Thesis (Th. M.)--Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology, 1989. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves [96]-99).

In post-Apartheid South Africa the issues relating to poverty and specifically missional engagement with the poor remains a priority. In order to foster creative imaginations for this missional task, this research focuses on the discourse on four Early Church Fathers’ engagement with the poor. This discourse was brought into dialogue with four Afrikaans Johannesburg churches through phenomenological interviews. Using Susan Holman’s interpretive framework of sensing, sharing and embodying the kingdom dialogue between the teachings and praxis of Clement of Alexandria, John Chrysostom, Basil the Great, Augustine and four Johannesburg churches were explored in order to develop proposals for the Johannesburg church’s mission towards the poor. / Dissertation (MA(Theol))--University of Pretoria, 2011. / Science of Religion and Missiology / unrestricted

The object in writing this thesis has been to pursue the theological development of the doctrine of the trinity in the Church of the early centuries through the writings of the Church fathers. It is a continuation of a former study, A New Testament Study of Trinity, a thesis submitted for the Bachelor of Divinity degree, which was received in July, 1952. This entire study has been an attempt to soak the self in the patristic writings and to arrive at a first-hand conception of the classical doctrine of the trinity, which we believe, is a creation of the fourth century.

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<p>This thesis aims to investigate and discuss the possibility for women in the early Christian church to make music, which in the ancient Roman society was something complicated. Afemale musician was looked upon as decadent and dissolute. This idea, in combination with the music ideals of the church influenced by the Neoplatonic movement, and the Pauline statement (1 Cor. 14:34-36), cast women to be completely prohibited in participating even in the psalmody during the service. My purpose is to discuss how this was looked upon in different Christian regions, using the church fathers as the main material source, since this has not previously been well documented or studied.</p>

This thesis aims to investigate and discuss the possibility for women in the early Christian church to make music, which in the ancient Roman society was something complicated. Afemale musician was looked upon as decadent and dissolute. This idea, in combination with the music ideals of the church influenced by the Neoplatonic movement, and the Pauline statement (1 Cor. 14:34-36), cast women to be completely prohibited in participating even in the psalmody during the service. My purpose is to discuss how this was looked upon in different Christian regions, using the church fathers as the main material source, since this has not previously been well documented or studied.

Three ancient Church Slavonic Homilies (Tomáš Mikulka) Abstract The aim of this thesis is to offer an in-depth analysis of three ancient Old Church Slavonic (further only OCS) homilies which have not been appropriately recognised yet. These are three anonymous homilies on the Nativity of the Lord (25th December), on the Baptism of the Lord (6th January) and on the Annunciation (25th March). The first two aforementioned homilies were studied by A. N. Popov in 1880, whereas the homily on the Annunciation is in this study presented to the public for the very first time. The thesis objective is to characterize these texts by their linguistic features, then to offer their approximate dating and geographic localisation, as well as to address the question of their genuineness, mutual affinity and the relation to other OCS texts, in particular to the oldest OCS homilies. Each homily is analysed separately using the identical method so that the results can be finally compared. The conclusion is that these three homilies might have been written by the same author who cannot be simply identified with any already-known person. Before the linguistic analysis was carried out, all surviving manuscripts of each homily had been gathered. On the basis of this material, critical editions including indexes of biblical and...

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In contemporary society, distinct traditions are bleeding into one another, blurring traditional lines of inquiry and historically significant boundaries. This phenomenon frames this project and creates the context for the Yoga-Christian praxis dialogue this study constructively critiques. Unfortunately, this dialogue exhibits an Eliadean concern for essentialism and universality. I challenge this trend by juxtaposing two distinct texts, Patañjali‘s Yoga-Sūtra and Gregory of Nyssa’s Life of Moses. These texts point to the similar idea that without striving and personal transformation neither the yogic practitioner nor practicing Christian logically subsists. More importantly, however, from this point of correspondence I constructively critique the Yoga-Christian praxis dialogue by concretely engaging these texts and paying particular attention to the differences inherent in them. My comparison, then, suggests how attention to particularity points to a more authentic dialogue: what I wish to call a dialogue of distinction without separation.

The thesis describes the relationship between the ancient Gnosticism as we know it from the Nag Hammadi library and as it is described in the works of early church fathers and New Testament. It outlines basic topics similar to all versions of a classical cosmogenic Gnostic myth. The subject of the faith in the resurrection of Jesus Christ and its relationship to the establishing a Church structure is discussed. Another topic is the problem of human free will and that of good and evil and its consequences for human morale. The ways of different understanding to it are presented, based on Old Testament story of Adam and Eve as reffered to in the book of Genesis.