This study focuses on elderly parents from Mainland China who visit their adult immigrant children in the United States. Since the 1990s when Chinese economy was well into its take-off period and restrictions on travel have eased for Chinese citizens, a great many elderly Chinese have visited their offerings in the United States in increasing numbers. Most of the information regarding this population is anecdotal: there is no in-depth study devoted to this group. This study does not claim to be that, in that it does not examine the Chinese seniors at a national level nor use a rigorous statistical analysis. It does, however, seek to move the conversation beyond the anecdotal by examining the visiting Chinese seniors in the context of the Chinese-American immigration history, the history of Christianity in China, and Chinas tumultuous modern history; and by employing a case study method. The study focuses on a group of visiting Chinese elderly who has worshiped at First Chinese Christian Church in Plano, Texas, where I serve as senior minister. Partly on the basis of the interviews conducted with these seniors, the study makes the argument that American Christian Churchesespecially those with Chinese backgroundshould provide ministry to visiting Chinese seniors because such ministry is needed by the seniors, because the seniors are receptive to the Gospel ,and because upon returning to China, the seniorswhether as converts or those favorably disposed to the faithcan make positive contributions to the development of Christianity in China.

In Faith and Freedom in Galatia: A Senegalese Diola Sociopostcolonial Hermeneutics, Niang argues that the apostle Paul is a sociopostcolonial hermeneut who acted on his self-understanding as Gods messenger to create/form, through faith in the cross of Christ, free communities--a self definition that echoes some features of ancient Graeco-Roman and modern colonial lore. This above thesis is bolstered with contributions from social sciences, postcolonial theories, biblical hermeneutics, and an exegetical analysis of Gal 2:11-15 and 3:26-29--a method Niang calls a Senegalese sociopo stcolonial hermeneutics. The dissertation compares the French colonial objectifications of Diola people, of Sénégal, West Africa, in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries to the Graeco-Roman objectifications of the descendents of the ancient Celts (the Gauls/Galatians of Asia Minor) as savage beasts, primitive, irreligious, fickle, bibulous, and warmongering barbarians who threatened civilization; and therefore, must be tamed and civilized/colonized. Insight was drawn from Graeco-Roman writers, modern classicists, epigraphical evidence unearthed in Asia Minor, and ethnographical conclusions on the Diola socioreligious world to show that colonial typologies were overdrawn. Both Gauls/Galatians and Diola people had their own civilizations re gulated by complex divine judicial systems that required delicate rituals of confessions/reconciliation for wrongdoers. The exegetical and concluding sections emphasize Pauls role in bringing about an alternative mode of community construction. He does this through a countercolonial story of faith in Jesus Christ that dismantles enslaving and negative colonial typologies, decolonizes and powerfully reshapes the mind of the colonized into free children of God who share a new common identity in Christ--an inclusive and egalitarian people in the community of God (Gal 3:26-29). In response to French colonization, Aline Sitoé, a Diola prophetess, exercised an alternative community construction parallel to that of the apostle Paul. Niang concludes that Paul was a subversive countercolonist par excellence and sociopostcolonial hermeneut whose Good News has the power to transform people from their ethnocentric binarism into a new creation.

This project proposes that church congregations can be empowered to offer care and compassion more effectively by learning basic listening skills. Because listening is tied so directly to caring for others, church members must be taught to listen more effectively if the church is truly to become a community of love and grace. By learning to listen more intentionally, members can become more effective leaders, teachers, and lay ministers. In an effort to teach listening skills to as many persons as possible, a brief, one-session training was developed. The target group was teachers of high school students (grades nine through twelve). The training also included information about the students they teach. The teachers attended the training session and then met again after one month to evaluate the effectiveness of the training. The high school students completed pre and post evaluations of the listening skills of their teachers. The teachers completed pre and post evaluations of their own listening skills. The training was also given to a group of deacons in the church, who also completed the pre and post evaluations. The research discloses that a brief training is valuable in raising awareness for the need to listen more intentionally. Those participating in the training became aware of their behaviors which impede intentional listening. If congregations are to listen more effectively, a brief training can be an excellent beginning, but it must be combined with other emphases on listening. The research also underscores for the members the need for listening, when they are not listening, what it means to listen, and how to refrain from giving advice when listening. Even if members do not become experts at using listening skills, they can still convey love, acceptance, and respect as they try to begin caring for others by listening.

Project Director: Dr. Russell Dalton. Recent studies measuring religious trends among American Christian teenagers indicated a curious disconnection between the spiritual practice of prayer and feelings of spiritual commitment. A high majority of American teens prayed frequently, yet barely half of these characterized their faith as "very important." These same studies also indicated that many teens who identified themselves as "Christian" had adopted a peculiar deist belief system far removed from most traditional understandings of faith. The practice of prayer in the United States has not informed the faith for many Christian teens and has become merely a reflection of the consumer culture in which they exist. Not surprisingly, the evangelical church in North America, during this same time, has lost the ability to meaningfully instruct students in the practice of prayer, mainly because student ministry has abandoned the Psalms, the "Prayer Book of the Bible." The project sought to determine if reintroducing the Psalms as a tool for teaching prayer could help Christian teens at the First Baptist Church of Oklahoma City as well as others in similar contexts: 1) Develop and demonstrate a more healthy theological understanding of God as personal and close; 2) Demonstrate confidence, comfort, and proficiency in the spiritual discipline of prayer; and 3) Develop a healthy spiritual outlet for anger and hatred. A prayer retreat for teens utilizing the Psalms was developed. Various concepts from the Psalter and methods of prayer were adapted for use with teenagers. Data was collected through comparisons of pre- and post-retreat questionnaires, interviews, and students' prayer journals from the retreat. The results indicated that the Psalms did aid in giving voice to many of the emotions teenagers were experiencing. Prayers resulting from the retreat suggested new intimacy and comfort with God. Participants realized, through the example of the Psalms, that they could share with God the full scope of their feelings, both positive and negative. Students discovered new styles of prayer with which they connected. Developing future opportunities for students' prayer to be informed by the Psalms should continue the growth of healthy theological practices and understandings.

When India became an independent nation in 1947, its founding fathers intentionally constructed it to be a secular society acknowledging the profound diversity of religions that exists in the society. In such context, Christians of India have coexisted peacefully with other religious communities. That is, until the late 1970s, when peace was breached by a series of attack against Christians. The latest example occurred in the summer of 2008, in the state of Orissa, in which persecution killed 157 Christians and injured 18,000, as well as causing widespread damages to properties, including the burning down of homes, schools, and churches. These disturbing incidents raise a series of questions and concerns: Why have these acts of violence occurred against Indian Christians? Who were (are) the persecutors? Are the persecutions merely the contemporary manifestation of the conflict that has always existed between Christians and other religionists of India? What of the persecuted Indian Christians? Who are they? Pastorally speaking, what are their needs? What is the best way to prevent such conflict from occurring in the future? This study seeks to address these questions. It does so by examining socio-political origins of anti-Christian persecutions in contemporary India and applying insights from pastoral care and counseling. The thesis this study seeks to argue is this: One of the basic causes of the persecution of Christians in Orissa and elsewhere in India today is the rise of Hindu nationalism, which seeks to impose a monolithic vision of the country on the citizens at the expense of religious minorities such as Christians; and the Christians who have been victimized by such imposition can best be helped by a pastoral care and counseling that focuses on forgiveness and reconciliation and by social justice initiatives that compel the Indian government to enable Christians to enjoy their religious freedom guaranteed in the Constitution.

Project Director: Joretta L. Marshall, Ph.D. This project explores how lay pastoral caregivers' experience in theological reflection might contribute to both their pastoral identities and their caregiving practices. The paper discusses the importance of theological reflection for pastoral formation and sketches an Anglican theology of lay ministry and lay pastoral care. The field of adult learning provides lenses for understanding pastoral formation. Implicit theological reflection on personal experiences occurred before the project began, influencing pastoral identity. Explicit theological reflection during the project evokes individualized influences on pastoral identity in some of the participants. Clebsch and Jaekle's four classic functions of pastoral care illuminate participants' pastoral practices. Theological reflection influences pastoral practice in terms of planning for changes. Projects like this one can be replicated or conducted differently and show value for clergy and laity in parishes and wider social contexts.

This research project examines the outputs/outcomes of three Hispanic Ministry programs within three historic mainline Protestant denominations in order to gain insight into whether inclusion of Hispanics has increased. Given the new cultural context of openness to plurality in post-modernity and the increased presence of Hispanics in the United States evidence of increased Hispanic inclusion in Christian churches was expected. The research found that the level of Hispanic inclusion in the three mainline Protestant denominations was low and flat but that other Christian denominations were experiencing moderate to high levels of Hispanic inclusion.

In this dissertation, I present the research findings of my interviews conducted with twenty Christian adoptive couples. I explore the narratives of their adoptive parenting experiences, primarily focusing on the ways that adopting children affects the parents' spirituality and theological understandings. Furthermore, I investigate adoptive parenthood as a spiritually challenging and formative experience. In this study, the broader descriptive notion of "narrative" is utilized as a hermeneutical approach that crosses disciplines. The primary lenses through which I view the adoption stories include canonical narrative theology and adoption literature from the social sciences in addition to narrative psychology. I delineate and discuss four central categories that emerge from the raw narrative data by means of grounded theory, including the following: (1) systemic evil that militates against adoption, (2) divine initiative and love, (3) spiritual struggles, and (4) faithful human response. Finally, I suggest pastoral theological reconstructions of adoptive parenthood as well as implications for pastoral theology, pastoral care and counseling, and the practice of ministry.

Job's wife speaks only once to her husband when she tells him to "Curse God and die," and then she nearly disappears from the story. Why then does Job's wife figure so prominently in art and literature of Job when she is clearly a minor character in the biblical book? The dissertation "Domestic Disputations at the Dung Heap: A Reception History of Job and his Wife in Christianity of the West" investigates how the brief appearance of an unnamed wife in the Bible has made a large impact on the imaginations of readers. The study tracks the marriage of Job and his wife as people have understood it down through the ages with methodological focus on reception history as a sub-set of cultural studies, and with gender theory as a structure of criteria. The thesis is that people receive/use Job and his wife in order to make claims about their own ideal constructs of gender within their broader historical socio-religious situations as Christians. The dissertation covers Job and his wife in a variety of sources: early Christian art, medieval theology and the Speculum Humanae Salvationis, Renaissance art and early modern literature, and the art of William Blake.

The dissertation focuses on Hebrew texts of Ben Sira. Chapter 1 covers the chosen methodologies and provides examples to justify the separation of Greek and Hebrew sources. Chapter 2 presents a selective review of previous scholarship for gender theory and for social scientific methodologies, as these relate to the current project. Chapter 3 introduces taxonomic models of <italic>gender</italic> drawn from the Book of Ben Sira and from Greek sources. Chapter 4 delimits what &ldquogender&rdquo means for the project. The application of theories of colonial influence and proverb performance results in a list of passages for extensive analysis. Chapter 5 begins the extensive analyses with passages that pertain to the figure of Wisdom, to male/female pairs, and to human females. Chapter 6 concludes the extensive analyses, featuring passages that relate to Eve and passages with erotic content. Chapter 7 reviews the results of the analyses and comments on them as a whole.