On Developing a Thesis for a Research Paper
Identify a compelling research question and attempt to answer it.
- Example of a compelling research question: What did Jesus mean when he taught his disciples to pray, "Lead us not into temptation" (Matt. 6:13; Luke 11:4)?
- Ways to approach the problem:
- Exegetical question: What do the Greek words for lead and temptation mean? How does the context in Matthew and Luke help to explain what the Gospel writers understood Jesus to mean? Where else are these words used in Scripture, and where else does Scripture refer to God leading his people into a time of testing? How do these other passages clarify the meaning in Matthew 6 and Luke 11?
- Translation question: In what other way might "Lead us not into temptation" be translated into English that would assist the reader to be less likely to misinterpret Jesus' meaning?
- Theological question: Would a good God tempt his children or deliberately lead them into temptation? How have other theologians attempted to answer this question? What can I learn from their attempts? If I agree with them, why; if I disagree, how?
- Ministry question: How does this theological problem apply to persons or communities that are going through a time of testing?
Contrasting Views on Theological Topics - Individual Books
- Perspectives on Spirit Baptism: Five Views byCall Number: BT123 .P43 2004Publication Date: 2004
- Understanding Spiritual Warfare: Four Views byCall Number: EbookPublication Date: 2012
- Biblical hermeneutics: five views
- Christian faith and social justice: five views
- Christian spirituality: five views of sanctification
- Christianity and the postmodern turn: six views
- Divine foreknowledge: four views
- Evaluating the church growth movement: 5 views
- Evangelical theological method: five views
- Faith and reason three views
- Five views on apologetics
- Five views on biblical inerrancy
- Five views on law and Gospel
- Five views on sanctification
- Four views of youth ministry and the church: inclusive congregational, preparatory, missional, strategic
- Four views on Christian spirituality
- Four views on divine providence
- Four views on eternal security
- Four views on hell
- Four views on moving beyond the Bible to theology
- Four views on salvation in a pluralistic world
- Four views on the Apostle Paul
- Four views on the historical Adam
- Four views on the role of works at the final Judgment
- Four views on the spectrum of evangelicalism
- From exorcism to ecstasy: eight views of baptism
- The G3n3sis debate: three views on the days of creation
- God & morality: four views
- Grace, Faith, and Free Will: Contrasting Views of Salvation: Calvinism and Arminianism
- The historical Jesus: five views
- Homosexuality and the Bible: two views
- How Jewish is Christianity? : two views on the Messianic movement
- Justification: five views
- The Lord's Supper: five views
- The matriarchs of Genesis seven women, five views
- The Meaning of the millennium: four views
- The nature of the atonement: four views
- Only one way? three Christian responses to the uniqueness of Christ in a pluralistic world
- Perspectives on election : five views
- Perspectives on Israel and the church 4 views
- Perspectives on our struggle with sin : 3 views of Romans 7
- Perspectives on the doctrine of God: 4 Views
- Perspectives on the extent of the atonement 3 views
- Predestination & free will: four views of divine sovereignty & human freedom
- Psychology & Christianity: five views
- Remarriage after divorce in today's church : 3 views
- Revelation, four views: a parallel commentary
- Science and Christianity: an introduction to the issues
- Show them no mercy: four views on God and Canaanite genocide
- Three views on creation and evolution
- Three views on Eastern Orthodoxy and evangelicalism
- Three views on the millennium and beyond
- Three views on the New Testament use of the Old Testament
- Three views on the origins of the Synoptic Gospels
- Three views on the Rapture: pre; mid; or post-Tribulation?
- Three views on the Rapture: pretribulation, prewrath, or posttribulation
- Two views of hell: a biblical & theological dialogue
- Two views of virtue: absolute relativism and relative absolutism
- Two views on the doctrine of the Trinity
- Two views on women in ministry
- Understanding four views on baptism
- What about those who have never heard?: three views on the destiny of the unevangelized
- Women in ministry: four views
- Youth ministry in the 21st century: five views
- Are Miraculous Gifts for Today byCall Number: BT767.3 .A74 1996ISBN: 0310201551Publication Date: 1996
- Baptism: Three Views byCall Number: BV812 .B37 2009ISBN: 9780830838561Publication Date: 2009
Related Reference Works
- Battleground: Religion [2 Volumes] byCall Number: EbookISBN: 9780313340987Publication Date: 2008
- Culture Wars in America: An Encyclopedia of Issues, Viewpoints, and Voices byCall Number: EbookISBN: 9780765683021Publication Date: 2013
- Debating the Death Penalty: Should America Have Capital Punishment? : The Experts on Both Sides Make Their Best Case byCall Number: HV8699.U5 D635 2004ISBN: 0195169832Publication Date: 2004
- Encyclopedia of Bioethics, 5 vols. byCall Number: EbookISBN: 0028657748Publication Date: 2004
Sample Entry: Nursing Ethics - The Evolution-Creation Struggle byCall Number: EbookISBN: 0674016874Publication Date: 2005
- The Pro-Life/Choice Debate byCall Number: HQ767.5.U5 H467 2003ISBN: 0313317100Publication Date: 2003