Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Critiquing The Soul Of White Supremacy And The Spiritualities Of Whiteness: Narrative And Everyday Praxis, Dean J. Johnson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation argues that whiteness and the oppressive structures it creates are maintained, managed, and justified by the religio-cultural tools of white Christians in greater Fort Wayne, IN. This dissertation studies the relationship among the repertoires of white Christians, racism, and white privilege by analyzing the life narratives of selfidentified white Christians. I have divided this work into two parts. Part one, comprising Chapters One and Two, outlines the frameworks, theories, and methods I use to analyze the life narratives of the white Christians that I interviewed. In Chapter One I focus on how my research builds on and contributes …

Chosen Nation: Biblical Theopolitics And The Problem Of American Christian Nationalism, Braden P. Anderson

Dissertations (1934 -)

Christian theopolitics presupposes that every salvation narrative entails a politics, and that every politics presumes a story of salvation. This means that the church faces a host of theopolitical structures contending with the Christian story for the allegiance, formation, and identity of Christians. However, theopolitical scholarship has largely overlooked or misunderstood one of the church's major challenges today: nationalism. Moreover, this scholarship is unable to properly address the challenge of nationalism due to an inadequate engagement with biblical theopolitics--particularly that of Old Testament Israel--which, in distorted form, is central to nationalism emanating from within the church.

In order to supplement …

Visionary Ascents Of Moses In Pseudo-Philo's Liber Antiquitatum Biblicarum: Apocalyptic Motifs And The Growth Of Visionary Moses Tradition, Kristine Johnson Ruffatto

Dissertations (1934 -)

This dissertation explores the development of visionary Moses tradition from its origins in the Hebrew Bible through pro-Mosaic Second Temple literature and rabbinic texts. It demonstrates that throughout this variegated literature, there is a developing tendency to portray Moses as an apocalyptic seer. In the non-biblical Mosaic texts that were analyzed, Moses' revelation on Sinai and Nebo is increasingly invested with esoteric content, and Moses' ascents are often depicted as heavenly journeys. These revelatory developments have conceptual roots in alternative visionary traditions, notably Enochic lore. The texts investigated contain a discernible thread of dialogue with Enochic revelatory claims; Moses' ascents …

Isaac Of Stella, The Cistercians And The Thomas Becket Controversy: A Bibliographical And Contextual Study, Travis D. Stolz

Dissertations (1934 -)

Isaac of Stella (ca. 1100-ca. 1169), an English-born Cistercian and abbot, has been dwarfed by Bernard of Clairvaux and other of his twelfth-century Cistercian contemporaries in terms of literary output and influence, giving him a reputation as an elusive and marginal figure. Isaac's 55 sermons and two treatises are modest compared to the productivity of other monastic writers and his position as the abbot of an obscure monastery in western France has not helped to raise his visibility among the luminaries of the twelfth century. He is remembered as a mysterious and often tragic figure in the annals of history. …

The Integration Of The Volga Germans Into American Lutheranism, Richard Allen Davenport

Master of Sacred Theology Thesis

This paper traces the incorporation of Lutheran Volga Germans arriving in this country between 1870 and 1910 into American Christianity and identifies factors in their affiliation with American church bodies. It analyzes whether Lutheran bodies identified the Volga Germans as a distinct ethnic group among German immigrants in America and recognized the specific challenges and adaptations necessary to work among them. Where Volga German congregations were established, the factors which decided joining one denomination over another are explored. Specific theological, ecclesiastical, and cultural issues that determined whether a group of Volga Germans aligned with one church body versus another are …

Problems In A Movement-Towards A Mutual Hierarchy Social Model Of The Trinity, Jeffrey Dukeman

Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation

Dukeman, Jeffrey, A. “Problems in a Movement: Towards a Mutual Hierarchy Social Model of the Trinity.” PhD diss., Concordia Seminary, 2010. 241 pp.

Many chief adherents of a social model of the Trinity, which posits community as the ultimate ontological category in Trinitarian discourse, exhibit a hierarchy-equality polarity or tension in various aspects of their Trinitarian thought. Typically, social Trinitarians “resolve” this tension by emphasizing or choosing one side of the polarity, either hierarchy or equality, over the other. This results in an inadequate accounting for full sociality among the divine persons, where such sociality requires, among other things, both …

“Made In Each Other:” John Scottus Eriugena’S Conception Of The Human Person As A Unifying Vocabulary For Trinitarian Metanarrative And Anticartesian Phenomenology, Carey B. Vinzant

Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation

Vinzant, Carey B. “Made in each Other: John Scottus Eriugena’s Conception of the Human Person as a Unifying Vocabulary for Trinitarian Metanarrative and Anti-Cartesian Phenomenology.” Ph.D. diss., Concordia Seminary, 2010. 260 pp.

This study sets forth an account of the human person, drawn primarily from the thought of John Scottus Eriugena, which integrates the metaphysical account of personhood set forth by Trinitarian theology (especially John Zizioulas) with the phenomenological one set forth by certain Anti-Cartesian philosophers (especially John Macmurray, Martin Buber, and Gabriel Marcel). These two schools of thought have in common the conviction that uniqueness and relation to other …

Dancing With Heretics: Essays On Orthodoxy, Questioning And Faith, Darren M. Edwards

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

While much has been written about the conflicts, supposed or actual, between logic and faith, science and religion, few accounts of the personal turmoil these conflicts can cause exist. Likewise, many of these nonfiction accounts are written from a distinctly polarized place leaning either to science or faith.

In this thesis, I mix research and history with memoir and a sense of poetry to explore my personal experience with this conflict. At its outset, I hoped for this project to capture my struggle as an orthodox member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) in dealing with …

A Comparative Analysis Between A Preacher's Practice And Homiletic Theory, Curtis Castillow

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This qualitative research compared the practice of an expert preacher to core concepts in homiletic theory (the art and craft of preaching), searching for discrepancies between what theory suggested and what the preacher practiced. It also sought to validate that the preacher practiced what homiletic theorists prescribed and to inform homiletic theory by describing strategies he employed unlike those espoused in homiletic theory.

To discover whether the participant's practice was congruent with theory, I first identified seminal theories. They were classified into the following modified version of Broadus's categories of ideal preaching: (a) content, (b) arrangement, (c) introduction,transition, and conclusion, …

Diabolical Ventriloquism: A Case Study In Rhetorical Transcendence With C. S. Lewis’S Infamous Imp Screwtape, Daniel J. Coyle

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Most religious discourse is predicated on the assumption that our choices in life have eternal implications. For those who subscribe to a belief in an afterlife, rhetoric which exploits eternity to form attitudes and induce actions can be especially persuasive. This study performs a detailed analysis of a particularly compelling case of the rhetoric of eternity during the twentieth century: C.S. Lewis‘s fictional demon Screwtape. In The Screwtape Letters and ―Screwtape Proposes a Toast,‖ Lewis offers readers an eternal, though diabolical, perspective of the ―modern‖ intellectual climate during the twentieth century. By puppeteering a demon in prose, Lewis satirically lampoons …

The Ascension Of Yahweh: The Origins And Development Of Israelite Monotheism From The Afrasan To Josiah, Andrew Halladay

Pomona Senior Theses

INTRODUCTION: THE SEARCH FOR THE GOD OF ABRAHAM TEXT AND HISTORY: THE FORMATION OF THE ABRAHAMIC DEITY Recent years have seen substantial changes in the study of ancient Israelite religion. These changes have created ample work for scholars of religious studies and related fields as virtually all disciplines have something to say about recent archaeological and scholarly developments concerning Yahwism and its early development. In this scholarly milieu, it is difficult to present anything that is wholly new, but certainly possible to enter a spirited discourse about ancient questions. To discuss the origins and evolution of the Abrahamic deity—as I …

The Body As Symbol: Bringing Together Theories Of Sex/Gender And Race For Theological Discourse, Patricia Lewis

Dissertations (1934 -)

This dissertation focuses on race and sex/gender as critical theological topics that are not being adequately addressed in most theological discourse. This project presents a tool to establish better theological discourse about the body that takes the specifities of race and sex/gender into consideration and brings them together in theological anthropology.

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 …

Word And Faith In The Formation Of Christian Existence: A Study In Gerhard Ebeling's Rejection Of The Joint Declaration, Scott A. Celsor

Dissertations (1934 -)

In 1998, the theologian Gerhard Ebeling helped to initiate a rancorous, public debate among theologians in Germany over whether the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification presents "a consensus in the basic truths of the doctrine of justification" by co-editing the famous letter of protest. Why would he want to do this? The fact that some argue he held a distinguished position in ecumenical circles during the 1950s and 1960s makes this question somewhat intriguing. Moreover, how will this opposition impact the continuation of ecumenical discussions between Lutherans and Catholics?

Through a comparison of the Joint Declaration and the …

The Noetic Paschal Anthropos: Genesis 1:27 And The Theology Of The Divine Image In Early Paschal Literature, Dragos Andrei Giulea

Dissertations (1934 -)

This study examines the theme of the heavenly Anthropos in the earliest extant paschal writings: Melito's Peri Pascha, Origen's Peri Pascha, and Pseudo-Hippolytus's In sanctum Pascha. Instead of analyzing these materials through the prism of such classical images as sacrifice and divine Lamb, the study investigates them through the perspective of the categories of heavenly Man and divine Image. The particular method of the study will be tradition criticism and will envision the paschal tradition of the heavenly luminous Anthropos as a development of the theophanic traditions of the Jewish Second Temple. Echoing such ancient passages as Genesis 1:27, Ezekiel …

I Am Black And Beautiful: An Examiniaton Of The Black Coptic Church As The Manifestation Of Liberation Theology, Leonard Mckinnis

Dissertations

What does the Black Coptic Church have to offer the study of Black theology? This is the essential question this dissertation seeks to examine through a descriptive and constructive analysis. I submit the doctrinal formulation of black liberation theology is locatable within the Black Coptic Church, which was founded, and still boasts its largest membership in Chicago. This is the tradition that has informed my own faith background and has played a tremendous role in my earlier theological convictions. In fact, I was attracted to this tradition as a young child because it seemed to offer its adherents a sense …

Agape And Personal Knowledge, Peter Eric Bergeron

Dissertations

The aim of this dissertation is to explore the connection between love and personal knowledge and what Jesus' life and teaching reveal about the relationship between these. I want to distinguish that form of love or caring that makes relationships personal from those forms, like benevolence or compassion, where the concern is impersonal. It is commonly thought in contemporary Western culture that the autonomy necessary for mature moral agency or for the realization of one's unique personal identity is diminished by the influence of other persons. In contrast, I argue that the relational image of love, or agape, in the …

Baptist Sacramental Theology: A Covenantal Framework For Believer Baptism, Brandon C. Jones

CTS PhD Doctoral Dissertations

A recent resurgence of Baptist works that defend sacramental theology has revived the mid-twentieth-century debate among Baptists over the meaning of baptism. Just as the mid-twentieth-century generation of Baptist sacramentalists struggled to get other Baptists to accept their views, the problem remains today that most Baptists do not and will not seriously consider Baptist sacramental theology. The purpose of this dissertation is to help solve this problem by presenting a historically informed systematic theological defense of covenantal sacramentalism, which uses covenant theology to enhance a sacramental theology of baptism. This dissertation argues that the covenantal view of Baptist baptismal sacramentalism …

"You Alone Are God" A Canonical Reading Of Psalm 86., Elizabeth Kao Holmlund

CTS Master of Theology (ThM) Theses

Canonical readings of the biblical psalms have become increasingly popular of late and represent a positive trend away from fragmentation of the Psalter into its "original" and component parts and towards greater recognition of the value of the Psalter's final form and its theology. However, the methods and parameters of a canonical approach to the psalms require further definition. An exegetical methodology incorporating a wide variety of methodological tools alongside a canonical approach was thus proposed and subsequently tested on Psalm 86. The unique features of Psalm 86—its attribution to David (in a book of the Psalter with no other …

Ecology And Theology In Dialogue : Death And Resurrection From An Ecological And Theological Perspective, Elizabeth Mcduffie

Master of Arts Theses

No abstract provided.

The Doctrine Of The Holy Spirit In The Major Reformed Confessions And Catechisms Of The Sixteenth And Seventeenth Centuries, Yuzo Adhinarta

CTS PhD Doctoral Dissertations

With the rise of Pentecostalism in the early twentieth century and the charismatic movement from the middle of the century until recently, a resurgence of interest in the Holy Spirit and Christian spirituality in both theology and the church's life has become evident. Along with the increase of interest in the doctrine of the Holy Spirit in the twentieth century, there are criticisms of the treatment of the doctrine in church history, including in the Reformed tradition, for having neglected the Holy Spirit in both theology and the church's life. These criticisms have helped to incite a burgeoning interest in …

Emil Brunner's Theological Contribution To The Concept Of Divine Action., James Norman Mayer

CTS PhD Doctoral Dissertations

Through a careful examination of Emil Brunner's theology, this dissertation shows that when the concept of divine action is be examined in the context of the nature and work God the idea that God acts can better understood. After a brief introductory chapter, chapter 2 argues that contemporary discussions surprisingly fail to consider what God does and what God is like as possible resources for making sense of problems associated with the concept of God's activity. This chapter also suggests that a model of divine action should take into account the means, manner, effect, purpose, extent, and degree God's activity. …

Entering Into The Profound Mystery: Yves Congar’S Via Media On The Salvation Of People Of Non-Christian Religions, Elizabeth M. Cunneen

School of Theology and Seminary Graduate Papers/Theses

The twenty-first century Catholic Church is in the process of understanding its relation to the Second Vatican Council. Yves Congar, one of the most influential theologians at the council, had a theological career spanning over fifty years, and his theological insights remain pertinent to contemporary historical and cultural concerns. This paper describes Yves Congar’s particular ecclesiological, pneumatological and Christological insights in response to the question of the salvation of people of non-Christian religions. Congar seeks to find a via media, or middle way, which denies two extreme perspectives, one of which holds that explicit non-Christians are not saved, and …

Trinitarian Christology: The Grammar Of The Christian Faith And The Foundation For A Theology Of Religious Pluralism, Eric Christensen

School of Theology and Seminary Graduate Papers/Theses

This essay explores the interaction of George Lindbeck’s cultural-linguistic model of religious knowledge and Jacques Dupuis’ trinitarian Christology as a model for a theology of religious pluralism. The goal is to provide a basic overview of how the work of these two thinkers might work together to articulate a theology of religious pluralsim. In summary, a cultural-linguistic model does not provide conclusions in advance for the theology of religions. Rather, it allows a freedom in which to explore how doctrines might be formulated in order to remain true to the inherited tradition, to contemporary religious experience, and to the situation …

The Israel Of God: A Literary-Historical And Sociological Examination Of Paul's Use Of Israel, Thomas Joshua Whitley

MA in Religion Theses

This paper attempts to test the hypothesis that the meaning of the term "Israel" actually was open to debate and that Paul was not the only one who defined "Israel" in such a way as to endorse a particular understanding of the term. This paper further examines whether there was literary precedence for Paul's use of Israel. These claims are examined how the use of "Israel" expanded during the relatively short period of time between the appearance of post-exilic Israelite literature and Paul's writings. This is accomplished by citing various examples of Jewish and Christian literature during this time period.

Divination In 1 Samuel 28 And Beyond: An African Study In The Politics Of Translation, J.Kabamba Kiboko

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines the language of divination in the HB, particularly in 1 Samuel 28:3-27--the oft-called "Witch of Endor" passage. My thesis is that much of the vocabulary of divination in this passage and beyond has been mistranslated in authorized English and other translations used in Africa and in scholarly writings. I argue that the woman of Endor is not a witch, which is a label that has a long negative social history and has often led to violence against those so labeled. The woman of Endor is, rather, a diviner, much like other ancient Near Eastern and modern African …

Burdens Of Disclosure: A Pastoral Theology Of Confidentiality, Virginia R. Morgan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Receiving confidential disclosures can create burdens for pastoral care providers. This dissertation presents a study of pastoral confidentiality and the burdens associated with receiving confidential disclosures based on interviews with thirteen pastoral providers, a review of historical, legal and pastoral care literature. A thematic analysis of interviews identified three types of burdens associated with receiving confidential disclosures: 1) professional burdens associated with clarifying norms and standards for pastoral confidentiality in light of collegial, denominational and congregational norms; 2) ethical burdens created when the ethical value of pastoral confidentiality comes into conflict with another significant ethical value; and 3) structural burdens …

Glimpses Of Heaven Among Friends: The Utilization Of Film To Draw Interest In Small Group Studies At The First Baptist Church Of Albemarle, Roger William Thomas

Doctor of Ministry Projects

A small group study about heaven in scripture and contemporary film was developed in order to create interests in small groups. Believing small groups, discussions of the after life, and the power of storytelling are affirmed throughout scripture, individuals were recruited and led through the study. Surveys measured opinions on heaven and small groups among the entire congregation and the small group participants. Following the study, the participants were surveyed one final time on both subjects. Ultimately the study did not always change minds with concern to the afterlife, but the overall opinions of small group experiences seemed to be …

Calvin's Defense And Reformulation Of Luther's Early Reformation Doctrine Of The Bondage Of The Will, Kiven S. Choy

CTS PhD Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation finds that Calvin's reformulation of the doctrine of free choice reflects his convictions of the early Reformation heritage, his learning of the tradition from the early church fathers and especially from Augustine, the influences generated by his continuous dialogues with the development of the formulations among the Reformers in the second phase of the Reformation, and his personal theological convictions. Calvin formulated his defense as a Reformer of the second phase of the Reformation defending the early Reformation formulation set by Luther. The early Reformers used various necessitarian arguments to argue their cases. The Reformers in the second …

Things Hold Together John Howard Yoder's Trinitarian Theology Of Culture, Branson L. Parler

CTS PhD Doctoral Dissertations

Theologies of culture often focus on either Christ or creation as their primary source, to the exclusion of the other. At best, this approach is incomplete because it does not account for the continuity between creation and redemption. At worst, it posits a divide not simply between Christ and creation, but between persons of the Trinity, presuming contradictory moral and cultural norms issuing from different persons of the Trinity. John Howard Yoder is often depicted as a representative of a Christocentric and creation-deficient approach to culture. Against that faulty representation, this dissertation argues that Yoder advocates a Trinitarian theology of …