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Title
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Closing the Sunday-Monday gap : vocational transformation narratives of Christian young adults
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Creator
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Hunsaker, Marvin C.
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Date
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2019
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Collection
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Electronic Theses & Dissertations
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Description
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For more than a decade, over 50% of U.S. workers have consistently reported feeling dissatisfied and disengaged from their work (Conference Board, 2016; Gallup, 2015), including many workers who identify as Christian (Miller, 2007). While many Christian workers claim that connecting their faith and work is a critical way of infusing their work with meaning and purpose (Miller, 2007), many also lament experiencing a "Sunday-Monday Gap" (Nash & McLennan, 2001 p. 7), where their faith has little...
Show moreFor more than a decade, over 50% of U.S. workers have consistently reported feeling dissatisfied and disengaged from their work (Conference Board, 2016; Gallup, 2015), including many workers who identify as Christian (Miller, 2007). While many Christian workers claim that connecting their faith and work is a critical way of infusing their work with meaning and purpose (Miller, 2007), many also lament experiencing a "Sunday-Monday Gap" (Nash & McLennan, 2001 p. 7), where their faith has little to no meaningful connection to their work. Recently, the ancient concepts of vocation and calling have experienced a resurgence (Duffy & Dik, 2013), partly as a reflection of Christian workers' desire and attempts to integrate their faith and work in more meaningful and comprehensive ways (Duffy & Dik, 2009, Miller, 2007).The phenomenon of vocational formation describes a developmental process wherein a Christian learns to explore and articulate meaningful connections between their faith and the rest of life, with particular focus on the integration of faith and work (Chandler, et al., 2014; Parks, 2000). While emerging adulthood is an ideal time of life for young adults to explore life's "big questions" of meaning, purpose, and vocation (Parks, 2000), Christian young adults often lack the necessary resources from social institutions (e.g., church, college, and the workplace) to effectively support their vocational formation (Clydesdale, 2015; Dalton, 2001, Kinnaman & Hawkins, 2011). As a response, growing numbers of Christian groups have created programs to foster the vocational formation of young adults; however, due to a lack of research, little is known about how the process of vocational formation occurs and the efficacy of these programs.Therefore, the purpose of this appreciative qualitative inquiry was to uncover more about the vocational formation process and experiences of Christian young adults who have learned to integrate their faith and work in meaningful ways. To this end, 10 'vocational exemplars' were selected from a group of young adults who had participated in The Fellows Initiative (TFI), a 10-month long vocational formation "Fellows" program for recent college graduates. Data were collected in the fall of 2017 and primarily focused on a series of in-depth narrative-based interviews which were augmented by field observations and a wide range of vocational artifacts.Findings from this study include evidence that participants engaged in a form of transformative learning during their Fellows year, a vocational transformation which resulted in a more expansive faith, a more satisfying relationship with their work, and a less compartmentalized life overall. This study also found that the primary catalyst within participants' vocational transformation was a series of theological concepts (e.g., Vocational theology, Biblical metanarrative framework, and Christian worldview lens), which were introduced in, and reinforced throughout, their Fellows program. Participants often referenced these concepts through the image of "God's story" and/or the "4-Chapter Gospel", and discussed how these concepts helped to transform their prior assumptions about the world, work, faith, and the relationships between them. Participants' transformed perspectives also had a positive impact on their experiences with integrating faith and work, and helped them to discover more meaning, purpose, and value in their lay (i.e., non-ministry) work. More specifically, participants' experiences were transformed from professional ambiguity to clarity about how God was calling them to a lay profession, from spiritual anxiety to confidence about the intrinsic value of their lay work within God's mission, and from vocational apathy to creativity about a wider range of ways their faith and work were/could be meaningfully connected. A new conceptual model for vocational transformation is offered to illustrate the complex process observed in this study. Since this study provides groundbreaking evidence about how vocational formation occurs for Christian young adults, implications for related theory and praxis are also discussed.
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Title
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Jesus People USA, the Christian Woodstock, and conflicting worlds : political, theological, and musical evolution, 1972-2010
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Creator
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Young, Shawn David
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Date
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2011
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Collection
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Electronic Theses & Dissertations
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Description
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This study is an analysis of an evangelical commune located in Chicago's inner city. Self-described as an "intentional community," Jesus People USA (JPUSA) is one of the remaining collective expressions of the Jesus Movement, an American revival that occurred during the 1960s and 1970s. After considering the reasons for this commune's longevity, I make three core arguments. First, the study of communes in American history shows that in most cases, American communes are often short-lived....
Show moreThis study is an analysis of an evangelical commune located in Chicago's inner city. Self-described as an "intentional community," Jesus People USA (JPUSA) is one of the remaining collective expressions of the Jesus Movement, an American revival that occurred during the 1960s and 1970s. After considering the reasons for this commune's longevity, I make three core arguments. First, the study of communes in American history shows that in most cases, American communes are often short-lived. JPUSA has continued beyond its 1972 genesis due to various structural mechanisms and an ability to engage and evolve with American culture. The fact that JPUSA has survived to the present can be attributed to what sociologist Rosabeth Moss Kanter refers to as "commitment mechanisms." However, an analysis of commitment levels among second-generation communards demonstrates that these mechanisms are often problematic. Moreover, longevity will be determined by how the commune is perceived by the evangelical subculture as the commune evolves ideologically. Second, musical subgenres such as Christian heavy metal and punk rock would not have grown in influence if not for the Cornerstone Festival. Furthermore, JPUSA and their festival have challenged mainstream contemporary Christian music (CCM) and redefined the way evangelical popular music is commonly understood. In a sense, the commune and the festival have ruptured conventional understandings of "sacred" and "secular." Third, JPUSA's evolution demonstrates how a group committed to certain ideologies can change as a result of pluralism. Thus this community serves as one case-study in howAmerican evangelical groups must reinvent their collective ethos and re-categorize their cultural products if they are to remain relevant. In so doing, JPUSA's presence challenges "establishment evangelicalism" and problematizes conventional understandings of the classifier "evangelical." JPUSA's commitment to social justice and emphasis on humanizing the Christian gospel (without fully redefining conventional understandings of human salvation) places them in a category best understood as "Evangelical Left."
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Title
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Doug Gross discusses his career as a production worker and UAW EAP advisor at the Fisher Body plant in Lansing, MI
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Creator
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Gross, Douglas R.
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Date
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2005-10-17
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Collection
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G. Robert Vincent Voice Library Collection
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Description
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Doug discusses being hired in March 1981, his first jobs and move to the Paint Shop. He comments on life in the factory, his religious faith, substance abuse, and his selection as an Employee Assistance Program advisor. Doug discusses using the Tuition Assistance Program, completing a degree program, and becoming a plant Chaplin conducting funerals, weddings, counseling and caring for workers and their families.
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Title
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My first Sunday-school
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Date
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1861
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Collection
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Shaping the Values of Youth: Sunday School Books in 19th Century America
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Title
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A pretty picture-book
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Date
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1850
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Collection
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Shaping the Values of Youth: Sunday School Books in 19th Century America
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Title
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A new picture-book
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Date
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1850
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Collection
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Shaping the Values of Youth: Sunday School Books in 19th Century America
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Title
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The hive and its wonders
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Date
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1851
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Collection
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Shaping the Values of Youth: Sunday School Books in 19th Century America
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