The doctrine of justification tells how the saving grace of God in Christ can be actualized in the believers. Because of the very importance of this doctrine, disputes broke out between Augustine and Pelagius, later in the medieval period, and most importantly during the Reformation period - which led to mutual condemnations and the division of the Western church. The church still does not have a unified voice in interpreting the doctrine despite recent ecumenical dialogues, which culminated in the Lutheran-Roman Catholic Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification in 1999. / McAnulty College and Graduate School of Liberal Arts; / Theology / PhD; / Dissertation;

[Greek words romanized in title and description] This dissertation defends the thesis that the Pauline phrase, pistis Christou ("faith of Christ" [Rom 3:22,26; Gal 2:16, 20; 3:22; Phil 3:9; Eph 3:12]), in its various contexts, is best translated as "faith in Christ" (objective genitive) and not "faith/faithfulness of Christ" (subjective genitive). Chapter 1 surveys the history of the debate from 1795 to the present. Chapter 2 gives an overview of the use of pistis ("faith") in the LXX and the rest of the NT corpus outside of Paul's letters. It is argued that the LXX usage of pistis supports the subjective genitive interpretation, but the NT usage argues for the objective genitive interpretation. Chapter 3 investigates the use of "faith" in the writings of the apostolic fathers. The research shows that the fathers use pistis along the lines of NT writers and the evidence from their writings also supports our thesis concerning the pistis Christou phrase in Paul. Chapter 4 addresses the nature of the genitive case, Paul's use of the genitives Christou, kuriou, and Theou. Also in chapter 4, the main arguments made in defense of the Subjective genitive interpretation are summarized and evaluated. Chapters 5-7 are exegetical in nature and make up the core of this dissertation. Arguments are made from the context of each letter in which the pistis Christou phrase appears (Romans, Galatians, and Philippians). First, the meaning of pistis Christou is sought in its immediate context and the results evaluated in light of the broader context of each letter. We found that in all these instances, the reading "faith in Christ" for pistis Christou is the more probable reading in context. Chapter 8 summarizes the results of this investigation and evaluates the thesis proposed in this dissertation. Appendices 1-4 cover topics such as (1) why the debate is limited to the subjective and objective genitives (appendix 1), (2) examples of subjective and objective genitives in the NT (appendix 2), (3) pistis in the rest of Paul's letters (appendix 3), and (4) pistis Christou in Ephesians 3:12 (appendix 4). / This item is only available to students and faculty of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. If you are not associated with SBTS, this dissertation may be purchased from <a href="http://disexpress.umi.com/dxweb">http://disexpress.umi.com/dxweb</a> or downloaded through ProQuest's Dissertation and Theses database if your institution subscribes to that service.

Please note: creative writing works are permanently embargoed in OpenBU. No public access is forecasted for these. To request private access, please click on the lock icon and fill out the appropriate web form. / Doctrine in Christian theology is often regarded as rigid, absolute, and irrelevant to the lived stories of people in contemporary society. In this project, I engage the traditioning model of Christian religious education to re-envision doctrine as narrative in the making, by which I mean the ongoing, changing process of constructing narratives as people encounter God, other people, and the rest of creation. Doctrines and other traditions are not inflexible, unchangeable sets of propositional beliefs, but reflective narratives of human experiences of God and God’s creation over time, as passed on, received, critiqued, and reshaped by the Christian community. Mary Elizabeth Moore’s traditioning model of Christian religious education provides spacious room to construe Christian doctrine as an ongoing narrative of divine-human-nature relationships. Building on the traditioning model, the first chapter introduces the whole project with the main arguments, context, and significance of the research, methodology, and primary concepts. The following chapter begins with exploring the dynamics of narrative teaching, especially as it pertains to narrative in the making and the significance of encounter as a practice in that process. The chapter engages three features of narrative in the making, which are imagination, identity, and practice, culminating in my description of the four practices of narrative teaching: sharing, reflecting on, critiquing and revising, and re-narrating stories. Chapter Three conceptualizes doctrine in the traditioning process as narrative in the making, for doctrine carries its past heritage while changing in the face of changing realities. The chapter analyzes doctrinal challenges: critiquing postliberal traditions; building on Willie Jennings’s critique of José de Acosta’s rigid approach to doctrine in service of colonialism; developing a theology of doctrine as narrative in the making; and exploring the possibilities of Kazoh Kitamori’s contextualized theology in relation to the pain of God. Chapter Four exemplifies the traditioning of a particular doctrine—the doctrine of justification by grace through faith—by drawing upon Paul and the early Galatian Christian community, Martin Luther, and Elsa Tamez. Chapter Five engages the process of the emerging postcolonial doctrine of justification by focusing on teaching and learning in community with God and others, as embodied in the four practices of narrative teaching. The last chapter outlines possibilities for future research. / 2999-01-01

Abstract “The question of finding a merciful God. Understanding Martin Luther’s relation to metaphysics and ontology” Myrén, Anna. 2017, Master’s Thesis, 30 credits. E-mail: annamyren@live.se The Department of Theology, Uppsala University, Engelska Parken, Thunbergsv. 3B, Box 511, SE-751 20 UPPSALA, Sweden, info@teol.uu.se  This thesis examines arguments and premises for understanding Luther’s relationship to metaphysics and ontology. The main theoretical sources are firstly research that, on the one hand argue that Luther’s doctrine of justification has ontological structures and on the other treat his relation to metaphysics, and secondly sources that treat Luther’s development of theological themes and issues from a history of ideas perspective.  The thesis concludes that the arguments of Finnish Luther scholars Tuomo Mannermaa and Sammeli Juntunen are helpful for understanding the relationship between Luther, metaphysics and ontology. Their conclusions display different levels of structures in his doctrine; thematic as well as re-oriented structures of thought, showing that Luther is occupied with metaphysical and ontology and presenting strong arguments for his doctrine of justification as ontological. Luther’s doctrinal development can be understood both as a result of criticism of substance-metaphysics, as well as itself ultimately displaying metaphysical and ontological issues. Such contents in his theology should be viewed in the larger perspective of forming theology, a history of ideas context that broadens the question to one of structures of thought, involving themes, issues, forming of doctrine as processual development. However, their thematic, doctrinal focus risks not giving full account for understanding Luther’s relation to metaphysical and ontological issues. An intricacy of the question is displayed and possible to trace when Luther’s theology is addressed from systematical as well as historical perspectives. The thesis finally argues with the help of a history of ideas perspective that the theologia crucis - specifically with its concept of the hidden God, the deus absconditus – is a resource for further inquiry of Luther and metaphysics, in understanding his theology as describing reality.  Keywords: Luther, metaphysics, ontology, doctrine of justification, Mannermaa, Juntunen, themes, structures of thought, theologia crucis, deus absconditus.