Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons^™

The Reception Of Isaiah's Suffering Servant In Thomas Aquinas' Theology Of The Cross, Daniel Waldow

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is a quantitative and qualitative analysis of Thomas Aquinas' reception of Isaiah 53 throughout his major works of theology.

Christological Implications Of Biblical Women In Late Antique Syriac Christianity, Penelope Biddy

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Late antique Syriac Christianity has been noted for the prevalence of nuanced, sympathetic, and overall positive depictions of biblical women, especially in comparison to the depictions in non-Syriac sources. These positive depictions, however, are not written by Syriac authors as ends in and of themselves but because biblical women’s stories furnish appropriate vehicles for demonstrating various theological commitments. In this thesis I will argue that biblical women’s stories are especially useful to Late Antique Syriac authors as a means to demonstrate one of their foundational christological commitments: the paradoxical coexistence of revelation and hiddenness within the nature of Christ.

To …

Talk This Way: A Look At The Historical Conversation Between Hip-Hop And Christianity, Joshua Swanson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Christianity and Hip-Hop culture are often said to be at odds with one another. One is said to promote a lifestyle of righteousness and love, while the other is said to promote drugs, violence, and pride. As a result, the public has portrayed these two institutions as conflicting with no willingness to resolve their perceived differences. This paper will argue that there has always been a healthy conversation between Hip-Hop and Christianity since Hip-Hop’s inception. Using sources like Hip-Hop lyrics, theologians, historians, autobiographies, sermons, and articles that range from Ma$e to Tipper Gore, this paper will look at the conversation …

Separating God's Two Kingdoms: Regular Baptists In Maine, Nova Scotia, And New Brunswick, 1780 To 1815, Ronald S. Baines

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The trans-national Regular Baptist tradition in the northeastern borderlands of Maine, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick grew rapidly from 1780 to 1815. The spiritual imperatives of this Calvinistic group with its commitment to believer’s baptism of adults and closed communion churches made them distinctive, and a central argument here is that the worldly implications of “Two Kingdom” theology, founded on the strict separation of religious and civil realms, was central to Regular Baptists’ success in the region in this period. Three leading ministers whose actions as authors, itinerants, and as organizational leaders receive especially close attention: Maine-based ministers Daniel Merrill …

The Power Of Resurrection: Early Christian Resistance Through The Rise Of Disciplinary Power, Patrick G. Stefan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is an analysis of the spread of Christianity in the first three centuries and the commensurate activation and development of what Michel Foucault calls disciplinary mechanisms of power. It sets out to explore two questions, first, what were the theoretical conditions that led to Christianity's rapid expansion? And second, what were the historical precursors to the mechanisms of disciplinary power? It then seeks to put these two questions together to propose that early Christianity was successful in overtaking the Roman Imperial government because it activated underlying disciplinary mechanisms of power in a world governed and controlled by sovereign …

Southern Veils : The Sisters Of Loretto In Early National Kentucky., Hannah O'Daniel

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis analyzes the experiences of Roman Catholic women who joined the Sisters of Loretto, a community of women religious in rural Washington and Nelson Counties, Kentucky, between the 1790s and 1826. It argues that the Sisters of Loretto used faith to interpret and respond to unfolding events in the early nation. The women sought to combat moral slippage and restore providential favor in the face of local Catholic institutional instability, global Protestant evangelical movements, war and economic crisis, and a tuberculosis outbreak. The Lorettines faced financial, social, and cultural pressures—including an economic depression, a culture that celebrated family formation …

Against Celsus: Piety In Context, Dustin Janssen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores Celsus’s and Origen’s differing understandings of what it means to be “pious” (ὅσιος). Celsus conceived of tradition as the norm for determining piety. On the other hand, Origen maintained that the true norm was found in the Logos and Wisdom of God—i.e., Jesus. This dichotomy of understanding is consistent with the backdrop of the religious revolution happening in the Roman world during the early centuries CE proposed by scholars like Guy Stroumsa.

While this thesis does not aim to prove or fully expound on the religious revolution, it will use the shift in religious thought as a …

Representations Of The Care Of The Soul In Early Christian Texts, Deborah Ann Niederer Saxon

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Michel Foucault argues that modern scholars have inaccurately conceptualized ancient Greco-Roman philosophies as the pursuit of abstract knowledge. He proposes instead conceiving of these philosophies more broadly as sets of practices that focused on “the care of the self/soul.” Such care involved exercises (“technologies of the self”) effecting both identity formation and spiritual transformation. It is possible to re-conceptualize the history of the early Christianities in these terms as well, particularly in examining the discourses circulating in the second and third centuries of the Common Era. Juxtaposition and close reading of texts from this period reveal that competing visions of …

Sub-Ordination: Mary Magdalene, The Church, And The Ordination Of Women, Richard Bishop

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Roman Catholic Church maintains that it cannot ordain women to the priesthood due to a lack of biblical warrant. The Church therefore relies upon the traditional concept of a Bridegroom-Bride relationship (read: Christ and His Church), which they say can only be maintained if a male priest serves as the representative of the invisible Christ for his Bride during the Eucharist. In this essay, we shall explore the role and treatment of Mary Magdalene and women in early texts and show that they actually did have prominent positions within at least some early Christian communities. Texts were altered, and …