Oral Presentations
Session 1: Theology and Religion (BH108)
5:00 pm O1-1 Evolution and Theodicy: A Study on Models of Evolutionary Theodicy
Adriani Milli Rodrigues, PhD student in Theological Studies
Although the best theodicean arguments are usually based on eschatology, a legitimate theodicy needs to draw connections between God’s purposes as creator and God’s purposes as redeemer. However, it seems difficult to see the divine purpose in creation from an evolutionary perspective, since the very process that produces life is characterized by pain, suffering, and death. Based on a description of specific models of evolutionary theodicy, this study argues that the consistency of this theodicy is challenged by the incompatibility of its conception of God as creator and God as redeemer.
5:12 pm O1-2 An Analysis of the Relationship between God’s Benevolence and Animal Pain in Theistic Evolution
C. Adelina Alexe, PhD Student in Theology
Theistic evolution suggests that God created animal and human beings through a long process of evolution. An evolutionary creation, however, implies that pain and death are inherent in the process, since creatures fight each other in their struggle for survival and new species arise through adaptations involving extinctions. This raises a stringent question: How does the presence of animal death before the appearance of human beings reflect on the character of God? In this paper I seek to explore, analyze, and critique the justification of God’s benevolence evolutionary theologians offer corollary of their view of origins.
5:24 pm O1-3 Creation in the Twentieth-First Century: An Introduction to Protological Hermeneutic
Sergio L. Silva, PhD student in Religion
For the most part of the twenty and twenty-first centuries, the categorization of creationists in the Western world has been limited to two major groups: Old Earth Creationism (OEC) and Young Earth Creationism (YEC). In Creation in the Twentieth-First Century: An Introduction to Protological Hermeneutic, I suggest that to limit creation studies to these two categories is inconsistent with developments in both science and theology. That is because it ultimately classifies believers in creation either as theistic evolutionists (OEC––i.e., believers in an old earth, old universe, deep time geology), or scientific creationists as proposed by the Institute for Creation Research (YEC––i.e., believers in a young earth, young universe, no gap, fundamentalist point of view). For these reasons, I argue a new category that includes creationists who sense that a more biblically balanced approach to protology is necessary. Therefore, I am suggesting in agreement with other scholars, that this new category be called Undated Earth Creationist Movement (UEC), which I suggest is to be represented by the Special Creation Science model; the latter is open to the possibility of a biblical creation in two stages (Gen 1:1-2, then Gen 1:3ff), allowing for the possibility of creation ex-nihilo and an old universe/old earth/young life on earth.
5:36 pm O1-4 Indications and Environmental Implications of a Seventh Day in Psalm 104
Rahel Schafer, Department of Religion and Biblical Languages
Although some contend that Psalm 104 is governed by various Hebrew verbs rather than the six-day creation order, the striking lexical parallels and similar basic structures seem to form a foundation around which these other verbal patterns are situated. However, the relationship between creation and Psalm 104, which highlights God’s care and provision for all his creatures, is not limited to the first six days of creation. In this paper, I analyze the relationship between Ps 104:27-35 and the Sabbath in Gen 2:1-4. In addition, I examine the parallels between other Sabbath passages and Psalm 104, and the resulting implications for environmental ethics. I contend that Psalm 104, as a poetic reenactment of the creation narratives, affirms the important aspects of Sabbath rest, and provides further support for the environmental implications of the links between Sabbath and creation.
Session 2: Social Work, Mission and Discipleship (BH149)
5:00 pm O2-1 Do Adventists Care about Their Communities? An Exploration of Personal Religious Practices and Community Service Involvement among SDA Faculty and Staff
Curtis J. VanderWaal1, Alissa R. Mayer*1, and John T. Gavin2
1Department of Social Work, Andrews University, 2Department of Social Work, Washington Adventist University, *MSW Student in Social Work
Do Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) faculty and staff with more personal religious practices have more or less involvement in community service? Are there differences between faculty and staff in levels of church and community volunteerism? Researchers collected survey data from 530 SDA faculty and staff at nine Adventist colleges and universities across the United States in the summer of 2012. Primary survey findings show that 59.7% of faculty and staff worked on a community service project in the past year. Further, 100% of respondents say they volunteer for church work at least several times a year. While such findings indicate that SDA faculty and staff are highly active in their communities and churches, the relationships between their personal religious practices and community service involvement remains to be explored in this presentation.
5:12 pm O2-2 Tentmaking in the 21st Century: Theological and Missiological Implications for the Adventist Church
Kelvin Onongha, PhD Student in World Mission
Christianity, like other world religions, owes a great deal of its spread to itinerant trades- and craftsmen who shared their religion wherever they went. In the twenty-first century the same holds true as a new breed of missionaries carry along their tentmaking, professional skills, as the Apostle Paul did centuries ago. Although the ministry of tentmakers in the Adventist Church is still at its nascent stage, its presence and success bear theological and missiological implications worthy of consideration. This paper will explore the nature and significance of tentmaking, and examine how it poses a challenge to missiological and theological paradigms in the church, and offer recommendations for its success.
5:24 pm O2-3 Current Trends in Pastoral Family Stress
David Sedlacek, Department of Discipleship
Pastors, their spouses and their children each experience stress of various types. This presentation will share the results of an ongoing study being conducted by the SDA Theological Seminary, the Departments of Behavioral Science and Social Work in conjunction with Southern Adventist University and the North American Division of Seventh-day Adventists. The study will focus on the highlights of major concern revealed in the study results to date.
5:36 pm O2-4 Locus of Authority in Hans Küng's paradigm
Arlyn Drew, PhD Student in Systematic Theology
Authority defines an institution’s self-identity. But what happens when contemporary society no longer accepts traditional definitions of authority? It was a shock in the theological world when one world-renowned Roman Catholic theologian, Hans Küng, was stripped of his teaching authority because he asserted that the original gospel and historical Jesus Christ was the highest norm for the church. All Christian communities claim that same norm, yet a careful study of what that really means and the hermeneutical implications for access to that locus explains why the different denominations continue to exist and why Küng's assertion was dangerous for the Roman Catholic Church and is unacceptable for the Seventh-day Adventist church as well.
Session 3: Biblical Studies and Historical Theology (BH150)
5:00 pm O3-1 Solomon on Monogamy: Is Song 6:8-9 really talking about Solomon’s harem?
Erick Mendieta, PhD student in Old Testament
Philip Turtley states that “ Solomon is more notorious for his prolific harem than any other Hebrew monarchs”. It is difficult to hear about the biblical Solomon and not connect his name with the idea of polygamy. And while this association of terms in most cases is true when dealing with the later part of Solomon’s reign, is misleading if we are discussing events connected with his early rule. In interpreting the Song of Songs we will see that notions related to the issues of authorship and especially the assumed historical context of the book will make a big difference on how Song 6:8-9 is interpreted. But a careful look at the literary features of Song of Songs 6:8-9 can help us to discover a neglected perspective on the study of Solomon’s life and literary contribution to the Old Testament canon.
5:12 pm O3-2 The Impossibility of Repentance in Heb. 6:4-6
Erhard Gallos, Department of Religion and Biblical Languages
The Epistle to the Hebrews states: “For it is impossible to restore again to repentance those who have once been enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, since on their own they are crucifying again the Son of God and are holding him up to contempt” (Heb 6:4-6) NRSV. This passage has driven many Christian through centuries of church history to despair. At first look, the passage seems to indicate that an apostate can never be restored to salvation. The church father Tertullian (c. 160 – c. 225 AD), for example, held that no second repentance existed for serous sins (such as adultery and apostasy) after baptism. For that reason some Christians delayed their baptisms until immediately before their death. The author’s perspective seems far away from that of present-day readers, for whom the very concept of “apostasy” appears strange, and who consider themselves to live in a world in which everything can be forgiven. At the same time the modern reader looks at the experience of post-Gethsemane Peter (Matt. 26:69-75) and asks: How was repentance possible for him? A close look at the Greek syntax in the Heb 6 passage helps untangle what Luther considered to be a “hard knot” passage (Luther, Works, xxxv: 394).
5:24 pm O3-3 The Liminal Church: Exilic Consciousness and Adventist Theopolitics
Ante Jeroncic, Department of Religion and Biblical Languages
In postcolonial and cultural studies the category of “exilic consciousness” is often depicted as a form of subversive imagination “set against Western intellectual hegemony and its protocol of objective knowledge” (R. Young). This article builds on such delineations of the exile metaphor by both appropriating it and nudging it into a different direction in an effort to restate important parameters of Adventist theopolitics—theopolitics here standing for the idea of the church as a “structured social body” shaped by God’s apocalyptic inbreak. Following a brief exploration of 1 Peter and the theology of John Howard Yoder I argue for a remnant theology that seeks to eschew the apotheosizing of heterogeneity on the one hand and the privileging of doctrinal conformity over peaceable praxis on the other. I consider this to be of some importance as current debates in Adventism concerning creation, homosexuality, church-state relations, and so on reveal, implicitly and explicitly, different assumptions at work concerning authority structures, “regimes of truth” (M. Foucault), boundary crafting, and power, in turn shaping and informing Adventist theology and praxis.
5:36 pm O3-4 A Diachronic Study of the Conditionalist Faith among Sabbatarian Adventists from 1845 to 1860
Denis Kaiser, PhD Student in Adventist Studies and Historical Theology
Although the three founders of the Sabbatarian Adventist movement already believed in conditional immortality before 1844, it was not until early 1854 that they began considering this teaching a “leading doctrine” and “present truth.” Previously they expressed their conditionalist views only randomly in the context of other topics. However, when the mysterious rappings turned into demonic manifestations claiming the identity of deceased people, Sabbatarian Adventists realized that their conditionalist belief constituted the only safeguard against this deception. Thus they started to publish numerous articles and books on the topic in order to inform people about the deceptive nature of spiritualism.
Session 4: Education, Communication, Music, and Art (BH208)
5:00 pm O4-1 Gender and conversational interruption: A qualitative content analysis of five TV Discussion segments
Thula Lambert, PhD Student in Curriculum and Instruction
This study explores the discourse pattern of conversational interruption as it relates to gender. A qualitative content analysis of an all-female and mixed gender panel revealed that discourse patterns such as interruption could not be attributed solely to gender differences but to other factors related to social context such as topic, status, interpersonal relations among panel members, group size and limited floor space. Similar results were obtained in a follow-up study of two all-male panels and an all-female panel. While gender-based discourse patterns were found, the social context in which these discourse patterns occurred was also an important factor.
5:12 pm O4-2 A Conversational Analysis of Mix Marital Couples Conversation
Ellen Nogueira Rodrigues, PhD Student in Curriculum and Instruction
The present study analyzes three Brazilian mix-marriage couples’ conversations on a private sphere speech situation, to understand the overall conversational behavior speech of male and female on conversational features, such as, word distribution, topical organization, topic shift, interruptions and back-channeling signals in order to grasp their conversational style. Overall, findings reveal that male and female conversations have more equal contribution, however different styles emerged. Women develop a conversational style based on solidarity and support to men statements, especially evident in the way they use back-channeling signals, interruptions, turn shifts and short responses. They constantly attend to what the current speaker is saying and work to maintain the conversation, developing most of their participation on the extended topics. On the other hand, men participate more on the main topics and are less eager to drop their topics and maintain interactions.
5:24 pm O4-3 Welcoming Nonverbal Behavior: A Case Study of Group Communication in Church
Katelyn Ruiz, MA Student in Communication
Nonverbal behaviors occur simultaneous to verbal communications. The effectiveness of the overall message depends on coordinating the communications of these two interactive facets. When considering interpersonal communications within a group setting, evidence suggests that specific nonverbal behaviors positively influence the development of relationships between participants, thus confirming the significance of repeated, consistent, congruent verbal and nonverbal elements. Expanding on DeVito's (1990) model of human communication, this study uses interaction analysis (IA) techniques within the framework of attribution theory to explore the impact of nonverbal communication on the context and consequence of a first-time visitor to a Seventh-day Adventist church community.
5:36 pm O4-4 Early Developments of Harmonic Theory in the New World: Reflections on Two 17th-Century Mexican Treatises
Carlos A. Flores, Department of Music
The study of music theory in the New World began with the arrival of Spanish musicians and teachers on American soil. Perhaps the first historical reference with regard to a theoretical treatise written in Mexico is the one given by the chronicler Fray Francisco de Burgoa (1604-1681). The existence of another contemporary treatise written by the Mexican poetess Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (1651-1695) invites comparison and seems to provide enough information for one to understand what Mexican theorists really meant when they talked about harmony during the 17th century. Sor Juana titles her treatise Compendio de armonía musical: El Caracol. Matías reduced harmony to a “perfect circle” because he adopted equal-temperament; Sor Juana, in the other hand, reduced harmony to a “spiral line” because she used Pythagorean intonation.
5:48 pm O4-5 Poetic License
Greg Constantine, Department of Art and Design
Exhibitions are the climactic events that reveal the merits of work done in studio. The “Poetic Licenses” is text art presented in the format of automobile vanity license plates. The license plate format is that of utilitarian objects transformed into functional objects wearing the mantle of “high art”. They open another territory in the development of Text Art.
Session 5: Community & International Development (BH250)
5:00 pm O5-1 The Impact of Education on Entrepreneurship
Arian Emanuel and Kayla Piña
MSA Students in Community and International Development
This study intends to discover the extent to which education at the primary, secondary, and tertiary levels impacts entrepreneurship, as measured by new firms and entry density, when democracy and economic freedom are held constant. The data were analyzed using Pearson correlations and multiple regression. We found that economic freedom is a more significant predictor of entrepreneurship than democracy. Our results also tentatively suggest that education at the tertiary level promotes entrepreneurship in terms of new firms. Future studies of the topic may benefit from analyses of countries according to other variables such as region or GDP.
5:12 pm O5-2 Cooperation between the U.S. and Diaspora Communities: Implications for Development and Foreign Policy
Joel Raveloharimisy and Kayla Piña*, Department of Behavioral Sciences
*MSA Student in Community and International Development
In a partnership between the Migration Policy Institute and the United States Department of State, the International diaspora Engagement Alliance (IdEA) was launched in May 2011. IdEA is a platform for public-private partnerships designed to engage diaspora communities, the private sector, and public institutions in a collaborative process based on five pillars: diaspreneuership (entrepreneurship), Diasplomacy (diplomacy), Diasporacorps (volunteerism), Diaspora 2.0 (networking), and Diasphilanthropy (philanthropy). In this paper we evaluate the effectiveness of these pillars for the development of diaspora communities’ countries of origin and the United States by examining their applicability to diaspora communities in the U.S. Finally, we discuss and explore the implications of our findings to the American foreign policies regarding the diasporas’ country of origin.
5:24 pm O5-3 Informal Institution Moramora and Distribution of Entrepreneurship in Madagascar
Joel Raveloharimisy, Behavioral Sciences Department
This paper explains the role of informal institution called moramora or hurry slowly on the distribution of entrepreneurship in Madagascar. The moramora institution is very influential in Madagascar. It shapes Malagasy’s behavior, affects their way of doing things. It has a reward and punishment mechanism. Its origin comes from two factors: the Malagasy perception of time and the value of human relationship. These two factors are intertwined and construct the moramora institution. Using quantitative and qualitative data about entrepreneurship and bureaucratic effectiveness, this paper shows that moramora institution affects entrepreneurship through its influence on bureaucracy and interpersonal relations. It creates slow and burdensome bureaucracy, promotes absenteeism, emphasizes personal transactions and presents opportunity for corruption. Like all Malagasy people, entrepreneurs evolve around institutional context.
5:36 pm O5-4 Helping or hurting? The impact of call centers on the English teaching profession in Costa Rica
Janet Blackwood, Director, Off-Campus TESOL Programs, Department of English
PhD Candidate, Literacy, Culture & Language Education, Indiana University
Over the last thirty years, globalization has significantly altered the employment landscape in the developing world. One example of this can be seen in the recent establishment of call centers in numerous locations worldwide. Using data collected through interviews with Costa Rican university English professors and students, this presentation examines preliminary evidence of the unexpected consequences of the growing call center industry on English language teaching and teacher preparation in Costa Rica, and raises questions regarding possible long-term implications for the English teaching profession.
Session 6: English, Nutrition (BH251)
5:00 pm O6-1 Physiognomy in Renaissance Society and Drama
Vanessa Corredera, Department of English
The relationship between the inward self and the body has been widely examined in early modern studies, particularly through the lens of humoralism—the makeup and effects of a person’s four humours. I want to redirect attention toward a largely overlooked discourse that likewise reveals a great deal about early modern understandings of the relationship between the body and inward selfhood—that of physiognomy, the practice of discerning character through the body, particularly the face. I suggest that by exploring early modern physiognomic practice, we can see the emergence of both the concept of character and the Cartesian separation of body and mind.
5:12 pm O6-2 Big-Shouldered Shakespeare: Three Shrews at Chicago Shakespeare Theater
L. Monique Pittman, Department of English and J. N. Andrews Honors Program
This performance criticism project enlists theorist Michel de Certeau’s concepts of institutional strategy and individual tactic to examine social resistance in three productions of William Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew (1593/94) staged by the premiere Midwestern Shakespearean repertory company, the Chicago Shakespeare Theater. The three productions date from CST’s new millennium rise to prominence on the Navy Pier skyline and instantiate the ways in which the theater reconciles its self-promotional image of Shakespeare the Great Humanist with the misogynist content of Taming. Since 1999, CST has staged two full-scale productions of Taming, one led by David H. Bell (2003) and one helmed by Josie Rourke that featured purpose-written induction matter by playwright Neil LaBute (2010). During the summer of 2012 as part of Chicago’s fledgling Cultural Plan initiative, the theater launched a Chicago Shakespeare in the Parks outreach that transferred a Short Shakespeare! production of Taming (Dir. Rachel Rockwell) from the theater’s main stage to parks in neighborhoods underserved by the city’s major arts institutions. Analysis of these productions demonstrates just how difficult it can be to extricate high art from its institutional moorings and how vexed the authorizing imprimatur of Shakespeare the Great Humanist can be.
5:24 pm O6-3 Body mass, BMI and body composition of teens in Berrien Springs public and Adventists schools
Marval White* and Peter Pribis, Department of Nutrition
*MS Student in Nutrition and Wellness
It is observed that the changing dietary patterns of American families and the growing number of convenient food products available both in frozen sections of groceries and fast food centers greatly influence what children and teens eat. Fast food consumption leads to increased energy intake especially among overweight teens compared to their lean counterparts. Since overweight/obesity and early occurrence of puberty have implications in future (adult) health of adolescents, we have explored body mass, BMI and body composition of teens in Berrien Springs public and Adventists schools.
5:36 pm O6-4 Relationship between body composition and age of menarche in teen-age girls
Samara Sterling* and Peter Pribis, Department of Nutrition
*MS Student in Nutrition and Wellness
While it is established that diet is associated with health and disease, studies on children and teens are now revealing the impact of early dietary exposure to their pubertal development and future health. There is mounting evidence that early menarche is associated with increased risk of breast cancer, thus, the need to determine what dietary factors can help prevent early menarche. Since overweight/obesity and early occurrence of puberty have implications in future (adult) health of adolescents, we have explored the relationships between body composition and pubertal development in teen-age girls.