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This work is an examination of the a 17th century theologian and pastor Anthony Burgess (d. 1664), and specifically his contribution to the doctrine of the assurance of faith codified for many in the Westminster Confession of Faith. Burgess’ contribution to an understanding of assurance is found in his two-volume treatise on assurance, Spiritual Refining, and is especially relevant given his status as a delegate to the Westminster Assembly. Burgess’ writings are informed by three aspects of his personal background. The first of these is his status as part of the English Puritan movement in the 17th century; the second is his status as a pastor; the third is his scholastic training, which informed his method of argumentation on the assurance of faith. After examining these three key elements, this study then looks briefly at the contemporary debate on the Reformed doctrine of assurance. This study then examines the nature of the Westminster Confession itself. It analyses how the Assembly was designed, and how it operated with respect to its consensus on assurance. After establishing this, it assesses the way in which Burgess expanded on the Westminster consensus, doing so in ways which were fundamentally different from others of his day, particularly John Owen and Thomas Goodwin. This work affirms the basic finding of Muller regarding the influence of scholasticism on 17th century English Puritanism. It also affirms Beeke and others who have drawn attention to the pastoral necessities which drove 17th century English Puritan theology. Finally, it highlights the high degree of diversity that existed among those who held to the Westminster Confession of Faith on the matter of assurance, postulating that this diversity was to be expected given the way in which the Assembly at Westminster formulated its conclusions.

Scholars have long debated the nature of Paul’s opponents in the book of Colossians. This thesis approaches the debate from a methodological standpoint and contends that Paul was not actually confronting active opponents when he wrote the letter. This thesis seeks to demonstrate that the challenge of reconstructing a singular opponent arises not only from the limitations of textual and historical evidence but also from the assumptions and methodologies inherent to historical approaches to the text. By modifying these assumptions and adjusting the methodology, Paul’s letter takes on a new relationship to its historical context. Paul writes the letter to the churches in the Lycus Valley in a desire to develop their identity as a new people in Christ and to appeal to them to live a new kind of life in Christ. His warnings in Col 2 function as oppositional rhetoric contrasting the religious practices of the Lycus Valley with this new life in Christ. Paul’s warnings are therefore broadly representative of the ancient world yet focused especially on two threads of historical referents, Judaism and pagan religions. This thesis engages in epistolary, rhetorical, and historical analysis to demonstrate how Paul uses the historical practices of these two referents to create a broad contrast between the body of Christ and the religious world of the Lycus Valley.

William L. Hatton. / "May 23, 1951." / Bibliography: p. 16. / Army Signal Corps Contract No. DA36-039 sc-100 Project No. 8-102B-0. Dept. of the Army Project No. 3-99-10-022.

by Jonathan P. Caulkins. / Includes bibliographical references.

This thesis examines the ways in which homosexual clergy transcend the hypocrisy identified by the study as inherent within the Church of England's approach to them. It explores ways in which the homosexual respondents employ strategies to negotiate cognitive dissonance caused by the Church's stigmatisation of their lifestyle. It concludes by exploring reasons, hitherto largely unidentified, that explain why homosexual clergy choose to remain within the homonegative Church, presenting the Transcendent Vocation as their overarching motivation. This term, coined by the thesis, represents a conviction of God's calling felt so strongly by the homosexual respondents that they were determined to remain within the institution regardless of its treatment of them. Since the decriminalisation of homosexual acts in 1967 and despite subsequent secular liberalisation,' the Church of England has continued to maintain its traditional homonegative teaching. Successive reports have' . expressed the Church's desire to listen to the experiences of homosexuals. Focussing on the lived experiences of twelve heterogeneous homosexual clergymen, this thesis makes an important contribution to the 'listening process' as it explores how attitudes to homosexuality· shown to have developed during the period 1967-2007 have affected them. It provides evidence that homosexual clergymen are victims of hypocrisy on the part of the Church of England, and identifies reasons why they choose to tolerate this situation." Through analysis of interview data, not only from homosexual clergy but also from ten retired heterosexual clergymen whose ministries spanned the forty-year period, the thesis examines how, as secular attitudes became progressively more liberal and legal reforms outlawed discrimination, the Church made increasing use of hypocrisy in its approach to homosexual clergy. It is shown how the Church hypocritically manages to continue to use the services of practising homosexual clergy while officially forbidding them to exist, and that remarkably such clergy accept this state of affairs because of their Transcendent Vocation.

Thèse 3e cycle--Lettres--Paris VII, 1982. / Bibliogr. p. 295-308 . Index.

The topic of Tillich and Judaism has received relatively little scholarly treatment. This is despite the importance of Jews and Judaism for Tillich, which is established by numerous biographical details, including the reason for his opposition to the Nazi government and ensuing emigration to the United States in 1933 (Introduction and Chapter 1). Tillich’s ecumenical activities are acknowledged, but Tillich’s dialectical theological method is analyzed to determine how it could have justified his pro-Jewish stance. This refers to his consistent attacks on anti-Semitism, and after World War II, numerous lectures on the structural similarities between Judaism and Christianity, not to mention lifetime relationships with secular and religious Jews (Chapters 1 and 2). Tillich has a dialectical understanding of reality, influenced by F. W. J. Schelling, and this influences every major aspect of his theology. Select primary sources are analyzed to assess the evolution of Tillich’s idea of Judaism through his dialectical, theological and inclusive history of religion (Chapters 3 through 6). ‘Jewish prophetism’, highlighting the critical and existential dimensions of Judaism, emerged as the most characteristic expression, significantly, after World War I, as Tillich rejected the religious nationalism of his early adulthood. After World War II and the Holocaust, Tillich’s ‘dialectic of the Holy’ expressed the fullness of the divine reality as the permanent polar tension between the priestly/mystical/vertical/’Is’, and the prophetic/critical/horizontal/’Ought’. This polar tension is found in his ontology, Christology, and history of religion. The importance of Jewish prophetism, rooted in historic Judaism, would have made it difficult for Tillich to eliminate the Jewish roots of Christianity, compared to the so-called ‘German Christians’ prevalent in Weimar and Nazi Germany. Chapter 7 concludes with a criticism and defence of Tillich’s method. Tillich’s idea of Judaism is inadequate for interfaith dialogue, because it fails to address the fullness of Judaism’s own self-understandings, and is limited to the prophetic aspect. However, the prophetic aspect ensures that the critical and existential aspects of any religion endure in a transformation to a more adequate expression of the divine. Tillich’s ‘religion of the concrete spirit’ not only preserves the importance of Jewish prophetism, but opens the door to dialogue with non-theistic religions, such as Buddhism.

published_or_final_version / Chinese / Master / Master of Philosophy

Han Shu is our first history book which narrates the story by dynasty. It carries a lot of valuable information of the Han dynasty, both historically and literarily. However, because of the long-ago history, a lot of language, pronunciation, naming system, names of officials and places are now difficult to read and understand. Throughout the history, a number of people had analyzed Han Shu. These people have solved a lot of queries. Yang Shuda has high achievements in analyzing Han Shu. He is not only good at etymology and phonology but also analyzing parts of speech and sentence patterns. In terms of the use of materials, not only does he compare different versions of literature, but also uses inscriptions and even cultural data such as marriage and death for analysis. All these contribute to his unique analysis. The analysis of Han Shu has opened up a new field as more and more materials are excavated. Bronze, lacquer and even lute and currency are used in research. This has broadened the academic horizons and solved many mysteries. In 1983, in Hubei province, a lot of Han bamboo slips were excavated, which have provided tremendous help to our understanding of the medicine, law, mathematics and others of the Han dynasty. By the time when current books of Han analysis such as Yang Shuda’s Han Shu Kui Guan were punished, bamboo clips of Zhangjiashan were not yet unearthed. It is unable to invoke this important information, resulting in some doubtful content. I hereby try to make use of these bamboo slips to supplement previous comments, provide new research directions, or affirm previous results. This dissertation is divided to six parts. Each uses the notes of current analysts as the starting point while incorporating Zhangjiashan Han bamboo slips. My analysis is based on Yang Shuda Han Shu Kui Guan, together with the analysis of some current analysts. / published_or_final_version / Chinese Language and Literature / Master / Master of Arts