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Toward a Biblical and Missiological Framework for Transformational Advocacy in the Seventh-day Adventist Church
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Adventists have been inconsistent in dealing with inequality and injustice in society, swaying between silence, accommodation, positional statements, and direct advocacy approaches. Although advocacy has become more prominent among Adventist thinkers since the end of the twentieth century, there is a lack of empirical data which answer questions related to contemporary Adventists\u27 beliefs and practices in relation to advocacy in the context of mission. Concomitantly, there does not yet exist a documented or articulated Adventist missiological perspective on advocacy.
Research Questions
(1) What part, if any, has biblically-based social advocacy played in Adventist mission history? and (2) What do contemporary Adventists believe and practice about social justice advocacy?
Method
This dissertation starts by laying the theoretical and theological basis for addressing the problem. It then looks into Adventist mission literature, particularly the legacy of Ana and Ferdinand Stahl, to find the role advocacy has played in Adventist mission history. The field research applies a mixed-method. The quantitative method consists in the collection of beliefs and practices regarding advocacy from a sample of 260 Adventist students and faculty from Andrews University by using an online survey. The qualitative method includes interviews with 10 Adventist scholars and administrators (4 from Andrews, 1 from Oakwood, 1 from La Sierra, 1 from Loma Linda, 1 from Washington, 4 from the General Conference and its Divisions) and 2 PhD students. The questionnaires combined a series of closed and open-ended questions. Prior to the actual survey research, I tested the method with 33 seminary students (30 online questionnaires, 3 interviews).
Findings
Seventh-day Adventists have traditionally viewed evangelism and social ministry as two separate components of the Church\u27s mission with evangelism having the upper hand. Nevertheless, there have been exceptions such as the experience of the missionary couple Anna and Ferdinand Stahl who integrated evangelism and social activism. However, overall, the research participants expressed favorable views about advocacy and would like to see the Adventist Church become more engaged in social justice advocacy as a significant element in its outreach to the world. Those views are representative of younger church members (18–34 years old) and highly educated, older members, but not of most of the Church, which is, in fact, made of mostly older members (around 50 years old). The higher age groups in the sample, quite small in number, are somewhat skewed towards higher education (Masters or doctorates), which correlates with more progressive views. Only one demographic response was found to influence views on social justice advocacy: Non-Whites are significantly different from Whites on How often should Adventist Pastors advocate for social justice from the pulpit? Non-White respondents want to see pastors advocate for social justice from the pulpit more often than their White counterparts.
Conclusion and recommendation
A careful study of three fundamental characteristics of the Adventist identity and message—the Sabbath in the context of Isa 58, the Three Angels\u27 messages in the context of Rev 14, and the Second Coming as expounded in Matt 24–26—reveals that Adventists have been called to be a prophetic movement and a repairer of breaches. As such, Adventists are by nature prophetic evangelists, as exemplified by the life and ministry of Ana and Ferdinand Stahl. The dissertation recommends that Seventh-day Adventists critique, serve, intercede, and influence. In so doing, they will be guided by three basic commitments: commitment to Scripture, commitment to peacemaking, and commitment to human flourishing
Religiosity, Family Sexual Communication & Gender as Predictors of Attitudes Toward Oral Sex Among College/University Students in the United States
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The purpose of this study was to investigate whether religiosity, family sexual communication and gender were predictors of attitudes toward oral sex among college/university students in the United States.
Method
Participants completed several surveys, which measured participants\u27 personal religiosity, family sexual communication, and attitudes toward oral sex. A path analysis model was used to analyze the relationship between the proposed variables.
Results
The path analysis hypothesized model resulted in a poor fit for the data. The model was respecified by removing three items which showed weak beta weights. The respecified model produced a good fit for the data. The respecified model indicated that religiosity is a direct insignificant predictor of attitude to oral sex and family sexual communication is a direct negative predictor of attitude towards oral sex. The model also showed that religiosity has a positive direct effect on family sexual communication and was a significant negative indirect predictor of attitudes toward oral sex via family sexual communication. The model accounts for 5% of the variance in attitudes toward oral sex.
Conclusion
This study adds to the growing body of literature that provides insight into college/university student\u27s attitudes toward oral sex predicted by the influence of religiosity, family sexual communication and gender. The results of the study emphasize the importance of family sexual communication, and how it serves as a catalyst for attitudes toward oral sex influenced by other social factors such as religiosity and gender. Attitudes toward oral sex create a culture in college that position oral sex as the alternative to sexual intercourse that produces the same pleasurable effect with minimal negative side effects. Mental health professionals are afforded the opportunity to use the knowledge gained from the present research to prepare parents/guardians and other helping professionals, to become more competent sexual communicators, and efficiently work with clients, in helping them make safer and healthier sexual decisions
Information Horizon of Solar Active Regions
Get PDFInformation theory is used to characterize the solar active region periodicities and memories from the Carrington map images 1974–2021. The active regions typically evolve and move from one map to the next. In order to track these active region structures in sequences of images, an innovative method based on information theory is developed. Image entropy provides a measure of the organization of structures in the images. The entropy can also be used as a filter to identify structures and partition the active regions, which are then registered for each image. The partitions are used to compute the mutual information and measure the information flow from the active regions from one image to the next. Finally, conditional mutual information is used to give a measure of the information flow from one image to another given the third image. The results suggest the following: (1) there is a long-term memory of two cycles or more; (2) the coherence time of the active regions is ∼2 yr; and (3) the average active region structure scale size carrying the most information is approximately 118 × 103 –236 × 103 Mm2 . The study has implications to the short- and long-term predictability of active regions and sunspots as well as the nature of flux transport at the Sun. Finally, our innovative method can be similarly applied to stellar data to determine the dynamics of the active regions of stars
Il santuario, luogo dell\u27incontro tra Dio e l\u27essere umano: Cristo e i due santuari
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Integration of Faith-Based Modules in Undergraduate Nursing Curricula: Implications on Graduate Work Ethic and Health Care Delivery
Get PDFNursing education programs provide commendable training in keeping pace with the rapid advances in disease management. The tradition of incorporating faith within nursing curricula has existed for centuries. However, consensus on faith-based/spirituality has received far less attention in nursing curricula, and nursing students often do not have a strong foundation in this area. This study aimed to explore the implications of faith-based/ spirituality on the work ethic and health care delivery disposition of nursing students/graduates in the Southern District, Botswana
