Ancient peoples did not distinguish between philosophy, religion, and science. Scientific truth did not exist apart from divine truth. Any new idea, finding, or theory was assimilated into a monolithic mythological structure. This is one of the causes of the underestimation of ancient science: it is always packaged in a myth - the method of preserving information in an oral culture. The mythological medium allowed the preservation and dissemination of hard-won, empirical, scientific knowledge through generations of preliterate peoples. The context for mythological memorization, or simply tradition, needed to be easily and naturally acquired. The ideal context was the anthropomorphic context, the ontogenic context. This is the Grand Allegory - the anthropomorphization of information. Biomyths are essentially biological texts allegorized in esoteric language.

This dissertation argues that a definable and distinct genre of death story does exist in the Old Testament and that form critical analyses of these stories can yield significant theological insights. Chapter 1 establishes the methodology and principles that govern the study. Chapter 2 presents an overview of death in the ancient Near East and Israel. The information in this chapter introduces the reader to the topic of death in the ancient world, and it provides a basis for comparison with the thanatology derived from the death stories. Chapter 3 surveys death accounts in the ancient Near East and in the Old Testament and classifies the various death accounts in the Hebrew Scriptures as notices, reports, or stories. In addition, this chapter justifies the classification of some accounts as stories instead of reports, and it establishes and describes the typical "death story." Chapter 4 engages in a form critical exegesis of the death stories in the Old Testament. Nine stories are analyzed. These include the death stories of Sarah (Gen 23:1-20), Abraham (Gen 24:1-25:11), Jacob (Gen 47:28-50:14), Joseph (Gen 50:22-26), Aaron (Num 20:22-29), Moses (Deut 31:1-34:12), Joshua (Josh 23:1-24:30), David (1 Kgs 1:1-2:12; 1 Chr 23:1-29:20), and Hezekiah (2 Kgs 20:1-21). The method of analysis follows the generally accepted form critical process--which involves an investigation of the form/structure, genre, setting, and intention of the text. To this list of four, this study adds an introduction to the literary and historical context of the texts. Each story investigated includes a section detailing some initial theological conclusions. Chapter 5 serves as the conclusion of the dissertation. It determines the success of the study in achieving its stated aims. In addition, it summarizes and synthesizes the various theological and thanatological conclusions based on the form critical analyses of chapter 4. Finally, it offers some concluding thoughts on the significance of the study for biblical form critical exegesis. / This item is only available to students and faculty of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. If you are not associated with SBTS, this dissertation may be purchased from <a href="http://disexpress.umi.com/dxweb">http://disexpress.umi.com/dxweb</a> or downloaded through ProQuest's Dissertation and Theses database if your institution subscribes to that service.

Fung Tat Yeung. / Thesis (M.Div.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 68-72). / Abstract also in Chinese. / Chapter 1 --- The Theme of Levirate Marriage in the Old and New Testaments --- p.1 / The disagreement between the Sadducees and Paul the former Pharisee --- p.2 / A comparison between Paul's illustration of marriage in Romans 7:1-6 and the levirate law in Deuteronomy 25:5-10 --- p.8 / The transformation in the levirate practice from the era of the Old Testament to that of the New --- p.14 / Chapter 2 --- The Duty of a Levir to His Brother´ةs Widow in the Story of Judah and Tamar (Genesis 38) --- p.17 / Judah s command on Onan: a levirate marriage? --- p.17 / Lexical study of or --- p.19 / Onan's refusal to perform his duty as a brother-in-law --- p.21 / Judah's command on Tamar: prolonged widowhood --- p.23 / Tamar's endeavour in finding the right levir --- p.27 / Evaluation of the levirate practice in Genesis 38 --- p.29 / Chapter 3 --- The Widow´ةs Marriage to Her Husband´ةs Kinsman in the Book of Ruth --- p.32 / Ruth seeking to follow Naomi --- p.32 / "The introduction of Boaz, the kinsman of Naomi´ةs husband's" --- p.35 / Lexical study of 7xi --- p.37 / Boaz's device in securing the redemption of Ruth by himself --- p.41 / Evaluation of the marriage between Boaz and Ruth in the Book of Ruth --- p.44 / Chapter 4 --- The Widow´ةs Marriage to Her Kinsman in the Book of Tobit and Voluntary Widowhood in the Book of Judith --- p.47 / The marriage of a widow by a kinsman in Book of Tobit --- p.48 / Evaluation of the marriage between Tobias and Sarah in the Book of Tobit --- p.53 / The choice of a widow to remain unmarried in the Book of Judith --- p.54 / Evaluation of the voluntary widowhood in the Book of Judith --- p.58 / Conclusion --- p.61 / An overall evaluation of the levirate practice in the Old Testament --- p.61 / The application of the levirate in the New Testament era --- p.63 / The message of the levirate for today --- p.66 / Bibliography --- p.68

Thesis (M.A.)--Denver Seminary, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 141-144).

Thesis (M.A.)--Denver Seminary, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 129-137).

Thesis (M.A.)--Denver Seminary, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 129-137).

Thesis (Ph. D. [i.e., Th. M.])--Dallas Theological Seminary, 1996. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 52-57).

Thesis (MA(Bybel- en Godsdienskunde))--Universiteit van Pretoria, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 145-151)

Thesis (M.A.)--Trinity International University, 2004. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 76-80).

Thesis (M.A.)--Carleton University, 1995. / Also available in electronic format on the Internet.