Thesis (Th. M.)--Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 73-77).

This dissertation argues that penal substitutionary atonement is necessary for transformation of the created order. This assertion answers the charge that an atonement model that deals with forensic judgments, the moment of justification, and a focus on the individual serves as an obstacle to God's purpose of restoring even the created order itself. Chapter 1 examines the current setting of the debate, illustrating the need for this charge to be answered. This chapter also lays out the thesis as well as the methodology of the dissertation. Chapter 2 asks the question, "What is wrong with the created order?" This chapter demonstrates that the plight of creation is that it is held in bondage to a reign of death which is itself a manifestation of the legal verdict of condemnation that has come to individuals in Adam. Chapter 3 demonstrates that the reason numerous evangelicals deny penal substitution is because of a faulty understanding of the nature of God. This chapter argues that God's righteousness is broader than covenant faithfulness, that it includes an element of retribution, that it is intrinsic to God, and that God's wrath includes his personal inflicting of punishment upon the sinner. After examining God's nature, this chapter ends by noting the necessity and difficulty of removing condemnation from individuals. Chapter 4 illustrates how penal substitutionary atonement accounts for the removal of condemnation from individuals in a manner that is in accord with God's righteousness. This chapter also shows the biblical support for penal substitution through an examination of Romans 3:25-26; 8:3; 2 Corinthians 5:21; and Galatians 3:13. Chapter 5 demonstrates that far from making the resurrection of Christ unnecessary, penal substitution demands the resurrection because Christ dies as the condemned one on behalf of sinners. The reason the resurrection is necessary, then, is because it serves as and manifests Christ's justification. Furthermore, because Christ's resurrection serves as his legal justification and appointment as son as well as an eschatological demonstration of these legal realities, so believers legal verdict of justification and adoption as sons necessitates a demonstration of these realities in their resurrection, wherein they will be revealed as God's sons. At this time, the created order will be restored. Chapter 6 summarizes the argument of the first five chapters, notes an area of possibility for further study, and provides a brief note of conclusion. This chapter concludes that far from obscuring God's cosomological purposes, penal substitution is required for the redemption of the created order.

From Introduction: The fact of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, from the dead is the central fact of Christian faith and teaching. This centrality is certainly accorded it in the Bible, but has often been forgotten in the thinking, practice and worship of the Christian Church. (The paucity of available contemporary literature on the subject is one fact which may serve to illustrate this.) The subject of the first Christian sermon preached on the Day of Pentecost was on the Resurrection. The Jesus whom they had crucified, God had made both Lord and Christ. (Acts 2. 37.) The Gospels would belie their name if they had left us with an account of the life and tragic death of a man who claimed to know and reveal God in a special way. The news is good news precisely because of the Resurrection of our Lord from the dead.

This thesis offers a systematic engagement with the theological hermeneutics of Hans Frei. The two key conceptual categories are “the logic of belief” and “the content of God”. The former refers to the grammatical ordering of theological statements: Frei is concerned to distinguish grammatical logic from ontology, and to establish the actual starting point for any given theological enterprise. Frei’s own preference for a “linear” and “cumulative” method built upon the starting point of a realistic narrative reading of the gospels is unpacked and explored. The second category, “the content of God”, refers to Frei’s search for an account in which God has actual reality, as opposed to a mere metaphysical abstraction. Indeed, for Frei, the arrival – or failure to arrive – at a ‘concrete’ account of God is the test of any theological starting point, as evidenced in the ability or otherwise to do exegetical justice to the narrative shape of the crucifixion-resurrection sequence. The thesis demonstrates that for Frei, the starting point in the logic of belief must be the identity of Jesus Christ as revealed in scripture, and only on that basis can a concrete content of God be posited. In so doing, the intention is to set Frei very firmly within his mid-twentieth century context, in particular his engagement with and ultimate rejection of existentialist and Neo-orthodox theology. Accordingly, the thesis traces the development in Frei’s thinking of these two conceptual categories, from his doctoral thesis on Barth’s early theology up to and including his twin publications, The Eclipse of Biblical Narrative (1974) and The Identity of Jesus Christ (1975). Later works by Frei are also considered in relation to these. The thesis does not stop at the mid-twentieth century, but illustrates the continued relevance of Frei’s hermeneutical theology into this century, putting him in conversation with a number of systematic and biblical theologians. Suggestions are made as to his applicability to modern theological concerns, including the debate surrounding the being and action of God: a field where he has yet to be deployed successfully.

No abstract available. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Durban-Westville, 2001.

What sources informed the resurrection narrative of Jesus in the Gospel of John? Some scholars argue that the author of John used the Synoptic Gospels along with oral traditions as sources, but others maintain that John used only independent traditions to write his resurrection story. This paper argues that John did not use the Synoptics for this narrative because the reconstructed history of the Johannine community provides an adequate basis for postulating independent traditions which succeed at explaining both the similarities and differences between John and the Synoptics. While it does not claim to prove that the author was unaware of the Synoptics, it maintains that the evidence for the use of those Gospels in addition to tradition is too weak, whereas independent traditions alone can account for the material. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2020. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Submitted by Filipe dos Santos (fsantos@pucsp.br) on 2017-07-11T12:41:59Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dimas de Macedo Filho.pdf: 1119092 bytes, checksum: 9a82467d8fa33c0a50cf5abc000c38aa (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-07-11T12:41:59Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dimas de Macedo Filho.pdf: 1119092 bytes, checksum: 9a82467d8fa33c0a50cf5abc000c38aa (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-06-27 / This dissertation has as its theme the historical issue of the Jesus’ resurrection according to the literary work of Wolfhart Pannenberg. The choice of this author took place due to the importance he gives the historical fundaments of faith’s affirmations. This theme aims to deepen the primitive community’s assertion that Jesus, once crucified and dead, resurrected among the dead and that this event happened within the context of the history. In view of to the importance of this event to the faith’s profession of the community, and as long as it was from it that the Christological reflection of the Church has begun, it is thought that this work has a great relevance for the theological research and, therefore, it justifies its own research. To accomplish it, were used, besides the chosen author as reference, theologians who also reflect on this thematic. The main hypothesis is that the faith’s profession of the community in Jesus’ resurrection can only find a secure footing if this event really happened in the historical-traditional context in which they lived. Otherwise, the professed faith would not pass from just an invention and, therefore, it would not sustain itself as a result of the passing of the centuries. From this it resulted that the Jesus’ resurrection can be asserted as a historic event / Esta dissertação tem, como temática, a questão histórica da ressurreição de Jesus na obra de Wolfhart Pannenberg. A escolha desse autor se deu devido à importância que ele confere à fundamentação histórica das afirmações de fé. Essa temática tem, como objetivo, aprofundar a afirmação da comunidade primitiva de que Jesus, outrora crucificado e morto, ressuscitou dentre os mortos e que esse evento aconteceu dentro do contexto da história tradicional em que viviam. Tendo em vista a importância desse evento para a profissão de fé da comunidade e contando que foi a partir dele que se iniciou a reflexão cristológica da Igreja, pensa-se que este trabalho é de grande relevância para a pesquisa teológica e, portanto, justifica-se tal pesquisa. Para realizá-la foram utilizados, além do autor escolhido como referência, teólogos(as) que também refletem sobre essa temática. A principal hipótese é que a profissão de fé da comunidade na ressurreição de Jesus só pode encontrar um fundamento seguro se esse evento de fato aconteceu no contexto histórico tradicional em que viveram. Do contrário, a fé professada não passaria de uma invenção e, portanto, não se sustentaria na sequência dos séculos. Disso resultou que a ressurreição de Jesus pode ser afirmada como evento histórico

`Resurrection' can be approached from several angles. The most common angle is what this study avoids: pressing for a `yes' or a `no' answer as to whether `Jesus really rose from the dead'. That is, demanding a definitive and final outcome from the discipline of historical-critical research. This study treats resurrection as a symbol. Symbols intrinsically generate multiple meanings. Historical, hermeneutical and gospel-critical parameters are the constraints within which reflection on the symbol of resurrection must take place, and the validity of perspectives be established. John Dominic Crossan's view of the resurrection is the focal point of discussion in this thesis, for two reasons. (1) He has clearly mapped out his method. (2) He occupies a middle position, by interpreting resurrection metaphorically and theologically. This sets him apart from those who interpret the resurrection literally and historically and those who accept the negative or uncertain outcome from the side of historical-critical inquiry as the death sentence for Christian faith. / New Testament / M.Th. (New Testament)

In this research study, the correlation between culture and gospel is investigated by examining changes in the interpretation of the cross of Christ from Early Christianity up to present times, using the method of paradigmatic analysis designed by David J. Bosch. Following the concept of the Missio Dei within mission theology, this study aims to find a perspective on the event of the cross which is relevant for today's practice. With reference to the topics of cultural context, sin, sacrifice, vicariousness, cross and mission, this study shows that in every paradigm the diverse perspectives of the interpretation of Jesus' death were explicable and helpful within their relevant contexts. It can also be seen that in its objectives, message and practice, mission correlates with the respective motifs prevalent at the time. In conclusion, after determining the proper place of the results within the concept of Missio Dei in mission theology, the study examines the relevance of these results for the Missio Christi, in order to offer a contribution to the debate and a potential perspective for explaining the significance of Jesus' death in the current German-speaking cultural context. / Christian Spirituality, Church History & Missiology / M. Th. (Missiology)

In this research study, the correlation between culture and gospel is investigated by examining changes in the interpretation of the cross of Christ from Early Christianity up to present times, using the method of paradigmatic analysis designed by David J. Bosch. Following the concept of the Missio Dei within mission theology, this study aims to find a perspective on the event of the cross which is relevant for today's practice. With reference to the topics of cultural context, sin, sacrifice, vicariousness, cross and mission, this study shows that in every paradigm the diverse perspectives of the interpretation of Jesus' death were explicable and helpful within their relevant contexts. It can also be seen that in its objectives, message and practice, mission correlates with the respective motifs prevalent at the time. In conclusion, after determining the proper place of the results within the concept of Missio Dei in mission theology, the study examines the relevance of these results for the Missio Christi, in order to offer a contribution to the debate and a potential perspective for explaining the significance of Jesus' death in the current German-speaking cultural context. / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / M. Th. (Missiology)