Thesis (M.A.)--Denver Seminary, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 66-68).

Thesis (D. Min.)--Erskine Theological Seminary, 2004. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 129-132).

Thesis (S.T.M.)--Yale Divinity School, 1987. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 27-28).

Thesis (M.A.P.S.)--Catholic Theological Union at Chicago, 2000. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 77-79).

ABSTRACT This dissertation describes and critiques the Darwinian proposal for morality constructed by Professor Michael Ruse. Chapter 1 outlines Ruse's background and Darwinian worldview while also depicting some inherent obstacles to the Darwinian worldview. Chapter 2 describes the moral anti-realism of Professor Ruse and illustrates his position as Hume updated by Darwin. Ruse's ethical skepticism denies genuine objectivity in morality, but he also rejects traditional subjectivism. Ruse describes himself as a subjectivist of a distinct kind. Chapter 3 examines the central and most controversial tenet of Ruse's moral proposal: the illusion of objectivity. Analysis and critique is offered of Ruse's proposal that objectivity is an illusion foisted upon all humans by natural selection. Chapter 4 describes how Ruse defines altruism and illustrates the fundamental problem that genuine altruism is for Darwinism. A charge is offered that Darwinism only supports pseudo-altruism and cannot successfully justify the common practice of authentic altruism. Chapter 5 concludes the dissertation and offers an argument that the nature of God serves as a far superior foundation for morality than Ruse supplies in his proposal. The doctrine of the imago dei provides a robust account of human dignity and morality.

Thesis advisor: Jeremy D. Wilkins / This dissertation draws upon the work of Thomas Aquinas and Bernard J. F. Lonergan in order to put forward an integrated theorem of the imago Trinitatis. The theorem of the imago Trinitatis, in Catholic theology, is a theorem about how human persons imitate and reflect the triune God. In Aquinas and Lonergan, the imago Trinitatis is identified with the intelligent emanations of word and love that occur within the human mind. But, according to Aquinas, the imago Trinitatis can be considered in two respects: first, as a likeness by analogy—that is, an analogical likeness—and, second, as a likeness by conformity between the human and the divine. The first two chapters explain each of these likenesses in Aquinas, and the next two chapters explain each of these likenesses in Lonergan. The final chapter of this dissertation proposes a complementary analogical likeness of the Trinity in humans: an analogical likeness based upon shared intentionality. It further explains how this likeness is related to the analogical likeness based upon intelligent emanation in Aquinas and Lonergan. In doing so, this dissertation defends an integrated conception of the analogical likeness of the Trinity in human beings, as it unites the analogical likeness based upon intelligible emanation occurring in the human mind and the analogical likeness based upon shared intentionality as interpersonal, coordinated activity. The imago Trinitatis, then, is at once personal and interpersonal, and the analogues for the Trinity in humans are both psychological and communal. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2023. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Theology.

Text in Afrikaans / Tieners se probleme veroorsaak dikwels godvervreemdheid of kerkloosheid. Die rede, wil dit vookom, is omdat hulle met 'n verkeerde en naiwe godsbeeld en godservaringe hulle lewenspad begin loop het. Uit hierdie studie het dit baie duidelik geword dat die ondersteuningsisteme van die jong tiener sy/haar ervaring van God baie belnvloed. Van hierdie ondersteuningsisteme blyk die huis en familie die primere invloede te wees op die jong tiener se ervaring van God. Die rol wat die ouers speel in die daarstelling van 'n gesonde of verkeerde godsbegrip het in die studie sterk op die voorgrond getree. Die studie het ook nuwe lig gewerp op die rol en invloed van die kerk in die jong tiener se ervaring van God. Die rol van veral kognitiewe, sosiale en godsdienstige ontwikkeling is ook geidentifiseer as belangrik vir die ontwikkeling van 'n gesonde godsbeeld. Aan die einde van die studie is riglyne gegee vir die bediening. / Teenagers' problems cause them to become alienated from God and the church. The reason, seems to be that they start walking on the road of life according to wrong and naive images and experiences of God. In this study it became clear that support systems of young teenagers influence their experience of God. Of these support systems the home and family seem to be the primary influences on young teenager's experience of God. The role of parents in the establishment of a healthy, or wrong image of God, stood on the foreground very strongly. The study also sheds new light on the role and influence of the church in the junior higher' s experience of God. The role of especially cognitive, social and religious development were also identified as important for the development of a healthy image of God. At the end guidelines are provided for ministry. / M. Diac. (Praktiese Teologie (Jeugwerk))

Text in Afrikaans / Tieners se probleme veroorsaak dikwels godvervreemdheid of kerkloosheid. Die rede, wil dit vookom, is omdat hulle met 'n verkeerde en naiwe godsbeeld en godservaringe hulle lewenspad begin loop het. Uit hierdie studie het dit baie duidelik geword dat die ondersteuningsisteme van die jong tiener sy/haar ervaring van God baie belnvloed. Van hierdie ondersteuningsisteme blyk die huis en familie die primere invloede te wees op die jong tiener se ervaring van God. Die rol wat die ouers speel in die daarstelling van 'n gesonde of verkeerde godsbegrip het in die studie sterk op die voorgrond getree. Die studie het ook nuwe lig gewerp op die rol en invloed van die kerk in die jong tiener se ervaring van God. Die rol van veral kognitiewe, sosiale en godsdienstige ontwikkeling is ook geidentifiseer as belangrik vir die ontwikkeling van 'n gesonde godsbeeld. Aan die einde van die studie is riglyne gegee vir die bediening. / Teenagers' problems cause them to become alienated from God and the church. The reason, seems to be that they start walking on the road of life according to wrong and naive images and experiences of God. In this study it became clear that support systems of young teenagers influence their experience of God. Of these support systems the home and family seem to be the primary influences on young teenager's experience of God. The role of parents in the establishment of a healthy, or wrong image of God, stood on the foreground very strongly. The study also sheds new light on the role and influence of the church in the junior higher' s experience of God. The role of especially cognitive, social and religious development were also identified as important for the development of a healthy image of God. At the end guidelines are provided for ministry. / M. Diac. (Praktiese Teologie (Jeugwerk))

The Judeo-Christian belief, based on the bible, is that “God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them” (Gen. 1: 27). This dissertation explores the Akan understanding of the human person to shed further light on creation of human beings in the image of God and to understand and demonstrate the corresponding uniqueness of the human being among God's creatures. With the help of the Akan context, we note that every human being possesses a spark of God. God, who is relational, shares relationality with human beings.<br> Through the use of Akan anthropology, we identify creation “in the image of God” to mean that every human being is created through the agency of parents, who also share in the image of God through their birth. Our interpretation is that the okra is the soul and is considered the “spark of God” in the human being. The honhom, which refers to the breath of life, is treated as the breath that God breathed into human beings to make a human a living being (Gen 2:7). We equated the breath of God with the Holy Spirit who gives life. We propose to demonstrate the possibility of human relationships through the Holy Spirit.<br> At the moment of conception, every human being derives some elements from his/her father and mother and elements from God. These elements from the three sources (God, mother, and father) combine to make a person a human being. Though humanity derives certain elements from the three sources, it is the holistic person that reflects God's image in the sense that through the various elements humanity is able to relate and communicate with God, neighbor, and the world. The holistic human person enables us to clarify that humanity is both physical and spiritual. <br> With the help of the Akan anthropology, we successfully show that knowledge of the human being starts with the relationship between God and human beings, which extends to other humans and the universe, thus offering a further insight into the meaning of being created in the image of God. <br> Our conclusion is that when a Christian is asked the question, “What exactly in the human being points to the image of God?” he/she will be able to respond that there is a “spark” of God in every human being. We therefore renew Christian anthropology through the method of contextualization with the Akan culture to disclose the hidden presence of God in the human being. We demonstrate that theology functions exactly as the manner in which religion makes sense within a given culture. As the people in the culture understand their world and make meaning of it, they can also share their insight with others. Human beings have become a source of theology in addition to scripture and tradition. Human beings are created in God’s image and are relational and unique within God's creation. / McAnulty College and Graduate School of Liberal Arts; / Theology / PhD; / Dissertation;

This thesis, grounded in a select group of women's experience, critiques the exclusive images for God presented by the Church in its language and liturgy. My contention in this thesis is that in an emerging democracy such as South Africa, the metaphors and language used are increasingly restrictive - in terms of both the empowerment of women and the enrichment of men. I look at how feminist scholarship has focussed on the implications of patriarchy for women and the claim by feminist theologians that the ensuing symbols have been damaging for women The analysis includes means to recover traditional images for God and suggestions of ways to discover alternative images. Following the feminist analysis, I argue for a hermeneutic which locates the meaning of the tradition within the experience of three local, select groups of women. / Thesis (M.Th.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2000.