<p>The New Testament contains two important and potentially conflicting understandings of resurrection. One integrates resurrection into salvation, suggesting that it is restricted to the righteous; this view is found most prominently in the Pauline epistles. The other understands resurrection as a prerequisite for eschatological judgment and therefore explicitly extends it to all; this view is found most prominently in the book of Revelation. In the former, moral transformation is part of the process that results in resurrection; in the latter, moral transformation only affects what comes after resurrection, not the event of resurrection itself. The New Testament itself provides no account of how to hold together these understandings of resurrection and moral transformation.</p><p>This dissertation is an investigation of the ways in which second- and third-century Christian authors creatively struggled to bring together these two understandings. I select key authors who are not only important in the history of early Christian discussions of resurrection but who also make extensive use of the Pauline epistles. For each author, I investigate not only how they develop or resist the Pauline connection between resurrection and moral transformation but also how they relate that connection to the doctrine of the resurrection of all to face judgment found in Revelation (if they do at all).</p><p>The results are remarkably diverse. Irenaeus develops the Pauline connection between resurrection and moral transformation through the Spirit of God but fails to account for the resurrection of those who do not receive that Spirit in this life (although affirming that resurrection nonetheless). Tertullian begins from the model that takes resurrection to be fundamentally a prerequisite for judgment and struggles to account for Paul's connections between resurrection and salvation. Two Valentinian texts, the Treatise on the Resurrection and the Gospel of Philip, adopt the Pauline model to the exclusion of the resurrection of the wicked. Origen connects resurrection to moral transformation in yet another way, making it an event that pedagogically reflects the moral transformation of all rational creatures--whether for the better or worse. For Methodius of Olympus, the resurrection of the body produces the moral transformation that is the eradication of the entrenched inclination to sin, but the moral transformation in this life that is the resistance of the promptings of that entrenched inclination produces reward after the resurrection. In each case, strategies for holding together the two views found in the New Testament reveal the fundamental theological commitments underlying the author's overall understanding of resurrection.</p> / Dissertation

II Peter has been a very controversial epistle. To use the term, 'has been', takes us as far back as the second century, for the early church fathers were sceptical of its value and authenticity and some have claimed that it came near not being part of the New Testament canon. You will note that this study is not a commentary but rather an introduction to the problems that have arisen concerning this epistle.

It is my deep conviction that the Gospel takes on new meaning as we see its message in the light of its historical background. In this instance we are interested in the influence which the Wisdom Literature exerted upon the Gospel records.

Mémoire numérisé par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal.

The question "Who Jesus realy was?" is more than 250 years object of many studies. In recent years the number of scientists is increasing and it is even not possible to be experienced in all trends, methods and conclusions. In this thesis Jesus of Nazareth is depicted in the point of wiev of nowadays research and I aware of an incomplete insight into the whole issue. The aim of the thesis is to introduce to historical Jesus research. First part is constituted with theoretic-historical preliminary necessary to understand the second part. Selected questions of nowadays research are presented in the second part of the diploma thesis. The diploma thesis is concentrated on issues related to the historical Jesus in the context of the Judaism of his period and from the nowadays research's point of view. The aim is not exhaustive treatise, which is not possible due to type and scope of this thesis. The goal is to highlight some significant moments related to this issue. Whereas the aim is historical presentation of Jesus's life, there are not mentioned events comming up after the Jesus's death. This thesis introduces the issue of historical Jesus research and puts some of the moments from recent investigation. It also looks at the conclusions came out from the Jesus Seminar, which are confronted with more...

The thesis Abraham in the New Testament commences with the narrative of Abraham in the Book of Genesis, evaluates responses to that story in the Old Testament as well as in the extra-biblical literature, and then examines its use in the New Testament. Abraham is introduced as God's friend, a model of faith, and a forefather. The questions are raised as to who are entitled to think of themselves as heirs to Abraham's promises and what are the consequences for the Curch. Appendices provide a list of Bible verses wherein Abraham is mentioned or which make allusions to his story. Other attachments present key texts from the Old and New Testaments and their literal translations as source materials supporting the conclusions of the main text.

There are many textual and thematic similarities between Dante’s Inferno and Cormac McCarthy’s Outer Dark. There are also significant textual similarities between the New Testament and McCarthy’s third novel, Child of God. Juxtaposing Outer Dark and Child of God to Inferno and the New Testament, respectively, suggests a common trope that redemption requires characters’ name and repent of sin.

Were OT saints indwelt by the Holy Spirit? This dissertation seeks an answer from John's Gospel. The thesis here is that John 14:17c, "He is with you, and he will be in you," encapsulates the Bible's description of the relationship between the Spirit and the believer in the Old and New Covenants. In chapter 1 the different positions taken on this question are surveyed. The five actual positions and one alleged position are illustrated with quotations. Not all equate regeneration and indwelling. None think the Spirit had nothing to do with OT saints. Chapter 2 contends that the OT does not present its faithful as indwelt by the Spirit. Covenant mediators have the Spirit, but the Spirit distinguishes and empowers them. God dwells among his people in the tabernacle/temple, but he does not dwell in each believer. The outpouring of the Spirit passages point to the future, saying nothing about the experience of Old Covenant believers. Chapter 3 exegetes the Spirit passages in John. Chapter 4 argues that John 7:39 will not permit the inference that OT saints were indwelt. This chapter lays out the OT expectation of a Spirit-anointed Messiah who inaugurates the age to come. John presents Jesus as the fulfillment of this hope, and Jesus ministers the Spirit to his people. Chapter 5 shows that regeneration and indwelling are not equivalent in John. John presents Jesus as the replacement of the temple. Jesus is the locus of God's presence and the place where sin is dealt with. Once Jesus fulfills all sacrifice, God can take up residence in a temple where no sacrifices are offered. Jesus confers temple status on those who believe in him. When Jesus ascends, believers become the locus of God's presence with authority to forgive and retain sin, i.e., they are the new temple. Chapter 6 concludes and summarizes. OT saints were regenerate but not indwelt. The OT does not claim its faithful were indwelt, and the NT says they were not (John 7:39). Under the Old Covenant God's dwelling was the temple. In the New Covenant God dwells in believers. / This item is only available to students and faculty of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. If you are not associated with SBTS, this dissertation may be purchased from <a href="http://disexpress.umi.com/dxweb">http://disexpress.umi.com/dxweb</a> or downloaded through ProQuest's Dissertation and Theses database if your institution subscribes to that service.

One of the fundamental issues at the core of evangelical ethical debates involves the use of Scripture. Rejecting historical-critical methods on the one hand, and simplistic prooftexting on the other. Richard Hays wrote The Moral Vision of the New Testament in order to deal with this very problem. By most accounts, Hays's approach succeeds. This dissertation explores the method proposed by Hays in The Moral Vision , seeking to locate the strengths of his approach while noting its primary weaknesses. Upon finding Hays's method wanting, the dissertation posits a constructive proposal, in conversation with Hays, for using Scripture in ethics. The first chapter of the dissertation introduces the problem and suggests The Moral Vision as an ethical text which has garnered sufficient accolades as to make it worthy of examination. Chapter 2 seeks to describe in detail the major lines of argument, giving specific attention to the method Hays proposes to use Scripture in ethics. Chapter 3 offers a critique of The Moral Vision , beginning with several strengths. The thrust of the chapter, however centers on the following four weaknesses of Hays's method: first, Hays's program of appropriating Scripture is built on his view that Scripture speaks in disunity; second, that view of the canon necessitates that Hays identify three focal images to locate a coherent moral voice. The focal images serve to develop, despite Hays insistence to the contrary, a canon within the canon; third, Hays gives priority to narrative in his system, which opens his method up to greater subjectivity and personal bias; and lastly, Hays's approach provides no criteria for judging whether an appropriation is faithful, it unwittingly relies on transcendent ethical principles, and it fails to distinguish between interpretation and application. After offering a critique of The Moral Vision , chapter 4 proposes an original method for appropriating Scripture in ethics. That proposal seeks first to establish foundational convictions regarding Scripture and ethics. Building on those presuppositions, the dissertation prescribes how one might rightly read the ancient text of Scripture and from there draw conclusions about how the Bible gives ethical instructions today. At every turn, the dissertation's interest is concerned primarily with methodology rather than specific ethical conclusions. The chapter closes by drawing conclusions about one contemporary ethical issue ( in vitro fertilization) in order to test the method prescribed and help the reader see how such a proposal might proceed. The final chapter proposes application for the church that arises from the method proposed by this dissertation. The chapter also raises tensions for further research which lay outside the scope of this dissertation's purposes. / This item is only available to students and faculty of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. If you are not associated with SBTS, this dissertation may be purchased from <a href="http://disexpress.umi.com/dxweb">http://disexpress.umi.com/dxweb</a> or downloaded through ProQuest's Dissertation and Theses database if your institution subscribes to that service.

This project examines the depiction of Jewish and Christian identity in Acts of the Apostles by placing the writer’s ethnic claims within a broader material and epigraphic context. Scholarship on Jewish identity in Acts has often emphasized Jewish and Christian religious difference, an emphasis that has tended to mask the intersections of civic, ethnic, and religious identifications in antiquity. Such identity categories did not exist as distinct, stable entities. Rather, as discussions of identity in antiquity demonstrate, they were contested, negotiable, and ambiguous. Bringing Acts into conversation with recent scholarly insights regarding identity as represented in Roman era material and epigraphic remains shows that Acts presents Jews and Jewish identity in multiple, complex ways, rather than as a simple foil for “Christianity.” The dissertation argues that when the modern distinctions between ethnic, religious, and civic identities are suspended, the innovative ethnic rhetoric of the author of Acts comes into focus. The underlying connection between ethnic, religious, and civic identities provided him with space to present non-Jewish Christians as converted Jews and therefore to identify all Christians as Jews. On the basis of this identification, he marked Christians as a unified Jewish community that enhanced the stability of the city, contrasting them with other Jewish communities. By creating an internal distinction between Christians and other Jews, he privileged Christians as the members of an ideal, unified Jewish community and contrasted them with what he identified as factious, local Jewish associations.