Dissertations OR Doctor of Ministry Theses That Align with our BCTPE framework
A Theological Framework for Assessing Verbal Oppression in Marriage
Author: Angela Jeanette Dittmeier
School: Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
Abstract
In this dissertation, I argue that because language originates in the triune God, married image bearers are commanded to use language in ways that reflect God’s character, function according to his purposes, and conform to his moral standards, to the benefit of their spouses and their marital covenant. Because the chief design purpose of language is love that builds up, verbal spousal oppression constitutes egregious violations against God, the spouse, and the marital covenant itself; such speech carries the power to detrimentally impact the spouse in both soul and body. Chapter 1 introduces the topic and presents my thesis and a survey of existing relevant literature. Chapter 2 illuminates the theological nature of language, emphasizing the triune God as language’s origin and source and offering scriptural, historical, and contemporary support. Chapter 3 analyzes the anthropological nature of language, emphasizing its centrality to image-bearing as the mechanism by which humanity is empowered to know and commune with God and one another and to influence and shape one another. Speech-act theory is applied to highlight speech as intentional acts that induce intended or unintended effects upon hearers. Chapter 4 argues language is moral in nature and that humans, as moral agents, are responsible before God for how they use it. God’s character, his Son, and his Word constitute the moral norms against which language should be assessed. Chapter 5 asserts that language is covenantal in nature and that its proper use is integral to forming and sustaining the marital covenant. Based on a complementarian perspective, I assert that verbal oppression violates God’s design and mission for marriage. Chapter 6 argues the misuse of language toward the detriment of one’s spouse constitutes violations against God, the spouse, God’s moral law, and the marital covenant itself. I adapt speech-act theory to present an anatomy of oppressive language. Chapter 7 discusses the implications of the preceding chapters and presents a theological-anthropological-moral-covenantal framework to apply in counseling those who verbally oppress their spouses and those who suffer verbal spousal oppression. Two tools are offered for use in counseling. Chapter 8 presents a summary and concluding thoughts.
APA Citation
Dittmeier, A. J. (2024). (dissertation). A theological framework for assessing verbal oppression in marriage. ProQuest LLC, Ann Arbor. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10392/7462
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Counseling in the Spirit of Christ: Union with Christ and the Pneumatology of Biblical Counseling
Author: Lucas Sabatier
School: Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
Abstract
Biblical counseling happens in union with Christ by the Spirit as believers speak the truth of God in the love of God to the people of God so that they may become more and more mature in Christ. A pneumatology of biblical counseling, therefore, must explicate more than the role of the Spirit in the counseling room; it must understand the task of biblical counseling itself in the broader context of the trinitarian missions, especially the work of the Spirit that unites believers to Christ, terminating and perfecting salvation in them. This dissertation demonstrates that a pneumatology of biblical counseling that is attentive to the doctrine of union with Christ appropriately contextualizes the ministry of biblical counselors within the mission of the Holy Spirit as he empowers them to speak the truth in love by participation in Christ. Biblical counseling happens by virtue and as a result of that blessed union of believers with Christ by the Spirit. Following the introduction in chapter 1, the argument of this project develops in four major acts. In the first act, chapter 2 surveys the literature by relevant authors from different phases of the biblical counseling movement (BCM) as well as confessional statements from various biblical counseling organizations, identifying how they view the relation between biblical counseling and the Holy Spirit and paying particular attention to mentions to the doctrine of union with Christ. In the second act, chapter 3 presents the trinitarian foundation for the doctrine of union with Christ, allowing the pneumatological discussion of this project to happen in the appropriate context of theology proper. In the third act, chapters 4 and 5 develop the theme of Christian cognitive and affective participation in Christ: biblical counseling as “participatory conversations” requires the truth and love that come from Christ by the Spirit to help counselees respond well in their contexts of struggle or crisis. Chapter 4 establishes the association of the Holy Spirit with truth and the mind of Christ, while chapter 5 argues for the close association between the Spirit and love. In the fourth and final act, chapter 6 outlines some theological implications of this project’s argument for biblical counseling practice in the context of the church. Particularly, chapter 6 considers the ecclesiological, methodological, and devotional impact on biblical counseling from having a greater awareness of union with Christ by the Spirit. Chapter 7 concludes the work. In the end, it becomes clear that there is no biblical counseling without union with Christ by the Spirit.
APA Citation
Sabatier Marques Leite, L. (2024). (dissertation). Counseling in the spirit of Christ: union with Christ and the pneumatology of biblical counseling. ProQuest LLC, Ann Arbor. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10392/7463———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
Author: Ryan Strother
School: Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
Abstract
Traumatic experiences drastically shape a child’s worldview and can leave parents and counselors wondering how to respond. Trust-Based Relational Intervention is a behavioral system that provides valuable practicality to parents. However, it does have a biblical view of God and man to which parents can align their responses and correction. Jeremy Pierre’s dynamic heart perspective of human experience provides an explanation of who children are, how they are influenced, and why they think, feel, and choose the ways they do. Merging the dynamic heart perspective with some of TBRI’s practicality will help parents understand how their children are created in the image of God and how they can live in the power of the Holy Spirit to triumph through trauma.
APA Citation
Strother, R. A. (2020).(dissertation). Triumph through trauma: Equipping parents to understand and respond to children from traumatic backgrounds (thesis). Triumph through trauma: equipping parents to understand and respond to children from traumatic backgrounds. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10392/6433
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Author: Colin McCulloch
School: Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
Abstract
In this dissertation, I argue that John Owen’s (1616–1883) conception of Spirit–infused habitual grace appropriately corrects and develops two divergent frameworks for understanding sanctification within the biblical counseling movement. Owen portrayed Spirit-infused habitual grace as the internal, metaphysical work whereby God sanctifies his people and conforms them to the image of Christ. He demonstrated that sanctification occurs by means of the Holy Spirit’s infusion of a habit—or principle—of grace in the soul of the believer at regeneration inclining them away from sin and toward righteousness, the Spirit’s increase of the operations of that habit of grace upon the faculties of the soul, and the Spirit’s bringing forth of the effects of that habit of grace through the bearing of the actual fruit of righteousness. Owen’s understanding of sanctification corrects and reconciles two divergent conceptions of sanctification that have developed among the first and second generation of biblical counselors. The first, represented by Jay Adams (1929–2020) and his followers, regards habituation as primary in bringing about human change, and the second, represented by David Powlison (1949–2019) and his followers, regards heart motivation as primary. Chapter 1 offers an overview of the divergent models of sanctification that have developed within the biblical counseling movement. Chapters 2 through 4 each focus on an aspect of Owen’s overall theology that is key to understanding his theology of habituation and his doctrine of sanctification. Chapter 2 grounds Owen’s doctrine of sanctification in the doctrine of God, specifically his understanding of inseparable operations and divine appropriations. Chapter 3 discusses Owen’s doctrine of sanctification with regard to his Christology. He viewed Christ as the paradigmatic example for the sanctification of his church. Chapter 4 discusses Owen’s doctrine of sanctification with reference to his anthropology. This chapter focuses on the Spirit’s work of infusing habitual grace in believers. Chapter 5 proposes specific theological and methodological developments and corrections for modern biblical counseling based upon my discussion of Owen’s theology of sanctification.
APA Citation
McCulloch, C. R. (2022). (dissertation). Sanctified by the Spirit: Applying John Owen’s concept of spirit-infused habitual grace to divergent models of sanctification within the Biblical Counseling Movement (dissertation). ProQuest LLC, Ann Arbor. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10392/6758———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
The Redemptive Function of Theological Anthropology for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder in Biblical Counseling
Author: Jordan Williams
School: Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
Abstract
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a psychological category that aims to describe the condition of a person who regularly experiences unwanted, intense, and distressing ruminations or obsessions that are temporarily alleviated but reinforced by compulsive responses. All counseling approaches to OCD are developed within an anthropological framework, conveyed in explicitly theological terms or otherwise. These approaches either identify people who experience OCD principally in relation to the God of Christian Scripture or in relation to something or someone else. In this dissertation, I approach OCD through the prism of Scripture’s anthropology. I present several of Scripture’s core anthropological themes and establish their direct relation to the experience of OCD. Specifically, OCD should be addressed through a set of anthropological perspectives derived from God’s design of human beings as psychosomatic unities, dependent and finite creatures, and beings capacitated with perception, conscience, and certainty. I establish this framework’s importance by demonstrating its explanatory depth for understanding the core dynamics of OCD, by applying aspects of this framework to assessing clinical, Christian, and biblical counseling approaches to OCD to determine their theological legitimacy, and by signifying how scriptural anthropology functions in helping to reinforce a more holistic biblical counseling methodology.
APA Citation
Williams, C. J. (2024). (dissertation). The redemptive function of theological anthropology for obsessive-compulsive disorder in biblical counseling. ProQuest LLC, Ann Arbor. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10392/7465
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