Senior Theses: Recent submissions
Now showing items 141-160 of 356
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Stacked Against the Odds: Preparing Teens to Stand Firm in the Faith
(2019)What does it mean to make a promise? Every year, there are many young Christians around the world who make their promise to remain faithful to God and to His Word. It would be easy to keep that promise in a perfect world, ... -
Why Won't My Members Come to Bible Class? A Study of the Possible Factors Leading to Low Adult Bible Class Attendance Among WELS Congregations
(2019)What is it that makes a Bible class desirable? This is a question that has been asked many times by many WELS pastors. What makes this question so popular? It is the numbers; they don’t lie. WELS congregations, historically, ... -
Maintaining Joy in Ministry: The Necessity of Vertical Fulfillment and Healthy Horizontal Awareness
(2019)Through his Word, God fills the human heart with a joy that is unlike anything this world has to offer. The pastor, in his calling, is immeasurably blessed to be able to spend the majority of his days reading God’s Word ... -
The Roles of Men and Women: Equipping God's People to Keep Communication Scriptural Truths About Male Headship
(2019)The Role of Men and Women has been a fiercely discussed topic since God populated the world with one married couple. Many Christians might respond by saying that it is a discussion they would just as soon avoid. Many ... -
The Impassibly Passionate God: An Apology for an Emotional God; an Apologetic for Suffering and Evil
(2019)The Problem of Suffering and Evil causes believer and unbeliever alike to question whether God (if there even is a God) is all-loving. This theodicy prompts a twofold question pertaining to God’s ontology: can we properly ... -
A Divided Decision Blessed by the Lord: The Impact of the Amalgamation on the WELS Pre-Seminary Program
(2019)For 130 years, the pre-seminary training for prospective WELS pastoral candidates took place at Northwestern College in Watertown, WI. In 1995, the pre-seminary program moved to New Ulm, MN, as Northwestern College ... -
Possessed Places: A Lutheran Perspective on Demonic Activity Within the Home
(2019)The Christian Church has given much attention to the topic of demon possession throughout its history. But there are some Christians who continue to face other forms of demonic activity, particularly within their homes. ... -
History of Suicidology: Learning from the Past for a Better Future
(2019)Since 2008, suicide has ranked among the top 10 leading causes of death in the United States. In 2016, suicide was the second leading cause of death for individuals ages 10-34 and the fourth leading cause of death for ... -
Relational Discipleship as Countercultural Christianity: A Study of Scripture's Teaching on Relational Discipleship as a Response to Contemporary American Culture
(2019)Scripture describes a disciple of Christ as one who follows Jesus in faith born of the gospel – that is, a “believer” or a “Christian.” Correspondingly, discipleship is every activity by which the Holy Spirit nurtures the ... -
Boundaries, Not Barriers: A Sociolinguistic Examination of Ingroup-Outgroup Concepts in 1 and 2 Corinthians
(2019)Since God designed humans to communicate and relate to one another socially, the divinely inspired human authors make use of language in ways consistent with sociolinguistic schema common to other members of humanity. The ... -
Preparing Our Youth to Defend Their Faith
(2019)There has been a resurgence of the study of apologetics in Lutheran circles recently, in the Missouri Synod as well as the Wisconsin Synod. As our society continues to become more and more “post-Christian,” Christians ... -
Burning the Plow: Addressing the Challenges and Capitalizing on the Blessings of Second-Career Seminary Students
(2019)“The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field” (Matt 9:37–38 NIV84). With these words, Jesus reminds his church that there will ... -
Our Stories, God's Stories: Re-Conceptualizing the Stories We Live by Through a Close Reading of the Psalms of David
(2019)People love stories. Not only that, a large body of psychological research suggests that people actually live by the stories they tell themselves. Stories are the way people make sense of a confusing world. The problem is, ... -
Carrying on the Mission of the Savior's Heart in the Heartland: Mission and Outreach in Milwaukee County
(2019)It is no secret that the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS) in general has faced decline in membership over the past twenty-five years. For evidence of this decline, one need look no further than Milwaukee, the ... -
In Your Anger Do Not Sin: The Propriety of Anger in Christian Response
(2019)“In your anger, do not sin.” The apostle Paul quotes this verse from Psalm 4 in his letter to the Ephesians. Upon first glance at this verse, people might think Paul is too emotional, for he is asking them to do something ... -
Raising the Level of Awareness: Understanding the Role Culture Plays in Evangelism
(2019)Evangelism efforts in twenty-first century North America and cross-cultural communication are joined together. As Christians reach out with God’s Word into their community, they find people who are unlike themselves. ... -
Silver Screen - Golden Opportunity: The Value of Film in Pastoral Ministry
(2019)The American movie industry is perhaps the premier entertainment industry in the world today. The films that are released every year dominate popular culture in the United States and have a profound impact on meaning-making ... -
By the Rivers of Babylon: Interpretation and Application of the Imprecatory Psalms
(2019)“Break the teeth in their mouths, O God. Like a stillborn child, may they not see the sun” (Ps 58:6,8). Such curses have shocked casual readers of the psalms and biblical scholars alike for years. They seem to be incompatible ... -
The Value of Linguistics for Exegesis: A Demonstration of Lexical Semantics and the Hebrew נחם
(2019)Linguistics, the study of how language works, is a field of study closely related to biblical scholarship and exegesis. Advances in linguistics have benefited WELS pastors and their exegesis, but in a largely indirect ... -
From Sola to Soli: Focusing Faithfulness for Excellence in the Pastoral Ministry
(2018)There is a question every pastor must ask himself every week: “Have I been faithful?” Faithfulness is God’s standard for his servants, but what exactly constitutes faithfulness may be another question. This thesis seeks ...