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Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Deification'
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1
Barbee, David. ""That we might be made God" themes of deification in western medieval Catholicism /." Theological Research Exchange Network (TREN) Access this title online, 2005. http://www.tren.com.
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Russell, Norman. "The concept of deification in the early Greek fathers." Thesis, University of Oxford, 1988. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.253819.
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Russell, Norman. "The doctrine of deification in the Greek patristic tradition /." Oxford : Oxford university press, 2004. http://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cb39936007n.
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Park, Sung Woo. "The question of deification in the theology of John Calvin." Thesis, University of Pretoria, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/2263/61199.
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Under the influence of the Christian ecumenical movement, there has been a tendancy to reread the Western theological tradition through the lens of the Eastern idea of deification. The studies of the theology of John Calvin, who is a leading figure in the Reformation tradition, cannot avoid such a tendency, either. Not a few scholars have affirmed Calvin's doctrine of deification, in a way, akin to the Eastern doctrine of deification, by rereading him from the perspective of the Eastern Orthodoxy. However, with the objection to this interpretation by those who deny the presence of the idea of deification in Calvin, the question of deification in Calvin's theology has been a grave issue of an ongoing debate among Calvin scholars.
The current debate on the question of deification in Calvin shows that the following three issues form the frame of reference for reasoning the question: Calvin's understanding of the communication of properties between Christ's two natures in the hypostatic union, the nature of his notion of union with Christ, and his idea of the nature of the salvific gift.
The observations of Calvin's ideas about the three issues render incapacitate any attempt to find the idea of deification as participation in the intrinsic divine life in his theology. Calvin's rejection of the direct communication of properties from Christ's divinity to His humanity renders impossible the deification of Christ's humanity, which is marked as the basis of our deification by the interpreters who endorse his doctrine of deification as in the Eastern Orthodox tradition. Calvin's idea of the spiritual and personal union with Christ, in which the ontological distinctiveness between Christ and us is guaranteed, disapproves the idea that the intrinsic divine life flows to us through the channel of Christ's humanity in our union with Him. Therefore it can be reasonably concluded that as far as deification is construed as the believers' participation in the intrinsic divine life, mediated by Christ's humanity in their union with Christ, it is hard to hold that Calvin teaches deification.Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2016.
Dogmatics and Christian Ethics
PhD
Unrestricted
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Choi, Jacob Heangkwon. "Augustinian interiority : the teleological deification of the soul through Divine Grace." Thesis, Durham University, 2010. http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/316/.
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Augustinian interiority is a way of deifying ourselves in order to attain true happiness(i.e., teleology). Augustine approaches deification chiefly in terms of the ‘image of God’, from the perspectives of ontology and teleology. Ontologically, we are created inthe image of God and this image is indestructible as long as God sustains our life. Teleologically, the image has been deformed (and true happiness has become a remote reality for us) due to the Fall. Humanity therefore needs to be restored. How, then, can we renew the image? Augustine observes that the more we know and love God, the more we become like Him. How, then, can we get to know who/what God really is? This is what Augustinian interiority concerns: its intellectual dimension (i.e., knowing God) cannot be separated from its ethical dimension (i.e., loving God. The desire for true happiness, which is God, is universal among us. Since we cannot strive for what we do not know, we must know something about happiness before we pursue it, and the knowledge must be innate in our memory. In addition, learning/knowing a thing is refreshing our latent memory of that thing. Eventually, our endeavour to understand God is, in fact, an attempt to recall wholly what we have already known about Him. Why, then, do we remember so little about God – especially His immaterial nature? This is because we are preoccupied with material and worldly things. Thus, passing beyond the world of senses, we must make an effort to grasp the reality of the soul, which is, like God, incorporeal and rational: the soul is the best clue to knowledge of God. Then, we will be able to perceive correctly God’s immanence, omnipresence, and transcendence. Faith is crucial for making progress in our intellectual and ethical ascent to God. However, it is not enough just to believe revealed truths, but we must try to understand them by all means possible. In this way, we can cling to God with our mind and heart, be deified, and move closer to true happiness. Yet, we need to bear two things in mind. One is that without divine grace nothing is possible for us. The other is that, although we cannot know God completely in this life, we must hope for it and love to increase our theological knowledge.
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張玉淸 and Yuk-ching Lucia Cheung. "The making of a god: the deification of Chairman Mao Zedong." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 1997. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B31214022.
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Byers, Andrew Jason. "Johannine theosis : the Fourth Gospel's narrative ecclesiology of participation and deification." Thesis, Durham University, 2014. http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/10908/.
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Though John’s Gospel has been widely understood as ambivalent toward the idea of “church,” this thesis argues that ecclesiology is as central a Johannine concern as Christology. For the fourth evangelist, there is neither a Christless church nor a churchless Christ. Jesus is consistently depicted in the Gospel as a figure that destabilizes the social construct and generates a new communal entity. Rather than focusing on the community behind the text, the following study concentrates on the vision of community prescribed within the text. This vision is presented as a “narrative ecclesiology” by which the concept of “church” gradually unfolds throughout the Gospel’s sequence. Attending to this cumulative development, it will be argued that Johannine ecclesiology entails a corporate participation in the interrelation between the Father and Son, a participation helpfully described by the later patristic language of theosis. Before drawing on this theological discourse the thesis will provide exegesis on the theme of participation within the Prologue and the oneness motif. John 1:1–18 is recognized as one of the most influential Christological texts in early Christianity, but the passage’s Christology is inseparably bound to ecclesiology. The Prologue even establishes an “ecclesial narrative script”—an ongoing pattern of resocialization into the community around Jesus or, more negatively, of social re-entrenchment within the “world”—that governs the Gospel’s plot. The oneness theme functions within this script and draws on the Jewish theological language of the Shema: the Johannine claim to be “one” signifies that Christ-devotion does not constitute a departure from the “one God” of their Jewish religious tradition; moreover, to be “one” with this “one God” and his “one Shepherd” involves the believers’ participation within the divine family. Such participation warrants an ecclesial identity summed up in Jesus’ citation of Psalm 82: “you are gods.”
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Blackwell, Benjamin C. "The two natures of Christ and deification in Maximus the Confessor." Online full text .pdf document, available to Fuller patrons only, 2002. http://www.tren.com.
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Cheung, Yuk-ching Lucia. "The making of a god : the deification of Chairman Mao Zedong /." Hong Kong : University of Hong Kong, 1997. http://sunzi.lib.hku.hk/hkuto/record.jsp?B18565918.
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Borysov, Eduard. "Union with the Triune God : interpretations of the participationist dimensions of Paul's soteriology." Thesis, University of Aberdeen, 2016. http://digitool.abdn.ac.uk:80/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=231021.
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In recent years as supposedly “Lutheran” readings of Paul's doctrine of “justification by faith” have increasingly come under attack, and as the weaknesses of the New Perspective on Paul have been identified, there has been a growing interest in reading the apostle as teaching something best understood in participationist terms (chapter 2). Particularly, there have been multiple attempts to retrieve the patristic concept of “theosis” as a counterpart of union with Christ. This move is particularly associated with the work of Michael J. Gorman, Stephen Finlan, M. David Litwa and Ben C. Blackwell and is connected to the recent interest in deification as a widespread concept in Christian theology, one with significant ecumenical potential (as attested by the Finnish Lutheran School). To date, however, inadequate attention has been paid to the complex character and history of theosis in the theological tradition, meaning that the word is used in biblical studies in a way that is over-simplistic. All of the studies to read Paul in terms of theosis have been too over-imposing (Litwa), too narrow (Blackwell) or too general (Gorman, Finlan) in their comparison of Paul with the Jewish, Greco-Roman, and Orthodox traditions to properly address the validity of the category of theosis for the analysis of Paul. This study will deal with this deficiency by tracing the four trajectories of theosis in the patristic era (chapter 3). This dissertation proffers a concept, tentatively labelled triadosis, which intends to present the whole complex that is treated elementally in the various trajectories. Further exploring what we have labelled triadosis in the later theological traditions, chapter 4 rereads Luther and Calvin with the help of the Finnish Lutheran School and J. Todd Billings. These scholars argue that the idea of union with Christ is central for both Luther and Calvin and always includes the Father and the Spirit, hence presuming a Trinitarian dimensio The final chapter addresses the deficiencies of three major proponents of theosis as an appropriate category to describe Paul's soteriology. This analysis stresses that the historical rediscovery of deification in surrounding culture should not minimise the apostle's distinction from his polytheistic contemporaries (Litwa). Equally, the Christocentric soteriology misplaces the appropriate emphasis on the Father and the Spirit (Blackwell). Finally, the use of essentialist terminology should be grounded in patristic and contemporary theological discussions (Gorman). Thus, the theme of triadosis helps the reader to view Paul's soteriology as the Father's endeavour to bring redeemed humanity in union with himself in Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit.
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Bartel, Timothy E. "Glimpses of her Father's glory : deification and divine light in Longfellow's Evangeline." Thesis, University of St Andrews, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/10023/11853.
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In this thesis I endeavor to discover and show the Unitarian and Patristic theological influences on Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's long narrative poem Evangeline, with special focus on the poem's theological teachings concerning deification and descriptions of the spiritual experience of shining with divine light. In chapter one, I explore the theological climate of early nineteenth-century New England, focusing on the Unitarian and Transcendental movements and Longfellow's familiarity with both. In chapter two, I present an overview of the critical literature concerning the religious elements of Evangeline, beginning with reviews by Longfellow's contemporaries and ending with recent scholarship that calls for a new investigation of Unitarian influences on Evangeline. In chapters three and four, I look back to those Church Fathers who articulated the doctrines of deification and divine light in the second through fourth centuries. Through looking at the presence of the Church Fathers in Longfellow's writings, especially in the unexplored “Christian Fathers” manuscript lectures from the early 1830s, I show how the Patristic writers proved interesting and inspiring to Longfellow in the years leading up to the publication of Evangeline. Finally, in chapters five and six, I investigate in depth the religious elements of Evangeline, giving special attention to the keynote passages of 2.1 and 2.5, which include, respectively, theological teaching concerning deification and a description of the spiritual experience of shining with divine light. I conclude that though in 2.1 Longfellow articulates theological teachings that possess strong affinities with Unitarian doctrine, in 2.5 Longfellow concludes the poem with a characteristically Patristic vision of the deified heroine shining with divine light.
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Gretzinger, Harold Alex. "Christ, the final genome." Online full text .pdf document, available to Fuller patrons only, 2002. http://www.tren.com.
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Blackwell, Benjamin Carey. "Christosis : Pauline soteriology in light of deification in Irenaeus and Cyril of Alexandria." Thesis, Durham University, 2010. http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/219/.
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The aim of this thesis is to explore whether and to what extent theosis helpfully captures Paul's presentation of the anthropological dimension of soteriology. Drawing methodologically from Gadamer, Jauss, and Bakhtin, we attempt to hold a conversation between Paul and two of his later interpreters--Irenaeus and Cyril of Alexandria--in order to see what light the development of deification in these later writers shines on the Pauline texts themselves. In Part 1 of the thesis, we analyse how Irenaeus and Cyril develop their notions of deification and how they use Pauline texts in support of their conclusions. Drawing from Ps 82 both writers ascribe to believers the appellation of 'gods', and they associate this primarily with Pauline texts that speak of the experience of immortality, sanctification, and being sons of God. As believers experience this deifying move the image and likeness of God is restored through a participatory relationship with God mediated by Christ and the Spirit. In Part 2 we then analyse the anthropological dimension of Paul's soteriology in Rom 8 and 2 Cor 3-5, with excursus on Gal 3-4, 1 Cor 15, and Phil 2-3. In the context of believers' restored divine-human relationship through Christ and the Spirit, Paul speaks of believers being conformed to the narrative of Christ's death and life, which culminates in an experience of divine and heavenly glory and immortality. In Part 3 we offer a comparison of patristic views of deification and Paul's soteriology. While differences are clear, we conclude that Paul's soteriology overlaps significantly with that of these two later interpreters, such that deification is an apt description of the anthropological dimension of his soteriology. At the same time, christosis is probably a better term in today's context to capture his distinct emphasis on embodying Christ's death and life.
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Pilch, Jeremy David. "'Breathing the spirit with both lungs' : deification in the work of Vladimir Solov'ev." Thesis, University of Bristol, 2015. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.701816.
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This thesis is an examination of the teaching of the Russian religious thinker, Vladimir Solov'ev (1853 -1900), about divine-humanity, the term he used to express the patristic doctrine of deification. The first chapter examines the theme of deification in the patristic tradition and shows that he himself was extremely familiar with the writings of the Church Fathers and the doctrinal teachings of the early Church Councils. The following three chapters are devoted to specific works of Solov'ev which are analysed in detail, Lectures on Divine Humanity, The Spiritual Foundations of Life and The Justification of the Good. Of these, the latter two have, to date, received little extended scholarly study. The over-arching thrust of the thesis is that Solov'ev's concept of deification started as a reflection of the mystical and cosmic expressions of deification characteristic of the late Greek patristic period but develops so to be expressed in the western terminology of grace and focuses on the active implementation of deification in the world, taking the teaching out of its original monastic context. Chapter Two reveals the significant impact of Maximus the Confessor on Solov'ev's thought and identifies the dyothelite Christological model which Maximus develops from the dogmatic definition of the Council of Chalcedon as a crucial hermeneutical principle in Solov'ev's thought. Chapter Three shows the development of Solov'ev's teaching about deification, examining how it expands to embrace different models of deification, adopting western as well as eastern theological approaches and finding its centre in the life of the Church. Finally, Chapter Four shows how Solov'ev's deepening understanding of the western approach to deification through the language of grace is integrated with an eastern understanding of human anthropology, enabling him to integrate realistic and moral approaches to deification, and address the whole range of human experience in terms of divine union and the Kingdom of God.
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Bomgardner, Timothy Lee. "Cosmic reconciliation creation and deification in patristic thought with an eye to the future /." Theological Research Exchange Network (TREN) Access this title online, 2004. http://www.tren.com.
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Bartos, Emil. "The concept of deification in Eastern Orthodox theology with detailed reference to Dumitru Staniloae." Thesis, University of Wales Trinity Saint David, 1997. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.683144.
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Van, der Plas Jan. "The deification of man the integration of theology and spirituality in Gregory of Nazianzus /." Online full text .pdf document, available to Fuller patrons only, 2000. http://www.tren.com.
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Jones, Jess P. "Deification Through Sacramental Living in LDS and Eastern Orthodox Worship Practices: A Comparative Analysis." BYU ScholarsArchive, 2017. https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/6318.
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This thesis is a comparative analysis of the doctrine of deification in sacramental worship as taught (and practiced) by the Eastern Orthodox and Latter-day Saint (Mormon) churches. The doctrine that man may become like God—known as deification, divinization, or theosis—is a central teaching in the Orthodox and Mormon traditions. Both faiths believe that man may become like God. However, because of doctrinal presuppositions and disagreements regarding the natures of God and man, Orthodox and Mormon teachings of deification do not mean the same thing. This thesis will outline several key distinctions between their respective doctrines. And yet, despite doctrinal disagreements, this thesis will also illustrate how Orthodoxy and Mormonism share several notable similarities regarding the function of sacramental worship in the process of theosis. Mormonism and Orthodoxy both believe that men and women may achieve theosis only as they interact with God. Through the combined initiatives of the Father, his son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost, humankind may receive the attributes of divinity and participate in the process of deification. The means whereby humanity may interact with God are through sacramental participation. This thesis will illustrate how institutional rituals and personal worship practices foster man's divine interaction and ultimate deification. Furthermore, Orthodox and Mormon rituals are deeply rooted in the doctrine of deification—each ritual contributing to man's divine transformation. As such, those rituals reflect numerous thematic variations and emphatic differences of their respective traditions. This should not discourage the reader from comparing Orthodox sacraments with Mormon sacraments; rather, as one studies the similarities and differences in the Orthodox and Mormon sacraments, he or she will begin to see how deification is so intricately woven into the worship practices of these two faiths.
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Milkov, Kostake. "The contribution of the writings of Gregory Palamas to the definition and development of theosis as a doctrine in the Eastern Orthodox Church." Theological Research Exchange Network (TREN), 1998. http://www.tren.com.
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Kever, Jonathan. "Viewing the Imago Dei through the doctrine of deification in the theology of Gregory of Nyssa." Theological Research Exchange Network (TREN), 2007. http://www.tren.com/search.cfm?p001-1184.
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Bamford, Desmond Nicholas. "Person, deification and re-cognition : a comparative study of person in the Byzantine and Pratyabhijna traditions." Thesis, University of Chichester, 2010. http://eprints.chi.ac.uk/810/.
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This thesis will construct a model of person through a comparison of ideas relating to a concept of person in the Byzantine and Pratyabhijnii traditions. Questions will be asked, such as, whether a concept of person can be constructed within these two traditions, and how can ideas developed from these traditions be utilised to construct a model of person? This thesis will provide an in depth examination of terms and concepts that will be related to a concept of person within the two traditions, examining the ontological and existential implications of those terms. This work will also develop, from a subsequent convergence of the theologies of the two traditions, a model of person that is inter-religious and dialogical. Though this work is analytical in nature, in its deconstructing philosophical and theological models relating to person, it is also constructive, taking what is useful from the Byzantine and Pratyabhijnii traditions so as to construct a new model of person through the development of the term, Atman-hypostasis which looks to understanding human personhood in the fullest mystical state (deification) within the human condition. A comparison of the two traditions has not been attempted before in relation to the theological discourse of person; neither has such an extensive examination and deconstruction of the concept person in Byzantine and Pratyabhijnii traditions been undertaken in relation to contemporary studies; neither has a construction of this type of model of person been undertaken. This work, in constructing a new term Atmanhypostasis, which emerged from this research as an outcome of the comparison of terms and ideas relating to a concept of person in both traditions, will contribute to the academic theological field of personhood and this thesis will also contribute to the field of inter-religious dialogue in developing an anthropological model that aims to overcome the barriers that separate and divide.
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Hall, Alexandria C. (Alexandria Caitlin). "Between gods and men : analyzing the Aztec deification of the Spanish Conquistadores and reassessing its significance." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/76571.
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Thesis (S.B. in History)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Humanities, 2012.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 55-58).
Immediately following the Spanish Conquest of Mexico in 1521, accounts arose claiming the Aztecs believed the Spaniards to be gods. This tale of Spanish deification has sparked heated debate among scholars for centuries as they have been asking, "Did the Aztecs truly believe the Spaniards to be gods?" This question naturally results in two lines of argument, those who think the Aztecs did believe the Spaniards to be gods and those that do not. The scholars arguing for the Aztec deification of the Spaniards rely on known Aztec beliefs, the importance of time to the Aztecs, and the historical works that clearly state the Aztecs though the Spaniards to be divine. The scholars against this argument instead argue the Spaniards created this account of European apotheosis, based on historical precedents and strikingly similar accounts of European apotheosis after the Spanish Conquest of Mexico. Both of these arguments are not, however, free of criticism, revealing the inability to ever answer this question decisively. Instead, this intriguing narrative of the conquest should be reassessed using new questions that could provide new insight on the relations of Spaniards and their conquered subjects, on cultural clashes more generally, and on historical work and interests over time.
by Alexandria C. Hall.
S.B.in History
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Pustay, Steven. "Becoming God, Becoming the Buddha: The Relation of Identity and Praxis in the Thought of Maximus the Confessor and Kūkai." Diss., Temple University Libraries, 2015. http://cdm16002.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p245801coll10/id/361666.
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ReligionPh.D.
My dissertation investigates the concept of ‘divinization’, or becoming like (or identical to) God or the Buddha in the thought of two early medieval monk-philosophers from radically different religious-philosophical traditions, Maximus the Confessor (580-662 CE) and Kukai (774-835 CE). I use this as a means of comparing the relationship between understandings of identity and praxis advocated by these two thinkers. Maximus was a Christian monk who lived during a period of great theological and political turmoil in the Byzantine Empire and participated in the theological debates of his day. Kukai was a Japanese monk who studied esoteric Buddhism in China and returned to establish an esoteric lineage in Japan, allowing it to survive after its demise in China. In the first half of my dissertation, I investigate their philosophical understandings of identity, what makes a thing what it is and not something else. I consider this their metaphysic (using the term in the broadest sense of an account of reality). I begin by looking at their religio-philosophical contexts which informed their thought and then on texts written by my principles themselves. Maximus’ understanding, shaped by Greek philosophy and early Christian theologians, is embodied in a triad of concepts – logoi, divine ideas and wills which bestow being on created things and hold them in existence; tropoi, the modes of existence of particular creatures and hypostasis, the individual existent or creature which exists in the tension between logoi and tropoi. The core of Kukai’s understanding is funi (不二) or non-duality, a doctrine that has both epistemic and ontological implications. It is grounded in the experience of meditation as well as the esoteric Buddhist teaching of muge (無礙), the mutual interpenetration and non-obstruction of all things. It is a doctrine central to esotericism but also has roots in prajnāpāramitā (“perfection of wisdom”) literature, important to many schools of Mahāyāna Buddhism. How they understand ‘identity’ is central to their philosophy and will reflect in both the practices they advocate and the rationale for them After establishing and explicating their understanding of identity, in consequent chapters I look at the praxes that they advocate and their metapraxis or reasoning behind these practices. I focus on regimes of self-cultivation, such as meditation, prayer, virtuous behavior, various ritual activities and how they lead to the ultimate goal of divinization. In Maximus, this process of divinization is called theosis (θέωσις), ‘deification’. He follows in a long line of Christian thinkers who hold that God created human beings in order to make them like himself, to become by grace what God is by nature. In Kūkai, this process is known as sokushin jōbutsu (即身成仏), ‘becoming a Buddha in this very existence’. He is the heir to an esoteric tradition that holds that all sentient beings are originally enlightened, they have Buddha-mind or already are the Buddha, but this reality is obscured by a profound miscognition of the reality which gives rise to egoistic craving. In the final section, I look more closely at these respective accounts of divinization, to show the profound parallels and divergences found in their thought and elucidate the source of these differences in their respective metaphysic, their accounts of identity; how does identity shape practice? What informs this understanding of identity? This is the larger question I am seeking to address. In doing so, even though my research is limited in focus to two particular thinkers, they do act as representatives of two larger traditions, Early/Eastern Christianity and Japanese Buddhism. The answers they give to this question reflect the insights and positions offered by these larger traditions.
Temple University--Theses
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Cullen, John Austin. "The patristic concept of the deification of man examined in the light of contemporary notions of the transcendence of man." Thesis, University of Oxford, 1986. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:8940cf95-41b6-4c1c-bdb1-1d454853408b.
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This thesis examines the proposition that there is a correspondence between the concept of human self-transcendence and the concept of the deification of man in that both are concerned with the bringing of human nature to its fulfilment by a process of 'redemption'. The first issue addressed is what it means to speak of man participating in divinity, and this notion is then traced through the religion and philosophy of the ancient classical world and the later Graeco-Roman world as the background against which early Christian doctrine emerged. Some modern interpretations of the notion of transcendence as it relates to the human existent are then reviewed, with particular attention being given to the suggestion that it is legitimate to speak of man rather than God as the 'locus' of transcendence by virtue of the inherent openness of human nature to the transcendence of being that meets it in its ex-sisting in being. The second, third and fourth chapters examine the development of the concept of deification as a way of speaking of humanity being brought to a resemblance to God, partaking of the divine nature, and thereby being enabled to realize the image of God in which man was originally created. The fifth chapter investigates the contributions of a selection of contemporary thinkers on the notion of man's quest for fulfilment by the process of self-transcendence, that process of overcoming the aspects of being human which compromise and threaten actual human existence. The final chapter shows how the insights of contemporary thought on the concept of self-transcendence can illuminate for us the patristic concept of deification as a way of speaking about the nature and destiny of human existence and the thesis concludes with a suggestion of three areas of contemporary investigation to which this study might be related.
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Barron, Joshua Robert. "The water of life in an Indian cup theōsis as the fulfillment of the Indian heart : Christian and Hindu understandings of deification /." Online full text .pdf document, available to Fuller patrons only, 2000. http://www.tren.com.
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Habets, Michael, and n/a. "�The danger of vertigo� : an evaluation and critique of Theosis in the theology of Thomas Forsyth Torrance." University of Otago. Department of Theology and Religious Studies, 2006. http://adt.otago.ac.nz./public/adt-NZDU20070508.120857.
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The Christian tradition, both East and West, has developed various models and theories of the atonement as explanations of what it means to speak of the reconciling activity of God in Christ. Central to these has been the claim that God has reconciled the world to himself in Christ. One way of testifying to the reconciling love of God has been the adoption of the metaphor theosis (�divinization�, �deification�) as an explanation of salvation. While central to Eastern Orthodoxy, a doctrine of theosis also has a rich tradition within Western, especially Reformed theology. The Reformed theologian, Thomas Forsyth Torrance, represents an attempt to construct a soteriology that incorporates both Eastern and Western models of the atonement around the controlling metaphor of theosis. A close reading of his theology presents a robust and clearly articulated doctrine of theosis as a key way of expressing God�s reconciling activity in Christ. As the true Man and the last Adam, Christ represents the arche and telos of human existence, the one in whose image all humanity has been created and into whose likeness all humanity is destined to be transformed from glory to glory. Through the Incarnation the Son becomes human without ceasing to be divine, to unite humanity and divinity together and effect a �deification� of human nature, mediated to men and women who are said to be �in Christ� by the work of the Holy Spirit. By means of a �wonderful exchange� Christ takes what is ours and gives us what is his. For Torrance, this is the heart of atonement. The goal of humanity is worship, something Torrance defines as the gift of participating through the Spirit in the incarnate Son�s communion with the Father. The locus of worship, and thus of theosis, is the church, the communion of saints created by the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. Throughout Torrance�s doctrines of creation, anthropology, incarnation, reconciliation, and pneumato-ecclesiology, the concept of theosis plays a central and constitutive role in explaining a Christian theology of salvation. Theosis is thus foundational to Torrance�s theology and is one way in which he holds together in systematic fashion his diverse theological oeuvre.
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Schumacher, William Wallace. ""Who do I say that you are?" anthropology and the theology of theosis in the Finnish School of Tuomo Mannermaa /." Online full text .pdf document, available to Fuller patrons only, 2003. http://www.tren.com.
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Wetzel, Julia L. "The Making of a Princeps: Imperial Virtues in Monumental Propaganda." Thesis, University of North Texas, 2020. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1707382/.
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This thesis demonstrates key imperial virtues communicated on Roman Imperial triumphal monuments. A closer examination of monuments located in Rome reveals the presentation of personality traits such as military valor, piety, and mercy through symbolism, nature scenes, and personifications of abstract qualities. Each monument is dedicated to an emperor and exemplifies his virtues. The representation of imperial virtues conveys an emperor's worth to the public by communicating his better qualities. Architecture and coin evidence served as media to convey an emperor's qualities to the public and fostered general acceptance of his rule among the public. Valor (virtus), piety (pietas), and mercy (clementia) are each examined to demonstrate their importance, their multiple types of representations in architecture, and their presentation and reach on coins. Chapters 2 through 4 look at the symbolism and representation of military courage and honor. As a military virtue, valor is easiest to represent and point out through battle scenes, military symbols, and gods who assisted the emperor in war. Honor (honos), as a close association to valor is also a promotable trait. Chapters 5 through 7 look at the multiple representations of an emperor's piety. Piety, being the Roman empire's oldest virtue, can be seen through sacrificial scenes, mythological scenes, and symbols associated with these same gods and sacrifices. Chapter 8 looks at personifications of abstract qualities and natural phenomena and their role in Roman cosmology. Chapter 9 looks at the last virtue, mercy, which is demonstrated as the most valuable but also rare because it demands special skills and balance within a ruler. Mercy's rarity makes its symbolism and representational scenery smaller in comparison to the first two but still evident in architecture and coins. Possession of each trait awarded the possessor honor and divinity heaped on him, as discussed in Chapter 10. The Romans saw divinity as an honor which the senate awarded upon display of these superior virtues. Several arguments are considered and add different viewpoints to how divinity was acquired whether for the possession of these qualities or the actions that resulted from them. This analysis of symbolism and relevant divine scenes associated with imperial virtues demonstrate the emperor's superiority through possession of these virtues and show their subtle inclusion in imperial architecture.
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Hitchcock, Nathan. "Karl Barth and the resurrection of the flesh." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/5524.
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However reluctant he may be about providing details, Karl Barth dares to affirm the coming resurrection, even in the strong corporeal sense of the Apostles Creed, “I believe in . . . the resurrection of the flesh.” At the heart of Barth’s creative approach is an equation between revelation and resurrection. Indeed, everything said about the human addressed now in revelation is to be said about the human at the coming resurrection, including the remarkable fact that resurrection raises the “flesh” (inasmuch as God has revealed Himself to those “in the flesh”). Barth’s early training inculcated in him dialectical themes that would emerge throughout his career. His early work is dominated by a sense of encounter with the present but transcendent God, an encounter described in terms of the raising of the dead. Human existence is sublated – “dissolved and established” – unto a higher order in God. Yet even after Barth abandons the resurrection of the dead as his preferred theological axiom, he portrays eschatology proper in terms of the human sublated in the divine presence. Therefore, in Church Dogmatics he expresses the doctrine of the resurrection of the flesh in three primary ways: eternalization, manifestation and incorporation. The human, delimited as he or she is by death, is made durable in God, obtaining the gift of eternalization. The human, ambiguous in the creaturely mode of earthly life, has one’s true identity revealed with Christ at His return, and obtains the gift of manifestation with the divine. The human, isolated as he or she is in one’s autonomy, is incorporated into the body of Christ by His Spirit, obtaining the gift of communion. In each of these expressions of resurrection Barth desires to preserve fleshliness. His account, however, entails a certain loss of temporality, creatureliness and particularity of the human when it comes to the final state. Instead of being resurrected from the dead in the strong corporeal sense, human bodies appear to be memorialized, deified, recapitulated. Though written with the language of the Antiochene and Reformed schools, Barth’s position enjoys the same strengths and suffers the same weaknesses of a more Alexandrian or Lutheran theological trajectory. Like each of the traditional lines of Christian thought about the resurrection of the flesh, Barth gravitates toward an eschatology centered around the human’s vision of God in the heavenly life. To this extent Barth’s creative treatment of the resurrection of the dead can be understood as broadly Christian, even if he risks undermining the very flesh he hopes to save.
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Bailey, George Peter. "Growing into God : a consideration of the relation between the experience and theology of sanctification, in dialogue with John Wesley's theology of perfection and Gregory Palamas' theology of deification." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 2011. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.609605.
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Song, Jin Young. "An analysis and evaluation of the anoiting with the spirit in charismatic movements : a reformed assessment." Thesis, University of Pretoria, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/2263/40205.
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This research has attempted to discover the ethos and characteristics of the anointing with the Spirit of the Charismatic movements with the reformed assessment. It has been studied how the exegetical interpretation and Scriptural theology of the anointing with the Spirit relate to the systematic reformed theology.
This study has indicated the key notion of this research, “the anointing with the Spirit” in Ancient Near Eastern Literature and in Scripture. The biblical foundation of the Reformed tradition on the notion of this research has been investigated and Christian reflection on the anointing with the Spirit has historically been investigated. The church’s dogmata of the anointing with the Spirit examined throughout the history of the church as well as whether the anointing with the Spirit in the Charismatic movement was implicated in the Reformed tradition. Whether the Reformed tradition disallowed all supernatural phenomena has also been examined, and what their concept is of the anointing with the Spirit.
The debates between charismatic and reformed perspectives on the theological characteristics of the anointing with the Spirit have been compared. Essential to the argument is the nature and characteristics of the Charismatic movement in relation to the anointing with the Spirit, in which the unique experiences of the Spirit and their response to the world is demonstrated.
The explored issues are systematically recapitulated and evaluated to be resolved. Four systematic spheres are examined with different hermeneutical approaches: the biblical and theological pneumatology; soteriology, in which the anointing with the Spirit is to be applied; promulgated eschatology that entails the characteristics of the missio Spiritus and the extent of the establishment of God’s kingdom in connection with the anointing with the Spirit, and finally mandated ecclesiology that requires responsibilities and commitments of those who are endowed with the charismata of the Spirit in the sphere of all contemporary areas.
The anointing with the Spirit is related to soteriological aspect, authentic repentance is preconditioned to be gifted the charismata of the Spirit (Acts 2:38-40). Unlikely the pneumatological concept of the Charismatic movements, it is not only a means to achieve the God’s redemptive task, but also a resolution to prepare a residence for the God the Spirit in the hearts of the believers. Consequently sanctification should be the centred-ethos in the manifestation and application of the charismata of the Spirit in the Charismatic movements. The Charismatic believe that the anointing with the Spirit is the presence of God. However, the sanctifying characteristics, which come through God’s presence, are scarcely demonstrated in the life of the Charismatic believers.
In the eschatological perspective, this research unveils the anointing with Spirit, poured upon the body of the Anointed One, is for eschatological completion, confirming the godly guarantee of his physical presence of the Anointed One by indwelling of his Spirit in and among their eschatological sanctuary. Simultaneously the anointing with the Spirit is perceived as a reality to encounter the upcoming dreadful judgment day of the Lord which will occur to the world. Justification and sanctification are essential requirements to face those days. Then the anointing with the Spirit in the Charismatic movement is by no means operated only for the present prosperity gospel. Eschatological imminence should be the foundational theology for both the Reformed and the Charismatic traditions.
In assessment and evaluation of the Charismatic movements, this research analyses the cohorts of the Charismatic have ostensibly collapsed into a predicament over the intuitive characteristics due to the deficiency of its confirmation with the authority of Scripture in the process of charismatic manifestations of the Spirit. Some Charismatics blunder into a deception since they incline to shape their ethos on emotional and sensational experience, rather than to formulate these experiences in response to the authentic truth of Scripture.
In this regards, this research indicates the Charismatics is to revise their dogmata according to Scripture. If spirituality is correlated to the knowledge of God through his Spirit, then the experience of genuine spirituality must be joined to what is meant by the truth of the Spirit. Nevertheless in search for the charismatic anointing with the Spirit, this study does not disregard the essential function of both inspirational intuition and rational conception to form their theology and beliefs on Scriptural foundation. The Reformed contends that they should eliminate the insecure and instinctive category of procedures and solemnly rely on the adequacy and exclusivity of Scriptural authority. The Charismatics believe that such knowledge is not seriously dissimilar to the imperfect nature of contemporary causes. However, both perspectives require some consideration. The instruction of the essence either repeats Scripture either Scriptural or is invalid.
Finally this investigation illustrates some contributions of the Charismatic movement that entails the revitalized crucial function of the charismata with manifestations of the Spirit for individual edification, energetic communal worship, and influential evangelism and particularly the contextualization in communication with other society and community in evangelism in the areas of the missio Spiritus, eschatology, and experience.Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2013.
gm2014
Dogmatics and Christian Ethics
unrestricted
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Maftei, Eugen. "L'incarnation du Verbe de Dieu comme oeuvre du salut chez Athanase d'Alexandrie." Thesis, Paris 4, 2012. http://www.theses.fr/2012PA040279.
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La présente thèse, intitulée «L’incarnation du Verbe de Dieu comme œuvre du salut chez Athanase d’Alexandrie» met en évidence un sujet qui a une connotation très forte pour l’histoire du christianisme et des pensées religieuses en général, à savoir l’action salvatrice du Fils de Dieu en faveur de l’homme, avec toutes les conséquences qui en résultent. Athanase a une conception assez originale sur la nature de l’homme, qu’il conçoit comme un être corruptible, issu du néant, mais destiné pourtant à une vie éternelle par la participation de Dieu, celui qui possède la vraie vie et qui lui communique cette vie si celui-ci reste en communion avec Dieu. Pour qu’il puisse réaliser cette relation très personnelle, Dieu l’a créé selon son image, le Logos-même et l’a doté de l’esprit, l’esprit qui lui permettait d’élever toujours sa pensée vers le monde intelligible et de voir Dieu selon l’image duquel il a été fait. A cause de son insouciance et de la tromperie du démon l’homme n’a pas réussi à garder la pureté de son esprit, pureté qui lui garantissait la contemplation de l’Image, s’est retourné par le péché vers les choses sensibles et a commencé à se contempler lui-même. Ainsi la séparation de Dieu, sa source de vie, renvoie l’homme à sa condition initiale de créature sortie du néant. Mais Dieu, dans son amour infini, n’a pas voulu laisser l’homme dans cet état déplorable et a envoyé dans le monde son propre Verbe pour qu’en sa qualité d’Image de Dieu, il renouvelle l’homme fait selon l’image et qu’en assumant une humanité réelle, il le libère du péché et de la mort par sa mort et sa résurrection. Pourtant l’œuvre salvatrice accomplie par l’incarnation du Verbe ne se limite pas seulement à une restauration de l’homme dans son état initial, mais suppose quelque chose de plus, à savoir une union si étroite de l’humanité et de la divinité dans la personne du Christ, de telle sorte que la nature humaine-même est rendue perméable à la divinité. Cette œuvre réalisée dans la personne du Christ se prolonge dans tous les hommes, grâce à leur parenté et incorporation en Christ. C’est ainsi que l’auteur conclut par sa célèbre phrase: «Dieu s’est fait homme pour que l’homme soit fait dieu», un dieu non par nature, mais par grâceThis thesis, entitled “The incarnation of the Word of God as work of salvation in Athanasius of Alexandria” emphasizes a topic that has very strong connotations in the history of Christianity and religious thoughts in general, namely the liberating action of the Son of God for man, with all the consequences that will result. Athanasius’ thinking of human nature is, in some degree, original. For him, the human being is a corruptible one, as originated in nothingness, but destined to an eternal life through the participation of God, who possesses the true life and who communicates it to him, if he remains in communion with God. To achieve this personal relationship, God created him after his image, the Logos himself, and endowed him with spirit, which enabled him to raise always his thought to the intelligible world and to see God in whose image he was made. Because of his recklessness and deceit of the devil, man failed to keep the purity of his spirit, purity that ensured his contemplation of the Image, he turned through sin to sensible things and began to contemplate himself. Thus, the separation from God, the source of his life, makes the man returning to his original condition as creature out of nothing. But God in his infinite love would not leave man in this deplorable state and sent into the world his own Word to renew, as Image of God, the man made after this Image and, by assuming a true humanity, deliver him from sin and death by his death and his resurrection. Yet the saving work accomplished by the incarnation of the Word is not limited only to a restoration of man to his original condition, but requires something more, namely a union so close of humanity and divinity in the person of Christ, so that the human nature itself is made permeable to the deity. This work accomplished in the Christ’ person extends to all men, through their similarity and their incorporation into Christ. Thus the author concludes by his famous phrase: “God became man so that man is made god”, a god, not by nature but by grace
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Judge, Rebecca. "The Transformative Presence of the Theotokos: Aid in Our Suffering, Illness, and Healing." University of Dayton / OhioLINK, 2021. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=dayton1626736145589305.
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Ramel, André. "La bûche embrasée : étude philosophique de le vive flamme d'amour de Jean de la Croix." Toulouse 2, 1988. http://www.theses.fr/1988TOU20022.
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Apres un avant-propos consacre aux etudes mystiques dans un monde en crise, l'introduction situe la vive flamme d'amour dans l'oeuvre de jean de la croix et en degage le problematique d'ensemble. La premiere partie intitulee "l'etre, la flamme et la croix" comprend trois chapitres. Le premier s'interesse a l'activite poetique de jean de la croix et montre l'importance primordiale des poemes dans l'oeuvre du mystique. Le second chapitre expose les principes fondamentaux de la theologie mystique sanjuaniste. Le troisieme degage les theses maitresses de l'antropologie du carmel engeneral et de jean de la croix en particulier. La deuxieme partie intitulee "l'union transformante d'amour" est tout entiere centree sur la realite de la transformation ontologique de l'homme qui, au cours du processus mystique, devient dieu par participation. Le premier chapitre souligne l'importance du maitre spirituel. Le second analyse les plus hauts degres de la vie mystique et leurs consequences anthropologiques. Le chapitre trois expose la realite de la deification de l'homme. La conclusion etablit un dialogue entre la doctrine de jean de la croix et divers courants de la pensee contemporaineAfter a foreword dealing with the mystical studies in a world in a crisis, the introduction situates the vivid flame of love in john of the cross's works and presents the general problematic. The first part intitled "the being, the flame and the cross" is composed of three chapters. The first one describes the poetical activity of john of the cross and shows the primordial importance of poems in this mystic's works. The second chapter states the fondamental principles of the mystical john of the cross's theology. The third chapter depicts the main thesis of the anthropology of the carmelite order in general and of john of the cross in particular. The second part entitled "the changing union of love" is entirely centered on the reality of the ontological change of man who, during the mystical process, becomes god by taking part in it. The first chapter emphasizes the importance of the spiritual master. The second one analyzes the highest degrees of mystical life and their anthropological consequences. Chapter three deals with the reality of man's deification. The conclusion establishes a dialogue between john of the cross's doctrine and the various trends of contemporary thought
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Tallon, Luke Ben. "Our being is in becoming : the nature of human transformation in the theology of Karl Barth, Joseph Ratzinger, and John Zizioulas." Thesis, University of St Andrews, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/10023/2572.
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This study offers an ecumenical exploration of human transformation through the examination of this topic in the thought of Karl Barth (1888-1968), a Swiss Reformed theologian; Joseph Ratzinger (b. 1927), a Roman Catholic theologian; and John Zizioulas (b. 1931), a Greek Orthodox theologian. Describing and understanding human transformation stands as a crucial task for theology because no one is simply born a Christian—in order to be a Christian one must become a Christian. The first chapter introduces this topic, the three theologians (highlighting their commonalities), and the three questions that guide the analysis of each theologian and the thesis as a whole: What is the goal of human transformation? What is the basis of human transformation? How are humans transformed? Chapters 2, 3, and 4 treat the topic of human transformation in the theology of Barth, Ratzinger, and Zizioulas, respectively. All three understand the goal of human transformation to be the prayer of the children of God, and locate its basis in God’s reconciling act in Jesus Christ—an act itself based in the primordial divine decision to be God pro nobis. Even within this broad agreement, however, differences are evident, especially with regard to eschatology. Consideration of how this transformation occurs reveals significant differences concerning the agency of Jesus Christ in relation to the Holy Spirit and the church. The final chapter explores 1) the convergences and divergences between Barth, Ratzinger, and Zizioulas regarding human transformation; 2) the contributions of this study to the interpretation of Barth, Ratzinger, and Zizioulas; and 3) the relationship between human transformation and participation in God. Throughout, attention is given to the relationship between Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, the church, the eschaton, and the triunity of God and human transformation. All three accounts of human transformation point beyond the transition between sinful and redeemed humanity to a dynamic anthropology in which the constant asking, receiving, thanking, and asking again is the very “ontological location” of the eschatological life of humanity: our being is in becoming.
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Savelli, Pedro. "O batismo e a eucaristia na perspectiva da deificação." Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo, 2011. https://tede2.pucsp.br/handle/handle/18295.
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Previous issue date: 2011-11-17Deification: in the ecstatic love of God we are deified to be in communion with His life and nature. The Perspective of the Deification opens three paths for the human being to be conscious of taking part of the divine nature: a) through the way of Life. We only exist by virtue of the kindness of God. Out of nothing, He calls everything to the light: the work of the Creation expresses the Will of God, everything belongs to Him and from Him receives the natural deification; b) through the way of Revelation. The people from Israel knew how to interpret its own history as a singular election of God, whose objective is to be the light to the nations: deification by the obedience to the listening of the Word of God. c) Through the way of Grace: Reincarnation and Glorification of the Christ-Sacrament. Father God, in the mystery of His donation to the humanity, invites us to participate in His divine nature, transformed by the Son in the strength of the Hole Spirit: covering us of Christ by the Baptism and feeding us from Him by the Eucharist: sacramental deification. In Christ, Head, the Church is Sacrament. It updates the deifying Grace through the Spirit, celebrating the liturgy, particularly, the Eucharist: it is in the latter that we find ourselves
Deificação: no amor extático de Deus somos deificados para estarmos em comunhão com a Sua vida e natureza. A Perspectiva da Deificação abre três caminhos para o humano tomar consciência de participar da natureza divina: a) pelo caminho da Vida. Existimos somente pela bondade de Deus. Ele do nada, chama tudo à luz: a obra da Criação expressa a Vontade de Deus, tudo pertence a Ele e Dele recebe a deificação natural; b) pelo caminho da Revelação: o Povo de Israel soube interpretar a própria história como uma eleição particular de Deus, cuja finalidade é ser luz às nações: deificação pela obediência à escuta da Palavra de Deus. c) Pelo caminho da Graça: Encarnação e Glorificação de Cristo-Sacramento. Deus Pai, no mistério de sua doação à humanidade, convida-nos a participar de Sua natureza divina, transformados pelo Filho na força do Espírito Santo: revestindo-nos de Cristo pelo Batismo e alimentando-nos Dele pela Eucaristia: deificação sacramental. Em Cristo, Cabeça, a Igreja é Sacramento. Ela atualiza pelo Espírito a Graça deificante, celebrando a liturgia, em particular a Eucaristia: é neste último caminho que nos encontramos
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Hansen, Steven. "Pain, Human Redemption, and Medicine: James Hinton's Theological Appropriation of Pain." 2011. http://digital.library.duq.edu/u?/etd,154086.
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Hinton's theology of pain posits that an individual's suffering contributes to God's redemptive work in the world. This dissertation explores Hinton's theological appropriation of pain in four ways. First, we examine Hinton's life and writings to establish his personal interest about pain. Factors that contribute to Hinton's theological interest were the death of his brother, his sojourn in Whitechapel, his mental health, and his practice and skepticism of medicine. Second, we examine Hinton's redemptive nexus of suffering, beneficence, and deification in light of the Jewish and Christian traditions. While our exploration shows that the biblical tradition interweaves suffering, beneficence and deification, we also see that the biblical tradition adds elements that Hinton's treatment misses. The tradition shows that society also has an obligation to those who suffer. Suffering and wellbeing are ultimately social issues that require social, not simply personal, solutions. The serendipitous nature of suffering in the Hebrew bible fleshes out what in Hinton is simply an argument. In light of the serendipitous suffering in the Hebrew tradition, we examined participants in medical trials and the advancement of medicine as possible instances to bolster Hinton's theological nexus. The New Testament suggests that Hinton is too unidirectional in his understanding of the nexus of suffering, beneficence and deification. The New Testament places identification with Christ preeminently ahead of the suffering of the individual. Third, we explore the relevance of Hinton's thinking about pain in his contemporary setting in light of the philosophical, theological, and scientific developments in the nineteenth century. Hinton's metaphysical speculations bridge theology to Darwin's theory of evolution. Darwin was unable to connect Christianity to his thinking about natural selection because of his acceptance of ideas within natural theology. Hinton's metaphysical conceptualization allows him to reject natural theology while embracing the Darwinian revolution from a Christian perspective. Finally, we explore modern pain theories and the literature on the role of religious coping on pain and illness to see if Hinton's theology of pain remains intelligible. The modern medical and social science literature sustains Hinton's basic premise that theological outlook can influence one's tolerance of pain.McAnulty College and Graduate School of Liberal Arts
Theology
PhD
Dissertation
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Liu, Yi-fung, and 劉憶芳. "Deification Diversity of Yi-min gods: A Case Study on Yi-min Temple in Miaoli." Thesis, 2009. http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/92868838178581972548.
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碩士國立聯合大學
經濟與社會研究所
97
The topic of the deification of Yi-min gods is fully discussed on account of that it was mentioned in the high school’s textbook “Get familiar with Taiwan: Social Life”. The reason why it was fully discussed is that the Yi-min gods’ religion was misunderstood by the editors of National Institute for Compilation and Translation. Although it has been corrected, the deification of Yi-min gods still raises people’s discussions. Is it the respectable gods? Is it the fearful ghost? Or it’s our close ancestry? That is what this research wants to discuss about. Moreover, compared to the Yi-min Temple in Miaoli, most researches in the past paid much more attentions on investigating Yi-min Temple in Fang-Liao. Those who were also sacrificed themselves in Lin-Shuang-wen incident, and nominated by Qian-long emperor were not mentioned a lot in the previous researches. Through the field research in Hsinchu, most citizens regarded that there’s no difference between gods and Yi-min gods. In contrast, most people in Miaoli considered Yi-min gods as the ghost, they also believed that Yi-min gods as the god who has lower deification. The cognition of the deification of Yi-min gods was differentiated by different regions. Therefore, the research focuses on the citizens in Miaoli in order to realize the different viewpoints of the deification of Yi-min gods in people’s minds. According to movable logic on gods, ghosts, and descendants from Watanabe Yoshio, he found that the deification of Yi-min gods were died by the violence. From the dead situation, Yi-min gods would be the same with Responsive Patriarch and Wan-shan-ye. However, as Yi-min gods have virtue before death, it can be set in gods order. Moreover, Yi-min gods were sacrificed not only by their descendants, but also by other people. For these two reasons, the deification of Yi-min gods was ascertained. On the contrary, Responsive Patriarch and Wan-shan-ye were died by violence. However, they can’t set in gods order because they didn’t have virtue before death. Even they were sacrificed by the other people; they were still divided into Yi-min gods. The research is divided into two parts. First of all, the researcher did the “questionnaire”. The researcher would group the interviewees with different perceptions and viewpoints. Then, ascertain the accuracy of grouping with cross match/validation. For example, the questions would design as below; “What kinds of paper money did you use when you go to Yi-min Temple”, “Which god you think is more similar with Yi-min gods?”, and so on. Then, observe the characteristics of each participant in different groups. According to the characteristics, they could be classified into three groups: Hakka martyrs, gods, and ghosts. People who selected Yi-min gods as Hakka martyrs tended to be neutral. They considered the deification of Yi-min gods is neither the god nor the ghost. Yi-min gods is much more similar with the 72 martyrs who sacrificed themselves in Huang-hua-gang. People who selected Yi-min gods as gods believed that Yi-min gods is the same as gods. People who selected Yi-min gods as ghosts regarded there’s no difference between ghosts and Yi-min gods. What is more, it can be seen from the field research that there are many varieties of the deification of Yi-min gods. Take the behavior of burning paper money for example, some people burned the one which is for the ghost, some burned the one for gods. About offering sacrifices, people often go to Yi-min Temple in the morning instead of in the afternoon on account of that most of them believed there is a slight difference between offering sacrifices to gods and ghosts. Offering sacrifices in the morning is for gods, on the contrary, afternoon is for the ghosts. For the further observation, some sutra lectures were held during Chungyuan Festival. The memorial tablet of Yi-min gods would be invited to join the activities in Chungyuan Festival in the close area. The researcher regarded Yi-min gods was treated as Cheng-huang-ye but it was denied by those citizens. The replied that Yi-min gods was invited as the guset not insane. Through the investigation, it can be seen that there are a wide range of varieties of the deification of Yi-min gods. Compared the questionnaire and interview, the researcher through questionnaire would group the interviewees with different perceptions and viewpoints into three groups: Hakka martyrs, gods, and ghosts. From interviewing the sacrificed behavior and perspective of Yi-min gods, the researcher would also group the interviewees into several groups: Ghosts, Hakka ancestors, and martyrs. The results are the same, so the researcher ascertains the interviewees’ perceptions in the deification of Yi-min gods. It is really complex that there are so many viewpoints toward the deification of Yi-min gods. Some people demonstrated the believed Yi-min gods as the ghost at the beginning, but the behaviors of offering sacrifices to Yi-min gods revealed they treated Yi-min gods as god. It is because they burned the paper money/ praying cash to Yi-min gods. Hence, the behaviors and the cognitions toward Yi-min gods are still blur. The deification of Yi-min gods in people’s minds is still not stable. It is necessary to spend a long time to do the deep research for the deification of Yi-min gods.
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Puppo, Janet M. Bellotti. "Sacrament of deification the Eucharistic vision of Alexander Schmemann in light of the doctrine of theosis /." 2007. http://etd1.library.duq.edu/theses/available/etd-02072007-144426/.
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Bernard, David Kane. "Monotheistic discourse and deification of Jesus in early Christianity as exemplified in 2 Corinthians 3:16-4:6." Thesis, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/10500/18502.
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One of the central issues of early Christianity was the identity of Jesus Christ. Paul and other early Christians discussed this question within the framework of traditional Jewish monotheism and used the language of deity to describe Christ. This thesis explores how and why they integrated the two concepts of monotheism and the deity of Jesus. As a window into this process, it particularly examines Paul’s discourse in 2 Cor 3:16–4:6, employing grammatical-historical exegesis with insights from rhetorical criticism and Oneness Pentecostal Christology.
We consider three fundamental questions: (1) What does the exalted language concerning Christ in this text represent? (2) How did Paul reconcile the deification of Jesus with his monotheistic heritage? (3) Why did Paul deify Jesus? What interests were served, and what were the practical consequences?
The conclusion is that early Christians, prior to and including Paul, worshiped Jesus within a Jewish monotheistic context and not as a result of Hellenization. They viewed Jesus as the revelation of the one God, not as a second deity or a different personage. Although they reinterpreted their core beliefs in light of Jesus, they did not see their worship of Jesus as violating their core beliefs. The evidence from Paul’s Corinthian correspondence does not require an explicit binitarian or trinitarian model, but it reveals that many early Christians viewed God as both transcendent and immanent and worshiped Jesus as the God of Israel manifested in human identity.
We identify four significant socio-rhetorical factors in the monotheistic deification of Jesus: (1) In a context of rapid social change it enabled Christians to combine Hebrew monotheism with Greek longing for universals, thereby claiming both traditional heritage and Christocentric distinctiveness. (2) It gave them a unique social identity and cohesiveness. (3) It affirmed their soteriological experiences, beliefs, and outreach. (4) It positioned the movement to attract all people, moving the new faith beyond Jewish ethnicity and traditional boundary markers so that it became a universal monotheism with a missiological focus. The socio-rhetorically constructed identity of Jesus Christ defined the identity of the early Christians. The result was a distinctively Christian faith.New Testament
D. Th. (New Testament)
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"正教的成神教義與巴特神學: Orthodox doctrine of deification and Barth's theology." 2015. http://library.cuhk.edu.hk/record=b6116133.
Full textAbstract:
由於歷史和神學的複雜原因，自二十世紀後半葉至今的數十年時間里，正教神學經歷了一場十分可觀的復興，使得正教神學在國際學術界得到廣泛重視和熱烈的討論，其中尤為引人注目的是一嚮被視作正教特有的古老教義──成神論。它一經現代學者關注，便迅速發展成為普世教會對話的重要論題，為更多來自西方基督教傳統的神學家所研究。而現時，關於成神論的一個研究熱點就是發掘西方傳統中重要神學家思想中的成神論因素，或是探討其思想與成神論的關係。本研究關注的正是巴特（Karl Barth, 1886-1968）與成神論的關係。現有對於巴特神學與成神論進行比較研究的文獻數量極少，而且存在著一個重要問題，即沒有能夠展現一個在規模上和深度上相當的成神論綜述，作為與巴特神學進行比較的參照。為解決這一問題本文選擇了洛斯基（VladimirLossky, 1903-1958）、茲茲奧拉斯（John Zizioulas）與斯塔尼萊（Dumitru Stăniloae,1903-1993）三位現代正教神學大家為代表，通過他們三人的神學來展現正教成神論的一個較為全面的風貌。
在這三位神學家中，洛斯基的神學主要繼承了聖帕拉瑪（St. Palamas,1296-1359）的思想，著力闡發上帝的神聖能力與神聖本質相區分的傳統教義，以此為進路通嚮成神論；茲茲奧拉斯則是以卡帕多西亞教父的論述的"位格"概念為核心，逐漸擺脫了神聖能力與神聖本質相區分的既定格局，發展出一種通過人與上帝的位格相遇而實現的成神論；斯塔尼萊作為一位集大成的正教神學家，在其巨著《正教教義神學》中系統展現了正教神學的全貌，說明了以人論、基督論、拯救論為主要支點的成神論，其實是正教教義神學的終極歸宿和總目標。
在考察過三位正教神學家的成神論思想后，轉入巴特的神學。針對與成神論關係密切相關的論題，著重考察巴特的基督論、人論，以及基於這二者的救贖論，並與東正教相對應問題的比較。通過比較最終發現，雖然兩者間在某些論題確實存在著難以抹殺的分歧，但巴特神學以基督論為基礎建構起的人論則與東正教傳統有著顯著的親和力，尤其在對罪觀的闡述上，已然突破了東西傳統之間的壁壘，形成了具有普世意義的教義理論，說明巴特的拯救觀已然超出了傳統西方的救贖論模式，與正教成神論有趨同之勢。
最後，在對整個研究做出總結的基礎上，闡明本研究的內在動機和現實意義，即進一步推進漢語學界對東正教神學的了解和認識，進而改善因了解的片面性造成的、在漢語學界仍然存在的對基督宗教的成見。並通過說明東正教神學思想與中國傳統思想的親和性，展現東正教神學研究對於建構漢語神學的積極意義。
Due to both historical and theological reasons, the Orthodox theological tradition underwent a significant revival during the past several decades. Some themes in the Orthodox tradition drew the attention of international academia. Among them, the ancient doctrine of deification is unquestionable the most attractive one, which quickly became an important topic in the ecumenical dialogue. Nowadays, one of the hot issues concerning the study of deification is the comparison between the Orthodox and Western understandings of theosis or deification. In this thesis, the relation between Karl Barth(1886-1968)'s theology and the Orthodox doctrine of deification will be explored.
There are only a small number of existing studies dedicated to the comparison between Barth and the Orthodox doctrine of deification, and they focused rather exclusively on Christology. In order to give a comprehensive and extensive comparison between Barth and the Orthodox doctrine of deification, this thesis choose three masters of modern Orthodox theology as the reference points for comparison, and they are V. Lossky(1903-1958), John Zizioulas, and D.Stăniloae(1903-1993).
Following St. Palamas(1296-1359), Lossky based his theology of deification on the distinction between divine energy and essence. Zizioulas inherited Cappadocian Fathers' thought, and explained deification in terms of personal encounter. Staniloae articulated a comprehensive Orthodox dogmatic theology with deification as the centre or key of the whole system, and took theological anthropology, Christology, and Soteriology as the three pillars of the doctrine of deification.
After exploring these three orthodox theologians' thought, the discussion will turn to Barth’s theology, especially his Christology, anthropology, and doctrine of salvation. We will find that Barth’s theological anthropology, which is oriented by his Christology, shows certain similarities to the anthropology in Eastern Orthodox theology, and they share similar understanding of unio hypostatica and communicatio idiomatum. Furthermore, Barth’s understanding of sin together with salvation is not only quite far away from the hamartiology prevalent in western theological tradition, which is focused on original sin and its redemption, but also comes closer to the Orthodox theological tradition. Though there are undeniable differences between Barth and Orthodox theology, there are also significant affinities between them on the issue of deification.
To the end of this study, this thesis will discuss the significance of the studies of Orthodox theology for the Chinese academica. It is foreseeable that a careful study of Orthodox theology will clear some of the misunderstandings of or even biases against Christianity prevalent in the Chinese-speaking world. Meanwhile, the studies of Orthodox theology can also contribute a lot to the construction of Sino-Christian Theology due to the similarities between Orthodox theology and traditional Chinese religious-philosophical thought.
Detailed summary in vernacular field only.
Detailed summary in vernacular field only.
Detailed summary in vernacular field only.
Detailed summary in vernacular field only.
Detailed summary in vernacular field only.
張少博.
Parallel title from added title page.
Thesis (Ph.D.) Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2015.
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 131-137).
Abstracts also in English.
Zhang Shaobo.
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Min, Chiu Huai, and 邱慧敏. "A study of the Relationship between the Symbolic Meanings of Animal Images and Character Shaping in The Legend of Deification." Thesis, 2010. http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/u4mm9u.
Full textAbstract:
碩士國立臺東大學
兒童文學研究所
98
Although The Legend of Deification is not as important as the four Chinese masterpieces in the field of classic literature, it has been revised multiple times to the version suitable for children and teenagers. In the modern age, The Legend of Deification has also been reproduced for different mediums other than the traditional book form. As the focus of this research this study will discuss the relevancy and importance of animal images mentioned in the book. The Legend of Deification was the literature accumulated from Generation to Generation, this study discusses character shaping not solely based on descriptions provided in the book, but also the impacts that the belief systems, contemporary collective consciousness, societal backgrounds, ancient legends, and cultural beliefs have on The Legend of Deification. Furthermore, this study will utilize mythological and archetypal criticisms as the basis of theoretical framework, coupled with judgments from the diachronic perspective, to deeply analyze legends and totemistic beliefs and their relevance to the symbolic meanings of animal images. It is the goal of this study to identify the symbolic meanings of animal images and their relationships with character shaping, the relationship between animal image talismans and character shaping, and the relationship between the rides and character shaping. From the study of these three relationships, this research has concluded that it does not matter whether it is the character, talisman, or the ride, the symbolic meanings of animals have a profound influence on character shaping and even inspired character shaping. Moreover, the relationships among the talisman, ride, and character shaping indicate that animal symbolism has a close connection with the owner of the animal.
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"M.N. and the Yorkshire Circle: The Motivation Behind the Translation of the Mirouer des Simples Ames in Fourteenth-Century England." Doctoral diss., 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/2286/R.I.9223.
Full textAbstract:
abstract: In 1999, Geneviève Hasenohr announced the discovery of a fragment of Marguerite Porete's Mirouer des Simples Ames, a work condemned by the Church at the University of Paris in 1310, hidden in a manuscript at the Bibliothèque municipale in Valenciennes. The fragment corresponds with roughly two chapters in the only extant French version of the manuscript (Chantilly, Musée Condé MS F XIV 26), and when compared with other editions of the Mirouer, it appears to be composed in what might have been Marguerite Porete's native dialect. The discovery changed scholars' perceptions of the weight of the various versions and translations - the Chantilly manuscript had been used previously to settle any questions of discrepancy, but now it appears that the Continental Latin and Middle English translations should be the arbiters. This discovery has elevated the Middle English editions, and has made the question of the translator's identity - he is known only by his initials M.N. - and background more imperative to an understanding of why a work with such a dubious history would be translated and harbored by English Carthusians in the century that followed its condemnation. The only candidate suggested for translator of the Mirouer has been Michael Northburgh (d. 1361), the Bishop of London and co-founder of the London Charterhouse, where two of the three remaining copies of the translation were once owned, but the language of the text and Northburgh's own position and interests do not fit this suggestion. My argument is that the content of the book, the method of its translation, its selection as a work for a Latin-illiterate audience, all fit within the interests of a circle of writers based in Yorkshire at the end of the fourteenth century. By beginning among the Yorkshire circle, and widening the search to include writers with a non-traditional contemplative audience, one that exists outside of the cloister - writers like Walter Hilton, the anonymous authors of the Cloud of Unknowing and the Chastising of God's Children, and Nicholas Love - we may have a better chance of locating and understanding the motives of the Middle English translator of the Mirouer.Dissertation/Thesis
Ph.D. English 2011
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Avramova, Sofia. "Le rapport de l'Un et de l'intellect dans la centurie de Calliste Cataphygiotes." Thèse, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/1866/5309.
Full textAbstract:
La présente étude est une analyse et une reconstruction interprétative de la centurie de Calliste Cataphygiotès, intitulée De l'union avec Dieu et de la vie contemplative, chapitres syllogistiques et hauts. Notre approche à ce texte pluridisciplinaire est prioritairement philosophique. Dans le but de mettre en valeur l'intérêt philosophique qu'il représente, nous avons concentré notre analyse sur les problèmes liés au rapport de l'intellect avec l'Un, sur l'étude du concept de l'infini, sur son rôle dans la contemplation et sur la méthode dialectique dont Calliste Cataphygiotès s'en sert. Nous avons reconstruit la doctrine de la contemplation, implicite au texte de Calliste et nous avons tenté une reconstruction globale de la centurie qui permettra au lecteur d'apprécier les qualités spéculatives et l'esprit synthétique de ce mystique byzantin presque inconnu.The present study is an analysis and an interpretative reconstruction of Callistus Cataphygiotes's syllogistic chapters, entitled The union with God and the contemplative life. Our approach to this multidisciplinary text is primarily philosophical. In order to emphasize the philosophical aspect of the text we focused our analysis on issues related to the concept of infinity, its role in contemplation, the relation of the intellect with the One, as well as the dialectical method used by Callistus Cataphygiotes. We rebuilt the doctrine of contemplation, implied in the text of Callistus and we tried to do a complete reconstruction of the text that will allow the reader to appreciate the speculative and the synthetic spirit of this almost unknown Byzantine mystic.
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De, Beer Wynand Albertus. "Syn en nie-syn : die viervoudige verdeling van die werklikheid volgens die Periphyseon van Johannes Scottus Eriugena." Diss., 2006. http://hdl.handle.net/10500/2494.
Full textAbstract:
Text in Afrikaans with summaries in Afrikaans and EnglishOpsomming In hierdie verhandeling word die ontologie van Eriugena in oënskou geneem, met spesifieke verwysing na sy negatiewe ontologie, oftewel sy opvatting van nie-syn. Ter inleiding word daar na die Latynse en Griekse agtergrond van sy ontologie verwys. Dit word opgevolg deur `n bespreking van die verskillende wyses van syn en nie-syn waarvan Eriugena in die Periphyseon gebruik maak. Klem word geplaas op sy negatiewe ontologie, wat meer gevorderd is as enigiets in die Westerse denke tot heelwat na sy leeftyd. Die historiese konteks van Eriugena se lewe en denke word geskets, met inbegrip van die invloede wat op hom ingewerk het en sy eie nawerking. Sy viervoudige verdeling van die werklikheid word vervolgens bespreek, met aanduiding hoedat die ganse werklikheid gesien kan word as `n wisselwerking tussen syn en nie-syn. `n Dinamiese ontologie word dus deur Eriugena voorgehou, eerder as die statiese ontologie wat kenmerkend van veel Judaïsties-Christelike denke is. Summary In this dissertation the ontology of Eriugena is reviewed, with specific reference to his negative ontology, in other words his concept of non-being. By way of introduction the Latin and Greek background of his ontology is pointed out. It is followed by a discussion of the various modes of being and non-being that Eriugena employs in the Periphyseon. Emphasis is placed on his negative ontology, which is more advanced than anything in Western thought until much later than his time. The historical context of Eriugena's life and thought is sketched, including the influences acting on him and the influence he exerted on others. His fourfold division of reality is then discussed, indicating how the whole of reality can be viewed as an interaction between being and non-being. Eriugena thus postulates a dynamic ontology, rather than the static ontology that is characteristic of much of Judaistic-Christian thought.
Religious Studies and Arabic
M.A. (Religious Studies)
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Krawitz, Lilian. "Challenging messianism and apocalyptism : a study of the three surviving Messiahs, their related commonalities, problematic issues and the beliefs surrounding them." Thesis, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/10500/4868.
Full textAbstract:
The thesis is concerned with two issues, modern messiahs and their appeal, namely the highly successful Rebbe M.M. Schneerson from Chabad; and hostile, modern day, militant messianists and their beliefs, namely the USA Christian evangelicals and their rapture belief. The study directs attention at the three successful (in the sense that their movements survived their deaths) Jewish Messiahs, the 1st century Jesus, the 17th century Sabbatai Sevi and the present day, but recently deceased (1994) Rebbe Schneerson. The focus in the study falls on the latter two Jewish Messiahs, especially Rebbe Schneerson and Chabad, from Crown Heights, New York, whose messianic beliefs and conduct the thesis has been able to follow in real time. The thesis argues that Rebbe Schneerson and Chabad‟s extreme messianic beliefs and praxis, and the marked similarities that exist between all three Jewish Messiahs and their followers indicate that Chabad will probably, over time, become another religion removed from Judaism.
The thesis notes that the three Jewish Messiahs share a similar messiah template, the “„suffering servant‟ messiah” template. The thesis argues that this template is related to the wide appeal and success of these three Jewish messiahs, as it offers their followers the option of vicarious atonement which relieves people from dealing with their own transgressions and permits people to evade the demanding task of assuming personal accountability for all their actions, including their transgressions.
The recommendations in this thesis are prompted by the “wall of deafening silence” which is the result of political correctness and the “hands off religion” position, that prevents debate or censure of hostile militant messianism, despite the inherent dangers and high cost attached to the praxis of hostile, militant messianism and militant messianists‟ belief in exclusive apocalyptic scenarios, in modern, multicultural and democratic societies. The thesis argues this situation is not tenable and that it needs to be addressed, especially where modern day, hostile, militant messianists, unlike their predecessors at Qumran, now have access to the military and to military hardware, including nuclear warheads, and are able to hasten the End Times should they simply choose to do so.Old Testament and Ancient Near Eastern Studies
D. Litt. et Phil. (Biblical Archaeology)