Juvenal BALISASA - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Juvenal BALISASA
Journal of Psychology Research, 2012
The understanding and use of the term mysticism pose a growing challenge in world religions in ge... more The understanding and use of the term mysticism pose a growing challenge in world religions in general, and in Christina in particular. While some Christian denominations easily identify with the concept and practices of mysticism, others approach it at best with skepticism, as they relate it more to eastern religions than Christian traditions. Most especially, traditional Catholicism with its allies easily reckons with a long-lasting mystical tradition, while radical evangelicalism shuns mysticism both conceptually and practically. However, a closer look at the popular definitions and understandings of the term reveals that mysticism is more widely practiced than generally known. This paper compares and contrasts the basic understandings and interpretations of mysticism within the Christendom and weighs them against related biblical principle in order to find out whether mysticism provides safe Christian religious experiences or not. The paper ends with a brief focus on a specific Christian religious group that rejects all forms of mysticism but some religious thinkers ironically brand it, sometimes, as a cult and mystical group. The paper aims at winning the Christians' attention to the kind of spiritual damage the concept and practices of mysticism are causing to believers through either mere propositional truth exposition or syncretic innovations in the Christian church.
The Journal of Adventist Education
The Journal of Adventist Education THE JOURNAL OF ADVENTIST EDUCATION publishes articles concerne... more The Journal of Adventist Education THE JOURNAL OF ADVENTIST EDUCATION publishes articles concerned with a variety of topics pertinent to Adventist education. Opinions expressed by our writers do not necessarily represent the views of the staff or the official position of the Department of Education of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists.
The study sought to assess the extent to which selected practices [Sabbath Observance (SabO), Veg... more The study sought to assess the extent to which selected practices [Sabbath Observance (SabO), Vegetarianism (Veg), Teachers’ behavior (TeachB), Citizenship Grade (CitzG), Week of Spiritual Emphasis (WoSE), and Dress Code (DresC)] interact with students’ religiosity in general, and their interest in the Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) faith, in particular at Valley View University. One hundred and forty-seven out of 600 resident students participated in this study. Nonprobability sampling was employed to select participants. Missing data were handled listwise. Outliers were deleted after testing all cases for Mahalanobis χ. Multicollinearity was not a problem since all tolerance values exceeded .1 and all VIF values were low (<2.5). Since the study is exploratory in nature, a forward-stepping-method logistic regression was conducted to determine which practices (SabO, Veg, TeachB, CitzG, WoSE, DresC) predicted student’s interest in the SDA faith. Regression resulted in a fairly good o...
The book 'Identity Styles as Predictors of Students' Attitudes' explores the interpla... more The book 'Identity Styles as Predictors of Students' Attitudes' explores the interplay of selected factors that are involved in student discipleship practices at a faith-based university in Ghana, West Africa. The exploration specifically focused on the possible relationships between students’ self-reported identity styles and their involvement and satisfaction vis-a-vis the university’s discipleship practices as outlined in the academic bulletin and student handbook. The amazing findings revealed non-significant prediction of students' attitudes by their identity styles; role modeling rather appeared to be the critical key to discipleship.
Journal of Psychology Research, 2012
The understanding and use of the term mysticism pose a growing challenge in world religions in ge... more The understanding and use of the term mysticism pose a growing challenge in world religions in general, and in Christina in particular. While some Christian denominations easily identify with the concept and practices of mysticism, others approach it at best with skepticism, as they relate it more to eastern religions than Christian traditions. Most especially, traditional Catholicism with its allies easily reckons with a long-lasting mystical tradition, while radical evangelicalism shuns mysticism both conceptually and practically. However, a closer look at the popular definitions and understandings of the term reveals that mysticism is more widely practiced than generally known. This paper compares and contrasts the basic understandings and interpretations of mysticism within the Christendom and weighs them against related biblical principle in order to find out whether mysticism provides safe Christian religious experiences or not. The paper ends with a brief focus on a specific Christian religious group that rejects all forms of mysticism but some religious thinkers ironically brand it, sometimes, as a cult and mystical group. The paper aims at winning the Christians' attention to the kind of spiritual damage the concept and practices of mysticism are causing to believers through either mere propositional truth exposition or syncretic innovations in the Christian church.
The Journal of Adventist Education
The Journal of Adventist Education THE JOURNAL OF ADVENTIST EDUCATION publishes articles concerne... more The Journal of Adventist Education THE JOURNAL OF ADVENTIST EDUCATION publishes articles concerned with a variety of topics pertinent to Adventist education. Opinions expressed by our writers do not necessarily represent the views of the staff or the official position of the Department of Education of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists.
The study sought to assess the extent to which selected practices [Sabbath Observance (SabO), Veg... more The study sought to assess the extent to which selected practices [Sabbath Observance (SabO), Vegetarianism (Veg), Teachers’ behavior (TeachB), Citizenship Grade (CitzG), Week of Spiritual Emphasis (WoSE), and Dress Code (DresC)] interact with students’ religiosity in general, and their interest in the Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) faith, in particular at Valley View University. One hundred and forty-seven out of 600 resident students participated in this study. Nonprobability sampling was employed to select participants. Missing data were handled listwise. Outliers were deleted after testing all cases for Mahalanobis χ. Multicollinearity was not a problem since all tolerance values exceeded .1 and all VIF values were low (<2.5). Since the study is exploratory in nature, a forward-stepping-method logistic regression was conducted to determine which practices (SabO, Veg, TeachB, CitzG, WoSE, DresC) predicted student’s interest in the SDA faith. Regression resulted in a fairly good o...
The book 'Identity Styles as Predictors of Students' Attitudes' explores the interpla... more The book 'Identity Styles as Predictors of Students' Attitudes' explores the interplay of selected factors that are involved in student discipleship practices at a faith-based university in Ghana, West Africa. The exploration specifically focused on the possible relationships between students’ self-reported identity styles and their involvement and satisfaction vis-a-vis the university’s discipleship practices as outlined in the academic bulletin and student handbook. The amazing findings revealed non-significant prediction of students' attitudes by their identity styles; role modeling rather appeared to be the critical key to discipleship.