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The Evolving Face Of God As Creator: Early Ninteenth-Century Traditionalist And Accommodationist Theological Responses In British Religious Thought To Paleonatural Evil In The Fossil Record, Thane Hutcherson Ury

Dissertations

The Topic

From the early Reformation through the early 1800s, Gen 1-11 was consensually understood as providing a perspicacious, historical account of how God brought the world into being. Tenets of belief included six literal 24-hour days of creation and a catastrophic global Flood, and most often the conviction that Gen 1:31 implies that no evil of any type existed prior to the Fall. New geological interpretations in the early nineteenth century, however, pointed toward an earth history that seemed anything but very good, instead suggesting a harsh concatenation of deep-time prelapsarian pain, struggle, destruction of the weak, predation, diseases, …

Tradition As A Viable Option For Protestant Theology : The Vincentian Method Of Thomas C. Oden, Kwabena Donkor

Dissertations

This dissertation analyzes Thomas Oden's theological method in order to understand its structural elements, and thereby, to facilitate a clearer comprehension of his commitment to the classic Christian tradition in the context of the increasing contemporary emphasis on postmodernism in Protestant theology. Given Oden's affirmation of the Christian tradition and his simultaneous commitment to postmodern sensitivities, the dissertation strives to examine how Oden is able to harmonize what essentially appears to be a dialectical situation. Thus, although the emphasis on tradition in Oden raises the perennial issue of Scripture versus Tradition, the postmodern question raises the issue beyond the usual …

Creation In Isaiah, Wann M. Fanwar

Dissertations

This study investigates the role of creation thought in Isaiah in order to determine its relationship to Isaiah's concept of God as creator, especially as it pertains to his salvific work for and through Israel. This investigation is carried out in three steps. First, Isaiah's use of creation language, which involves specific explicit creation terms and implicit references (metaphors), is investigated. Second, selected creation texts, namely, 4:2-6; 43:1-7; 44:24-45:25; and 65:17-25, are exegeted. Third, Isaiah's creation thought is studied in relationship to other significant concepts in the book, such as salvation theology and redemption history, and God's salvific intention for …

The Banquet Type-Scene In The Parables Of Jesus, Fazadudin Hosein

Dissertations

Biblical narratives abound in ancient literary and oral conventions. One such convention is the type-scene. The study of the type-scene originated in 1933 with Walter Arend who studied compositional recurrent patterns and variations in the epics of Homer. Later, the study was developed by Robert Alter inhis treatment of biblical narratives. The type-scene was a narratorial device used by ancient orators and writers in which traditional elements of repetitive compositional patterns were told and retold ininnovative ways to an audience, raising their expectation and sometimes causing surprise. Conventional elements that make up the type-scene were catchwords, motifs, characters, and themes. …

The Magisterium And Theologians In The Writings Of Avery Robert Dulles, Darius W. Jankiewicz

Dissertations

This study explores Avery Robert Dulles's views regarding the nature of doctrinal authority in the Roman Catholic Church, and particularly the relationship between the hierarchical magisterium and theologians, with special focus on the apparent disparity between his early post-Vatican II views and his recent views.

To attain this goal, Dulles's convictions were considered in the context of his doctrine of the Church, and, whenever relevant, from the perspective of his overall theological system, without neglecting the presuppositions undergirding his ideas and the methodologies used to support them. To highlight contrasting positions, three periods are studied consecutively: the earliest writings, i.e., …