One mission of Christian schools is to foster teenagers’ spiritual formation so that they are equipped to confront challenges and contribute to their communities as Christians after high school. A private Christian school identified inadequate spiritual formation in its teenagers and a need to implement a spiritual formation program. Using a nonexperimental, mixed methods study, the purpose of this study was to (a) investigate spiritual formation programs used by private Christian schools and (b) explore educators’ perceptions of the most effective ways to bolster spiritual formation. The framework that drove this study was adolescent Judeo-Christian spiritual development. A questionnaire containing a 5-point Likert scale and open-ended questions was completed by 504 secondary teachers and administrators from the Association of Christian Schools International schools. Descriptive analysis showed that most schools chose programs that placed an emphasis on spiritual formation with faith and learning integrated through chapel, Bible classes, community service, group mentoring, and spiritual formation classes. Qualitative data revealed that most participants believed that relationally-based programs, such as mentoring, are most effective in fostering spiritual formation; however, most schools do not use these due to feasibility, affordability, and a lack of professional development. It is recommended that administrators use spiritual formation professional development and mentoring program at the local setting. These initiatives may contribute to positive social change by producing spiritually mature teenagers who are less likely to engage in risky behaviors and more likely to participate in their communities as Christian citizens and community partners.

Leibniz's 'Von der Allmacht and Allwissenheit Gottes and der Freiheit des Mensched is obscure and misunderstood. First I do a close reading of the work. Then I will discuss some scholarly interpretations, as well as VdA's place in Leibniz's thought. I challenge two scholarly assumptions--the first being that Leibniz rejected then accepted privation theory. I argue that there are two types of privation theories, using illustrative historical examples, and that Leibniz objected to one and adopted the other. Secondly, many scholars opine that the Confessio is a juvenile Theodicy. I take VdA to be an important predecessor to the Theodicy due to similarities in style, content and method. Finally, I link Leibniz's definition of possibility in VdA with an important connection between truth and existence. In this respect, Leibniz's ideas of possibility and conceivability are the forerunners of a current topic in philosophy.

Justifications of democracy rest in large part on unacknowledged empirical assumptions regarding the cognitive, informational, and behavioral capacities of individuals and voting populations. The goal of this project was to identify those assumptions and examine them in light of data from the social sciences. To the extent that these assumptions are undermined by empirical evidence, the normative legitimacy of democracy as a system of rule is weakened. Theories of democracy were organized along a continuum from purely instrumental to purely intrinsic or procedural, and a representative sample of theories from along this spectrum were analyzed in order to identify their core empirical assumptions. Interest-based, deliberative, and egalitarian theories of democracy were each demonstrated to be predicated on substantive empirical assumptions which were contradicted by the available evidence. A sophisticated hybrid account incorporating aspects from along the spectrum of available theories was likewise demonstrated to be predicated on unsubstantiated assumptions regarding human capacities. A concluding analysis of the circumstances which undermine the assumptions of democratic theory demonstrated the limited tractability of these circumstances, leading to my assertion that a new conception of what democracy is and what purposes it should serve is warranted, and that in the interim, contemporary attempts to justify the dissemination of democracy are undermined.

This thesis explores a resignification of the home in light of Heidegger's concept of dwelling. I begin by reviewing two opposing interpretations of the social and psychological dimensions of home: the traditional view, which sees the home as a site of comfort, refuge and centeredness, and the feminist view, which interprets the home as a site of objectification, difference and oppression. Seeking to cut through the debate, I develop an account of the home based on Heidegger's description of dwelling, which understands the home to be a manifestation of our dwelling practices. That is, the home reveals our way of being open, provisional, historical and communal. In addition to bringing this account to bear on the prior interpretations, I end the thesis with an argument against postmodern proposals of "homelessness" and explore the relationship between the home as a site of dwelling and our understanding of self.

Thesis (M.A.)--Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, 2003. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 136-140).

Religious diversity has become a central topic in the philosophy of religion. This study proposes a methodological approach to the topic by exploring the division of tasks set out by Bernard Lonergan (1904-1984). Lonergan’s methodological framework, which he called functional specialization, provides a generic differentiation of tasks, each of which is central to the overall project of understanding religious diversity. This thesis explores the relevance and utility of functional specialization as a methodological approach to religious diversity in the philosophy of religion. [...] / La diversité religieuse est aujourd’hui une préoccupation centrale dans l’étude de la philosophie des religions. Cette étude propose une démarche méthodologique en explorant la division des tâches mise de l’avant par Bernard Lonergan (1904- 1984). La méthodologie employée par celui-ci, qu’il nomma « spécialisation fonctionnelle», permet d’établir une séparation générique des tâches, chacune d’elles jouant un rôle important dans la compréhension globale de la diversité religieuse. Cette étude illustré la pertinence et l’utilité de la spécialisation fonctionnelle en tant qu’approche méthodologique dans la philosophie des religions, et particulièrement dans l’étude de la diversité religieuse. [...]

Thesis (S.T.M.)--Yale Divinity School, 1989. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A.)--Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, 2003. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 136-140).

Thesis (M.A.)--Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, 2003. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 136-140).

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