{"response":{"docs":[{"system_create_dtsi":"2025-07-03T20:16:37Z","system_modified_dtsi":"2025-07-03T20:38:48Z","has_model_ssim":["Etd"],"id":"381e4414-0f2b-4922-8009-1d363d0b0f50","accessControl_ssim":["c12da6eb-1eee-4d51-b26a-641529c5dcde"],"hasRelatedMediaFragment_ssim":["bc8257c6-8b09-484e-a9a5-eca5a518cba7"],"hasRelatedImage_ssim":["bc8257c6-8b09-484e-a9a5-eca5a518cba7"],"depositor_ssim":["yasmine.abou-el-kheir@ctschicago.edu"],"depositor_tesim":["yasmine.abou-el-kheir@ctschicago.edu"],"title_tesim":["Discovering the Comic Spirit for Preaching in LGBTQ+ Affirming Contexts"],"date_uploaded_dtsi":"2025-07-03T20:16:36Z","date_modified_dtsi":"2025-07-03T20:16:36Z","isPartOf_ssim":["admin_set/default"],"hasEmbargo_ssim":["17db86eb-102d-48c7-8761-298ca5474911"],"hasLease_ssim":["42731e43-82c1-4fe2-9a00-1f229620a066"],"show_pdf_viewer_tesim":["1"],"show_pdf_download_button_tesim":["1"],"institution_tesim":["Chicago Theological Seminary"],"degree_tesim":["Doctor of Ministry in Preaching"],"discipline_tesim":["Preaching"],"degree_granting_institution_tesim":["Chicago Theological Seminary"],"year_tesim":["2025"],"resource_type_tesim":["D.Min. Project"],"types_tesim":["Text"],"creator_tesim":["Gilbert, Bodie"],"subject_tesim":["Sermons","Pastoral care","Sexual minorities--religious life","Queer theology","Preaching"],"abstract_tesim":["Traditional homiletical methods may fall short in addressing the needs of LGBTQ+ affirming congregations. Can the comic spirit enliven preaching in these contexts? This is not just a theoretical question but a practical and pastoral one. A praxis for preaching with the comic spirit may be characterized by the intentional use of humor, levity, wit, and comedy to reveal theological insights. Sermons in LGBTQ+ affirming congregations can be more effective by utilizing expressions of the comic spirit that are informed by the respective contexts, with special interest given to the intersectional identities and lived experiences of queer listeners. The author, an openly queer ordained minister in the United Church of Christ, engages this topic as a self-examination of praxis and centers his research primarily within three Houston congregations. Before presenting findings, literary reviews include a queering of cishet scholarship in comic homiletics and an examination of queer theologians as cognate to further inform the contextualized praxis. Where cishet homileticians have studied stand-up comedians, the author bridges the queer research gap by exploring drag performers as muse. A four-part research approach—including surveys, focus groups, field observations, and interviews—serves to inform the developing praxis and prove the thesis: the comic spirit can enliven and enhance preaching in LGBTQ+ affirming contexts. Three homiletical strategies for a queer-informed comic spirit emerge from the project: (1) disarming tension to engage the listener, (2) fostering congregational connection, and (3) balancing depth and levity. Each of these strategies serve to impact the listener through queer-affirming sermons that inspire theological insights."],"rights_statement_tesim":["https://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/"],"thumbnail_path_ss":"/downloads/bc8257c6-8b09-484e-a9a5-eca5a518cba7?file=thumbnail","suppressed_bsi":false,"actionable_workflow_roles_ssim":["admin_set/default-one_step_mediated_deposit-approving","admin_set/default-one_step_mediated_deposit-depositing","admin_set/default-one_step_mediated_deposit-managing"],"workflow_state_name_ssim":["deposited"],"member_ids_ssim":["bc8257c6-8b09-484e-a9a5-eca5a518cba7"],"member_of_collections_ssim":["DMin Papers"],"member_of_collection_ids_ssim":["5fee7d74-6f58-4c88-a3b1-860b847dd7c2"],"file_set_ids_ssim":["bc8257c6-8b09-484e-a9a5-eca5a518cba7"],"visibility_ssi":"open","admin_set_tesim":["Theses and Dissertations"],"account_cname_tesim":["ctschicago.ir.atla.com"],"human_readable_type_tesim":["Etd"],"read_access_group_ssim":["public","work_editor"],"read_access_person_ssim":["yasmine.abou-el-kheir@ctschicago.edu"],"edit_access_group_ssim":["admin"],"_version_":1836659645558554624,"timestamp":"2025-07-03T20:38:51.949Z","score":1.0},{"system_create_dtsi":"2025-04-21T19:55:14Z","system_modified_dtsi":"2025-07-03T19:50:28Z","has_model_ssim":["Etd"],"id":"ec8c56ea-294e-4004-9625-44934c10ddcd","accessControl_ssim":["0df4a9fe-f27f-4d7c-b053-1dc2443bff47"],"hasRelatedMediaFragment_ssim":["d8b7a35b-6eda-404d-82da-c7555a682085"],"hasRelatedImage_ssim":["d8b7a35b-6eda-404d-82da-c7555a682085"],"depositor_ssim":["jessica.margraveschirm@ctschicago.edu"],"depositor_tesim":["jessica.margraveschirm@ctschicago.edu"],"title_tesim":["Preaching to Remember, Recognize and Re-Invigorate - Empowering Grinnell United Church of Christ Congregational to Re-Imagine its Activist Roots and be a Force for Justice in the Twenty-First Century"],"date_uploaded_dtsi":"2025-04-21T19:55:13Z","date_modified_dtsi":"2025-07-03T19:50:28Z","isPartOf_ssim":["admin_set/default"],"hasEmbargo_ssim":["ab29e800-3b80-42cd-a005-863220f5d41a"],"hasLease_ssim":["28fd1bc5-9f78-4d6c-9f24-a35b429f1b8c"],"show_pdf_viewer_tesim":["0"],"show_pdf_download_button_tesim":["0"],"institution_tesim":["Chicago Theological Seminary"],"degree_tesim":["Doctor of Ministry in Preaching"],"discipline_tesim":["Preaching"],"degree_granting_institution_tesim":["Chicago Theological Seminary"],"year_tesim":["2025"],"resource_type_tesim":["D.Min. 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This project explores the role of preaching in mobilizing the congregation to reclaim its abolitionist roots, engage in contemporary struggles for justice, and transform into a force for ethical and political activism in the Twenty-First Century.\r\n\r\nThe church’s commitment to social justice has evolved through multiple historical movements, including the Social Gospel Movement of the early Twentieth Century and the Civil Rights Movement, and most recently, through its adoption of an Open and Affirming covenant and a focus on accessibility and economic justice. Despite these efforts, there is an ongoing need to deepen the congregation’s engagement with justice in ways that address both historical and contemporary issues, particularly through the lens of abolitionist and liberation theologies. This project, therefore, examines how preaching through an activist and social justice-oriented lens can catalyze the congregation’s growth in this way and reimagine its role in promoting justice.\r\n\r\nBy remembering the church’s abolitionist past, recognizing its current justice priorities and re-invigorating the congregation’s imagination of a more just world in the future, this research aims to empower Grinnell UCC to take more effective action in its local context, with a focus on how privilege and positionality can be leveraged in the pursuit of justice. Ultimately, this work seeks to inspire both the present congregation and future generations of Grinnell UCC members to continue the church’s legacy of justice, ensuring that the faith community remains a vital force for positive change in the world, rooted in the teachings of Jesus with a commitment to the flourishing of all people.\r\n\r\n"],"rights_statement_tesim":["https://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/"],"thumbnail_path_ss":"/downloads/d8b7a35b-6eda-404d-82da-c7555a682085?file=thumbnail","suppressed_bsi":false,"actionable_workflow_roles_ssim":["admin_set/default-one_step_mediated_deposit-approving","admin_set/default-one_step_mediated_deposit-depositing","admin_set/default-one_step_mediated_deposit-managing"],"workflow_state_name_ssim":["deposited"],"member_ids_ssim":["d8b7a35b-6eda-404d-82da-c7555a682085"],"member_of_collections_ssim":["DMin Papers"],"member_of_collection_ids_ssim":["5fee7d74-6f58-4c88-a3b1-860b847dd7c2"],"file_set_ids_ssim":["d8b7a35b-6eda-404d-82da-c7555a682085"],"visibility_ssi":"open","admin_set_tesim":["Theses and Dissertations"],"account_cname_tesim":["ctschicago.ir.atla.com"],"human_readable_type_tesim":["Etd"],"read_access_group_ssim":["public","work_editor"],"read_access_person_ssim":["jessica.margraveschirm@ctschicago.edu"],"edit_access_group_ssim":["admin"],"_version_":1836656604038037504,"timestamp":"2025-07-03T19:50:31.329Z","score":1.0},{"system_create_dtsi":"2025-04-04T03:00:14Z","system_modified_dtsi":"2025-07-03T15:54:57Z","has_model_ssim":["Etd"],"id":"8181f9fa-91c2-4053-86d0-e286f2cee640","accessControl_ssim":["cf77f9f8-1ddc-4815-83e6-0f12a0c34623"],"hasRelatedMediaFragment_ssim":["7507d833-2c0f-44d0-97b6-a199af589be8"],"hasRelatedImage_ssim":["7507d833-2c0f-44d0-97b6-a199af589be8"],"depositor_ssim":["dezo.schreiner@ctschicago.edu"],"depositor_tesim":["dezo.schreiner@ctschicago.edu"],"title_tesim":["Overcoming The Challenges of Preaching in An Intercultural Congregation"],"date_uploaded_dtsi":"2025-04-04T03:00:13Z","date_modified_dtsi":"2025-07-03T15:54:57Z","isPartOf_ssim":["admin_set/default"],"hasEmbargo_ssim":["a53ce632-919d-4253-9ee8-1bad7f866a90"],"hasLease_ssim":["90b3afed-2b4d-4af6-9327-296ba05d5709"],"show_pdf_viewer_tesim":["0"],"show_pdf_download_button_tesim":["0"],"institution_tesim":["Chicago Theological Seminary"],"degree_tesim":["Doctor of Ministry in Preaching"],"degree_granting_institution_tesim":["Chicago Theological Seminary"],"year_tesim":["2025"],"resource_type_tesim":["D.Min. 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The inquiry includes preaching project sermons and analyzing questionnaires responses. \r\nMy inquiry has yielded a process of awareness, contemplation, and designed response that can be used by preachers in diverse environments such as multicultural and intercultural congregations. 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Unfortunately, most priests are unaware of this problem that affects our parishioners. While some may scratch it on the surface, others avoid preaching about trauma because they do not know how to address it in their preaching. I developed and tested a program that could help priests in the Diocese of Fajardo Humacao, Puerto Rico, craft and deliver trauma and hope-informed sermons using the narrative preaching approach. The narrative approach affords preachers a wonderful opportunity to communicate the gospel in exciting, new, and unexpected ways.\r\nChapter 1 outlines the project’s ministerial context, problem, purpose, hypothesis, assumptions, and definition of terms. Chapter 2 explores the project’s interdisciplinary framework. It shows how other fields of knowledge, especially sociology and psychology, collaborate with theology to help hurricane trauma survivors. Chapter 3  presents the thesis project’s biblical and theological foundations. It explores “traumatic suffering” and Christian hope. It anchors on the New Testament perspective, which speaks of suffering redeemed by Christ and invites Christians to come to the life of faith in our suffering. It also explores The Apostolic letter of Pope John Paul II, Salvifici doloris, and the Encyclical letter of Pope Benedict XVI, Spe salvi, which, respectively, provide a lens into the Church’s teaching on suffering and the nature of Christian hope. Chapter 4 presents the project’s homiletic framework. It defines and discusses trauma and hope-informed preaching and highlights why a trauma and hope-informed sermon is essential to helping hurricane trauma survivors on the path to recovery and healing. It also sets the homiletical structure for crafting and delivering trauma and a hope-informed sermon using the narrative approach. \r\nDuring the Winter (16 February to 13 April) of 2024, three preachers—Priests of the Diocese of Fajardo Humacao and seventeen (focus group) members of the La Resurreccion Parish community—participated in a seven-week trauma and hope-informed seminar and sermon series. Hence, Chapter 5 sets out the project intervention events. Chapter 6 discusses the findings of data analysis and evaluations, presenting an overview of this project’s impact on hurricane trauma survivors of the La Resurreccion Parish Community, the effectiveness of the intervention events, and its prospects. \r\n"],"license_tesim":["https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"],"rights_statement_tesim":["https://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC-EDU/1.0/"],"rights_notes_tesim":["Copyright © 2025 by Canice Chukwuemeka Njoku, C.S.Sp.  All rights reserved "],"access_right_tesim":["None"],"related_url_tesim":["https://www.ai.edu/","https://frcanicenjoku.com/"],"thumbnail_path_ss":"/assets/work-a3b75da7abded620ab321410c80d102e5e2417b71c54de7ba7d4b0363da904f7.png","suppressed_bsi":false,"actionable_workflow_roles_ssim":["admin_set/default-default-approving","admin_set/default-default-depositing","admin_set/default-default-managing"],"workflow_state_name_ssim":["deposited"],"visibility_ssi":"open","admin_set_tesim":["Default Admin Set"],"account_cname_tesim":["rim.ir.atla.com"],"human_readable_type_tesim":["Etd"],"read_access_group_ssim":["work_editor","public"],"edit_access_group_ssim":["admin"],"edit_access_person_ssim":["canice_c_njoku@yahoo.com"],"_version_":1824054648312430592,"timestamp":"2025-02-14T17:27:49.817Z","score":1.0}],"facets":[{"name":"resource_type_sim","items":[{"value":"D.Min. Project","hits":4,"label":"D.Min. 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