The study of the higher criticism of the Bible has always held great interest to the author of this thesis. This critical approach to an understanding of each book of the Bible has caused many facts, outside of the book itself, to be found. Armed with these facts the book itself becomes clearer and clearer as the purpose and the background of the author becomes more and more apparent.

The term "Archaelogy," as is so common with the English language, is a two-fold or composite word. It is a joining of two Greek terms. The former signifies that which is "ancient," "primeval" or "olden," while the latter is more often used with the Greek meaning of "word," "study" or "discourse."

The subject of this study has been chosen because of the interesting histories and doctrines of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Disciples of Christ. Interest in this subject was aroused, not only by the interesting material, but also due to the fact that they both came out of the same historical period and that there were some Disciple leaders that joined the Latter-day Saints. These facts could be coincidence or they could have a definite reason behind them. This is the study of this paper: to discover, through comparison, the similarities and the parallels of the two groups and to discover why these similarities and parallels exist. This must be done by first giving a discussion of the two groups so that the reader might know adequately the histories and the beliefs of the groups. It is regretted that this presentation of the histories is so lengthy, but without a fairly complete presentation the reader would be lost when the comparison was being made, not knowing enough of the histories to follow the discussion. In this approach, after the facts are presented it will be quite simple to make the comparison.

This dissertation explores the influence of theological, political, medical, and market discourses upon contemporary American Protestant adolescent sexuality education curricula. The project offers a genealogy of Christian sexual rhetoric that highlights the role of sexual control and discipline in the interest of social stability. I contend that Protestant sexuality education curricula tend to use theological language as an ideological cipher, often serving as an endorsement for the vocation of married, middle-class American life advanced through political and market discourse. Adolescent sexual desire is often presented as risky mainly for its potential to destabilize this idealized future. Such paradigms fail to provide young people, and especially LGBTQ youth, with resources to make productive meaning of their sexualities in light of religious commitments and practices. In search of theological foundations more attentive to the diverse lived experiences of young people, I offer a constructive response grounded in feminist retrievals of eros and Christian pneumatology. Chiefly, I propose that faith-based sexuality education is best grounded within broader reflections on desire, justice, and care for the vulnerable.

After the death of Sri Jawaharlal Nehru, it was reported that the Secretary of the Congress Parliament Party suggested that Nehru's portrait be placed in the only vacant panel in the Central Hall of Parliament along side the eleven portraits which had already been installed. It is not coincidental that one of these eleven panels bears the portrait of a Muslim, and it is even less coincidental that this portrait is of Abū-L-Kalām Āzād. [...]

The Old Testament: The Spirit worked to create the People of God. But the Spirit was given only to certain individuals to work for the welfare of the Nation-church. The prophecies concerning the Messianic Age included the belief in the full outpouring of God’s Spirit upon the whole Church. The New Testament: Christ Jesus worked in the power of the Spirit. After the Ascension, the Father, in Christ's Name, sent the Spirit to be with the Church. The witness of the Spirit to Christ is made to the world through the Church, which He guides, teaches, and sanctifies. The Church is open to all peoples. Thus the work of the Spirit in, and through, the Christian Church, fulfills the Divine, universal purpose expressed in the Old Covenant with Israel.

The thesis is an examination of the prose part of the UpadesascThasri, a non-commentarial work of Sahkaracarya (8 century CE). The introduction deals with several issues concerning the structure and content of the text itself, as well as a critique of the manner in which the text has been interpreted by recent researchers. The main body of the thesis is sectioned according to an eight-fold therapeutic model of interpretation suggested by Vetter (1979). The thesis concludes with an examination of the three-fold discipline of sravana, manana, and nididhyasana, as viewed by the Vedantic tradition. The complete text of the prose part (gadya-prabandha) of the Upadesusahasr/xn Roman script follows the thesis.

Matthews Gospel is marked by connections between Jesus and various figures and events in the Jewish Scriptures. Matthew also draws on Jewish traditions current in the first century, some of which also appear in the Targums, the Aramaic translations and paraphrases of the Hebrew Bible. This thesis argues that Matthew uses these traditions to cast Jesus death as a restaging of Israels exile, which validates Jesus messianic credentials insofar as Israels story is retold in the life and, in this case, the death of Israels Messiah. Matthew alludes to texts in which Gods people suffer as a result of the Babylonian siege and exile, and has Jesus recapitulate these events in his own suffering and death. An analysis of Matthews Parable of the Tenants (21:33-46) and Passion Narrative (26-27) in light of the Scriptures and Targums shows that Jesus enters into exile as a ransom (20:28), which pays the debt that Israels sin had accrued.

I propose that five socio-ecclesial codes as an integrative homiletic-hermeneutic are essential in rendering Asian/Korean American diasporic Protestant preaching culturally relevant, theologically rich, and communicatively effective: the Wilderness Pilgrimage code, the Diasporic Mission code, the Confucian Egalitarian code, the Buddhist Shamanistic code, and the Pentecostal Liberation code. Adopting John S. McClures rhetorical-theological approach to homiletics, I also present style variations of each code that represent different Korean cultural and theological turns in same codes depending on the local preachers and the congregations theological orientation. At the end, I venture on the construction of a Korean American practical theology (for preaching) and its unique methodological schema based on practical theological topics and issues rising from the analysis of the five codes.

Pastoral theological response to families facing disabilities must be shaped by a critically-understood concept of care that both clarifies disability experiences in families, church, and society, and is attentive to potential pitfalls in caring practices. This dissertation draws on mixed-methods research (qualitative, quantitative, and textual) to develop a realistic picture of families living with persons with disabilities, considering how family members experience and practice care at home, in the church, and in society. It develops a richer understanding of the often unspoken and even unconscious social and theological norms that guide everyday life with disabilities. It asks how church and society, through more critical attention to understandings and practices of care, might better help families to flourish. And finally, it seeks to contribute to deeper understanding about human beings as creatures of care and pastoral theology as a practice of care. Thus, the project has a three-fold agenda: attention to disability practices that encourage flourishing; attention to human experiences of care as a Christian practice; and attention to the discipline of pastoral theology as itself a practice of care.