Abstracts Of Recent WTS Doctoral Dissertations -- By: Adrian T. Smith

Journal: Westminster Theological Journal
Volume: WTJ 68:2 (Fall 2006)
Article: Abstracts Of Recent WTS Doctoral Dissertations
Author: Adrian T. Smith


Abstracts Of Recent WTS
Doctoral Dissertations

Evoking Israel’s History In Acts 7:2-53 And 13:16-41:
The Hermeneutics Of Luke’s Retelling
The Story Of God’s People

Dan Garrett Burns

This study explores Luke’s use of the OT in the light of one of the questions Acts answers: who are the people of God? The surprising inclusion of Gentiles as Gentiles, rather than as circumcised proselytes, into the people of God is defended and explained by Luke’s work. Luke uses the totality of the OT, both in general phrases and motifs and in the “history-of-Israel” speeches, to argue that Gentiles are true heirs of the promises made to Israel. Luke’s use of the OT in Luke 1–4 and 24 sets the pattern for the use of the OT in the speeches and narratives of Acts. “History-of-Israel” texts in the OT and Second Temple Jewish literature reveal tendencies and techniques that provide important background to the two narrative “rewritten Bible” texts in the NT. Stephen’s speech, a prophetic critique against Israel used by Luke to explain Jewish rejection of God’s messenger, is full of examples of interpretive tradition embedded in Scriptural texts. Paul’s sermon in Pisidian Antioch explicitly connects the “history-of-Israel” with the gospel events, positively redefining the people of God and inviting Jews and Gentiles to receive Jesus, God’s promised messenger. The Gospel of Luke introduces the theme, which is not fully developed until Acts, of the new people of God. Luke’s retelling of the history of Israel through the speeches in Acts is a central way in which he advances this part of his purpose. Luke tells a new story that takes up the “history-of-Israel” into itself to explain the surprising composition of the reconstituted people of God.

Beholding The Glory Of God In Christ:
Communion With God
In The Theology Of John Owen
(1616–1683)

Changlok Oh

The primary interest of this study is the subjective aspect of communion with God in Owen’s theology. It shows that the theme of communion with God plays an essential role in Owen’s doctrine of the Christian life and that the theme is either explicitly or implicitly a major consideration wherever Owen discusses the relationship between God and man. The study also draws a comprehensive picture of Owen’s view of communion with God, focusing on the nature of communion. Another indispensable interest of the dissertation is the relationship between the subjective and the objective. It shows how Owen’s emphasis on communion is not slanted to subjectivism but keeps a remarkable balance between the subjective ex...

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