Boyce Digital Repository (Southern Baptist Theological Seminary)
Not a member yet
7153 research outputs found
Sort by
The Role of Female Biblical Counselors in Complementarian Churches
Get PDFIn this dissertation, I argue that the role of female biblical counselors in complementarian churches is to minister to men and couples in addition to women and children, under the shepherding oversight of the elders. To defend my thesis, I exegetically evaluate gender-restrictive texts, “one-another” commands, eight additional biblical themes, and women who instructed men with Scripture’s approbation.
Chapter 1 presents the need for this research, my thesis, and a survey of existing literature at the intersection of biblical counseling and complementarianism. Chapter 2 describes complementarianism and provides my exegetical analysis of the gender-restrictive texts, particularly 1 Timothy 2:12. In this verse with continuing applicability, Paul prohibits women from teaching men in the gathered assembly and from serving as elders, thereby exercising governing authority over the church; these roles are not equal to the private ministry of the Word. Chapter 3 sets forth descriptions of biblical counseling and argues that biblical counseling is the coalescence of the “one-another” commands given without gender restriction. Chapter 4 explores the relevance of the biblical themes of interdependence, gender complementarity, the authority exclusively reserved to elders, spiritual abuse, family relationship in the body of Christ, wisdom as learned skill, spiritual gifts, and Christian liberty. Chapter 5 considers the positive way Scripture presents Deborah, Huldah, Abigail, and Priscilla instructing men in how to honor the Lord. Chapter 6 summarizes my conclusions, incorporates insight to help churches begin to develop the role of female counselors, and offers suggestions for additional research
The Middle Voice in the Septuagint and the Greek New Testament
Get PDFThe Hellenistic Greek verbal system was capable of communicating three voices: active, middle, and passive. Of these, the middle voice has long proven the most difficult for English speakers to understand. Questions exist regarding the Hellenistic Greek middle voice forms (morphology) and function (semantics). Morphologically, these questions focus on the function of the (θ)η forms of the aorist and future tenses. Semantically, these questions focus on the range of meaning the Greek middle voice communicated and the legitimacy of the concept of deponency in Greek. Answers to these questions have obvious bearing on the study of the Septuagint and Greek New Testament.This dissertation addresses these questions. It argues that the middle voice in the Septuagint and Greek New Testament expresses a broad variety of semantically related ideas, all of which revolve around the notion of subject focus. The dissertation advances this argument in two ways. First, it describes the historical origins of the Greek voice system through a diachronic study of related Indo-European languages. Second, it applies the eleven middle voice semantic types described by Rutger J. Allan in his study of Classical Greek to the literature of the Septuagint and Greek New Testament.
Specifically, chapter 1 of the dissertation provides an overview of recent Greek middle voice studies, showing where advances can be made within the field. Chapter 2 describes a diachronic sketch of ancient Indo-European middle voice phenomena. The chapter describes middle voice morphology, semantics, and syntax in Proto-Indo-European, Hittite, Sanskrit, Classical Greek, and Hellenistic Greek. Evidence from the chapter sheds light on the semantic core and range of semantic applications of the Greek middle voice. Further, evidence from this chapter sheds light on the medio-passive function of Greek (θ)η aorist and future verbs. Chapters 3-6 apply each of Rutger J. Allan’s eleven Classical Greek middle voice types to the literature of the Septuagint and Greek New Testament. Chapter 3 discusses the passive, spontaneous process, and mental process middle types. Chapter 4 discusses the body motion, collective motion, and reciprocal middle types. Chapter 5 discusses the direct reflexive, perception, and mental activity middle types. Chapter 6 discusses the speech act and indirect reflexive middle types. These chapters provide an abundance of verses from the Septuagint and Greek New Testament showing each of these middle voice uses to be fully operational in this literature. Finally, chapter 7 draws conclusions from this study and suggests areas for future research on the Greek middle voice
Statistical Evaluation of the North American Mission Board's Church Planter Initial Assessment Instrument and the Implications for the Broader Church Planting Community
Get PDFChurch planter assessment instruments have been used to improve the selection and development of church planters for decades; however, the vast majority of church planter assessments in operation have never been statistically validated. Additionally, no evidence has been published that proves church planter assessment results are correlated with church planter success. The objective of this Thesis is to improve the selection and development of church planters by performing a robust statistical evaluation of the North American Mission Board’s (NAMB) Church Planter Initial Assessment (CPIA) instrument. The initial portion of the research involves a comprehensive review of the literature regarding church planter assessments and an evaluation of the biblical justification for using assessments. The core methodology focuses on a rigorous statistical analysis of NAMB’s CPIA instrument using proper statistical techniques and highlights the most leveraging characteristics of a successful church planter based on data
“The Steady Obedience of His Church”: The Ecclesial Spirituality of Joseph Kinghorn and the Communion Controversy, 1814–1827
Get PDFDespite being recognised as one of the most learned English Particular Baptists, Joseph Kinghorn’s (1766–1832) legacy was damaged due to his defence of the close communion position during the more than a decade-long debate with Robert Hall Jr. (1764–1831). While recognising the preliminary works of Martin Hood Wilkin (1832–1904), C. B. Jewson (1909–1981), W. R. Ward (1925–2010), John H. Y. Briggs, and others, this dissertation uses Joseph Kinghorn’s ecclesial spirituality as a starting point to reconsider the Hall-Kinghorn communion controversy in its socio-historical and theological contexts. In particular, by connecting the published debates with neglected primary sources, this dissertation argues that it was not only inevitable for the Particular Baptists to resume their debates over the terms of communion by the end of the long eighteenth century when the denomination was facing another identity crisis in light of its rising to the global stage, but also necessary for Joseph Kinghorn to represent the close communionists, despite his dislike of squabbles. Furthermore, by tracing back to various German influences, this dissertation looks beyond the British theological traditions and argues that the definition of the church was at the core of the Hall-Kinghorn communion controversy. After the introduction, which presents the status quaestionis, thesis, and methodology, chapter two reconstructs the life of Joseph Kinghorn. Chapter three surveys Baptist controversies over the terms of communion, from the formation of the Baptist sect to the eighteenth-century Evangelical Revival. By engaging various sources, it analyses the debated arguments in light of the socio-historical changes. Chapter four returns to Joseph Kinghorn and enquire into his internal ideas of the Christian church. Guided by his Augustinian distinction of the invisible and visible church, this chapter reconstructs Kinghorn’s ecclesial spirituality by engaging his published works and unpublished correspondence. Chapter five then focuses on the Hall-Kinghorn communion controversy. By examining each round of the published debate, this chapter engages the broader intellectual cultures and traces the sources and connections of each party’s arguments
Missionary Preparation and Care at Mercy Church, in Charlotte, North Carolina
Get PDFThe purpose of this project is to establish a program for missionary preparation and care a Mercy Church. Chapter 1 describes the context, rationale, purpose, goals, research methodology definitions, and limitations/delimitations of the project. Chapter 2 presents a biblical foundation for the role of local churches in missionary sending. Chapter 3 explains Launch Global’s approach to missionary preparation through the local church. Chapter 4 shows the need for long-term missionary care and evaluates the missionary preparation and care surveys. Chapter 5 articulates the pastoral care plan to minister to the missionaries sent by Mercy Church and provides an evaluation of the overall project
The Black Church as Context for the Formation of Black Institutions of Higher Education: A Case Study of Simmons College
Get PDFAfrican Americans have long been serious about education. Even when education was denied to black Americans through law, custom, and physical violence, blacks exerted relentless self-determination in the pursuit of literacy. The black church, because of its growth in size, power, and influence, became the logical institution for assisting blacks in their educational strivings, funding, and housing schools in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Black churches also established historically black colleges. In Louisville, Kentucky, the founder of the first school for African Americans, Henry Adams, organized black church men from areas throughout the Commonwealth of Kentucky, to form the Kentucky Normal and Theological Institute, which has come to be known as Simmons College, the oldest historically black college in Kentucky.
The aim of the introductory chapter is to establish the foundation for the thesis by developing historical context, which involves the defining of black self-determination and the essentiality of the black church’s involvement in the education of African Americans. Chapter 2 reinforces the historical context of the thesis by previewing literature pertinent to the history of black academic pursuits, especially in the face of resistance. Chapter 3 narrows the focus of black education, examining the formation of Simmons College of Kentucky, a college established by black church leaders within Kentucky who formed an association of African American Baptists. Chapter 4 discusses the need for wise black academic leadership at historically black colleges such as Simmons College. Chapter 5 reflects on the preceding chapters and suggests that there is a sad divide between the intellectually wanting black church of the present and the black church’s intellectual spirit of the past
Evangelistic Counseling: The Sufficiency of Christ for Saving Sinners
Get PDFThis thesis argues that evangelistic counseling is not merely biblically permissible but that it is demonstrated in Jesus’s evangelistic encounters in the Gospel of John. Chapter 1 surveys the various authors and literature that have engaged in the discussion of biblical counseling as a means of evangelism, while demonstrating a void in this literature with regard to an exhaustive exegetical and methodological analysis of Jesus’s evangelistic encounters in John. Chapter 2 enters this conversation surrounding evangelistic counseling by analyzing the argumentation of proponents for and against it, while ultimately arguing that biblical counseling is in fact a warranted and biblical means of evangelism. Chapter 3 analyzes on a textual basis Jesus’s evangelistic encounter with Nicodemus in John 3, with the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4, and with the lame man by the pool in John 5. This chapter analyzes these passages exegetically and provides the biblical material for the work of chapters 4 and 5. After laying the exegetical framework for these passages in chapter 3, chapter 4 analyzes the major evangelistic themes which arise out of these passages, especially those themes which are most pertinent in evangelistic biblical counseling. Finally, chapter 5 builds out of the exegetical and theological conclusions of chapters 3 and 4 methodological considerations and practical applications for biblical counselors who counsel unbelievers similar to those in we see in John 3, 4, and 5. Chapter 5 ultimately begins the work of building a comprehensive evangelistic counseling framework and methodology
A Mixed Methods Multiple Case Study of Church-Based Multiethnic Leadership Development Programs
Get PDFEd. D., Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2023The purpose of this study was to better understand how multiethnic churches develop leaders from within their congregations. The urgency for this study arises from two observations. First, the biblical-theological narrative points towards leadership teams reflecting the ethnic makeup of the environment in which they are situated. Second, leadership teams that match the diversity of their context have been demonstrated to better reach their cities and the next generation and more effectively lead diverse churches. These two convictions, in combination with demographic trends that point toward a diversifying United States, create a need to develop leaders who will faithfully and effectively lead the next generation of multiethnic American Christians. If we are to develop these leaders for tomorrow, then we must better understand how multiethnic churches are developing these leaders today.
The research sought to identify two aspects of leader development within the multiethnic church context: (1) the desired outcomes for developing leaders and (2) the designed strategies for accomplishing those outcomes. A mixed-methods design was utilized by which a questionnaire established the desired outcomes and in-depth interviews uncovered the strategies.
Chapter 1 outlines the theological and practical need to better understand leader development in a multiethnic church context. Chapter 2 presents the precedent literature in the field of leadership development. This chapter is organized from broad to narrow, starting with the historical development of leadership theory, followed by Christian leadership development literature. Finally, this chapter presents literature addressing leader development in a multiethnic church context.
Chapter 3 overviews the mixed-methods multiple case study methodology utilized in this research study. Chapter 4 presents the findings from the research study. Specifically, the themes from the coded interview transcripts and an in-depth analysis of the leader outcomes questionnaire are provided. Chapter 5 summarizes the findings from chapter 4, relates them back to the precedent literature, lists possible implications for multiethnic churches, and suggests further areas of needed research
Jefferson's Baptists: Evangelical Partisanship in the Early American Republic, 1800-1830
Get PDFAfter the Revolution, opportunistic settlers from Virginia began streaming over the Allegheny Mountains to settle frontier lands to the south and west. Numbered among them, Baptists came in droves, spreading not only the evangelical gospel, but also Thomas Jefferson’s unique brand of Republican politics. This dissertation explores how Baptists in the trans-Appalachian West synthesized their evangelical convictions with their own vision of Jeffersonian Republicanism between the years 1800 and 1830. This synthesis impacted politics as Jefferson’s party came to dominate the region, but it also impacted Baptist churches in profound ways. After joining with Jefferson’s party during their shared fight to secure religious liberty in the infant nation, Baptists increasingly embodied Jeffersonian ideals through ecclesial practices that prioritized individual liberty and opposed any semblance of authoritarianism. However, the same partisan loyalty that aided them in coming to dominate a region left their churches and associations vulnerable to emerging religious movements that better embodied those same Jeffersonian ideals. This dissertation explores the Jeffersonian-Baptist synthesis in the context of the fight for religious liberty, Baptist ecclesiology, the debate over slavery, the anti-mission controversy, and the emergence of Alexander Campbell’s Restoration Movement
Developing a Framework for Discipleship at Open Door Christian Schools in Elyria, Ohio
Get PDFThe purpose of this project is to develop a framework for discipleship at Open Door Christian Schools (ODCS) that connects citizenship in the kingdom of heaven to discipleship efforts. Chapter 1 presents the history and ministry context of ODCS and the goals of this project. Chapter 2 provides a biblical basis for connecting discipleship to the kingdom of heaven by defining “disciples” as those who recognize their citizenship in the kingdom of heaven, exploring how citizenship in the kingdom is given, and the responsibility of being citizens who pursue, promote, and persist in living for the King and advancing His kingdom. Chapter 3 explores how Christ uses instructional practices in His discipleship that contemporary research validate. Chapter 4 describes the project implementation by providing a detailed account of the three goals and their results. Chapter 5 evaluates the efficacy of the project based on completion of the specified goals. This project seeks to develop a discipleship framework that connects discipleship to being an active citizen in Christ’s kingdom