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The Media Matrix Of Early Jewish And Christian Literature, Nicholas Andrew Elder

Dissertations (1934 -)

This study compares two seemingly dissimilar ancient texts, the Gospel of Mark and Joseph and Aseneth. The former is a product of the nascent Jesus movement and influenced by the Greco-Roman βίοι (“Lives”). It details the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of a wandering Galilean. The latter is a Hellenistic Jewish narrative influenced by Jewish novellas and Greek romances. It expands the laconic account of Joseph’s marriage to Aseneth in Genesis 41 into a full-blown love story that promotes the romantic, theological, and ethical incentives of spurning idols and converting to Judaism. Generically, theologically, and concerning content the two texts …

Hoc Est Sacrificium Laudis: The Influence Of Hebrews On The Origin, Structure, And Theology Of The Roman Canon Missae, Matthew S. C. Olver

Dissertations (1934 -)

One area of study that received a newfound level of attention during the twentieth century’s Liturgical Movement was the relationship between the Bible and liturgy. The Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, Sacrosanctum concilium, highlights the importance and centrality of this relationship, declaring that “[s]acred scripture is of the greatest importance in the celebration of the liturgy” (SC 24). The broad movements of ressourcement and la nouvelle théologie, particularly figures such as Jean Daniélou and Henri de Lubac, emphasized the deep unity between Scripture and the very text of liturgical rites and argued that the liturgy is an expression of spiritual …

Exodus As New Creation, Israel As Foundling: Stories In The History Of An Idea, Christopher Evangelos John Brenna

Dissertations (1934 -)

This study surveys the development of two literary phenomena in early Jewish and Christian tradition. The first is the birth story of a portentous child, exemplified by the birth stories of Moses, Noah, Melchizedek, and Jesus in biblical and Second Temple period literature. The second is the mythical expansion of the exodus tradition, which interprets the crossing of the Red Sea as a recreation of the people of Israel. I examine the appropriation of these two phenomena in the late antique Hellenistic story, Joseph and Aseneth. I contend that (1) the early Jewish birth story paradigm is influenced by the …

The First Thing Andrew Did' [John 1:41]: Readers As Witnesses In The Fourth Gospel, Mark L. Trump

Dissertations (1934 -)

In 1996, Robert F. Kysar identified one of the leading issues that would form scholarly debate regarding the Fourth Gospel for decades to come: whether the Fourth Gospel is designed to strengthen and affirm the faith of those inside a Johannine community (a sectarian document/community) or to bring to faith those who were not yet part of that community (an evangelistic tract/missionary community). The sectarian position, often connected to the work of J. Louis Martyn, Raymond E. Brown, and Wayne A. Meeks, has become the received tradition in Johannine studies. Increasingly, others have called into question not only the results …

Love The Stranger For You Were Strangers: The Development Of A Biblical Literary Theme And Motif, Helga Kisler

Dissertations (1934 -)

The Hebrew Bible recounts the development of Israel’s self-identity as “Strangers and Sojourners” and their relationship with God and other Strangers. A significant passage that connects these relationships says that God “loves the Strangers…You shall also love the Stranger, for you were Strangers in the land of Egypt” (Deut 10:17-19). In the same book that commands love for the Stranger, God tells Israel to separate themselves from foreign nations in the land that they will occupy. In order to investigate an evident disparity concerning the relationship with the Stranger, this dissertation examines the literary motif of the Stranger and the …

Scripture In History: A Systematic Theology Of The Christian Bible, Joseph K. Gordon

Dissertations (1934 -)

This work utilizes advances in philosophical hermeneutics, the historical study of Christian Scripture, and traditional theological resources to articulate a systematic theology of the Christian Bible. Chapter one introduces the challenges of the contemporary ecclesial and academic situations of Christian Scripture and invokes and explains a functional notion of systematic theology as a resource for meeting those challenges. Chapter two examines the use of the rule of faith by Irenaeus, Origen, and Augustine to locate the emergence of Christian Scripture within the faith of early Christian churches. It shows that structured, intelligible Christian belief and thought are developing and operative …

Didymus The Blind, Origen, And The Trinity, Kellen Plaxco

Dissertations (1934 -)

This dissertation reconstructs Didymus the Blind’s theology in On the Holy Spirit as a pro-Nicene response to Origen’s theology of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The study begins by setting Origen’s speculation into a broad framework of schemes of emanation in Christianity and Platonism. I provide an account of Origen’s grammar of participation, which orders the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in a hierarchical series of causes. I show how Origen’s grammar of participation draws on the philosophy of Numenius of Apamea, and I argue that Origen uses his grammar of participation to oppose monarchian theologies that identify the …

Sanctification As Virtue And Mission: The Politics Of Holiness, Nathan Willowby

Dissertations (1934 -)

This dissertation considers the political implications of the doctrine of holiness. I proceed by demonstrating the neglect of holiness in political theology, the viability of the holiness movement as an embodied witness of the political implications of the doctrine of holiness, and a biblical trajectory in Leviticus that extends into the New Testament. I describe this scriptural holiness as vocation for all of God’s people through personal formation and outward societal action to extend God’s holiness. With attention to the approaches of political theology and formation, I demonstrate that the holiness movement of the nineteenth century offers an example of …

Judgment, Justification, And The Faith Event In Romans, Raymond Foyer

Dissertations (1934 -)

In this study, I identify two commonly perceived incompatibilities regarding judgment and justification in Romans. The first is between judgment according to works and Paul’s negative teaching that justification does not come through “works of law” or “works.” The second concerns judgment according to works and Paul’s positive argument that justification comes graciously by faith. I attempt to resolve both of these problems. In the first chapter, I make the case that “works of law” and several similar terms in Romans do not all have the same meaning and do not pose a problem of compatibility. In order to address …

Primeval History According To Paul: "In Adam" And "In Christ" In Romans, Timothy A. Gabrielson

Dissertations (1934 -)

Paul’s comparison of Adam and Christ in Rom 5:12–21 is among the most influential doctrines in the Bible and Christian theology. Often it has been used to summarize God’s purposes in creation and redemption, from humanity’s “fall” in Adam to its restoration in Christ. In the past several decades, however, it has increasingly been seen as provisional and functional because the Jewish writings used to support it have now been dated after the apostle’s lifetime. This study retrieves the traditional position, but does so by appeal to different corpora of Jewish texts, those that are prior or contemporary to Paul. …

Monarchianism And Origen's Early Trinitarian Theology, Stephen Edward Waers

Dissertations (1934 -)

This dissertation unfolds in two parts. In the first, I offer a reconstruction of the core of Monarchian theology using four main primary texts: Hippolytus’ Contra Noetum, Tertullian’s Adversus Praxean, the Refutatio omnium haeresium (often attributed to Hippolytus), and Novatian’s De Trinitate. The Monarchian controversy enters the historical record at the beginning of the third century, but we know little of its origins or motivations. The first part begins with a hypothesis about what might have prompted the rise of Monarchianism. Following that, I give an account of the core of Monarchian teaching using the sources listed above. My account …

The All-Embracing Frame: Distance In The Trinitarian Theology Of Hans Urs Von Balthasar, Christopher Hadley

Dissertations (1934 -)

The notion of distance plays a complex role in Hans Urs von Balthasar’s trinitarian theology. The infinite distance that metaphorically marks out the difference between God and creation serves Balthasar as a negative-theological guard against earthly projections in images of God. But this distance also structures the biblical, ascetical, and phenomenological imagery upon which trinitarian theology so often depends. The infinite distance between Father and Son in the unity of the Holy Spirit structures Balthasar’s richly symbolic vision of a divine infusion of grace into a suffering world. Not only is inner-triune distance a controversial notion, but it strikes some …

"Make My Joy Complete": The Price Of Partnership In The Letter Of Paul To The Philippians, Mark Avery Jennings

Dissertations (1934 -)

My study challenges the consensus that there is no discernable, single purpose that shapes the entire epistle to the Philippians. I argue that Paul writes Philippians with the sole intent of persuading the church to maintain its exclusive partnership with him and his gospel mission. I examine each section of Philippians using standard historical-critical methods, rhetorical criticism, and social-scientific methods. Special attention is given to those passages where the majority of scholars have argued that Paul has changed subjects. The grammatical imperatives (especially those in 1:27; 2:2, 12, 14, 29; 3:17) factor significantly in this analysis. After surveying the scholarship …

From Cleansed Lepers To Cleansed Hearts: The Developing Meaning Of Katharizo In Luke-Acts, Pamela Shellberg

Dissertations (1934 -)

Luke develops the theme of God’s salvation prominently and fully in the Third Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles to mean the deliverance from danger, disease, and death, experienced physically and religiously. Isaiah’s oracles announcing the inauguration of a new era of God’s favor and a salvation reaching to the ends of the earth shape Luke’s vision; their images and vocabulary permeate his thought. For Luke, “cleansing” is a means by which God extends this salvation, and Luke therefore uses cleansing language, in forms of the word katharizō, to mark three specific manifestations of salvation in his accounts of …

Renaming Abraham's Children: Election, Ethnicity And The Interpretation Of Scripture In Romans 9, Robert Bruce Foster

Dissertations (1934 -)

In this study, I attempt to reconstruct Paul's pre-epistolary exegesis of Genesis that I hypothesize lies beneath Rom 9. This exegesis goes beyond the discussion of the patriarchs in Rom 9:6-13 and supports the reconfiguration of God's family in Rom 9:24-29. It enables Paul to view Israel as simultaneously chosen and rejected by God.

Adopting a method from Carol Stockhausen, I offer several criteria to establish this project's legitimacy. The Pauline exegesis that I propose is plausible to the extent that (1) it is rooted in his text; (2) it is historically credible; (3) it illuminates the argument in Rom …

The Septuagintal Isaian Use Of Nomos In The Lukan Presentation Narrative, Mark Walter Koehne

Dissertations (1934 -)

Scholars have examined several motifs in Luke 2:22-35, the "Presentation" of the Gospel of Luke. However, scholarship scarcely has treated the theme of nomos, the Septuagintal word Luke uses as a translation of the Hebrew word Torah. Nomos is mentioned four times in the Presentation narrative; it also is a word in Septuagintal Isaiah to which the metaphor of light in Luke 2:32 alludes. In 2:22-32--a pivotal piece within Luke-Acts--nomos relates to several themes, including ones David Pao discusses in his study on Isaiah's portrayal of Israel's restoration, appropriated by Luke. My dissertation investigates, for the first time, the Septuagintal …

Using "Chaos" In Articulating The Relationship Of God And Creation In God's Creative Activity, Eric Michael Vail

Dissertations (1934 -)

Out of dialogue with Old Testament studies and the sciences, there has been a rise in recent years in the use of "chaos" language by theologians in their articulation of a theology of creation. There has been little uniformity in how the word is used among the fields, or even within some fields—especially by biblical scholars doing ancient Near East comparative studies. Under the umbrella of this popular terminology, some ideas have found refuge whose theological implications warrant evaluation.

Within this dissertation the range of ideas that fall under "chaos" within the physical sciences, Old Testament studies, and theology is …