Thesis (D.Miss.)--Asbury Theological Seminary, 2006. / (UMI)AAI3228610. Adviser: Michael A. Rynkiewich. Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 67-08, Section: A, page: 3018.

Thèse (M.A.)--Université de Sherbrooke (Canada), 2008. / Titre de l'écran-titre (visionné le 1 février 2007). In ProQuest dissertations and theses. Publié aussi en version papier.

This project involved a close literary analysis of the three texts of Esther. The results of the literary analysis indicated that the texts displayed different textual tendencies and also represented God, the four main characters, and some minor characters, differently. The texts were then presented to real readers for an empirical study of their perceptions of the characters. The empirical data indicate some support for the difference in perception expected from the literary analysis. Readers of the AT considered the king to be more just, Mordecai to be more just and moral, and less dominant, and Esther to be more moral, than in the other two texts. Readers of the BT considered Mordecai more dominant than in the other two texts. For the justice of the king and the justice and morality of Mordecai they rated the BT between the AT and the MT. Readers of the MT considered the king to be less just and Mordecai to be less just and moral than in the other texts. However, for the dominance trait they rated Mordecai between the AT and BT. They also rated Esther between the AT and BT on the morality trait. Some of these effects, however, were modified by the factors of gender and religious affiliation. The literary analysis also suggested that there is a difference in the moral reasoning level between the three texts. This was indirectly supported by the empirical study. The fact that all except one of the differences in perception were related to the character traits of justice and morality indicates that the character traits which are most obviously related to the ethics involved in the text were the ones for which real readers perceived differences. / Subscription resource available via Digital Dissertations only.

The development of the Cistercian Order in the twelfth century came as a product of a number of eleventh-century reforms. These reforms affected all strata of society, and they impacted the way in which medieval European Christians viewed themselves, their social, political, and theological structures, the world around them, and their relationship to the Christian narrative of salvation history and eschatology. The early Cistercians built their “new monastery” (novum monasterium) upon an apostolic foundation of austerity and poverty, informed by a “return” to the Rule of Benedict as the program for their daily ritual and liturgical lives. These Cistercians centered their monastic “way of life” (conversatio) around the pursuit of ascent into God, seeking to become “citizens among the saints and members of the household of God.” The language of twelfth-century Cistercian ascension theology drew from a number of scriptural motifs for its expression. For example, Bernard of Clairvaux described his monastery as the “heavenly Jerusalem” and his monks as “Jerusalemites”; Aelred of Rievaulx spoke of “living stones,” building up the Temple of Jerusalem and rising up as sacred incense; and Helinand of Froidmont exhorted his monks to climb the mountain with Christ and to raise up within themselves a Temple of “living stones,” becoming bearers of Christ like Mary, his holy mother. In the case of these and other Cistercian exegetes, the goal remained the same: by interpreting Christian scripture and tradition, Cistercian theologians sought to transform the monastery into a sacred space, bridging the gap between the human world and the realm of God, so that they, and their brethren, might ascend “as living stones built up, a spiritual house, a holy priesthood.”

This dissertation explores discussions of prophecy in early Christianity focusing on Origen of Alexandria’s works. It argues that Origen engages the contested terms of prophetic activity to persuade his audience(s) toward the cultivation of a particular moral self. The dissertation situates early Christian discourse on prophecy within a larger philosophical conversation in the Greco-Roman world from the first to fourth centuries C.E., in which cultivating a properly religious self involves discipline or askēsis. Some early Christian debates about prophecy are predicated on the idea that certain practices are necessary to be considered worthy of the indwelling of the divine/the Holy Spirit. Using Pierre Hadot’s insights, the dissertation contends that discourses on prophecy in early Christianity call for training in a particular way of living, and thus could be influential to early Christians regardless of whether they would ever attain the status of prophet or not. By encouraging his Christian readers to participate in reading and studying the Scripture as a way to purify their souls, Origen argues that everyone needs to cultivate himself or herself to be worthy to receive spiritual gifts such as prophecy. In his Commentary on Romans, Origen turns Paul’s exhortation to “strive for spiritual gifts, and especially that you may prophesy” (1 Cor 14:1) into a more general call to cultivate virtue through scriptural study. In Contra Celsum and the Homilies on Numbers, Origen invites the readers to participate in disciplined training so that they may become worthy instruments of the divine, just as the prophets are. The dissertation also compares Origen’s arguments with those of the Shepherd of Hermas and Iamblichus’s De Mysteriis, demonstrating that the ancient discussions of prophecy deploy similar strategies to persuade the audiences to participate in particular disciplined training, even if they have different ideas about what the best form of prophecy may be.

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<p>Genesis is central to both hegemonic and counterhegemonic conceptions of communal identity. Read one way, the book undergirds contemporary assumptions about the nature of communality and the categories through which it is constructed. Read another way, however, it undermines them. This project considers these two readings of Genesis, their asymmetrical approaches to the book, and the intersection between them. </p><p>Using family storytelling as an approach to biblical interpretation allows this study to hold together the constitution of the reading community and the interpretation of the biblical text. In a Eurocentric reading of Genesis, the constitution of the reading community governs engagement of the biblical text. Conversely, in the YHWH-centric reading advocated here, the biblical text governs the constitution of the reading community. This study reopens the question of what it means to be an "us" rather than leaving participation in an "us" as an (often unacknowledged) a priori condition of all interpretation. In doing so it does not deny the existence or the significance of such preexisting commitments, but rather it refuses to regard those commitments as fixed and final. </p><p>From an exegetical standpoint, this study challenges Eurocentrism by finding in Genesis a vision of communality that, in emphasizing the importance of living out the relatedness of all humans to one another and to God, holds the potential for more fruitful relationships between communities. From a methodological standpoint, it offers a reading of Genesis that incorporates features of the text that have been neglected by colonizing readings and avoids the difficulties and internal inconsistencies from which they suffer. Making use of Benedict Anderson's account of the relationship between the imagined community of the nation and religiously imagined communities, as well as Jonathan Sheehan's account of the Enlightenment Bible, this study argues that certain ways of reading the Bible arose to help the West articulate its sense of itself and its others. Drawing attention to the text's reception and the way in which Eurocentric approaches displace Jews and marginalize (the West's) others, this project considers alternative ways of conceptualizing the relationship between the Bible and those who call it their own.</p> / Dissertation

The writings of Rabbinic Judaism have too long been accessible to only those with vary specialized linguistic and theological training. By using the Angel of Death as its model, this work is a call to others in this field to open up this material to the general population. / The study opens with an introduction which carefully discusses the difficulties in both dating and accessing the rabbinic writings. The methodological discussion is critical because of the very nature of this material. Scholarly aids, general indices and anthologies are catalogued in an attempt to aid the reader in the understanding of this period and the literature it has produced. / The Angel of Death ('Malach ha-Mawet') is the specific model for investigation and is traced from its "supposed" beginnings in the Hebrew Bible. The first section of this study shows, after a detailed survey of the biblical record, that this figure is post-biblical in nature. / After isolating this figure from within the rabbinic writings of the first millennium, the indexing tools used by those in the field of folk literature are applied. The motif-indexing created by Antti Aarne and Stith Thompson, later developed by Dov Noy, are the basis of this study. By indexing the Angel of Death in this manner, this figure, and others from the rabbinic writings, may be more easily investigated and compared to its cross-cultural counterparts by greater number of reseachers. / This study closes with four (4) appendices which offer different ways in which to index and cross-index rabbinic texts, figures and the biblical texts and figures contained within them. The study presents the Angel of Death as a model for examination, calling for the other figures in the rabbinic writings to be indexed in the same manner. This motif-indexing of rabbinic texts and figures will hopefully enable this material to find its rightful place alongside the folk literature of the other cultures of the world. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 53-11, Section: A, page: 3943. / Major Professor: John F. Priest. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1992.

This work studies the occult terms witch, wizard, magician, soothsayer, and sorcerer which appear in the King James Bible and its usage of these words with corresponding terminology in the Hebrew, Greek, Latin, sixteenth-century English, and modern English Bibles. In order to make the comparison of Biblical occult terminology the most accurate, I utilized the definitions of occult terminology provided by modern anthropologists whose research in the occult are widely regarded as definitive. / Chapter One provides the anthropological foundations. Chapters Two through Four discuss the occult terminology in the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin Bibles along with a brief excursus on the social and cultural conditions of the respective historical periods in which these Bibles were written. Chapters Five and Six relate the political, socio-economic, and religious conditions of sixteenth-century England coupled with a lengthy discussion of the occult terminology contained in the Bibles and other theological literature of that era and locale. / This study has shown that the meanings of certain occult words in the various Bibles did change throughout respective historical periods and within certain religious and social contexts due to authorial intention. Finally, this research has shown that the King James Bible, against which the terminology of the other Bibles was compared, was a brilliant piece of rational scholarship. The Conclusion and Appendix attest that the King James Bible started a translation tradition, continuing to be employed, which utilized a less descriptive, more generic occult terminology in line with the terminology used by the original authors of the Hebrew Bible and Greek New Testament for the express purpose of attempting to de-energize popular belief in the occult. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 50-12, Section: A, page: 3984. / Major Professor: David H. Darst. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1989.

This interdisciplinary study will explore the evolution of Samson from brash youth to religious hero to Hollywood leading man. The transformation of Samson from an impetuous boy to religious hero begins even in the biblical saga. The study will also explore each individual artist's perception of the Samson character. Is he perceived as a hero, a martyr, or a fool? Works examined include Judges 13-16, John Milton's Samson Agonistes, Handel's Samson, paintings by Peter Paul Rubens, Anthony Van Dyck, and Rembrandt, and films by Cecil B. DeMille and Lee Philips. Finally, the study will provide an extensive list of sources for anyone researching this topic. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 51-09, Section: A, page: 2903. / Major Professor: John F. Priest. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1990.