<p>This dissertation begins with questions about the epistemic methods that late-nineteenth and early-twentieth-century American Protestants used to create confidence in new religious ideas, and particularly the role of scientific rhetoric in this confidence making. It concentrates on early Protestant fundamentalists and the emergence of dispensationalism modernism. Distinct from dispensational premillennialism--a set of theological ideas about prophecy belief and the end times--dispensational modernism was a constellation of epistemic ideas and methods used to interpret texts and time.</p><p>Historians have traditionally portrayed fundamentalists and dispensationalists as anti-modern, reactionary foes of modern scientific reasoning. Yet early dispensational thinkers created new, modernist methods for readings texts (particularly the Bible) and structuring time (through elaborate interpretations of prophecy). These ideas emerged amidst popular beliefs about the power of quantification, classification, and scientific analysis to construct firm religious knowledge. While liberal higher critics adopted practices of interpreting texts in light of the times--particularly historicism--dispensationalists took a contrary approach and interpreted the times in light of the text of the Bible. Seeing time as divinely ordered and classified with distinct divisions, dispensationalists argued that the meaning of time came from without, through supernatural ruptures in the temporal order.</p><p>Dispensationalism thrived in the interdenominational networks of mainstream and conservative Protestant clergy who sought to retain intellectual authority for biblical interpretation. As knowledge production became increasingly specialized and professionalized--the domain of elites--dispensational methods provided clergy means to navigate the tension between the need for specialized expertise and popular appeal. These ideas took canonical form in the Scofield Reference Bible, first published in 1909 and still the best-selling reference Bible in American history. The reference notes in Scofield's Bible--condensed expert interpretations and taxonomic divisions--promised methodological proficiency and theological confidence to anyone who studied it.</p> / Dissertation

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<p> Theology is often assumed to be outmoded as a mode of thought, unworthy of the respect due an academic discipline, especially in matters of public import. Recent penetrating interdisciplinary work by theologians in the orbit of Radical Orthodoxy, however, calls into question such a pat assessment of the value of theology to shape academic and public discourse. Sifting through the centuries for insight, these scholars wrestle to faithfully apply the history of ideas at crucial intersections&mdash;of the past, the present and the future; of the transcendent and the mundane; of faith and reason; of belief and doubt. No longer satisfied to be sequestered by the strictures of secularism, a theology that is both informed by and committed to furthering liturgical and doctrinal development in all its historical complexity now deigns&mdash;in the hope of shedding fresh light on recalcitrant debates to intervene in realms ranging from academia to public policy.</p>

<p> The context for this qualitative study is the church leadership in New England that is interested in revival. The hypothesis is the following: New England church leaders believe that revival is nurtured through practicing love, demonstrated by being secure in God's love, having mutual servant love, and valuing each other's giftings and calling. The hypothesis was tested by means of grounded theory. Data was triangulated from surveys, interviews, and focus groups of eighty-seven leaders who have ministered in New England. The hypothesis was proven, showing a remarkable consensus that love nurtures and sustains revival.</p>

<p>Upon their arrival in China, priests of the Society of Jesus, or Jesuits, quickly began writing their opinions and observations of the Ming Dynasty, of the Manchu invasion, and of the subsequent Qing Dynasty. These priests arrived in China with both secular and religious goals, and these goals created the context for their comments, coloring their writings. However, when the Jesuits praised the Qing Dynasty, they began to use particularly European metaphors in their descriptions of the Manchus, from appearance and mannerisms to policies. While the Jesuit descriptions serve as informative material, they are not objective, detached observations. In terms of their opinions, Jesuit writings offer historians critical information about the Jesuits themselves and about the Manchus as a distinctively non-Chinese dynasty, despite their efforts to Sinofy themselves in the eyes of the Han Chinese majority. </p>

This dissertation traces shifts in the way tears were perceived during the English Renaissance, from roughly 1509 to 1660. Examining medical treatises, sermons, and lyric poetry, I demonstrate that tears and weeping underwent a paradigm shift both as literary symbols and phenomena. Although this revaluation is inconsistent between the different discourses, by the end of the Renaissance, patterns in place a century earlier had been significantly challenged, even redefined, as the most popular model in each genre gradually yielded to new insights. Chapter One examines medical treatises, primarily on melancholy. The Renaissance inherited the paradigm of humours theory to explain human psycho/ physiology. During the seventeenth century, dissection began to replace humours with an empirical model based on the existence of glandular paths for tears. Chapter Two investigates the effect upon lyric poetry of this loss of vital, currently grounded metaphors derived from humoural models. Sixteenth-century poetic miscellanies are replete with tears wept unabashedly by poetic speakers to honor their unrequited love, tears shed in a type of serious, often melancholic play. By the end of the seventeenth century, although humour-based metaphors are still present, increasingly they are devoid of fundamental content. This drought embodies alterations in medical paradigm, as well as the homiletic tradition's long-standing distrust of affect. Chapter Three explores sermons, where, unless they were shed in repentance for sin, tears signified human sinful weakness. All "natural" grief was suspect. In addition, preachers struggled with the vestiges of the medieval 'gift of tears.' Theologically unpopular, this conception was sufficiently prevalent to require frequent rebuttal from the pulpit. Sermons on the verse, "Jesus wept" preached between 1509 and 1700 demonstrate an hermeneutical transmutation: from an early characterization as the superior, almost condescending, but compassionate king, Jesus has by 1700 become the divine architect, weeping only because his exalted design for humanity will be rejected. In Chapter Four, the works of three seventeenth-century devotional poets, John Donne, George Herbert, and Richard Crashaw, are shown to incorporate the most dominant effects of the overall change that tears underwent. In their poetry, metaphoric depletion is offset by gains in imaginative liberty. Donne wrestles with the dilemma of placing tears between himself and God; Herbert offers tears to God--with a problematic humility--because he is human; and Crashaw celebrates the sheer human wonder of tears. The vitality of poetic tear imagery culminates in their work.

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<p> From the inception of the Reformation, Protestants have championed the doctrine of justification as <i>the</i> foundational core of their creed. In fact, it has often been said, then and now, that the doctrine of justification is <i>articulus stantis et cadentis ecclesiae</i>&mdash;the article upon which the church stands or falls. Yet, at the start of the twenty-first century there is strong dissent over this core doctrine. In recent years, this topic has attracted vast attention and stirred immense conflict within evangelical circles. Scholars are increasingly at odds as to how to define the doctrine, while questions abound concerning the role it plays in the soteriological, eschatological, and ecclesiological framework of the evangelical faith. At the center of the dispute are two opposing and well-respected evangelical leaders, John Piper and N.T. Wright.</p><p> The purpose of my project is to capture this contemporary debate on justification between John Piper and N.T. Wright&mdash;to aid in understanding the details of their debate in better measure. The primary question I will address is, <i> Are John Piper and N.T. Wright on a collision course, or are they two ships passing in the dark of night?</i> A secondary question will guide us towards an answer, &ldquo;How do two Protestant, evangelical, <i> sola scriptura</i> theologians arrive at such different places in relation to this essential doctrine?&rdquo;</p><p> I will first address how the doctrine of justification has been understood throughout the history of the church, starting with the apostolic fathers, then tracing the doctrine through the medieval church and culminating in the Reformation, as well as the Counter Reformation at the Council of Trent. Thus, this journey will highlight the soteriological views of the patristics, Augustine, Anselm, Aquinas, Ockham and the nominalists, Luther, Melanchthon, and Calvin. Putting the Piper and Wright debate into historical context is imperative to understanding their dispute. We will also look briefly at what has been termed the <i>new perspective on Paul</i>, a label which has been ascribed to Wright. Finally, we will look at the intricacies of John Piper&rsquo;s and N.T. Wright&rsquo;s doctrines of justification before answering the central question.</p>

<p> The more we search for meaning and enlightenment, the stronger our pathologies and anxieties become. No rationale can explain that letting go of something guarantees finding it&mdash;or something better, and by accepting various levels of the soul&rsquo;s descent, we find ourselves on the spiritual path of transcendence. Yet this is exactly the message of religion, mythology, art, and literature that emerge through humankind in states of both suffering and ecstasy.</p><p> This dissertation examines an overvaluing of transcendent states to the point of repressing and medicating normal emotional pathologies. The pursuit of perfection in health, beauty, status, and spiritual goals have unintentionally created a culture of addiction, and for many, an unexplained loss of meaning. As a result, addictions to food, alcohol, relationships, technology, street and pharmaceutical drugs are found in all age groups and socioeconomic levels. The search for &ldquo;wholeness&rdquo; and a belief in perfection are a source of anxiety, traced to the confusion between &ldquo;soul&rdquo; and &ldquo;spirit,&rdquo; labels for the unseen diverse and autonomous energies that need expression in the phenomenal world. To reverse the direction of an upside down life is to recognize how the soul&rsquo;s descent into underworld experience is necessary for spiritual transcending, a dynamic that cannot be medicated out of existence. </p><p> Each chapter addresses three interconnected themes: enantiodromia&mdash;the extreme of one thing leading to its opposite, perception and interpretation, and Jung&rsquo;s transcendent function&mdash;an individual&rsquo;s state of tension between conflicting choices until a third state evolves to transcend the discomfort. Introduced here is the imaginal &ldquo;descendent function&rdquo; to honor the anxiety, depression, and suffering that occurs before transformation, and to compensate for current culture&rsquo;s inflated perception of a transcendent ideal based on external influences.</p><p> The research explores certain underworld myths and symbols of descending to the transcendent including Sumerian, Egyptian, Greek, Vedic, and Platonic literature, as well as Eastern and Western traditions of alchemy seeking to bridge the gap between what is experienced in the perceptual world and the body&rsquo;s signals of intuition as messages from a divine order.</p><p> Keywords: enantiodromia, descendent/transcendent function, labyrinth, imagination, participant/observer, compassion, underworld, illusion, faith </p>