Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons^™

Vision, Repetition And Redemption: Envisioning Universal Salvation In A Group Of Six Carolingian Ivory Book Covers, Valerie Thai

Theses and Dissertations

Six Carolingian ivory plaques share almost identical imagery. This thesis focuses on the figures of Synagoga and the rising dead repeated in the compositions. As the ivories are Gospel covers used in Mass, this study demonstrates how these motifs appeal to the congregation, conveying the Christian tenet of universal salvation.

Finding The Child: Exploration Into Pedagogical Foundations In The Roman Catholic Church, Erica L. Saccucci

Dissertations

Children are important members of society. Their membership as participants in humanity has gotten lost at times throughout history. Children have a particular type of dependency in relationships with the adults around them. This means that adults need to understand children in a different light; from the perspective of the child. In Roman Catholic social ethics, children are always understood as under the authority of their parents. Rarely are children understood in a way that gives them dignity in their subjectivity. This work provides a historical review of the theological ethics of child in the Roman Catholic Church from both …

Demonology According To The Universal Church Of The Kingdom Of God Three Important Aspects And A Lutheran Response, George Felten

Master of Art Theology Thesis

Felten, George, C. “Demonology According to the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God: Three Important Aspects and a Lutheran Response.” MA Thesis, Concordia Seminary, 2020. 145pp.

Demonology should not be the center of a church’s theological center or modus operandi, but it should not be denied or avoided either. While the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God (IURD), a prominent neo-Pentecostal Brazilian church, makes too much of demonology, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Brazil (IELB) seems to make too little of it. Yet this need not be the case. This thesis will analyze three aspects of IURD’s demonology, …

Faith Comes By Hearing: The Interrelationship Of Theology, Faith, And Practice, Nathan Olson

Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation

Olson, Nathan, J. “Faith Comes By Hearing: The Interrelationship Between Faith, Theology, and Practice.” Ph.D. diss., Concordia Seminary, 2017. 202 pp.

This work provides a constructive systematic framework which sets forth a conception of faith as Trust in a Promise, utilizing an understanding of justification as God’s declaration of man being made right with Himself, a theology of the Word as an effectual promise and effectual act, and a pneumatology which acknowledges the Spirit’s role to elicit faith by killing and making alive in those who hear the gospel. Through a critical assessment of selected church practices and of the …

Baptist Sacramental Theology: A Covenantal Framework For Believer Baptism, Brandon C. Jones

CTS PhD Doctoral Dissertations

A recent resurgence of Baptist works that defend sacramental theology has revived the mid-twentieth-century debate among Baptists over the meaning of baptism. Just as the mid-twentieth-century generation of Baptist sacramentalists struggled to get other Baptists to accept their views, the problem remains today that most Baptists do not and will not seriously consider Baptist sacramental theology. The purpose of this dissertation is to help solve this problem by presenting a historically informed systematic theological defense of covenantal sacramentalism, which uses covenant theology to enhance a sacramental theology of baptism. This dissertation argues that the covenantal view of Baptist baptismal sacramentalism …

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 …

Luther's Small Catechism: An Examination Of Its Structure, Intent, And Use For The Church Today, Kenneth Watson

Master of Sacred Theology Seminar Papers

The Small Catechism: an instructional manual? a confession? a prayer book? A practical life's compendium? Twenty years later, does the use of the Small Catechism today reflect the pedantry of Drevlow's "instructional manual," or does it in any way embrace the manifold possibilities set forth by Hoh? Does its use today, in fact, reflect what Luther intended in its compilation? Indeed, what did Luther intend?

It is toward suggesting answers to such questions (the last specifically) that this paper shall direct itself. It will do so basically in three parts: 1.) recognizing the difficulty in definitively disjointing structure from intent, …

A Study In The Theology Of Carl Fr Wisloff With Particular Focus On Faith And The Means Of Grace In The Bestowal Of Salvation, Eugene Boe

Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation

The general topic for this work is the relation of faith and the means of grace in the bestowal of salvation. The Lutheran Church from her beginning has believed, confessed and taught that we are saved by grace through faith alone. This is stated briefly in the Augsburg Confession, Article IV.

Our churches also teach that men cannot be justified before God by their own strength, merits, or works but are freely justified for Christ's sake through faith 2 when they believe that they are received into favor and that their sins are forgiven on account of Christ, who by …

A Law-Gospel Comparison Of The World Council Of Churches' Document Baptism. Eucharist. And Ministry And The Book Of Concord, Glen Thomas

Master of Sacred Theology Thesis

Before comparing Baptism. Eucharist, and Ministry(BEM) and The Book of Concord with respect to their confession of the proper distinction between Law and Gospel, it will be helpful to establish and define what is meant by the terms Law and Gospel.as well as their proper distinction. While an investigation of all aspects of Law and Gospel would consume an entire thesis in itself, only those aspects of Law and Gospel which will be helpful in the investigation of BEM and The Book of Concord will be explored (those dealing with how man is justified before God). The material presented in …

The Mediation Of The Spirit Through The Word: A Critical Analysis Of The Theology Of Theodore Jungkuntz In The Light Of The Lutheran Confessions, Timothy Maschke

Master of Sacred Theology Thesis

A critical analysis of any theology can be presumptuous at worst; unnecessary at best. This study was undertaken a number of years ago as the writer struggled to determine the critical area where the charismatic movement touches Lutheran theology most sensitively. To start with a premise that the Lutheran charismatic movement is heretical (as a few writers have assumed) did not seem scholarly or fair. To impose Lutheran terminology on charismatic and nee-Pentecostal concepts seemed equally unsound. After observing the growing pains of the Lutheran charismatic movement, the writer became aware that a study of one area--the mediation of the …

A Pastoral Response To The Charismatic Movement, Jack Schneider

Master of Divinity Thesis

In the material recorded in Paul's First Epistle to the Corinthian congregation, the reader comes into contact with what Paul refers to as charismata, or spiritual gifts. Chapter 14 of this Epistle concentrates on two of these charismata, namely speaking in tongues and prophecy. Both are "utterance gifts", and from Paul's treatment of them, it seems that there is a definite link between them. Since we are currently experiencing an increasing element of "charismatic renewal" within our own denomination, and do not seem able to deal pastorally with it, it will be my purpose in this brief section to delve …

The Exegetical Basis For The Early Lutheran Doctrine Of Baptismal Regeneration, Martim Warth

Master of Sacred Theology Thesis

This thesis was motivated by the question often raised in the classroom about the relation of faith to the regeneration in baptism. The question can be formulated in many ways. Is faith the presupposition for regeneration? What difference is there between faith and regeneration? Must faith precede baptism? What type of faith is given in baptism? What is faith without understanding of the Word of God? If baptism regenerates the infants who do not have preceding faith, what does baptism effect in the adult who already has faith? Can we still speak of regeneration in adult baptism? Or is baptism …

The Validity Of Baptism Performed By The Little Flock, Delbert Williams Gremmels

Bachelor of Divinity

Although there are many errors in the teachings of the Little Flock, the baptism performed by the group should be accepted as valid and re-baptism should not be required before admittance for membership in the Lutheran Church.

The Sacrements And Sacremental Actions In The Works Of August Friedrich Chrisitan Vilmar, Edward Peters

Master of Sacred Theology Thesis

This paper is limited in its main part to what August Vilmar had to say about the Sacraments and what he termed “sacramental actions" ( sakramentale Handlungen). It is difficult, in a few words, to determine just what Vilmar included under these terms because in keeping with the Lutheran Symbols he did not categorically limit the Sacraments to a certain number and exclude all other acts of the Church. In certain contexts he spoke of seven and more Sacraments, and in other contexts, of only two Sacraments, placing the lesser acts of the Church into the category “sacramental” actions." In …

A Theological Study Of Baptism And The Lord's Supper As Expressed At The Hanover Convention Of The Lutheran World Federation, Paul Martin Volz

Bachelor of Divinity

The study which here presents the theology of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper expressed at the Hannover Convention of the Lutheran World Federation is an outgrowth of the writer's concern to know what was said on theological matters by members of the Lutheran World Federation assembled in their first official convention as a federation of Lutherans.

The Significance Of Baptism For The Christian's Faith And Life, Bernhardt F. Meschke

Bachelor of Divinity

The very fact that Christ instituted and commanded Christian baptism is already enough to make it necessary. However, Jesus never instituted anything just for the sake of instituting, nor did the Master command for the sake of commanding. Baptism was given for the benefit of sinners. It is our purpose in the following pages to show the significance of baptism for the Christian's faith and life.

The Apostolic Concept Of Being Filled With The Spirit, Robert Bernard Ehlers

Bachelor of Divinity

What was the apostolic concept of "being filled with the Holy Ghost?" That should take us to the very heart of the matter. At any rate, we have endeavored to learn all that the Word of God reveals about this mystery, to claim what can be claimed as wheat, and to winnow out the chaff.

The Passive And Active Obedience Of Christ, Bruno Martinelli

Bachelor of Divinity

In describing the manner in which the God-Man Christ Jesus performed the mission for which God sent Him and to which the Son consented in willing obedience, Scripture speaks not only passive obedience of Christ, but just as clearly of His active obedience.

The Doctrine Of Holy Baptism In The Pauline Epistles, Arlo Mueller

Bachelor of Divinity

The purpose or this treatise is to show, primarily, that the doctrine which the Confessional Lutheran Church has taught concerning the Sacrament of Holy Baptism is the Scriptural doctrine as taught in the Pauline Epistles, and that the various errors of Enthusiasm on this point must be rejected as conflicting with the clear teachings of Paul, the great apostle.

The Doctrine Of Baptism In The Epistles Of St. Paul, Clarence W. Stradtmann

Bachelor of Divinity

When discussing the doctrine of baptism in any New Testament writing we must first come to an agreement on the one point on which an important part of the argument hinges, namely, the exact meaning of the word.

The Roman Catholic Doctrine Of Infused Grace Examined And Refuted, Herman W. Gockel

Bachelor of Divinity

How this doctrine of work-righteousness, technically known as the doctrine of infused grace, or Gratia Infusa, can presume to claim any vestige of Pauline authority, may at first seem an exceedingly difficult task to demonstrate. It is for his purpose that the writer has chosen to devote the entire first chapter of his thesis to a treatment of the gradual growth and steady evolution of this doctrine from the days immediately after the Apostle Paul until the sixteenth century, when the conception of infused grace was definitely formulated and laid down as a dogma of the Church in the Canons …