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This dissertation makes an attempt to scientifically investigate Erich Sauer's theology of salvation history for the first time. Sauer grew up in a vital missionary context in the setting of the Open Brethren fellowship and the Alliance Bible School in Berlin. He studied history, philology and theology at the Humboldt University in Berlin, with the goal of promoting missions. Because of an acute eye ailment he was forced to discontinue his studies. He was invited to Wiedenest, where he found his life's work in the Bible School, which had moved in 1919. Here he worked for almost forty years as a teacher and a writer and travelling unceasingly to preach, lecture and hold biblical seminars on the topic of salvation history and missions. His theology, which is indebted to the theory of revelation history, was influenced by federal theology, theology of salvation history and the scientific, exegetic theology of German theological positivism. Sauer derives the authority of Scripture from history and develops a complex, salvation historical model, which is characterised by the classic structure of protology, soteriology and eschatology. His pre-millennial character is not dispensationally restricted, but has, rather, its own independent formation, that allows for the universal dimensions of God's completion act, without supporting a universal redemption theory. Through the high rating that he gives the position of the ecclesia in salvation history, Sauer has achieved a programmatic missions concept, which sees a missions-oriented church within every local church. With this paradigmatic theory, Sauer contributed to a revival of missions in German Brethren congregations, in conjunction with his professional colleague Schrupp. / Christian Spirituality, Church Hist and Missiology / D.Th.

Throughout the seventeenth century, numerous Scots became convinced that the major political and religious upheavals of their age signified the fulfillment of, or further unfolding of, the vivid prophecies described in the Book of Revelation which foretell of the final consummation of all things. To date, however, an in-depth analysis of the evolution of Scottish apocalyptic belief during the seventeenth century has never been undertaken. This thesis utilizes a wide variety of source material to demonstrate the existence of a cohesive, persistent, and largely conservative tradition of apocalyptic thought in Scotland that spanned the years 1588 to 1688. Chapter One examines several influential commentaries on the Book of Revelation published by notable Scots during the decades either side of the Union of Crowns. These works reveal many of the principal characteristics that formed the basis of the Scottish apocalyptic tradition. The most important of these traits which became a consistent feature of the tradition was the rejection of millenarianism. In recent years, historians have exaggerated the influence of millenarian ideals in Scotland during the Covenanting movement which began in 1638. Chapter Two argues that Scottish Covenanters consistently denounced millenarianism as a dangerous, subversive doctrine that could lead to the religious radicalism espoused by sixteenth-century German Anabaptists. Chapter Three looks at political and religious factors which led to the general decline of apocalyptic expectancy in Scotland during the Interregnum. It also demonstrates how, despite this decline, Scottish apocalyptic thinkers continued to uphold the primary traits of the apocalyptic tradition which surfaced over the first half of the century. Lastly, Chapter Four explains how state-enforced religious persecution of Scottish Presbyterians during the Restoration period led to the radicalisation of the tradition and inspired the violent actions of Covenanter extremists who believed they had been chosen by God to act as instruments of his divine vengeance in the latter-days.

This dissertation makes an attempt to scientifically investigate Erich Sauer's theology of salvation history for the first time. Sauer grew up in a vital missionary context in the setting of the Open Brethren fellowship and the Alliance Bible School in Berlin. He studied history, philology and theology at the Humboldt University in Berlin, with the goal of promoting missions. Because of an acute eye ailment he was forced to discontinue his studies. He was invited to Wiedenest, where he found his life's work in the Bible School, which had moved in 1919. Here he worked for almost forty years as a teacher and a writer and travelling unceasingly to preach, lecture and hold biblical seminars on the topic of salvation history and missions. His theology, which is indebted to the theory of revelation history, was influenced by federal theology, theology of salvation history and the scientific, exegetic theology of German theological positivism. Sauer derives the authority of Scripture from history and develops a complex, salvation historical model, which is characterised by the classic structure of protology, soteriology and eschatology. His pre-millennial character is not dispensationally restricted, but has, rather, its own independent formation, that allows for the universal dimensions of God's completion act, without supporting a universal redemption theory. Through the high rating that he gives the position of the ecclesia in salvation history, Sauer has achieved a programmatic missions concept, which sees a missions-oriented church within every local church. With this paradigmatic theory, Sauer contributed to a revival of missions in German Brethren congregations, in conjunction with his professional colleague Schrupp. / Christian Spirituality, Church Hist and Missiology / D.Th.

This thesis has two aims. Firstly, in order to answer the question, ‘In what sense do people see Mary as a type of the Church?’, this thesis will set up original typological models of the relationship between Mary and the Church (chapter 1). It will then demonstrate how and why an eschatological element came to be present in these models (chapter 2).It will be a contention of this thesis that looking at the Mario-ecclesial discussions set out in chapters 3 and 4 through these typological models will allow a greater depth of analysis. The models allow one to discern differences between and nuances in various views of the relationship between Mary and the Church that would be impossible to discern if one were using just the language of ‘type’. Secondly the thesis will show how each Mario-ecclesial discussion has been affected by the socio-political context of the time. Specifically, the thesis will analyse the Mario-ecclesial discussions of the patristic, medieval and modern periods in the light of the typological models. In chapter 1, the patristic Mario-ecclesiologies of Irenaeus and Ambrose will be considered. In chapter 2, Bernard of Clairvaux will be used to analyse the eschatological nature of the Mario-ecclesiology in the medieval period. In chapter 3, the contrasting Mario-ecclesiologies of the Second Vatican Council and Hans Urs von Balthasar will be compared. In chapter 4, it will be suggested that John Paul’s model of the Mario-ecclesial relationship was based on his eschatological vision for the Church and the role that Mary plays in that future which is both imminent and already realised. This thesis will demonstrate that by using the typological models in these periods a greater depth of analysis can be achieved. This will be particularly true of the complex and nuanced discussions on Mary in the Roman Catholic Church in the twentieth century. This analysis will culminate in the particular Mariology of John Paul II.

La présente recherche s’attache de comprendre les manières dont la culture occidentale contemporaine modélise la nature humaine. Cette constante anthropologique qui fait de l’homme un être au monde particulier est sans relâche réactualisée selon des singularités propres à la culture dominante, mais aussi selon des singularités propres à des groupes sociaux donnés. La construction de la forme de l’homme est donc en perpétuelle mutation et aujourd’hui, suite à diverses révélations, révolutions scientifiques (éthologie, écologie, biologie ou encore paléoanthropologie) et techniques (révolution des images et des nouveaux médias), plus que jamais, la nature humaine est sujette aux métamorphoses. La compréhension du phénomène animaliste se situe au coeur de la recherche en tant que ce dernier exprime d’une manière paroxystique les conséquences sociologiques desdites révélations et révolutions. Il est le prisme par lequel cette recherche tâche de rendre compte de ce qui, dans l’esprit du temps, préside dans les relations anthropozoologiques. / This study is an attempt to understand how contemporary western culture models human nature. This anthropological constant, which makes humans unique beings in the world, is constantly being adapted to suit the distinctive features of the dominant culture and to suit the distinctive features of specific social groups. The construction of the human form is constantly changing and today, following various scientific revelations and revolutions (ethology, ecology, biology and paleo-anthropology) and technical advances (revolution of images and new media), human nature is likely to undergo even greater metamorphoses. Understanding the animalist phenomenon is the core of this research, since this phenomenon expresses the sociological consequences of these revelations and revolutions spasmodically. It is the prism that this research uses in an attempt to recount what, in the spirit of the times, governs human-animal relationships. / O objetivo desta pesquisa é compreender as formas pelas quais a cultura ocidental contemporânea define a natureza humana. Esta constante antropológica que faz do homem um ser-no-mundo particular é actualizada em permanência, tanto pelas singularidades da cultura dominante, como pelas singularidades de determinados grupos sociais. A construção da forma do homem está, pois, em permanente mutação, e com o surgimento actual das mais variadas revelações, revoluções científicas (etologia, biologia, ecologia ou paleoantropologia) e técnicas (revolução das imagens e dos novas média), a natureza humana fica mais do que nunca sujeita a metamorfoses. A compreensão do fenómeno animalista está no centro desta pesquisa, na medida em que exprime, de forma paroxística, as consequências sociológicas destas revelações e revoluções. O fenómeno animalista é o prisma através do qual a presente pesquisa tenta dar conta daquilo que, de acordo com o espírito da época, tem a primazia nas relações antropozoológicas.