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Sween, Maurice Alwyn. "Christian missions in the early church historical considerations and contemporary reflections /." Theological Research Exchange Network (TREN), 1989. http://www.tren.com.
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McLaughlin, Eleanor. "Unconscious Christianity : a neglected element in Dietrich Bonhoeffer's late theology." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2015. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:18cc7914-ce11-4743-aec9-e9eb0a7be7de.
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In this thesis I argue that unconscious Christianity (unbewußtes Christentum), referred to by Dietrich Bonhoeffer in several of his later writings, is a significant idea in his late theology. There has as yet been no in-depth study of this theological concept as it appears in Bonhoeffer's work, and I therefore aim with this thesis to begin a new conversation in Bonhoeffer studies on this important topic. Bonhoeffer does not offer a definition of unconscious Christianity, but by analysing the ways in which he uses the term in his writing, I offer a constructed definition of unconscious Christianity as used by Bonhoeffer. The first three chapters of the thesis build towards this definition with a close analysis of each relevant text. By examining unconscious Christianity alongside other theological ideas in Bonhoeffer's prison writing, I show how an awareness and understanding of unconscious Christianity adds depth to readings of Bonhoeffer's late work. This thesis also clarifies the differences between unconscious Christianity and religionless Christianity, and shows how unconscious Christianity fits alongside the other, more widely-studied, concepts present in the later writings, such as the world come of age. This work demonstrates that there is movement within Bonhoeffer's thoughts on unconscious Christianity and points to Bonhoeffer's readiness to allow his personal circumstances to inform his theology. It also shows how unconscious Christianity represents a shift within Bonhoeffer's theology. This thesis also makes the subsidiary point that Bonhoeffer's prison fiction should be considered as theological writing. Through it Bonhoeffer addresses not only unconscious Christianity as discussed in this thesis, but many other issues that reoccur in his theological prison letters. I conclude by showing how an understanding of unconscious Christianity is beneficial not only for Bonhoeffer studies, but for contemporary theology more widely.
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Ekstrand, Donald W. "Introducing Christianity a supplementary textbook for secular college students in the U.S.A. /." Theological Research Exchange Network (TREN) Access this title online, 2005. http://www.tren.com.
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Habets, Michael, and n/a. "�The danger of vertigo� : an evaluation and critique of Theosis in the theology of Thomas Forsyth Torrance." University of Otago. Department of Theology and Religious Studies, 2006. http://adt.otago.ac.nz./public/adt-NZDU20070508.120857.
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The Christian tradition, both East and West, has developed various models and theories of the atonement as explanations of what it means to speak of the reconciling activity of God in Christ. Central to these has been the claim that God has reconciled the world to himself in Christ. One way of testifying to the reconciling love of God has been the adoption of the metaphor theosis (�divinization�, �deification�) as an explanation of salvation. While central to Eastern Orthodoxy, a doctrine of theosis also has a rich tradition within Western, especially Reformed theology. The Reformed theologian, Thomas Forsyth Torrance, represents an attempt to construct a soteriology that incorporates both Eastern and Western models of the atonement around the controlling metaphor of theosis. A close reading of his theology presents a robust and clearly articulated doctrine of theosis as a key way of expressing God�s reconciling activity in Christ. As the true Man and the last Adam, Christ represents the arche and telos of human existence, the one in whose image all humanity has been created and into whose likeness all humanity is destined to be transformed from glory to glory. Through the Incarnation the Son becomes human without ceasing to be divine, to unite humanity and divinity together and effect a �deification� of human nature, mediated to men and women who are said to be �in Christ� by the work of the Holy Spirit. By means of a �wonderful exchange� Christ takes what is ours and gives us what is his. For Torrance, this is the heart of atonement. The goal of humanity is worship, something Torrance defines as the gift of participating through the Spirit in the incarnate Son�s communion with the Father. The locus of worship, and thus of theosis, is the church, the communion of saints created by the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. Throughout Torrance�s doctrines of creation, anthropology, incarnation, reconciliation, and pneumato-ecclesiology, the concept of theosis plays a central and constitutive role in explaining a Christian theology of salvation. Theosis is thus foundational to Torrance�s theology and is one way in which he holds together in systematic fashion his diverse theological oeuvre.
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Cornell, Richard E. ""I and the father are one" : scriptural interpretation and Trinitarian construction in the Monarchian debate." Thesis, University of Aberdeen, 2010. http://digitool.abdn.ac.uk:80/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=158905.
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The role of scriptural interpretation in the Monarchian controversy of the early 3rd century C.E. has received relatively little scholarly attention. This oversight is due, in large part, to a persuasive if unstated belief held by many modern scholars that Scripture is a secondary or tertiary factor in the construction of doctrine. This thesis will argue that scriptural interpretation played a primary or generative role in the construction of doctrine. The Proto-Trinitarians and Monarchians believed their position to be superior to that of their opponents’ precisely because it made better sense of the scriptural data. This thesis will argue that the modern view which sees the early church fathers as poor exegetes may have more to do with questionable modern assumptions about the interpretive enterprise (especially when doctrine is considered) than it has to do with any interpretive incompetence of the early Christian interpreters. The introduction will offer a survey of the modern status quo view of patristic interpretation in general and patristic interpretation in a doctrinal context in particular. It will then consider some dissenting voices to the status quo view. Chapter 1 will offer a brief history of the Monarchian movement and examine the Monarchian doctrine of God and its scriptural basis, seeking first to provide an accurate picture of Monarchian belief and secondly to show that the Monarchians took Scripture seriously in their theologizing. Chapters 2 and 3 will consider the two most influential treatises in the demise of Monarchianism, the Contra Noetum (chapter 2) and Tertullian’s Adversus Praxeas (chapter 3). It will be demonstrated that scriptural interpretation was the decisive factor in their theological construction of the nature of God and that the Gospel of John played a decisive role in their rebutting of the Monarchian position.
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Gardner, Ryan S. "A History of the Concepts of Zion and New Jerusalem in America From Early Colonialism to 1835 With A Comparison to the Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith." Diss., CLICK HERE for online access, 2002. http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/u?/MTGM,34559.
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Stoesz, Donald B. "The confessional and apologetic aspects of Gordon Kaufman's thought : an interpretation." Thesis, McGill University, 1991. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=70241.
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Several contemporary theologians have maintained that the proper setting for Christian theology is an ecclesiastical one. The formation of character, the internalization of beliefs and values, and the representation of these principles and behavioural patterns in religious and political practices should be the priority of the church.Other have argued that this circumscribed "confessional" approach is not enough. Biblical stories and religious convictions are not only rooted in faith communities but are also reflected in universal concerns. The reciprocal relationship between text and reader, church and world, requires a broadly-based "apologetic" method.
These two models are used to evaluate Gordon Kaufman's epistemology, ethics, metaphysics, and theologies of revelation, divine agency, and construction. One of the surprising discoveries of this dissertation is that his relative theory of knowledge and employment of a Christian categorial scheme undergird a confessional approach. The thesis nevertheless concludes that his thought is oriented towards a realistic empirical method. The discussion ends with a recommendation that Kaufman link his apologetic concerns to a more identifiable corporeal structure.
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Bartos, Emil. "The concept of deification in Eastern Orthodox theology with detailed reference to Dumitru Staniloae." Thesis, University of Wales Trinity Saint David, 1997. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.683144.
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Foster, David J. "Strauss's critique of Schleiermacher's L̲e̲b̲e̲n̲ J̲e̲s̲u̲ a 19th century debate on the Christ of faith and the Jesus of history /." Theological Research Exchange Network (TREN), 1987. http://www.tren.com.
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Tshaka, Rothney Stok. "Confessional theology? : a critical analysis of the theology of Karl Barth and its significance for the Belhar confession." Thesis, Stellenbosch : University of Stellenbosch, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/16522.
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Thesis (D. Th.)--University of Stellenbosch, 2005.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Christian confessions are frequently seen as Christian documents that have nothing to do with the subject of politics. This study endeavours to investigate the relationship between Christian confessions and politics, looking particularly at how the relationship between them has been construed in the theology of Karl Barth, the Barmen Declaration and the Belhar Confession. It concludes that a relationship between confession and politics is unavoidable, yet this relationship is only best comprehended when one looks at it in a confessional manner. A ‘confessional manner’ of reading Karl Barth’s theology is explained. Issues such as the primacy of the Word of God, the church as the subject of theology, the public witness of Christ to the world, the political context in which this theology takes place, as well as the ethical implications which emanates from this theology characterises confessional theology. The usage of the concept “confession” is informed by Barth’s observation that as Christians we are obliged to speak about God, but we are human beings and therefore cannot speak about God in an manner that suggest that God is fully comprehensible. By confining itself not merely to his monumental work – the Church Dogmatics – but also to Barth’s preceding and succeeding works, this research is able to render a detailed illustration of how Barth viewed the relationship of confessions to politics. Chapter 1 establishes the confessional nature of his theology. This chapter traces the most influential people and events that shaped the confessional nature of Barth’s theology. These include Luther, Kant, the Blumhardts, as well as Calvin and the Reformed theology in particular. Chapter 2 investigates whether Barth was true to his 1925 understanding of what constituted a Reformed confession when he was confronted with the need to confess in 1934. The historicity of the Barmen Theological Declaration is explored to illustrate that Barth continued to view theology in a confessional manner. Chapter 3 deals with Barth’s Church Dogmatics, illustrating that Barth never wanted his work to be seen as a complete event, but preferred to see it as a process. It argues that contrary to the 1930s where Barth’s theology insisted on the essence of confessional theology, the entire Church Dogmatics (especially the parts that proceeds the era indicated) should be read as confessional theology. Chapter 4 deals with the Belhar Confession that was adopted in South African in 1986. Admitting that the Belhar Confession was influenced by the theology of Barth, the characteristics of confessional theology are also explored in this Confession. It is argued that many have failed to see the Belhar Confession’s call for embodiment, because they have interpreted this Confession without regard for the new church order. Finally, it is argued that the confessional nature of Belhar allows this Confession to contribute positively to the current democratic dispensation in South Africa. It is admitted that the Belhar Confession is a confession of its time and. It is also argued that a confessional theology can be a suitable theological alternative that can contribute to the current theological deliberations. Additionally a confessional theology can provide a platform of discussing ways in which theology and politics, which remain intertwined, can both exist side by side, without the one dictating to the other.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Christelike belydenisse word dikwels beskou as Christelike verklarings wat geen verband met die politiek het nie. Gevolglik is daar 'n neiging om hierdie dokumente bloot te sien as teologies maar nie polities nie. Hierdie navorsing bespreek dié siening, maar voer aan dat, hoewel hierdie dokumente nie as sodanig polities is nie, ons tog nie die politieke kontekste waaruit hulle voortspruit, kan ignoreer nie. Twee belydenisse word gebruik om hierdie punt te illustreer, naamlik die Barmen Teologiese Verklaring (1934) in Nazi-Duitsland, en die Belharbelydenis (1986) gedurende die apartheidsregering in Suid-Afrika. Die gevolgtrekking van hierdie studie is dat daar in die teologie van Karl Barth én die Belhar Belydenis 'n onvermydelike verhouding tussen die Christelike belydenis en politiek bestaan. Die woord ”belydenis” word hier in verband gebring met Barth se interpretasie van die opdrag om oor God te praat uit hoofde van ons Christelike oortuigings, en ons onvermoë om oor God te praat weens ons menslike feilbaarheid. Hiervolgens is belydende teologie gekant teen neigings om oor God te praat op 'n manier wat voorgee dat God in sy volheid aan ons bekend is. Vyf opsigtelike kenmerke in die teologie van Barth word ondersoek. Hierdie kenmerke illustreer die mate waartoe teologie en politiek aan mekaar verwant is, en dat politiek altyd in Barth se teologie geïmpliseer word. Die studie voer ook aan dat Barth se teologie relevant is omdat dit probeer om die Woord op 'n ander manier te interpreteer na aanleiding van die spesifieke konteks waarbinne daar oor God gepraat word. Die studie beweer verder dat Barth se hele teologie as belydende teologie gelees moet word. Die gevolgtrekking word gemaak dat belydende teologie verskil van “konfessionalisme” en altyd die beliggaming van dít wat bely word, impliseer. Deur hierdie kenmerke van belydende teologie in die teologie van Barth waar te neem, word daar besef dat sy teologie steeds ‘n deurslaggewende rol in ander teologiese kontekste speel. Om hierdie rede word daar aangevoer dat die Belharbelydenis grootliks deur die teologie van Barth beïnvloed is. Die debat oor die Belharbelydenis bring ook belangrike vrae oor die teologiese situasie in Suid-Afrika na vore. Ten slotte word daar aangevoer dat belydende teologie 'n nuttige teologie is wat teologie in die algemeen kan beskerm teen die kloue van “geteologiseerde politiek”. Hierdie teologie kan dus steeds 'n konstruktiewe bydrae tot die huidige teologiese debatte in 'n demokratiese Suid-Afrika lewer.
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Ables, Scott. "The purpose of perichōrēsis in the polemical works of John of Damascus." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2016. https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:8fc9a6e5-8c62-4e7b-9da4-de8b5e25fbe0.
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John of Damascus was an early eighth century theologian in the Jerusalem Patriarchate. His family supplied financial administrators in Syro-Palestine for most of the seventh century, who were involved in surrendering Damascus to the Arabs if not also to the Persians. They thrived in the sectarian environment under the Umayyads. Numerous Greek Lives paint John in legendary terms; however, these are late and unreliable. I deconstruct the Lives decoupling his timeline from Byzantine Iconoclasm, arguing that there is no evidence and good reason to think that he did not leave the Arab administration because of vexed piety, persecution or administrative language change. Rather, focusing on the chronicler's treatment of John's family, I argue that John left office for his own reasons. I propose that John was instrumental in a quid pro quo: cathedral for patriarchate negotiation. Consequently, the Arabs built the Damascus Mosque on the site of the cathedral church of St John the Baptist, and the (dyothelite) Chalcedonian party moved to Jerusalem, where they reestablished the Jerusalem Patriarchate. Thus, I argue the context of John's polemical works is Jerusalem and patriarchal policy. Further, I argue that John was commissioned to produce something like 'proto-school' texts in the context of debate in the Anastasis with internal Maronite and external West and East Syrian interlocutors. Then I look at one example of John's theological creativity to show how this context impinged on his theological program. John appropriates Maximus the Confessor's term perichoresis and reduces its scope to the Incarnation while moving it into the doctrine of God for the first time. I show that he does this for polemical reasons in order to contravene each of his interlocutors with a simple biblical rhetorical model providing Chalcedonian monks in debate with a simple formula against better educated foes. This thesis demonstrates that reading John out of context fails to appreciate his creative response to these local exigencies.
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Ahn, Myung Jun. "Brevitas et facilitas : a study of a vital aspect in the theological hermeneutics of John Calvin." Thesis, University of Pretoria, 1998. http://hdl.handle.net/2263/26944.
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Eby, John C. "The petrification of heresy : concepts of heterodoxy in the early middle ages /." Thesis, Connect to this title online; UW restricted, 1998. http://hdl.handle.net/1773/10467.
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Kombo, James Henry Owino. "The doctrine of God in African Christian thought : an assessment of African inculturation theology from a trinitarian perspective." Thesis, Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2000. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/51962.
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Thesis (DTh)--Stellenbosch University, 2000ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Christian faith knows and worships one God known in the Son and in the Holy Spirit. In his revelation, the Father is depicted as being from Himself, the Son as eternally begotten from the Father and the Holy Spirit as eternally proceeding from the Father and the Son. This is what Christian thought means by the doctrine of the Trinity. Although Christian orthodoxy holds the doctrine of the Trinity, the intellectual tools used to capture and convey it vary depending on the epoch, cultural context as well as availability of alternative intellectual images. This point is demonstrated well in Western Christianity. Western theologies exhibit three models of the doctrine of the Trinity: 'God as Essence', 'God as an absolute Subject', and 'God as Community in Unity'. These models can be explained by the influence of specific philosophical presuppositions preferred in certain contexts and at certain times. 'God as Essence' is constructed from the point of view of neo-Platonism, 'God as an absolute Subject' uses the infrastructure of German Idealism, while 'God as Community in Unity' recovers and applies the conceptual tools of the second-century Greeks. Taking note of the theological methodology of Western Christianity and recognising the intellectual resources in the African heritage, African inculturation theology has argued for the use of the conceptual framework of African peoples in the development of theology for African audiences. In an attempt to make a statement to the effect that African Negroes are not neo-Platonists, German Idealists or the Greeks of the second century, and to demonstrate that the African Negroes do have a different ontology that can be deciphered, interpreted, and systematized in one common way, African inculturation theology has posited a simple identity between the African notions of God and God known in the Christian faith. This research assesses and finds inadequate the notion of a simple identity between the African concepts of God and the Christian understanding of God. In view of this it appeals to African inculturation theology to critically and creatively deal with the African Christians' understanding of God. This call means at least two things. Firstly, Nyasaye, Mulungu, Modimo and so on are to function as the conceptual gates for the Christian view of God. This calls for 'Christianisation' of the African notions of God. Secondly, a 'Christianised' Nyasaye, for example, must for the Luo people mean God known in the Son and the Holy Spirit. The 'Christianised' Nyasaye must then make use of native metaphysics for the purpose of indigenising or grounding it in the cultural milieu of the situation of reception. To achieve this goal, this research has located and proposed the NTU metaphysics, which is used widely by African Negroes. According to this metaphysics, God is not just a static 'substance', an authoritarian 'absolute Subject', or a mere relationship; God is 'Great Muntu'. The Son is God because he derives wholly from the whole NTU of the only 'Great Muntu'. The Holy Spirit is God because he has the NTU shared by both the 'Great Muntu' and the Son. The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are persons because the 'genuine muntu' in them is the 'Great Muntu', who alone is the ultimate person. Thus the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are persons in the ultimate sense.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die Christelike geloof ken en aanbid een God in die Seun deur die Heilige Gees. In sy openbaring leer ons die Vader ken as synde uit Homself, die Seun as van ewigheidheid verwek deur Vader, en die Heilige Gees as van ewigheid uitgaande van die Vader en die Seun. Dit is wat die Christelike geloof bedoel met die leer van die Triniteit. Alhoewel die Christlike ortodoksie gekenmerk word deur die leer van die Triniteit, varieer die intellectuele vorm wat dit aanneem en waarin dit oorgedra word afhangende van die tydperk, kulturele konteks sowel as die beskikbaarheid van altematiewe intellektuele aparatuur. Laasgenoemde kom duidelik na vore in die geskiedenis van die Westerse Christenheid. In die geskiedenis van die Westerse teologie vertoon die leer van die Triniteit drie gestaltes nl. 'God as Essensie', 'God as absolute Subjek', en 'God as Gemeenskaap in Eenheid'. Dit hou verband met die voorkeur vir spesifieke filisofiese voorverondersellings in sekere kontekste en tye. 'God as Essensie' is die resultaat van neo-Platoniese voorveronderstellings, 'God as absolute Subjek' dra die kenmerke van die Duitse Idealisme, terwyl 'God as Gemeenskap in Eenheid' terggryp op en gebruikmaak van die konseptuele aparatuur uit die Griekse denke van tweede eeu. Na aanleiding van die teologiese metode van die Westerse Christendom en met erkenning van die intellectuele moontlikhede van die Afrika erfenis, argurnenteer die Afrika inkulturasie teologie ten gunste van die gebruik van Afrika konsepte vir die ontwikkeling van 'n teologie vir Afrika. In 'n poging om die eie en gemeenskaplike aard van die ontologie van Afrika in onderskeid van die neo-Platoniste, Duitse Idealiste en Griekse filosofie van die tweede eeu, aan te toon, het die Afrika inkulturasie teologie op 'n simplistiese wyse 'n identeit tussen Afrika Godsbeelde en die God van die Christelike geloof geponeer. In hierde navorsing word hierde identifikasie beoordeel en van die hand gewys. Derhalwe word 'n appel gemaak op die Afrika inkulturasie teologie om krities-kreatief om te gaan met die Afrika Christene se verstaan van God. Hierde oproep het ten minste twee implikasies. In die eerste plek moet Nyasaye, Mulungu, Modimo, ens. dien as konseptuele poorte vir die Christlike Godsverstaan. Dit impliseer 'n 'Christianisering' van die Afrika Godsbeelde. Tweedens bring dit mee dat 'n 'gechristianiseerde' Nyasaye by voorbeeld, vir Luo volk impliseer dat God geken word in die Seun en die Heilige Gees. Vervolgens moet gebruik gemaak word van inheemse metafisika met die oop op die verinheemsing of fundering van hierdie 'gechristianiseerde' Nyasaye in die kulturele milieu van die resepsie gemeenskap. Om hierdie doel te bereik, word in hierde studie gebruik gemaak van die NTU metafisika, wat algemen in Afrika voorkom. Volgens hierde metafisika is God nie net 'n statiese 'substansie', n' outoritere 'absolute Subject' of 'n blote relasie nie, maar God is die 'Groot Muntu'. Die Seun is God omdat Hy volkome uitgaan uit die totale NTU van die enigste 'Groot Muntu'. Die Heilige Gees is God omdat Hy die NTU het wat die 'Groot Muntu' en die Seun gemeenskaplik besit. Die Vader, die Seun en die Heilige Gees is persone omdat die 'egte muntu' in hulle die 'Groot Muntu' is, wat allen die absolute persoon is. Derhalwe is Vader, Seun en Heilige Gees persone in absolute sin.
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Swann, Adam. "'Nature's coyn must not be hoorded' : Milton and the economics of salvation, 1634-1674." Thesis, University of Glasgow, 2014. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/4823/.
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Milton’s use of economic tropes has attracted very little critical attention, and the connections between economics and theology in his thought have not yet been explored. Blair Hoxby’s Mammon’s Music: Literature and Economics in the Age of Milton (2002) focuses on the influence of economic ideas on Milton’s political thought, arguing that the poet persistently associates trade monopolies with autocratic abuses of monarchical power. David Hawkes places Milton’s lifelong professional usury at the centre of his 2009 biography, John Milton: A Hero of Our Time, and his 2011 essay, ‘Milton and Usury,’ fruitfully reads key passages from Paradise Lost in relation to contemporary tracts on usury. Hoxby and Hawkes have astutely highlighted the relationship between economics and Milton’s thought, but neither scholar has pursued these connections into Milton’s theology. Economic ideas lie at the very heart of Milton’s soteriology, and my thesis offers a historicised investigation of Milton’s corpus, demonstrating that the tropes of contemporary economic thought were crucial to his understanding of sin and, more importantly, salvation. Chapter 1 traces the roots of this economic soteriology to the economic and theological treatises of the 1620s and early 1630s, which argued that money must be not stockpiled but circulated, and that salvation was a transaction between man and God. Chapter 2 considers how Ben Jonson and George Herbert, whose work Milton was familiar with in his youth, used The Staple of Newes (1626) and The Temple (1633) to respond to contemporary developments in economic and theological thought. Chapter 3 reads Milton’s early works as studies of hoarding and consumption, traced through the debate over sexual stockpiling in Comus (1634), the sinfulness of a hoarding nation in the History of Moscovia (early 1640s), and the clergy torn between their compulsions to covet and consume in Of Reformation (1641). Chapter 4 finds in Gerrard Winstanley’s Fire in the Bush (1650) an explicitly economic understanding of the Fall, and demonstrates how Milton’s political and religious writings of the 1650s betray an anxiety that the English cannot govern their economic appetites and, therefore, themselves. Chapter 5 examines how Milton uses tropes of investment, profit, loss, and repayment in the Christian Doctrine and Paradise Lost (1667) to represent redemption as a transaction between Jesus and God on man’s behalf. Chapter 6 reads the History of Britain (1670) as an indictment of isolationist economic policies, with Milton demonstrating that free interactions between peoples facilitate national refinement, and thus strangers become saviours.
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Tucker, Nicholas John Cuthbert. "In search of the romantic Christ : the origins of Edward Irving's theology of incarnation." Thesis, University of Stirling, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/1893/27283.
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This thesis reassesses the evidence surrounding Edward Irving’s controversial teaching about the doctrine of the incarnation. Irving was a controversial figure in his own day and his legacy has been contested ever since he was dismissed from the ministry of the Church of Scotland for teaching that Christ had a ‘fallen’ human nature. This thesis re-examines the emergence and significance of Irving’s teaching. It evaluates the scholarly consensus that his distinctive Christology was a stable feature of his thought and argues the case that his thinking in this area did change significantly. Methodologically, this thesis draws on some aspects of Quentin Skinner’s work in the importance of context (Chapter Two) to understand Irving as he really was, rather than in terms of his later significance. In the light of this, Irving’s biography is examined in Chapter Three, before moving into a discussion of the influential part played by Samuel Taylor Coleridge in Irving’s intellectual development (Chapter Four). The second half of the thesis then moves on to consider the development of Irving’s Christology and the questions surrounding its provenance and development (Chapters Five and Six). Finally, in Chapter Seven, possible sources of explanation for Irving’s distinctive ideas about the Incarnation are exhibited and assessed. The argument of this thesis is that Edward Irving developed an account of the Incarnation that was essentially novel, in response to the Romantic ideas that he had derived from Coleridge. In accordance with Coleridge’s assessment, it is argued that this derivation was rendered more complex by Irving’s incomplete apprehension of Coleridge’s underlying philosophy. Nonetheless, it is argued that Edward Irving’s teaching presented a Romantic version of Christ, and that this distinctive conception owes more to the times in which Irving lived than to the theological tradition to which he claimed adherence.
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Heaney, Robert Stewart. "Culture, context, and theology : the emergence of an African theology in the writings of John S. Mbiti and Jesse N.K. Mugambi." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2013. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.669879.
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Homedes-Palau, Marc. "Le mariage comme "res sacra" et comme consécration sacramentelle dans le magistère de l'église catholique : contribution d'histoire doctrinale à une théologie de la "consecratio sui generis" du sacrement de mariage." Electronic Thesis or Diss., Strasbourg, 2023. http://www.theses.fr/2023STRAK006.
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La thèse examine le développement de la doctrine du sacrement de mariage entre le pape Pie VIII (1829) et le pape François (2022) sous l’angle de deux notions : la sacralité du mariage et sa consécration sacramentelle. La première apparaît comme une notion clé jusqu’au concile Vatican II, mais perd ensuite son importance, bien que Jean-Paul II l’ait remise en valeur dans un discours en 2003. Le mariage est – déjà en tant qu’institution naturelle – une « res sacra », une réalité sacrée en lien avec Dieu. La notion de consécration émerge dans le Magistère en 1930 et se réfère plus directement au mariage chrétien, dans sa spécificité de sacrement de la Loi nouvelle. L’usage de cette notion est hésitant dans un premier temps (les époux sont « comme consacrés ») et son sens ne sera approfondi que par Jean-Paul II. Deux lignes d’interprétation vont se développer : une ligne morale, fondée sur la pensée de Pie XI, et une ligne ecclésiologique, fondée sur la pensée de Pie XII. Bien que la première ait dominé la réflexion jusqu’aux catéchèses de Jean-Paul II sur l’amour humain (1984), c’est la seconde qui passera ensuite au premier plan. Le pape François la consolidera. La thèse accorde une attention particulière aux travaux du Concile, ainsi qu’au magistère de Jean-Paul II et du pape FrançoisThe thesis examines the development of the doctrine of the sacrament of marriage between Pope Pius VIII (1829) and Pope Francis (2022) from the perspective of two notions: the sacredness of marriage and its sacramental consecration. The first appeared as a key notion until the Second Vatican Council, but then lost its importance, although John Paul II re-emphasized it in a speech in 2003. Marriage is – already as a natural institution – a “res sacra”, a sacred reality in relation to God. The notion of consecration emerged in the Magisterium in 1930 and refers more directly to Christian marriage, in its specificity as a sacrament of the New Law. The use of this notion is hesitant at first (spouses receive “a kind of consecration”) and its meaning will only be deepened by John Paul II. Two lines of interpretation will develop: a moral line, based on the thought of Pius XI, and an ecclesiological line, based on the thought of Pius XII. Although the first one dominated reflection until the catecheses of John Paul II on human love (1984), it is the second one which will then come to the fore. Pope Francis will consolidate it. The thesis pays particular attention to the work of the Council, as well as to the magisterium of John Paul II and Pope Francis
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Hamilton, Alan James. "In mitiorem partem : Robert Leighton's journey towards Episcopacy." Thesis, University of Glasgow, 2013. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/4152/.
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Robert Leighton (1610/11-1684) was a significant Scottish churchman of the seventeenth-century. He has been the subject of religious confessional history-writing which continues to skew our understanding of him. This thesis offers a radical reassessment of the first fifty years of Leighton’s life based upon the available primary evidence. The formative influences of Leighton’s Puritan anti-Episcopal father and his student years at the Town College of Edinburgh are re-evaluated. The possibility that he studied in Huguenot France in the 1630s is posited. Using his relationship with the Earl of Lothian to illuminate his involvement in the Covenanting movement, he is placed in Scotland from 1638. Leighton’s commitment to the Covenant and to Presbyterianism is reconsidered by charting Leighton’s career as minister of Newbattle (1641-1653) and his appointment as Principal of the Town College by the English occupiers in 1653. His decision to become a Restoration bishop in 1661 is reviewed having regard to a new understanding of his journey towards Episcopacy and by careful attention to his own words and actions. This study concludes that our comprehension of the Church of Scotland during the Covenanting, Interregnum and Restoration periods is heightened by re-discovering the real Leighton.
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McSwain, Jeffrey Y. "Simul sanctification : Karl Barth's appropriation of Luther's dictum 'simul iustus et peccator'." Thesis, University of St Andrews, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/10023/11818.
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‘Simul sanctification' is a transformational program for sanctification derived from Karl Barth's radical appropriation of Luther's dictum simul iustus et peccator. Barth's simul establishes the Christological link of the Second Adam with every human being. From this emerges what I contend is a ‘Chalcedonian anthropology' built on a double-duality: the original Chalcedonian formulation gives rise to a second duality revealed within Christ's one human person—the duality of a true, iustus humanity and a corrupt, peccator humanity. In order to appreciate the benefits regarding Barth's Spirit-charged epistemological program for sanctification and conversion, it will be imperative to elucidate the comprehensive nature of Barth's actualism as a way of establishing Barth's view of humanity's dynamic and free iustitia in Christ. Central to assessing the threat of the peccatum determination will be an examination of Barth's theology of the cross, especially in regards to his single subject economy derived from the person of ‘Jesus Christ and him crucified.' Through Barth's assessment of the cross I exposit the similarities and the differences between Chalcedonian Christology and ‘Chalcedonian anthropology;' the latter duality is proven by resurrection revelation to be ultimately provisional in nature. From here I probe Barth's position regarding the annulment of the simul as well as its beginning. By investigating Barth's doctrine of creation I argue that Barth's simul is reflective of the original antithesis between God and nothingness, the darkness under which Christ first placed himself so that humans would know both his solidarity in the darkness and his victory over it. Christians continue to dwell in the overlap of the simul's two mutually exclusive determinations, but by looking through Barth's simul to our true, created and redeemed humanity in Christ we are equipped to interpret our lives and the world around us most hopefully.
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Adams, Samuel V. "The reality of God and historical method : an examination of theological historiography in critical dialogue with N.T. Wright." Thesis, University of St Andrews, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/10023/6545.
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This thesis argues that any historiography that would contribute to theological knowledge must take into consideration, at a methodological level, the reality of God. This theological claim, in turn, has significant implications for historical knowledge and thus, historiography. The thesis moves ahead in five chapters. The first is an overview and description of N. T. Wright's historical and theological method as they both are grounded in his critical realist epistemology. The second chapter argues for a particular theological epistemology that goes beyond Wright's and corrects it, drawing primarily on the work of T. F. Torrance and Søren Kierkegaard. In the third and fourth chapters an ‘apocalyptic' theological approach is defined and articulated according to a progression from soteriology to Christology to creation. The final chapter builds upon this constructive theological work by articulating an ‘apocalyptic' theology of history which is then used to articulate some key considerations for a theological approach to historiography in critical dialogue with Wright's historical and theological method.
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Freeburn, Ryan P. "The work and thought of Hugh of Amiens (c. 1085-1164)." Thesis, University of St Andrews, 2005. http://hdl.handle.net/10023/13618.
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Throughout the course a long life in which he served as a cleric, a Cluniac monk, and an archbishop, Hugh of Amiens (c. 1085-1164) wrote a number of works including poems, biblical exegesis, anti-heretical polemics, and one of the early collections of systematic theology. This dissertation aims to provide an intellectual biography of Hugh which grants a better understanding not only of his motivations and ideals, but also some of those of the wider clerical and monastic world of the twelfth century. It examines each of Hugh's theological and literary compositions with their manuscript distribution, chronology, and contemporary setting, giving an in-depth exegesis of the texts including their concerns, sources of material, and their meaning within the context of their day. So too does it compare him with contemporaries who were writing similar works, from the compilers of sentences to biblical versifiers. Many themes surface in this work. One of these is the influence that both the scholastic and the monastic worlds had on Hugh. His writings show that he, along with many of his contemporaries, was secure in drawing inspiration from the contemplative spirit of the cloister as well as the methodical and disputatious endeavours of the schools. Another key theme is the extensive influence of St. Augustine, not just upon Hugh's thought, but also upon the thought of most of Hugh's contemporaries. The role of Hugh's works in the origin of systematic theology also emerges, as does their relation to events in the larger religious, social, and political scene, such as the rise of popular heresies and new religious movements, the condemnation of Gilbert de la Porree (c. 1076-1154), and the schism under Pope Alexander III (c. 1100-81). It concludes that Hugh was not only an intriguing individual, but also a representative of many of the important and widespread trends of his day.
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Davis, Bradley A. ""Our Christian heritage" an applied curriculum for adults in the local church /." Online full text .pdf document, available to Fuller patrons only, 2001. http://www.tren.com.
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Bustraan, Richard Anderson. "Upon your sons and daughters : an analysis of the Pentecostalism within the Jesus People Movement and its aftermath." Thesis, University of Birmingham, 2011. http://etheses.bham.ac.uk//id/eprint/3134/.
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The Jesus People Movement was a large religious phenomenon that arose out of an amalgamation of the American counterculture and Hippie movements and American Pentecostalism. Beginning in 1967 the movement‘s early participants were mostly hippies who had claimed a conversion experience and instantaneous healing from drug addiction through an encounter with Jesus Christ. By the mid-1970s the growing phenomenon had attracted a broad range of youth, many of whom were not former hippies, but who did relate to the counterculture movement and the generation gap. Several enduring institutions arose from the heyday and have continued to impact American Pentecostalism and American Christianity more broadly. This thesis examines the historical links between the Jesus People Movement, American Pentecostalism, and the Hippie movement as well as the sociological and theological resemblance to American Pentecostalism. Based on the family resemblance analogy, the thesis concludes that the Jesus People Movement should be included as a significant part of the story of American Pentecostalism.
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Tang, Siu-Kwong. "God's history in the theology of Jürgen Moltmann." Thesis, University of St Andrews, 1995. http://hdl.handle.net/10023/13968.
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It is true that Jürgen Moltmann does not systematically construct a theology of God's history. However, his theological discussion of different themes and doctrines shows that God has a history. Therefore, the aim of this thesis is to give an analysis to his theology of God's history and historicity. Moltmann starts his theology by contrasting God's self- revelation in the promise with that in the epiphany of the eternal present. Chapter 1 traces revelation as epiphany in the Canaanite religion, Parmenides' philosophy and contemporary doctrine of revelation and analyses its analogical characteristic. Revelation as promise is scrutinised in chapter 2 so as to display its dialectical structure, significance and offer a background for further understanding of God's self-revelation in the Christ event. The analogical principle of knowledge and its use in Platonic philosophy and Thomas Aquinas' natural theology which Moltmann heavily criticises is discussed in chapter 3. Its ontological and epistemological character that makes God's self-revelation and being ahistorical is to be emphasised. In contrast to the analogical principle Moltmann proposes the dialectical principle which is embodied in the Christ event. Its meaning and significance for God's history is the subject of chapter 4. Chapter 5 and 6 engage in Moltmann's revolution in the relationship between God's historical act in the cross event and his inner being, the economic trinity and the immanent trinity. Chapter 5 clarifies the relationship of the cross event to the inner divine life and relevant criticism while chapter 6 explicates the primary determination of God's inner life to his outer act in history. Moreover, God as love in Moltmann's theology is given a detailed examination in regard to God's self- limitation and self-de-limitation in eternity and in history. Moltmann's understanding of God's history in the Christ event creates conditions for historical transformation of this world. This is discussed in chapter 7. This thesis is concluded in chapter 8 with an analytical summary of Moltmann's approach to God's history, the character of God's history and God's historicity, and an appreciative appraisal of Moltmann's theological breakthroughs and insights.
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Puigbó, Juan A. "El concepto de teología de la historia en los escritos teológicos de Ignacio Ellacuría." Theological Research Exchange Network (TREN), 2003. http://www.tren.com.
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Heard, Jerrard Case. "A critical analysis of the sacramental theology of George Gillespie." Thesis, University of Wales Trinity Saint David, 2009. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.683252.
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Price, Christopher A. "The resurrection : aspects of its changing role in 20th century theology." Thesis, University of St Andrews, 1987. http://hdl.handle.net/10023/2886.
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This thesis deals with theologies of the Resurrection in the twentieth century. We have chosen for study seven major theologians whose work reflects significant achievement in this area. We begin with a look at 'dialectical' theologians Karl Barth and Rudolf Bultmann and deal with their debate on the nature and meaning of the Resurrection. Because of their importance to theology they are dealt with extensively. From there we move on to the contemporary theologians of 'hope, ' Jürgen Moltmann and Wolfhart Pannenberg, before completing our research with a chapter on the Catholic theologians Karl Rahner, Edward Schillebeeckx, and Hans Küng. It was our purpose initially (and we hope we have been consistent throughout) to give a well-rounded purview, and thus a fairer criticism, of each theology. Yet into the research it seemed obvious that a consistent major concern of each theologian centered on how one comes to faith in such a unique event. It was certainly at the core of the Barth-Bultmann debate and remains crucial. Thus it may be stated that the concerns which receive the primacy in this work are those discussions in our theologies which deal with the nature of the Resurrection, its status as an event of history, and its ability to be proved and thus believed as other events of history are proved and believed. We ultimately conclude that the most satisfactory entry into faith in the Resurrection is through a juxtaposing of the work of Wolfhart Pannenberg and Hans Küng. The focus of the paper is changed in the second half of the Conclusion as we suggest what course studies on the Resurrection might take in the future. Here we find the perspective of Jewish New Testament theologian Pinchas Lapide to be most provocative and speculate on the possibilities that the Resurrection might hold for Jewish-Christian relations.
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Ho, Man Kei. "A critical study on T.F. Torrance's theology of incarnation." Thesis, University of Wales Trinity Saint David, 2006. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.683219.
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Hausam, Mark. "Communicating philosophically and theologically : a study of the dialogue between the mainstream Reformed and Edwardian traditions of the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries concerning sin and salvation." Thesis, University of Wales Trinity Saint David, 2009. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.683255.
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Scott, Shawn A. "A study in transitions : Wesley's soteriology." Thesis, McGill University, 1990. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=60096.
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The purpose of this thesis is to delineate the theological shifts that occurred in Wesley's post-Aldersgate soteriology. To realize this purpose, three distinct soteriological shifts in his thought will be examined. These shifts involve changes in how he understood the following: the conditions of redemption, the state of humanity and the scope of salvation. Through an examination of these shifts, three distinct phases (early, middle and late) were detected. In the early phase there appears to be a distinct Reformed bias; fallen human beings are totally depraved and can be redeemed only through explicit faith in Christ's atonement. In the two subsequent phases, an increasing emphasis is given to Arminian distinctives. Particular emphasis is given to the Arminian understanding of prevenient grace. In the middle phase, the Reformed and Arminian elements appear to co-exist within the same soteriological framework--reconciled through a tenuous and at times tortuous dialectic. This dialectic seems to crumble in the late phase. The Reformed elements are quietly dismissed; the Arminian elements dominate.
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Cho, Bong Geun. "A cricital comparative study of pneumatology in UK (particularly England) Protestant theology and the World Council of Churches between 1965-1993." Thesis, University of Wales Trinity Saint David, 1996. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.683147.
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Bennett, Joshua Maxwell Redford. "Doctrine, progress and history : British religious debate, 1845-1914." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2015. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:299ba472-2a9c-488c-a8de-12ac55acc4ea.
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Religion and history became closely related in new ways in the Victorian imagination. This thesis asks why this was so, by focusing on arguments within British Protestant culture over progress and development in the history of Christianity. In an intellectual movement approximately beginning with the 1845 publication of John Henry Newman's 'Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine', and powerfully spreading and developing until the earlier years of the twentieth century, British intellectuals came to treat the history of religion - both as a past and present process, and as a didactic genre - as a vital element of broader attempts to stabilise or reconstruct religious belief and social order. Religious revivalists, determined to use church history as a raw material for the inculcation of exclusive confessional identities and dogmatic theology, were highly successful in pressing it on the attention of early Victorian audiences. But they proved unable to control its meaning. Historians rose to prominence who instead interpreted the history of Christianity as a guide to how religious culture, which many treated as indistinguishable from society as a whole, might eventually supersede denominational and dogmatic divisions. Humanity's spiritual development in time, which numerous British critics assessed with the aid of German Idealist thought, also became an attractive apologetic resource as the epistemological basis of Christian belief came under unprecedented public challenge. A major part of that danger was perceived to come from rival, avowedly secularising interpretations of human social progress. Such accounts - the ancestors of twentieth-century secularisation theory - were vigorously opposed by historians who understood modernity as involving not the decline, but the purification of Christianity. By exploring the ways in which Victorian critics - clerical and lay, religious and secular - approached religious history as a resource for solving the problems of their own age, this thesis offers a new way of understanding the importance of history, claims to knowledge, and the nature and ends of 'liberalism' in the long nineteenth century.
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Gillette, Jason D. "On a collision course or two ships passing through the night?| A study of the underlying differences in the dispute between John Piper and N. T. Wright on the doctrine of justification." Thesis, Trinity International University, 2016. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=10245911.
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From the inception of the Reformation, Protestants have championed the doctrine of justification as the foundational core of their creed. In fact, it has often been said, then and now, that the doctrine of justification is articulus stantis et cadentis ecclesiae—the article upon which the church stands or falls. Yet, at the start of the twenty-first century there is strong dissent over this core doctrine. In recent years, this topic has attracted vast attention and stirred immense conflict within evangelical circles. Scholars are increasingly at odds as to how to define the doctrine, while questions abound concerning the role it plays in the soteriological, eschatological, and ecclesiological framework of the evangelical faith. At the center of the dispute are two opposing and well-respected evangelical leaders, John Piper and N.T. Wright.
The purpose of my project is to capture this contemporary debate on justification between John Piper and N.T. Wright—to aid in understanding the details of their debate in better measure. The primary question I will address is, Are John Piper and N.T. Wright on a collision course, or are they two ships passing in the dark of night? A secondary question will guide us towards an answer, “How do two Protestant, evangelical, sola scriptura theologians arrive at such different places in relation to this essential doctrine?”
I will first address how the doctrine of justification has been understood throughout the history of the church, starting with the apostolic fathers, then tracing the doctrine through the medieval church and culminating in the Reformation, as well as the Counter Reformation at the Council of Trent. Thus, this journey will highlight the soteriological views of the patristics, Augustine, Anselm, Aquinas, Ockham and the nominalists, Luther, Melanchthon, and Calvin. Putting the Piper and Wright debate into historical context is imperative to understanding their dispute. We will also look briefly at what has been termed the new perspective on Paul, a label which has been ascribed to Wright. Finally, we will look at the intricacies of John Piper’s and N.T. Wright’s doctrines of justification before answering the central question.
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MacLean, Stanley Stephen. "The eschatological orientation in the early theology of Thomas F. Torrance, 1939-1963." Thesis, McGill University, 2009. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=42279.
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Thomas F. Torrance (1913- 2007) is recognised as one of the foremost theologians of the twentieth century. Eschatology occupies a very significant place in his theology, although scholars interested in his work have paid little attention to this fact, focusing instead on his methodology. This thesis not only brings Torrance's eschatology to light through an exploration of his sermons, correspondence, lectures and short writings, it shows that it is a central component of his early theology, uncovering an eschatological orientation in his treatment of various Christian doctrines. It also takes cognizance of the fact that this eschatology is shaped by such events as WWII, the spread Clf communism, the modern eschatological debate and the world- wide ecumenical movement. Torrance's eschatology seeks to recapture, on the basis of a high Christology, the New Testament tension between the present realization of the Kingdom of God and the future consummation of it. In contrast to many contemporary eschatologies, Torrance's eschatology is apocalyptic, ecclesial and ecumenical. It is unique too in its attempt to do justice to the humanity of Christ and to the interrelation of the doctrines of creation and redemption.Thomas F. Torrance (1913 - 2007) est reconnu comille l'un des principaux theologiens du XXe siecle. L'eschatologie occupe une place importante dans sa theologie, bien que les chercheurs interesses par ses travaux ont porte peu d'attention a ce fait, se concentrant plutot sur sa methodologie. Cette these apporte non seulement l'eschatologie de Torrance a la lumiere a travers une exploration de ses sermons, sa correspondance, ses conferences et de courts ecrits, elle demontre aussi qu'elle est un element central des debuts de sa theologie, devoilant une orientation eschatologique dans son traitement des differente doctrines chretiennes. Elle prend egalement connaissance du fait que cette eschatologie est faconnee par des evenements comme la Seconde Guerre mondiale, la propagation du communisme, Ie debat eschatologique mod erne et Ie mouvement recumenique mondial. L'eschatologie de Torrance cherche a retrouver, sur la base d'une haute christologie, la tension neotestamentaire entre la realisation actuelle du Royaume de Dieu et son accomplissement futur. Contrairement a de nombreuses eschatologies, on decouvre chez Torrance une eschatologie qui est apocalyptique, ecclesiale et recumenique. Elle est aussi remarquable pour sa tentative de rendre justice a l'humanite du Christ et de l'interdependance des doctrines de la creation et de la redemption. fr
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Wood, Eric. "The Primacy of Christ: A Theological Foundation." Athenaeum of Ohio / OhioLINK, 2015. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=athe1490281954783496.
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Perrot, Arnaud. "Le Législateur incertain. Recherches sur la contribution ascétique de Basile de Césarée." Thesis, Paris 4, 2016. http://www.theses.fr/2016PA040200.
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Dans la floraison d’écrits monastiques produits au IVe siècle, les Ascetica attribués à Basile de Césarée ont tenu une place particulière, qui est bien connue. Pourtant, la formation du corpus asceticum, le processus d’éditions multiples dont il a été l’objet, mais aussi les options doctrinales qu’il diffuse n’ont pas été éclaircis de façon satisfaisante. Sur la base d’éléments textuels jusqu’ici négligés, le présent travail se propose de réécrire l’histoire du texte et d’interroger la paternité basilienne de la collection. Il existe, en effet, depuis le Ve siècle au moins et jusqu’à l’époque moderne, un courant minoritaire qui doute de l’opportunité d’attribuer le « livre ascétique » au grand Basile et préfère lui donner pour auteur un autre évêque du IVe siècle, Eustathe de Sébaste, moins estimé de la tradition ecclésiastique. Si le doute sur la paternité basilienne des Ascetica est permis, alors il convient de réévaluer la place de Basile de Césarée dans l’histoire littéraire du mouvement monastique. C’est ce que nous nous proposons de faire dans cet ouvrage, en relisant de près des pièces littéraires qui, jusqu’à présent, n’étaient présentées que comme des « annexes » au dossier des AsceticaThe Ascetica transmitted under the name of Basil of Caesarea have a special importance among the numerous monastic writings which emerged in the 4th century. If this point is very well-known, the gathering of the corpus asceticum, the multiple antique editions of the collection, and the doctrinal options which are found in this sum have not been really enlightened. On the basis of neglected textual and paleographic evidence, the present work aims at rewriting the history of the text and questioning the basilian paternity of the collection. From the 5th century to the Modern Times, some readers refused the attribution of the Ascetica to Basil the Great and preferred to ascribe them to another (but problematic) bishop of the 4th century: Eustathius of Sebasteia. If there are good reasons to reject the basilian paternity of the collection, it is necessary to reevaluate the role played by Basil of Caesarea in the literary history of the monastic movement. In the present volume, I try to re-read some literary texts which, until now, were just regarded as appendices to the dossier of the Ascetica
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Surrency, Steven Floyd. "A Gadamerian Analysis of Roman Catholic Hermeneutics: A Diachronic Analysis of Interpretations of Romans 1:17-2:17." Scholar Commons, 2015. http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/6034.
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Catholic exegesis of scriptural and dogmatic statements has become rigid in the period following the Enlightenment. Gadamer’s account of philosophical hermeneutics, when applied to the Catholic situation, elaborates how Catholic exegesis might return to its premodern, freer form. Following Gadamer, I hold that to understand is to fuse the horizon of the old with today’s horizon using the preunderstandings that have been provided by the tradition while at the same time bringing the questions of today into dialogue with the text.
Examples of how Romans 1 and 2 have been interpreted historically serve to support this thesis. Origen reads Romans 1 and 2 using the traditional understandings afforded him by the ancient Catholic tradition. At the same time, he seeks in the text answers to the questions raised by the heresies of his own day. The early Augustine reads in Romans an answer to the questions posed by the Manicheans. Later he places that same text into dialogue with the Pelagians and, though still using the preunderstandings provided by the tradition, finds new meaning. Aquinas robustly exemplifies this conception of exegesis. He places Romans into dialogue with Aristotle and comes away with a creative fusion of the two.
After considering the examples above, I turn to two instances of hermeneutics that fail to be acceptable models of Catholic exegesis. Though the young Luther’s commentary on Romans is a Catholic fusion of traditionary preunderstandings and late medieval thinking, the older Luther ceases to dialogue with the tradition and thereby fails to give an acceptable Catholic interpretation. Barth, on the other hand, provides a paradigmatic example of Gadamerian hermeneutic principles. His exegesis is insufficient not because of his method but because of the Sache, the subject matter, he wrongly reads into the text of Romans.
This historical consideration of Catholic philosophical hermeneutics reinforces my proposition that Gadamerian philosophical hermeneutics adequately accounts for the Catholic hermeneutic tradition and provides a manner of approaching how that hermeneutic tradition might be appropriated today. Hermeneutics must not be a mere repetition of scriptural and dogmatic utterances but a placing of dogmatic statements into conversation with the situation today. This productive fusion can provide new, surprising meanings that cannot be predicted simply by reference to how statements have been understood in the past.
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Wesley, Cindy K. "The Pietist theology and ethnic mission of the General Conference German Baptists in North America, 1851-1920 /." Thesis, McGill University, 2000. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=37854.
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Organized in the nineteenth century, the General Conference of German Baptists was primarily a North American denominational body that adopted the polity of the American Baptists to build religious communities of converts of German ethnic background. From 1851 to 1920, the General Conference of German Baptists resisted institutional unity with the larger English-speaking bodies. Instead, it developed an ethnic mission with the financial aid of the American Baptist Home Mission Society. With time the German church membership became more Americanized in language and habits. The external pressure to assimilate increased. Yet, the German Baptist leadership moved away from complete Americanization of the churches and sought to preserve the distinct Pietist theological basis and ethnic mission of the Conference. The General Conference of German Baptists embraced institutional independence beginning in 1920 with the dissolution of the Cooperative Agreement that bound the mission of the German Baptists, the ABHMS, and the Baptist Union of Western Canada.
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Kline, Scott Travis. "A genealogy of a German-Lutheran two-kingdoms concept : from a German theology of the status quo to an East German theology of critical solidarity." Thesis, McGill University, 2001. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=36971.
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This dissertation traces the social-theological history of a German-Lutheran two-kingdoms concept---an often ambiguous social-ethical theory used by German-Lutheran theologians to interpret their social world and to define the relational boundaries for the church's existence in society. This study consists of three parts, each of which represents a fundamental rupture in the German social order:Part one examines the formation of a two-kingdoms doctrine in the modern world. The opening chapter (chapter two) establishes Martin's Luther's use of a two-kingdoms hermeneutic as way to challenge late-medieval Catholic Church authority and to empower ("sacralize") the social sphere. Chapter three surveys the work of German-Lutheran theologians who found in Luther's two-kingdoms concept a model that corresponded to the modern public-private social structure. The intersection of Luther's concept and modern social theory enabled theologians to understand the social, economic, and political changes taking place in Germany and, wittingly or unwittingly, to validate the status quo.
Part two analyzes various applications and critiques of the two-kingdoms doctrine in Germany from 1919 to 1945. Chapter four focuses on the efforts of Emanuel Hirsch, Paul Althaus, Paul Tillich, and Karl Barth to construct a theology that addressed the crises of modernity: the loss of national identity, the failure of post-Enlightemnent rationalism, and the collapse of traditional political structures. Chapter five examines the work of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who developed a critical two-kingdoms perspective to (re)define the ethical relationship between the "church for others" and the "world come of age."
Part three considers the reception of the two-kingdoms doctrine in the East German church (1949--1990). The objective of chapter six is to illustrate the various ways in which theologians in the German Democratic Republic nuanced a two-kingdoms concept to make sense of the church's missionary task in socialism. This chapter also demonstrates the links between Bonhoeffer's ethic of responsibility and an East German theological ethic of critical solidarity---a social-ethical theory articulated by pastors and theologians such as Bishop Albrecht Schonherr and Heino Falcke.
This study concludes with a brief discussion of the two-kingdoms doctrine's capacity to protect and to resist the status quo.
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Sexton, Jason S. "The role of the doctrine of the Trinity in the theology of Stanley J. Grenz." Thesis, University of St Andrews, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/10023/3025.
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This thesis provides an examination into the primary features in the theology of one of the turn of the century's leading evangelical theologians, Stanley J. Grenz. It begins by establishing the controversial nature of Grenz's project within evangelical theology, and how his aims were misread by a number of evangelical scholars. It then argues that the primary feature in his writings was the doctrine of the Trinity, giving shape to his methodology, theology, and ethical engagement. Accordingly, this thesis identifies the most significant features he adopted and adapted from Wolfhart Pannenberg, whose influence on Grenz is readily seen. These features include not only how Grenz derived particular methodological aspects from Pannenberg (chap. 2), but also those related to the shape of his trinitarian theology itself (chap. 3). Next, while realizing that Grenz's new-found emphasis on a trinitarian project was not placed on a tabula rasa, a wider account of his trinitarian background is considered (chap. 4), as is the particular developmental shape of his doctrine of the Trinity itself (chap. 5). Following this, an examination is made into how Grenz accessed this doctrine of the Trinity, through the imago Dei concept, informed by a theological hermeneutic, theological exegesis, and weaved through the traditional systematic loci (chap. 6). Finally, the shape of his trinitarian ethical work is considered in light of the overall coherence of his body of writings, both in its early form as a Christian ethic as well as in the test-cases that were part of his engagement (chap. 7). This is followed by a summary of the reception of Grenz's project, which is deemed consistent with his aims of being both a distinctly evangelical and trinitarian theologian.
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Steel, Jeffrey. "Eucharist and ecumenism in the theology of Lancelot Andrewes (1555-1626) : then and now." Thesis, University of St Andrews, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/10023/3019.
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This thesis is an examination of Lancelot Andrewes' (1555-1626) Eucharistic theology which is explored in order to see how far he might act as a catalyst for ecumenism with Rome on the topic of Eucharistic sacrifice. The purpose of the thesis is to develop a fuller exposition of Andrewes' Eucharistic theology as a unique theologian who maintained a view of sacrifice that was denied by Protestants on the continent of Europe and by most within the English Church of his day. In the first four chapters Andrewes' own views are not always juxtaposed to more contemporary views. This is intentional in order to develop his own thought before looking at him as an ecumenical partner on sacrifice. The first chapter explores Andrewes as a theologian within his own context of ecclesiology, placing Andrewes within a more Catholic framework as opposed to Puritanism that was becoming politically influential during the reign of King James I. The second chapter then looks at Andrewes' view of Eucharistic instrumentality where I characterise him as an ‘effectual instrumentalist' over against some contemporary scholars who place him alongside John Calvin who is sometimes described as a ‘symbolic instrumentalist'. I find Andrewes closer to a Catholic framework of instrumentalism. The third chapter further explores Andrewes' view of presence where I conclude that he should be characterised as one holding to an objective view of presence and give him the Cappodocian label as a Transelementationist. This is to emphasise that Andrewes did encourage the faithful to look for Christ in the elements themselves, which goes beyond Christ's presence within the faith of the believer alone. The fourth chapter is the lengthiest chapter as it develops Andrewes' views of sacrifice. I see him as someone immersed in the sacrificial nature of the Eucharist defined within the writings of the Fathers of the first five centuries. It was here that Andrewes is able to be set fully within the framework of a Catholic view of the mystery as the Christian sacrifice offered to God in return for the gift of the Christ-event to the world. Andrewes' description of the offering as containing a propitiatory effect in the application of the forgiveness of sins through ‘instrumental touching' was a unique understanding of someone in the Church of England during the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. In the final chapter, I juxtapose Andrewes with Catholic teaching as it is explored in contemporary Catholic theology as well as, perhaps more importantly, within papal documents and authoritative Catholic statements on the sacrifice of the Mass. This is to show how similar Andrewes is in his description of the sacrifice of the Eucharist to Rome and how he goes further in that direction than any of his contemporaries or even modern ecumenical statements in Anglican and Roman Catholic dialogue.
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Wilcox, Milton. "Changing Changelessness: On the Genesis and Development of the Doctrine of Divine Immutability in the Ancient and Hellenic Period." Scholar Commons, 2017. http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/7108.
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This project will track and explain the development of the Doctrine of Divine Immutability from early mythological and scriptural source material that seems to indicate that divine entities are changeable into metaphysical systems that demand a perfectly consistent deity. The Doctrine of Divine Immutability is a philosophical and theological postulate that has long been a staple of systematic metaphysics and theology, but its function in robust and fully formed systems is different than its function when it is first generated in Ancient Greece and Judah. Methodologically mostly primary sources are studied and compared with interpretive help from relevant secondary sources. Once the generation and evolution of this doctrine is understood, a more holistic understanding of the relationship between religion and philosophy will be evident. Additionally a more robust understanding of Middle Platonism and 1st and 2nd century Christianity and their relationship to Roman Stoicism will be achieved. Of particular importance to contemporary scholarship this work will allow us to understand the doctrine in its context and will shield us from anachronistic readings of the arguments that are bound to cause fundamental errors in scholarship.
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Howson, Barry. "The question of orthodoxy in the theology of Hanserd Knollys (c. 1599-1691) : a seventeenth-century English Calvinistic Baptist." Thesis, McGill University, 1999. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=36607.
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Mid-seventeenth-century England saw numerous religious sects come into existence, one of which was the Calvinistic Baptist group. During the upheaveal of the revolutionary years this group was often accused of heresy by their orthodox/reformed contemporaries. At that time Hanserd Knollys, one of their London pastors, was personally charged with holding heterodox beliefs, in particular, Antinomianism, Anabaptism and Fifth Monarchism. In addition, Knollys has been accused of hyper-Calvinism. This version of Calvinism was held by some eighteenth-century English Calvinistic Baptists. Some Baptist historians have suspected Knollys of holding this teaching in the seventeenth-century, or at least they have felt it necessary to defend him against it. All of these charges are serious, and consequently bring into question Knollys' orthodoxy. This thesis will systematically examine each charge made against Knollys in its context, and comprehensively from Knollys' writings seek to determine if they were valid. Furthermore, this thesis will elucidate Knollys theology, particularly his soteriology, ecclesiology and eschatology.
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Yong, Amos. "From Pietism to Pluralism: Boston Personalism and the Liberal Era in American Methodist Theology, 1876-1953." PDXScholar, 1995. https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/open_access_etds/3089.
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Boston personalism has generally been recognized as a philosophic system based upon a metaphysical idealism. What is less known, however, is that the founder of this school of thought and some of the major contributors to the early development of this tradition were committed members of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
The purpose of this study is to examine the contributions made by the early Boston personalists to the cause of theological liberalism in the Methodist Church. It will be shown that personalist philosophers and theologians at Boston University ushered in and consolidated the liberal era in Methodist theology. Further, it will be argued that the religious demands of the philosophy of personalism eventually led some members of the tradition from theological liberalism to modernism and the beginnings of a religious pluralism. In other words, the thesis of this study is that the early Boston personalists were theological innovators in the Methodist Church, leading the denomination from its nineteenth-century evangelical pietism to the modernism and pluralism that was part of mid-twentieth century American Protestantism.
The focus of this study will therefore be on the first two generations of personalists at Boston University: the founder of the personalist tradition, Borden Parker Bowne, and two of his most prominent students, Albert Cornelius Knudson and Edgar Sheffield Brightman. One chapter is devoted to each of figure, focused upon the impact of their personalist philosophy and methodology on their theology and philosophy of religion, and their influence on American Methodist theology.
The period this study, which commences from the time of Bowne's appointment to the Department of Philosophy at Boston University in 1876 to the death of both Knudson and Brightman in 1953, reveals how Methodism grappled with the theological implications raised by the complexities of modernity and the emerging sciences. Attention will be focused on how the philosophical method of the personalists dictated their movement from pietism toward liberalism and onto modernism and pluralism. As such, this study demonstrates the integral role played by the Boston personalist tradition in theological development during the liberal era of American Methodism.
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Campbell, William Hopkins. "{u2018}Dyvers kyndes of religion in sondry partes of the Ilande{u2019} : the geography of pastoral care in thirteenth-century England /." Thesis, University of St Andrews, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/10023/238.
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The Church was not the only progenitor and disseminator of ideas in medieval England, but it was the most pervasive. Relations between the ecclesiastical and lay realms are well documented at high social levels but become progressively obscure as one descends to the influence of the Church at large on society at large (and vice versa). The twelfth century was a time of great energy and renewal in the leadership and scholarship of the Church; comparable religious energy and renewal can be seen in late-medieval lay culture. The momentum was passed on in the thirteenth century, and pastoral care was the means of its transfer. The historical sources in this field tend to be either prescriptive, such as treatises on how to hear confessions, or descriptive, such as bishops’ registers. Prescription and description have generally been addressed separately. Likewise, the parish clergy and the friars are seldom studied together. These families of primary sources and secondary literature are brought together here to produce a more fully-rounded picture of pastoral care and church life. The Church was an inherently local institution, shaped by geography, personalities, social structures, and countless ad hoc solutions to local problems. Few studies of medieval English ecclesiastical history have fully accepted the considerable implications of this for pastoral care; close attention to local variation is a governing methodology of this thesis, which concludes with a series of local case studies of pastoral care in several dioceses, demonstrating not only the divergences between them but also the variations within them.
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Lee, Hyo-Dong. "Jürgen Moltmann as a biblical theologian : political hermeneutic of scripture as foundational for ecological theology." Thesis, McGill University, 1995. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=23225.
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This dissertation explores the way Jurgen Moltmann's biblical hermeneutic informs his salvation-historical approach to ecological theology. Coming from the post-Barthian camp of German Protestant theology, Moltmann has inherited Karl Barth's theological critique of the technological-scientific spirit of modernity. Moltmann differs from Barth, however, in the fact that his underlying preoccupation with the question of theodicy leads him to interpret Barth's theological critique of modernity from within the perspective of modernity's victims. This he accomplishes by retrieving the biblical tradition of eschatologia crucis. Moltmann's political hermeneutic of scripture, which he develops on the basis of the eschatologia crucis, vindicates his salvation-historical approach to nature by offering a substantial critique of the modern techno-scientific spirit. Furthermore, it enables Moltmann's ecological theology to put the crisis of modernity within the broader horizon of the problem of radical evil, thereby offering a profounder hope for the liberation of the suffering creation called for by the WCC theme "Justice, Peace, and the Integrity of Creation."
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Smith, Brian. "The historical development of the doctrine of Original Grace in church history and its viability in the context of Stone-Campbell movement soteriology." Thesis, University of Exeter, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/10036/3038.
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The purpose of this project is to investigate the historical and theological origins of the doctrine of Original Grace and test its viability within Stone-Campbell soteriology. Chapter 1 seeks to provide an exhaustive literature review of those works of the proponents of Original Grace in which they discuss the doctrine in order to demonstrate the place of Original Grace within each tradition, and to make specific connections from the ideas of each writer to their respective theological, philosophical, and historical influences. Chapter 2 explores the exegetical basis for the doctrine of Original Grace. The bulk of attention is given to Romans 5:12-21, as the principal passage cited in discussions of the subject, and to the exegesis of Jack Cottrell, who displays the most current and developed version of the doctrine of Original Grace. I seek, primarily, to delve deeply into the text to gain a deeper understanding of the ways in which the doctrine of Original Grace has been extracted from this text, explore the most detailed textual justification that has been provided for the doctrine, and ultimately determine what is at stake in the unique reading of the text that brings out Original Grace. Secondarily, I seek to assess whether the Original Grace interpretation of the passage is successful on its own terms. Chapter 3 aims to make a significant contribution to Stone-Campbell Movement theology, and also contribute to wider contemporary theological conversations from within the Stone-Campbell Movement. Specifically, I seek to discover how the doctrine of Original Grace fares in conversation with other accounts of grace and salvation, both as a potential contribution, and by running the gauntlet of critique within that conversation. The chapter makes this contribution by discussing the theological and practical implications of Original Grace, identifying and analyzing both the doctrine’s theological strengths and weaknesses, describing and evaluating the theological contribution of the doctrine of Original Grace in regard to the three most critical exegetical issues, and assessing the viability of Original Grace as part of the traditional and contemporary Stone-Campbell soteriological system.
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Horton, Michael S. "Thomas Goodwin and the Puritan doctrine of assurance continuity and discontinuity in the Reformed tradition, 1600-1680 /." Thesis, Online version, 1998. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?did=1&uin=uk.bl.ethos.483977.
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Chiu, Shung Ming. "The displacement of subjectivity by particularity and relationality : a study of Colin E. Gunton's critique of modernity in his trinitarian theology of culture." HKBU Institutional Repository, 2001. https://repository.hkbu.edu.hk/etd_ra/365.
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