Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Seventh-Day Adventists And Original Sin: A Study Of The Early Development Of The Seventh-Day Adventist Understanding Of The Effect Of Adam's Sin On His Posterity, Edwin Harry Zackrison

Dissertations

Problem. In Seventh-day Adventist theology, the doctrine of original sin has received ambivalent treatment. Periodically voices within the church and outside of it have asserted that the doctrine has no part in SDA theology, yet other Christians have insisted that it is a Scriptural doctrine. It was the purpose of the present study to examine the theological roots of Adventism to determine the reasons for and the content of its treatment of the doctrine.

Method. Since Biblical and historical perspectives are indispensable to the critical process of theology, a brief developmental survey was done to reveal trends and models relevant …

The Meaning Of Telos In Romans 10:4, Robert Badenas

Dissertations

This study attempts to resolve the ambiguity surrounding the meaning of ‘telos’ in Rom 10:4 and to provide philological criteria for the understanding of this term.

Chapter I indicates clearly that a considerable shift has occurred in the history of the interpretation of ‘telos’ in Rom 10:4. The early church and the Reformers understood this verse in a teleological/completive sense: as a statement of the fulfillment of the law in Christ in a prophetic as well as purposive signification. However, since the post-Reformation era and particularly since the nineteenth century the terminal/temporal/antinomian interpretations have prevailed. Rom 10:4 has been generally …

Poor And Rich In The Epistle Of James: A Socio-Historical And Exegetical Study, Pedrito U. Maynard-Reid

Dissertations

This investigation attempts to break further away from the parochialism in dealing with the Epistle of James--moving away from the purely literary and theological orientation, and paying more attention to the social milieu out of which the document arose and how the ethos of the community impinged upon the thought of the writer.

Socially oriented studies in NT scholarship are not new. Since the 1930s, however, this emphasis has been largely neglected until its recent revival. Chapter I shows that the greatest problem with social orientation in NT studies is finding a satisfactory method. The majority of scholars who are …

Typological Structures In The Old And New Testaments, Richard M. Davidson

Dissertations

This dissertation seeks to ascertain the nature of biblical typology by allowing its conceptual structures to emerge from within Scripture through a semasiological analysis of the term τύπος and NT cognates and an exegetical investigation of NT hermeneutical τύπος passages.

In the first chapter the stage is set for the study with a survey of the twentieth century discussion of biblical typology, placed against the backdrop of a concise overview of typological interpretation in preceding centuries. Several leading trends emerge from the survey—the traditional understanding of biblical typology (with three main strands), a post-critical neo-typology (with two major traditions), and …

Development Of A Rationale And Methodology For The College-Level Religion Course "Life And Teachings Of Jesus", Loron T. Wade

Dissertations

In this developmental study, basic principles of curriculum development were utilized to prepare a rationale and teaching guide for a college-level religion course "Life and Teachings of Jesus."

In formulating the rationale for the course, current theories of learning and moral development were reviewed together with ideas drawn from Scripture and other sources. The rationale that was developed called for establishing clear objectives while recognizing that some of the most important goals of religious instruction may not be objectively or immediately verifiable. It calls for giving the student an active role in the instructional process, for stimulating his/her faculties for …

Horn-Motifs In The Hebrew Bible And Related Ancient Near Eastern Literature And Iconography, Margit Linnéa Süring

Dissertations

This investigation studies the presence of the horn-motifs on a philological, literary, and iconographical basis in both the ancient Near Eastern context and the Hebrew Bible.

The first chapter is devoted to a review of prior studies, particularly in the twentieth century. Throughout almost all this century, the "history-of-religion" school and the "form-critical" school have taken the lead in archaeological and biblical interpretations. New trends of interpretation developed in the late 1960s on some aspects due to the scientifically and systematically improved archaeological approach. Prior individual studies focusing on fragmentary aspects did not sufficiently elucidate the horn-motif. A comprehensive study …

Major Contextual Dimensions And Dynamic Factors In The Transmission Of The Judeo-Christian Religious Heritage According To Selected Writings Of Ellen G. White, Juan Navarro

Dissertations

Purpose. Christianity claims to have directly received by revelation from God a body of knowledge which has been preserved, developed, and handed down through generations. The purpose of this study was to determine what, according to Ellen White, are the major contextual dimensions in the transmission of this religious heritage and the dynamic factors involved in the process.

Method. The approach to this documentary study consisted of (1) carefully reading selected writings of White and collecting every statement related to the investigation; (2) logically arranging the information gathered; and (3) analyzing, interpreting, synthesizing, and presenting the findings in an expository …

The Classification Of The Greek Manuscripts Of The Epistle Of James, Joel D. Awoniyi

Dissertations

Although a significant number of the Greek manuscripts of the Epistles of I and II Peter, I, II, and III John, and Jude have recently received long overdue classification, only a very few Greek manuscripts of the Epistle of James have been given comparable treatment.

In this dissertation, we have sought to rectify this situation by classifying 86 Greek manuscripts of the Epistle of James – primarily according to their phonetic relationships and only secondarily according to their text-types.

In order to accomplish this, we have made use of new computer methods.

In a recent dissertation on the classification of …

Substitution In The Hebrew Cultus And In Cultic-Related Texts, Angel Manuel Rodriguez

Dissertations

This dissertation attempts to investigate the presence, function, and meaning of the idea of sacrificial substitution in the Hebrew cultus. The interpretation of the OT sacrifices in terms of sacrificial substitution has been questioned and rejected by a great number of scholars. They have argued that such an understanding cannot be supported by the biblical text or by ancient Near Eastern religious practices.

In this study the ancient Near Eastern texts are first investigated in order to highlight to what degree and where the essential elements of the idea of substitution are present in them. We discuss next the cultic …

Galatians As Dialogical Response To Opponents, Bernard Hungerford Brinsmead

Dissertations

This thesis seeks to discover the center of Galatians, its unique theological statement, by approaching the question from the perspective of the dialogical nature of the letter as a piece of literature, and the theology of the opponents with which it is dialogical. The context of a piece of literature is essential to its being understood. When a letter is as obviously disputative as is Galatians, a vital part of that context must be the opponents who have called it forth. The review of literature reveals that the identity of the opponents in Galatia remains "problematic." Two things in particular …

The Apocalyptic "Son Of Man" In Daniel 7, Arthur J. Ferch

Dissertations

This investigation studies the identity and nature of the manlike figure in Dan 7:13-14 (hereafter referred to as SM). In the first chapter we reviewed the interpretations of the SM in Jewish and Christian literature since the beginning of the second century of our era and noted that with the exception of the seventeenth century study by Carpzov, discussion of the Danielic figure was limited to passing comments. Throughout this period the SM was interpreted mainly messianically or christologically. During the nineteenth century more substantial inquiries attempted to find answers to the identity and nature of the manlike being primarily …

The Literary Structure Of The Genesis Creation Story, Jacques Doukhan

Dissertations

Exegetical research on Gen 1 has been characterized since the 18th century essentially by a diachronic concern. Thus the Documentary hypothesis and the so-called Tatbericht-Wortbericht theory have been the two main starting points of any relevant scholarly study of this text. Recently, under the influence of contemporary literary studies, attention has been drawn to the validity of the synchronic approach, and more and more scholars have thus become aware of the importance of the liteary structure of this text. The latter has been dissociated from the thematic distribution of motifs; this tension has been explained in terms of different sources, …