PhD Theses
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14194/2796
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Item The Human Conscience: Divine Design or the Nature of Our Neurons?(South African Theological Seminary, 2015) St. Onge, Charles; Pretorius, MarkChristians through the centuries have long turned to Romans 2:14-16 to show that the human conscience is a sign of the restraints God has placed on sin within all fallen human beings. The universal presence of the human conscience is put forward by many apologists as evidence for the existence of a creator God. In recent decades, however, some scientists have proposed naturalistic causes for the existence of a common human morality. This has been put forward as evidence against the existence of a supreme deity or deities. There is no reason to suppose that the human inclination to do good and avoid evil is anything other than a survival mechanism, the result of millions of years of evolutionary processes. To suggest that the source of the 'law within our hearts' is a supreme law giver is repugnant to new atheists such as Sam Harris and Richard Dawkins. Are these neurological explanations sufficient to explain the existence of the human moral compass apart from a moral law-giver who exists outside of creation? Is this evidence open to other possible interpretations? Might the interpretation of the data or even the data itself be flawed? How might Christians, with their centuries-long Scriptural understanding of human conscience, respond apologetically to the claim that human conscience can be explained neurologically as a result of the brain's Neodarwinian evolutionary development? This is the main problem to be addressed in the following work. The main research problem can be subdivided into the following research questions which, taken together, should answer the main problem. Each of these sub-problems will be addressed using a chronological framework. Consideration will be given to how these sub-problems were answered in the past, the current state of thinking, and the paths which future research seems likely to take. The first set of sub-problems has to do with the Christian theological understanding of conscience and natural law. First, consideration will be given to the Romans 2:14-16 passage, a key portion of Scripture dealing with the question of the human conscience, where it comes from and how it functions. Second, how has Christian thought through the centuries regarded the origin and operation of the human conscience? The answer to this question will be limited in scope, but will touch on the major themes on the subject of natural law and conscience in historical Christian tradition and in the major confessional systems of thought present today. This would include, especially, natural law and conscience in the early church writers, as well as in the Thomistic, Lutheran and Calvinist traditions. The roots of Christian’s ideas of conscience in earlier Greek and Roman thought will also be considered. The second set of questions has to do with the current neurological explanations for the human conscience. First, what are the basic assumptions of the Darwinian and now Neo-Darwinian evolutionary hypothesis, especially as those assumptions relate to the development and function of the human mind? As in the examination of the development of Christian thought on the question of conscience, the scope of work on this question will be limited to the general themes necessary for this mini-thesis. Second, what specific explanations have been proposed, and are currently being proposed, for the human conscience based on these Neo-Darwinian assumptions? The last set of questions has to do with analysing and synthesizing the data gathered in answer to the previous questions in order to address the main thesis problem. First, what are the foremost apologetic concerns to be addressed when considering the Christian theological view on the origin of conscience in light of the Neo-Darwinian proposals for the emergence of the human moral compass? Each perspective will be evaluated and critiqued. Second, are there areas where both the Christian and Neo-Darwinian ideas show convergence and others where they show divergence? Third, considering the questions of foremost apologetic concern, and any convergence or divergence of ideas, what might be the most appropriate Christian apologetic response?Item Back to the Garden: Paul’s Appeal to Adam and Eve as an Illuminating Allusion to 1 Timothy 2:11–15(Johannesburg South African Theological Seminary) Churchill, Sarah; Smith, Kevin G.Item Prototype and Semantic Field Analysis of the Lexical Item עֲנָוִים in the Hebrew Bible: Some Implications for the Fields of Biblical Hebrew Lexicology, Exegesis, and Translation(South African Theological Seminary) Banda, Maxwell Chiwoko; Domeris, William R.Hebrew Bible translators, exegetes, and lexicologists have differed significantly in their rendering and interpretation of the lexical item עֲנָוִים in the Hebrew Bible. For instance, Bible translators have rendered this term using nine glosses while showing variations in the rendering of the term in similar verses, but without offering any linguistic justification. This research was aimed at conducting a lexical analysis of the term to find out whether the term has multiple senses or not – and to establish a linguistic explanation for the multiplicity of senses if that is found to be the case. After reviewing different relevant scholarly literature on the term, this research observed several problems. Singling out two, the first problem that was observed is that there is a lack of proper linguistic theory in analysing the term עֲנָוִים. Secondly, no scholar has conducted a comprehensive analysis of all the cases of עֲנָוִים in the Hebrew Bible despite the fact that this term poses special problems. To deal with the first problem, the research scrutinized different modern linguistic semantic theories for dealing with the problem. The lexical field and prototype theories were adopted to form the basis of the linguistic study of the term. As a solution to the second problem, the study used modern linguistic semantic theories of lexical field and prototype to analyse all the cases of the term עֲנָוִים in the Hebrew Bible. The lexical field theory has helped to analyse the term in its contextual domain and relationship with other lexical items that co-occur with it. On the other hand, the prototype theory has helped to explain the linguistic motivation behind sense extension of the term. After analysing all the occurrences of the term, the study found that this term has two senses: afflicted and humble. For the sense “afflicted,” the study discovered that this sense is used to describe those who are in a relationship with God but face various forms of physical afflictions caused by others who are, in some contexts, identified as “wicked.” On the other hand, the sense “humble” is preferred in contexts where the term is used to refer to those who willingly submit to God. Thus, the key difference between the two senses is that the first is used where those designated by the term are victimised by other people while the latter is used for those who aren’t victimized by others but express their submission to God in different circumstances. Using the frequency model of Geeraerts (2006) and Vyvyan (2005), the sense “afflicted” was identified as the prototype sense as it registers more occurrences than the sense “humble.” On the other hand, the “part-for-the-whole” metononmy proposed by Lakoff (2003) was identified as the cognitive mechanism behind the extension of the sense from “afflicted” to humble. From the discussion of the findings of this research, several practical implications have been drawn for the fields of Biblical Hebrew lexicology, Hebrew Bible translation, exegesis, and Christian Theology.Item Arranged Early Childhood Marriages among the Northern Tribes in Zambia: Lessons from Customary Marriage in Genesis 29:13-30(Johannesburg South African Theological Seminary) Chabu, HumphreyItem Establishing a model of ecclesiastical discipline in the Church of Pentecost, Ghana(South African Theological Seminary Johannesburg, 2023) Kumi-Woode, Benjamin Godson 1964–; Mzondi, ModisaThe Church of Pentecost–Ghana (CoP–Ghana) is a Ghanaian classical Pentecostal Church with a transnational reach. In this study, ecclesiastical discipline as practiced in the CoP–Ghana was researched using Robert Osmer’s method with the view to develop a model of ecclesiastical discipline for the church. Robert Osmer’s method of research outlines a four-step process which involves the descriptive-empirical task, the interpretative task, the normative task and the pragmatic task (Osmer 2008, 31–218). Thirty respondents each from ministers, presbyters and members were interviewed using semi- structured questions. Views of ministers, presbyters, and members interviewed about ecclesiastical discipline in the CoP–Ghana were that ecclesiastical discipline was relevant to the CoP–Ghana due to the necessity to show the church, Christ's bride, as holy and that discipline is an expression of God's love. Additionally, the purpose of ecclesiastical discipline is to uphold the church's reputation and help it carry out the divine mission of preparing individuals for God's kingdom. The major concerns raised by the participants regarding the application of ecclesiastical discipline in the CoP–Ghana include the absence of clear guidelines for ecclesiastical discipline, lack of counselling resources for both pre- and post-discipline phases, aggressive approach of the process, lack of confidence in the reliability of the investigative process, and lethargy in carrying out discipline due to criticism of the practice in contemporary times. For this reason, membership should be classified into new members, members, presbyters, ministers, and higher calling for purposes of ecclesiastical discipline, and disciplinary measures rated from leniency to severe sanctions in that order. Education on ecclesiastical discipline should be integrated into the church’s discipleship program to include new converts classes, pulpit ministry, Bible studies, lay leaders’ school, ministerial formation course and a manual on ecclesiastical discipline, as one the church’s key discipleship documents. Further, an objective means which considers maturity, nature of the offense, status of the offender, attitude of the offender, mode of disclosure of offense and type of offense should be prayerfully adopted in determining sanctions to be meted out to offenders, in such a way that the nature of the offense and the dynamics of the offender are considered in sanctioning. Finally, the church must deliberately ensure that sanctioned members are assigned mature believers or counsellors to assist in their reconciliation and restoration to fellowship. Recommendations made were that a systematic means and pastoral care to ensure reconciliation and restoration of offenders should be developed and adopted which involve clemency, godly counselling and ministry of love, and further research to be done to ascertain the extent to which previous offenders have been properly healed, reconciled, and restored after undergoing ecclesiastical discipline.Item A Linguistic Evaluation of the Calvinist “All Without Distinction” Reading of πᾶς in the Pastoral Epistles(South African Theological Seminary Johannesburg, 2023) Jensen, Aaron Michael 1989–; Lioy, Dan T.; Coon, GeorgeThis thesis examines the Calvinist “all without distinction” reading of πᾶς, an interpretation that safeguards the Calvinist teachings of double predestination and limited atonement by claiming that in four key passages within the Pastoral Epistles (1 Tim 2:4, 6; 4:10; Titus 2:11) πᾶς denotes not all individual people but all kinds of people. By exegetically refuting other Calvinist proposals for these verses, this thesis demonstrates that double predestination and limited atonement are unviable without the “all without distinction” reading. Nevertheless, it also documents how the primary motivations for these Calvinist teachings—preserving God’s role as sole cause in election, conversion, and salvation, and preserving an effective atonement—are maintained without double predestination and limited atonement by other Christian traditions. Although Calvinists allege that linguistic support for the “all without distinction” interpretation is found in other passages where πᾶς denotes something less than every individual, no prior study quantified the linguistic rationale for the referent of πᾶς being limited. This thesis undertakes this missing linguistic analysis using a corpus-based lexical analysis. It identifies six manners of restriction found with πᾶς: hyperbole, implicit domain restriction, nonveridicality, intensive nouns, collective nouns, and superordinate categories. Using Gricean pragmatics, exegetical analysis, operator scoping, semantic analysis, and cognitive linguistics, it determines the linguistic features by which restricted uses of πᾶς might be identified. By applying these criteria to 1 Timothy 2:4, 6; 4:10 and Titus 2:11, this thesis finds that these verses lack the linguistic features necessary for such restrictions. Consequently, it demonstrates that the “all without distinction” interpretation is unviable, as are the Calvinist teachings of double predestination and limited atonement that depend on it. Conversely, it confirms as scriptural teaching that God desires the salvation of all and that Christ died for the sins of all. This thesis further articulates the practical significance of recognizing the universal scope of the Father’s merciful will and the Son’s atoning death. Non-Christians being evangelized can be presented with a sure basis for faith, and Christians doubting their own faith or elect status can be offered direct assurance from God’s will, Christ’s death, and the means of grace.Item AN EVANGELICAL PROTESTANT THEOLOGICAL AESTHETIC: A RESPONSE TO HANS URS VON BALTHASAR’S CRITIQUE(South African Theological Seminary Johannesburg, 2023) Currie, Ryan 1986–; Falconer, Robert D.; Coon, GeorgeIn the development of his theological aesthetic project, the Swiss theologian and Roman Catholic priest, Hans Urs von Balthasar, critiqued Protestantism for lacking a theological account of beauty. Balthasar claimed that Protestants explore the relationship of theology and worldly beauty in its various forms, but do not deal with beauty itself as a theological category and have eliminated beauty from theology completely. This thesis responds to this critique from an evangelical Protestant perspective. The purpose of this work is to develop a theological aesthetic for evangelical Protestants that builds on the insights of historical theology and is consistent with the biblical witness. The methodology employed is Falconer’s Architectonic Theology, which applies architectural design principles for the construction of a systematic theology. Following this methodology, this work examines the concepts of theological aesthetics in current evangelical Protestantism, the development of theological aesthetic concepts in the history of theology, Balthasar’s articulation of theological aesthetics, and the Johannine corpus. I argue that even though evangelical Protestants have neglected a theological account of beauty, they have a tacit theological aesthetic that needs further articulation and development. However, evangelical Protestants have much to offer in the field of theological aesthetics. In this thesis, I seek to develop a theological aesthetic that is based on a theology of the cross. I claim that beauty is inherently related to the concept of glory. Glory emphasizes the objective aspects of God’s fullness and perfection, while beauty emphasizes perception and drawing power. The perception of God’s beauty is made possible through the spiritual sense, given at regeneration. The spiritual sense also transforms the physical senses so that all created beauty becomes a communicative event where the beauty of God is displayed. This is significant because it provides a solution to the felt tension between spiritual and created beauty. Further, the beauty of God is transformative. Theological aesthetics has profound implications for life as the believer perceives God through faith and generates a beautiful life in the theo-drama.Item Christening a nation: A critical theological investigation of declaring Zambia a Christian nation(South African Theological Seminary Johannesburg, 2023) Mumba, Gabriel; Mzondi, ModisaChristening a nation: A critical theological investigation of declaring Zambia a Christian nation is a study contributing to the ongoing discussion concerning the theological implications surrounding the declaration of Zambia a Christian Nation, and how the Church in Zambia should respond to the declaration of Zambia as a Christian nation? The study is shaped after Osmer’s (2008, 199—217) four tasks of practical theology namely: (i) the descriptive task (what is going on?), whose main objective was to have an all-inclusive consultation to understand the factors that influenced the declaration of Zambia a Christian nation, (ii) the interpretive task (why is it going on?), which helped to historically understand what related literature teaches about christening a nation, (iii) the normative task (what ought to be going on?), which discussed what the Bible and theologians teach, vis–à–vis christening a nation, and (iv) the pragmatic task (how might we respond?), which discussed some critical theological implications of declaring Zambia a Christian nation, and further offered a pragmatic response of the Church in Zambia. In this regard, the study used a qualitative explorative–descriptive approach. Christening Zambia and the subsequent declaration of Zambia a Christian nation aroused discussions among stakeholders like the religious mother bodies, government and other interested parties to understand its objective. Therefore, the declaration of Zambia a Christian nation presents some good prospects to the Church in Zambia of fulfilling the great commission of Jesus Christ, while at the same time it is a challenge when its biblical and theological basis is not properly considered.Item A study on the lived experience of koinōnia in a post-apartheid, post-Armstrong congregation: A transition from power-imbalance to koinōnia(South African Theological Seminary Johannesburg, 2022) Millar, Candida 1977–; Harold, GodfreyThis research is an exploration of koinōnia in practice, from an evangelical, trinitarian perspective, in a congregation of Grace Communion International (GCI), in Johannesburg, South Africa. It considers the past effects of apartheid and Armstrongism in the study. Researching within the context of evangelicalism considers the four-fold quadrilateral of Bebbington (1993) namely biblicism, crucicentrism, conversionism and activism, with careful inclusion of Packer’s (1978) sixth essential, in his six-fold definition of evangelicalism, namely fellowship, folded into Bebbington’s “activism”. Koinōnia may be best considered first from a macro perspective, existing within the Triune God, that also finds its expression in the relationship between Christ and his Bride, into the micro family of believers. This research thus considers social/relational koinōnia as it exists in a Triune God, within a congregation that is situated within evangelicalism. The researcher recognizes the Church (the Bride of Christ) as a dynamic organism that is ever-evolving (Harper and Metzger 2009:16) but enters into a moment of time in search for meaning, and observes the apparent practice of koinōnia, from a post-Armstrong, post-apartheid context. Through the method of hermeneutic phenomenology (Swinton and Mowat 2016), the research explores the lived experience of the congregants regarding the phenomena of koinōnia. While chapter one is an overview of the research’s proposed activities, hopes and interests, chapter two offers a perspective of social trinity and koinōnia with added insight from the exploration of the research topic. Chapter three explores the history of Grace Communion International from Worldwide Church of God era through its name change with emphasis on its model of practicing koinōnia. Further to this, the chapter delves into an explanation of apartheid, and its influence on the Worldwide Church of God’s pre-1994 practices as well as the researcher’s impression, in dialogue with the views of multi-racial authors of peer reviewed academia, of the context into which the research is situated.Item A Critical Analysis of Christology in N.T. Wright and Wolfhart Pannenberg: Implications for a Christo-Centric Homiletic(South African Theological Seminary Johannesburg, 2023) Duffield, Devon 1988; Bartholomaeus, Michael; Falconer, Robert D.The Christo-centric homiletic is considered one of the leading contemporary approaches within the evangelical hermeneutic and homiletic society. However, its popularity has not made this approach immune to criticism. This thesis seeks to point out that the Christo-centric homiletic is embedded in a Christology from above, which contributes to its strengths and weaknesses. It explores the implications of the from below Christologies of N.T. Wright and Wolfhart Pannenberg on the Christo-centric approach. A unique research methodology is employed that consists of five literary tasks to address the research problem. The research project begins with examining the from below Christologies of Wright and Pannenberg, which encompasses the overarching tenets of their Christologies and the influences of other scholars upon their presuppositions and Christological developments. Then, the strengths and weaknesses of their Christologies are identified, described, and evaluated through critical analysis. Subsequently, the Christo-centric homiletic is examined, and its underlying Christology and shortcomings are specified and assessed. It is argued that the Christo-centric homiletic is embedded in a from above approach to Christology and that the presuppositions of a Christology from above contribute to the homiletical approach's shortcomings. The implications of the strengths of Wright and Pannenberg's Christologies on the Christo-centric homiletic are then explored. These implications demonstrate that these two from below Christologies enrich and challenge the Christo-centric method in various meaningful ways. This thesis suggests that if the Christo-centric method takes the from below Christologies of Wright and Pannenberg seriously, it can address specific weaknesses and find resources to enhance some of its strengths without negating its central conviction of preaching Christ in every sermon. This thesis fulfils the profound need to place the current homiletical debate on Christo-centric preaching in dialogue with Christology. It defends the unique proposal that the Christo-centric method can address its criticisms without becoming more Theo-centric.