This dissertation is a detailed analysis of the Epistle to the Colossians. The author uses rhetorical critical methods and recognizes that the New Testament epistles are greatly influenced by oratory. Also, the author demonstrates how rhetorical techniques assist Paul to express his thought that the central idea of Christianity - the divine nature and saving work of Christ - has unavoidable ethical implications. In the first chapter of his letter Paul cites Christological hymn; he uses Christological theme during the whole epistle; the apostle concludes his admonition with the Household code, in which social roles of the member of oikos are interpreted in relation to Christ. According to Paul's teaching in Colossians, the power of Christ has universal scope and, consequently, all aspects of human life, including everyday, societal relationships, must be brought into submission to Christ. / M.Th. (New Testament)

The dissertation is a critical reflection on the relevance of Franciscan spirituality over eight centuries with special focus on the Third Order Regular. This spirituality is rooted in the life and writings of St Francis and St Clare of Assisi and their experience of the kenotic Christ. The Franciscan charism prevails in the world today as a living response to God’s transforming love which is expressed in a ministry of loving service and solidarity with the poor and marginalised – re-enacting Francis’ radical conversion when he embraced the leper. The Third Order Regular, inspired by Vatican II which called for a return to the charism of religious founders, returned to its roots with the revised Rule of 1982 based on the writings of Francis and Clare and grounded in Sacred Scripture. The Rule’s vision corresponds with the 1996 document Vita Consecrata on consecrated life and its mission to be prophetic witnesses to Christ today. / Christian Spirituality, Church History & Missiology / M. Th. (Christian Spirituality)

The dissertation is a critical reflection on the relevance of Franciscan spirituality over eight centuries with special focus on the Third Order Regular. This spirituality is rooted in the life and writings of St Francis and St Clare of Assisi and their experience of the kenotic Christ. The Franciscan charism prevails in the world today as a living response to God’s transforming love which is expressed in a ministry of loving service and solidarity with the poor and marginalised – re-enacting Francis’ radical conversion when he embraced the leper. The Third Order Regular, inspired by Vatican II which called for a return to the charism of religious founders, returned to its roots with the revised Rule of 1982 based on the writings of Francis and Clare and grounded in Sacred Scripture. The Rule’s vision corresponds with the 1996 document Vita Consecrata on consecrated life and its mission to be prophetic witnesses to Christ today. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / M. Th. (Christian Spirituality)

Die vorliegende Arbeit erörtert das Phänomen „Verhüllung als Kunst“ anhand von Kunstwerken von Man Ray, Maurice Henry, Allan Kaprow, Joseph Beuys, Bruce Nauman, Franz Erhard Walther, Antoni Tapies, Joseph Kosuth und Christo und Jeanne-Claude. Diese exemplarische Auswahl macht den Einfluss künstlerischer Strömungen und Zielsetzungen deutlich und zeigt zugleich die verschiedenen Funktionen von Verhüllungen als Kunst. Aufgrund der immer wiederkehrenden „Ähnlichkeitsvermutungen“ zwischen bekannten sakralen und profanen Verhüllungen und sog. Verhüllungskunstwerken in (populär-) wissenschaftlichen Veröffentlichungen, wird eine genaue Betrachtung profaner und sakraler Verhüllungen vorgenommen. Ebenso geht die Arbeit der Frage nach, inwieweit die Verwendung der Begriffe „verhüllen“ und „verpacken“ sowohl bei der Interpretation als auch in den Titeln der Kunstwerke von Bedeutung sind. Fragen nach dem Verhüllten, der Hülle und ihrem Material, dem Ort, der Dauer, der Dimension und der Art und Weise der Verhüllung offenbaren eine Fülle von Erscheinungsformen und Merkmalen derselbigen. Die Analyse wird in der Interpretation durch (auto-)biografisches Material und frühere Interpretationen ergänzt.

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This dissertation is an exploration of the relationship of wisdom to salvation history in the book of Psalms. The notional starting point of this thesis is a conviction that there might be a juncture at which the two themes converge because in certain psalms such as Psalm 78, the Israelite concept of salvation appears to have a close relationship with the wisdom theme. In the history of Psalm interpretation so far, the concept of wisdom psalm has not been properly dealt with due to scholastic difficulty in ascertaining the clear criteria of a genre. The process of scrutinizing the history of interpretation showed that the Psalms in their final form were far more purposeful than were previously understood. The major guiding principles of the method employed are: (1) 'the canonical approach' of Brevard Childs; (2) 'the canonical criticism' of James Sanders; (3) 'the canonical process approach' of Bruce Waltke; (4) 'the Christo-canonical approach' of Jerry E. Shepherd; and (5) 'the communito-canonical approach' of deClaissé-Walford. This thesis made use of these methodological principles by attempting to read the Psalter from the beginning to the end, and by focusing mainly on the final stage of the Psalter proposed by B. Waltke as the third stage, or the final and complete Old Testament canon associated with the Second Temple, and by purposefully limiting the scope of our study to around the post-exilic period. Having dealt with the issue of classifying the wisdom psalm, the presence of the wisdom motif in many psalms which do not fall into the wisdom category serves to add a didactic dimension to the entire Psalter. In so doing, we reach a conclusion that what we are dealing with is not merely the wisdom psalms within the Psalms, but 'the wisdom Psalter' as a literary unit. Then, it can be said that the Psalter is not merely an anthology of individual psalms used for cult, but was meant to be read also as a source of min , an instruction. This means that every psalm in the Psalter has pedagogical potential, which may have been the ostensible intent of the editor(s) at the final stage of the formation of the Psalter. On this premise, this study attempts to set up a strategy to read the Psalms from the beginning to the end from book I up to book V as a wisdom Psalter, with a particular focus on how the wisdom motif relates to the salvation history motif. The question did not merely concern their interpretation as disjointed pieces, but also what their presence in the book of Psalter meant in terms of the relationship between wisdom and salvation history. This means that the study is influenced less by a historical and form critical approach, but more from a literary and canonical perspective. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Old Testament))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2008.

This dissertation is an exploration of the relationship of wisdom to salvation history in the book of Psalms. The notional starting point of this thesis is a conviction that there might be a juncture at which the two themes converge because in certain psalms such as Psalm 78, the Israelite concept of salvation appears to have a close relationship with the wisdom theme. In the history of Psalm interpretation so far, the concept of wisdom psalm has not been properly dealt with due to scholastic difficulty in ascertaining the clear criteria of a genre. The process of scrutinizing the history of interpretation showed that the Psalms in their final form were far more purposeful than were previously understood. The major guiding principles of the method employed are: (1) 'the canonical approach' of Brevard Childs; (2) 'the canonical criticism' of James Sanders; (3) 'the canonical process approach' of Bruce Waltke; (4) 'the Christo-canonical approach' of Jerry E. Shepherd; and (5) 'the communito-canonical approach' of deClaissé-Walford. This thesis made use of these methodological principles by attempting to read the Psalter from the beginning to the end, and by focusing mainly on the final stage of the Psalter proposed by B. Waltke as the third stage, or the final and complete Old Testament canon associated with the Second Temple, and by purposefully limiting the scope of our study to around the post-exilic period. Having dealt with the issue of classifying the wisdom psalm, the presence of the wisdom motif in many psalms which do not fall into the wisdom category serves to add a didactic dimension to the entire Psalter. In so doing, we reach a conclusion that what we are dealing with is not merely the wisdom psalms within the Psalms, but 'the wisdom Psalter' as a literary unit. Then, it can be said that the Psalter is not merely an anthology of individual psalms used for cult, but was meant to be read also as a source of min , an instruction. This means that every psalm in the Psalter has pedagogical potential, which may have been the ostensible intent of the editor(s) at the final stage of the formation of the Psalter. On this premise, this study attempts to set up a strategy to read the Psalms from the beginning to the end from book I up to book V as a wisdom Psalter, with a particular focus on how the wisdom motif relates to the salvation history motif. The question did not merely concern their interpretation as disjointed pieces, but also what their presence in the book of Psalter meant in terms of the relationship between wisdom and salvation history. This means that the study is influenced less by a historical and form critical approach, but more from a literary and canonical perspective. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Old Testament))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2008.

Summaries in English and Afrikaans / In die tesis word die modernistiese en laat/postmodernistiese reduksionistiese benaderings in die Adventiste wêreld nie bloot afgewys nie, nie net omdat dit deel van ons ervaring is nie maar ook omdat die reduksies wat in die moderne en laat/postmoderne tyd ontstaan het in ʼn gemodifieërde sin die boustene is van ʼn hermeneutiese benadering wat poog om holisties en in multiverse sin oorvleuelend te werk met die antieke, moderne en laat/post moderne benaderinge. In ʼn hermeneutiek wat holisties oorvleuelend en multivers integrerend aan die gang is, vorm die vierledige opset van die handelinge en beweginge van God, die menslike bewustelike self, medemens(e) as die ander mens en die natuurlike kosmiese wêreld ʼn misterie van vierledig aktiewe teenwoordighede wat nie-vermengd saambestaan maar tog ontsettend naby aan mekaar is as die voortgaande ervaringskaart van elke konteks en situasie. Juis die uitmekaar ruk van die vierledige aktiewe teenwoordighede inonservaringswêrelde vorm die agtergrond vir moderne teologisme met God alleen speler van die spel, psigologisme met die bewustelike menslike self as die kaptein van sy siel en die meester van sy lot, humanisme waarin die mensheid as kollektiewe menswees die enigste roerder van die menslike brousel in die geskiedenis is en naturalisme waarin die natuurlik kosmiese omgewing die naturaliserende ordeningsagent van die kosmiese chaos is. Wat radikaal deur ʼn holisties oorvleuelende en multiverse integrerende aanpak sny, is dat die vierledige teenwoordighede gedra word asook ingebou is in wat in die Bybels-historiese tydslyn vorendag kom as die vier prominente dade van God se voortgaande skepping, versoening in Jesus Christus, alomvattende vernuwing deur die Gees en voleindende volmaking tot in die aanbreek van die nuwe hemel en die nuwe aarde. Binne die omraming van ʼn hermeneutiek wat holisties oorvleuelend en multiversintegrerend werk, word algemene moderne en postmoderne benaderinge oor tekse, teorieë, menslike handelinge en die natuurlike kosmiese gebeurtenisse beskryf. Terwyl die moderniteit – en ook die postmoderniteit – uitgaan van die hoofsaaklik opponerende verskille tussen sinmakende beskouinge word hier gepoog om eers die oorvleuelingsareas refleksief te betrek en daarna aandag gee aan die verskille. Die drie breë benaderinge wat hoofsaaklik beskryf word is die van fundamentalistiese spieëling, liberale interpretasie en die konsinlike onderhandeling van tekse, teorieë, menslike handelinge en natuurlik kosmiese gebeure.Juis teen hierdie agtergrond word diverse SDA omgangspatrone met die Bybel, ervaringe in die kerklike arena en alledaagse ervaringe in ʼn draaikolk van multivers oorvleuelende en differensiërende refleksiwiteit beskryf. / In the thesis Adventist approaches making use of modernist and late/postmodernistic reductionist philosophies are not rejected out of hand. Not only are the reductions which emerged in the modern and late/modern era part of our experience but they are in a modified sense the building blocks of a hermeneutical approach in which an attempt is made to work in an overlapping holistic and multiverse way with approaches of the ancient world, modernity and late/post modernity. In a hermeneutics that operate holistically with overlaps and in a multiverse integrative sense, the quadruple setting of actions and movements of God, the conscious human self, neighbour(s) as the other human and the natural cosmic world forms a mystery of foursome active presences that do not exist together in a mixed sense but are very close to each other as the continuous experiential map of every context and situation. The dislocation of the foursome active presences in our experiential worlds forms the backdrop of modern theologism in which God is the sole player in the game, psychologism with the conscious human self as the captain of his or her soul, humanism in which humanity as the collectiveness of being human is the only stirrer of the human concoction in history and naturalism in which the natural cosmic environment is the only naturalistic agency that arranges the cosmic chaos. Cutting radically through the holistic overlapping and multiverse integrative approach is that the foursome presences are carried and built into what come to the fore in the biblical historical timeline as the four grand acts of God of continuous creation, reconciliation in Jesus Christ, all embracing renewal through the Holy Spirit and fulfilling fulfilment as in the dawn of the new heaven and the new earth. Within the embrace of a hermeneutics which works with overlaps in a holistically and integrating in a multiverse sense general modernist and late/post modern approaches regarding texts, theories, human doings and natural cosmic events are described. While modernity – and late/post modernity - depart from mainly opposing differences between sense making views the attempt is made here firstly to engage oneself in a reflexive sense with the areas of overlapping and only then to pay attention the differences. The three broad approaches mainly described are that of fundamentalist mirroring, liberal interpretation and consensual negotiation of texts, theories, human doings and natural cosmic events. It is against this background that diverse SDA engagement patterns with the Bible, experiences in the arena of the church and everyday experiences is described in a vortex of holistic overlapping and multiverse integrative reflexivity. / Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology / D. Th. (Systematic Theology)