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The Predestination Debate: A Harmony Of Corporate Election And Individual Election, Bradley Smith

Senior Honors Theses

The topic of predestination has been discussed throughout church history in the work of men like Augustine, Pelagius, Calvin, Arminius, and Barth. Corporate election seeks to reconcile some problematic areas of Calvinistic and Arminian theology by arguing that in the same way that God chose the nation of Israel through His election of Abraham, so He also chose the Church through His election of Jesus Christ. Despite this view’s seemingly convincing evidence, Scripture points far beyond its main tenets. God’s unconditional election of individuals ought to be foundational to the understanding of corporate election. This study will discuss and interact …

The Old Testament 30 Years Later: Consistency And Change, Alice Laffey

HCAA Continuing Education Day

The answer depends on the question. The question depends on underlying assumptions. The first part of the “class” will describe the methods used to interpret the Old Testament in the early part of the Christian era, in response to the Enlightenment and, for Catholics, Vatican II and, more recently in the developed world, as a consequence of post-modern culture. This first part of the “class” will serve as an Introduction to the second part in which pre-modern, modern, and post-modern assumptions, methods and approaches will be applied to the book of Ruth. “Students” are encouraged to read the book of …

An Evil Threat To Marriage, Children And The Future: Queer Theory, "The Passion Of The Christ," And Evangelical Political Rhetoric, Richard Wolff

Journal of Religion & Film

This article employs queer theory to analyze Mel Gibson’s film The Passion of the Christ (2004) for its portrayal of queer characters (Satan and Herod) in contrast with non-queer (Pilate and Claudia, Seraphia, Simon the Cyrene, and Mary, Christ’s mother), and how it depicts the former as evil and the latter as good. In particular, these contrasts involve self-indulgent or predatory sexual expression versus a healthy marital relationship, and evil versus loving influences over children, who represent hope for the future. Finally, the article looks at the film’s heavy marketing to American evangelicals and how the symbolic representations in the …

Struggling Towards Salvation: Narrative Structure In James Baldwin's Go Tell It On The Mountain, Darren Spirk

Student Publications

This paper argues that John Grimes, the protagonist of James Baldwin's Go Tell It on the Mountain, represents the struggle inherent in the path towards salvation and holds the potential ability to break down the binaries that create this struggle. Of particular interest is a similarity in the narrative framing of John’s story with Jesus Christ's, as told in the four Gospels. The significance of both their symbolic power is dependent on a multitude of narrative viewpoints, in John’s case the tragic pasts offered of his aunt, father and mother in the novel’s medial section. Their stories inform the …

"Make My Joy Complete": The Price Of Partnership In The Letter Of Paul To The Philippians, Mark Avery Jennings

Dissertations (1934 -)

My study challenges the consensus that there is no discernable, single purpose that shapes the entire epistle to the Philippians. I argue that Paul writes Philippians with the sole intent of persuading the church to maintain its exclusive partnership with him and his gospel mission. I examine each section of Philippians using standard historical-critical methods, rhetorical criticism, and social-scientific methods. Special attention is given to those passages where the majority of scholars have argued that Paul has changed subjects. The grammatical imperatives (especially those in 1:27; 2:2, 12, 14, 29; 3:17) factor significantly in this analysis. After surveying the scholarship …

Imagining The Scandal Of The Cross With Graphic/Novel Reading, Elizabeth Rae Coody

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

For countless adherents to the Christian tradition, the Cross functions as a symbol of divine power. For the earliest Christians, however, this overwhelmingly positive valuation of crosses would have been unintelligible. Living under Roman rule, their immediate understanding of crosses would have been as instruments of execution and thus symbols of the power and victory belonging to a foreign empire rather than to the Lord they worshipped. For them, the crucifixion was a traumatic event in which the Messiah died shamefully. It is for these reasons that the scandal of the Cross is a prominent theme in the New Testament, …

Intercultural Hermeneutics: A Word Of Introduction, Lalsangkima Pachuau

The Asbury Journal

No abstract provided.

Mythicism And The Making Of Mark, James F. Mcgrath

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

Carrier’s approach allows him to say that every single thing he finds in the relevant sources is “exactly what we’d expect” if mythicism is true – “as symbolic myth, every oddity is explained, and indeed expected.” This is because “they made this up” is compatible with everything that any text says – especially if one excludes in advance the possibility of using traditional critical methods and criteria for determining that some details may reflect actual historical events.

Writing Commentary As Ritual And As Discovery, James W. Watts

Religion - All Scholarship

This study combines rhetoric, ritual studies, and comparative scriptures studies to open new avenues for understanding both biblical texts and their cultural history as a scripture. Labelling commentary as ritual, specifically as a ritualized genre of text, leads to the observation that commentary not only contributes to the Bible’s status as a scripture, it depends on that status as well. Ritual theories provide explanations for the dynamic interaction of tradition and innovation in commentary writing. Analysis of commentary writing and reading as a form of ritualizing the semantic dimension of a scripture provides a step forward in understanding how religious …

Journal In Entirety

The Asbury Journal

No abstract provided.

The Puzzling Plurals In Philemon, Ernie Bursey

Journal of Applied Christian Leadership

"this passionate appeal for Philemon to welcome his slave as a brother in the Lord explains Paul’s intention to include the members of the house church in the reading of the letter. If Paul’s efforts are successful in helping Philemon to embrace Onesimus as a brother in the Lord, that welcome will also need to be extended to him by the other brothers and sisters in the Lord in the little house church that met in Philemon’s house."

Books Reviews & Books Recieved, Moe Moe Nyunt, Benson Goh, R. David Rightmire, Christoph Raedel, Joel Thomas Chopp, Taylor S. Brown, Isaiah Allen, Timothy J. Christian, Benjamin D. Espinoza, Jonathan E. Beck, Brian Shockey, Andrew D. Kinsey, Moe Moe Nyunt, Taylor Zimmerman

The Asbury Journal

No abstract provided.

The Legacy Of Gerhard Hasel’S Old Testament Theology: Basic Issues In The Current Debate Revealed In Old Testament Scholarship Of The Last Four Decades, Richard M. Davidson

Journal of the Adventist Theological Society

No abstract provided.

The Meaning And Message Of The Beatitudes In The Sermon On The Mount, Ranko Stefanovic

Journal of the Adventist Theological Society

No abstract provided.

Cleansing The Common: A Narrative-Intertextual Study Of Mark 7:1-23, Eike Arend Mueller

Dissertations

The conflict story of Mark 7:1–23 between Jesus and the religious leaders over the issue of defilement is the meeting point of a variety of disciplines: Purity studies, Jewish studies, exegetical studies, Historical Jesus studies, and studies on Jesus and the law. The crux of the passage, the meaning of the parable in v. 15 and the ensuing “cleansing” in v. 19, has been interpreted very differently. Scholars doing exegetical studies and studies on the relationship between Jesus and the law have maintained that the Gospel writer correctly reflects in 7:19 the meaning of Jesus’ parable (7:15), abrogating the clean/unclean …

The One Balm For All Earth’S Wounds: The Priority Of Gospel Proclamation In Charles Haddon Spurgeon’S Missiology, John Sypert

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This dissertation explores the relationship between gospel proclamation and mercy ministry in Charles Spurgeon’s ministry. The dissertation argues that Spurgeon’s Pastors College, Stockwell Orphanage, and his multitude of other ministries had one clear goal: the spreading of the gospel and the conversion of the lost. This dissertation uses Spurgeon’s approach to missions as an apologetic for a more biblically precise missiology, namely, one that prioritizes gospel proclamation without neglecting the physical needs of those who suffer. This approach could be called “benevolent prioritism” because it prioritizes the proclamation of the gospel while not neglecting works of love for those suffering.

The Rhetoric Of Praise : Prayer And Persuasion In The Psalms, Ryan J. Cook

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Your Faith Has Saved You: A Literary Understanding Of The Relationship Between Physical Healings, Faith, And Salvation In Luke-Acts, James Benjamin Hussung

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

The two-volume first-century work, Luke-Acts, presumably written by Paul’s sometime companion, Luke the physician, follows the story of Jesus’s birth, earthly ministry, death, resurrection, and ascension in the first volume and then the spread of Christianity from Jerusalem to Rome by the apostles in the second. Within this story lies a recurring motif of physical healings from various diseases and even death. These healings are predominantly performed by Jesus; however, in Acts especially, the apostles also perform healings similar to those of Jesus. Often, these physical healings are accompanied by faith, forgiveness of sins, and salvation. This thesis has two …

Rising Above A Crippling Hermeneutic, Luke Steven, Carlos, Armando Thompson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Sacred texts authored in antiquity present a challenge for contemporary religious practitioners because there is always a question regarding how to interpret and apply the message today. Prominent Pentecostal theologian and disability theorist Amos Yong faces this challenge concerning the Bible as it relates to disabilities and those who have them. As I argue in this thesis, Yong succeeds in challenging the Pentecostal perceptions of disability without compromising on the over-all Pentecostal view of scripture.

The Hebrew Bible, which, according to Yong, "...serves as the foundation of the Christian scriptures," contains multiple passages that portray disability in a negative light. …

Review Of Introducing The Old Testament: A Short Guide To Its History And Message, A. Boyd Luter

Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary (1973-2015)

No abstract provided.

Ijcs News, Volume 2, The Institute Of Judaeo-Christian Studies

Newsletters

The 2014 issue of IJCS News, the Institute of Judaeo-Christian Studies' annual newsletter, Vol 2.

Exposed Heads And Exposed Motives: Coverings As A Means To Unity At Corinth, April M. Hoelke

MA in Religion Theses

This thesis argues that in 1 Corinthians 11:2-16 Paul asserts most centrally that women should wear head coverings while praying and prophesying in the Corinthian Christian assembly. I examine the honor and shame value system of the Greco-Roman world, both generally and in specific reference to head adornment, since head coverings and hairstyles were connected to honor and status. Then I look at Paul's treatment of honor and shame throughout 1 Corinthians, which denounces the worldly value system of status seeking in favor of the value system of the cross. Paul's stance leads him to subject cultural norms to gospel …

Carl Jung And Yehuda Halevi: Imagination, Symbols And The Loss Of The Sacred, Jeff Robinson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this project, we offered an examination of the work of Yehuda Halevi and Carl Jung. The thesis for this project is that these two thinkers offer very similar perspectives on a number of ideas, central of which is the dichotomy between the use primacy of the intellect and the imaginative faculty of man. While other researchers in passing with one another frequently mention these two thinkers, a full examination of their works has not been offered before. This project will offer a unique exploration of the works of Jung and Halevi.

While the examination of the dichotomy between the …

Revelation 13 And The Imperial Cult, Chang In Sohn

Beets Paper Contest

No abstract provided.

'Whence This Evil?' A Critical Assessment Of (Anti)Theodicy And Innocent Suffering In Lamentations 3, Mark P. Stone

Theses and Dissertations

Recent scholarship on Lamentations has focused on the voice of Daughter Zion in chapters 1-2. Arguing that the frank protests constitute an antitheodicy, interpreters have placed these poems in opposition to the voice of the man in Lam 3, specifically 3:21-42. This Wisdom-like, paraenetic section is seen to put forth a theodicy, counseling penitent acceptance of God's righteous judgment. The present study argues instead that, when incorporated into the rhetorical movement of Lam 3 as a whole, 3:21-42 instead constitutes an antitheodicy consonant with Lam 1-2. It is proposed that Lamentations manipulates the expected theodicy solution until it has been …

Creatio Ex Amore Dei: Creation Out Of Nothing And God’S Relational Nature, Samuel J. Youngs

The Asbury Journal

The opinion of many feminist thinkers and process theologians has been that Christianity needs to shed its allegiance to a God conceived in terms of omnipotent sovereignty. As an alternative, many of them have envisioned God in more relational categories, focusing on the metaphysically “limited” nature of God, with the first step along this path often being a refutation of the traditional doctrine of creatio ex nihilo. This essay summarizes such critiques before proceeding to argue that a robust understanding of creatio ex nihilo, viewed through the lens of kenosis, can actually speak more effectively to God’s relational nature and …

Know Yourself And You Will Be Known: The Gospel Of Thomas And Middle Platonism, Seth A. Clark

CGU Theses & Dissertations

The Gospel of Thomas is a collection of 114 sayings attributed to Jesus and is primarily composed of rhetorical statements that were used to preserve the teachings of itinerant Greek philosophers. These collections were used to persuade individuals to join the philosophical schools represented, much like the early followers of the Jesus movement would use his teachings to convince others to join them as well. However, the theological background for the text is still debated because it contains esoteric and enigmatic references not fully understood by most scholars. This work argues that the theological and philosophical background for the Gospel …

The Cleansing Of The Temple In The Fourth Gospel As A Call To Action For Social Justice, Douglas Thompson Goodwin

MA in Religion Theses

Historically, there has been the attitude that the writer of the Fourth Gospel, due primarily to his emphasis on the high Christology of Jesus, is uninterested, or even unconcerned, with the issues of social justice. The contention of this study is to show that this is just the opposite. By placing the Temple cleansing episode at the beginning of Jesus' earthly ministry, instead of the end as the Synoptics do, the author of the Fourth Gospel uses Jesus' Temple episode as the vehicle for showing the importance of caring for those in society who have no voice and no future. …

The Spirit Of The Lord And Obedience To God's Law : An Exegetical, Intertextual, And Theological Study Of Ezekiel 36:27, James Waita Mutua

Dissertations

Problem

In Ezek 36:27, God foretells that he will put his Spirit within his people and he will “do” so that Israel will obey his laws. Ezekiel 36:27 indicates a close relationship between the Spirit of God and Israel in observing the statutes and judgments of God in the Babylonian exile among the nations and after the exile. In this text, every major phrase and clause has varied interpretations or calls for further investigation. Not only do scholars have different interpretations of the verse, but also the English Bible versions vary in their translations. This leads to the following questions: …

Peter And Paul In Antioch, Gaye Strathearn

Faculty Publications

When Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed. For before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles: but when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision” (Galatians 2:11–12). So wrote the Apostle Paul to the Galatian Saints. This passage is a difficult one. Just as ancient Saints were not comfortable with the public tension between Christianity’s most prominent leaders, neither are modern Saints today.