Thesis (M.T.S.)--Trinity Western Seminary, 1995. / Abstract and vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 123-132).

In chapter one the question is asked: Is something like the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ really non-negotiable? To come to an informed understanding of this question, hermeneutical, epistemological and exegetical approaches, underlying the resurrection debate, is analysed in five scholars with divergent interpretations. They are William L. Craig (1); Gary R. Habermas (1), Gerd Lüdemann (2), A.J.M. (Sandy) Wedderburn (3) and N.T. (Tom) Wright (1). In chapter two, their views on the resurrection are briefly stated. Then their hermeneutical presuppositions are discussed, which indicate that group (1) believes God can intervene in nature, and number (2)&(3) deny it. Group (1) believes that the Bible is a divine book giving credible witness to the resurrection, while numbers (2)&(3) see it as a purely human book with highly contradictive resurrection evidence. In chapter three crucial texts in 1 Cor. 15, which give the earliest New Testament evidence, are analysed. The texts and interpretations are: Verse 4 - kai oti etafh (he was buried) - For group (1) this phrase refers to Jesus’ empty tomb. For number (3) this phrase only allows for that possibility, but rejects it eventually. For (2) this phrase excludes an empty tomb. Verse 6 - pantakosioi~ adelfoi`~ ([he appeared also to] 500 brethren) – For group (1) this phrase is historical. For (2)&(3), this phrase is a redactional addition. Verses 8-11 - Paul the escaton (last) to see Jesus - For group (1) Paul saw Jesus in bodily form. For number (2) Paul had a hallucination and number (3) affirms that possibility. Verse 44 - swma pneumatikon (supernatural body) - For group (1), this phrase indicates that Christians will arise from the dead with a tangible glorified body. For numbers (2)&(3) it indicates no bodily resurrection. Verse 50 - sarx kai aima (flesh and blood [cannot inherit the kingdom of God]) – For group (1) this phrase refers to a typical Semitic expression. This means the resurrected body will be without sin and glorified. For numbers (2) &(3) this phrase indicates no bodily resurrection. In chapter four a summary of their exegetical results is given. Furthermore their hermeneutical presuppositions and epistemologies are critiqued. In the case of group (1) critical realism is shown to be a helpful tool, but with reservations. Forthwith, number (3) is discussed and indicated that his “reverent agnosticism” is the result of (a) 19th century liberal theology and (b) his “historical Jesus”. He then expresses faith through (c) existentialism combined with (d) mysticism. At this stage number (2) is discussed. He concurs with number (3): (a)&(b)&(c). He then utilizes Wilhelm Herrmann’s version of (c). Eventually however, he renounces Christianity all together. Numbers (2)&(3) are then discussed together to indicate the similarities. Furthermore it is argued that (a)&(b)&(c) represent a deviation from the foundational meta-narratives of the Christian faith. It is then stated that the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ is a foundational Christian meta-narrative which is indispensable. In the conclusion it is argued that Christian churches should have the courage to confess unashamedly the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ, particularly now, in the 21st century. / Dissertation (MTh (New Testament Studies))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / New Testament Studies / MTh / unrestricted

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This thesis contends that technologically-derived resurrections of human bodies and bodily fragments can be viewed as indicative of a 'post-biological' ontology. Drawing from examples in which human bodies are resurrected, both figuratively and actually, this thesis puts forward the term 'post-biological subject' as an ideological framework for conceptualising the reconfiguration of human ontology that results from various medical technologies that 'resurrect' the human body. In this instance, the term 'postbiological', borrowed from Hans Moravec who uses it denote a future in which human being is radically disembodied and resurrected within a digital realm, is used somewhat ironically: where Moravec imagines an afterlife in which the body is discarded as so much 'meat', the post-biological afterlife of the body in this thesis centres around a form of corporeal resurrection. Corpses, living organs and excreta may all be resurrected, some of them in digital format, yet this kind of resurrection departs radically from the disembodied spiritual bliss imagined in many conceptualisations of resurrection. The post-biological subject resists ontological delineation and problematises boundaries defining self and other, living and dead, and human and nonhuman and is fraught with a number of cultural anxieties about its unique ontological status. These concerns are analysed in the context of a number of phenomena, including melancholy, horror, monstrosity and the uncanny, all of which similarly indicate an anxious fixation with human ontology. The purpose of discussing post-biological bodies in relation to phenomena such as melancholy or the uncanny is not to reinstate as ideological frameworks the psychoanalytic models from which these concepts are derived, but rather to use them as starting points for more complex analyses of postbiological ontology. The first and second chapters of this thesis discuss instances in which the human body is posthumously modified, drawing on Gunther von Hagens's Body Worlds exhibition and the Visible Human Project. The Body Worlds plastinates are situated in a liminal and ambiguous ontological space between life and death, and it is argued that their extraordinary ontological status evokes a form of imagined melancholy, wherein the longed-for and lost melancholic object is a complete process of death. In the case of the Visible Human Project, it is argued that the gruesome and highly technologised process of creating the Visible Male, wherein the corpse is effectively dehumanised and iv rendered geometric, evokes the trope of horror, while at the same time being fraught with a nostalgic longing for a pre-technological, anatomically 'authentic' body. The third and fourth chapters of this thesis discuss instances in which the living human body is reconfigured, focusing on immortal cell lines and organ transplantation, and on medical imaging technologies such as computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging. In the third chapter it is argued that organ transplantation and the creation of immortal cell lines give rise to profound anxieties about ontological contamination through their capacity to render permeable the imagined boundaries defining self, and in this way invoke the monstrous. The fourth chapter interrogates the representation of medical imaging in Don DeLillo?s novel White Noise, arguing that the medical representation of the body functions as a form of double, a digital doppelganger that elicits an uncanny anxiety through its capacity to presage death.

`Resurrection' can be approached from several angles. The most common angle is what this study avoids: pressing for a `yes' or a `no' answer as to whether `Jesus really rose from the dead'. That is, demanding a definitive and final outcome from the discipline of historical-critical research. This study treats resurrection as a symbol. Symbols intrinsically generate multiple meanings. Historical, hermeneutical and gospel-critical parameters are the constraints within which reflection on the symbol of resurrection must take place, and the validity of perspectives be established. John Dominic Crossan's view of the resurrection is the focal point of discussion in this thesis, for two reasons. (1) He has clearly mapped out his method. (2) He occupies a middle position, by interpreting resurrection metaphorically and theologically. This sets him apart from those who interpret the resurrection literally and historically and those who accept the negative or uncertain outcome from the side of historical-critical inquiry as the death sentence for Christian faith. / New Testament / M.Th. (New Testament)

`Resurrection' can be approached from several angles. The most common angle is what this study avoids: pressing for a `yes' or a `no' answer as to whether `Jesus really rose from the dead'. That is, demanding a definitive and final outcome from the discipline of historical-critical research. This study treats resurrection as a symbol. Symbols intrinsically generate multiple meanings. Historical, hermeneutical and gospel-critical parameters are the constraints within which reflection on the symbol of resurrection must take place, and the validity of perspectives be established. John Dominic Crossan's view of the resurrection is the focal point of discussion in this thesis, for two reasons. (1) He has clearly mapped out his method. (2) He occupies a middle position, by interpreting resurrection metaphorically and theologically. This sets him apart from those who interpret the resurrection literally and historically and those who accept the negative or uncertain outcome from the side of historical-critical inquiry as the death sentence for Christian faith. / New Testament / M.Th. (New Testament)

Alla människor frågar sig någon gång vad som kan komma ske efter att vi dör. Tankar om döden och livet efter detta är alltid ett aktuellt samtalsämne, inte minst inom religionsvetenskapen. Att vara ovetande om framtiden kan vara skrämmande och religioner gör nästan uteslutande alltid försök till att svara på dessa frågor och ge ro till den oroliga människan. Något som fungerat som en lösning på människans rädsla för döden inom den judiska och kristna traditionen är tron på den kroppsliga uppståndelsen.Denna uppsats ger större kunskap om hur judiska och kristna teologer och traditioner sett på kroppen i samband med uppståndelsen inom båda religionerna. För att utkristallisera de olika kroppssyner som figurerar i denna diskussion har en kvalitativ litteraturanalys använts för att analysera utvalda teologers forskning. Ett analysverktyg som består av fyra olika kroppssyner har använts för att skilja de olika kroppssyner åt. I analysen har även en distinktion gjorts mellan holistiska och hellenistiska teologer.Resultatet visar på på att kroppssynerna är religionsöverskridande och bygger mer på om teologen tillhör den holistiska eller hellenistiska traditionen än vilken av religionerna man tillskriver sig. / All people at some point ask themselves what could happen after we die. Thoughts about death and the afterlife is always a current topic, not least within the science of religion. To be uncertain of the future can be intimidating and religions almost exclusively try to answer these questions and give peace to the troubled man. Something that have functioned as a solution to man’s fear of death in the Jewish and Christian tradition is the belief in the bodily resurrection.This paper provides a greater understanding of how Jewish and Christian theologians and traditions look at the body in connection with the bodily resurrection.To crystallize the variety of body visions that appear in this discussion a qualitative literature analysis have been used to analyse research from selected theologians. A tool that have been used for the analysis consist of four different body visions. The analysis also consist of a distinction between holistic and Hellenistic theologians.The result shows that the body views exceeds the boundaries between religions and depends more on if the theologican is part of the holistic or Hellenistic tradition than which religion they ascribe to themselves.

This thesis examines Augustine of Hippo's support of the cult of relics through the lens of Peter Brown's revision of the two-tiered model which was proposed in his 1981 book The Cult of Saints. More specifically, this thesis attempts to explain the introduction of saint's relics in the final book, book 22, of Augustine's magnum opus The City of God (De Civitate Dei). After providing proof of the theologian's opposition to the cult of relics in his youth, historical, biographical, and textual evidence is used to trace his later change of heart. This change in position is crystallized in a series of miracle accounts in the 8th chapter of the 22nd book. The analysis of this 'chain of miracles' is essential in understanding the purpose of the City of God as a whole and Augustine's own theories of death and resurrection.

This thesis offers a systematic engagement with the theological hermeneutics of Hans Frei. The two key conceptual categories are “the logic of belief” and “the content of God”. The former refers to the grammatical ordering of theological statements: Frei is concerned to distinguish grammatical logic from ontology, and to establish the actual starting point for any given theological enterprise. Frei’s own preference for a “linear” and “cumulative” method built upon the starting point of a realistic narrative reading of the gospels is unpacked and explored. The second category, “the content of God”, refers to Frei’s search for an account in which God has actual reality, as opposed to a mere metaphysical abstraction. Indeed, for Frei, the arrival – or failure to arrive – at a ‘concrete’ account of God is the test of any theological starting point, as evidenced in the ability or otherwise to do exegetical justice to the narrative shape of the crucifixion-resurrection sequence. The thesis demonstrates that for Frei, the starting point in the logic of belief must be the identity of Jesus Christ as revealed in scripture, and only on that basis can a concrete content of God be posited. In so doing, the intention is to set Frei very firmly within his mid-twentieth century context, in particular his engagement with and ultimate rejection of existentialist and Neo-orthodox theology. Accordingly, the thesis traces the development in Frei’s thinking of these two conceptual categories, from his doctoral thesis on Barth’s early theology up to and including his twin publications, The Eclipse of Biblical Narrative (1974) and The Identity of Jesus Christ (1975). Later works by Frei are also considered in relation to these. The thesis does not stop at the mid-twentieth century, but illustrates the continued relevance of Frei’s hermeneutical theology into this century, putting him in conversation with a number of systematic and biblical theologians. Suggestions are made as to his applicability to modern theological concerns, including the debate surrounding the being and action of God: a field where he has yet to be deployed successfully.