ABSTRACT A MISSIOLOGICAL EVALUATION OF SOUTHERN BAPTIST MULTIETHNIC CHURCHES IN THE UNITED STATES Stephen Gary Crouse, Ph.D. The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2014 Chair: Dr. Adam W. Greenway The thesis of this dissertation is that Southern Baptist multiethnic churches exemplify the mission of the church as revealed in the Scriptures and offer a valuable strategy for reaching the increasingly diverse population of the United States. Chapter 1 introduces the ethnic segregation of Southern Baptist Churches and begins to establish a missiological foundation for ethnic inclusiveness. A discussion of the research problem including the background of the dissertation follows. The broader question of the missiological need for multiethnic congregations in the current milieu of American society is addressed. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the definitions of key terms, limitations and delimitations, and the research methodology employed. Chapter 2 explores the mission of the church and the extent to which it applies to all peoples. The ethnic inclusiveness of the ministry of Jesus and the ethnic diversity of the New Testament churches address the need for multiethnic Southern Baptist churches. The chapter ends with a discussion of Paul's charge that Christ broke down the dividing wall of separation between the Jews and Gentiles and the implications for Southern Baptist multiethnic congregations. The focus of chapter 3 is a historical examination of Southern Baptist multiethnic churches. While many ethnicities are included in Southern Baptist life, attention is limited to African Americans and Hispanics in this historical survey. Southern Baptist churches had many African slaves among their members when the Convention was founded. The western expansion of Southern Baptists and the United States' acquisition of the Southwest territories following the Mexican American War led the young Convention to initiate mission work with Hispanics. The unequal treatment that these ethnic groups received from Anglos has lingering effects on contemporary Southern Baptist multiethnic churches. Southern Baptist attitudes about integration and the Civil Rights Movement also influenced ethnic relationships. Immigration policies and socioeconomic factors that favor the majority ethnicity create obstacles for multiethnic congregations. Contemporary Southern Baptists actions to improve ethnic relationships are examined. An in-depth study of Donald McGavran's homogeneous unit principle and its impact on contemporary Southern Baptist multiethnic congregations is offered in chapter 4. This principle is scrutinized from a biblical and missiological perspective. The implications related to cross-cultural evangelism in light of the biblical witness conclude the chapter. Chapter 5 segues into a critical look at worship in the twenty-six Southern Baptist multiethnic churches used for the social research. The chapter begins by defining worship as an integral part of the mission of the church. The need for an authoritative standard as a reference point in navigating the challenges of leading a multiethnic congregation to worship God is examined including data obtained through the social research. Aspects of corporate worship and their impact on multiethnic churches are explored based on the social research data. The chapter concludes by addressing ethnic inclusivism in Southern Baptist multiethnic churches and exploring the biblical notion of worshiping God in spirit and truth. Chapter 6 offers a summation of issued raised and addressed in the dissertation. Southern Baptist multiethnic churches offer a valuable strategy for reaching the increasingly diverse population of the United States. Areas for further study are suggested.

This study utilized both qualitative and quantitative procedures to examine the relationship between religiosity and eating disorders among a sample of nineteen eating disordered individuals who sought treatment at one of two college counseling centers, or at a hospital unit which specializes in treating eating disorders. Following theoretical works that point to asceticism as the link between religion and eating disorders, it was hypothesized that subject scores on the Shepherd Scale, a measure of religiosity from a Christian perspective, would positively correlate with scores on the Eating Disorder Inventory, a measure of eating disorder symptomatology, which includes a subscale that assesses asceticism. Analysis of subject scores shows no statistically significant correlation between religiosity and asceticism, though statistically significant negative correlations were found between religiosity and other Eating Disorder Inventory subscales. A marked difference in asceticism scores was found between subjects treated at the college counseling centers and those treated at the hospital unit. / Department of Counseling Psychology and Guidance Services

While Thwaites' Jesuit Relations have been extensively used by historians interested in the interactions between Native Americans and the French Jesuit- missionaries, they have not been used to examine the Jesuits' descriptions of the North American natural world. These natural world descriptions are examined to see what influence factors contributed to the form of their accounts. Using two recent journal articles five factors - value, religion, society, personal experience and education - were selected to provide the structure of this study and to understand the impact of these factors upon the Jesuit natural world descriptions. Environmental history works have been consulted to provide information of the Jesuit mentality formed by these factors. Two factors, value and personal experience, provide the greatest influence, with education and society providing a lesser influence. Surprisingly, the influence of religion does not often explicitly appear in the Jesuit accounts. / Department of History

This investigation examined attitudes towards Middle-Eastern Muslims held by non-Muslim undergraduate students and was conducted in three phases. Phase one explored these attitudes through focus groups and found that although participants had little information about Muslims, they had definite attitudes. Focus group participants reported that Muslim men and women possessed particular characteristics and that much of their information was learned through movies and/or media sources. During phase two of the study, all measures utilized in the present study were examined for reliability of at least .70. In addition, the ATMS was developed from a review of the literature and of focus groups. All measures were shown to be reliable except the cognitive complexity measure. During phase three, factor analyses were conducted to address the validity of the ATMS. A final five-factor, 25-item scale resulted. The five factors were interpreted as Positive Feelings about Muslims, Muslims as Separate or Other, Lack of Personal Choice/Freedom, Fear of Muslims, and Dissimilarity with Muslims. Correlation analyses supported initial evidence of construct validity. A discussion of the results and its implications are provided. / Department of Counseling Psychology and Guidance Services

Religious coping is used to describe how individuals use their religion and religious beliefs to help them cope with difficult situations. Researchers have investigated the role of religious coping in those with cancer; however, little research has been completed with long-term survivors of cancer. Additionally, little research has been completed regarding religious coping and long-term survivorship using advanced statistical analyses. This investigation sought to clarify the role of religious coping in long-term survivors of cancer and their quality of life. Using structural equation modeling, religious coping was tested as both a mediator and a moderator of quality of life. The study used a sample of 213 participants who were long-term survivors of cancer. The participants completed mail surveys assessing demographic variables, quality of life, and religious coping. Despite poor model fit, religious coping was a mediator in the relationship between demographic variables and quality of life. In the mediation model, both age and sex predicted religious coping. In the moderation model, the only significant path was between religious coping and quality of life. Results of the study indicate that religious coping acts as a mediator in the relationship between demographic variables and quality of life. Religious coping influences quality of lifeand may be beneficial to explore when working with long-term survivors of cancer. These findings enhance the clinical perspective of religious coping and have important ramifications on psychotherapeutic interventions for working with survivors of cancer. Psychologists who work with survivors of cancer should consider and respect the role religious coping has on the survivor. Future research must continue to explore the pathways through which religious coping operates. More work must be done with long-term survivors of cancer and with ethnically diverse populations. Researchers must continue to use advanced statistics to study these complex relationships instead of relying on simple count and frequency data that only measure if religious coping is present. As the world of psycho-oncology continues to grow, so must the understanding of the variables involved in healthy and happy survivorship / Department of Counseling Psychology and Guidance Services

The last fifty years have seen a turn in the Catholic Church's public attitude toward capital punishment. From openly defending the right of the state to kill malefactors, the Church has become an outspoken opponent. What accounts for this? How can it be reconciled with Catholic tradition? Should the current teaching be called a 'development of doctrine'? Can we expect further change? These questions shape this thesis. The work is divided into three parts comprising a total of eight chapters. Part I undertakes a detailed exegesis of the death penalty teaching of the Catechism of the Catholic Church (1997). I conclude that the text, while not explicitly stating that the death penalty is in itself wrong, lays down premises which when carried to their logical conclusions, yield just such a conclusion. This conclusion is checked and confirmed by the fundamental moral reasoning found in the papal encyclicals Evangelium Vitae and Veritatis Splendor. In light of this conclusion (what I call the new position), Part II asks the question: may the Church, constrained by sound biblical interpretation and dogmatic tradition, legitimately teach in a definitive way that capital punishment is per se wrong? This is a question which concerns the development of doctrine. Before it can be answered the Church's traditional teaching needs to be precisely formulated so that it can be placed in juxtaposition to the new teaching. An analysis of statements throughout ecclesiastical history is therefore undertaken and what we might call the cumulative consensus of ecclesiastical writers on capital punishment is formulated. The authoritative nature of this teaching is analyzed to determine what kinds of developments it admits and excludes. Judging its nature admits of a development like the one described in Part I, models are proposed to explain modes by which it might be understood to be developing. Finally, a systematic and philosophically consistent account of the new position is proposed and its implications for other teachings in the Church's tradition of 'justifiable violence' is examined.

The extent of the ethical component in the Buddha's teachings is often commented upon but has received disproportionately little attention from scholars. This thesis is intented to make a contribution in this area by (i): examining the substantive content of Buddhist ethical categories; (ii) locating ethics and the goal of ethical perfection in the context of the overall soteriological framework elaborated by the Buddha; (iii) offering a characterisation of the formal structure of Buddhist ethics according to the typology of philosophical ethical theory. The scope of the enquiry will include ethical data from both the Small and Large Vehicles. Previous research has concentrated almost exclusively on the Theravāda system and this has resulted in a truncated presentation of Buddhist ethics which has failed to reveal the underlying structure and its development through time. The present discussion therefore proceeds in a roughly chronological sequence in the selection of its data, considering first of all material from Theravādin sources (both Canonical and commentarial) and passing on to an investigation of the systematisation of ethical categories in the Abhidharma of the Small Vehicle as found in the scheme of the Sarvāstivāda preserved in the Abhidharmakośa. Subsequently, in Chapter 4, an account of Mahayana ethics is offered drawing mainly on the Śila-paṭala of the Bodhisattvabhūmi. The final two chapters (5 and 6) discuss two influential theories of ethics elaborated in the Western tradition which bear a prima facie resemblance to the theoretical structure of Buddhist ethics. Chapter 5 will deal with Utilitarianism and its resemblance to Buddhism, and Chapter 6 will be devoted to the Aristotelian ethical system. My conclusion will be that the Aristotelian model provides the closest analogue to Buddhism and a preliminary attempt will be made to pursue certain points of contact as an indication of the direction for future research. The overall argument, which is cumulative throughout the thesis, will be that ethical perfection in Buddhism is an integral and inalienable component in the perfection of human nature envisaged and attained by the Buddha. This, together with the intellectual perfection epitomised by the attainment of insightful knowledge (paññā). constitutes the Summum Bonum or complete good for man.

The Nāmamantrārthāvalokinī ('An Explanation of the Meaning of the Namemantras') is an early, and major, commentary on the Nāmasaṃgīti ('The Chanting of Names'). Written by the eighth century Indian ācārya Vilāsavajra, it survives in the original Sanskrit and in Tibetan translation. The Nāmasamgīti enumerates the 'Names' of Mañjuśrī, the Mahayana figure embodying wisdom, and it exerted a strong influence on liturgy, ritual and meditation in the later phase of Buddhism in India (750-1200 CE). Vilāsavajra's commentary is written from a Yogācāra perspective and interprets the 'Names' within an elaborate ritual framework which consists in a maṇḍala that has Mañjuśrī as its central deity. The central part of the thesis comprises a critical edition and annotated translation of the Sanskrit text of the first five chapters of Vilāsavajra's commentary, approximately a quarter of the whole. The critical edition is based on eight Nepalese manuscripts for which a stemma codicum is established. Two blockprint editions of the Tibetan translation are consulted at cruces in the Sanskrit. Their readings, treated as those of any other witness, are incorporated into the apparatus as appropriate. The edition is followed by textual notes. Introductory material is divided into two parts. Matters relating to the Sanskrit and Tibetan materials are discussed in a section placed before the edition. These include a description of the manuscripts, discussion of the method of editing, establishment of the stemma codicum and an assessment of the Tibetan translation. An introduction to the contents precedes the translation and is primarily concerned with an outline of the ritual structure of the commentary, giving particular attention to chapters 1-5. Evidence concerning the life and date of Vilāsavajra is considered, suggesting he should be placed in the latter part of the eighth century. Assessing the work's significance for the study of Buddhism, 1 suggest that it is of historical importance in that it throws light on the process by which Tantric methods were being related to soteriology in this period; and that it contains material, especially in the sādhana of chapter 4, that contributes to an understanding of the development of Tantric forms of Buddhist meditation. The work is also the only known instance of a commentary of a Yogatantra type that survives in Sanskrit.

The purpose of this thesis was to provide insights into the consumer's perception of the risk of Riba (the Islamic prohibition of baking interest) and its influence on consumer's bank patronage. In Bahrain, the Conventional and the Interest-free banks operate side by side representing different philosophies of business and operation. Selecting a conventional bank requires Muslim customers to negotiate the risk of jeopardizing religious convictions, and selecting an Interest-free bank requires customers to adjust to possibilities of losing some of their convenience, time, services quality, and perhaps their money. Specifically, this study explored the interaction of risk perception (ethical and performance) with the banking patronage and a host of attitudinal and behavioural correlates in banking among the Bahraini customers. The study surveyed a random sample of customers from the population of Muslim teachers by means of Questionnaires. Risks of ethical, ideological and religious nature were identified These were new risks that extended the perceived risk research. Findings were reported about the public reaction to Riba as a threat and customers' concerns about it. The analysis also used attitudes, beliefs and world views, worrying, sin perception, religious orientation, Riba charactenstics, banking knowledge, social relations and contexts, as well as the risk handling activities to explore their influences on the perceived risks and banking patronage.

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