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The Rhetoric Of Law And The Epistle To The Hebrews, Theodore A. Holt Iv

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Epistle to the Hebrews demonstrates a complex of what scholars label technical legal terms. Enlisting a series of word studies, this thesis attempts to uncover where the author learned the terminology in order to understand more about the anonymous author and the theology of the Epistle to the Hebrews. This thesis examines terms in Heb 2:2-4; 6:13-18; 7:11-19; 8:13; 9:15-18; 10:9.

Disciples, Exorcists, And The Power Of God: Reading Acts 19:1-20 As A Literary Unit, Matthew R. Anderson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Scholars have read Acts 19:1-20 as a combination of stories serving different thematic interests. This has led to much confusion over several details in the text, and readings that follow this pattern miss the larger point Luke is making in this section. Acts 19:1-20 serves as the final scene in a three-part contest between believers and magicians (Acts 8:4-25; 13:4-12; 19:1-20). When one takes Acts 19:1-7 as a part of the larger narrative structure in 19:1-20, one can read the Ephesian disciples as the literary foils of the sons of Sceva. This reading highlights Luke’s overall message about magic in …

The Interaction Of Community Size And Perceived Local Political Efficacy Among Low-Income Individuals, Dylan Allen Brugman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As the world’s population continues to urbanize, urban studies are increasingly important. Studying the social science behind the rise of the city and its effect on various social phenomena should be a priority for scholars in the field of politics, sociology, and communication, because of the reasonable assumption that the environment of the city alters the way that a person engages people and systems within the city. This is especially true for peripheral and marginalized populations that often lack access to the social institutions necessary to improve their livelihoods. Using Diffusion of Innovation and urban studies theories of Anomie, Gemeinschaft …

The Effects Of Alpha Stimulation On Induced Anxiety, Nolan Thomas Hill

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Anxiety is defined as an emotional and physical reaction that prepares us to confront a feared stimulus. Among the many measureable changes induced by anxiety are changes in facial electromyography (EMG), heart rate (HR), and sweat gland activity (EDG). At a pathological level anxiety interferes with cognitive processes. Currently, when anxiety crosses into the pathological level, it is treated with a variety of therapies that share in their use of periods of exposure to anxiety-inducing stimuli. Several devices have been developed to alter brain activity by transcranial electrical stimulation (TCES). One such device, Alpha-Stim^®, has been shown to …

Classical Pentecostal Interpretation Of The Gift Of Discernment From 1914 To 1941, Stephanie Ann Rose

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

From the beginning of the Pentecostal Movement in 1906, Pentecostal meetings were plagued by what they labeled “counterfeit manifestations.” These manifestations were creating negative consequences for the movement and Pentecostals needed a strategy that would identify and eradicate them from their meetings. Because Pentecostalism was in its infancy, it did not have a clear procedure to assist in identifying counterfeit manifestations, to determine how they operated, and/or who or what produced them. Over time they began to form assumptions regarding the operation of counterfeit manifestations and developed several strategies that they hoped would counteract their presence in meetings, one of …

Deification, Friendship, And Self-Knowledge, Matthew Hale

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

How does human friendship contribute to the process of deification? In this thesis, I will argue that a kind of “spiritual friendship” contributes to the process of deification by placing the human agent in a better position for acquiring self-knowledge, and avoiding false beliefs or misunderstandings about the self. This acquisition of self-knowledge is an important part of the deification process, which involves not just a moral and ontological transformation, but an epistemological one as well.

Against Celsus: Piety In Context, Dustin Janssen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores Celsus’s and Origen’s differing understandings of what it means to be “pious” (ὅσιος). Celsus conceived of tradition as the norm for determining piety. On the other hand, Origen maintained that the true norm was found in the Logos and Wisdom of God—i.e., Jesus. This dichotomy of understanding is consistent with the backdrop of the religious revolution happening in the Roman world during the early centuries CE proposed by scholars like Guy Stroumsa.

While this thesis does not aim to prove or fully expound on the religious revolution, it will use the shift in religious thought as a …

The Beauty Of Enjoyment: Aesthetics In Ecclesiastes, Mark Andrew Crumbliss

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is an attempt to discover what Qohelet may have had in mind when he used the term "yapeh" Qohelet does not present his theory of aesthetics in an overt way, but it may be possible to infer what he could have in mind via analysis of his text. Beauty for Qohelet is something that he experiences firsthand, rather than a concept or principle one could memorize and then have at one's service, such as a mathematical concept "2+2-4." Beauty for Qohelet is something which comes from God, but it appears that God gives the gift of beauty to …

A Spectacle For Angels And For People: A Translation And Analysis Of Jacob Of Serug's Homily On The Prophet Hosea, Shelby D. Green

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Sometime around the turn of the sixth century, the Syriac speaking Jacob of Serug preached a sermon (memra) to his congregation on "Hosea and the Two Wives He Took." Since God's strange command to marry a prostitute does not fit well into proper theology, the book Hosea has not been traditionally popular preaching material, and there are almost no other sermons on the book of Hosea from the first five centuries. Though we have a handful of ancient commentaries on Hosea, they do not go much deeper into the story of Hosea than discussing the problem of whether Hosea married …