Thesis (doctoral)--l'Universite de Lausanne, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references (p. [495]-505) and indexes.

Given the relative paucity of treatments relating to both the 1532 and 1538 Bern Gespräche, alongside a growing historiography which has offered a clearer understanding of the backdrop around which these two debates were held, the focus of this research project will be to provide a comparative analysis of the recorded dialogues from the debates at Bern. This ecclesiologically focused comparison aims to discern whether the debate relating to the nature of the church at the 1538 session was merely a redundant exercise and continuation of the earlier 1532 disputation or whether the latter debate offered anything substantively new to the ongoing religious dialogue between these two groups. Furthermore, all of the respective views on the nature of the church manifest in these debates will be examined in light of the preceding Anabaptist/Reformed dialogue of the period to determine their place contextually. Having embarked upon the aforementioned goals several conclusions may be definitively drawn. First, the major ecclesiological suppositions expressed by both the Anabaptist and Reformed participants at the 1538 debate were, in fact, retained using the same core theological elements employed by their predecessors at the 1532 debate. Yet, despite this striking similarity, the independent nature of these debates must also be acknowledged. This may primarily be found in that both groups expressed their retained ecclesiologies with notable variation in things such as language, argumentative content, biblical corroboration, and illustrative evidence. Finally, both the similar and independent nature of these events will be shown to have been largely derived from the Anabaptist/Reformed dialogue already begun as the Swiss Brethren movement emerged from under Zwingli’s reform efforts in Zürich. Each of these conclusions should help to paint a more accurate portrait of not only what was accomplished through these debates, but where each stands contextually during the period.

This dissertation examines how clerics in the Lombard and Carolingian Kingdom of Italy prosecuted disputes with each other. It argues for and explores two core features of the clerical legal culture of the kingdom. The first regards the judicial institutions that clerics exploited. While the late eleventh and twelfth centuries would see the elaboration of a coherent system of ecclesiastical justice centered on the papal court, distinct from secular judicial institutions, the situation in the early Middle Ages was radically different. Early medieval Italian clerics made recourse to a wide variety of judicial forums, including both "secular" ones such as the public courts and properly "ecclesiastical" ones such as church synods. The dissertation explores these judicial pathways--some of them well-trodden and enduring ones, others more ad hoc--and the ways clerics navigated between them. Second, this study demonstrates that many early medieval Italian clerics displayed considerable skill and sophistication in crafting and delivering legal arguments against each other. Those arguments frequently hinged on substantive appeal to canon law. This finding presents a challenge to a prevailing view in legal-historical scholarship which downplays or ignores practical legal expertise in the early Middle Ages and often dismisses the period itself as an "age without jurists." This dissertation instead argues for an early medieval clerical legal culture that scholars must take seriously as a prehistory to the well-known legal and judicial developments of the eleventh and twelfth centuries. This is the first study to explore in depth the diversity of judicial pathways exploited by clerics in early medieval Italy and the legal arguments they constructed. Proceeding on the basis of case studies, it traces the threads of ecclesiastical legal culture through several genres of sources: in addition to diplomatic sources such as judicial notices, papal bulls, imperial diplomas, and private charters, it also examines the evidence to be found in works of poetry, hagiography, and historiography, and in legal compilations. Among the ecclesiastical disputes that receive extended discussion are those between the bishops of Arezzo and Siena, between the patriarchs of Aquileia and Grado, between the abbots of Nonantola and neighboring bishops, and those within the diocese of Lucca.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia, 2000. / Includes abstract. Includes vita. Appendix contains the full text of the four works analyzed, with added cross-references. Hypertext published on web site of Quaker Heritage Press. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 379-389).

Thesis (M.A.in Church History)--Cincinnati Christian University, 2007. / Abstract and vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 104-106).

Thesis (M.A.in Church History)--Cincinnati Christian University, 2007. / Abstract and vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 104-106).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia, 2000. / Typescript. Includes abstract. Includes vita. Appendix contains the full text of the four works analyzed, with added cross-references. Hypertext to be published on web site of Quaker Heritage Press. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 379-389).

Univ., Diss.--Göttingen, 2002. / Literaturverz. S. [301] - 325.