The purpose of this study is to determine, in so far as is possible, the views held by various leaders of the Latter-day Saints relative to Adam; and more especially, the official doctrine of the Church as to his place in its theology. The problem is based, in part, on the divergent, and oft times bitter, claims and counter-claims of members, ex-members, and non-members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints over "Mormon" teachings concerning Adam in the light of a certain address given by president Brigham Young in 1852. Indeed, this address, and the man who gave it, remain the focal point of much discussion to this day. From time to time, articles, anti-Mormon in spirit and purpose, appear attacking the Latter-day Saints and citing the aforementioned address as irrefutable evidence of the "blasphemous beliefs" of Mormonism in general, and its concept of God and man's relationship to him in particular. It is hoped that this study will prove of some value in establishing the actual doctrines of the Church, thus revealing the truth - whatever that truth may be. It is in that spirit that this thesis hase been written; the writer trusts that it will be received in a like one.

In view of the aforementioned emphasis on the missionary program of the Church there was a felt need by the author, with encouragement from Ernest Eberhard Jr., of the Department of Education, to do a follow-up study to determine what effect the seminary program has had and is now having upon the lives of its graduates now in the mission field. Only the missionaries who arenow in the mission field and who are seminary graduates of four selected seminaries are used in this study. There are three major areas of seminary influence and effectiveness that this study attempts to determine. They are: (1) The effectiveness of the seminary program in influencing the missionaries to have lived the gospel in their lives before going on thier missions. (2) The influence the seminary program had on the missionaries' desires to go on missions. (3) The effectiveness of the seminary program in helping to prepare these missionaries to be more successful in their present missionary work. These findings are determined from the results of a questionnaire that was sent to each missionary.

The purpose of this study is two fold: first, to review the historical sources pertaining to the observance of fasting from the time of the establishment of the church in 1830 until 1896, when the last essential change in its observance occurred; and second, as the payment of fast offerings is so closely related to an analysis of the subject, to trace its development out of the Church's policy to provide for its poor.

The purpose of this study is to compare all the major printings of the texts of "The Book of Abraham" and the "Writings of Joseph Smith," both presently contained in "The Pearl of Great Price", to note the various changes in the texts and to evaluate the significance of those changes.

No description available.

<p>This thesis argues that Wendell Berry’s idea of a healthy community and his understanding of membership is embodied in his fiction. The imagined community of Port William is neither an ideal blueprint for instantiating a new form of collective life in modern society, nor is it a nostalgic recreation of lost rural communities for representing an alternative culture. Berry’s imagination—both the creative process and its material products—is a funding current for both analyzing North American democracy and its failings as well as cultivating pluralities of communities that address these inadequacies. The form and discipline of Berry’s imaginative engagement with the particularities of his place uncovers the divine creativity operating in it; his fictional writing incarnates his conception and experience of this divine presence as God’s kenotic love. The upshot is not a simplistic return to traditional life but rather an affectionate and self-effacing approach to nature that converges with God’s manner of creating and relating to the world as it is conceived within the Christian tradition. Berry’s moral imagination emerges from a cultural approach to Christianity that engenders people who seek out those aspects of society and moments in life that are struggles—for justice, happiness, reconciliation—in order to incarnate a loving openness to others that does not re-inscribe further failures of Western consumer culture and political economy.</p> <p>Berry’s imagined community educates the affections in order to transform the way in which we relate to one another and treat the environment. His fiction is an education in being at home in the world as it is where we find it. Rather than theorizing the structure of a locally adapted community, or offering techniques for establishing the existence of such a community, Berry shows us how to live where we are through literary biography.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

<p>This thesis looks at one example of a Bayesian argument for the existence of God in order to evaluate the quality of such arguments. It begins by explicating a general trend in philosophical apologetics towards probabilistic arguments for God's existence, most notably represented in Richard Swinburne's 2004 book, <em>The Existence of God</em>. Swinburne's arguments are presented as the pinnacle of the probabilistic movement. In order to judge the worth of such arguments, I carefully lay out the principles and assumptions upon which Swinburne's case is based. I show that his argument requires both the truth of substance dualism and the valid application of the simplicity principle to a set of possible hypotheses which purport to explain the existence of the Universe. Swinburne depends on the willingness of philosophers to accede to these points. I proceed to show that no agreement exists on the topic of dualism, concluding that Swinburne has a lot of work ahead of him if he wants this assumption to firmly support his argument. I then show that, while the simplicity principle is generally agreed to be a good tool for real-world situations, there are important differences when attempting to use it to adjudicate between hypotheses to explain the universe. The simplicity principle requires both background knowledge and a mutually exclusive and jointly exhaustive set of hypotheses in order to be properly applied, both of which are here lacking. If I am right, then we will be unable to reasonably assign several values necessary in order to utilize Bayes' Theorem. Thus the Bayesian approach cannot be used for the problem of the existence of God. Finally, I show that Swinburne's own assumptions can be used to generate a different conclusion, which casts further doubt on his methodology.</p> / Master of Arts (MA)

<p>The Old Testament contains a number of depictions of a divine councilor assembly of the gods in the heavens. Several of these scenes form episodic narratives that provide a window into the divine realm and insight into the workings of the heavenly court. The closest cultural and linguistic parallel to the biblical council is found in the Ugaritic texts from Ras Shamra. The parallel members in the Old Testament are seldom considered gods by scholars, in contrast to those in the pantheon in the Ugaritic literature. This thesis calls into question the validity of this distinction and proposes that in these episodic scenes these members are deities under the presidency of YHWH. Power in the heavens is consolidated in the council permitting a view of god that is pluralistic and yet unified. YHWH is its head and he sets its agenda, announces its decisions and commissions its agents.</p> / Master of Theology (Th.M)

<p>This dissertation interprets the origins and growth of per-Restoration Quakerism through concepts developed in social-psychology and the sociology of religion. It argues that previous attempts to interpret Quakerism through psychological or mystical perspectives fail to locate the group in its socio-historical setting, and therefore these interpretations provide inadequate explanations of the group and its most prominent personality, George Fox. By utilizing, however, the social-psychological theory of "relative deprivation," the dissertation both explains the origins of Quakerism's religious ideology, and shows how its members' sense of felt deprivation determined the group's decisions about allocating economic and personal resources in an anti-tithe campaign.</p> <p>Briefly stated, the central argument of the study is that the Quakers felt frustration and resentment toward the victorious Puritans (post 1648) whom they believed had failed to implement a series of promised social and political reforms, including tithe-abolition. In fact, the 3roup emerged among religious and political radicals who felt particularly resentful over the continuation of the state-supported tithe system, and Quakerism launched a vehement campaign to have governmental officials abolish tithes at the same time that it encouraged people to withhold payment of them.</p> <p>Quakerism's anti-tithe campaign generated a number of staunch opponents, however, and the dissertation uses the concept of 11 relative deprivation" to explain their reaction to the group. These fearful opponents felt deprived relative to the social conditions that would be imposed if the Quakers were to succeed in achieving their goal of tithe-abolition, since many of them were tithe-receivers themselves.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

In the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, the wives of the married applicants, aspirants and candidates to the permanent diaconate are required to accompany their husbands during the process of formation. Currently, the formation program does not engage them fully. Since women cannot be ordained as deacons, they are not perceived as the intended recipients for the formation offered by the program. This study proposes an alternative vision and theological framework. The study affirms the full dignity of women as human beings created in the image and likeness of God and therefore, perfectly well suited to be icons of God as they minister to the Christian community and to the world. The study explores the ministry of notable women mentioned in the New Testament, particularly Mary the mother of God; Mary Magdalene; Mary of Bethany; the foreigner woman identified as a Syrophoenician in the Gospel of Mark and as a Canaanite in the Gospel of Matthew; the Samaritan woman at the well; Phoebe, introduced by St. Paul to the Romans as a Deacon and the women mentioned in the First Letter to Timothy in the middle of the author’s list of requirements for deacons. While remaining open to the possibility of women being admitted to the ordained permanent diaconate, this study aims at providing a theological and practical framework to make the diaconate formation program more meaningful and fruitful for the women in it. The ministry of women is as important and valuable as the ministry of men and formation for ministry is a good that ought to be made available to those who seek that formation. This proposal includes the modification of the vision, policies, procedures and curriculum of diaconate formation to make the formation of women an explicit and integral part of the program.