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Paul's Attitude Towards Empire, Matthew Kwabena Appiah

Master's Theses

The concept of imperialism has come to stay in the study of Paul and his letters. However, does contextual analysis of his selected texts support such claims of him being anti-imperial? Various arguments arise to challenge Paul to have used hidden codes and imperial ideology to counter the imperial propaganda of the Roman empire of his day. However, contextual analysis of Paul and his letters suggest otherwise. His pastoral care duties, coupled with a desire to win his natives, namely, the Jews, to accept Jesus Christ as the messiah prophesied in the Old Testament is key in his letters. Proponents …

Mashiah: Messianism In Jewish Apocalyptic Literature Of The Second Temple Period, Fred R. De Leon

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

This Thesis challenges notions that have dominated biblical scholarship for more than a hundred years. Up until the end of the twentieth century scholars uniformly believed that the concept of a suffering Messiah was not part of early first century CE Judaism. It was believed to a be a Christian creation. There is however startling evidence of messianic precursors to Jesus, including one who is introduced as the 'Prince of the Congregation' in recently published fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls. This is not surprising since the authors of the Tanakh lay the groundwork for an evolving and malleable concept …

Alexander The Great And The Rise Of Christianity, Stephen M. Girard

Honors Projects

Alexander the Great and the Rise of Christianity focuses on the political, mythical, and philosophical connection between Alexander the Great's life and the beginnings of early Christianity. The first chapter of the text focuses on an analysis of mythical conceptions of Alexander the Great as “Son of God” as well as cultural perceptions of him as “Philosopher King” and cosmopolitan, and how these portraits of Alexander were influential for Christianity. The second chapter analyzes Alexander’s relationship with the Jewish people, and his appearances in the Old Testament apocalyptic Book of Daniel. The last chapter discusses Alexander’s relationship with Christianity itself, …

The Removal Of Sin In Second Temple Jewish Literature, Odiaka Walker

Master's Theses

Problem

This thesis explored the Second Temple literary background of the concept that Jesus appeared at the end of the ages to take away sin, in Heb 9:26. As such, the research question which guided the paper was: what did Old Testament and Intertestamental writers believe about the removal of sin at the end of the ages? The answer to this question infers other questions: who would remove sin? From where would sin be removed? How was sin defined? How would sin be removed? When would sin be removed (are there time specifications involved)?

Method

The terms ἀφαιρέω, ἀφίημι, ἀπαλείφω, …

My Eyes Have Seen Your Consolation_ Παρακλησις In Luke-Acts, Alexandre Vieira

Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation

Vieira, Alexandre Teixeira. “My Eyes Have Seen Your Consolation: Παράκλησις in Luke-Acts.” Ph.D. diss., Concordia Seminary, 2018. 216 pp.

Luke describes Simeon as a faithful Jew who was “awaiting the consolation of Israel.” Many interpreters say that this description conveys Luke’s idea that there is a separate hope for the nation of Israel, which would be made manifest at some point in the future when the Messiah would bring about political deliverance for them. Others argue that, although Luke himself did not think that was the case, Simeon and other Jews in Luke’s narrative did, but the narrative Luke writes …

The Motif Of The Messiah In Zechariah 9-14, Caroline Stanke

Master's Theses

Topic

Zechariah 9-14 is full of prophecies regarding the coming of the messiah. The Jews at the time of Jesus awaited a messiah different from the one that came but how so? Did they misunderstand the prophecies or, by any chance, were the prophecies not clear enough?

Purpose

Firstly, it will be given an overview of the Book of Zechariah. Then, the messianic prophecies in Zechariah 9-14 will be examined closer and how they fit into the context of the prophets, the book of Zechariah, and the different chapters. An analysis of the similarities and differences will be written afterwards. …

Messianic Allusions Of Zechariah 13:6 Revisited, Ingram London

Papers

This study seeks to demonstrate that the best way to understand Zech 13:6 is to locate the text within the larger structure of Zechariah in relation to parallel passages and the theological center of the larger context combined with careful textual analysis reveals that the text does indeed have at the very least messianic applications if not direct allusions whether primary or secondary.

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 …

The Trajectory Of The "Warrior Messiah" Motif In Scripture And Intertestamental Writings, Sook-Young Kim

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate the continuity/discontinuity between the Testaments with the Warrior Messiah motif as a test. The intertestamental writings (IW) were also included with their interpretive role to assess the continuity. The approach of "canonical biblical theology" was adopted as the methodology.

The findings of chapter 2 on the OT show: the core messianic ideas already existed from the beginning, rather than gradual developments; earlier biblical material forms the background of the later ones, and not the surrounding ANE texts; the nature of the warfare is universal and cosmic; the divine Warrior fights the antagonistic …

The Lamb Of God Image Of Christ In Revelation, Donald Fitzner

Master of Art Theology Thesis

The identification of Christ as the Lamb of God provides great potential for comfort to God's people. Although this designation of our Lord Jesus Christ occurs only twice in Holy Scripture, I a shortened version, the Lamb, is used extensively in the book of Revelation as one of His titles. While there is much debate as to the origin and precise meaning of this term, there is a significant amount of scriptural background that provides a context for understanding this title of the Lord Jesus.

The prominence of lambs in the sacrificial cultus of the Old Testament' prefigures the presentation …

Was Jesus The Priestly Messiah A Study Of The New Testament's Teaching Of Jesus' Priestly Office Against The Background Of Jewish Hopes For A Priestly Messiah, Jonathan Grothe

Doctor of Theology Dissertation

Thus, on a narrower scale, this study aims to test an hypothesis in one area of New Testament Christology and to present conclusions regarding it. Since the question involves also the relationship of Judaism to the New Testament, this study also aspires to make a contribution to the ongoing task of methodically examining and carefully describing that relationship. Inasmuch as a major section of the study deals with the Epistle to the Hebrews, it also includes among its goals the attempt to add to the current discussion of the proper background and purpose of Hebrews.

As an historical and exegetical …

The Messianic Concept In The Testaments Of The Twelve Patriarchs Compared With The Messianic Concept In The Gospel According To Matthew, Theodore Eisold

Bachelor of Divinity

My intention in undertaking this project is to thoroughly investigate the possibility of any connections between the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs and the Gospel according to Matthew. Since the milieu of the New Testament era has produced not only our Scriptures, but also a number of other documents which have influenced and were influenced by the Scriptures; and since the Testaments appear to be a Jewish document while Matthew’s Gospel is the more "Jewish" of the Gospels, there seems to be a good possibility that there is a relationship between the two documents which, we feel, might prove helpful …

A Brief Survey Of Some Modern Views Of The Historical Development Of The Kingdom Of God Concept In The Old Testament, Karl Koslowsky

Bachelor of Divinity

The mission of the church today is to proclaim the Kingdom of God and the extension of God's rule to the entire world. In order to better understand the task of the Church the author attempted in this thesis to make a historical investigation, and sketch the growth of the concept of the Kingdom of God.in the Old Testament. How did the idea of a Kingdom of God originate in the Old Testament? What did the common people believe about the Kingdom of God? In what manner did the concept of the Kingdom change during the ages? What was the …

The Meaning Of The Passion In The Light Of The Word Pictures Used By Jesus, Arthur F. Gronbach

Bachelor of Divinity

Since these word pictures were taken from the heritage of the people of His day and therefore had a certain meaning before Jesus used them, it appears a fair inference that Jesus Himself had a definite purpose in using precisely the terms that He did. Undoubtedly He intended to convey a special meaning to His disciples through those terms. The discovery of that meaning should help illuminate Jesus' passion for us. This thesis, then, will attempt to answer two questions. First, what was there in the meaning of those expressions that caused Jesus to use them in predicting and describing …

The Nature And Purpose Of Our Savior's Miracles, Carl E. Mehlberg

Bachelor of Divinity

If we wish to know someone, we must study both his words and his actions. Since we cannot read his mind, we can only analyze what we can see and hear in order to learn who and what he is. From this it becomes evident, that the Person of Christ, Who and What He is, is involved in the question of miracles and their authenticity. They were, as St. John tells us, recorded to prove that Jesus "is the Christ, the Son of God". (Jn.20,31). If they are false, so also is Christ. He then becomes nothing more than an …

The Genealogies Of Jesus Christ In Matthew And Luke, Theodore Schubkegel

Master of Sacred Theology Thesis

For centuries scholars have recognized that the genealogies of Christ in Matthew and Luke, present problems. Each genealogy has its own problems. But the biggest problem is to harmonize the two genealogies.

The Theology Of The Psalms Of David, Paul G. Bretscher

Bachelor of Divinity

This thesis is an attempt to reconstruct from the poetry of David the chief articles of his religious creed.

The presentation of this subject is limited in several ways. In the first place, only those Psalms are included, which are stated in the Hebrew text to have been composed by David.

Christ, The Prophesied Suffering Servant Of Isaiah 53, Rudolph Rehmer

Bachelor of Divinity

In the following thesis it will be the writer's purpose to focus the light entirely upon Christ as the subject of Isaiah 53. In so doing, he has undertaken to trace the life and work of Christ as drawn in the Gospels and the epistles to show how He is the exact reproduction of the Suffering Servant.

The Servant Of The Lord In Isaiah Fifity-Three, John Paul Uhlig

Bachelor of Divinity

Who is meant in chapter fifty-three? Critics have split into many camps. Some hold that Isaiah is speaking of all Israel; some, that he designates only the pious in Israel; while certain ones hold that the prophet is speaking of some individual. The Christian Church has, however, from the very beginning held that Isaiah is speaking of the Messiah. And that this is the true interpretation is pointed out at length in the following chapters. In one section of sixteen verses the evangelist of the Old Testament points a picture of the work of Christ. His humiliation is stressed as …