This is an interdisciplinary essay on New Testament Sociology which applies a sociological model (a theoretical knowledge frame) into the Jesus Movement (Jewish group gathering in Palestine around Jesus of Nazareth and continuing until 70 b.C.). To do this, in the first chapter …
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This dissertation directed by Dr. Dennis Olson builds on the premise that the relative density of Chr's peculiar vocabulary is an accurate indicator of the degree of Chr's redaction of source material. It examines Chr's distinctive vocabulary for use in a multivariate statistica…
Abraham has been perceived as the father of faith by both Jews and Christians. Interpretations of Abraham in later sources tend to idealize his actions. When religious commentators write about Abraham and the other stories in the Abraham cycle they are writing about their own im…
Greek word order variations are yet to be explained by consistently applied principles of linguistic theory. Many in the past have attempted to account for this phenomenon only to express disappointment in their own conclusions. Such findings surely establish Greek word order as…
This dissertation charts the intersection of exegesis, rhetoric, and performance in Ephrem's Hymns on Faith, arguing for a two-pronged interpretation of these poetics: first, Ephrem presents Scripture as a collection of metaphors which God has arranged for the sake of a particul…
This dissertation provides the first full-scale literary and theological treatment of the motif of humans confronting God in rabbinic literature. The sages do not challenge God directly, but indirectly by placing moral critiques of God into the mouths of various biblical heroes.…
The varied literary and rhetorical backgrounds of paraenetic literature make exegesis and theological interpretation of New Testament paraenesis a difficult task. The diversity and apparent unrelated character of individual exhortations in paraenetic materials exacerbate the pro…
This dissertation is a study of the history of the interpretation of the New Testament pericopae of Jesus' Feedings of the Multitudes (Mt 14:13-21, 15:29-38; Mk 6:30-44, 8:1-10; Lk 9:10-17; Jn 6:1-15) by Christian writers from the Patristic period to the present. This history di…
This thesis will probe selected Arabic commentary material on the Hippocratic Aphorisms. The aim is, first, to shed light on the development of Arabic medical commentary; second, to draw attention to issues of continuity and change in medical ideas and debates; third, to shed li…
Graeco-Roman, Jewish and Christian exegetes of late antiquity operated within an identifiable interpretive tradition that had its roots in the earliest recorded theological criticisms of the Homeric epic tradition, criticisms which were to have far-reaching and decisive influenc…
The centrality of II Corinthians 3:7–18 in the Christian imagination first emerged in 2nd century exegetical debates concerning the inspirational status of Hebrew Scriptures. Arguments marshaled by Irenaeus and Tertullian affirmed that the whole Old Testament was to be considere…
With the collaborative works of Yair Zakovitch and Avigdor Shinan as its methodological model, this dissertation presents the history of Jewish exegesis on Judges 3:12-30 (Ehud and Eglon) as discerned from the Bible, the Old Versions and Ancient Jewish Literature. This study is …
The story of Noah's drunkenness in Gen. 9:20-25 is ambiguous, allowing for multiple interpretations, including the possibility that Ham sexually violated Noah's wife. Gen. 19:30-38 interprets Gen. 9:20-25 as maternal incest, presenting Lot's fathering of Moab and Ammon by his da…
The Pseudo-Clementine Homilies represent an important witness to 'Jewish Christianity' during the third and fourth centuries, and likely they preserve traditions from an even earlier era. This peculiar body of writings offers a distinct approach to the interpretation of the Pent…
Christians engaged in mission and worship have been dealing with the issues of culture and contextualization since long before the word 'culture' was even used to describe what it does today in the the social sciences. Christian discussions about the importance of context for mi…
Ephrem's liturgical poems, the madrāšē, rarely have been studied as an exegetical genre. This study presents an analysis of his scriptural interpretation in two sets of madrāšē , or hymns: Hymns on Paradise, and Hymns on Unleavened Bread. Scholars tend to isolate Ephrem's indivi…
This exegetical and homiletical study provides evidence for recognizing the presence of African Blacks in the Christian scriptures and their contribution to the richness of the biblical message. The initial biblical story dealing with Blacks is considered to be found in the so c…
R. Levi ben Gershom, or Gersonides (1288-1344), was an outstanding intellectual in the medieval Jewish world. He was a renowned astronomer, mathematician, philosopher and biblical exegete. This dissertation focuses on what is perhaps the most neglected aspect of Gersonides' thou…
Much of Kenneth Cragg's writing is devoted to finding common ground between Christianity and Islam. A conservative Christian upbringing and a liberalising education based on the Enlightenment's values have contributed to this approach. Although Cragg often quotes the Bible, he h…