This thesis deals with theologies of the Resurrection in the twentieth century. We have chosen for study seven major theologians whose work reflects significant achievement in this area. We begin with a look at 'dialectical' theologians Karl Barth and Rudolf Bultmann and deal with their debate on the nature and meaning of the Resurrection. Because of their importance to theology they are dealt with extensively. From there we move on to the contemporary theologians of 'hope, ' Jürgen Moltmann and Wolfhart Pannenberg, before completing our research with a chapter on the Catholic theologians Karl Rahner, Edward Schillebeeckx, and Hans Küng. It was our purpose initially (and we hope we have been consistent throughout) to give a well-rounded purview, and thus a fairer criticism, of each theology. Yet into the research it seemed obvious that a consistent major concern of each theologian centered on how one comes to faith in such a unique event. It was certainly at the core of the Barth-Bultmann debate and remains crucial. Thus it may be stated that the concerns which receive the primacy in this work are those discussions in our theologies which deal with the nature of the Resurrection, its status as an event of history, and its ability to be proved and thus believed as other events of history are proved and believed. We ultimately conclude that the most satisfactory entry into faith in the Resurrection is through a juxtaposing of the work of Wolfhart Pannenberg and Hans Küng. The focus of the paper is changed in the second half of the Conclusion as we suggest what course studies on the Resurrection might take in the future. Here we find the perspective of Jewish New Testament theologian Pinchas Lapide to be most provocative and speculate on the possibilities that the Resurrection might hold for Jewish-Christian relations.

During the revolutionary decade of the 1640s Thomas Collier emerged from his native Somerset to become a significant Particular Baptist leader. He produced more than a score of books and established numerous churches. Collier was a well-known controversialist who debated opponents on subjects such as baptism and the ordination of lay preachers. Collier's theology was worked out in the heat of such debates and must be studied against that landscape to be properly understood. Collier's writings and career reveal surprising willingness to embrace heterodox theological positions by Particular Baptist standards, especially in the late 1640s and after 1660. In the early period of his career he was enaroured of an allegorical, spiritualizing method of biblical interpretation and after 1660 he became increasingly hostile to limited atonement and election. The most orthodox phase of Collier's career was the period between 1653 and 1659 when he served as the leader of the Particular Baptists' Western Association. Under his leadership the association produced their Somerset Confession in 1656. After the Restoration Collier's disputes were increasingly with his fellow Particular Baptists. The publication of his Body of Divinity in 1674 and his Additional Word as a supplement to it in 1676 revealed increasingly divergent soteriological and eschatological views from those being espoused by the Particular Baptists. An attempt was made to discipline Collier by the London Baptist leadership, which was strongly and successfully resisted by Collier and his supporters within his local church in Southwick, Wiltshire. Collier's 1678 Confession of Faith, written in response to the London Baptists' adaptation of the Westminster Confession published the previous year, illustrated the wide breach of doctrine that had developed between Collier and his denominational colleagues.

This thesis aims to present and understand various accounts composed by medieval writers against the Isma'ilis and to determine the substance of the arguments forged by each writer to counter the Isma'ilis. Such writings were accepted without question by earlier researchers, and although a revision has been undertaken in more recent studies, the specific nature and orientation of anti-Isma'ili polemics has not been adequately investigated. / Through a careful study of different arguments--arguments at times quite sophisticated and difficult to appreciate fully--, we try to show the evolution and development of the style of anti-Isma'ili polemics, the different temperaments of the polemicists studied, and some of the permanent and complimentary features within this tradition. / An additional question examined in this study is the extent to which social, cultural and political factors had an impact on the shaping of this tradition and the various arguments employed within it.

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This study critically analyzes Critical Buddhism (hihan bukkyo ; hereafter: CB) as a philosophical and a religious movement; it investigates the specific basis of CB, particularly the philosophical categories of critica and topica, vis-a-vis contemporary theories of knowledge and ethics, in order to re-situate CB within modern Japanese and Buddhist thought as well as in relation to current trends in contemporary Western thought. / This study is made up of seven chapters, including the introduction and the conclusion. The introduction provides the religious and philosophical context as well as the motivations and intentions of the study. Chapter 2 with the title "Eye of the Storm: Historical and Political Context" is largely explanatory. After a brief analysis of violence, warfare and social discrimination within Buddhism and specifically Japanese traditions, some important background to the context in which Critical Buddhism arose is recalled. In addition, the development of so-called Imperial Way Zen (kodozen )---which represents in many respects the culmination of the 'false' Buddhism the Critical Buddhists attack---is examined. The following chapter on the roots of topica analyses a number of the larger epistemological and ethical issues raised by CB, in an attempt to reinterpret both 'criticalism' and 'topicalism' with reference to four key motifs in Zen tradition: experience (jikishi-ninshin: "directly pointing to the human mind [in order to realize the Buddha-nature]" [B.]); tradition (kyoge-betsuden: "an independent transmission apart from written scriptures" [M. 6, 28]); language (furyu-moji or furyu-monji: "not relying on words and letters" [M. 6]); and enlightenment (kensho jobutsu: "awakening to one's original Nature [and thus becoming a Buddha]" [Dan. 29]). Here and in Chapter 4, on "New Buddhisms: Problems in Modern Zen Thought," the CB argument against the many sources of topical thinking is outlined, paying particular attention to question of 'pure experience' (junsui keiken) developed by Nishida Kitaro and the Kyoto School. Chapter 5 on "Criticism as Anamnesis: Dempo/Dampo" develops the positive side of the CB case, i.e., a truly 'critical' Buddhism, with respect to the place of historical consciousness and the weight of tradition. Chapter 6, "Radical Contingency and Compassion," develops the theme of radical contingency, based on the core Buddhist doctrine of pratitya-samutpada (Jp. engi) as the basis for an effective Critical Buddhist epistemological and ethical strategy. The conclusion elaborates a paradigm for comparative scholarship that integrates the insights of Western philosophical hermeneutics, pragmatism, CB, and so-called 'Buddhist theology'. The implications of the Critical Buddhist project on the traditional understanding of the relation between scholarship and religion are examined, and also the reconnection of religious consciousness to social conscience, which CB believes to be the genius of Buddhism and which makes of CB both an unfinished project and an ongoing challenge.

Text in Arabic without English summary / Religious Studies and Arabic / D. Lit. et Phil. (Islamic Studies)

Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology / (M.Th Practical Theology))

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Andrew Fuller maintained that Christian orthodoxy--as articulated in Evangelical Calvinism--furnished the foundation, framework, and motivation for moral excellence. On the basis of this axiom, he challenged Enlightenment moral foundations and defended the truth of Christianity against Joseph Priestley and Thomas Paine, arguing that Christianity had a superior tendency to promote virtue in men and women. Chapter 1 introduces Fuller's role in the formation of Evangelicalism. Many argue that Evangelicalism rests on Enlightenment foundations, but I make the case that Fuller's moral thought directly undermined Enlightenment foundations. Chapter 2 contrasts how Fuller based his moral thinking in Christian belief while his Enlightenment opponents rested it in human nature and reason. Chapter 3 introduces Fuller's moral polemic against Socinianism and Deism, and it explains how Fuller's emphasis on the aretegenic value of Christian doctrine represents a continuation of an apologetic method found in many classic theologians like Augustine and Calvin. Like them, Fuller maintained that men and women realized their moral telos by rightly knowing and loving God. Chapter 4 outlines Fuller's theology of virtue, demonstrating how he grounds morality in his Evangelical Calvinist system. Chapter 5 examines Fuller's understanding of how Christian belief motivates virtue in believers' lives. Lastly, Chapter 6 discusses the relevance of Fuller's moral thought for today and its parallels with modern virtue theory.

This dissertation seeks to answer the following question: If ancient Jewish and Christian Two Ways texts have a common literary structure and reoccurring apocalyptic dualisms, how and why does the Didache neglect to frame the Two Ways with an apocalyptic worldview? The thesis argued that the Didache’s Two Ways coheres with an ancient apocalyptic Two Ways genre, yet the Didachist does not incorporate the apocalyptic features, dualistic connotations, and the two spirits scheme to maintain a purely ethical version of the Two Ways. Chapter 1 summarizes the history of scholarship and generational Didache studies as they have inquired about the apocalyptic undercurrents of the Didache’s Two Ways. Chapter 2 examines historical scholarship and reception of John J. Collins’s work on apocalypticism and joins this work to the study of the Two Ways. Lists of texts, a typology of salient apocalyptic features, and summaries of the ancient Two Ways reveal the undercurrents of an apocalyptic worldview beyond a two angels scheme. Chapter 3 offers a close critical reading of ancient Two Ways texts that are often compared with the Didache’s Two Ways. The argument focuses upon the apocalyptic features of the Treatise of the Two Spirits (1QS III, 13–IV, 26); Testament of Asher; Galatians 5:16–24; Barn. 18.1–21.1; De Doctrina; and Herm. Mand. 6.1–2 (35–36). Chapter 4 builds upon the work of Nancy Pardee’s delimitation of the Didache and argues for the Didache’s Two Ways to comprise of material in Did. 1.1–6.2. Textual cohesion, discourse boundaries, and comparison with other ancient Two Ways reveals that Did. 1.1–6.2 is uniquely structured and assimilates unique material into the Two Ways literary frame. Chapters 5 and 6 collectively argue that the Didache’s Two Ways lack an apocalyptic worldview that is often associated with a Two Ways genre. Assessing the literary frame and selected readings within the Didache’s Two Ways, I demonstrate how the Didache does not include common apocalyptic undercurrents of an ancient Two Ways genre.