Journal: Westminster Theological Journal
Volume: WTJ 83:2 (Fall 2021)
Article: Abstracts Of Recent WTS Doctoral Dissertations
Author: Anonymous

WTJ 83:2 (Fall 2021) p. 382

Abstracts Of Recent WTS Doctoral Dissertations

WTJ 83:2 (Fall 2021) p. 383

“I Will Remove Your Proudly Exultant Ones”: A Study In Inner-Biblical Interpretation In Zephaniah

William M. Wood

This thesis examines the use of the OT in Zephaniah using an author-oriented approach to inner-biblical interpretation. In so doing, the regular use of earlier OT material underscores the core of Zephaniah’s message of a reversal of fortunes where the proud are humbled in judgment on the Day of Yhwh, while the humble remnant are exalted to the holy mountain of Yhwh. The introductory chapter anchors this work in broader Zephaniah studies and shows the need for the present project as an area of research that has been regularly acknowledged but not fully explored. Chapter 2 then analyzes the theory of inner-biblical interpretation, placing the present work within the author-oriented approaches, but qualified by a redemptive-historical hermeneutic. Finally, the main body (chs. 3–8) examines the various proposals for source texts in Zephaniah by focusing on lexical and syntactical connections, while also examining the contextual and thematic relation between Zephaniah and the source texts. Each connection is categorized as a quotation, allusion, echo, or trace, before proposing its interpretive significance within the Book of Zephaniah. Finally, a brief conclusion in chapter 9 summarizes the findings of the thesis, arguing that an understanding of Zephaniah’s use of earlier OT texts significantly enhances the prophet’s theological message, that on the Day of Yhwh those who are proudly self-exultant will be humbled by Yhwh, but those who humble themselves will be exalted, exultant, and exulted over by Yhwh.

WTJ 83:2 (Fall 2021) p. 384

Re-Affirming The Center: A Covenantal Evaluation Of Stanley Grenz’s Revisioning Of Scripture

Jared Ross Hiebert

The thesis of this work is that a covenant-historical conception of Scripture provides a necessary corrective to so-called postfoundationalist critiques of twentieth-century evangelical defenses of biblical authority as well as those evangelical defenses themselves. This work will demonstrate this thesis by (a) analyzing the writings of one of the most rigorous exponents of postfoundational conception of Scripture, the late Stanley Grenz, as a means to (b) proposing a distinctively Reformed conception of Scripture grounded in the absolute God’s covenant-historical dealings with his people. Only when viewed within the framework of biblical, covenantal theology and the archetypal/ectypal distinction in theology c...