John Willison (1680-1750) was a leading Evangelical in the Church of Scotland, whose prolific writing had a pronounced sacramental emphasis, at a time when the Lord's Supper was infrequently celebrated. The thesis aims to examine his sacramental theology and practice. Chapter one reconstructs his 'roots' and considers the influence of family, home church and university on his thinking. Ministries at Brechin and Dundee are outlined and his publications are placed in context. Chapter two examines his adherence to the federal scheme of theology. Willison is shown to identify three covenants, which he understands as having a contractual basis. Consideration is given to his stance on the Marrow Controversy, and to areas of agreement and disagreement with the Marrow men. Chapter three examines his sacramental theology which is based on that of the Westminster Confession. His adherence to federalism is shown to result in his assertion that the sacrament is not a 'converting ordinance', his emphasis that it is a seal of the believer's faith and a badge of Christian profession, and his rigorous 'fencing' of the table. Consideration is also given to his positive stress on the sacrament as a means of grace, and to his teaching on the 'real presence' of Christ. Chapter four analyses the form, style and content of Willison's preaching, and his aversion to that of the Moderates. His sacramental sermons, prayers, 'fencing' of the table and table addresses are examined and compared with those of contemporaries from both parties.

A close conceptual analysis of Herman Bavinck's (1854-1921) Reformed Dogmatics, this thesis explores his assertion that the doctrine of the image of God cannot be treated fully without reference to human destiny: that is, that anthropology requires eschatology.

Hastings Rashdall was a well-known Anglican Churchman, who was engaged in debates and discussions with theologians and other scholars of his time. The thesis aims (i) negatively, to repudiate the view that Rashdall's work can be dismissed as stereotyped and outdated; (ii) positively, to show that he is a major contributor to the contemporary debates and a perennially outstanding theologian. Including in its detailed presentation of Rashdall's theological ideas previously unpublished material, the thesis aims to be an original contribution to scholarship in a hitherto neglected area. In Chapter 1 (Introduction) the life and work of Rashdall have been set out in historical context; that is: the later Victorian period from his birth in 1858, through the Edwardian reign and earlier period of George V, to his death in 1924. The main Chapters, 2-5, are on the following aspects respectively of Rashdall's work: doctrine of Atonement; Christology; doctrine of the Church; doctrine of Immortality. Chapter 2, centred on Rashdall's major work, The Idea of Atonement in Christian Theology of 1919, is an analysis of his controversial writings and discussions. Chapter 3 is an investigation into his Christology, especially his speech to the Modern Churchman's Union at Girton College Cambridge in 1921. Chapter 4 treats a wide range of ecclesial topics: they may be identified as: ministry and orders; sacraments; ritual; subscription debates; disestablishment; ecumenism; education. Chapter 5: Rashdall's doctrine of immortality has been analysed in three respects: (i) the resurrection of Jesus; (ii) the after-life; (iii) current debates on the credibility of immortality. A final concluding Chapter reviews the themes of the major areas of Rashdall's theology, seeking to demonstrate its outstanding character. Some avenues for further research are suggested. The Conclusion includes reference to the discussions stimulated by his approaches for contemporary and later theologians.

This thesis is an attempt to explicate the concept of the death of God as it arises within Thomas Altizer's theological writings and the fiction of A.S. Byatt, paying special attention to the idea of the negation of eternal return. The negation of eternal return not only informs Altizer's theology, but also provides a metaphor with which to critique not only the traditional theological idea of God, but also the self-sufficiency of the theological tradition. As Altizer's theology is informed by a literary tradition outside the circle of traditional theological reflection, so this thesis suggests that theology comes about necessarily through self-emptying fictions, and not through the closedness of scholasticism; therefore the fiction of Byatt becomes a point of entry into theological reflection. The negation of eternal return also provides a useful metaphor for the metaphysics of the Proper, and economies of the Same. An intertextual consideration of Altizer's influences and theological development alongside the works of Byatt (specifically Possession, The Virgin in the Garden and Still Life), the thesis is informed also by thinkers such as Mark C. Taylor, Jacques Derrida, and Julia Kristeva, disciplines such as modern physics and nineteenth century biology, and literary works such as "The Dream of the Rood" and Iris Murdoch's The Time of the Angels.

This study examines - in its immediate and larger context - the exposition of christological doctrine in the fifth and sixth centuries, and in particular, how Justinian and the Fifth Ecumenical Council (553) interpreted the Chalcedonian Definition through the condemnation of the Three Chapters, namely 1) the person and writings of Theodore of Mopsuestia, 2) the writings of Theodoret of Cyrus against Cyril of Alexandria and the Council of Ephesus, and 3) the Letter of Ibas of Edessa to Maris. All three theologians belonged more or less to what is conveniently called 'the Antiochene school' of thought and were in one way or another associated with the doctrine of Nestorius. In tackling the heretical (Monophysite) teaching of Eutyches, the Council of Chalcedon proclaimed the christological doctrine in dyophysite terms: Christ is one hypostasis or prosopon in two natures. By it, Chalcedon meant to safeguard the oneness of the subject in Christ and its identification with that of the Logos as well as the 'difference' of the two natures in him. However, the terms it used (hypostasis, prosopon nature) were not clearly defined. Thus the Definition was open to misinterpretation from two points of view. Firstly, the 'strict Cyrillians' or 'Monophysites', with their Alexandrian background, regarded the Chalcedonian Definition with its 'in two natures' doctrine as vindication of Nestorius. For them, to say 'in two natures' was to say 'two Christs' and 'two Sons'. They contended that the only way to safeguard Christ's oneness without abolishing the 'difference' of his natures was to confess Cyril's 'one incarnate nature of the God Logos'. Secondly, a group of Christians with Antiochene background, concerned primarily about preserving the distinction of the two natures in Christ and the impassibility of God, refused to identify Chalcedon's one hypostasis with that of the eternal Logos. As a reaction to both interpretations of Chalcedon, a number of Cyrillian Chalcedonians or 'neo-Chalcedonians' undertook to show that, although they used different language, Chalcedon and Cyril were in essential agreement. In other words, they both taught that Christ is the same hypostasis or prosopon as the God-Logos who really became man by assuming perfect human nature. To these Cyrillian Chalcedonians belong Justinian and the fathers of the fifth ecumenical council.

This study attempts to make a contribution to the quest for the historical-Jesus. The Synoptic Gospels give the impression that exorcism was very important in the ministry of Jesus. Yet when we note current studies on Jesus there is not only a general neglect of the miracle stories, but especially of the exorcism stories associated with Jesus. Is this neglect justified? Was exorcism an important part of Jesus' ministry? Have exorcism stories found their way from other traditions into the Jesus material? To answer these questions we begin by surveying a wide variety of material to answer the prior question - what notions of exorcism and exorcists would probably have been available to Jesus' audience in first century Palestine? Having answered this question we examine the principal data in the Synoptic Gospels relating to Jesus and exorcism. We attempt to ascertain which elements of the material can, with reasonable confidence, be attributed to the reports of those who witnessed Jesus as an exorcist and, how the early Church handled this material. We are then in a position to make our sketch of the historical-Jesus-the-Exorcist which includes an enquiry into how Jesus' audience may have assessed him and how the early Church understood him. Finally as part of our sketch of the historical-Jesus there is a brief chapter on how he may have understood his exorcistic activity. As a result of our examination of the Jesus tradition we are able to conclude, at least, that Jesus was an exorcist, at one with his time, that the Synoptic Tradition is correct to give considerable emphasis to this aspect of Jesus' ministry, and that Jesus was the first to associate exorcism and eschatology.

Of all the concepts that informed what is often called the Enlightenment Project, liberation is arguably central. Nevertheless the experience of the past 200 years has raised serious questions about the character of this liberation and its pathology. In particular, the place of Christian theology in sustaining, concepts of freedom appears to have been marginalised in much post- Enlightenment thought, a challenge of particular significance to theologians and ethicists. Stanley Hauerwas represents one response to the manifestation of the Enlightenment Project in the United States, a response which, I believe, can be described as a distinctive theology of liberation chiefly from the Enlightenment legacy. This approach involves the integration of theology and ethics in the practices of a people whose identity is correlative to the particular narrative which they embody as that diachronic and synchronic, international community called Church. It also reflects an ambivalence about metaphysics and idealism and a preference for demonstrative, ecclesially mediated, truthful living. Yet the credibility of Hauerwas' ecclesiology as a genuinely Christian politics of liberation depends upon whether Hauerwas can not only identify the limitations of post-Enlightenment liberalism, but transcend them in a way that demonstrates the truthful character of the Christian narrative he believes to be embodied in this community called church. In order to determine whether Hauerwas' Project is a genuinely Christian theology of liberation from the Enlightenment legacy, we shall need to gauge the architecture of that project in chapter 1. Then, in chapter 2, we shall locate him in the wider post-Enlightenment debate, before doing the same in terms of the theological debate in chapter 3. This will bring us into conversation with his use of narrative and story as heuristic tools to resource the character of this ecclesiology in chapter 4, before our attempt, in chapter 5, to explore whether his ecclesial politics represent a distinctively Christian expression of liberty.

No description available.

Thesis (M.A.)--Western Conservative Baptist Seminary, 1988. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 409-413).

Thesis (D. Min.)--Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, 1992. / Abstract. This is an electronic reproduction of TREN, #006-0657. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 242-245).