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.

Mankind’s scientific, technological, artistic, and intellectual capacities are complemented by an impressive list of physical achievements; nevertheless, it is the remarkable inner abilities that testify to the human being as God’s crowning creation. The single most distinctive aspect of Adam’s creation is that he was created in the image of God and his nature bears that image. But what exactly is the image of God in man? The image of God consists of the spiritual part of a human that reflects the character of God and is the only firm basis for advocating human dignity and the gracious redemption of sinners. Although modern scholarship, particularly Old Testament scholarship, have argued for man’s function through his physical body as the meaning of or forming an integral part of the image of God, the view that God’s image is found in the spiritual aspect of the human being is more faithful to the biblical text. This dissertation argues for the spiritual interpretation of God’s image by providing a historical-grammatical reading of the relevant texts and a proper theological understanding of the image and likeness of God. The first chapter provides the history of interpretation by describing the important personalities and their methods, and explaining the evolution of the topic that has lead to the modern departures from the traditional view. The second chapter discusses the data that supports the thesis by analyzing selected issues in current scholarship that leads to a physical and functional view of the image of God and why I disagree with their conclusions. The third chapter provides a historical-grammatical reading of selected texts that demonstrate the reasonableness of a spiritual interpretation of the image of God, and why it should be defended. The fourth chapter examines the counter claims to the thesis and presents a defense to the findings of this study. The fifth chapter briefly summarizes the most important findings and provides a conclusion.

Magister Artium - MA / The objective of this thesis was the translation of an original defence of Sufi practice titled "A Kind word in response to those who reject sufism" by Shaykh Aòhmad ibn Muòsòtafá °Alawåi. This book was written in defence of Sufis and Sufism. This research provide some notes on the life, spiritual heritage and writings of the Shaykh °Alawåi in conjunction with a critical introduction to complement the translated text. The Shaykh's methodology applied in his ijtihåad to validate and defend the Sufis and their practices was also reviewed. / South Africa

From Preface: The problem of authority in religion can be stated as follows: what is the finally authoritative source and judge of religious truth? This was the fundamental question which Jesus Himself raised when He came to the Jews. It was the fundamental problem of the Reformation. It is also the fundamental problem that confronts the Church in our time. But it has never ceased to be the perennial question underlying all religious and philosophical thought.

This dissertation is about the preservation of Buddhist teachings by means of seemingly unconventional methods. When lineages and factions competed for authority and for teachings that were believed to be in danger of being corrupted, or lost altogether, scholar monks of the Chūin-ryū lineage at Kōyasan restored, reinstated, and redelivered certain teachings through oracles given by the mountain gods, through paintings and their inscriptions, and through rituals. In the first part of the dissertation I examine the Chūin-ryū and its connection to the role of leadership of the mountain-based community, and an oracular possession that functioned to transmit teachings from a hitherto obscure god named Daishi Myōjin. The background to this was extreme violence between two major factions in the community, and the subsequent exiles of some of the participants, which exacerbated—or perhaps provided a reason for—concerns about the decline of the lineage and even the entire community through the loss, via both corruption of teachings and exile of teachers, of embodied teachings. In the second part I examine paintings that I suggest were produced by the Chūin-ryū and involved important Chūin-ryū scholar monks who strove to restore scholarship after the exiles had exerted a damaging effect on the institutions of education. The paintings are linked to the oracle examined in the previous section and they, as well as those figures to which the paintings and inscriptions on them are linked, are connected to debate and mondō ceremonies, and to the kami worship rites they involved. I then move into an examination of Daishi Myōjin and its character as an amalgamate deity comprised of patriarchs and kami, appropriate as both the ultimate authority in teaching, and as arbiter of justice. Furthermore, this deity seems to have been appropriated and defined by the Chūin-ryū. It was of great use at a time when they sought control of the community and consolidation of their position, via knowledge transmission, worship, and punishment, for Daishi Myōjin performed all these functions. I then examine scholarship at Kōyasan, and the most prominent debates from the Kamakura to the Muromachi periods, noting that the development of the kami iconography seems to have been related to that of scholarly institutions. Finally, I look at the scholarship-related ceremonies and related rituals and discern that they involve considerable “re-enactments” of events and encounters that were important to the Chūin-ryū and to their authority as prime lineage at Kōyasan.

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