Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons^™

A Historical Analysis Of Howard Thurman's Theology Of Brotherly Love, Robert L. Marshall

Seminary Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

Gospeldharma: The Seven-Fold Sacrament Of Generous Interbeing, Paul Joseph Thoemke Oblsb

School of Theology and Seminary Graduate Papers/Theses

The Buddha’s dharma of the interdependent co-arising of all phenomena (this is because that is) is the unifying concept between Christianity and Buddhism. The vast, incomprehensible interconnection of all aspects of the cosmos with every other aspect can be described as “interbeing.” Furthermore, because each new manifestation depends completely on the passing away of every previous manifestation, we may also call this interbeing, this impermanence,“generosity.”

The Buddha’s dharma of interdependent co-arising reveals reality as it is; and it helps to reveal a sublime and profound unfolding of God’s relationship with the world. In light of the …

Conrad Dieterich (1575-1639) And The Instruction Of Luther's Small Catechism, Gerhard Bode

Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation

Bode, Gerhard H. "Conrad Dieterich (1575-1639) and the Instruction of Luther's Small Catechism." Ph.D. Diss., St. Louis, MO: Concordia Seminary, 2005.350 pp.

Luther's catechisms have had a lasting impact on catechesis in the Lutheran church and are still widely used in Lutheran circles more than 475 years after Luther wrote them. Conrad Dieterich (1575-1639) wrote several catechisms based on Luther's Small Catechism that were widely used in Lutheran circles during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Two of Dieterich's works were intended for use by upper-level students in Latin schools and employed dialectical method in presenting the catechetical doctrine. The dissertation …

English Reformation Apocalypticism Foreshadowed In Lollard Sermons, Douglas Reinders

Master of Sacred Theology Seminar Papers

Our study primarily focuses on available Lollard sermon literature in an effort to buttress the argument that Lollard sermons and preaching cannot be ignored in a discussion about what influenced English Protestant apocalyptic thought of the sixteenth century. An examination of sermon literature, however, would not be complete without considering the questions of diffusion and to what extent Lollard teachings and sermons were diffused in England. This is done in a section devoted to the methods of dissemination. In a final section, the similarities between Lollard and English Protestant apocalypticism are examined.

Luther's Reformation Of Penance, Robin Korsch

Master of Sacred Theology Seminar Papers

The history of the practice of penance from the early church to the dawn of the Reformation in the Western church is a rich story of continual change. The early church did not have a uniform doctrine and practice of penance and neither did the Western church even after Martin Luther's lifetime. The purpose of this paper is to study and explain the reasoning behind Luther's initial rejection of the Roman Catholic doctrine and practice of penance as found in various writings of Luther up until his 1520 work The Babylonian Captivity of the Church. It is the thesis of …

"Words Written In Golden Letters": A Lutheran Anthropological Reading Of The Ecumenical Creeds—"For Us" As The Constitutive Factor Of What It Means To Be Human, Guntis Kalme

Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation

Kalme, Guntis "'Words Written in Gold Letters': A Lutheran Anthropological Reading of the Ecumenical Creeds — "For Us" as the Constitutive Factor of What It Means to be Human."Ph.D. Diss., St. Louis, MO: Concordia Seminary, 2005. 386 pp.

After briefly introducing several possibilities for understanding man, the author — touching upon the traditional compositional and the relational definitions of man — turns his attention tithe Creedal approach. Since Nicea, Christians have confessed that God in Christ acted "for us men and for our salvation." The author argues that the Nicene Creed actually centers around the “for us," which both permeates …

The Confessional Liturgical Revival Of Theodor Kliefoth And The Works Of Liturgical Revision Of The Preface In Nineteenth-Century Sweden: The Vitality Of The Lord's Supper As Confessed In "He Alone Is Worthy!", Naomichi Masaki

Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation

Masaki, Naomichi. "The Confessional Liturgical Revival of Theodor Kliefoth and the Works of Liturgical Revision of the Preface in Nineteenth-Century Sweden: The Vitality of the Lord’s Supper as Confessed in "He Alone Is Worthy!" Ph.D. diss., St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Seminary, 2005. 379 pp.

The vitality of the Divine Service of the Church of Sweden was enlivened during the second half of the nineteenth century. In this dissertation, the acclamation in the Preface of the Lord’s Supper, "He alone is worthy of thanks and praise!" which emerged through the works of the liturgical revision during that time, is taken as …

The Decree Of Redemption Is In Effect: A Covenant David Dickson And The Covenant Of Redemption, Carol A. Williams

CTS PhD Doctoral Dissertations

While a significant amount of study has been devoted to the twofold system of covenants of works and grace, development of the threefold covenant system in Reformed theology of the seventeenth century that includes the pactum salutis has not been thoroughly researched. The doctrine of the intratrinitarian covenant between the Father and the Son concerning the whole work of redemption has been characterized in some secondary literature as speculative, unbiblical, the result of faulty exegesis, crassly contractual, a deviation from the pure teaching of the Reformers, and of dubious value. Moreever, these claims of discontinuity and questionable origin of pactum …

Christ And The Covenant: Francis Turretin's Federal Theology As A Defense Of The Doctrine Of Grace, Mark Beach

CTS PhD Doctoral Dissertations

The subject of this dissertation is Francis Turretin's federal theology as a defense of the doctrine of grace. Specifically, it deals with Turretin's exposition of the twofold covenant of God--that is, the covenant of nature and the covenant of grace. In treating this subject, the dissertation has a twofold objective--first, to conitribute to an understanding of the theology of Turretin; second, to offer an evaluation regarding the validity of certain trajectories of scholarship pertaining to federal theology in general. This study, in its analysis and exposition of Turretin's understanding of the twofold covenant, deals with several issues that have arisen …

The Nature, Function, And Purpose Of The Term Sheol In The Torah, Prophets, And Writings, Eriks Galenieks

Dissertations

The fact that scholars depict Sheol either as the underworld where the dead continue their existence or simply the grave has resulted in contradictory conclusions, fierce polemic, and unremitting disputes. This lack of consensus makes it imperative to justify another approach, which is more comprehensive in its entirety in comparison with the earlier attempts that sought to determine the meaning of the term Sheol mainly by exploring its etymology and various nonbiblical sources.

Unlike the previous studies, this exegetical research systematically examines all the sixty-six references to the term Sheol in the Hebrew Bible by almost exclusively focusing on its …

Revelation And Creation In The Thought Of Bernard L. Ramm And Carl F.H. Henry: The Creation "Days" As A Case Study, Warren H. Johns

Dissertations

This study explores the relationship between the doctrines of creation and revelation within evangelical thought, especially focusing upon the writings of the two foremost leaders of "Neo-evangelicalism," Bernard L. Ramm and Carl F. H. Henry. Neo-evangelicalism arose in America in the 1940s as a reaction against the Fundamentalism of the first decades of the twentieth century. One of its purposes was to free evangelicalism from the anti-intellectual tendencies of Fundamentalism while yet maintaining a belief in the full inspiration and historicity of Scripture. As a result, evangelicals have sought to harmonize the biblical record of creation with modern geological discoveries. …

Theology Of Judgment In Genesis 6-9, Chun Sik Park

Dissertations

The present dissertation seeks to develop a theology of judgment in Gen 6-9. Following an introductory chapter, the second chapter is devoted to analyzing the three main extrabiblical ANE flood stories (the Eridu Genesis, the Atra-Hasis Epic, and the Gilgamesh Epic) from the four aspects of judgment: date, cause and purpose, extent, and procedure. The analysis of those stories reveals that the ANE flood was a historical and local (global dimension is implied) event without moral cause, and that the judgment of the deities had a procedure of investigation, sentence, execution, and mitigation. The third chapter treats the theology of …

Proclamation In Cross-Cultural Context: Missiological Implications Of The Book Of Daniel, Sung Ik Kim

Dissertations

This study attempts to explore the biblical foundation ofsalvific mission as revealed in God's purposes for the nations (missio Dei ) in the book of Daniel and to investigate the means that Daniel employed in his ministry as an overt missionary who was sent to witness to God's salvific purpose in the cross-cultural context of heathen kingdoms.

The main objective of this research is to validate the book of Daniel as a missionary document and show that its missiological implications are still relevant to present-day missions. Chapter 2 explores the salvific purpose of missio Dei in the book of …

A Critique Of The Urban Mission Of The Church In The Light Of An Emerging Postmodern Condition, Kleber De Oliveira Goncalves

Dissertations

The world is becoming an urban society. The urban expansion witnessed during the twentieth century and continuing into the twenty-first century is unprecedented in the history of the human civilization. Simultaneously, the Western world faces the paradigm shift from the modern era to a postmodern condition. Both movements have remarkable implications for the mission of the church in urbanized, postmodernizing societies. Shaped by the modern worldview, the church is now further ostracized by the postmodern condition.

While the literature of urban mission has grown in the past few years, very little consideration has been given to the particular issues and …

Living Waters: An Invitation To Contemplative Spirituality For The Quail Springs Church Of Christ, Wyatt E. Fenno

Doctor of Ministry Theses

This project addressed an acknowledged need for ministry action to promote and facilitate communal spiritual formation in the present and future life of the Quail Springs Church of Christ. The focus of the project was to present a model of contemplative spirituality determined to be accessible to the ministry context at Quail Springs. In addressing the problem of community fragmentation at Quail Springs, this model was offered as a means of grace to deepen faith and strengthen relationships in church life at Quail Springs. A pilot group of six women and six men served as the working group for this …