Thesis (M. Div.)--Grace Theological Seminary, 1985. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 52-55).

This study of the Greek text of Acts in Codex Bezae seeks to demonstrate how the practice of textual criticism can be helped by the application of discourse analysis to internal linguistic criticism. In so doing, it aims to throw light on the origin and purpose of the Bezan text. The text of Codex Bezae is compared with that of Codices Sinaiticus and Vaticanus. After an initial section explaining the method used and outlining the principles of discourse analysis, a selection of the types of variant readings is examined exhaustivelyi connectives, word order, prepositions, divine names and the spelling of Jerusalem. Grammatical and pragmatic features (particularly the context and the writer/recipient relationship) are considered. In the final section, consecutive variants in extended portions of text (1: 15-26; 12: 1-12,18-25; 113: 1-18) are the object of exegetical study. The findings of the analyses challenge the traditional view of the Bezan text as a late and wayward text, the work of a slipshod and fanciful scribe. It emerges, on the contrary, as a careful and deliberate work, displaying a high degree of inner coherence and remarkably close to the linguistic patterns which can be discerned in the text which is common to all three manuscripts. The results further suggest that the text peculiar to Codex Bezae was the work of an early Christian editor familiar with the Jewish background of the Church. Its purpose seems to have been to amplify and enhance the first text of Acts for the benefit of Jewish recipients in order to demonstrate the continuity between Judaism and Christianity and especially the divine endorsement of the openness of the new movement to the Gentiles. The Bezan revision of the original is, thus, a valuable witness to the life of the early Church and a demonstration of the acceptable fluidity of the pre-canonical text.

This thesis provides an examination of John’s depiction of Jesus in Revelation. Past studies of John’s presentation of Jesus in Revelation have tended to focus upon either the synthesis of the various themes and phrases or upon a particular image used throughout the book. Past studies have likewise generally focused upon either the Old Testament or Roman emperor worship as the major source for the imagery used by John. Within this thesis, I argue that John interacts with imagery from his cultural context (Roman emperor worship), from the key writings of his apparent religious heritage (the Old Testament), and from convictions shared with the wider early Christian community. In the sections devoted to each of these three sources (Roman emperor worship, the Old Testament writings, and early Christianity), I provide an assessment of the way that John utilizes images, phrases, and motifs from each in his depiction of Jesus. The interaction with this material represents, I argue, not a haphazard conglomeration of material from divergent sources, but rather a complex, well-developed set of religious convictions concerning Jesus, creatively expressed in this early Christian writing.

A thesis submitted to the faculty of THEOLOGY AND RELIGION STUDIES in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF THEOLOGY in the department of SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY, ETHICS AND HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY at the UNIVERSITY OF ZULULAND, 2003. / Two assumptions shape modem Pauline studies. They are that the Apostle Paul -wrote letters, and that his theology can be reconstructed from these letters. The problem is that one cannot decide which of the letters is authentic unless one first knows something about Pauline theology. Much of the modern picture of Paul is biased by the same theology it claims to discover. One way of bypassing this problem is to turn to sources not written by Paul. In Christian literature of the first and second centuries, Paul features prominently as the champion of various Pauline Schools. Scholars have previously ignored this literature for reconstructing historical traditions about Paul. Yet it contains valuable historical information that provides an objective basis upon which one can evaluate the modem approach to Paul's letters and theology.

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Grammatical treatments of the Greek article have historically operated from an orientation that views the article as, essentially, a demonstrative pronoun and more or less analogous to the English definite article. In certain circumstances, an association between the Greek article and the relative pronoun has been acknowledged. However, this association does not generally inform the grammatical description of the article's function. It is the conviction of the following thesis that this orientation is in error and has resulted in an inaccurate understanding of the function of the Greek article. The grammatical descriptions that are the result of this perspective are often internally inconsistent and, in some instances, contradictory. When the aforementioned assumptions are discarded and the article and relative pronoun are examined in terms of morphology and function, the results reveal a considerable degree of functional overlap between the two parts of speech. Both parts of speech are often employed to produce structures that may fill the same syntactical slot. Both parts of speech are used by the speaker to indicate that he or she is providing information that the recipient is to use for the purpose of identification. Both orient the identification ofthe referent to the speaker. Categorically, the two may be identified by a designation based on their common morphological features: Ho-items. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Practical Theology / D.Litt. et Phil. (Theory of Literature)

Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology / D.Litt. et Phil. (Theory of Literature)

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