Thesis (M.A.)--St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary, Crestwood, NY, 2007. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 32-35).

Thesis (M. Div.)--St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary, Crestwood, NY, 2007. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 52-53).

This thesis offers a focused study on the benefits of discipleship in the Gospel of John (GJohn). While previous research has considered the meaning of the terms disciple and discipleship, characterization of the Johannine disciples, and various characteristics of discipleship, in the current study I investigate certain themes that can be understood as compensatory benefits of discipleship in GJohn. I argue that these benefits can be grouped under three primary benefits that John deploys to promote discipleship. These three primary benefits are: membership in the divine family, the Father and the Son abiding in the believer through the Spirit, and royal friendship with Jesus. I have identified these three primary benefits based on either the benefit’s strategic placement in the text, or prominence in the Gospel, or peculiar meaning in GJohn. In addition to the three primary benefits, I argue that John features corollary benefits that appear in the surrounding narrative of the three key benefits. The corollary benefits of membership in the divine family are life, love, knowledge of God and of the truth, freedom from sin, walking in the light, salvation, avoidance of judgment/destruction, resurrection, protection, performance of great works, affirmation of genuine discipleship, honor, glory, and unity/oneness of the Father and the Son with the other disciples. The corollary benefits to abiding—which are contingent upon the disciples’ abiding in Jesus—are the presence of the Paraclete, love, peace, joy, avoidance of judgment, answered requests, the ability to perform great works, fruit, and affirmation of genuine discipleship. The corollary benefits to royal friendship with Jesus are love, knowledge of the Father, fruit, joy, and answered requests. The corollary benefits that are constituent of more than one primary benefit—love, affirmation of genuine discipleship, avoidance of judgment, joy, knowledge, answered requests, fruit, and performance of great works—are examined in the context of the primary benefit that develops the accompanying benefit most thoroughly. My study is rooted in a close reading of the text, with an exegetical and a narratival analysis of John’s presentation of discipleship. In chapter 1, I frame my argument in light of the existing literature on discipleship. In chapters 2 through 4, I investigate the three primary benefits and the affiliated corollary benefits. In chapter 2, I argue that followers of Jesus are integrated into the family of God by divine initiation. The disciple is then granted eternal life that enables him to relate to God, Jesus, and other members within the divine family, which results in the aforementioned additional benefits. In chapter 3, I argue that the theme of abiding with God and Jesus has a present and a future dimension in GJohn. In chapter 4, I argue that John depicts Jesus as a royal figure who invites his disciples into a friendship in which they experience the privilege of being members of his royal circle. In chapter 5, I suggest that John presents the benefits of commitment to Jesus against the general backdrop of the hostility of “the Jews” and the world toward Jesus and his followers. This opposition might have been a factor in the then-current experience of Johannine believers, or it might be reflective of the experience of a prior time which continued to form part of the outlook of the Johannine believers. In light of the potential cost of following Jesus, we can understand certain Johannine themes as compensatory benefits that are deployed in GJohn to promote continuous discipleship. In chapter 6, I synthesize my findings.

In this thesis I establish that Matthew's presentation of Jesus's exorcisms fits with the Second Temple exorcistic messianic expectations. This thesis challenges the axiom that nobody expected the Messiah to cast out demons. Previous research has been either preoccupied with sharp definitions of titles, have had a narrow understanding of messianism, or have attempted to import non-Jewish explanations. I have taken a more conceptual approach and have focused on those ideas in the Jewish Scriptures that provide the seedbed for messianism in general, that is, the Promise (2 Sam 7) and the centrality of David and Solomon. I have focused specifically on those elements that make their rule distinctive and ideally secure their prevailing over their adversaries. I have then traced the development of these features in the Second Temple period towards explicitly exorcistic interpretations. In so doing I have established the contemporary landscape and demonological language against which Matthew's presentation of Jesus's exorcisms specifically as the Son of David takes a shape of prophetic fulfillment. I have, thus, shown that Matthew's account of Jesus the Son of David's exorcisms makes sense only if it is preceded by a contemporary expectation for an exorcistic Messiah.

One cannot say what meaning the theologian ordinarily gives to 'law' as a secular term, no doubt he would claim to give it a 'plain, unambiguous meaning ' such as a rule of conduct imposed by society and enforced by sanctions'. Perhaps this will do for ordinary purposes, but there are some who tend to import an emotive meaning into the term. They understand the term 'law' in a perjorative sense as being mechanical and and coercive, requiring only literal obedience and therefore opposed to faith which is personal, free, and a response not of obedience but of love. It does not seem to occur to them. that the average person freely accepts law as binding, or that sometimes there may be no sanction for not observing a rule of law, or that law is not static but dynamic, constantly changing. Chap. 1, p. 4.

This thesis explores the theme of interpersonal forgiveness in the Gospel of Matthew and argues that the idea of interpersonal forgiveness is quite central to this Gospel. Its main foci are on demonstrating the centrality of this theme in the Gospel and understanding the nature of interpersonal forgiveness in it. It proposes five sets of evidence in support of this claim. First is the concept of reciprocity and the link between mercy and forgiveness, together with the link between reluctance in the praxis of them and judgement. Second is the emphasis on the offended person's responsibility in forgiving and the connection of this with the concept of spiritually mature and immature Christians. Third is a reinforcement of the forgiveness concept by the use of related concepts. Fourth is the strategic rhetorical positioning of interpersonal forgiveness texts and related passages within the Matthean text. Fifth is the proportion these texts occupy in the Sermon on the Mount and the Community Discourse. In an attempt to demonstrate the prominence of the theme in the first Gospel, all Matthean forgiveness and forgiveness-related texts are surveyed. Then two key texts, in which the idea of interpersonal forgiveness is stated directly, are singled out for a thorough examination. The method of interpretation used in this thesis is discourse analysis. Discourse analysis, as with many models used in NT exegesis, is not without its potential limitations. It is employed in this thesis because it offers valuable insight into Matthew's point of view of the subject under scrutiny. To serve as the background to the present study, the rhetoric of interpersonal forgiveness in Graeco-Roman literature and in Jewish literature in Greek is considered. The analysis of these data will assist in the description of the dynamics of human forgiveness. The forgiveness pattern that emerges from them differs remarkably from its pattern found in Matthew where granting forgiveness appears not only as a reasonable act, but reluctance or failure to grant it does make the unforgiving person accountable to God - a note sounded nowhere else (except Sir 28:1-4 and Dionysius, Ant. Rom. 8.50.1-4) in the literature surveyed in this work.

This study examines the occurrences of wisdom and apocalypticism in Q, and then draws conclusions from the latter about the historical Jesus. Important questions are addressed: Did Q think of Jesus as a wisdom teacher, an apocalyptic prophet, or both? If Q associated both wisdom and apocalypticism with Jesus, what was the interrelationship between these two? Did either enjoy preference, or were they equally important to the person and message of Jesus? A concerted effort is made to let Q speak for itself. If the latter were possible, how would Q and the people behind it respond to the Renewed and Third Quests for the historical Jesus? This question basically sums up the research gap, which is to provide the Sayings Gospel with an opportunity to respond to these reconstructions of Jesus. Hence, there are two levels to the present work. The first level focuses on Q in order to determine the roles of both wisdom and apocalypticism in Q. This exercise constitutes the focal point and bulk of the study, leading to the central theory: The Q people remembered and described Jesus as a sage who made use of apocalyptic eschatology to motivate and support his moral message. The acceptance or rejection of this theory will naturally have an impact on our understanding of the historical Jesus, which represents the second level of inquiry. The second level focuses on the historical Jesus, and our understanding of him, given the results obtained in this investigation of Q. The high regard for Q and the propensity to regard Q as a stratified document places this study squarely in the camp of the Renewed Quest. However, there are two aspects of the study that have affinities with the Third Quest as well. The first is the inclination to question the noneschatological image of Jesus proffered by the Renewed Quest. The second is the synchronic manner in which the study approaches Q. By preferring to ask how Q remembered and described Jesus, Q is approached in a manner reminiscent of the Third Quest’s historical method. The research gap is addressed in a systematic way. Chapter one provides a focused overview of historical Jesus research from Reimarus to the present – an endeavour that naturally leads in to a discussion of the dissertation’s research gap, focal point and central theory. In chapter two, Q is considered in its entirety, including its documentary status, its stratification, its genre, its ethnic colouring and its eschatology. Chapter three zooms in on Q’s apocalyptic-judgment and Son-of- Man sayings specifically. An exegetical examination of these logia concentrates particularly on the focal point: the interrelationship between wisdom and apocalypticism in Q. Chapter four zooms in further on a single Q saying: Q 6:37-38. The purpose remains to determine the relationship between wisdom and apocalypticism in Q. The study moves in a centripetal direction, from historical-Jesus research in general (chapter 1), to the Q document (chapter 2), to the Son-of-Man and apocalyptic-judgment logia within Q (chapter 3), to one specific logion about judgment (chapter 4). Chapter five pulls everything together by (1) assessing the central theory, (2) responding to both the Third and Renewed Quests, (3) suggesting ways to reconcile these two currents, (4) commenting on the relevance of Jesus’ wisdom and morality for today, and (5) highlighting avenues for further study. The central theory is ultimately confirmed, albeit with an important qualification: Apocalyptic eschatology also formed an integral part of the sapiential message of Q’s Jesus. In response to the Renewed Quest, it is found that apocalyptic eschatology can not and should not be divorced from the message of Q’s Jesus. In response to the Third Quest, it is found that Q’s Jesus was primarily a sage, and that his apocalyptic eschatology was not imminent in nature. Regarding the wisdom and morality of Q’s Jesus, it is found that the essence of his message remains valid. This is particularly true of the way in which he used apocalyptic eschatology to motivate and buttress his moral message. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / New Testament Studies / unrestricted

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / This research compares the similarities and differences in the official documents and proceedings of the Commission for World Mission and Evangelism (CWME) in Athens 2005 and the Lausanne Movement held in Cape Town in 2010. The former has always exhibited a missiology strong in issues of social justice while the latter has for a long time been consistent in identifying mission as evangelism. The close of the 19th century and the early part of the 20th saw the emergence of the social gospel, which came about as a result of the historical critical approach to biblical texts. Fundamentalists, arose as a reactionary phenomenon to the social gospel, while emphasizing fundamentals of the Christian doctrines and a strict premillennial eschatology which resisted social involvement in favour of salvation of souls.

This project exhaustively examines the first element (theme) of each clause in Mark and in samples from other roughly contemporaneous Jewish writings. The comparative documents are divided into two categories, referential and non-referential narratives. Then statistical analyses (χ2 and t-test) are used to determine with which category of comparative documents Mark more closely aligns. The raw results of these hypothesis tests were equivocal, but their corresponding effect sizes (Cramer’s V and Cohen’s d, respectively) clearly demonstrate that Mark more closely resembles referential narrative, although the difference is small. / Thesis / Candidate in Philosophy

<p> Perhaps since its composition, the Gospel of Mark has troubled scholarship with regard to its content and genre. In it, a number of anomalies appear: Jesus' use of secrecy, Jesus' use of the "son of man" title, how the miracles and exorcisms function with regard to plot, and why Jesus never convinces his listeners of his message. In this study, I argue that these anomalies can be explained by considering Mark's Gospel in light of the tragic genre. Mark's Gospel does not simply contain motifs or modes from tragedy; Mark's Gospel is a tragedy. Through the examination of extant Greek Tragedy and an application of Hegel's theory of tragic Kollision, this study illustrates the ways in which the plot of Mark's Gospel is built upon a tragic foundation. Kollision describes how Jesus is in conflict as the tragic hero. Conflict becomes central to this study, in which Jesus is the antagonist to the Temple and the cultural ethos it creates. This antagonism defines Jesus as the Messiah and concealed Son of God, and it produces the suffering and death common to all of tragedy. What is more, this study critically engages with several tragic theories, ranging from ancient to modern. It specifically analyzes Aristotle's Poetics-the standard description of tragic genre-and ask whether Aristotle's categories really do provide an exhaustive definition of ancient tragedy.</p> / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)