Systematic/Doctrinal Theology Commons^™

A Critical Examination Of Key Claims Karl Rahner Makes About His Thesis Of The Anonymous Christian, Brantly C. Millegan

School of Divinity Master’s Theses and Projects

An anonymous Christian, according to Karl Rahner, is someone who does not profess the Christian faith, perhaps even denying the existence of God, and yet is nonetheless justified by the grace of Christ. Rahner argues that there is no room for doubt among Catholic theologians that anonymous Christians can exist, that they do exist, and that in fact the vast majority of people in the world (if not all people) are anonymous Christians. He cites the teachings of the Second Vatican Council in support of his claims, though he concedes that his thesis cannot be found in divine revelation. In ...

"Jesus Thrown Everything Off Balance": Grace And Redemption In Flannery O'Connor's "A Good Man Is Hard To Find", Abbie C. Harris

Papers & Publications: Interdisciplinary Journal of Undergraduate Research

By creating flawed, hypocritical, and sometimes mad characters, Flannery O’Connor demonstrates the religious decay of the South in her short story “A Good Man is Hard to Find.” While they appear to be quite different on the surface, Grandma and The Misfit are both the same at the core: sinners in need of Christ’s redemption. The Misfit is blatantly sinful and enraged at the concept of God’s grace, and Grandma masks her sinfulness with respectability and chooses to treat God as something that she can accept or ignore depending on her situation, a common practice of “good ...

Irenaeus Of Lyons: A Defense Of Recapitulation, Mathew Thomas Hollen

Seminary Masters Theses

Abstract This work sets out to explain the atonement theory of Irenaeus of Lyons. Irenaeus’ atonement theology is often described simply as “Christus Victor” but I argue that is simply a narrow sliver of the wider atonement theory of recapitulation. In this thesis I systematically try to expound what it is Irenaeus believed and why he believed it. In the first chapter I explain the problem at hand and a short biography of the bishop. In the second chapter I seek to summarize the Gnostic school of Valentinianism, which is the key opponent against Irenaeus writes in his best-known work ...

The Relationship Between Scripture And Tradition According To The Council Of Trent, Matthew L. Selby

School of Divinity Master’s Theses and Projects

On April 8, 1546, the Council of Trent in its Fourth Session on Scripture and Tradition decreed, “This truth and rule [of the Gospel] are contained in written books and [et] in unwritten traditions.” With this dogmatic statement, Trent affirmed that the Gospel (i.e. revelation) is contained in both Scripture and Tradition, in contradistinction to the Protestant claim that it is contained in Scripture alone (i.e.sola scriptura). Yet, the decree remained rather ambiguous on exactly how revelation is contained in both of them, begging the question of what the Council affirmed, if anything, about the nature of ...

To The Jew First: A Socio-Historical And Biblical-Theological Analysis Of The Pauline Teaching Of `Election' In Light Of Second Temple Jewish Patterns Of Thought, Anthony Thornhill

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Paul's "doctrine" of election has remained a controversial and enigmatic topic for centuries. Few studies, however, have approached Paul's doctrine through the context of Second Temple Judaism. This study examines Paul's view of election through the lens of Second Temple Jewish texts written prior to 70 CE. In doing so, it is argued that the best framework through which to view Paul's discussion of election is through a primarily corporate model of election. While such a model is rooted in Judaism, Paul departs from his Jewish contemporaries in arguing that the locus of election is in ...

The Passible Potter And The Contingent Clay: A Theological Study Of Jeremiah 18:1–10, John C. Peckham

John C. Peckham

No abstract provided.

Creating In Our Own Image: Artificial Intelligence And The Image Of God, Noreen L. Herzfeld

Theology Faculty Publications

There is remarkable convergence between twentieth-century interpretations of the image of God (imago Dei), what it means for human beings to be created in God's image, and approaches toward creating in our own image in the field of artificial intelligence (AI). Both fields have viewed the intersection between God and humanity or humanity and computers in terms of either (1) a property or set of properties such as intelligence, (2) the functions we engage in or are capable of, or (3) the relationships we establish and maintain. Each of these three approaches reflects a different understanding of what stands ...

The Postmodern Church, Timothy C. Lawless

Senior Honors Theses

Within the past twenty years, the Church (especially in America) has experienced dwindling membership and attendance, along with a host of other problems. Many of these problems are symptomatic of a massive cultural shift toward postmodernism, leading to discontentment with the Church. In attempting to respond to these challenges, the emergent Church has arisen as a major element of American religious culture. Their methodology and doctrine is heavily influenced by postmodernism, which presents a further challenge for Christian leaders and ministers. This paper will survey the challenges facing the Church, will describe the emergent Church’s origin and response to ...

Gustavo Gutierrez's Understanding Of The Kingdom Of God In The Light Of The Second Vatican Council, Victor Figueroa-Villarreal

Dissertations

The proclamation of the Kingdom of God has been reformulated in every age and interpreted accordingly with regard to time and place. Traditionally within Roman Catholicism the Kingdom of God was identified with the church. This view produced a triumphalist attitude within the Roman Catholic Church. The Second Vatican Council brought a new attitude of openness toward the modern world, and with it the council opened the door for Roman Catholic liberation theologians to look for new ways to find what they regarded as the just solutions to the problems of Latin America.

The purpose of this research is to ...

The Christ Hymn Of Colossians 1:15-20: Drawing From The Wisdom Tradition In Hellenistic-Judaism, Leonard W. Andrie

School of Divinity Master’s Theses and Projects

The focus of this thesis is to explore whether the author of Colossians 1:15-20 strategically appropriated language and concepts typically employed to depict Wisdom in the Hellenistic-Judaic tradition and adapted it to give expression to his faith in the supremacy and sufficiency of Christ. While most biblical scholars agree that Col. 1:15-20 reveals at least some linguistic and conceptual dependence upon the role of Wisdom in the Wisdom literature, they disagree about the extent of such dependence. For example, whereas theologians such as Gordon Fee emphatically deny any linguistic and conceptual ties between the two, other authors such ...