This thesis is a response to the sociobiological paradigm which sees all aspects of life as fundamentally 'selfish'. This view is built upon two concepts, firstly, that the evolutionary process of natural selection leads to a world characterised by 'selfish' genes and 'selfish' individual organisms. Secondly, that all aspects of human nature, including benevolence, are defined by natural selection and are consequently selfish in motivation also. In Chapter 2, the first of these ideas is shown as inappropriate, not least, because selection favours genes that 'cooperate' and individuals that 'sacrificially' expend themselves in producing offspring. In Chapter 3, the second concept is discounted as only some aspects of human behaviour and culture can be explained in terms of natural selection. These points are central to the discussions on 'altruism' in Chapters 4-6. While sociobiologists have rightly noted that kin and reciprocal forms of 'altruism' occur in nature and in human society, their rendering of them in terms of genetic and individual 'selfishness' is again entirely misleading. The arguments of some sociobiologists for group selected forms of 'altruism' in nature and human culture are shown as unconvincing. Further, the sociobiological contention that human benevolence is constrained to the aiding of kin, reciprocal partners and group members is also countered. Humans exhibit the capacity to care for those outside of these sociobiological categories. Moreover, rather than being primarily selfish in motivation, humans are both more altruistic and more egoistic than the sociobiological view can accommodate. Chapter 7 considers the sociobiological interpretation of the New Testament (NT) teachings on love as selfishly concerned only with the care of kin, reciprocators and group members. This view is largely acceded to by the theologian, Stephen Pope, while another, Patrfcia Williams, has argued that the NT directly strives to counter such innate forms of behaviour. Chapters 8-10 investigate some of the NT teachings on love and argue for a more profound and complex altruism than any of these views. Chapter 8 contends that NT love is a deeply humble and sacrificial altruism where the needs of the other are placed before those of the self; one that is patterned after the example of Christ. It is a radical altruism, which as Chapter 9 argues, encompasses kin but also goes beyond this category in the requirement to love the new family of believers. This love of the group, the church, is itself transcended in a love for all others. Chapter 10 argues that this NT altruism is not bound by reciprocity for it prioritises the care of the weak, those who cannot reciprocate; and extends love to enemies, those who will not reciprocate. The view that such a love is ultimately reciprocal on the grounds of its heavenly reward is countered, as the NT reward of love is the promise that the believer's capacity for self-giving love will be perfected.

No description available.

No description available.

This thesis aims to clarify the Jesus-Paul relationship with regard to the issue of faith. Two groups of Jesus' sayings ("Faith that can remove mountains" and "Your faith has healed/saved you") are chosen as the starting-point of comparison. Special attention is also paid to Paul's use of Hab 2:4 and Gen 15:6. The picture of the Jesus-Paul relationship that emerges is a complex one. To a great extent the similarity between Jesus and Paul is due to their common Jewish heritage. The early Church plays a part in influencing Paul's concept of faith and Paul himself reinterprets the Jewish Scriptures in an innovative manner. At the same time, Paul is found to be greatly indebted to Jesus for his concept of faith. First, there is evidence that Paul uses the Jesus tradition in his discussion of faith. Jesus' mounting-removing sayings are found to be the most probable source of Paul's statement in 1 Cor 13:2. Second, the distinctive teaching of Paul, namely, his doctrine of justification by faith as exemplified in his use of Gen 15:6, is found in its seminal form in Jesus. Paul's pistis christou is built on Jesus' claims for faith in his own person as expressed in his pronouncement: "Your faith has healed/saved you". Paul's reckoning language echoes Jesus' offer of a salvation that imparts purity to the ritually impure. In conclusion, the present study proposes that Paul should properly be viewed as a follower and interpreter of Jesus rather than as "the second founder of Christianity". With regard to the issue of faith, Paul's contribution lies in his development of the Christological and salvational aspects of faith inherent in the teaching of Jesus while assuming the theological and miraculous aspects of faith which are prominent in Jesus' sayings.

This thesis examines Romans 9:30-10:13 with a concentration on Paul's citations of the Old Testament. A critical review of the theory of intertextuality, including a critique of its application by Richard Hays, begins an adaptation of the theory for a methodology which is labelled herein as Intertextual Semantics. Intertextual Semantics describes the meaning of the text through its points of continuity between itself and its source, but also its discontinuity and the processes which have contributed to their lexical, syntactical, discursive, rhetorical, and cultural differences. Transformative factors may be evident from a synchronic perspective, but when considering Paul’s historical position in relation to Judaism and Israelite religion, a diachronic perspective is also valuable. The thesis devotes considerable space to the history of the texts which Paul quotes in Romans 9:30-10:13. It contributes new readings of Isaiah 28:16, Leviticus 18:5, and Deuteronomy 30:12-14 in their respective literary and historical contexts. From such 'original' contexts to other allusions or quotations in the Old Testament or in non-canonical Second Temple Jewish literature or in other New Testament writings, these intertexts are followed and described as part of this diachronic analysis. Disrupting or colliding with the continuity of meaning across changes of time, languages, and cultures are the exigencies facing each new generation. In the synchronic analysis, and in response to the relative neglect that Romans 10 suffers in relation to chs. 9 and 11, this study demonstrates that concerted attention to Romans 10 pays dividends for inquiries into the coherence, purpose, and function of chs.9-11 as well as for important topics such as Paul's conception of his own ministry, comparisons of Pauline religion with historical Israelite religion, and rhetoric in this letter.

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No description available.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--McMaster University, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 320-344). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, Divinity School, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.

This thesis attempts to develop an approach to the New Testament which does justice to the New Testament as both sacred scripture of Christianity and historical human document. Based on the Lutheran and German Existentialist hermeneutical tradition language is viewed as the bearer of meaning rather than as a pointer to meaning which is to be found behind the text. This approach is relevant for the discussion of neo-Barthian as well as post-modem hermeneutics. It demands a consistent application of historical criticism, leading to a hermeneutical theology rather than the ruling of theology over against biblical interpretation. The first main part of the thesis is dedicated to the development of a theological theory of language. The thesis starts with an assessment of the Barth-Bultmann debate, where the underlying differences in their respective theories of language are analysed. It proceeds to a critical discussion of Rudolf Bultmann's hermeneutical theory, in the course of which Bultmann's theology and hermeneutics are identified as leading to a theocentric personalism. In addition, his hermeneutics are found to have important deficits in the underlying theory of language namely to ignore the role language plays as the bearer of meaning. In order to develop a theological theory of language which is based on the assumption that language is the bearer of meaning while avoiding Bultmann's shortcomings, the argument will follow the further development of existentialist hermeneutics and enter a discussion with the later Heidegger, Gadamer and Ricoeur. As a result, the concept of Christianity as Struggle for Language will be introduced. Here, Christianity and the New Testament in particular is understood as the continuing endeavour to translate the Christian kerygma so that it is meaningful in present discourse. The second part of the thesis is dedicated to the application of the main thesis to selected texts from John's Gospel, namely the hymn underlying the prologue John 1:1-18, the Nicodemus-discourse John 3:1-21 and the final prayer John 17.