This thesis sets out to investigate current reconstruction of forms of African theology that is taking place in parts of Africa. The specific interest is to identify emerging biblical interpretative modes from these theologies and seek to suggest ways of making them effective for the benefit of African communities of readers and the biblical academia as a whole. After a brief consideration of the contribution of historical critical interpretation, this thesis then focused specifically on the development of African scholarly readings. The specific interest in these African readings is ·to provide the necessary criteria which will ensure that critical scholarly readings can both be differentiated and derived from popular readings. My interest in popular readings is because of the major role they play in the provision of contextual components or the missing links that can only be obtained from ordinary readers, that the scholarly reader needs in his/her reconstruction of· African self-understanding. I have therefore looked at the attempts to structure the relationship between ordinary readers and scholarly readers and out of that has come the contribution to the theologies of reconstruction in Africa. In summary, to respond to the quest for acceptable critical models of reading the Bible using African cultural texts and world view, it has become necessary to provide recommendations for African hermeneuts which would enhance their readings in order to make their contributions to scholarly biblical interpretation to the global community more effective. This is exactly what this thesis aims at achieving.

The Gospel of Mark is a moving story especially when one looks at the way Mark recounts Jesus’ struggle with evil, the extent of the power and the fate of Satan and demons and the type of life the followers of Jesus are to lead: whether a demon-free life or a life of struggle with demons; and how scholars interpret Mark’s views today. This thesis begins with a review of a debate between J.M. Robinson and E. Best who hold divergent views on Jesus’ struggle with evil and the extent and the fate of Satan’s power and demons in Mark. This is followed by a critical analysis of Mark’s views on the baptism and the temptation narratives and Jesus’ inauguration of the Kingdom in a world dominated by Satan and its implications. The review of Mark 3: 22-27 serves as a background to the section that examines Spirit Possession cases and the ways Jesus exorcises these demons in Mark, bringing to light Mark’s views and the views of Western scholars. This is followed by categorising diseases into those caused by demons and those caused naturally and how Jesus exorcises and heals these diseases, demonstrating his power over evil. The section on Evil in African Traditional Religion focuses on the sources of evil and how evil is eradicated from the traditional African society. This is followed by a report of field research, which took the form of Bible Studies among Africans with the focus on Ghanaian Christians from twenty one churches in London. The purpose is to find out how these Christians whose world-view approximates that of Mark, read and interpret some texts in Mark. We were interested in what Ghanaian Christians would make of these texts because they might help us to see them as Mark’s readers would have seen them, and to discover the issues and questions which they would have brought to the texts. The final section of the thesis brings together the views of Mark, Western scholars and Ghanaian Christians showing how these views complement each other.

In the past most studies about Proverbs were concerned with the original'form and setting of the text. Very little interest has been shown in the final form' and setting. This thesis is an attempt to study the final form of the text as it stands in the Hebrew Bible. The introductory chapter begins with a brief survey of the study of Wisdom in the past, the aim of the this thesis, the setting of the canonical form of Proverbs, the structure of Proverbs and concludes., _ - with an explanation of the methodology used in, this thesis. In the chapters that follow the Hebrew terms for the participants, teaching methods, style, content, outcome and value of education as portrayed in Proverbs 1-9 are discussed. By using the Semantic Field method the author seeks to establish the meanings of those terms. which related to education in the final form of Proverbs 1-9. The study shows that the meanings of most of them are very different to their original meanings in the context of education. They have lost their initial ethical-neutral characters, and are now charged with religious implication. This study not only provides a new understanding and appreciation to Proverbs as 'it stands, it also illuminates our understanding of education in the Second Temple period.

This thesis focuses on two separate, but related areas: the analysis of translation technique and the Greek texts of Daniel. Foremost in the research of Translation Technique (TT) in the Septuagint is the need for a model that is appropriate for the analysis of different ancient languages. In recent years there has been an increasing emphasis on the features of literalism in a translation, but it is argued in this thesis that the focus on literalism is inadequate as a methodology for the analysis of TT. The contention of this thesis is that the analysis of TT should incorporate insights from modem linguistic research. Therefore, the main purpose of this thesis is to develop and apply such a model to the Old Greek (CG) and Theodotion (Th) versions of Daniel. The existence of two complete Greek versions of the book of Daniel that are closely related to the same Vorlage (at least in chapters 1-3 and 7-12), furnish ideal examples for the application of the methodology. Unfortunately, it is no straightforward matter to employ the OG of Daniel, because the available critical edition can no longer be regarded as reliable. The most important witness to the OG version of Daniel is Papyrus 967, and large portions of this manuscript have been published since the appearance of the critical edition of the OG of Daniel in 1954. Therefore, in order to analyze and compare the two Greek texts of Daniel, it is necessary to evaluate all of the variants of Papyrus 967 in order to establish a preliminary critical text of OG. Once a critical text is established the proposed methodology for translation technique is applied to selected passages in the OG and Th versions of Daniel. An analysis and comparison of TT in OG and Th makes it possible to: 1) characterize the TT employed by OG and Th in detail; 2) determine Th's relationship to OG, i.e. is it a revision or independent translation; 3) demonstrate how the Greek texts can be employed effectively for textual criticism of the Hebrew Bible. On the basis of the analysis of Th's text it is also possible to determine Th's relationship to the body of works, which exhibit a close formal correspondence to the Masoretic text, known as Kaige-Theodotion.

This investigation is about characterization in the Fourth Gospel as it relates to the "disciple"---the mysterious, anonymous figure that pervades the structure of allusions in this narrative. The question as to who this character is and what s/he does in this gospel text has both attracted and intrigued generations of biblical scholars. / The first part of the investigation examines divergent views of premodern, modern and reader-oriented criticism with regard to the "disciple's" identity and function, highlighting the respectively allegorical, historical and reader-oriented understanding of his/her character as proposed by these three critical approaches. / The second part of the investigation re-examines the question with a novel approach. The approach involves a detailed analysis of the structure of allusions. This analysis concludes that the allusions constitute a set of interactive linguistic phenomena which are meant to shed light on the anonymous figure within them. On the basis of this finding, the investigation proposes a new understanding of the structure of allusions and of the question of identity and function that it raises.

PhD / Certain ancient Near Eastern texts develop over time towards a reasonably stable state of transmission. However, the development towards a single ‘stabilised’ transmitted form that marks the biblical manuscripts between the second century B.C.E. and second century C.E. is often considered to permit the Hebrew bible a unique position in the ancient Near Eastern textual corpus. The degree to which the wider body of ancient Near Eastern texts actually support or undermine this position is the topic of this dissertation. The study begins by formulating a methodology for comparing the accuracy with which ancient texts of varying genres and languages were transmitted. Exemplars from the first millennium B.C.E. cuneiform evidence are selected for analysis on the basis of genre. Texts that are preserved in more than one ancient copy are compared to determine how much variation occurs between manuscripts of the same text. The study begins with representative texts from the Neo-Assyrian, Neo-Babylonian and Late Babylonian periods that range in date from the late eighth century B.C.E. to the third century B.C.E. The study then turns to the Torah scrolls from the Dead Sea area that range in date from the third century B.C.E. to the second century C.E. The accuracy with which the cuneiform texts were transmitted is then compared with the biblical evidence. The study finds that the most stable texts surveyed are those containing ritual instructions. The mechanisms that may have led to the exact transmission of the Torah in the late Second Temple period are discussed in the conclusion.

PhD / Certain ancient Near Eastern texts develop over time towards a reasonably stable state of transmission. However, the development towards a single ‘stabilised’ transmitted form that marks the biblical manuscripts between the second century B.C.E. and second century C.E. is often considered to permit the Hebrew bible a unique position in the ancient Near Eastern textual corpus. The degree to which the wider body of ancient Near Eastern texts actually support or undermine this position is the topic of this dissertation. The study begins by formulating a methodology for comparing the accuracy with which ancient texts of varying genres and languages were transmitted. Exemplars from the first millennium B.C.E. cuneiform evidence are selected for analysis on the basis of genre. Texts that are preserved in more than one ancient copy are compared to determine how much variation occurs between manuscripts of the same text. The study begins with representative texts from the Neo-Assyrian, Neo-Babylonian and Late Babylonian periods that range in date from the late eighth century B.C.E. to the third century B.C.E. The study then turns to the Torah scrolls from the Dead Sea area that range in date from the third century B.C.E. to the second century C.E. The accuracy with which the cuneiform texts were transmitted is then compared with the biblical evidence. The study finds that the most stable texts surveyed are those containing ritual instructions. The mechanisms that may have led to the exact transmission of the Torah in the late Second Temple period are discussed in the conclusion.

Thesis (M.A.)--Denver Seminary, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 165-176).

Thesis (Th. M.)--Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia, 1989. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 129-133).

Thesis (Th. M.)--Dallas Theological Seminary, 1989. / Bibliography: leaves 41-43.