Thesis advisor: Brian D. Robinette / This dissertation seeks to develop the theological method operative within James Alison's growing theological corpus, which he describes concisely as a "theology in the order of the discovery." I will argue that the value and contribution of his method lies in the careful and consistent attention that he pays to the ongoing, reciprocal relationship that exists between persons' experiences of receiving faith (that is, experiences of conversion) and persons' attempts to understand the content of that faith through a process of self-reflexive appropriation of it (that is, through engagement in the activity of theological reflection). In the introductory chapter, after defining the key terms of the project, I situate my investigation into Alison's method within the context of several twentieth and twenty-first century Christian theological movements: experiential/transcendental theology, dialectical theology, narrative or postliberal theology, and a theology of proclamation. These comparisons allow for an initial articulation of the characteristics of what I will present increasingly more explicitly throughout the dissertation as Alison's "inductive" theology. Part I of the dissertation, consisting of chapter two, presents the mimetic anthropology of René Girard as the primary intellectual influence on Alison's conception of theology. It considers Girard's gradual development of the terminology that he has employed to express his deepening understanding of the operation of mimetic desire, rivalry, and conversion in order to show that Girard's attempt to develop "a Gospel anthropology" requires a systematic theological perspective to give it greater coherence. With this context in place, Part II proceeds with my study of Alison's theological method. Chapter three develops Alison's implicit understanding of one movement in the reciprocal relationship between the experience of conversion and the activity of theological reflection, namely, the movement from conversion to theological reflection, and it presents theology as a fruit of conversion. The primary aim of the chapter is to show that Alison's view of the New Testament accounts of the resurrection appearances leads him to begin to understand the reciprocal relationship between conversion and theology that has guided his theological performance throughout his career. Chapter four develops Alison's implicit view of the reciprocal movement from theological expression to the potential conversion experiences of others, that is, it presents theology as an occasion for conversion. It draws out Alison's implicit understanding of theology as an act of witness which can provide an occasion for the Spirit of Christ to make the crucified and risen Christ present both to the one giving witness and to those that receive that witness. I conclude in chapter five by demonstrating Alison's inductive theological approach as it is operative in several excerpts from his writings. I then begin to demonstrate the fruitfulness of Alison's inductive method by exploring how this method might contribute to three theological and ministerial questions in need of renewed consideration. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2015. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Theology.

Thesis advisor: Frederick G. Lawrence / <italic>Whose Kingdom Shall Have No End: Christ and History in Friedrich Schleiermacher's Glaubenslehre and Christliche Sittenlehre</italic> By: Kevin M. Vander Schel Advisor: Frederick G. Lawrence The present study offers an investigation into the relationship between the influence of Christ and the development of human history in the dogmatic writings of Friedrich Schleiermacher. In contrast to the lingering caricature of Schleiermacher as pioneering a liberal theology of subjective feeling, this study portrays his work as an innovative theological proposal uniting a strong christological emphasis with a unique understanding of historical development. In the face of the dominant opposition between the schools of Rationalism and Supernaturalism in the Protestant theology of his own time, Schleiermacher worked out an alternative historically-conscious theological approach. His dogmatic writings consider the Christian church as a distinctive historical community proceeding from the originative redemptive influence of Christ. This initial appearance of Christ the Redeemer in history he regards as something relatively supernatural, an event irreducible to previous circumstances that introduces a new and higher manner of human living. Yet after this remarkable beginning, he describes Christ's originative influence as entirely mediated by historical and natural means. Schleiermacher thus envisions Christ's influence in human history as a gradual transformation from within. His dogmatic theology describes the emergence of the Reign of God, a development that does not oppose or interrupt natural and historical development but works in and through it to bring the created world to its completion. Schleiermacher indicates this dynamic in his dogmatic theology through the descriptive motif of the <italic>supernatural-becoming-natural</italic>. This study examines this theme both in Schleiermacher's well-known <italic>Christian Faith</italic>, or <italic>Glaubenslehre</italic>, and also in his unfinished and still partially unpublished lectures on <italic>Christian Ethics</italic> (<italic>Christliche Sittenlehre</italic>). This study comprises six chapters and is divided into three parts. The first part considers two aspects of the historical context underlying Schleiermacher's dogmatic theology. Chapter one considers the dispute between the theological schools of Rationalism and Supranaturalism in early nineteenth-century Protestant theology and describes Schleiermacher's own approach as offering a distinct alternative to these two options. Chapter two treats Schleiermacher's role in establishing the theological faculty at the newly founded University of Berlin and his conception of theology as a historically-conscious and positive science that borrows from other university disciplines and employs them in service of its Christian conviction. Schleiermacher's presentation of this theological method, in his <italic>Brief Outline</italic>, informs the later dogmatic work of his <italic>Glaubenslehre</italic> and <italic>Christliche Sittenlehre</italic>. Part two considers Schleiermacher's treatment of the influence of Christ in history in his <italic>Glaubenslehre</italic>. Chapter three presents the formal aspects of this theme in the work's introduction and in the reflections upon the general relationship of God and world in its first part. Writing in conscious distinction from the Rationalist and Supranaturalist schools, Schleiermacher describes the higher influence of Christ through the descriptive strategy of the supernatural-becoming-natural. Chapter four describes the material development of this theme in the work's second part. The higher influence of Christ, which continues in the Spirit, produces the new collective life in the church as a community of grace, set apart from the sinful world and destined to spread over the entire human race. The progression of this new life coincides with the emergence and growth of the Reign of God. Part three treats Schleiermacher's reflections on the historical influence of Christ in his unpublished lectures on <italic>Christliche Sittenlehre</italic>. Chapter five considers this theme in the formal arrangement of this work, once again operating under the descriptive motif of the supernatural-becoming-natural. The <itlaic>Christliche Sittenlehre</italic> treats the distinctively Christian action that results from the higher influence of Christ, which becomes manifest in threefold form: first, as presentational action (<italic>darstellendes Handeln</italic>) that reflects the enduring blessedness of fellowship with Christ; then, in two modes of effective action, as purifying (<italic>reinigendes</italic>) and propagative (<italic>verbreitendes</italic>). Chapter six then considers the material development of these three kinds of Christian action. Schleiermacher's treatment of these three modes of Christian action depicts the increasing permeation and elevation of human historical action through the influence of Christ and the Spirit. In similar fashion to the <italic>Glaubenslehre</italic>, then, Schleiermacher's <italic>Christliche Sittenlehre</italic> portrays the new life originating in Christ as the completion and perfection of human action in the emerging reality of the Reign of God. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2012. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Theology.

ABSTRACT A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE THEOLOGICAL METHOD OF F. LERON SHULTS Joshua Philip Boswell, Ph.D. The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2012 Chair: Dr. Stephen J. Wellum This dissertation evaluates the theological method of F. LeRon Shults. Shults's attempt to develop theology in light of the postmodernism milieu is a legitimate and necessary enterprise for evangelical theologians. His emphasis on interdisciplinary dialogue may open opportunities to engage the secular academy. Despite his laudable motivation and the beneficial features of his project, it fails on at least two counts: biblical fidelity and internal consistency. Chapter 1 sets the cultural/theological context for Shults's project and briefly describes his proposed theological method. In his method the philosophical turn to relationality is a key theme. He proposes four sources for theological method--Scripture, tradition, philosophy, and culture--claiming that Scripture is the primary source. Shults's theology, however, is inconsistent with his proposal. He allows philosophy rather than Scripture to play the determinative role in his theological method. Chapters 2 and 3 describe Shults's theology. Chapter 2 describes Shults's use of Scripture in his theological method as well as his use of tradition. I show that both sources are used as secondary supports to Shults's use of philosophy. Chapter 3 describes the place of philosophy in Shults's theological method. He allows the philosophical turn to relationality to drive his theological project. For Shults, philosophy judges and forms the content of theology. Chapters 4 and 5 evaluate Shults's use of the four sources mentioned above, arguing that Shults affords too little authority to Scripture and too much authority to philosophy. Chapter 4 shows that, despite the authoritative place of Scripture in evangelical theology and the Bible's self-attestation to its authority, Shults does not give Scripture enough authority in his project. Chapter 5 shows that Shults allows philosophy and science to hold more authority than they warrant. Philosophy, for Shults, determines the limits of exegesis and theology. In his program, theology must conform to the philosophical turn to relationality and contemporary science rather than have philosophy and science stand under the evaluative judgment of the biblical text. In short, Shults's theology is unbiblical and inconsistent.

THE ROLE OF THE SPIRIT IN THE INTERPRETATION OF THE WORD OF GOD This dissertation examines the role of the Spirit in the interpretation of the Word of God. Chapter 1 introduces the topic and its significance. The topic is important because it has been historically neglected, because there is a lack of consensus in evangelicalism regarding this topic, and because of the claim made by the postconservative evangelicals that the Spirit reveals beyond the Word of God. Chapter 2 begins with a historical background to the topic, and then examines the four evangelical representative views in detail. For each view, the works of two or three representatives are examined. For each theologian, a summary of his exegetical work is provided, followed by a summary of the construction of his view based on his exegesis. Chapter 3 provides the exegetical foundation for the alternative proposal for understanding the role of the Spirit in interpretation: the Comprehensively Personal Authoritative view (CPA view), which holds that the Holy Spirit comprehensively and personally guides all aspects of the interpretation of the Word of God, in which the object of interpretation is limited to the authoritative Word of God. A directed exegesis is done on each of the four sets of passages: 1 Corinthians 2:6-16; 2 Corinthians 3:16-4:6; John 14:26, 16:13; 1 John 2:18-29. Chapter 4 constructs the CPA view based on the exegetical work in Chapter 3. Chapter 5 provides a critique of the four representative evangelical views, both biblically and theologically. For each view, anticipated objections from that view toward the CPA view are addressed. Chapter 6 concludes by arguing how the CPA view is a better model in terms of its exegetical support, its internal coherence which incorporates the strengths of the other views while minimizing their weaknesses, and its ability to respond to postmodern challenges on this topic. The chapter concludes with suggestions for further exploration and a summary of the dissertation. / This dissertation was under embargo until 2014-12-14.

This dissertation examines theological liberalism and theological conservatism among U.S. Protestants through the lens of moral psychology research. I argue that this theological division parallels similar divides in politics and in morality, theology having become increasingly intertwined with both over the last century. I analyze perspectives on theological method, doctrines of God, and atonement theologies within texts selected for representativeness and influence. Chapter 1 reviews literature in two scholarly discussions: the historical thesis of a “Two-Party System” among U.S. Protestants since the early twentieth century and the sociological thesis of “culture wars” emerging in the late twentieth century. I synthesize chastened versions of both theses into an account of a process of theological polarization. Chapter 2 presents two frameworks from moral psychology, Cultural-Developmental Theory and Moral Foundations Theory, and explains how these frameworks are used in the following chapters. Chapter 3 analyzes theological method in the selected texts. I find that theological conservatives prioritize an Ethic of Divinity that includes authority and sanctity in their approaches to theological method, while theological liberals appeal largely to care and fairness-as-equality in the context of an Ethic of Autonomy and an Ethic of Community. Chapter 4 analyzes doctrines of God. I find that theological conservatives balance divine authority and sanctity with divine care within the context of an Ethic of Divinity, while theological liberals mostly emphasize care, fairness-as-equality, and liberty in conceptions of God within Ethics of Autonomy and of Community. Chapter 5 analyzes atonement theologies. I find that theological conservatives typically foreground authority, sanctity, care, and fairness-as-proportionality within Ethic of Divinity perspectives, while theological liberals mainly focus on care and fairness-as-equality within Ethics of Autonomy and of Community. Chapter 6 surfaces the sociopolitical relevance of these findings in several areas: stances toward abuse, authoritarianism, and divine otherness; connections of theological outlooks to forms of life and reproductive patterns; and possibilities for building understanding-based empathy using informed responses to theological polarization among U.S. Protestants. I point toward the potential for future work on the implicit moral psychologies of doctrines, transnational aspects of theological polarization, and ethical formation for democratic participation. / 2026-07-10T00:00:00Z

Herman Bavinck (1854-1921), perhaps the most remarkable dogmatician and intellectual of the Dutch Reformed (gereformeerde) tradition in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, committed himself to what he called a 'Reformed' and 'catholic' theological task. For the modern dogmatician, this task is neither repristination nor abandonment of one's confessionalist tradition, but, being driven along by the Scriptural witness, to appropriate 'catholic' dogma to the grammars of modern conceptual frameworks. Such a task led Bavinck to a certain eclecticism in style and source for which he earned in twentieth century scholarship the pejorative label of dualism, applied both to his person and his theological content. Regarding his person, this thesis of the two Bavincks follows a biographical narrative of a student and blossoming theologian divided between the orthodox and modern. Regarding his content, interpreters move to and fro between Bavinck the scholastic and Bavinck the post-Kantian, subjectivist dogmatician. This study nuances this picture and participates in James Eglinton's recent call for an overturning of said dualisms applied to Bavinck's person and work by outlining the most significant example of Bavinck toiling to complete his 'catholic' dogmatic task: his appropriation of Friedrich Schleiermacher. In distinction from Bavinck's milieu, he did not demonize Schleiermacher, but, while willing to critique Schleiermacher's material dogmatics, regarded Schleiermacher as 'deeply misunderstood'. The two primary locales of Bavinck's appropriation of Schleiermacher include (i) the question of the epistemic ground of the unity of being and thinking; (ii) the grammar of subjective and objective religion. In both, Bavinck adopts Schleiermacher's concepts of 'feeling', 'absolute dependence', and 'immediate self-consciousness' to complete his own logic. Understanding Bavinck's adoption of Schleiermacher's conceptual framework, particularly that of the introduction from Schleiermacher's Der christliche Glaube, makes visible just how Bavinck determined to work as a modern theologian post-Kant and within the freeing confines of his orthodox, Dutch confessionalist heritage. His appropriation of Schleiermacher is the paradigmatic example of his commitment to be orthodox - yet modern.

[pt] A criação da Área de avaliação 44, em 2016, intitulada Ciências da Religião e Teologia, representa um marco na história atual da pesquisa teológica no Brasil, consolidando e chancelando sua entrada no ambiente acadêmico. Com o objetivo de identificar a definição de teologia que rege a Área de Avaliação 44, esta pesquisa dedicou-se à análise dos documentos de área em suas várias edições, seja quando a Teologia constituía uma Subárea da Filosofia, seja com a autonomia da Área de avaliação Ciências da Religião e Teologia. Integrando o Colégio de Humanidades, na Área Ciências da Religião e Teologia, a Teologia assume os padrões epistemológicos e metodológicos que a qualificam para o estudo da hermenêutica da revelação, ocupando-se do entendimento da relação entre Deus e a criação que se dá sempre no contexto histórico e cultural. Por consequência, o pesquisador em teologia se revela importante ator no processo de diálogo entre o saber teológico e a realidade local e a interdisciplinaridade se apresenta como um essencial instrumento metodológico que estabelece relação entre as disciplinas da própria Teologia, mas também com outras disciplinas e áreas de conhecimento. / [en] The creation of Assessment Area 44, in 2016, entitled Study of Religion and Theology, represents a milestone in the current history of theological research in Brazil, consolidating and sealing its entry into the academic environment. With the aim of identifying the definition of theology that governs Assessment Area 44, this research is dedicated to the analysis of area documents in their various editions, whether when Theology constitutes a Sub-Area of Philosophy, or with the autonomy of the Study of Religion and Theology Assessment Area. As part of the College of Humanities, in the Study of Religion and Theology Area, Theology assimilates the epistemological and methodological standards that qualify it for the study of the hermeneutics of revelation, dealing with the understanding of the relationship between God and creation that always occurs in the historical and cultural context. Consequently, the researcher in theology reveals himself to be an important actor in the process of dialogue between theological knowledge and local reality and interdisciplinarity presents itself as an essential methodological instrument that establishes relationships between the disciplines of Theology itself, but also with other disciplines and areas of knowledge.

The covenant relationship describes the unique relationship entered into between the church and ministers within the Methodist tradition. The study examines the polity, ecclesiology and doctrine of ministry, influences within the Methodist movement and the factors within the Methodist Church of Southern Africa (MCSA) which influenced the adoption of the covenantal relationship, as it is termed, in the MCSA. The experiences of ministers are researched to understand the impact of the covenantal relationship on their ministry and their wellbeing. Ezekiel, chapter 34, is analysed to discern a model of the expected roles of a shepherd to lead, feed and protect his covenant flock, roles which would be expected of the MCSA in the shepherding of their covenant ministers. By applying the Wesleyan Quadrilateral to the covenantal relationship using Scripture, tradition, reason and experience, the study concludes that the MCSA should move from a covenantal to a covenant relationship. / Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology / M. Th. (Systematic Theology)

The covenant relationship describes the unique relationship entered into between the church and ministers within the Methodist tradition. The study examines the polity, ecclesiology and doctrine of ministry, influences within the Methodist movement and the factors within the Methodist Church of Southern Africa (MCSA) which influenced the adoption of the covenantal relationship, as it is termed, in the MCSA. The experiences of ministers are researched to understand the impact of the covenantal relationship on their ministry and their wellbeing. Ezekiel, chapter 34, is analysed to discern a model of the expected roles of a shepherd to lead, feed and protect his covenant flock, roles which would be expected of the MCSA in the shepherding of their covenant ministers. By applying the Wesleyan Quadrilateral to the covenantal relationship using Scripture, tradition, reason and experience, the study concludes that the MCSA should move from a covenantal to a covenant relationship. / Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology / M. Th. (Systematic Theology)