Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2015. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The starting point of this dissertation is the presence of a theological deficit regarding the reception of Calvin’s “union with Christ (unio cum Christo)” thought. It is argued that the notion of “union with Christ” should not be treated merely as a doctrinal theme within soteriology and the doctrine of the Sacraments but as having an interrelationship with various other important doctrines in Calvin’s theology, thus functioning as a core thought. Hence this dissertation re-interprets and re-evaluates the original scope, content and meaning of Calvin’s use of the notion of “union with Christ,” attending in the process to the various metaphorical expressions and theological meanings associated with this notion. This research dissertation attempted to recover the importance of what is described as Calvin’s “union with Christ” thought in the following manner. Firstly, it examines the main causes for the reduction of the scope and importance of “union with Christ” thought in Korean Reformed theology and the American Reformed theology (or Calvinistic theology) that influenced it. Secondly, it also examines more concretely the various metaphorical expressions and theological meanings associated with “union with Christ” thought. Lastly, the study strives to verify systematically that the “union with Christ” thought (or ‘union with the Triune God’ thought) functions as a core thought in Calvin’s theology. This is done through the explication of the close inter-relationship between the structure of the Institutes and “union with Christ” thought, as well as by indicating the way in which “union with Christ” thought is interrelated with other important doctrines in Calvin’s theology. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die vertrekpunt van hierdie verhandeling is die stelling dat daar in gereformeerde teologie ‘n reduksie ten opsigte van Calvyn se gedagte van die unio cum Christo (die eenheid of vereniging met Christus) bestaan. Die studie argumenteer dat “eenheid met Christus” nie alleenlik as ‘n leerstellige tema binne die soteriologie en die leerstelling oor die sakramente in Calvyn se teologie beskou moet word nie, maar dat die interrelasie van hierdie tema met ander belangrike leerstellige temas deeglik en duidelik verreken moet word. “Eenheid met Christus” funksioneer dus as ‘n kerngedagte in Calvyn se teologie. Daarom herinterpreer en herevalueer hierdie proefskrif die oorspronklike reikwydte, inhoud en betekenis van Calvyn se gebruik van die “eenheid met Christus”- gedagte, en in die proses word onder meer in fyn besonderhede aan die onderskei metaforiese uitdrukkings en teologiese temas wat met hierdie gedagte gepaardgaan, aandag gegee. Die navorsing poog in die proses om die belangrikheid van Calvyn se “eenheid met Christus”-gedagte te herontdek langs die volgende weë: Ten eerste word daar gekyk na die reduksie in reikwydte, betekenis en belangrikheid van Calvyn se “eenheid met Christus”- gedagte in Koreaanse gereformeerde teologie, sowel as in die Amerikaanse gereformeerde (of Calvinistiese) teologie wat so ‘n groot impak daarop gehad het. In die tweede plek word daar heel konkreet en in groot detail na die onderskeie metaforiese uitdrukkings en teologiese betekenisse wat met die “eenheid met Christus”-gedagte geassosieer word, ondersoek ingestel. Derdens poog die studie om oortuigend op ‘n sistematiese wyse aan te toon dat “eenheid met Christus” as ‘n kerngedagte in Calvyn se teologie funksioneer. Dit word gedoen deur aan te toon dat daar ‘n noue interrelasie tussen die struktuur van die Institusie en die “eenheid met Christus”-gedagte is, sowel as deur die noue interrelasie tussen hierdie gedagte en ander belangrike dogmatiese loci in Calvyn se teologie aan te dui.

How did French Calvinists pay the pastor's salary, maintain a physical worship space, and provide poor relief programs for their members without help from secular authorities? Scholars have for a long time studied the broad consolidation and secularization of urban poor relief during the late-medieval/early modern period. In response to rising popular levels, municipal governments organized and systematized the secular administration of assistance to the urban poor. French Calvinists present a unique and unstudied challenge to this narrative because much unlike other mainstream Protestants, the French Reformed Churches adopted John Calvin's ideas to the situation in France. Relying on the authority of their Christian religion, Huguenot leaders across France created a new fiscal policy in which they determined how much their members should pay and, using these funds in combination with the consistory, enforced what historians now call social discipline. My project focuses on how one church in a small town called Montagnac developed this system in an age of secularization and religious persecution.

<p>This exercise in constructive Christian theology presents the relation between the testaments as a critical problematic for the figural reading of the Old Testament. The project consists of two parts, the first focusing on Augustine and Calvin, and the second primarily on the Epistle to the Hebrews.</p> <p>The first part provides a typological comparison between Augustine and Calvin on the continuity and discontinuity of the testaments (chapters 1-2), the people of God across the testaments (chapter 3), and the purpose of Scripture in redemptive history (chapter 4). Augustine defines the unity of the testaments according to a sign-referent framework whereby the Old Testament signifies the New. Calvin, on the other hand, locates this unity in the one covenant, grounded in Christ across the testaments. Since Augustine thinks the grace of the New Testament was veiled before the time of Christ, he asserts the necessity of interpreting the Old Testament according to two levels of meaning: the literal and the spiritual. Since Calvin thinks both the Old and New Testaments reveal the knowledge of God, he restricts interpretation to the literal sense, though this sense can have multiple referents: Israel, Christ, the church, and the eschaton. Each figure struggles to account for Israel and the Old Testament saints. For Augustine, the saints belonged to the New Testament as they mediated the Old. Calvin alternately identifies Israel as the church during Old Testament times, and the Old Testament saints as redemptive-historical aberrations.</p> <p>The second part draws upon this typological comparison to consider the Epistle to the Hebrews with reference to its depiction of redemptive history (chapter 5), its appropriation of the Psalms (chapter 6), and its overarching vision of Scripture (chapter 7). Hebrews locates the discontinuity between the testaments in the establishment of Christ as high priest, and the continuity in a common people and a common hope for an eternal inheritance. The author interprets the Psalms neither according to two levels of meaning, nor within an expansive literal sense, but as a living word of address whereby God speaks directly to his people. Old Testament locutions retain their illocutionary force, but adopt new valence in light of Christ. The authority of Scripture, then, rests not in some historically reconstructed sense, but in God's self-communicative act in the redemptive-historical present.</p> / Dissertation

Texte remanié de: Habilitationsschrift--Katholisch-Theologische Fakultät--Freiburg--Albert-Ludwigs-Universität, 1998. / Bibliogr. p. 469-487. Index.

Diss.--Universität München, 2000. / Bibliogr. p. 359-405.

Texte remanié de: Ph. D.--Toronto--University, Toronto school of theology. / Bibliogr. p. 181-198. Index.

Thesis (Th. M.)--Dallas Theological Seminary, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 64-68).

Thesis (M.S.)--West Virginia University, 2003. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains v, 37 p. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 32-33).

Thesis (M.A.)--Wheaton College Graduate School, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 84-86).

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