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The purpose of this study was to investigate the sex-trait stereotype church lay people had of women clergy. Two groups of lay people were studied, those who had and had not had a woman clergy as either pastor or assistant pastor of a church to which they belonged. Data was also obtained from women clergy.;Gough's Adjective Check List was used to determine a stereotype that the above described lay people had of women clergy. The goal was to determine if there were differences between lay men and women in the way they described women clergy and if there were differences between lay people who had and had not experienced a clergy woman.;An additional comparison was made between each of the lay groups and the women clergy. It was found that both groups of lay people did describe women clergy differently from the way in which the women clergy described themselves.;Further study is needed to evaluate this data using a nonparametric method. It is also necessary to examine data from male clergy, to determine if these results are unique to women clergy.

This dissertation is a biography of James McGready (c.1760-1817), a Presbyterian revivalist minister who lived and worked primarily in Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Kentucky, and Indiana. He is best known as the Father of the Great Revival, an evangelical revival that spread throughout the southeastern United States between 1800 and 1805, and the creator of the camp meeting, which soon became an institutional part of American revivalism. Historians have generally described McGready as an innovator in matters of doctrine and revivalist methodology. This study argues that McGready is better understood as a traditionalist. This interpretation follows several recent works that have outlined a Scottish and Scotch-Irish Presbyterian revivalist tradition dating from the 1620s.;The study traces McGready's educational background, outlines a variety of his theological positions, describes his intense homiletical style, and details his professional career. Research revealed that McGready was educated in several small Presbyterian-run schools that had direct links to the Presbyterian revivalism mentioned above. In doctrine, an examination of such varied topics as the process of conversion, limited atonement and predestination, and millennialism, showed McGready to be a firm Presbyterian Calvinist at every turn. In his homiletical style McGready followed a one hundred and fifty year old pattern of preaching known as the plain style and avoided the unstructured, extemporaneous preaching increasingly favored by revivalists in the nineteenth century. During his professional career, and especially during the Cumberland controversy of 1805-1809, McGready sided with the mainline church and eschewed those with schismatic inclinations.;The reinterpretation of McGready as a traditionalist casts doubt on much of the historiography of American revivalism. Historians have generally argued that revivalism arose in America and especially on the frontier. Understanding McGready, one of the foremost revivalists of the period, as a traditionalist tends to undermine that position. Additionally, this work re-emphasizes the transference of European forms to the New World, even past the American Revolution. Finally, McGready's professional struggles point up the remarkable fluidity in American religion during the early national period.

Several factors influence the social participation of rural migrants in urban structures according to previous studies: (1) origins, (2) education, (3) occupation, (4) auspices of migration, (5) age at migration, (6) length of residence, (7) previous migrations, (8) social mobility, (9) income, (10) geographic mobility, (11) community activities. These variables will be included in the research design of this present study. Review of previous studies indicates that there have not been any studies conducted on the factors associated with urban church participation of former members of rural churches.

Academic analysis of sport and religion is still in an early and formative phase. Only in the past fifty years has the conversation of sport and religion substantially been revealed as subject matter for serious academic work. This thesis includes literature from various scholars interested in religion and sport, contemplation on the religious nature of college basketball in the state of Kentucky, and challenges for leading scholars arguing over the notion of sport as a form of religion. The first half of the thesis presents the narrative of the increasingly growing academic debate over considering sport a religious phenomenon. The latter half includes analysis of college basketball in Kentucky and my conclusions concerning the viability of the notion of a religion of sport. All the text is chiefly inspired by—and constructed in relation to—the approach of scholars reviewed earlier in the thesis. This text provides readers with a sense of various arguments on both sides of the discussion of the religion of sport. Secondly, the work encourages consideration of new alternative approaches to discussing sport and religion. This work is intended to provide a challenge to the rigid nature of previous scholarship on this subject. Demonstrating the relative utility of college basketball in Kentucky, through revealing its usefulness to both groups of scholars divided on this question of the religion of sport, proves to be instrumental in exemplifying the complexities within this scholarly debate. This case study also proves to be crucial for legitimizing the suggestions for alternative approaches to sport and religion that are raised within this text. Elsewhere, by emphasizing the significance of definitions of religion, evaluating the utility of the comparability of any observable phenomenon, and emphasizing the diversity among approaches to sport and religion, this text encourages the development of new approaches to research, increased self-criticism, and willingness to extend charity among scholars interested in debating sport as a religious phenomenon.

This thesis examines how some American and Burmese forms of Buddhism in the Bible Belt today share common ground through a process of adaptation. Exploring tradition and change, I reveal how change often requires adaptation. Utilizing ethnographic research conducted in south central Kentucky and middle Tennessee, I argue that some Burmese and American forms of Buddhism in the Bible Belt experience change through three aspects of adaptation. These consist of reduction, syncretism, and preservation. I explore these three aspects through interviews and observations of immigrant Burmese Buddhist monks and American Buddhist meditation leaders. In doing so, I also examine the various ways in which the southern American landscapes affect change within traditional Burmese Buddhism through a process of Americanization. As a result of Theravada Buddhism’s relocation, change in Buddhism can also be seen in the American form, which is believed by many to becoming its own unique school of Buddhism. This can be found occurring in the regions of south central Kentucky and middle Tennessee. Preservation of tradition, an element of adaptation to Americanization, is a theme that frequently arose during my time spent at immigrant Burmese Buddhist temples and through interviews conducted with two ethnic Burmese Buddhist monks. The tendency to reduce Buddhism to a tradition of meditation was, on the other hand, a theme that came up in my conversations with two American meditation leaders. Their tendency to syncretize several schools of Buddhism is also explored. Being that the Buddhist subjects interviewed for this ethnography reside in the Bible Belt, their thoughts on Christianity and their interactions with Christians has also been included.

According to a recent Pew poll approximately 97% of all Hindus live in the countries of India and Nepal. However, there are hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of Hindus living in other parts of the world. Across the United States, Hindu temples are joining the religious landscape of the country. They are often greeted as signifiers of a “model minority” by the mainstream because of Asian American economic success. However, as religious and racial minorities, Indian immigrants and Indian Americans just as frequently face ignorance and discrimination. This rejection by mainstream society, combined with a desire to reconnect with the traditions and heritage of their homeland, India, pushes many Hindus in diaspora to explore and embrace a nationalistic interpretation of their religion. This thesis seeks to understand the trend toward religious nationalism among diaspora Hindus in the United States through an ethnographic examination, using the Sri Ganesha Temple of Nashville, Tennessee as a case study. This community is an ideal case study for two reasons. For one, its internal diversity exemplifies the necessity in diaspora to find commonality in order to build new communities, which creates an opportunity for Hindu nationalism to address pragmatic concerns of the community. Second, the community’s location in the American South, particularly the Bible Belt, places the temple in an environment in which clear, logical and universalist interpretations of Hinduism are needed to deal with real and perceived threats from conversion and discrimination. Throughout this project, it is argued that the Hindu nationalist discourse is pervasive among the Sri Ganesha Temple community, though few in the community would actually endorse the political positions of Hindu nationalist organizations in India. This contradiction is explained theoretically in the nature of transnationalism and diaspora, which uproots ideas and practices from one context and adapts them to become meaningful in new circumstances. It is also explained ethnographically by acknowledging the particular concerns and issues faced by the diaspora community, especially the perceived need to create a strong community in order to prevent future generations from abandoning the Hindu religion and its distinctly Indian heritage.

The purpose of this interview based qualitative study was to explore the influence that a plurality of social contexts, represented through United Methodist congregations in the Virginia Conference, have on the formation of ministers' occupational activities.;The study used a typology developed by Larry Blazer (1987) to identify the occupational activities practiced by parish ministers. The investigation weighted clergy's professional practice using Judith Hackman's (1985) concepts of power and centrality in her study institutions of higher education's budgeting process. Congregational representatives identified occupational activities that were central and peripheral to their congregation's mission. Clergy identified the occupational activities that received more and less time (i.e., "power" in their time resource budgeting process) in their current appointment compared to their previous appointment.;Using an ethnographic analysis, the study found that ministers generally organize their occupational activities according to the mission of their present congregational appointment. Second, the diverse plurality of congregations are remarkably consistent in their missions: to provide for a nurturing fellowship. Third, ministers' activities are grouped in functionally (versus conceptually) in response to this coherent mission of United Methodist congregations. Fourth, these functional groupings form a hierarchy of overall importance for minister's occupational activities, with implications for the timing of skill acquisition during clergy's careers.;The study concludes with implication for ministers' professional education. Included is a comprehensive professional education proposal to equip ministers with the knowledge and ability to be context sensitive in the performance of their occupational activities.

The Book of Mormon makes it clear that Isaiah's message is of great importance to the modern reader. In order to facilitate modern and personal spiritual application of Isaiah's writings, spiritual "formulas" or principles may be discovered or formulated. These formulas are statements of truth based on the prophet's writings that may be applied in multiple situations and time periods. Such formulas of truth offer valuable insighst across time. These formulas may be understood by analyzing the historical setting of the chapter(s) under review, and through critical examination of the text itself. These formulas provide a solid foundation upon which can be built the framework of personal application. The burden chapters of Isaiah (chapters 13-23) each offer an important formula that can have powerful spiritual application. This work explores each burden prophecy, using historical research and critical analysis of the text to postulate a formula. Each burden chapter has its own message that can lead to spiritual insight.