This study uses data from the 1990 General Social Survey to examine how Protestants explain the existence of poverty. The denominations are categorized using Steensland et al's (2000) methodology and include evangelical, mainline, and black Protestants. This study seeks to expand on prior research which uses Feagin's (1975) individualistic and structuralistic explanation scales to examine how individuals explain why people are poor. Individual explanations investigated include lack of effort, loose morals, poor schools, and lack of jobs. Ordered Logistic Regression models are used to investigate differences between the Protestant groups. Findings indicate support for Smith's (1998) subcultural theory of identity as evangelicals are more likely to assert loose morals as an important reason for why people are poor. Additionally, black Protestants were also more likely than mainline Protestants to indicate loose morals is an important explanation for poverty indicating a possible shift away from their traditional structuralistic oriented belief system. / Department of Sociology

This thesis deals with the problem of evil in Islamic theology, and, in particular, tries to examine the concept of al-qabih in al-Qadi 'Abd al-Jabbar al-Hamadhanis thought. This study is based on the fact that Islam, like other monotheist religions, considers the presence of evil in the world as a grave difficulty, a situation which has resulted in much dispute among the mutakallimin. For 'Abd al-Jabbar, the problem of evil is discussed in the framework of the concept of divine justice. According to this formulation, God does nothing except the good, as he must do the obligatory (al-wajib), will not devote himself to anything except for the sake of goodness, and never desires to do anything repulsive but only chooses wisdom and righteousness. Thus, 'Abd al-Jabbar's discussion of the problem of evil is an effort aimed at defending God's justice and omnipotence in a world marred by the presence of evil. This is significant, since divine justice (al-'adl), together with divine unity (al-tawhid), constitutes the most important characteristic of Mu'tazilism, a characteristic by virtue of which the Mu'tazilites claimed for themselves the title of ahl al-'adi wa al-tawhid, the adherents of divine justice and unity.

Miroslav Volf argues traumatic memories are a temporal and eschatological stain on divine-human relations, making non-remembrance a mandatory component of reconciliation. Yet I contend the ‘problem of traumatic memories' is more convincingly addressed through remembrance, exemplified in the continuity of the divine and human embodiment of scars. The investigation begins temporally, in Part I, with consensus neuroscientific data arguing remembrance is the human brain's autonomic response to trauma and cognitive embodiment is how the brain best reconciles that remembrance of scars. Congruent with this biological reality, scripture records how the incarnate Son embodies his scars without attempts ‘to let go of such memories'. Then, eschatologically, because of the forerunning way of redemption how the Father accepts the Son's embodiment of scars is eternally perfect – without having to be erased, uncreated, or non-remembered – so will humanity's embodied remembrance of scars be accepted as eternally perfect in their elevation. Yet this conclusion is highly problematic for Volf because any form of eschatological remembrance of trauma is a perpetuation of evil (sin) poisoning God's eternal perfections. In direct response to Volf's concern, Part II offers a doctrinal construction of the paradox of Triune (im)possibility detailing how divine kenosis creates a bridge from the temporal possibility of traumatic memories to the Godhead's impassable nature without poisoning the eternal perfections. I argue all divine kenotic suffering in the world, including, prominently, the cross event, was already eternally conditioned in the united will (in difference) of the Trinity. Therefore eschatological remembrance of trauma cannot poison the eternal perfections because its temporal possibility has already been perfectly qualified by a divine continuity of victorious elevation. Just like the eschatological remembrance of the cross's trauma, all other remembrance of trauma continues only in a perfected state wholly unconnected from the nature of sin permeating the memories' temporal iterations. This is how remembrance better answers the problem of traumatic memories – by forging temporal-to-eschatological continuity of the divine and human embodiment of scars, no temporal suffering is done in vain because it is perfectly redeemed in the eschatological victory of divine-human remembrance.

This pilot study explored the possible relationships between attachment to God and the Christian faith and life among a small sample of evangelical Christians. A quantitative analysis was performed on Christian adults (N=189) in local churches in the southeastern region of the United States. The study examined the relationships between attachment to God, awareness of the value of sin-beliefs, beliefs about sin, and levels of religious defensiveness. The project used correlational and stepwise regression analyses. The study found there was a significant negative variance between avoidance of intimacy with God, anxiety over abandonment by God, avoidance of legalism and religious defensiveness. Implications for Christian psychology and pastoral ministry were also discussed.

The purpose of this study is to examine if a relationship exists between paternal involvement during emerging adulthood and eudaimonic well-being in sons involved with Cru in the Great Lakes region in the United States. In order to execute this study, sons involved with Cru were surveyed through an adapted Father Involvement Scale and Carol Ryff’s Psychological Well-Being Scale. The design for this research is an explanatory, quantitative method. This quantitative research focused on emerging adult sons, involved with Cru in the Great Lakes region, between the ages of 18 to 25. An online survey was implemented to gather data regarding paternal involvement and well-being. The quantitative data were administered through Google Forms, and the results were analyzed through the execution of paired t-tests, Pearson’s r, Statcrunch, and multiple regression analysis. After the statistical analysis of collected data, 12 sons who completed the quantitative survey and agreed to be interviewed were randomly selected. These interviews served to illustrate quantitative results. The data indicate three aspects of father involvement, companionship, emotional development, and social development correlated to a son’s positive relationships and self-acceptance. Specifically, the data predict the more relational a father was with his son during the ages of 18 to 25 the healthier his son was in accepting himself and establishing positive relationships with others.

The thesis delineates an existential view of history, in which the eternal is defined as the ground of authentic human life which underlies true historical action. The historical is the manifestation of the eternal in the unique moment, and redefines the ahistorical conditions of human life. The ahistorical is the social and ideological conditioning of all human knowledge, usually presented in terms of various kinds of myth and ritual . The ahistorical contains both good and bad elements, but always has the tendency to become oppressive and is therefore constantly in conflict with the historical. The life of Jesus is described as the perfect expression of the eternal in true historical action, by which he came into conflict with the ahistorical of his society, as expressed in his death. By his resurrection, his life breaks the limitations of time and becomes transformative enabling all subsequent historical action. The eucharist is described as engaging with each of these dimensions of our existence. By being itself a ritual action containing a myth, the eucharist has an ahistorical form and therefore easily engages with the ahistorical dimensions of society. However, without a constant dialogue with the historical, the eucharist, as an ahistorical medium, can become allied to the dominant forces of society and become a means of oppression. The eucharist has at its centre the remembrance of the historical action of Jesus. True historical action in the present will result from a proper hermeneutic of the gospels. The eucharistic anamnesis must be regarded as part of the wider search for a relevant contemporary christology. The eucharist remembers the Last Supper, which is a parable of the whole life of Jesus and a prelude to his death and is a sacrifice in that it has a sacrificial form, and leads to our historical action, which will usually take the form of a conflict with the ahistorical and have sacrificial dimensions. The eternal only becomes present in our historical action, but the eucharist, by uniting us with the transforming power of the death and resurrection of Jesus, is a powerful aid to such action. The eucharist also provides the opportunity for resonances between Jesus and the ground of our being, thus enabling deep shifts of attitude and consciousness. Three fundamental prerequisites for human life are isolated and related to the eucharist: belonging, nurturing and giving. In order for the eucharist to ennable historical action is must hold these dimensions in tension. In its actual form it does this through the balance between the Words of Institution and the Epiclesis, which, in turn, provide the christological ground of the eucharist and relate this to the present through a particular pneumatology. The real presence is described by the thesis in a way which connects the eucharistic presence with the historical Jesus and leads to our historical action. Finally, some consequences of the thesis for Eucharistic practice are suggested. The relationship between the ahistorical form of the eucharist and the anamnesis is important. In this way the eucharist objectifies the ahistorical, reflects on this in terms of the historical action of Jesus, and reforms the ahistorical by modelling a response. This should lead to a more authentic expression of the eternal in the contemporary world

This study was conducted to research any increase in empathic discrimination resulting from an empathy training program for paraprofessional Christian counsellors entitled, The Skilled Helper for Christians. There were 13 male and 23 female subjects with a mean age of 38.9 years in the Experimental Group. The two control groups used were similar to the Experimental Group in mean age, gender and Christian faith. The first Control Group, those students enrolled in a course entitled Building Strong Marriages in the Local Church, was made up of 8 male and 8 female students, with a mean age of 38.9 years. The second Control Group consisted of graduate theological students who attended Introduction to Christian Counselling. There were 22 male and 11 female subjects with a mean age of 33.4 years. A pretest-posttest design was used, adapting two instruments based on the Truax Accurate Empathy Scale. The dependent variable was the empathy score attained on each measure. Four null hyotheses were advanced. Both instruments, the Questionnaire in Helpful Responding and the Exercises in Caring and Understanding, were initially analyzed using dependent t-tests. An analysis of covariance and a Tukey multiple comparison were also used. The findings indicated that a significant increase in empathic discrimination resulted from the Skilled Helper for Christians, as measured by the Questionnaire in Helpful Responding. Each Control Group also indicated an increase as measured by the Questionnaire in Helpful Responding, however at a less significant level. The second measure, the Exercises in Caring and Understanding, resulted in no significant increase for any of the groups. Thus, the Skilled Helper for Christians produced a significant gain in empathic discrimination. Other findings suggested that modeling empathy may have had a positive effect on all of the groups. / Education, Faculty of / Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department of / Graduate

The term 'gender' has been defined as an evolutionary, fluid construct; gendered realities are thus open to the vicissitudes of circumstance and time, emerging and developing with the shifting needs of the community within which they unfold. An analysis of gender construction is thus a useful mechanism to interpret the historical process on the whole. This theoretical position forms the framework for a reinterpretation of the Sikh community in the colonial context. The Sikh tradition itself has been part of an evolutionary process. From a primary focus on interior religiosity upon its inception, Sikhism developed into an increasingly militaristic order with highly prescribed exterior symbols and rituals. Accompanying this shift was a 'theology of difference', giving religious, symbolic and ritual sanctioning to a specific gender hierarchy. With a primary focus on male Sikh identity, female religious identity was relegated to a secondary position. Under-girding the annexation of Punjab into the British Empire were Victorian notions of the 'manly Christian', Christianized imperialism and chivalry, alongside rigid female ideals such as the 'helpmate'. The Sikhs came to be highly favoured by their imperial masters for their monotheistic ideals and what was perceived as their 'manly' and militaristic character. This hyper-masculine, militaristic construct, already enshrined within Sikh history through the creation of the Khalsa in 1699 received renewed emphasis by the British administration. The Singh Sabha reform movement initiated in the late-nineteenth century ingeniously accommodated selected aspects of the Victorian worldview into their reform agenda, particularly with regard to gender constructs. Leaders of the Singh Sabha began to actively safeguard Sikh interests in a political milieu increasingly defined by communal rivalry. A Sikh renaissance was born, bringing about a successful focus on linguistic concerns of the Sikhs, education, literature and a highly selective interpretive process of Sikh history and religion. Gender politics were pivotal to virtually all aspects of this endeavour. Novel interpretations and in certain instances 'inventions' of distinct female ritual traditions and symbolism alongside female educational initiatives fostering the 'ideal' Sikh woman were central to the objectives of the Singh Sabha reform movement. / Arts, Faculty of / Asian Studies, Department of / Graduate

No description available.

A thesis submitted in fulfillment ofthe requirements for the degree of MA cum bude in Communication Science University of Zululand, 2002. / In this thesis I describe the development of the Cell Church from a movement to an organisation, based on empirical data analysis, in comparison with three similar religious movements that developed from movements to church organisations, namely the early Christian church, the Protestant Reformation and the Millerite Advent movement. My conclusion is that the Cell Church is at the early stage of changing from a movement to an organisation.