Digital Commons Network^™

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 …

"Religion, Culture, And The Monstrous: Of Gods And Monsters"[Review]/Mikles, Natasha L., And Joseph P. Laycock, Eds, Nathaniel Gibbs

Andrews University Seminary Studies (AUSS)

This is a book review by Nathaniel Gibbs.

"God's Obedience": A Linguistic And Narrative Exploration Of The Hebrew Idiom In 1 Kings 17:22 And Its Theological Implications, Oliver Glanz, Jonatas Leal

Andrews University Seminary Studies (AUSS)

This article explores a particular sentence in the first resurrection narrative of the Bible: “And the LORD obeyed Elijah” (1 Kgs 17:22a). Before the widow’s son returns to life, the prophet calls YHWH to perform a miracle. Subsequently, and surprisingly the narration reports that the LORD obeyed. In contrast to the Hebrew of the source text, we argue that modern Bible translations do not render 1 Kgs 17:22a (וַיִּשְׁמַ֥ע יְהוָ֖ה בְּקֹ֣ול אֵלִיָּ֑הוּ) correctly. Instead of translating “The LORD listened to the voice of Elijah” (NRSV), “The LORD heard Elijah’s cry” (NIV), or “The LORD answered Elijah’s prayer” (GNB), one …

“Nebuchadnezzar, My Servant”: A Reexamination Of The Honorific Title “Servant Of The Lord"”, Ian S. Reyes

Andrews University Seminary Studies (AUSS)

Moses, David, and Joshua are all designated the honorific title “servant of YHWH” in the HB. Even a cursory reading of the HB texts involving these figures would leave little surprise as to why they are bestowed this exclusive moniker. There are only ten individuals who are given this title in the MT, and of these ten, the majority of them do not raise questions, except one—the sixth-century Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar. Some have argued that his inclusion in this list is a result of a scribal error, or that it is limited in scope, as only a description of function. …

Application Of The Term Frequency-Inverse Document Frequency Weighting Scheme To The Pauline Corpus, Brandon Van Der Ventel, Richard Newman

Andrews University Seminary Studies (AUSS)

The term frequency--inverse document frequency (TF-IDF) weighting scheme is applied to the text of the thirteen epistles traditionally associated with the Apostle Paul. The data for the analysis is the morphologically tagged text of the Society for Biblical Literature’s Greek New Testament. The TF-IDF scheme is then used to construct the Document Term Matrix (DTM) for a corpus under consideration. The DTM allows each document to be represented by a multi-dimensional document vector. A query document is then chosen and a vector representation of it is constructed. The cosine similarity between the query document and documents in the corpus is …

Perspectives On New Testament Textual Criticism [Review] / Epp, Eldon Jay, Jonathan A. Campbell

Andrews University Seminary Studies (AUSS)

This is a book review by Johnathan Campbell.

"The Antichrist Tradition In Antiquity: Antimessianism In Second Temple And Early Christian Literature" [Review]/Kusio, Mateusz, Rodrigo Galiza

Andrews University Seminary Studies (AUSS)

This is a book review by Rodrigo Galiza.

Deification Or Demonization: Jesus’ Post-Resurrection Body In Luke 24:36-40, Shannon Dugger

Pursuit - The Journal of Undergraduate Research at The University of Tennessee

There has been much scholarly debate about the mythological category of Jesus, arguing that the Lucan portrayal of his post-resurrection body aligns either with Roman-period beliefs about ghosts or resurrected gods. This paper examines Greco-Roman ghost stories, apotheosis narratives, and academic work from both sides of the debate pertaining to Luke 24:36-401 in an attempt to better understand why the passage resists categorization. The paper also introduces theories of liminality and anomy to explain the possible ambiguity in the gospel’s portrayal of Jesus’ body. The paper concludes that Luke 24 is neither clearly a ghost story nor a deification story. …

An Exegetical And Phenomenological Study Of 1–3 John As A Model For Developing Biblical Community Through Spiritual Leadership Practices, Joseph Pastori

PhD in Organizational Leadership

Pastors and church leaders have been trusted with the New Testament responsibility of building biblical community characterized by koinonia. For contemporary pastors, this means developing this community while addressing internal conflicts and an increasing level of opposition from a post-Christian societal culture. The leadership approach of the Apostle John and the biblical principles in the epistles of 1–3 John serve as a model for building and maintaining biblical community while addressing internal and external challenges. Spiritual leadership theory (Fry, 2003) and organizational culture (Cameron & Quinn, 2011; Schein, 1986, 1990) provide valid theoretical constructs that are compatible with the Scriptural …

An Exploration Of The Role Of Vulnerability In Ministerial Leadership: A Qualitative Examination Of John 13 As Lived Experience In Contemporary Ministry, Lance L. May

PhD in Organizational Leadership

When leaders experience personal failures, it often causes negative repercussions across an entire organization, and Burns (1978) noted that devastating leadership failures had become increasingly common at the close of the 20th century. Leadership failures have continued to be a prominent problem, and the failures of ministry leaders are just as prevalent and devastating (Shaw, 2006). Brown (2015) concluded that vulnerability is a powerful tool for maintaining trust and integrity for leaders, followers, and entire organizational cultures. This study centered on both the role of vulnerability exemplified by Jesus in John 13 and the lived experiences of Christian ministry leaders. …

Restoration Quarterly: Vol. 64, No. 3

Restoration Quarterly

No abstract provided.

Secrets And Watchers: A Markan Demonology, Christopher W. Peters

Liberty Theological Review

Mark’s use of a secrecy motif is well known to commentators. This article explores the messianic secret by analyzing its most common violators, the demons of the Gospel of Mark. Mark’s various exorcism accounts function to provide a working demonology of the Evangelist, and this biblical theology is correlated with other extant Second Temple Period Jewish literature, primarily 1 Enoch and its Watchers tradition. Mark relies upon both Leviticus and the Book of Watchers to describe the function and identity of demons, explaining their own supernatural knowledge of the identity of Christ, knowledge which necessitates his commands to keep silent. …

An Examination Of Biblical Archaeology’S Impact On Exegetical And Theological Method With Attendant Case Study, Donald C. Mcintyre

Liberty Theological Review

The chief concern of this paper is to examine how one can integrate archaeological data into the exegetical and theological processes so that one might profitably learn how to understand and rightly apply the text. This paper will argue that archaeology informs the exegetical process through providing historical and literary context to the study of the Bible when properly understood, and that it can also be useful in the theological process as one seeks to rightly integrate illumination from other sources. After an analysis of how archaeology can be rightly integrated in the exegetical and theological processes the paper will …

An Evaluation Of 2 Peter As A Testament, Joel Thomas

Liberty Theological Review

The authorship of 2 Peter is one of the most disputed areas of NT studies. There are many facets to this issue. This paper will address the contention by many scholars that 2 Peter is testamentary in nature and is therefore pseudepigraphal. The various testamentary genres will be analyzed for characteristics, and then those characteristics will be compared to 2 Peter to determine whether 2 Peter is testamentary in nature and the likelihood that it is pseudepigraphal. The conclusion of this study is 2 Peter does not meet the characteristics of any testamentary genre and that it is in fact …

The Reconciliation Of Future Israel In Romans 9–11, Kent T. Maitland

Liberty Theological Review

This paper contends that supersessionism does not adequately understand the soteriological concept of reconciliation as it applies specifically to Israel because it does not correctly understand the apostolic hermeneutic. Reconciliation refers to the ending of hostility between two parties, which encompasses the removal of the root cause of the enmity in order to effect a change in their relationship from “enemy” to “friend.” While reconciliation describes the work of salvation accomplished in Christ for all humanity, it takes on additional significance when applied to Israel. In Romans 9–11, Paul highlights Israel’s enmity with God, God’s provision for removing the enmity’s …

Three Reasons To Praise The Creator From Psalm 8: A Biblical Theology With Attention To Intertextuality, Donald Mcintyre

Liberty Theological Review

Psalm 8 serves as the first creation hymn of the Psalter, and as such is worthy of an exegetical and theological analysis. This analysis will begin with an exegesis of the text, since exegesis rightfully precedes theologizing.[1] The exegesis will include a translation, examination of the historical and literary contexts, the genre classification, structure, and discussion of the literary features with special attention given to parallelism and conclude with a brief exposition. After the requisite exegetical analysis has been completed, a theological synthesis will be commenced progressing from the psalms location in its microstructural setting to its use in …

Junia As A Female Apostle In Romans 16:7 : A Literature Review Of Relevant Sources From 2010 To Present, Matt H. Hamilton

Liberty Theological Review

Ever since Bernadette Brooten’s seminal article in 1977, there has been a heated (and sometimes violent) debate over the identity and function of Junia(s) in Rom. 16:7. While recent years have seen tentative consensus in certain areas, such an outlook belies the deep and nuanced arguments which still exist. This essay will attempt to address a hole in the literature, namely a comprehensive review of the Junia debate since 2010. It will do this by cataloguing the discourse into four categories: the Name-Gender Debate, the Syntax-Grammar Debate, the Rhetoric-Context Debate, and the Apostleship Debate. After this analysis, comments will be …

Guided By The Spirit: A Comparative Study Of The Ministry Of Reverend Seen-Ok Ahn With Paul’S Mission In Light Of Acts 16:6-15, Hongyeol Kim

College of Theology and Ministry Dissertations, Projects, & Theses

Acts 16:6-15 records Paul’s second missional journey begins with the divine guidance. By obeying the Spirit, Paul went to Macedonia where he never planned to go to preach the Gospel. Back then, a man was led by the Spirit in an unanticipated way. About two thousand years later, a similar event happened to a woman, Rev. Seen-Ok Ahn. By the guidance of the Spirit, Ahn went in a direction she had not previously planned, and expanded the Kingdom of God in South Korea. Thus, how can contemporary Christians understand the divine guidance of Spirit based on these two experiences?

The …

Tools For Salvation, Sahmyja Jones

XULAneXUS

Poverty and oppression are elements of society that have persisted through different vehicles of power and dominance. In the contemporary situation, we suffer from forms of hierarchy that are not wholly new, as we exist in a global society that utilizes classical theological frameworks that perpetuate the subjugation of certain groups of people. Theologians have crafted theories and concepts to address these conditions, however, these concepts seem incomplete or contradictory in completing the task on their own. By combining some of these frameworks with concepts from critical theorists, we can generate stronger and more holistic models that address the conditions …

Strickland's "Is It Abuse? A Biblical Guide To Identifying Domestic Abuse And Helping Victims" (Book Review), Jaclyn Lee Parrott

The Christian Librarian

No abstract provided.

Cambron's "Niv Verse Mapping Bible" (Book Review), Alec K. Ellis

The Christian Librarian

No abstract provided.

Mohler's "Niv Grace & Truth Study Bible" (Book Review), Gary Averill

The Christian Librarian

No abstract provided.

Dzubinski And Stassons' "Women In The Mission Of The Church" (Book Review), Karen Keesing

The Christian Librarian

No abstract provided.

Smith's "Mind The Gap: Reflections From Luke's Gospel On The Divided City" (Book Review), Leslie Starasta

The Christian Librarian

No abstract provided.

Nguyen's "What Does The Bible Say About Strangers, Migrants, And Refugees?" (Book Review), Hannah Loewen

The Christian Librarian

No abstract provided.

God And Satan: A Look At Martin Luther’S Titles For Satan And What They Reveal About The Relationship Between God And Satan, Alexandria M. Shick

Master of Art Theology Thesis

Shick, Alexandria M. “God and Satan: A Look at Martin Luther’s Titles for Satan and What They Reveal About the Relationship Between God and Satan.” M.A. Thesis, Concordia Seminary, 2022 87 pp.

The relationship between God and Satan is complex and intertwined. There is a tendency in Christianity to overemphasize Satan’s power and his place in the realm of evil and in so doing neglect and disregard what it means for God to be truly omnipotent. Luther understood Satan as being under God’s will, only having the ability to act where, when and how God allowed or permitted. The complex …

God’S Plan For Life: Training Drill Sergeants To Better Serve Their Neighbor By Developing Moral Character Utilizing The “Transformational Moral Leadership” Model, Matthew Christensen

Doctor of Ministry Major Applied Project

Instances of moral failure within the U.S. Army raises the question of whether an individual’s character may be developed and improved by utilizing a moral decision-making process. If so, is it possible to measure this improvement? From a Lutheran perspective, is it possible to improve moral character without appealing to the boundaries provided by God’s Word and a Christian community influencing the spiritual dimensions of one’s life.

This project set out to build upon an eighteen-hour Transformational Moral Leadership training model being utilized to strengthen the moral character of drill sergeants at Fort Benning, Georgia. The project allowed me as …

Straining Forward To What Lies Ahead: Models Of Patristic Contemplation, Joshua Vanderhyde

Master of Sacred Theology Thesis

Vanderhyde, Joshua S. “Straining Forward to What Lies Ahead: Models of Patristic Contemplation.” Thesis, Concordia Seminary, 2022. 111 pp.

As secularization sharpens the contrast between Christian belief and western culture, many Christians are looking for ways to take a more active and intentional approach to the struggle to be conformed to Christ. The Church Fathers offer a unified theory of Christian spirituality, grounded and structured by the concept of contemplation—a theory of perception widely held in the ancient world and integral to diverse systems of thought, including Neoplatonism. In this thesis, the concept of contemplation is elucidated as a theory …

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 …

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 …