The preface gives the background of the postmodern religious context within which a “view of God to consider” has become problematic. The preface also gives the methodology as well as the rationale for the study. The article examines the anatheistic concept of God of the well-known philosopher of religion, Richard Kearney, in order to answer the question whether Kearney’s concept of God is to be regarded in our postmetaphysical age and why. Two books of Kearney are selected to analyse, namely The God Who May Be: A Hermeneutics of Religion (2001) and Anatheism: Returning to God after God (2011). The article indicates that the anatheistic God is not easy to identify and that it mostly involves a risk or wager of hospitality to recognize this God who is amongst other, “weak, functionalist, the other, the stranger and the incarnated kingdom of peace and love”. It is argued that although this non-metaphysical anatheistic God has some positive aspects (creativities, plurality, not militant or dogmatic), it remains difficult to mull over (and accept) this view of God for various reasons (weakness, functionality, unrecognizability). Kearney helps one however through his anatheistic concept of God to think new about the possibilities to “return to God after God” in our post-metaphysical age. / MPhil , North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

The preface gives the background of the postmodern religious context within which a “view of God to consider” has become problematic. The preface also gives the methodology as well as the rationale for the study. The article examines the anatheistic concept of God of the well-known philosopher of religion, Richard Kearney, in order to answer the question whether Kearney’s concept of God is to be regarded in our postmetaphysical age and why. Two books of Kearney are selected to analyse, namely The God Who May Be: A Hermeneutics of Religion (2001) and Anatheism: Returning to God after God (2011). The article indicates that the anatheistic God is not easy to identify and that it mostly involves a risk or wager of hospitality to recognize this God who is amongst other, “weak, functionalist, the other, the stranger and the incarnated kingdom of peace and love”. It is argued that although this non-metaphysical anatheistic God has some positive aspects (creativities, plurality, not militant or dogmatic), it remains difficult to mull over (and accept) this view of God for various reasons (weakness, functionality, unrecognizability). Kearney helps one however through his anatheistic concept of God to think new about the possibilities to “return to God after God” in our post-metaphysical age. / MPhil , North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

The Introduction sets out the two major aims of the thesis. The first is to evolve a precise and economical terminology for describing the language of prophetic eschatology and to find objective criteria for description, the problem being how to decide whether such language is intended literally or otherwise. The second aim is to show that and how the prophets use nonliteral poetic imagery, not for comment or decoration, but in attempts to sway their audience, present condensed argument or assertion, and show contemporary situations in a new light. The main lines of approach in subsequent chapters are then sketched out.

This thesis attempts to understand what it is like to live and work as a ‘sincere’ and ‘committed’ Christian in Gamrie, a small fishing village of 700 people and six conservative Protestant churches, whose staunch religiosity is itself on the cusp of dramatic economic, social and spiritual change. More than this, it is an attempt to show how the everyday religious experiences of Christians in Gamrie are animated by – but not reducible to – their social context. It seeks to do so by considering how local folk theologies relate to larger social processes occurring within Scotland and the north Atlantic. Arguing that these realms are necessarily (and simultaneously) ideational and material, my theoretical focus is upon the relationship between belief and experience – a relationship mediated, first and foremost, in and through the significance of ‘The Word’. Where beliefs have objects and where objects ‘have’ materiality, beliefs are held to be essentially material. Equally, where material happenings in the world are framed by theological (say, eschatological) ideas, objects and events are held to be unavoidably implicated in belief. Thus, my aim is to present an analytic of the relationship between the lived local experiences of belief and objects, materiality and language.

This thesis sets out to examine a section of the canonical text of the gospel of Matthew (Matthew 21-25) with a view to its contribution to the search for knowledge of Jesus as an historical figure. Methodologically, then, this thesis respects the literary coherence of the final form of the gospel of Matthew, but raises the question of its significance for an understanding of the historical Jesus. In an attempt to offer a fresh analysis of the material, the thesis takes up the use of the models of 'prophet' and 'sage' in contemporary scholarship, and investigates the theme of judgement in selected portions of the canonical and non-canonical Jewish literature associated with the prophets and the sages at the time of Jesus. It emerges that Jesus' proclamation of judgement reflects previous canonical themes found in both prophetic and Wisdom literature. Such deep dependence upon Jewish prophetic and Wisdom literature does not inevitably result in either Schweitzer's prophet of the imminent end or the 'non-eschatological sage' of Borg and others. Matthew portrays Jesus as prophet by means of his accounts of Jesus' prophetic acts, his declaration of impending national catastrophe and his warning of eschatological judgement. Matthew portrays Jesus as sage by means of his emphasis on the provocative aphoristic and narrative meshalim which Jesus employs to expose the errors of the Jewish religious leaders and to declare judgement upon them. He also highlights Jesus' emphasis, typical of Wisdom literature, on the judgement of God upon injustice, while not hesitating to indicate the eschatological element in Jesus' Wisdom sayings. Of particular significance in the ongoing discussion over Jesus' eschatological expectations, which are clearly of great significance for his teaching and actions relating to judgement, is the nature of 'apocalyptic' language. This thesis therefore discusses the biblical language at the centre of this debate in the light of its location in Matthew's text and considering the most likely background to his thinking. We conclude that many scholars have driven too great a wedge between what is 'apocalyptic' and what is 'prophetic', and propose that 'apocalyptic' texts in Matthew are best interpreted with the canonical prophetic literature as the most significant backdrop. We submit that when this material is read in its canonical background, its significance becomes clear so that it is no longer necessary to regard it as predictive of the parousia but rather symbolic of a great vindication of Jesus. In particular, when these sayings are interpreted in their context in Matthew's gospel, according to the approach to 'apocalyptic' language argued for in the thesis, they may be understood as natural and appropriate sayings of Jesus. That is, by means of recognising their coherence with the narrative in which they are set when interpreted in a manner in keeping with their most likely literary background, these sayings may be said to have a substantial claim to being authentic portions of the teaching of the historical Jesus. The thesis concludes that Matthew presents Jesus as one who embodies the prophet and the teacher of Wisdom, and who goes beyond these figures in important ways as he takes to himself the role of judgement in a way that is highly distinctive among the religious figures of his day.

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Thesis advisor: Richard Lennan / This dissertation in Christian eschatology affirms the cosmic implications of the notion of the parousia, and proposes the latter as a suitable symbol for a renewed eschatological narrative of God’s transforming encounter with the whole of creation. Over the last several decades, eschatological reflection has ceased to refer simply to future events, and has become an interpretative key for the entire theological enterprise. The cornerstone of any contemporary eschatological reflection is God as end and goal of the whole of creation. In addition, two other elements arise in the work of most contemporary theologians, namely the anthropological interpretation of eschatology, and an apparent sobriety in the use of images for depicting the future of creation. This dissertation will explore the complementary counterpoints of these perspectives. On the one hand, this work argues for an all-embracing eschatology that broadens those theologies that either restrict God’s eschatological fulfillment only to what will happen to human beings and earth, or give to human beings a role that, seen in a broader, cosmic perspective, seems to be disproportionate. On the other hand, this dissertation maintains the necessary renewal of an eschatological narrative from a Christological, cosmic perspective in a context where the loss of figurative language for eschatology negatively affects our ability to conceive the future of the whole of creation and to be really inspired by it in the present time. The main thesis of this dissertation is that the theological notion of the parousia grounds all eschatological statements in Jesus Christ, broadens the interpretation of God’s fulfillment to a fully transformed creation, offers an illustrative image of this cosmic process, and can empower believers to recognize and embrace their eschatological role within the framework of God’s action upon all things. This seems especially urgent in the contemporary theological context, where an all-embracing narrative about future fulfillment is either challenged or has almost disappeared. / Thesis (STD) — Boston College, 2018. / Submitted to: Boston College. School of Theology and Ministry. / Discipline: Sacred Theology.

Texte remanié de : Thèse de doctorat : Lettres : Universidad de Granada : 1974. / Bibliogr. p. [117]-120. Index.

Thesis (M. Div.)--Emmanuel School of Religion, Johnson City, Tennessee, 2000. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 75-80).

Thesis (D. Min.)--Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, 1987. / Bibliography: leaves 305-310.