The goal of this thesis was to analysis the Islamic State’s apocalyptic nature by studying both classic Islamic eschatology and the Islamic State’s online magazine Dabiq. In order to conduct this research, I separated my thesis into two separate angles of approach. The first angle (chapters one & two) exclusively looked at Islamic eschatology, classic apocalyptic texts, shifts in how literature was written over time, and on examples of modern messianic revolutions occurring. In this way, I attempted to emphasize how extra-Qur’anic texts have played a large part in providing details for what Islamic eschatology entails. I also looked at modern examples of messianic movements, including in Mecca and Sudan. I concluded by analyzing the shift modern apocalyptic literature underwent beginning in the late 20th century. This highlighted how apocalyptic literature stated focusing on the actions of Western forces—much like the Islamic State has done today. The second angle of approach derived from the final chapters. I looked at the foundation and development of the Islamic State beginning in the early 21st century with Al-Qaeda in Iraq. I proceeded to emphasize how messianic speculation influenced the actions and strategies of Islamic State in Iraq and later ISIS. The final chapter, the crux of my thesis, was an analysis of the Islamic State’s written primary source, Dabiq. I researched all thirteen issues of the magazine for evidence of apocalyptic nature existing.I highlighted how Dabiq is filled with apocalyptic references and classic apocalyptic hadiths. The objective of this thesis was to provide a multifaceted analysis of the Islamic State. It attempted to approach the Islamic State from two different angles to show why apocalyptic thought first arises, how it has led to revolution, and how the Islamic State mirrors those cases. With the Islamic State, a wide variety of interpretations have formed on what it wants and what it is fighting for. Whereas religious motivation has often been dismissed, I used this thesis to emphasize that both religious and apocalyptic motivation have been one of many influences behind the formation and development of the Islamic State.

In 1984, Stryper released its first album The Yellow and Black Attack and introduced audiences to a different kind of heavy metal. Instead of lyrics about sex, alcohol, and Satan, Stryper sang about Jesus, salvation, and God. While there were a number of fans ready for this change more were not. Members of the Church as well as members of the metal subculture were in agreement that Christianity and heavy metal were incompatible. Despite these objections, however, more bands emerged, and Christian metal became a significant genre within the Christian music industry. These bands presented Christian-oriented lyrics within the full spectrum of metal subgenres. This dissertation examines the ways in which Christian metal bands create an intersection between Christianity and the heavy metal subculture, infusing Christianity within the textual, visual, and musical structures of heavy metal. The author employs Deena Weinstein’s “metal code” to frame the analysis. The metal code includes the textual elements (band names, album and song titles, and song lyrics); the visual elements (band logos; album covers; and the various elements of the concert experience including the bands’ appearances, the staging, the interactions with the fans, and music videos); and the musical elements (timbre, modality, formal structure, and production of the songs and albums) that set metal apart from other musical genres. The dissertation also examines the concept of bands as “metal missionaries” that immerse themselves within the heavy metal subculture for the purpose of bringing the Christian message of hope and salvation. The author concludes that even though Christian metal bands modify aspects of elements that are otherwise incompatible with their Christian beliefs and message, they still maintain a sense of stylistic integrity that gives them credibility within the heavy metal subculture and allows them to fulfill their mission.

“The fundamental reality in the ontology of African people” is an effort to alert the reader to a crucial omission in most contemporary studies on the religion or culture of African people. The majority of the current anthropologists (scholars in the field of contemporary religions) only make a passing reference to the spirit beings that infest the world of traditional Africa. Apart from inadequate attempts to psychologize the religions of pre-literary man, investigators of pre-scientific cultures have for the most part been unable to account for the unflinching loyalty and meticulous devotion of traditional man to spirit beings. The reason was found to be two-fold, namely: ethnocentrism on the part of the western scholar, and his bias against supernaturalism in favor of empiricism and evolution. The present investigation further showed that affirming or rejecting the reality of supernatural beings does not belong to the field of science because by definition supernatural beings are incorporeal. Therefore, there can be no scientific (set up) or apparatus that can verify such propositions. The appropriate fields were found to be those of metaphysics and epistemology. Further investigation showed that there is no metaphysical or epistemological ground for rejecting the reality of supernatural beings (spirit beings). Belief in spirit beings was shown to be quite consistent with reason and logic. In the ontology of traditional Africa, the highest being is God (the supreme being). He is the same as the Christian God. He created all living things in both the spirit world of lesser “deities” and the physical world of mortal man. He also created both the spirit world and the physical world. The lesser spirits or deities exercise control over man in his physical environment. At death, man becomes an ancestral spirit who then gravitates into the spirit world. As an ancestor, he is worshipped by the living. In return he offers them protection, guidance and care. That is why priests and witch doctors play a dominant role in such societies. They possess special knowledge about the spirit world. They have the power to contact and to manipulate spirit beings. These specialists provide the ordinary man with varying degrees of charms, amulets, magic, and several such devices that enable the latter to ward off the influence of malevolent spirit beings, mischievous humans, and to guarantee success in life. Such is the set up that controls the nerve center of traditional Africa from the cradle to the grave. Herein lies reality to which the physical world of man must remain subservient.

For many years, the role of the pastor's wife has been an emerging role in American religious history (Sweet, 1983). While on their journey in building and nurturing their relationship with God, supporting their husbands, families, congregations, and communities, pastors' wives have experienced joys and blessings as well as challenges and issues. A tremendous joy for some pastors' wives has been the privilege, the opportunity, and the honor to serve, minister to, assist and care for others. However, one major challenge for many pastors' wives has been preparedness, or the lack of preparedness, knowledge, and instruction (Obleton, 1996). Wives of pastors are a large population of adult learners in need of educational programming opportunities. Providing adult and continuing education courses is one viable option and a resource that could assist with the needed knowledge, skills, and abilities for their role in ministry.;The primary purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the educational needs of African-American pastors' wives from the perspective and voice of the participants. to explore these educational needs, Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs was used as a framework. The participants for this study included three educational planning partner groups or a triangular component that encompassed adult learners, specialists, and educators. For the purposes of this study, the adult learners included a sample of five African-American pastors' wives. The specialists included persons who had been in a leadership role in a ministers' wives organization. The convenience sample for this group included four participants. Finally, the educators, were the administrators or the implementors from selected higher education institutions or religiously affiliated organizations who offered adult and continuing education, and had interacted with African-American pastors' wives. The educators included a sample of four participants. In total, the 13 participants used in this study were African-American, affiliated with the Baptist denomination in the United States, and affiliated with, representative of, or had exposure to selected African-American church congregations in Virginia.;Based on the design and parameters of this study, phenomenology was employed as the methodological perspective "to enter the field of perception of several individuals, while looking for and making meaning of their experiences" (Creswell, 1998, pp. 31, 51). as a result, data collection was accomplished by using semi-structured interviews.;The results from the interviews in this exploratory process were presented in two components. The first component provided narrative descriptions on each participant. The second component utilized the constant comparative method to analyze the transcriptions from all 13 interviews. From the coded transcriptions, both within-case analysis to draw out prominent themes, and cross-case analysis to examine the data in terms of similarities and differences between the three participant groups was performed. The data, descriptions, and results provided in this study could be used to inform practice relative to: educational programming for pastors' wives, clergy families, religious higher education, adult and continuing education, counseling, pastoral care, and WomanistCare.

In this dissertation, I am in conversation with the following questions: How can individuals and communities teach and learn to engage more peacefully, nonviolently, and compassionately with each other? Further, how can one practice a style of communication that helps at least one person suffer less each day? In asking these questions, my goal has been to imagine as well as attempt to actualize a world where individuals and communities work together to create less suffering in each other's lives by first developing compassionate awareness of our interconnectedness, then "waking up" not only to our own divinity but also to that place in all of us where the entire universe dwells. In this dissertation, communication is situated as both a spiritual practice and as a practice of yoga. To illuminate this notion, I have sequenced this text as a yoga practice in and of itself, employing Shiva Rea's "wave methodology" to introduce and support the peak purpose of this text -communication as yoga - via svadhyaya, or self-study, as a path to expand relational awareness through everyday small acts or micropractices. Communication, thus, becomes an emergent process based in yoga philosophy and practice wherein one learns to acknowledge and take responsibility for one's interactions with others and other realities by recognizing one's shared vulnerability. To heighten this awareness, this text includes 108 asanas or micropractices, which serve to explore my guiding questions as well as exemplify communication as yoga - as an everyday practice.

This phenomenological study was conducted in order to understand the everyday experiences of contemporary mystics in the Jewish traditions of Kabbalah. This author could find no available information about psychological research of this topic in psychological, educational or psychiatric databases. She used the applied phenomenological methodology of Howard Pollio and the Research Groups at the University of Tennessee. Interviews were conducted by this author with eight volunteer, living, adult participants who lived throughout the United States and ranged in age from 37 to 60+ years. These mystics were found through various means after they had described themselves, by their own definitions, as mystics in the Jewish traditions(s) of Kabbalah. There were six men and two women who participated; four were Jewish and four were not. The interviews ranged from one to three hours in length, were recorded, and later transcribed for confidential analyses. After analyzing the results, the Ground of the participants’ experience was determined to be Being Aware. The Thematic Structure of the participants’ everyday experiences of living with their mystical events and processes contained six themes: 1) Divine/Sacred, 2) Receiving/Calling/Gift, 3) Knowing/Realizing, 4) Practices/Body, 5)Developing/Stages, and 6) Struggling: Self/Others/World. Implications for this study suggest that the everyday experiences of these mystical participants are different in many ways from everyday experiences of non-mystics. There is some support for the ideas of spiritual intelligence, spiritual giftedness, consciousness advancement. Appreciating intuition, higher emotional states, and the deeper, yet usually hidden parts of human experience, along with learning to identify and support young people who are having mystical experiences is a worthwhile goal for psychologists.

ABSTRACT Spirituality has been recognized as a positive factor in the lives of older adults, especially as it influences their emotional, mental, and physical well-being. This convenience sample study included 17 older adults residing at a faith based continuing care retirement community in Florida. The sample was represented by Caucasian older adults with an average age of 84 years, highly educated, majority Protestant and mostly female. Spiritual life reviews were conducted using spiritual life maps (Hodge, 2005) and semi-structured interview questions. Erikson's epigenetic stage of ego-integrity was used along with Butler's life review process and Tornstam's gerotranscendence as a conceptual framework for understanding late life development and spirituality in older adults. This mostly qualitative study used a hermeneutic phenomenological approach to analyze the responses to the open-ended interview questions about spirituality across the life-time. Ego-integrity was measured at the beginning and end of the spiritual life review study. Paired t-tests found that participation in the spiritual life review did not influence the ego integrity scores of participants. Specifically, there were no statistically significant difference between the pre ego integrity score (M=82.94, SD= 8.235) and the post ego integrity score (M=84.47, SD= 7.551); t (16) = -.769 p= .453. However, in comparison, the qualitative analysis revealed that the spiritual life review does influence ego-integrity in some participants. Additionally, the spiritual life review confirms gerotranscendence and contributes to information about spiritual development in the lives of older adults. The conclusion offers a discussion about the study's limitations, strengths, implications for future research, and suggestions for clinical practice.

It is the thesis of this paper the the Church possesses traits which are characteristic of the human personality; therefore, her spiritual movement can be understood and dealt with through insights of the Oedipus Complex Theory initially described by Sigmund Freud in his discussion of personality development, greatly elaborated upon by Erich Fromm in his book, The Forgotten Language.

Parents of seriously ill children are charged with making complicated medical decisions, and many of those decisions are made during their children’s hospitalizations. As medical staff seek to support parents, it is important for them to understand what resources parents are drawing upon for decision-making. This project explored parental decision-making by examining the following research questions: RQ1: What resources do parents draw upon to make medical decisions for their seriously ill children? RQ2: How do parents enact their spiritual or religious frameworks in clinical settings when faced with medical decisions for their seriously ill children? Methods of research included ethnographic observation of a pediatric palliative care team and semi-structured interviews with twenty parents and grandparents of seriously ill children. Analysis of the interview data brought out three main themes: the role of spirituality for parents of seriously ill children, the ways parents perceive spiritual conversations with hospital personnel, and the role of spirituality for parents making difficult decisions. A case study is presented as an exemplar of complex decision-making, and the author offers her personal narratives of parenting a seriously ill child. The author suggests new directions for practitioners based on a constitutive approach to communication in which practitioners and parents work together to build towards an understanding of the child’s illness. The findings from this study contribute to the current understanding of families with seriously ill children and should shape medical education in a way that will benefit the next generation of professional care providers as they seek to meet the needs of children and their families.

This creative thesis attempts to bring academic and New Age discourses into conversation by combining the writing voice of the author’s academic identity—the scholar—with the writing voice of the author’s New Age identity—the wayseer. While researching academic discourses on the use of reflective writing, the author also participated in a New Age self development course called the Life Mastery program and facilitated by the Modern Day Mystery School located in Wilton Manors, Florida. The author uses the knowledge she acquired in her New Age studies to reconsider what she learned about writing as a student as well as to construct an identity as a member of both academic and New Age cultural communities. The work exemplifies what composition scholar Patricia Bizzell calls “hybrid” discourse. By mixing conventional components of research reports with language features from the genres of creative nonfiction and memoir, the resulting hybrid discourse explores as it demonstrates the value of reflective writing for academic objectives, of New Age practices for teaching writing and reflection, and of writing as a tool of identity construction and negotiation. Reflecting on topics ranging from the challenges of teaching first-year college students to the objectives of writing assignments received from Archangelic realms, the author portrays a writer’s path to know herself.