No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

New Testament text critics are fueled by a search for origins. But in the absence of an autograph, questions of origins are complicated at best. The fruit of that search for origins has resulted in the creation of hypothetical, eclectic texts—texts which have left us translating and interpreting the Bible in a form that no community in human history has before. Far from being failed projects, however, these eclectic versions aptly represent the problem of the One and the many, a problem not easily solved: When faced with hermeneutic duties, can we effectively speak of New Testament texts without speaking of their thousands of various and actual instantiations in the world? The answer, of course, is both yes and no; but the timid no has typically taken a back seat to the boisterous yes. This thesis develops a new literary historical hermeneutic based on the Categories of C. S. Peirce, a philosophical approach that will demonstrate the need for both an ideal (the yes) and a concrete (the no) approach to New Testament criticism. After this need has been demonstrated, the Gospel of John will then be under examination, both in its ideal and in one of its more concrete forms: P66, a second century Greek papyrus manuscript of the Gospel. The nature of the interpretive communities that have made use of the Gospel will also be considered.

Qualitative modes of research have been working their way into the mainstream of psychological research. Unfortunately, social psychology has largely resisted this trend, despite the particular utility of qualitative research for investigating social phenomena. Curiously, as qualitative research becomes more widely accepted in psychology, much of the discourse surrounding these approaches has revolved around the procedural dimensions of qualitative inquiry. Specifically, it has focused on developing, describing, and defending various codified approaches to qualitative data analysis. Recently, this methodological paradigm has come under some criticism, with scholars critiquing codified methods as leading to shallow, superficial, and formulaic research. Others have noted that qualitative research requires a type of reasoning that does not fit well with codified methods. To analyze this latter point, this paper appeals to the hermeneutic philosophy of Hans-Georg Gadamer to identify the type of reasoning required by qualitative work (i.e., interpretive understanding) and show how this type of reasoning relates to codified methods. Through this analysis, it is shown that methods are unable to function as specific procedures or concrete rules in qualitative practice, and that there are substantive disadvantages in using them as general guidelines as well. An alternative mode of practice is described, focusing on the cultivation of hermeneutical imagination.

This dissertation develops a narrative homiletic for race-conscious preaching using a mutual critical correlation method. It argues that the evangelical embrace of a color-blind ideology homiletically, hermeneutically, and situationally limits the proclamation of the gospel in the age of racialization. Paul Ricoeur’s conception of the entrapping use of narrative is employed to understand the deep resistance many white evangelical Christians have toward racial consciousness. Constructively, Ricoeur’s ethical understanding of narrative and his model of threefold mimesis offer an alternative preaching paradigm rooted in mutual critical correlation and an understanding of the gospel in context developed in conversation with liberationist theology. The Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity provides additional frames for understanding that matters of difference are not obstacles to overcome in preaching but are essential to deepening understandings of God and the gospel. This dissertation employs interdisciplinary methods rooted in practical theology that integrate Eduardo Bonilla-Silva’s sociology on color-blindness, narrative phenomenology, empirical research on the Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity, and homiletics. The first chapter describes the evangelical embrace of color-blindness and its expository homiletical method. It understands evangelicalism as a constructed identity and outlines the need for a hermeneutic of situations in evangelical homiletics. Chapter two reviews narrative homiletics proposals, the homiletics literature on race and preaching, and evangelical expository preaching. The third chapter makes a theological turn to understand how evangelical theology aligns with the color-blind ideology. It turns to the liberationist theology of James Cone and a theology of broken symbols through Robert Cummings Neville, before outlining the mutual critical correlation model of David Tracy. This integrates homiletical theology with homiletical methodology, especially by understanding pre-figuring roles that aspects of identity bring to interpretation. The fourth chapter develops narrative critical correlation homiletics through the referential capacity of the gospel, rather than the sense of a biblical text. It argues that an ethical use of Ricoeur’s threefold mimesis can mediate a dialogue between text, context, situation, and identity in naming God and the gospel. The final chapter contains sermons and sermon analysis as a way of illustrating how sermonic methods and intercultural competence impact preaching. / 2026-01-23T00:00:00Z

No description available.

No description available.