This thesis is an examination of the eucharistic doctrine of ten Scottish theological writers in the tradition of Scottish Episcopacy; five from the seventeenth century, two from the eighteenth century, and three from the nineteenth century. The doctrine espoused by each one throughout the stated period, 1620–1875, is found to agree with the other writers considered herein, because each writer turned to many of the same Church Fathers as the source of his doctrine and his interpretation of Holy Scripture. The argument of this thesis is that all of the writers, rejecting the Tridentine, Lutheran, Bezan-Calvinist, and Zwinglian definitions of the Eucharist, maintained a material sacrifice in the Eucharist, which is an offering to God the Father of bread and wine as the propitiatory memorial of Christ’s death on the Cross, commanded by Christ himself at the Last Supper. The sacrifice is propitiatory because it is the means of representing the one sacrifice of Christ on the Cross to God the Father, thereby pleading the benefits of the Cross for the communicants. The bread and wine do not change substance, but become effectively the body and blood of Christ. Three of the ten writers produced eucharistic rites, one in the seventeenth century, and two in the eighteenth century. It is argued that each of these rites is expressive of the Eucharist as being a commemorative and representative sacrifice. Each rite explicitly offers bread and wine to the Father, invokes the Holy Spirit’s action over the elements, and prays that by receiving the consecrated bread and wine as the body and blood of Christ, the communicants will receive the forgiveness of sins, the continuing grace of the Holy Spirit, and eternal life.

This thesis is an examination of Lancelot Andrewes' (1555-1626) Eucharistic theology which is explored in order to see how far he might act as a catalyst for ecumenism with Rome on the topic of Eucharistic sacrifice. The purpose of the thesis is to develop a fuller exposition of Andrewes' Eucharistic theology as a unique theologian who maintained a view of sacrifice that was denied by Protestants on the continent of Europe and by most within the English Church of his day. In the first four chapters Andrewes' own views are not always juxtaposed to more contemporary views. This is intentional in order to develop his own thought before looking at him as an ecumenical partner on sacrifice. The first chapter explores Andrewes as a theologian within his own context of ecclesiology, placing Andrewes within a more Catholic framework as opposed to Puritanism that was becoming politically influential during the reign of King James I. The second chapter then looks at Andrewes' view of Eucharistic instrumentality where I characterise him as an ‘effectual instrumentalist' over against some contemporary scholars who place him alongside John Calvin who is sometimes described as a ‘symbolic instrumentalist'. I find Andrewes closer to a Catholic framework of instrumentalism. The third chapter further explores Andrewes' view of presence where I conclude that he should be characterised as one holding to an objective view of presence and give him the Cappodocian label as a Transelementationist. This is to emphasise that Andrewes did encourage the faithful to look for Christ in the elements themselves, which goes beyond Christ's presence within the faith of the believer alone. The fourth chapter is the lengthiest chapter as it develops Andrewes' views of sacrifice. I see him as someone immersed in the sacrificial nature of the Eucharist defined within the writings of the Fathers of the first five centuries. It was here that Andrewes is able to be set fully within the framework of a Catholic view of the mystery as the Christian sacrifice offered to God in return for the gift of the Christ-event to the world. Andrewes' description of the offering as containing a propitiatory effect in the application of the forgiveness of sins through ‘instrumental touching' was a unique understanding of someone in the Church of England during the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. In the final chapter, I juxtapose Andrewes with Catholic teaching as it is explored in contemporary Catholic theology as well as, perhaps more importantly, within papal documents and authoritative Catholic statements on the sacrifice of the Mass. This is to show how similar Andrewes is in his description of the sacrifice of the Eucharist to Rome and how he goes further in that direction than any of his contemporaries or even modern ecumenical statements in Anglican and Roman Catholic dialogue.

The entity of Lucifer has long been an area of study and confusion throughout history. Among notable literary minds, Dante Alighieri stands out as an illuminating poet who brings to light the essence and nature of this nefarious character and his influence on mankind. In his revelatory work, the Commedia, Dante touches on but does not explicitly detail the scope and importance that music and specifically, song, has on the redemptive purgation of the soul. This work provides a more in depth investigation into the generally overlooked issue, that is, the origin and initial intent of song, the perversion of which, by whom and why, and Dante’s perception of the subject revealed in his missive to mankind. Along scientific theory, along with other works by Dante to provide a link between Lucifer, music, the sin of pride, and the corruption of the divine. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2014. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

God is revealed through Scripture and the Incarnation as desiring to establish loving relationships with others beyond the Trinity. In the beginning he did so by creating human beings, and making himself, his desires, and his ways known to them. He chose to do so through particular actions and encounters in history which involved various forms of embodied manifestation, and led up to the supreme manifestation: the enfleshing of Jesus. Following on from the acts of Jesus which perfectly manifested God and his ways to the world in the flesh, human creatures created in the image of God and united to Christ are also called and gifted by God to manifest God's presence, activity, and ways in this world by using their bodies to live faithfully and responsively to the leading of the Spirit. In order to investigate and demonstrate these claims, Part I of the thesis examines a selection of precedent-setting events chronicled in the Old Testament in which God manifested his presence and ways to people in a variety of circumstances. Part II is concerned with a theological examination of God's manifestations and the roles people can and should play in these manifestations. It begins by engaging with reflections on the subject from the early church fathers Irenaeus, Athanasius, and Augustine; and, in keeping with the Reformed approach taken in the thesis generally, this is followed by in-depth treatments of Reformer John Calvin and Reformed theologian Karl Barth on the revelation, manifestation, and proclamation of God by people in this world. Having substantiated the claim that how people live is significant and of concern to God as it can impinge upon his ongoing desire to make himself and his ways known, Part III is designed to provide a fuller understanding of some of the meaning and significance conveyed by bodily expressions in human interactions with an eye towards seeking ways to live more faithfully to God. It identifies the theatre, particularly improvisational theatre, as a laboratory for understanding human living, and so explores the insights of theatre practitioners into everyday living; while also considering the work of philosophers of language and sociologists who do the same. Through this spotlight on the theatricality of life the case is made for attempting to live responsively, in keeping with improvisational actors, in ways that are faithful to God and which can serve to aid those united to Christ as they seek to make God known to others.

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This thesis will critically examine the project on globalization as articulated by the Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada (ATS) in an effort to uncover the presuppositions and motivations that underlie the project, and to situate them historically and with reference to current North American trends in education and politics. It will argue that the project, as it has been described and defined, comes out of the ethos of Protestant liberalism, particularly as this is embodied in missiology and the 19th century Social Gospel Movement, and that this liberal foundation has been influenced since the 1960's in North America by the Civil Rights Movement, the Women's Movement and the more recent concern related to minorities and North American pluralism. Although lip service is paid to evangelism, ecumenism and interreligious dialogue, the globalization agenda is expressed in terms of social ethics, predominantly justice or liberation theology.

This dissertation contends that in spite of the increasing trajectory toward a more corporate, covenantal understanding of justification within Pauline scholarship since the emergence of the New Perspective on Paul, there still remains significant evidence that justification, at its core, is concerned with the individual before God in need of grace, who is counted righteous apart from any human works. Chapter 1 provides a history of research that traces this corporate trajectory within modern scholarship, as well as noting some of the responses to it. Chapter 2 examines the case for the presence of Jewish legalism at Paul's time of writing, to which he responds with his doctrine of justification by faith. Though E. P. Sanders successfully showed that legalism did not define second-temple Judaism, his work does not rule out the possibility of legalism within elements of the religion during the lifetime of Paul. This legalism would be more subtle than in pre-Sanders caricatures of Judaism, and is intricately tied to ethnocentrism, since the works in question were often those such as circumcision, which separated Jews from Gentiles--hence, ethnocentric legalism. Chapters 3 and 4 apply a framework that does not rule out legalism to three key justification texts (Gal 2:16; Rom 3:20; Rom 4:1-8). In these passages, Paul alludes to or cites a psalm text, each of which highlights an underlying anthropological approach to justification that denies the place of works, which was also timeless, though now fully revealed in the death and resurrection of Jesus. Chapter 5 examines evidence in other places in Paul, including some of the disputed letters, that undergirds the idea that fundamental to justification and Pauline soteriology in general is a distinction between grace (through faith) and works. Chapter 6 seeks to align the present argument with more corporate concerns in Pauline soteriology through exegesis of two passages that are often considered to be linchpin texts for the New Perspective (Rom 3:27-30; Eph 2:14-18). Chapter 7 provides a summary of the argument, as well as implications of the present study, with further reflection on what it means for future work on the subject.

Hadriaan Beverland (1650-1716) was banished from Holland in 1679. Why did this humanist scholar get into so much trouble in the most tolerant part of Europe in the seventeenth century? In an attempt to answer this question, this thesis places Beverland's writings on sex, sin, Scripture, and scholarship in their historical context for the first time. Beverland argued that lust was the original sin and highlighted the importance of sex in human nature, ancient history, and his own society. His works were characterized by his erudite Latin, satirical style, and disregard for traditional genres and hierarchies in early modern scholarship. Dutch theologians disliked his theology and exegesis, and hated his use of erudition to mock their learning, morality, and authority. Beverland's humanist colleagues did not support his studies either, because they believed that drawing attention to the sexual side of the classics threatened the basis of the humanist enterprise. When theologians asked for his arrest and humanist professors left him to his fate, Dutch magistrates were happy to convict Beverland because he had insolently accused the political and economic, as well as the religious and intellectual elite of the Dutch Republic, of hypocrisy. By restricting sex to marriage, in compliance with Reformed doctrine, secular authorities upheld a sexual morality that was unattainable, Beverland argued. He proposed honest discussion of the problem of sex and suggested that greater sexual liberty for the male elite might be the solution. Beverland's crime was to expose the gap between principle and practice in sexual relations in Dutch society, highlighting the hypocrisy of a deeply conflicted elite at a precarious time. His intervention came at the moment when the uneasy balance struck between Reformed orthodoxy, humanist scholarship, economic prosperity, and patrician politics, which had characterized the Golden Age of the Dutch Republic, was disintegrating, with unsettling consequences for all concerned. Placing Beverland's fate in this context of change provides a fresh perspective on the intellectual environment of the Republic in the last decades of the seventeenth century.

The interpretation of the letter to the Hebrews made a distinctive contribution to doctrinal construction, polemical controversy, and evolution of scripture-critical technique in the early modern period. This was because many of its themes and passages were considered significant to contemporary theological debates. Hebrews therefore offers an important case study for biblical reception history. This thesis adopts a diachronic approach, highlighting the priorities and worries of English Hebrews exegetes between the reigns of Edward VI and Charles II, and asks how these shifts catalysed hermeneutical advances towards higher biblical criticism. Calvin interpreted Hebrews' theology of sacrifice as an antidote to Catholic christology, soteriology, and beliefs about the mass. His thinking was adopted by Elizabethan Protestant readers, popularised through public documents like the Reformation Bibles (chapter one), and analysed in detail by sermons and lectures (chapter two). The reception of Hebrews also illustrates established historiography about the break-down of Reformed hegemony in England. Chapter three demonstrates how the use of the epistle by anti-puritans clashed with the censored Reformed exegete William Jones. Scholars of the seventeenth century have largely ignored how Hebrews' latent supersessionism promoted innovation in Church and society. Chapter four explores the way in which civil war Socinians expounded Christ's priesthood in terms of heavenly expiation, while radicals seized on the epistle's potential to support their vision of politico-religious liberation. Initially the Reformed countered by defending the trinity and Chalcedonian christology, as shown from mid-century exegesis in chapter five. However, two writers realised the underlying challenge of supersessionism and wrote Hebrews commentaries which served as systematic rebuttals. William Gouge deployed typology and Ramism to rebind the two dispensations (chapter six), and John Owen revised received expressions of the covenant in order to permit more development within God's plan while retaining unity of purpose before and after Jesus (chapter seven).

What is the correct way to interpret the relationship between the message of Jesus and the kerygma, a hermeneutic of discontinuity and evolution or a hermeneutic of continuity and development? The Eschatological Jesus will argue for continuity and development. In their portraits of a non-eschatological and non-messianic Jesus J.D. Crossan and Marcus Borg raise questions about the relationship between Jesus and the kerygma but do not answer them. Reginald H. Fuller and Martin Hengel demonstrate that high Christology can be traced directly to the eschatological ministry of Jesus, especially his authority. Fuller describes Jesus' authority in terms of an inaugurated eschatology and a distinctive sonship which he extends to others. Martin Hengel describes Jesus' eschatological authority as one who acted in God's place when he called his disciples the way God called his prophets and imposed on them a divine discipline and in Lk. 13:34 which has parallels in Sir. 1:15 and Deut. 32:11. This is a messianic authority since it was the Messiah who stood in God's place at the end of time. This Jesus who is in control of the end gave rise to a belief in his pre-existence and the claims of the Fourth Gospel. P.M. Casey, on the other hand, rejects such authority as being apparent in Jesus' ministry. Unlike Fuller and Hengel who see the Fourth Gospel as the logical outgrowth of Jesus' use of 'Abbā, Casey sees the Fourth Gospel as a betrayal of Jesus and the synoptic tradition. However, Casey overlooks the synoptic gospels' portrait of Jesus' acting in God's place and Matthew's use of προσκγνεῖν and προσέρχεσθαι. The Eschatological Jesus concludes with the belief that Jesus' ministry was messianic and eschatological and that the authority he exhibits provides the basis for not only his being Christ, but divine Lord and Son of God.