This thesis is an investigation of the place and function of repentance in the theology of Paul as determined by the critical application of the categories "getting-in" and staying-in" to the passages where the term is used and to passages where the concept may be implied. It contains an exegesis of those passages and an analysis of Paul's conversion experience. Consideration is also given to the implications this study has for other areas of New Testament study. / The main theses are that repentance was used by Paul in a variety of ways and played a more important role for him than has been thought and that Paul's place in early Christianity was in line with the teaching of Jesus and the early Christian church.

The interest for this dissertation arose in an empirical context where the researcher was confronted with some problems widows experienced. Primarily, the research has been done for these widows. This was research into especially the socio-cultural conventions of first century Palestine (Chapter 3); the notion of widow in the Old Testament (Chapter 4); an interpretation of 1 Timothy 5: 1-16 (Chapter 5); and the interpretation of widows in the context of the theology of 'God the Saviour'. For this purpose and in these contexts, a theory of 'symbolic interactionism' within the larger ambit of social-scientific research has been developed and illustrated and used to various degrees. This was to meet the challenge to contribute to theory development in our current theological context of transformation. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Durban-Westville, 1998.

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This dissertation attempts to answer the following question: Does Scripture call all churches to be as ethnically diverse as their communities? Chapter 1 introduces the "multi-ethnic mandate," the belief the Scripture instructs all churches to be ethnically diverse. Chapter 2 isolates seven arguments in favor of the multi-ethnic mandate: the Babel/Pentecost argument, the hospitality/love argument, the argument based on Christ's ministry, the unity argument, the Jew/Gentile argument, the heaven argument, and the argument based on NT examples. Chapter 3 argues that these seven reasons do not provide compelling proof for the multi-ethnic mandate. Chapter 4 highlights four biblical values that mono-ethnic churches support: God cares about preserving culture, Christians retain their ethnic identities, contextualization can make ministry more effective, and God uses the natural connectedness of people to expand his kingdom. Chapter 5 summarizes the thesis, warns of some potential dangers of affirming the multi-ethnic mandate, and points to possible areas of further research. The over-arching point of the dissertation is to demonstrate that churches need to reach out to all ethnicities to the best of their abilities, but if the natural byproduct of such ministry is a mono-ethnic church, then such a church is not unbiblical or unhealthy.

SHARED LEADERSHIP AS EXEMPLIFIED BY THE APOSTLE PAUL Michael Kenneth Atherton, Ed.D. The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2014 Chair: Dr. Michael S. Wilder This thesis studies the presence and role of shared leadership as displayed through the ministry of the apostle Paul. In chapter 1, the reader will come to understand that there are no comprehensive works dealing with the discipline of shared leadership by Paul. However, when one comes to accept the presence of shared leadership through the Scriptures, there is an expectation that one will practice the discipline (Jas 1:22-25). Chapter 2 explores the literature base to gain an appreciation for what scholarship has offered as it relates to shared leadership. It can be argued that lack of literature to discuss shared leadership is ultimately the result of a vernacular disconnect. Nevertheless, it is incumbent upon this study to discriminate and establish a working definition for the discipline of shared leadership and to explore Paul's view of the church Perhaps the greatest metaphor used by Paul to describe the church is his reference to the church being the representation of the body of Christ. Chapter 3 examines Paul's view of leadership in the church, beginning with a functional understanding of Paul's ecclesiology. In addition, Paul's view of spiritual giftedness in the life of a believer will be examined, as one's giftedness is critically important to understanding Paul's view of shared leadership. Chapter 4 examines Paul's philosophy and practice of shared leadership by looking at six principles throughout the Pauline corpus: (1) functioning within one's giftedness, (2) deference, (3) Paul's team based ministry approach, (4) Paul's vernacular, (5) Paul's partnerships, and (6) Paul's instructions to church leaders. Chapter 5 begins by exploring the benefits of shared leadership. Five benefits are considered: shared responsibility, accountability, unity, collaboration, and shared vision. It is contended that these benefits have a direct result on an organization's competence and effectiveness. In addition, chapter 5 explores best practices of shared leadership, contributions to the precedent literature, and relevant prospects for future study.

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Conclusion: The [Abrahamic] stories reveal a man caught up in the struggle of faith. But the God who took the initiative in establishing the Covenant shows that in spite of first appearances, He is faithful. The stories present various pictures of Abraham as a Covenant Mediator. Because he is in a sense Israel in microcosm it is not strange that he is described in the terms of Israel's most important institutions: prophet, priest, and king. Nevertheless the most significant Sitz im Leben is the family. While he is usually meant to be understood as an individual representing his immediate family, his descendants, and even all nations, at times, because he is the founding ancestor of Israel and therefore Israel in microcosm, he is best understood as a "Corporate Person". He and Israel are to be a source of blessing to the nations.

[From chapter 1]. The doctrines on the universality of sin are attempts to give theological explanations for the empirical and historical evidence of the universality of sin. They are attempts to explain why it is that each and every person that enters this world has a bias towards sin ; why such a highly organized, intricate and majestically complex being like man, the crowning glory of the created realm in every case has this weakness we call sin ; why it is that after 6,000 years of the history of mankind the present generation is as plagued with this malfunction as the first; why it is that sooner or later all of us commit sin in one form or another. Indirectly these doctrines also seek to protect God's uniqueness and oneness against the dualism of evil and good and following from this second reason are attempts to explain the presence of sin within the good creation of God. However, these attempts are fraught with difficulties and invariably each explanation that is offered raises other pertinent issues that the Christian thinker does not wish to accept as side effects to his answer. This has resulted in scholars over the ages attempting to modify or reinterpret previous doctrines in order to allow for these issues to be taken into account. There has, therefore, as we shall discover, been much diversity and debate as to the form and contents of these doctrines.

CHAPTER ONE. In the Old Testament we meet with the problem of suffering and reward, and the attempts made to resolve it. It becomes the one great problem after the time of the Exile. Most commentators are agreed that it grew to hold that place in relation to the increase of importance of the individual in Hebrew thinking. While certain aspects of the problem are presented in Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Isaiah, and Psalm 73, the most important contributions are made by the Deuteronomist and the poet who wrote the Book of Job. The Deuteronomist theory presents the belief that there is a rigid correspondence between the sins of the individual and his suffering. The reply in Job makes it clear that this is not so. Job himself passes through the desperate situation of feeling deserted by God to a certain faith that whatever happens to him, God is faithful. CHAPTER TWO. Jesus' teaching on "discipleship". Basically Jesus's teaching centres around Mark 8 : 34, "Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross, and follow me". The cost of discipleship from this point of view means, then, that even as Jesus Himself bears the cross for the salvation of the world, so the disciple is called upon to bear that cross in association with his Lord. Jesus offers the reward of both a present foretaste and a future consummation of eternal life, as the disciple shares in His resurrection. St. Paul's teaching of "Life in Christ". The central teaching of Paul is found in Romans 6 : 11, "Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord." The cost of discipleship is death, the death of self- will. It means being crucified with Christ. The reward of the righteous man is both a present and future participation in the risen life of Christ. CHAPTER THREE The need of man. Because man is a sinner, being estranged from God in whose image he was created, he stands in need of being reconciled to God. This he cannot do himself because, to his sin, he is not able to make the full sacrifice of his self-will. "Man requires to be put right with God because as a matter of fact he is not right." The Christ. Only in the person of the God-man is God able to effect man's resolution. Jesus, the Christ, who alone of all men did not participate in the sinfulness of man, is this God-man, realising in Himself the fact that salvation can only be wrought by one who is both God and man. The necessity of the Cross. The death of the Christ is seen to be necessary both from the side of man and from that of God. It was essential that the Christ should give His life for man; everything for His purpose of salvation turns on the will to die. He must give himself to reconcile man to God. The sacrifice of the Cross. Seen in the context of the Old Testament sacrificial system, what is important about the sacrifice of the Christ is that on the cross He offered up His life for man. The sacrifice of the Christ is both in the category of divine revelation and that of human response. It is the love of God in its utter self-offering making a way whereby the sinner might be reconciled to Him. The use of the Ransom Theory of the atonement is regarded as inadequate for expressing this cost. Basically it is a costly sacrifice because it is the self-offering of the Son of God upon the cross. CHAPTER FOUR The New Testament picture. A closer analysis is made of the New Testament teaching of discipleship, where it is seen that it is required of men that he should make, like the Christ, the costly sacrifice of himself. Soren Kierkegaard. This existential thinker felt the need of awakening men to a full recognition of the costliness of life. Despair. Man, due to his state of sinfulness is in despair, for "sin can be defined as despair at not willing to be oneself or not willing to be oneself before God." It is necessary to make the leap of faith to pass from this despair. The Three Stages. These are the aesthetical, ethical and religious stages. The individual must enter the last by making the leap of faith out of his despair; and this leap means the costly commitment of the self to the Christ. "Purify your hearts." In this book, Kierkegaard analyses man's double-mindedness. He comes to two conclusions. "If anybody would will the Good truly, then he must with knowledge of himself be ready to renounce all double-mindedness. If anybody would will the Good truly, then he must be ready to do all for the Good, and suffer for for the Good." His teaching on the cost of discipleship could be summed up thus : "The negating of one's finite self, or the negating of one's finitude means for him nothing less than the conscious sacrifice of all that is finite." Paul Tillich. Tillich deals with the ultimate problem of being and non-being, and in the "Courage to be" he develops the reactions of the individual when he is faced with the possibility of his non-being. The individual can either lose himself in his world by the courage to be as a part, or lose his world in himself by the courage to be as himself. These two forms of courage are transcended by the courage to accept acceptance, which is the ultimate courage to be, in which the individual accepts the fact that though he is sinful, yet God accepts him. This courage is the outcome of faith, which is found in an encounter with the New Being, in which the self is lost in the Christ, being found also in the Christ. The disciple surrenders himself that he may be made more truly himself. CHAPTER FIVE In this chapter an attempt is made to analyse the reward of righteousness. This reward is firstly seen to be the outcome of the life of discipleship and not its motive. Basically it is found in the new quality of life which is called eternal life. It is a reward both in the future and in the present. In the future it is the fullness of life in communion, peace and joy in the presence of God. In the present it is a foretaste of that life which is to come, a present possession in the midst of finitude of communion, peace and joy with God. Ultimately this means participation in the resurrection of the Christ. CHAPTER SIX We can conclude from this thesis, then, that Jesus the Christ is the prototype of the Christian. Discipleship is costly because it means participation in His utter self-offering of Himself; and the righteous man, who is the one who by faith commits himself to and in the Christ, is rewarded with the new quality of eternal life. The death and resurrection of Jesus the Christ are the criteria of the cost of discipleship and the reward of the righteous man.

Conclusion: This study has helped us to perceive the significance of Christian Baptism as it arose from its antecedents, and yet differed decisively from them in meaning and significance. We have seen how Baptism grew from the New Testament situation into the life of the Early Church. We have considered the sacramental nature of Baptism, that here, while the Community is visibly active, in this holy sacrament, God is the doer of what is done. It is by Him, whose Grace is seen in Jesus Christ, that we are brought to new life within the Community of His Covenant and what He can do for adults, He can do for infants as well. However, it is good for us to remember that His presence is also for our judgement, and that there therefore remains upon us as individuals and as Community the requirement of faith and faithfulness. We have seen how it is that the Holy Spirit is given in Baptism, and we believe it is through His indwelling presence and power that we are able to come into the Family of God and enjoy that fellowship with Him, which is salvation. We have also seen that, despite many centuries of thought and study, no final doctrinal definition of Baptism is yet achieved, and that the Churches are still giving this serious attention.