Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Embodied Superintendence: The Person Of The Preacher In Lutheran Homiletics Especially In Relation To Cultural Identity, Dennis Matyas

Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation

Over the past several decades, the greater homiletical academy has progressed from questions of authority to dialogics to identity, both of the preacher and of the hearers. Within this timeframe, modern Lutheran homiletics has stayed relatively silent on considerations of the person of the preacher, opting instead for certain foundational homiletical truths including the efficacy of the Word of God, the proclamation of justification, and the authority of the Ministerium. After recovering the consideration of the person of the preacher as a foundational Lutheran homiletic, this work explores the formational significance of the preacher’s cultural identity by offering a theoretical …

Behind The Numbers: A Traditional Church Faces A New America, Larry Vogel

Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation

The dissertation examines membership data for The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) from the mid-1970s to the present. It considers the analysis of LCMS decline by two scholars, George Hawley and Ryan MacPherson, who independently proposed that LCMS membership decline was internal in causation due to diminished birthrates and fewer young families. While acknowledging the reality of such internal decline, this dissertation argues that the lack of external growth is a greater cause for LCMS decline. Its lack of external growth is due primarily to the racial and ethnic homogeneity of the LCMS and its failure effectively to evangelize the increasingly …

To The Glory Of God Evaluating Origen’S Exposition Of The Scripture In His Leviticus Homilies, Andrew Johnson

Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation

Johnson, Andrew M. “To the Glory of God: Evaluating Origen’s Exposition of the Scripture in His Leviticus Homilies”. Ph.D. diss., Concordia Seminary, 2022. 237 pp.

Origen has been called “Adamantine,” an impossibly hard metal. Many have found his work to be strong and powerful and equal in its density. Origen’s preaching is almost impenetrable to the Evangelical preacher. This dissertation seeks to offer an entry for modern evangelical preachers to engage with the historic practice of figural exposition in Origen’s Leviticus homilies. The dissertation investigates the interpretative, homiletical and rhetorical histories which intersect in Origen’s homilies. It unpacks Origen’s use …

The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church’S Interpretation Of Ἀναξίως In 1 Cor. 11:27−29 In Relation To Worthy Admission To The Eucharist In Light Of Ritual Jewish Purity Laws Embedded In Its Qeddassé And Tradition, Tibebu Teklu Senbetu Rev. Dr..

Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation

This research examines the interpretation of 1Cor. 11:27−29 and the practice of worthy admission to the Eucharist within the historical context and tradition of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church (EOTC). Christianity in Ethiopia has ancient roots in Judaism and in the apostolic tradition of the early church fathers, whose religious orientation and teaching shaped the church’s history, tradition, doctrine, and religious practices. In particular, we examine the church’s focus on the sanctity of the Eucharist and the acceptable celebration of and participation in the Sacrament by the faithful.

Analyzing the multi-facetted legacies of the EOTC, including Judaism and the early …

Theology Of The Laity: The Lutheran Way, Brian M. Mosemann

Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation

The distinction between the laity and clergy has been a contributing cause of disunity within the church because the clergy and laity are often pitted against one another with one or the other being elevated to the detriment of the other. This problem has plagued the church from the middle ages until the present day. Since the definition of the term “laity” is vacuous, the laity are generally defined relative to the clergy, specifically in reference to their authority and duties. This results in a negative definition when the laity are defined as the opposite of the clergy. The laity …

How Speech Act Theory Can Help Address Problems In Theology And Church Posed By Modern Philosophy, Charles W. Westby

Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation

Westby, Charles W. “How Speech Act Theory Can Help Address Problems in Theology and Church Posed by Modern Philosophy.” Ph.D. diss., Concordia Seminary, 2022. 347 pp.

This dissertation analyzes modern idealism as developed by René Descartes and Immanuel Kant to show how modern philosophy has impacted conservative theology, focusing on the theology of Carl F. H. Henry. The relationship between theology and philosophy is analyzed in terms of foundationalism, using postliberal theological analysis propounded by Hans Frei and George Lindbeck. Speech Act Theory as propounded by J. L. Austin and John R. Searle is used to critique modern idealism in …

A Rank-Based Analysis Of Word Order And Codification In The Greek Of The Pastoral Epistles, James Fickenscher

Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation

The relationship of word order and clausal structures with meaning, literary style, and authorial considerations in New Testament Greek is an often underdeveloped yet important field for reading, understanding, and interpreting the New Testament text. Navigating between a grammatical-historical and historical-critical reading of the New Testament, this dissertation analyzes the phenomena of word order and clausal structures afresh through the lens of systemic functional grammar, following the work of Michael Halliday. This project contributes a preliminary step forward in constructing a method that can account for and understand the purpose of word order patterns and variance from those patterns within …

The Personalization Of American Christianity: Subjective Assurance And The Puritan Conversion Narrative, Curran Bishop

Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation

The North American Puritans introduced a concept that has shaped American theology: a test of subjective assurance as a predicate to communing church membership. While previous Reformed communities had tested would-be communicants in their knowledge of church teaching and their adherence to that teaching in their lives. The New England colonists added a relation of the individual’s experiential conversion. This was intended to protect the purity of the church while also ministering to the individual by encouraging them in their faith by their inclusion in church membership. The results of the test led immediately to declining numbers of adults becoming …

Exodus 18: Its Literary Unity And Its Key Transitional Role In The Exodus Narrative, Noppawat Kumpeeroskul

Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation

This dissertation argues that Exod 18:1–27 functions literarily and theologically as the key transitional midpoint in the Exodus narrative. As such, the chapter’s function is both retrospective (recalling key features of chapters 1–17) and prospective (anticipating key features of chapters 19–40) at the midpoint of the book. The characterization of the chapter’s most prominent figure, Jethro, the priest of Midian, the father-in-law of Moses, offers a first strong indication of the chapter’s retrospective and prospective interest as Jethro and Jethro’s daughter, the wife of Moses, and the sons of Moses reappear in the narrative of the book in this chapter …

Reading The Signs Of The Time: Three Voices In The Confessional Lutheran Church As They Relate To Segregation, Racism, And Apartheid In South Africa From 1900–1978, Christoph Dietrich Weber

Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation

Weber, Christoph, Reading the signs of the time: “Three voices in the confessional Lutheran Church to segregation, racism, and apartheid in South Africa from 1900–1978.” Ph.D. diss., Concordia Seminary, 2022. 425 pp.

According to August Vilmar, reading the signs of the times was an essential task of all pastors and theologians. It was a part of their prophetic task to interpret the world and its context with the word of God and to proclaim the voice of the church in law and gospel. The three theologians analyzed in this dissertation: Karl Meister, Hermann Sasse, and Friederich W. Hopf respected Vilmar …

Exodus 14–15 As An Anti-Baal Polemic And Its Implications For Interpreting Exodus 15:17 And Dating These Chapters, Brent Olson

Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation

Olson, Brent, M. “Exodus 14–15 as an Anti-Baal Polemic and Its Implications for Interpreting and Dating These Chapters.” Ph.D. diss., Concordia Seminary, 2020. 257 pp.

This dissertation seeks to answer the following questions: What is the relationship of Baal-zephon worship and its governing narrative, the Baal Myth, to the accounts of the Sea Event in Exodus 14–15? Secondly, what are the implications of this relationship for interpreting and dating these chapters? Building upon scholarship’s engagement with these questions since the Ras Shamra discoveries, the dissertation makes the case that Exodus 14–15 function in part as an anti-Baal polemic. Four pieces …

From Vice To Virtue: Contours Of Idolatry And New Obedience, Michael Fieberkorn

Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation

Fieberkorn, Michael T. “From Vice to Virtue: Contours of Idolatry and New Obedience.” Ph.D. diss., Concordia Seminary, 2021. 290 pp. What are the specific contours of life lived in accordance with God’s will? That is the primary question this dissertation seeks to answer. Discerning the particular shape of Christian sanctification is difficult. Radical Lutheranism attempts to define sanctification simply as “love,” which lacks the specificity necessary to adjudicate between competing and mutually exclusive claims concerning Christian morality. Theologians attempting to address this insufficiency by incorporating virtue ethics within a Lutheran theological construct must clearly articulate the particularly Christian telos.

Reading …

Christian Identity Meets Identity Politics: A Lutheran Approach To Political Engagement, Michael Hanson

Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation

Identity politics has become a frequently referenced and much maligned term used to describe a trend in political engagement in the early 21^st century. Identity politics is employed across the political spectrum and has critics on both the left and right in the United States. Christian Identity Meets Identity Politics examines the contours of identity politics to understand and consider the concerns which lead neighbors to engage in identity politics, accounts for the needs of those neighbors who are denied God’s gift of justice through the state, considers criticisms leveled against identity politics within the greater view of Western …

Fortuita Misericordia:
 Luther On The Unchosen Figures In The Patriarchal History As Shown In His Lectures On Genesis, Chan-U "Vincent" Kam

Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation

In this study, we attend to Luther’s Lectures on Genesis with a specific focus—Luther’s idea of fortuita misericordiaand his view of the unchosen figures in Genesis, including Cain, Hagar, Ishmael, Esau, and the Egyptians. We suggest that Luther’s use of fortuita misericordia and his treatment of the unchosen exemplify the highpoint of his evangelical theology.

Fortuita misericordia can be understood in two ways, one personal, and another salvation-historical. Regarding the person, fortuita misericordia is part of Luther’s explanation for why God generously spared some from deserved punishment, and instead provided temporal subsistence and blessings. Regarding salvation-history, fortuita misericordiaopens …

Jesus In, With, And Under The Spirit: The Spirit's Presence And Activity In Christ In The Sacrament Of The Altar, Brian A. Gauthier

Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation

Contemporary theological scholarship has seen a turn toward pneumatology and the use of a pneumatological lens for exploring and [re]considering Christian doctrines. Spirit Christology has long been considered the first major, successful work in this movement of scholarship which has come to be called Third Article Theology.

This study proposes to consider the Lord’s Supper pneumatologically through use of a Trinitarian Spirit Christology. Three primary aspects of a traditional account of the Lord’s Supper will be the subject of pneumatological reimagining. Spirit Christology will inquire into the Spirit’s presence and activity in the presence and activity of Jesus through his …

"If You Are Willing To Receive It": The Presentation Of John The Baptist As Elijah In Matthew's Gospel, Aaron Goldstein

Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation

Goldstein, Aaron, J. “‘If You Are Willing to Receive It’: The Presentation of John The Baptist as Elijah in Matthew’s Gospel.” Ph.D. diss., Concordia Seminary, 2021. 214pp.

In Matthew’s Gospel, John the Baptist demonstrates a viewpoint of himself and Jesus, in their respective roles in the in–breaking kingdom of heaven, which is correct, but also insufficient. An exploration is undertaken to better understand this phenomenon.

With John identified in the Gospel as ‘Elijah who is to come,’ Malachian texts concerning expectations for Elijah’s return are examined. From this context, three figures emerge, each with an expected role: ‘My messenger’/Elijah, the …

“I Said, You Are Gods”: Pastoral Motives Manifest In Patristic Citations Of Psalm 82:6, Charles Schulz

Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation

The early church fathers frequently cited Ps. 82:6 (LXX 81:6), “I said, You are gods and all sons of the Most High,” a passage Jesus himself quoted (John 10:34) to defend his own title as the Son of God. Scholars agree that the patristic use of verse underwrote the developing doctrine of deification, which promised that Christians would become “gods” in some sense by bearing God’s image and likeness and participating in Christ and his saving work. In order to deepen and focus our understanding of the significance and role of this passage for patristic theology—and particularly for pastoral practice—this …

Parechesis In The Undisputed Pauline Epistles Definition, Identification, And Discovery, Kevin Gingrich

Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation

Throughout the undisputed Pauline epistles (UPE), the author employs ancient rhetorical figures of soundplay. In particular, this dissertation focuses on a stylistic device known since Homer and named, a century or so after Paul, “parechesis.” Parechesis is sophisticated alliteration and refers to similar sounding words of different lexical roots that lie in some collocation. The device is so pervasive in Paul as to be deemed a defining characteristic of Pauline style.

Life With Yahweh After Death: How The Psalter’S References To Life After Death Cohere, Bill Tackmier

Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation

Tackmier, Bill J. “Life with Yahweh after Death: How the Psalter’s References to Life after Death Cohere.” Ph.D. diss., Concordia Seminary, 2020. 237 pp.

This dissertation demonstrates how seven Psalms passages that refer to life beyond death reflect a single, coherent view of postmortem existence held in ancient Israel. Although it has been argued by some over the past hundred years that four of the passages (Pss 6:6; 30:10; 88:10–12; and 115:17) reflect a time when Israel either did not believe in an afterlife or had a very limited view of postmortem existence, this dissertation argues that the seven passages …

The Sword & The Mask: Toward A Confessional Lutheran Account Of Spiritual Warfare, Jon Furgeson

Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation

Furgeson, Jon C. “The Sword and the Mask: Toward a Confessional Lutheran Theology of Spiritual Warfare.” Ph.D. diss., Concordia Seminary, 2020. pp. "[Number of pages]"

This dissertation, a work in Trinitarian & ecclesial theology, seeks to recover the foundations of a full doctrine of spiritual warfare. Considering seeming disparate voices such as Walter Wink, C. Peter Wagner, John Kleinig, Gustav Wingren, and Leopoldo A. Sánchez, this dissertation asserts a constructive and integrative approach to spiritual warfare wherein the warfare is only enacted by the fallen powers of the sinful nature, the fallen world, and the fallen angels. This warfare is …

Contemporary Confessional Commitment: A Models-Based Approach With A Particular Focus On Global South Lutheranism, Roberto Bustamante

Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation

Bustamante, Roberto E. “Contemporary Confessional Commitment: A Models-Based Approach with a Particular Focus on Global South Lutheranism.” Ph.D. diss., Concordia Seminary, 2019. 297 pp.

Current scholarly research on creeds and confessions is in a paradoxical situation. We live in a golden age of such research because of its growing findings and new contributions, but at the same time we are experiencing what is arguably the deepest crisis in terms of confessional alliance and semantic clarity. Additionally, Global South Lutheranism is in a search of identity and legitimate reasons that may justify ascribing the Lutheran Confessions a relevant role in shaping …

Whither The Body: Using The Church’S Hymnody To Reassert The Hope Of The Bodily Resurrection, Ruth Mcdonnell

Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation

McDonnell, Ruth E. “Whither the Body: Using the Church’s Hymnody to Reassert the Hope of the Bodily Resurrection.” Ph.D. diss., Concordia Seminary, 2019. 216 pp.

Contemporary American cultural narratives of death and life after death are often inconsistent with the biblical doctrine of the resurrection. Indeed, the biblical message can be missed or distorted by these contemporary narratives and the ways metaphor is used to express them. This dissertation asserts that the evocative power of metaphor can be guided by the use of narrative. By applying the biblical narrative, rather than some other narrative, and by connecting the salvation story …

Mission In The Margins: An Emplaced Missional Ecclesiology For The Brazilian Church In Urban Environments, Samuel Fuhrmann

Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation

Fuhrmann, Samuel Reduss. “Mission in the Margins: An Emplaced Missional Ecclesiology for the Brazilian Church in Urban Environments.” Ph.D. diss., Concordia Seminary, 2019. 217 pp.

As the church tries to engage in God’s mission in Brazilian metropolises, it needs to account for the reality of the favelas. Favela is a housing category that refers to an urban built environment where one encounters a rich social, cultural, and spatial diversity, and often the problems of violence and poverty, all of which configure a challenge to the church. How does the church understand this reality? How does urban missional ecclesiology account for …

Purity/Impurity And The Lordship Of Jesus In The Gospel According To Mark, David Issac Lewis

Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation

Lewis, David Issac.

“Purity/Impurity and the Lordship of Jesus in the Gospel according to Mark.”

Ph.D. diss., Concordia Seminary, 2020.

238 pp.

Most modern scholars read purity/impurity to be a major theme in the handwashing controversy of Mark 7:1–23, and the majority further interpret the parenthetical participle clause in Mark 7:19b to indicate that Jesus abrogates the food regulations of Leviticus 11. Many interpreters also detect purity/impurity to be a theme in the three miracle accounts of Mark 1:40–45 and 5:21–43 and in the exorcism accounts. Fewer interpreters, however, read these various accounts together in light of the entire narrative …

Lived Kardecism - A Phenomenological Approach To Understanding Brazilian Spiritism, William Miller

Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation

Miller, William D. “Lived Kardecism: A Phenomenological Approach to Understanding Brazilian Spiritism.” Ph.D. diss., Concordia Seminary, 2019. 327 pp.

This dissertation addresses a problem that faces the researcher of Brazilian Spiritism, namely that there is a need for a particular kind of account that takes the lived experience of religion as its foundation; an account of the lived experience of Spiritists who practice Spiritism as a religion in the Brazilian context and find value in it for their spiritual journey. This study answers the question as to how Spiritists articulate what is spiritual, relate to religion, and experience spiritual significance …

Giftive Dialogue: An Analysis Of The Use Of The Giftive Metaphor In The Pluralist Context Of The Lutheran University Of Brazil, Maximiliano Silva

Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation

Silva, Maximiliano Wolfgramm. “Giftive Dialogue: An Analysis of the Use of the Giftive Metaphor in the Pluralist Context of the Lutheran University of Brazil.” Ph. D. diss., Concordia Seminary, 2019. 189 pp.

Modernity’s secularization project and specific characteristics of Brazilian history have promoted pluralism to the status of a moral demand, especially in the academic context. Such a situation posits challenges and opportunities for ULBRA’s campus pastors. That is so because ULBRA’s chaplains’ pastoral ministry is the most visible and symbolic expression of ULBRA’s confessional identity. Because of the claims made by Christianity, that identity has exclusivist traits. Therefore, it …

A Narrative Inquiry Of The Lived Experience Of Three Female Assemblies Of God Lead Pastors, Ryan Harris

Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation

Harris, Ryan L. “A Narrative Inquiry into the Lived Experience of Three Female Assemblies of God Lead Pastors.” Ph.D. diss., Concordia Seminary, 2019. 396 pp.

This study utilizes qualitative narrative inquiry to examine the lived experience of three female Assemblies of God lead pastors. It does so to investigate the following research question: Given the complex and inconsistent history and present reality faced by women in the Assemblies of God, how do the participants in this study narrate their lived experience as lead pastors in Assemblies of God churches?

To engage in this investigation, the study begins by explaining the …

“Visiting Iniquity Of Fathers Against Sons” In Exodus, Thomas Egger

Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation

Egger, Thomas J. “‘Visiting Iniquity of Fathers against Sons’ in Exodus.” Ph.D. diss., Concordia Seminary, 2018. 665 pp.

In two of the most important passages in Exodus (20:5 and 34:7), Yahweh describes himself as “visiting iniquity of fathers against sons, even against members of the third and fourth generations.” Missing in nearly every treatment of this phrase has been any sustained consideration of the phrase within the context of the Exodus narrative itself. Apart from such interpretive grounding, “visiting iniquity of fathers against sons” has shown itself susceptible to widely varied and contradictory readings and, especially, maximally problematizing readings which …

The Eclipse Of Elegance: Towards A Contemporary Lutheran Aesthetics Of Discipleship, Andrew Whaley

Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation

WHALEY, ANDREW D. “THE ECLISPE OF ELEGANCE: TOWARDS ACONTEMPORARY LUTHERAN AESTHETICS OF DISCIPLESHIP.” Ph.D. diss., Concordia Seminary, 2018. 214 pp.

It is no secret that, from the time of the Reformation Iconoclast controversy through the period of Pietism, and even into the twentieth century, aesthetics has had a troublesome existence in many, if not most, protestant denominations. This, of course, includes my own denomination, The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. In such cases, aesthetics has unfortunately been forgotten, ignored, or viewed with such deep suspicion that its place in theology has been outright denied. The result is that the aesthetic aspect of …

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 …