Sewanee: School of Theology Theses 2020

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Now showing 1 - 5 of 13

Teaching Wesleyan Grace in a Fractured Post-Modern Church in Central Appalachia
(University of the South, 2020-09) Meade, Peggy Lorene
The United Methodist church in Central Appalachia--Holston Annual Conference in particular-- is a fractured, multi-cultural, multi-theological entity. This project is an effort to recognize the disparate ideologies involved and educate and unite them toward healing and witness based on the understood theology of our founder John Wesley. This educational model is an attempt at healing an abusive past within the congregations of Central Appalachia. It is based primarily on John Wesley's understanding of Grace as a unifying force that develops and grows over time. With the 1968 Uniting Conference, Methodism appears to have lost a large part of its distinctive expression of Grace and has become enmeshed or enculturated to American religious culture, a culture which, since the "Great Awakening" finds its strength in Calvinist theology. I am proposing an educational model with a pastoral approach to educate, or perhaps re-educate, from the top down to the local church level, Wesley's distinctive idea of Grace as it came to him through Arminius. From both his own writings and current modern scholarship on the Wesleyan theology of Grace, I give a brief outline of how he came to believe and live this theology. Then I develop a brief educational model whose structure is similar to the Wesley small group or society model.
A School of Charity: The Formative Dimension of the Holy Eucharist for Ministry and Mission
(University of the South, 2020-05) Stutler, James Boyd
This paper provides a theoretical and practical basis for teaching the meaning of holy eucharist in the parish. The approach is Anglican, inspired by the liturgical movement as expressed in the 1979 book of common prayer. It is premised on the eucharist as the center of parish life. The eucharist gives structure and substance to the individual and corporate lives of the parish in spiritual growth, mission, and ministry. Fundamental to this process is that the eucharist, while clearly instructional, is essentially sacramental and therefore more broadly formational. The weekly regularity and seasonal variation of the eucharist, particularly when engaged intentionally, form holiness of character. This occurs through the basic structural elements of gathering, word, presence, and vocation which have been received in the eucharistic tradition. Superficially, this might look like a serial process where the parish gathers to hear the word of God in order to experience the presence of God so that they might be sent out to do the work of God. However, these elements are best understood as interdependent and overlapping rather than sequential. This interdependence is empowered by the similarly interrelated themes of thanksgiving (eucharistia), memory (anamnesis), and hope (escatology) which permeate the entire structure. Formation occurs through all these elements, in word and sacrament, engendering a trajectory which both deepens the spiritual life and informs the missional purpose. This paper explores this process through relatively short teaching modules of variable complexity in order to reach a large constituency of ages from child to adult.
Caught by an 'Evil Infection': Postbellum Conflict in the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina over the Role of African Americans in the Life of the Church
(University of the South, 2020-05) Eichelberger, John Gary, Jr.
This thesis, which is divided into five chapters, chronicles attempts within the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina to provide ministry to African Americans over the course of the nineteenth century, with particular focus on the post-Civil War challenges and controversies faced by Bishop William Bell White Howe as he sought to advance the recognition of black parishes and clergy. The first chapter provides background on outreach by, first, the Church of England and, subsequently, the Episcopal Church to both free and enslaved African Americans in South Carolina from its inception as a colony through the end of the Civil War. The second chapter offers an overview of how those efforts developed in the immediate aftermath of the Civil War through the 1871 diocesan convention election that resulted in Howe's elevation to the episcopacy. The third chapter provides biographical background on Howe and reviews his early efforts relating to race. The fourth chapter looks at the controversies that arose when St. Mark's Episcopal Church's applied to become the first predominantly black parish admitted to diocesan convention and how, despite Bishop Howe's support, that application was rejected. The fifth and final chapter chronicles the subsequent controversies over the ordination of African Americans in the diocese and how Bishop Howe's efforts to allow for the full participation of black clergymen at diocesan conventions were ultimately thwarted.
Overqueering the Gospel: Toward a Homiletical Theology of Boundary Dissolution
(University of the South, 2020-05) Swenson, Warren Thomas
This thesis examines the work of queer theologian Patrick Cheng and renowned homiletician Fred Craddock in order to establish a queer homiletic. Both Cheng and Craddock enjoin their readers to the work of boundary dissolution. Cheng interprets queer theology through the lens of God's radical love, defining it based on its boundary- dissolving characteristics, which are rooted in both queer theory and Christian theology. Likewise, Craddock's revolutionary homiletic identifies boundaries that inhibit an effective hearing of the gospel message. Considered together, these two important scholars provide a foundation for a queer homiletic based on God's radical, boundary- dissolving love. Such a homiletic is revealed to dissolve boundaries that inhibit an effective hearing of the gospel message, including boundaries between subject matter and style, listener and message, speaker and message, and an individual's distance from, and participation with, the biblical text. This homiletic is particularly applicable because it illustrates a queer premise of God, which transcends commonly accepted false dichotomies of gender and sexual identity and affirms the personhood of queer preachers.
The Monastery and the Minivan: Accessible Monastic Practices in the Tradition of the Desert Fathyers and Mothers
(University of the South, 2020-05) Hatcher, Joshua McCrory
The purpose of this little reflection is to offer a humble sort of middle way; a series of contemplative monastic practices intended to be accessible to seekers from all walks of life who desire to move beyond a systematic “head knowledge” about God, and into the mystical heart-space of experience with God. Somewhere between the monastery and the minivan sits an elusive convergence of desert mother and world-weary father-of-four; of 2nd century monk and 30-something law clerk. Through an exploration of the monastic practices of prayer, contemplation, and Sabbath rest, this project seeks to bridge the chasm of accessibility and offer a humble pathway to those who wish to know from experience what they have known intellectually. This pathway rests within the perennial tradition of the Church, and upon the shoulders of the Desert Fathers and Mothers of pre-Orthodox Alexandrian tradition, of medieval mystics such as Theresa of Avila, John of the Cross, and Therese of Lisieux, as well as modern practitioners of contemplative practice to include Thomas Merton and Thomas Keating.

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