Chapter 1 introduces the problem in terms of multifarious views regarding the phrase ὁ νόμος τοῦ Χριστοῦ in Galatians 6:2. I place my work within broader scholarship’s trajectory by explaining my thesis–that the νόμος in the phrase refers to “principle,” unwritten law, rather than written law such as the Mosaic law and another law–briefly addressing my intended method. Chapter 2 briefly investigates the usages of νόμος from 7th century BC and AD 2nd century and paves the way for its various possible meanings. With the certainty that the meaning of a word is revealed in the context in which it is found, I argue that νόμος in the phrase in 6:2 refers to “principle,” unwritten law in the situational context of Galatians. I also reveal that the verb ἀναπληρόω, which takes the phrase as a direct object, means conforming to a certain standard. Chapter 3 focuses on the new era referred to in the phrase in 6:2. In order to highlight how the new era is depicted in Galatians, I explore the ὑπὸ phrases to signify the old era. Along with the coming of Christ in history, I give much attention to the fact that two epochal events, the crucifixion and the resurrection of Christ, brought about the end of the old era and the beginning of the new era. Chapter 4 centers on Paul’s exhortation to conform to the principle of the new era in 6:2 within the broader context of Galatians. Specifically, after investigating Paul’s eschatology in Galatians, I reveal that Paul emphasizes the aspects of the “already” and of the overlapping ages rather than the “not yet” to awaken the identity of the Galatians who are the people of the new era. Chapter 5 summarizes and synthesizes the material, showing that in 6:2 Paul’s appeal to bear one another’s burdens refers to the believers’ conformity to the principle of the new era inaugurated by the crucified and risen Christ in the overlapping ages.

Thesis (doctoral)--Universität, Mainz, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references.

Annotation: The seven Noahide laws represent a divine non-Jewish complementary to Jewish law. This thesis has been looking for an answer to the question about concept of those laws, their content, intentions and contemporary use. The main method is analysis of original sources and investigating their mutual relations. Comparison of contemporary guides is also included.

This dissertation represents a prolegomena to a new approach to the study of the Greek New Testament, with ½ó¼o[varsigma] in Romans as a test case. Chapter 1 introduces the seemingly intractable interpretive debates concerning the Mosaic Law. Chapter 2 outlines an integrative model of understanding language--systemic-functional linguistics (SFL)--that forms the foundation of this study and the central pillar for the application of that theory--corpus linguistics using the annotation database of Opentext.org project. Chapter 3 develops a number of tools on the basis of SFL and corpus linguistics as supporting pillars for text analysis. Specifically, it provides a map on what to study in a text and how to do it. Chapter 4 illustrates the methods developed in chapter 3 and introduces the reader to the discourse of Romans through the Opening (Rom 1:1-7) and Thanksgiving (Rom 1:8-17) sections. Ultimately, a more comprehensive study building upon this initial attempt at a bottom-up analysis will be needed for a full discourse commentary on Romans. Chapter 5 explores the portrait of ½ó¼o[varsigma] from the angle of patterns of lexical repetition. Different passages on ½ó¼o[varsigma] are shown to be mutually interpretive. Chapters 6 and 7 examines the functional patterns of ½ó¼o[varsigma] as the head term of a word group (without a genitive qualifier) and as a modifier respectively. The common meaning component and reference patterns for ½ó¼o[varsigma] are uncovered in the process. Chapter 8 investigates the patterns of ½ó¼o[varsigma] as modified by a genitive. It was discovered that ½ó¼o[varsigma] has different reference patterns when modified. Chapter 9 is the overall summary. This work contends that while ½ó¼o[varsigma] most often refers to the Mosaic Law, the more general reference usage of the word as an entity that prescribes standards and as a controlling principle (in Romans 7-8) shed light on the meaning and function of the Mosaic Law and on the theme of control in Romans. / 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.

D.Phil. et Litt. / The interaction between law and love in Pauline writing has been an interesting topic, where we have discovered that the law of God cannot be separated from his agape love, which has followed mankind from creation and eventually leads him to eternity. We discovered that the law of God reveals God's character and that is his love. The Law of God and His Love are one and cannot be separated from each other. God gives the law to prove to man that he loves him deeply and eternally. When Jesus Christ died on the cross of Calvary, He died because of the love for his created beings and the law that was broken and could not be altered or changed without the shedding of blood. The redemption of the sinner had to be made possible through the shedding of blood by the one who had not broken God's law. The love and death of Jesus can only be understood through the plan of salvation, which is the interaction between law and love as exposed in Pauline writings. This is a mystery of the wonderful love of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is wonderful to discover the way Paul blends the law and love in a way that it makes it hard to separate the two. If not carefully studied, one would not be able to see this fact in Pauline writings. The Law of God is actually the expression of His love to us. He would like. us to love Him by keeping the first four commandments and loving our fellow man by keeping the last six of the Ten Commandments. We need to have a positive outlook on the law, so that we may love to do God's will and honour Him because He loved us dearly and did not spare His own son for our redemption. The plan of redemption was born out of the eternal love of God towards humanity that could not be measured by anything on earth and in Heaven. In chapter one and two, we look at the overview of law and love in Pauline writings. The Pauline framework, its theology and the ethics of law and love. The whole plan of salvation for all humanity and how God loves all His creation. Although God had a chosen people through Abraham, He only wanted to make His love known throughout the world and all generations. God had always had His special people through whom He made His love and care known although they sometimes failed to is do His will. Like the children of Israel failed him throughout the ages and He has always been patient with them until they killed Jesus on the Cross.

This dissertation explores the relationship between the ancient Israelite HOH and the members of his family as portrayed in the prescriptive texts of Deuteronomy. In choosing the prescriptive texts, this study distinguishes between the actual (what was) and the ideal (what should have been). Chapter 2 examines those texts, elsewhere referred to under the rubric of "family law," which specifically address the rights and responsibilities of the father in relation to other members of his household. These texts include Deuteronomy 21:10-14; 21:15-17; 21:18-21; 22:13-21; 24:1-4; 24:5 and 25:5-10. Each text is examined with focus on the characters involved, the setting (including relevant Old Testament and ancient Near Eastern background material), and ultimately the main concern or concerns driving each text. Those concerns are analyzed to see what implications the text has for the role and responsibilities of a righteous father in ancient Israel. This study seeks to establish from these texts the underlying principles that were to govern the use of his authority within the household. Chapter 3 consists of a synthesis of the results of the study and suggestions for further research. This work contends that these texts presuppose, rather than establish, a father's rights. Further, the texts view the father's authority in terms of responsibility, namely responsibility for the well-being of the members of his household to be achieved through zealous commitment to righteousness. Finally, it is proposed that abuse of a man's authority resulting in social degradation of a woman is followed by restrictions on that man's authority. / 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.

No description available.

This dissertation reconstructs Ashkenazi and Sephardi German Jews’ intensive pursuit of civil and religious rights before Germany’s Imperial Supreme Court (Reichskammergericht, the Imperial Chamber Court) in the context of the wide-ranging religious and legal reforms in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Through my systematic analysis of 75,000 court records and my examinations of manuscripts and early printed materials from more than thirty archives across three continents, I study hundreds of previously untapped Supreme Court cases alongside religious and legal sources in German, Hebrew, Yiddish, Spanish, Portuguese, and Latin. I take an integrative approach to this wealth of sources to argue that by using the Supreme Court in numbers that far exceeded their proportion of the population, including in matters that pertained to Jewish law, this litigious minority generated grounds for inter-religious exchanges with the court’s Christian lawyers and judges. These lawyers endeavored to understand and incorporate Jewish law into imperial procedure, not merely due to their commitment to conflict resolution, but also due to their interest in advancing the universal applicability of Roman law as a sophisticated tool to conjoin the different limbs of the empire into a cohesive state. These efforts led the Supreme Court, and therefore the state, to protect rabbinic law and secure the continuation of a Jewish presence in Germany, thus moving in an opposite direction from key religious reformers and local authorities. This dissertation reveals that the study of Jews’ surprising strategies of interconnecting law and religion in defense of themselves and their religious laws promoted Jews’ civil rights in radical ways, and attained a de facto status of imperial citizenship for Ashkenazi and Sephardi-Portuguese Jews. Unearthing knowledge from the archives, this dissertation redraws the porous boundaries between Jewish and non-Jewish legal cultures and calls for a reconsideration of early modes of Jewish citizenship. Showing how Jewish women and men, including Iberian refugees, employed litigation as an anti-nomadic tool against pending expulsions, this dissertation also challenges prevalent conventions on weak Jewish responses to persecution, forced migration, and the agency that ethnic and religious minorities can wield in state-building processes.

The ancient Near Eastern cultures and the Babylonian Talmud are examined to ascertain whether they can elucidate Biblical descriptions of disease (many of which are mentioned by the Talmudic rabbis in the course of their discussions) to render a better understanding of the Biblical text. Archaeological evidence can verify the existence of tuberculosis, gout and leprosy in Old Testament times because these diseases leave specific lesions on ancient bones. The ancient Israelites used amulets and incantations to ward off or treat illnesses despite Biblical prohibitions. This use was echoed in both the ancient Near Eastern cultures and in Talmudic times because some rabbis realised their effectiveness, but the majority doubted their usefulness. Idolatry, necromancy and sorcery were practiced and demons played a role in illness. Physicians, healers, herbal remedies, therapies and folk medicine in Biblical and Talmudic times are investigated. / Biblical Archaeology / M.A. (Biblical Archaeology)

This dissertation concentrates on those factors which form the doctrine of G-dly reward and punishment. In other words, the philosophical approach amongst Jewish thinkers from the Middle Ages to the above subject, which taken together give expression to the doctrine of reward and ptmishment, or at least to the possibility of determining such a doctrine. The definition of correct behaviour is not of interest for pwposes of this dissertation, nor is human judgement of behaviour, even according to a G-dly doctrine; only the A-lmighty's judgement and implementation thereof The following points are of note. Research into the specific approach of one individual philosopher is not the aim of this dissertation, but rather a collective crystallised viewpoint according to various different Jewish philosophers, in order to reach a harmonious formation of the desir~ goal. Hence the details are also important since they assist towards the goal. The views of the philsophers are of interest and not their source, viz. from whom these views were received or by whom the philosophers were influenced, as is usually the case in research. Nevertheless, this aspect is elaborated upon in the introduction to this dissertation, in the style of the customary academic research approach. An analytical comparison is made between the opinions of various authors, taking into account the finer points of their words, as well as between the differing opinions expressed by a single author in his various writings, and conclusions are drawn, the results of which are highly significant. Besides the fact that it is not within our power to adjudicate between the views of the great Jewish thinkers, this is even more true here, due to the metaphysical nature of the subject, which makes logical, rational-realistic judgement very difficult. Nevertheless, some criteria have been established for making such a decision. In summary, this dissertation is an attempt to research many diverse opinions in the treasury of Jewish thought from the Middle Ages, and to extract those opinions from which a complete system of the doctrine of reward and punishment can be built. / Religious Studies and Arabic / D.Litt et Phil. (Judaica)