Thesis--Hamburg. / Vita. V. Includes bibliographical references (p. 247-252).

Thesis (Th. D.)--Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, 1995. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 758-764).

Thesis (S.T.M.)--Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, 1993. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 134-138).

Thesis (S.T.M.)--Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, 1993. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 134-138).

This thesis analyses how and why the Westminster Assembly (1643-1653), the Long Parliament’s advisory committee for religious matters, attempted to suppress antinomianism, one of the fastest-growing radical religious movements of the early seventeenth century. The Assembly addressed antinomianism in its dual capacity as an arm of Parliament and, in its own self-understanding, as a body of theologians tasked with religious reformation. In the eyes of the Assembly, antinomianism presented a two-fold threat. Socially, antinomianism had the potential to bring anarchy and disorder: the Assembly responded to this threat by examining antinomian ministers, forming its own antinomian committee, and liaising with Parliament to determine whether antinomians should be branded as heretics with concomitant civil punishment. Theologically, for the Assembly, antinomianism encompassed more than simply the belief that obligation to the Ten Commandments had passed away; it contained a complex structure of soteriology that was fundamentally at odds with the Reformed tradition. Working in the overarching backdrop of the rise of English Arminianism, the divines debated soteriological questions raised by antinomianism, issues at the heart of the Reformation such as: the relationship between the Old and New Testaments, the continued effectiveness of the moral law, the nature of Christ’s propitiatory work of redemption, the role and timing of justifying faith, and the relationship between sanctification and justification. The Assembly’s 1643 debates over antinomian theology, conducted as it revised the Thirty-nine Articles, produced revised Articles, which formed the foundation for the Assembly’s 1646 Confession of Faith. The Assembly then used the Confession of Faith to present a concise but comprehensive refutation of antinomian theology. The study uncovers the significance of antinomianism for contextualising the Assembly’s debates, and thus advances and nuances current perception of both the Westminster Assembly and English antinomianism. Analysis of debates carried out on the floor of the Assembly provoked by antinomian theology reveals that, while the divines as a whole disagreed with antinomian tenets, they were far from united in their understanding of basic soteriological definitions and were also divided over the best way to thwart antinomianism. A detailed investigation of this state of affairs enhances interpretation of the Assembly’s documents, such as the Confession of Faith and Larger and Shorter Catechisms, which in and of themselves do not reveal the theological uncertainties and tensions present in the Assembly. The study also offers a new example of the Assembly functioning as a regulatory body. This thesis draws on a substantial new pool of primary material: The Minutes and Papers of the Westminster Assembly (edited by Chad van Dixhoorn, OUP 2012, 3200 pages), the first full critical edition of the Assembly’s debates; also, the first volume of Assembly member John Lightfoot’s journal, recently transcribed, which supplies the only record of crucial exchanges between the Assembly and antinomian theologians. A major contribution of this thesis, working with these new resources, is to demonstrate how the Assembly interacted far more with antinomianism than previous scholars have thought. The thesis breaks new ground by using both theological and historical methods to provide a fine-grained contextual account of the Assembly’s debates and actions against antinomianism.

Over four chapters, this study extends and focuses recent critical work on religious sects in literature to examine five plays and one theatrical prose work from the late medieval period through the late seventeenth century in England. Specifically, this study charts the appearance and conduct of antinomians, or those whose faith in Christ is the sole guide for their actions and who eschew all outward behavioral constraints. Antinomianism is, in some ways, a logical step for newly empowered individual believers with no direct mediator between themselves and the Word, but it represents a dangerous potential for religious and social anarchy. For some of the characters I consider, antinomianism has been mapped onto them by modern literary critics precisely because their transgressive agency is so frightening to their contemporaries. For others, antinomianism is depicted as a positive mode of interacting with the unenlightened, but it is clear that these figures are allowed privilege outside the reach of mainstream believers. A negative parody of these normal believers is also represented in my project, and these characters' buffoonish misinterpretations and selfish motives negate any positive reading of their "liberating" antinomian belief. All of these characters--whether positive, negative, or even truly antinomian at all--reveal a key anxiety about personal belief and the well-being of civic and religious society in the mercurial landscape of pre- and post-Reformation England and the atmosphere of social and religious uncertainty that preceded the English Civil War. As such, an attention to the interconnections between the works under primary study and those circulating in the culture at the time is crucial to accurately identifying and understanding the myriad shades of religious belief that populate the pages of literature and polemics alike. In part, my project works to create a more complete and nuanced picture of the religious and literary landscapes of early modern England.

Thesis (M.A.)--Briercrest Biblical Seminary, 2002. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 92-97).

ABSTRACT "HE WORKED OUT HIS SALVATION WITH FEAR AND TREMBLING": THE SPIRITUALITY OF JOHN RYLAND, JR. Keith Alan Tillman, Th.M. The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2014 Chair: Dr. Michael A. G. Haykin This thesis explores the spirituality in John Ryland, Jr.'s life, ministry, and writings. It examines the antinomian controversy within the Particular Baptists of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, focusing on the teaching of William Huntington, a key proponent of antinomianism. It seeks to answer the questions of what influence John Ryland had on the antinomianism controversy and how his theology of the law and the gospel affected his own piety. Chapter 1 is the introduction of the thesis. It presents the main research question concerning the spirituality of John Ryland, as well as introduces the secondary questions concerning the influences of Ryland's piety and the legacy that he left. This chapter also makes the case for the importance of a study of John Ryland's life and ministry as it pertains to his spirituality. Chapter 2 examines John Ryland's life, ministry, and relationships, especially those relationships that helped shape his spiritual life. It includes detailed information concerning his family, especially his father John Collett Ryland, as well as his personal relationship with John Newton. Chapter 3 focuses on the antinomian controversy that affected the British Particular Baptists. It details the controversy by offering an historical biography of William Huntington and by examining Huntington's writings. Chapter 4 discusses Ryland's conflict with Huntington and, through sermons and letters, examines Ryland's thoughts concerning antinomianism. It also examines Ryland's thoughts concerning the law and the gospel and the influence this had on his spirituality. Chapter 5 is the conclusion, and it summarizes the presented arguments in order to answer the research question. It also presents key benefits of this study for the modern Baptist church and shows how Ryland's work continues to impact churches and missionaries of the twenty-first century.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 1995. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 297-312). / Microfiche. / li, 312 leaves, bound 29 cm

How does one lead a life of law, love and freedom? This inquiry has very deep roots in the Judeo-Christian tradition. Indeed, the divergent answers to this inquiry mark the transition from Judeo to Christian. This dissertation returns to those roots to trace the routes that these ideas have taken as they move from the sacred to the secular. The argument of this dissertation is threefold. First, it argues that the concepts of law, love and freedom are each internally polarized. Each concept contains, within itself, conflicting values. Paul's equivocation in his letters is a striking manifestation of this internal polarization. Second, it argues that, while values are many, my life is one. Hence, one needs to combine the plurality of values within a singular life. Values find their coherence within a form of life. There are, at least, two ways of leading a life of law, love and freedom: monastic versus antinomian. Third, it argues that the Reformation transformed these religious ideals into political ideologies. The monastic ideal is politically manifested as constitutionalism, and the antinomian ideal is politically manifested as anarchism. There are, at least, two ways of creating a polity of law, love and freedom: constitutional versus anarchic. To mount the threefold argument, the dissertation deploys a whole range of disciplinary tools. The dissertation draws on analytic jurisprudence in its analysis of law; ethics and aesthetics in its analysis of love; political philosophy in its analysis of freedom; biblical scholarship in its interpretation of Paul; the history of ideas in its study of the formation and transformation of these ideas; and moral philosophy in concluding how one could lead a life of law, love and freedom.