Thesis (M.A.)--Nazarine Theological Seminary, 1985. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 83-91).

Thesis (PH. D.)--University of Chicago, 1896? / Also available on the Internet. Also issued online.

Thesis (S.T.M.)--Yale Divinity School, New Haven Conn., 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 101-103).

This thesis explores the potential that lies in the engagement of critical theory and theology. Rather than a mere demonstration of how theology can be used in the service of critical theory, its original contribution is in the demonstration of theological selfreflective criticality that this engagement brings about. It therefore represents an attempt to further develop the potential of this engagement, by showing how critical theory can function as a resource for theological self-reflection. This is achieved through exploration of the method, function and effect of Slavoj Žižek's materialist appropriation of theology for political thought. The resulting struggling universality of abandonment and its ethic of indifference challenging any notion of identity is then applied in examination of Dietrich Bonhoeffer's own social theology of a transcendental personalist community of saints and its ethic of universal love in Sanctorum Communio. Žižek's community, grounded in the absence of God, draws attention to the theological character as never submitting to an identity but rather blurring the hypostasized boundaries between them irrevocably. It challenges Bonhoeffer's community, grounded in and by God, as abstracting and suspending identities only through the creation of a new one. The thesis thus draws attention to and clarifies the full dimensionality of the necessary critical character of theology.

This thesis examines Gregory Nazianzen’s approach to the human eikon, vis à vis the imago Dei. In the following pages I challenge the popular view amongst scholars that Gregory presents the human eikon solely as the soul or the spiritual intellect. Rather, I argue that Gregory’s vision of the human eikon extends much further than this, embracing the full complexity and mystery of human existence. First, I argue that the eikon relates not only to the soul but also to the whole, dynamic human. I demonstrate this by considering Gregory’s treatment of a) the human eikon as a literal, physical eikon of God, b) Christ the identical Eikon, and c) his theological anthropology where the ‘divine’ eikon transforms the dust. These three strands together reveal that Gregory’s approach to the human eikon encompasses the whole human person, as a dynamic unity of body and soul. Gregory’s presentation of the human eikon narrates the struggles of being human, which as a matter of priority attempts to describe human experience rather than focusing upon the question, “what is the human eikon?” Drawing on biblical narratives, Gregory posits the human eikon in a cosmological battle with the forces of evil, which is only won through participation in Christ and the protection offered by the Holy Spirit. A comprehensive analysis of Gregory’s approach to the human eikon must incorporate her battle with the spiritual forces of evil. Second, throughout the project, I argue that Gregory’s approach is theological, since he interprets the human eikon primarily in light of the identical Eikon, Christ. Regarding his theological anthropology, Gregory is often read in light of philosophical sources such as Plato and the Stoics, with little reference to biblical and extra-biblical writings. Redressing the balance, I highlight how Gregory draws from biblical and extra-biblical traditions in order to weave together the threads which run through his overall vision of being human. Finally, I analyse Gregory’s intentions when he refers to the eikon as ‘divine.’ I argue that if we consider together a) Gregory’s theological anthropology in which God creates the human person specifically to be vulnerable (or porous) to the spiritual realm, b) Gregory’s high pneumatology, c) his ideas about baptism and d) the interaction between the human eikon and the devil, then we must take seriously Gregory’s ideas about a ‘divine’ eikon. Regarding how we may understand this ‘divinity,’ I contend that it encompasses the ontological, functional and relational aspects of the human eikon where she both participates in and functions like the identical Eikon, Christ. In light of the argument which evolves throughout the thesis, I suggest that Gregory’s presentation of the human eikon is summarised best as ‘divine, yet vulnerable.’ I intend this expression to reflect Gregory’s multifaceted and open approach, which relates to human experience. It incorporates both the positive and negative vulnerability of the human eikon, since she is vulnerable to God, having been created with the purpose of becoming ‘divine,’ but at the same time vulnerable to ‘the world, the flesh and the devil.’

In this thesis, I will proceed by the examination of exemplary texts in the western Christian understanding of, and engagement with, the concept of chronically melancholic and destructively sorrowful states. I will begin with influential texts from the ancient west and near east, such as The Book of Job, and the Pseudo-Aristotle, that have provided the touchstones and archetypes of the subject throughout – and beyond – the historical period covered, as well as contemporary narratives whose concerns and themes instructively throw salient features of the former icons into high relief. Thereafter, I shall trace these themes and their development through the work of those Christians who have most powerfully and significantly dealt with the concept of melancholy theologically. In doing so, I will argue, certain significant patterns of interpretation and thematic weighting become apparent. In the narratives surrounding melancholy heroes, we find a personal interlocution with the divine that characteristically takes place in a public context. This is because they contain both a revolutionary critique, and radical reintegration, of a fractured society along compassionate lines. This compassion is interpersonal empathy in the face of the ultimately incomprehensible contradictions and limitations of human life - both in terms of theodicy, and the particularities of every individual’s melancholy, which is grounded in the metaphysically-ambiguous nature of humanity, whose limitations reflect our melancholic distance from divine consummation - the very atmospheric dynamic of contemplation itself. From Evagrius to Kierkegaard, sorrow is the kernel and fulcrum of both sin and moral development. To paraphrase Camus, sorrow is the theological question.

This thesis comprises the comprehensive study of St Basil of Caesarea’s theology of the Holy Spirit. It is argued that St Basil believes in the divinity of the Spirit, even though he never calls him ‘God’ or ‘of the same nature’ (homoousion) with the Father and the Son. This silence can be explained by the fact that the nature of the Spirit is such that it cannot be revealed. The Spirit reveals the Son, but stays hidden himself. In the present age we can only judge about the nature of the Spirit from Scripture, his actions in the world, and in the lives of prominent ascetics. In this thesis we demonstrate that St Basil defends the divinity of the Spirit not only from traditional ideas of agency of the Spirit in inspiration of Scripture and in baptism, and not only in sanctification, but also from his role in creating the world, angels and humanity, his role in teaching true doctrines and guiding the Christians, in supporting humans in their ascetic struggles, and in providing knowledge of the Father and the Son. St Basil affirms the divine nature of the Spirit by describing his divine activities in all spheres of human life and in the history of humanity, by asserting his equal honour (homotimia) with the other two Persons and his sharing in communion (koinonia) of the Father and the Son. Moreover, it is argued that for St Basil the ascetic life is grounded in the right doctrines, especially doctrine on the Spirit, and that one can understand the true doctrines only by living an ascetic life, that is, the life in the Spirit. We show that St Basil’s teaching on the divinity of the Spirit is evident in his ascetic works, but also that his dogmatic letters and treatises speak of the ascetic life. Finally, it is demonstrated that the theologian addresses his ascetic ideals to the whole of the Church and not just to monastics. He explains the truth of the doctrine of the Spirit to lay people, clergy, and ascetics. The Spirit is divine and communicates divine life through and in himself.

In 1953 a Special Commission on Baptism was appointed by the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, under the convenorship of The Very Rev Dr Thomas F. Torrance, to carry out a fresh examination of the Doctrine of Baptism, in order to lead the Church to theological agreement and uniform practice. The Commission had emerged after years of disagreement related to the meaning of baptism and its administration, especially in light of infant baptism. What followed was seven years of Interim Reports and the production of a Biblical Doctrine of Baptism. Since then, Act XVII (1963) pertaining to Baptism has been revisited on several occasions. It is the contention of this thesis that Torrance greatly influenced the work of the Commission and shaped substantially the doctrine that emerged. The result was an understanding of baptism that whilst rooted in the Reformed tradition, departed from it. By suggesting that baptisma was closely aligned to Christ’s vicarious death, and that the sanctifying nature of the incarnation was the primary justification for the baptism of infants, a different trajectory was proposed. This created a tension between two differing paradigms, one that led to discriminate baptism and another, that could have led to indiscriminate baptism. The result was confusion in the General Assembly, and failure to unify doctrine and practice. In light of this, this thesis will explore the baptismal theology of Thomas F. Torrance. It will then examine the reports of the Special Commission, the minutes of their meetings, and the verbatim minutes of the General Assembly during that period, in order to establish Torrance’s influence upon the Commission and the reception of the reports within the church. Identifying that the main areas of tension lay in sacramental and covenantal theology, it will then offer an overview of both the Reformed tradition and the Special Commission to see points of agreement and disagreement, in order to assess the extent to which the Special Commission departed from Reformed principles. Finally, it will explore the influence of the Special Commission’s work on the Church of Scotland since 1963, highlighting the watershed in baptismal theology that occurred in 2003, with the acknowledgement that believers’ baptism, and not infant baptism, was the theological norm.

Contentious unresolved philosophical and anthropological questions beset contemporary gift theories. What is the gift? Does it expect, or even preclude, some counter-gift? Should the gift ever be anticipated, celebrated or remembered? Can giver, gift and recipient appear concurrently? Must the gift involve some tangible ‘thing’, or is the best gift objectless? Is actual gift-giving so tainted that the pure gift vaporises into nothing more than a remote ontology, causing unbridgeable separation between the gift-as-practised and the gift-as-it-ought-to-be? In short, is the gift even possible? Such issues pervade scholarly treatments across a wide intellectual landscape, often generating fertile inter-disciplinary crossovers whilst remaining philosophically aporetic. Arguing largely against philosophers Jacques Derrida and Jean-Luc Marion and partially against the empirical gift observations of anthropologist Marcel Mauss, I contend in this thesis that only a theological – specifically trinitarian – reading liberates the gift from the stubborn impasses which non-theological approaches impose. That much has been argued eloquently by theologians already, most eminently John Milbank, yet largely with a philosophical slant. I develop the field by demonstrating that the Scriptures, in dialogue with the wider Christian dogmatic tradition, enrich discussions of the gift, showing how creation, which emerges ex nihilo in Christ, finds its completion in him as creatures observe and receive his own perfect, communicable gift alignment. In the ‘gift-object’ of human flesh, believers rejoicingly discern Christ receiving-in-order-to-give and giving-in-order-to-receive, the very reciprocal giftedness that Adamic humanity spurned. Moreover, the depths of Christ’s crucified self-giving and the heights of resurrectional glory, culminating in the Spirit’s eternal communion, convey sin-bound creatures into the new creation, towards their deified end, through liturgical mediation which reveals true giftedness. The gift is thus no aporetic embarrassment but the means of entry into and – more significantly – the very texture of the new, eucharistic creation.

Thesis (M.A.)--Wheaton College Graduate School, 2002. / Bibliography: leaves 141-152.