The main purpose of this thesis is to examine the wilderness terminology of the four canonical Gospels as a means toward understanding the peculiar views of the various evangelists toward the concept of the wilderness. For the purpose of this study, the wilderness terminology is restricted to the various forms of ερημος and έρημία. The redaction critical approach is utilized to identify the evangelists' views on the concept of the wilderness. Since redaction criticism attempts to see how inherited traditions have been modified, the use of sources underlying the Gospels is stressed. An investigation of the Gospel of Mark shows that Mark draws a sharp distinction between the meanings of the various terms of the wilderness terminology. Substantive ερημος occurs only in the Markan prologue (Mk 1:1-13), where it is used exclusively in connection with the fulfillment of the prophecy of Is 40:3. Substantive ερημος, thus is primarily a theological, rather than a geographical concept. Outside the prologue Jesus is no longer in the ερημος, but in the ερημος τόπος and in the έρημία. The use of έρημος τόπος is a sign of Mark's redactional activity. This term is used to point out the contrast between populated and unpopulated areas. "Eρημία is used only in Mk 8:4, where it has the connotation of warfare and suffering. Both έρηος τόπος and έρημία should be viewed in the light of Mark's polemic against the hellenistic υείος άνήρ christology. Although he uses Mark's three ways of referring to the wilderness, Matthew is not concerned with bringing out the different shades of meaning in these terms. For Matthew all wilderness terminology is potentially dangerous. In 24:26 Matthew warns against the danger of falling prey to a false messianic expectation associated with the wilderness. This anti-wilderness polemic is the key to Matthew's redactional activity insofar as the wilderness pericopae are concerned. For example, the anti-wilderness polemic provides a clue to Matthew's motive for reducing the powerful theological concept associated with Mark's use of ή έρημος, (1:4) to an explicitly geographical reference (Mt 3:l). It also explains why Matthew reports that the ninety-nine sheep were left "on the hills" (Mt 18:12) rather than "in the wilderness" (Lk 15:4). In the Gospel of Luke, no consistent concept of the wilderness can be found. The meaning Luke attaches to the wilderness is so ambiguous that even a city such as Bethsaida (Lk 9:10) can be referred to as a wilderness place (Lk 9:12). However, the use of the plural form of έρημος, peculiar to Luke, is very significant. The three occurrences of this term definitely indicate Luke's redactional activity. Consequently, the reference to the wilderness (plural) in Lk 1:80 cannot be used to establish a historical connection between John the Baptist and the Qumran community. In the Gospel of John, Jesus is never placed in a wilderness setting. The wilderness is mentioned in the course of the Johannine church-synagogue dialogue which concerns the relevance of the Mosaic messianic typology. However, John states very clearly that Jesus, as the Son of Man, rises above any messianic typology associated with the wilderness. Compared to Matthew's anti-wilderness polemic which is directed against specific religio-political events taking place in the wilderness, John's polemic is on a much more intellectual level. John is involved in a discussion of the value of the rabbinic messianic typology. / Arts, Faculty of / Classical, Near Eastern and Religious Studies, Department of / Graduate

Thesis (M.A.)--Kutztown University of Pennsylvania, 2000. / Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 45-06, page: 2829. Typescript. Abstract precedes thesis title page as [1] preliminary leaf. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 69-73).

Thesis (Th. M.)--Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, 2002. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 127-149).

Thesis (M.A.)--Western Conservative Baptist Seminary, 1989. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 51-56).

Thesis (Th. M.)--Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, 2002. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 127-149).

Thesis (Th. M.)--Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, 2002. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 127-149).

This work explores the interreligious paradigms proposed by Sri Lankan theologian Aloysius Pieris from a liberationist methodological standpoint. Pieris' paradigms uncover the exclusivist tendencies of some liberation theology toward 'religion' and the anti-liberative tendencies of the inculturationist school of interreligious dialogue. / The Christ-against-Religion paradigm delineates how some Latin American liberation theology constructs a sharp dichotomy between "liberative faith" and "popular religion." / The Christ-of-Religion paradigm of the Brahminic Ashram movement in India is focused on personal liberation without regard for systemic poverty and oppression. / Pieris has endeavoured to bridge the dichotomy between liberation and inculturation through what I have labelled a method of prophetic asceticism . / Using insights from feminist theology, I argue that Pieris' dialectical method subtly reactivates the oppositional Christ-against-Religion paradigm in his theology. I propose the Exodus wilderness as an intrinsic part of the liberative process and to complement Pieris' dialectics. The wilderness is a landscape of survival for God's vanquished people; a landscape of doubt that can bring forth the bread of heaven.

Includes bibliography. / The aim of the present study is to produce, and to begin to illustrate the use of, a theoretical model by which varying attitudes to, and experiences of, wilderness may be understood. A classical Jungian developmental framework is utilised for these purposes. The paper begins with brief definitions of the concepts pertinent to this work followed by a fairly comprehensive summary of Neumann's developmental model. The author's model, constructed on this theoretical basis, is then outlined and applied at a mythological level to the attitudes to wilderness manifest in the Judaeo - Christian religions. In the discussion, indications are given as to how the model might be applied at individual and cultural levels. One person's experience of wilderness is interpreted within the context of the theory followed by a brief discussion on the use of the model in informing therapeutic wilderness programming. Traditional North American Indian and contemporary Western attitudes towards wilderness are then briefly interpreted. It is concluded that this paper illustrates the usefulness of a Jungian model in understanding wilderness experience. Within the context of this framework, the value of a developmental perspective is noted.

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Although the wilderness preservation movement has emerged as a political force relatively recently, man's desire for retreat and renewal in untamed wilderness environments has a rich history in North America. Using contemporary guidetooks, diaries and journals, this study examines the early nineteenth century "Fashionable Tour" from New York City to Niagara Falls and combines description of the most important "natural wonders" en route with an analysis of their cultural meaning and value. There are two major themes. (1) Although pompous religiousness of language suggests conventional religiosity, pilgrims were overwhelmed with feelings of reverence, awe and wonder when face to face with natural wonders. (2) The extravagance of the New World's natural wonders influenced American and European images of the American experiment. Romanticism and Scottish Common Sense Realism are the intellectual and aesthetic background for this study. After some preliminary observations and definitions, I review the widespread importance of these two movements in early America and their points of contact with American sensibilities. Significant iconological moments in the lives of three leading Americans -- John Bartram, Samuel Mitchill and Timothy Dwight -- who donned their tourist habits to visit the Catskill Mountains, illustrate both the diversity of these influences and the beginnings of the Fashionable Tour. Analysis of the tour itself begins with chapter three. From their steamboat, tourists divided the Hudson River Valley into five "reaches" symbolizing grandeur (the Palisades), repose (Tappan Sea), sublimity (the Highlands), picturesqueness (the Hillsides) and beauty (the Catskills). In the first four reaches (chapter 3), the sublime Highlands dominate the landscape. But the "view from the top'' and Kaaterskill Falls at Pine Orchard in the Catskills were the most significant natural wonders in the Hudson Valley. Chapter five introduces Part II: West to Niagara Falls. The overwhelming effect of ongoing European settlement on the wilderness -- on flora, fauna and native Americans -- differentiates the unpredictable trip west from the predictable trip north. At Albany, tourists left their luxurious steamboats and transferred to stagecoaches and/or canalboats. Cohoes Falls, Little Falls and especially Trenton Falls, N. P. Willis' "Rural Resort," highlight the journey from Albany to Utica and suggest greater wonders to come. Images of the wilderness west of Utica comprise chapter seven. "Soft" pastoral landscapes, as in the Finger Lakes Region, did not arouse the intense response that major wonders such as the "view from the top" and Trenton Falls did. Niagara Falls was the climax and conclusion of the pilgrimage. The "greatest natural wonder" known and accessible to early nineteenth century tourists, Niagara elicited a torrent of enthusiasm and verbiage. After a detailed examination of tourist expectations and anticipations, descriptions and dreams, I focus specifically on the religious sentimentality which laced images of Niagara Falls. Pilgrims, responding with awe and protestations of "indescribableness," found evidence to support their popular religiosity. The trip from New York to Niagara was not just a relaxed holiday, but a highly focussed pilgrimage for persons seeking mystery and majesty in the sublime and the beautiful. Niagara, and to a lesser extent the other natural wonders; along the Hudson and across New York State, became religious shrines in early nineteenth century America.