This memoir chronicles a journey of faith. The narrator focuses on fundamental questions of existence while tackling the everyday difficulties of growing up. A fundamentalist Christian upbringing leaves little room for doubt. However, questions arise that the narrator cannot answer simply by opening her Bible. When she leaves her small town in Iowa for college, tiny cracks in her faith that she once easily stepped over become impassable canyons. She must face the reality that her worldview might be wrong. When she decides to follow the line of questioning her doubts have pulled her towards, she discovers a meaningful life apart from the fundamentalist Christianity of her childhood.

Students enrolled in face-to-face and online business administration courses at a Midwestern Christian college were provided faith-integrated opportunities; however, the challenge was to maintain consistency in providing the online courses with similar faith integration as the face-to-face courses. It was unknown whether the same faith-integrated opportunities were provided in face-to-face and online courses. Kohlberg's cognitive moral development and Fowler's spiritual development theories grounded this qualitative bounded case study. Research questions focused on whether instructors taught the same faith-integrated content in online and face-to-face classes, and whether online and face-to-face students received the same faith-integrated experiences. A purposeful sample was gathered of 3 freshman, 3 sophomores, 3 juniors, and 3 seniors who completed both faith-integrated online and face-to-face business administration courses; in addition, 4 instructors were recruited who taught faith integration in online and face-to-face business administration courses. Open-ended questionnaires were collected from students and observations were collected using online course shell interactions between students and instructors. All data were open coded and thematically analyzed using a visual model process. Instructors integrated faith more in the face-to-face courses than in the online courses. A white paper containing recommendations to integrate faith in all business administration classes included building collaborative faculty groups, student-focused rubrics, and faculty course-based rubrics. These endeavors may contribute to positive social change by providing faculty with the necessary tools to equitably provide faith integration in business administration online and face-to-face courses and to develop students' ethical decision making through faith-integrated lessons.

Dance consciously or unconsciously can by its very creative process from idea or feeling through to performance work and beyond, form a catalyst for healing. This paper provides a written record of a practical, phenomenological, qualitative, dance and healing research project. The researcher’s ideas coalesce from three schools of thought. They are health sciences, dance art and faith. Body sciences and homeopathic theory inform the practice of exploratory contemporary dance improvisation. Wholistic and ethical methods of research practice are applied to the study of a range of dance and health concerns / Master of Arts (Hons) (Contemporary Arts)

The aim of this thesis is to formulate a better definition of religion for legal purposes than the formulation arrived at by the High Court of Australia in the 1983 decision of Church of the New Faith v Commissioner of Pay-roll Tax (Vic). In that case, known in Australia as the Scientology (or Church of the New Faith) case, two of five justices of the High Court of Australia considered belief in a supernatural Being, Thing or Principle to be an essential prerequisite for a belief system being a religion. Two other justices stated that if such belief were absent it was unlikely that one had a religion. There are major problems with the High Court’s formulation in the Scientology case. First, it does not accommodate a number of important belief systems that are generally regarded as being religious belief systems, even though they do not involve any notion of the supernatural in the sense in which that word is ordinarily understood. Secondly, the Court provided little or no guidance as to how one determines whether a particular belief system involves a supernatural view of reality. The guidance that was given is ill-conceived in any event. Thirdly, it is philosophically impossible to postulate a meaningful distinction between the “natural” and the supposedly “supernatural” in a way that would enable the courts and other decision makers to meaningfully apply the “test” enunciated by the Court. The thesis combines a phenomenological approach and the philosophical realism of the late Professor John Anderson with a view to eliciting those things that permit appreciation or recognition of a thing being “religious”. Ultimately, religion is seen to comprise an amalgam of faith-based ideas, beliefs, practices and activities (which include doctrine, dogma, teachings or principles to be accepted on faith and on authority, a set of sanctioned ideals and values in terms of expected ethical standards and behavior and moral obligations, and various experientially based forms, ceremonies, usages and techniques perceived to be of spiritual or transformative power) based upon faith in a Power, Presence, Being or Principle and which are directed towards a celebration of that which is perceived to be not only ultimate but also divine, holy or sacred, manifest in and supported by a body of persons (consisting of one or more faithxvii based communities) established to give practical expression to those ideas, beliefs, practices and activities. The new definition is tested against 3 very different belief systems, Taoism (Daoism), Marxism and Freemasonry.

The world of the 20-21st century is one of rapid change - for family life, for our work environments, in friendship structures and general attitudes about ourselves. We question who we are and our values. We seek to understand ourselves more fully as individuals and as groups within a world of flux. Within this context a significant change that has taken place in the church is the growing emergence of people remaining single for a variety of reasons. I understand that the term 'single' denotes that group of baptised Christians who have never married and who have chosen to remain single or who continue to affirm their singleness but not foreclosing on the possibility of marriage. As with any change, the transition that is required is never easy. Raymond Brown (1979) touched upon this type of transition and movement for change in society when he said that more and more are finding the single life-style suitable as new territory in which to dwell. They see the structures of society beginning to shift. They see a growing awareness on the part of many people toward an acceptance of single adulthood. This growing awareness has also been paralleled within the thinking of the church. However, many single men and women 'generally feel that the church has geared its ministry toward those who are married and towards nuclear family units'. The reflection by Brown reflects my own thought about being single, particularly with regard to single people and their being church. I will argue in this thesis that being single has theological value as a way of living out one's baptismal call to follow Christ in work, relationships, in attitudes and values. This thesis represents a critical search in, my own need for self-understanding as a single person together with other single people as I believe we contribute to our society and to our Christian calling. At the beginning of Mark's gospel Jesus' baptism is recorded as a prelude to his ministry: It was at this time that Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptised in the Jordan by John. No sooner had he come up out of the water than he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit, like a dove, descending on him. And a voice came from heaven, 'You are my Son, the Beloved; my favour rests on you' (Mark 1:9-11). Jesus' baptism is the impetus and is at the heart of his ministry for a mission that is favoured by God. Likewise, baptism is at the heart of the single person's way of living for Christ. Further, the sentiments of Paul in Ephesians 3: 14-21 serve as a goal for all Christians which includes single men and women. Paul speaks about a unique relationship with Christ, one based on love and openness to Christ. This, then, is what I pray, kneeling before the Father, from whom every family, whether spiritual or natural, takes its name: Out of his infinite glory, may he give you the power through his Spirit for your hidden self to grow strong, so that Christ may live in your hearts through faith, and then, planted in love and built on love, you will with all the saints have strength to grasp the breadth and the length, the height and the depth; until, knowing the love of Christ, which is beyond all knowledge, you are filled with the utter fullness of God. Glory be to him whose power, working in us, can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine; glory be to him from generation to generation in the Church and in Christ Jesus for ever and ever. Amen. Jesus' baptism as depicted in Mark together with Paul's thoughts concerning the reception of the power of the Spirit for our hidden selves to grow in love and faith and journeying with others in the Christian tradition, represent the underlying theological attitude of this thesis about the single person. The single person by the nature of his or her baptism, is called to follow Christ - to grow in personal stature as one who is open to the presence of Christ in and through the events of daily life. Integral to this baptismal call is the need to challenge those constructs which don't enhance and give voice to the single person within the church. I consider that one such construct is the notion of 'vocation' as it has been used traditionally in the church's thinking for its self-understanding. In this regard, it is my contention that 'vocation' is about following Christ in and through baptism. How one lives one's life is his or her career choice; how one lives in response to Christ - whether as married or single, priest or religious. It is our primary vocation to follow Christ as promised at baptism. The chosen definition, however, ought not to exclude those Christians who, for reasons beyond their control, for example find themselves living the single life because of their separation from their partner or are widowed, although the primary thrust of the definition will focus on those Christians who continue to affirm their choice for the single way of life. The term Church here is explained by Lumen Gentium 9: 'This was to be the new People of God. For, those who believe in Christ, who are reborn not from a perishable but from an imperishable seed through the Word of the living God (cf. 1 Pet. 1:23), not from the flesh but from water and the Holy Spirit (cf. Jn. 3:5-6), are finally established as 'a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a purchased people.' This definition has been chosen as it articulates a point of view about the people who comprise the church. In particular the definition speaks of the 'signs' of baptism - water and the Holy Spirit. It is these signs that characterise those called by God through baptism to be the people of God, the purchased people. I argue that the sacrament of baptism is what characterises all in the church irrespective of their state. The primary methodology for our critical examination of the meaning of the single state is by case study. The Case Study method will allow me to elaborate upon a developmental theological perspective from within the Vatican Council documents. By this method I examine the single state from within the ecclesial as well as a sociological understanding. Secondly a dialectical approach will enable me to argue the case for the single state as a valid way of life. From this I aim to highlight the single state and its key attributes as well as to provide a personal perspective about single living. Further, this secondary method allows me to highlight the way in which single people contribute to, and are a part of the life of the church. This twofold methodology enables me to look at the particular issue of the single state within the wider context of the church, and to argue for the significance of the part to the whole.

<p>Denna uppsats kretsar kring teologins behov av ett universellt sanningskriterium, och den motsägelse ett sådant skapar i en postmodern pluralism. Vidare presenteras och analyseras två svenska teologers sätt att behandla denna problematik. Båda teologerna formulerar ett etiskt universellt sanningskriterium men bemöter den motsägelse som det skapar på två olika sätt. Ann-Louise Eriksson förklarar varför motsägelsen tillåts genom att övertrumfa den med ett paradigmatiskt etiskt paradigm som hon hämtar från sin feministteologiska övertygelse. Jayne Svenungsson bemöter i sin tur motsägelsen genom att istället lyfta fram en motivering som hon hämtar inom det postmoderna tänkandet hos filosofen Lévinas. I hans filosofi finner hon en placering av etiken på en förontologisk nivå vilket gör att det etiska kravet både föregår den pluralistiska verkligheten och blir en förutsättning för den.</p>

<p> </p><p>Skärseldens uppkomst, komplicerad som den må vara, grundar sig i mångt och mycket på kyrkans behov att skapa ett mellantillstånd mellan helvetet och paradiset. Med hjälp av texter från bibeln, då främst Paulus brev, kunde den dogmatiska frågan om skärselden bryta igenom.</p><p>Skärselden är en medveten skapelse av det som kom att bli den katolska kyrkan.</p><p>Frågan om vart syndarna tog vägen efter döden besvarades i och med skapandet av skärselden. Människan behövde säkerställa sin väg upp till himlen och om hon inte lyckats göra det i livet så fick hon nu chansen att göra det efter döden. Själva tanken med straffet i skärselden är att kunna rena själen, till skillnad från helvetet där straffet är evinnerligt.</p><p> </p><p>I och med att tanken på skärselden föddes och så småningom institutionaliserades, började även bikten få en större betydelse. Bikten kom att bli en del av den botgöring som färdigställdes i skärselden. I och med att kyrkan erbjöd människan försoningsvägar genom bikt och bot så stärktes dess inflytande över människan, detta i stark relation till skärseldstanken. Kyrkan skapade bestämmelser i och med skärselden som gällde för livet efter detta.</p><p>Skärseldens uppkomst går också att härleda till det individuella behovet hos människan för jämställdhet. Det fick gensvar i frågan om det individuella straffet i skärselden.</p><p>Detta förstärkte också kyrkans roll som medlare genom bot och bikt, vilket i sig också stärkte kyrkans makt över folket då den ensam höll i nycklarna till himlen och helvetet.</p><p>Förutom behovet av jämställdhet så fanns även behovet av rättvisa snarare än behovet av vetskapen om att det kommer att ske en frälsning efter döden. Rättvisan gestaltade sig på så sätt att den rättade till de orättvisor och den ojämlikhet som ägde rum i det jordliga livet genom skärseldens kval i livet efter detta.</p><p> </p><p>Tron på skärselden spreds genom predikningar av präster för den stora massan. Tanken på skärselden födde en rädsla hos folket som översteg den de hyste för helvetet och värdet i att leva på jorden sammanlänkades med förskräckelsen i tanken på att lämna det.</p><p>Tanken på skärselden utvecklades i takt med samhället under medeltiden och genom skärselden uppkom också tankar som förändrade tanken på tid och rum då man upptäckte att det fanns mellanstadium mellan liv och död.</p><p> </p><p>Hoppet som kom med skärselden berodde också delvis på det faktum att själarna i skärselden var utsedda till slutgiltig frälsning detta trots att straffen i skärselden påminde om de i helvetet med den skillnaden att det var tidsbestämda. Tiden i skärselden påverkas inte bara av Guds nåd utan även av de personliga meriter man skaffat sig under sin tid på jorden och de offer som görs av släktingar och vänner till den avlidne genom kyrkan.</p><p> </p><p>Möjligheten för skärseldstankens fortlevnad påverkades mycket av människans föreställnings förmåga, vilken i sig påverkades av berättelser som handlade om skärselden vare sig de kom från präster eller lekmän. Eftersom kyrkan inte själv skapade en imaginär värld kring skärselden i sin trosartikel så var det upp till folket själva att skapa den bildliga delen. Detta gjordes delvis genom prästers exempel på upplevelser i skärselden, målningar föreställandes skärselden samt litterära verk som behandlade skärselden. De litterära verken kunde vara historiska, teologiska, filosofiska och skönlitterära. Ett av de verk som påverkade bilden av skärselden i allra högsta grad var Dante Alighieris <em>Divina Comedia.</em> Detta verk har kommit att bli till vilket man hänvisar allra mest när det gäller den imaginära föreställningen om skärselden.</p><p>Skärselden spelar en av de viktigaste rollerna i föreställningen om livet efter detta.</p><p> </p> / <p><p>The rise of purgatory, complicated as it may be, is much based upon the churches need to create a state between hell and paradise. With the help of writings from the bible, first and foremost the letters of Paul, the dogmatic question of purgatory was able to break through. Purgatory is a conscious creation made by what came to be the Catholic Church.</p><p>The question of where the sinners went after death was answered by the creation of purgatory. Man needed to secure its way to heaven an if she wasn’t able to do so in life, she was no given the chance to do so after death. The whole idea of the punishment in purgatory is to purify the soul, in contrast to hell where the punishment is eternal.</p><p> </p><p>As the idea of purgatory was born and later came to be institutionalised, the confession came to be of greater importance. The confession came to be a part of the penance that was completed in purgatory. Seeing that the church offered man a way of redemption through confession and penance, the churches influence over man also increased, this in a great relation to the idea of purgatory. With the idea of purgatory the church created regulations for the afterlife.</p><p>You can also derive the rise of purgatory to mans individual need for equality. The response to this need was met by the question of the individual punishment in purgatory.</p><p>This also strengthened the churches role as a intercessor by offering penance and confession, which in itself also empowered the churches influence over the people because the church alone held the keys to heaven and hell.</p><p>Except the peoples need for equality there was aloes a need for justice rather than a need for the knowledge of a salvation after death. Justice took form in the way that it corrected all the injustice and inequality that was made in the earthly life by the torments in purgatory in the afterlife.</p><p> </p><p>The belief in purgatory spread through the sermons held by priests to the people. The thought of purgatory bore a fear among the people that exceeded the fear of hell, and the value of living on earth was linked with the terror of the idea of leaving it.</p><p>The idea of purgatory evolved in pace with society during the middle ages and through purgatory new thoughts concerning time and place arose, because a intermediate state between life and death was found.</p><p> </p><p>Because of the fact the souls in purgatory was chosen for ultimate salvation, even though the punishments in purgatory resembled the ones in hell, hope also became connected with purgatory. The time spent in purgatory is not only affected by the grace of God, but also by the merits you have obtained during your time on earth and the sacrifices made by the church after requests from family and friends to the deceased.</p><p> </p><p>The continuation of the idea of purgatory was made possible by mans capacity to imagine it, which was influenced by the stories told about purgatory, be as it may told by priests or laymen. Because the church itself didn’t create a imaginary world surrounding purgatory in their article of faith, it was up to the people themselves to create it. This was partially made by priests examples of experiences from purgatory, paintings envisaging purgatory and literary works about purgatory. One literary work, which had a particular influence on the idea of purgatory, was Dante Alighieris <em>Divina Comedia. </em>This work has become the one to which the most references to purgatory are made.</p><p>Purgatory plays one of the most important parts in the conception about the afterlife.</p><p> </p></p>

Skärseldens uppkomst, komplicerad som den må vara, grundar sig i mångt och mycket på kyrkans behov att skapa ett mellantillstånd mellan helvetet och paradiset. Med hjälp av texter från bibeln, då främst Paulus brev, kunde den dogmatiska frågan om skärselden bryta igenom. Skärselden är en medveten skapelse av det som kom att bli den katolska kyrkan. Frågan om vart syndarna tog vägen efter döden besvarades i och med skapandet av skärselden. Människan behövde säkerställa sin väg upp till himlen och om hon inte lyckats göra det i livet så fick hon nu chansen att göra det efter döden. Själva tanken med straffet i skärselden är att kunna rena själen, till skillnad från helvetet där straffet är evinnerligt.   I och med att tanken på skärselden föddes och så småningom institutionaliserades, började även bikten få en större betydelse. Bikten kom att bli en del av den botgöring som färdigställdes i skärselden. I och med att kyrkan erbjöd människan försoningsvägar genom bikt och bot så stärktes dess inflytande över människan, detta i stark relation till skärseldstanken. Kyrkan skapade bestämmelser i och med skärselden som gällde för livet efter detta. Skärseldens uppkomst går också att härleda till det individuella behovet hos människan för jämställdhet. Det fick gensvar i frågan om det individuella straffet i skärselden. Detta förstärkte också kyrkans roll som medlare genom bot och bikt, vilket i sig också stärkte kyrkans makt över folket då den ensam höll i nycklarna till himlen och helvetet. Förutom behovet av jämställdhet så fanns även behovet av rättvisa snarare än behovet av vetskapen om att det kommer att ske en frälsning efter döden. Rättvisan gestaltade sig på så sätt att den rättade till de orättvisor och den ojämlikhet som ägde rum i det jordliga livet genom skärseldens kval i livet efter detta.   Tron på skärselden spreds genom predikningar av präster för den stora massan. Tanken på skärselden födde en rädsla hos folket som översteg den de hyste för helvetet och värdet i att leva på jorden sammanlänkades med förskräckelsen i tanken på att lämna det. Tanken på skärselden utvecklades i takt med samhället under medeltiden och genom skärselden uppkom också tankar som förändrade tanken på tid och rum då man upptäckte att det fanns mellanstadium mellan liv och död.   Hoppet som kom med skärselden berodde också delvis på det faktum att själarna i skärselden var utsedda till slutgiltig frälsning detta trots att straffen i skärselden påminde om de i helvetet med den skillnaden att det var tidsbestämda. Tiden i skärselden påverkas inte bara av Guds nåd utan även av de personliga meriter man skaffat sig under sin tid på jorden och de offer som görs av släktingar och vänner till den avlidne genom kyrkan.   Möjligheten för skärseldstankens fortlevnad påverkades mycket av människans föreställnings förmåga, vilken i sig påverkades av berättelser som handlade om skärselden vare sig de kom från präster eller lekmän. Eftersom kyrkan inte själv skapade en imaginär värld kring skärselden i sin trosartikel så var det upp till folket själva att skapa den bildliga delen. Detta gjordes delvis genom prästers exempel på upplevelser i skärselden, målningar föreställandes skärselden samt litterära verk som behandlade skärselden. De litterära verken kunde vara historiska, teologiska, filosofiska och skönlitterära. Ett av de verk som påverkade bilden av skärselden i allra högsta grad var Dante Alighieris Divina Comedia. Detta verk har kommit att bli till vilket man hänvisar allra mest när det gäller den imaginära föreställningen om skärselden. Skärselden spelar en av de viktigaste rollerna i föreställningen om livet efter detta. / The rise of purgatory, complicated as it may be, is much based upon the churches need to create a state between hell and paradise. With the help of writings from the bible, first and foremost the letters of Paul, the dogmatic question of purgatory was able to break through. Purgatory is a conscious creation made by what came to be the Catholic Church. The question of where the sinners went after death was answered by the creation of purgatory. Man needed to secure its way to heaven an if she wasn’t able to do so in life, she was no given the chance to do so after death. The whole idea of the punishment in purgatory is to purify the soul, in contrast to hell where the punishment is eternal.   As the idea of purgatory was born and later came to be institutionalised, the confession came to be of greater importance. The confession came to be a part of the penance that was completed in purgatory. Seeing that the church offered man a way of redemption through confession and penance, the churches influence over man also increased, this in a great relation to the idea of purgatory. With the idea of purgatory the church created regulations for the afterlife. You can also derive the rise of purgatory to mans individual need for equality. The response to this need was met by the question of the individual punishment in purgatory. This also strengthened the churches role as a intercessor by offering penance and confession, which in itself also empowered the churches influence over the people because the church alone held the keys to heaven and hell. Except the peoples need for equality there was aloes a need for justice rather than a need for the knowledge of a salvation after death. Justice took form in the way that it corrected all the injustice and inequality that was made in the earthly life by the torments in purgatory in the afterlife.   The belief in purgatory spread through the sermons held by priests to the people. The thought of purgatory bore a fear among the people that exceeded the fear of hell, and the value of living on earth was linked with the terror of the idea of leaving it. The idea of purgatory evolved in pace with society during the middle ages and through purgatory new thoughts concerning time and place arose, because a intermediate state between life and death was found.   Because of the fact the souls in purgatory was chosen for ultimate salvation, even though the punishments in purgatory resembled the ones in hell, hope also became connected with purgatory. The time spent in purgatory is not only affected by the grace of God, but also by the merits you have obtained during your time on earth and the sacrifices made by the church after requests from family and friends to the deceased.   The continuation of the idea of purgatory was made possible by mans capacity to imagine it, which was influenced by the stories told about purgatory, be as it may told by priests or laymen. Because the church itself didn’t create a imaginary world surrounding purgatory in their article of faith, it was up to the people themselves to create it. This was partially made by priests examples of experiences from purgatory, paintings envisaging purgatory and literary works about purgatory. One literary work, which had a particular influence on the idea of purgatory, was Dante Alighieris Divina Comedia. This work has become the one to which the most references to purgatory are made. Purgatory plays one of the most important parts in the conception about the afterlife.

This dissertation focuses upon the question, "how are we called to live?", relying on the thought and dialogue of Thomas Merton, a 20th Century Catholic monk, and Sallie McFague, a 21st Century Protestant theologian. This question is approached by examining Merton and McFague's understandings of God, self, and the world as these aspects relate to the question and issue of Christian living. In exploring these areas this project brings together aspects of Christian spirituality, theology, and ethics to grasp the intimate relationship between faith and action, which is the essence of authentic Christian discipleship. Ultimately, the merging of faith and action seen in Merton and McFague's lives and work suggest that they both possess and advocate for "engaged spirituality," or spiritually rooted social action, as the central expression of Christian faith called for today. Their examples, brought together, convey truth and inspire all of us to live more authentically and to more fully contribute to the making of a better world. / McAnulty College and Graduate School of Liberal Arts; / Theology / PhD; / Dissertation;

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2000. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 294-299). Also available on the Internet.