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This thesis suggests that the imagination is vital in the contemporary preaching event. It enables the preacher to speak into some important themes identifiable in postmodern thought. Noting the broad range of understandings of the term ‘imagination’ in an overview of approaches in Western history, and in a wide selection of homiletic texts, a framework for mapping the imagination is offered as an heuristic device for the homiletics classroom. A theology of imagination is presented to demonstrate the importance of imagination in the life of faith and to allay fears that it may be seen to connect preaching with fiction. Allied to this is an analysis of the sacramental nature of preaching and the role of imagination in enabling such sacramental ‘seeing-as’. Connected to enabling new seeing, preaching in the lyrical voice is discussed along with the importance of preachers shaping sermons for the ear. As imagination also has a vital role in how the preacher sees the preaching task itself, exploration of various theological entailments flowing from seeing the role of preacher through the lenses of particular governing metaphors is presented. The connections between imagination, preaching, and personality are explored, along with a critique of the understanding of imagination operating in the Myers-Briggs literature and exploration of the use of imagination in the SIFT method of preaching. A number of key issues for the practice and teaching of preaching are proposed.

This research examines why churches are using Liturgical Media Art (LMA), specifically the use of projected or displayed images and texts, in their worship. Using a long term ethnographic study of four congregations, two in the UK and two in the USA, the research reveals a number of important issues for those who lead and those who prepare the materials used in the worship. The results show that LMA is providing added educational, missional and liturgical value through increased participation of the congregation in the worship of the churches researched. The research also identifies that those who lead worship, those who are the congregants in the worship and those who prepare the materials used in worship all have a very different perspective on the use of LMA. In seeking to understand the different approaches this research posits the role of self-esteem as a way of interpreting the three viewpoints. In looking at one possible measure of the effectiveness of LMA, this research examines the role of ‘surprise’ in relation to memory as well as how memory traits may be encoded so as to provide a long term retrieval of the images and associated service content. Using the work of McLuhan as a lens to examine the way churches employ LMA, this research focuses on the learning that can be found when there are problems with the use of LMA and its presence in the worship becomes obvious. The research posits a number of outcomes for ministerial formation and ministry that would aid the use of LMA in worship today. The research draws on the work of many writers from various theological, sociological, philosophical disciplines to reflect theologically on the use of LMA in our worship today. It also briefly considers the new ‘environmental projection’ being adopted in some churches. This research confirms much of the anecdotal evidence offered for the use of LMA and adds to the current literature about the use of LMA

This thesis introduces a cultural hermeneutic for the study of the David and Jonathan relationship as found in the 1 Samuel 18:1-5 ritual. Its goal is to encourage biblical scholars and theologians to augment the use of exegetical tools in analyzing biblical matter with methods from social anthropology and the social sciences. This will offer a third alternative interpretation of the heroes’ relationship apart from late modern tendencies to engage in either a strict pro-homosexual reading or anti-homosexual rendering of the David-Jonathan narratives. This Ph.D. dissertation sets anthropological gift theory and material from selected comparative ethnography alongside the influence of the alleged Deuteronomistic Historian in an analysis of the socio-political transition of Premonarchical Israel to statehood to propose a textual and socially contextual bond of new male-male intimacy between David and Jonathan now classified as a warriors’ brotherhood. Other key theological and social scientific areas explored are the Yahweh Religion, both chapter 'nineteen narratives' in the Books of Genesis and Judges, the term ‘loyal love’ (in Hebrew, hesed), the Holiness Code and pollution theory, ritualized kinship and identity, patriliny (in which a child acquires social status from its father) and power, and domestic groups.

Within these pages is presented for the first time a critical edition of the Commentary to chapters II -X of Genesis of Immanuel ben Solomon of Rome. (Chapter I was edited and published during the preparation of this thesis by Franco Michelini Tocci, Roma, 1963). The edition is based on two manuscripts: one from the library of the Jewish Theological Seminary, New York, and the other from the Biblioteca Paletina di Parma. The text is accompanied with a critical apparatus showing the differences between the two manuscripts. Comprehensive notes are added which attempt to trace Immanuel's sources, elucidate the form and background of philosophical and scientific approach to the Bible, and place him in the history of medieval Jewish exegesis. English translations of the more difficult passages are appended, and a brief summary of the major elements in the text is given. The Introduction gives for the first time a full list of all the manuscripts of Immanuel's commentaries to the Bible, and a critical estimate is attempted of Immanuel's use of his source material. The whole provides an insight in the growth of philosophical Bible commentary, and throws light On the mental outlook of one of the great leaders of the Rome Jewish community in the Middle Ages.

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