Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Image And Virtue In Ambrose Of Milan, Andrew Miles Harmon

Dissertations (1934 -)

This dissertation analyzes Ambrose of Milan’s trinitarian theology and doctrine of human action and argues that a visual logic—that works disclose nature—animates both. Ambrose’s trinitarian theology, on the one hand, trades in scriptural proofs that emphasize the tangible works (opera) of the Son as relevatory of his divinity and indicative of his shared, invisible power with the Father. While Ambrose differs from his Latin and Greek predecessors, he takes up controverted texts in his Christological reflection, many of which are borrowed from anti-monarchian and anti-homoian debates in the several generations prior. To show Ambrose’s consonance with the pre- and pro- …

Creator Spirit, Spirit Of Grace: Trinitarian Dimensions Of A Charitological Pneumatology, Wesley Scott Biddy

Dissertations (1934 -)

This dissertation takes up the question of the link between the creative and the redemptive work of the Holy Spirit. It presents creation as ordered to redemption and redemption as the completion of creation, especially for human beings. On the understanding of the relationship between the two orders of the Spirit’s activity proposed here, creation is of a piece with redemption and is therefore an operation of grace just as the latter is. I ground my depiction of the Spirit’s role in both aspects of the divine economy in an account of her role within the immanent Trinity. Indeed, this …

Truly Human, Fully Divine: The Kenotic Christ Of Thomas Aquinas, Gregorio Montejo

Dissertations (1934 -)

Thomas Aquinas’ mature Christology, developed primarily during his second and final Parisian residency in the years 1269 to 1273 is notable for—among other things—its increasing focus on explicating and defending the full humanity of the incarnate Son. In several important works that Thomas undertook during this period, particularly the Tertia Pars of the Summa Theologiae, and Quaestio Disputata De unione Verbi Incarnati, an early Christian hymn preserved in Paul’s Epistle to the Philippians, 2:6-11, with its emphasis on the Son’s kenosis or ‘self-emptying,” the assumption of a human nature whereby the pre-existent Word comes to subsist in the “form of …

From Modes Of Production To The Resurrection Of The Body: A Labor Theory Of Revolutionary Subjectivity & Religious Ideas, Benjamin Suriano

Dissertations (1934 -)

In this dissertation I attempt two needed tasks within historical materialism: first, to reestablish the standpoint of labor as the normative basis for critical theory beyond irrational bourgeois categories, and second, to show that labor’s own self-mediating rationalization, if it is to move beyond these contradictory categories, necessarily requires a certain religious-utopian consciousness. The dominant Weberian and Marxist paradigms for understanding labor and its relation to the religious variously perpetuated irrational bourgeois conceptions of labor as a bare efficient cause, with religion paternalistically positioned as an inherently idealist or mystifying external form. I argue, however, that the concrete rationality of …

No Sympathy For The Devil: The Significance Of Demons In John Chrysostom's Soteriology, Samantha Lynn Miller

Dissertations (1934 -)

This dissertation is a study of John Chrysostom’s demonology as it relates to his theological anthropology and soteriology. Demons run rampant in Chrysostom's thought, though few scholars have taken note of this. Studies of Chrysostom often focus on his exegetical practices, his asceticism, or his social vision and morality. Indeed, many scholars dismiss Chrysostom as unsophisticated and therefore of little value in the landscape of fourth-century theology. In analyzing Chrysostom’s demonology, we see that Chrysostom’s thought is complex and worth further consideration. One cannot treat demons in Chrysostom’s work without treating other theological topics as well. When Chrysostom discusses demons …

The Mystical And Political Body: Christian Identity In The Theology Of Karl Rahner, Erin Kidd

Dissertations (1934 -)

Jesuit theologian Karl Rahner (1904-1984) is well known for initiating the turn to the subject in Catholic theology. The heart of Rahner’s theological reflection is the experience of God as encouraged by Ignatius of Loyola’s Spiritual Exercises. In questioning how the subject experiences God, Rahner develops a theological anthropology that attempts to elucidate the original unity of spirit and matter. As he argues, the human being is “spirit-in-world,”—the one who actualizes her transcendence in space and over time. While Rahner’s readers have been quick to draw out the implications of the subject as spirit, they have been less attentive to …

Kierkegaard In Light Of The East: A Critical Comparison Of The Philosophy Of Søren Kierkegaard With Orthodox Christian Philosophy And Thought, Agust Magnusson

Dissertations (1934 -)

This project presents a comparative philosophical approach to understanding key elements in the philosophy of Søren Kierkegaard by juxtaposing his works with the philosophy and theology of the Eastern Orthodox Church.. The primary aim of the project is to look at three key areas of Kierkegaard’s philosophy that have been either underrepresented or misunderstood in the literature. These three areas are: Kierkegaard’s views on sin and salvation, Kierkegaard’s epistemology, and Kierkegaard’s philosophy of personhood. The dissertation ends with an epilogue that briefly explores a further area where this comparative approach might provide fruitful results, namely Kierkegaard’s views on collective worship. …

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 …

Gary Dorrien, Stanley Hauerwas, Rowan Williams, And The Theological Transformation Of Sovereignties, David Wade Horstkoetter

Dissertations (1934 -)

Christianity’s political voice in US society is often situated within a simplistic binary of social justice versus faithfulness. Gary Dorrien and Stanley Hauerwas, respectively, represent the two sides of the binary in their work. Although the justice-faithfulness narrative is an important point of disagreement, it has also created a categorical impasse that does not reflect the full depth and complexity of either Dorrien’s or Hauerwas’s work. Their concerns for both justice and faithfulness differ only in part because of their different responses to liberalism and liberal theology. Under all those issues are rival accounts of relational truth that indicate divergent …

The Word Became Flesh: An Exploratory Essay On Jesus’S Particularity And Nonhuman Animals, Andy Alexis-Baker

Dissertations (1934 -)

In this exploratory work I argue that Jesus’s particularity as a Jewish, male human is essential for developing Christian theology about nonhuman animals. The Gospel of John says that the Word became “flesh” not that the Word became “human.” By using flesh, John’s Gospel connects the Incarnation to the Jewish notion of all animals. The Gospel almost always uses flesh in a wider sense than meaning human. The Bread of Life discourse makes this explicit when Jesus compares his flesh to “meat,” offending his hearers because they see themselves as above other animals. Other animals are killable and consumable; humans …

The Conceptual Priority Of The Perfect, Matthew Peter Zdon

Dissertations (1934 -)

The doctrine of the conceptual priority of the perfect (CPP) is the claim that the concept of the perfect is prior to that of the imperfect insofar as possessing the latter presupposes a grasp of the former, but not vice versa. The goals of this study are to provide an account and defense of the Cartesian argument for CPP, to determine the consequences of this priority for the relationship between our concepts of human and divine properties, and to explore its implications for bottom-up accounts of theological concept formation. I argue that the predicates “perfect” or “infinite” in Descartes’ version …

Renovatio: Martin Luther's Augustinian Theology Of Holiness (1515/16 And 1535-46), Phillip L. Anderas

Dissertations (1934 -)

In this book I argue that much of mainstream Luther scholarship (and Lutheran theology) is quite wrong to think that Martin Luther downplayed, denied, derided, or just plain ignored “the holiness without which no one shall see the Lord” (Heb. 12:14). In fact, from the first inklings of his “Augustinian turn” c. 1514 to his death in 1546, Luther held and taught a robust theology of progressive renewal in holiness, carefully calibrated to the sober reality of residual sin and the astonishing gospel of grace in Jesus Christ. As it is set forth in the works that embody his most …

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 …

The Kingdom Of God And The Holy Spirit: Eschatology And Pneumatology In The Vineyard Movement, Douglas R. Erickson

Dissertations (1934 -)

This dissertation explores the relationship between eschatology and pneumatology in the Vineyard movement. The Vineyard movement is a growing expression within the evangelical Protestant tradition that seeks to combine the core doctrines of Evangelicalism with the experience of the gifts of the Spirit that is often associated with Pentecostalism. As a relatively new faith expression, the Vineyard has not received a great deal of academic interest, and thus much of its core theological commitments have not yet been explored. I shall argue that the central theological distinctive of the Vineyard is their understanding of the inaugurated, enacted, eschatological kingdom of …

Mary's Fertility As The Model Of The Ascetical Life In Ephrem The Syrian's Hymns Of The Nativity, Michelle Weedman

Dissertations (1934 -)

My thesis is that Ephrem uses Mary's pregnancy in his Hymns on the Nativity both as a model for the ascetical life and as a way of explaining, theologically, what it means to be a Christian ascetic. For Ephrem, Mary is the first to have her body transformed through the union of Christ and humanity, a transformation that prefigures both the resurrected body and the common Christian experience of Christ prior to that. Thus, the fact that Mary was physically pregnant is theologically significant for Ephrem. Mary's personal and free response to God's invitation uniquely illustrates that the transformative experience …

"Now These Things Happened As Examples For Us" (1 Cor. 10:6):The Biblical-Narrative Depiction Of Human Sinfulness, Stephen Frederick Jenks

Dissertations (1934 -)

For several decades voices from various sectors of Christianity have decried the loss of compelling language for sin. The atrophying of sin language is of no small moment due to the organic connection between theological loci. Sin talk relates to salvation-talk, human-talk, and Christ-talk. Further, the loss of compelling sin language threatens to silence the church's voice in the culture.

Both classic and contemporary theologies of sin, pursuing the essentialist methods of the past, attempt to define sin and derive the fullness of the doctrine of sin from these distillations. However, many of these renderings of sin are insufficiently attentive …

Stabilitas In Congregatione: The Benedictine Evangelization Of America In The Life And Thought Of Martin Marty, O.S.B., Paul Gregory Monson

Dissertations (1934 -)

Historians and theologians commonly overlook how the Benedictine revival of the nineteenth century arose not only in Europe but also in the United States. Monks from Bavaria and Switzerland looked to America as a providential setting for restoring the Benedictine Order to its original glory through missionary activity. As missionaries, their vision manifested a reinterpretation of the Benedictine tradition and its principle of stability. Embodying this vision was the life and thought of Martin Marty (1834-1896), a Swiss-Benedictine monk who became the first abbot of St. Meinrad Abbey in Indiana and later a missionary and bishop in Dakota Territory. Despite …

Love For God And Earth: Ecospirituality In The Theologies Of Sallie Mcfague And Leonardo Boff, Rebecca A. Meier-Rao

Dissertations (1934 -)

This dissertation examines the theologies of North American Ecofeminist Sallie McFague and Latin American liberation theologian Leonardo Boff in order to answer the question - What are the features of a Christian spirituality capable of helping people to clear vision, transformation and hope in this time of socio-ecological crisis? In the sixth chapter I also briefly engage the work of Carmelite contemplative Constance FitzGerald, as she both reinforces and deepens the theologians' answer to the above question.

The dissertation begins with a short explanation of the interlocking ecological and social crises, and offers a basic understanding of Christian spirituality as …

"A Spreading And Abiding Hope": A. J. Conyers And Evangelical Theopolitical Imagination, Jacob Shatzer

Dissertations (1934 -)

In this work I argue that A. J. Conyers provides a promising example for countering various weaknesses in evangelical theopolitical imagination. I make this argument in two ways. First, I provide a critical reading of Conyers's overall scholarly project, seeking to understand it in its own context and in conversation with other scholars. In particular, I draw on the influence of Jürgen Moltmann, Johannes Althusius, Eric Voegelin, the Southern Agrarians, and Richard Weaver on Conyers's thought. I then focus on Conyers's political theology, exploring how he diagnoses the modern world and what he proposes for remedies. I explore Conyers's political …

"Heavenly Theologians": The Place Of Angels In The Theology Of Martin Luther, Christopher J. Samuel

Dissertations (1934 -)

This dissertation examines a virtually untouched aspect of Martin Luther's theology: his angelology. Specifically, it argues four main points: that Luther does, over his corpus, present an angelology; that his angelology is indebted to and in conversation with the prior theological tradition; that his concern with the angels is evident throughout his career; and that his major angelological concerns are pastoral in nature. Furthermore, it presents Luther's answers to four basic angelological questions: 1) what are the angels?; 2) what is the angels' role in Creation?; 3) what is the nature of their relationship with humanity?; and 4) what is …

The Word Is An Angel Of The Mind: Angelic And Temple Imagery In The Theology Of John Mansur, The Damascene., Elijah Nicolas Mueller

Dissertations (1934 -)

This dissertation looks at the scriptural images of angel and temple, as they occur in key works by John Damascene: on the Heresies, chapter 100 "On the Ishmaelites;" Three Treatises on the Divine Images, and on the Orthodox Faith. Angelic and temple imagery forms an important core which holds together liturgy, ascesis, and theophany. These types of images constitute a consistent mode for understanding theology and anthropology. As part of revelation, they are important in the early Islamic context. Angel and temple imagery were used by John Damascene to push back against Islamic revelation claims and Islamic challenges to the …

Receptive Ecumenism And Justification: Roman Catholic And Reformed Doctrine In Contemporary Context, Sarah Timmer

Dissertations (1934 -)

Receptive Ecumenism is a reassessment of the ecumenical process, in light of the remaining challenges and difficulties faced by ecumenists. It recognizes that ecumenism might need to adjust to the complex diversity of the Christian church today, especially amidst a culture that no longer sees diversity as a negative thing. The goal of traditional ecumenism, visible unity through theological and ecclesiological convergence, is put aside in favor of an ecumenism of mutual enrichment and self-examination. The Catholic-Lutheran Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification is an example of traditional ecumenism. This dissertation examines some strengths and weaknesses of the Joint …

Transcending Subjects: Hegel After Augustine, An Essay On Political Theology, Geoffrey J.D. Holsclaw

Dissertations (1934 -)

From where do political reformers and radicals come who are willing and prepared to challenge the status quo? Where are people formed who are capable of initiating change within a political system? Some worry belief in transcendence closes off authentic political engagement and processes of transformation. Others think that a transcendent orientation is the only means to protect and promote a more free and just society. Some see a positive commitment to transcendence as inimical to democratic practices, while others see such a commitment as indispensable for such a project. These general issues concern transcendence, immanence, and subjectivity as they …

Rediscovering Sabbath: Hebrew Social Thought And Its Contribution To Black Theology's Vision For America, Christopher Taylor Spotts

Dissertations (1934 -)

Black Theology has made extensive use of the Exodus narrative for making its theological and ethical claims. It has served to demonstrate God's concerns for liberation both within history and eschatologically. However, the Sabbath and Jubilee laws of the Hebrew Scriptures have been underutilized as sources of social ethical critique. Sabbath and Jubilee together were a unique way of life and an implicit social ethical system established by Israel in response to their slavery and oppression in Egypt. It is Sabbath and Jubilee that reveal Israel's response to God's liberative act, and demonstrates the way in which they understand what …

Circumcision Of The Spirit In The Soteriology Of Cyril Of Alexandria, Jonathan Stephen Morgan

Dissertations (1934 -)

In this dissertation I argue that Cyril of Alexandria's interpretation of "spiritual circumcision" provides invaluable insight into his complex doctrine of salvation. Spiritual Circumcision - or Circumcision by the Spirit -- is a recurring theme throughout his extensive body of exegetical literature, which was written before the Nestorian controversy (428). When Cyril considers the meaning and scope of circumcision, he recognizes it as a type that can describe a range of salvific effects. For him, circumcision functions as a unifying concept that ties together various aspects of salvation such as purification, sanctification, participation, and freedom. Soteriology, however, can only be …

The Church As Symbolic Mediation: Revelation Ecclesiology In The Theology Of Avery Dulles, S.J., Abraham B. Fisher

Dissertations (1934 -)

This dissertation examines closely the theology of Avery Dulles, S.J., arguing that when Dulles' symbolic-mediation theology of revelation is viewed through the lens of his sacramental ecclesiology, there emerges an ecclesiology that recognizes and emphasizes the revelatory nature of the church. This study constructs this "revelation ecclesiology" by bringing Dulles' signature theologies of the church and revelation into conversation.

At the intersection of those two theologies stands the reality of symbol - a defining characteristic for both the theology of the church as a sacramental reality and the theology of revelation as an event of divine self-communication. The study begins, …

Toward A Renewed Theological Framework Of Catholic Racial Justice: A Vision Inspired By The Life And Writings Of Dr. Arthur Grand Pré Falls, Lincoln Rice

Dissertations (1934 -)

Catholic theological thought in the field of racial justice has evolved considerably during the 20th century--and even more so over the past twenty years. I analyze changes in Catholic racial justice concerning the use of black Catholic sources and the role for African American Catholics in working toward a more racially just society. In order to properly critique and augment more recent developments in the field of Catholic racial justice, this work retrieves the life and writings of Dr. Arthur Grand Pré Falls (1901-2000), a black Catholic medical doctor who worked ceaselessly for racial justice within the Catholic, political, educational, …

Emerging In The Image Of God: From Evolution To Ethics In A Second Naïveté Understanding Of Christian Anthropology, Jason Paul Roberts

Dissertations (1934 -)

Through a careful integration of theological, philosophical, and the natural scientific sources, the biblical concepts of the image of God and the knowledge of good and evil have the potential to remain important and appropriate descriptors of the human condition, including the possibility and necessity of human morality. This study employs French philosopher Paul Ricoeur's notion of "second naïveté" understanding to demonstrate the hermeneutical significance of contemporary biocultural evolutionary theory for reinterpreting and reappropriating these ancient symbols of Christian anthropology as terms equipped to encapsulate a morally fruitful and intellectually honest conceptual framework for constructing, conducting, and evaluating theological anthropology …

Isaac Of Nineveh's Contribution To Syriac Theology: An Eschatological Reworking Of Greek Anthropology, Jason Scully

Dissertations (1934 -)

This dissertation responds to an explicitdesideratum from Robert Beulay, who, in his book La Lumière sans forme, calls for a presentation of Isaac's thought with special attention to his sources.

Contrary to the belief of older scholarship, I conclude that Isaac's anthropology and eschatology are much more than a Syriac repetition of Greek Evagrian thought; rather, they are influenced by John the Solitary, a Syriac author who has received less scholarly attention. Although Isaac refers to Evagrius, as well as Pseudo-Dionysius and Pseudo-Macarius, to define specific terminology, the influence of John the Solitary permeates all areas of Isaac's thought.

The …

Christological Name Theology In Three Second Century Communities, Michael D. Harris

Dissertations (1934 -)

This dissertation seeks to consider the possible backgrounds for second century Christian name theology, the distinct regional applications of "Name" theology to Christology, and also to compare Rome, Syria, and Alexandria to one another and reveal how that application was different in each of the three regions. In order to understand the backgrounds for this theological idea, the first three chapters investigate the variety of theological uses of the word "name" in the Hebrew Bible, in other Jewish literature, and in the New Testament. The three communities are represented by 1 Clement and Shepherd of Hermas from Rome, Ascension of …