This dissertation interprets the poems of the book of Lamentations through the study of their imagery and of the themes expressed through that imagery. The introduction places the study in the context of literary studies of biblical texts and of recent scholarship on Lamentations. The book is read in its canonical order, identifying the images and patterns of imagery which occur in each poem. Major images are compared with similar images in other biblical poetry and interpreted as to the themes which they express. Comparison of imagery which appears in several poems illustrates how the experience of the fall of Jerusalem is variously understood and expressed within the book as a whole. The poems depict the suffering and losses of the community during the siege and its aftermath, while attempting to understand what these events mean for the community's relationship with its god. The speaker of Lam 3, however, reflects on human suffering from the perspective of an individual man. The poems and the book as a whole express vividly the experience of loss and suffering. The religious meaning of the disaster remains unanswered throughout the book, with the possible exception of the first chapter, where the balance of imagery of sin and suffering suggests that the sufferers receive what they have deserved for their sins. The book as a whole both expresses loss and suffering and inquires without final resolution as to the religious meaning of the communal disaster.

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Thesis (D. Min.)--Westminster Theological Seminary (Philadelphia, Pa.), 2007. / Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 523-533).

Thesis (D. Min.)--Westminster Theological Seminary (Philadelphia, Pa.), 2007. / Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 523-533).

Thesis (D. Min.)--Catholic Theological Union at Chicago, 2004. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 128-134).

Thesis (D. Min.)--Catholic Theological Union at Chicago, 2004. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 128-134).

Thesis (D. Min.)--Catholic Theological Union at Chicago, 2004. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 128-134).

Thesis (doctoral)--Osnabrück, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 509-544) and index.

This dissertation argues that persecution in Galatians manifests the cosmic conflict between God and the present evil age. Chapter 1 introduces the reader to the topic of persecution in Galatians and the history of research. Chapter 2 demonstrates that Paul uses the theme of cosmic conflict to place the crisis in Galatia within a broader context of a conflict between God who has inaugurated the new creation within the present time and this present evil age. Chapters 3–4 examine Paul’s theological context. Chapter 3 investigates a theme of cosmic conflict in Genesis, Psalms, Isaiah, and Habakkuk. Chapter 4 examines the theme in other early Jewish texts (Daniel; 1 Enoch; 4 Ezra; 2 Baruch; Jubilees; 1 Maccabees; 2 Maccabees; 4 Maccabees; 1QS; CD; 1QM). This survey reveals that Paul’s iteration of the theme possesses continuity and discontinuity with other authors. Chapter 5 offers a historical reconstruction of the instances of persecution mentioned in Galatians. Four instances of persecution in Galatians are examined: (1) Paul the Persecutor (1:13, 23). (2) Paul the Persecuted (3:1; 4:13, 19; 5:11; 6:17) (3) The Opponents as Potential Targets (6:12) (4) The Persecution of the Galatians (3:4; 4:17–18, 29). Paul uses the theme of persecution to reshape the perception of the Galatian believers and to reveal the danger of the false gospel preached by his opponents. Chapter 6 identifies persecution as a specific manifestation of the cosmic conflict between God and this present evil age. Galatians 4:29 directly connects the phenomenon of persecution with the broader cosmic conflict. Paul does so by identifying typology in Genesis 21:9. In light of this understanding of Paul’s use of Genesis, other significant passages on persecution in Galatians are reexamined to see how they fit within a cosmic conflict reading: 1:13, 23; 3:4; 5:11; 6:12, 17. In conclusion, chapter 7 offers three possible results of Paul’s understanding of persecution as cosmic conflict. It then examines the significance of the thesis for global Christianity today.

Part of the biblical theology of Satan and the demonic realm includes a depiction of cosmic conflict, wherein earthly events and conflicts are portrayed as a reflection of heavenly ones, and vice versa. While this portrayal has been explored from various angles, it has not been applied to an examination of the letter of 1 Peter. This dissertation argues that the depiction of cosmic conflict does inform Peter’s paraenesis and depiction of suffering to a significant degree, in that Peter pictures the current persecution of the readers as a necessary and inevitable part of the cosmic struggle against Satan and the demonic realm.