What are the biblical cherubim? In the Hebrew Bible, the physical appearance and cultic role of the cherubim are never explicitly elucidated. Largely, the authors assume their audience is familiar with the form and function of these heavenly beings. Yet the portrayal of the cherubim varies from text to text and, sometimes, we are given conflicting information. Previous studies of the cherubim have placed too great an emphasis on archaeological and etymological data. This thesis presents a new synthetic study which prioritises the evidence supplied by the biblical texts. Biblical exegesis, using literary and historical-critical methods, forms the large part of the investigation (chapter 2). The findings arising from the exegetical discussion provide the basis upon which comparison with etymological and archaeological data is made (chapters 3 and 4). It is argued that, with the exception of the book of Ezekiel, the biblical texts are quite consistent in their portrayal of the cherubim. Cherubim are intimately connected with the manifestation of Yahweh and have an apotropaic function in relation to sacred space. They are envisaged with one face and one set of wings. Ps 18:11 = 2 Sam 22:11 suggests that they are quadrupedal. The traditions in the final form of Ezekiel 1-11 mark a shift in the conception of the biblical cherubim. Physically, the cherubim are transmogrified and become enigmatic beasts with four faces and four wings. Their function also changes. Depicted elsewhere as menacing guardians, in Ezekiel they become agents of praise. The results suggest that traditions envisaging the cherubim as tutelary winged quadrupeds were supplanted by traditions that conceived of them as more enigmatic, obeisant beings. In the portrayal of the cherubim in Ezekiel and Chronicles, we can detect signs of a conceptual shift that prefigures the description of the cherubim in post-biblical texts, such as The Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice and the Enochic texts.

<p> The researcher's doctoral project addresses finding effective strategies so that bi-vocational pastors can be successful in their ministry and secondary profession. The project focused on bi-vocational pastors from Protestant denominations. The project explored the issues that make being successful in ministry and in a secondary profession difficult for pastors. Identifying the successful strategies within ministry and the secondary profession will allow the pastor to successfully handle the inevitable difficulties that bi-vocational pastors face. The scope of the researcher's doctoral project was limited to the number of bi-vocational pastors that were interviewed. The researcher answers the question, "What strategies do effective bi-vocational pastors utilize to succeed in their pastoral responsibilities as well as their second profession?" The researcher concludes that bi-vocational pastors can be successful when they follow the various strategies uncovered in the research in the areas of time management, self-improvement, their secondary profession, preaching, training, helping church members, administration, handling change, and receiving help from other pastors.</p>

Dalit Christian Theology emerged as a counter theological movement in India in the 1980s. As a theology ‘of the Dalits, by the Dalits, for the Dalits’, Dalit Christian theology sought to counter prevalent trends in Indian Christian theology which had proved inadequate to reflect the actual experience of the majority of Christians in India. The emergence of Dalit Christian theology as a contextual liberation theology thus reflects a polarising shift in theological discourse within India. This thesis argues, however, that the theology of M.M. Thomas, a leading non-Dalit Indian Christian theologian of the twentieth Century, offered significant theological signposts for the emergence and development of Dalit Christian theology. While it is clear that he did not, nor could not, construct a Dalit theology, this thesis argues that Thomas’s theological reflections in the midst of a rapidly changing and pluralistic religio-secular Indian context brought to the fore of theological debate essential questions relating to the concept of salvation, humanisation and justice relevant to the emergence of Dalit Christian theology. Seeking to relate Christology to the Indian context dynamically, M.M. Thomas sought a theology which could be ‘challengingly relevant’ to the people of India in the post-Independent search for a just and equal society. In order to substantiate the thesis, this study examines the reflections of two first generation Dalit Christian theologians, Bishop M. Azariah and Bishop V. Devasahayam. From within a framework of methodological exclusivism, both theologians appear to reject the theological contribution of M.M. Thomas, regarding him an Indian Christian theologian with little relevance to the Dalit theological quest. Closer textual examination, however, reveals that the theological contribution of M.M. Thomas is discernable within emerging Dalit theological discourse. This thesis further investigates the relevance of M.M. Thomas’s theological contribution for Dalit Christian theology today through the critical assessment of twelve second generation Dalit theologians studying at United Theological College, Bangalore. These voices assess the rise of Dalit Christian theology, and examine the relevance of Thomas’s thoughts for contemporary Dalit discourse.

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Thesis (Th. M.)--Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 142-154).

Thesis (Th. M.)--Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 142-154).

Thesis (Th. M.)--Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 142-154).

Edwards Amasa Park (1808-1900) of Andover championed Edwardsean Calvinism in the United States from the Jacksonian era until the very close of the nineteenth century by employing rhetorical strategies that lent his New England theology fresh apologetic usefulness. The thesis demonstrates that Park has been incorrectly identified as a Taylorite but, extending the argument of Joseph Conforti, ought to be viewed as re-casting his inherited Hopkinsian exercise scheme into a fresh historical synthesis influenced by contemporary patterns of thought. Park’s own training at Andover in the irenic divinity of Moses Stuart and Leonard Woods, his application as rhetorician of the work of Hugh Blair and George Campbell and his exposure in Germany to the Vermittlungstheologie of Friedrich Tholuck and Julius Müller gave specific definition to his own theological project. Additionally, the thesis argues that Park ought not to be viewed as a romantic idealist in the line of Horace Bushnell or as a proto-liberal in advance of the Andover liberals who succeeded him. Park retained a life-long commitment to a commingled epistemology and methodology derived from Lockean empiricism, Baconian induction, natural theology and Scottish common sense realism. As a formidable apologist for his revivalist inheritance identified with Jonathan Edwards and Samuel Hopkins, Edwards Amasa Park conserved the substance and prolonged the influence of his beloved New England theology by securing for it modes of expression well fitted to his nineteenth-century audience.