Doctor of Ministry , Ashland University, 2024, Doctor of Ministry Program

The project's purpose was to create a resource for providing an academically integrated Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) Program, to be implemented by providers, for graduate students pursuing professional chaplaincy, that includes the required four units of the Association of Clinical Pastoral Education accredited Clinical Pastoral Education within the required preparatory academic courses, concurrently. The method was creating a "Resource Guide" outlining model elements and requirements of the collective accrediting bodies and organizations. Representatives of those entities were surveyed to assess to what extent it was helpful. The results demonstrated strong agreement for the usefulness of the "Resource Guide" and model it espoused.

Committee: Matthew Bevere Dr. (Advisor) Subjects: Clergy; Educational Leadership; Religious Education

Master of Fine Arts (MFA), Bowling Green State University, 2021, Creative Writing/Poetry

Enterprising Young Man is an exploration of memory and the self in the context of the landscapes of the American West and beyond. These poems question the dichotomy between manmade and natural objects, the self and landscape, and imagination and perceived reality. Objects like trash become the subject of pastoral meditation as the poems cast a wide gaze across landscapes desolated by human intervention and human lives desolated by environmental forces. Enterprising Young Man tracks a journey towards new belonging in and understanding of the natural world by delving into the mind as a landscape to be explored. Possibility and perception are braided into moments of transcendent environmental beauty. The poems find moments of oddity in the banal and stillness in ever changing landscapes. The speaker searches for the boundaries of the pastoral and finds a new sense of self in the process.

Committee: Sharona Muir Dr. (Committee Chair); Abigail Cloud (Committee Member) Subjects: Fine Arts; Language Arts

Doctor of Ministry , Ashland University, 2019, Doctor of Ministry Program

The purpose of this project is to create a resource that will better equip pastoral caregivers to become spiritual companions for people with bipolar disorder. The resource, Spiritual Companionship and Bipolar Disorder, establishes that pastoral caregivers are gateway people for those with bipolar disorder to receive appropriate care and models multi-disciplinary collaboration. The resource is evaluated by twelve experts using a questionnaire that includes both quantitative and qualitative questions. As a result, the resource is found to have a strong foundation and creative spiritual experientials. Insights give direction on how to improve the resource including format and cohesiveness.

Committee: Shane Johnson DMin (Advisor) Subjects: Counseling Psychology; Pastoral Counseling; Spirituality

Ph.D., Antioch University, 2008, Leadership and Change

Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) is an 80 year old education modality that provides professional education for students of pastoral care. Supervision is central to the CPE process. Pastoral supervisors in the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education (ACPE) have done little writing about their work educating Students in Supervisory Education (SSEs). The purpose of this dissertation is to identify and interview those practitioners in ACPE who have been identified by their peers as excellent in practice, and to cull their wisdom by listening to and categorizing their experience of supervising SSEs. The research question to the supervisors was: What is your experience educating CPE Students in Supervisory Education? The analysis of the interviews utilized a grounded theory methodology. The four primary dimensions of the process of educating SSEs emerged as Selecting students, Helping the SSE develop CPE supervisory practices; Guiding the SSE toward integration, and Blessing the SSE to develop independently. Each primary dimension refers to work the supervisor is doing with the SSE. The core dimension that emerged is Evolving Wisdom, and the core dimension refers to work the supervisor is doing in terms of her own continuing growth and development. Evolving Wisdom is a reciprocal core dimension that both feeds and draws from the primary dimensions. The theoretical proposition says that as Evolving Wisdom grows in the supervisor, the capacity for wisdom is nurtured in the SSE. The electronic version of the dissertation is accessible at the Ohiolink ETD center http://www.ohiolink.edu/etd/

Committee: Elizabeth Holloway PhD (Committee Chair); Carolyn Kenny PhD (Committee Member); Steven Ivy PhD (Committee Member); Helen Roehlke EdD (Committee Member) Subjects: Clergy; Health Care; Higher Education; Psychology; Religion; Theology

Ph.D., Antioch University, 2025, Leadership and Change

The transformation to the curriculum taught in chaplain training in Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) will now address the spiritual needs of a more diverse, nonreligious, and interfaith population in the United States. Historically rooted in religious frameworks, CPE curricula are evolving to incorporate non-religious spiritual care interventions and promote research literacy among chaplains. This dissertation study uses descriptive analysis to present a study surveying CPE educators across over 300 U.S. based CPE centers to explore teaching practices and adaptation strategies. Findings reveal that integrating evidence-based methods and interdisciplinary collaboration is key to addressing inclusivity and professional competency in chaplaincy. By examining quantitative and qualitative data, this research emphasizes the need for adaptive and inclusive approaches to meet modern spiritual care demands. This dissertation is available in open access at AURA (https://aura.antioch.edu) and OhioLINK ETD Center (https://etd.ohiolink.edu).

Committee: Stewart Burns PhD (Committee Chair); Betty Overton-Adkins PhD (Committee Member); Debby Flickinger PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Education; Educational Leadership; Ethics; Health Education; Higher Education; Judaic Studies; Literacy; Medical Ethics; Mental Health; Multicultural Education; Music Education; Pastoral Counseling; Peace Studies; Personal Relationships; Psychobiology; Psychotherapy; Religion; Religious Education; Social Psychology; Social Research; Spirituality; Teacher Education; Teaching; Therapy

Ph.D., Antioch University, 2024, Antioch New England: Marriage and Family Therapy

Support for collaborative partnerships between Black churches and mental health professionals is on the rise. Yet, little attention has been given to if and how the numerous barriers that Black people face in both domains, among others, affects mental health help-seeking attitudes and preferences on a sociocultural level. When there are negative consequences to mental health treatment utilization, either perceived or real, within every context of one's lived experience, self-concealment may be a more favorable option. Using a quantitative, cross-sectional research design, the current study explores the relationship between self-concealment and religious and professional mental health help-seeking attitudes and preferences among Black, Christian churchgoing adults in the United States (US). Findings reveal that intimate partners are the dominant, preferred help-seeking source among Black churchgoing adults in the US, and mental health professionals are consistently preferred over clergy. Among those high in self-concealment, however, the preferred help-seeking sources are a phone helpline or no one at all. Correlation analyses reveal associated themes between self-concealment and religious and professional mental health help-seeking attitudes. Such themes include: self-stigma, public-stigma, anticipated risks of disclosure, shame, and aversion to vulnerability. Results from this study not only validate the use of interprofessional collaborations as a promising strategy for mitigating mental health treatment barriers among Black, Christian churchgoing adults in the US, but also provides valuable insights to aid in the development of effective collaborative care models. Collaborative programming strategies and considerations for mental health professionals and clergy are discussed. Study limitations and areas for future research are presented as well. This dissertation is available in open access at AURA (https://aura.antioch.edu) and OhioLINK ETD Center (https://etd.o (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Denzel Jones Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Stan Bowie Ph.D. (Committee Member); Cynthia Neal Spence Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: African Americans; Mental Health; Pastoral Counseling; Psychology; Psychotherapy; Therapy

Doctor of Ministry , Ashland University, 2024, Doctor of Ministry Program

The purpose of this project was to discover the extent to which students in U.S.-based Association for Clinical Pastoral Education (ACPE)-accredited programs had received training in trauma-informed care (TIC) pastoral practices for adolescents. Fifty-two surveys were completed by chaplains within various healthcare settings who had received ACPE training within the previous ten years. The results showed overall disappointment with the amount of TIC training received and a perceived lack of preparedness for providing pastoral care to traumatized adolescents. The results indicate a critical need for more research and training in TIC for this commonly overlooked population.

Committee: Michael Elmore (Advisor) Subjects: Clergy; Pastoral Counseling; Religious Education

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 1902, Graduate School

Committee: Not Provided (Other) Subjects:

Master of Science (MS), Bowling Green State University, 2024, Applied Statistics (ASOR)

The New Testament contains thirteen epistles written in the name of the Apostle Paul, and from the earliest records of church history, Christian theologians received all thirteen as authentically Pauline. Since the 19th century, however, many scholars have doubted Paul's authorship of some epistles based on, among other factors, their vocabulary and writing style, which differ from undisputed Pauline epistles. In particular, three epistles called the Pastoral Epistles (1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, and Titus) have been subject to the most doubt. This thesis will use a Hidden Markov Model that analyzes the transitions between different parts of speech in the whole Pauline corpus and classifies sentences as belonging to a “Pauline” or “non-Pauline” style. Then, informed by New Testament scholarship, we will interpret these results and judge the possibility of Pauline authorship for the Pastoral Epistles.

Committee: Shuchismita Sarkar (Committee Chair); Riddhi Ghosh (Committee Member); Christopher Rump (Committee Member) Subjects: Statistics

Doctor of Ministry , Ashland University, 2024, Doctor of Ministry Program

The purpose of this project was to create a resource that would provide practical insights leading toward discernment for Evangelical Christians considering professional chaplaincy. The manual A Handbook of Discernment for Evangelicals Considering Ministry as a Professional Chaplain was written and evaluated by a team of twelve professionals who serve as pastors and chaplains. A Likert survey with additional qualitative questions was administered to determine if the handbook successfully led to discernment and provided practical tools for entering the profession of professional chaplaincy. Responses indicated the handbook would be an effective tool for discernment for persons considering professional chaplaincy.

Committee: Dawn Morton (Advisor) Subjects: Clergy; Pastoral Counseling; Religious Education

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) in Organizational Leadership , Franklin University, 2024, International Institute for Innovative Instruction

This research sought to define pastoral leaders' leadership characteristics in congregational settings that create collaborative and distributive ministry leadership through team engagement. The purpose of this research was to examine leadership characteristics resulting in collaboration and distributive ministry leadership with team engagement. The research aimed to help pastoral leaders with the responsibilities of 21st-century congregational ministry and lessen the experiences of burnout. Study participants were pastoral leaders and at least two council members from congregations affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) in the Southern Ohio Synod (SOS). The mixed methods concurrent QUAN-qual study utilized the Leadership Practices Inventory and the Shared Professional Leadership Inventory to measure various leadership characteristics and team engagement in the quantitative strand. The qualitative strand used three open-ended questions to assess further the presence of team engagement and pastoral leaders' leadership characteristics. The research question encompassed several components, including the leadership characteristics of pastoral leaders and the relationship between specific leadership characteristics of Transformational, Servant, and Shared leadership models and team engagement. The study findings found relationships between several leadership behaviors and team engagement in congregations. The research into leadership characteristics and team engagement assisted in the development of a best practices profile and training outline for congregational pastoral leaders to share and distribute ministry responsibilities with members to reduce feelings of burnout.

Committee: Tracy Greene (Committee Chair); Meghan Raehll (Committee Member); Tonia Young-Babb (Committee Member) Subjects: Clergy; Education; Educational Leadership; Higher Education; Management; Organization Theory; Organizational Behavior; Religious Congregations; Religious Education

Doctor of Education, Ashland University, 2024, College of Education

This study describes two Midwest congregations and how their lead pastor budgets and promotes giving according to an ecclesiological understanding of identity, mission, and ministry. Data was collected through an interview with each lead pastor, an interview with two leadership board members, interviews with three congregants, and participant observation at each congregation. The findings show that these two congregations use their congregational finances differently and they develop unique, opposing cultures of money based at least partially on the differing ecclesiologies of their leaders. When a leader's ecclesiology, use of congregational finances, and the congregational culture of money are complementary, congregation members trust their money is being used for good. When there are conflicts within these three areas, it can lead to confusion and congregational finances not being used to their full potential.

Committee: Judy Alston Dr. (Advisor) Subjects: Clergy; Finance; Religious Congregations

Doctor of Ministry , Ashland University, 2023, Doctor of Ministry Program

This project aimed to discover information related to pastoral leadership succession. The target of this project was the membership of Sweet Hope Free Will Baptist Church, Baltimore, Maryland. The goal was to inform the membership of a pastoral leadership succession process that makes the transition biblical and collegial. This project was designed to discover pastoral leadership succession information through the study of biblical and Christian leadership succession models that are different from Sweet Hope's succession model. The value of this project will be realized when Sweet Hope utilizes the project findings in its next pastoral leadership transition.

Committee: Gregory Walker Dr. (Advisor) Subjects: African American Studies; Clergy; Religious Congregations

Doctor of Education, Ashland University, 2021, College of Education

The study aimed to explore 10 current Baptist pastors' lived experiences on succession planning practices, characteristics crucial for an influential pastor, and why formal succession plans are nonexistent in Baptist churches. Data was collected via the Zoom platform, which recorded both the audio and visual portions of the semi-structured interviews. Participants answered three open-ended questions relating to the phenomenon of succession planning practices. The findings substantiate the fact that consistent succession planning practices are not in place amongst many Baptist churches. It is not unreasonable to assure that the lack of planning could lead to internal conflict, power struggles, loss of membership, and overall chaos in many congregations. Creating succession plans is essential and needs to be addressed in the church, training seminars, and seminaries.

Committee: Judy Alston Ph.D. (Advisor); Peter Ghazarian Ed.D. (Committee Member); Judy Alston Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Gregory Walker D.Min (Committee Member) Subjects: Clergy; Educational Leadership; Religious Congregations

Master of Arts, Case Western Reserve University, 2021, Religious Studies

This thesis seeks to bring together three separate, yet ever-communicating entities -- the healthcare (HC) patient, the healthcare system (HCS), and the HC chaplain. Utilizing wisdom from feminist, postcolonial, and affect theorists, this thesis seeks to conceptualize and visualize this triad dynamic. The format is non-traditional in that concepts are expressed and developed through both an art installation and in written form. Largely diagnostic, this work highlights what it is like to be “other” concerning something as personal as bodily illness, how the HCS and its' relationship to capitalist society contributes to the “othering” of chronically ill patients, and how the HC chaplain may also be an “other” who can potentially mediate the relationship between the HCS and the patient.

Committee: Timothy Beal PhD (Committee Chair); Brian Clites PhD (Committee Member); William Deal PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Religion

Doctor of Ministry , Ashland University, 2020, Doctor of Ministry Program

This project discovered the reasons for pastoral and parishioner conflict in Second Baptist Church, Akron, Ohio. Thirty-four participants completed a 5-point Likert scale questionnaire that was collected and analyzed. The data revealed that the participants indicated lack of trust, parishioners and personality differences as the main reasons for conflict between the pastor and parishioner at Second Baptist Church, Akron, Ohio.

Committee: William Myers Dr. (Advisor) Subjects: African American Studies; Clergy; Minority and Ethnic Groups

Doctor of Ministry , Ashland University, 2020, Doctor of Ministry Program

The purpose of this project was to create a resource for Christian Caregivers that would educate them concerning formative practices for children. A group of sixteen experts in the three fields of ministry, psychology, and education were asked to evaluate the effectiveness of the resource through the completion of a survey. The response indicated that the resource was successful in educating Christian Caregivers concerning formative practices for children. The qualitative section of the survey also revealed that most respondents, though unfamiliar with the practices, were eager to implement them in their lives and the lives of those in their care.

Committee: Dawn Morton Dr (Committee Chair); Thomas Gilmore Dr (Advisor) Subjects: Pastoral Counseling; Religious Education; Spirituality

Doctor of Ministry , Ashland University, 2020, Doctor of Ministry Program

The purpose of this project was to impact the spiritual life of women from the greater Columbus, Ohio area who self-report a history of sexual abuse in childhood by participating in the safe place prayer. The design of this project utilized a pre-test and post-test survey based on the project goals. The goal of impacting the participant's sense of being loved by others gained the highest mean of change. The women were able to sense they are loved by others and as a result, their spiritual life improved by participating in the safe place prayer.

Committee: Dawn Morton Dr. (Committee Chair); JoAnn Shade Dr. (Advisor) Subjects: Pastoral Counseling; Religious Education; Spirituality

Licentiate in Sacred Theology (S.T.L.), University of Dayton, 2019, International Marian Research Institute

The Congregation for Clergy promulgated on December 8, 2016 a new Program of Priestly Formation/Ratio Fundamentalis Institutionis Sacerdotalis entitled "The Gift of the Priestly Vocation." While maintaining the division of seminary formation into the human, spiritual, intellectual, and pastoral found in the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation/Pastores Dabo Vobis, the Ratio Fundamentalis distinguishes four pedagogical periods of preparation (propaedeutic, discipleship, configuration, and pastoral) ordered towards the affective maturation and preparation of candidates for priestly ordination. Since "Pastores Dabo Vobis" asserts in §82 that “[e]very aspect of priestly formation can be referred to Mary,” and the Program of Priestly Formation incorporates verbatim this selfsame text (§112), this study seeks to concretely identify Mary's presence and mission in seminarians' human, spiritual, intellectual, and pastoral formation during the propaedeutic, discipleship, configuration, and pastoral stages of training. Mary's presence and mission involve the Church and all of its members, resulting from the absolute Christian mystery of the Incarnation. As members of the Church through baptism and in formation for the ministerial priesthood of Jesus Christ, Mary's presence and mission intimately concern and can assist priestly formators, spiritual directors, and seminarians to realize the vision of priestly formation proffered in the Ratio Fundamentalis.

Committee: Msgr. Frank Leo Jr., STD (Advisor); Fr. James Presta STD (Committee Member) Subjects: Adult Education; Bible; Biblical Studies; Canon Law; Clergy; Continuing Education; Curriculum Development; Divinity; Philosophy; Religion; Religious Education; Spirituality; Teacher Education; Teaching; Theology; Vocational Education

Bachelor of Arts, Walsh University, 2019, Honors

The purpose of this thesis is to explore the meaning of Theology of the Body (TOB) and seeks to find ways to incorporate its themes within ministry. There are three parts to this thesis: St. John Paul II's Theology of the Body, Pope Francis's principles of evangelization, and phenomenology. Both the themes of TOB and the principles of evangelization were analyzed separately then phenomenologically analyzed together to find new implications for ministry and ways to incorporate these teachings into ministerial work. The first part of this research is Theology of the Body. This theological anthropology looks at the meaning of humanity and how man and woman are called to live in relationship with each other. For the purposes of this research four main themes that summarize the main themes of Theology of the Body were selected: the human vocation is to be a total gift of self, authentic love is found in a communion of persons, the human body is a sacrament, and the human body has an inherently spousal dimension. The second part of this thesis looks at the political theology of Pope Francis. This is exhibited in his apostolic exhortation, Evangelii gaudium. In this papal document, he lists four principles of evangelization that are important for ministry and encountering society. These principles are time is greater than space, unity prevails over conflict, realities are more important than ideas, and the whole is greater than the part. Just like the themes of Theology of the Body, these principles were analyzed to establish a greater understanding of their meaning. The third part of this thesis is phenomenology. Phenomenology is a philosophical methodology that seeks to describe an object and its potentiality. It does so by using a phenomenological reduction that brackets presuppositions or biases towards the phenomena. The object that is analyzed is then described. In this research, the themes of TOB and principles of evangelization were paired up and phe (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Donald Wallenfang PhD. (Advisor); Fr. Patrick Manning PhD. (Other) Subjects: Religion; Theology