theology and social ethics by grounding religious liberty in the biblical categories of eschatology, anthropology, and soteriology. Chapter one examines the literature surrounding evangelical proposals around religious liberty. Chapters 2 through 4 offer a constructive proposal for religious liberty oriented around the themes of the kingdom of God (eschatology), the image of God (anthropology), and the mission of God (soteriology). Chapter 5 concludes by offering concern that secular ideologies lack sufficient explanatory power to extend a principled account of religious liberty.

ABSTRACT ORDER AND ARDOR: THE REVIVAL SPIRITUALITY OF REGULAR BAPTIST OLIVER HART, 1723–1795 Eric Coleman Smith, Ph.D. The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2015 Chair: Dr. Michael A. G. Haykin This dissertation argues that Regular Baptist Oliver Hart shared the revival spirituality of the Great Awakening, and that revival played a greater role in Regular Baptist identity than is often suggested. Chapter 2 demonstrates that Hart’s life and ministry were profoundly shaped by the evangelical revival of the eighteenth century. He was converted in revival as a young man, promoted revival at the height of his ministry in Charleston, South Carolina, and longed for revival in his latter years in Hopewell, New Jersey. Chapter 3 examines Hart’s revival piety. The theology of the Christian life that undergirded his ministry was the evangelical Calvinism that united Christians from across denominational lines during the Great Awakening. Chapter 4 focuses on the most intense personal experience of revival in Hart’s ministry, an awakening among the youth of the Charleston Baptist Church in 1754. An analysis of Hart’s diary during this period proves that it belongs to the emerging genre of eighteenth century “revival narrative,” epitomized in Jonathan Edwards’s A Faithful Narrative. Chapter 5 shows that Hart’s spirituality was marked by the evangelical activism of the Great Awakening, as illustrated by his efforts in evangelism, gospel partnerships, education, and politics. Chapter 6 demonstrates that Hart and a number of other Regular Baptists shared in the evangelical catholicity of the revival. While Hart embraced the ecumenical impulse of the awakening to promote revival, he also maintained deep Baptist convictions.