No description available.

This thesis is an attempt to determine the nature and development of Augustine's understanding of the church between his conversion (386) and his 'conscription' into the priesthood (391). The results of this study reveal that Augustine did begin to think 'ecclesiologically' during this period. Indeed, his ideas about the church are intimately intertwined with his personal development and they coalesced into what can be called his first ecclesiological synthesis. Before his baptism (387), Augustine's Christianity evidenced no significant ecclesiological interest. His conversion was influenced heavily by neo-Platonism but was clearly Christian in character. It was his interaction with a small number of Milanese Christian neo-Platonists (including Ambrose) that most directly contributed to his conversion; ecclesial motivations were absent. At Cassiciacum, neo-Platonism was the basic intellectual construct employed to seek an understanding of the world and Christian faith. The connection between Augustine's new Christian lifestyle and the church was not obvious at the villa. His pre-baptismal Christianity was primarily individualistic, though his penchant for communal life and interaction was also beginning to manifest itself. The little-discussed stay at Milan just prior to and following Augustine's baptism (April 24/25, 387) provided the seedbed of his earliest ecclesiological ideas. Differences which appear in his writings after Milan strongly suggest that Augustine's instruction there as a catechumen was more significant than is often indicated. The importance of the church, crystalized in his view of the church as Catholic teacher and 'mother of all Christians', emerged in his writings at Rome (387/388). In these works, written after his baptismal experience, he described Christian beliefs as the teachings of the church, something he had not done in the Cassiciacum Dialogues. While it is not possible to identify his motivation with exactness, an analysis of relevant treatises demonstrates that Augustine absorbed these ideas of the church, if only in root form, from Ambrose and the general atmosphere of Catholic Milan. In Rome, Augustine was increasingly exposed to Catholic Christian groups which were seeking to live out an ascetic ideal. Monastic/ascetic development in the West was still in a formative phase, and while Augustine did not imitate any of these examples, he was influenced by them. In addition he assumed the role of Catholic apologist, specifically against the Manichees, a move which reflected his new affinity with the 'rare and high office of teacher' in the church. Returning from Italy to his home town of Thagaste, North Africa in the late summer of 388, Augustine was finally able to sift through and consolidate the many influences which he had encountered in Italy. He conceived of himself as one in the 'service of God' who was connected to the church in allegiance, but not in an institutional or official way. He identified with the 'learned men of the Catholic church' but adopted the role of an independent Christian teacher in his writings and communal activities. The structure of his Thagaste community was the result of a number of factors {e.g. the tradition of philosophic otium), among which the rising western monastic and ascetic trends provided significant but not exclusive input. At least through 390 the community is not properly understood as a monastery, though in some ways it was moving towards this form. Augustine also began at Thagaste to think of the church as a theological object and as encompassing all believers (e.g. clergy, hermits, laity, etc.). An ascetic, but not extreme, ideal was the proper outworking of 'spiritual' Christianity for all. The seeds of Augustine's later well-known ecclesiological ideas (such as the wheat and tares, or the church as the city of God in the world and history) can be observed at Thagaste. Finally at Thagaste in late 390, identifiable ecclesiological understandings of the church in the world, in history, and of Augustine's own position in the church emerged. On the basis of his understanding of the church as a theological entity and the home of the 'spiritual', and motivated by his own Christian goals, Augustine decided that he would establish a clear, institutional connection to the church. His first, 'monastic' ecclesiological synthesis (part of an overall 'religious' synthesis in On True Religion) crystalized in his decision to establish a monastery. It was also the motivation behind his trip to Hippo - to 'recruit for' and 'found a monastery'. This construct was never fully implemented but left its legacy in many of the practical ecclesial innovations which Augustine brought to the see at Hippo and in the ecclesiological foci which found expression in his later works.

Three issues have had the greatest impact on the feminine imagery of the Holy Spirit in the hymns of the theologian Ephrem the Syrian. These are 1) the relations between Ephrem's Church and other contemporary religious groups in fourth-century Edessa, 2) the preference for celibacy in Syriac Christianity, and 3) the linguistic and metaphorical gender of the Holy Spirit. It is concluded that, despite Ephrem's use of feminine, even motherly, images of the Holy Spirit, he never addressed the Spirit as Mother except for polemical purposes. He did this to prevent any syncretism between the cult of Atargatis and Christianity as he knew it. Ephrem's desire to align his church with the Greek-speaking church was also a factor in his choice of address for the Holy Spirit.

This thesis demonstrates the effects that Karl Barth's view of personal being had on his theology of conversion. Chapter One expounds the relational account of personal being, distinguishes it from individual views, and establishes that Barth worked from within relational presuppositions. Chapter Two examines the event of conversion itself as an event of liberation, having demonstrated the relation of Barth's theology of personal being to his theology of freedom. Chapter Three traces the connections between Barth's theology of Christian faith and his theology of personal being. Chapter Four concentrates on those who have been converted to Jesus Christ, looking at the foundations of Christian spirituality in Barth's theology of revelation. Chapter Five focuses on those who are not yet Christians, looking at the address of the Church to the world, with special attention to Barth's theology of our dialogue with those who hold to a non-Christian faith or to no religious faith at all. Much of the disagreement between Barth and several of his critics has erupted from a difference in their understanding of what it means to be a person. All the chapters exhibit the influence of Barth's relational view of personal being on each of these other areas, and they clarify misconceptions that have resulted from not taking that relational view into account.

No description available.

This study arose out of an obvious hiatus in the history of the development of reformed theology. Studies of the doctrine of the Christian life in Calvin's thought have already been made. But no such study seems to have existed of a major English Puritan's view of this extensive and important area of dogmatic and pastoral theology. Chapter one. The life of John Owen is sketched from his birth in 1616 until his death in 1683. Chapter two. It is necessary to preface the exposition of Owen's teaching proper with an introduction to the Covenant Theology milieu in which his own views took root. Chapter three. Owen's understanding of the beginnings of Christian experience cannot be properly assessed without recourse to his view of man in sin. His teaching on regeneration and conversion is grounded in his view of the total depravity of man by the fall. Chapter four. The first great privilege of the inauguration of grace, namely fellowship with God. Owen consequently gives lengthy consideration to the doctrine of assurance, and in that context his own contribution to the seventeenth century discussion on the 'seal of the Spirit' is examined. Chapter five. The obverse of fellowship with God is the renunciation of fellowship with sin. It is axiomatic in reformed theology that the grace of God overcomes the dominion but does not banish Presence of sin in the believer. The corollaries of this, the reality of temptation and the necessity of mortification are therefore studied in some detail. Chapter six. The context of Christian growth is the fellowship of the saints in the church. In any study of the Christian life, some place must be given to considering how the individual Christian is related to other Christians. Chapter seven. In the context of hts spiritual experience, the Christian is supported by a number of infra-structures. Four of these are singled out for reference because of the attention which Owen devoted to them: Scripture, Sacraments, Prayer, and Ministry. These are the primary, and largely public means of the Christian's edification. Chapter eight. Owen, like many of his contemporaries, was conscious of the dangers besetting the pilgrim on his journey through life to the heavenly Jerusalem. There lies before him the danger of apostasy, and Owen dispenses for it the antidote of spiritual-mindedness, and the biblical teaching on the perseverance of the saints. But he does not lose sight of the goal. In this life the goal is Christian character, a life lived to the glory and honour of God. In the world to come, the goal set before the believer is that of eternal glory. The measure to which the Christian has seen that 'far-off goal1 is itself the measure of the quality of the Christian life he may be expected to live. Chapter nine. Owen's own theology purported to be biblical, reformed, and evangelical. In order to provide constructive criticism of his teaching, this theological tradition, in its various dimensions, has been employed as the foil against which Owen's teaching on the Christian life should be discussed. His merits speak for themselves. Here criticism is offered of Owen's basic formulation and employment of the covenant idea, and in its outworking in the key ideas of the Christian life, the ordo salutis, union with Christ, sanctification, and grace. It is concluded that Owen's great strength - his concentration on subjective experience - proved to be an Achilles' heel when it was not moulded by a right understanding of the relationship between the objective and subjective aspects of the gospel revealed in the Covenant of Grace.

Martin Bucer has been predominantly portrayed as a diplomat, who attempted to reconcile divergent theological views, sometimes at any costs, or as a pragmatic pastor, who was more concerned with ethics than theology. These representations have influenced the view that Bucer was a theological light-weight, a Vermittlungstheologe, rightly placed in the shadow of Luther and Calvin. This thesis argues differently. Bucer was an ecclesial diplomat and he was a pragmatic pastor, yet his ecclesial and practical approaches to reforming the church were guided by coherent theological convictions. Central to this theology was his understanding of the doctrine of justification; an understanding that I argue has an integrity of its own and has been imprecisely represented as Vermittlungstheologie. It was this solid doctrine that guided his irenicism and acted as a foundation for entering into discussions with Catholics between 1539 and 1541. He was consistent in his approach, and did not sacrifice his theological convictions for ecclesial expediency.

The thesis is concerned with the relationship between the doctrine of God and the doctrines pertaining to salvation in the theology of Isaac Dorner (1808-1884) with particular reference to his System ojChristian Faith. The thesis seeks to depict the way in which Dorner both exposits and uses his doctrine of God to serve the purposes of demonstrating the certainty of the Christian faith, the necessity of the incarnation of Jesus Christ, and the coherence of the doctrine of substitutionary atonement. We argue that his acco/Illt of God is marked by a consistent, though not unproblematic, interest in demonstrating the certitude of the Christian idea of God as the objective content of basic Christian faith. His account of the economic relation between God and world is analysed in terms of its capacity to depict the possibility of divine immanence within the world without detriment to the world's distinction or prejudicing God's Self-sufficiency. We argue that the world's freedom, though not absolute, .is nevertheless authentic and preserved by its dependent state. In this arrangement we see Dorner's account of God's aseity as decisive. We trace the progress of his theological account from its foundational propositions concerning the objective content of the Christian belief in the Holy Trinity, considered both in its immanent and economic forms. This leads to an analysis of his doctrines of the human creature and its teleological relation to the idea of the necessary God-man. The second part of the thesis includes analyses of those doctrines which pertain to the salvific significance of the realised Godman, Jesus Christ. We investigate Dorner's treatments of the doctrines of Sin, Christology, and Atonement. Keywords Isaac A. Dorner; System ojChristian Faith; Fundamental Doctrine; Specific Doctrine; faith; Trinity; Gospel; atonement; sin; God-man; theanthropos; economic Trinity; Absolute Personality; Mediating theology; aseity; Christology; salvation; substitution; immutability; justification; sanctification; Jesus Christ.

The life and work of James Denney is seen against the background of the century of theology which has passed since his birth in 1856. His life is surveyed from his boyhood days in Greenock, though his time as a student in Glasgow and his years in the pastorate in Broughty Terry to his election as professor in the Free Church college in Glasgow, where he served for twenty years at the height of his power and influence, being elected Princi-pel of the institution just two years before his death in 1917. The primary charasteristies of his mind and personally are presented in such a way as to give us an imaight into the man who stands the facts of his life, and illustrations are drawn from his books, his letters and his remembered sayings, with a chapter being devoted to his obiter dicta, concentrating upon those concerning the contenporery theologian and theological works. All of his books and his artioles-from diotionaries, magazines asnd news-papers-are listed and a brief review is given of each. The study of his theology begins with an introduction to his general approach to theology, his building upon the basic of experience - so inter - proted as to make the Biblical revelation the original norm -, and his passion for wholeness of thought under God. The key to this wholeness of theology is found for him in the cross of Christ. This is the central message of the New Testament as he interprets it, and the significance of the cross is seen in the experience of roconcillation which comes to man through it. The Person of Christ is presented in relationship to the cross and the unanimous of the New Testament writers to Christ finds its foundation in our Lord's revelation of Himaelf. The historical and moral v. evidence for the resurrection is considered end Christ is presented in the power of His resurrection and the glory of His reign at the hand of God The Holy Spirit is seen as His gift to believers and is identified with Him;| the emphasis being not upon the doctrine but upon the experience of the Spirit, The inapiration, unity and authority of Scripture is presented as the background against which Biblical critician must do its work, and examples are gives of his treatment of particular areas of Biblical study. The Church in the New Testament is discussed in its relationship to the kingdom end the challenge of its life is presented to the Church today. Finally, the New Testament esohatology is seen in the setting of the Old Testament expectation and its thought is made relevant to the eschato-logical considerations of the present tine.

No description available.