This project proposes an alternative way of facilitating congregational change. Initially, the project outlines a theological understanding of what the church is, and who people are as created persons of God. Then the project asserts that by combining Solution-Focused individual care with understandings from congregational leadership theories and styles, there will be a new way of thinking about the congregational change process. This project researches current methods of congregational leadership, and looks in-depth at the Solution-Focused individual care model as it attempts to combine these two important fields of work and study. In conclusion, the project suggests that using the main tenets of Solution-Focused care on a congregational level can create a healthy model for ministry. Solution-focused congregation change therefore is recommended and offered as a new way of thinking about congregational systems and leadership through an ever changing reality.

From a contemporary standpoint, the journey experiences of exile and return in the Hebrew Bible present some interesting connections and parallels with other forms of social movement such as international migration and border-crossings. In terms of my specific positioning as a Hispanic in the U.S. Southwest, this dissertation intends to read-across journey experiences of exile and return. In terms of a reading trajectory, I first read the exile and return experiences addressed by Second Isaiah (40-55) across to the contemporary Mexican migratory experience. This reading project is theoretically grounded in a theology of the diaspora, which, according to Fernando F. Segovia, is a theology grounded and forged in the migratory experience of U.S. Hispanics. From this perspective, the Jewish Babylonian exiles and contemporary Mexican migrants are viewed as common human experiences of diaspora. Moreover, these experiences find expression in each of these groups corresponding cultural literature. Thus, I propose to read-across this spectrum of cultural literature and compare the poetry of Second Isaiah and the Mexican immigrant corridos (ballads). In the end, this dissertation argues that the diasporic categories of exile and return in Second Isaiah can inform our reading of exile and return in the cultural literature of the Mexican immigrant and vice versa. In other words through the corridos about the Mexican immigrant experience, one is able to see that Second Isaiah is also a form of oppositional culture, serving as a sharp critique of the imperial system.

This study proposes rigor in approaching the question of how the writer of Lukes Gospel handled the rural material. The author constructs an inventory of literary artifacts of rural contact found within the Gospel. Data from this inventory are then used to explore three issues: 1) the distribution of rural artifacts within the Gospel, 2) evidence of the writers attitude towards the relationship between city and countryside, and 3) evidence of the Gospels tendentiousness that is found in some differences from the other Synoptic parallels and how these tendencies might also be discerned in Lukes unique material. The study concludes that Lukes Gospel displays a matrix of containment of, engagement with, and distance from the rural material.

This project is a rhetorical-intertextual study of Psalm 90. It is also a study of the act of reading as a recursive, self-reflexive, self-organizing, and emergent process. The language of Psalm 90 forms a content chiasm, which can be read as a two-part structure or as a triptych organized around human experiences of divine wrath and compassion. Unique allusion to Moses in the psalms superscription and shared language with Exod 32:12 evoke a reading of this poetic structure in the shape of a mountain: a reinscribed Sinai. As the mountain of God, Psalm 90 becomes a space to be traversed. Beginning and ending in the open-endedness of God, reading ascends through a lament on themes of temporality and transience, life and death; passes through figurations of divine burning; and descends into an imperative world sated in the moment at hand by God. To read Psalm 90 in this way is to returnwith a difference. The readerly move brings other Sinai passages into play, elaborating a text more evocatively associated with the figure of Moses. It addresses a complex text with a reading process that is mobile, mutable, and relational in every sense. It provides for a reading of structure that enacts the change Psalm 90 reckons as wisdom while also suggesting a model for the linguistic construction of meaning. Recursion, a concept of non-identical repetition borrowed from complexity theory, generates the methodology and shape of this study. Seven chapters map the recursion in Psalm 90. Five chapter tropes outline its order: mountain, law, fire, veil, and words. These signs oversee a reading of the Psalter in the shape of Psalm 90 and of Exodus 32 as a paradigm for the law(s) given on that mountain; a reading of the peak of Psalm 90 as the burning of the Holocaust and as the death of self figured in the language of Zen; a reading of Moses final descent from Sinai in Exod 34:29-35 in relation to the descent from Psalm 90; and a critical inquiry into a postmodern rhetorical criticism.

This project is an examination of why the faith beliefs of well-intentioned Christians often are not reflected in faith actions. The focus is upon why white Christians continue in sinful complicity with racism. The pastoral theological method of revised critical correlation provides the framework for this examination. The revised critical correlation method supports a dialogue between theology and particular disciplines such as the social sciences. The conversation among liberative theologies, critical race theory, and interviews with persons engaged in resisting racism over a period of time offers theological, political, and experiential information for this study. Liberative theologies consider contexts and experiences of oppressed persons. Critical race theory informs these theologies with alternative definitions of white privilege and racism as well as revealing the political aspects of racism. A phenomenological qualitative research interview method is used to support focusing upon an interviewee's own perspective, including context and experiences within that context. The interview responses suggest that the commitment to actively resist racism over a period of time does not support the argument that exposure to liberative theologies or critical race theory is essential to maintain this commitment. The pastoral theological principles of living and working within diverse communities and valuing the contexts and experiences of those needing care are confirmed through the interviewee's stories.

This project focuses on how adaptive leadership is used and can be used by individuals--both ministers and laypersons--who lead multi-worshiping congregations, that is, congregations that worship in two or more different styles. The bulk of the primary research for this study consisted of interviews with the members and staff of three multi-worshiping congregations. This study shows that the multi-worshiping church requires a leadership model that is transforming, a model that meets the needs of those in the congregation and engages the values that they hold. It needs to be a model that helps churches to deal with challenges that are brand new to them, challenges that cannot be solved by simply doing the same old thing. It needs to be a model of leadership that is adaptive enables leaders to become proficient at mobilizing people to tackle tough problems.

This D. Min. thesis explores the implications for ministry of the teachings (both in class and as living example) of Kenneth Cracknell long time professor at Brite Divinity School. The thesis is built upon interviews with a number of former students who now hold a variety of positions in both churches and non-profit organizations.

This thesis examines the theological, social and historical implications of the Palamite Controversy from a postmodern perspective, while also providing segue into the epistemic basis of Eastern Christianity. The epistemology of the Christian East is contrasted to the Aristotelian basis of Western European scholasticism and theology. The Palamite Controversy provides a definitive historical event of epistemic division, definition, and conflict, which opens a window into understanding the wide chasm of separation between the Greek East and the Latin West in terms of ontology and epistemology. The historical events and doctrines of the Hesychasts is the fulcrum for doctrinal formation in 14th century Constantinople, and a wedge of division from the intellectual sphere of Rome. Experiential mysticism as regularised and canonised by the Palamite councils would provide a final mechanism for declaring the doctrines of the church as transformative-experiential, participatory, and deifying. Historical events and developed doctrines are examined through the lens of Habermas' truth consensus theory, and set within the postmodern context of a communitarian narrative of truth.

Project Director: Dr. Joseph Jeter. This paper identifies the chaplain's role in promoting preventive resilience-based pastoral care through supportive resources and community networks. This paper shares information gathered through observation, personal experience, and a literature review that firefighters are more resilient because of their strong sense of community, and their commitments to God, each other, and their families. In the first chapter, the author writes about personal experiences and observations that lead to an interest and study of the fire chaplain's role in promoting resilience in fire fighters and their families . The second chapter, entitled " Fire Chaplaincy" shares a historical perspective and addresses the duties and responsibilities of a fire department chaplain. The third chapter, entitled "A Biblical Example for Resiliency" gives a biblical framework for the promotion of resiliency. The literature review explores the stories of Abraham and Sarah and surveys ways in which connectedness to God , family, and community have helped families rebound from life's challenges. In the fourth chapter, entitled "Theoretical Grounding: Froma Walsh's Foundations of a Family Resiliency Approach" one finds the definitions of "resilience" and "connectedness" that frame the discussion on key interactional processes that empower families to be resilient. The fifth chapter, entitled "Implications for the Ministry of Preventive Pastoral Care with Firefighters and their Families" gives the practical aspects of the chaplains' roles in promoting resilience in firefighters and their families. The reader will find along with some challenges that firefighters and their families face, an overview of strength-based programs such as Critical Incident Stress Management and Fire Families Support and Awareness Programs. The final chapter, entitled "Conclusion" addresses the need for a "Fire Chaplain Survey." The purpose of this survey will be to learn from other chaplains' experiences about their specific preventive pastoral care programs and community resources that promote resilience. The fire chaplain is instrumental in implementing stress-hardy programs. There is great strength and resilience in the chaplain-firefighter relationship and the movement toward more strength-based programs are endless.

This study explains Paul's assertions about the Spirit in his letter to the Galatians by exploring the role the Spirit plays in his identity construction strategy. The study's argument moves in four stages. First, it argues that Paul uses the letter to construct an identity for his Galatian converts and to persuade them to embrace and implement that identity. Second, it argues that this identity is both social and moral in character--a fact that allows Paul's argument to be analyzed using the tools of social psychology (specifically, the Social Identity Approach). Third, it argues that this identity is defined by its association with Christ, with God, and with the eschatological situation. As Paul presents his construction of these entities, he is simultaneously giving shape to the identity he wants his converts to adopt as their own. Fourth, it argues that this identity is constituted by the active, empowering presence of the Spirit. For Paul, identification with Christ through faith is coincidental with reception of the Spirit, and the presence of the Spirit plays a significant role in the formation and maintenance of the identity category Paul describes as God's family.