Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Biblical anthropology'

In this dissertation I matched gutpela sindaun, the ‘highest value’ in Melanesia, represented by the cognitive schema of Kamea people through their brand, with the Biblical schema of shalom. The purpose of my dissertation was to show how a Kamea understanding of gutpela sindaun enables them to appreciate Biblical shalom.

I used cognitive studies as it pertains to valuing a perspective of human wellbeing which is all about gutpela sindaun. I did a literature search to understand the schema of gutpela sindaun from a Melanesian perspective. This relates to a scriptural presentation of shalom using the analogy of a tree, which I call Shalom Tree. Understanding ‘human wellbeing’ from the Melanesian world and the Hebraic world helped me to enter the Kamea world to identify their brand of gutpela sindaun (which is yapmea awarmangardi) and helped them make adjustments only as the Biblical input challenges their understanding.

Using ethnographic methods, I had my participants discuss their experiences and then used that to derive their cognitive schema which, in turn, reveals their “understanding” about what they had to know in order to manifest/experience gutpela sindaun appropriate to their cultural expectations. Applying Grounded Theory in my data analysis, assisted me to present their brand of gutpela sindaun through the analogy of the Kamea creation tree, which I called the Haogka Code Tree.

Guided by the principles of Cognitive Theory, I then assisted I my participants to match shalom tree, what God’s view is of shalom (intent) with the haogka code tree, how they understand gutpela sindaun in light their understanding of shalom (inferences). What emerges from this exercise is their development of a hybrid schema, a new hybrid tree which I called the Kamea Kristen Tree.

I have done this dissertation from a methodological perspective that helps me understand the cognition of the Kamea group of people in respect to this topic. I am developing a methodology of helping Kamea people develop their own theology. This methodology can be used for other people groups in Melanesia to research Christian truths dynamically informed by cultural insights.

This is a study of the interpretation of archaeological data by Anglo-American Bible scholars, though the emphasis is primarily American, in scholarly and popular publications from 1900-1930. The major archaeological research interest for many Anglo-American biblical scholars was its direct reflection on the biblical record. Many were devout and reared on a literal reading of Scripture. Traditional scholars insisted that the function of archaeology was to provide evidence to validate the Bible and to disprove higher criticism. They were clearly motivated by theological concerns and created an archaeology of faith that authenticated the word of the Lord and protected Christian doctrines. Liberal or mainstream scholars rejected conservative methods that simply collated archaeological data to attack the documentary hypothesis and its supporters. Several eminent Bible scholars developed important studies on the interpretation of archaeological results from Palestine. They participated eagerly in analyzing archaeological material and refused to concede the field of biblical archaeology to theologically-motivated conservative scholars and theologians. They were determined to conduct important investigations of the archaeological evidence free from theological bias. Palestinian excavations lacked the spectacular architectural and inscriptural remains unearthed in Egypt and Mesopotamia. The popular press did occasionally report on the progress of several excavations from Palestine, but, for the most part, Palestinian excavations concentrated on tells and pottery and the results were disappointing. However, by the 1920s the New York Times was a major source of information concerning archaeological news and frequently carried stories that indicated that archaeology was confirming the biblical record and many of the Bible's revered figures. The Times played a vital role in popularizing biblical archaeology and contributed many illustrations of amazing archaeological discoveries that "proved" the historicity of the biblical text. W. F. Albright's scholarly conclusions in the 1920s were moderate. Albright's scholarship was not motivated by theological concerns as many have assumed. Though his religious convictions were assuredly conservative, his scholarship had little in common with the tendentious archaeological assumptions created by conservative Bible scholars and theologians. Albright's interpretations were based on the archaeological data and not on theological dogma.

Christians engaged in mission and worship have been dealing with the issues of culture and contextualization since long before the word 'culture' was even used to describe what it does today in the the social sciences. Christian discussions about the importance of context for mission and worship employ the term 'culture,' 'cultures,' and their corresponding concepts in nearly identical ways to how the social sciences use them. Mission and worship proceed from Christian understandings of salvation history, the mission of God, and the role of the church which derive from theology rooted in Scripture. The terms 'culture' and 'cultures,' are usually defined, however, in ways that exclude any specific reference to Yhwh's involvement in them, from their origins to their destiny. This fundamental dissonance between common assumptions about culture and the biblical record may obscure important aspects of the uniqueness of human societies pertaining to mission and worship from our discussion.

This study raises the question of whether Christians are adequately served in these discussions by the meaning invoked with the words 'culture' and 'people group.' If the concepts of mission and worship themselves proceed from Christian understandings of Scripture, then Scripture is a natural place to look for guidance about how mission and worship have taken place and are to take place in the present day. Here I emphasize certain categories that emerge by hermeneutical tracing of biblical themes related to the topic of ethnic cultures.

I present the study in three parts. First Part I addresses questions about biblical theological views of ethnicity and ethnic cultures in Christian identity and worship. The studies center around the biblical theme of the glory of the nations with the research questions 1) What are the specific meanings of glory ([special characters omitted]) and nations ([special characters omitted]) as they appear in Revelation 21:24, 26 in canonical perspective? 2) What are the origin and destiny of the nations ([special characters omitted]) in Scripture? And 3) How does the narrative of Salvation History clarify the development of the glory of the nations?

In Part II an ethnographic case study of Sundanese Christian churches presents ethnographic data gathered with the following two questions in mind: 4) How have elements of traditional ethnic culture shaped the distinctively Sundanese Christian church movement? And 5) How do distinctive aspects of Sunda Christian identity and worship affect the appeal of the movement?

Finally in Part III I seek to integrate the thematic biblical and ethnographic streams to expose the missiological significance of the glory of the nations as a distinctively Christian concept and category for understanding ethnic cultures. The study culminates with practical recommendations for the re-examination and incorporation of the biblical concepts of [special characters omitted] and [special characters omitted] and a focus on the Hebrew identity within Scripture into mission practice and application to worship and church formation in multicultural congregations.

From the book of Genesis the human person is presented as divine image-bearer, a Godlike status that is further explained in terms of the dual constitution of matter and spirit. Natural Law provides a person-centred ethic that draws on a number of human goods that emanate naturally from the human person and lead in practice to human flourishing. This theory empowers towards making ethical decisions in the interest of human persons. Aristotle explained the human being as a substantially existing entity with rational powers. By means of his form-matter scheme he handed on, by way of Boethius, to Aquinas, a ready model for the Christian belief in the dual nature of the human person as an ensouled body or embodied soul. Applying the new scientific method to the question of the human self David Hume concluded that he could neither prove nor disprove her existence. By so reasoning Hume indirectly pointed to the need for other disciplines than empirical science to explain the human person. Emmanuel Levinas has drawn on the metaphysical tradition to draw attention to the social and ethical nature of the human person as she leaves the trace of her passing through the face of the other person who is encountered with an ethical gravitas of absolute demand. The genesis of the human person most naturally begins at conception at which point and onwards the human embryo grows continuously through an internal, animating principle towards a full-grown adult person. The main conclusion is that biblical anthropology and metaphysical philosophy provide the needed structures and concepts to explain adequately the full meaning of the human person and to establish the moral right of the human person at every stage to respect and protection.

High infant mortality and short female life span threatened Israelite women, who were respected as household administrators and educators. The concept of a personal god first observed in second millennium BCE Mesopotamian texts and house shrines involved apotropaic measures against a malevolent goddess who sickened and stole newborn children. Protective blessing inscriptions and deemphasis on the sexual aspect of Israelite figurines indicate that the personal goddess Asherah's function in Israelite religion was connected with protection more than with fertility. Offering benches and incense burners that define semi-public cult rooms in Syria-Palestine accompany female figurines in Israelite houses at Tell Masos, Tell el-Far'ah, Beer-sheba, and Tell Halif. Eye amulets such as those from the eighth century Lachish houses as well as the large-breasted pillar-figurines reflect a long-standing Near Eastern tradition of using eye and breast motifs to protect against the evil eye and child-stealing demons. The figurines' occurrence with women's textile and food preparation implements in female domains indicates that women set up a household shrine with an Asherah figurine near an entrance. The figurines interpreted as votives that mean "this is me" or "this is you" represent a covenant relationship between the breast-feeding mother of a newborn infant and a nurturing and protecting female deity. Israelite women dedicated votive gifts to Asherah and burned incense or oil with prayers and incantations on a regular basis during the vulnerable neonatal stage of a child's life, or at signs of illness. Ancient and modern Near Eastern parallels attest that women burn incense and oil to invoke the presence of a deity they contract with for protection. Pronouncing the deity's name is essential, and in iconic cultures, visual images empowered by prayers form important parts of these rituals.

Recent deconstructionist trends within Syro-Palestinian archaeology and biblical studies have now converged on the Israelite Monarchy causing two major ceramic reappraisals of the Iron Age I and II Periods. The result is a proposal for a new low chronology in Syro-Palestinian archaeology. These trends are creating more problems than they are solving by naively assuming ceramic change was consistent throughout Syro-Palestine and manipulating the archaeological data to fit the new models. The dissertation addresses the radical archaeological and historical reconstructions of the current trend by focusing on the Iron Age I-II transition in the northern parts of the Philistine coast and Shephelah (foothills)--Aijalon Valley Region. Excavations at Tel Miqne-Ekron provide new evidence for an evaluation of recent chronological proposals and aide in the development of a ceramic corpus of the Aijalon Valley Region. As a border site between the coastal region and the hills, Tel Miqne is an important site to isolate and compare regional variations and the complex socioeconomic variables that pattern the archaeological record. The dissertation is divided into three parts. Part I includes a review of current work in Syro-Palestinian Iron Age research and an overview of ceramic theory development. Part II contains the core database: (1) development of the Tel Miqne Stratum IV typology, and (2) a comparanda, with other sites in the region and attempt to isolate the chronological and spatial patterns of the Iron Age transition (11/10th century B.C.E.). Part III contains the results and interpretations. This study concludes that: (1) ceramic change is not chronologically homogeneous and therefore regional variation must be incorporated in all ceramic analyses; (2) the proposed new Low Chronology for the Iron Age in the southern Levant cannot be supported by the archaeological evidence; and (3) the Aijalon Valley Region reflects the complexity of the Iron Age transition as many ethnic elements and political groups vied for control of the important crossroads and access to coastal ports.

The story of Gilgamesh has been viewed as an example of several different narrative genres. This thesis establishes how scholarship in English published between 1872 and 1967 has described Gilgamesh as a myth, or denied Gilgamesh status as a myth and discusses new the meanings that the context of myth brings to the story. This thesis represents preliminary work on a larger project of exploring present day artistic meaning making efforts that revolve around Gilgamesh.

This study explores the relationship between Christianity and autochthonous (indigenous, pre-Christian) worldviews and practices amongst the Aandonga of Owamboland, Northern Namibia. Using participant contributions from a series of Contextual Bible Study (CBS) sessions (with groups of men, women, and children), and supplemented by ethnographic contextualisation, it challenges the oft-contended notion that Christian worldviews and practices have erased the significance of African Traditional Religion for Ndonga (or wider Owambo) communities. The enduring significance of autochthonous worldviews and practices is explored using responses to six biblical texts, each of which relates to at least one of three themes: bodies, spirits, and landscapes. The study examines feasting bodies (The Parable of the Wedding Banquet), bleeding bodies (The Haemorrhaging Woman), and possessed bodies (Legion). It considers possession spirits (Legion), natural spirits (the so-called ‘Nature Miracles’), and ancestor spirits (Resurrection appearances). Perspectives on landscapes are highlighted particularly in relation to aspects of the natural environment (the ‘Nature Miracles’) and the locations explored by an itinerant demoniac (Legion). Responses to the texts engender, inter alia, discussions of contemporary perspectives on diviner-healers (oonganga), witchcraft (uulodhi), the homestead (egumbo), burial grounds (omayendo, oompampa), spirits (iiluli, oompwidhuli), ancestors (aathithi), material agency (for example, apotropaic amulets), and the ‘traditional’ wedding (ohango). Having analysed the ways in which autochthonous worldviews informed participants’ interpretations of the particular texts considered (Matthew 22:1-14 & Luke 14:7-11; Mark 5:21-43; Luke 8:26-39; Mark 4:35-41 & 6:45-52; Luke 24), each set of interpretations is brought into conversation with professional biblical scholarship. The study therefore highlights the ways in which these grassroots, ‘contextual’ interpretations might nuance New Testament interpretations returned by the Academy, particularly by highlighting the highly contextual nature of the latter.

The nature of trials, tests, and temptation in the Epistle of James has been extensively debated in New Testament scholarship. However, scholarship has underexamined the tension between the author’s mitigation of divine agency in testing ( Jas 1:13–14) and the author’s appeal to well-known biblical testing narratives such as the creation account (1:15– 18), the Binding of Isaac ( Jas 2:21–24), and the Trials of Job ( Jas 5:9–11). is juxtaposition between the author’s theological apologetic and his biblical hermeneutic has the potential to reveal either the author’s theological incoherence or his rhetorical and hermeneutical creativity. With these tensions of divine agency and biblical interpretation in mind, this dissertation compares the Epistle of James against other examples of ancient Jewish interpretation, interrogating two points of contact in each Jewish work: their portrayals of the cosmic drama of testing, and their resulting biblical hermeneutic. The dissertation assembles a spectrum of positions on how the divine, satanic, and human roles of testing vary from author to author. These variations of the dramatis personae of the cosmic drama exercise a direct influence on the reception and interpretation of the biblical testing narratives. When the Epistle of James is examined in a similar light, it reveals a cosmic drama especially dependent on the metaphor of the divine law court. Within this cosmic drama, God stands as righteous judge, and in the place of divine prosecutor stand the cosmic forces indicting both divine integrity and human religious loyalty. These cosmic and human roles have a direct impact on James’ reading of biblical testing narratives. Utilising an intra-canonical hermeneutic similar to that found in Rewritten Bible literature, the Epistle appeals to a constructed ‘Jobraham’ narrative in which the Job stories mitigate divine agency in biblical trials such as those of Abraham, and Abraham’s celebrated patience rehabilitates Job’s rebellious response to trial. In conclusion, by closely examining the broader exegetical discourses of ancient Judaism, this project sheds new light on how the Epistle of James responds to theological tensions within its religious community through a hermeneutical application of the dominant biblical narratives of Job’s cosmic framework and Abraham’s human perfection.

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The objective of this research is to recover the corporal dimension of Christianity, from the point of view of holistic anthropology, taking into account that Christian theology has an historic and incarnational dimension. Centred in the mystery of the Incarnation and Resurrection, Christianity, from the beginning, never despised the body but included it: a God who became flesh, who resurrected and promised the resurrection of the human body. It also pretends to prove this, by returning to its roots, to its sources which draw their foundation from the mystical Jewish tradition as found in the Old Testament and is found again in the New Testament, where the body has a decisive role in the salvation and healing of the human being. Salvation does not refer uniquely to the soul but to the whole Man, in his bodily dimension. The body is axis of salvation. This unity will be discussed, with the modern fragmented vision of the body, the dualist Greek conception, along with other negative influences received during all this historic trajectory of 2000 years. To recover the importance of the body dimension in Christian religion signifies a major change o paradigm, with the possibility of great changes in Christian comportment, where the body will no longer have a secondary and despicable role, but becomes a human reality, divinized by Jesus Christ, manifested concretely and lovingly. To recover the body in Christianity is to emphasize the historic Christ, he who knows how to welcome, serve and heal: actions that are profoundly human, affective and corporal and which invite the Christian to contemplate and imitate Him. Here, the body will be analyzed equally as time and space for conversion and transformation, as for example: respiration, asceticism, prayer, meditation, contemplation, silence, respiration, liturgy, music, song and dance. The human process of conversion is the here and now resurrection. It is the transformation of the old man , proud and egoistic, into the new man , open to the other, changing death into life. It is to rise, today, in Christ, with Christ, in the Body of Christ, since the human mystery only becomes truly clear in the mystery of the Word Incarnate. So, beginning with the body: Temple of the Spirit in Baptism, and nourished by the Eucharist, the Christian lives the Transfigured Body, the Glorified Body, today as in other times. This story is a story of God with Jesus: the human face of God and of Jesus with man: the divine face of the human being. It is corporality in the mystery of the incarnation and the resurrection
Essa pesquisa propõe resgatar a dimensão corporal no cristianismo, olhando o corpo na perspectiva da unidade antropológica, considerando que a teologia cristã tem uma dinâmica histórica e encarnatória. Centrado no mistério da encarnação e ressurreição, o cristianismo, desde sua origem, nunca desprezou o corpo, incluiu-o: um Deus que se fez carne, que ressuscita e promete a ressurreição dos corpos. Pretendo-se, ainda, provar isso, voltando-se às raízes do cristianismo, às suas fontes, este trabalho vai considerar as influências históricas, recorrendo-se à tradição mística judaica, exposta no Antigo Testamento e retomada no Novo Testamento, onde o corpo, objeto deste estudo, tem um papel decisivo na salvação e na cura do ser humano. A salvação não se refere unicamente à alma, mas ao Homem, em toda sua dimensão corporal. O corpo é o eixo da salvação. Discutir-se-á essa unidade, com a visão fragmentada do corpo de hoje, o corpo dualista de concepção grega, juntamente com outras influências negativas recebidas durante toda sua trajetória histórica, nestes 2000 anos. Resgatar a importância da corporeidade na religião cristã significa uma grande mudança de paradigma, com possibilidades de grandes mudanças comportamentais para o cristão, onde o corpo deixa de ter uma função secundária e desprezível, mas torna-se uma realidade humana, divinizada por Jesus Cristo, manifestada concretamente e amorosamente. Resgatar o corpo no cristianismo é destacar o Jesus histórico, aquele que sabe acolher, servir e curar: atos profundamente humanos, afetivos e corporais e que convida o cristão a contemplá-Lo para imitá-Lo. O corpo será, aqui, estudado enquanto lugar de transformação e de conversão, que busca valores de dimensões sagradas e eternas. Serão citadas várias práticas corporais cristãs que ajudam o homem a viver o processo de transformação, como: a respiração, a ascese, a oração, a meditação, a contemplação, o silêncio, a liturgia, a música, o canto, a dança. O processo da conversão do homem é a ressurreição aqui-agora , é transformar o homem velho , orgulhoso e egoísta, no homem novo , aberto para o outro, ressurgido da morte para vida. É ressuscitar, hoje, em Cristo, com Cristo, no Corpo de Cristo, pois o mistério do homem só se torna claro verdadeiramente no mistério do verbo encarnado. Assim, a partir do Corpo Templo do Espírito no batismo e nutrido pelo Corpo do Cristo na eucaristia, o cristão viverá o Corpo Transfigurado, o Corpo Glorioso, hoje, e em outros tempos. Esta história é uma história de Deus com Jesus: o rosto humano de Deus e de Jesus com o homem: o rosto divino do ser humano: eis a corporeidade no mistério da encarnação e ressurreição

O objeto desta pesquisa é o dualismo corpo/alma na teologia pentecostal brasileira, representado por sua maior expressão, a Assembléia de Deus. Assim, a partir da valorização do ser humano integral, se busca investigar a antropologia teológica pentecostal, suas tensões e convergências com a perspectiva bíblica. A ênfase teológica na unidade da constituição humana, que o testemunho bíblico indica, contrasta com a experiência histórica da cristandade, na qual o corpo sempre teve um papel secundário, status que, ainda permanece no pentecostalismo atual. Esta pesquisa apresenta seu conteúdo em três capítulos: capítulo 1 procura-se identificar a origem, assim como o desenvolvimento do dualismo antropológico ao longo dos principais períodos da História da Igreja. Com o título Teologia pentecostal e dualismo antropológico, o segundo capítulo busca apresentar um breve perfil da teologia pentecostal, considerando principalmente os dados que demonstram sua concepção de ser humano. No caminho da superação do dualismo antropológico, terceiro e último capítulo, se busca depois de descrever brevemente sobre a constituição do ser humano, indicar a partir de alguns dados bíblicos em diálogo com alguns autores, meios de superação do dualismo antropológico. Por fim, aponta-se para a teologia pentecostal a adoção da perspectiva antropológica unitária.
The object of this research is the dualism between body and soul in the Brazilian Pentecostal theology, represented by its major expression for the Assembly of God Church. Thus, from the appreciation of the whole human being, take it goals to investigate the Pentecostal theological anthropology, its tensions and convergences with the biblical perspective. The theological emphasis on the unity of the human constitution, that the biblical testimony indicates, contrastes with the historical experience of Christianity, in which the body, always played a secondary status, which remains in Pentecostalism today. This research presents its content in three chapters: Chapter 1 seeks to identify the origin, as well as the development of anthropological dualism along the mains periods of church history. Entitled Pentecostal Theology and anthropological dualism, the second chapter seeks to present a brief aspect of Pentecostal theology, especially considering the data showing his conception of human being. On the way to overcome the anthropology dualism, third and last chapter, is quest its, after describing briefly about the constitution of the human being from some biblical data in dialogue with some authors, means of overcoming of the anthropological dualism. Finally, it indicates to a Pentecostal theology the adoption of the anthropological unity perpective.

Castration has a long temporal and geographical span. Its origins are unclear, but likely lie in the Ancient Near East around the time of the Secondary Products Revolution and the increase in social complexity of proto-urban societies. Due to the unique social and gender roles created by castrates’ ambiguous sexual state, human castrates were used heavily in strongly hierarchical social structures such as imperial and religious institutions, and were often close to the ruler of an imperial society. This privileged position, though often occupied by slaves, gave castrates enormous power to affect governmental decisions. This often aroused the jealousy and hatred of intact elite males, who were not afforded as open access to the ruler and virulently condemned castrates in historical documents. These attitudes were passed down to the scholars and doctors who began to study castration in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, affecting the manner in which castration was studied. Osteometric and anthropometric examinations of castrates were carried out during this period, but the two World Wars and a shift in focus meant that castrate bodies were not studied for nearly eighty years. Recent interest in gender and sexuality in the past has revived interest in castration as a topic, but few studies of castrate remains have occurred. As large numbers of castrates are referenced in historical documents, the lack of castrate skeletons may be due to a lack of recognition of the physical effects of castration on the skeleton. The synthesis and generation of methods for more accurate identification of castrate skeletons was undertaken and the results are presented here to improve the ability to identify castrate skeletons within the archaeological record.

Wolfhart Pannenberg and Karl Rahner argue for an "opening" of theology to broader intellectual input. The similarity of their positions derives from the foundational status accorded anthropology and from common opposition to literal, supernatural and positivist interpretations of Christianity. The critique of Neo-orthodoxy and Neo-Thomism that they reduce theology to anthropology is unjustified. Their anthropologies show a marked difference which derives from two sources. Pannenberg and Rahner have different conceptions of theology's task: Pannenberg writes apologetics for a non-Christian academic audience; Rahner writes philosophical dogmatics for Christians. Pannenberg interrogates secular anthropology for its Biblical foundation. Rahner embraces a Christian anthropology founded upon the experience of grace. Secondly, their doctrines of eternal life evidence their philosophical heritage. Rahner applies the conception of transcendental subjectivity found in Marechal's and Heidegger's reinterpretations of Kant to basic Thomistic commitments. Pannenberg accepts Hegel's understanding of reality as historical expression. This difference in orientation accounts for the underlying structural differences which surface in the individual components of their doctrines of eternal life. Rahner focuses on the hiddenness of transcendental subjectivity; Pannenberg on the unity and expressiveness of history. Rahner links eternity to an analytic of human freedom: eternity is the fruit of time. For Rahner, the surplus of meaning which supports the Christian hope lies hidden in the depths of the experience of grace. Pannenberg begins with time and builds a doctrine of eternity as the unity of history with Hegel's temporalized interpretation of the part/whole distinction. The modern concept of reason implicitly anticipates the whole of eternity. For Rahner, the real is the creative ground behind appearance, an impenetrable mystery which manifests itself in categorical determinations. Truth is disclosure of the transcendental conditions which underlie experience. For Pannenberg, the appearance of the entire temporal span provides the content of eternity. Truth is the coherence and coordination of historical appearances. For Pannenberg, the surplus of meaning upon which the Christian hope is dependent lies in the future. Reality is incomplete and truth provisional until the end of history. Rahner focuses on the vertical dimension of reality; Pannenberg on the horizontal.

The Biblical Judith was written over 2,000 years ago and has become elemental material for artists and writers who struggle with male and female identity. Questions about how beauty has been defined, and who has defined it, as well as the subject of violence as gender-specific territory arise out of the intertextual study of the many re-workings of Judith and Holofernes' "romance."^ A rich array of Judith characters are developed by artists and writers that reveal cultural values about women. Judith as chaste widow is visually presented in the stone archivolt of the Chartres Cathedral and in Alfred Stevens Victorian painting. She is present in the literature by way of the Old English epic; through Christine de Pizan's allusion in The Book of the City of Ladies and Guillaume Salluste du Bartas' epic, La Judit (1574). Christina of Markyate's chaste sexuality is due to her reverence for Mary and Judith articulated in her twelfth century autobiography. In some of Chaucer's Canterbury tales, Judith, like Custance is upheld as the essence of virtue and purity, while in other tales, she appears suspect.^ In the tradition of the "woman worthy" or femme forte there is Donatello's statue (ca. 1456-60), Giorgione's sixteenth century painting, and a multitude of works by Botticelli, Mantegna and Cranach. But the strength of the artist and her figures are felt in Artemisia Gentileschi's five paintings of Judith and her cohort, Abra. In studying Artemisia I found myself standing with Mary Garrard, Artemisia, Judith and the Handmaid in a newly formed collage of strength. And soon Shelley Reed, a Cambridge artist, joined us with her revision of Hans Baldung's sixteenth century painting in which she again removes the head and leaves the figure of a woman defending her right to bodily integrity.^ Judith's sexual provocativeness is a favorite image in art as she becomes stereotyped as the femme fatale. Hans Baldung (1525), Saraceni (1615-20), Valentin de Boulogne (ca. 1626), Vouet (1621), Caravaggio (1598-99), Rubens (1630s), Correggio (1512-14), Vernet (1831) and Klimt (1901, 1909) present us with a riveting portfolio on this theme.^ Contemporary literature is saturated with the sexual nature of power provoked by Judith and Holofernes. Plays by Hebbel, Giraudoux and Barker provide Judith with a far from heroic finish. But Nicholas Mosley's Judith finds a way to survive with Holofernes: heads do not roll, they connect.^ Such deep and moving dialogs are formed between art and literature in the study of Judith that I hope the annotated bibliography of 480 works of literature, art and music included in the Appendix invites further study. ^

Das Ziel dieser Arbeit ist der Entwurf einer theologisch fundierten und empirisch-psychologisch evidenten Persönlichkeitstheorie. Sie soll christologisch verankert sein. Dazu wird zunächst mit Paul Tillich, Dietrich Bonhoeffer und Helmut Thielicke vor dem biblisch-theologischen Hintergrund des Noahbunds die grundsätzliche Doppelseitigkeit der menschlichen Existenz aufgezeigt. In der postlapsalischen Erhaltungsordnung herrschen Sünde und Tod vor, aber die Schöpfungsrealität bleibt fragmentarisch bewahrt, so dass psychosoziale und spirituelle Gesundheit unter dem Vorbehalt der Vorläufigkeit möglich ist. Um diese zu erlangen, muss der Mensch zur adäquaten Befriedigung seiner Bedürfnisse finden. Dies geschieht nur unter dem Primat der Verantwortlichkeit. Verantwortlichkeit beinhaltet, dass der Mensch in die Schuld gestellt ist. Schuld und Verantwortlichkeit besitzen ontologische Tiefe. Der Sünde wegen ist der Mensch bestrebt, sein Leben nicht vor Gott verantworten zu müssen. Sein Verhältnis zu Gott ist von Angst bestimmt. Dies hat Paul Tillich in seiner Ontologie der Angst entfaltet. Die Versuche des Menschen, die existenzielle Angst der Gottentfremdung zu objektivieren, hat Søren Kierkegaard mit den vier Grundformen der Verzweiflung beschrieben. Ihr psychopathologisches Äquivalent sind die von Fritz Riemann überlieferten vier Grundformen der Angst. Diese drei Modelle der dunklen Seite menschlicher Persönlichkeit sind deckungsgleich. Die Doppelseitigkeit der menschlichen Existenz impliziert, dass die Kehrseite der existenziellen Angst das existenzielle Bedürfnis ist. Die Bedürfniskonstrukte von Fiedler, Epstein und Grawe, die aus dem gegenwärtigen Erkenntnisstand der Persönlichkeitsforschung unter Einbezug der Neuropsychologie hervorgehen, erweisen sich in diesem Sinne als auffallend deckungsgleich mit den Modellen der dunklen Seite. Daraus ergibt sich ein holistisches Persönlichkeitsmodell, das die negative Determiniertheit durch die Sünde und die positive durch die Grundbedürfnisse, das ontologische Bedürfnis nach Spiritualität eingeschlossen, als unlösliche Einheit aufweist. Der gemeinsame Nenner dieser Modelle scheint sich auch allmählich in der Persönlichkeitsdiagnostik durchzusetzen.
The aim of this paper is the outline of a theologically founded and empirically-psychologically reasonable theory of personality. It shall be christologically anchored. For this purpose at first with Paul Tillich, Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Helmut Thielicke the fundamental double-sidedness of human existence in front of the biblical-theological background of the noachitic covenant is pointed out. Within the divine conserving order after the fall of man sin and death dominate, but the reality of the order of creation is fragmentarilly saved as well, so that psychosocial and spiritual health, with reservation of preliminarity, is possible. To achieve it, man must get to the adequate satisfaction of his needs. This can only happen under the dominance of responsibility. Responsibility contains being put into debt and therefore being guilty as well. Guilt and responsibility own ontological depth. As the result of sin man tries to avoid responsibility in the presence of God. His relation to God is determined by anxiety. That's what Paul Tillich pointed out by his ontology of anxiety. The attempts of man trying to overcome the existencial anxiety under the alienation from God Søren Kierkegaard has described by the four fundamental forms of desperation. Their psychopathological equivalent are the four fundamental forms of anxiety, which Fritz Riemann described. These three models of the dark side of human existence are congruent. The double-sidedness of human existence contains that the other side of existencial anxiety is existencial need. The need-models of Fiedler, Epstein and Grawe, which result from the present state of personality-research under regard of neuropsychology, show significant congruence with the models of the dark side. This leads to an holistic model of personality, which demonstrates the negative determination by sin and the positive one by the fundamental needs, including the ontological spiritual need, as an insoluble unit. The common denominator of these models gradually seems to prevail in the field of personality-diagnostic as well.
Abstract in German and English
Practical Theology
M. Th. (Practical Theology)

This dissertation investigates the development of progressive Christianity. It explores the ways in which progressive Christian churches in Canada adopt biblical criticism and popular theology. Contributing to the anthropology of Christianity, this study is primarily an ethnographic and linguistic analysis that juxtaposes contemporary conflicts over notions of the Christian self into the intersecting contexts of public discourse, contending notions of the secular and congregational dynamics. Methodologically, it is based upon two-and-a-half years of in-depth participant observation research at five churches and distinguishes itself as the first scholarly study of progressive Christianity in North America. I begin this study by outlining the historical context of skepticism in Canadian Protestantism and arguing that skepticism and doubt serve as profoundly religious experiences, which provide a fuller framework than secularization in understanding the experiences of Canadian Protestants in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In doing so, I draw parallels between the ways that historical and contemporary North American Christians negotiate the tensions between their faith and biblical criticism, scientific empiricism and liberal morality. Chapter Two seeks to describe the religious, cultural and socio-economic worlds inhabited by the progressive Christians featured in this study. It focuses on the worldviews that emerge out of participation in what are primarily white, middle-class, liberal communities and considers how these identity-markers affect the development and lived experiences of progressive Christians. My next three chapters explore the ways that certain engagements with text and the performance or ritualization of language enable the development of a distinctly progressive Christian modality. Chapter Three investigates progressive Christian textual ideologies and argues that the form of biblical criticism that they employ, along with entrenched concerns about the origins of the Christian faith ultimately, leads to a rejection of the biblical narrative. Chapter Four examines the ways in which progressive Christians understand individual 'deconversion' narratives as contributing to a shared experience or way of being Christian that purposefully departs from evangelical Christianity. The final chapter analyses rhetoric of the future and argues that progressive Christians employ eschatological language that directs progressive Christians towards an ultimate dissolution.

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 106-115)
The purpose of this study is to critically analyse selected scholarly views on the visionary experiences during Jesus’ baptism. Modern scholars have different opinions about the reports in the New Testament on Jesus’ baptismal visionary phenomena. Some scholars interpreted the events as Jesus’ actual seeing or vision and others accept it as literary creations by the authors, to make sense of the reports on seeing and hearing that are hard to understand. Reports like a Spirit descending in the form of a dove are extraordinary for most people and pose interpretive challenges. The two distinct trends identified in the study of visionary experiences are those who take the text on the visions literally and those who see them as literary creations. There is a new trend in biblical scholarship, which is comparative and invokes insights from cross-cultural research in order to understand the accounts of the visions as altered states of consciousness (ASC). These views are also presented, compared and evaluated selecting three major views from modern New Testament scholars. Among the scholars identified, who take the baptism visions literally, are Dunn, Meier, Marcus, Hurtado, Borg and Webb. The scholars selected, who consider the baptism visions as literary creations, are Sanders, Crossan, Miller and Strijdom. The scholars, who contributed to the new development in interpreting the texts on visionary experiences as ASC, are Pilch, Davies and DeMaris. Pilch uses the theoretical model of ASC and understands it differently from those used by Davies and DeMaris on which they base their interpretations. A scientific explanation of ASC is built from theories about how the brain and culture, together, create certain states of consciousness. All these views are analysed based on the scholarly interpretations from the three definitive trends in the visions research, comparing the caretaker versus critical at a meta-analysis level.
Biblical and Ancient Studies
M.A. (Biblical archaeology)

Through a critical-functional, rather than literal, reading of the text of Revelation, this dissertation hypothesises a move beyond the paralysing constant reduction of hermeneutic meaning to two conventional poles when discussing hope – the early Christian movement’s hope through reversal, and contemporary nihilism. In order to do so in a responsible manner, it is necessary to study other research done on the topics of eschatology and hope – especially as seen in the book of Revelation. For this reason, the most popular and representative scholars of the Book of Revelation are studied. This overall look at current scholarships' views regarding the Apocalypse will help detect any possible missing elements in our approach to Revelation. But no study of this topic can be considered near complete if other disciplines are not involved; in this case especially when moving on to a critical-functional reading of Revelation. This thesis thus features an exploratory study of the functioning of ritual and hope within the human psyche; from archaeological to psychological perspectives. This emphasises the importance of, and leads into, the possibilities of a functional reading of the Book of Revelation. All of the above work leads to a re-evaluation of the success of hope as metanarrative for today. The suggestion is that Christian hope is not imaginary, but is irreducibly imaginative. For “reality is never just the world as it exists; it is the world as it is experienced through the lenses of social perception” (Barr 2010:636).
New Testament
D. Th. (New Testament and Early Christian Studies)

Due to the nature of war, persons are killed with various types of weapons. Throughout the history of humanity, weapons were used in this regard and these weapons left injuries on the victims that are distinguishable. The type of force conveyed by the ancient weapons effected injuries that enable modern-day bioarchaeologists to extrapolate which weapons caused which injuries. The Assyrians depicted their wars and battles on reliefs. An analysis of these depictions, with an extrapolation of the lesions expected in skeletal remains, could contribute to better understanding of the strategies of war in ancient times. This dissertation will discuss how the evaluation of human remains in comparison to Assyrian reliefs may contribute to the chronological knowledge of war and warfare in the Iron Age Ancient Near East – especially at Lachish. A discourse of the approaches available to researchers regarding access to data in the forensic bioarchaeological field will be presented.
Biblical and Ancient Studies
M.A. (Biblical Archaeology)