Thesis under the direction of Professor Shaul Kelner
This thesis investigates how evangelicals accommodate doubt into a theology that more or less demands certainty. By interviewing members from two area evangelical churches -- one Southern Baptist and the other nondenominational emergent -- I encountered distinct differences in both how members confessed doubt and the content of said doubt. I discovered polarized beliefs in inquiring about the infallibility of scripture, the eligibility of salvation, and the content and location of the afterlife. In exploring the nature of these differences and drawing from supporting theory, I propose that the plausibility of belief is secondary to the identity construction that church membership affords. I then conclude that doubt is not necessarily deleterious to one's faith, but if sublimated thoughtfully, can actually augment one's religious convictions.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VANDERBILT/oai:VANDERBILTETD:etd-07202012-133023 |
| Date | 30 July 2012 |
| Creators | Stillman, Ari Paul |
| Contributors | Shaul Kelner, Graham Reside, Lewis Baldwin |
| Publisher | VANDERBILT |
| Source Sets | Vanderbilt University Theses |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.library.vanderbilt.edu/available/etd-07202012-133023/ |
| Rights | restricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to Vanderbilt University or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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