Innovation as the Social Function of Systematic Theology

Allen, Mark Ronald ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Fuller Theological 2020 해외박사(DDOD)

Proposing that the social function of Systematic Theology is innovation, this constructive dissertation explains Systematic Theology as the science of God, which means it must also be a science of the social. The project explores two interrelated research questions: (1) In what way does describing Systematic Theology’s function as a research program of innovation distinguish it? (2) What difference does an innovative description of Systematic Theology make? The project uses neo-cybernetics to integrate the claims of the three primary interlocutors: German Systematic Theologian Wolfhart Pannenberg (1928-2014), German Social Theorist Niklas Luhmann (1927-1998), and French Hermeneutical Philosopher Paul Ricoeur (1913-2005). Pannenberg’s approach to theological verification through eschatological ontology is critiqued for impersonalism and, therefore, needs supplemented by Luhmann’s and Ricoeur’s insights. Systematic Theology is distinct to other research programs through its social function of innovation, which is more than incidental adaptation but indicates the program’s self-organization in context through reflexive communication that determines decision-making and the formation of its appropriators’ identity. Consequently, Systematic Theology is not appropriately described as a second-order discipline represented adequately in the hypothetical representation of totality. Instead, Systematic Theology must be conceptualized as a high-order social system to explain how its appropriation serves as feedback, which, in turn, shows that the program’s output is necessary to its processes. After developing Systematic Theology in view of the codification of meaning and speech-act theory, the program is likened to narrative by the way it employs its appropriators in the world through use similar to how a narrative’s plot is understood only through interpretation, which also reflects how Systematic Theology operates similar to the complex systems phenomena of a strange-loop. The project concludes by suggesting that innovation matters, because modern scientific thought has bifurcated reason and embodiment, which challenges Systematic Theology’s status as the science of God. What Systematic Theology is and how it speaks cannot be described apart from its life-related purposes, which are in a process of continual emergence.

Witnessing God: Missiology through Neo-Calvinism, Islamic Reformism, and Comparative Theology

Massad, Alexander Ellis ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Fuller Theological 2020 해외박사(DDOD)

Shared Leadership as Faithful Christian Praxis

Ellis, Zachariah C ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Fuller Theological 2020 해외박사(DDOD)

Shared leadership is an important emerging leadership praxis. Empirical studies on teams that use shared leadership in businesses, education, and non-profits suggest that they tend to be more effective and produce increased team member satisfaction and commitment. However, little research has been done on how shared leadership is practiced in a congregational setting. This dissertation begins by analyzing the existing literature and providing a guiding definition of shared leadership. Next, it examines the leadership praxis of important figures in Wesleyan history through the founding of the Church of the Nazarene, highlighting their shared leadership praxes while wrestling with their autocratic tendencies. Then, it presents a theology of shared leadership, arguing that shared leadership is a faithful practice that facilitates increased participation in the perichoretic life of God. After that, this dissertation uses a multiple case study to explore the praxis of shared leadership in six congregations in the Church of the Nazarene. Three of these are copastoring pairs and three are teams of three or more. The conclusion presents six positive options that current or aspiring practitioners of shared leadership might consider as they seek to more faithfully and effectively practice shared leadership in their own context.

Natural/Cosmic Theodicy in Trinitarian Panentheism as a Kenotic-Eschatological Framework of Creation: Envisioning a Trinitarian Panentheistic Vision of Creation via a Comparative Study of the Contributions of Catherine Keller, Arthur Peacocke, Wolfhart Pannenberg, and Robert Russell

Shin, Jongseock ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Fuller Theological 2020 해외박사(DDOD)

In this dissertation, I argue that, in God’s absolutely free act of creatio ex nihilo, evil is not willed by God but universally, contingently, and inevitably caused in creatio continua through emergent evolution, and that even so the cross and the resurrection of Jesus give us the credible hope that the Triune God unfailingly continues to redeem the creation from evil in both pathetic and eschatological immanence.Here I posit the eschatological new creation as the basis and the goal of creatio continua in which, hypothetically, the emergence of novelty and higher complexity is ontologically contingent. The present creation reflects the goodness and love of the Triune Creator in light of the cross and the bodily resurrection of Jesus. Yet creatio continua is on the journey to the fulfillment of the good purpose of God in an eschatological hope. In creatio continua, the Trinitarian Creator compassionately participates in the pain, death, and suffering of creatures in the mode of transcendent immanence.In the hope for the eschatological basileia of God, we can conceive of the Triune Creator who continuously creates through the interplay of chance and law-like regularities by the mediation of nature’s genuine openness to the future. Thereby, God embraces the potentialities of both good and evil. Amidst the contingent, universal, and inevitable existence of death, pain, and suffering of creatures, God is present in the processes of nature in co-suffering solidarity as a faithful Creator.Not only is God in, with, and under creation, God’s kenotic presence invites creatures to participate in the self-giving love of God through both general and special divine action in a top-down-through-bottom-up mode. God’s presence in creation is soteriological as revealed in the self-emptying of the Son on the cross of Jesus Christ. This redemptive presence of God in creation is to be regarded as the Trinitarian co-protesting against the power of death, sin, and evil, considering the eschatological hope for the ultimate fulfillment of the fundamental freedom and contingency divinely granted in creatio ex nihilo. In arguing this, I engage in a comparative and critical study of natural and cosmic theodicy advanced by Catherine Keller, Arthur Peacocke, Wolfhart Pannenberg, and Robert Russell.

Singing the Body into Being: Congregational Song and Faith Formation

Gathje, Jon Benjamin ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Fuller Theological 2020 해외박사(DDOD)

This dissertation demonstrates that active participation in the embodied, aesthetic, and musical practices of corporate Christian worship is formative for faith through the building up of the body of Christ. The study first recognizes the vital importance of humanity’s embodied experiences for formation, as opposed to a merely cognitive and rational understanding. Education and formation, therefore, are embodied experiences, as is shown through the general education theory of John Dewey and the aesthetic education theory of Elliot Eisner. Following this, and with particular attention to a Lutheran Word and Table understanding of liturgical practice, shared and corporate music-making within that liturgical practice is also formative as a deeply experienced and embodied practice. Through an active understanding of musical participation (especially the work of Christopher Small), music-making is shown to be uniquely important for drawing bodies and lives together. Finally, four models of formational experience are lifted up as guideposts to, again, show that musical and embodied practices are formative for individuals, for the communities to which they belong, and for the faith of the body of Christ in and through corporate worship. These models are intentionally broad: the education practices of Maria Montessori, Sophia Cavalletti, and Gianna Gobbi, the Duke Youth Academy under Fred Edie, Sacred Harp and shape-note singing, and Music that Makes Community. Each represent well the understanding that individuals and communities are formed through their embodied and aesthetic practices, especially the practice of singing together.

Toward Native Tentmaking: The Impact of Social, Economic, Business, and Ministry Factors on Indigenous Tentmakers

Devarapalli, John Samuel ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Fuller Theological 2020 해외박사(DDOD)

This study examines tentmaking as it applies to indigenous Christian workers. It examines several tentmaking models and considers the place of native tentmakers as distinct from traditional cross-cultural tentmaking. In addition, this study addresses the practice of tentmaking from biblical and historical perspectives. It studies the strategic business elements which impact native tentmakers from social, economic, business, and ministry perspectives. A key element of focus is the support systems that tentmakers need as entrepreneurs and business people. This study uses interviews, mini focus groups, and participant observation to collect field data from twenty-six undergraduate-level master trainers and ten grassroots-level Christian workers trained at the Training in Evangelism Needs and Technology (TENT) ministry. It evaluates the factors that affect the TENT trainees in the state of Odisha, India as they work as native tentmakers. TENT trainees are primarily called to ministry, however, the need to support their families, provide for their children’s education, and other expenses motivate Christian workers to take up microbusinesses. Families, community members, and other ministry leaders provide needed moral support, as well as critical resources such as financial capital, labor, and sometimes technical expertise. The financial capital needed to start and sustain a business was not found in banks, but came from families and self-help groups. To achieve a sustainable business, a tentmaker needs to have both a vison and business plan, but most tentmakers lack training in market research and business planning. Tentmaking provides a channel of opportunities for ministry and community engagement which increase the tentmakers credible witness for the gospel. Though most tentmakers struggle to keep a balance between ministry and business, this is addressed through the help of family members, participation in self-help groups, and community business partners. This study evaluates the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats in TENT’s training programs. It proposes changes in the curriculum for TENT training and describes a process of change. These changes will enhance the quality of training and strengthen the TENT trainees to be effective native tentmakers.

Nurturing a Discipleship Culture: The Role that Transformative Learning and the Learning Context Play in Forming Disciples at Northview Church

Poe, Ryan S ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Fuller Theological 2020 해외박사(DDOD)