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D.Litt. et Phil. / Revelation has received much attention throughout the nearly two millennia since its acceptance into the Christian canon, and interest in it is escalating as the twenty-first century approaches. Recent scholarly work has served as a corrective to the excesses of popular thought about the Apocalypse, but much more needs to be done. The theocentricity of Revelation makes imperative to seek the mysterious One Who Sits on the Throne in the center of heaven. Narratology and in particular characterization forms the foundation of this historical-critical, inductive study. Its purpose is to discover the characterization of God through the interdividual relationships between God and the non-divine characters. Interdividuality emphasizes that characters are developed in essential relationships with others. God's character as depicted in Revelation is developed through interaction with all creation. Non-divine characters receive their identity from the One Who Sits on the Throne. Their response to their Creator shapes the hearer/readers' perception of God who is both revealed and shrouded with mystery through the apocalyptic visions recorded by a Christian prophet named John. The non-divine characters of Revelation are divided into four categories: People, Satanic Forces, Heavenly Beings, and "Women". The characters of each category are examined and their characterization established from both direct and indirect characterization perspectives. The characterization of God resulting from their interrelationship is then noted. The People of Revelation can be divided into two categories: those who follow Satan and those who follow God. The decision of who is Lord is the focal point of the Apocalypse. Although the narrative does not downplay the difficulty of following God the rhetoric is far from neutral. The story constantly confronts the hearer/readers with the necessity to shun the deceptive allure of the Dragon's false world and embrace the more difficult path to the New Jerusalem. God's faithfulness, love, mercy, power and holiness are revealed through relationships with and provisions for both sinner and saint. God is Creator of all and sovereign King, understanding Father and faithful Husband, merciful Judge and worthy Lord.

This dissertation provides a historical and theological examination of Baptist views of the gospel ministry from English Separatists of the late sixteenth century to the Southern Baptist Convention of the mid-1920s. Chapter 1 provides the thesis of the dissertation, background material to its being written, and the methodology by which its conclusions are reached. Chapters 2 through 4 provide overviews for the ministry among English Separatists, British Baptists of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and American Baptists of the mid-seventeenth through the mid-nineteenth centuries, respectively. Each chapter focuses upon primary writings revealing each group's understanding of such issues as the office of the minister, the divine call to the ministry, ordination, preparation, the call by a congregation to a local church, and mutual responsibilities of ministers and church members. Chapters 5 through 7 examine the ministry among Southern Baptists from about 1865 to 1925. While the fifth chapter follows the same pattern as the previous three, Chapter 6 examines the beginning of a shift in the focus of the work of the minister from 1865 to 1900 with the introduction of organizational efficiency. Chapter 7 demonstrates that this shift became denominationally accepted during the early twentieth century. This work maintains that the heritage of Southern Baptists expressed consistent views concerning the office of the minister into the latter decades of the nineteenth century. The minister's call to the ministry, preparation, ordination, call to a congregation, and mutual responsibilities with church members were derived from clear biblical statements and principles. The end of the nineteenth century, however, witnessed a shift in the Southern Baptist view of the work of the ministry regarding the ability to produce quantifiable outcomes-a shift which became firmly established during the first two and a half decades of the twentieth century. This shift fueled a Baptist concern for organizational efficiency, a concern which viewed successful churches as those which were optimally organized to produce quantifiable results. Because pastors were seen as the key to organizational efficiency, they were judged according to the success of their churches' achieving those results. / 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.

In the course of this study, we find that for Calvin, God has one righteous will that is expressed as two, decidedly asymmetrical dispositions toward humanity. For Calvin, the only God that can be known, proclaimed, and trusted is God the Father, the God of creation, election and redemption who relates to his people according to his fatherly love; for reasons known only to him, God inexplicably creates some whom he does not rescue from their sinful state of rebellion against him. We first examine Calvin's teaching on the knowledge of God and discover that God has revealed his unchanging nature to those with faith. God's loving, righteous, wise, good, powerful, judging (of evil), and holy nature is exhibited in creation and providence, in Scripture, and most of all in Christ. We next explore Calvin's teaching on predestination and discover that God's one, secret, righteous will is expressed in two, decidedly asymmetrical wills toward humanity: (1) God's disclosed electing will that directly corresponds with God's nature and is extended to all but only effected in the elect; (2) God's veiled reprobating will toward the reprobate that, from the human perspective, only corresponds to God's nature in part. We continue by examining Calvin's teaching on the reconciling work of Christ, finding that, for Calvin, creation and redemption clearly exhibit God's disclosed disposition toward humanity while demonstrating God's veiled disposition only in very small part. We then provide constructive analysis in three related areas: (1) Calvin's teaching on the intra-trinitarian relations, (2) the locus of mystery in Calvin's, Arminius', and Barth's accounts of predestination, and (3) the reclaimed logic of Mosaic sacrifice in relation to Calvin's atonement teaching. In the context of a concluding summary, we consider three biblical accounts that depict God as possessing one rather than two dispositions toward humanity.

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