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No abstract available / OLD TESTAMENT & ANCIENT NE / MA (BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY)

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<p>The purpose of this thesis is to examine the effects on religious participation and activity in a country that a separation between a state and a state church has. To do this I have compared Sweden and Norway. Norway still has a state church whereas Sweden does not as of January 1 2000. I decided to examine these two countries due to their similar backgrounds, geographical location and political systems. What I found when examining Sweden was that the separation did effect the religious participation compared to Norway. But Sweden has seen a decrease in church activities for a long time; the decrease would have taken place even without the separation, since Norway also had experiences this decrease over time. So my conclusion is, if Sweden had continued to have a state church, there would have been a similar decrease. However, it would probably have been smaller, then what have taken place after the separation. The different religious activities I have looked at, baptism, confirmation and marriage, have had different development over the years and have been affected differently by the separation. The decrease in religious activity in Sweden is not only caused by the separation between state and church, it is also a reaction against a changing society. The separation in Sweden lead to a larger decrease compared to Norway. Both the decrease in religious activity in Sweden and the separation was instead a reaction to a changing society, the role that the Swedish church once played has been replaced by other factors. One of the foundations to the political elements in Sweden has with this decrease and ultimately the separation been lost and if this also will have any effect on the involvement in secular organization, voting rates or political participation is too early to tell.</p>

<p>HIV and AIDS present challenges to the well-being of individuals and to public health proportions unpresedented in modern history, and stigma has been identified as the single most contributor to the spread of the HI-virus. While the challenges presented by the AIDS pandemic are scientific and medical, it also has a psychological, legal,&nbsp / economic, social, ethical and religious impact on those infected and affected. The underlying question in this thesis is not whether the church should respond to this urgent societal challenge, but how it ought to respond. To explore this question, the thesis investigated how a New Testament text (as primary resource), particularly Luke's Gospel, could be a resource for shaping/sharpening the church's response to the pandemic.</p>

This thesis is placed between the fields of research concerning school and food and food and religion, and aims to document and analyze how different foodways enables or impedes in a multireligious and multicultural school. Three questions were determined concerning the foodscapes environment, school education and pupils’ choice. The study is conducted through a field research with both structured- and participant observations. The field work took place in foodscapes at Frödingskolan in the multicultural district Kronoparken, Karlstad. The data consist of field notes, photographs, data sources, different policy documents, meal plans and applications of special diets. Document analyzes has been conducted on the meal plans and the special diets applications. A demographic analysis of Kronoparken has also been made to contextualize Frödingskolan. The empirical material is analyzed based on theoretical perspectives about food and religion: foodscape, foodways, quasi-religious foodways, taboo foodways, immigration and multiculturalism in a secular society and migration and foodways. The most prominent result of the thesis is that most religious and quasi-religious foodways enables while a few foodways impedes because of taboo for some food at Frödingskolan. However, the school rarely provides meals that correspond with the pupils’ cultural foodways.

The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between children’s grief and their perceptions of God by utilizing children’s drawings. This research was conducted by partnering with Christian counselors and teachers who interviewed two groups of children to collect data. Counselors interviewed the experimental group of children who were between the ages of 6-12 and had experienced the death of an immediate family member. Teachers interviewed the control group of children who were between the ages of 6-12 and had not experienced the death of an immediate family member. Both groups were asked specific questions in efforts to ascertain if children in the midst of grief perceived God differently. A multilevel triangulation design was used in this study with the first phase being qualitative and the second quantitative. In phase one, both the experimental group and control group of children were each interviewed and asked to respond to these questions by drawing their answers. Upon completion of the drawings, each child was asked a series of follow-up questions in efforts to provide explanations for their drawings. Select demographic information was also collected as a part of the interview process. Phase 2 utilized a quantitative approach. A panel of raters was assigned with the task of looking for specified, coded patterns or images in each child’s drawn or verbal response. Each panel member received a description of characteristics for which to look, as well as a Thurstone scale to assess the frequency of the characteristics. Upon evaluation, this data was sent back to the researcher for anecdotal analysis. The qualitative data was collected and the results were analyzed utilizing two statistical analyses methods including a Mann-Whitney test and a four-way ANOVA. While the Mann-Whitney was used to determine the correlation between death and a child’s perception of God, the ANOVA was performed to analyze the role demographics played in children’s perception of God after they experienced a parental or sibling death. Findings from the analyses are discussed in terms of implications for future research as well as possible applications for the research.

Daniel Ferris Born, Ph.D. The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2016 Chair: Dr. William F. Cook The figurative use of "son(s) of" phrases in the NT represents the author employing the father-son relationship, and what this relationship represents in the ancient world, as a tool to illustrate and explain various concepts and ideas in NT thought. As a result, the father-son relationship in the ancient world must be employed in the interpretation of these figurative "son(s) of" phrases. Failing to understand the importance of genealogical identification, kinship, and the social implications of the father-son relationship in the ancient world and bring these concepts to bear in interpretation, will result in a failure to understand what the NT authors seek to communicate by using "son(s) of" phrases. Chapter 1 provides an introduction to this topic and a history of how linguists and commentators have approached these phrases in the past. There are very few scholars who have sought to employ the father-son relationship in their interpretation of these phrases and their figurative use. Chapters 2 and 3 survey the use of these phrases inside and outside the NT. Chapter 2 includes the use of בֵּן in the Hebrew Bible, "son(s) of" phrases in the LXX, as well as the use of υἱός plus the genitive in Classical Greek, the OT and NT apocrypha and pseudepigrapha, other early Jewish and Christian writings, coins and inscriptions, and the papyri and ostraca. Chapter 3 surveys the use of υἱός in the NT. Chapter 4 explores the father-son relationship in the social context of the NT in order to distill the major features of the father-son relationship into an interpretive framework which can be utilized in understanding what the NT authors seek to communicate in their figurative use of "son(s) of" phrases. Chapter 5 employs this framework in the interpretation of the figurative "son(s) of" phrases in the NT. Chapter 6 concludes the work, discusses its implications, and recognizes the need for further study in certain areas.

ABSTRACT ADOPTION RATES AMONG EVANGELICALS: A MIXED METHODS STUDY Matthew Scott Thompson, Ed.D. The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2015 Chair: Dr. Anthony W. Foster The purpose of this study was to examine the adoption rates of evangelical Christian adoption agencies and to determine what factors, if any, contribute to the current adoption rates. A mixed methods approach, consisting of both quantitative and qualitative elements was used for completion of this study. The quantitative section of the research utilizes historical, numerical data from select adoption agencies to determine the pattern of adoption rates. The qualitative portion of the research utilizes an electronic survey, which contains simple answer questions, Likert scale questions, and open-ended questions to determine potential factors that have an effect on the adoption rates. The data was reviewed and analyzed to determine the conclusions of the research study. KEYWORDS: Adoption, Adoption Agency, Adoption Rates, Evangelical, Foster Care, Orphan Care