PhD Theses

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14194/2796

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A Critical Evaluation of John Robert Stevens’ Theology of Spiritual Formationin Dialogue with Søren Kierkegaard
(South African Theological Seminary Johannesburg, South Africa) Gruenberg, Jeremiah; Asumang, Annang
John Robert Stevens (1919-1983) was a Pentecostal/Charismatic minister whose teachings emphasize Christian maturity. In his dozens of major published works, he describes a Christian lifestyle of “a walk with God”, which stands as a uniquely holistic and relational model of spiritual formation. Utilizing the existential voice of Soren Kierkegaard as a dialogical partner, this dissertation identifies, synthesizes, systematizes, assesses, analyses, and critiques John Robert Stevens’ teachings on a walk with God. Stevens’ holistic model is described and measured along four axes: goal, paradigmatic concept, theological foundations, and activities. Stevens’ concept of a walk with God includes the primary interrelated topics of Christlikeness, the Kingdom, and the believer’s relationship with God. Christ and His Lordship are the centre of this formative walk with God. Further, Christian maturity reflects the internalized Kingdom, as well as the transformation of God's Kingdom citizens. True spiritual formation results from an ongoing, obedient relationship with God, who is the only source of genuine transformation. According to Stevens, Christian formation is an existential and relational endeavour. It naturally arises from a daily focus of relating to God in the course of life, and consistently moving in the direction of God's will. The dialogue with Kierkegaard—the father of existentialism—highlights and sharpens Stevens’ view of Christian spiritual formation. In the course of engaging with Stevens’ teachings, particular aspects of his model are critiqued exegetically, while others are critiqued theologically. Contemporary biblical scholarship and works on spiritual formation supplement missing elements of Stevens ‘Theo-philosophical foundations. The result of this systematic study of John Robert Stevens’ concept of a walk with God is this summary proposition: Christian spiritual formation is a relational endeavor in which ontological maturity toward Christlikeness is realized via an interactive, obedient, and holistic relationship with three persons of the Trinity in an ongoing walk with God, who is the only source of true spiritual transformation.
A Multi-Disciplinary Study of Deuteronomy 23:12-14
(South African Theological Seminary Johannesburg, South Africa) Yamoah, James; Domeris, William R.; Asumang, Annang
Deuteronomy 23:12-14 is pregnant with interesting theological, moral, and socio-cultural concepts which require exploration. From the premise that the possession of and survival on the Promised Land required that Israel would engage in warfare, YHWH’s presence in their camp to engage in a war against His enemies, who were Israel’s enemies, had to be ensured. Such divine presence required the maintenance of holiness of their military camp,which called for the people having to bury their faces outside it, a practice argued to be motivated by other reasons as well.This multi-disciplinary study focuses not only on unearthing these concepts,but also determining the interconnections between themand integrating them meaning fully to show that the usual interpretation of the holiness laws from a dichotomous perspective needs revision. Based on the historical-grammatical model for exegesis, the contextual,literary and textual underpinnings of the pericope are analysed, bringing to bear its structural and rhetorical undertones. The analyses identify major concepts:ritual purity, hygiene, sanitation,‘place theology’, ‘name theology’, and ‘YHWH/holy war’, and produce a translation of the text that was interpreted for the original and other OT audiences. It is shown that the overall motivation for the pericope was not YHWH’s presence in the camp; rather the war that He would execute.On the strength of a proposed hermeneutical grid for the interpretation of OT laws in the NT context, the dissertation links the pericope to some NT passages. One major link is to Paul’s letters to the Corinthians,where he discusses purity of the temple (2 Cor 6:14-7:1). Ultimately, the undergirding concepts find allusions in the apocalyptic camp (19:11-21:27), where the prophecy of God’s final war is given.The analyses confirm the hypothesis that the pericope is not only undergirded by many concepts (or disciplines) which can be integrated meaningfully,but also helps in providing a general framework for the study of OT passages.Overall, not only are the findings presented in this dissertation relevant to contemporary Christians as they look forward to the fulfilment of the ‘camp’promises,but the larger society of today can also derive some benefits from the recommendations it makes.
A narrative-rhetorical analysis of John the Baptist’s contribution to the Christology the gospel according to John.
(South African Theological Seminary Johannesburg) Mzebetshana, Mzayifani; Asumang, Annang
Recent Gospel studies in general, and especially on John’s Gospel have neglected the extent and nature of the contribution of the Baptist’s Christology to John’s Christology. Some studies have predominately accentuated the polemical purposes of the Baptist’s accounts against the Baptist’s followers. However, considering that the accounts of the Baptist’s ministry and witness are strategically and prominently positioned in John’s literary structure, this suggests a very heightened role in John’s narrative. This study, therefore, investigated the nature, influence and contribution of the Baptist’s Christology to the overall Christological programme of the Gospel of John. Also, it examined the narrative-rhetorical contribution of the Baptist’s Christological witness to John’s rhetorical strategy. It was determined based on narrative-theological and comparative analyses that the Baptist’s Christology is a major resource for the Evangelist’s formulation of his own Christological beliefs and articulation thereof. This conclusion counters the competing suggestion that the Baptist is employed for polemical rhetorical purposes by the Evangelist. Also, based on the theory of eyewitness memory and comparative analysis, it was resolved that the Baptist’s Christology in John’s Gospel is historically plausible. And, based on a narrative-rhetorical analysis, it was determined that the Baptist’s Christological witness was employed to enhance the credibility of John’s rhetorical strategy. Specifically, the author relied on the Baptist’s authority and social prestige to convince his readers to believe that Jesus is the Messiah and Son of God. However, these readers were dissuaded from ensuing the patterns of the Jewish religious authorities because of their unbelief, conflict, and hatred of Jesus. Ultimately, all John’s readers were to aim to be at the level of Baptist’s belief, characterised by precise Christological confessions, a full grasp of the significance and implication of their Christological confessions and unwavering conviction about Jesus’ identity and mission. overall, the study makes four fundamental contributions to scholarship, namely, (a) that in theological terms, the Christology of the Baptist substantially influences the overall content and presentation of the Christology of the Fourth Gospel, (b) that the nature and extent of this influence derive from the historical relationship that existed between the Baptist and the fourth Evangelist as a former disciple of the Baptist, thus formatively shaping the latter’s Christological beliefs and formulations,(c) that therefore the Evangelist marshalling of the Baptist’s Christology for rhetorically advancing his pastoral and evangelistic purposes in writing the Gospel derives from these historical and theological influences, and (d) that these findings severely undermine the hitherto common scholarly construct that the references to the Baptist in the Gospel served polemical purposes.
A New Proposal forA Biblically Grounded Christian Social Welfare Provision Among the Ghana Baptist Convention Member Churches inAshanti Region, Ghana
(South African Theological Seminary Johannesburg South Africa) Adasi-Bekoe, Joseph; Asumang, Annang
This study was conducted against a background of severe challenges of urbanization on the traditional social protective systems. The absence of formal social support, amidst severe social welfare challenge has led to the springing up of several mutual, self-help societies providing social welfare services to their members on their own terms. One of such groups providing social welfare services to its poor members is the Ghana Baptist Convention churches in the Ashanti Region. As a church group, its methods and approaches to organizing social welfare was expected to be distinctly different from the others but was found to be using similar methods as the mutual self-help groups. The aim of the study was to seek for a theologically sound, biblically grounded and sociologically appropriate means of organizing social care in these churches. Using the Zebrass (1974) practical theological model as a primary tool for the study, data was collected from twenty churches to give a thick description of the current situation. The research showed that the current system of the church lacks distinctive Christian identity. It relies on social insurance principles to guide its operations just like most other mutual support groups. Relying on an exegesis of four anchor texts (Lev. 25:35-39;Matt. 25: 31-46; Acts 2:42-47and4:32-37) to discover the standards of God, the study made proposals to address the identified deficiencies of social welfare in the churches. The proposal, a synthesis of ideas and examples from the teachings of Jesus and the best practices of both biblical Israel and the New Testament Church, are practical steps to primarily, give the social welfare system of the church a biblical character. It seeks to enhance the pro-poor nature of the church’s social welfare system and highlight the key role spiritually matured managers could play in shaping the outcome of social welfare provision in the churches. It also recommends steps to secure the needed funding and involvement of all church members to make the benefits of the system relevant and appropriate to the needs of its members. vi Implementing the new proposal, will not only ensure that the church’s social welfare system is in tune with sociologically accepted best practice of social care but crucially meets God’s standards of care for the poor among His people.
A Pastoral Strategy for Addressing Spousal Violence in Northern Accra Diocese of the Methodist Church, Ghana
(South African Theological Seminary) Spaine, Randulph Akuna Dennis; Asumang, Annang
An Analytical Biography of Byang Henry Kato (1936-1975): His Theological Legacy and Contribution to Biblical Hermeneutics, African Christian Identity and Evangelical Theological Education
(South African Theological Seminary Johannesburg, South Africa) Foday-Khabenje, Aiah Dorkuh 1958-; Asumang, Annang
This study was an analytical biography of a pioneering church leader— Byang Henry Kato (1936‒1975)—in shaping African evangelicalism, in the subject area of Historical Theology. The purpose of the study was to explore Kato’s life story and theological legacy to contribute to leadership development and maturing of the church in contemporary Africa. Specifically, the study explores Kato’s biblical hermeneutics, Christian African identity and contribution to evangelical theological education in sub- Sahara Africa, using empirical and qualitative approaches, literary and field interviews. Kato was a young Nigerian theologian and the first African General Secretary of the Association of Evangelicals in Africa (AEA), among other roles. He was renowned to be father of evangelical theology in sub-Sahara Africa. Kato was immersed African traditional religion, as a child and was on course for succeeding his father as fetish priest when he converted to the Christian faith. Kato rose from humble beginnings to a world class evangelical leader and scholar, before his tragic death by drowning. Byang Kato made important theological contributions, contending for biblical fidelity on a number of issues related to relationship between traditional African religions and Christianity. He was opposed to much of what other influential liberal-leaning African theologians of his time taught. He raised an alarm and warned the Church in Africa about the theological pitfalls—syncretism and universalism and advocated for discontinuity with the African traditional religious worldview, especially aspects that were inconsistent with Scripture. Unprecedentedly, Kato helped to establish a number of premier theological institutions, to remedy the theological pitfalls in sub-Sahara Africa. Exploring some theoretical and biblical foundations demonstrated that Kato’s views were mostly consistent with mainstream evangelical perspectives. The findings and data collated formed the basis of constructing a corpus of theological material that characterised Kato’s theology, which I have dubbed as Katoan theology.
King Ahasuerus and the Motif of Vengeance in the Book of Esther: A Narrative Theological Analysis
(South African Theological Seminary) Kabala, John Ilunga Ngoie 1964; Asumang, Annang
The book of Esther, and more specifically the amount of information on vengeance that occurs in it, has both intrigued and been criticised by several scholars. Haman plans to inflict vengeance on Mordecai and all Jews in the Empire. When his plot fails, Esther, Mordecai, and all the Jewish people engage in new revenge against all their enemy forces, including Haman. Central to all these is the role of King Ahasuerus. The King initiates and signs the edicts that effect vengeance, and this cannot be ignored in the assessment of the motif. From the above perspective, some scholars have criticised the role King Ahasuerus played in Esther's narrative. It has been viewed as problematic, especially the scale of vengeance that flows in the book of Esther. King Ahasuerus's leadership indeed failed to prevent the spiral of violence in the Empire. This motif of vengeance in the book of Esther has therefore remained captivating and the centre of much controversy. To solve the main problem, I attempt to examine vengeance in a literary and theological manner. The versatile flexibility of using this approach allowed me to address the complex research problem under investigation in this thesis. Its plot development and the critical role of King Ahasuerus as it relates to revenge are analysed. However, from the theological point of view, it is noted that the likely theocentric narrator is obliged to contrast the conduct of Ahasuerus as pagan king with Yahweh's role as the avenger of his people. Accordingly, I have been motivated to see and demonstrate how the literary device of vengeance became a tool to show God's providential care to protect Jewish people in the Empire. God's actions behind the scenes reveal a profound truth about his active presence in the history of the life of his people.
THE FORMATION OF THE DISCIPLES AS AGENTS OF DIVINE POWER AND REVELATION: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE GOSPELS ACCORDING TO MARK AND JOHN
(South African Theological Seminary, 2010-04) Asumang, Annang
With the overall task of explaining Christian origins in mind, this dissertation describes, analyzes and compares how the formation of the disciples of Jesus is depicted by the Gospels of Mark and John. It assumes the Gospel genre to be biographical and defines ―formation as the dialectical processes of interactions between Jesus and the disciples as His agents. A model that is based on the depictions of the divine-human interactions in the OT and literature of Second Temple Judaism is first developed for the analyses. This model is then piloted and fine-tuned in the first chapters of Mark and John in order to set the parameters for the study. With the aid of a narrative-theological method, the discipleship characters in both Gospels are identified, and the purposes of their formation, as well as the processes and events involved in their interactions with Jesus are separately analyzed and then compared to establish a number of hypotheses. These hypotheses are then validated by examining how both Evangelists narrate the feeding of the five thousand and the anointing of Jesus. The dissertation identifies that both Gospels characterize the foundational group of disciples as much wider than those explicitly labelled as ―disciple. This foundational group was multiform, and made up of people of different socio-cultural and religious backgrounds, ethnicities, gender and social classes. In both Gospels, the purpose of their formation was to make them into agents of divine power and revelation. Mark emphasizes their formation as agents of divine power, whereas John complements this by emphasizing their formation as agents of divine revelation. Though the key formational activities, events and processes highlighted by either Evangelist differ; they nevertheless complement each other, and thus a global portrait of the formation of the disciples is attained. In both Gospels, hospitality features as a central formational phenomenon, both literally and metaphorically. While Mark emphasizes hospitality as a discipleship ethic, John underlines it as a Christological phenomenon. Several peculiar emphases in John also complement the Markan feature of the frequent failures of the disciples. The Passion and resurrection of Jesus is established as key to the formation of the disciples, but in a proleptic fashion.
The Influence Of Akan Traditional Religious Conceptions On The Reception Of Hamartiology Of First John By Charismatic Preachers Of Ghana
(South African Theological Seminary Johannesburg, South Africa) Adjei-Brown, Clement; Asumang, Annang
The general Christian tradition in Ghana has historically attracted local and cultural views to itself that have enriched its universal nature and strengthened it to address different doctrines in different cultural and religious contexts. This has, however, led to misconceptions in the interpretation of some Christian doctrines such as the doctrine of sin in 1 John. This dissertation discovered that both for better and for worse, Akan Traditional Religious concepts of sin influence the reception of the hamartiology of 1 John by a selection of charismatic preachers in Ghana. This finding is in itself not surprising. However, the precise manner and extent to which the influences flow have immense implications for the communication of the Gospel in Ghana. The doctrine of sin in 1 John relates to the quality and nature of sin on Christian identity and witness in the world, and therefore serves as a very attractive standard for shedding light on the hamartiology of Ghanaian charismatic preachers. The reception analytical method I developed from the philosophical framework of reception theory enabled me to establish that Akan Traditional Religion (ATR) concepts create a horizon of expectation for Akan charismatic preachers in Ghana that influences their reception of the doctrine of sin in 1 John. From the comparison between the reconstructed meaning of the doctrine of sin in 1 John and the horizon of expectations of charismatic preachers in Ghana, it is apparent that to a large extent they have succeeded in contextualizing the Christian message. In the process, however, traditional Akan cosmology has both for better and for worse influenced their reception of the doctrine of sin in 1 John. The degree of influence for worse can be minimized if they become conscious of the danger of syncretism by conferring with original manuscripts and availing themselves to sound theological 6education. The analytical method developed for this study may also be usefully employed for studying the reception of other major Christian doctrines in the contemporary Ghanaian context.
The Interface Between the Doctrines of Divine Foreknowledge and Human Free Will: Judas Iscariot as a Testcase
(South African Theological Seminary Johannesburg, South Africa) Toga, James Partee 1956-; Asumang, Annang
The New Testament indicates that Judas Iscariot’s betrayal of Jesus was foreknown by God and by Jesus, and that it was in fulfilment of Scripture, and yet at the same time it judges him culpable for his actions. In that case, to what degree is divine foreknowledge compatible with human free will? This represents a difficult challenge and demands investigation. How does the Bible envisage the interface between the doctrines of divine foreknowledge and human free willwith particular reference to the case of Judas Iscariot? The gospels persistently use παραδίδωμι with Judas Iscariot instead of προδίδωμιor προδότης (except Luke’s single use of προδότης with him, Luke 6:16). This study discovers their possible reason(s) for doing so. Thus, this study examines relevant New Testament passages, which explicitly or implicitly identify Judas Iscariot. Determining how Judas Iscariot’s choice to carry out his act of betrayal fits into God’s choice and foreknowledge of him is significant. Thus, the study surveys the views of philosophers, major Christian traditions andsomeliterature of Second Temple Judaism in order to assemble some of the solutions to the problem being investigated. It is observed that all the New Testament passages in relation to Judas Iscariot underline the interplay between divine foreknowledge and human free will in a non-contrastive transcendent manner, even though some place different emphases on the degree of this compatibility, and others underline a complicated role fo reven Satan. Specifically, it is asserted that when it comes to Judas Iscariot, the New Testament holds divine foreknowledge in tension with human freedom to the extent that there is no conflict between them, apparent though that might seem. Some of the differences in emphases between the Gospels with regard to Judas Iscariot are also shown to reflect respective socio-pastoral contexts of their first readers.
ΛΟΓΟΣ ΓΝΩΣΕΩΣ as a Prophetic Speech-Act: A Theological and Biblical Evaluation of the Gift of the Word of Knowledge
(South African Theological Seminary) Goosen, Hugh Ralph; Asumang, Annang
This systematic-theological study has sought to provide an account of the nature and purpose of λόγος γνώσεως (logos gnōseōs), the spiritual gift variously translated as a word, message, or utterance of knowledge in 1 Corinthians 12:8. It was shown that throughout history, there has never been a time where there has been a unified understanding of the gift. Broadly defined, it has been interpreted in one of three ways, namely, as a gift that provided either (1) academic insight into the Scriptures, (2) an ability to teach, or (3) supernatural knowledge that allowed the recipient to minister effectively within a particular context. The study argues that while this third understanding comes close to accounting for all the data in the text, it is not sufficiently distinctive to warrant classifying it as something separate from prophecy, a defining characteristic of which is the miraculous provision, and subsequent utterance of special knowledge. The study employs speech-act theory as an exegetical tool, examining the locutionary and illocutionary acts within three select biblical passages where prophecy features. It argues that there were three knowledge components common to prophecy–reception, comprehension, and transmission components–and that it is the transmission component where the spiritual gift of λόγος γνώσεως finds expression. More specifically, the study argues that λόγος γνώσεως is an informative-assertive component of the broader prophetic speech-act that articulates supernaturally revealed information about matters past, present,or future, for the purpose of edifying, or motivating the hearer(s) to conform or adhere to the will of God. This contribution is unique in that it provides a comprehensive account of how the gift has been understood and practiced throughout history, demonstrating not just its ongoing relevance, but also how varying contexts have affected the ways in which it has been interpreted. Furthermore, it is the first systematic and inter-disciplinary study into this elusive gift, employing speech-act theory to comprehensively define, analytically clarify, and theological exemplify its distinctive features, showing how it relates to the widely practised spiritual gift of prophecy, and demonstrating its continuing relevance for church praxis.