Emmanuel Christian Seminary Masters Theses
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Master of Divinity, Master of Arts in Religion, and Master of Christian Ministries Theses.
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Item One God, the Creator, Maker, and Nourisher of this Universe: Irenaeus Against the Valentinians(2022-05) Elliott, Alyssa; Blowers, PaulThe purpose of this thesis is to explore the conflict between Irenaeus and his Valentinian opponents. In it I argue that Irenaeus turns to the doctrine of creation in his opposition to the Valentinians as a means to reveal the foundational error of their teaching. The doctrine of creation covers a broad spectrum of ideas, from discussions surrounding creation ex nihilo to the status which the non-human creation is given. It is a significant theological theme in early Christianity, which accounts for its complexity and prevalence. In this thesis, I am focusing specifically on the conflict between Irenaeus and the Valentinians regarding the creative activity of God—that is, God as Creator. This is typically an unstated starting point for the early Christian discourse surrounding the other elements included in the doctrine of creation. With respect to this specific second-century conflict, however, the identity of the creator God is not a shared presupposition. It is, in fact, one of the central points, or as Irenaeus says, “heads,’ of the Valentinian teachings he refutes.Item Forecasts of the Passion and Echoes of Olivet in Mark 13-15(2013) Yencich, DanielItem Around the Table--Communial Meals in Acts: Building the Identity of the Early Christians(2015) Teixeira, RogerioItem Walking Alongside the Dying: The Art and Gift of Compassionate Presence(2012) Schurlknight, JoannaItem Recovering Community: A Study of Relationship with God and One Another(2010) Ott, JaredItem A Statistical Comparison of Prayer, Health & Well-Being Among Christian Seniors by Race(2013-05) Flowers, JoanneItem Contextualization in the Introduction of Christianity to Korea(2010) Creech, Daniel ColinItem Original Translation with Annotations on Johannes Oecolampadius's "Das Der Miszverstand D. Martin Luthers, Uff Die Ewigbstendige Wort, Das Ist Mein Leib, Nit Beston Mag" of 1527(2013) Coleman, Stephanie JeanThis is a working original translation of approximately eighty-five pages of Oecolampadius's 147 page work on Christ's Eucharistic presence entitled Das del' miszverstand D. Martin Luther uJJdie ewigbstendige Wort 'Das ist mein Leib, ' nit beston mag of 1527. This work has never been translated into English before and presented many challenges. The translation aims to communicate the salient argumentation of the text and portray Oecolampadius's view accurately. This is accomplished through careful excerpts that retain the structural and contextual integrity of the original work, while omitting paragraphs and pages that were either additional explanation or redundant to the argument. It has been a long process. Due to the overshadowing of Oecolampadius's life by other prominent sixteenth century reformers, a brief biographical sketch will be included. It will be important for the overall work to show that Oecolampadius is someone worth studying and worth translating. It will also highlight the oddity that someone as influential as he was has only received cursory scholarly interest, resulting in only three partial English translations out of his 190+ surviving works. There are six sections to introduce Oecolampadius, who he was, why he was important, his context within the Reformation, and then a critical introduction on the translation itself. The structure of the thesis is centered on the translation itself. I have formatted the translation into parallel columns to aid the reader in quickly moving back and forth from the German to English. Annotations will be rendered as footnotes as necessary throughout the translation concluding with a discussion of Oecolampadius' Eucharistic theology as represented in this work.Item "Woman, Why Do You Weep?": A Christian Response to Female Circumcision(2012) Bauta, Sung HezekiahItem Calling Out Your Name: An Inquiry Into the Relationship of Natural Theology and the Book of Proverbs(1998) Milliser, Gregory ScottItem A History of the Salt Creek Christian Conference(1976-05) Mossbarger, James W.The purpose of this thesis is to provide a concise history of the Salt Creek Christian Conference. This network of Christian churches has provided Christian evangelism and Christian nurture for the people of many Southeastern Ohio counties for more than a century and a half. The author's love for history and the fact that he received his early Christian teachings in these churches make this subject particularly appealing to him. In addition, since the writer plans to return to that area to preach, this study should prove to be most helpful to his ministry because it will provide him with a better understanding of the conference. The author wishes to express his gratitude to the Salt Creek Christian Conference for allowing the author to keep the five volumes of its minutes during the research and writing of this thesis and to Elon College personnel for their friendly and helpful cooperation while he researched their files concerning this project.Item A Comparison of Wisdom of Solomon with the Epistle to the Hebrews: A Common Sapiential Hermeneutical Layer Encouraging and Exhorting Toward Moral Maturation(2015) Shrick, RyanThis thesis will analyze the potential layer of influence and hermeneutical ramifications of Wisdom upon Hebrews, including comparisons in compositional, form and thematic similarities (chapter I), followed by a discussion on their proposed similarity in purpose as paideutic texts (chapter 2), and illustrated with a comparative textual analysis demonstrating parallel concepts and forms (chapter 3). The final conclusions will address how this layer of understanding stands in distinction to traditional interpretations of Hebrews and the proposed benefits of such a reading.Item You Shall Not Abhor an Edomite: On the 'Kinship' of Israel and Edom(2013) Weinbender III, Jack L.