<p>The single question to which this dissertation is addressed is: to what literary genre do the synoptic gospels belong? The question per se is not a new one; nor is it one which fails to generate scholarly interest from one generation to the next. Nevertheless, it is one which is lacking a satisfactory solution. The essential difficulty with a solution appears to be derived from two sets of data which may be expressed in paradoxical relationship to one another: 1) the synoptic gospels are narratives composed of traditions attributed to Jesus and preserved by the church, traditions which are so presented as to focus upon Jesus' person, and 2) the synoptic gospels appear to have no "biographical intent" (understood in contemporary terms as a primary intent to preserve an accurate, historical account of Jesus). The problem, therefore, is this: the synoptic gospels are in some sense "biographical", but they are not "biographies".</p> <p>Our own approach to this question begins with a preliminary discussion of the nature of a literary genre. Our conclusion is that the concept itself is broader and more dynamic than contemporary New Testament scholarship has yet accepted. Then, following a brief presentation of presuppositions, the reconstruction and definition of a literary genre, which was current at the time the gospels were written (historical aspect of genre reconstruction) and which is an appropriate category for the synoptic narratives (descriptive aspect of genre), is set forth. This genre is initially referred to as laudatory biography and is later more specifically identified as "encomium" biography. Its existence is posited on the basis of the ancient dichotomy between history and some biographical counterpart: it is defined by reference to the rules of characterization which were codified in the rhetorical rules for the encomium.</p> <p>The proposition is then tested by a discussion of the synoptic gospels and their affinities with the genre as set forth. The basis of this discussion is as new in this dissertation as is the proposed solution to the initial question of genre. After pointing out the weaknesses of establishing genre relationships by a comparison of one specific text with another, we discuss the affinities of, the synoptic gospels to the "encomium" biography in terms of genre characteristics: namely, topoi, literary techniques, and purposes.</p> <p>The essential contribution of this thesis is that it presents a reasonable identity and definition for the synoptic gospels as literary wholes. It offers a historical explanation for the paradoxical character of these narratives of Jesus by providing the literary basis for the presentation of a praiseworthy person in a narrative form which was not composed primarily for the purpose of recording events. More important for the exegete, it provides an intelligible whole with which and through which the individual parts may be viewed. This contributes to the "exact" interpretation of the text. Finally, after having identified a proper literary genre which conveys certain meanings and presuppositions, the authenticity of the may now be addressed anew.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

<p>This thesis attempts to enucleate the thought of Leo Strauss on the relation of Jerusalem and Athens. The specific focus and special interest of this thesis in Leo Strauss' s investigations of Jerusalem and Athens is the relation of Judaism and philosophy.</p> <p>The essential assertion of Strauss's position is the fundamental and irreconcilable opposition between Jerusalem and Athens. That fundamental opposition is discerned by Strauss chiefly in the classical conception of philosophy and the "metaphysics" of the Bible, and in the contrast of philosophic morality and the morality of the Bible.</p> <p>Although evidencing change or "development," Strauss's thought remains centrally concerned with "das theologisch-politische Problem." His early work on Maimonides and his Islamic predecessors, Philosophic und Gesetz, exhibits his concern with the relation of political philosophy and theology, exotericism, the relation of the Law and the natural law, the quarrel between ancients and moderns, the distorting effect of reading pre-modern writers through modern lenses and the inadequacy of modern philosophies of Judaism. The extent and character of Strauss's "development," as well as the abiding unity of his vision, is indicated in viewing his earlier understanding in light of his own later "corrections."</p> <p>The thesis concludes with Strauss's thematic elaboration of the insufficiency generally of Enlightenment and post-Enlightenment accommodations of Jerusalem and of modern Jewish "movements," in particular.</p> <p>What is all important to this thesis is the central fact of Strauss's life-long attention to Jerusalem and Athens, to "das theologisch-politische Problem," to Judaism and philosophy. Attention is the essence of the "third alternative" to unreasoned belief and unreasoned unbelief.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

<p>As the title (Complete Intelligibility: A Study of Bernard Lonergan's Argument for the Existence of God) suggests, the focus of this dissertation is an argument. The argument runs: If the real is completely intelligible, God exists; but the real is completely intelligible, therefore, God exists. This argument is studied and discussed in two ways: expositionally and critically.</p> <p>In the expositional part, I seek to explain the argument in such a way that, on the one hand, the reader unfamiliar with Lonergan's thought may become apprised of its main lines and, on the other, the reader familiar with Lonergan's thought may see more clearly how the argument is continuous with other parts of Lonergan's thought, notably with his cognitional theory. It becomes clear in the expositional part, for example, that Lonergan's conception of complete intelligibility as an unrestricted act of understanding (which, on analysis, has the properties of what is meant by the name "God") is closely related to what Lonergan sees at the heart of human knowing, viz. a pure, unrestricted desire to know.</p> <p>In the critical part, I submit each premise of the argument, as well as the concept of God which emerges from the major premise, to a dialectical scrutiny. That is to say, on the one hand I determine and represent the major types of challenges to which the premise or concept is susceptible and, on the other, I draw on the resources of Lonergan's thought to offer a Lonerganian response. In so doing I beiieve that I not only test the argument in a way that it has not been tested but I also single out points of departure for ongoing critical inquiries and I provide the wherewithal for at at least a provisional personal judgment. One such judgment is given in the concluding chapter. In it I express qualified approval of the argument.</p> <p>Lonergan's argument is transcendental, in the sense that its affirmations are uItimately based on notions discernible in the data of consciousness. The present study both brings out this transcendental character and deals with the objection that this approach cannot go as far as Lonergan would have it go. This is done by both by a reflection upon Lonergan's claims and by a reflection upon our consciousness as we examine these claims. In other words, the study not only discusses Lonergan's transcendental approach. It also, at least in part, illustrates it.</p> <p>I cannot say whether I have discovered, in this study, anything which Lonergan himself has not discovered. I have, however, made explicit and manifest certain ideas which are present in Lonergan's writings only implicitly or as a latent tendency. For example, as far as I know, Lonergan has not addressed at any length the question whether his argument confuses the desirable and anticipated with the real and actual. To this question, I believe I offer a cogent, if not totally convincing, response from a perspective engendered by Lonergan's thought, a response centering on the unique character and role of the desire to know.</p> <p>whether his argume:lc1t confuses the' desirable,~d ant~cip~t~d , :, '. . . ..withther~aiancl'actual.. !!!o this quest.i.~ntlbelieyeI· , .' offer aC9gent, if nO,t totally convincing; response from ",,\ , ',,' a perspective "engendered by ,Lonergan's thought, a res~onse . ,. ",., . , centeI'ing on the unique cha.racte; and role of, the desire /,- to know.,</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

<p>The Hebrew version of Job (BH³) is the authoritative text in this investigation of the creation motif in the book. Although the authenticity of the many textual and other problems with which this book is replete is not disputed, nevertheless it is legitimate to treat the work as a unit since it has existed as such for many generations. The proper appreciation at the role and significance of the creation motif in Job provides a convincing explanation of the book taken as a whole.</p> <p>The nature of the creation motif in Job is complex. It include notions of kingship, temple-building, conflict with chaos and with mythological monsters. These ancient Near Eastern notions of creation are adapted in this book to meet Hebrew requirements. The motif as it appears in Job also contains reflections on Genesis 1 and 2 and on other sources or creation thought in the Bible. The essence of the motif is the relationship of God to man in creation. It is this relationship which provides the subject matter for the poet's speculation.</p> <p>The function of the creation motif in Job is to assert the poet's belief in the potency and significance of the divine self-disclosure in the realm of creation. Job, who is deprived at all that could then be expected to make life tolerable, is also robbed of the comforts contained in the proper observance at conventional morality and correct religious behaviour. The source of true religion is the fulfilment of the Law, as the friend repeatedly assert. Because Job suffers the friends assume that he has sinned. But Job is convinced that he has not transgressed the Law. Consequently, he is forced to look elsewhere for an explanation of his adversity. His search eventually meets with success when Yahweh reveals himself to Job in the final scenes of the book. In them Job's relationship to God is restored. He recognizes his part in the divinely ordered creation. Job's belief that it is possible to know God outside the pale of the Law is vindicated. Creation provides the milieu for that knowledge. However, as the terms of the theophany indicate, that knowledge is not attained solely by individual effort, but is partly revealed by God himself to persons suitably prepared.</p> <p>The book has many functions, but chief among them must be counted the stress on the importance of the creation as a source of revelation as distinct from that of the Law. The book may also be seen as an elaborate polemic against contemporary creation myths and their protagonists. Job is a celebration of the belief that existence is ordered by a benevolent and knowable God and is not subject to the control of chaos. In that existence the filial relationship between the creator and the created is confirmed. The association of man with God in creation offers countless possibilities for wisdom. The same opportunities may not exist for a life circumscribed by the directives of the Law. In sum, the function of the creation motif in Job is to explore the significance of the divine-human relationship as it is revealed in creation.</p> <p>The conclusion of this investigation is that the proper appreciation of the creation motif in Job makes tolerable sense of the whole work. Creation is important to Job because it provides him with a means of relating to God which was not possible under the Law. It follows that the poet has & higher regard for the usefulness of creation as a source of relation than for the Law itself. The notion of God's acting in history (Heilsgeschichte) also takes second place to his belief in the importance of creation. It is conceivable that the poet is emphasizing the revelatory content of creation at a time when other notions of the nature of God were in decline or disrepute. Alternatively, and more probably as far as Job is concerned, the post regarded creation as the supreme scenario in which revelation takes place.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

<p>This essay explores the implications of Michael Polanyi's theory of tacit knowing for foundational theology. Foundational theology, which begins with a recognition of the problematic status of religious knowledge, seeks to resolve that problem by providing theology with a method and criteria of meaning and truth firmly grounded in cognitional theory. Central to the task of articulating a method for theology is the necessity of accounting for the relationship of faith and reason. Polanyi's cognitional theory recognizes coherence of faith and reason to be an indispensable condition of knowledge, and, therefore, his thought is deemed especially relevant to the foundational task of christian theology. This work, then, attempts to bring Polanyi's theory of knowledge to bear on the problem of method in theology.</p> <p>The dissertation is divided into two major sections. The first section focuses on the theological problem of accounting for the discovery and justification of religious knowledge, that is, the problem of method in theology. The faith-reason relationship in theology is examined in terms of the historical development of theology's self-understanding. This investigation leads to a consideration of the contemporary concern for the foundational questions of meaning and truth in theology. The task of foundational theology is discussed as the attempt to transform the hermeneutic circle of faith and reason, and to establish the significance and validity of the theological enterprise.</p> <p>The second section of the dissertation focuses on a resolution of the theological problematic. Polanyi's postcritical conception of personal knowledge is examined in order to provide a background for a detailed analysis of his theory of tacit knowing. It is argued that Polanyi's cognitional theory--his account of the structure and act of tacit integration--provides a foundation for an objectification of method in theology and for a differentiation of theological specializations.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

<p>The purpose of this thesis is to study and discuss the interaction between religion and kingship during the Gupta age of Indian history, fourth and fifth centuries A.D. The Gupta age has been selected as the focal point of the thesis for two basic reasons. The first is its tremendous importance in history and the abundance of good primary source material on the entire period. The second reason is related to the major contributions that the Guptas made in the areas of kingship and religion. It will be argued in the course of the thesis that Gupta kingship constitutes a synthesis of the earlier theories of kingship in India. They put forward a comprehensive ideology of empire and kingship in their inscriptions which reflects the impress of India's national epics, the Rāmāyana and the Mahābhārata.</p> <p>The thesis is divided into two parts in order to give proper scope to the development of kingship theories in India prior to the time of the Guptas. The study of kingship in India really begins with the Vedic sources, some of which are dated at approximately 1500 B.C. The Rgveda contains numerous references to human and divine kings. The two major gods who were associated with kingship in this period were Indra and Varuna. Also, in the Vedic period kingship was integrally allied with the religious institution of sacrifice (yajña). Major sacrifices such as, the rājāsuya and the aśvamedha became indispensible adjuncts to Vedic kingship.</p> <p>In the post-Vedic period, the views of kingship expressed in the Vedic corpus were challenged by the Buddhists who argued that a good king must be a servant of dhàmma, or righteousness. The Buddhist understanding of kingship made a strong impression on one of India's greatest kings, the Emperor Aśoka of the Mauryan dynasty (third century B.C.).</p> <p>The epics of India reflect changing attitudes toward kingship and the rôle of the king. In the Mahābhārata and the Rāmāyana we find a growing idealization of the king. The god Visnu is given a central rôle in the epic understanding of kingship. He is considered to be the chief patron and divine prototype of the king. Visnu is also a major element in the doctrine of the ideal king, or Rāma-type, which is important in both epics.</p> <p>In Part Two of the thesis our attention is directed to the historical record of the Gupta Age. It will be shown that the Guptas based their understanding of kingship and their ideology of empire primarily on the epic sources. Consequently, each of the Guptas is pictured as an ideal king of the Rāma type in their coins and inscriptions. After establishing this link between the Guptas and the epics, the thesis will analyse the deeper implications of their doctrine of kingship. It will be shown that, while they were influenced by the Buddhists and the example of Aśoka, they retained many of the Vedic customs of kingship including the famous horse-sacrifice (aśvamedha).</p> <p>The thesis deals with the important question of the relationship between religion (specifically Vaisnavism) and Monarchism at a crucial point in India's political, cultural, and religious history. The thesis shows that many of the standard assumptions about kingship in the Gupta age, such as the argument that it represents a divine right of kings doctrine, are false and misleading. The divinity of the king in Gupta times is actually a biproduct of a larger more comprehensive vision of the divinity of the dharma-oriented ideal kingdom (rāmarājya).</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

<p>In the present work an attempt is made to study the problem of temporality in the religious philosophies of the Sámkhya-Yoga and Ábhidharma Buddhism. The two systems are studied in comparative perspective to determine the degree of compatibility of the two on the specific issue of temporality and its significance for the world-transcendence. The systems under investigation have been selected on the ground that both of them look at temporality as a characteristic built into the structure of things. Reification of time, as an abstract category independent of entities, is alien to both the systems. Temporality is conceived not in terms of time as a transcendent condition of our being and cognition. Rather it is conceived in terms of the changefulness and becomingness, characteristic of phenomena as such and its relationship to the cognizing consciousness. This indeed is the most important perspective that they share against other religious philosophies of India.</p> <p>Our interest in the two systems' articulation of the problem emanates from the conviction that the systems under investigation, instead of being diametrically opposed to each other, complement each other and in some significant ways share certain basic perspectives. The fact of their complementarity has been ignored in the earlier studies. There are some occasional statements about the possibility of some similarities between the two. But no study of significance, except that of Stcherbatsky, has been undertaken to see if there is any significant correlation between the two. Most of the time scholars have treated them as representing two diametrically opposed ontological perspectives, Murti being the most prominent proponent of this position. That there are certain important differences between the two cannot be denied. But it has been our concern to demonstrate that, despite important differences in their ontological perspectives, the two systems are in close company, specially in their articulation of the problem of temporality and its soteriological implications.</p> <p>The body of the thesis is divided into three major parts. The first part is a critical exposition of the problem in the context of Sāmkhya-Yoga. The second part deals with the problem with reference to Ābhidharma Buddhism. And the third part is an attempt to bring out the correlation between the two systems with special reference to the soteriological implications of their conception of the problem under investigation.</p> <p>The following are the major findings of the present work:</p> <p>1. Both the Sāmkhya-Yoga and Ābhidharma Buddhism relativize the category of time. This relativization is part and parcel of their non-cosmological understanding of the temporal process.</p> <p>2. Temporality is defined as a feature built into the structure of change and becomingness and its subjective experience.</p> <p>3. For explaining temporal determinations of past, present and future implicit distinction between real and existent is admissible. The present alone is considered existent, while past and future are real.</p> <p>4. The realm of the temporal is conceived in contradistinction with Eternity, the two being dialectically related. The temporality is seen in opposition to Eternity and yet providing a link with Eternity.</p> <p>5. The transcendence of temporality is a function of consciousness. Reflection (contemplation) as an act of consciousness is a temporal act. But reflection is seen as having a built-in structure of transcendence. This transcendence of the temporal process takes place in the present. Accordingly, both the Sāmkhya-Yoga and Abhidharma Buddhism are the soteriologies of the present.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

<p>The aim of this dissertation is to present a systematic exposition of Renunciation (Samnyāsa) as a philosophico-religious category within Indian tradition with special reference to Advaita Vedānta of Śamkarācarya. This study dealing with the implications of renunciation in its personal and social dimensions is so all-embracing as to touch almost every popular spiritual conviction of the Indian mind and it overlaps almost every province of Indian philosophy. I have tried to justify this category as a spiritual technique systematically worked out and developed by Advaitins particularly Śamkara with a view to classifying and systematizing values in terms of the different forms which renunciation and its object may be found to assume. This dissertation also highlights not only lives of the enlightened persons but also principles of human behaviour in the Indian tradition implicitly clarifying therby such concepts as dharma (socio-religious duties), the good life, obligation and responsibility etc.</p> <p>In elucidating these concepts within the Advaitic ideal of renunciation, we are driven to conclude that this theory is not confined to the spiritual dimension of life representing the concept of Moksa (Release or Freedom) but is also the ground upon which a coherent and positive social philosophy can be raised. The attempt seems worth making in view of profound misunderstandings pertaining to the spirit of Indian philosophy in this respect especially Advaita Vedānta. The author believes that Advaita Vedānta, seemingly the most unworldly, is itself capable of generating social thought of a positive kind. The principle of renunciation is central to providing social order not irrelevant to such a task. This investigation seemed to me to be of special significance especially in the context of the present situation when renunciation has acquired an image of moral irresponsibility and hence has fallen into disrepute. To such critics I humbly give a Berkeleyian reply: "in such things we ought to think with the learned and speak with the vulgar", and contrariwise -- not quoting Berkeley -- we must avoid thinking with the vulgar but speak with the learned.</p> <p>This effort is to think with the great acārya (Śamkara) and some of his eminent followers with a view to clearing up misunderstandings about the matter prevailing among those who have not had the opportunity or even patience to examine the renunciation questions from the holistic perspective which those learned teachers have sought to inculcate.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

<p>The purpose of this thesis is to study Tulsi Dâs' views on the interaction of love of God and social duty as expressed in the Râmcaritmânas. In order to determine the distinctiveness of Tulsi Dâs' position on the subject under consideration, an effort is made at situating the Râmcaritmânas within the over-all context of the Hindu tradition, to which Tulsi Dâs repeatedly claimed his own indebtedness.</p> <p>The typological approach is used in preferance to the historical survey in order to describe the place additionally recorded to both love of God and social duty within the Hindu tradition. On the basis of this approach, it is argued that as the tradition developed there emerged three different emphasis which by medieval times had become discernible as distinct types: "ordthodox theism" representing the middle or central stream where both social duty and love of God are kept in balance; "vedic orthodoxy" representing the position where social duty is considered the sulvific path par excellence while love of God plays a negligible rȏle; and finally "antinomian theism" representing a position where the emphasis is on love of God to the negligence of traditional duties.</p> <p>The present thesis claims that the Râmcaritmânas represents an attempt to revive the first or "middle" position in medieval North India. This claim is substantial by a study of Tulsi Dâs' growinopus in the light of its socio-political, religious and literary background.</p> <p>It is argued that the Râmcaritmânas can be considered as a reaffirmation of the Hindu tradition against the menacing impact of the Muslim political rule, which culminated in Akbar's universalist politicy; against the antinomian devotional trend, very much alive in medieval North India, which threatened traditional values, particularly those associated with social and domestic duties; against Vedic orthodox circles which tended to diminish the importance of love of God as an important constituent of Hinduism.</p> <p>The attention given to the literary background of the Râmcaritmânas is aimed at determining the degree of distinctiveness in Tulsi Dâs own religious views. On the basis of a systematic comparison between the Râmcaritmânas and its main literary sources, the thesis establishes that while Tulsi Dâs reaffirmed the central position, he maintained a distinctiveness of his own. This he achieved by dealing with the tension between love of God and social duty as an important issue, and by relentlessly emphasizing love of God as the preeminent salvific path.</p> <p>Finally, it is shown that Tulsi Dâs offered a way of resolving the growing tension between love of God and social duty by proposing the will of God as the ultimate criterion of decision and the supreme principle of integration. This solution enabled him both to encourage the devotee householder to fulfill his social and domestic duties, and at the same time justify the desire of certain enthusiasts to spend their whole life and time in the praise and worship of the Lord.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

<p>The major emphasis in this dissertation is on the development of H. Richard Niebuhr's concept of person as a key for understanding his approach to the theological problem of formulating the content of knowledge of God as it arises in the faith experience. This study begins with a brief introduction indicating the problematic character of the development of Niebuhr's concept of person, namely that while he clearly emphasized its centrality there is absent in his writings an explicit, formal statement that defines the conceptual content of what he intended by the term "person." The discussion that follows is an attempt to bring forward what seems to have been the content of Niebuhr's concept of person. This will involve the process of raising to prominence the "constants" that appear in his reflections on the relation between the divine and the human as relation between persons. The first chapter involves an investigation of the influence that the thought of Ernst Troeltsch, Karl Barth and others had on Niebuhr's own thinking. Therein is indicated the general framework of thought in which he had set for himself the task of providing for contemporary theology a means of expressing the content of faith so as to avoid the excesses of revelational dogmatism, on the one hand, and rationalistic relativism, on the other. The development of his approach--a personalistic confessionalism--appears in its general form in the second chapter, which involves a survey of his writings. The third chapter sets forth, as the cumulative effect of his writings, what appeared to be the essential components of Niebuhr's theological concept of person: act freedom, faithfulness, and dialogue. The fourth chapter indicates how Niebuhr seemed to have envisioned the role of this concept as a crucial, corrective principle for modifying such outstanding approaches to, the problem of knowledge of God as those of Troeltsch and Barth. This chapter also offers a suggestion as to what would be a consistent application of his thought to a development in theology since his death. The final chapter contains the present writer's response to certain critical reflections on Niebuhr's thought relevant to the central theme of the dissertation and a concluding section which suggests that the major emphasis and development of this discussion may be a modest but faithful and promising way to understand and appreciate more fully the essence of Niebuhr's complex and subtle thought.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)