Thesis (MTh (Systematic Theology and Ecclesiology. Church History and Church Polity))--University of Stellenbosch, 2007. / Different theologies have sprung up around the celebration of the Eucharist. Consequently at the very point where Christians should be most united there is often controversy, bitterness and division. This is true of the writer’s own social location within the Anglican Church. The central question of this thesis is therefore how an engagement with Christianity’s Jewish roots helps us to reframe Eucharistic theology. In this regard a historical theological approach is employed to track how Eucharistic theological emphases have changed over time in relation to Jewish meal traditions, Jesus’ meal parables and table fellowship. The implications to reconnecting with the essence of Jesus’ social location are somewhat radical and potentially discomforting. Yet there are several obstacles to connecting with roots of our faith. The first obstacle examined in this thesis is the problematic interpretative gap of history, between the strangeness of the past and the familiarity of the present. A second obstacle only briefly touched upon is the attitude of anti-intellectualism in some churches today and an ignorance of the histories of Christianity. However, given the thesis question, the primary focus is on the obstacle of Christian anti-Semitism and the de-Judaising of Christianity. To seek greater continuity with Judaism is, in some ways, to Christianize Christianity. ii

No figure of fourth-century Christianity seems to be at once so well known and so clouded in mystery as Hilary of Poitiers. His work as an historian provides invaluable knowledge of the mid-fourth century, and he was praised as a theologian throughout late antiquity. Today, however, discussions of his theology are founded upon less solid ground. This is largely due to methodological issues. Modern scholarship has often read Hilary through anachronistic historical and theological categories which have rendered his thought incomprehensible. Recent scholars have sought to overcome this and to reexamine Hilary within his own historical, polemical, and theological context. Much remains to be said, however, in regard to Hilary's actual theological contribution within these contextual parameters. This thesis contends that in all of Hilary's polemical and constructive argumentation in De Trinitate, which is essentially trinitarian, he is inherently and necessarily developing an anthropology. In all he says about the divine, he is saying as much about what it means to be human. This thesis therefore seeks to reenvision Hilary's overall theological project in terms of the continual, and for him necessary, anthropological corollary of trinitarian theology-to reframe it in terms of a 'trinitarian anthropology'. My contention is that the coherence of Hilary's thought depends upon his understanding of divine-human relations. I will demonstrate this through following Hilary's main lines of trinitarian argument, out of which flows his anthropological vision. These main lines of argument, namely, divine generation, divine infinity, divine unity, the divine image, and divine humanity, each unfold into a progressive picture of humanity from potentiality to perfection. This not only provides a new paradigm for understanding Hilary's own thought, but invites us to reexamine our approach to fourth-century theology entirely, as it disavows any reading of the trinitarian controversies in conceptual abstraction. Further, theological and religious anthropology are widely discussed in contemporary scholarship, and Hilary's profound exploration of divine-human relations, and what it means to be a human being as a result, has much to offer both historical and contemporary concerns.

The entity of Lucifer has long been an area of study and confusion throughout history. Among notable literary minds, Dante Alighieri stands out as an illuminating poet who brings to light the essence and nature of this nefarious character and his influence on mankind. In his revelatory work, the Commedia, Dante touches on but does not explicitly detail the scope and importance that music and specifically, song, has on the redemptive purgation of the soul. This work provides a more in depth investigation into the generally overlooked issue, that is, the origin and initial intent of song, the perversion of which, by whom and why, and Dante’s perception of the subject revealed in his missive to mankind. Along scientific theory, along with other works by Dante to provide a link between Lucifer, music, the sin of pride, and the corruption of the divine. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2014. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

This study focuses on the relationship between Hooker's doctrine of law and his concept of "participation," which is an important feature of his sacramental doctrine. In The Lawes of Ecclesiasticall Politie (V.50--67), Richard Hooker discusses the saving work of Christ and man's participation in him through faith and the sacraments. How does Hooker understand participation in God? Hooker speaks of the Atonement, Justification and sacraments in the vocabulary of the magisterial Reform, but (perhaps uniquely) understands the same doctrines within the framework of law, the instrument by which God orders his creation. Hooker defines law in terms of Aristotelian causes to describe a process of participation: the causes that inform the natures, operations and ends of creatures accomplish a hierarchical process of emanation of being from God and return to God. Law therefore mediates between God and creation. Creatures participate in God through the natural law, but after the fall, man's participation is restored through the divine law. Hooker's account of the Incarnation and Atonement, justification through faith, and sacramental participation---the main features of the divine law---therefore takes into account the idea of law. Hooker's treatment of participation, then, is based on categories in classical physics, and his doctrine of law influences his treatment of specific theological loci.

The purpose of this thesis is to delineate the theological shifts that occurred in Wesley's post-Aldersgate soteriology. To realize this purpose, three distinct soteriological shifts in his thought will be examined. These shifts involve changes in how he understood the following: the conditions of redemption, the state of humanity and the scope of salvation. Through an examination of these shifts, three distinct phases (early, middle and late) were detected. In the early phase there appears to be a distinct Reformed bias; fallen human beings are totally depraved and can be redeemed only through explicit faith in Christ's atonement. In the two subsequent phases, an increasing emphasis is given to Arminian distinctives. Particular emphasis is given to the Arminian understanding of prevenient grace. In the middle phase, the Reformed and Arminian elements appear to co-exist within the same soteriological framework--reconciled through a tenuous and at times tortuous dialectic. This dialectic seems to crumble in the late phase. The Reformed elements are quietly dismissed; the Arminian elements dominate.

The interpretation of the letter to the Hebrews made a distinctive contribution to doctrinal construction, polemical controversy, and evolution of scripture-critical technique in the early modern period. This was because many of its themes and passages were considered significant to contemporary theological debates. Hebrews therefore offers an important case study for biblical reception history. This thesis adopts a diachronic approach, highlighting the priorities and worries of English Hebrews exegetes between the reigns of Edward VI and Charles II, and asks how these shifts catalysed hermeneutical advances towards higher biblical criticism. Calvin interpreted Hebrews' theology of sacrifice as an antidote to Catholic christology, soteriology, and beliefs about the mass. His thinking was adopted by Elizabethan Protestant readers, popularised through public documents like the Reformation Bibles (chapter one), and analysed in detail by sermons and lectures (chapter two). The reception of Hebrews also illustrates established historiography about the break-down of Reformed hegemony in England. Chapter three demonstrates how the use of the epistle by anti-puritans clashed with the censored Reformed exegete William Jones. Scholars of the seventeenth century have largely ignored how Hebrews' latent supersessionism promoted innovation in Church and society. Chapter four explores the way in which civil war Socinians expounded Christ's priesthood in terms of heavenly expiation, while radicals seized on the epistle's potential to support their vision of politico-religious liberation. Initially the Reformed countered by defending the trinity and Chalcedonian christology, as shown from mid-century exegesis in chapter five. However, two writers realised the underlying challenge of supersessionism and wrote Hebrews commentaries which served as systematic rebuttals. William Gouge deployed typology and Ramism to rebind the two dispensations (chapter six), and John Owen revised received expressions of the covenant in order to permit more development within God's plan while retaining unity of purpose before and after Jesus (chapter seven).

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In recent decades there has been a growing scholarly interest in the representation of women in early Christian texts, with the works of Greek and Latin authors being the primary focus. This dissertation makes an important contribution to the existing scholarship by examining the representation of Armenian women in the fifth-century Christian narratives, which have been instrumental in forging the Christian identity and worldview of the Armenian people. The texts that are discussed here were written exclusively by clerics whose way of thinking was considerably influenced by the religious teachings of the Greek and Syriac Church Fathers. However, as far as the representation of women is concerned, the Greek Fathers' largely misogynistic discourse did not have discernible effect on the Armenian authors. On the contrary, the approach developed in early Christian Armenian literature was congruous with the more liberal way of thinking of the Syriac clerics, with a marked tendency towards empowering women ideologically and providing them with prominent roles in the male-centred society. I argue that such a representation of women was primarily prompted by the ideology of the pre-Christian religion of the Armenians. This research discusses the main historical and cultural factors that prompted a positive depiction of women, and highlights the rhetorical and moralising strategies that the authors deployed to construct an "ideal woman". It further explores the representation of women's agency, experience, discourse, and identity. In particular, women's pivotal role in Armenia's conversion to Christianity and female asceticism in fourth-fifth century Armenia are extensively investigated. It is also argued that women's status in the extended family determined the social spaces they could enter and the extent of power they could exercise. It appears that Iranian matrimonial practice, including polygyny and consanguineous marriages, was common among the Armenian elite, whereas the lower classes mainly practised marriage by bride purchase or abduction. Special attention is devoted to the institution of queenship in Arsacid Armenia and the position of the queen within the framework of power relationships. Finally, this study examines the instances of violence towards women during wars and how the female body was exploited to achieve desirable political goals.

The subject of this thesis is the theology of the late 13th- early 14th century churchman 'Abdisho' bar Brikha. Better known by modern scholars for his poetry and canon law, he is far less recognised as a religious controversialist who composed works in Arabic as well as Syriac to answer Muslim criticisms. My overall argument contends that 'Abdisho''s hitherto neglected theological works are critical to our understanding of how anti-Muslim apologetics had by his time become central to his Church's articulation of a distinct Christian identity in a largely non-Christian environment. 'Abdisho' wrote his apologetic theology at a time when Christians experienced increasing hardship under the rule of the Mongol Ilkhans, who had officially converted to Islam in 1295. While the gradual hardening of attitudes towards Christians may well have informed 'Abdisho''s defensive stance, this thesis also demonstrates that his theology is built on a genre of apologetics that emerged as early as the mid-8th century. Our author compiles and systematises earlier debates and authorities from this tradition while updating them for a current authorship. In doing so, he contributes to the formation of a theological canon that would remain authoritative for centuries to come. My analysis of 'Abdisho''s oeuvre extends to three doctrinal themes: the Trinity, the Incarnation, and devotional practices (viz. the veneration of the Cross and the striking of the church clapper). I situate his discussion of these topics in a period when Syriac Christian scholarship was marked by a familiarity with Arabo-Islamic theological and philosophical models. While our author does not engage with these models as closely as his better-known Syriac Christian contemporary Bar Hebraeus (d. 1286), he nevertheless appeals to a literary and theological idiom common to both Muslims and Christians in order to convince his coreligionists of their faith's reasonableness against centuries-long polemical attacks.

This study endeavors to set Christian writing about Islam from the period of the Islamic expansion in the broader context of Christian theological development in Late Antiquity. To this end, this study traces elements of continuity in Christian thought from the Christological debates of the fifth and sixth century, particularly from the Council of Chalcedon in 451and the resulting emergence of the communities of Chalcedonians and anti-Chalcedonian Monophysites as the dominant strands of Christianity in the Near East at the rise of Islam. In order to understand how Christians began to integrate the Islamic expansion into their thinking, this study focuses particularly on Christian writings about Islam and the descriptions of Muslims in Christian writings from the rise of lslam, through the seventh and early eighth centuries, up to the Abbasid revolution in 750. It also considers the contemporary descriptions of Christians in the Qur'an, in order to illustrate that these descriptions have both a different starting point and a different focus, suggesting that both Christian discussions about Muslims and Muslim discussions about Christians were internal discussions, taking place within each tradition, and do not represent true inter-religious dialogue. In this way, this study attempts to illustrate how the rise of lslam, the emergence of the caliphate and the resulting separation of the Near Eastern churches from the Christian hierarchy in Rome and Constantinople influenced Christian identity in the Near East. The writings of the seventh century, and the Christian identity they preserve, emerge as a hybrid, integrating elements of the competing, pre-Islamic concerns of doctrinal purity versus church unity, but also attempting to address, in a variety of ways, the initial fear over Muslim victory and the eventual acceptance of Muslim rule as the new status quo in the Near East.