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Preprint

Casting Out Demons Before Constantine: Exorcism, Christian Identity, and the Contest for Religious Authority in the Early Church

Grace, Daniel J.

Exorcism was one of the practices through which early Christians publicly distinguished their religious claims from surrounding ritual cultures. This article surveys Christian exorcistic discourse before Constantine, concentrating on Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Tertullian, and Origen. It argues that exorcism functioned simultaneously as pastoral…

Christian History & ArchaeologyView record
Journal article

Formed to Discern: Toward a Practical Theology of Communal Discernment for the Church

Hetrick, Kyle

Congregational discernment is frequently invoked whenever Christians gather to make decisions, yet the term often names practices that are theologically different: strategic planning opened with prayer, majority preference, clerical control, unmanaged intuition, therapeutic harmony, or religious endorsement of decisions already made. This article…

Practical TheologyView record
Journal article

Biblical Authority and Christian Political Allegiance: The Church, Political Power, and Public Witness in an Age of Polarisation

Grace, Daniel J.

This article examines Christian political allegiance under the authority of Scripture in an age in which political identity can become a rival source of belonging, moral certainty, and quasi-religious devotion. It argues that the Bible neither authorises political withdrawal nor permits the Church…

Biblical Studies & InterpretationView record
Working paper

FROM COLCHIS TO LAZICA AND KLARJETI: Nuka Church and the Christian Transformation of the Eastern Black Sea World

Grace, Daniel J.

Nuka Church, commonly known in Georgian as Nuka-Saqdari (ნუკას საყდარი), is a small ninth-century church in the historical province of Klarjeti, today within Artvin Province in northeastern Türkiye. Its architectural scale is modest, yet its historical importance is unusually large. The monument has…

Christian History & ArchaeologyView record
Working paper

Beneath Lake İznik: New Archaeological Evidence and the Search for the Meeting Place of the First Council of Nicaea

Grace, Daniel J.

This article examines the submerged early Christian basilica in Lake İznik (ancient Nicaea) and the newly reported archaeological evidence for an earlier church phase beneath the later structure. It evaluates the possibility that this earlier sacred building was connected with the First Council…

Christian History & ArchaeologyView record
Journal article

Beyond Abstinence: Recovery as Christian Formation—A Wesleyan-Holiness Account of Grace, Agency, and Ecclesial Responsibility

Hetrick, Kyle

This article asks how Wesleyan-Holiness theology can account for sustained recovery without spiritualizing substance use disorder or reducing recovery to abstinence and clinical stabilization. Using Richard Osmer’s four practical-theological tasks, it places addiction medicine and recovery research in disciplined dialogue with Scripture and…

Practical Theology & Public LifeView record
Journal article

The Disposable Society and the God Who Restores: Why Christian Restoration Begins Where Usefulness Ends

Hetrick, Kyle

The Disposable Society and the God Who Restores examines the tension between accountability and human dignity in a culture increasingly shaped by disposability. Drawing on Scripture, Wesleyan-Holiness theology, and the Salvationist tradition, the essay argues that Christian restoration begins with the conviction that…

Practical Theology & Public LifeView record