Faculty of Theology

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The Faculty of Theology is a faculty of Stellenbosch University. We are a faculty for theology, and through research, teaching and learning and community action we are a knowledge partner for other academic communities, various church denominations and institutions of broader society.

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Browsing Faculty of Theology by Author "Adebayo, Oluwarotimi Paul"

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    Cosmological accents in Paul’s Epistle to the Romans in the light of ecological concerns : antecedents and later developments
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2023-11 ) Adebayo, Oluwarotimi Paul; Punt, Jeremy; Stellenbosch University. Facultuy of Theology. Dept. of Old and New Testament
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study, in conversation with the current ecological discourse, sets out to identify the cosmological accents present in the letter of Paul to the Romans and explores two of the prominent cosmological texts in the epistle – Romans 1:18-22 and 8:19-22. Their possible antecedence in the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament and their later development in the patristic literature of Late Antiquity are considered. This study deploys a dual methodology of exegetical analysis of cosmological texts in the epistle to the Romans supported with secondary readings on the use of cosmological terms (for Chapters 3 and 4) and a comparative analysis of such cosmological accents of the epistle to the Romans in Late Antiquity (for chapter 5). Due to the nature of this study, its coverage is restricted to peculiar aspects of cosmological studies which relate to the epistle to the Romans, in the OT, NT and patristic writings in Late Antiquity. The study establishes that though these three categories of literature elevated and dignified the place of humanity in the cosmos, this alone does not account for the comprehensive perception of these literature of the world, as within them nature also was accorded an important and dignified position simultaneously. Therefore, as a result of this dignified perception of creation, the Judeo-Christian religion should not be held as the root cause of the present ecological crisis as claimed today (in the instance of Lynn White Jr). Rather, the patristic literature experimented with and prescribed a worthy approach to relate to nature, namely natural contemplation. This work explores natural contemplation as one of the gains from a densely Gnostic-influenced Greek Eastern church of Late Antiquity, and resulted in employing natural contemplation in considering the significance of the Pauline materials for the current ecological malaise ravaging the world. This study advocates that this approach should be adjusted, adapted and adopted by the contemporary age in its efforts to relate with fellow occupants of the shared planet and used in addressing the excesses that have led to the present ecological crisis.
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    Θεόπνευστος and its implications for the concept of scripture in 2 Timothy 3:14-17
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2019-12) Adebayo, Oluwarotimi Paul; Punt, Jeremy; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Theology. Dept. of Old and New Testament.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The idea of scripture is a complex and often an elusive concept to define in its origin, nature and authority especially since the idea is embedded in layers of ideological conception over the centuries of its existence. However, these intricacies in understanding the concept of scripture is not limited to the Christian Scripture alone but evident in probably all the scriptural religions of the world. This study, therefore, investigates the concept of Christian Scripture in 2 Timothy 3:14-17 as it seeks to understand the relationship between the usage of the Greek terms ἱερὰ γράμματα, γραφή, and θεόπνευστος and their implications on the concept of scripture judging from the selected pericope. This study further seeks to observe how these words and the text in question have contributed to an understanding of scripture especially as it relates to the debates on its inspiration and authority. A double methodological approach was deployed to examine the chosen pericope of this research. The historical-grammatical exegetical method was used to comprehend the historical and literary contexts of the text. Then also the ideological texture, a component within the socio-rhetorical critical approach was used to sample the ideology of the text, its readers and its generation of interpreters. The body of this study, therefore, includes a general introduction, a survey of definitions of the concept of scriptures, various conceptions of scripture in different religious traditions, and an evaluation of the concept of the Christian Scripture in the various periods in the history of the Christian Church. A basic understanding of scripture was arrived at using both the historical-grammatical method and the ideological texture of the socio-rhetorical approach. The findings of this research are therefore as follows; ἱερὰ γράμματα used in the pericope is a representation of the Jewish Scripture, while the author of the Pastoral Epistles (early 2nd century CE), used γραφή for the combination of the Jewish Scripture and the emerging scripture of the Second Testament at the time. Thus, the use of γραφή is most likely a reference to the Septuagint in addition to the emerging Second Testament writings and not the autographs as some have suggested. This however unveils that the scripture the term θεόπνευστος was used to qualify in the pericope is not identical to the present scripture in the form of the Roman Catholic Bible nor the Protestant Bible. Findings on the hapax legomenon, θεόπνευστος, however at best remains inconclusive. Thus, this study in view of the grammatical construction of the given context, suggests θεόπνευστος not to be seen as the crux of the passage regarding inspiration as such interpretation was made rather popular and convincing as a result of the ideological ploys of generation of interpreters. Therefore, the term θεόπνευστος is rather taken to describe the practical, useful and functional nature which biblical texts had on ancient, biblical community which led to scripturalization of such texts. Finally, this study upheld the relational definition of the concept of scripture as communities which produced these texts were also responsible for their scriptural status and authority. The Christian Scripture is therefore seen as the Church’s book and as the testimony of these communities about God.