We will attempt to show that Paul's doctrine of justification was not an arbitrary replacement of the Jewish idea of justice but a natural necessity of man's nature and his society.

This study has been prompted by the apparently similar claims of the Sixteenth century Anabaptists and the Nineteenth century Mormons of having effected a restoration of the "True Church" after a period of complete apostacy in Christendom. It has attempted to ascertain the extent to whcih these claims actually are similar by comparing the teachings of the two movements regarding the characteristics of the "True Church."

In this thesis prominent teachings of the apostles and prophets were examined on the subject of the divine nature of God. These teachings indicate that among the elements of the divine nature of God is his Holy Spirit, his glory or the light which emanates from his person. God's glory, spirit and light were compared and analyzed to determine their relationship to each other. It was found that they perform the same roles and functions and are often used synonymously. Other aspects of the divine nature were examined, such as life, love, truth and goodness. The terms omnipotence, omniscience and omnipresence were studied in light of statements made by the apostles and prophets. They show that God is omnipotent in the sense that he has all the power that it is possible to have, and that he is omniscient in that he knows the past, present and future. Even though God has an organized, glorified and spiritual body of flesh and bone, he is nevertheless omnipresent through the ubiquity of his divine nature and is in and through all things.

From time to time some members of the Church knowingly or ignorantly circulate fallacious stories, rumors, or unsubstantiated reports of a sensational nature, which become more injurious than constructive. Also problems arise when the record of a person's spiritual experiences is published about by others. Often such material becomes garbled as it is passed from person to person. This study investigates some of these rumors and stories in an attempt to discern if there is any truth in them and to present statements of General Authorities as to the position the Church takes, if any, concerning the stories embraced in this thesis. Included also are suggested guidelines and criteria that one might use to attempt to validate or recognize the error of stories not included in this study and other stories that may be forthcoming.

This study examines the impact of religiosity on coping in a group of Mormon (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) youth. Longitudinal data were gathered from detailed questionnaires administered to 2852 male and female adolescents in 1990 and 1993. Coping was conceptualized as four general dimensions (self-concept, public activities and service, deviance and future plans). Religiosity was also conceptualized multi-dimensionally (religious belief, public religiosity, private religious behavior, and religious experiences). Multiple regression analysis was used to investigate the unique effects of each of the dimensions of religiosity on each dimension of coping. It was hypothesized that religiosity was positively related to coping. More specifically, it was hypothesized that public religiosity would have the greatest impact on community service, while private religious practices would most strongly influence deviance and future plans, and that religious belief and religious experiences would have the strongest impact on the self. Results from the study failed to confirm the hypothesis. While private religiosity moderately impacted future religious, educational and career plans among these youth, the results indicated that the impact of religiosity on the other dimensions of coping was negligible. Limitations of the study and possible reasons for these results are discussed.

The purpose of this study was to determine the contributions of latter-day revelation to an understanding of the atonement of Christ in addition to that which is taught in the Bible. It is generally acknowledged among Christians that the primary purpose of Christ's mission was to redeem mankind. The doctrine of the atonement contains the foundation principles of Chirstian faith and, yet the creeds of the several churches are in serious disagreement on many vital principles involved. If the widely differing views are due to insufficient information in the bible, the question naturally follows - how does modern revelation clarify the problem?

Whether in its earliest or its most recent formulations, Mormon millennialism is essentially premillennial. At no time can it be considered postmillennial or a millennial. Along with a millenarian ideology, Latter-day Saints of the 1830s maintained a polarized perception of society and salvation. Apparently, it was not until the 1840s that Mormons began to explore the millennial implications of the "Vision" of the three degrees of glory. Other strands of thought unique to the earliest years of Mormonism are also considered. Furthermore, it is shown how millenarianism informed Mormon perceptions of Native Americans, missionary work, persecution, the Apostasy, and Zion. With the aid of recent scholarly studies of millenarianism in other religions and cultures, the early Mormon mind is set in a broad eschatological framework. Finally, recent attempts to explain Mormon millenarianism as a response to socioeconomic frustrations are found to be inadequate. Mormon millenarianism is better viewed as a religious response to doctrinal and spiritual frustration.

The objective of this study has been to establish the level of significance that Gustavo Gutierrez and Juan Luis Segundo attribute to politics in their contributions to liberation theology and to extract the relevant consequences for political theory. A systematic analysis of the theory of history in the works of these two authors indicates a higher level of integration between Christianity and politics that is usual in Christian political thought. Liberation is equated with salvation and political liberation is seen as one of its components. This brings politics to a position of privilege. When at the service of justice it occupies, for our authors, a high rank among Christian concerns and when devoted to oppression it requires diligent response from every Christian. This understanding of politics is valuable in that it accentuates the political aspect of the Christian theory of history, an element frequently underestimated. Certain tensions remain, however, in the theory as a result of this emphasis: between the moral improvement expected from the involvement in political activities conducive to justice and the moral ambiguity of political structures emerging from such activity; and between the use of the concept of class struggle and notions of conversion and reconciliation. Finally, there is the danger of reducing the critical ability of Christians regarding a particular political project by identifying it with the concept of eschatology.

<p>The Churches of Christ trace their roots back to the Stone-Campbell movement that began in the early-nineteenth century. This Restoration movement was initially formed by several smaller religious groups that left mainstream denominations in the search of freedom in worship and Christian lifestyle. Over time, they pursued the dream of uniting Protestant denominations by restoring the first-century church. This new fellowship embraced a wide range of worship styles despite disagreements on several theological issues.</p> <p>From these irenic roots, the Churches of Christ underwent three major fractures over issues of worship and Christian lifestyle in the twentieth century. There were various social and theological issues that influenced each fracture. In each case, however, this tension was initiated by a desire to restore and preserve the first-century church, and was brought to fruition by the inability to resolve different practices through the use of the Restoration hermeneutic. This thesis shows that despite different social conditions, different issues, different combatants, different countries and different times in history, this church family continued to fracture due to the application of the Restoration hermeneutic.</p> / Master of Theological Studies (MTS)

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