<p> This project challenged pastors and leadership staff members within the Northeastern Section of the Southern New England Ministry Network of the Assemblies of God to engage in an ongoing ministry of teaching with strong emphasis on the doctrine and history of divine healing. The objective was to equip church leaders and, in turn, their parishioners, to withstand the winds of erroneous teachings on healing as propagated by the Word of Faith evangelists. </p><p> The biblical analysis (chapter 2) centered on four theological themes: sin, the atonement, faith, and grace. The section on the atonement included an exegetical (linguistic) review of Isaiah 53:4-5; 1 Peter 2:24; and Matthew 8:17. The historical-foundational aspect of divine healing in the Word of Faith Movement (chapter 3) included a review of the philosophical-metaphysical-theological teachings of Emmanuel Swedenborg, Phineas Parkhurst Quimby, and Mary Baker Eddy. A review of the doctrine of Essex W. Kenyon provided an understanding of how metaphysics influenced the doctrine of divine healing in twentieth-century Pentecostalism. This project is a teaching tool for Pentecostal leaders in the local church; it assists them in refuting Kenyon and his followers' theology of healing. </p><p> The project seminar executed for this study evaluated questionnaire responses of thirty-one attendees regarding their attitudes concerning and understanding of divine healing. On the whole, the project seminar was effective. It affirmed and validated the belief and feelings of the presenter that a need exists in Pentecostal churches to clarify the doctrine of divine healing. </p>

Thesis (Th. M.)--Dallas Theological Seminary, 1985. / Bibliography: leaves 110-116.

In this thesis I explore the emergence of the Christian triad with reference to two contemporary movements: Middle Platonism and Gnosticism. The earliest Christian writer to enumerate the three constituents of what would become the Christian Trinity is Justin. In addition to his three extant works, Justin’s triadology can be diagnosed from those he directly influenced – Tatian and Athenagoras – who I have (somewhat artificially) grouped under the heading the “school of Justin”. The ontological triad adopted by these Christian thinkers is compared with the triads of Middle Platonism and Gnosticism, both in terms of their structure and in terms of the function and ontological status of the individual constituents of these triads. In this thesis I propose that a liturgical triad of primitive Christianity, the trine baptismal formula, was conflated by the “school of Justin” with the ontological triad of Middle Platonism, resulting in three referents of the baptismal formula being embued with new functions and ontological status. Whilst emerging as a hierarchical triad, the logic of Platonic ontology when combined with Christian tradition required the sharp distinction between God, as Being, and all other things resulting in a Christian triad that was also a unity. This new triad became fixed as a central tenet of Christianity. I find no plausible connection between any known Gnostic triad and the triad of the “school of Justin”. There is some interaction between Gnostic and Platonic thought during this period. It is possible that the Triple-Powered One pre-empted the Being-Mind-Life triad of Neoplatonism.