No description available.

Because his search for self is such a dominant and important theme of his work and because it grows out of a rich tradition in western thought, it is the purpose of this thesis to examine this search and to clarify Aiken's ideas concerning the self and the methods and form he used to communicate these ideas.

published_or_final_version / Comparative Asian Studies / Master / Master of Arts

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This thesis offers an examination of healing theology and practice as found in early North American Pentecostalism. The thesis begins with a brief survey of recent scholarship and research on the subject of healing in America, establishing that little attention has been given to the theology and practice of the early Pentecostal movement. The first major section of the thesis is devoted to an examination of the Divine Healing Movement of the nineteenth century, providing the historical and theological background of the Pentecostal Movement's healing theology and practice. By examining the writings of five major practitioners of the movement (including A.B. Simpson, Andrew Murray and Carrie Judd Montgomery), a nineteenth-century theology of 'divine healing provided in the atonement' is articulated. A major portion of the thesis is devoted to an analysis of healing theology and practice in early North American Pentecostalism. An inductive approach is employed, examining the earliest (1906 to 1923) periodical literature of the movement, and where that is not available examining other extant materials, such as sermons, songs and tracts. This portion of the study consists of two major parts: Wesleyan-Pentecostalism and Finished Work Pentecostalism. The result of this examination is the identification of two distinct healing theologies and the attendant practices, which are consistent with each group's distinct soteriological characteristics. A models approach is then employed by which, out of the materials previously examined, these two distinct theologies of healing are constructed. A case study of Pentecostal responses to the 1918 Influenza Epidemic serves both to illustrate and test the two models of healing. A final chapter summarizes conclusions including contributions, clarifications, and implications of the research for further Pentecostal studies as well as a theological reflection on the findings.

An intriguing literary feature of a number of New Testament writings is the depiction of Jesus as a recipient of proskynesis—that is, as an object of the Greek verb προσκυνέω. The term προσκυνέω is generally used in antiquity to express reverence directed toward a superior, often through prostration, but takes on more specific reverential connotations in individual instances, such as extending a respectful greeting to an elder, paying homage to a king, or giving cultic worship to a deity. In the NT writings, not only is the term frequently used for worship of Israel’s God (e.g., Matt 4:10; John 4:20–24; Rev 4:10) and for idolatrous worship of false gods (e.g., Matt 4:9; Acts 7:43; Rev 9:20), but it is also in some instances used to express a form of reverence considered inappropriate for God’s human and angelic servants (Acts 10:25–26; Rev 19:10; 22:8–9). In the numerous instances of Jesus as an object of προσκυνέω (e.g., Mark 5:6; Matt 2:11; 14:33; 28:17; Luke 24:52; John 9:38; Heb 1:6), he is not only portrayed legitimately receiving such reverence, but even doing so in a number of overtly striking scenes where he appears to be more than human. Surprisingly, there is very little thorough scholarly attention given to the significance(s) of Jesus as a recipient of proskynesis in the NT writings. Those who have discussed this NT phenomenon, whether in individual NT works or in the entirety of the NT writings, come to different conclusions regarding whether Jesus is reverenced/worshiped with proskynesis as a human figure or as a divine figure. The goal of this thesis is to determine the significance(s) of the proskynesis of Jesus in every NT writing that this literary phenomenon appears through an in-depth exegetical, literary-critical analysis of such works (the Gospel of Mark, the Gospel of Matthew, the Gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts, the Gospel of John, the Epistle to the Hebrews, and the Book of Revelation). It is argued in this thesis that each of these NT writings, in their own unique ways, presents Jesus as a divine figure uniquely and closely linked to the God of Israel in his reception of proskynesis.

No Abstract / Philosophy and Systematic Theology / (D. Lit. et Phil. (Philosophy))

The objective of this dissertation is to examine the conception of divine providence in the writings of Philo of Alexandria (ca. 25 BCE -50 CE). In order to achieve this aim, we shall follow the theocentric structure of Philo's thought as outlined in the important passage De Opificio Mundi 171-2. In this passage, Philo correlates the idea of providence with his concept of God and the theory of creation. In Chapter One, we shall first review the formal aspects of Philo's concept of God, in particular the idea of God's transcendence, and then correlate how Philo conceptualizes the idea of providence in light of these formal aspects. In particular, we shall explain how Philo can predicate that God is provident in nature, although, strictly speaking, it is Philo's view that God cannot be apprehended in his essence. In Chapter Two, we shall discuss how Philo explains the immanence of God in the cosmos in terms of the Logos and the divine powers, one of which he specifically characterizes as the providential power. In Chapter Three, we shall examine how the concept of God and the notion of providence are both critical for Philo's theory of creation. Philo conceives of the role of providence in cosmological matters as being responsible for the design, administration and continuous existence of the created universe. There are two more issues-raised in Philo's treatise De Providentia-which are critically important in order to gain a thorough understanding of Philo's conception of divine providence. These are the questions of astral fatalism and theodicy. In Chapter Four, we shall address why Philo rejects the assumptions implied in astral fatalismthe divinity of the stars, moral determinism-as irreconcilable with the conception of divine providence. He rejects the divinity of the stars because they cannot be transcendent as God and thus have causal influences over human lives. He rejects astral fatalism because it renders absurd the notion of moral responsibility. Finally, in Chapter Five, we shall correlate the question of theodicy with Philo' s conception of providence. Philo proceeds from the Platonic premise that God is not the cause for evil in any way, neither for physical evil nor for moral evil. Unlike the category of physical evil, which he explains in terms of Stoic arguments, the category of moral evil incriminates human beings directly. For Philo, the existence of moral evil exonerates God and his providence as the cause for evil and anchors the blame in the person. Moral evil originates when the rational part of the soul, the mind (which is inherently free and knows the difference between good and evil), cannot resist the assault by the senses and the passions. Philo thus places both the origin and the responsibility for moral evil on the shoulder of the human being. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

No description available.

No description available.