Boyce Digital Repository (Southern Baptist Theological Seminary)
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Applying a Cognitive Development Curriculum to Improve Academic Performance at Boyce College
Full text linkThe purpose of this quantitative replication of Carol Brown’s 2016 doctoral thesis is to use the Equipping Minds Cognitive Development Curriculum to address underlying deficits in cognitive abilities to increase academic performance in Boyce College students. Chapter 1 discusses the need for, and the benefit of, a study focused on improving student academic performance. Chapter 2 provides a review of institutional efforts to improve student performance and explains why a study addressing student academic performance is needed. Chapter 3 describes the methodological design and components of the cognitive development curriculum employed for the study. Chapter 4 presents the findings and an evaluation of the research design. Chapter 5 offers an analysis of the study, provides recommendations for implementing the study protocol in other post-secondary settings, puts forward recommendations for future research, including a longitudinal study to determine if results of the post-study assessments change over time, and offers final conclusions
Discourse for Preaching: The Homiletical Significance of Selected Greek Conjunctions in the Epistle to the Hebrews
Full text linkThis dissertation is aimed at understanding how Greek conjunctions serve as authorial instruction to discern the discourse structure of the Epistle to the Hebrews to guide expositors to establish a homiletical structure for preaching. This is demonstrated through the analysis of seven conjunctions in the epistle to the Hebrews (οὖν, ὅθεν, γάρ, ἵνα, δὲ, ἀλλά, μέν–δὲ) that validate a practical payoff for expositors, which are transferable to the field of homiletics. These Greek conjunctions are analyzed to reveal their functional role relative to the clauses they connect in the Epistle to the Hebrews.
This dissertation examines discourse features in Hebrews from a functional perspective rather than a stylistic one, focusing on the linguistic structure of each feature, its purpose (the task it accomplishes), and the factors influencing its use. The analysis centers on Greek conjunctions as boundary markers, tools for discourse progression, and marking development, correction, and expectation in the text. Key discourse principles applied include cohesion, coherence, markedness theory, prominence, choice implies meaning, and semantics versus pragmatics. The findings highlight homiletical opportunities, shaping preaching segments, guiding sermon outline development, and clarifying authorial propositions. These findings prove that the substance and structure of the biblical text can directly shape the sermon, enhancing expository preaching.
Chapter 1 introduces the study, presenting the thesis, methodology, significance, and argument of the research. Chapter 2 explores discourse analysis as a hermeneutical tool for homiletics, focusing on its linguistic approach and relevance to sermon structure, substance, unity, and application. Chapter 3 examines selected Greek conjunctions in Hebrews, categorizing their function as coordinate, inferential, and subordinate within the epistle. Chapter 4 provides a detailed discourse analysis of these conjunctions, emphasizing their functional and rhetorical roles. Chapter 5 applies these findings to demonstrate the homiletical significance of Greek conjunctions in Hebrews, illustrating how the structure of the text informs sermon development. Finally, chapter 6 summarizes the research, correlates its findings with homiletics and discourse analysis scholarship, and discusses implications for further study and expository preaching
Increasing the Understanding of Lake Hills Baptist Church in Schererville, Indiana of Shared Pastoral Oversight
Full text linkThis project seeks to increase the understanding of Lake Hills Baptist Church of Shared Pastoral Oversight, or a plurality of elders. Chapter 1 serves as an introduction and roadmap to the project. Chapter 2 gives a biblical and theological basis for the project by exegeting Titus 1:5–9, 1 Peter 5:1–2, Acts 14:23, Acts 20:17, James 5:14, and Acts 20:28. In chapter 3, three models of pastoral leadership structures are expounded, critiqued, and given reflection. Chapter 4 shares the details and a description of the project. Chapter 5 evaluates the project’s purpose, goals, strengths, and weaknesses before providing personal reflections of the author
Continuing Weak Along the Narrow Way: The Role of Suffering in John Bunyan's Pastoral Theology of Sanctification and Perseverance
Full text linkThis thesis argues that the theme of Christian suffering was a significant feature of John Bunyan’s life, ministry, and writing. It asserts that this theme is of deep value to pastors looking to assist their people in navigating the difficulties of the Christian life. Chapter 1 introduces the thesis by surveying available literature and arguing for the study’s academic value. Chapter 2 reviews Bunyan’s life and ministry from the perspective of his own recorded experience, biographical observations, and cultural historical context. Chapter 3 reviews the doctrine of sanctification and its relationship to suffering in Puritan context and Bunyan’s pastoral theology. Chapter 4 reviews the doctrine of perseverance and its relationship to suffering in Puritan context and Bunyan’s pastoral theology. Chapter 5 concludes the work by providing points of application for pastors to help the church navigate its relationship to suffering
"An Eighteenth-Century Man": David Martyn Lloyd-Jones as a Pastor-Historian
Full text linkDavid Martyn Lloyd-Jones (1899–1981) stands as one of the most influential figures in twentieth-century evangelicalism. Now, forty years after his death, there is a need for further study to understand Lloyd-Jones in light of his own work in historical retrieval and interpretation. This dissertation argues that to understand Lloyd-Jones properly, he must be understood in the light of his own statement that he was “an eighteenth-century man.” By this, Lloyd-Jones meant that he was largely shaped by the revival leaders of the eighteenth century in terms of his theology and outlook. As a pastor-historian, he then sought to bring the thinking and practice of these revival leaders to bear on twentieth-century evangelicalism.
This thesis is proven through an in-depth study of Lloyd-Jones’s development as a man of history through his exposure at an early age to the Calvinistic Methodist fathers and later on to Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield. It describes his philosophy of church history and explores the reasons why Lloyd-Jones considered the study of church history to be so vitally important to the Christian life. It then demonstrates that Lloyd-Jones retrieved and relied upon these eighteenth-century revival leaders to formulate the two most important emphasis of his ministry: preaching and revival. Yet, when placed on the defensive, during the rise of the ecumenical movement, it shows how he then turned to the Reformers and Puritans to find the resources he needed to seek to preserve the evangelical movement. Finally, it explores his two primary projects of historical retrieval: the Puritan/Westminster Conference with J. I. Packer and his role in helping establish the Banner of Truth Trust with Iain Murray.
This dissertation will be of particular interest to those who want to truly understand Martyn Lloyd-Jones, in light of his own historical influences, as well as his work as a pastor-historian seeking to influence twentieth-century evangelicalism. Furthermore, Lloyd-Jones’s work as a pastor-historian sheds light and perhaps a model for how Christians and pastors can study and utilize church history in their own lives and ministries
Providing Biblical Trauma Interventions to Residents of a Baptist Children's Home
Full text linkThis project seeks to create and implement a biblically-based guide to help teenage residents of a children’s home who have been affected by trauma understand the comfort of God, learn to seek him in their suffering, and understand their traumatic responses in light of the larger theme of suffering in Scripture. Four passages of scripture (1 Pet 1:3-9, Ps 55:1-23, Rom 8:18- 25, and Ps 73:1-28) are exegeted to provide a biblical foundation for the guide developed in this project. Then the impact of trauma on children is explored, and trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy, a leading evidence-based secular approach to healing, is evaluated according to the biblical theologies of human personhood and suffering. An alternative, biblically-based guide for helping those who have experienced trauma find deeper healing in the Person and work of Jesus Christ is presented
Training Leaders in a Vision of Integrated Biblical Counseling at Grace Upon Grace Church in Sunrise, Florida
No full textEsta tesis tiene como propósito establecer el fundamento teológico y práctico de la consejería bíblica como un ministerio esencial en la iglesia. En el Capítulo 1 se presentan el contexto ministerial, la justificación y los objetivos del proyecto. El Capítulo 2 desarrolla la base bíblica y teológica de la consejería, aplicando Romanos 15 como fundamento para el cuidado del alma. El Capítulo 3 expone la naturaleza de la consejería bíblica como discipulado intensivo, pastoreo intencional y gracia encarnada, diferenciándola de los modelos seculares. El Capítulo 4 describe la ejecución del proyecto «Equipados para Aconsejar (EPA)» en tres fases: preparación, implementación y seguimiento de los líderes entrenados. Finalmente, el Capítulo 5 presenta la evaluación del proyecto y la proyección ministerial a largo plazo. El propósito final es que IGSG fortalezca su misión comunitaria para la gloria de Dios mediante un ministerio fiel de consejería bíblica
An Exemplary and Reproducible Sermon Preparation Method Utilizing Logos Bible Software
No full textFrom individuals to institutions, many are embracing the use of Bible software technology for studying, interpreting, and preaching the Bible, but not fully understanding the impact and implications for the exegetical process or classroom pedagogy. The ease of accessibility and integration of these advanced study tools are changing the landscape of the sources of information accessed, the analysis of information processed, and the presentation of information delivered. Due to the advances in the capability of Bible software to aid the exegete, a contemporary exploration is necessary to examine the practical and scholarly uses of these tools and begin to discuss standards and best practices.
This research aims to assist others in using Bible software for efficient sermon preparation by surveying various techniques at each stage of the sermon development process. Using a historical-grammatical-literary hermeneutic, the research will demonstrate using the Logos Bible Software platform to exegete two biblical texts to form an expository sermon.
This dissertation’s research question is as follows: How can Logos Bible software improve the sermon preparation process from exegesis to exposition? This dissertation argues that the Logos Bible Software platform is beneficial for sermon preparation, augmenting the manual processes for researching, exegeting, and proclaiming the biblical text.
One of the challenges for this analysis is the potential for this research to be rendered obsolete due to the software’s ever-changing nature. To mitigate this problem, exegetical data has been separated from the interface to focus on the operating principle behind the technology so that future iterations of technology can find a point of applicability from the research. Instructional videos are associated with and accessible for this project.
I argue and demonstrate that Bible software is a viable scholarly tool for sermon preparation that is recommended for integration into the methodological practices of moving from exegesis to exposition at an individual, pastoral, and institutional level
From Sodom to Gehenna: The Old Testament Typology of Sodom and Gomorrah as God’s Eschatological Judgment
Full text linkThis thesis attempts to enter the larger scholarly conversation about biblical typology and OT typology specifically. Significant studies have been done on the NT author’s use of typology in explaining the OT and its fulfillment in Christ, but more work is needed in the field of OT typology and the OT’s use of the OT. Biblical typology begins in the OT as an aspect of revelation. Specific types, therefore, can be recognized through the standard use of grammatical-historical-literary exegesis which traces the development of types throughout the canon of Scripture in conjunction with the promises and covenants they are related to. Moreover, since types begin in the OT, they can be recognized through exegesis of OT texts alone. The aim of this thesis is to provide a case study of OT typology by examining the example of Sodom and Gomorrah (S&G) and tracing how the OT itself presents S&G as the event-type of God’s eschatological judgment. To support the argument, I examine the S&G narrative within its wider canonical context of the Torah and argue that the narrative is linked with the flood narrative, the Abrahamic covenant, and eschatological promises of judgment, and that S&G’s relationship with this theological context indicates that Moses intends S&G to be recognized as the type of God’s eschatological judgment. This point is further substantiated by examining key passages in the Former Prophets and Latter Prophets that utilize the S&G narrative to explain subsequent judgments that fall on both Israel and the nations and to prophesy about what is coming upon the whole world in a final judgment. I conclude that the biblical authors understood that the end of the present world would come through a S&G-type judgment and that out of this judgment would emerge a new, Edenic world for YHWH and his people
“From the Beginning”: Christology and Ethics in 1 John
Full text linkThis project examines the passages where John uses ἀρχή exclusively with ἀπό (and hence ἀπ᾽ ἀρχῆς, “from the beginning,” FTB) in 1 John in light of understanding its Christology and ethics. I argue that John uses the phrase ἀπ᾽ ἀρχῆς for three reasons: (1) to establish Jesus’s messianic authority, (2) to encourage his audience to continue to trust in Jesus, and (3) to exhort them to obey God in loving one another. After an introduction to the project (chap. 1), chapter 2 explores thirteen passages with the FTB expression in four apocryphal works and one pseudepigraphal work. This chapter yields five categories (BH, CP, EP, TC, GQ) for the grouping of each FTB expression. Chapter 3 surveys twenty-two occurrences of the FTB expression in the Greek Old Testament. It presents four categories (CP, BH, EP, GQ) that each referent of ἀπ᾽ ἀρχῆς can be grouped in accordingly. Chapter 4 examines texts in the Greek New Testament where the phrase ἀπ᾽ ἀρχῆς appears. While the outcome does not yield either the BH or EP grouping, the GC grouping remains in this corpus. Chapter 5 examines the two passages in 1 John where the phrase ἀπ᾽ ἀρχῆς is grouped into the EP category (1:1; 2:13–14). After demonstrating that John establishes the messianic authority of Jesus by pointing to his eternality, the chapter surveys how some conceptual parallels are found in (non-)biblical works as well as how this theme is propagated throughout the epistle. Chapter 6 argues that in two other passages whose FTB expression is grouped into the CP category (2:7, 24), John encourages his readers to remain in their trust in Jesus by having the gospel (or command) about (or from) Jesus remain in them. The chapter also surveys other passages that exhibit some close parallels to this motif both within and outside the epistle. Chapter 7 demonstrates how in two other passages of the epistle where he contrasts the sinning of the devil with Jesus who came to destroy the works of the devil (3:8, 11), John exhorts his audience to obey God’s command of loving one another. This manner of employing the FTB expression is found in two passages from the Old and New Testament that share a similar context with 1 John. The conclusion (chap. 8) summarizes the arguments of this dissertation, yields some implications, and addresses how these points can be applied to the church today