Francis (Frank) Joseph Sheed (1897–1981) was an Australian-born lay Catholic theologian of Irish descent who lived most of his adult life in England and the United States. He was a publisher, ...evangelizer, street-corner/outdoor speaker, lecturer, and writer. His important contributions include his work with the Catholic Evidence Guild (an outdoor speaking society), his published books, his many lecture tours throughout the English-speaking world, and his work as co-owner of the transatlantic Catholic book publishing firm Sheed & Ward (which he owned with his wife, Mary “Maisie” Josephine Ward). In his published works, Sheed provides analyses of a wide variety of theological topics including ecclesiology, Christology, the Trinity, Christian anthropology, the sacraments, and eschatology, among many others. The central theological key to Sheed’s theological program is atonement understood (and pronounced) as at-one-ment. At-one-ment means the real union of the members of the Church with God and one another. Sheed argues that this at-one-ment is the ultimate purpose for our existence which is made possible by Christ’s salvific work of at-one-ment, but he also explains how members of the Church variously achieve at-one-ment throughout their lives in different ways, namely via baptism and living the supernatural life, incorporation into the Mystical Body of Christ, and during the celebration of the Mass and the reception of the Eucharist. Sheed proclaims that unless we comprehend the nature and purpose of human beings we cannot properly understand anything and “live mentally in the real world” (Sheed calls this type of living “sanity”). He explains that a human being is a union of matter and spirit, and that the latter and primary principle makes the human person a being capable of knowing and loving God and neighbor, and thus achieving at-one-ment. Sheed’s understanding of spirit is therefore a fundamental concept without which he could not explain his idea of at-one-ment understood at the real union of spirits. Armed with this knowledge of the nature of human beings and the purpose of life, Catholics can live their lives as truly intended by God and can attain eternal at-one-ment with God in heaven.
ABSTRACT OF GRADUATE STUDENT RESEARCH Thesis Andrews University Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary Title: A NARRATIVE ANALYSIS OF GENESIS 3:1-7 AND THE THEOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF THE SERPENT ...Name of the researcher: Milton Gonzalez Name and degree of faculty advisor: JoAnn Davidson, Ph.D. Date completed: December, 2019 Problem The Christian tradition of the Fall as it relates to Gen 3 is an interpretive construct that is foreign to the text and its immediate context. While scholars continue to view humanity and its fallen state as the central theme of the narrative, I suggest that such are but second to an even greater narrative—namely, a cosmic conflict between Elohim—the Creator of the heavens and the earth, and the serpent. Method The first chapter of this study considers the traditional view of the temptation narrative (i.e. Gen 3:1-7) as the Fall of Man and suggests that the story of Adam and Eve speak not to the origin of sin and death—i.e. the Fall—but to the debut of the serpent and its shrewdness. The second chapter examines the character introductions of Elohim, Adam and Eve, and the serpent, respectively. The third chapter examines the characterization of the serpent as ערום (Gen 3:1a) followed by an understanding of how the narrator prepares his audience for the masterly dialogue between serpent and woman. This dialogue is analyzed in the fourth chapter with an emphasis on the plausibility of an existing thematic pattern of discourse present in each segment of speech. Results The results of this investigation suggest that the central theme of the temptation narrative is not the Fall of Man but that such is only second to the introduction of the serpent and its shrewdness. Conclusion Though Gen 3:1-7 unequivocally speaks of a real temptation and the failure of humanity to resist that temptation; though ancient interpreters were correct in viewing the story of Adam and Eve as the beginning and commencement of humanity’s mortality and human sinfulness; and however theologically significant and relevant these themes are, the Fall is an interpretive construct that remains second—moreover, a consequent—to the greater narrative of a cosmic conflict and nevertheless functions as a byproduct of the serpent’s shrewdness.
The gospel is all about Jesus. In other words, the gospel is good news about Jesus. Christians are those who accept His news as good news. The gospel brings Christians joy and peace. However, ...Christians feel pressured when it comes to evangelism. In fact, evangelizing is getting difficult due to negative thoughts regarding Christianity in Korea. This is why many Christians are hesitant to speak about the good news even though they are aware that evangelism is essential. However, people in the Early Church were very successful in evangelism and shared the gospel with non believers even with religious persecution at the time. It was very natural for them to build relationships and share good news about Jesus with non Christians. First of all, personal evangelism, suggested by Michael Green, is studied in the thesis because it seems to be an effective way to evangelize both in the past and now. Personal evangelism is the way to share the gospel with non Christians through intimate and close relationships. However, I questioned why personal evangelism fails in the current era even though it is still believed to be effective. It is because relationship and communication issues tend to be based on our limited understanding of right or wrong. Secondly, coaching was studied as an alternative to solve the problem that makes personal evangelism unsuccessful. Coaching broadens a perspective to look at a non Christian as a whole person first and then as a person that needs to hear the good news. Our understanding of right or wrong will be surpassed with this perspective and new relationships and communications are possible with non Christians. Therefore, coaching helps to build relationships through one-on-one conversations, which is very similar to personal evangelism. In conclusion, I could develop a personal evangelical program using coaching based on the two studies mentioned above. It consists of four steps. We focus on non Christians from a whole person perspective for the first step. Once the relationship is formed with an understanding of a non Christian as a whole person, in the second step we can ask more curious questions. In the third step, we develop even more understanding of a person’s needs, with coaching leading to true and transparent conversation. In the fourth step, we can see hunger from non Christians, which they cannot control. Then we fill that hunger with Jesus Christ. After training the participants, I witnessed that strong relationships and one-on-one conversations that we can develop with coaching with non Christians in regular life works efficiently in delivering good news in personal evangelism. As we know the gospel is good news, so it gives a huge joy to those who both share and accept it. I hope that this study helps Christians to deliver good news voluntarily as in the Early Church.
One of the most essential functions of the church ministry lies in the worship service. Regardless of the time, culture, and historical situation or background, the worship service has continued its ...change by maintaining one of the most effective forms for each time period for delivering the gospel. The change of worship service is still required today where transitions occur at an incomparably fast pace. As such, the churches today should ceaselessly throw questions to themselves about how to convey the whole essence of the gospel to the people of God through the worship service, which is one of the most essential ministries of the church, and such question should be continued until the Lord arrives. However, most Korean churches of the day have adhered to the conventional form of worship service. In other words, Korean church worship services are thoroughly centered on the preacher which would require the unilateral delivery of his or her religious experiences and the messages from the Bible to the audience from a minister rather than mutual communication. Moreover, Korean churches have responded to the change of forms not only passively but also conservatively. As such, a thorough performance of the existing form within the limited time without mistakes is regarded as a successful worship service. Likewise, the service with the absence of the elements of an EPIC(Experience, Participation, Image, Connection) has still been regarded as the right answer and performed accordingly. That is, amidst of the age that requires change, Korean churches have been responding to the needs of the times in the form of worship service that deny the change. Although many churches in Korea have been experiencing trouble with the absence of young households, the worship service provided to the young couples in their 30-40s is still in the conventional and unilateral form without the elements of an EPIC. In such circumstance, this study attempts to provide the opportunity to discuss the future direction of the church worship service in Korea, by examining how young married couples in their 30-40s respond to the service with the abundance of EPIC elements, and how a worship service with an ample amount of EPIC elements would be able to convey the essence of the gospel and service more effectively. The EPIC elements are not of something new; rather, they are the abundant elements of the church since the earliest times that we have somehow missed and lost. As such, the worship service with EPIC elements would pursue the audience’s direct experiences, as well as the connection between the community and an individual and between different individuals, by accepting the service not by relying solely on listening, but through diverse senses. The perspective of the study lies in that the worship service as the essential part of the church would gain its life and all the parts and functions of the church would be revitalized, only when people dream of the service with EPIC elements and proceed towards a more abundant form of service through relentless research and challenges.
In liberal Protestant seminaries it is common to hear the Holy Spirit referred to, if she is referred to at all, as the “shy” or “self-effacing” member of the Trinity. Yet the dynamic pneumatological ...witness of Pentecostalism and other charismatic movements forces us currently in the mainline Protestant traditions in the U.S. to confront a difficult question; Is the Holy Spirit the “shy member” or the ignored member of the Trinity? If the latter is true, then why? As a post-Pentecostal and Latinx individual currently ordained in the United Methodist Church, I will critique some of the glaring issues I have encountered in the white mainline Protestant culture that I am a part of today. Specifically, I will demonstrate how an assumed location of monoculturalism, and ethnocentrism is toxic for faith communities and leads to religious rigidity and resistance to the renewal and relational connection offered by the Holy Spirit. From this analysis, I will draw forth resources from Augustine’s doctrine of the Holy Spirit, which will move us toward a robust pneumatology and new relational possibilities in our ways of being church. In 4th century Africa, Augustine offered an understanding of the Holy Spirit as the vinculum amoris (the bond of love) between the Father and the Son. For Augustine, the Holy Spirit is a divine Person, equal member in the Holy Trinity, and yet in a unique way, is the mutual love that connects the Father and the Son. This doctrine is reminiscent of the experience of many bi-cultural youth who live in the in-between spaces of multiple worlds as they serve as relational interpreters. Looking at Augustine’s De Trinitate, I will explore and offer a second-generation Hispanic / Latinx reading of Augustine’s doctrine of this Holy Spirit as the Divine Interpreter that is liberative for the universal church today.
This study seeks a theological understanding of disagreement and conflict in church and society through a reading of the work of Rowan Williams, who argues that conflict and difference are ...constitutive of human oneness. Williams’s theology of church and his understanding of its unity are closely interrelated. The church itself and its unity are God’s gift. Drawing on Williams, this thesis proposes solidarity as a category through which to understand the oneness of the church and its relationship with society. According to Williams, God creates and sustains a universe of immeasurable difference within itself. Williams employs Gillian Rose’s reading of Hegel to introduce a metaphysical understanding of such difference and our response to it. The communal work of truth-seeking requires unavoidable negotiation, self-dispossession and loss, without which there may be tragic misrecognition of our interests and those of others. The thesis critically examines situations of conflict that exemplify and test Williams’s theology. Looking beyond the church, the thesis explores Williams’s theologically grounded proposals for solidarity in a pluralist society oriented towards the common good.
The purpose of this paper is to propose 『Tong Bible School』 and 『Pilgrim's Progress Seminar』 which can be learned through narrative for military church members.『Tong Bible School』 and 『Pilgrim's ...Progress Seminar』 are an exciting and easy way to learn the essential contents of the Bible and the doctrine in a short time. It is a nurturing process that provides an opportunity to learn the Bible and the doctrine considering the duration of church membership for only one or two years. According to the above objectives, this research project was set as follows. First, what is the theoretical background of learning from stories? Second, how do the 『Tong Bible School』 and 『Pilgrim's Progress Seminar』 convey the Bible and the doctrine in stories? Third, what are the results of applying the 『Tong Bible School』 and 『Pilgrim's Progress Seminar』 to military churches? As a theoretical background, the discussion of the story of Paul Ricoeur and Jerome Bruner was noted. Paul Ricoeur suggests that stories can form human experiences and events into a plot structure through the Mimesis threefold theory. It can lead to hermeneutic circulation through the reader's re-shaping of the story. Jerome Bruner categorizes the paradigm mode and the story mode for the method of knowing. He explains that perception through stories does not exclude senses. It is an effective perception system to grasp the multifaceted and changing situation of human beings and contributes to strengthening self-identity through stories. Tong Bible School recognizes the Bible as' Jesus' Cross, One Story '. Jesus Christ shouted “It is finished” on the cross. Tong Bible School says that this declaration is a link between the kingdom of priests-the five great empires-the kingdom of God. Since then, he has been telling the core of the Bible through stories through the seven steps of God's heart, the Bible stem, prayer, and evangelism. 『Pilgrim’s Progress Seminar』 presents the story of a pilgrim who goes to heaven in an allegorical form. Through this, we can examine the lives of Christians who live a life of salvation and sanctification. 『Tong Bible School』 and 『Pilgrim's Progress Seminar』 were delivered for military church members. Military church members were able to learn the Bible and the doctrine interestingly and easily through these two courses. I hope that 『Tong Bible School』 and 『Pilgrim's Progress Seminar』 which the thesis learns from the story can contribute to the transformation of the military church nurturing system into an organic and systematic solid nurturing system.
The Easter Vigil is the most beautiful and significant celebration during the liturgical year for Catholics. Not only is it a celebration and remembering of the Resurrection of Christ, but it is also ...where catechumens are fully initiated and welcomed into the Church through baptism, confirmation, and Eucharist. Early Christians understood that the mystery experienced at the Vigil required a deep understanding on the part of the neophytes and the faithful. Newly initiated members of the Church needed to come to know what they experienced (i.e., the Paschal Mystery) and what impact it would have on their daily living. A form of catechesis emerged called “mystagogy,” literally meaning “initiation into mystery.”1 For the first Christians, this catechesis was a time when new members of the Church were guided in reflections—as a series of homilies preached during the Easter Octave—which aimed at bringing their experiential knowledge of the Paschal Mystery (the mystery of Christ’s life, death, and resurrection, which is encountered in the liturgy) to awareness while also teaching them the responsibilities of discipleship that necessarily resulted from participation in the liturgy. It was also a time of incorporation into the Christian community so that these responsibilities would become fully integrated into persons’ lives. This formation of Christians became a lost practice in the seventh century but was reclaimed by the Church during the liturgical movement of the nineteenth and twentieth century. Both the spirit and the purpose of mystagogy—as it existed in the Early Church— were rediscovered in the scholarship and magisterial documents of the nineteenth and twentieth century, and it became the fourth phase of the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults. However, mystagogical catechesis has suffered from poor execution. As stated by the USCCB, when referencing 1 Enrico Mazza, Mystagogy: A Theology of Liturgy in the Patristic Age (New York: Pueblo Pub Co, 1989), 1. 2 mystagogy as conducted in RCIA, “Most do not have a period as envisioned by the Rite either in length or in content.”2 Mystagogy should not be abandoned in the local Church in the United States because of its importance for the liturgical life of the Church where every man and woman meets the risen Christ daily. The Church’s liturgical life is not simply persons having frequent recourse to the sacraments. It is the prioritization of the liturgy as the source and summit of the Christian life where the community lives as disciples that are constantly responding to both the vocatio and missio of Christ, i.e., the calling and sending of Christ. It manifests as the faithful living a life of mission, community, and prayer fueled by and aimed at the return to the liturgy. Mystagogy, when employed correctly, supports the different facets of this liturgical life in a variety of ways. For example, mystagogical catechesis can help alleviate problems surrounding the liturgical life of the Church; such problems include a lack of active participation, whereby the faithful either frequently become passive bystanders at sacramental celebrations, or fall into ritualism where rubrics are blindly followed with little intentionality. It is because of this ability to aid the liturgical life that mystagogical catechesis is important and that its effective execution should be pursued. Fortunately, there is much that parishes—the local Church and a locus of catechesis—can do in their pursuit of creating an effective mystagogy, specifically in the context of RCIA, such as developing what has a promising relationship with this catechesis. Several things appear to positively correlate with effective mystagogy, such as a well- celebrated liturgy. A well-celebrated liturgy is a liturgy that is both valid and seeks to enhance the participation of the faithful. Some of the probable reasons for this connection is that 2 United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Journey to the Fullness of Life: A Report on the Implementation of the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults in the United States (USCCB Publishing, 2000), 48 3 such a liturgy provides the experience of the Paschal Mystery that is necessary for any mystagogy. Also, a well-celebrated liturgy ensures that the signs and symbols of the rites are highly catechetical, which inevitably supports the formation of persons in mystagogy. Properly formed catechists, meaning individuals who have received the canonical mission of “catechist,” share in the teaching office of the bishop, and has been formed so as to possess a wealth of knowledge, specific skill sets, and a mature faith, also display a similar correlation. A likely cause of this relationship is that they guide this catechesis to success in many ways: by entrusting the process to Christ and the Holy Spirit, by authentically witnessing to the faith, and by guiding catechesis through their knowledge of mystagogy. Furthermore, vibrant parish communities have a seeming correlation with effective mystagogy as well. A vibrant parish community is one that meets the ends of a parish to be a people of God that does the work of and performs the office of Christ as priest, prophet, and king. Execution of this office results in liturgical practice, mission, and evangelization; included is work for the common good and the general pastoral care of persons done by both the laity and religious who are called to engage in co-responsibility. One of the reasons for this relation is that such a community provides foundational resources for catechesis, such as opportunities for lived discipleship. Overall, vibrant parish communities, well- celebrated liturgies, and properly formed catechists should be developed in parishes because these elements appear to positively correlate with efficacious mystagogy within RCIA. This thesis ultimately seeks to navigate through the catechetical challenge that is mystagogy and attempts to explain how to begin the pursuit of an effective mystagogical catechesis, specifically for RCIA. Importantly, what is provided here is not a step-by-step program that can be implemented in parishes. What is offered, rather, is a study of mystagogy (i.e., what it is and why it is important) as well as an analysis of elements that can 4 be fostered by the local Church that have promise for aiding this catechesis given demonstrably positive correlations. To do so, this thesis is presented in four chapters. Chapter One seeks to answer the question, “What is mystagogy?” It will explore catechesis in general, the history of mystagogy, and how it currently is envisioned in the scholarship of the Church. The next chapter examines the importance of mystagogical catechesis by looking at how it supports the liturgical life of the Church. This chapter will also briefly mention the another implication of mystagogy’s support of the liturgical life, i.e., that effective mystagogical catechesis ought to be pursued. Chapter Three presents the heart of the thesis. It argues for the correlations between effective mystagogy in RCIA, a vibrant parish community, a well-celebrated liturgy, and properly formed catechists and for the correlations of such relationships existing, namely that all three should be pursued by the local Church. This chapter will also spend some time discussing why and how these three elements have been selected from the primary research of Dennis Christs, presented in Creating an Effective Mystagogy, A Handbook for Catechumenate Leaders, which looks at the common elements of effective mystagogy for RCIA for the purpose of discovering how to build up this catechesis. Finally, Chapter Four will conclude the thesis. It summarize the argument of this thesis that parishes should seek to develop a vibrant parish community, a well-celebrated liturgy, and properly formed catechists given their correlative relationships with effective mystagogy in RCIA. This chapter will also examine the importance of this research and point to what research explorations should be pursued next.
Disaffiliation of youth is considered one of greatest pastoral challenges facing the Catholic Church in the United States. Parishes across the United States have been searching for best practices ...that can lead to greater youth involvement in the life of the Christian community in light of the downturn in youth participation. This dissertation proposes a discipleship model of youth ministry as a formidable response to these concerns and proffers a “communities of practice” social learning model to reinvigorate current youth ministry efforts. The work will lay out fundamental elements of a working theology of youth ministry based on this community model and will propose best practices for effective programs and innovative ways of engaging younger millennial and generation Z students.
Title: Determining the Presence of the German Leadership Principle among Germanic North European Heritage Lead Pastors of the Christian and Missionary Alliance in the Northeast United States Author: ...David S. Janssen Degree: Doctor of Ministry Date: March 29, 2020 Adviser: Dr. Stephen Grusendorf The author presents research questions exploring the relationship between culture, spiritual transformation, and the use of personal power in Lead Pastors of the Northeastern five districts of the Christian and Missionary Alliance. Specifically, the author uses a mixed approach evaluating the continuing existence of the German Leadership Principle (furherprinzip) and its possible relationship to cultural shame and guilt in Germanic North American heritage pastors through the Mercurio Shame Inventory and the Personal Power Profile. Interviews with both Germanic and non-Germanic identifying Lead Pastors were conducted comparing views on cultural core values passed down within families, and cultural exposure to Grimms’ Children’s and Household Tales in childhood.
