Ever since Melanchthon assumed the historical role of spokesman for the Lutheran movement in the sixteenth century, debates have raged over his manner of relating human reason to biblical faith. Since the pioneering critical work of H. Heppe in 1854, until quite recently, it was generally agreed upon in the historiographical tradition that Melanchthon was to blame for an excessive and damaging use of humanistic values in developing his Protestant theological position. It has been commonly held that his systematic methods had the result of petrifying the creative, vibrant insights of Luther, that he was, hence, the forerunner of a too rationalistic Protestant scholasticism, that he stressed human realities at the cost of attention to the divine, and finally, that he failed adequately to uphold Luther's crucial principle of <i>sola scriptua</i> in reference to philosophy. The present dissertation has arisen in part from concerns which have been brought forward by a body of research published mainly during the last twenty-five years. It is now a growing interpretative view that the central subject of faith and reason in Melanchthon cannot be accurately assessed apart from thorough knowledge of his pre-Lutheran rhetorical theory, the values and thought-forms of which nearly governed his initial, formative interpretation and expression of Luther's theological teaching. These recent studies have called for more work on the subject of Melanchthon's pre-Lutheran rhetorical doctrines and their influence upon the rise and development of his early Lutheran theology; they have also shown the pressing need for research into the subject of Melanchthon's theoretical understanding of Scripture and of the hermeneutical principles which he applied in forming his theological doctrines. Thus the primary aim of the dissertation is to show how the values and thought-forms of Melanchthon's rhetorical system influenced the idea of biblical authority which he cultivated during his first years at Wittenberg up to the publication of his deeply influential <i>Loci communes</i> of 1521. The main thesis is that the rhetorical thought-forms of the pre-Lutheran period directly and decisively shaped his emerging concepts of Scripture as a diverse but coherent canonical whole, and of biblical perspicuity, efficacy, truthfulness, and inspiration as the unequalled Word of God. Using a mainly chronological method of presentation, the author first discusses the development of Melanchthon's pre-Lutheran system at Heidelberg and Tubingen, secondly, seeks to show how the rhetorical thought-forms influenced each of these several levels of biblical authority in Melanchthon, and, finally, defends the view that a detailed understanding of Melanchthon's idiosyncratic forms of expression will lead eventually to substantial revisions of the aforementioned historiographical traditions.

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Boston University. University Professors Program Senior theses. / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / 2031-01-02

<p>Missing Page 56.</p> / <p>Recent Biblical scholarship has acknowledged and stressed the sociological factors at play in the formation and continuing development of religious beliefs and in the structure of religious communities. By examining the text of the Damascus Document (CD), this thesis attempts to reconstruct the social structure of the CD community, and suggests reasons for its origins and development based on the social forces which contributed to its self-definition.</p> <p>The first chapter examines the problem of deriving historical information from texts which are not strictly historical, and suggests a methodology which allows for the extraction of Social reality from religious texts. Following this, a date of origination is suggested, the historical period examined, and the origins of the community described.</p> <p>The second chapter discusses the community's self-definition, and the implications this definition and a new social situation had on their belief and community structure. An analysis of the community's response is then offered. The third chapter examines modern sectarian theory in relation to the CD community. Using the information of the previous two chapters, the CD community is discussed as a sect and compared to another sectarian movement. The conclusions deal with the community's unique role in the religious fabric of ancient Palestine, and with their common role as a sect.</p> / Master of Arts (MA)

This thesis provides a revisionist account of the relationship between Latin biblical criticism, vernacular religious culture and Reformed doctrines of scriptural authority in the early modern period. It achieves this by studying episodes from the career of the English Hebraist Hugh Broughton (1549-1612). Current orthodoxy holds that Broughton's devotion to the tenets of Reformed scripturalism distinguished him from contemporary biblical humanists, whose more flexible attitudes to the Bible enabled them to produce cutting-edge scholarship. In challenging this consensus, this thesis focusses on three areas. The first is chronology. Recent work has presented chronology as divided between technical, philological practitioners, who drew from astronomy and humanism alike in their efforts to date the past, and scripturalists, who relied on the Bible alone. Using the chronological controversy between Broughton and the Oxonian John Rainolds, this thesis complicates this picture by arguing that both approaches to the discipline were equally derived from humanistic traditions, and that confessional, rather than intellectual or methodological, factors informed the most important decisions chronologers made. The second area is biblical criticism. There is still a broad assumption that Reformed beliefs about scripture were incompatible with the most advanced biblical scholarship. This thesis questions such assumptions by reconstructing Broughton's research into the Hebraic contexts of the New Testament. By demonstrating that it was possible to produce innovative and influential work without challenging and indeed, while endorsing the principles of Reformed scripturalism, this thesis disputes current teleological presumptions about the development of modern, historical biblical criticism. The third is the history of lay reading. Both chronology and biblical criticism have often been viewed as specialised pursuits, studied only by a Latin-reading elite and irrelevant to lay people. For Broughton and his followers, however, biblical scholarship and lay piety were inseparable. The thesis demonstrates this by piecing together Broughton's radical plans for a new English Bible, including his work with John Speed on biblical genealogy, and his revisions of the Geneva New Testament. Using numerous neglected manuscript sources, it gives an account of the sixteenth-century biblical translation that foregrounds the unexpected ways in which groundbreaking neo-Latin, continental biblical scholarship expanded scholars' concepts of what vernacular translation could achieve.

The thrust of this study proceeds from the presupposition that first, the Cush texts of the Old Testament which may be used as a conduit for finding `Africa' in the Bible have generally been `ignored' or not given the priority they deserve especially by traditional western biblical scholarship. Second, that when, however, they have been accorded a `token paragraph or two', the interpretations given more often than not tend to portray a negative image of the African Cush. As a result, those of African ancestry who tend to trace their identity (however that term is understood) and historical roots to the biblical Cush tend to take offence at such interpretations. They perceive them as a deliberate attempt to `de-Africanize' or `de-emphasize' the African presence in and contribution to the Bible. This thesis argues that there are serious consequences for `de-Africanizing' the Bible, especially for the African peoples. This constitutes the fundamental argument in chapter one. To highlight the problem dogging the Cush texts even more, a sample excursion into the works of the major interpreters of the Cush texts is offered. As a result of this, two groups of scholars emerge: the Eurocentric on one hand, and the Afrocentric on the other. It is observed that each of the two groups more or less interprets the texts from its own cultural perspective. This is basically the subject matter of chapter two. Against this background, the researcher is consequently obligated to return to the sources and, in so doing, attempts another re-reading of all the fifty-six Cush texts from the historical-critical perspective, as well as from other perspectives. This is carried out with the intention of developing an interpretative model which, first of all, does justice to all the Cush texts, thereby offsetting what traditional western biblical scholarship has hitherto done; and which, second, attempts to offer an interpretation of the Cush texts which tries to take into consideration both Eurocentric as well as Afrocentric perspectives and concerns. In this way, a balance of sorts is struck. This is the main focus of chapters three, four and five, which comprise the main corpus of this thesis. The approach employed in the analysis of the Cush references is a `thematic' one. In other words, texts are grouped according to their presumed `themes' and are analyzed under the subtitles of `Preliminary remarks' and `Analytical remarks'. The former generally focus on literary matters such as those pertaining to the grammar and syntax of the MT, although to a certain extent are also interpretative. The latter attempts an explanation of the given reference as the main focus, but also takes into consideration the views of other scholars. This is how all the references are treated. The MT however is the pivot around which all the analyses hinge. The procedure is `fluid', however, in that there is much overlapping of the arguments put forward. Finally, a conclusion summarizing the findings related to all the references belonging to one thematic group is provided at the end of each chapter. The last chapter, which comprises the conclusion to the whole thesis, focuses on the importance and challenges of the Cush texts for Africa. In this connection a way forward is also proposed as to how such texts may be organized and read with some sense in a context of higher learning such as that which obtains in an African University. / Biblical and Ancient studies / D. Th. (Old Testament)

The thrust of this study proceeds from the presupposition that first, the Cush texts of the Old Testament which may be used as a conduit for finding `Africa' in the Bible have generally been `ignored' or not given the priority they deserve especially by traditional western biblical scholarship. Second, that when, however, they have been accorded a `token paragraph or two', the interpretations given more often than not tend to portray a negative image of the African Cush. As a result, those of African ancestry who tend to trace their identity (however that term is understood) and historical roots to the biblical Cush tend to take offence at such interpretations. They perceive them as a deliberate attempt to `de-Africanize' or `de-emphasize' the African presence in and contribution to the Bible. This thesis argues that there are serious consequences for `de-Africanizing' the Bible, especially for the African peoples. This constitutes the fundamental argument in chapter one. To highlight the problem dogging the Cush texts even more, a sample excursion into the works of the major interpreters of the Cush texts is offered. As a result of this, two groups of scholars emerge: the Eurocentric on one hand, and the Afrocentric on the other. It is observed that each of the two groups more or less interprets the texts from its own cultural perspective. This is basically the subject matter of chapter two. Against this background, the researcher is consequently obligated to return to the sources and, in so doing, attempts another re-reading of all the fifty-six Cush texts from the historical-critical perspective, as well as from other perspectives. This is carried out with the intention of developing an interpretative model which, first of all, does justice to all the Cush texts, thereby offsetting what traditional western biblical scholarship has hitherto done; and which, second, attempts to offer an interpretation of the Cush texts which tries to take into consideration both Eurocentric as well as Afrocentric perspectives and concerns. In this way, a balance of sorts is struck. This is the main focus of chapters three, four and five, which comprise the main corpus of this thesis. The approach employed in the analysis of the Cush references is a `thematic' one. In other words, texts are grouped according to their presumed `themes' and are analyzed under the subtitles of `Preliminary remarks' and `Analytical remarks'. The former generally focus on literary matters such as those pertaining to the grammar and syntax of the MT, although to a certain extent are also interpretative. The latter attempts an explanation of the given reference as the main focus, but also takes into consideration the views of other scholars. This is how all the references are treated. The MT however is the pivot around which all the analyses hinge. The procedure is `fluid', however, in that there is much overlapping of the arguments put forward. Finally, a conclusion summarizing the findings related to all the references belonging to one thematic group is provided at the end of each chapter. The last chapter, which comprises the conclusion to the whole thesis, focuses on the importance and challenges of the Cush texts for Africa. In this connection a way forward is also proposed as to how such texts may be organized and read with some sense in a context of higher learning such as that which obtains in an African University. / Biblical and Ancient studies / D. Th. (Old Testament)