Questions regarding the fate of the unevangelized have been contemplated for centuries and now, in this post-Christian world, issues of the church's claim that Jesus is the unique Son of God have been added to the debate. Does God truly desire the salvation of all human beings? Is Jesus Christ the full and unequalled revelation of God? This work explores, through means of comparison and contrast, the theological positions of exclusivism, pluralism, and inclusivism. Particular attention is given to each school's history, biblical arguments, theological arguments, and convictions concerning the purpose of missions, as well as an evaluation of each school's position. The author concludes that while exclusivism maintains a high Christology and pluralism a wide-ranging salvation, only inclusivism adequately harmonizes these positions in a cogent manner. / Systematic Theology & Theological Ethics / M. Th. (Systematic Theology)

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The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between children’s grief and their perceptions of God by utilizing children’s drawings. This research was conducted by partnering with Christian counselors and teachers who interviewed two groups of children to collect data. Counselors interviewed the experimental group of children who were between the ages of 6-12 and had experienced the death of an immediate family member. Teachers interviewed the control group of children who were between the ages of 6-12 and had not experienced the death of an immediate family member. Both groups were asked specific questions in efforts to ascertain if children in the midst of grief perceived God differently. A multilevel triangulation design was used in this study with the first phase being qualitative and the second quantitative. In phase one, both the experimental group and control group of children were each interviewed and asked to respond to these questions by drawing their answers. Upon completion of the drawings, each child was asked a series of follow-up questions in efforts to provide explanations for their drawings. Select demographic information was also collected as a part of the interview process. Phase 2 utilized a quantitative approach. A panel of raters was assigned with the task of looking for specified, coded patterns or images in each child’s drawn or verbal response. Each panel member received a description of characteristics for which to look, as well as a Thurstone scale to assess the frequency of the characteristics. Upon evaluation, this data was sent back to the researcher for anecdotal analysis. The qualitative data was collected and the results were analyzed utilizing two statistical analyses methods including a Mann-Whitney test and a four-way ANOVA. While the Mann-Whitney was used to determine the correlation between death and a child’s perception of God, the ANOVA was performed to analyze the role demographics played in children’s perception of God after they experienced a parental or sibling death. Findings from the analyses are discussed in terms of implications for future research as well as possible applications for the research.

Daniel Ferris Born, Ph.D. The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2016 Chair: Dr. William F. Cook The figurative use of "son(s) of" phrases in the NT represents the author employing the father-son relationship, and what this relationship represents in the ancient world, as a tool to illustrate and explain various concepts and ideas in NT thought. As a result, the father-son relationship in the ancient world must be employed in the interpretation of these figurative "son(s) of" phrases. Failing to understand the importance of genealogical identification, kinship, and the social implications of the father-son relationship in the ancient world and bring these concepts to bear in interpretation, will result in a failure to understand what the NT authors seek to communicate by using "son(s) of" phrases. Chapter 1 provides an introduction to this topic and a history of how linguists and commentators have approached these phrases in the past. There are very few scholars who have sought to employ the father-son relationship in their interpretation of these phrases and their figurative use. Chapters 2 and 3 survey the use of these phrases inside and outside the NT. Chapter 2 includes the use of בֵּן in the Hebrew Bible, "son(s) of" phrases in the LXX, as well as the use of υἱός plus the genitive in Classical Greek, the OT and NT apocrypha and pseudepigrapha, other early Jewish and Christian writings, coins and inscriptions, and the papyri and ostraca. Chapter 3 surveys the use of υἱός in the NT. Chapter 4 explores the father-son relationship in the social context of the NT in order to distill the major features of the father-son relationship into an interpretive framework which can be utilized in understanding what the NT authors seek to communicate in their figurative use of "son(s) of" phrases. Chapter 5 employs this framework in the interpretation of the figurative "son(s) of" phrases in the NT. Chapter 6 concludes the work, discusses its implications, and recognizes the need for further study in certain areas.

This thesis seeks to present a study of one particular rural Paraiyar Christian community in Tamil Nadu, focusing on their religious identity and theological expressions. Such people, more commonly known as Dalits, or Untouchables are a largely socially marginalised group living within a dynamic and complex social matrix dominated by the caste system and its social and religious implications. They are heavily reliant on their landlords (the high caste Hindus) for their wages, food, and access to resources. The village has two Paraiyar communities, one of which is Hindu and other Christian, with intermarriage occurring frequently between them. With one exception, all of the thirty-one Christian families in the village were once Hindu Paraiyars before converting to Christianity. The first convert to Christianity was in the beginning of 20th century as the result of the American Arcot Mission. Fieldwork highlighted various tensions and areas of creativity regarding how Paraiyar Christians negotiate their lives within a marginalised and oppressed hierarchical system. Although the study focuses on the Christian community, it can only do so by examining their wider social context, which is dominated by religious and caste structures, ascribed and achieved identity, symbols, ritual, and boundaries. Recent writing within Dalit Theology naturally discusses Paraiyar Christians, but it is a contention of this thesis that much ‘Dalit Theology’ ignores the social, ritual and basis of rural Dalit life and thought, an omission which this thesis redresses. The main body of the thesis is divided in to three parts. The first part presents a review and discussion of written works on missionary encounters with the caste system in the church history of south India, as well as Dalit Theological writings. The second section concentrates on the ethnographic information gathered from eight months’ fieldwork and analysed under four different themes: understanding Paraiyar identity, Yesusami and the religious worldview of Paraiyar Christians, the utilisation of religious symbols and performances to advance social change, and, finally, the reproduction of social hierarchies among Paraiyar Christians. The final section attempts to articulate a relevant theological understanding of Dalit Christology using Gillian Rose’s concept of ‘Broken Middle’. This thesis does not set out to provide a comprehensive ethnography of this Paraiyar Christian community, nor does it propose a completely new theological system. Rather, it attempts to allow for the research subjects themselves to articulate their own perspectives and opinions regarding what it means to be Christians and Paraiyars simultaneously. This work allows for flexibility and volatility between the two identities combined within the Paraiyar Christian community. I argue that this is only made possible by their fluidity, being able to balance their individual and communal religious identities - creatively living in the middle of their multiple belongings.

The thesis provides an account of how natural beauty functions as revelation and contributes to theology. The central claim is that natural beauty ‘images' aspects of God's nature and intentions within Creation's artistic ‘text'—admittedly, most fully from within a Christian perspective, but already potentially in any experience of beauty. Chapter One presents an approach to ‘creational theology'—a methodological understanding of how God can be known through the aesthetic rationality shared between Creation and humanity. This understanding of creational theology outlines a relationship between God and created beauty that is developed progressively with each chapter. Chapter Two addresses the created side of this relationship by characterizing the phenomenon of physical, sensory, ‘perceptual beauty.' This perceptual beauty relates to God as a created framework through which God can express aspects of his nature. Chapter Three describes how such expression is apprehended in natural beauty, namely through a Polanyian epistemic vision and symbolic practice, which engages beautiful images within Creation's art. Chapter Four applies this Christian vision and symbolic practice, adapting John Ruskin's concept of ‘typical beauty.' Through this typological approach, beautiful forms artistically image aspects of God's nature and intentions. Extensions of Ruskin's approach also allow for further development of a creational theology of natural beauty—that is, a theology underscoring the powerful interrelations of God, beauty, and humanity, and the need to respond to beauty as a phenomenality of God for his creatures.

In this thesis, I construct a sacrificial explanation of atonement, the expanded version of which explains how the work of Christ addresses in various ways every component of the problem of sin. The first two chapters of this endeavour argue for a Wolterstorffian definition of forgiveness according to which forgiveness is the act of ceasing to treat a wrong as part of a wrongdoer's moral history and instead as part of their personal history. Moreover, I demonstrate that this definition of forgiveness is superior to the major alternatives in the literature due in no small part to its consistency with various philosophical desiderata and biblical constraints detailed in the first two chapters. In the final two chapters, I turn to an investigation of the doctrine of atonement. The most popular contemporary model of atonement in many Protestant Christian circles is a penal substitution model that assumes the centrality of a strong form of retributivism in the biblical narrative. In chapter three, I argue that the major biblical understanding of justice as fundamentally restorative in nature. I then develop an alternative form of penal substitution that rests on this restorative rationale for justice rather than the typical retributivist strain. This model of atonement, however, seems to me lacking in explanatory scope due to its limited appeal to the biblical texts. Thus, in chapter four, I offer an alternative atonement model- i.e. a sacrificial one- that combines elements of the rituals of yom kippur and Passover to explain how the work Christ addresses most of the components of the problem of sin. Lastly, I combine this sacrificial model with my account of forgiveness to address the remaining components of the problem of sin.

許頌聲著 = The Chinese Christian renovation movement and political movements : 1949-1952 : a critical study / by Hui Chung-sing Wallace. / 論文 (哲學碩士)--香港中文大學, 1999. / 參考文獻 (leaves 98-111). / 附中英文摘要. / Xu Songsheng zhu = The Chinese Christian renovation movement and political movements : 1949-1952 : a critical study / by Hui Chung-sing Wallace. / Lun wen (zhe xue shuo shi) -- Xianggang Zhong wen da xue, 1999. / Can kao wen xian (leaves 98-111). / Fu Zhong Ying wen zhai yao. / Chapter 第一章、 --- 導言 --- p.1 / Chapter 一、 --- 學術硏究的檢討 / Chapter 二、 --- 槪念簡釋與硏究構想 / Chapter 三、 --- 材料與方法 / Chapter 四、 --- 各章大要 / Chapter 第二章、 --- 新民主主義、統一戰線與宗教政策 --- p.16 / Chapter 一、 --- 建設新中國 / Chapter 二、 --- 何謂「新民主主義」？ / Chapter 三、 --- 「統一戰線」、力量對比與革命的階段性 / Chapter 四、 --- 中共在建國初年的宗教政策 / Chapter 五、 --- 小結-力量對比的問題 / Chapter 第三章、 --- 競逐權威-基督教領導權的爭奪 --- p.29 / Chapter 一、 --- 手扶犁頭，不容回顧 / Chapter 二、 --- 既團結又鬥爭的政策 / Chapter 三、 --- 基督教領導權爭端的觸發 / Chapter 四、 --- 〈基督教宣言〉的發表 / Chapter 五、 --- 權力的轉移-協進會第十四屆年會 / Chapter 六、 --- 小結-宗教統制的第一步 / 目錄（續上頁） / Chapter 第四章、 --- 「抗美援朝」與基督教革新運動 --- p.53 / Chapter 一、 --- 變革 / Chapter 二、 --- 韓戰一一個異數 / Chapter 三、 --- 攘外以安內，安內以攘外 / Chapter 四、 --- 「抗美援朝」運動下基督教 / Chapter 五、 --- 決心割大瘤 / Chapter 六、 --- 小結-跟隨他的腳蹤行 / Chapter 第五章、 --- 中共統制下的基督教 --- p.74 / Chapter 一、 --- 徹底革新 / Chapter 二、 --- 北京會議 / Chapter 三、 --- 被中共「包下來」的基督教 / Chapter 四、 --- 虔誠的懺悔 / Chapter 五、 --- 中共統制下的基督教控訴運動 / Chapter 六、 --- 小結-基督教到延安去 / Chapter 第六章、 --- 結論 --- p.95 / 參考書目 --- p.98

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黃偉昌. / "2006年5月". / 論文(神道學碩士)--香港中文大學, 2006. / 參考文獻(leaves 58-64). / "2006 nian 5 yue". / Abstract also in English. / Huang Weichang. / Can kao wen xian (leaves 58-64). / Lun wen (Shen dao xue shuo shi)--Xianggang Zhong wen da xue, 2006. / 撮要 --- p.i / (Abstract) --- p.ii / 引言 --- p.1 / Chapter 第一章： --- 宣教定義與香港教會的宣教槪論 --- p.3 / Chapter 1. --- 何謂宣教？ --- p.3 / Chapter 2. --- 「神的宣教」Missio Dei 的槪念 --- p.6 / Chapter a. --- 歷史背景 --- p.6 / Chapter b. --- 三位一體的基礎 --- p.8 / Chapter c. --- 反對以教會爲中心的宣教 --- p.11 / Chapter d. --- 讓教會成爲真正的教會 --- p.12 / Chapter e. --- 小結 --- p.15 / Chapter 3. --- 香港教會的宣教歷史簡介與傾向類型分析 --- p.16 / Chapter a. --- 八十年代前的宣教使命歷史槪覽 --- p.18 / Chapter b. --- 八十年代後開始的宣教現象槪況 --- p.21 / Chapter 4. --- 小結 --- p.23 / Chapter 第二章： --- 「教會增長運動」之興起原因分析 --- p.24 / Chapter 1. --- 「教會增長」的數字分析 --- p.25 / Chapter a. --- 「非主動增長期」：五六十年代的香港教會 --- p.25 / Chapter b. --- 「主動增長期」：八十年代開始的「九七」效應 --- p.27 / Chapter 2. --- 「九七回歸」氣候帶來教會的回應 --- p.28 / Chapter a. --- 大量信徒移民現象 --- p.30 / Chapter b. --- 教會回應的向度　　　　 --- p.31 / Chapter 3. --- 「香港公元2000福音運動」（簡稱「福音二千」）的興起 --- p.32 / Chapter a. --- 運動發展的「助力」：外國「教會增長」學派的影響 --- p.32 / Chapter b. --- 運動發展的「動機」：以增加「數量」來穩固自己 --- p.35 / Chapter 4. --- 小結 --- p.39 / Chapter 第三章： --- 「教會增長」風氣下的教會事工反思 --- p.40 / Chapter 1. --- 大型佈道會(傳福音)的反思 --- p.40 / Chapter a. --- 「九七」議題對大型「佈道會」之影響及相關回應 --- p.41 / Chapter b. --- 福音與宣教的再思 --- p.42 / Chapter 2. --- 植堂事工推動的反思 --- p.46 / Chapter a. --- 「植堂」的定義及理念 --- p.46 / Chapter b. --- 香港教會的「植堂」發展及理念應用 --- p.47 / Chapter c. --- 「植堂」的反思及細想 --- p.49 / Chapter 3. --- 小組教會推動的反思 --- p.50 / Chapter a. --- 「小組」的定義及理念 --- p.51 / Chapter b. --- 香港教會的「小組」發展及理念應用 --- p.53 / Chapter c. --- 小組模式的反思及細想 --- p.54 / Chapter 4. --- 小結 --- p.55 / 結論 --- p.56 / 參考書目 --- p.58