Thesis (S.T.M.)--Trinity Lutheran Seminary, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 89-95).

This dissertation addresses the problem of whether the Gospel of Matthew reflects a Jewish Christian or gentile Christian stance within the early church. A study of the principal theories of the evolution of the early church provides the background against which the terms "Jewish Christian" and "gentile Christian" may be understood. The dissertation examines the bases on which Matthew has been classified as either Jewish Christian or gentile Christian. This previous work on Matthew is found to be unsatisfactory because of the lack of adequate criteria for classifying Matthew. A study of Acts and the letters of Paul reveals that the practice or rejection of Jewish dietary purity was a cause of division in the early church, and thus constitutes a suitable criterion for distinguishing between Jewish and gentile Christianity. Examination of Mt 15:1-20 shows that Matthew does not accept Jewish dietary purity as a part of God's will. Matthew thus reflects a gentile Christian position.

This study aims to construct the legal rights and duties of slave-owners in the first century AD as context for the exhortations in the New Testament directed at slave-owners. The central theoretical argument has been that the legal context of the first readers is essential for a valid interpretation of these exhortations, and that taking into account this legal context makes a valid interpretation possible. The study applies philological and comparative methods as well as analysis, interpretation and synthesis of the collected material. Chapter 1 provides an outline of the study. Chapter 2 first defines a search filter to delimit the vast collection of material on slavery in antiquity, and then describes ancient slavery as general context to the texts and the New Testament exhortations analysed in subsequent chapters. In chapter 3 the legal context has been constructed by way of analysis of primary texts from Greek, Roman, and Jewish law. Chapter 4 deals with primary texts on the philosophical underpinnings of slavery in the three worlds under investigation. In chapter 5 Greek, Roman, and Jewish primary texts dealing with the conduct of slave-owners in respect of their slaves have been analysed. In chapter 6 the New Testament exhortations to slave-owners have been analysed utilising the contexts constructed in the preceeding chapters. Chapter 7 summarises the findings and conclusions of the study. The study has concluded the New Testament writers’ acceptance of the legal and social reality of slavery in the first century AD. Their writings, however, contain unique features with a direct bearing on the rights and duties of slave-owners namely their persistent placement of the slave-owner – slave relationship in the context of the believing slave-owner and/or slave’s relationship with Jesus Christ. Within this framework, the study points towards diverging viewpoints within the New Testament on a continuum between social separation and acculturation. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Greek))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011

This study aims to construct the legal rights and duties of slave-owners in the first century AD as context for the exhortations in the New Testament directed at slave-owners. The central theoretical argument has been that the legal context of the first readers is essential for a valid interpretation of these exhortations, and that taking into account this legal context makes a valid interpretation possible. The study applies philological and comparative methods as well as analysis, interpretation and synthesis of the collected material. Chapter 1 provides an outline of the study. Chapter 2 first defines a search filter to delimit the vast collection of material on slavery in antiquity, and then describes ancient slavery as general context to the texts and the New Testament exhortations analysed in subsequent chapters. In chapter 3 the legal context has been constructed by way of analysis of primary texts from Greek, Roman, and Jewish law. Chapter 4 deals with primary texts on the philosophical underpinnings of slavery in the three worlds under investigation. In chapter 5 Greek, Roman, and Jewish primary texts dealing with the conduct of slave-owners in respect of their slaves have been analysed. In chapter 6 the New Testament exhortations to slave-owners have been analysed utilising the contexts constructed in the preceeding chapters. Chapter 7 summarises the findings and conclusions of the study. The study has concluded the New Testament writers’ acceptance of the legal and social reality of slavery in the first century AD. Their writings, however, contain unique features with a direct bearing on the rights and duties of slave-owners namely their persistent placement of the slave-owner – slave relationship in the context of the believing slave-owner and/or slave’s relationship with Jesus Christ. Within this framework, the study points towards diverging viewpoints within the New Testament on a continuum between social separation and acculturation. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Greek))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011

<p>Vastly different opinions exist within New Testament scholarship regarding the relationship between Paul's ethical exhortations in Gal 5-6 and the theological portions of the letter. In an attempt to argue for the cohesiveness of Paul's argument in the letter as a whole, numerous commentaries outline the letter according to the principles that are described in the ancient handbooks on Greco-Roman rhetoric. Although outlining Galatians according to the typical parts of an ancient speech does provide a way of viewing the correspondence as a coherent argument, studying Galatians from the standpoint of Paul's adherence to the conventions of the technical rhetorical handbooks has produced problems of its own. First, there is no consensus as to whether or not Paul actually had obtained the highest level of rhetorical education in which the handbooks were studied. While some commentaries on Galatians (e.g., those written by Hans Dieter Betz and Ben Witherington III) propose that the apostle exhibits a rhetorical strategy in the letter that follows the conventions described in the rhetorical handbooks, other studies (e.g., the one by R. Dean Anderson Jr.) that compare Paul's letters with ancient rhetorical theory have concluded that Paul most likely had no knowledge of the principles of the rhetorical handbooks of his day. Another problem with minutely analyzing Galatians in terms of the conventions described in the ancient rhetoric handbooks is that Galatians is a letter, not a speech. Although ancient letters did usually follow the conventions of ancient epistolary theory, de Boer has most recently pointed out that efforts to classify Galatians as a particular type of rhetoric are misguided since ancient letters were freer compositions than ancient speeches. J. Louis Martyn has proposed that Galatians should be understood as an apocalyptic sermon and, therefore, since Paul was a divine messenger in preaching the gospel, the letter does not actually follow the conventions of a particular classification of ancient rhetoric. However, even scholars who propose that Paul had no technical knowledge of the rhetorical handbooks admit that certain rhetorical principles of speech and letter writing were ubiquitous in the Greco-Roman world. <br> </p><p>This dissertation argues that one of the rhetorical principles that was prevalent in the first-century Greco-Roman world was the device of rhetorical parody. Although the word "parody" is usually associated today with the connotation of burlesque or absurdity, a type of humorous parody that did exist in the ancient world, ancient <italic>rhetorical</italic> parody should be understood as either an altered quotation of a recognizable text or saying or a newly created saying that closely resembles a recognizable one. Also, ancient rhetorical parody should be understood as a stylistic rhetorical device that was designed to add vividness and polemical intensity to an argument by way of incongruity. In an effort to persuade an audience, a recognizable text or saying was transformed and given a new meaning, one that might be quite incongruous with its original meaning. While this type of rhetorical device was discussed by ancient rhetoricians, its use was common in the everyday conversations of a literate person in the first century. Therefore the ability to use the device of rhetorical parody did not require a rhetorical education in which one studied the handbooks. Rather, it was a process by which a person altered an existing saying or text, possibly one that had been used by one's opponent in an argument, in order to gain an advantage over the opponent. Ancient rhetorical parody differs from irony in that irony presents a meaning different from the normal meaning of the words spoken. Irony, therefore, does not require an underlying saying or text.<br></p><p>After determining a definition of ancient rhetorical parody, this study investigates whether or not an understanding of Paul's use of rhetorical parody in Galatians might clarify some of Paul's puzzling statements. The investigation is limited to the statements that Paul made in Galatians and does not attempt to understand the letter via Paul's other letters. This study seeks to determine if Paul's scriptural quotations and allusions might be a parodic reinterpretation of Scriptures that demanded Torah-obedience in order to dissociate obeying the Mosaic law from faithfulness to God. The study is not limited to the Scriptures that were later canonized by the Church, but it is limited to the Greek text of writings since rhetorical parody is a play on the words of the hypotext. <br></p><p>A comparison of Galatians with Scriptures that demanded obedience to the Mosaic law or praised individuals who championed the law reveals that Paul parodically reinterpreted scriptural passages in order to dissociate the rejection of the Mosaic law from the curse of the law. The curse of the law is shown to refer not only to slavery, but also to spiritual death. This study also reveals that the law-free Galatians were being excluded from the faith community on the basis that they were unrepentant sinners. Additionally, Gal 3-4 is best understood as Paul's argument against the confluence of the covenant with Abraham and the Mosaic law. <br></p><p>This dissertation concludes that understanding Paul's use of rhetorical parody not only clarifies several puzzling statements in the letter, but also demonstrates that Paul's exhortations in Gal 5-6 address the Galatian situation just as much as the theological sections do. <br></p> / Dissertation

The importance and richness of 1 Peter�s soteriological language is generally acknowledged by commentators. However, apart from a few scattered and sporadic remarks in commentaries and in articles no full-scale study of 1 Peter�s soteriology has been carried out. This thesis seeks to fill that gap by conducting a detailed theological-critical study of the concept of salvation in the first letter of Peter. Part one of this thesis outlines the presuppositions and approach to theological-critical exegesis taken here. Basic to a theological exegesis of Scripture, it will be noted, is the recognition of its dual authorship as a divine and human communicative action embodied in written discourse. This means that the interpreter must be oriented primarily toward the subject matter of the biblical text and be committed to discerning the meaning placed there by the divine and human authors. This is another way of saying that the theological interpreter must take seriously the literal sense of the text. To do this, I will suggest, involves three things (each of which will be discussed): (1) literal sense exegesis; (2) intercanonical conversation; (2) intercatholic conversation. Part two contains a detailed theological-critical analysis of those passages in 1 Peter that treat the topic of salvation: 1:1-2; 2:4-10 (election); 1:18-21; 2:21-25; 3:18 (atonement); 1:3, 23-25 (regeneration); 1:3-12; 3:18-4:6 (eschatological salvation). We will see that 1 Peter�s soteriological outlook exhibits a salvation-historical framework which locates the initiative for salvation in God�s eternal, sovereign and gracious electing purpose (1:1-2; 2:4-19), decisively inaugurated in the death (1:10-12, 18-21; 2:21-25; 3:18) and subsequent resurrection, ascension, exaltation and vindication of Christ (1:3, 11, 21; 2:4d, 7d; 3:18e, 19, 21d-22; 4:13; 5:1, 4, 10), existentially realized through the proclamation of the message of salvation (1:12, 23) and the experience of the new birth (1:3, 23), and finally consummated at the return of Christ when suffering and death will give way to life, victory and vindication (1:3-12; 3:18-4:6). Peter�s unique presentation of the believers� eschatological salvation in terms of future victory and vindication is designed to engender hope amongst a small minority of believers facing the onslaught of a hostile world against their faith. In part three I seek to bring the results of my exegesis into dialogue with a variety of theological traditions (e.g., Reformed, Neo-orthodox, Lutheran, Arminian, Pelagian, Wesleyan) in order to allow 1 Peter to make its own distinctive contribution to the ongoing discussion (both between the traditions and between the bible and theology) but also to allow that dialogue to shape and sharpen our own understanding of salvation in 1 Peter. Because of the confines of space the discussion here is limited to the doctrines of election, atonement and regeneration. While at a conceptual level this thesis is an investigation of the concepts and presentation of salvation in the first letter of Peter, at a methodological level it further seeks to overcome the present and unfortunate segregation of biblical studies and theological studies and hopes further to open up the way for a more fruitful dialogue between the two.

Thesis (M.A.--Church Hist.)--Catholic University of America, 1988. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 101-104).

Thesis (Th. M.)--Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia, 1991. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 120-128).

Thesis--Hamburg. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 373-449).

Thesis (S.T.M.)--Trinity Lutheran Seminary, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 89-95).